Holy War: Two Worlds and an In- Between

Chapter 49: You Cant Protect Me

I sat outside of the house anxiously tapping my feet against the grass. I kept fiddling with my thumbs as I listened carefully trying to overhear anything that was being said from the inside. It was beyond stressful not knowing what was happening just behind one thin door when all I could think about was all of the things going wrong. For all I knew, death was knocking on the door, or evil was completely taking over. Regardless of my doubts and fear, I did sit on the grass twiddling my thumbs as I waited.

"Diana," Whisper called to me as he swung open the door. I sprung to my feet and looked at him with anxiety etched in my eyes, "he's waiting for you."

I nodded with a tight smile and straightened out my long red dress that we had taken from the castle when we raided the place. It was my idea, of course, to raid the castle for food and clothes while everyone was still frozen. We were able to get quite a few pieces of clothing out of there and even pick up the satchel I left when I ran after them. We also made sure to pick up Sir Itachi's journals on our way out.

I walked through the front door of the house Allioni constructed and was greeted by the scent of herbal tea. Allioni had been boiling a pot in the kitchen he made and was setting out cups for everyone. I smiled thinking of how quickly he worked after stabilizing Jack. He spent two days crafting and creating a home for us to use while we were on our journey. The amazing thing was, the house was made from tools crafted from the spirit orb, so the house had its unique abilities. It could compact and be held in a person's hand or it could be made in a sort of trolly.

I refused a cup of tea as I walked in as my stomach churned. I walked down a short narrow hallway and stood in front of a thin bamboo door. I found it difficult to work up the courage to open it. I couldn't bear to look at the damage.

"Quit being such a baby!" I thought to myself.

I took a deep breath and slowly pushed the door open. I peeped inside and saw a grinning Jack laying on top of a bamboo bed. His body was covered in bandages and he seemed unbelievably weak, but I lost all care for logic. I ran to the bed and threw myself into his arms.

He hissed in pain as I held onto him as long as I could, "Damn Diana, miss me that much?"

I pulled away and punched him in his wounded arm, "I was so worried about you!" I yelled as he gave me a sort of angry confused look.

"You were worried about me? I was worried about you!" He defended raising his voice raising up a bit. He groaned and held his side as he laid back down.

"So you thought I couldn't handle myself?" I asked a little hurt.

"What? No, D, I just wanted to protect you," he defended himself.

I sighed and attempted to run my hands through my hair, but it just got stuck in the tangled mess I hadn't combed in days, "And how'd that turn out for ya?" I asked.

"Apparently no too great," he said softly avoiding eye contact with me.

We sat there for a while just looking at each other. I could tell that Jack thought he was helping me, but he needed to understand that I didn't need his help. He seemed to see me as frail and in need of protection which got us into that mess, to begin with.

"Listen, Jack," I sighed scooting a little closer to him, "I get that you want me to be safe, and you want to protect me, but I don't need protection. I'm perfectly capable of keeping out of trouble."

"That's not what I saw," he countered once again trying to sit up, "What I saw was you constantly finding yourself in trouble."

"Trouble I wouldn't have gotten into without interference from you," I retorted.

He sighed and flared his nose, "Just wanted to help you."

"I know," I sighed warmly.

I reached for his bandaged hand and held onto it. I smiled at Jack as he struggled to even pull his face muscles into one of his own. He looked down at my hand in shame and shook his head.

"I never wanted you to see that side of me, D," he whispered almost as though he was ashamed of himself.

"Don't beat yourself up. I could handle it," I said shaking my head, "but I just don't understand why you had to fight."

He sucked in a deep breath before letting it go as though his lungs hurt, "Old habits die hard," he joked.

"So, do idiots who jump into fighting arenas," I responded.

He frowned as he could tell I wasn't in a joking mood, "At least I would die feeling complete."

"Complete?" I said in the form of a question, "Do you think you're broken?"

"No, it's more like a piece of me is always missing," he answered, "like how I feel when you're gone."

My heart fluttered a bit the way it always did when he would say things like that, "I get it, Arlow is a part of you."

"No, I don't think that's it," he said in a soft calm tone, "Arlow isn't just a part of me. He is me. He was me before I was even me."

I nodded as he spoke trying to soak in everything he said. I found it hard to accept that Jack and Arlow were the same people. They seemed as though they were two separate entities existing in one body.

"Jack, I just can't stand losing you," I explained trying not to cry again.

"Diana," he began as tears started to well up in his eyes, "you could never lose me."

"But I can lose you. I lose you every time you let him take the wheel."

"Diana, I'm always there. It's just not me you're accustomed to."

"I know, but at least he's gone now," I whispered not trying to think anymore. I didn't want to discuss Arlow anymore. He left a sour taste in my mouth.

"I'm afraid that's not exactly true," Whisper announced walking into the room with his hands buried in his pockets.

Jack seemed a bit annoyed by Whisper's arrival, "What are you talking about, Raphael?" Jack asked harshly.

I found it strange that Jack called Whisper Raphael. Sure that was his real name, but the Whisper didn't even address himself like that. I just found it odd that Jack would even know Raphael that intimately. Then again, Whisper did tell me that Jack would become Arlow. That was a prediction only a psychic or someone who knew Jack closely could infer.

"I was able to subdue Arlow your subconscious with the help of Calypso's book from the in between," Allioni added walking in with his tea, "but I can only do it for twelve hours a day."

Jack looked at them with furrowed brows, "What does that mean?" He asked a bit panicked.

"It means that you can only be Jack during the night. When day time comes you become Arlow again," I explained in a choked voice.

I swallowed a lump in my throat as I processed what they were telling me. I hated the idea of only having Jack from sunset to sunrise before he was handed over to his worse half, but what could I do?

"No, Allioni, how can we stop this?" Jack asked through gritted teeth. I guess he no longer felt 'complete' with Allioni.

"Well, I suppose since Calypso wrote the spell she could modify it," Allioni suggested.

"That's if she'd do it," Whisper scoffed folding his arms.

"Well, then let's find her," Jack insisted.

"I wouldn't be in such a rush," Allioni said warned, "as I was reading Itachi's journals, I realized that they're looking for Calypso too."

"Why?" Jack asked almost annoyed.

"They seem to be looking for all of us," Allioni asked, "but he's going after her first."

"Great," Jack groaned sarcastically as he covered his face with his hands.

"That doesn't mean that we can't look for her," said I, "we just have to find her first."