Writhing Butterflies (Elsa)

[Felix Nicholas]

Felix had come to the end of his restraint. It wasn't that he couldn't handle the awkward level of emotions between him and Erika, that had been going on for weeks now and he'd settled into a state of just about being able to cope with it... He focused on the moments between them that almost were normal, those snatched moments of them just being as they always had been... But this was beyond his ability to remain silent, beyond his "doormat" nature as Dirty Laundry had so beautifully put it. Felix had known Erika since his day at the Academy, and never in his history of knowing her had she left him feeling so rejected.
Perhaps he was looking too deeply into this... "Rejected" was a strong word to use in this situation but he couldn't deny how much this was beginning to hurt him. Speaking with Franc on the issue had really brought his underlaying emotions to light, and against his better judgement he'd decided to act on them.... Well, at least he'd intended to. 
Every Tuesday evening the pair did as they always had, which was to sneak out into the night around the Academy, forgetting the pressures they both had on their shoulders and just immersing themselves in being around each other and being young and ridiculous. Even after everything that had happened between them, Erika still sneaked into his room and pushed him out of bed every Tuesday evening, seemingly eager for their usual midnight jaunt.
But she never turned up.
Felix had lain awake, waiting, unable to sleep since the conversation he'd had with Franc in the cafeteria was weighing heavily on his mind. He waited, and when it began to worry him, the radio host had gotten up, considering going to see her instead. 
He texted her.
No reply.
He opened up his laptop and accessed their chat window.
His previous message hadn't been replied to.
After deciding to leave it for the night, the last straw which broke the boy was Erika's lack of arrival to their Wednesday breakfast, Felix finding the complex mass of emotions writhing in his stomach growing steadily as his best friend seemingly had selected to ignore him. But even as the radio host approuched his best friend's quarters, the back of his mind was filled with self doubt... What if she simply couldn't cope with seeing him anymore...? That fact hurt him more then the possible romantic rejection. He thought she'd have spoken to him about it, though... Even one text...
When the radio host reached her door, he paused, taking a deep, slow breath. He'd come storming up here and now that he'd reached her room, he had no idea what to say or how to begin. He knew she'd be here... She didn't have any classes, and asking a few of her friends led him to her quarters. She'd apparently been acting more reserved and withdrawn then her usual self... He couldn't help but blame himself for all of this.
"Erika...?" He spoke, his voice barely audible. "... I'm sorry about all of this... Please don't hate me." He took another deep breath and knocked on the door, sighing before speaking again, louder this time; The butterflies which had taken in resistance in his stomach had given up fluttering and were positively writing now. "Eri? Eri, can I come in?"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

If only Elsa had her sister's phone. That was the trouble. She'd only recently found Erika's email and Facebook accounts, working to respond to them as well as she could. Imitating Erika exhausted Elsa, taking most of her mind and all, but she could certainly do it in short bursts. So far she'd made a few appearances to the masses. Nobody who would find her out knew though, which was what she vastly preferred. However, she knew there was no way she could avoid certain people forever, especially those that were closest to Erika. She'd hoped to stave off Felix and Everett, hoping that Ellen could somehow handle those two, but then she'd seen all the missed messages and lost most of her hope.

Then the knock, and the voice, and Elsa mumbled under her breath. She moved away from the computer where, ironically, she'd just been working on going through Erika's emails. She hurried to her sister's room, flinging off her own clothing as she went. Soon she threw on a set of Erika's clothing, barely paying attention to what she did. She quickly stopped at the mirror, attempting to add a little more curl to her hair, knowing that Erika kept their natural curl. It still looked, well, like Elsa's: a little flatter and straighter. She ran her hand through it, realizing that she'd left Felix standing enough.

"Yeah, hold on a sec!" she called, wincing at the amount of cheer she had. You're Erika, think bubbly thoughts. No, wait, pretend to think bubbly thoughts, but actually be insecure about yourself and wanting love. "I'm just finishing up some stuff. I'll be right there. Coming, coming," Elsa hurried to her door, took a deep breath and opened, smiling up at her "best friend." "Felix, hey, what's up?" she asked. Please let it be something that we can discuss in five minutes or less.

[Felix Nicholas]

The silence which at first greeted Felix wasn't exactly a reassuring answer... Part of him hoped she wasn't home so he could perhaps dodge this confrontation for another few hours, despite how uncomfortable it was starting to become; But he was fairly certain she was beyond the door, and simply choosing not to answer him. He considered knocking again, to establish the fact that simply ignoring him wasn't going to work, rising his hand but found his resolve giving in halfway through, leaving his hand resting against the wood of the door. "Eri-" He spoke again, bowing his head slightly before suddenly perking up again when he finally heard what seemed to be a familiar voice answer in reply.

He slowly moved away from the door, unable to prevent his eyebrows from frowning slightly at the upbeat tone to her voice; Surely she must know why he was here? Perhaps she was trying to start the conversation off in a lighthearted manner... Too bad Felix didn't feel it was going to end that way. He took a further step back from the door, folding his arms as the door finally swung open. At first glance, she looked no different, his best friend was as perfect as she had always been. Her hair looked a little messy and straight then it's usual well styled curls, but the radio host wasn't exactly focusing on the little visual details... But rather the words she'd just spoken.
Felix. Hey, what's up.
Afte everything that had happened recently, after all the awkward tension and now her avoiding him, leaving the boy stranded by himself... That was all she could say. It seemed so horribly casual that it hurt Felix far more then he'd care to acknowledge.
"... What's up. That's all you can say?" He spoke softly, the pained and hurt expression crossing over his features before he could prevent it. "Eri... Eri we need to talk." He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he effortlessly moved past her and into her room without invitation, something he was very used to doing. He continued walking further in, before pausing, sighing again as he clutched at a handful of his hair. How could he even begin? How could he word any of this correctly? This... This wasn't going to end well. "Eri, what... What happened today? What happened last night?" He turned to face her, his expression one of concern, folding his arms.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Oh God, what had Erika done to this poor boy? She'd... hadn't she kissed him? Elsa seemed to remember her talking about kissing someone or freaking out about something or something. But Felix looked almost, well, he almost looked like a character out of some kind of teenage drama. Oh God, Erika wasn't really stringing along both boys? Great, now Elsa had to play Erika Bellefonte, trollop who couldn't make up---wait, no, that made sense. Erika's emotions always ruled her, and she never seemed to know what she wanted from one moment to the next. Erika probably even thought she wanted Felix at times, or that she owed him love because he loved her.

Dammit, why did Erika's life how to be some kind of huge teenage soap opera? Oh God, Elsa was her twin now pretending to be her. Their lives had become a soap opera. Mutants in Love. Passion with Powers.

"Felix, I'm..." Elsa trailed off. She bit her lip, more because it felt like an Erika action than anything, "about last night--I... I haven't been feeling that great lately, you know? It's all this stuff. SPECTRE and prom and the squad and Everett and..." Elsa paused, licked her lips, "you."

Okay, yeah, that sounded like Erika. Totally like what her sister would do. God, this was hard. It didn't help that now Elsa was suddenly aware that Felix was quite attractive and, well, she'd always thought him one of the nicer of Erika's... No, no, this is not Teenagers with Powers and Overwhelming Hormones. Get a grip, Elsa!

"I'm sorry," she said, meeting his eyes, trying to look as confused as possible (not hard, as that was pretty much what she was feeling now).

[Felix Nicholas]

The almost tacky romance novel route their lives had taken a turn down wasn't lost on Felix, who inwardly felt the entire situation was almost horrifically ridiculous. Erika cheating on her boyfriend by kissing him, now choosing to seemingly avoid him with the mind to make a decision between the two of them. By all accounts most men he thought would have already given up on her by now, and it wasn't unknown to Felix that the way Erika had chosen to treat both him and Everett wasn't exactly fair. And yet... He couldn't just leave it. Could he really remain silent on the extent of his feelings, when it might cause what could be a chance at romantic happiness be snatched form his grasp? It was pretty idiotic to think this way, he realised that. Life rarely ever churned out some idealised love story. There was only one way he felt this was going to go, and that was badly. No matter what was decided apon in the end, someone was walking away with a broken heart.

Despite all of this, Felix couldn't believe that his best friend would simply choose to avoid him completely without any word of explanation. It seemed so frightfully out of character that it worried him, enough to where he had chosen to confront Erika, despite sensing that the outcome was going to be a poor one. He was so focused on what he was trying to say, trying to untangle the mass of words caught in his throat, that at first nothing seemed overly out of place... Except Erika's attempt at an easy dismissal of his questioning. This was so unlike her.
He bit his bottom lip, before sighing, the wave of guilt resurfacing. He didn't want to put her through this. "... I know, I know..." He spoke in mumbled reply, holding his hands up defensively, before letting them flop to his sides, casting the girl an attempted expression of mere concern, but the hurt was still very much evident in his eyes. "... But after everything, Eri. After everything, I don't even get one text?" He slowly approached her, a sad smile crossing over his lips as he gently brushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear. "... I'm worried about you. You've..." He trailed off, sighing again as he furrowed his eyebrows and averted his gaze from her. "You've never been like this before... Can we... Can we sit down and talk about this?"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Ugh, that hurt. This poor guy. But what could Elsa do about that? She wasn't Erika; she couldn't make her sister decide between the two of them, or at least decide that it shouldn't be two people. Yet Felix gave her that look and Elsa felt guilty, as if somehow she'd had something to do with this mess. Which she supposed would help in the whole masquerade bit that she had to pull off now.

Not a text? Elsa supposed she could try a little truth there: "Sorry, I lost my phone..." and wow, did that ever sound lame. So incredibly, spectacularly lame. Didn't make it less true though: Elsa really had lost her sister's phone, mostly because Erika still had it with her, wherever she happened to be. She opened her mouth to continue when she felt Felix brushing hair behind her ear. Elsa's eyes looked to the curl for a moment, her heart skipping a few beats. her breath catching for a moment. Worried, never been like this.

"It's just all this--" said Elsa, waving her hand, hoping to crank up emotion. "I just---I don't know what to do, Felix. About..." sit down, talk about us. Elsa nodded, gesturing, moving aside. It wasn't like she could just brush him off. She wanted to. She wanted to tell Felix that she wasn't feeling well or something. But that wouldn't really work and, well, it really wouldn't be fair to Felix. Elsa took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm all out of it," she said, waving her hand, "I just... I'm just going in circles, Felix. I don't--" she sighed, rubbing at her arm, standing there and feeling stupid. Was this how it was for Erika? No wonder she wanted to run away from it all. Elsa only had to be Erika off and on and she was already thinking that a nice runaway someplace would be downright magical.

[Felix Nicholas]

She'd lost her phone. That excuse sounded so horribly false that Felix almost laughed. Did she honestly feel that she could no longer be open with him? She'd never so openly lied to his face before now, and the fact she'd attempted to masquerade her obvious avoidance with such a terribly lame excuse... It hurt him far more then just admitting it. Funny how one comment could make you feel the furthest you'd ever become from another person, but the intention behind those words told him so much and yet so little. A flurried thought entered his mind a moment later, but was quickly torn from the forefront of his brain and pushed to depths of his sub conscious... Of that perhaps it was already too late to return to what they once were, which was more then enough for the boy... Being her friend meant the world to him. If he couldn't be with her romantically... Oh god, please let him be able to at least remain as her friend.

The radio host remained silent as he moved towards her bed, his gaze remaining on "Erika" until he finally broke it off with a bow of his head as he seated himself down with a sigh. This was the last thing he'd ever wanted... To put her through this emotional torture. As unfair as he felt the entire situation was to both himself and to Everett, it didn't quell the guilt writhing in the pit of his stomach. He lent forward, resting his forearms on his thighs as he slid his hands into his messy hair, his eyes clenching shut. "... I'm sorry, Eri, I... I never wanted to bring all of this down on you..." His expression softened slightly, a tiny, weak smile crossing over his lips. "I'm a selfish idiot, I know. But I just can't stand this rift that's developed between us... What we have... Had, Eri. It has to be worth more then this rift between us." He slowly loosened his grip on his hair, letting his hands to flop t over his knees, his eyelids opening a fraction to stare at the floor below him, the next his voice spoke the words were barely a whisper. "I can't live like this anymore."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

It took all Elsa had not to reveal her responses to Felix's thoughts. The poor guy was obviously torn up, and thinking that Elsa's actually legitimate excuse was Erika making up something again. His emotional thoughts kept going in circles, thinking about how their friendship meant the world to him, and that... that he wanted to be with her romantically, but would have to settle for friendship. God, Erika, what have you done to this poor boy? Elsa licked her lips and shifted, trying to be Erika, to think what her sister would.

Felix kept going. Wait, the situation was unfair to him? How was that... Elsa was so glad that she could keep her face stoic. Her sister had all sorts of issues; Elsa knew that. She knew that Erika was essentially an emotional wreck. Blame their parents; blame their name; blame being pretty; blame whatever you wanted: there seemed to be a drive in the Bellefonte children, especially the twins, to get some form of attention. How was it Erika's fault that she couldn't figure out her own emotions? And that these two, admittedly handsome boys, kept pulling her in two different ways?

No wonder she ran away from all this.

Sorry, never wanted to bring it down, selfish, rift...? And he was squirming. Elsa licked her lips, plastered an expression of frustration, of sorry on her face, dug deep, trying to unearth it. "Felix, there's just---a lot's happening and--" Elsa bit her lip, nearly rolling her eyes. She could, had to, do better than this. "It's not just your fault. I---there's Everett and," she shifted again, chewing her lip. "I don't want there to be this rift between us either, Felix. I just don't know how to fix it," well, at least that was completely and totally honest. The not living thing... that actually worried Elsa. What could she do now?

Oh God, please tell me I don't have to sleep with this poor boy.

[Felix Nicholas]

This was it. Everything he'd suppressed down to the back of his sub conscious the past few weeks was fighting it's way to the forefront of his mind, desperate to be acknowledged, desperate to be spoken beyond the walls of his head. He was so used to suppressing his own emotions in favour of burdening himself with the issues of others that he realised now he could barely cope with the chaos of his own emotional mess. Oh, he knew this had been a terrible idea... He should have locked himself up in the radio's office, remained on the sidelines of Erika's life until she'd settled the conflicts of her heart. He was placing so much unfair pressure of her... He knew it. But he'd come so far now... He'd allowed his emotions to take full reign in his head, especially after speaking with Franck, and now felt he could no longer cope without letting the girl know exactly how he felt.
He listened to her tripping over her words, starting sentences and cutting them off, trailing off into silence. The silence remained for some moments, the radio host gripping his hair tighter as he fought through the jumble of words in his throat in some desperation to form them into coherent sentences.

She didn't know how to fix this mess either. Well, at least they were in the same boat there... And he highly doubted what he was about to say was going to make it any better. Likely, it would simply make it worse. But at least... At the very least, all the cards would be on the table... She'd know, and he wouldn't have to consider the what ifs if she chose not to be with him... How incredibly selfish he felt...
"Eri," He spoke softly, relaxing his grip and letting his hands fall from his head to lean his arms on his thighs once more. He continued to stare at the floor, not feeling as though he could face her with the words he intended to speak next for fear of the reaction. "I'm... I'm going to tell you something, and after I do I'm going to leave you alone, okay?" He didn't want her thinking after his confession that she needed to give him an answer or any form of reply right away. "... I, well... You know I have feelings for you, I guess that's pretty clear now... But..." He trailed off, sighing with irritation at himself; Why was this so difficult? It felt like a wall he was desperately trying to get over. He took a deep breath, before exhaling, raising his head and finally gathered enough emotional strength to look at his best friend, a small, weak smile playing on his lips. "Eri, I love you."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Eri... that didn't sound good, especially with the few residual thoughts Elsa kept picking up. She needed to scan a little deeper, to dig into Felix's mind and figure out what she should be saying. The moment she did though, he'd know, he'd know that someone was rooting around in his thoughts and he'd certainly know that someone couldn't possibly be Erika. So Elsa kept her act, looking like a nervous teenage girl, which was fairly easy, given the current circumstances. tell her something, after that, he was going to leave. Well, that latter certainly sounded like a plan, and Elsa seriously considered that he just do that, leave and stop to think about what he wanted.

Instead he kept going, kept going while Elsa silently screamed at him to stop. It was like continuing to watch a train wreck; except that were this a train, Elsa could move out of its path. This, this she had to sit there and experience, watching as Felix just kept barreling down on her, heading straight for something that he already knew wouldn't be good. Feelings..

Elsa nearly shook her head, reading the thoughts. No, no, no, no, no, no, don't you---then the words came out. Her eyes widened, the shock unable or unwilling to be held within her. Her mouth fell open and she stared, gaped and stared and tried to think of what Erika would do in this situation. She couldn't very well confirm or deny something. Erika's emotions were a jumbled mess, yes, yes, that was right, a huge mess. So Elsa just had to act like that. Stutter: "Felix--I--I," there, there, that was definitely what Erika would do. Think coolly, Elsa, you've had more training. Let the shock out, but do it through the Erika mask. "Felix, I don't---I don't know I'm just---" she ran her hand over her head, almost snagging her fingers on the curls. Why didn't Erika just straighten her hair like a decent person? 'I just---I don't know what---what to say--I--" she opened and closed her mouth, lowering her hand, looking away, just sitting, waiting, hoping that Felix lived up to this whole process.

Oh God, Erika, please don't hate me for this.

[Felix Nicholas]

Eri. I love you.
He had expected the weight baring down on him to lift, however slight, with the speaking of those words. He however felt no different, perhaps even worse... He was an idiot to think all of this mess could be solved or made any better by speaking three words, no matter how much meaning they held, and it took doing it for the sick realisation to settle upon him. All of was a terrible, horrendous mistake, only confirmed by the female he believed to be Erika's reaction. His smile faded as the resolve he'd mustered fell away, his confidence plummeting through the floor with terrifying weight. The look in her eyes... She was afraid. He'd only increased the pressure on this already tense situation... He'd made it all one heck of a lot worse. "Eri... Eri, I-" He began, cutting his sentence short,returning his gaze back towards the floor. The radio host, the man who spent most of his free time talking to an audience, was rendered speechless. The sudden heat of embarrassment swept through his form, only increasing the already churning sickness in his stomach. How he wished he could turn back the past few minutes... To be back before her door and to just walk away.

He couldn't just sit here. He couldn't simply sit and allow the horribly awkward silence to continue... It was almost painful. "...W-Well, I siad I would leave afterwards so I'd best... I'd best be headin' on out," He spoke with a weak chuckle, a hurt smile upturning the corners of his mouth. "... I'm... Sorry, for... Coming in here. I shouldn't have." Glancing over to her, he slowly reached out one hand and placed it on one of hers, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. "Any chance you could, um, forget the past minute or so?" He spoke, attempting to break the uneasy atmosphere with a joke, breaking out another weak chuckle. "... No chance, I suppose?"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

More stammering, and Elsa could almost feel her stomach churning. she did not sign up for this. This was not what she had in mind when she decided to pose as Erika for the time she'd been missing. Then again, Elsa hadn't expected Erika to be missing this long, or for this to happen. "You love me, yeah, you said that," she said, talking fast. Erika did that, right? She'd totally be freaking out now, probably more than Elsa, seeing as Elsa was mostly just frustrated that Erika set her up for this.

He kept going though, as Elsa had more or less figured he would. It looked almost painful, as he sputtered out half formed words, tripping over them. Elsa attempted a nervous smile, mostly because she didn't have a clue what else Erika would do right now. An apology? Damn right she deserved an apology. Elsa shook her head though, knowing that was what Erika would want or should want or something. "You can come over whenever," she said, half meaning it. More like "he could come over whenever Erika got back." "And you mean forget your confession of love? Yeah, totally," lied Elsa. No way was that going to happen. This was going to be one of the first things Elsa unloaded on her twin next time she saw her. She tried to wave it off though, hoping that the humor could keep defusing this incredibly awkward situation for her. Her hopes weren't high though.

"But yeah, totally forgotten," she repeated, waving a hand. Didn't Erika use lots of gestures? Gah, Elsa just wanted this over with. She wanted to snap at Felix that he should just be a man and admit his feelings or something. How did he think Everett won Erika over? Through mumbling? "I'll see you around, really. Honest,' said Elsa. She wanted to just push him out the door, but somehow she didn't think that would go over well.

[Felix Nicholas]

If anything, the weight he felt on his heart seemed all the more worse. Telling her exactly how he felt seemed to have achieved litte
beyond increasing the pressure on her and making him feel terrible. He hadn't exactly expected her to declare his love for him in return, to rush to his arms like someone out of a tacky romance novel, but he also hadn't expected the uneasiness to increase and make him feel all the more awkward. He'd never felt further from his best friend then he did now. Something felt out of place, odd, as though there was some joke he wasn't in on. His forced smile fell, frowning as he watched Erika's slightly peculiar reaction. It felt so strangely cold of her... She was merely stuttering slightly, stumbling over her words, retaining an expression of shock. She was speaking with a hurried tone, presenting nothing more then shock, giving no reaction to him attempting to comfort her with the touch of his hand.

He would have generally assumed such a reaction to be simply shock, but this was Erika. He knew her better on occasion then he knew himself; She was emotional, she was warm and comforting, even after everything that had happened between them before now they'd still retained the occasional flicker of how they had been. This... This was different. This was almost cold. He... He surely couldn't have been the cause of all of this? She'd been under enough pressure as it was... Perhaps he'd tipped her over the edge... And here he was, pushing her down emotionally, making the entire situation a million times worse when the last thing she needed was to be around him. He moved his hand from her as though he's been burned, blinking at her in a mixed expression of hurt and worry, standing up from the bed without a word, his gaze never leaving her face. He stared at her, his brow furrowing further. "Eri... Eri I know you're not alright, but this seems worse... Worse then surely what I've done to you, what I've done to us. What's going on?" He questioned. "This isn't you... Eri, has something else happened?"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

What happened to "I'm going to leave now?" Elsa liked that plan; that plan didn't involve her staring down this awkward, loving young man while thinking one thing and knowing she couldn't say anything remotely related to it. She smiled again, letting out an exhausted sigh. That much was at least true, something that no doubt Erika would have done even though it was Elsa feeling the position. Not alright, well, obviously. She ran her hand through her hair, moving to sit down, trying to figure out how to word this in the best "Erika" way possible.

"It's just, it's like I said, Felix, there's a lot going on," she said letting out a sigh and closing her eyes, turning her head toward the ceiling. "All this stuff. There's been some pressure for me to, I don't know, settle down or something. All the stuff Dirty Laundry's been saying and all. I think my grandfather wants to make me the heir or something and there's Everett and..." she bit her lip, averting her eyes away from Felix. Act it out, Elsa, you could do this. And certainly don't think about how very, very similar all this was to what you were feeling yourself. You might as well slide that you thought you were better fit to be the heir while you were at it. "There's just a lot. Ugh," she closed her eyes and stamped her foot, "can we seriously just go with the forget this whole conversation ever happened plan? Because I could seriously use, like, a lot of that."

She turned toward Felix, giving him a smile that was half hopeful, half apologetic, hoping that this would be enough. Elsa really just wanted him to leave already...

[Felix Nicholas]

The radio host was wishing, wishing he could just leave. All he wanted was to go back to that moment when he hovered by the door and instead of knocking, just... Just walking away. Blissful ignorance was better then knowing how distant they seemed to have become from each other. But at the same time... He'd just given in to his own selfish needs and it had resulted in this situation, so knowing she felt so low... He couldn't just walk away now, as much as it hurt to stay.

He listened to her words, his expression unchanging. He knew exactly how she felt, to some degree... His own Father was still pushing for the boy to drop what he was doing at the Academy now that he'd come of age, drop it and return home to be moulded and shaped into the perfect businessman, a perfect heir to the Nicholas hotel empire. He knew how it felt to have that weight on your shoulders, the expectant family members increasing the pressure with each passing year, that any decision to stray from the appointed path is selfish, that you should be willing to give up your own life for the greater good of the family. Your desires, you choices... They meant next to nothing unless they coincided with those of your parents.

"... I know... How it feels to not feel like you're quite good enough," He spoke slowly, fighting back his pained expression to replace it with one of reassurance and comfort. He crouched down to the foor, by where she was sat, taking hold of her hand once more. Eri... You're your own person. Regardless of what anyone else says, or does, or orders you to do. Don't be afraid to stand up to your family, to demand change... It may be painful, but..." He cast her a smile, a faint remnant of his usual trademark grin. "Nothing in life is as painful as staying where you feel you don't belong... Don't... Don't let your fear control your future." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, gazing up at her face. Even now, even with all of this worry on her she still retained such perfection, such beauty and elegance. She- and he froze. Staring. His grin falling away in an instance as a wave of horrific realisation swept over him. He could almost feel the colour draining from his face... And all he could do was stare into her gaze. She was beautiful. She was elegant... But her eyes... They lacked the warm, friendly light that he'd come to know of his best friend... They held a cold, almost analytical stare that he'd never seen in Erika's eyes... And he was caught it in now like an animal in headlights, as every odd moment since he came to the room fell into place. He moved his lips, but no words slipped past them at first, too caught in the tangle in his throat. Finally, a single, soft word broke the bonds and made itself known. "...Elsa?"