Twisted Reality AU

Chapter 4

The Palace. In Pieces. A blast of Ashy smoke pushed at Alex and Samheed, both tumbling backward. Screams followed as the Palace broke apart, but now it was just silence. After a series of coughs and wafts, the Palace was finally in a somewhat clear view. Every bit of rubble was ablaze, and now the only sound heard was the wind's soft whistle along with the crackling fire. A chunk of wall slid out from the massive pile and grazed the grass, eventually catching whatever dry sparse green there was on fire. By the looks of the crumbled building, anyone inside would have died.

Samheed stared long at the mess of rubble, blinking frequently as if he was trying to wake up from a longing nightmare. He looked at Alex who kept a hard stare. Anyone in the housing quadrants left their homes to the sound outside, commotion brewing. "We're leaving." said Alex. Samheed let out a disgusted sigh, and lifted his shirt over his mouth, about to head in. "Samheed, don't you dare. Everyone's dead, it's pointless."

Slowly Samheed turned around and looked at Alex's eyes, and let go of the shirt over his mouth. "You knew." It first sounded like a whisper. "Alex, you knew it was going to collapse didn't you?!" It was just the two of them, eyed to each other. Every other resident kept quiet in their buildings, murmuring with their families. Florence, Sky, and Lani hadn't known about what happened because of their decision to head back to Artime and plan there. "Answer me! You knew that the building was going to collapse that instant!"

Samheed had his fists balled. Alex noticed, and looked back at Samheed. In a cold voice, Alex replied. "Anyone with common sense knows that a burning building would soon cease to rubble." This argument was wasting time. Alex couldn't care more for the conversation right now, his mind mentally ticking off his separate plan. However, If Samheed and his friends were going to keep disappointing them like this, or lecturing him on his actions, things needed to be changed.

"NO ONE KNEW THAT MOMENT. Or at least Meghan and I! We were focused on you being safe!" Samheed yelled, his voice terrible. "Meghan is dead Alex! You're sick!" Alex stepped back, all these words thrown at him. Why can't any of them see this was needed, this was right. Artime was just allowing Quill to continue living whatever peace, when they clearly needed to be rectified. Alex knew he did the right thing.

"Samheed, you're wasting my time. Meghan should have known that entering that burning building was a death wish." Alex exclaimed, fixing up his robe. "If you are truly my friend, you should be supporting me. But no, all you are is the same person I knew a year ago. That ruthless, tempered boy. I was foolish to think we were actually capable of being friends. I can't help but now feel bad for Lani."

Samheed's jaw slacked, tooken by Alex's words. "Friends should support you in the right decision, not this." he finally said. He stammered a bit afterward, trying to come up with some way to respond to Alex's word's after, but couldn't. Instead, he looked at the ground.

"Samheed, how awful it was to have to learn this way. Imagine how bothersome it was for Lani to put up with you. Now, if you don't mind me, you're interrupting my plans." said Alex. It seems as if every word Alex threw out was calm, with no tone to it. He put his hand on Samheed's shoulder, causing him to look up at Alex in the eyes. The head mage took the opportunity and muttered the words "sleep" and snapped his fingers. It only took a second before Samheed hung his head, unconscious.

Alex wiped his hands on his robe, and left Samheed walking away to the gate. "Huh. Now that that's done." He trailed off. While walking, he could hear the distant fire crackling slowly but eventually spreading across town. The day before he announced the War to Quill, he adjusted some spells around to be more....beneficial. Meghan's piccolo could make anyone fall asleep, though Alex managed to make a version of that spell to a simple snap. It was quite smart of him, honestly. The victim just had to look Alex in the eye, snap, and fall asleep.