The Masquerade of Life

The Secret

He quickly turned his attention to Eliot and dropped the scalpel. His breathing was heavy and his eyes, once blue, now had turned red. They were like shining rubies. Eliot moved back quickly.

“You're a Legendary.” He stated his voice full of fear.

James' face fell and his eyes faded back to blue. He never wanted to show anyone or even tell. Being a Legendary was technically a crime by it's self. They were considered outcasts. They weren't allowed in this city because of the war going on. The war between the Legendary and the Unknown. Eliot was an Unknown. He grew up hating the Legendary because his dad was a war officer, the leader of the military. He always talked bad about them. He even would come home wounded from battle. Eliot was afraid of James now. He never expected this.

James quickly got up to run but fell. The white lining was spreading and was up to half his shoulder now. Eliot couldn't resist helping one in need, even if it was a Legendary. Eliot placed his hands on James and rolled him over.

“Can you start?” Eliot asked strictly.

The man nodded then continued. This time Eliot was going to hold him down and make sure he was going to stay still. With every cut Eliot cringed seeing James' face, full of pain and sorrow. He couldn't help but to feel sorry. He knew it was wrong to help a Legendary but he didn't care, he was human and so was James and that wasn't going to change.

Finally the man was finished cutting the bullet out along with the part of his skin that turned black with a white ring. He patched him up as best as possible. James had fallen asleep during the whole operation. He continued to sleep for a few more hours afterward. When he woke up, he had forgotten what had happened. When Eliot walked in everything came flooding back and he backed himself into a corner, holding his head in his lap. His knees were pressed together, he was shaking and every few seconds he would wince when he bumped the bandaged shoulder into the corner.

Eliot rushed over to him and knelt down to his level.

“Hey, what is wrong?” He asked voice full of worry, “Does you head hurt?”

Eliot extended his hand to touch James' head but his hand was smacked away.

“Why?” He asked, his face still buried into his legs.

“Why?” Eliot mimicked “Why what?”

“Why would you still help me?” he asked, slightly looking up to Eliot.

“Oh.” Eliot became silent for a few seconds but to James it felt like hours.

“Because, James, even though my dad talks badly about the Legendary doesn't mean you guys are all bad. You are a living and breathing person. You have emotions. You feel, just like me.” Eliot said

James lifted his head. He stared at Eliot, not sure if he was to believe him or not. He looked at Eliot's hand that was extended towards him and sighed then took it. Eliot pulled him up.

“What about the people in the hospital? We need to call the police!” James said frantically.

“It's okay, I got that taken care of. I called the police after they were done operating on you.” Eliot replied

“Do you know who did this yet? What happened to the people?” James asked wanting more answers than Eliot had.

“They haven't told me yet, but they want to interview us on what happened.”

“When?” James began to fear that Eliot had told them that he was a Legendary.

“They said they would contact us later.”

“You didn't say anything about me, right?” He asked with complete caution.

“Oh no! Of course not! Why would I do that? I don't want you in any trouble! This will just be between you and I, no one else.” Eliot smiled and gave an unexpected hug.

James was caught off guard by the hug. He instantly pulled away and looked at Eliot's hands to make sure there were no weapons. He sighed then returned the hug.

“We need to get out of here.” He said then walked out the door. When he got to the front he bowed and said thank you to the girl and the man. He then took Eliot and they left.

“Ummm where are we going?” Eliot asked

“Uh, Where do you live?” James asked

“That way,” Eliot pointed “past the bridge into the borders of Portals.”

“That far?” James asked then started walking towards the direction. “You know we are going to have to take a train to get past the border. Did you bring money?”

Eliot shook his head no. “If you think of it, I was wearing a freaking hospital gown and do you think I would be caring money in it? It has no pockets dude!”

“Well, I would have thought to give it a try.” He said.

They started toward Eliot's house. Eliot began tugging at his black jacket. He could feel the cold wind blowing straight through the seams.

5 minutes later.................

“I'm coldddd.” Eliot complained while gripping his sides to try to keep the warmth.

James sighed and took off his own jacket and handed it over to Eliot.

“Thank you so much!” he took it and put it over his. “What about you? Aren't you going to get cold?”

“I will be fine, I can create my own warmth.” James responded. He stopped and turned to Eliot and held out his right hand. Golden markings began to cover his hand then a small flame appeared right about his hand.

“Wow, where did you learn that from?” Eliot asked astonished.

“I was born with it.” James said then continued walking.

“Well, I can bring certain things back to life.” Eliot said catching up to James.

“What? No you can't.”

“Yes I can and I will prove it!” Eliot ran over to a dead oak tree and placed his hands on it. He mumbled a few words. The tree glowed with a green light then began turning a rich brown and the leaves began turning from a dead dried brown to a red then orange then finally a deep green. All the flowers bloomed and showed their true colors, white, baby blue, baby pink, and ruby. Eliot turned to see the approved look on James' face.