Beyond Good and Evil – A Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures Fanfiction

Chapter Fourteen

As he drove them home that day, his mind raced as the war within his conscience raged. He had always thought that this...thing with his brother would pass away and exhaust itself out. He had always thought that there had to be a way, a better way, a more enlightened way to solve the puzzle that was his brother. The thought of killing a life, of actually extinguishing that light, had filled him with such horror the first time it occurred to him. He had literally made himself sick at the thought.

Of course, it had not just been a thought. Behind the thought had been a carefully crafted and hidden plan, just waiting for the right moment to come out of the shadows and reveal itself.

Sometimes, he wondered if he was as insane as his brother. For what kind of decent human being would so creatively devise a scheme to kill his own brother? After all was said and done, would he see the mark of Cain when he looked at himself in the mirror? Or, had he known his fate, would Abel have killed his own brother first?

He gave a derisive sigh. Did it matter? Murder was murder. The only question now was whether he had it in him to commit it as cold-bloodedly and as efficiently as he knew his brother could. He glanced at the still figure beside him, her very posture emanating both fear and anxiety. It took most of his control to stamp down the guilt that threatened to destroy him whenever he really thought of her and their past.

– FLASHBACK –

He saw the wild glint that entered his brother's eyes the moment the flames jumped from the floor and into the bed. He saw the excited glitter of anticipation as he waited for the girl to wake up. He saw unparalleled joy in his gaze when she started to scream.

Gods, her scream.

And for moments, endless moments, he remained silent and let the scream flow through him, with him, in him. Finally, it was those same screams that jolted him out of his trance as he tried...he tried with all his might to find a way to douse the flames, to seek help, to save her.

– END FLASHBACK –

For a moment, one moment in time, he thought he had. He had congratulated himself on a job well done, on thwarting his brother. The doctors had said that she would live and a feeling of euphoria swept through him like a drug. By saving her, he thought he had saved himself. He thought he had redeemed himself for all those months when he remained silent.

But when he had seen her face the first time her bandages were taken off, when he had seen her dull eyes and her lifeless body, he knew he had failed yet again. He had not saved her. The laughing girl who brought joy in their lives in the short time that she stayed with them, that laughing precocious girl had died in the fire. She had died amidst the sound of his brother's laughter and his own eternal silence.

Once again, in the span of less than a year, he had failed someone he loved.

And now, he had his failures in the present to add to it.

If only he had been faster, stronger, better than his brother. If only he had be a braver, more honorable, more decent human being, then maybe, maybe no one would have had to die then and no one would have had to die now.

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