Vessels || Dustin Bates

Ricochet

The first part of the simulation wound up becoming a reality. I moved into Shay's room, both of us now having seen the other almost die was yanking us closer and closer. That was among other things. It was also in an attempt to add an extra empty room to our hallway so Captain Burnley's team could move into the same hallway. Shaylee was not happy about that.

Truly, she wasn't happy. She was losing half of her control over the team, her best friend had confessed that he loved her, and now he won't even look at her. Brock could feel the tension, so he stayed away from the team and around Siobhan and the computers. Adam had ditched us to help out with the vehicles. Shay tended to stay in the gym until late, giving into another Carnivore trait of the lack of sleep.

I moved the last box into our room, setting it on the couch in the corner of the room. I started putting stuff in the closet on that side. It would have the one while she would have the other. It helped that half my clothes were already in there. I heard a knock on the door.

"It's open!" I called, not bothering to get it myself. The door opened and Ron slowly walked in.

"Hey, Dustin," he greeted me, leaning against the wall after he walked in.

"Hey," I mumbled, continuing with my task.

"Look, I want to talk to you before I talked to Shay, and I just wanted-" I couldn't listen to it.

"I don't care, Ron. You said what you said, but don't think for a second that I'm going to give her up." I was facing him now, staring him down.

"I know," he sighed. "You make her happy and I wouldn't dare take that from her. Yeah, she could be happy with me. But you, she loves you more than anything. I couldn't live with myself if I was the reason she lost trust in you." I sighed, ruffling my hair.

"What's done is done. You can't change what you said. We all know. You've broken something in the team." I pushed past him and walked out of the room, trying to get to my lab.

"Dustin! Please! I am so sorry! I just said it, I had to say it." He groaned, running after me. "Dustin! Have you ever held something in for so long that you felt like you were going to burst? I had to say it. I thought she was going to die, and I had to or else I would have died, too." I continued to ignore him. We walked past the gym that Shay frequented on the way to my lab. I peeked in to see Shay sparing with someone. I stopped, walking in quietly.

"Ron, shut up." I hushed him, trying to focus on who Shay was fighting. They were taller than me with dark hair, shouting things over her as they went back and forth. Burnley.

"Higher, Diaz! If you're so powerful as a Carnivore, then show me!" Shay growled at him, flipping up and wrapping her legs around his neck, using her body weight and momentum to fling him forward to the floor, moving on top of him quickly.

"You're done, Burnley." Her eyes for a second flashed silver as she pinned him.

"Shaylee!" I yelled, running and hugging her tightly, pulling her off of him.

"What?" She asked, touching my chest gently. Her eyes were back to their sapphire hue as she stared up at me.

"I just, I could have," I swallowed hard, "I could have sworn your eyes just went silver." I clutched her tightly, ignoring the sweat that covered her body. Burnley rose from the mat.

"This is why you can't be the team leader," he said, walking over to us, staring her down. She stared up at him.

"Because my boyfriend has a fear of me turning full Carnivore again and he is seeing things?" She tried to pull away from me, but I kept a hold on her.

"No. Because you can't control it." He moved to stand over her. She shook her head.

"I'm in control. You haven't been here." She put her hand on my arm as if to tell me that it was okay. I slowly let go, my fingers trailing her bare waist.

"Prove you're in control. Talk to Ron like an adult. Don't like a child," he said, crossing his arms. The two people with the most intense eyes I've ever seen stared at each other, blue meeting a gray-green, both framed by the darkest hair, and fueled by similar fires.

"Fine." She turned away, walking towards Ron. She gently touched his shoulder, leading him out of the doorway.

"Well, that's that," Burnley sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You know, Shay is a nice girl. Angry and a little mean, but talented." He grabbed his bottle of water off the bench, taking a long drink.

"So, you don't hate the distrusted Carnivore?" I asked, leaning against the wall. He shook his head, closing the lid on the bottle.

"No. I've seen that she is human. I've been through her greatest fear, and I understand. If I had been more fearful of losing my wife, then maybe I would have protected her better. Maybe then she would still be here. I made a mistake, and I don't want to see Shay make the same mistakes that I did," he explained, standing back up. I was stunned. I was convinced he actually hated her.

"So, then she's going to be leading the team?" I asked, hopeful. He shook his head.

"Aston already said that we'll be leading it together, neither with more power than the other." He smiled, showing his teeth. "Course, she doesn't know that yet." I was truly shocked.

"Wow. That's great." I grinned, shaking my head. "Burnley, I'm impressed."

"Call me Ben."

"Okay, Ben." A moment later, Shay walked back into the room, walking to stand in front of me before literally just leaning all of her weight on me, her head on my chest. "Are you alright?" I asked her, wrapping my arms around her and placing a kiss on the top of her head. She nodded, continuing to pretty much lay on me.

"We're all good. Sort of," she left off. I raised an eyebrow, looking down at her.

"Sort of?"

"Sort of. We talked, I thought we were finished, and then he kissed me and walked off." I froze, as did Ben.

"He what?" I growled, trying to move her off of me, but she held tighter.

"Calm down, boy." She put more of her weight on me. It became apparent that she had figured I would act like this. "If you want to take your anger out, spar with Ben. He'll be less of a challenge than I would be, and you'd be more inclined to hit him hard." I sighed.

"Okay," I said, letting her move off of me. I stripped myself of my sweatshirt and t-shirt, throwing them at the bench. I had been in shorts all morning since I was just moving boxes and nobody gives a shit, and I didn't want to wear my glasses, so I was set to go.

Ben met me in the middle of the mat, stretching out his long limbs. With a call from Shay, I ran at Ben, faking high and going low, setting him off balance. I don't remember what happened next, but the next thing I remembered, Shay was pulling me back, holding me tightly and she anchored me to the floor, cradling my head against her as tears of anger streamed down my face.

"Shh, Dustin. It's okay. It's okay, calm down. Everything is okay. You're safe. I've got you." Her voice was soft and gentle, her touch even gentler. She kept her arm tightly around my shoulders, letting her fingers run down my arm and side, her other hand keeping my head close to her chest and neck. "Ben, are you alright?" She asked, her head moving to look up at him. I looked up out of the corner of my eye.

Ben was holding himself up with one arm, using his hand to wipe the blood from under his nose. He looked exhausted, his chest heaving. I felt sick, having known that I did that to him. He nodded to Shay, confirming that he was okay. Shay continued to hold me until I calm down enough.

"Dustin, are you alright?" She kissed the top of my head, her hand running through my hair gently. I nodded, gripping her hip tightly. She sighed, running her hand down my head to my chin. She tilted my head up to meet her eyes. "C' mon. Let's go lay down."

I shook the entire time we made our way back to our room. Shay moved the boxes off of the bed and let me lay down before laying down next to me. She continued to hold me tightly, placing kisses on my face where and when she saw fit.

"It's okay, baby. I've got you," she assured me. Eventually, I fell asleep, feeling less human than Shay ever had been. I was the monster.