Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty

Hanna sniffled and wiped her eyes, but the tears did not stop. “I can’t even begin to express how much I regret betraying you two,” she said. She pulled up her knees and hugged them. Hanna continued talking to DJ and Lui, but she did not dare look at either of them. “What kind of despicable person would do that to their friends?” she asked. 

“One that did it for the greater good, as you mentioned,” DJ answered in a matter of fact manner. He looked around the room, somewhat expecting another round of guards to show up or some other person in charge to burst through the door and take over now that EDJ had been dealt with. The room remained quiet. No one entered. No one left. It wasn’t entirely safe, but DJ was also too tired to worry about it. The fight left him injured and exhausted. For the moment, he decided to lie on his back and recover. The least he could do was take a minute to breathe and rest before figuring out what to do next. 

“It’s probably not any of my business,” Lui started in a quiet voice, still sitting beside Hanna. “But I want to know why…”

Hanna absently stared at the frozen form of EDJ, but continued hugging her legs. “Why what?” 

“Why did you hide it? Your evil side?” Lui hesitantly asked. “All this time, you were struggling and we didn’t even know. We would have helped. We would have tried.”

I was afraid, Hanna thought. Instead she muttered, “I didn’t want you to worry.” Hanna rested her head against her knees. “I didn’t want to be a burden.”

Lui frowned in concern. “Sharing a burden doesn’t make you one,” he said. “And it’s easier to carry a burden together than it is to face it alone.”

Hanna sniffed again, tears finally seeming to dry. “You have enough on your hands as it is,” she answered, briefly gesturing to EDJ. “Far be it from me to bring any more evil to your door.” She took a breath and wiped her face. 

“That shouldn’t have mattered,” Lui said, also watching Iul for a moment before turning to her again. “You can talk to me about anything. I’ll listen. No matter what.” Hanna sniffed again, but did not respond. “Any other burdens I should be worried about?” Lui asked with a small smile. 

Hanna did not smile, still preferring to stare off at anything other than look directly at Lui. “She really did want to kill you,” Hanna said softly. Lui was glad the room was quiet. He had to lean in to even hear her. “This evil side of me,” Hanna continued. “She really does want to cause everyone pain and suffering. She’s still me. I can never change that. She’ll always be me.” Hanna buried her head in her knees again. “I know I don’t deserve your friendship after everything I’ve done.” Her voice was slightly louder, but now it was muffled. “I know apologizing for it doesn’t make what I did any less severe. I’m pathetic. You probably hate me and you’d have every right to!” Hanna’s black wings unfolded and wrapped around her frame, as much as the little wings could, as if to shield herself from harm. 

“I could never hate you,” Lui said softly. Quite the opposite. Attempting to lighten the mood, Lui said, “Hey, if anyone’s at fault here for pulling out your evil side it’s EDJ.” Lui pointed to the frosty Evil Other. 

Hanna looked up and smiled a little, wings folding back into place. “It wasn’t all his fault.” She looked sad again. “If I hadn’t left… If I’d have just stayed and waited instead of going off on my own…” Hanna shook her head. “None of this would have happened if I-” 

“Hanna,” Lui interrupted. Hanna finally turned to look at him, her blue eyes wet and glistening in the dim light. “No more what-if games,” Lui continued. “We’ll work on that evil side of yours. We’ll think of some positive outlets for it or something.” Lui shrugged. “You made a mistake. So what? It’s not the end of the world.” Lui smiled at her. “We all make mistakes. The measure of a person is how they move forward after learning from them.” He leaned in and whispered, “Everything’s going to be ok.” Lui nudged Hanna’s shoulder with his before leaning back with an easy grin. 

Hanna took a breath, finally letting go of her knees and relaxing her posture a bit. “Thank you,” she whispered.  

“Ah, don’t sweat it. I’m just happy you’re you again,” Lui answered with a laugh and bright smile. 

Hanna stretched her legs and stood up. As soon as she was up, she wobbled a bit, almost falling over. 

“Are you alright?!” Lui asked, automatically reaching a hand out to catch her if she fell. 

Hanna shook her head. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “I just need a minute to recover.” 

Lui slowly stood up. “You look like death warmed over.” Hanna shot him an incredibly annoyed look. “W-what I mean is, you overdid it again,” Lui quickly rephrased. 

“Heh, all for the greater good,” Hanna responded with a short laugh and nod in DJ’s direction.

“You push yourself too hard,” Lui commented before switching to a more comical tone. “How are you supposed to keep me in line if you’re unconscious?” 

“Troublemaker,” Hanna responded with a soft giggle.

Lui started patting his pockets. “I’ve got some fruit snacks somewhere around here…”

“I’m fine,” Hanna once again insisted, waving a hand. “Go check on DJ.” Hanna shooed Lui off until he relented and went to check on the Original. 

Lui picked up the fallen lance on his way to DJ. The Original was still on his back with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. “Hey.” Lui crouched beside him. “You awake?” Lui asked.

“Yeah,” DJ answered, slowly sitting up and looking at Lui. “We need to figure out where we’re going from here. And what to do with EO.” 

Lui nodded in agreement. “What’s the plan?” Lui asked, handing the lance over. 

DJ took the weapon, retracted it to its travel size and slung it over his back. “Find our way to the control room. Contact the authorities. Wait for backup,” DJ answered. 

Lui nodded again. “Good plan.” He stood and offered a hand to DJ.

DJ grabbed Lui’s arm and the Other pulled him to his feet. “Thanks, buddy.” DJ secured Iul’s swords to his belt, preferring to hold on to them for the time being. He looked around the room and checked his watch. “I don’t know how much resistance we’ll meet so best stay on your guard,” DJ said. “Who knows what other traps EO still has in this crazy place. We should also see what we can salvage from here before moving on.” Lui stood at attention and saluted the Original before breaking out into a wide grin. Lui turned and took off to see what he could find. 

DJ made his way to the two icy Evil Others. Hanna had picked up her own sword and was sliding it back into its scabbard when DJ approached. He knelt next to EDJ and poked the ice. “How long do you think that will hold him?” DJ asked. 

Hanna shrugged. “Few hours maybe?” Hanna answered. “Being a pyromancer should keep him from getting hypothermia or frostbite so the ice might not even hold him that long.” 

DJ nodded and stood again, still staring at the frozen body. “I don’t feel like dragging him around, but I’m also not sure how safe it is to leave him here.” 

“There’s a shortcut to the control room I can show you, so it’s not like we’ll be that far away should something happen,” Hanna offered, crossing her arms and also watching the frozen Evil Other. “I can put a few more layers of ice over him, if that makes you feel better. Or I can stay here with him.” DJ remained silent for a moment in thought, considering all their options. Mistaking his silence for hesitation, Hanna said, “You… probably don’t trust me enough for that.” Her voice held disappointment. Whatever thought DJ was focusing on was interrupted as he turned to her with a raised brow. “Trust doesn’t come easily,” Hanna continued, staring at the human-sized ice cube with a frown. “I took your trust and shattered it. I deserve to be locked up as much as he does…” 

“If it’s a question of trust, it will be a bit harder to trust you now,” DJ admitted. “But I’m willing to give it to you again. I can see that you are truly remorseful for your actions and are willing to make the changes that will prevent something like this from happening again.” 

Hanna looked hopeful, if only for a second. “Do you think you could ever forgive me?” Hanna asked. 

“Well, now if it’s a question of forgiveness,” DJ said, acting as though it were an entirely different topic, because it was. DJ paused, but eventually smiled. “Yeah. You’re forgiven.” Seeing the relief wash over Hanna’s face made him laugh a little. “Lui’s right, you know,” DJ said in reassurance. “We wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to save you if you weren’t worth saving. I still consider you my friend and we certainly don’t hate you.” 

Hanna smiled, albeit dimly. I should be hated, after everything, she thought. How can Lui still say he trusts me? I crushed him, I put him down, lied to him, even tried to... every time, he got right back up again. He deserves better. Some friend I turned out to be…

Not finding anything of worth among the random items left in the arena, Lui turned back to see Hanna and DJ talking in front of a frozen EDJ. Lui smiled. It’s finally over. We can go home now. Everything’s back to the way it should be. Having a thought, Lui reached into his pocket and pulled out the little string bracelet. He stared down at the green and black keepsake for a moment, still smiling. I got my friend back. Everything’s going to be ok. Just as Lui was about to put the bracelet back where it belonged, something stopped him cold and filled him with dread. Lui’s fingers and hands started to fade in front of his eyes. Lui gasped and dropped the bracelet. He looked up to see Hanna and DJ still ahead of him. Lui reached out. “Ha-” Too late. Lui’s body dissolved into a million particles and disappeared.