Bonus Chapter- Adrien's POV

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A/N- I really wanted to write this chapter but it didn't really fit into the storyline so I decided to create the addition of bonus chapters where if there is a scene you guys want to see either from a different perspective or one that was mentioned but not elaborated on, I'll write them into a bonus chapter. I am going to try and slot them at the point they happen in the story so this is set right after Archer's funeral.

Also, if you have any bonus chapter requests, leave them here!

TW: Mentions of suicide

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I love to read. Love to get lost in stories and worlds different to my own. It's oddly calming, knowing that someone else, no matter how real, is going through the same thing you are. If you asked me a few years ago, I would have told you that I had never read a whole book in my life- that I hated to read. But now... now I wouldn't trade my ability to lose myself in a good book for the world. Because a book is the one place you can forget about reality. 

Because I can't forget about Archer. 

I can't unsee his empty chasm of a body. It was so... vivid. So... painful. We had never really gotten along too well me and Archer but him and Ty had... they'd been best friends, inseparable. Most likely brought together by similar losses.

I hear a creak as a floorboard beside me caves under the pressure being exerted upon it. I look reluctantly up from the book in my hands, tracing the last few pages with my finger, desperate to turn them.

"Xavier..." I murmur upon seeing his face by the doorway. I'd been trying to avoid him for a while now, something extremely hard to do when he constantly looks at me through those sad, sweet eyes. But he's not sweet. He's anything but. He's a killer, a murderer.

"Hey..." He mutters sheepishly. Okay, maybe not a murderer... The boy runs a hand through his hair, his smile turning into a slight frown. I couldn't help but smile at that, the way the nerves crept onto his face, the way he breathes deep in the second after... "Adrien... I know you've been avoiding me... but... could we talk?"

I sit up in the armchair I am sat in, closing my book with a finger trapped in the page I am currently reading. There's something about him, something that makes my stomach churn.

"Sure, we can talk..." I state, glaring at him.

"I... I know you feel it too," I move to interrupt him but he speaks over me, "Don't... Don't try to pretend..." He trails off, "Adrien... I get it. You hate me. I know that. I understand that. That's all I wanted to say." I am taken aback by these words, shocked by the other boy's thoughtfulness, his empathy. And even further shocked by the calm tone in which the words were said.

"Ok..." I murmur, my gaze landing anywhere but on him. Xavier turns to leave but stops as he catches sight of a particular spine on the bookshelf.

"You should read this one, you'd like it..." He says, picking the book off the shelf and handing it to me.

'The Death of A Sycamore'

I study the cover, it's old, the pages woven with dust. Xavier watches as I fold the page of the book in my hand, placing it by my feet and moving to brush away the particles from the cover, revealing a tree decorating the cardboard. As I glance up at him, he flinches, moving towards the door.

"Thanks..." I state coldly before he leaves the room, the warm aura he seems to bring fading slowly.

I flip the book open to the first page, my eyes crawling across the first few lines.

Below the shade of a sycamore tree is eternity. Below the branches of a sycamore tree is protection. But when the branches are burnt, when the smoke rises; the bright glare of the sun echoes mortality and the harsh wind, vulnerability...

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