by Ryan Wieser
He turned to her, his eyes wide. “I don’t know how to apologize any further. I don’t know what else I can do, Jessop, to show you how sorry I am.”
She smiled to him. “You can come to a party with me.”
His graying brow knitted with confusion. “What?”
“It’s time to wake up now, Hydo.”
* * * *
She led him down the corridor, a corridor that had always felt long but somehow never quite so long as it did with him by her side. “You’ve been asleep for quite some time now,” she told him, walking beside him as though they were old friends, instead of the truest of enemies. He had a bloodied F in his forehead, from where she had touched him. It seemed fitting.
He knew better than to try anything, still too weak and confused. “Hanson and the others—they thought Falco did this to me?”
She smiled, gesturing for him to step into the bullet first. He did and she followed. “Of course. The only person capable of besting the great Hydo Jesuin… No woman in Daharia could possibly have done it.” She mocked their naïve sentiment.
He stared at her hand. “And they made you a Hunter…”
She nodded, turning her hand over to reveal the fresh cut. “Indeed, they did. Not one hour ago.”
His knees seemed to go weak, and he fell against the glass wall, clinging to it for support. “I disappear and things just go to the dogs.”
She grabbed his arm and forced him upright. “I’ll kill you where you stand, old man. Don’t test me.”
He looked her over, guilt and disgust in his eyes. “I made you into this beastly woman, I know that. I recognized you, you know… those unmistakable green eyes… like your mother’s…” he began, but the look in Jessop’s eyes, the strength behind her grip, warned him off the topic.
He stammered on, staring at her with fear. “But I had to be sure, I had to find someone from the Grey, from all those years ago… I took your family from you, and you have now taken my legacy from me.”
She cocked her head to the side, releasing him from her steel hold. She’d had many conversations with him during her time in the Blade, but none with him conscious, barring their very first meeting. “Do you think we are even? Do you think that somehow, you’ll make it through this alive?”
He steadied his balance, staring up at her as he held the wall. “No. No, I don’t.”
“Good. Evil but not stupid.”
She turned from him and watched the passing floors as they rose higher and higher through the Blade.
Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist, his grayed, worn hand pulling at her supple skin. “I suppose I know why you put me in that dark sleep, to relive the memory of what I did to you, every day, all day… But why wake me? Why not just kill me?”
She wrapped her fingers around his hand and twisted it off of her. She continued to twist, further and further, until it was on the verge of breaking, forcing him to cower before her. She leaned down to keep her face near his, to enjoy the fear building in his eyes. He had been the greatest of them all, but months of slow starvation and immobility, combined with fear and the trauma of his sleep, left him weak in her strong hands.
She squeezed him just a little tighter, tempted to push him to the breaking point. “Because someone wanted to say hello to you first, of course.”
* * * *
The doors slid open and she stepped out onto the terrace, Hydo stumbling beside her, weak and cowering. Before her, every young Hunter and aged Councilman stood in a tight circle, half of them with their backs to her. She saw how many of them were armed, with their long Hunter blades trained on the epicenter of the ring they formed. She closed her eyes for a quick moment, letting the late afternoon breeze wash over her, letting the adrenaline, and the exhilaration, envelop her.
She took a deep breath, aware of the smile playing on her face. “We aren’t late to the party, are we?”
At her voice, half of them turned to face her, making a small gap in the wall of bodies, a gap just large enough for her to see the target of their blades. She first saw Trax, holding Kohl back. She was confused; Trax had clearly failed in their plan. But as Kohl struggled to the side, she saw another…
Very slowly, he turned to her and smiled.
“Hello, beautiful.”
Surrounded by Hunters, an unknown number of swords pointed at him, he smiled with easy confidence. He had always had such a carefree smile, a perfect row of beautiful teeth, and the whole thing was really rather lopsided, a bit tilted, as his lips pulled more to one side than the other, always giving him a younger, somewhat cheekier, appearance. The long scar and the dark hair remained the same; it was the gray eyes that had changed, filled with more emotion than ever before, it seemed.
It was only then that she realized the surrounding Councilmen were physically frozen by Falco’s use of Sentio, while the young Hunters were simply paralyzed by their own fear. There were too many for Falco to render immobile at once, but his reputation preceded him, and no one had dared be the first to strike against him.
“Jessop, get out of here!” Kohl screamed to her, his deep voice nearly disappearing on the wind, but not before stinging her heart.
She couldn’t look at him, not as Trax held him back. She took an apprehensive step forward and stopped. With ease she tossed her hand back, and immediately Hydo fell to the ground, writhing in silent agony, paralyzed by her. The gasps from the surrounding Hunters fell on deaf ears, though. She didn’t have time to regard their shock as they laid eyes on just one small fraction of her true self. All she could pay attention to was Falco.
He was finally in the Glass Blade, standing before her.
She took another slow step forward, and then another. He did the same, closing the space between them, holding her green eyes with his gray, letting the air grow thicker and thicker around them, until the entire world was a red blur in her periphery. He reached out to her and she leapt into his arms.
She ran her hands through his dark hair, over his neck and across his back. She stared into his gray eyes, eyes she had seen every day and night that they had been apart, eyes she could see whenever she closed her own, eyes she had longed for as they had lived these lies, and she kissed him.
He moved his lips against hers with ease and familiarity, and she finally felt as though she were home. His hands cupped her face and held her near him, and when she needed to breathe, they rested their foreheads against one another.
“That was the welcome I was expecting down in the docking bay, darling,” he teased, kissing her again softly.
“I was in a hurry to bring you Hydo,” she explained, pressing her small frame against his strong body.
He hummed softly, looking her over with love and longing. She kissed him once more, and he took her hands in his. “Business to attend to, my love.”
She knew they had much to see to, in their moment of great culmination, but she needed to know one thing first. “Wait—how is Jeco?”
He smiled at her warmly, running his thumbs over the backs of her hands. “He misses his mother.”
The words could have destroyed her if she hadn’t known she would be seeing him so soon.
“No, no, no, are you kidding me? Jessop. Is this a joke?” She turned from Falco slowly, and forced herself to look into the heartbroken eyes of Kohl O’Hanlon. Eyes that were as dark and wide as the sky of Okton Radon, glistening, hopeful that some part of what he had just seen had been somehow wrong. He stared at her and longed for an explanation.
It was as though flames were licking her throat, forcing tears to her eyes, broiling her dark heart in the thick oil of rage that it had always resided in. Kohl finally looked at her as she had always known he one day would, and if she hadn’t had Falco holding her, she may have fallen to her knees begging for forgiveness.
Before she could say anything to him, Falco spoke. “Yes, darling, Tr
ax here tells me that he is under your strict instructions to protect Kohl O’Hanlon from me. He was in fact trying to remove him from the Blade. Is this true?”
She looked from Falco to Trax, swallowing her tears, and nodded. “It’s true.”
Kohl shook his head at her wildly, his mane of blond hair falling loose around his shattering face, tears welling over, slicking his star scar. “You’re traitors… You and Trax…”
She stepped past Falco, gesturing for Trax to stand aside. He immediately acquiesced, and although every young Hunter jittered at his movement, they did not strike. They all knew that it would take more than one of them to stop Trax DeHawn, let alone the renowned Falco Bane, and they had learnt during her time with them that they couldn’t take her. She looked over their scared faces. They were confused, lost without their mentors—and then her eyes fell on an immobile Hanson Knell. He was frozen, but his eyes darted between her and Kohl, and tears were streaking down his face. She was shocked to learn his tears pained her.
She forced herself to look away, to look to Kohl. “We aren’t traitors, Kohl. We are loyal to the one true Infinity Lord and Protector. That’s Falco.”
He shook his head at her, his eyes filled with tears. “You’re insane. He’s held you captive and tortured you for so many years, he’s brainwashed you, Jessop. Can’t you see?”
Her chest ached to see him this way. And she hated herself for being the cause of his pain. “He never hurt me, Kohl. Not once. The man who set fire to my home, who killed my parents, was none other than your Lord Jesuin. He was drunk and had an eye for my mother; he had completely forgotten his mentee was with him that day, beyond the Grey. He killed them, and threw me back into the fire to burn alongside their corpses.”
Kohl shook his head at her, refusing to hear it. “No… none of this makes any sense. You said an Infinity Hunter saved you. We made you one of us!”
“Falco saved me. He left me with a Kuroi family I knew and trusted, and then he told us of his plans to overthrow his mentor, and restore the Blade’s integrity.
“He failed to gain access to Hydo, who hid behind his young Hunters, behind you, and refusing to kill his brothers, Falco fled, with nothing more than his blade and a Soar-Craft. He came for me, and with the help of those loyal, he began to build our Shadow City. He built it for me, so that I might never have to see the red color of fire ever again.”
The tears fell silently between them, but still she spoke, needing Kohl to know the story.
“Many came for him, many came for me. None were successful. There are none with greater abilities than Falco, and we all know that to be true.”
At her words, Falco stepped close behind her, running his hand over her arm slowly. “Thank you, pretty girl, but you and I have been neck-and-neck for quite some time now for that mantle.”
She kept her eyes trained on Kohl. “It wasn’t until I was much older that we realized we had completely fallen in love. Which was also right around the time we realized there were no true contenders for us any longer, barring one another. None could best me, or him, not with the sword or with Sentio.”
Kohl shook his head, wildly betrayed, tears flowing freely down his face as he fell to his knees before her.
“When I had our son, we knew we needed to make a plan for a different life. A child born of our abilities would be the greatest Hunter to ever live; he would be the true Lord Protector—after his father’s tenure, of course. We knew that the Hunters, under the leadership of the corrupt Hydo, would always believe us to be the enemy… they would continue to try to breach Aranthol, continue to try to corrupt our people into mutiny, and would never allow Jeco the opportunity to live, let alone rule. So, we began to formulate a plan.
“We arranged for the Aren to find a Hunter, and to plan an attack in the very tavern where I met you and Hanson. Of course, they didn’t know I would be there to save you… Nonetheless, we knew that was how I would gain access to the Blade. We knew that Hydo would leap at an opportunity to get Falco, even if it meant keeping me here. Falco warned me of the pool, of the tricks and tortures I would undergo. We practiced for years, until we were certain that all anyone could see in my mind was what I wanted them to be seeing.”
Falco crossed his arms, eyeing the blade of one of the frozen Hunters. “It’s true—even I cannot explore the depths of her thoughts without her permitting it.”
Jessop took a deep breath. She knew with every word she was breaking Kohl’s heart further and further. She knew this was her fault, and that if she were a better person she would simply say nothing and continue on with her and Falco’s plans. She wasn’t a better person though. She had lived beside Kohl, had slept next to him, had trained with him and been allowed access into their sacred ‘brotherhood’ because of him. She needed him to hear her explanation—to hear the truth.
“I needed Hydo to see just enough of me, and my past, to grow curious about who I once was. Then I put him into a sleep that would last as long as I needed it to… Hydo had a nice time, reliving his murder of my family, again and again. Didn’t you, Hydo?” she called over her shoulder, but he was still frozen in silent torment behind her.
“Of course, everyone would grow suspicious of me, so I needed someone who would champion my position in the Blade. Someone who owed his life to me… Someone who wanted me… And that’s where you came in.” Her voice was barely a whisper, her throat so tight it was as though she were being choked.
“I’m so sorry, Kohl. I never wanted to have that kind of relationship with you. I never meant to put you at such risk,” she admitted, knowing she would anger Falco, who immediately took an intimidating step towards Kohl.
“Falco, don’t!” She warned, holding her shaking hand up to him. He knew her well enough to yield.
“Kohl, I care for you, truly, I do. I know you hate me now, and I understand, but I needed you to know that the reason I couldn’t love you back wasn’t because of you, it was because of—”
But Falco finished the sentence for her. “It was because of me.”
She couldn’t fight the tears back, not as she looked into his dark, deceived eyes.
He continued to stare up at her. “You… You’ve been communicating with him the whole time?”
She nodded, wiping her tears on the back of her hand. “Yes… That’s how he appeared in Okton Radon. I used Sentio to tell him that Daro Mesa had grown too suspicious of me, that I needed him to die in a fight, to solidify my place in the Blade,” she admitted, watching Kohl’s shoulders jerk with each heavy cry. She had done this to him. She cupped a hand over her mouth and took deep breaths.
He shook his head at her. “Daro was right—you killed Bevda?”
Trax readjusted his footing at her side. “No, that was me.”
“Trax, how?” Kohl looked up at his Councilman with tearing eyes. Trax said nothing.
Falco moved to her side. “She’s not ‘just Jessop,’ and she’s definitely not ‘Jessop O’Hanlon’. She’s Jessop Bane, my wife. And I know what she had to do to get you on her side, and believe me, the only reason you aren’t dead yet, brother, is because I love her more than life itself and I would die before I hurt her… and apparently, right now, hurting you would mean hurting her,” he smiled with clear irritation.
Kohl simply shook his head, tears dripping from his jaw to the terrace stones beneath his knees. “I loved her.”
Falco clapped him on the shoulder loudly, causing Jessop to take a nervous step closer, but he did not harm him. “Of course you did. You do still, and you always will. She’s singular.”
He shook his head, his wide eyes seeming confused. “And… um… and Trax?” His voice was more fragile than Jessop had ever heard it.
Trax said nothing, struggling to face his brother. Falco answered in his stead. “The Kuroi had been tortured by Hydo long enough to know who the true Lord Protector is. They knew I could hav
e bested him then, they know I could now. The DeHawns go way back with Jessop and me.”
Kohl wiped his tears away on the back of his hand; he looked past her, to Hanson, and then back to her. “Jessop… even if everything Hydo did is true, there were other ways to do this. Ways that didn’t involve betraying everyone… betraying me,” he choked on each word, completely devastated by her.
Falco scoffed loudly. “You mean to not betray everyone who betrayed us first? Hydo swore to protect the people beyond the Grey, and instead he killed a family because a man wouldn’t let his wife be assaulted. And all of you—you were my brothers, and you bet your lives against me. I left you all alive that day, including you, brother, who I was once so close to. You swore to always have my back, and on the first chance, you sliced my face open… Talk to me or my wife about betrayal, how dare you?”
Jessop grabbed Falco’s hand, knowing his temper, and pulled him back to her. Kohl simply stared up at them, absolutely stunned, entirely broken.
“Now, the only reason you aren’t dead, brother, is because Jessop and Trax assure me there is somewhere else you can live out your life, away from the Blade.”
He looked past Falco, to her, and she saw his shoulders drop, realizing why she had asked so many questions before this day.
She nodded to him, choking on the first few words, “I found out the details from Hanson—that’s how he had that bruise on the day of the funeral… an accident I had to erase. I know where your family is, only me. I took the memory from Hanson. You can go and be with them now.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You were supposed to be my family.”
She ignored his sad reminder. “No one knows where they are but me, not even Falco, and I will tell you everything. They’re perfectly safe, Kohl,” she offered, hoping the enthusiasm in her sentiment might be shared by him.
He stared at her with reproach, his one eyebrow cocked high. “How could they ever be safe when a monster like you knows where they are?”
The words were a slap, but she deserved worse and she knew it. Still, she did not stop Falco from striking Kohl, a swift backhand. As he swayed on his knees, she saw another tear trailing down his face. He appeared defeated, and she couldn’t help but think back to that first spar they had shared, when he had told her she was the first to ever best him. Little had he known, the battle was one much greater than their Hollow scrap. She shook her head, not knowing what else could be said. He needed to leave, or Falco would kill him.