Characters: Abernathy and Sam
Setting: Sometime this week, Abby's room.
Rating: Mostly SFW. Language.
Content: Abby makes the decision to leave CCI. The only person she really needs to tell is Sam.


Her trunk sat open at the foot of her bed. Her clothes and school things were already heaped inside, but she was having trouble putting her personal items away. A couple of framed pictures sat on her desk still, some letters from home, her wand.

Abernathy wasn't about to waver in her decision. She never did once her mind was made up. It didn't make what she was doing any less difficult. Her father knew and she didn't want to know how he'd dealt with the situation when conversing with Pendragon. Frankly she didn't truly care; Billy could hold his own even against a woman of her caliber.

But she was walking away from this and she wasn't looking back. She was done with it if she was being honest. Her adjustment to the wizarding world had been rocky from the start. So many things had gone off wrong this year and she just couldn't deal with it anymore.

She was going home, going to take her GED, maybe register at the community college in Queensbury. Abby was going to give up her wand and try for a muggle life, because this one just wasn't working. Adelaide's death had been the last straw on an already heavy back.

The hardest part was telling her friends. How could she tell them what she was feeling and why she needed to go? Would they understand or would they fight her? She was holding it off until the very last moment. Writing them letters seemed like a brilliant way to avoid their reactions in person, but there was one that Abby had to tell in person.

She asked him to meet her in her room. At least seeing her bags out would break the news visually and then she could just explain. She wouldn't have to struggle through telling him that she was leaving. She just had to make him understand why.

She ran her hands through her hair and made herself busy until he arrived, packing the last bits of her life at Crescent City into her trunk and closing the lid on all of it.

Sam had been giving Abby the space he was sure she needed but he was sure to let her know he was there for her at the same time. The whole thing had been really weird. The whole campus had been an ugly shroud of sadness and anger ever since they all returned from break and found out what had happened to Adelaide. The quiet the had settled over the campus was too eerie and he was glad when Abby had asked him over. Maybe they could talk, maybe they could make sense of the whole thing.

Standing outside the her door he waited for a few seconds, normally he would just barge in and get his best friend riled up for trouble making or a fishing trip. Those days had been so full of adventure, ringing back to a certain nostalgia. This was different though, there was no joy as he stood there, contemplating whether to knock or not. There was something too somber about this, they were flitting away from their childhood and swan diving into issues no seventeen year old should have to deal with. Finally he knocked gently on the door, waiting for her reply, not wanting to walk in without knowing it was okay.

She startled at the knock and had to take another moment to get her comportment back together. She approached the door slowly and opened it even slower. "Come in," she beckoned and moved back in to sit on her desk chair. There was no way the emptiness on her side of the room would escape his attention.

Nervously he stepped inside, the first thing he noticed was the look on her face but the empty half of a room couldn't escape his attention for long. A thousand things ran through his head and he swallowed hard. "Why?" he asked quietly, the hurt clear in his voice. He had tried to cover it up and be understanding but it was just too sudden. "Abernathy," he turned his back, facing the window and ran both his hands through his hair. He turned back to her, his eyes big, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. "I just don't understand."

She tried not to crumple at that look on his face, but his hurt wouldn't change her mind. "I can't do this anymore," she said quietly. She couldn't look at him as she said it, turned her head to the empty wall as if that could take away the pain in his eyes. "I tried. I really tried."

Sam plunked down on her bed across from where she was sitting and rubbed his face. He had already lost Bobby when he was pulled from school and now he was losing Abby. His stomach bottomed out as he sat across from her and he had to wonder if maybe he hadn't pushed too much, just maybe things would be different. He pushed the thoughts aside, it was too selfish and he was there for her. "Tell me," he said more gently. "Please."

Tears fought their way out and she couldn't stop them anymore than she could think where to begin. She struggled for a thought, a single strand that might help him understand. "How could she do that?" It was the only intelligible thing she could utter before more tears choked her and she shook in the chair.

Abernathy hated crying; she especially hated crying in front of other people. She took a minute to sob and then quell it again. "I just don't understand. I know we were horrible to each other and then that whole Leon mess. But was it so horrible that she could just give up? If someone as hard as A..." and she found she couldn't even say her name without more tears welling up. She stopped and started over. "If someone that strong could just let it go and quit..." she trailed away because the rest of that thought was just too horrible.

"This place makes me crazy. I could be the best witch in the school and I'd still hate it. And I'm not. Maybe I have a little talent, but I'm not the best. It's fine. I can do things. I can make things happen. But it's not what I want. It's not what I want to do. This isn't where I belong; I don't have a place in this world. There's got to be a life out there for me, something else I could do. I just haven't found it yet, because I've been stuck here in this closed off world. I'm tired of it, Sam," she said looking up to meet his eyes finally. "This isn't who I am. I don't want to pretend anymore."

It dug right into his heart to see her cry, it wasn't something that had happened often and it was always something that made his own eyes watery. He wiped his eyes, brushing away the preemptive tears as he listened to his best friend. They had always been there for each other in the past, he wasn't going to let that change a thing now. "She wasn't as strong as you think," he shook his head. "If that was the choice that she made, she wasn't at all strong." He couldn't bare to think that those were the things going through her head.

This next part was going to suck. He had to let her go, he could see that this whole thing was killing her. "I want you to be happy," he said quietly. "If you're not happy here, you're never going to be," a fat tear slipped down his cheek and he wiped it away. "I don't ever want you to feel that desolate," he finally forced himself up and moved over to her side, putting his arm around her shoulders, he leaned his head against hers. "Go home," he said quietly. "But only if you're going to write me," he added with a warm smile.

"Well shit, of course I'm going to keep in touch. I'm not a total asshole!" She laughed a bit, more tears working their up at the absurdity her life had become. She leaned into him and sighed. "Thank you," she added quietly. "For understanding."

Sam laughed along with her, it was entirely insane. He squeezed her in a little half hug and sighed gently. "Anytime," he said simply. The rest of the year was going to suck but at least Abernathy would be happy. He knew they would learn to cope and live with it, long distance best friends, if there were two people who could do it he was positive it was him and AB. "What do you say to one last ice cream run before you take off?" he asked with a little hint of that typical Sam grin.

She wiped at her face and sniffled knowing she looked a mess, but she just didn't give a fuck anymore. "I think I can manage that."

"You're a rock star Abernathy Ford," Sam stood and held out a hand to her though he was sure she would refuse help up.

And of course she refused help. She looked at him as if to say as if to both the offer and her rock star status. She pushed herself up and rolled her eyes which were still a little pink from crying. "Come on then," she said and jerked her head to the door. "Let's not keep the ice cream waiting."

Tags: !complete, melchor ruiz