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Tension Rising

El threw Beta down in a chair, his hands tied firmly behind his back with a string. He looked up at the hybrid and smiled. Willow and Faith had been ushered out of their own room, the others not wanting the two Queens to witness whatever they decided to do. Only Hershey, Matrix, El, Halsey, and Beta remained. The villagers were recovering from the disturbing outburst and Willow and Faith were trying to clear the air. "Fix this," Faith hissed to El before leaving the room, and he promised he would.

"Okay," El said, breathing out. "Obviously you've lost your god-like powers or you wouldn't just be sitting here with such an insouciant expression like you're wondering what's for lunch. So, my question would be: Why the hell shouldn't I kill you?"

Beta put on a face like he was thinking about it even though he wasn't. He smiled. "Well, for two reasons. The first one I'm sure you've already guessed, but I'll give you a bit of a reminder anyway." Beta whistled, catching Halsey's annoyed attention. "Untie me."

Halsey, with a reluctance, walked over to the chair. El, staring Halsey down, stepped in his path. Halsey avoided eye contact, something he rarely did. "El, move." His voice was small; another thing he rarely did.

"Halsey, what're you doing?" El whispered back, stepping an inch closer. Matrix, somehow, sensed Halsey's uncomfortableness and took a hasty step forward. But as he did, Hershey was right there next to him. "Wait," Hershey said, putting a hand out in front of him. "This isn't your problem yet."

Halsey shoved El aside, earning him a hurt expression as he untied Beta willingly. Beta stretched his hands and sighed, sitting more comfortably in the chair. "Just to clarify," Beta began. "No, I did not put him under a spell, I made him a deal and he willingly took it."

"Not much of a choice," Halsey muttered under his breath.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Matrix asked. "He was on the ground screaming."

"Isn't it obvious, mate?" Beta said, fluttering Halsey's wings as if they were his own. El saw the pain in Halsey's crisp blue eyes as Beta did it, almost able to feel the tension and conflict coming off of him. "I took his wings."

"No..." El said. "You ripped them from his body, then threatened to never give them back if he didn't make a deal with you...but it was more than that, wasn't it?"

There was a pause as Beta and El stared at each other, tension rising, leaving Halsey, Matrix, and Hershey to try and catch up. "Don't," Beta warned, but El did anyway.

"See I didn't know much about Beta, because he had all these walls up in his mind. I always thought it was a little weird," El went on, explaining. "But there was one thing you let slip, one thing you couldn't control...and that was your power—"

"Shut up!" Beta hissed, but El kept going.

"Beta has this one consistent power that he can't control, and it makes people do things, it makes them act on their greatest desires...in this case Halsey's wings." Halsey blinked and looked at Beta, feeling a sudden pull as he did. He didn't realize it until then. "And they'll do anything for that, anything. That's what happened when Julia was murdered, wasn't it? When the whole dining hall went crazy just because you were 'passing through.' And at the foster home, when the table erupted into a mass of 'whatever says, goes?' That wasn't because of the foster home, Beta, that was because of you—"

"Stop it."

"And now you've done it again with Halsey. Tell me then Beta, what's this deal entail? What're you gonna do with Halsey? Maybe you'll leave him on the floor in agony like you do every other living thing you touch—"