by Gareth Otton
“I still won’t kill people,” Tad said.
“Nor am I asking you to. I’m asking you to neutralise them. Together they can combine their abilities to overcome any defence we can throw at them, but if you can learn what Ashley has to teach, then we might just stand a chance. Think of the incident at the Welsh Assembly. If you hadn’t been there to protect our soldiers from all that broken glass, then we would have lost that fight before it even got going. You didn’t have to kill a single person to make a difference. Well, there’s a lot more glass coming our way and we have a lot more people that need protection.”
Tad stared at the Prime Minister in horror at the thought of being responsible for so many people. He was already being crushed by the pressure put on him, how could he possibly deal with the expectation to protect thousands, maybe even millions?
“I’m just one person,” he whispered, blushing in shame at the desperation in his voice.
“This is what we came here for, Tad,” Stella answered, her eyes showing her sympathy, but her tone firm. “I know it’s more weight on your shoulders, but like we talked about last night, it’s the price we have to pay to do what’s right. The truth of the matter is that you are going to take on this responsibility whether you use this power or not, so you might as well make sure that you are strong enough to make a difference when it matters.”
“But… It’s too much… I mean… Where would I even find the ghosts to…”
He struggled to finish a sentence and suddenly there was someone else who wanted to be heard as Tony wanted to be let out. Tad didn’t see a reason to deny him, as any danger he felt from Ashley had long since passed. Judging by the way Ashley flinched at his sudden arrival, Tad guessed he hadn’t been able to sense the ghost when merged with him.
It was that flinch that saved him from taking the full force of Tony’s punch to the face when the ghost surprised everyone by screaming and attacking the man. Ashley yelped as Tony’s fist collided with his jaw. Before he could retaliate though, Tad took control of his ghost and pulled him away from the startled politician.
“What the hell was that about?” Norman asked as Ashely recovered from his shock and his angry look returned.
“You knew, you bastard!” Tony screamed at the man. “All this time you knew Tad didn’t need to merge with a ghost to help them and you didn’t fucking tell him. They would still be here if it wasn’t for you.”
He continued to strain at Tad’s mental bonds, trying to get at the politician, and when Tony’s words made sense to Tad, he was half tempted to let him free. He hadn’t made the connection until now, but Tony was right. If he could give ghosts the benefits of merging without needing to merge, then he could have saved the twins.
That thought triggered new thoughts that led him even deeper into his past, thinking of other ghosts he had been unable to help. If he could have done this before now, then he could have stopped Maggie from needing to merge with Jen, saving Jen from ever being in the position where she would have been paralysed. Countless other examples sprung to mind and suddenly he was almost as angry as his ghost. However, he never got to express it before Tony gave up the fight and spun to face him.
“You need to learn this. Forget the war and all their nonsense, think what this could do for the ghosts of the world. No more nearly going crazy, no more people forced to lose their minds just because they’re scared to move on. You could help them all without even needing to merge with them. You have to do this.”
“He’s right,” Stella agreed, adding her two cents before Tad had chance to respond. “It’s just another example of how this power could help without you needing to kill. Think what we could do with all the ghosts who want to remain free in the Borderlands and want to fight, but are scared because any damage they take would just speed up their descent into madness. They would be a force to be reckoned with and could help us win this war.”
Turning to the Prime Minister, she said, “You talk about protection. Imagine an army of ghosts who could defend your facilities without needing to worry about getting hurt.”
“What about the dreamcatchers that destroy ghosts?” Amelia pointed out.
“I don’t think they have those. Mitena thought them up while she was with us and while Kuruk is good at using those dreamcatchers of his, I don’t think he’s got her genius in creating them.” Turning back to Tad and seeing that he was still on the fence, she argued, “Even if it’s not to turn them into an army, Tad, it at least gives them a choice. And it’s just one possibility of what to do with that power. You’re always telling me how Dream has limitless possibilities, well now is an opportunity to test that theory. Learn from Ashley, figure out how to use your power, and find a way to stop this war without the needless killing that will come otherwise.”
Tad could feel the weight of the stares from everyone around him, each of them with their own motivations for wanting him to do this. There was only one set of eyes that didn’t look hopeful about his decision, and though Tad would be loath to side with the man in anything else, he wanted to hug him for giving him an out.
“Will he even teach me?” he asked, nodding at Ashley and putting the decision on his shoulders every bit as much as it was on Tad’s. “It’s a moot point otherwise.”
“He better fucking teach you,” Tony snarled. “It’s the least he can do to make up for all the ghosts who have gone mad and had to move on before their time because he was too selfish to share this solution with you.”
Despite wanting to argue against Tony attacking his character, Ashley couldn’t come up with a valid response. After a long drawn out moment of silence, all fight left the man and he nodded in acceptance.
“I’ll teach him.”
Tad almost groaned as the last barrier between him and the awful responsibility fell away and he had nothing left to protect him from this decision. When he thought of what he went through last night, he wanted to turn his back on what they were offering. But he couldn’t forget Stella’s words and he had to remember the good he had done with his power.
Eventually, he realised that this was never his decision to make. Stella knew him too well, and she was right when she said he would be part of this struggle no matter what, because he couldn’t bear to stand by and do nothing while people suffered. It no longer mattered if he actually learned this new ability or not, because now he would always know that he had the potential to learn it, and any lives he could have saved by being stronger in the future would already be on his head.
In a way, he already had the responsibility that came with this power.
Letting out an explosive sigh, he accepted defeat.
“I’ll do it,” he said, and hoped that this simple phrase wouldn’t end up costing him everything he held dear.
28
Friday, 30th December 2021
11:51
Lizzie looked up when they arrived at her studio. Her double take was the first thing all day that made Stella truly smile. It was always fun to knock the headstrong young reporter off her stride.
“I guess she was just expecting you,” Stella whispered to Leon, who didn’t seem to hear her.
Stella looked around the studio as Lizzie finished up what she was working on. The place had changed a lot since Stella first visited. It had been turned from a rundown old barn into what looked like a professional TV station complete with sets, expensive cameras and lighting, and a team of ten people busy at work. Considering how many videos the young woman was putting out every day, Stella knew this was just the tip of the iceberg.
She would never admit it, but she was in awe of what Lizzie had achieved. In many ways Lizzie had done more than Stella had with the Dream Team, because Lizzie had done this off her own grit and determination, where Stella had Norman and the government behind her.
And I still lost it all, she thought, but refused to dwell on that. She didn’t have time to get lost in dark thoughts and had come here for a reason.
“Stella, is som
ething wrong?” Lizzie asked as she hurried over, a worried expression on her face.
“No, I just wanted to ask for your help on something.”
“So the world is ending,” Lizzie deadpanned, trying for funny but sounding half serious. Again, Stella allowed herself to smile.
“Not yet, but the way we’re headed...”
She let her words trail off as she looked for a private place where they could talk. The trouble with the studio was that it was all one space, and there wasn’t anywhere to hide.
“You have ten minutes to grab a coffee? We could do with a chat.”
“Oh?” Lizzie asked, glancing at Leon again like maybe she could get some answers from him. “Yeah, I have ten minutes. I know a good place that does amazing coffee if you fancy something new.”
The offer was appealing. There was a time when quality coffee was the best thing in Stella’s life, but it felt like ages since she last took the time to enjoy a cup. A touch of normalcy might be what the doctor ordered right now.
“Okay, lead the way,” Stella said.
Lizzie hesitated only a moment before grabbing Stella’s arm with one hand and Leon’s arm with the other and telling them to jump. A moment later, the world shifted and Stella stood on a paved pathway next to a busy road. It was neither of those things that caught her attention, but the famous shape of a building known the world over; the Colosseum in Rome.
“Come on, I was looking for someone here a few weeks ago and found this amazing little place around the corner,” Lizzie said, leading them off on a path that took them by the Colosseum on their right and then across the busy road before turning down a few side streets and coming to a small cafe that was squeezed between two larger businesses and was a little overlooked.
“We couldn’t have come straight here?” Stella asked, referring to the five-minute walk to get here.
“It’s always nice to see the sights,” Lizzie argued. “And I needed a couple of minutes to prepare myself for whatever you’re about to say. I can’t imagine you coming to me for help unless it’s for something that’s world changing.”
“You might be surprised,” Stella said.
Stella always associated Rome with hot weather, but it was too cold right now to sit outside, so Stella followed the others into the narrow cafe that was not that full. They took a seat on a table near the window and it was only a minute before a short and stout older woman came over, barking at them in Italian. She hesitated mid sentence when her eyes fell on Stella before switching to English and asking what they wanted.
As she rushed off to get their drinks, Lizzie was ready to hear what Stella had to say.
“Out with it then. What do you want?”
Stella laughed at the confrontational tone, but honoured it by getting straight to the point.
“I want you to start doing stories on me and Leon,” she answered, again taking great pleasure in the look of surprise on the young woman’s face.
“Stories on you and Leon?” she questioned, glancing at Leon as though she might be going crazy and needed confirmation. Leon just frowned back at her, still getting his head around this decision. “What kind of stories?”
“The kind that outs us as Eidolon and shows the world what we can do.”
Again Lizzie glanced at Leon, then looked back at Stella like she really did think the world was going to end.
“Come off it. You’re messing with me, right? This is a joke of some kind. I don’t get it.”
“It’s not a joke,” Stella said. “This morning, me, Tad and the Prime Minister paid a visit to Ashley Evans to talk about another side of Tad that he didn’t know about until recently.”
She recounted her morning, telling Lizzie of animancy, what it would mean for Tad and their efforts to convince him to learn it. She was being more open than normal and part of her was desperate to shut up. But after forcing Tad to do something so against his nature this morning, she realised it was long past time for her to do the same. She couldn’t expect other people to sacrifice for the greater good when she couldn’t meet that same standard.
“That’s incredible. It will make one hell of a story,” Lizzie admitted, the thrill of a new story getting her over her shock at hearing Stella offer information unprompted. “Why do I think you didn’t tell me that for me to share it with the world, though?”
“Because I don’t want you sharing any part of it. I told you because you were right in the past when you said you have always been a friend and deserve to be treated like one. I’m sorry to have overlooked that. You deserved better and you’ve proved you can be trusted, so I wanted to keep you in the loop.”
The surprised expression returned to Lizzie’s face, but Stella didn’t amuse herself with it this time.
“The other reason I told you is to set the back story for how I... How we came to our decision,” she said, glancing at Leon, who squirmed like he was thinking about backing out. “Understand, this hasn’t been easy for either of us, but it only seemed right after what we are forcing Tad to do.”
Thankfully, the woman returned with their coffees at that moment, giving Stella a chance to take a break to organise her thoughts. Once this cat was out of the bag, there was no putting it back. It went against her nature to share this with the reporter and she almost felt sick, as if she were trying to tell a lie. Therefore, as soon as the woman left after dropping off their drinks, Stella didn’t wait for Lizzie to ask anything before rushing on with what she had to say.
“We forced Tad to get stronger in the name of helping us with this war, and it’s only fair that I do the same. After speaking with Leon, he’s agreed to also shoulder this burden.”
“I’m still not following. What do you want from me?” Lizzie asked.
Stella took a deep breath to prepare herself for crossing this final barrier, then blurted, “We want you to help us cultivate some belief. It’s time to reveal what we can do to the world and start playing into our eidolon heritage. It’s time for us to get stronger as well.”
Lizzie’s stared at Stella, mouth hanging slack and eyes wide in astonishment.
“You, of all people, want me to share your story with the public? I... I don’t know what to say? What happened to the Stella that wanted to hide everything from me?”
“She lost the team she had spent the last year building and the best friend I’ve ever had in an incident that I might have been able to stop if I was stronger.”
Try as she might, she couldn’t keep all emotion from her voice, and her anger with herself for being so stubborn in the past and what it cost her spilled out onto the young woman.
“I’m sorry, Lizzie. That wasn’t directed at you. It’s just been... It’s been a rough couple of days and it’s made me face up to some hard truths.”
“Stella, what happened at the DTHQ wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that,” Stella replied, forcing a smile that she didn’t feel. “But it doesn’t change the fact that if I was stronger, I might have been able to do more. I was talking with Tad earlier about making the decision to learn animancy, and he said something that hit me hard. He said that in the end, it wasn’t a decision that needed to be made because it changed nothing. The second he learnt he had the potential to use this power, the burden of responsibility was already on him. He would always know he had the potential to do more and wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t live up to that potential.
“Well, the same is true for me. I have the potential to do much more, and from now on I can only view any situation I go into from that same perspective. I need to do this.”
Lizzie was silent in response, absorbing Stella’s words and giving Stella a chance to try her coffee.
“My God, this is good,” she exclaimed, and Lizzie barked a pleased little laugh.
“I told you.” After another slight pause, her smile faded and she said, “I don’t think I’m ready to out the eidolon just yet. I’ve got some interesting footage of powerful people g
oing into that building, but my guy on the inside has only just got the cameras planted. They haven’t turned up anything useful yet. I need more before I can out them to the world.”
“We’re not asking you to out the eidolon,” Leon said before Stella could answer, his discomfort getting the better of him. “Just us.”
“How do I expose what you can do without outing the eidolon?”
“By focusing on what we can do, and not why,” Stella said. “People don’t need to know how it works right now, they just need to believe we can do it. I don’t think we should handle this in the same way that you did with dreamwalkers when you first met Tad. I think a more subtle approach is called for here. You still have that exposé you were going to do on the eidolon before you knew what they were?”
“Of course,” Lizzie said.
“And do you have any footage of me doing anything strange?”
This time, Lizzie hesitated before agreeing.
“Then I think that the best way we can come at this is that you release stories about us as theories to the world, and use that footage as proof. Only this time, don’t blur the faces. Make this look like an exposé rather than an interview with us. I think that will build the belief more naturally that way.”
Lizzie was shaking her head in amazement at Stella’s words.
“I can’t believe I am hearing this from you of all people,” she admitted.
Stella smiled at that, but the smile was short lived. She glanced at Leon, who still looked uncomfortable as Stella was giving Lizzie the permission to go against everything he had been taught to respect for his entire life. However, she was sure that this was the right play for them and it was the direction they needed to go.