Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Lucas)

The hallway was gone.

Everything was gone.

I stood in a black void, surrounded by nothing but darkness.

Kari appeared in front of me, looking beyond stunned. She was as close to being in shock as I’d ever seen her. But her voice came out perfectly calm, probably too stunned to even bother sounding that way.

“We’re dead, aren’t we?”

I didn’t reply. Just closed my eyes.

There.

“Duck!” I ordered, and dived toward the general direction of down. (Really, though, when you’re standing in a black void, it’s not exactly easy to tell which end is up and which is down.)

Kari must’ve thought I was some kind of lunatic, but she obeyed. Just in time, it turned out.

Something swept over my head. A blade.

“What was that?” Kari demanded. “It felt like…”

“That was Fallon,” I replied tersely.

“But… the explosion… We can’t still be alive.”

I kept my eyes shut, hating this scenario beyond anything else, because this was the type of training I used to always fail. “You figured out earlier that Fallon has magic. Guess what it is.”

I hadn’t really expected her to be able to guess, but then again, Kari had been defying my expectations ever since I met her. She looked at me, realization dawning.

“He’s an illusionist.”

“That’s right. He plays with light.” I got to my feet, bracing myself for another attack. “Which is why we’re at a disadvantage.”

“We can’t see him,” Kari breathed, eyes wide.

I nodded. “And he can see us.”

“He flipped the tables on us, didn’t he?” Her eyes narrowed, but there was a smile playing at her lips. Her next words were so quiet, I couldn’t quite catch them, but they sounded something like, “However, this works to my advantage.”

Which both scared me and made me extremely glad she was on my side.

Unfortunately, I’d let myself be distracted. And as any soldier knows, you should never, ever be distracted while fighting an opponent.

This was especially true when it came to Fallon. Which was why I almost got slashed in half.

The reason why I didn’t would keep me awake at night for a long, long time.

I don’t know how she did it. I don’t know how she even realized he was there, but next thing I knew, Kari slammed her leg into empty space, and there was a scream of pain.

Fallon’s scream.

That was what took me by surprise. Fallon was a battle-hardened soldier, almost immune to pain. One measly kick shouldn’t have been enough to make him scream like that. Something had happened.

Something I wasn’t really sure I wanted to know about.

The black space vanished like it hadn’t even been there in the first place. (Technically speaking, it hadn’t, but let’s not get into that now.) Fallon was doubled over in front of us, sword in hand, clutching his stomach. His eyes radiated pure hate.

Kari grabbed my hand before I could even stop to think about what just happened, practically jerking me off my feet as she flew away from Fallon at about the speed of light. It took me a moment, but I shook off her hand and demanded, “What did you do?”

“A girl has to have her secrets, hon. Don’t pry, okay?”

“Fallon is one of the most terrifying people I know. One kick shouldn’t have been enough to do that to him. What did you do?”

“Listen, Lucas, we’re on a tight schedule here, if you haven’t noticed. Stop asking me questions I’m not going to answer and run.”

She sounded more serious than ever before and had a point, so I shut up and obeyed. We swerved around a corner and up a staircase, taking the steps three at a time, and for the first time in days, sunlight slammed into my eyes.

It both hurt like heck and felt like the best thing ever.

“Where’s the door?” I demanded, knowing that if I didn’t make it out now, the sight of that sunlight would haunt me until I did. Kari smiled and pointed, caught up in the thrill because we were almost there.

But I’d learned to never, ever underestimate Fallon. Not if I wanted to live.

So when he appeared at the top of the stairwell, not even wasting a single second before attacking, I wasn’t at all surprised. And that was what probably kept me alive.

I dived forward, hoping to dodge the attack, but Fallon was faster. The blade slashed across my back, ripping my shirt.

But it would’ve been a lot worse if I hadn’t known he was coming.

I kicked at his legs, hoping to unbalance him, but missed. He stabbed downward, so I rolled, somehow getting to my feet, and giving the room a quick sweep to see if there was anything I could use as a weapon. Nothing. Not good.

Fallon’s eyes were hard, completely unfeeling. It was the look he had whenever he had to eliminate an enemy, and would not, could not fail no matter what. A look I’d seen more times than I’d like to admit.

But now, unlike all the other times, it was directed at me. I was the enemy, and he was going to kill me if it was the last thing he ever did.

And that, more than anything else, was what terrified me to the very bone.

Fallon struck again, and barely missed. It was too close. I couldn’t dodge forever, and he knew it.

Kari appeared behind him and pulled back her fist to punch him, but he caught the punch and twisted, flipping her off her feet and slamming her into the ground. She gritted her teeth, and tried to get up, but his sword was at her throat, and he had her trapped. She went limp, having no other choice.

“Well, I must say, this makes things much easier.” Fallon’s voice was quiet, deadly quiet. “What will it be, Lucas, your life or hers?”

I glanced at the exit, biting my lip. The logical choice would’ve been myself. I was the more valuable prisoner, the one it would damage Mask more to lose. Kari was the expendable one here.

But she had come back for me. And because of that, I couldn’t just leave her here to die.

“Play fair, Fallon,” I snapped. “You have a weapon. We’re unarmed. Where’s the honor in that?”

“Oh, so now you suddenly care about honor.” The blade pressed harder against Kari’s throat, and I could see her eyes darting around, calculating, trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this mess. But there was no way. And everyone in the room knew it.

“Where was your oh-so-precious honor when you betrayed me?” Fallon asked coldly. “Where was the honor when you turned down my chance to die like a hero? Where is the honor in dying like some common criminal, Lucas? Why don’t you tell me that?”

I stared back, and there was no trace of trickery or deception in my voice when I said, “I never betrayed you, Commander.”

“Never betrayed me?” Fallon laughed. “Then what do you call the fact that you abandoned Mask’s army to work for the other side?”

“To betray you, I had to have once been working for you. And I told you, Fallon.” I stepped toward him, watching his eyes narrow. “I was never yours.”

“A shame you think so, Lucas, but we’re getting off subject here. What will it be? Her life or yours?”

I bit my lip and didn’t reply.

It was impossible. There was nothing I could do. Nothing that wouldn’t get at least one of us killed.

But then Kari’s eyes changed. And I knew something was up the instant I saw the new look in them.

Resignation?

Her hand closed around the blade of the sword, eyes narrowing. And I knew what was coming next before it even happened.

A single, strange crackling noise. And then…

Fallon’s scream shook me to the very core, pure shuddering pain exploding into the air as he howled and dropped the sword. My eyes widened as Kari snatched up the blade and tossed it to me, tearing down the hallway like there was no tomorrow, which there really wasn’t if we didn’t get out of there right now. I plucked the sword out of the air and scrambled after her, footsteps pounding as I ran for dear life.

Kari reached the door and slammed her foot into it, almost blasting it off its hinges. She flew out the door and out of sight, and I sped up, desperate to do the same.

Come on, come on, you can make it, you can –

“Not so fast!”

I’d literally just set one foot into the doorway when Fallon grabbed the hood on my jacket and jerked, yanking me off my feet. He spun me around and hissed, eyes burning with icy cold hatred,

“I will not let you get away again, traitor!”

He moved to close the door, but then Kari was there, and she was grabbing my legs and leaning, putting all her weight into it and jerking back. Fallon’s fingers clamped down onto my shoulder and dug in as he held on, both of them taking part in a bizarre game of tug-of-war. With me playing the part of the rope.

But I wasn’t some floppy, obedient rope. Not by a long shot.

So I leaned over and chomped down on Fallon’s wrist like it was a slice of triple-chocolate cake with extra sprinkles.

Fallon barely even reacted – he was Fallon, after all. So I bit down harder, knowing that one of us had to give, and it sure as heck wasn’t going to be me. I could see his eyes getting worried, whatever Kari had done taking its toll on him. But who would give out first – him, or us?

At which point, I remembered the sword in my hand. Oops.

I brought it up and slashed blindly across whatever part of him was closest. Fallon dropped me with a hiss of pain, and I crashed to the ground, barely remembering to move the sword before I impaled myself on it. I would’ve laid there, stunned, for a while, only Kari was running, and my foot was still in her hands.

“HEY!!!” I snapped. “Let go!”

She dropped me without a word, and I scrambled to my feet, blasting out the door…

And almost falling over the edge of a cliff.