Chapter 12

✖ Chapter 12 

        TRAP. TRAP. TRAP. 

        My mind knew the devious plan they had conspired, and yet my heart was nearly lurching out of my chest to lead me outside. But that was her voice. She was here. So close to me and still out of my reach. The mind clashing with the heart and I wasn't sure who would be victorious.

        Apparently, neither does anyone else, their eyes glued on me and wide as if they expect me to lash out or something an unhinged person would do. And I couldn't blame them for being worried - I tended to go out of my way and put everyone else at risk for selfish reasons.

        "Please!" She sounded like she was sobbing now.

        Pushing my hands through my hair, nails dragging against my scalp, I fought with myself. I knew it was a trap. It was the most obvious one they could've possibly planned. Yet I felt like I was going inside sitting in this supply closet doing nothing when Rose could be just moments from being mine again. When we could be moments from being far from here.

        It was a fantasy, but one that overwhelmed me.

        "I have to," I said abruptly as her third cry for help sounded. "I have to."

        Daniel held his hands up. "Harry, we need to think a plan first or-"

        Another heart-wrenching plea.

        It felt like I wasn't even in control of my body, and maybe I wasn't as I fought against my own legs, tugging my hair almost like I was tempted to pull it out. Her voice continued to echo in my mind, the many things they could've been doing to her hitting me like a ton of bricks. Again, it was a slim to nothing chance that Rose was in actual danger but...

        Something snapped and I pushed my way through them, slinging the door open. I could hear them shouting things, but my mind was clouded with horrendous things that I wished would stop. I wished I had a clear-head. I wished I could stop my feet from moving. I wished I could stop yanking at my hair. What's wrong with me?

        But I was shoving the doors open before I had time to contemplate the question, at least a hundred guns now aimed at my chest and forehead. The odd sense of vulnerability had fleed by now, leaving my mind open like it had been before Rose spoke. A part of me knew Cecilia had something to do with it, but something else caught my attention.

        Rose.

        She was there, flesh and blood and breathing. And she was crying, tear streaks staining her cheeks as she stood in between Cecilia and Evelyn. She was staring at me, emotion in her eyes unlike last time. For a brief moment, she was my Rose again. 

        However, as soon as Cecilia spoke, and as if robotic, Rose was standing in a battle stance, eyes narrowed and angry and full of hatred. Hatred towards me and I wasn't quite sure why other than Cecilia's mental grip on her.

        Anger flooded through me, but Cecilia's words cut it short. "Harry Styles, we meet once again with you in the losing corner. Are you ready to surrender?"

        My hands clenched by my sides. "I didn't get tortured for weeks in a row to surrender."

        She shrugged, seemingly nonchalant. "Always the difficult one."

        Right when, I supposed, she was going to demand orders, a scream came from behind me. Everyone's eyes fell to the double glass doors, many silhouettes appearing in a blur. There was a second scream, now clear that it was more of a battle cry than one of weakness and defeat. I felt myself smile when I realized who my back-up was.

        Two patients from the asylum opened the doors, Megan, Aiden, and Daniel standing in the front of the swarm of criminals. They had freed some of the most dangerous people in the world, some holding odd forms of weaponry - a broken broom stick, a metal leg from a chair, glass shards, and even the fire extinguisher in the main hallway.

        But these people also had the supernatural on their side, whereas the petty guards did not.

      Daniel spoke. "You give us Rose and we won't watch your organs paint the bricks of the building."

        I felt proud for having these people around me, Daniel especially. He put up with all of my crap when no one else stuck around to. He may have been with Marcus before, but he was with me now and - wait... where was Marcus?

        Cecilia cut off my thoughts once more. "Quite the hasty threat you made. However, if a battle is what you want," she said while raising her hands, an eerie smile on her lips. "A battle is what you'll get." And she sent everyone rushing forward, some hanging back to open fire.

       Ducking the first guards, I gripped the second by the throat long enough to off him before tossing him to the side. A chant of battle cries came from behind me, every criminally insane person in that building now fighting on our side. All except Gunner, who I suspected was still locked up until Cecilia lost her grip on him, which wouldn't be any time soon.

        A guard had been charging from my left without my notice, and just when he was about to collide, someone knocked me out the way. I was prepared to thank Daniel when I got to my feet, but was utterly shocked to see Rose instead. 

        I stared at her for a long moment, relief flooding me that she had come to her senses, finally fought against Cecilia's mind control or whatever she did to her. But then Rose's head twitched in that same strange way Gunner's did, her rugged body movements looking anything but human.

        Unsure of what else to do, I held my hands up. "Rose, it's me, all right? It's Harry. Okay?"

        Apparently that wasn't okay because she had me pinned to the ground in a moments time, one hand wrapped around my throat while the other held my arms above my head. His eyes flickered with confusion, like she was still fighting for the little humanity left in her. So I tried to use that to my advantage.

        "Hey, remember the trap in the woods?" I managed to say, straining for breath. "Remember how I saved you?" Her grip loosened, just the slightest. So I kept going. "Remember how I found you in the woods? I let you come with me, remember, Rose?"

        I watched her closely, eyes still unsure and yet the evil side pulled through. She sucked in a breath, tightening her grip again.

        Leaning my head for the best angle to breathe, I tried the last thing I knew. "Remember when Marcus attacked us at the cabin?" I grunted, my lungs straining, but I was determined. "Remember how you found out your powers when you saved me? You saved me, Rose."

        She was hesitating, and just when spots began to blur my vision, she released her grip. I panted, leaning over to the side as I tried to catch my breath. I dared to take a glance at her, seeing she was crying again. Her head twitched, but she kept hold to that small portion of humanity tightly.

        Once I caught my breath, I sat up. I wanted to hold her so badly, having her in such close proximity. Maybe even steal a kiss considering I could hardly remember those soft ones against mine. Had it really been so long since she'd been in my arms, safe?

        Then she gasped, as if she realized all she had done and her tears came a little faster, though her tone was mostly coherent. "Oh my God... H-Harry, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to..." Another twitch of her head.

        "Rose," I said firmly, grabbing her shoulders but she shoved my arms away. 

      "No! Don't touch me," she said, but it wasn't the harsh side talking. "I can't keep hurting you or anyone."

        "Let me help you and-"

        "You can't help me," she whispered weakly, shaking her head. Then it suddenly jerked, that eerie look in her eyes back again. She glowered at me, pinning me down again. She had gotten far too strong and I couldn't bring myself to hurt her back - no way.

        "Rose, stop!" I tried, but it didn't seem to be working. I looked around her to see the battle raging on, bodies falling from bullets or from supernatural wounds. I turned my attention back to Rose, her grip loosening.

        "I can't," she said quietly, so softly I almost hadn't heard her. Then she yelled the same two words, grabbing the sides of her head. I hated seeing her like this, unable to control what she was doing, terrified and angry at herself all the same. It all made me even angrier towards Cecilia.

        "Rose," I said. I called her name a few more times.

        Abruptly, she pinned me again, eyes pleading and said the words I would've never thought I'd hear her say: "Kill me."

        I gaped at her. "W-what?" Had my ears misheard?

        "Harry, kill me! It's the only way and I-" Her head did the awkward twitch multiple times before she stared back down at me, seriousness in her eyes yet panic in her tone. "I can't stop unless I kill you so kill me."

        "No," I told her instantly. "Rose, I'm not killing you. We can save you and-"

        She laughed bitterly, the evil side showing before another head snap brought her back. Her tears seemed endless, my heart breaking with each of them that slipped from her eyes. "Yes," she whispered, her hand cupping my cheek for just the briefest moment and yet I tried to devour the simple touch, having been yearning for it for so long. "You have to."

        "Rose-"

        The sweet side was fully gone, and even the maniac side was pleading for death, screaming at me for it. "Kill me! KILL ME!"

        I pushed her off of me, scrambling to my feet and hating the darkness in her eyes. She stood as well, letting out a mischievous laugh that seemed too Disney-villain like to be real.  Her eyes had gone totally black, diminishing of the little sanity that remained in her. The ugly, sad truth was that Rose was now officially gone.

        I stumbled as if something had punched me in the gut, using the minimum strength I had to focus on her now.

          The ground shook beneath my feet, leaving me leaning against a tree for support. The whole battle had paused as the earth grumbled, splitting in the middle of all the chaos. Rose had her arms raised, her palms being encircled by electricity and that same laugh rang through my ears over and over. The fallen bodies had already taken their unleaded step into the depths of hell, the alive ones running for their life - literally.

        "Rose!" I yelled, knowing it was no use, but I was desperate. "This isn't you!"

        Her black eyes snapped to meet mine, head twitching like a video game glitch. "Enough," she said in a whisper, yet a billow of wind knocked me off my feet and smacked me into the tree I had been holding onto.

        Watching her enjoy the torture she inflicted on everyone made my stomach churn. This was not Rose. It may never be Rose again. I tried to deal with the loss as I looked over, noticing everyone was still getting caught in the splitting of the ground. My eyes caught Daniel's frantic figure, running alongside Megan and Aiden and they were not too far from falling.

        Using all the strength I could find, I hauled myself up and got nothing but a laugh from Rose's evil form in return. She didn't try to stop me as I ran to help them, knowing she would more or less win in the end. You cannot overcome a dark magic who has taken the last bit of sanity a pure heart once held. It's like drinking the Mississippi River through a straw - impossible.

        I wished I could've ran faster to them, but it didn't seem like I had to as I stopped in my tracks, amazed at what I was seeing. Megan had the three of them in the air, whirling her finger in a circle as she guided their floating bodies over to me. I had never thought about what Megan may have been, but that was, to say the least, unexpected.

        She gave me a smile. "Sometimes the hero needs a break, don't you think?"

       I was stunned a little that she spoke of me, but somehow managed to smile back nonetheless. I pulled Daniel into a hug, not realizing how much his death would've pained me knowing I wouldn't have been able to stop it. Without his perky attitude and witty self, and losing Rose, I'm not sure I would've been able to find enough strength to move on myself.

        A piercing scream through the air dragged us from our little reunion, each of us turning to see Rose crumpling to the ground. She was pulling at her hair, and I couldn't tell if the real Rose had saved her, or the supposed evil woman standing behind her - Cecilia.         

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