When Stars Collide

Chapter 13- Too close to hit home - Leo

Since the talk at the river, Ioannis kept on avoiding me. I mean, yeah he does that whenever he’s mad at me, but I didn’t do anything wrong this time. If anything, I should be the one who’s mad at him. But I can’t. Not when I saw the raw fear in his eyes. Not when I saw the scars on his body, painting him as if he were a canvas. 

Estella dries her hair and smiles at us, her eyes shining bright and her outfit looking more flawless than us.

“You know what, for once I’ll agree that taking a bath was a good idea,” she grins at us while looking over Scarlet’s belongings and she shows us small purple crystals. 

“We might have a bargaining chip, guys.” Ioannis looks at her warily and I open the bag and a bag of purple crystals shine inside the bag.

“Epsolon crystals?” Ioannis asks her, holding one to his palm.

“Yeah, of the healing kind. Imagine, with this… we could be millionaires. With this, we can buy off our own bounties on our heads and we’d be okay enough to live our last days living comfortably,”

Ioannis grabs a crystal and palms it in his hand. He looks at me and his eyes have hope. I grab the crystal and press it against his back before he could say anything. He yelps at the contact, but as the crystal drains the most recent scar, it makes it disappear all together and I grin at him.

“It disappeared!” and he looks at the scar on his shoulder completely gone. Estella touches his skin and he yelps.

“Estella, your fingers!” he says and she quickly takes them away.

“Sorry, Io.” she says sheepishly and when Ioannis snatches the bag away from her, he holds it close to his chest.

“We give this to the poor who are sick,” he declares and Estella’s eyes light up in rage.

“No. We buy our freedom here, the poor aren’t our problem.”

“Right, Leo?” she asks me and I’m standing still. Both of them mean everything to me. I grew up with them and they grew up with me. The three of us were unstoppable, but for once… Estella was right. I understood Ioannis and his need to do something greater for others, but I wanted my life back. 

Not that I don’t like the adrenaline this is giving me, but I want to live life with adventure, not with my head constantly trying to be chopped off. With these crystals, we could do that and more. Ioannis could be free. Estella could go back to the Blessed and prove herself worthy to become an official sorceress. I could eat all the food I want, live wherever I want and still do whatever I want. It was easy.

But it still hurt when the answer came out, matching Estella’s reaction.

“She’s right, Ioannis. We could be free.”

“We’re never free!” he yells at us and I know that a part of him is right. We’d still be hunted for betraying the imposter Yia Yia. 

“This is the chance to right all our wrongs! To be truly free in the name of the go-”

“Don’t come at me with that fake religion!”Estella all but snarls at him.

“What have the gods done for you, Ioannis? They have whipped you. They have chained you up. They have forced you to do things that you never wanted,  to commit murder and to get-”

“Enough!” I tell them and by then, Ioannis freezes, his eyes glassy and Estella with fire on her fingertips. They look at me and when an arrow whizzes by me, the three of us begin to run. Estella begins to chase Ioannis, with murder on her mind and the next thing I know, I’m trying to save Ioannis from getting killed.