Fight For Me

I'll Stand By You

"Baby?"

Opening her eyes now, fully, she could see that she was on the floor looking up at everyone. She tried to sit up, by was stopped by Hope from doing so.

"What happened?"

"You fainted Josie. Freya was saying that there was a way to stop The Merge and you just fainted."

Lizzie was on the opposite side of her from Hope and was looking at her twin with fear.

Josie again attempted to sit up, and again Hope try to stop her, however this time, she looked at her with a patient gaze, love shining through, and continued to sit up.

"What is the cure? How do we stop The Merge?"

Freya looked at the girl with a bit of sadness in her eyes. She gave a small shake of her head and walked over to her desk where the grimoire she was reading from was laid. Debating for just a moment, the older blond witch turned to the girl who was still sitting on the floor.

The decision was taken out of her hands when Lizzie spoke up.

"Josie, we don't have to do this now. You haven't slept all night and you barely ate anything at all. You just fainted. What you need now is to rest. The rest of this can wait. We have the answer, now we need you to be strong."

The brunette turned to her sister with steel in her eyes. She knew that she shouldn't be upset and that she was trying to be a good sister, but in this moment, when the answer was so close, there was nothing that she needed more than to hear what it was that would cure her and allow her the future that Hope had promised they would spend together.

"No, what I need is to find a cure to the curse that is trying to steal our futures! What I need is for people to stop treating me like a child! What I need..."

Before Josie could finish the next sentence, Hope had picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the room and into the courtyard. Once they reached the center, she placed Josie down on her feet and held on to her shoulders to make sure that she had her attention.

Hope could see the fire in the brown eyes that she loved so much and knew that Josie was fired up. She never really did like others telling her what her limits were, or what she could or couldn't do. However, she also knew that she was tired. Tired to her very core, and more than just physically.

"Baby, I know. I know that you are mad and hurt. I know that your parents kept something huge and important from you, and I know that they had no right to do it. I know that you are angry with them, and you feel all this rage that you just can't seem to let go of. And most of all, I know that you are angry at yourself for being angry with them."

All the fury seemed to drain from Josie all at once. Tears replaced the fire that had been there only moments ago.

"I just want to go back before I ever heard about The Merge. We were happy and starting the next chapter in our lives. I feel like they stole that from us. And logically, I know they did it to protect us and to give us a chance at a normal childhood, but all that did was allow us to believe in a lie. We aren't normal and we don't get a normal life."

Hope pulled the taller girl into a tight embrace. She gave fairy light kisses and rocked a little. She gave Josie the time that she needed to cry and let it out.

"Josie, I want you to listen to me and more than that, I want you to understand me, OK?"

Josie nodded her head, but as the tears were still coming, she didn't say anything.