Liberation

Chapter 26

And she doesn't see me until it's too late for her.

I pounce on Henley, a rage coming forth from me due to the years of fear, grief, and pain she has caused me.

Our transparency falters at the impact, and I waste no time in attacking, the only thought I have being how much I want to snap open every vein in her body and let her bleed out.

We barrel roll on top of each other, our teeth clenched in anger and the only thought being the other's death. I reach my hand around her throat, but she is stronger as she kicks me in my stomach, causing me to let go as I wretch in pain.

I quickly get to my feet despite the pain, glaring at her with a look that could kill. But she only smirks at me, her gold eyes bright with the thoughts of murder. "Well, doesn't this feel familiar, Julia?" She asks, taunting all of our previous fighting encounters.

I growl, launching a volley of flames from the incoming fire using the power of elements.

Henley easily dodges them, getting closer to me with every step. And when she finally gets within an arm's reach, a flick of her wrist sends me levitating off of the ground in an all-too familiar trap.

She holds me in a death lock, my every muscle conformed and frozen in her grip. I can't move, not in the slightest.

"When I'm through with you..." Henley begins, panting from the fight. "Everything will be right again. Things will be...the way they always were. I will restore order," she says with a wicked and a slightly insane grin on her face.

There!

The moment of talking has wavered her focus in the slightest, and I can feel the small gun Maria gave me in my back pocket.

"You're...wrong," I grunt out. "You don't know what order is. Everywhere you go, suffering follows. You've... made me lose the only boy I've ever loved. You've plagued my mind with terror and given me too many sleepless nights," I monologue, trying to distract her while meaning every word I say. "And I will make it my life's mission...to not stop fighting...until I see you dead!" I yell, and in a flash, I pull out the gun and shoot her, falling to the ground with a thud as her power is gone.

One minute.

Henley collapses, convulsing on the ground from the loss of her power. The sight pleases me, to see her rendered helpless.

Forty-five seconds.

"What...did you do?!" She demands, her eyes glowing as deadly as the fire surrounding us. She tries to stand up, but falls back down with a thud. But I just smile, saying, "You're nothing now."

Thirty seconds.

"I'm going to kill you," I say dangerously as I approach her, peace settling in with the thought that I am about to end her, once and for all.

Fifteen seconds.

However, I hear a noise in the distance, almost like a yell or a warning of some sort. But I ignore it, the flames muffling the noise and Henley's death my main focus.

I look down at her, sensing the artery in her body that will kill her if crushed. She looks terrified, not ready for her end.

I hear the yell again, this time much closer and obviously heading for where we are. But I pay no means to it.

Five seconds.

I close my eyes, sense the artery, and prepare to crush it. "Goodbye," I tell her, not at all sorry to see her go.

WHAM!

Someone slams into me, knocking me to the ground before I can kill her. I fall to the ground with a thud, and I feel Henley regain her power.

"No," I croak out as I watch her helplessly get to her feet and smirk at me. "Come and get me," she taunts, becoming invisible and running back into the fight.

In a rage I spring up from the ground, angrily turning around to face whoever knocked me down. But I'm taken by unfortunate surprise, coming face to face with Peter.

An unexpected fury, a deep anger fed by fear and resentment, a very ugly side of myself, claws its way from the depths of my soul and escapes through my words.

"What the hell, Peter?!" I scream at him.

Almost innocently he points his index finger at something in the distance, and I turn around to look.

A small hole is lodged in a building, blackened and smoking from the impact. A bullet hole. Retracing my steps, it would have hit me if he hadn't knocked me out of the way.

But instead of being grateful, the feeling is quite the opposite. I could've killed Henley before I was shot. I was one step away from all of this being over, even if it would've killed me in the process.

And it's all Peter's fault.

"I don't care what would've happened to me! I don't care! I was so close! I was about to end her!" I yell.

"I was trying to save you!" He fires back, not understanding my fury.

"I don't need saving! You should've just let me die!" I retort.

Hurt on his face, he tries to put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. "Julia..." He begins, but I cut him short.

I slap his hand off of me, not wanting him close. "Don't touch me," I growl. He backs off a bit but still won't go away.

"This all would've been better if we had never become a couple in the first place. I wish I had never met you," I begin, my voice shaking with anger. "You always intervene, always trying to fight my battles for me. And it's time I do things on my own from now on. When this war is over, I want no association with you. Don't speak to me, and it'll be like we never existed. Don't bother trying to reconcile things, because it won't work. Forget about us trying to become a couple again. Nothing can fix what just happened. Congratulations Peter, you've saved me but also lost me," I say, despite knowing I will come to regret this all later. I didn't mean anything I just said, but I needed something to blame this all on.

But when I see the look on his face, extreme hurt that is masked with anger, I know I've crossed the line.

He's speechless, looking at me like I'm a stranger. The faintest trace of tears etch the corners of his eyes, but he won't let them slip out.

"If that's the way you want this," he says before turning on his heels and walking away from me.

I put my head in my hands and sigh, for this is the second day in a row that I've yelled at him and scared him off.

What am I turning into?

This time, however, I don't go after him. I don't call out his name. I let him go, because he doesn't deserve what just happened. I hope he gets as far away from me as he can, before I completely embody the monster I'm becoming.

I told him to never let me forget that I loved him...

He let me forget.