Swallowing My Pride...

Andrews eyes toke a new form of anger. Not one of rage, but rather with the sense of betrayal. What was Jack becoming in front of his eyes? This was not her, this was not the person that gave him brownies and offered for him to come hunt the Loch Ness Monster. No, this was something different, something he would probably have no control over. Silently, he reached his hands into his pockets and tried to slip them onto his gauntlets without showing any difference.

"Jack," he said in a calm voice "don't do this. This isn't you, you have to realize that something is going on that is changing you! Just admit that you can't do this by yourself!" After he got his hands into the gauntlets, he quickly pulled his hands out of his pockets, and aimed his palm at Jack, whom was already aiming her wand at him. He didn't want to fight her, but he felt threatened. "Just put the wand down Jack," he said "I want to help you, yet you keep pushing me away!"

Jack stared back at Andrew, her eyes still ablaze as she listened to what he had to say. No sh!t sherlock, she was changing. Who's damn fault was that?! ...Well...hers. But it did not help that Vito had ruined her belief that people could change for the better and Andrew ruined her belief that there was people willing to bring out that change. And had that not been how she had lived her life; simple pleasures and trying to save people? Her life was nothing if there was not hope. there was no inclination in her life that she would get a career, or get married, or have a family, or even succeed in life. If Jack did not have hope, she did not have anything.

And that hope was gone.

She stared at her friend and slowly dropped her wand to her side. Vito would hold a wand up against his "friends"...He had. She could not bear to think she was putting her friends in places that she had been and was filling Vito's shoes... But like she had said... Without hope for Vito, there was not hope for her... So she may very well be becoming her rival.

She looked at Andrew with dull eyes and said, "I'm not pushing you away. You don't want to come near. No one does." It was the truth. Vito did not want her around and as long as she believed that she should not give up on Vito, she could not be near Andrew or Chase. But she could not help that she did not hate Vito. So she could not help the fact that Andrew did not want to be her friend. "I can't pretend that I don't hate Vito." She shook her head. "I'm done pretending."

She glanced out the window and felt her legs itch to run. She turned back to Andrew. "I've said what I need to say. I should get going. Anything else?" She would allow him to finish tearing into her- who knew when he would be able to do so again.

Andrew's heart rate begin to increase steadily as Jack continued to hold her wand up, and he held his gauntlet up. He wasn't going to hurt her, unless she had tried to, but something seemed different now. Things didn't make much sense at the fact the tension seemed to be out of nervousness than anger. And frankly, it scared him. When she lowered her wand, he kept his gauntlet raised high, not wanting to take a chance on anything. When she began to talk however, he steadily lowered his hand down, an unnerving feeling about him.

What happened to the Jack he knew?

When she said that he didn't want to go near her, he stepped a little bit closer to her and said "Jack, I help my friends out. You are my friend. I would take a bullet for any one of my friends, yet you insist that I don't want to help. I'm standing right and now begging for you to tell me how I can try to help. I know you are able to fight this, but I want to be there if you get knocked down." Now he had said everything he wanted to say, yet continued to stand in that one spot. Things came rushing into his mind, things that seemed awfully familiar. He couldn't put his finger on it, but knew something was off.

Jack stared at Andrew, letting his words wash over her and she realized something rather shocking. Minus the word 'friends' thrown in there, she had said some very similar things to one Vito Dee Symons while trying to convince him that he should not give up so long as she did not.

And he never had fixed it, so who was to say she would. Fighting "prove-them-wrong" Jack was gone, leaving in her place a shell that had "I told you so" written all over her. She shook her head as he finished, glancing up as though to say "You are funny" to the force that ran the universe around her. She looked back at Andrew.

In a very soft voice she said, "You want to help me. Me. An outsider would say 'forget it, there's no point.' But your argument is you have seen the other side of me and that is why it is worth fighting for." She pursed her lips for a second, letting that sink in. "I was trying to convince you of those very words not a moment ago. And now you are trying to convince me." She shook her head. "Fun stuff," she said in a dead voice that indicated it was anything but fun. With that, she walked around him and left the tree fort.

Andrew stood there, unaffected by her words. He tood like a stuate that was yet to be demolished and almost wished that he was. He didn't move his head as Jack walked past him, mostly ashamed at himself for not trying to convince her more. For not trying to convince her that her friends really did care. She sounded like she had given up and lost all of her hope, which to Andrew sounded like was giving up.

Maybe it was just for the best.

He stood there, not wanting to go after Jack,knowing that she had chosen her path. He could not persuade or try to change it to his liking. If he tried, he would've felt a little more like Vito. When she left however, he turned around and shook his head slightly, debating on if he should try to go after her and see what he could do. After a moment, he decided that if he did, nothing but trouble would just show up. He stood there again in silence, shaking his head again out of shame.

So he left.