Universal Heroes- Book 3

7~5

Corl
I sat up facing Alex's back. If I wasn't struggling to catch my breath, I would've probably hurt him in a way he wouldn't forget. He almost fucking killed me, then has the audacity to bold-facedly lie about him being a psychopath.

I heard the sounds of footsteps jogging through the grass from behind me and soon after I heard a cold "Get up."

Ethan wasn't anywhere in sight, so I assumed he got away too.

"What the fuck was that?" Denis asked, crossing his arms.

"Say that to Alex, not me! I tried to do the job we were supposed to but all Alex wanted to do was kiss his ex." I said.

"You know, has it ever occurred to you that you don't fucking know everything? And that maybe, just maybe if you let someone else do what they need to problems would be solved faster? Literally all you know how to do is fuck everything up." Alex said.

"You're acting like you didn't try to kill all of us at least once! And I know that when you're not physically trying to murder them," I pointed and my neck, "you try to emotionally manipulate them."

"Okay but if you guys would stop playing the fucking blame game and just do this once for all of us, we coulda had a shot." Denis said.

"Don't act like you're any better! I told you from the start that it wasn't a good idea and you still went ahead and put us together! If Corl wasn't the main culprit, you'd be at just as much fault as I am." Alex said.

The words he spoke were gradually being filled with agitation. It's guiltiness at its finest, and I was going to make him break.

"Main culprit? Maybe try to get over Sub like a normal person does before you accuse me of shit like that." I said.

"God fucking damnit Corl..." was all he replied.

"Go on, go ahead..finish it. Tell me right now you're not in love with-'

"WOULD YOU GUYS LISTEN TO ME?!" cut me off.

It was Elijah's voice. We all looked away from each other and to him. His face had gone red like he was about to cry.

"It's all of our faults. We all fucked up. We all let everyone down." Elijah said in a calmer tone.

"What do you mean-? We were actually using teamwork to help Ethan while they were practically at each other's throats!" Denis said.

Bold of him to say that right in front of me knowing I had a kikoku.

"But none of this would've happened if Corl minded his fucking business." Alex said.

"Bro don't even start this again. You're a fucking psy-"

"Don't you start that Corl!" Elijah shouted.

"What do you.."

"What do I mean? I mean that Alex isn't wrong. Who the fuck told you that Sub needed your goddamn help? And even so why did you go out of your way multiple times to attack Alex, might I add without any proof whatsoever, even though he said so many times he didn't do anything. Admit and accept it, you were fucking wrong. And try to learn from your shit instead of being a pain in the ass every time just because you're insecure about your hero abilities." Elijah shot.

In the midst of my silence I could hear Alex smirking and silently celebrating my downfall. Elijah was the only person who knew I was insecure, and he just laid it out in front of everyone like a hand of cards. What was worse was that he wasn't finished was because he turned to Alex.

"And you...if you knew you weren't at fault then why the fuck did you entertain him? You stooped to his level and you're fucking acting like a 5 year old. And all this 'Oh my god my demon hurts me!' and the 'It's his fault not mine!', I mean, really Alex? I know you're so much stronger than that and not gonna lie, it gets annoying. Have you ever thought about me? Or Ethan, who literally has his life at stake because of his? Maybe even Moonshine and Blue? Every day the whining is so fucking annoying and I know you're only doing it for attention."

I wanted to smile at the way that smirk was wiped off his face in an instant, but all I could think of was Elijah's words and attitude. When did he start feeling this way? How long has he kept this from us? Were we all really that bad?

"And you..." He finally faced Denis with the most disappointment you could see in a person's eyes. You could see the tears he was trying so hard to keep from welling up in his eyes.

"I know you like taking charge and all that, but respectfully, who made you leader in the first place? I don't remember choosing you, I certainly don't think the rest of the team choosing you either. And it's like..I didn't have a problem with it, you always know how to get us out of shit Corl puts us in and I thank you for that but recently you've been such a bitch about it. Using not only your 'leadership' power but the ones that you were given to use for good and just abusing it. Just to let you know, we're friends, not your children. We don't need your input on something that can be solved ourselves." he said.

The only sound after his last breath were the sounds of the wheat blowing in the wind around us. It wasn't even like he was wrong, looking back, we had all been acting like bitches. I looked at Alex, whose pendant had a huge crack in it and as he was standing in silence I swore I saw it get bigger. Denis looked like he was going to break down in that moment, like this was the final straw for his strength.

Elijah sighed which broke my train of thought. "The biggest idiot here is me though..I let all this happen even though I watched it get worse before me. Because I thought that maybe you all could like..I don't know..work together like we used to? Like we're supposed to? This was probably our only shot at saving Ethan and Sub before the possession is irreversible. We let them down, we let the girls down, we let ourselves down. I can't work in a team like this anymore."

Elijah stepped away from us, then turned and flew away into the city. Now it was just the three of us, awkwardly contemplating the words he shot at us with such fury and sadness. 

"I have an idea of where he's going. You wanna come with?" Denis asked.

"I'm good. I'll catch up later." Alex said almost immediately.

"Same here. I don't think Elijah wants to see me." I said, picking one of the plants. 

"Alright..later guys." Denis said before teleporting out of sight.