Ezra Phantoms: The Cursed Sword

9

With haste, Phoebe and I headed back inside to avoid getting hit. She slammed the door hard behind her, breathing very heavily. She turned to inform Hailee and Alex about the conflict outside, but was stopped in her tracks when she noticed them making out even more passionately than before.

"Guys, we left for a few minutes, and you've already started doing dirty stuff on my couch?!" Phoebe yelled. "There's a huge spaceship that I'm sure is carrying Dark Phoenix troops out there blasting lasers, and you two are having borderline sex."

"There's what?!" Hailee said as she stopped kissing Alex, and got off of him.

"You, Ezra, and Alex aren't safe here." Phoebe pulled out some type of disc with a button in the middle from her pants pocket, and then gave it to Alex.

"I need you to take this, and drive everybody to somewhere else safe."

"Drive?" Alex asked. "This doesn't look like a car to me. Also, I don't really know how to drive."

"It's super easy to drive," Phoebe replied. "Now hurry and press that button. We don't have time." We did as Phoebe said, and quickly ran out of the apartment. When we were outside, Alex took the disc from Phoebe's hand, and pressed the button in the middle she was talking about. The second he did, it started to morph gradually into a motorcycle. The transformation ended, and we were all staring at a bike that looked like it came straight out of the movie Tron.

"Woaahh," Alex said.

"You guys can be impressed later, get on quick!"

"What about you-"

"Don't worry, Ezra," she replied. "I'll be fine. Now go!" If it weren't for my injured state at the time, I would've refused to leave her alone with no help. Although, I knew if I stayed then, I'd only be a burden, and would be putting myself in danger. For that reason, I grabbed my crutches, and hopped on the bike behind Hailee. I saw a sight in the distance that made me less worried about Phoebe's safety. There were multiple people running wearing similar clothing as Phoebe, and masks unleashing an onslaught of laser blasts at the Dark Phoenix troops alongside the police. I assumed they were other Outers. I shouldn't have been surprised since Phoebe told me the first day we met that Outers were everywhere, and that they came out when they were needed the most. Phoebe sprinting towards the action while blasting at the troops skillfully was the last thing I witnessed before Alex took off.

...

The four of us ended up in basically the middle of nowhere after Alex drove for some time. We were on a straight road, and were surrounded by nothing but what appeared to be wheat plants. Only difference with these "wheat" plants were that they were multicolored. You would think with everything I had witnessed and experienced in this dimension that nothing would surprise me anymore. For some reason, the rainbow colored plants still surprised me despite everything. Realizing how far we went, Alex parked the bike on the side of the road.

"This should be far enough," Alex said.

"I don't think we could get any further," Hailee replied. We all got off the bike, and leaned against the bike as we stood. For a while, we just stood there without saying a word, letting the wind blow in our hair, and just enjoying each other's company. At least, that was until Alex decided to bring up something that we were all definitely thinking about, but subconsciously didn't want to talk about.

"I should ask him," Alex said to Hailee.

"No not yet," she responded, doing her best to whisper. I could still hear them clearly, though. The two went back and forth a little trying to decide if Alex should ask me the question. Finally, they agreed that I should get asked the question.

"Are you cool with us dating, or no?" he asked me, with a serious look in his eyes.

"Yes! Why wouldn't I be?!"

"We just thought you've been acting kind of weird ever since we told you about our relationship," Hailee said. "Are you sure you're not against us dating in any type of way? Whether you are or not, we're still going to be dating, if that's what you're worried about. What you say won't determine if we continue to date or end our relationship." She was right, but not completely. I was worried, but not about if what I said could end their relationship. I was already aware that they liked each other too much to let someone, even if they were their best friend, stop what they had. What I was worried about was that I would end up telling them everything regarding my crush for Hailee, and my jealous feelings toward Alex. 

I didn't want to say anything that could be detrimental to our friendship. I knew I couldn't ruin their relationship as lovers, but I knew I could ruin our three-way relationship as friends. That was the last thing I wanted to do. In that moment, I could feel what I had to do. There was only one option left for me to choose if I wanted to continue to have the best two friends anybody could ask for. That option, to be specific, was to completely eradicate my feelings for Hailee once and for all. Just like Phoebe told me, I couldn't go on like this. Something had to change. Or in this case, someone. For the sake of our friendship, I finally made up my mind, put my feelings for Hailee in a figurative box in my head, and threw the box out into the ocean, slowly watching it float away. I was done obsessing over her. I knew that my feelings wouldn't just go away that easily, but I was going to do my best at pushing them aside. I didn't care if it was unhealthy to ignore my feelings instead of facing them head on. I just wanted my friends, and myself to be happy.

"I'm sorry for how I've been acting lately," I started. "But trust me, it's not because of you guys. I was behaving that way for reasons that didn't have to do with you two. I'm actually really happy you guys are dating."

"You mean that?" Hailee asked.

"Duh. My two favorite people in the entire world are dating. Why wouldn't I be?" With those words as a spark, the three of us got into a warm, gentle group hug. No words needed to be said to express how we were all feeling in that moment.

"I love you guys," Alex said.

"We love you too, man," I replied. "Should we head back now?"

"Yeah," Hailee responded. "It should be safe for us again-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, we all turned our heads instinctively as we heard a noise from above us. We all looked at the same direction in the sky, and saw the same spaceship that was wreaking havoc in the city. Naturally, we all ducked behind the bike for cover. However, we didn't get shot at with laser blasts. Instead, we saw the spaceship land, and the last person we expected to come out of it.

"You guys need a ride?" Phoebe asked us.