Beyond The Tribe - alternative and parallel stories by the fans

Blaze

Episode Fifty Six

‘Seth?!’
He looked across at Briar in surprise. ‘Er.. Briar?’
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, glancing back down the corridor behind her to Ebony’s room.
Seth panicked and a million excuses raced through his mind. A glass of water? Visiting Ebony? Lost? ‘I was er.. lost. No, I mean, getting a glass of water and got lost on the way back. I’m still not used to this place, especially at night.’
Briar raised an eyebrow. Usually Seth would admit defeat and tell her the truth but in this case he really didn’t feel he could. There was a short silence and then Briar broke it with a half smile on his face, ‘You… and Ebony…?’
‘It's not like that. I was going to give her a piece of my mind about Danni.’
‘At 4am?’
‘Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. Anyway I take it you know about Danni.’
Briar wanted to know more but she knew that whatever was going on between those two wasn’t the priority. ‘Yeah, how is Danni?’
‘She’s fine now. I gave her an injection, some stuff from the medical bag. It was Mazicon, so I gave her an IV.’
‘Good work. Should I go and see her?’
‘Probably not, like you said it is 4am. And anyway, she’s fine now. I’ll keep an eye on her.’
‘OK, whatever you think. So I suppose I’ll hang around till a more decent hour to have a word with Bray.’
‘What do you want to talk to Bray about?’ asked Seth concerned.
‘Ebony.’
‘Uh-uh. Not a good idea.’ He took her arm and led her down the stairs, ‘Come on, I’ll tell you on the way out.’
Briar was a bit put out that Seth wanted her to leave so early but then she did have things to do, and he probably knew that. ‘So what exactly is going? Why can’t Bray know about this?’
‘It’s complicated, some plan of Ebony’s. She put valium in some drink at Lex’s place…’
‘Who’s Lex?’
‘Just some guy here - a friend of Danni’s. Anyway, Danni told Bray she was going to bed early and slunk off. But in fact she went to Lex’s room for a drink - she must have changed her mind, I don’t know. So once when she was there, she took the valium and passed out. Luckily Lex didn’t have anything to drink and he looked after Danni that night and came and found me in the morning.’
‘So…’ asked Briar, still confused, ‘Why did Ebony try to drug them?’
‘She wanted someone to find them together, which they did and…’
‘That’s it?’ she asked incredulously.
‘So I’m doing my best to stop Ebony and the rumours and stuff but still…’
‘Seth, it’s not up to you to infere with the politics of this place. If something’s going on between Danni and Lex then Bray has a right to know.’
‘Yeah, but there IS nothing going on.’
‘Can you be sure?’ Briar paused by the ladder which led out of the sewers and turned to face him. ‘She went to Lex, Seth, she lied to Bray. That’s right?’
‘Not really, well sort of, but it’s not like…’
‘It seems to me like you’ve got quite an invested interest in what’s going on here.’
‘How d’you figure that?’ asked Seth, angry now.
‘Well… follow the logic: Ebony’s trying to break up Danni and Bray, presumably so she can ‘have’ him all to herself. And you’re trying to stop her.’
‘I’m not…’
Briar cut him off. ‘It could be for a number of reasons: either you genuinly believe Lex and Danni are just good friends or, you hate Ebony and want to stop her or…’ she paused and took a deep breath, ‘or you love Ebony and want to stop her.’
Seth snorted indignantly. ‘Yeah well,’ continued Briar, ignoring him. ‘Whichever of those reasons it is, or if it’s a mixture of all three, I think they’ll cloud your judgement, so you should stay out of it. You are here to help Bray medically. Nothing more.’
Seth lowered his eyes. He didn’t agree but there was no point arguing, he’d known Briar long enough to realise that.
She put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Leave her, she’s not worth it.’ Briar realised that now - Ebony had changed too much for the worse and it would take her years to get her head straight, it would take her years to get over Bray.
Seth watched as she climbed into cold dawn outside and dragged the manhole cover shut. He tried not to think about what she’d said but it was hard. He tried to dismiss it as Briar being over anxious and psychoanalysing everything to death. His mind whirred round and round, mostly around Ebony and that made him even more angry. Before he wouldn’t have minded having a relationship with Ebony, it would have just been simple, but that was before he’d really known what she was like.

Episode Fifty Seven

Walking back through the sewers he heard a noise. It was just a slight shuffle and he paused to wait for another sound from the darkness, but nothing came. Slowly he put his head around the corner. ‘Salene?!”
‘Go away!’ She had her head hidden in her arms and her knees drawn up to her body.
‘Isn’t it a bit early to be…’ He looked around him and noticed for the first time the empty tins and packets lying all around her. ‘Salene? What’s going on?’
She raised her tearstained face to look at him in anger. ‘As if you don’t know!’
He sighed and sat down beside her. ‘Is this about the Danni thing?’
‘No,’ she said sarcastically, ‘I’ve broken a nail.’
‘Look, Salene, I’m sorry to do this to you…’
‘Are you trying apologise for making me look crazy and stupid in front of the others… in front of Bray!.’
‘You’re not crazy or stupid,’ he paused, unsure. ‘I mean, you know what you saw yeah?’ She nodded. ‘Well then trust yourself.’
Salene gaped. He was admitting he was lying! ‘But then you didn’t see her outside…?’
‘I said trust yourself. And if you’re doing that you’ll think ‘how can she be outside and in Lex’s room, but no, I saw her in Lex’s room so she can’t have been outside.'’
‘But why? Why are you doing this to me?’
He sighed. ‘Look Salene, it really is for Bray. I like Bray, we both like Bray and I know Danni’s not after Lex.’
Her eyes still blazed angrily at him.
‘Yeah but HOW do you know that?’ sneered a voice. Ebony stepped forward from the darkness. Seth got up immediately to be on equal level to her, not that he was; he was much taller.
‘I just do.’
‘Just do? That’s a great reason isn’t it,’ she said, locking eyes.
‘He just admitted it! He just said he didn’t see Danni outside!’ called Salene.
Ebony turned her head towards Salene and smiled. ‘Is this true Seth?’
‘Yeah, right. I said NOTHING like that.’
‘You did!’ she protested, ‘You said that…’
All Seth saw was the way Ebony was looking at him with that annoying half smile on her face, laughing at him behind those eyes. ‘God; you’re even more mixed up than I thought you were!’ he laughed, ‘First seeing things, now hearing things. You should get your head read!’
Salene stared in disbelief, what? After what he’d just said? She couldn’t bring herself to speak, tears choked her throat.
‘Get out,’ said Ebony coldly.
‘Fine. I was going.’
They both heard the footsteps climb out the sewers, then Ebony sat down and put an arm around the sobbing Salene. ‘Why’s he doing this to me Ebony?’ Salene cried from her shoulder.
‘Sshh.. I don’t know. He’s mad,’ she spoke soothingly.
‘You don’t think I’m mad do you? You don’t think I’m crazy.’
‘Don’t be stupid. Everyone believes you Salene, why shouldn’t they? You’ve been the person who’s kept this tribe together, everyone trusts you.’
‘Except Bray.’
‘Give it time, he’ll come round.’ Ebony swallowed hard to keep her arm around the girl and keep her voice soft while she was crying onto her shoulder. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t care worker Ebony, she’d rather have hit Seth than put an arm around Salene but it was better this way.
Salene was surprised and amazed, here was Ebony being so sweet, it was a side of her she hadn’t seen before. She sniffed and took her head off Ebony’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, Ebony.’
‘What for?’
‘For being here for me, for helping me like this. I didn’t realise you could be liked this.’
‘Yeah, well I think this is more the real me. I’m not all the tough, ex-Loco-leader you think I am.’
Salene smiled. ‘Yeah, I see that now.’

Episode Fifty Eight

‘If you’re not too SICK,’ said Alice sarcastically, ‘it’s time you got up for the market.’
Lex rolled over to face her. He was dimly aware of the ‘resolute’ face she had on. He felt like a kid who was trying to get a day off school by faking a cold. He was a little slow in replying so Alice leant over and put a hand on his forehead. ‘Hey!’ he sat up and struggled.
‘Nope, you haven’t got a temperature, looks like you’re going to be OK after all.’ Lex scowled, ‘Look, OK, I’m getting up if I could just have a little privacy,’ he said glancing meaningfully at the door.
‘Fine, see you in ten minutes, in the market.’
Alice crossed the Mall and when she reached the market she saw Salene and Ebony coming out of the door which led to the sewers. Her curiosity grew when she grew Salene had been crying and her concern, when she saw Ebony’s supportive arm around her waist. ‘What’s going on?’ she said quietly, aware of the stall-holders setting up in the background.
Salene looked at the floor embarrassed and Alice saw at once what was wrong. ‘Oh, Sal, you haven’t start that again have you?’
Ebony squeezed her waist. ‘When I get finished with him, he’s gonna wish he never set eyes on the Mall.’
Alice clicked. ‘So it’s Seth. How did I guess? What did he do?’
Ebony filled in, ‘He started calling Salene ‘crazy’ and saying how Bray would never believe her coz she was 'mixed up'.’ It wasn’t the exactly the truth but Ebony felt that was the gist of it.
Alice put a hand on Salene’s shoulder.
‘It’s just that.. I know what I saw and one minute he was admitting he was lying and the next he was .. he was…’ she trailed off.
‘He’s the one who’s mixed up,’ said Alice, blazing with fury, ‘He has no right to do this to you! Who the hell does he think he is? He came in here and we’ve looked after him and now… now he’s sucked in Bray.’
Ebony could hardly restrain a smile but she keep a serious face. ‘I’ve never liked him. There’s always been something about him, if only Bray knew…’ she said wistfully.
‘Bray deserves to know,’ said Alice. ‘He deserves to know.’ And she strode off, resolute and leaving the market deserted.
Ebony turned to Salene. ‘Don’t worry, if anyone will sort it out, its Alice, but look, you go back to bed, Ryan will be wondering where you are. I’ll stay here and look after the market place, Lex doesn’t seem to be around,’ said Ebony pointedly.
Salene nodded. ‘Thanks Ebony, I don‘t know what I would have done without you.’
‘Bray,’ said Alice walking straight into the room. ‘Oh sorry, I’ll come back later.’
Bray was sitting there was sitting on the bed with no shirt on and smiling at Alice’s embarrassment. Alice turned back cautiously and saw Ellie sitting in front of him bandaging one of his arms.
‘Seth reckon its best if we let the skin breathe for a bit,’ supplied Bray.
Ellie was grinning like a Cheshire cat, ‘Lucky us.’
Alice could hardly resist. ‘Are you sure Jack knows what you’re doing here?’ she teased. ‘Because after all, this is BRAY we’re talking about.’
‘Don’t threaten sis, he’d probably take it seriously, you know what Jack’s like!’
‘Girls please!’ said Bray, ‘Anyway, what was it you wanted to say?’
Alice’s face fell as she remembered her reason, she came and sat on the end of the bed. ‘It's about Seth.’
You could almost visibly see Ellie’s ears prick up. ‘Actually, Ellie, if you’ve finished, could you leave us for a bit?’ she asked.
‘Sure,’ she said unenthusiastically, tucking the end of a bandage in. Bray and Alice watched her exit the room.
‘Look Bray, a lot of us are worried about Seth.’
‘Why?’ said Bray defensively.
‘And Salene. About Salene anyway, he’s been tormenting her behind everyone backs, calling her crazy and mixed up and she can’t take it much more.’
Bray remaining surprisingly unworried, ‘And who told you this?’
‘Ebony.’
‘Well, there you go.’
Alice sighed. ‘I know she was telling the truth. I saw Lex too. Look Bray, I know this is hard but…’
‘So what were they doing?’ he asked as though humouring her.
‘He was asleep on the floor and she was passed out on the bed.’
‘Well that doesn’t sound too awful to me. Look, Alice, I trust Danni. And Lex for that matter.’
‘How can you stay so calm about this? Are you telling me you approve of sleepovers and what about what Salene saw? Are you determined to deny that?’
‘Look, Salene saw nothing.’
‘How do you know that?’ said Alice, her voice rising to a shout.
‘I believe Seth. I trust Seth.’ Bray said.
‘So you trust Lex, Danni and Seth but not the rest of us?’
‘That’s not true!’
‘So it’s just Salene you don’t trust?!’
‘You’ve gotta admit, Salene has had problems.’
‘So you don’t trust her.’
Bray got up, he was angry now. ‘Frankly, no.’
Alice shook her head, ‘That’s it! You’ve insulted, mistrusted and alienated all of us, if you’re not careful Bray, you’re not gonna have any friends left.’ And she walked out of the room.
Bray sat down on the bed and tried not to think about it.

Episode Fifty Nine

‘Ebony what are you doing here?’ asked Lex, surprised to find Ebony, quietly content in charge of the market.
‘Just filling in for Alice, she be back in a minute.’
‘Oh yeah? Where’s she gone?’
‘To see Bray,’ she said smiling.
Lex didn’t like her happy face, it meant trouble, ‘About what?’
‘Funny you should mention that. Its about you. Well Seth really but you two seem to be partners in crime.’
Lex laughed, ‘I’m sorry?’
‘Yeah, you look much better today. Recovered from your 24 hour bout of glandular fever have you then?’
Lex was about to reply when he felt a hand on his shoulder. ‘Oh hi Danni.’
‘Hi Lex, hi Ebony. What are you doing here Ebony?’
‘Just filling in for Alice, she’ll be here in a sec.’
‘Oh thanks. Er Lex? Can I have a word?’
‘Erm.. sure,’ he said, trying not to look at Ebony’s face. ‘I’ll be back in a minute Ebony.’
Danni’s heart raced as Lex led her off into his room. She sat down on the bed and he offered her a drink. ‘Er.. not this time thanks.’
Lex poured himself a glass of water and sat next to her. ‘So what did you want?’ he said, sipping the water.
Danni steeled herself, he was sitting there, so unconcerned he had no clue what she was about to say. Didn’t he feel it too? Suddenly doubts raced across her mind; should she tell him? It would change everything…
‘Danni?’

Alice arrived back at the market, flustered and still seething with fury. ‘So it didn’t go so well?’ asked Ebony.
‘He… he is so, oh I don’t know what, but when he opened his mouth it might have been Seth talking.’
‘He didn’t believe you?’
Alice shook her head. ‘Nope he did the ‘I trust Danni’, ‘I trust Seth’ line. He’s resolute, there’s no way around it. But maybe he does know Danni best, maybe… maybe this Salene thing is just a confusion on both sides. I don’t know any more,’ she trailed off. ‘Hey you! What d’you think your doing?!” and she moved off to sort out one of the market traders, edging closer and closer to the money box.
Ebony wanted to call after her, she wanted to say ‘No, don’t you see?’ but she couldn’t; the image of Seth gloating haunted her. She could see him smiling down on her and laughing. Ebony despaired, the battle was over, Seth had won. She didn’t have the strength to continue anymore, besides she didn’t have the tolerance to keep being nice to the likes of Salene. And underneath it all was Briar, Briar’s words, ‘what makes you think Bray would want you’ when even Seth didn’t want her anymore. How could she have been so stupid. It was lost and she should have realised that a long time ago.

Danni smiled to shake herself out of her thoughts. ‘Nothing, sorry I was three sheets to the wind.’
Lex raised an eyebrow, ‘I noticed. So seriously, what did you want Danni?’
‘Nothing, I just came around for a chat.’
‘We’ve gotta stop meeting like this, people will begin, or rather, won’t stop talking. Have you seen Bray this morning?’
Danni froze at the sound of his name. ‘Once,’ she lied, ‘But he was asleep.’
Lex moved a little closer, ‘Well that’s OK, we don’t want people to get the wrong idea,’ he said quietly, cheeky grin on his face.
Danni’s pulse raced, feeling him this near to her and listening to him, so close. There was a short silence, a comfortable one but Danni was still struggling for the words. He was looking right at her, she couldn’t misread his meaning this time. ‘If.. if I tried to kiss you again, what would you do?’ she murmured.
‘I’m not sure, what don’t you give it a try?’ and he leant forward to kiss her.

‘Hi Bray.’
‘Where were you this morning? You usually come in first thing.’
‘Oh well Briar dropped by really early,’ he said wearily. ‘She can only get away at about that time. So I went back to sleep afterwards and slept over. Sorry about that, what have you been up to?’
Bray paused uneasily.
‘What? What happened?’
‘Alice came to see me. She was talking about Danni and Lex, but mostly about you.’
‘Me?’
‘You met Salene this morning yeah?’
‘Oh, right: the Salene thing. I was probably too harsh again, sometimes my mouth runs away with me. Salene was slagging off Danni and so I thought someone ought to stop her.’
‘That’s what I read into it. So I said I trust you and got pretty angry with Alice, so I reckon I’m public enemy number one in here at the moment.’
Seth laughed, ‘Not true, once they realise it’ll be fine. And seriously, thanks for what you said about me, I don’t like it when people talk about me behind my back. And Danni? Trust me, I know exactly what’s going on and it’s nothing you should be worried about.’

Episode Sixty

When Danni kissed him it was such a release of anticipation and desire that the kiss didn’t measured to anything she’d experienced with Bray. Underneath it all was the awful feeling of guilt and that they were doing something so terrible that it couldn’t be contemplated. Lex pulled back first. ‘Danni, are you sure you want this?’ as if he didn’t know. ‘Lex, I want it more than anything else, I’ve felt this way for ages, didn’t you realise?” ‘I wanted to be sure…’ ‘Sure of what?’ ‘Sure that you really wanted me, not Bray, I didn’t want you to get hurt Danni.’ Danni’s face fell at the mention of Bray. ‘Don’t talk about it. Not yet, I can’t…’ The door pushed open and Ebony walked in. The two of them jumped, if she’d been there a moment earlier the consequences would have been awful. ‘Ebony?’ asked Lex, standing up. ‘Yeah, look I just came to apologise. I’ve done some dreadful things and all the time…Danni, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ Danni was flustered and confused, Ebony apologising?! ‘That’s OK, Ebony, I forgive you.’ She could hardly stand up and have a go at her now, besides, she couldn’t think of anything to say. ‘No, its not OK,’ Continued Ebony, ‘Just promise you’ll do one thing for me.’ ‘Er.. sure.’ ‘Don’t loose him Danni, treat him well. You deserve him, I realise that now.’ Danni was trapped, there was only one thing she could say, ‘Of course. I.. I will.’ ‘Thanks.’ Said Ebony quietly. She got up and left the room. Danni stared motionless in remorse and horror at the place where Ebony had left. She didn’t see Lex, sitting behind her with a smile on his face near to a laugh. A wave of guilt broke over Danni as she tried, and failed to come to terms with what she’d done. Lex put his arms around her waist from behind and lightly kissed the side of her neck. ‘Ignore her.’ he murmured. It was the best advice Danni had all day. Alice was angry. Where the hell was Lex? He should have been here ages ago and even Ebony wasn’t there to keep her company, she’d gone off looking mournful as a lost puppy- which was strange for Ebony come to think of it. And there she was again, from one end of the market place, Alice caught sight of Ebony climbing the stairs and going into Bray’s room. If Ebony had gone to apologise, the way Alice was feeling at the moment, heads would roll. ‘Oh look it’s Ebony,’ said Seth sarcastically. Ebony shot him a death stare- that was a kind of reflex action now. But this time she felt her cheeks burn; it was hard to apologise to Bray, but to Seth AND Bray it was near impossible She swallowed her pride, ‘Bray, Bray I’ve got to talk to you.’ ‘So talk,’ came the cold reply. ‘It’s about Danni…’ ‘No, on second thoughts, I don’t want to talk to you Ebony. Haven’t you caused enough trouble? The rumours? The lies? It take it, it’s you who’s been spreading most of them…?’ ‘Bray, Bray pleas!’ her eye implored him. ‘No, I don’t want to listen to you anymore, I think you should go.’ Ebony tried to speak but she couldn’t, she just stared in disbelief and all the while should could feel Seth’s mocking eyes boring into her. She couldn’t take it. She turned and left the room. Bray slumped down onto the bed. ‘Don’t beat yourself up over it, she deserves it,’ said Seth trying not to flinch at his own words. ‘Too right, ‘said Bray, ‘Too right.’ ‘Oh my God! The market!’ said Lex, standing up and heading for the door. Danni caught him by the hand. ‘Don’t go Lex.’ He stopped by the door and smiled back at her. ‘What d’you expect me to do, pull a sickie? Look, I have to. And you, go and see Bray, he’ll be wondering where you are.’ Danni’s eyes blazed angrily for a second. ‘Since when do you care so much about Bray’s feelings?’ There was an awkward silence. The unsaid answer filling the air. Danni put her hand up to her forehead, ‘Oh God, I’m sorry.’ Lex gave her a condoling smile, ‘That’s OK, Look I’ve gotta go.’ When he disappeared from sight Danni put her head in her hands. ‘How could she have said that? How could she have been so stupid? She was the guilty party here, not Lex. ‘Hey Danni.’ She lifted her eyes and saw Lex with his head round the door. ‘My place, 10.’

Episodes 61-65
Back to the Fan Fiction index
Back to The Tribe's Shopping Mall