by Rue Volley
“What?” Kai said as he looked up at the two of them.
“Apologize.” Theo said.
Kai looked at Sam and she shook her head no to him.
“She’s good.” Kai said.
Theo looked at her and then sighed as he stood up and adjusted his vest.
“Apologize.” Theo said.
“Dude… she just shook her head, I think she is good.”
Theo stepped up to him and grinned.
“I am only going to say this once… if you do not apologize to my sister, I am going to beat you so terribly you will not heal.” Theo leaned in and grinned. A sinister one… not unlike a grin that would come from Josh himself.
“Sorry.” Kai said as he leaned and looked at Sam. She sighed and looked at Theo.
Theo smiled and turned. “Okay then… let’s eat some food… I am sure that this train has a restaurant.”
“Sweet.” Kai said as he dropped the broom. Theo looked at the broom and then at him. Kai picked it up and leaned it against the wall. He turned back to Theo and smiled.
“Better… see, NOT being a pig is a virtue.”
“Okay.” Kai said as he looked at the floor.
“Samantha.” Theo said as he held his hand out to her. She took it and rose from her seat. She looked at Kai, and although her instinct told her to run to him she walked past him, allowing something in her settle, and it felt right, like she should be this way… but it was strange. Kai followed them out into the hallway and they worked their way towards the smell of food and a civil meal.
***
Johnathan stood still, Brooke holding his hand. They both had little to say as they looked at the now dark house with a for sale sign in the front yard.
“What the fuck?” Johnathan asked as he took a step forward. Brooke moved with him and they stepped up onto the porch and Johnathan looked at the swing. For a moment he saw Rue, swinging there… reading a book and then the image faded. He looked at Brooke and she shook her head.
“Where the hell is everybody?” she asked him.
“I would love to know.” He said as walked with in hand to the door. He pulled it and found it was locked. Then he focused and his hand started to glow, he placed his hand over the door and then a flash of light left him, it knocked the door open and cracked the wood.
“Ooops.” Johnathan said as he stepped in and looked around. It looked deserted, cold… as if no one had ever lived here.
He looked at the couch and then to the kitchen. So many memories, so many times he had been there before and yet this time it felt foreign to him. He took a breath and even the air smelled foreign.
“This is so not good,” he muttered.
“You think?” Brooke said as she started to walk through the house. She ran into Theo’s room and looked around, then she ran to Kai’s… both looked empty, clothes gone… abandoned. She stepped out into the hallway and placed her hand to her head.
“I don’t get it!” she yelled.
Johnathan ran upstairs; he barreled down the hallway and opened Rue and Josh’s room. He stepped in and stared at it. It looked normal, bed made… but eerily quiet. He stepped up to the dresser and looked at the photos. One after the other, then he picked one up that was of him and Rue… but he didn’t remember it ever being taken. A photo out of place and he leaned in and looked. It was him, but not… all at the same time and then he slammed it on the dresser and broke the frame, tearing the picture out of it and flipped it over in his hand, he looked closely at the date and dropped it to the floor… it had been just the past summer and he hadn’t been there then… he had not been there for almost two years. He looked around the room and the anger hit him like a wave. It made him clinch his fists and grit his teeth, his jaw locked and Brooke ran up to the door and looked in to see him, standing there obviously angered.
“Johnathan?” she asked him.
He stood there facing away from her.
“It’s me… in the photo with Rue. Me Brooke, from this past summer.”
“Okay… great, don’t you think that we should…” she said as she pointed behind her.
“You don’t get it… I wasn’t here this summer… I looked at the date imprinted on the back of the picture… I was not here.” He said as he turned and looked at her.
“Okay… listen. I know that this whole ‘other’ Johnathan thing is crazy, and I would stand here and freak out if I knew that it would help… but it won’t… I have thrown up and now I have pushed it down… deep down inside of me.” She said.
“How fucking long was he living my life?” Johnathan said.
“Well, it seems like for a pretty good chunk of it.” She said.
“FUCK!” Johnathan said as his hands started to glow. Brooke stepped up and held her hands up.
“How the hell do you think that I feel? I had a son with it!” She yelled back to him.
“We have to find this mother fu..”
“Johnathan!” Brooke said as she stepped up closer to him.
“Could you step out of the room?” Johnathan said in a whisper.
“Why?”
“Let’s just say it is a guy thing and leave it at that.”
“We need to…”
“Brooke!” Johnathan yelled and Brooke raised her eyebrows and stepped back from him.
“Fine… fine.” She said as she turned and stepped out of the room, she stood there and stared at him.
Johnathan flashed up so quickly it blew her hair back and he slammed the door, with so much force she jumped back and then she heard it… Johnathan screaming, and things crashing everywhere. Light shot out from under the door and she stared at it and then crossed her arms across her chest. She stood there, listening to him throw the biggest fit the world had ever seen and then he opened the door up and brushed his messy hair back with his hand.
“Good?” she said.
“Yep.”
“Sweet… can we go and ah…”
“Yep.” He said as he walked by her.
She leaned into the open door and looked around the room, everything was destroyed, the bed was flipped and things lay everywhere. She raised her eyebrows and ran after him. She reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped dead. Johnathan was frozen in place, and she looked up to see a Shadow in the doorway, that of someone she recognized, and then she looked down, a small boy stood there holding his hand. Johnathan clinched his fists and the boy moved behind the shadow.
“Well.” The shadow said in the doorway.
“No fucking way.” Johnathan said as he stared himself down.
“Yes fucking way.” The shadow replied.
“Elijah?” Brooke said as she ran from the steps and Johnathan caught her and she struggled.
The shadow cleared his throat and pushed Elijah behind him, out onto the porch and closed the door, he turned and smiled at Johnathan as lowered his head.
“Brooke, leave.” Johnathan said.
Brooke shook her head ‘no’ and the shadow smiled.
“Brooke… so nice to see you.” He said.
“Shut the fuck up.” Johnathan said as he pushed Brooke behind him.
“What… I cannot talk to my girlfriend?” Intruder Johnathan asked.
“She is not your girlfriend.” Johnathan said.
“Oh, I think that if you asked her you would find to not be so true.”
“Brooke… seriously… you need to leave now.” Johnathan said.
Brooke backed up and the shadow stepped forward, the light flickered and Johnathan tilted his head as he stared at the perfect duplicate of himself… minus the outfit. Johnathan grinned and looked at him.
“I am going to call you dick… does dick sound okay with you… dick?” he said.
“Dick” grinned and took another step.
“How about you call me brother.”
Johnathan crinkled his eyebrows.
“Nah… dick is better.”
“Well, I would say that makes you gay.”
�
�Oh funny… listen, how long do you want to do this?” Johnathan asked him.
“What… talk? I mean we should ya know… I have some fun things to tell you about Brooke.”
Johnathan took a deep breath. “You don’t have shit to tell me about Brooke…but I can tell you something about yourself…you are a rapist and a thief.”
“Oh that’s harsh…it really is, and I would say that it hurt me… but our family is so small now that I don’t want to fight, I just came to get Elijah’s Mother… he needs her, I would think that you would understand that… since we do not really have one.”
“I had a Mother.” Johnathan said.
“Oh please, we both know that we were born of a demon… everyone knows that… old story right?”
Johnathan glanced behind him and Brooke was backing up slowly.
“Ah.” ‘Dick’ said as he raised his hand and the air pressure shifted, Brooke stopped in place and grabbed at her stomach as he twisted his hand into a ball. Brooke winced and Johnathan looked at her and then back to his twin.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“But I am you… how confusing, I mean these are things you would do, if you allowed it to be… I mean come on! Who knows you better than me? We are one and the same, I just don’t hold myself back…I let my creativity breathe, I would suggest it, and it is liberating.”
“No thanks.” Johnathan said as his hand started to vibrate. “Dick” looked down at Johnathan’s hand and smiled.
“Seriously? I mean you want to test me? It’s fruitless, we are evenly matched… listen to me, give me the monkey and let me leave, I promise you that you can go on, well… for at least a moment or two. Who knows what bullshit those angels have going on. I would guess that they will all be there soon, seeing that Gracie has certainly arrived in Valon.”
“Again… fuck you… and thank you for telling me.” Johnathan said.
“Oh. I see, this is your stand, or whatever the hell you want to call it. I don’t have the time… in fact I have spent too much time messing with you already.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
Johnathan grinned and tilted his head.
“You just told me where I need to go…after I kill you.”
With that ‘Dick’ pulled his hand to his side and with a quick push he threw a ball of bright energy at Johnathan and Johnathan rolled in a flash backward and knocked Brooke down. She screamed as she hit the floor and he picked her up and tossed her through the kitchen window. He didn’t have time to worry about any injury to her and honestly whatever he may have done to her was far less than what ‘dick’ would do, he was certain. He swiveled on his foot and brought his hands up and ‘dick’ was in his face, he grabbed Johnathan by the shirt and flipped him over his head and slammed him to the living room floor. Johnathan grunted and rolled as ‘dick’ slammed his fists into the floor and cracked the wood. He looked up as Johnathan smiled at him and hit him under the jaw and lifted him from his feet, ‘dick’ slammed onto his back and spit out some blood. He wiped it from his lips and laughed as he rolled onto his side and shook his head.
“You see?” We both know that this will not end… it could go on forever, but I do have one thing that you do not.”
Johnathan tilted his head and ‘dick’ rolled, jumping to his feet and pulled two blades out, he rolled them slowly by his sides and started to chant, making the metal glow. Johnathan backed up and stared at the blades.
“You didn’t think that I didn’t know how to use these…did you?” he asked.
Johnathan took a breath and took a small step back. He cracked his neck and started to think back, to all the times that he had fought with Josh, all the war games that they had played in the forest and he remembered, he remembered everything.
All the counter moves, all the ways to battle if he lost his blades and then ‘dick’ charged him and he ducked, allowing the blades to slice over him, just inches from his face, he reached up and grabbed ‘dicks’ wrists and bent them back, causing them to crack. ‘Dick’ screamed and Johnathan caught his blades as he dropped them. He flipped them in a blur as ‘Dick’ stumbled back and thrust both blades into his chest and twisted them. ‘Dick’ screamed out and Johnathan pulled them back and slid to a stop staring him down.
“How?” he gasped as Johnathan stood up slowly and watched his double… the worst part of him... fall to his knees.
“You didn’t spend any time with Josh Barrington… he is really a dick, but a great warrior.” Johnathan said.
He lunged forward and crossed his blades. “You do this you die yourself.” ‘Dick’ said as he grinned. Johnathan crossed them together in a flash and cut off what looked to be his own head… weird as weird can get. ‘Dick’s’ head dropped to the floor, and his body slumped to the ground, and Johnathan stared at it and then shook his head.
“You don’t see that every day.” He said as he grinned and turned to the door. He stepped out and looked into the yard and Brooke stood there with a small boy at her side. He was holding her hand and Johnathan took a deep breath and stepped down from the porch and looked at her and then at him.
“Hi Elijah… I am Johnathan.” He said.
Elijah ran to him and hugged his legs and Brooke smiled as Johnathan tried to grin.
“Awkward.” He muttered as Elijah looked up at him.
Johnathan reached down and picked him up and stared into his face.
“You look like me.” Johnathan said and Elijah hugged him.
Johnathan looked at Brooke and raised his eyebrows.
“Okay… I think I know where we need to go.” Johnathan said.
“Where?”
“Valon.” He said and he took Brooke’s hand and started to run.
***
Gracie leaned forward and looked into the black water in the deep well under the Tower mirror. She took a deep breath and Alex stood there. Trying to remain calm, but had no idea what to expect. Gracie turned and smiled at him and it did calm him to a certain degree. She looked peaceful, and he tried to feed on that, knowing that he could only wrap himself around what she needed to do and accept it, he would feel as she did.
Cali stood at the door and watched her.
“Come here.” Gracie said as she looked at Cali and Cali approached her.
“I will need for you to leave your blade, and go… go to the gate and wait to receive the other’s.” she said.
“But…” Cali started to say.
Gracie straightened her shoulders and stared her down and Cali had no choice but comply. She slowly pulled her blades and glanced at Alex.
Gracie leaned up into her ear and whispered.
“I will take care of him.”
Cali smiled and placed her blades into Gracie’s hands. Cali nodded and left the tower room, closing the doors behind her. Gracie stood there with blades in hand and looked at Alex. She walked up to him and if it wasn’t for his love for her he would have ran, anyone would with Gracie standing before them with blades in hand.
“I need for you to take these.” She said.
“Why?” Alex asked her.
“I will call her… but I need for you to kill me.”
Alex sucked in his breath and stepped back from her. She sighed and tilted her head.
“She will not come any other way Alex, you have to drive the blade through my heart.”
“No.” Alex said as he dropped the blades to the stone floor. Gracie looked down at them and back up to him and smiled.
“No one will do this… no one but you.” Gracie said.
“I can’t.” Alex said as he stepped towards her.
“If you do not, she will not come… when she does, and she will save me by entering my body… she knows that I have to be here… so that my family will come.”
“Gracie please… there has to be another way.”
“I am certain there is not, you see… without me she cannot enter this world… I have no other way to bring h
er, to unlock her from memory… I have to be dying to make it happen and you…you will make this so.”
Alex clinched his fists and stared her down.
“If I do this… you will not die?” he asked.
“Yes… but you will my love.” She whispered.
Alex took a deep breath and looked around the room and then back to her.
“This is why you loved me… so that I would love you enough to forfeit my life for you.” He whispered.
“That is love, is it not? The greatest of sacrifices? I promise you that when she enters me… I will make it a good death for you… a quick and painless one. I will have control, but not for very long, I will strike at you with compassion and I promise you we will be together again… I will find you.” Gracie whispered. “Alex… I love you. I am a vessel… in fact, I am the key that unlocks her cage.” She whispered.
Alex looked at her and he felt it, his love for her taking ahold of him, knowing in his heart that he had to do this… for her, to free her of this forever. He slowly lowered to the floor and picked up the blades and stared at them in his hands. What a terrible thing to have to do, to kill the one thing that gave you reason to push on. He looked up at her and then he closed his eyes and raised the blades up, Gracie lunged onto them both, moaning as the metal sliced through her flesh and Alex cried out, not knowing that she would take it upon herself to make it happen, without words or a proper goodbye.
Alex pulled the blades quickly and lowered her to floor, blood started to pool around her, spreading out onto the white stone around them both and Alex heard it… the water… starting to churn and boil in the well. He looked down at Gracie and she grinned, blood on her teeth and she looked graceful and full of wonder, like the world had finally opened up to her. The black water started to spill over the edges of the well and Sara rose, in white battle gear, barefoot, streaked in black, and then she spread her wings, tarnished and gray, singed on the edges and she shook them out and took a deep breath and Alex stared at her as the light filled the room.
Sara looked at the two of them and simply stepped onto the edge of the well and then she floated down before them both and tilted her head, with a strange look on her face.