Background Noise

Sacrifice

Arms pushed me down, away from the killer fire the dragon was spewing out.

"Get. Away." It was Janice. Her eyes were spitting fire—actual fire—and her grip on her sword was crushing the hilt. I stared up at her.

"Jan! You'll be killed!" I shouted at her, as if it wasn't obvious. She looked down at me, and for a moment, her eyes bored into mine, before she shook her head and leaped at the dragon. I heard a high pitched scream and I could only imagine the pain an angry Janice could inflict. I peeked over a fallen tree trunk, expecting a severed head beside Janice while she breathed heavily. I was wrong.

The dragon had its mouth closed around her trunk.

"Jan—" Searing pain ran up my leg as I tried standing up.

"No!" I heard her say in my head, and something pinned me down. She was pinning me down, with her Passion powers. Her sword lit up in red colors—that never happened before—and she threw herself inside the dragon. The dragon closed its mouth, satisfied that the pain-inflicting pest had been taken care of.

 Jan! I yelled to her in my mind, knowing she could hear me.

 Now I can say this to you, she said, sounding surprisingly peaceful, I love you, and have always loved you and I know you don't feel like that so don't say anything. Just—know.

The dragon exploded, sending chunks of flesh and blood flying everywhere. The poachers would be so glad, I thought bitterly. Polly appeared in my vision, all bloody and battered, and she hugged me when she saw me. I hugged her back, ignoring the guilt surging up in my chest. We watched the pieces fall to the ground. I could feel Polly healing my leg.

And finally, I saw Janice. I stood up and ran to her, hoping she was still alive so that I could ask her, Why? But then I knew why. And it made me feel so bad.

Janice wasn't breathing. She just...lay there, so unlike the Passion she was. I knew there was no use trying to revive a Passion if their heart wasn't beating, so I just sat there and cried. Polly stayed beside me. It was her sister after all.

After a while, Polly nudged me. "Look." She pointed to Janice's hand. It looked like it was pointing at something. We looked. Her sword. It was still glowing red. I held it, and realized it was warm, and not because it had just been in a dragon's stomach. Like Janice had breathed a little life into it before she'd...

I knew she probably wanted me to keep it, so I slid it into my empty sheath, recalling how Janice had promised she would give me a new sword after mine had fallen into the Lava Lake.

But I didn't think it would be hers.