Frank:

With each step I took up the stairs of that apartment building, I felt dread slowly growing in the pit of my stomach. It had now become obvious to me that Jared was going to find a way to kill me, and I was starting to accept that. Now I was wondering how he would do it, and how long it would take.

It only took a minute or two to reach the penthouse apartment, though I wasn’t very fit, the adrenaline rushing through my veins was giving me seemingly never ending energy. Demi took a step forward to knock on the door, but I stopped her and tugged her back. I wanted to be the one to knock. If I was going to die, I was going to be the one to start it.

I knocked three times, the sharp, hollow noise filling my ears and echoing down the staircase. Before my hand had returned to my side, the door creaked open. A familiar blonde haired child stood behind it, peeking out primitively, his fair fringe falling in his blue eyes. He was definitely the last person I expected to see at a Legion apartment.

“Who are you?” he asked in his high-pitched voice.

I dropped down to a squatting position so I could be on the same level as the little boy. I didn’t want to intimidate him, it could make my punishment worse.

“Hey there,” I said softly, “my name’s Frank. I’m looking for your daddy?”

A figure appeared behind him.

“Jared’s not home, could I take a message?” Sierra said politely.

Demi hissed, and if looks could kill, Sierra would be a dead woman. Obviously, this was ‘Kay’, or whoever Demi thought was Kay. Sierra, however, looked genuinely confused and insulted by Demi’s behaviour.

“I apologise, I forgot her leash,” I said dryly, glancing angrily at Demi. “And no, thank you. It’s urgent that I talk to Jared in person, and as soon as possible.”

Sierra nodded, pulling the boy away from where he had situated himself on the floor, toying with my shoelaces.

“Who wants to talk to me?” a voice said from inside, and the door was pushed open to reveal a dripping wet and half naked Jared, covered only by a towel around his waist.

He froze, the colour draining from his face and his whole body. He roughly pushed his family in the door, and told us to wait there while he got dressed. We did so, and he emerged a couple of minutes later dressed in his usual all over black attire.

“Follow me, now. No complaints, no arguments. We can’t do this here. I don’t know how much you know, but the more you tell me, the better it will be for you.”

Obviously he had left loving, caring, family man Jared back in the apartment.

He led us out of the building and towards the parking lot, where his blacked out Mercedes awaited us. He unlocked it and we all sat in, myself taking the front seat beside Jared and Demi in the back. Jared pressed a button on the dash and I heard a small suction noise, followed by a series of small beeps. He let out a sigh and let himself sink into his chair, his head falling into his hands.

“Just tell me what you know. It will make everything a lot easier for everyone.”

Demi opened her mouth to speak, but I held my hand up to stop her. This was my battle, she was just the witness.

“I’ll keep it short. The second golden rule is fake. You have a child and a wife. The Legion is a lie.”

I nodded and folded my arms, as if to further justify my points.

“Are you done?” Jared asked, a single eyebrow raised.

I nodded.

“I’ll try and keep it short too. Let me correct you. The second golden rule is not fake. Just not one hundred percent true. Falling in love can kill you… if you fall in love with the wrong person. That person has to be your one, true soul mate, otherwise you will lose your power source and ultimately die. This happens because when you fall in love, you share your power with your lover, and if you choose the wrong person, they can drain you of your power and leave you senile and helpless. If this happens, there is nothing we can do to restore your power, but we can, however, avenge the person who stole from you. It doesn’t achieve anything in the long run, just satisfaction. All I‘m saying is be careful.”

“Yes, I have a son and a wife, and yes, Demi, my wife is an ex-enemy, but unfortunately, when Demi here attempted to kill her, she went searching for help and got hit by a car, suffering severe head injuries and permanent amnesia. She cannot remember her recent past and never will, therefore she is not a threat to myself or the Legion. She bore me a son, and I am very happy to tell you both that he does not have the Gift and is safe from this Legion’s hands.”

“Thirdly, the Legion is not a lie. It is essential that we help young people, because it is true that consumption happens at the age of fourteen, and we need to stop that.”

“Finally, now that the two of you know, I need you to promise me that you will not tell anyone. Swear on your lives. Swear on the Legion. Swear on whatever the fuck you like. Forgetting that this ever happened would be a lot easier for all of us, because if you tell anyone, I will have to eliminate all parties involved. Is that clear?”

I gulped and answered, “Yes,” Demi doing likewise.

“Great. Now get out of here before Sierra gets worried.”

I moved to open the car door, but found myself locked in. Jared pressed the button on the dash again, and air seemed rush from the car. I tried again, and succeeded this time. I did the gentlemanly thing and opened the door for Demi, her almost leaping from the car, and we began to walk home. We had been walking in silence, until Demi spoke.

“Something’s up.”

“With me? No, I’m perfectly fine.” I replied.

“No, you idiot, not with you. With Jared.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Sierra killed his parents.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“What?”

“Sierra killed his parents when he was seventeen. She was trying to rob their house, you know, them being an elderly couple and an easy target, but they fought back. She shot them both, twice, in the head and in the chest, and Jared figured out that it was her and went to avenge their lives. He tried to kill her with his powers, and that’s how she found out about the Legion. But he was only a novice then, and his powers weren’t strong enough. She escaped, and he’s been trying to kill her since. There is no way he would just forgive her, amnesia or not.”

The entire time she had been speaking, I had been staring at her open-mouthed. I had thought she might have considered telling me this, but obviously not.

“Why the fuck did you not tell me this before?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I didn’t think it would actually be her!”

We reached Demi’s apartment after a couple of minutes walking in an awkward silence. She opened the door, not asking me in but I followed her in anyways.

“So what are we going to do about this?” I asked her eventually.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean, nothing?” I said, anger creeping into my voice.

“I mean, nothing. If we start snooping into Jared’s private life, he’ll see it as breaking our agreement and kill us. So we are going to do absolutely nothing, we are going to forget all about this little discovery and we are going to live. Okay?”

I grunted and ran out of her apartment, and continued running for as long as I could manage. I collapsed to the ground t the bottom of an alley and held my head in my hands. My life was in ruins and I had no idea what I was going to do. I was naturally inquisitive and there was no way I could just forget about Sierra’s past.

Demi was also confusing me. I didn’t understand why she would tell me all about Sierra and leave out that one major part. I had always trusted Demi, but now I was starting to doubt her. Who’s side was she even on? She knew I would be killed if I let out Jared’s secret, in fact it would be her sector doing the dirty work. In spite of this, she was the first person to suggest that I go and tell him. Now that I had escaped death, she was giving me more information, knowing that I would probably go and mess things up and get myself killed.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of low laughter coming from the top of the alley I was sitting in. I glanced up to see a group of jocks from my school approaching me, all carrying bottles covered in brown paper bags. From what I could hear from where I was sitting, they appeared to be laughing at the size of one of the quieter jock’s penis. Mature much, I thought, chuckling. One of them heard me, and looked around until he found me.

“Hey Jake,” he called, pointing in my direction, “look who it is! Someone with a smaller dick than you! Fag Iero!”

The whole group, four in total, turned to look at me. Great, as if this night could get any worse. I stood up, pulling my hoodie close around me.

“I’m not looking for trouble.” I said calmly.

“Too bad we are.” one jeered.

I straightened my back and took my hands out of my pockets, trying to make myself look taller and failing. I knew that trying to beat me up was no use, but obviously they didn’t.

“You are disgusting.” the leader of the group spat. “It’s not natural for a guy to take it up the ass.”

I was considering telling him that I’d only had my first kiss today and it was from a girl, but decided not to.

“You are never going to get a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend either.” he continued.

I saw, from the corner of my eye, movement at the top of the alley. I glanced up to see that Gerard kid who I was paired with in English and Art. I held his gaze and made suggestive eye movements to continue walking, but instead of saving his own ass, the idiot ran a few yards down the alley and hid behind a large trash skip. I suppose it was only natural he wanted to watch me get beaten up, considering the way I’d been treating him.

“What are you looking at, fag face? Your boyfriend isn’t coming to save you.” the leader of the group snarled, the other three sniggering at his comment.

“I was just thinking about how hot you look right now.”

He most definitely did not look hot, but the angrier they were when they started, the shorter the beating was likely to be.

The quietest one, who they’d been teasing at first, stepped up and punched me in the stomach. It wasn’t hard, but enough to wind me. Another stepped in, punching my shoulder, and although I was still totally balanced, I feigned a fall so that I could speed this all up. I had better things to be doing with my evening, such as playing guitar or eating.

They began to kick me from all angles, and I just lay there, totally still, focusing on other things such as the inside of my eyelids and how they reacted to getting kicked. Eventually, it stopped, and I felt myself being lifted up by my hair, which I must say, is not a pleasant experience.

“Don’t you ever fucking talk to us like that again, you hear?” he spat.

“Cunt.” I mumbled, through a swollen lip.

“Fuck you!” the jock roared, throwing me to the ground where I landed with a crunch.

One of my ribs was broken, maybe two. I heard them retreat, and I began to focus my healing on my torso. It only took a second or two before I heard a satisfying click, and I knew the bone had fixed itself.

I heard muffled steps and felt a shadow fall over my face. If anyone tried to kick the rib I’d just healed, I would be fucking angry.

“Oh God, oh God…”

The voice sounded familiar but it wasn’t one of the jocks. It was only when I did hear a jock’s voice that I remembered Gerard running down the alley and hiding. I forced my eyelids open, and watched in horror as the group walked down the alley again and backed Gerard into a wall.

“Don’t touch him.” I said quietly.

“Shut up, faggot!” was the only reply I received.

One of them grabbed him and threw him at the bin he’d been hiding behind, another punching him in the face. I started to frantically heal all my major wounds, and the next time a glanced over, Gerard was on the ground and they had him surrounded. I couldn’t leave him here, he would surely die from blood loss.

Once I was healed enough to stand, I ran over and tried to pull one of them away so I could get in to help Gerard, but I was easily shrugged off. He was curled into a foetal position and was in terrible shape.

I don’t know where it came from or what it was, but I felt something similar to butterflies start in my stomach as I watched helplessly. It grew into warmth, and from there into a burning mass of I don’t know what. I screamed, and instantly felt the warmth leave me. When I opened my eyes, the four teenage boys were scattered around the alley, as if some force had blown them away. I guessed it was me, because there was nothing else here that could have done that.

“I told you not to fucking touch him.” I growled as I made my way over to where Gerard was lying in a heap against the wall.

As I stood over him, he whimpered as though he thought I was going to kick him.

“Hey,” I cooed, “don’t be scared. It’s only me.”

He opened his bruised eyes and looked at me, his face a mask of disbelief.

“Your… Your face, your whole body, it was all shitty… and now it’s…”

“Hush,” I murmured, placing a finger carefully on his bleeding lips, “I’m the last of my worries. All I care about right now is you.”

I had tried to heal other people before and it hadn’t worked, but somehow, it worked on Gerard. It took a while to get around to all of his wounds, him watching me all the while with those big green eyes of his. When I touched a small cut on his neck, he shivered.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked.

“No,” he whispered, “no…”

He pushed himself into a kneeling position. He was only stable for a couple of seconds before he wobbled and nearly fell again, but I reached out to steady him. We sat for a couple of minutes, me holding him by his shoulders and him with his hands on my knees, just staring into each other’s eyes. They were so beautiful, and as I observed him more, I could see that pretty much everything about him was perfect. His cute little nose, his plump pink lips, his messy brown hair, his round chin with the tiniest layer of pudge… he was stunning, and I didn’t know how I hadn’t noticed it before.

I sat up suddenly, almost throwing him off me, and began pacing. Although I had teased him about being gay, it was extremely unlikely that he actually was, and even if he was, what were the chances he’d want to date me? I was just the strange short kid with dyed hair and piercings who wore eyeliner and had tattoos despite being underage. Gerard was sweet and kind and handsome, he could have any guy or girl he wanted. Gerard’s eyes never left me, and I gave him a shrug and a look I hoped said “why the fuck are you staring at me like that?”.

“I kind of can’t get up by myself…”

I felt bad then for just walking away from him, knowing he was probably still not fully healed. I offered a hand to him, and the instant our hands touched, I felt something inside of me. Kind of like an electric shock. Two little currents, one from my head and one from my chest, ran along my body until they connected in my arm and passed into Gerard. It had to be the strangest feeling ever.

I put an arm around his waist, not letting go of his hand as I helped him stand up and regain his balance. Once he was satisfyingly steady, I left him and leaned against the wall of a neighbouring building. Not soon after, he joined me, and I noticed he was copying my body movements. I shoved my hands in my pockets, he followed suit. I kicked the ground with my foot, he did too.

“Stop copying me, you freak!” I said, trying and failing to inject some of my usual malice into the words.

Instead of stopping, he made his copying even more obvious.

“Seriously, I’m going to start copying you now!” I giggled.

“Great!” he answered, proceeding to show me his best jazz hands and step a couple jazz squares.

I laughed, my first proper laugh in weeks, and tried my best to copy him.

Out of nowhere, I saw Gerard raise his hand and place it on my cheek. As a natural instinct, I flinched, as this was one of the ways Jared used his power. It was obvious that Gerard was not trying to hurt me though, so I continued our game by tentatively placing my hand on his soft cheek. I felt the energy rush through me once more and it pushed me to do something I would never have had the courage to do before that day.

“My turn .” I whispered, my voice so quiet I could barely hear it myself.

I put my other hand on Gerard’s face and pulled him closer to me, pausing momentarily to see if he was okay with this. Once I saw no sign of him trying to stop me, I joined my lips to his in my second kiss, ever, and in one day.

But the kiss with Demi didn’t even come close to this. Her kiss was forced and it just felt wrong to me, whereas this kiss felt totally natural and perfect. I moved my hands to around his neck, and felt his hands move to my hips, where they rested for the duration of our kiss.

All of a sudden, a wave of fatigue crashed over me that was so strong, I nearly collapsed into Gerard. I removed my arms from his neck and pulled out of the kiss. I didn’t want to have to explain to him that I had to leave, pronto, so I just planted a small kiss on the corner of his mouth and hoped he’d get the idea.

I stumbled to the top of the alley, nearly tripping over the bodies of the four jocks, who were still unconscious. My tiredness was so strong that I turned the wrong way for my apartment and so had to cross the street and trace my steps back. I barely made it up the stairs, shuffling around with my key in the lock because with the exhaustion I had forgotten which way I had to turn it. It eventually opened, and after going into the bathroom instead of my bedroom, I found the right door.

I somehow managed to make it to my bed, and collapsed into it fully clothed, shoes and all. In seconds, I had blacked out into a dreamless sleep.