The Voidbreak Crisis

14. Separate Paths

Kane was sleeping soundly in his bed, his chest barely moving at all, as Persephone watched him. They'd run from the city as hell had erupted soon after her mother appeared, soldiers and civilians alike rushing through the now-ruined streets. They'd heard gunfire erupt soon after, and figured it was best to move on from there post-haste. They'd found a motel along the side of a highway, and had broken in to one of the back rooms. Kane decided that they'd best take time to recuperate and gather their thoughts before moving on. Persephone agreed, and was watching him sleep. Wondering just what kind of man he was. She heard the faint crackle of a dying fire, and felt a dull heat behind her. She turned to see a man composed of solid flame standing behind her, watching Kane sleep as well.

"SwitchBlade I presume?" She said, going back to watching Kane sleep.
"Yes." He said softly, his voice like the rush of a campfire articulated into words.
"It's been ages since I've been... sane." He said softly, each word sending out small flickers of quickly dying embers.
"So you and Kane, here. You two are stuck?" She asked, turning to face him in her swivel chair.
"Yes." Kane said softly from the bed.
"You're up." Persephone said, grinning at him over her shoulder.
"Thanks to you two." Kane muttered, rolling over and covering his head.
"So what will we do now?" Persephone asked SwitchBlade as he walked to the window, his feet floating just above the floor.
"I don't know. It's been... so long." He said softly, watching a car drive past on the lonely highway. This world seemed so familiar, but he couldn't point out why. It seemed so similar to the world he'd forsaken so many years ago. The trees, the roads, even the sky seemed to be the same.
"I know what I'm doing." Persephone said after a few minutes.
"I'm going to go find her." She said, standing up and grabbing her coat off the hook on the wall.
"Alone?" Kane asked, sitting up in bed as SwitchBlade disappeared into a small cloud of embers.
"Unless you wanna tag along." Persephone said, grinning at him and winking as she walked out the door.
"Well?" Kane asked, looking down at his chest.
"Was that directed at me?" SwitchBlade asked, his voice echoing from the room around Kane.
"Yeah. What do you say?" He said, standing up and grabbing his coat.
"I say it's better than staying here." SwitchBlade said as Kane followed Persephone out towards the front of the motel.

As they rounded the corner, they saw several men and women in blue suits talking to the owner of the motel. The owner nodded over to the two of them with a raised eyebrow and the people in blue suits began to walk towards them. Persephone counted eight of them, and wasn't entirely sure they were there for any good reason.
"Can we help you?" She asked as they approached.
"Yeah, that's her." One of them said, looking at a tablet he held.
"We need you to come with us, ma'am, there's been an incident." One of the women in front said, producing a pair of handcuffs.
"There's gonna be one if you touch me." Persephone said, balling her fists up.
"Look, this doesn't have to be violent. We have orders, it's as simple as that." One of the men said.
"I've got better places to be." Persephone said, walking away from them.

Kane saw one of them reach for his
weapon, and time slowed to a halt before the weapon was drawn.
"You like her, don't you." SwitchBlade said, his flaming avatar walking out from behind one of the women in blue.
"Who? Persephone?" Kane asked, wondering why everything had stopped all of a sudden.
"No, the woman in blue. Yes, jackass, Persephone." SwitchBlade said, rolling his bright yellow eyes.
"I suppose, yeah. Did you stop them like this?" Kane asked, realizing then that he couldn't actually move.
"I gave us a moment to talk, Kane." SwitchBlade explained.
"I've lost many a woman in my years, Kane. She's... hurt, and broken inside. I've seen into your soul, into your heart, Kane. I saw the beggar by your father's shop. I saw your sister when she was ill. You're a good man, Kane. A better man than I could ever aspire to be." SwitchBlade said.
"And you took that all away from me." Kane said accusingly, feeling his cheeks blush bright red.