With a small smile, I reached out to gently stroke the boy's head. His eyes widened at my gesture and my smile spread across my lips as my eyes watered.
"You had to become strong because I was simply too weak to acknowledge my fear of relying on others. You became the hidden strength because you wished nothing but my success with each trial. You sacrificed watching me replay these chains of events again and again, in hopes I'd open my eyes and see that you merely wanted me to see the strength and magical power I carry within." I paused as my hand moved to his cheek. A single tear ran down his cheek as it did the same down mine. "You're the God of Protection, aren't you?"
The boy stared at me long and hard before he finally nodded.
"Yes," he confirmed as he blinked back more tears. "This is your last shot."
"I know," I replied and offered my left hand once more. "I won't let you down anymore," I vowed. "Together, we'll save all those we love."
"Together," he quietly stated as he stared into my eyes. He could see my conviction that didn't waver even as he looked between my face and gestured hand.
He placed his little hand in mine and the tattoo upon my wrist began to glow brilliantly.
In a flash, I was back in the changing room in my school uniform. I looked to my wrist to see the tattoo was still lightly glowing, all while a silver gem with hints of purple glimmered in the palm of my hand.
"I got my crystal," I whispered before getting right into gear. Quickly fastening the gem necklace around my neck, I raced out of the locker room, just as Jax arrived down the hall.
"Connor?" he asked in confusion because I was racing towards him before I grabbed onto his hand and forced him to follow me. "C-Connor? What the fuck?"
"Call Brianne now!"
I was sure he didn't understand why, but we turned the corner and ran to the open door to the stairwell where we crashed right into two people. We fell back to the floor as they did, and when I opened my eyes, there were Elijah and Eliyahu.
"Ow," they said in unison. "What the fu-huh?"
They paused as they stared at us and we stared right back.
"Elijah?! Two of them," Jax said before the other door to our left opened up to reveal Brianne.
She paused mid-stride with Fuwa and Elsa on her shoulders, her eyes taking in the scene before she pouted her lips.
"Why do I feel like something messed-up is about to happen?"
That seemed to get me back on track as I quickly rose up. "Brianne! Spell Travel us to Finnick and Kaito!"
She blinked in confusion as she moved to where we stood. "W-Why?"
"I'll explain later. We need to do it now!" I emphasized. She looked to Jax before acknowledging Elijah and Eliyahu with a glance.
"Hands!" She gestured for us to hold hands. Jax reached out to hold Brianne's and mine, and I and Bri reached for Elijah’s and Eliyahu's, but they stared at us in confusion.
"Guys!" I stressed. "Either hold our hands or die by the piercing tail of a cobra!"
That had their eyes growing wide before they quickly placed their hands in our grasps.
My eyes locked on Brianne's eyes and she gave me a look of worry. I gave her a small smile and nodded in encouragement.
"You can do this, Brianne," I whispered.
She swallowed, and her face grew serious as she bobbed her head in understanding. "Ready?"
"Ready," I replied with the others. She took one long inhale and let it out, the world around us shifting entirely. I knew this dramatic move was going to shift the future entirely.
This was truly our final shot.
~BRIANNE~
* * *
When we materialized, dual voices spoke at once. "Why the hell are we being...oh."
Frowning at the trailed off question, I opened my eyes to see Finnick and Kaito were midway through putting clothes on; Finnick was wearing just boxers while Kaito was in the process of putting regular black jeans on.
The two of them blinked in confusion before they acknowledged the new additions in our company. Before anyone could speak, Kaito had swords in his grasp and was darting them straight in the twin's direction.
"Wait!" I got in the way, which only made Kaito curse as he tried to stop the soaring swords. I couldn't even lift my hands up in time, but I watched as the twins caught the blades in their grasps - the sharp points of the swords inches from the sides of my face.
Well...I could have lost my ears.
Could be worse.
Like?
The ground collapsing and a cobra swallowing you up before you die from being squished by rocks.
What kind of eerie imaging...wait.
"Is anyone going to explain why there are two Elijahs with you guys?!" Finnick questioned. I noticed the droplets of blood that began to fall from the twin's hands, which made me pause my train of thought to flinch.
"Elijah! Eliyahu!" I turned right around to glare at the two of them. Their astonished expressions followed with them pointing to themselves.
"Why the hell are you angry?" Elijah questioned.
"And how the hell do you know who I am?" Eliyahu questioned.
"Wait," they both added and moved their free hands in a stop sign. "How...are we alive?"
That triggered a wave of silence as memories flooded my mind. Swift scenes flooded my consciousness, until the last second when we fell into the dark acid pits of the purple cobra - our flesh sinking into the boiling acid.
My knees buckled at the memory, and Elijah caught me. It felt like an icy shiver went through me, which seemed to unlock a flaming heat within my chest that disappeared seconds after. The others were quickly at my side while Jax snapped his fingers.
A golden flame materialized in his grasp before it moved swiftly around Elijah's and Eliyahu's injured hands. In a flash, their cuts from the blades were healed.
Elijah helped me sit up before looking to Jax. "Thanks."
Jax merely nodded and looked at me. "Brianne. Are you okay?"
"Ya, sorry," I breathed. "I just need a moment."
"She Spell Traveled all of you?" Finnick questioned as he and Kaito quickly rose up to put on the rest of their clothes while we responded.
"Ya," Jax replied and looked at Connor. "What's going on? Did we-"
"The realm imposter acting like Elijah all this while is one of the cheerleaders in the competition. She's plagued with the darkness Brianne placed on the Elijah that tried to kill us. She tried to control Brianne by setting up a trap in the changing room that ended up striking her, but Elijah and Eliyahu were able to extract it out of her. This was before a massive earthquake and when we reached the stadium, everyone was trapped. Everyone essentially died. I used my gift to reverse time...and um..." He trailed off as he began to blink his eyes. "Fuck. My eyes are blurry."
Eliyahu cursed and looked to Jax. "I need some of that healing fire shit!"
Jax didn't even delay as he summoned the golden flames while Eliyahu was up and behind Connor in a second. He placed his hands over Connor's eyes. "This is going to hurt but you'll thank me later."
Connor couldn't reply as he hissed as Eliyahu literally froze a good chunk of his face. We all stared at him questioningly before Elijah explained. "This was in a book. Are you freezing the retina veins in his eyes so that the damage doesn't spread and create irreversible blindness?"