//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight // Story: Hearts of Class III: "You, Me… Forever..?" // by ImAPonyXY //------------------------------// Dark Indulgences Sweetiebelle eyed Spike as her went on his way. She was filled with anger. She understood that he every right to be mad at her but he didn't have the right to boss her around and treat her anything less than a person. She stormed around the couryard statue in anger before sitting herself down pouting. She knew that she had brought all of this on herself by dating a guy while Spike needed her most. She knew exactly what she had done wrong, she just wished that she hadn't done it at all because the very thought of it was tearing her apart. She had to do something about it, she had to explain to Spike just how sorry she was so he wouldn't act so rude to her. She wasn't expecting everything to go smoothly though, she knew that there would be a lot of yelling and that this apology probably wouldn't solve anything. But what she did expect to happen was that she would feel a little better because she would have finally told Spike how sorry she was and to finally have that off her chest. She stood up and looked around, Spike had gone off but he was still seeable in the distance. He was heading into the forest. Sweetiebelle then commenced to something that could possibly be the stupidest thing of her life. She ran after him. Spike wandered through the tall grass that managed to tickled his shins. He was heading to the forest, it was a secluded place that he could by himself and relax. Wll, hopefull he could. He had never actually been fully in there before and so he knew just about nother about it. Which is why it seemed perfect to check it out while he could. Plus, it would give him a chance to get away from Sweetiebelle and if she was following him then no doubt she would lose sight of him in here. In no time he found himself becoming surrounded by the trees as he seemlessly wandered his own, mind-made path that weaved in and out of the trees. He smiled, the tranquility of the peaceful chirping of the birds, swishing of the wind and the nearly inaudable sounds of the insects that made their home in the trees surround him. It was like a completely different from the environment of the school. The forest was quiet, peaceful and beautiful, much like most forests he had been to, but this one felt different. It felt magical. He wondered in further, still following is own little mind-made path which took him to wherever. He past trees, lakes and even a waterfall until he eventually found himself standing on the edge of a rather rocked cliff that overlocked miles and miles of untouched forest. He was extremely scenic and he found himself getting lost just by seeing the vast woodlands. He capsulated with the beauty that was infront in, that was until he heard the voice of Sweetiebelle who was standing only a few metrs behind him. "Spike...?" she asked softly. Spike huffed and turned around slowly, staring her in the eyes with hatred, "What are you doing here?!" he growled. Sweetiebelle gulped, "Look, I know you hate me, and you have every right too, but please, just let me tell you how sorry I am?!" she begged. Spike rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, giving her a hostile glare, "Fine... but be quick!" ... "I'm only allowing this so you won't do it again!" Sweetiebelle nodded and took a deep breath, brushing her hair out of her face and fiddling with her fingers. "Okay. Here I go..." she gulped, "You probably know what I'm going to say, sorry, but I need to get this off my chest. Everything that has happened I brought on myself, I know that and I regret every action I did. I should have stayed by your side all those weeks ago. I should never have left you," she looked down, "I'm sorry Spike... I fucked up... I ruined everything," she began to cry, "this is all my fault and I'm not proud of a single thing I did... I don't expect you to befriend me again, or to even want to look at me... But please, I beg you, just forgive me..." she begged again. Spike raised an eyebrow before letting out a small chuckle, "no," he replied simply. "..." Sweetiebelle didn't reply, she just stared blankly at the ground. She expect this. But she had hoped that a miracle would bless her with the luck to convince him to at least forgive her. However, it seemed that that was just too much too ask. Nothing had changed. She had chased down Spike in this vast and dangerous forest to admit her apology just to be shot down again by a simple, two letter word. 'No'. She sighed and lifted her head to stare out at the vast view that bared before her. "Then I'm sorry for wasting your time..." she began to walk away, back down the hill with tears still rolling down her cheeks. "I guess I was asking too much..." she muttered to herself before disapearing from sight through the thick trunks of the trees. Spike rolled his eyes as he watched her leave before staring back out off the cliff of which he now sat on the edge. He could see the mountains off in the distance, they were tipped with snow and stood miles up from the ground. he smiled again, quickly forgeting about Sweetie and her meaningless apology as he once more got lost within the beauty of the view. That's when he heard a scream. He knew exactly who it came from. It was Sweetie's scream. His eyes shot wide open as he heard, and although he didn't care about her emotions, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let her get hurt while he was near. He got up and chased after the scream. Down the hall, past the trees, over the lake and again, past some more trees before he finally reached Sweetiebelle. However, it was not only Sweetiebell there, no, it was two cloaked figures. One of them, Spike could recognise the face of. They were an old enemy of Spike, it was Diamond Tiara. Spike growled, he knew exactly who stood before him. It was the Black Apple Gang again. What was worse though, is that they held Sweetiebelle in a tight grip with a black, curved knife to her throat and a hand over her mouth. Diamond took her hood off so that both Spike and Sweetiebelle could see her entire face. "Hello you two." she smirked, "pleasant seeing you here." she turned to face Spike, "but I must say, I'm surprised to see you." "Let her go, Tiara!" he spoke firmly. "Why? I though you hated her?" she replied, with a sadistic grin. Spike stood there shocked, he was speechless. She was right, he did hate her, but how did she know that? Had she been spying on them? "That's none of your business! Whether I hate her or not doesn't mean that I'll just let another person get harmed by the likes of you!" he growled, "Now let her go or I'll take her from you!" "Such strong words for someone who's about to die!" Tiarar threatened, she then turned to face the other hooded figure, "end her!" Spike quickly picked up and nearby rock and throw it within out hesitation. It hit the figure square in the face and knocked him off balance, his grip was released from Sweetiebelle but not before she suffered a large gash across the stomach. Spike then rushed over to the figure and puched him to the ground, stomping on his face until his feet were covered in blood. Tiara stared at him in awe, "you actually managed to save her life? Well done," she applauded, "but that doesn't mean that this is over." Spike agreed, "Oh yeah, this is far from over, especially while you're allowed to breath!" he growled and charged her. Tiara smiked and with a click of her fingers she vanished in a ball of black smoke. When it cleared, she was nowhere to be found. Spike sighed and growled in anger before going over to a bleeding Sweetiebelle who had leant herself against a tree. "Are you okay?" he asked half-assed. She nodded. "Don't lie to me, I can tell that you're not." he eyes the gash on her stomach, it was bleeding heavily. "C'mon, I need you to take off your dress so I can take a better look at it and hopefully stop any infection." Sweetie's eyes widened, "No! I'm not taking off my dress!" she growled at him and crossed her arms. Spike rolled his eyes, "fine then, bleed to death will you. See if I care." he did care, but he knew that Sweetie wouldn't let anything happen to herself. She sighed, "Fine," she said reluctantly and slowly, as well as hesitantly, slipped off her dress. Leavig herself in only her underwear as her ex stood before her. She was embarrased and couldn't hide her blush. "I-If you do anything, I will make you regret it!" she warned him. "The only thing I'm going to do is stop the bleeding, then you can put your dress back on." he replied and ripped the sleeve off of his long-sleeved shirt, he planned to use it as a bandage. He grabbed it and began to wrap it tightly around the gash until he could wrap it no further. He tied it off and sighed. He knew that it was only a temporary solution as she would have to be taken to the school's hospital immediately for help. "Alright, I'm done, you can put your dress back on now." Without hesitation she did so. She didn't feel comfortable with Spike seeing her like that, especially since they had broken up and hated each other dearly. Although, she did feel better about the fact that Spike had the heart to help her and also with the fact that no more blood was seeping out of the non-lethal gash. "Now c'mon, I'm going to take you to the infirmary." he placed her arm over her shoulder, "I don't want you walking alone."