The League

Chapter 13 - No Longer Friends

Elle opened her eyes to a bright sky, a stark contrast from the darkness of the dealership. The stone was still in her hand, as dull and brown as when she swiped it.

"Where are we?" she asked, turning until she saw the city far in the distance.

"Outside of Prague," Azure replied, barely above a whisper. He let go of everyone and stood away from them, his face flushed.

Jack looked completely lost, and Elle wished she'd gotten a chance to fill him in before the game blew up in their faces. Amara looked bored. There were two holes in her chest, but she was unbothered.

"Do your powers hurt you?" Elle asked. "Is that why you don't use them?"

Azure rubbed his face, wincing when he touched the area near his eye. "Teleporting feels...weird," he said quietly. "The other stuff is a little dangerous, that's all."

Elle squinted at the city. It was so far—they weren't even in a neighboring town, just a grassy plain. The League team wouldn't notice them here unless they decided to go in this specific direction, and they likely wouldn't. That meant they were in no rush, and Elle was free to claim her prize.

"It may have bounced around," she said, "but I got the stone in the end, so you owe us an explanation."

Azure took a deep breath and sighed. "Guess I do. Where should I start?"

Elle gestured to Amara's bullet holes. "How about those?"

"I thought it was rapid healing," Jack said, "but...there would be at least a little blood, right?"

Azure shook his head. "She isn't real."

Elle raised an eyebrow and gently bumped her shoulder against Amara's. "She feels pretty real to me."

"Amara and Black are manifestations of my power," Azure explained. "They don't get hurt. They don't die. They're not real, not in a human way."

Elle glanced at Amara, and to her surprise, she nodded along. Azure was telling the truth. Elle stared at them, baffled. She'd always thought Amara was a bit...quiet, a bit blank, but she figured it was just her personality. She could make sense of her behavior now that she knew, but she never would've suspected the truth.

"So this entire time," Jack said slowly, "there's only been three of us?"

"Technically, yes."

"Is it split personality?" Elle asked.

Azure shook his head. "No. Black and Amara may be pieces of me, but it was only my power that split, not my personality or my identity. They're nothing but manifestations of that power who happen to have their own, hollow semblance of a consciousness."

"But why would you split your power?"

"I didn't mean to," he said quietly. "It wasn't intentional." He rubbed his face again; his left eye was half-closed, and bruises darkened around it. "My powers aren't stable. That's why it suddenly split—it relieved the strain on me. But now Black wants to use the stone to take all the power for himself, and he's teaming up with a supervillain afterwards. He wouldn't tell me who it is, or what they plan on doing."

Elle tilted her head. "And what do you plan to do with the stone?"

"I'm going to merge him and Amara back into myself," he replied. "That'll stop Black, and I'll have the entirety of my power again."

Elle noticed that Jack narrowed his eyes a little, like he knew there was something more Azure wasn't willing to tell them. But she'd gotten enough of an explanation to believe him, and since he honored his promise, it was only fair she honored hers.