-During the fall-
Quietly Sebastian waited at his window, keeping his rifle locked on John till the set time arrived to pull the trigger. He tried with all his might to keep his rifle steady and his mind calm from the storm of emotions he had been experiencing the past week. He knew what needed to be done but still didn't feel any better about it.
Suddenly he got the signal to withdraw and he let out a sigh of sorrow for he knew all too well what had just happened, "Don't worry Devon, I'll save you." He whispered to himself as he started dismantling and packing up his rifle. "Whatever it takes, I WILL save you," he muttered as a single tear rolled down his face.
-Dawn, 7 days to the fall-
"Good morning Seb," Jim said softly "Do you think you can get the room in the basement cleaned out for tomorrow please?"
"Why don't you do it yourself? I got other things that need my attention today," Sebastian replied.
"Well...I've got other things to get ready for the big event coming up. We wouldn't want to be unprepared now, would we?" Jim smiled, trying to convince Sebastian.
"Fine..." Sebastian said reluctantly "...when I get time for it though"
"..and also I need to help get Devon ready as well." Jim added.
"Already?! She's too young! You can't be serious!" Seb stated, beginning to raise his voice.
"It has to be done and we both know that, she'll be just fine. I know it." Jim said.
"It's way too risky though. Can't you put it off for a little while longer?" Seb asked.
"Aww, has my heartless assassin grown a soft spot?" Jim said softly.
"No, of course not! It's too damn risky for the both of you. I don't want to lose either of you." Seb shouted.
"Don't talk to me about the risks! I know the risks better than you!" Jim shouted, beginning to get annoyed at his defiance. "Who do you think I am, Sherlock? I have everything planned out perfectly." Letting out a single laugh. "Devon is helping and that is final."
"What am I helping with?" Devon walked in yawning, still half asleep.
"Nothing!" Seb shouted sharply.
"Oh...well sorry" Devon replied, now fully awake after being startled.
"Oh, don't worry about him, Devon. He's just grumpy. You are going to be helping with the big event coming up." Jim said with a smile as Seb gave him a dark look. "Now get going or you are going to be late."
Devon looked at the clock and saw what time it was. "Oh no!" Devon hurriedly gathered her stuff and ran out the door.
"I need to get going too. Make sure you take care of what I asked you. Alright?"Jim asked. Seb grunted in response. "Good." Jim gave Seb a kiss on the cheek and walked out.
'Maybe he's right. Have I become soft? Why is Devon so special?' Seb thought to himself. 'Oh well, worrying about it won't help.' Seb shook his head and went off to start his day.
-Evening, 6 days before the fall-
"Devon, are you ready? " Jim asked out of the blue.
"Ready for what?" Devon replied with a confused face.
"Well...you are going to be part of this operation so I need to get you ready. I'm to visit a museum soon and I need to set up some precautions." Jim said sternly.
"Like what?" Devon said, still slightly confused.
"I'm going to show you a secret that has been passed down for hundreds of years." Jim gave her his dead-eye grin, "Now let's get started shall we?" Jim asked happily.
"Okay!" Devon exclaimed. They proceeded down to the basement, which Devon was normally told to stay out of.
She expected to see fancy things, but quickly learned she was wrong.
They walked down a long hallway that had nothing but gray cinder blocks for walls, with nothing but cement on the floor and ceiling. Simple metal doors dotted the walls randomly. There was only one overhead light every thirty or so feet. There were no turns to this hallway, just one really long corridor.
They arrived at a special door, unlike all the other doors. This door is a dark crimson color, almost as if it was painted with blood. It had a gold colored handle and designs as well. Devon just stood there, in awe of what she is looking at.
Jim opened the door and guided Devon in. After she walked in, she was disappointed to see that the room was just like the hallway. Cinderblock walls and cement floor and ceiling with a single overhead light in the middle. There was a single chair directly below the light that Jim instructed her to sit in.
"Alright now don't be scared, this won't hurt…too much." Jim said as he pulled out of knife, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah...I guess." Devon said reluctantly, trusting that Jim won't do anything bad to her.
"Now give me your forearm." Jim sliced open the tip of his index finger and blood started trickling out. Devon grimaced at the sight. He proceeded to write runes on her skin with the blood coming out of his finger.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Devon asked, trying not to react to the sight of blood. Jim didn't respond, he was too focused on the writing. She then realized that his lips were moving and he was whispering words, but she couldn't understand them.
After about five minutes, Jim had finished writing two lines down the entire length of her forearm.
"No, not really" Jim finally responded after he had finished.
Devon looked down to her forearm, the runes started to glow orange out of nowhere. She looked back up at Jim, "Um...is this supposed to be happening?"
"Yes." Jim said. He then brought the knife down to Devon's wrist and began to slowly slice upwards between the two lines he had just wrote.
Devon gasped, closed her eyes, and turned away, trying to prepare for the pain that was about to happen. The pain wasn't actually that bad, it didn't feel any worse than a paper cut.
Confused, she turned her head to look at what was going on. Nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to see. Jim was lacerating it wide open. She was astounded by how much it didn't hurt but then realized that her blood wasn't flowing off her arm like it was supposed to be. Her blood was flowing into the runes the Jim just wrote like a bunch of tiny blood whirlpools. The runes started to exude bright orange beams of light. Devon began to panic, confused about everything that was going on, wondering why Jim was doing this, and why it didn't hurt. Her arm then began to feel like it was burning. It became so bad that she wanted to scream, but as she tried to nothing came out. Her voice stopped working. She began to feel light-headed as the room started to go dark. As Jim finished what he was doing, Devon passed out.
"Well...she took that nicely," Jim chuckled.
-Next morning, 5 Days to the fall-
Devon sat up suddenly in her bed, feeling like she had just experienced a really bad nightmare. She partially remembered what happened the night before, some of the details were blurry though, and she looked down at her arm. There was nothing there, no scar or blood, nothing. She was wondering if it actually was all a nightmare but it felt too real to be one. 'I better keep this to myself, I don't know what's going on,' Devon thought to herself.
"Good morning!" Devon said to Jim and Sebastian as she entered the dining room. "Good morning," Jim replied all cheery and looked at Devon with a smirk on his face, she wondered what it was about. It was too early in the morning for her to even think about it though. Sebastian just responded with "Morning," staring as his plate intently. She was slightly confused about the two of them this morning. Usually they were going over plans for the day and what Jim was going to have Sebastian do, but they were both unusually quiet. There was a plate set out on the table for Devon with breakfast on it. "Why don't you sit down and eat your breakfast before you get ready for school." Jim said, breaking the silence. Not long after Devon sat down and began eating her breakfast she noticed that Seb kept glancing over at her. She looked at Seb momentarily when he looked up at her. In the split moment that their eyes locked, she felt that Seb had just told her a sad story. His eyes seemed to be filled with sorrow, almost as if he had just lost a loved one. She wanted to ask what was wrong but felt that it wasn't the time nor place. "Better get moving along Devon, you got a long day ahead of you. Make sure to say goodbye to all your friends today at school." Jim said, breaking the silence again. "I know…." Devon replied with a frown as she walked out the door to head to school.
"Why are you doing this Jim?" Seb said sharply as the door closed, "You can find someone else, theres still time to reverse it!" Jim stopped chewing his food and began to stare blankly at Seb. Seb responded with a grunt. Jim began to furl his brow, rage beginning to take over his face. "You know this is why we saved Devon in the first place! She is extremely compatible, that's why she was picked and trained for this." Jim was able to speak with fury but keep the volume of his voice down. " But what about Janine? She's your sister." Seb asked.
"No, I will not allow Janine to be used! She has her own role to fulfill in my plan," Jim retorted. "You will stop this resistance, you WORK for me above all else, do I need to have you replaced?"
"No," Seb grunted and then stormed out, remaining silent for the rest of the day.
