Red Spirit

{28} Lights Out

Hullo.  Sorry for not updating. Life's a bit hectic you know. I'm tired. 

Also I struggle so hard to write endings. I'm terrible because I love the start and the build up with all the mystery and the action that leads up to the end but when I get there and have to write this climax of this huge thing I struggle so hard because I don't want to let it go, you feel? 

Read on. 

***

I don't ever recall being afraid of the dark. 

Even when I was a kid, I always had my big brother and my big badass sister there to protect me from any monsters that my overactive imagination could conjure up. Kyle would give me a hug, tell me that I was being silly, and read another chapter of whatever book he was reading at the time. Lise would take a different tack, her realist nature always trumping my imagination; there's a monster in the wardrobe? Leave the stupid thing open! Plug a nightlight in there so you can see inside at all times! There's a monster under the bed? We'll take the bed-frame out and you can sleep on your mattress, all the monsters will get squished!

I was never afraid of the dark, because I always felt safe, protected, and loved. 

But now, my two heroes are gone. It's dark, silent, and I have never felt so alone. 

Even if this room is crowded, full of heroes and villains, we all knew what this darkness meant. We all knew that we would have to act now. With no plan, no backup, no safety-net, we would have to storm the castle to prevent any more deaths from occurring in another blackout.

Because that's what this was. Joshua Pike had induced another blackout, and who knew how long this one would last. It could've been days, or weeks. 

The darkness was all consuming, there was no way to find light, not even from out on the street, the lamps were all dead. My heart-rate started to increase, and every time I heard someone move or shuffle their feet I jumped, breathing increasing to a dangerous level. 

I had never been afraid of the dark, until I knew what the darkness meant. 

Wren, it's okay. Hold on to me. Will's voice, whispered softly into my mind gave me something to focus on, and I reached next to me to hold on to his arm, I'm here, he said. 

"Is everybody ok?" Eli's voice was to my left, the Commander Colossus in him taking charge. 

"Yes we're fi-"

And then the silence was cut through by the most blood-curdling scream I'd ever heard. It was coming from upstairs, and it sounded like they were experiencing true fear for the first time in their life.

Kyle.

Dropping Will's hand without a thought, I was in Kyle's room in the blink of an eye. Watching, terrified from the doorway as my big, strong policeman brother curled up into a ball in the corner of the room, eyes darting around the area as if facing his worst nightmare.

Maybe he was. 

I fished in the safe-zone for a torch, leaving it turned on and shining up to provide for as much light as possible, I sat across from him on the bed, legs crossed, and hands folded in my lap, as I watched his frantic shivering. 

I hadn't noticed in the darkness, but he was crying his eyes out, his blue eyes (the same ones that all the Morrigan siblings shared) defeated and frightened. 

"Kyle..." I murmured, not reaching forward, trying not to appear intimidating in any way. 

I also tried not to feel too sorry for him, but that I couldn't help.

His breathing was erratic, and the tears in his eyes made me swallow down the pity, "It's y-you-" He choked on the sentence as another sob wracked through his body.

I nodded earnestly, leaning forward slightly, "Are you-" But I didn't get the chance to finish the sentence before his arms reached forward and pulled me into the tightest hug I'd ever had. It was like he was trying to reassure himself that I was here, that I'd rescued him.

His tears soaked through my shirt, and I patted his back without saying anything.

When he pulled away, there was a delirious, fierce kind of fire in his eyes, "I need to know something."

"What?"

"Do  you hate me?" 

The question caught me off guard, to say the least. 

I really had spent a lot of the past few weeks hating him for what he did. He'd snitched to the police about not only my secret identity, but Will's as well. Successfully throwing the both of us onto a literal chopping block and out into the wolves to be chewed and spat out. 

I really had been perfectly happy to blame this whole thing on my big brother. It'd made sense, if he hadn't shared our secret identity, we could have gone quietly into our normal lives to regroup and come up with a new plan.  

He'd even tried to shoot me, it had made a lot of sense in my mind. 

But now, eyeing is filthy and stained police uniform, his skin hanging haggard off his face like some kind of skeleton, and the tears still streaming from his eyes, I couldn't bring any of that hate to the surface. I was just ... drained. 

So I shook my head firmly, a small smile ghosting across my lips, "Somehow... I don't."

A laugh bubbled out amidst the tears, "That's a miracle," He sniffed, then looked down at his lap, "I don't know how I can make it up to you, what I did and said, but I'll try. I swear."

I got up off the bed with a roll of my eyes, "I don't want to hear it. What you can do for me is rest, we're gonna need everyone up an running. No stragglers-" I patted his shoulder, but when I made to walk away he grabbed my elbow. 

His eyes were serious again, "You have to listen now." 

Confused, I gave a slow nod and he let go of my elbow to wipe his eyes, the crying finally stopped.

"You can't trust her-"

Wait what? "Who?"

"WREN!" I could hear Bo yelled as she ran up the stairs, "WREN!"

Surprised, I shot Kyle a confused look as he retreated back into his shell, all openness gone. 

Well that was odd, "Bo?" 

She appeared in the doorway, a hand on her stomach as she heaved in and out, "It's-" 

I gave her a weird look, "Spit it out."

She returned it with a glare, "Not all of us can teleport you know-"

Stacey's voice echoed up from the bottom of the stairs, "BO! HURRY!"

Bo finally caught her breath, "Will went outside to check if the whole street lost power or if it was just us-"

"Is he okay?" I demanded, taking an urgent step forward. 

"He's fine- but that's not the point-"

"BO!!" 

"WILL EVERYONE STOP INTERRUPTING ME?! He came back, and said that he saw people outside. His night-vision, there were over fifty people outside. Surrounding the place." She let out a huff of air, and her shoulders slumped in defeat, "They've found us."