What Is Your Name?

Chapter 27: Savior (Sky)

"Wake up," I muttered, kicking him. "Wake up!" I repeated, kicking harder. "WAKE UP!!!" I finally shouted at Eli, trying to kick him awake.

After calling my sister's name, which still hurt to hear, Eli had passed out. Lil and I had brought him to the med ward at school, and though the great Lord Biased clearly did not approve, he obliged with minimal complaining because Grey bought him two dozen donuts. Eli had been out for several hours, and I had had enough. I didn't fully understand what had happened back there, and I needed answers now so I could calm my nerves for later that night. Tempest wanted to talk. Shudder. Lillian was sure she wanted to see what was next for us, but how was I supposed to know how this worked?

Eli woke with a start, screeching at the sight of Lillian, and then sobbing.

"What happened back there?" I asked him almost immediately.

"Sky!" Lillian scolded. "He's mentally unstable and just waking up from an attack. I don't respect or like him any more than you do, but we, especially with our own mental health histories, should be more considerate."

"Fine," I sighed. I knelt down. "Eli, it's me. You know me. You were like a brother to me once, remember? You and I know my sister better than anyone, and of course it hurts that she's gone, but she is. I'm not even going to try to take the blame off of you, because it really is mostly your fault. But I'm not saying that to make you feel worse," I added quickly, before Lillian could yell at me. "I'm just saying that it's done now. It was done thirteen years ago. You know what you and I have in common, Eli? We never got over it. Neither of us did. And that has to be why you felt the way you did earlier, but I need you to tell me what happened. You trusted me even when I was some two-year-old kid whose sister you were dating. I'm not a kid anymore. You can trust me now. Beelzebul is gone, and we won't let him come back."

Even as I said it, I knew it was true. Eli was having mental and emotional trauma, and Beelzebul had promised to make it better. I went through trauma, too. The worldwide evil that Eli had become, that could've been me. It was only a matter of the fact that Beelzebul chose Eli, and Eli went along with it because no one else was helping him. I had always had my parents to turn to, and Eli hadn't even gotten that love. I realized... Beelzebul was more likely to stay away if someone else could help Eli instead. And Lillian and I were the ones most qualified to do so.

I didn't have to explain this to Lillian. She just knew. She knew what needed to be done, and she was going to get it done because that was the kind of incredible person she was. Someone had raised her well.

"I'd like some time alone with my father, please," she requested. "You should go see Tempest. I'll call you if anything happens."

I was a little worried, but I went. Yet I wasn't ready to face Tempest. I went back to me and Lil's room. It was a mess. I thought of cleaning it, but I remembered the craziness that happened last time I tried to do that. Instead I picked up Lillian's sketchbook and started to flip through it.

She really was a great artist. I flipped through the pages and found myself singing in the streets. I found Grey surrounded by donuts, and an entire field of edelweiss flowers. I found a close-up of Eli's guitar. I found all the lyrics of Promises in fancy font. (smiled at that) And then I found it: a separate section of pages. Lil had left a few blank pages between these and her other drawings. The first page said, "No one is a villain in their own story."

And then came the drawings. There was Lillian's locker, overflowing with harsh notes. There was me, moaning by the lockers, trying to hide from the people who I didn't want to see me cry. There was me onstage, looking at the guitar like it was the only thing keeping me grounded. And then the portraits.