The Faithfuls

Chapter 11: Jinx

Chapter 11: Jinx

All I do is twirl my hands a few times and the armour comes apart. Obviously I had to clumsily duck a few shadow swipes, but I made it. I swing the gun into my hand and point it at Raiku, who is in a raggedy old orange suit. I make him stand up, his hand briskly touching my arm, and I feel a tingle. Then I knock Raiku in the head, and he’s unconscious. The others run over to me and Zeth gives me a giant hug. I let out a cry of pain and he steps back.

“Sorry, forgot about the whip scars.” He says. I run my fingers over my ears.

“Haven’t been able to be myself in ages...” I smile at them all, and they all smile back. I hook the ribbon gun around my right wrist, and we walk out of the ruins, taking the knocked out Raiku and Jazzmozzelle with us.

Zeth gives me back my reflex, and I carve the symbol of an elder tree into the dry ground. We jump through, dragging the blue and orange figures through the rift. It’s nice to be able to be myself again, so I decide to sing Freedom until we get back to Merador, watching Zeth smile at me the whole time.

I let Zeth help me heal, as Ursa and Muse went into the woods to discuss battle tactics. Brandon just went off to have a nap, and I sit on the end of my bed.

“Thank you Zeth.” I say quietly to not wake Brandon.

“For what?” He replies.

“For everything. And for not leaving me to death.” I send the water back to the fountain and wrap my fingers through my tail.

“Honestly, it’s kind of cool that you’re not normal. It makes you more special. And I mean, being a half animal being? That’s awesome.” He grins at me. “I’m not the only one that’s done things. Thank you for meeting me in the first place, or I wouldn’t have-“  

“Wouldn’t have what?” I ask.

“Uh, nothing. I’m sure you’ll figure it out at some stage.” I lean over to him and give him a hug, my face resting on his shoulder.

I whisper into his shoulder. “Victory hug.” He laughs and lets me go.

“We’re back!” Ursa’s voice echoes up the stairs. Brandon groans as he gets woken up.

“Come on sleeping beauty, we’ve got an interrogation to run!” Ursa laughs. I stretch my toes and get off the bed, smiling at Zeth. I go over to Brandon’s hammock and I tip it, making him fall out of it and face first onto the floor. I then get tugged by Ursa to come downstairs, where Muse and she have set up an interrogation table. Raiku and Jazzmozzelle are chained to the ground and conscious, as we all sit in a chair, except for Zeth and I. We lean on the bark in the corner of the room. I try to stay focused to the interrogation, as Raiku did try to kill me, but Zeth kept looking at me. I couldn’t help but quietly laugh and softly push his face to the side towards the table.

Ursa is the main runner of the interrogation. “So, you believe that the dimensions would be more thankful for their lives if their world was destroyed?”

“I have told you everything I know. Now can I be let go?”

“We never said we’d let you go. You tried to kill our friend.” Ursa leans on the table.

“I tried to kill your friend because she is the key to my master’s vision!” Jazzmozzelle shouts.

“Jazzmozzelle shut it.” Raiku mutters. “And yes, I did try to kill your friend. And it’s probably why she’s standing in the corner right now. But if she was dead, she would have been free of her never being accepted. But, if she wants to live her life never, deep down inside, being accepted, then that’s fine by me.” And I’ve lost it. I make a fist of earth and send it over to punch Raiku in the face. Sadly, violence is not permitted in an interrogation, and for that I am very sad, I wanted to keep one of his teeth as a souvenir.

“You’ll be taken to the Solar Dimension, where we will hand you over to the dimensional court, and you will be trialled from there.” Ursa says. “Muse and I will escort you now. So if you would please come with us.” They take them by their chains, and lead them to the symbol they drew outside before the interrogation.

Before they jump, Muse says, “We may be a little while. I sometimes get lost in Solar.”

“I’m sure Ursa will keep you on track.” I smile. ‘Don’t have too much fun.”

“Aw, I was going to go out partying later.” Muse says sarcastically, and I push him and Jazzmozzelle into the rift, just before it closes up.

“I’m going back to bed,” Brandon says. “Only wake me up for an important reason. Like cake or something.” He slumps upstairs and you can hear his sigh of relief once he hits that hammock.

I go upstairs to get my boots, but instead of putting them on, I chuck them far into the woods for some homeless person to find and use. Zeth puts his hand around my shoulder. I am myself. I am free.