listen closely

20

{Will}

"That's in the human world," Em says, "How'd he get there?"
"He could've teleported there."
"Callum can't teleport." I say
"He can teleport when he's in his original form," Scott says, "But not that far."
"If he was pushed into his original form that means he was unconscious." Em says
"How the hell did he get all the way to the human world?" I ask, "You can't teleport to the human world unless there's a portal and there's only one."
"The only one we know about anyways..." Scott says quietly.
"I'll go find Callum," Em says, "Will, can you check on Lizzie again?"
"Yeah sure." She looks at Scott.
"You should lay down." His eye change color.
"I'm fine," He says, "Go find Callum."

"I got found her!" I appear behind Liam and look over his shoulder, a red dot flashes on his screen.
"She's deep in here..."
"That's where Kassie lives." We both jump and look at Scott behind us. "Sorry, I forgot about fear."
"Do you really not feel anything?"
"I... uh..."
"That was not what I meant, sorry."
"It's fine," He says, "You can only get into her place if you've been there before."
"Can you lead us through there?" He shakes his head.
"We wouldn't be able to get through if it was just Lauren and Lizzie who were missing, but we're also down Callum and Shelby so there's not way."
"Can we get you and Em to split? That would make up for Lauren and Lizzie and Kyle-"
"No, other Scott refuses to go near that place."
"So Em can-"
"No, Kassie is dangerous," He says, "We can't get in there without full force."
"What would happen if we went in there now?"
"More than one of us wouldn't make it back out of there," He says, "It would be a suicide mission."

"If we get Scott to map out what he remembers of Kassie's place then we can get in there," Em says, "We could also use his connection with Callum to find him, we just need to know who to get first."
"Smart." She looks at me, I stand up and go to kiss her.
"Wait!" She stops me, "Wrong person." He eyes change, she kisses me quickly, and switches back.
"I see you got everything under control..."
"Don't be mad at us, now's not the time."
"You can't do that."
"Why not?" She stops and looks at me.
"Because unlike some people in the room, I feel things," I say, "I can't just stop myself from feeling something because it's inconvenient!" She stares at me silently.
"I feel things Will..." She says quietly, "It's not job to block out feelings and emotions, but I feel things just as much as you! I am a person, just like you! The reason it's my job to shove those emotions as far down as possible is to keep your girlfriend sane! You have no idea what happened to Em o-or even Scott so you can't go around yelling at us, the ones you just overlook, because we're just trying to protect the people who you actually care about!"
"Em-"
"I may look like Em," She says, "I may look like your precious, sweet girlfriend, but if you call me Em one more time I will punch you because I'm not even close to being Em!" She blinks, her eyes turn brown.
"Em-"
"She said everything you needed to hear." She walks past me silently.

"Scott, I need help..." Scott sighs.
"What is it?"
"I pissed off my girlfriend." He laughs.
"I've never even had a girlfriend," He says, "Why would you-"
"Because I pissed of Jay." He stops and groans.
"What did you do?"
"I said she didn't have emotions." He looks at me.
"You messed up."
"What? What did I do?"
"You messed up, that's what."
"But what do I do to make it better? How to I tell her that I'm sorry and mean it?" I ask, "Without yelling at me."
"Ok... uh..." He sighs, "When did this happen?"
"About an hour ago."
"Ok," He says, "I don't speak for girls, I have no idea what girls think, but if it were me, you should stay away from her for a bit. She has to talk with Jay and see if she's willing to forgive you."
"How long does that take?"
"I don't know, I'm not a girl," He says, "I don't share a body with another girl. Don't be overly nice to her, that makes her think you're pitying her. You hit something really deep here so don't expect to be forgiven easily." I nod.
"But what-"
"I'm saying this once so you have to listen. Ok?"
"Ok..."
"I was originally created to be the one who has to push everything down and it sucks," He says, "It sucks to be called emotionless when that's what you were created to do. The protector will always have it worse than the main consciousness because if they let their guard down for even a second everyone gets hurt. They have the same amount of emotions as everyone else except it's worse because they have to hold them in until they explode out. Calling a protector emotionless is probably the worst thing you could say to them because you have no idea what they've been through and even if they tell you, you will never know."
"You were supposed to be the emotionless one?"
"I'm the second consciousness."
"Protecting from what?"
"Ok, you're gonna leave now," He says, "The look on your face tells me that you have no idea what you just asked and it's probably because you're worried about your relationship with Em, but you don't ask someone that. That's asking me to tell you, unwillingly, what the worst things I have ever been through are."
"Oh sorry, I didn't-"
"I know you didn't mean it, now get out."