Disclaimer: Don't own anything except original characters. All material (c) to respective owners. I write these for fun and make no profit. They're just random plot bunnies that live within my strange mind.

“Edward…do you like me?” It wasn’t necessarily nice but Nakeesha had to try to get him to willing meet her sister somehow.

He liked her friendship, he didn’t like her tone. It made him recollect the fact that someone with such a sweet tone could be dangerous. He nodded not daring himself to speak, he was afraid his voice would falter.

“I like you too, I will be leaving soon and I don’t want you to be lonely…” she paused seeing he was suspicious of her motives, those doubts were well placed. “…I don’t want Avalon to be lonely either.” He sighed again feeling anxious, Nakeesha would not quit. “You have to…

Her begging and pleading was cut off by the creaking of a door. She made a mental note to fix that problem but she was quite sure it indicated Avalon had come looking for her. She turned to tell Edward to hide but he was already gone. “Damn he’s quick.”

“NAKEESHA?!” Avalon winced, her voice echoed rather loudly in the room.

“You called?” She jumped turning in time to see her half sister laughing, she had gotten the upper hand regardless of her loud shoes.

“Evil.” She muttered watching her sister pretend her fingers were horns and chuckle demonically. “Who were you talking too?”

She dropped her hands surprised her sister had heard her talking; it meant she had been listening outside for a few minutes. “Myself.” She offered aware of a form ducking in the shadows of books, hearing Edward’s nervous shift of scissors again. “Dinner and sundaes?” she hoped she distracted Avalon enough.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

It worked, Edward and Avalon had yet to meet, he was safe until she could somehow get him to freely meet her. Even if her images weren’t the most pleasant, she knew that somehow they would eventually get along. “I hope they can.” She was also sure both were socially afraid of other people, it would be like introducing two mimes to each other, they would never get a word in edge wise.

Edward silently climb down the stairs to watch the sisters, he was growing a bit braver with Nakeesha keeping him hidden. The little white lies he could see were getting to the girl though, somehow he would have to get over his fear and speak with Avalon. He had learned some things from Nakeesha, it included why she appeared so sad all the time.

She had explained that Avalon blamed herself for her father’s death, he understood that too well. It had been a long time before he realized he wasn’t responsible for the inventors’ death, his father had been sick for a long time and hadn’t had enough time left to complete him.

“I don’t want to go home.” He listened to the sour tone in Nakeesha’s voice stifling his own laughter, Avalon giggled at her disgruntled sister, he liked her laugh.

“You have to…unfortunately she called and indicated I have you waiting at the house by noon tomorrow. Your bus leaves at six in the morning.” Edward frowned; he would have to get over his fear soon.

Nakeesha nearly panicked, she had only mere hours to get Edward to reveal himself. This had turned into a nightmare for her. She didn’t want either her sister or friend to be lonesome; it wasn’t fair to either of them in her opinion.

“I still don’t wanna.” She remarked resentfully.

“I don’t want you to either, but I have no choice. You’re sixteen and until you hit the eighteen…you’re stuck.” She giggled when Nakeesha tackled her to the floor making an effort to tickle her half sister.

It worked; Edward watched a smile on his scarred lips. He like to see them happy, it reminded him of better times in his life. “I need to meet Avalon.” The idea made him withdraw deeper in the shadows, he was petrified of her reaction of what would happen when he did.

He listened to the girls for a bit and then felt his heart nearly choke him. “Avalon?” her sister met her gaze. “What would you do if I introduced you to a friend I met here?”

“You’re friends are always welcome.” Avalon smiled warmly at her sister, not getting the full picture yet.

“I mean…if this friend was really, really, really sweet, nice, kind, gentle, but different somehow. A scary somehow, you wouldn’t freak on me would you?” She regarded Nakeesha carefully, her sister looked like she was about to puke, it wasn’t often she was afraid of her.

“Different scary how?” she was suspicious, her sister had been acting strange the last day or so and it concerned her a bit.

Nakeesha knew she would have to try to get Avalon and Edward together, she just hoped her sister didn’t shriek her head off. “His hands are…unique.” She didn’t want to say he carried blades for hands, that would freak her out.

“Unique?” she was no longer suspicious as she was curious.

“Yeah.” Nakeesha smiled an endearing pleading smile; Avalon was now truly inquisitive about her friend. “He’s amazing, fun and such a sweetie. He was hurt badly though and feels different because of his unique-ness. It makes him special though, beautiful.” Edward felt his face flush, but was unsure whether to run or remain.

“Beautiful?” Kim’s words come back to mind, Avalon remembered her begging her to just remember that things weren’t what they seemed; beauty was something that she had to see before fearing something. “Alright, I’m listening.”

Nakeesha was surprised her sister accepted this so easily, it wasn’t often she was this easy going and it intrigued her. “I…I need to talk to my friend first.” She managed seeing Avalon nod in agreement.

The hard part was how was she going to get to the attic without Avalon being suspicious? Walking out of the room she froze, he had ventured down and was there beside the stairs. He looked scared stiff, he didn’t seem to feel betrayed but she could see the true panic.

She turned seeing Avalon had distracted herself with a book, quickly Nakeesha motioned Edward to stay put and dodged to the door slamming it and pretending she left. As quietly as remotely possible she motioned her scissor handed friend up the stairs and both of them tiptoed off to the attic.

Once she was sure it was safe she met Edward’s dark eyes, they were wide so much so she thought they would pop out any minute. She tried to come up with a way to sooth him and winced, this was not going to be easy. Tilting her head to the side she listened to his scissors he was so petrified she was sure that she couldn’t get him back down those stairs if she tried.

“Edward?” her soft whisper made him jump, hands lifting to protect himself. “Easy!” she stated dodging back from him; she knew his reflexes by then and was ready for him to panic.

He snapped out of it long enough to lower his hands and try to breath. “W-why did you…” he stopped hands moving in an unconscious gesture of confusion.

She knew his question. “Because, you two can’t both hide from each other in this house until I come back. First of all I have no idea when I can come back and eventually you will run out of house to hide in. If I don’t try to smooth this over and she finds you on her own…well…you do not want to see my sister spaz out, it is not pretty at all.” He was still perplexed, she was using slang and wasn’t sure he knew what she meant.

Both heard Avalon moving around downstairs and exchanged looks. He looked like he was giving up and that is exactly what she needed, she had to get her sister and friend together for company sake.

“She would panic, screech, and act like she does when she sees a spider?” She saw that cleared things up, only it seemed to make him more frightened of his meeting with Avalon. “Shoot, it doesn’t mean she wouldn’t like you…she has never been the calmest of people, she gets stressed out too easily. I need you to remain calm.” She breathed softly seeing him considering her words carefully before he too sighed, eyes squinting in defeat.

“I’ll try.” He managed although he wasn’t certain Nakeesha had heard him.

“You’re amazing Edward.” Nakeesha startled him by maneuvering herself around his scissor hands and squeezed him in a quick hug before taking off down the stairs.

“Scared to death is more like it.” He said weakly hoping Avalon didn’t turn into some screaming girl at the sight of him.