“If you wish to give someone power, it may be prudent to see how they use it first.”
-Augustus West, Treatise on the Nature of Power, 132 AF
The fire was burning low. The night was otherwise normal, as far as environs go, but I knew what it meant I had to do, and was trying to not be bothered by it. But what came afterwards was going to suck.
Betrayal is like that sometimes. Of course, I didn’t see it that way. I had a responsibility to keep the five of them alive and well before anything else, and what was coming was very likely to leave us all a especially deceased. Despite what they may think, I was making the right call here. The problem was that the five of them, and all my friends back in The City might not see it as such. I played with the House Signet ring around my finger, a nervous tick I had acquired the day it had entered my possession.
I’m still not convinced about the lack of better options.
As I sat there, pondering who between Amora or Emiliana would kill me first once they figured out what I had done, I listened to the songs of the kids around me. They all had the same undercurrent of worry, that little voice in the back of their heads telling them that perhaps tonight was their last night upon this earth.
Me and that voice did not get along. Mostly because it's kind of prick. It was why I was preparing for what I was about to do, after all. I resisted the impulse to smooth out their songs, to suppress those discordant notes within their minds. They had a right to feel like they did. Also if any of them noticed it might make what came next more difficult.
Speaking of which, in the distance an unpleasantly familiar gap in the constant sound that had become my world since Awakening appeared. A signal to begin. I wonder why she was giving me so much time, but didn’t exactly have the opportunity to ponder it.
I stood up, taking off the ring, hiding the use of my Awakening behind the motion.
“Go time!” I shouted, hoping the voice sounded more authoritative to them than it did to me.
It brought more than a little bit of pride to see how quickly they responded. Rowan had a limp but he was still in line in front of me, standing as tall as his injury would let him. I hid the reflexive wince from noticing it. I tried to avoid letting any of their injuries bother me, but I wasn’t successful. His girlfriend was supporting him on one side. Rachel was staring at me, and I suspect to this day she was the only one who had figured out what I was going to do, but she could barely support him through the makeshift sling she was in and was by far the most practical of the bunch. On the other side of Rowan was Mary, and while I suspect that Rachel knew, I know Mary didn’t. After all, she didn’t stab me in the kidney. The woman was about as short as adults came, but that didn’t make her any less scary.
The last two to arrive inspired no less pride, coming in from a perimeter that probably wasn’t necessary, but hiding what I was doing from five was hard enough, and their injuries were much less severe. Arkin was covered in scratches, and was bleeding from a nasty cut above his left eye, but still managed to look cooler than everyone else. That would have bothered me, six months ago.
Don’t tell Aminci about that, she’ll never let me live it down.
Ward rounded out the bunch, and if you looked at him with just eyesight you’d be forgiven for suspecting he was the only one of the bunch who remained unharmed.
The hole in his Awakening refuted that image. I did not bother to hide the rage that sensing it inspired, but Ward was working through it admirably. He was the quiet functional type like that. He reminded me of Stephen in that moment, still working on analyzing every detail around him.
My mind wandered for a split second, wondering how that had gone over, and I’m sure that was an interesting story, before triggering the return stones hidden in each of their belongings. The price of acquiring five of them had made even my finances cry, but it was worth every drop.
After all, the five of them were going to live.
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“Rachel. I need you to give this to Amora. You should see her after the March” I said, handing her the ring and a letter I had finished writing while they slept yesterday.
The fact that she just nodded instead of the inquisitive looks or outraged questions that came from the other four is part of what inspired my suspicion.
Rowan, bless his heart, was too smart for his own good. He hadn’t asked any questions, just started patting himself down. It felt strange to be happy about his injury, but he wasn’t going to find the stone hidden in his splint until after he had been sent back to The City, so I counted it as a win in the moment.
I ignored the commotion my announcement caused and continued
“You all have letters as well. I’d wait to open them until after your March, the initial transportation can cause some headaches and nausea” I spoke, trying to keep my voice even.
“Jay, what the fuck are you talking about!?” Mary shouted, and I flinched a little.
Hey, I told you she’s kinda scary.
“I have a lot I wish I could say to you all, but we’re out of time. I just want you all to know that nothing that is about to happen, or already happened, is your fault. A lot of shit is going down, and I just want you all to be safe. My team will be there to keep any serious repercussions from affecting you all.” I continued, barreling over the various objections they were throwing.
Rowan remained silent, still searching himself. That kid was going places, I tell you.
His eyes lit up for a brief second when he seemingly realized where I’d hidden the stone, but then he realized the same thing I had already:
He didn’t have the time to remove it.
Mary was still yelling at me, but she had left my focus. I wasn’t quite slipping into the Grey, but I needed to be at my best for this, and whatever hurtful thing she was saying, she didn’t mean.
Unless she did, but being mean to a guy who’s about to die for you would be very rude.
“Hey Rowan?” I said, looking past them, thinking about a lot.
I knew that a better man would be thinking more about how she would go on without me. Worry about who she’d eventually replace me with. All I had on my mind was her smile. How she looked that night we ran across the city, just for the fun of it.
I felt a deep sadness, knowing that even if I won the one in a million bet I was taking, she’d probably break up with me over this. Fiancés tend to prefer their significant others not be inclined toward martyrdom.
It’s ridiculous, looking back. The odds of my survival were infinitely higher than her choosing to leave me, but I’ve never been the most self-confident lad.
“Yeah chief?” Rowan sighed. Beyond my continual attempts to get him to stop calling me that, he sounded more exasperated than angry, and I was going to take that win.
“Tell them I’m not going down easy” I said, sounding cold even to my own ears.
“You never have chief. You never have” he announced. Pride and sorrow warred over his smile. Neither quite won, and it reflected in His Sound; a disconcerting mix of high trumpets and some woodwind that Professor Ignacio would be disappointed in my failure to identify.
Then they were gone.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=606qvOqkGZ8
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“Sent the kiddos home then?” a voice echoed out from the forest around me. She sounded surprisingly sane right now. I wondered how long it would last.
I could feel the army backing her up, slowly encircling me. It explained the delay, if that was actually why she’d waited. I would need to start a mad dash soon, if I wanted to keep them from penning me in.
I thought about it. About how much higher my odds of surviving were if I ran. I dismissed it. Even if they were higher, that didn’t mean they were high.
And I was so very done with running.
I Manifested, and the comfortable weight of the weapon in my hand, alongside the familiar presence of the still undefined material of my headphones.
“Ohohoho? Mr. Important thinks round two is going to go better for him? It’ll be fun to find out, won’t it!?” she announced as she walked towards me. She seemed incapable of holding herself like a person, or even anything as normal as moving in a straight line. It would have disconcerted me if I hadn’t already known about the madness that was Gallow.
I had three thoughts before the inevitable clash. Two were maudlin.
The first: sadness that no one had helped this poor woman when there had still been a person to save.
The second: Damn it would feel good to stab her in the chest.
The last was again of Amora, a brief unconscious feeling, an image of her face in my mind.
Then the bitch tried to eat my shadow again.