This will be a two-part story. The next chapter will be out soon, most likely before two weeks. I worked very hard on this chapter, and I hope it's long enough. Thank you for reading.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Xara frowned, crossing her arms. She looked toward her friend. "I—I just..."
Fred nodded. "It'll be fine. We're not going to battle or anything. I just want to talk with him."
"Well..." Xara sighed. "Be careful. I'm not saying... that he would do anything... but... be careful."
"Xara. I promise. I'll be careful. I'll come back to tell you how it went." And with that, Fred teleported away, heading towards the main tower where they knew Romeo would be.
As soon as he left, Xara instantly regretted not going with him. Who knows what Romeo would do? He'd been acting different for a few weeks now, and each day it seemed to get worse.
With two quick claps of her hands, Xara teleported after Fred.
When she arrived at the tower, Fred was already there talking to Romeo, who had his back to the two of them and was facing the window.
"Why are you doing this, Romeo?" Fred asked, his voice filled with sorrow. "Stop acting this way, please. We... we miss the old you." He reached out to set a hand on his friend's shoulder.
The warrior didn't even glance up as he shot an arm out to the side, summoning a large ball of raw energy in his hand that danced on his fingertips. It glowed bright red in sharp contrast to the dimly lit room.
Romeo threw the fiery ball of energy behind him, and it hit Fred right in his shoulder. The storyteller stumbled back a few paces before he seemed to regain his senses. He held his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender.
"I don't want to fight you," Fred began, warily inching closer. "But—"
He was cut off as a spear came hurtling towards his head. Ducking just in time, he avoided the weapon. Instead it pierced the wall behind him, striking a painting of the three Admins that fell to the ground, cracking as it hit the stone floor.
Fred shook his head, still refusing to fight. His normally placid face displayed fear, determined as he was not to show it. "Romeo, please! This isn't you!"
But before Fred could say anything else, an arrow came streaking through the air so fast he could barely see it. The steel tip embedded itself in his chest, and he staggered backwards, falling against the wall. He slid weakly to the ground, his face contorted in pain. Blood poured out from his wound.
Romeo came forward, holding a bow as dark as an enderman with flecks of gold by the arrow rest that caught the light. "You should know by now: don't contradict me," he spoke in a deadly low voice.
Fred used every ounce of strength he could muster to lift his head, and looked Xara straight in her eyes. With his last dying breath, he whispered, "Take—take care of Binta and the tow—townspeople for me... goodbye, Xara, my friend." His eyes closed for the final time.
Romeo waved his hand and Fred's body vanished, turning into a million white bits in the air. Disappearing forever.
Xara stood back, leaning against the fireplace for support. She felt like her legs would give out any second, after what she'd just witnessed. Both hands covered her mouth, and her eyes were wide in a mixture of shock and horror at what she had just seen. "You—you just... you just killed him. You... shot him." Her fear turned to anger and her hands fell to her sides, tightly balled into fists. "You just murdered him!"
"Because he was going to try to stop me!" Romeo shouted in response, taking a few threatening steps closer. The bow in his hand melted into an iron sword with a diamond-studded grip. The blade gleamed wickedly in the orange torchlight. "Are you going to do the same?" he snarled, his weapon at the ready. "Or are you willing to surrender, and rule the world with me?"
"I'd rather fight to the death than join you!" Xara retorted. A diamond sword, glowing purple around the hilt, appeared in her hand.
A bit taken aback by her refusal to comply, Romeo raised an eyebrow. Quickly recovering, he asked with a smirk, "Well, now, shall we begin?" Without waiting for an answer he lunged forward, stabbing his weapon into the fireplace mantle her head had been in front of moments before.
Xara disappeared into a shower of sparks, teleporting a few feet away. She sheathed her sword and pulled out a bow and six arrows. Nocking several at a time, she released the string and fired, but all of them missed their target by half a millimeter.
Romeo concentrated, squeezing his eyes shut, and then a second later threw both arms in the air. The top of the tower exploded, the blast knocking her off her feet.
Pulling herself up, Xara grabbed her sword again and shot up into the sky. She turned around, only to find herself face-to-face with Romeo.
Their swords clashed, the sound resonating throughout the destroyed tower. "Why are you fighting against me?" he demanded through clenched teeth. "Why won't you take control of the world with me? You're supposed to be my friend!"
"You... killed... Fred!" she yelled back, each word a struggle as she fought the very person that had showed her many of the sword fighting techniques she was using now. "He was your friend too, yet you murdered him without a second thought!"
Their swords pressed together, each of the wielders determined not to give even an inch to the enemy.
After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, Xara managed to get the upper hand by unexpectedly pulling her sword away, causing Romeo to stumble forward. She kicked him in the chest and he lost control of his powers for an instant. He dropped rapidly towards the earth, his sword wrenched out of his hand by the furious winds.
Just as he righted himself moments before crashing into the ground, Xara collided with him and they both slammed into the tower wall, their powers the only thing keeping them from falling one hundred and twenty stories down.
Through a haze of unchecked fury, she saw Romeo trying to summon another weapon. She pressed her forearm against his windpipe, cutting off all the airflow to his lungs. "Why?!" she shouted through the tears of rage running down her face. "Why did you kill him?!"
Romeo teleported away, gasping for breath. Xara glanced around wildly but didn't see where he ended up.
Then suddenly he shot up from the ground, holding two identical spheres of fire in his hands. The flames seemed to almost dance in the evening sun, and the smoke curled up into the air in a sort of mesmerizing way. Romeo threw them both at her so quickly she didn't have time to move out of the way. One hit her side, the other catching her shoulder.
Xara plummeted toward the ground, pain clouding her vision. The wind rushed by as she fell.
Less than thirty feet from hitting the earth, her powers clicked back into place and Xara was able to stop in midair. She hovered there for a moment, trying to calm herself and slow her breathing. Then she teleported the rest of the way down.
She appeared next to the base of the tower. It had used to look so beautiful... before Romeo destroyed it. Pieces of debris from the explosion were scattered here and there. Several places in the staircase had missing steps where rubble had landed and destroyed those parts.
She glanced cautiously, a bit unsettled. It was too quiet; Romeo wouldn't give up this easily.
Then she heard the telltale woosh of a sword being drawn from its sheath. On instinct she ducked, Romeo's weapon barely missing her head.
There was a flash of light and Romeo re-appeared in front of her. "I promise you, Xara, you'll regret this!" he yelled, slashing at her from all sides. It was all she could do to avoid each attack.
At one point, he made a move to cut right, leaving his left side undefended. Seeing an opening, Xara thrust her weapon forward without realizing that it had been a feint. She lost her balance and stumbled forward.
Seizing the opportunity, Romeo caught her offbalance and disarmed her easily. Her sword flew out of her hand and clattered on the cracked stone path. Xara found herself lying on her back, undefended, and pinned down by some invisible force he had summoned. Blood dripped from a cut on her cheek.
There was a deadly silence as the two glared at each other with what could only be described as undeniable hatred. Her chest heaved as she tried to steady her breathing. She narrowed her eyes at him.
Romeo stepped forward, a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. "Well," he observed quietly. "Look what this has come to. Betrayal, by someone I thought to be one of my closest friends." He leaned toward her, pulling his sword out again. He studied the reflection of the crumbling tower in the shiny blade, using the sleeve of his armor to rub away a smudge of crimson on the edge.
Xara would have teleported away, but he had done something to that power and no matter how much she concentrated, nothing happened. Instead, she could only watch as he approached.
"I told you you'd regret it," Romeo said, an evil glint in his eyes. "But did you listen?" He stepped forward so he was right by her side, holding the wicked sharp point of his sword directly above her. The steel gleamed in anticipation of what was to come.
He positioned it right above her heart, the tip pressing into her chest, but not enough to draw blood yet. The slightest movement of his hand, though, the smallest flick of his wrist, and the blade would plunge straight into her heart.
But then Romeo hesitated.
"Going to kill me or not, coward?" she sneered. Their eyes locked once again. He could feel the penetrating hate pulsing from her defiant stare. "Go on. I dare you."
He took a breath, trying to keep his face in an emotionless mask. Why was he having second thoughts? Xara, like Fred had been, was now a danger to the empire he would soon create. She had to be killed.
Time seemed to stretch. He thought he could hear both of their pounding heartbeats. Just kill her, and you'll be done with it. It'll all be over. All he had to do was stab.
But he didn't.
He couldn't.
"No. I'm going to do something else." He chose his words carefully, as if that had been his plan all along. And now that he thought about it, this was a better arrangement after all. Xara would be out of the way, incapable of doing anything that could stop him, and he wouldn't even have to kill her.
She was suddenly seized by his powers and lifted into the air, hers still negated somehow. A white glowing light appeared beside her, pulsing with dark energy.
Throwing his arms out in front of him, Romeo navigated the glowing orb so it was almost touching her. Xara could feel the heat emanating from it and tried to move away, but it was a futile attempt. She screamed as the light enveloped her, pain coursing through her body. It hurt unlike anything else she could have possibly imagined. It was agonizing; in fact she was in so much torment she could barely form a thought.
Then it finally stopped. Xara fell to the ground and lay still, too weak to move. And although she couldn't tell exactly what, she could sense that something was different. And not in a good way, either.
Romeo hovered a few feet away, studying her as she lay there pitifully. She wanted to reach out and smack that annoyingly calm expression right off his face, but all her strength had drained away.
He clapped once and her clothes changed from her Admin armor to an orange jumpsuit with a white t-shirt underneath. Lifting her head, Xara could barely see what had happened but was still angry nonetheless. "Wh—what the hell is this?"
"Like the new outfit?" Romeo replied smugly. "That's the uniform for the place you're going. Maybe there you'll finally learn how to not be a loser." He twirled the weapon in his hand as he spoke.
Then it dawned on her what had happened. "You—my—you took my... my powers. They're... gone..." Panic threatened to creep in but she pushed it away. "Why?"
"Why?" He scoffed. "You refused my offer, that's why! We could be ruling the world, you and I—but you threw it all down the drain! You won't need your powers anymore, not where I'm sending you. And hopefully, we'll never have to see each other again." Romeo paused, his lips twisted into a spiteful smile. "But first, well... let me enjoy this."
He reached an arm out in her direction. His hand clenched into a fist, and he watched as a red electric current shot up her body, causing her almost as much pain as he had when he had taken her powers away.
He merely looked on as Xara was subjected to his cruel torture. She writhed in pain and had her eyes squeezed tightly shut, unable to do anything that would stop him. Then, just when she couldn't take it anymore, to the point of almost wishing for death, he finally dropped his hand and she collapsed in a heap on the ground.
Xara had fallen facing away from Romeo, and so it seemed he thought she was already unconscious when she was, in fact, still barely awake. "Oh, Xara," he sighed quietly, not realizing she could still hear him. "Why couldn't you have just joined me? It would have been so much easier for both of us that way..."
The pain caught up with her and she blacked out before she heard anything else.