Let's go, another chapter of this shitty fic done. Eterna grazie to my wondrous beta, alphaonefourzero, whom without this fic would still be a mess.
EDIT 8-3-17 or should it be the fourth since technically its past midnight and im still over here rewriting this thing like a god fuckin dweeb
edited for clarity, blah blah blah
Love is one goddamn crazy weird emotion.
It makes people do stupid things- things they normally would never in their lives do, if not for their being under its influence. It comes into one's life at the most inopportune times, slowly slipping into their everyday actions until, before they know it, it's taken over their life. Love is a fierce motivator, a brave warrior, a foolish friend. And love is confusing.
Bobby Pendragon never thought he would fall in love with his worst enemy.
His memory had been coming back in bits and pieces, like fog dissipating in the sunlight. Each new memory only worried and confused him more. He truly believed that all Dane stood for was wrong, no doubt about that. But the man himself? Now that he'd spent all his time around him, had actually gotten to know the man underneath that icy exterior, he couldn't bring himself to hate him.
This left Bobby with some major problems.
How could he have even fallen for such a man? Bobby had seen the horrors the demon had wrought firsthand, had experienced them many times. Dane claimed earlier that he had changed. Could Bobby believe him? Could he believe anything the man said? Did Dane mean anything he'd ever said or done, or had he been manipulating Bobby and his feelings from day one of this little amnesia trip?
This thought brought him to a halt. Had Dane been lying about his feelings? It would have made perfect sense, seeing as who it was coming from. Totally in character. But even so, thinking that all he'd seen in the demon's eyes, all that raw emotion he'd expressed, was fake, pulled at Bobby's heart 'till it felt fit to break. He didn't know what he'd do if it was true.
What he should do was go back to fighting Dane, to protecting Halla and what all his friends and he had been fighting for for years. Though, at this point, he didn't think he could lift a finger against Dane.
That's what feelings did to you.
Bobby was shaken out of his reverie by a commotion outside his door. He had caught a guard on patrol earlier and stationed him outside his door, in an effort to gain a little privacy. By the sound of things outside, the guy was doing a poor job.
Bobby turned around and drew his knees up to his chest as he heard the door open. He knew who it was; didn't have to see him to know, he just knew the man would do this. And he didn't care. He didn't want to see him.
Footsteps slowly approached the bed. Bobby stared hard at the wall. The straw mattress dipped underneath the man as he sat down. Bobby stared harder.
Silence. Bobby felt itchy as the time passed and neither spoke, but he refused to be the first to break the silence. Dane didn't deserve that. Dane didn't deserve anything, after what he had done to Bobby. Bobby wanted to ask him what he'd been thinking during all this, but again, he refused to be the first to speak.
The silence stretched a few minutes longer, until Dane shifted and broke it. "I… brought you something," he said in a soft voice, startling Bobby.
Bobby turned to look at what the man was offering him. It looked like an ordinary apple from Second Earth, but he knew what it was. It was one of those weird berries Dane had given him back when this whole adventure had begun. He reached for the fruit, a smile playing at his lips, but hesitated. He drew his hand back without grabbing the berry and wrapped his arms around his knees. Dane sighed and set the fruit aside.
Bobby knew he needed to say something. The proverbial elephant in the room was growing, throwing its weight around and trumpeting loudly. But he had no idea where to begin. The conversation was going to be painful, and Bobbys self-preservation instincts, while not great to begin with, were finally starting to kick in and trying to protect him. But pushing through this, he finally managed to ask the main question on his mind.
"Why did you lie to me?" he whispered. He looked up at Dane finally, who avoided his gaze with a pained look on his face.
Bobby tried again, pushing farther. "Where could twisting my feelings like this possibly fit into your plan?"
Dane sighed, defeated, and spoke. "It did… originally. I am telling the truth, cross my heart, when I say I had absolutely nothing to do with you initially losing your memory. I found you at the mouth of the flume, knocked out, and when you awoke your memory was all but gone.
"I saw this as a grand opportunity, having my greatest enemy at my side with no memory of having been my adversary. With your power, Halla would be ours in no time. So I started planting false memories in your head, false thoughts. I told you of Halla, my version where the Travelers were evil and seeked to destroy the perfect world I was trying to create. I told you how they twisted me and mine into 'evil', 'chaotic', several words that in reality, aptly describe me. I told you of how they hated me without reason, when in fact, they have every reason. As do you."
He sighed again, shoulders drooping farther than Bobby thought possible. "It would have all gone without a hitch, had something not… changed."
"What changed?" Bobby asked, hesitantly.
Dane shook his head.
"Tell me," Bobby demanded. "It's my head you messed with, I deserve to know why you changed your mind!"
"Look, I cannot tell you!" Dane's voice sounded strained, and irritated.
"And why the hell not?"
"Because!"
"That's not a reason and you know it."
"It's as good a reason as any!"
Bobby shot to his feet. This had gone on long enough. "Just fucking tell me, okay? Tell me what major fucking event happened that threw your world so much you abandoned your plan to tear the universe apart! Tell me what happened!"
"I fell in love with you, okay?!"
The silence that followed was deafening. Dane's eyes had gone as wide as saucers, and what little color in his face was gone. All the tension between them, which had been skyrocketing since Dane entered the room, shattered into a million pieces and Bobby felt like those pieces were digging into his heart right at that moment. Bobby's mind went blissfully blank, except for the thought that he just might have as well.
Since he had regained his memory, Bobby had worried that all the time they'd spent together, all the special moments they'd had, were lies. He had worried that it was all a front put on by the demon to continue manipulating him, and that Bobby had fallen for the ruse hook line and sinker. Knowing Dane, he had almost accepted it as fact.
But hearing the raw emotion in Dane's voice, and seeing it in his eyes, and the confession straight from his trembling lips, made Bobby question if he'd been right. Was Dane telling the truth? Bobby held onto that fragile hope, slowly growing stronger.
Dane's chest was heaving, but his face was carefully blank. Before Bobby could say anything, the other man stood abruptly.
"I will leave you alone now," he said stiffly. He wouldn't meet Bobby's eyes. He walked out the door without another word.
Bobby was in shock, and barely noticed he'd left until the door clicked shut. When it did he shot to his feet (when had he sat down?) and ran to the door, throwing it open. The guard was still there, looking disgruntled. Bobby looked down the hallway each direction, but Dane was gone.
"Which way did he go?" he asked the guard.
He pointed down the hallway to the right and laughed uncomfortably. "Never seen someone run that fast."
Bobby let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I'll bet." he pat the man on the shoulder and started down the hallway, calling out behind him. "You're dismissed. Thanks, man."
He ran down the hallway in the direction indicated, keeping an eye out for Dane. It branched off several times, and soon Bobby had no idea where the man had gone. He cursed. Dane was fast. Too fast. Too bad Bobby had a surefire way to find him. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
All the mental links they'd forged during their training sessions these past couple weeks had left a sort of imprint of Dane's consciousness in Bobby's mind. It wasn't much, more like a wisp of energy, but it was enough to get a vague set on his location. And that was all Bobby needed.
He ran down the hallway to a tunnel that would lead to the surface.
Off to Xhaxhu, to tell Dane how he felt.