Powerless

65. Make A Choice...

"Ȍ̸̠͠h̵͍͛̊ ̶̑ͅĺ̵̜̕ọ̸̫͐ő̵̦̆k̸̨̧̿.̴̙͎͂.̴̡̰̎̌.̶̗͇̓ ̷̢̇͝A̷̫̹͗ ̵̞̓s̸̨̪͋͘n̷͇̏ä̸͙̥k̴͉̓̀e̶̟͝.̸̢̛"Cassidy was furious! He could feel that familiar constriction around his mind as he stared at them with such raging hate. Logan was slumped down on the ground, propped up only by his position on the wall. "Hun, why don't you... Dark?" Damien seemed to be avoiding any and all eye contact with either of them as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Anti narrowed his eyes in concern but Caz was way too pissed to give a shit. He didn't care if the Dark Demon was drowned in his own guilt. He was just another liar. HE'D HAD ENOUGH OF LIES!

"What did you do to him?" Anti frowned hearing the guttural sound escaping his lips. 

"I merely knocked him out. W̸o̶u̵l̶d̶n̸'̵t̴ ̶w̵a̷n̴t̴ ̴h̴i̴s̴ ̵m̷i̶n̵d̵ ̴b̸r̴e̵a̶k̵i̵n̷g̴ ̸a̴s̴ ̵w̴e̵ ̷g̵l̸i̸t̴c̶h̵e̷d̴.̷.̸.̴" He picked Logan up, holding in over is shoulder like Shrek with Fiona. Cassidy was seething. He couldn't even calm himself to figure out a plan. All he saw was red. Damien could feel that pull getting stronger the further along Cassidy fell into that pit.

"Caz bre..." The dark man froze growling out to himself as he tried to fix himself up. "Anti you should go."

"Maybe you should, Darky?" Anti could see the strain in his partner as he stood there. Seeing Damien going through such hardships over his weakness... And Anti thought Damien's weaknesses was the easier of the two. His need to be in control... His 'soft spot' for the strained. They were hardly that bad but Anti could tell this was torture for him. Fighting against his urge to help the strained so that he can support his love, who is also strained... It must be hell. Now if only Anti could get a handle on his own weakness. "See ya later, Gator..." Cassidy tensed up seeing the space around Anti start to glitch and glow. The twisted psychotic energy the man gave off sent an ever thrumming buzz to the back of the skull... like white noise. That's what Anti's energy was like... White noise. The snake had attempted to make a move to stop them. He tried to reach out with his power but for some reason, his nullification just wouldn't work right. Next thing he knew he saw Anti grin crazily as he threw his free hand in the air. "Ḽ̶̦̌I̴̤̠̾͑Ķ̷͂͠E̸͎̻͗ ̴̘̰̒͐Á̸͙ ̷̠̯̓͌B̴͖͊̓Õ̷̧͎͠S̶̗͖͋̊S̶̞͘!"

"NO!" Before Cassidy even blinked he had Damien by the throat with his fangs out in an obvious threat. He looked like he was about to flat out dismember the man.

"Cassidy..."

"Bring him back!" The snake was falling and falling fast into the black pit that seemed to swallow up any sense of him. Damien was actually concerned. If Cassidy wanted to he could kill Damien and the man wouldn't even put up a fight. He wouldn't fight... because he couldn't risk hurting him. Damn that stupid attachment.

"I can not." Cassidy hissed out, fangs getting closer and more threatening. Damien could smell the venom coming off of the man and he couldn't help but shiver. "Besides... That wouldn't help your other friends." Damien felt the back of his head crack against the wall as the room started to spin. Cassidy's eyes now both serpentine as his form shifted like it had during the mock battle.

"Ssssstart talking, Sssstupid." Damien reached up wrapping his hands around Caz's wristed hoping to pry himself loose but the snake was far stronger then he was. He had no choice. It wasn't like he needed to keep up the act anymore anyway. Cassidy narrowed his eyes as Damiens form shifted beneath his grip. His hair shortened into a dark curly floof to that fell over his blackened eyes. His muscles became more defined and his skin turned soft grey. There wasn't much of a change but you could see more of Mark in him now and it was clear as day that this was the same man from before at the resort. Dark... "Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"Because if you did all your friends would die, starting with Logan... and probably ending with Roman." The growl that escaped the serpent's lips couldn't be described as anything other than demonic as Dark narrowed his eyes. "Anti's set up quite the quest for you Cassidy."

"I don't care. BRING MY FRIENDS BACK!"

"I can't!" Caz stumbled back slightly at the instance force of energy that slammed into him. "I can't. That sick part of this is I actually want to..." Dark was fed up with this stupid attachment. Nothing was ever going to turn him against Anti... Not even his own weakness. "The only thing I can do for you is to give you the locations."

"Locations?" Dark frowned seeing the markings slowly recede. Just what exactly was that snake powers? "What locations?"

"The locations of your friends." Dark stuffed his hands into his pockets as he took a shaky breath. 

"Why? Why help at all?" Dark groaned as he leaned against the wall.

"It's not like I have a choice here, Cassidy. We're all slaves to our weaknesses." Cassidy was confused, to say the least. He was expecting Dark to snap at him but instead, he was just standing there with shaky breaths. "We strained all have weaknesses. Your pathological lying is yours. Unfortunately, the 'normals' don't understand a god damn thing about us. They think we're just crazy. We aren't crazy. We're just... I shouldn't be explaining this shit to you. I should be telling you..."

"Dark..." Cassidy watched the internal monologue in Dark as he clenched his fists tightly.

"You can't blame him for his weakness. Anti gets... destructive when hurt. You hurt him. He was in a coma. Cut up and bleeding. It was bad. Now he wants to make you suffer..."

"And I'm just supposed to believe you don't?" Dark growled as he lashed out pinning the snake against the wall and letting his dark energy branch out. 

"Of course I do. You almost took the man I loved from me. I could have lost him because of you. I thought I did. I came here to fucking kill you!" Dark quickly let go stepping back trying hard to ignore the confused look in the other. "The problem is I can't kill you. I can't hurt other strained... But Anti... Anti still needed some release. So he created a game."

"A game?" Cassidy watched this sinister grin appear on Darks lips as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. 

"A game... A question actually. Who is it you love? Simple enough right?" Cassidy tensed up as Dark laughed. "Unlike you, who nearly succeeded in taking my love away from me, He's decided to let you keep the one you love."

"But..."

"It is a choice after all. 4 friends... one choice. You pick who you want to live and the rest die." Cassidy was shaking as Dark handed the paper over still grinning like he was on top of the world. "The rules a simple since Anti's never liked rules much. You have to choose one. If they see anyone show up that isn't you, or you not there, they will kill your friends. There's only enough time for you to save one. Anti made sure to have them placed around the city so... You really do have to make a choice within the hour, they all die." Caz opened the paper feeling his blood grow cold. Dark wasn't kidding. There was no way he'd be able to save more than one. Not unless he could be in 4 places at once. "Good luck Cassidy... oh and if you happen to run across Anti... don't kill him. Otherwise, not even my weakness could stop me from killing you."

Cassidy watched frozen as Dark disappeared from view. He was already trying to come up with a plan. He had to save his friends. But Dark made it painfully obvious he could only save one. And if he sent anyone else in his stead they'd all die anyway. It was either chose one or lose them all...

So... Who was he going to pick?

Patton, who gave him a love that not even his parents gave him while filling his days with bright happy jokes and joy... who was the first to ever accept him?

Virgil, who helped and supported him throughout his school years and into college, giving him love and friendship when he had nothing.

Logan, who helped him without a second thought after finding out what happened to him... who made everything just a little bit better and brightened everything with wonder

Or Roman... His best friend. His partner... The man that stood by his side and hurt when he hurt. The man that has told Cassidy plenty of time that he was loved.

Who was he supposed to choose? Actually no... He already knew his decision. It was never even a question of who.

"I need some help."