Compelled

1

He burst through a small gather of people, anger pouring off him, enough to make anyone cower in fear. Turning his head left to right, searching for the one face he knew, he spotted Maxum as he took a step forward.
"Did you get my invitation? I really hope you'll consider." he spoke with what seemed like genuine curiosity, surveying Kane's wary figure,
"Like hell I would! How dare you! How DARE you propose something like that!? You think I would join you??" he was out of breath from putting all his energy into his words. People closely surrounding the pair watched on, suspicious of the interaction. Waiting for something to happen.

".. yes. I think you would. In fact, I think you should join me, and turn away from all this. Look at how tired you are! You waver in your stance and just yelling at me is draining you beyond belief!" the expression in Maxums eyes was one of worry,

"Please, just consider. I really would like to know."

Kane was speechless, never would he expect the one person he knew as an enemy would try to pull him with this.. this nonsense! His eyes lit ablaze, now more furious than ever, he turned cheek and spoke after a long while,
"No."
"Wh-"
"NO! I will NOT join you! I will NOT wear your filth and I will NOT concede to your shallow attempts to turn me from my cause!" there was a pause, he was breathing heavily and Maxum felt the harshness of his gaze and spoken word without needing to look directly at him.
"Please-"
"Fight me."
"Pardon?"
"You heard perfectly well, Maxum. Fight me"

Maxum stayed silent, his gaze falling farther unto the reflective marble floors that lay beneath them. More people had surrounded them, curious as to what would happen now with such a proposition having been made.
He looked up, and saw into the eyes of his long determined enemy. Past the layers of anger and hate, he saw fear. He saw fear and fatigue and he saw misery, none of which, he thought, belonged in the eyes of a hero. None of which belonged in the eyes of someone who cared for their cause, and believed in it. With his resolve set in stone, he took a step forward, not to challenge his adversary, but to comfort him.
When they were only fewer than a foot apart, he repeated Kane's words back to him,
"No."
"Why! Why will you not!"
"Is it even worth it? Fighting?" he spoke quietly, the care and concern in his voice forcing Kane to falter.

Was it? He knew in his mind the answer to that question. He had since the moment he opened that package from Maxum, full of a neatly folded suit, fit exactly to his measurements but in colours contrast to his own. It wasn't worth it. Not anymore. Maybe his cause was once good, maybe the people he allied himself with had once been dutiful to their promises, but now it was not. Now, it was wrong.
He worked himself to his bare features, tired and morose, and for what? He was no longer helping anyone, he wasn't doing any good, none at all. The cause that he had been brought up to believe was righteous and right, he now realised, was sour and hurtful and wrong. The words of his enemy, simply a man who dared oppose Kanes cause, struck deep. They wormed their way into his mind, and finally, he let himself relinquish his walls. He bowed his head and uttered the words aloud,
"It's not.."

Maxum stayed silent, outside he was calm if not a little relieved, but inside his mind was going a mile a minute. He was shocked beyond belief, he knew Kane, and he knew that Kane was not one to back down so easily. Unable to form words and too stuck in his own head to care, he walked away. He turned his back to the man he had just torn down with nothing but caring eyes and a question, and left the ballroom.