Shadowstruck

Chapter 10 Part 1

Jason crossed his arms. "So you're telling me that in the past month, you've all been unlawfully turned into convicts, got basically fatal wounds multiple times, she got her memory wiped, he got his personality wiped, and the threats from yesterday were directed at you?"

Noah clicked his tongue. "Yes." 

He thought for a second. "And...tomorrow you're going to sneak into the castle and try to save whoever's in there?"

"Yep."

"You're aware that this could go extremely, horrifyingly wrong, right?"

"Jason." Noah looked towards the ground. "We can either keep hiding and risking everyone getting hurt or we can do something and get everything back to who it was."

Jason frowned, exhaling quietly. "I'll let you go on two conditions." He held up a finger. "One. You be overly cautious about every little thing and don't do anything too risky." A second. "Two. You let me come with you."

Noah opened his mouth to argue but Jason shut him down. "I'm older than all of you. I want to make sure none of you get hurt." He shook his head. "No arguing."

Noah sighed. "Fine. But if this goes wrong I'm blaming you."

"I'll take the blame." Jason walked out of the room leaving Noah alone with his thoughts.

And his thoughts were currently in a massive, tangled ball of worrying and fear.

He leaned back onto the couch, arm over his face. A part of him wished it was his own memory that had been wiped so he didn't have to deal with all this.

Noah heard the click of the door opening behind him and looked up to see April coming into the room. 

"Hey, you." She smiled a bit. "Everything okay?"

"You do realize who, exactly, you're talking to, right?"

She leaned on the back of the couch. "Sort of."

"Well, let me rephrase. No."

"If you get to rephrase then I do, too. Is everything okay outside of the current situation?"

"Still no."

"What happened?"

"Jason wants to - well, from the way he phrased it, it's more likely 'is going to' - come with us when we storm the castle."

"And that's bad because...?"

"He's my older brother. I don't want him getting hurt."

"I think he's coming because he doesn't want us getting hurt."

Noah sat up. "We could die. That - that's a possibility, if not an option." He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "And he has a life."

"What do you mean?"

"I-" Noah closed his eyes. "I mean he has a girlfriend, and a dog, and a job, and people that care about him."

"I care about you."

"Thanks. But that's not what I mean."

"Noah." He looked up. "Imagine how he feels."

"Okay."

"His little brother, who he hasn't seen for a month, and has been worried sick about, just came back and is going to march to his possible death in a few days."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

April stood up. "Let him come. If you try and fight him on it I think he'll be more insistent." She walked to the door, turned the handle, and started to leave. Just before the door shut, she stopped and spun around. "And last time I checked, you have more people than just me that care about you." She winked and shut the door.