The forsaken (Rainimator book4)

the deal

POV 3rd person

Crystal swung her sword again, slicing the armour on the stand, she wondered why the training mannequins had leather armour, in all her years fighting, for herobrine, the red legion and frostbourne. she'd only ever encountered three people in leather armour, and they were either on her side or so bad that she didn't even need to bother with a sword.

it was early morning and after the fight last night against, the monster from the portal, she need space. and the training area is normally empty at this time of the day. 

as she came in, she took her hoodie off discarding it on the bench, she was planning on working up a sweat, and she made sure to sharpen her diamond sword, she remembered the day she got, well stolen it, from her father's personal collection. now it was hers, and it was powerful, caple of cutting through even netherite, and able to return to her at a second's notice.

Crystal took another swing at the mannequin, slashing past the armour and into the cloth flesh. "you'll blunt it if you keep swinging like," Crystal turned to find her Mother standing at the door leaning on her own Netherite sword. "I wondered where you were, I asked that annoying tall person if he knew but he didn't," 

"Come on Mom, would it be hard for you to remember his name," Crystal said. 

Sheila shrugged. "I'm having breakfast with Caleb, we wanted to know if you wanted to come,"

Crystal thought for a moment. "sure," she said, she put her sword back on her back and followed her mom out. "So...what do you think of frostbourn?" 

"It's cold, but the people here, they're proper fighters willing to give up everything if it meant saving others," Sheila said. she looked about. "I also like some of your friends, that another Sheila seems like my kinda person, I like that Meeps and Damian as well," 

Crystal smiled as they contained on, Razer was waiting for the pair back in Crystal and Charlie's flat and Charlie was off talking to Azura and Andrew about Zen and their new robot body. 

"You're back!" Razer said as  Crystal and Sheila walked, Crystal sitting next to Razer on the sofa while Sheila sat in an armchair. 

Crystal nudged Razer. "Hey bro," she said with a smile. 

"Hey sis," Razer smiled back. "You okay?" 

Crystal nodded. "Yeah, I Haven't slept much lately, but I'm alright,"  

Razer bounced back. "that's good, the being okay part. not the not sleeping part," 

"So," Sheila started. "I want to know more about you both," 

"Well, After...after I was separated from you I...was taken by...Herobrine, I was there for a few years...it was tough..." Crystal stopped and closed her eyes, Razer patted her on the back and hugged her.

After a few seconds, Razer spoke up. "I was taken in when I was young, but...But they're not around any more they were killed in a fire...by Liam," 

"That's Alex by the way," Crystal added. 

"I'm sorry, I similarly lost my parents, I know how much it can hurt," Sheila said, frowning, remembering her past. 

"Come on, why don't we talk bout something positive?" Crystal said. "I've got a  pet ba..." suddenly Crystal stopped, frozen in the moment, motionless. 

"Crystal!?" Razer said jumping up. "what's wrong," he quickly looked at Sheila who was frozen in the same way. 

"Don't worry about them, I've temporarily frozen your surroundings," Lilith said walking in from the kitchen. "Hello Razer, I have an idea you might be interested in," she said with a smile. 

Razer jumped up and pulled his sword up. "What do you want!" he growled. 

Lilith put her hands up. "I'm not here to fight Razer, I want to make you an offer, about her," 

"What offer!" 

"You don't want to lose to her, and I want Charlie dead," Lilith answered. 

Razer looked confused. "What do those two things have in common?" Razer asked. 

Lilith smiled crookedly. "if Charlie were removed from the equation, Crystal would have no one else left, she would choose to go with you, nothing else is here for her," 

Razer thought for a moment. "What do you want from me?" Razer asked. 

"Not much," Lilith started. "I just need you to isolate Charlie, get him somewhere alone and I'll deal with it from there,"

Razer looked back at Crystal and then at Lilith, he closed his eyes. "Then you have a deal Lilith," he said.

Lilith's smile grew and she put her hand out for him to shake. "Then we have a deal," Razer took her hand and shock it, suddenly back in his seat.

"bat, he's cute and spends most of his time back at my house," Crystal explained. 

Sheila looked a bit confused. "A bat?" she asked. "That's a bit of an odd chose of pet," 

"Meeps hates bats so she doesn't like visiting Crystals much," Razer explained. 

Crystal laughed. "Charlie doesn't like bats either but puts up with him for my sake,"

"Well, it's good to know you have some pets, I stopped having pets a long time ago, after 100 years of losing them it's easy not to have them," Sheila explained. 

Razer and Crystal both blinked. "how many years?" Razer asked.

"Oh side effect of being part enderkin, admittedly very little, but I think I got off light, my sister had one glowing eye," Sheila explained. "I always thought that's where my portals came from, well until I had you, Crystal," 

Crystal cocked her head. "huh?" 

"the night you were born was...stressful, you know with Alex and Steve attacking, Hero going...insane, I spent a long time walking and I guess I just never recovered," Sheila explained. 

Razer thought for a moment. "Wait...how old are you?" 

Sheila shrugged. "Stop counting after about 200, mostly focused on fighting, lots and lots of fighting, I have learned on some of the best sword fighters on the overworld and even a couple in the Nether," 

"you'd get along with our Sheila," Razer commented. 

"She seems fun," Sheila answered.

"She is...sometimes, her younger sister is great if not a little naive," Crystal said. "she is lovely and gets along with Charlie well," 

"she is also young, hence the naiveness," Razer explained. 

"Do we want to go eat?" Crystal asked as she rubbered her neck. "I'm rather hungry," 

Sheila shot up. "Come on, Charlie can pay," she said walking to the door. "I stole his wallet earlier," she added.

"What...you have to give it back to him," Crystal said, joining her mum. 

Razer followed. "After food," he said. 

"yeah after food," Crystal added, Razer smiled as he turned back and looked to where Lilith stood a few minutes earlier.