Flame Touch

Chapter 42- Sunny

I stared at the smirking devil, dumb-founded. It was Knox who voiced my thoughts.

"Oh hell no! This gu-this friggin' goat- almost got us killed in Everest; what in the name of all things good and sane is he doing here?" she yelled,  which earned us a knowing look from Libra.

"He has earned balance, thanks to your silent friend here." Libra stated, gesturing towards me. I stared, surely she wasn't talking about me, I mean, if there was a word to describe me, silent definitely wasn't in the top ten list. I looked at Capricorn, sure that he had to be lying or manipulating us in some way, and switched my vision, wondering why the other kids in the dorms weren't as shocked our group.

I was given an answer almost immediately.

I stared at the aura that had once been swirling with eddies of dark grey and were now replaced with an overarching white glow. Somehow, he had changed his nature. The other Libra kids must have seen this too and told the others, explaining why no one was charging him with spears or spoons (they're still considered a weapon for me, ok?). Libra nodded, already knowing what I had seen.

"Our brunt forces," she said sweeping a hand over the rest of the kids, "will act as a diversion to lure out the Vent and Terra armies."

"From there, Capricorn will lead you to the last Libra light" Pisces finished, nodding to where Taris and Melody were and glancing up at me, Semba, and Sunny.

"If you think there's anyway that I'll work with that son of a-" Knox started, but Libra ignored her and bellowed.

"We shall start the attack at dawn! Rest yourselves well for the coming battle!"

And with that, she was gone.

                                                                  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Carpicorn ran up to us after the speech, where he was met with glares from Knox and Semba. He started to speak when he was interrupted by Knox who punched him hard in the gut. She towered over him.

"Listen, Oh Enlightened One, I don't care how glowy you might be, I don't like you. I don't trust you. Frankly, I wouldn't mind beating you up right here and now." she said through gritted teeth. I expected Semba to hold her back, but remembered that he was as pissed with Capricorn as Knox was. Weirdly, it was Taris who broke up the fight.

"Ok, ok, calm down" he said, peeling Knox away from a keeled over Capricorn. Semba shot him one last hard stare before stalking away with Knox. Melody and Taris went off in the other direction, leaving me alone with goat boy.

"I deserved that." he gasped through gritted teeth.

"You deserve more." I sighed (like, a level 6 sigh) and offered him a hand to help him up. He accepted, albeit more than a little shocked. As soon as he was up, I let go and looked him right in the eye, "Look, this does not mean in any way, shape, or form have I forgiven you, but..." I hesitated, what was I supposed to say? Yeah, you're glowing now so you must be OK even though you basically burned someone alive without batting an eyelash. I didn't finish my sentence, but he nodded anyways.

"Look, after we talked, I realised that what you said was right. I'm not fighting for my own cause and I'm...I'm only a monster if my actions reflect it, like what I did to your friend Knock."

"Knox." I corrected, resisting the urge to push him to the floor again.

"Right, sorry. I'm not asking you to forgive me," he said as we started down the Libra hall (since there were no Vent dorms, he had to stay in the dorms of equality), "but I want to help." he finished.

 I searched his eyes for any hint of the cold (literal and figurative) emotion that I had first seen him with and found none. I had to hope that he really was telling the truth. I sighed (this time a level 7, I'm quite proud of myself for that), "Fine, whatever you say Capricorn." I said and turned into the girl's dorms.

"Call me Caprin" he mumbled with a smile, and a flicker of white light surrounded us.