~I want to make sure I don't break any relationships with anyone just because of a single universal war.~

Love Insurance

Elise

 "Is there a reason why you're like this?" I broke the silence as we went down the penultimate hallway before we reappear in front of Michael and Helena.

"I have no need to tell you. Besides, I like being this way." Somehow, beneath the mask, he's revealing this clown-like, Joker-ish grin.

 "Before we go there... I want to actually agree to your... condition. Let's keep this only between the two of us. I want to make sure I leave them where only you will expect it happening. I don't want any undercover trying to help me. You want me to join you? I agreed. What should you do in return for this big favour I've done you? Give me the freedom to choose my timing and adhere to my plan."

"Trying to be cocky with me, huh? You aren't calling the shots. However..." He moved closer to me, and I inched backwards, but he caught up anyway, his hand holding onto the right side of my neck, tight. A burning sensation ensued and I realised he was branding a mark, some sort of indication I am bound by a contract.

"And also, you will not hurt Michael in any way possible as long as I'm on their side. Every time you hurt him once, I will disrupt one order. You won't disrupt this. I know."

"You demand much from me, but I will get you. I accept your terms." He gazed straight into my eyes, the intimidation trying to break my strong stance.

"We're almost there... I can feel it..." Xandor muttered to himself. I believed it was quite soft, but he seemed to not care that I heard it.

"Ha....hahahaha.... we are one now, my friend." Xandor clenched his fist. What in the holy heck? Did he just talk to someone I don't know? As we went around the last bend...

"We meet again as I have predicted, Michael. Are you that susceptible to my predictions?" Xandor, as if rehearsed for this perfectly, spoke on cue when he was in view of Michael's vision.

"Y... you!" He saw my mask, and his eyes darted back to Xandor, "What did you do to Elise!?"

"She wore it of her own free will. Mind you, she is half Fallen. Now, it's time I settled this score with you I had held so long ago." Hung by cuffs on all four limbs, Michael was trapped, open.

No way to defend himself, from the oncoming torture.

"What score, Xandor? When has a Fallen that crossed paths with me, hated me so much?"

"Hah, I have crossed paths with you, but not as a Fallen. You abandoned me there. You left me to fend for myself. Cowardice. I reminded you before I reversed your infection, and I thought you would remember who I am. You didn't. It seems you are no longer worthy of the bond that we shared." Xandor placed his hand on Michael's forehead, and the onlookers turned away. I stood there, watching, somehow a little excited by the action.

"Ahh.... ahhhh!" Michael seemed to try to hold his head together, to make sure he was still sane, but the cuffs will never let that happen.

"Remember it now, Protector? DO YOU?!" Xandor's voice was literally booming. My ears were left with a slight ringing, fading away in seconds.

"Y...you can't be him. She... must n..join...you..." As if badly exhausted, Michael's head drooped downwards.

"Mi- Michael! Xandor, bring him back, please!"

"He's alive. I won't let him die so easily. It's only just begun. I'll show him my newest creation. He will regret it so badly, he will not be killed by me. He will commit suicide." Xandor caressed Michael's hair, letting out laughs of victory.

"You... whatever you said earlier was a lie!" Xandor suddenly faced me, as if realising something. He quickly embraced me and started whispering in my ear once again.

"No, I didn't lie to you... I didn't. If you would just stay with me, I won't do anything to him, alright?" He desperately pleads with me.

"I... the fuck?" Another dilemma. I was really lost. What was happening? What is wrong with him? Is he mentally insane?

 "I promised I would adhere to the terms, I would never break it..."

"No, you will swear right in front of everyone... Or else, I will -" Xandor's gloved hand covered my mouth.

"Now that's so wrong of you, half-breed. I will let him do as he wishes if you stay by my side and be my loyal little girl. I have settled him anyway. Varus... watch him." He brought me away, silencing me, my cries to bring Michael back. The Fallen gathered in the area all laughed from the free drama, that I had made.

"Of course, I don't mind letting you see your parents now that you're by my side, without him to disrupt our little date. Come." Still silenced, he led me down another path, to one barricaded by solid opaque metal gates.

From a single touch, the gates opened, revealing a horrendous scene. Lines of Protectors, held captive in the same position Michael was, with a single batch not seeming to be Protectors shoved to a side, as if they weren't meant to be that important.

"Your parents... I let them roam free. There they are." He pointed to two figures currently huddling together for comfort.

"Father... mother!" I ran to them immediately knowing that with me, they will be at ease once more.

"You're here, my little princess. I'm so glad to hold you in my arms again... if this is the last time we're together." Father stroked my hair, tears brimming in his eyes, as much as he was courageous and strong.

"I... I've disappointed you both. I am left with no choice! I now am merely a pawn, with no power of my own..." A sharp pain stabbed my head; my hands immediately clutched it to control the dreadful feeling that followed.

"You're no pawn... you're my Queen." Xandor interrupted, planting a kiss on my cheek, and moving away slightly, he forced me forward again, our tongues intertwining from the next kiss.

"Xandor! We'll agree to your terms. Stop harassing our daughter." Father stood up, holding Mother's hand as it turned into black.

"No... no! You can't be doing this, Father!" It was working up Father's arm now. It was soon consuming his entirety, and his left eye borne the first light of red. It continued, and it got worse.

"Ha...hahahaha!" Look at your poor parents - they are sacrificing themselves all for you!" I was only focused on the new burning red that filled Father's irises. He stared at me with new intent, one I would have to take forever to know once again. Mother... her Fallen form had returned. She seemed to ignore me.

"Lord Xandor." They both kneeled and pledged their allegiance.

"Ah, what a satisfying transformation! Just look at them, a couple so bloody perfect. C'mon, let's see if they bother to remember you." He gestured for them to rise, pointed at me and asked them, "Who, is she?"

"The halfbreed you sought after. The one you chose." It was a shocking simultaneous response. I shook my head in disbelief so bad, I gawked at them, although hidden by my mask.

"You bloody took their mind and soul away!" I shook my father's body, trying to get a response, to hope it was just my imagination.

"No, I certainly did not. You saw for yourself, that they turned without me interfering. Now, why would they do that, huh?" His mask receded such that I saw his lips, his evil sneer revealed.

"You... you bound them by contract. You're a maniac! Restore them!"

"We had an exchange." He held up his palm, revealed two shining orbs, containing the souls of my parents.

"Of course, since this was a private contract, I can't disclose our terms and conditions, am I right? And didn't I tell you that you would obey me?" He gripped my chin and forced yet another kiss. His tongue roamed mine, and I tried to squirm out of him.

"MMPh... ARGH, goddammit! Don't touch me!" I kicked him in the groin, hoping it would affect him like every other jerk. He winced but smiled even more gleefully.

"I could very much kill your parents right now." He went behind the defence of my now turned parents, who willingly stood to block him from me.

"Now, let's see if you have the guts to attack me." I brought out my hidden pistol tucked within a pocket of my coat and got ready to shoot, but my parents brought up a barrier, their emotions still null. I fought back tears. I realised it was all futile. I finally knew what life was. Human life was way better than this, and less unfair and more justified than this. My life now was a world of darkness. It was one now. It would never leave. The light will never rise again.

I dropped my gun. I sank to the floor, all hope and resolve lost. Vulnerable, Xandor took the chance.

"One less thing left to stop me from getting you, Elise."

"You took my parents away. Have you no shame? You destroyed them!"

"If you have love insurance for your relationship with Michael, why can't I have my own for us?"

"You can't possibly be in love with me. Don't say this is love. It is not. Also, you're a fucking lunatic." I swiped his beckoning hand away.

"Oh, you say this isn't love? But rivals eventually become lovers one day, Elise. Also, I am not a lunatic - Michael is a wicked person, and I'm like this all because of him."

"Why do you have such a grudge against him? He hasn't done anything, but you have..."

"He's wicked, Elise. You haven't seen that side of him." This time, his hand clenched onto mine.

"Doesn't seem to justify your opinion..." I muttered, when he cut me off, "Oh, you want me to tell you everything? I guarantee you will be in for a big round of depression."

"Do I look like I'm easily swayed?" I put up a brave front, although my hope was still crushed. He sat down beside me, still holding my hand as I somehow leaned forward to be held in his embrace, although I perfectly knew how bad he was.

"He was my sworn brother. Back then, before I was forced to be Fallen and take up the role of Dark Lord, I was his best partner, his brother, everything that was perfect. I was the perfect sidekick. Bet he never mentioned any of it to you, because it would just show his incompetency! At that time, my name was at least more human. I was called Xavier. I had a great life with him in Heaven, but he decided to abandon me that day when I needed him most." I wasn't just beginning that big round of depression; I was bloody stupefied by his words. Him?! A Protector once?!

"I don't care whatever happened between the two of you, but the fact that you're a villain is what's ugly!"

"Oh, the fact that I am evil now is not comparable to the pain I've received from what your Protector has done. He didn't just abandon me on our last mission together; he killed my sister because she found out I was thrown to the Fallen! She haunts my dreams every other night, telling me how she was killed all to be silenced and calls for me to avenge her. Do you even feel the pain of not seeing your sibling one last time but instead get haunted by her ghost?! She isn't even in Hell, she isn't in Esmonia. She is banished from this entire universe altogether!"

"You... you had a sister?"

"I called her Noblia. Our parents..." He stole a glance somewhere else, that I couldn't figure out... "Disappeared. It was my responsibility to take care of her."

"I... I'm sorry. I really hate you for everything else, but your story is really one to pay attention to - and I thought mine was the worst." I looked up at him, a shining tear escaping his eye, the first sign of his human emotions.

"It's over. But now that it has come to this, you can only choose between me and him. We can never reconcile. Make your choice." I was given another decision to make that would decide my fate. I was in a dilemma.

"I cannot make this decision. I'm the main decisive factor, and I'm sure to disappoint one of you." Xandor immediately pushed me away, backed off, my parents followed him to his sides.

"Then, halfbreed... whatever we said must never leave this four walls - speak one word or even try to leak this info, no matter where I am, I will drag you back to be my Queen. I don't care if you're spending your last moments. I don't care if I make you cry. I will bring you to me. Go. Go back to your place with your Protector. I hereby declare that no one shall attack you until you come to me." He sounded sad, disappointed that I didn't choose him. Those words sounded like an attempt to be the evil man he was towards me.

He left first, and I had to make my way back to Michael by myself. I was faced with the reality of my position. I had just lost my parents to the Dark Lord, my Protector captured once because of me, rendered helpless, the rest of the Protectors captured forever, some defected, and even Wayne did not escape this unwanted fate. The home we are in is in chaos. The world out there is going through an apocalypse that I cannot stop.

I had the power to do things, but all that ensued was a failure. Am I meant to be only a follower? Am I not meant to be a leader?

What made me so dependent on others? Why did people like Xandor rise to power and overcome the once-positive me? His power was absolute - I could see it couldn't be stopped. Michael could never beat that monster...

But something about Xandor made me care, and curious about him.

Just exactly why was I needed for his plan, if it was simply vengeance?

Why did he not try to kill me without hesitation every time we met? Why is he telling me so much?

Is he really caring for me? Was I actually neglecting a person that actually meant well?

If so... what was the purpose behind our love insurance...?

Author's Note

I finally wrote this chapter. I had a lot of conflicting emotions mixed in mainly with desperation and excitement for this chapter. I have no idea if it sounds contradicting in itself, because whenever I write, it's a direct reflection of my mental state, although still mostly logical in my writing.

I hope this chapter was good. I might not be at full potential because of the amount of homework - and the fact that there's just so much to do.

Meanwhile, please do give your feedback in the comments and give a vote if you enjoyed :)