Phantom Pain (trilogy)

Fallen Brother

Chapter 12: Fallen Brother

The first thing I saw was nothing. The rain fell straight down, neither air nor shadow shifting in the slightest.

The second was that some of the fallen humans were beginning to stir. I rose to my feet, sheathing the sword. I understood now. The archangel sword was more powerful than I had even dared think. It was too much for me, and yet I carried it. It was so powerful ten legions of demons had been sent to retrieve it.

There was less dread in the air now than any time over the last couple of days. It was like the white light had cleansed the storm itself. I tilted my head back, enjoying the feeling of the water on my face, for the first time since it had began to fall. People were getting up, excitement in their voices. Many of them were asking what had happened.

“Ramie!” Gavyn grabbed my arm. He sounded worried, upset. But why?

I let him spin me around until I saw what he did. Dez was still on the ground, curled in a ball. The half of her jacket submerged in the puddle was soaked, along with half of her head.

“Are you okay?” I squatted down next to her.

She was awake, and she looked up at us through clouded eyes. “It burned,” she whimpered. “It felt like my insides were on fire, and now I feel sick. And my head hurts.”

She slammed her hand against her forehead, closing her eyes. I looked at Gavyn questioningly.

He shook his head. “It felt amazing. All the cuts and bruises I had are gone. Now everything just feels better, you know?”

Dez let out a whimper of pain. In that moment all I could see was myself there on the ground, crippled by a pain no one could understand. I sat down beside her, right in the puddle, and lifted her head onto my lap. Gavyn sat facing her, and he grabbed her hand.

“You know everything about me that I do,” I whispered, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. “But we know almost nothing about you.”

She squirmed as if she was thinking about getting up, but I applied a little pressure on her shoulders keeping her in place.

“There's something, Dez.” I moved my mouth so that it was right beside her ear. “I know it, and you know that I know it. And if we're going to be fighting together you need to trust us enough to say it.” She attempted to shove me away, but I wasn't finished talking. “What I did, it hurt you. I didn't know that. I didn't expect it. We're a team now, and we need to lay all of our cards on the table.”

What I said was slightly hypocritical. There were all kinds of things I kept from her and Gavyn. But she didn't need to know that.

“Please Dez,” Gavyn begged. “We're your friends. Whatever it is doesn't matter.”

She elbowed me in the gut and sat up. “It's not you I'm worried about, Gavyn”

When she looked at me her eyes were hard. Sure I'd been a little cruel when we'd first met, but I'd just had this feeling. And now we'd fought side by side so many times. I was a little hurt.