You're Never Alone

Chapter 19

Word Count: 2040

Dan ignores Phil and avoids him as much as he can for the next week or so while the rebels are all holed up in the houses just so he can keep to himself for a while. It stays like that until they receive news from inside sources that the king was out to find them and take them down for good. This of course causes people to start to rush to make a plan. This time Dan doesn't exactly have to help because his thinking isn't going to do much when he doesn't know why his father is going after the rebels instead of the other way around.

    It's nearing the end of the week when Phil finally has had enough of Dan ignoring him. He's let it go on for a while but it's leaving him cold and rejected constantly. So one morning before Dan can escape the room, Phil confronts him. They wake up as usual and Dan hurries to get ready, thinking Phil is asleep but Phil is already dressed and jumps out of bed as Dan goes to leave. Phil stands in front of the door with his arms crossed and Dan stops in his tracks.

    "Phil, move," Dan says but Phil doesn't budge.

    "No." Dan looks at him, startled by Phil's reaction. "You aren't leaving until you tell me why you're ignoring me."

    Dan opens and closes his mouth, struggling to find the right words. How do you tell someone you know that they murdered your friend? Dan turns away, frustrated as he runs a hand through his hair. "Why does it matter?"

    "Because it feels like it's for no reason! Just tell me," he exclaims but Dan shakes his head trying to push past Phil but Phil pushes him away form the door. "Why can't you tell me?"

    "B-because...I don't know!" Dan responds but Phil still doesn't move. Dan sighs frustratedly and reaches into his jacket. He grabs the dagger in his hand before quickly throwing it, aiming to right next to Phil's head. It thuds into the door as Phil gives a startled yelp, flinching away from the blade. Phil looks at it with wide eyes before gasping. "Does that answer your question?"

    Phil shakily grabs his blade from the door and looks at it closely as chills of dread crawl down his spine. "H-how did you-u..." but Phil trails off, lost for words and Dan looks away.

    "You killed him and I know it was you, okay?" Dan says, looking up at Phil but Phil doesn't look up at him. Tears fall down Phil's cheeks slowly and Dan's face softens slightly.

    Phil closes his eyes and wipes off his cheeks. "I'm sorry," he whispers. Dan stiffly nods brushing past Phil but as he reaches for the door Phil says something else. "Just know, Dan." Dan looks back as Phil turns to look at him. "I regret it every fucking day."

    Dan heads downstairs with Phil closely behind him and they go into the room near the kitchen where some people sit and talk, trying to think of a way to survive what the king is throwing at them now. Dan stands next to Adrian, who's leaning against a wall, and Phil goes to stand over PJ's shoulder to see what he's thinking. So far they only have ways to disperse through the city more or just straight up leave and run from  England. Dan just observes with Adrian, eavesdropping on different conversations.

    "Dan?" Adrian whispers from next to him and Dan looks over, wondering what's wrong. His brother grabs Dan's hand and brings it up so Dan can see. It's covered in black veins. Adrian pushes up Dan's sleeve and sees the veins are a third of the way up Dan's forearm, branching out from where the cuffs were previously in his wrist. Adrian looks up at Dan with slightly wide eyes, trying to not draw attention to them. "What's happening to you?"

    Dan looks at both his hands with an open mouth not knowing exactly what to say. "Uh it must be some type of poison from the cuffs. It must have injected into me when you removed them," he quietly says and Adrian sighs, releasing Dan's hand so Dan can shove his hands into his pockets.