♘ Be Brave ♘

LXXXIII

"I'll leave you two to... talk." She smirks, and closes the door as she leaves. I pull back and look at Cassandra. Already, she looks thinner, gaunt. It's heartbreaking. She doesn't deserve this.

Why her? Why? I press a kiss to her forehead and try not to cry. "How's the apple of my eye?" She grins. "Never better." At least her sense of humor is intact. "Hey, I have a question."

I raise an eyebrow. "Not sure if I'll be able to answer it. There's a reason I didn't transfer to Erudite, you know." She rolls her eyes. "Seriously, though. How do you know I won't be kicked out of initiation while I go through chemo?"

I sigh. I need to tell her. There's no point in lying. "It's a long story." Cassandra leans forward. "I have time." I start at the beginning. I tell her about when Matthew discovered my divergence. How he told me I'm in danger. How he thinks I'm his son. How he left me with Marcus. Cassandra is silent as I tell her the story.

"I didn't want the leaders to make you factionless, so I sort of... pretended to forgive him. I told him to keep you within the rankings." Cassandra frowns. "You manipulated -no, blackmailed- your own father?" My fists clench. "He's not my father. He's a liar. He's a disgusting coward, that's what he is."

Cassandra takes my hand. "No. From what you told me, he really wanted to keep you safe. Your... uncle just wouldn't listen to reason." My uncle? Oh. Marcus. I just can't picture him as anything other than my father.

"I know you did this for me, but you shouldn't have lied to him. I know it's not my place to tell you what to do, but I think you should give him another chance. Let him make up for the time you two weren't able to be together. At least think about it. Please?"

I nod. "Okay." She grins. "Come on, I want to show you something." She leads me outside and down to an orchard, where a few Amity are harvesting fruit. She leads me to the east side of the orchard and points at one of the larger trees. "That's my treehouse. Want to see?"

I grin. "Last one up there's a rotten egg!" She laughs and we race to the treehouse. I climb up the ladder, and get inside before her. She's gasping by the time she joins me. I am unbelievably stupid. She's sick, for goodness' sake. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you run like that!"

She laughs. "Are you kidding? That was awesome!" I frown. "Are you alright?" She gives me a kiss on the cheek. "I'm fine." I take a look around. The treehouse is empty, except for a few chairs and a small, round coffee table. "Dave and I built it when we were little. We used to come over here all the time, and this is where we hid when we didn't want to do chores."

I smile. "I'll bring checkers the next time I'm here. Prepare to be defeated!" She rolls her eyes. "In your dreams." Grinning, I push her against the wall and kiss her. "I love you, you know that?" She leans in to hug me. "I love you more."
"I love you most."