Avatar Rose: Justice

Chapter 23: Execution

Not Edited

Nathan arrives with Xander not long after leaving. I hide the fact that I was able move my index finger in my left hand. I don't know how long they'll keep me this way.

That's right...

They're not going to let me walk out of here alive. They're cowards and are going to kill me paralyzed. They tried to knock me out until everything settled down a bit and they can make a full decision.

"Guess what? I was able to find some peach yogurt! I don't know if you like yogurt, but u saw the word peaches and jumped at it. I also have--" Nathan chatters aimlessly before I cut him off.

"Is it food?" I ask.

"Well, yeah..."

"Then it'll do."

Nathan sits me up with a few more pillows and sits in a chair at my bedside. Xander rolls up my pants to my left leg, examining the metal.

Xander wrinkles his nose. "It's covered in blood."

I grin. "Seriously?"

"Rose, I thought you wanted to eat," Nathan prompts.

My eyes narrow. "Take a bite of everything first."

"You think I poisoned it?"

"You might have. I mean, if you were going to kill me, that'd be the way to go, right? Much easier than slitting my throat right now. You'd take the cowardly way out. Gwen would've set you up to this as well."

Silence. Two bewildered stares. Nathan sighs, taking a bite of everything before making sure that I'm willing to eat it now. I do, not really noticing the taste of anything. It's just fuel for my next battle.

"Whoa! Nathan, look at her eyes!" Xander exclaims.

"Oh no," Nathan mutters before looking. When he does, his eyes widen with surprise.

"What? What's happening?" I question.

"One of your eyes is normal, and one of them is purple."

"What do you think that means?"

"That you're half and half of your two personalities right now."

"Hah. Cool."

When Nathan's not looking, I start to try to wear off the poison in my system. One by one, I'm able to twitch my fingers. At some point, I'm able to flick my wrist.

After a whole night of this, the only part of my body that's still numb is my left index finger. Nathan dozes off most of the night, allowing me to do this. He's exhausted from the fight.

In the morning, Gwen drops by. One of her arms is in a sling, and she has bandages wrapped around her head.

"Nathan, get some rest," she orders.

He lifts his head. "I'm okay. I don't think I should leave Rose anyway. I'm the only one who can stop those flares she has anyway."

Gwen smirks and pulls out a syringe. "Don't worry, I can take care of her."

"Stick that in my neck and you'll regret it," I growl, about to sit up. She sees my muscle movement and bends the liquid out of the syringe and puts it up to the skin on my leg. She tenses, and I watch it slowly sink into my skin.

I gasp in pain. The poison does its magic in less than thirty seconds.

"Not so powerful now, are we princess?" Gwen laughs, flicking me in the forehead hard.

"Stop that!" Nathan protests.

My eyes flash purple from fury, which stops Gwen's laughter. Even with me paralyzed, she's still wary of what I can do.

"Nathan, go to sleep. I'm bringing her to a meeting. We're going to decide what to do with her and see if we really need her to win the war. If you didn't realize before, you can't stop it," Gwen says.

Nathan complies after helping me into a wheelchair. Gwen wheels me away. I can feel her swelling with pride as she does so. I'll fix that soon enough.

"So, is this my execution or something?" I ask, knowing she was protecting Nathan before.

"Probably. But we're deciding that."

"And you're the one that's going to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Sorry to break it to you, but I'm kinda going to be firelord. That doesn't really work with my schedule."

"Sorry to break it to you, but that's not your decision."

"You sure?"

"Count yourself lucky, I should've killed you a long time ago!"

"Oh, kiss my ass."

She wheels me into a large room, which is clearly used for war meetings. Some monk kid greets Gwen with a friendly nod. When his eyes land on me, they suddenly grow cold.

I tell him to do something that's anatomically impossible.