What A Liar || {Aimee!}

[Braeden Andrews]

Blinking, unable to see much in the sudden darkness, Braeden stumbled into his black office, still trying to clear his jumbled head. He immediately went to his bed, laying back on it and covering his face with his hands, groaning slightly. Moonlight was streaming through a parting in the curtains, and it was the only light source in the room. Waiting for his eyes to get used to the darkness, Braeden froze suddenly as an amused voice came out of the shadows.

"You took your time, didn't you, William?" Out of one of the shadowy corners strode a man, dressed in black robes. Sitting up and lifting his head, Braeden's heart fell wearily down to somewhere around his knees as he saw the Death Eater mask hiding the man's face from view. He didn't have time to wonder which of his old 'friends' had visited him this time, though, for the man viciously ripped the mask off, causing Brae to gape at him.

"Thomas? Good God, man, I thought you were dead..." It was hardly a relieved, glad greeting, more of a, 'damn, I thought I'd killed you' sort of thing. The young man - Thomas - laughed, and lifted up the edge of one of his robes, revealing a shining silver leg. He grinned, watching Braeden's mouth drop open as he watched in amazement.

"It seems sniveling little Peter Pettigrew wasn't the only one that received a gift from the Dark Lord before his unfortunate demise." 'Thomas' glanced down proudly at the leg, not seeming to notice another mask-covered Death Eater step out of the shadows beside him. "It's quite a good thing, really, that you blew my leg to bits before you cowardly ran off to change your name, isn't it? This thing is indestructible, you know. What did you change your name to, again?"

The other Death Eater, who was wearing matching black robes to Thomas, then spoke. He had a deep stupid-sounding voice, and sniggered at what he then said. "Where's you're wand, Will? Did you leave with that slag you just spent the night with?"

Braeden scowled and shot back, ignoring Thomas' last question, "Yeah, you wish. When I get my wand out I'll blast off your other fucking leg..." He trailed off, searching through his pockets. No wand. Had he left it behind? Oh fuck, he must have. He was so angry with himself! Why had these Death Eater bastards decided to attack tonight, of all nights? When he was tired, dizzy and had a thumping headache? Damn them...

"Yes, Will, I'm sure you'll do that," Thomas said, tapping his silver foot impatiently. He continued, changing the subject. "Who were you with? I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to get involved with someone else so soon, after what happened to Katherine. After you killed her. And I was so sure you loved her, William. She loved you, you know."

Braeden froze at this; it was a part of his past he didn't think about anymore. One he couldn't think about anymore. "How did you know about that, you bastard?!" he yelled, fists clenching.

"I put you under the Imperius Curse that made you do it, silly. It was my first proper 'mission', of sorts. The Dark Lord was incredibly angry with you, that night. It's been something that was playing on my mind... what did you do to anger him so?" Thomas replied, with a seemingly innocent question of his own. He didn't expect much of an answer, and didn't get one.

Braeden's eyes narrowed, and he fumed silently for a second. "You made me do it?" he asked slowly, glaring one of those 'if looks could kill' stares in the Death Eaters' direction.

Thomas nodded proudly, and replied, "Yep. That was me indeed. Gained me a lot of trust, making that move, it did. I know quite a lot of things about your family. I know that the night you killed Katherine you had proposed to her." He grinned at Braeden's pained expression. "Hmm," Thomas mused. "You must have loved her, then. Merlin knows why she loved you. Wasn't she the only woman that ever accepted your, ahem, 'career choice'?" He laughed. "As a murderer?"

Braeden took a warning step forward, snarling, a vicious frown on his face. The nameless, masked Death Eater shoved the wand in Brae's face, clearly telling him not to move again. Thomas just laughed lightly again. "And I know something else about you, too. Well... more about your wife. Something that even you didn't know."

Thomas stopped, foot still tapping. He was obviously trying to drive Braeden mad with the slowness of his answers. At that moment, Braeden was simply glaring at him angrily, now standing up from the bed, of course. Thomas took a deep breath, still nastily smiling, as if he knew that what he was about to say would make Braeden lose his temper completely. There was a second of silence. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Then-

"Your wife-to-be was pregnant. Pregnant with your baby boy." Judging by the look of Braeden's shocked, horrified face, both Death Eaters burst into laughter. "So you didn't know..." Thomas said, snorting with amusement. Suddenly, the Death Eater was serious, still watching Brae gawp stupidly at him in surprise, and said, "Not only did you murder the only woman who ever loved you, and ever will, but you killed her son, too. Your son. Your beautiful baby boy who never even got a chance to live..."

It was then that Braeden snapped. Bellowing, he flung himself at Thomas, fists punching any part of the other's body that they could find. "LIAR!!" There was a flash of light and Braeden was thrown backwards, smashing into the bookcase behind him. There was quiet, as he wiped away a drip of blood from a cut on his head. He glared up at them, knowing he was dead already.

{DONE. Phew. I think that's the longest post I have ever done. Well, at least you know a little more about Brae's - or should that be 'Will's' xD - past now. Might have a few mistakes due to age and chars and stuff, but oh well... Poor Brae. Put under the Imperius Curse to do something like that... =(}

[Elizabeth James]

Elizabeth had managed to grab her wand and Braeden's, finding it by her own close to the door. She ran in bare feet to his office, flinging open the door. She quickly saw the scene. There were two robed figures standing over Braeden, who was on the ground defenseless. Without even a thought, she shouted,"STUPEFY!" She aimed her wand at each in turn, making sure they were knocked to the ground. She muttered,"Petrificus totalus." on both of them, so they were unable to move, and kicked their wands away from them.

She then moved over to Braeden, quickly bending down and saying,"Oh, God, Braeden, you scared the hell out of me! What happened? Why were they trying to kill you?!" She was scared, really, but more than that, she was worried. Why were they after Braeden? She wanted to know, and by God, she was going to find out. Now.

((Sorry for the god-moding. x.x It was necessary. xP))

[Braeden Andrews]

Braeden, who had practically given up by now, didn't see Elizabeth enter. The huge, nameless Death Eater that had performed the spell to throw him backwards was standing directly in front of him, blocking his view to the door and almost everything else completely. He just heard the door slam, and wondered wearily which other Death Eaters had decided to join the party now.

The next thing he knew, Mr. Nameless Thug was falling forwards, eyes drooping stupidly, and he had to move sharply to the side to avoid being painfully squashed by such a huge man. Thomas’ head was turned, a horrified expression on his face, before he was knocked out too revealing Braeden’s saviour. There, standing in the doorway in her robe like some sort of superhero, was Elizabeth James.

And that was the biggest shock of them all.

The initial shock of seeing her there, plus the weariness from before was wearing off quickly, and his eyes focused on her through his thumping headache as she crouched in front of him. Her questions confused him, and he got to his feet shakily, rubbing his head. “I- I don’t… They were Death Eaters.” NO, you think? What an obvious thing to state.

Avoiding her eyes, he bent down – which was a bad idea when he nearly fell over – and picked up a couple of books that had fallen down when he smashed into the bookcase.

[Elizabeth James]

She looked at him and layed her hand on his, stopping his movements. She handed him his wand and said,"Lucky for you I'm not a heavy sleeper..." She took the books from them and placed them on the bookshelf before taking his hands before he could pick up anything else. "Braeden... What's going on? You can talk to me. Whatever this is about, it doesn't matter. We're both okay, and that's all that matters. If you've had a bad past, I don't care. Done some bad things, I don't care... That's the past; this is now..." She wanted to know what had just happened, and she wanted him to know that she was there for him. No matter what.

[Braeden Andrews]

Braeden jumped slightly at her touch, and stayed silent as she spoke, and a long time after. What could he tell her? He knew she’d understand, and he knew he could trust her, but he still didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know where to start…

Coughing awkwardly, he turned his green eyes up to meet hers at last. Struggling, he said slowly, “Yeah. I had a bad past.” He swallowed, and continued hesitantly with a sigh. “… I was a Death Eater. I’m not anymore, though, I swear.” Panic was evident in his voice, and, although he didn’t understand why, he felt desperate to make her understand that he was on the other side. The good side, for a change.

“I hate them. The Death Eaters. I swear to God, if I’d have had my wand back then,” He paused to wave the wooden object threateningly. “There would have been some real damage done to the scumbags. I hate them.” The word ‘hate’ was clearly stressed in the sentence. “They ripped my life apart; then made me do the same to others.”

[Elizabeth James]

She looked at him and said softly,"I understand, Braeden. You don't have to defend yourself to me. I never chose a side, really. My family was rather neutral, or at least my brother and I were. We had to be, but we felt pressure from both sides. To this day, I refuse to choose a side, not because of power, but because I do not agree wholeheartedly with either side..." She had heard the panic. He wanted her to understand; he needed her to understand.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head against his shoulder. She was just glad he was okay. If she had come just a minute later... No, she wasn't going to think of what might have happened. She whispered,"It's okay now... They're gone. We're okay. It's okay now. You have nothing to be afraid of... And if they try to come back, we'll take them on together." That was a promise...

[Braeden Andrews]

When Elizabeth told him she understood, Braeden was happy for all of about half a second. He had wanted her to understand, yes; but, thinking about it, he didn't. He didn't think she could. "No, no, you can't understand. You say 'bad things' but you don't know the half of it. The things they made me do... it was out of my control. Do you know how it feels to do things, murder people and not even know you've done it until the ministry tries to arrest you? It's not okay. It's not."

He shook his head, pulling out of her grasp and moving to sit on his bed, head in his hands. "It's not okay..." he murmured. "We can't take them on together, because they will kill you."

[Elizabeth James]

He pulled away and sat on the bed, his head in his hands, and Elizabeth just stood there watching him for a moment. She then walked to stand in front of him and spoke in a strong, clear voice,"Braeden, if you think for one second that I'm going to just stand here and let them try and kill you, you are mistaken. If you expect me to run and hide from them, you are highly mistaken. I am not going to leave you to fend for yourself, and I am certainly not going to leave you for dead. Do you understand me? Now stop talking of this nonsense now. I'm not going anywhere, no matter what you say." She grabbed his hands, trying to pull them away, and said,"If you had wanted me to stay out of this, it's too late. They'd kill me anyway, and I can defend myself a lot better than you may think."

[Braeden Andrews]

Braeden looked up, indignant. "The only reason they even got close to 'trying to kill me' was because I got bloody smashed and spent the damn night with you!" It was a little harsh, he had to admit, but it had been supposed to come out differently. It had sounded alright in his head. "Well, you know what, Elizabeth? Sometimes running is the best thing. Hiding is even better. Especially from people like them. Fuck honor, fuck pride. Just run and never look back."

It was almost as if he had no control over his words; or maybe he did. It was hard to tell. "I know it's too late..." he murmured, voice almost inaudible all of a sudden. He looked up at her, eyebrows together, eyes sad. "I know it is..." His head dropped, hands still in front of him, in hers.

{Lame.}

[Elizabeth James]

She nearly gasped at his harsh words, shock evident on her face. She bit her lip to keep herself from getting so upset she started to cry. Why was she so emotional over this? He obviously didn't want her here, so why did she stay? She couldn't answer that. She definitely couldn't answer that...

She swallowed, taking a deep breath, and said,"I won't let you play the hero, Braeden. Sometimes you have to let people take care of you when they want to. And right now, I just want to take care of you. I want to be there for you, and no matter what you say or do, I'm not going to run the other way. I've never been the type to simply give up or run scared. It's not the way I was raised, and I'm not sure I would even be able to."

She looked at him, seeing the sadness in his eyes. "Yes..." She tightened her grip on his hands ever-so-slightly, letting him know she was there and she wasn't going anywhere. "And if they come back, we'll be ready for them, because I'm not going to leave you to fight them alone. Not now. Not ever..."

((Well. That was crap. *stalks off*))

[Braeden Andrews]

Braeden laughed sarcastically. "I'm not trying to play the bloody hero, Elizabeth; I'm just trying to save my own skin." Yep, that's right. Selfish. He spoke again, much quieter. "I don't need to be taken care of. I'm managed this long on my own- a damn long time, I'm telling you." He sighed. "Why do you want to be there for me? I can't even think of a reason that you might."

He felt the squeeze to his hands, and sighed deeply, removing his hands from hers and sitting back on the bed. He sighed a couple more times, the said, "I know you're not, but I say for the last time: I seriously think you shouldn't. You should just go. Get the hell out of here. Forget about me, forget about the drunken night you spent with me, and get on with your life. I'm not smart, but even I know that that would be the wisest thing to do."

[Elizabeth James]

She sighed and looked at him. "Braeden, I'm not going anywhere. Sure, you did some things you weren't proud of, but that's the past. Looking back isn't going to change anything. All we have left is here and now, okay? Now, I'm not going to leave, so you would be better off giving up on that idea and dropping this entire arguement..." She looked at him and said,"Why do I want to be there? Gee, I wonder. Here's a thought: I like you, Braeden. Ever thought of that? Maybe I don't want to see you hurt again, and maybe I don't want to have to find you again with those two jerks, only maybe next time you wouldn't be so lucky. So get over yourself and look at what's in front of you! If you ever want to live a life not looking over your shoulder, now's your chance. Here and now. So you choose, Braeden."

((When shall we cue zee next stage of zee plot? Which would take place via PM... xP))