Heartless | A Powerless Fanfiction Novella

Chapter 12: Corrine

The world around me has succumbed to darkness. Whatever golden shine usually radiated from the palace has been snuffed out courtesy of the intruders and with the garden occupying the mass of land spread before me it was no less than twists and turns of a literal forest clad in black. The stickiness of the blood still laces my leg, the odd feeling of it accompanying my every step only urging me more to pay attention to my surroundings. Passing the stone sculptures I knew too well, the sound of the fountain gets my attention: not the flow of water within, but the muffled sound of something small breaking the surface as I approach. 

A coin.

"You know, you used to plead with me for a spare silver to make a wish in the fountain of the square." My brother laughs softly to himself, not taking his eyes away from the place the metal now sunk in, "What did you wish for Corr?"

Damien turns to face me, and I can swear his face pales for a moment before he reels his emotions back in. Stepping in the moonlight I make sure he sees me whole, not missing his eyes slip to the dagger already grasped tightly in my hand. I walk slowly towards him with no hesitation and in fact loosen my hold on the weapon flipping it thrice before I'm before him. He is unscathed. His suit with only a thin coat of dust, but no blood, no sign of struggle from what happened barely an hour ago.

Run, he said.

Lies, he told.

My eyes slide to the open palm he spreads before me and with no hesitation I take the last silver coin and flip it into the water, watching it skip twice before it sinks in its depths. Returning to Damien I say:

"I'll only tell you this one wish: tell me the truth."

Damien looks back to my lost coin before he sighs, "I'm sorry Corr."

"My name is Corrine, Damien."

"Right."

The contrast of the blue of his eyes against the blackness of his loose curls still reminds me of a younger picture of him. He had always been the one they feared, the one who protected me and kept me safe. There is worry etched into his features, but the emotion is too faded by the determination to keep me listening, as if he can see very well if he were to ask the question he would face himself with yet another thing to be blamed for. I am bathed in my own and others' blood. No, I am not alright. I haven't been for a long time.

"I found them not long before it all happened." Damien begins after he checks around us for anyone listening.

"It's not long before Imperials will join me here, so talk fast." My tone is cold, unwilling to betray the knot in my throat wishing that I shed a tear - my brother is alive and breathing before me.

He continues, "I came across them only months before Imperials came knocking on our door. I don't know how they found out, they were never meant to. The secrecy was vast for both them and me."

I hum to myself, "Call them by their name. Or are you too afraid I will execute you for treason right here?"

My brother studies me for a moment, it seems that whatever he knew of me before now is slowly being moulded into something he did not expect.

"The Ordinaries. They are good people, Corrine. They are...misunderstood. Neglected."

"They are affecting the Elite line, they are affecting us."

"They are people." He repeats, "Not diseases. Not sacrifices for the royals play into power. It's not us who they are 'affecting', it's them." Damien points at the palace towering close to us, "The king's line will lose its place on the pedestal with this century, and fear is something the King Edric is not accustomed to."

Fear. That word almost makes me want to believe him.

"I am an Elite. You are an Elite. We can't just-"

"There are many like us who have joined the cause." He interrupts me, taking one step closer, "They call it the Resistance: Fatals, Silencers, Mind Readers and Controllers have vowed towards the same goal and will not stand down until they are heard."

What is stronger than fear? The answer is simple: purpose.

"The royals will not listen, Damien. And what you and your friends did tonight has certainly not made a statement. You failed."

"How many did you kill tonight, Corr?"

I don't hesitate, nor break his stare, "Enough."

He sighs, shaking his head and takes a step back, "What happened tonight was not planned. I don't know what happened but something went wrong, it was an accident."

"Whoever's mistake that was barely got any of your Ordinaries out." I sheath my dagger, "So tell me then, is this really worth it?"

"Yes. Corrine I will stand with them until they gain their rightful place back."

I feel my anger gradually simmer out, and that lone tear finally falls, "You know I might have stood by you. I might have helped you. I might have lied for you and kept your secret." My voice trembles in the slightest, but I don't care - a brother and sister lost in time, and that feeling I craved comes rushing back to me, "But was it really worth your family?"

At that Damien says nothing. He is silenced. My brother backs away slowly in the darkness of the trees behind him, until it swallows him whole, but his sapphire eyes never leave me. Apology, plead, anger and regret swims within their ocean, and the faint outline of his hand with his index and middle fingers raised slightly distant from each other catches my attention. He wants to play our game once more. He's calling for the memories, and of course I know exactly what he means. Almost asking me to trust him this time that:

He'll be back for me. 

Only a part of me now wishes he is lying once more...