Chapter 118
- Josh -
The shards hovered in the air, suspended like stars in some broken constellation. Each one spun slowly, catching glints of light, but what they reflected wasn't us—it was everyone we'd failed.
Kaysi's burned and bruised body. Evan's bleeding out. I felt my eyes widen with fear. It even showed me pale with the scar on my face glowing as if it was carved fresh.
I couldn't breathe—my chest locked like a vice.
I didn't notice at first, my eyes fixed on the mirror demon.
Becky was solidly standing above me. The large ice wall formed around us to protect us.
It should have been the other way around.
But then something warm hit my scar on my cheek and ran down. I wiped it away—blood not mine.
I looked up at her. She'd been cut in many places. Thin red lines traced her skin, lips, and stained her arms. She didn't flinch. Didn't even seem to notice.
"Becky…?" My voice cracked. I'd never seen her truly stand out like this before on the front lines. She was always behind, always defending from the edge. Now—she was in front.
Because I was too weak...
The demon warped, slipping between shards as if she was born from them, silver fluid, her voice smooth and venomous.
"So fragile," she whispered, slipping into the shard where I knelt before Father. "All fire and fury, but beneath it? Glass. You break so easily."
She let out a soft, sweet chuckle.
My fists clenched. Flames sputtered weakly at my fingertips, refusing to take shape. Why? Why now? Not when she needed me most.
Please stop showing me this—stop!—showing me! I don't—"
"You don't...What? She tilted her head; a sweet, sharp smile glimmered from her beauty in the worst way. "You don't want her to see? Or you don't want to admit the truth!"
And then she changed. Becky's face again stared back at me, soft and merciless at once.
My flames stayed in place protecting us, but it was from the divine spirit that now seemed to have a mind of its own—taking its own identity in the form of my phoenix that was in my arm. My body answered, protecting her without my permission.
Becky's eyes darted to me. She felt it too; my powers were different.
"Josh?"
I gave a nod as I agreed to what she was seeing, but I had no clue myself.
The demon laughed, the sound practically bouncing like broken glass. "Oh, little Ice Queen. Always so slow. Always too late."
And then—
The shards changed.
The demon vanished; she moved without a sound. One heartbeat in front of us, another across the room, next to Becky's ear, without ever crossing the space between us.
"You know why he didn't tell you anything...? She whispered. Why did he hide...? It's because he doesn't trust you. Because he can't... You can see I have been waiting and watching for a long time. You have been like a book I have not finished, but I only have one page left to turn." She hissed.
My heart tore.
"That's not true!" My shout was hollow. My flames trembled, weak as candlelight.
Becky's knees shook, but she stayed standing. Ice crept across the floor, splitting the air with cold. I could feel her heart breaking through her posture. I ached watching her break apart.
Then, time itself cracked.
The shards are frozen in ice mid-spin. Flames locked in place, frozen sparks still hovering in the air. I reached for her, but my arm stilled. My breath. My heartbeat.
The world stopped.
All except Becky.
Her veins glowed an icy blue, her hands trembling as light—time itself—poured out of her. She wasn't just freezing air anymore. She was freezing everything.
"Becky..." My voice was trapped in my chest, soundless. My mind screamed, but no words came.
She looked at her hands, wide-eyed and mortified. Power rippled off of her like a storm she couldn't contain.
She stared at her hands, horrified, as the storm of frozen light bled out of her body.
And yet—the demon was untouched. Smiling. She bent through the frozen moment, space warping around her like water curling through stone.
"Beautiful," she whispered, clapping softly. "Finally showing your teeth."
Becky squared her shoulders. Her eyes blazed. "Show your true face… demon."
Becky stood in the middle of it all, her breath ragged and fast, her blue eyes blazing. For the first time, I didn't see weakness in her. I didn't know the girl in the back of the crowd. Falling behind in the order in which she lived for all her life.
Ice surged outward, and in an instant, I was locked away in ice like a crystallized coffin, wrapping me in it, a chamber.
In the ice, I could once again move freely. I pounded on the ice.
"Becky, no!" "Becky! Don't! Let me out so I can help you."
Once again, my words went nowhere.
Becky glanced at me; my words were empty like the void to her soundproof ice.
"Josh, you bore all of this alone. You thought you were protecting us, but you hurt us more than any scar of battle we faced. You lied and broke vows. You went so far as to make me walk away from you because you were so closed off I felt helpless. You didn't give me any choice or say in anything."
She looked back only once, tears streaking her face. Her lips shaped words I couldn't hear—but I understood.
"Josh… you carried all this alone. You thought it made us safer, but it cut us deeper than any wound. You lied. You shut me out. You made me walk away and just watched."
Her voice grew louder. Fierce.
"How could I be your girlfriend when I wasn't even in your world?
She took a deep breath and yelled. "Damn it, Josh, I love you. How dare you! How dare you close me off, shut me out, and not let me help you! You hurt all of us, and not just that, you hurt yourself!"
Her cry split the stillness.
"Now it's my turn. I'll show you what it feels like to face a battle without me. Until I'm dead, this ice won't break, won't fade. Stay, you'll be safe—whether you like it or not."
"It's my turn now." She spoke, turning back to the demon.
Her chest glowed blue, her entire body trembling with the weight of her power.
And still—the demon smiled. Calm. Waiting.
Time versus Space.
Becky stood tall, ice cracking the floor beneath her feet. The mirror demon rippled with the void, unbound by time.
I pressed my forehead against the frozen wall, helpless.
Caught between terror and awe.
Watching the girl I loved stand alone against the darkness.