The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

34. Fear

8.17.20

Benji's POV

Teachers began to frantically list off instructions, but they had to stop when Oliver appeared behind them. Connor was trailing behind him, and I looked down at my feet. I was safe to not be recognized by random teachers, but they would recognize me the moment they saw my face. Then I would get verbally murdered by my father again for leaving the academy without telling anyone. Someone should have known that I wouldn't just stay put. However, if they're here, then this must have some effect on them. I remember the earth quake from a few days ago; the one that made me accidentally separate Dev's wolf from his body and got me sent here. They said something about an insane father. Eh, it's probably not actually that serious.

"You need to get them out of here. This isn't about to be a job for students; advanced or otherwise."

"This is part of their purpose. They need some battles in the outside world or they won't go into it well. We know that it isn't totally safe, but they all agreed to put their lives on the line in the case of a battle where we are needed."

"Listen to me. Our foe in this fight won't discriminate on them just because they're kids. This is much too dangerous to put anyone under the age of 19 into. The last warlock that attempted to fight him off nearly died as well, and he was graduated for 2 years before attempting."

"Well what color was he?"

"Magic color doesn't matter. It's dangerous for anyone."

"Well he seems to be under 19 and he's fighting." Demasicus pointed to Connor, and the boy made sure to fix him with a glare that would terrify even the strongest man.

"My son is only here as a replacement if either me or my husband is to meet our demise. He has been trained for his whole life to be victorious in almost any fight; I've also prepared him for our foe exactly since I knew that this would happen again."

"You make it sound like you know the person that's about to rise from the crust of the earth."

"I do. Now I don't mind if your teachers fight, but don't kill off kids intentionally like this. I won't hesitate to tell the entire warlock community how little you care for their children."

"Fine. Everyone get back onto the bus now."

The groans of frustration came from the entire group, but we got back on the bus either way. I'll just make sure that they don't count the person I'm impersonating as dead then go out on my own. Okay, it's official, I have no care for my own life. I mean, I definitely do, but the bigger picture is much more important. They took role to make sure that no one had stayed on the field before starting the bus, and the ground continued to shake as whatever we were originally going to fight rose out of the ground. I just hope that I can get back in enough time to be a help to them.

***

Devon's POV

I quickly thrust my car door open, and it hit into the man with a lot of force. He fell backwards onto the pavement with a yelp, and I swiftly ran into the forest. My feet slammed against the forest floor as the leaves crunched, and I suddenly recalled a fatal flaw in my whole wolf idea; I don't happen to have a wolf. Jack's kid separated us, and now I don't know where he went. At least Oliver made me keep my physical body up to shape too, so I bet that I could get there relatively quickly on foot. I wish I had a car, but oh well. It was gone now; my poor baby.

I was somewhere in-between home and the crash site when my phone started ringing again, and I sighed before picking it up slowly. Of course it's Oli. "What is it this time Oliver?"

"Where are you now!? My father is mere feet from rising and you still aren't here. It's been an hour!"

"Well excuse me. I think I'm close?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the fastest runner in the pack? I swear your father could outrun you right now."

"Bitch you bet I could," I heard my father boast from the other side, and I sighed loudly.

"Oliver, I don't have my wolf, remember? I'm going as fast as I possibly can on foot, but without a car or a wolf I won't be there for a bit."

"Right, I forgot about that." I heard him sigh, and I could just imagine him pacing back and forth stressfully. His hands were probably laced in his black hair, and he had probably pulled out his hair tie a long time ago. I knew exactly how he got when feeling the pressure, and I was usually there to calm him down before it got too bad. I can just hope that he doesn't get so bad that he can't think clearly when his father rose. "Oh shit! Dev, I have to go, I-" The line suddenly cut off, and I felt a thrill of fear rush through me. What could have happened that had him suddenly cutting off the call? I ran faster than I ever had before, and my legs began to burn from the constant motion of my body. I couldn't rest now; not when I didn't know if he was safe or not. My breathing was harsh, and I could see it in the progressively colder air. It was just warm a few miles ago; its giving me an eerie feeling in my chest. My uncle told me that freezing cold air in suddenness was usually a temperamental spirit; he constantly makes jokes about that being why New York was so cold.

I suddenly emerged into a clearing, and I saw Oliver from across the way. He was watching forms disappear on the horizon, and I felt my heart finally stop hammering. I sprinted over to him, and he turned just before I crashing into him. "You big idiot, I thought you were in trouble when you suddenly hung up."

"I'm sorry. That one magic school thought it was a good idea to bring an army of students to assist in the fight, and it took me a solid second to get them to go away. I was just about to call you back."

"You could have just said that then hung up."

"Your papa hung up my phone to make me go deal with it because he knows I have difficulty hanging up when you're on the phone. I had to make sure they left; this isn't a place for teenagers."

"Oliver, we were teenagers when we fought him."

"Yeah, and you died."

"I was fine. I knew that you would rescue me."

"That doesn't change the fact that he killed you. It took a lot of opinions to convince me that Connor should be fighting, and he has been trained for a long time to kill specifically him."

"He's more powerful than the last time we saw him. He created a hole in the crust of the earth."

"You know that I would rather have you away from this too..."

"Maybe, but you also know that I'm too stubborn for that."

"That you are. Now come on, I'm putting armor on you whether you like it or not."