Thank goodness I was facing the other way.
I definitely wasn't hoping to have to look S in the eye.
The moment he spoke, Emotion and Logic started yelling at one another.
He's gonna ask Brandon to kill her!
Do you really think I didn't think about that?
We can't do that!
Jeez, Emotion. Calm down. We have to stick to the plan.
No! All you care about is your stupid plan. You don't even think about the things that could happen to Brandon.
Ok, Brandon. You have to do what S says. It's the only way we can keep the plan alive.
WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!
"Now, Brandon," said S. "It appears you found a friend."
Deny it.
"N-no," I said, keeping my eyes on Ashley.
"Very well. If you don't know her, kill her."
You'll have to do it, man.
No! Don't do it. She's way too important to you.
Shut up, Emotion.
You shut up, Logic.
You really think that the way he feels could possibly compete with the end of the world? We have to do something to save our friends and everyone, not just one person. Brandon do it!
I pulled my sword out of my sheath and looked at her eyes. They were serious and cold, their light blue startling me. She looked not desperate, not angry, but disappointed, as if to say that I had failed her judgement in some way.
Brandon, she is the one. You've known that for a long time. You understand how you really feel about her.
I lowered my sword. She continued to stare at me.
You have tried all your might to get her to love you back.
I took a shaky breath.
Why don't you take that chance now?
My sword clattered to the ground as I reached my hand into my pocket.
"What?" growled S. "You dare defy me? Why, in the world, would you choose an insolent girl over true power."
"Because, behind the scenes, she means the world to me." I took the bone from my pocket and pressed it into her hands. She looked at me in awe.
"I want to tell her that she's beautiful, and show her that she's loved." I touched my index finger and middle finger to my eye and concentrated, before touching them gently to hers. A dim blue aura surrounded her.
"I want to hold her hand when she's scared, and tell her how much I care." I looked down and picked my sword up again.
"But that won't win her heart. I know it won't." I turned and stared at S, eyes on him.
He snarled, gritting his teeth. "Then, I'll kill her for you." He closed his eyes and opened them, utterly surprised. "Impossible!"
I fell to my knees, wincing. I felt my energy slowly drain from my body. What I had just done was unheard of, the first moment in history to have ever happened.
"You no longer have control over me, because I no longer possess the Eye."
He yelled and advanced, carrying his blade. Ashley looked down at me, mouth moving wordlessly. Finally, she spoke.
"Brandon, is that how you really feel?"
I grasped a ball from my coat, twisted it, and tossed it to her. She caught it instinctively and burst into scattered light right before a sword passed through where she would have been.
I knelt, paralyzed. The last of my strength left me. S walked up to me patiently and looked me in the eye. I stared back intensely.
We stood there for a while. Finally, he decided to speak.
"I had not realized, Brandon, that you are the same as you were back in the day."
"You should have. It would have made your job easier."
"I assumed you would be on our side."
"You know what they say about assuming: It makes an ass our of you and me."
He shrugged. "You have served us well anyways. Perhaps I will just take the bone and slay you." He reached into my pocket and froze.
I laughed. "First rule of being a child of Hermes. Always be one step ahead."
He locked eyes with me once again. "Where is she?"
I looked back, dead serious. "Some place you'll never find. And even if you did, you'll never be able to touch her." He stiffened. "Never underestimate me. It may be the last thing you ever do."
His eye slowly rotated, the spirits within drifting around. He shook his head. "Maybe you would rather show your wit to the rest of the forces then."
I smiled. "Let's see if they have what it takes to break me."
He grabbed my arm, and whisked us away.
________________________________________________________________________________
I opened my eyes and found myself in front of an old abandoned mill. I was wondering why I was here until I looked down at the small golden ball and at the blood stains inside the mill.
This was the place that we had first left one another at, and Brandon had thought enough to mark it.
This is the place where I betrayed him.
I sat down and stared at the bone. It was surprisingly light, but, as I tested it on numerous materials, it proved to be unusually sturdy.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bear sprang up from the trees. It reared up and brought its front paws down. I shrieked and covered my head.
Before it could touch me, though, a blue aura surrounded me. The bear was stopped, then launched many feet into the air before landing in the distance. I looked at my hands to see a faint blue outline slowly fade into my skin. I clenched my fists and stared at the falling sun.
What had Brandon done to me?
________________________________________________________________________________
End of Part 2
And when he choose to come,
Then he will answer all our prayers
But, the boy of light and darkness
Not merely a godsend
