Property of Goscinny and Uderzo

crazybeaver: good luck with your exams!

"ENOUGH!"

It was a scream and a hiss at the same time, that literally cut through the air, because Asterix was thrown backwards and into the outside wall of Heroïx' hut. Much like the time he first met Phyllis in the forest, now a little more than two weeks ago. Back then she had simply immobilized him. But this time he had black spots in his vision, and when he regained sight, he saw nothing but her livid eyes, in which the golden spark had centered to become two burning points in the middle of her wide pupils, from which escaping was utterly impossible.

He could not move. Not a muscle. He couldn't even blink. He knew the others must have heard him slam into the wall, they were still in the hut when he had followed Phyllis outside. But he could only see Phyllis livid stare. Maybe they were waiting for him to put up a fight. It made sense, because for the past three days he had tried to convince Phyllis into a full imitation of Mesmerons powers. And she had kept refusing, growing more irritated to the point where she had started to avoid him. He didn't understand. He realized that you needed to be convinced of the danger of those powers to successfully fend them off. But he could not possibly become any more convinced of that danger than he was now.

Two days ago he had gone to inspect Laudanum. He had seen the strength of the soldiers who now seemed to be commanded by someone far different from their centurion. More disturbing than their actual strength was the way they behaved when they were not practicing. Asterix had been watching roman camps very often. In between duties they were much like his fellow villagers. Bickering, but without venom. They played games, sang songs, made bets. This friendly atmosphere was gone. The latest new troops had arrived almost a year back now, they were somewhat familiar to Asterix. He had seen two inseparable soldiers fight each other in a way that made Phyllis' and Obelix' fight look like nothing. It was not their friendship that had made them stop, that much was clear from their emotionless faces. He assumed they were not supposed to do lasting damage to each other, otherwise there would not be an army for Mesmeron to command. And Mesmeron could make the soldiers do that without even being present.

Phyllis and Obelix had been on his tail, he hadn't even tried to object to that. They had watched the entire scene with grim eyes. On the way back Phyllis had mumbled: "Mesmeron was not even in that camp. Maybe he will try to force other healers in cooperating with him again…it buys us more time, but I don't like it." She was just sharing her thoughts, something she had been doing increasingly often. Too bad they usually did not bring much positive news.

After that visit, Asterix wanted to know the full impact of the powers Phyllis and Mesmeron shared, Phyllis' reasoning behind them alone was just not enough. He found that she increased the power behind her attacks when she was irritated, and it became almost impossible not to try and get on her nerves. Obelix has scolded him for it, Manilla and Bonny warned him, but Getafix stayed silent and in his current state, that was all the encouragement he needed. However, until a few moments ago, Phyllis had refused to be provoked. Back in Heroïx' hut, he had given his chief a summary of the differences between what Phyllis was learning them to defend against and what Mesmeron could really do. Of course their chief wanted to see more too, but Phyllis refused and she simply walked out. And this was when Asterix had gone after her. "Why are you so angry at Manilla? You are doing exactly the same! You of all people should know better than to shield us from the truth! Your friends…"

The end of that sentence was now stuck in his throat, as was his breath, and he realized that he could die just from being in this state. There was no one rushing to help him. They had all heard him cross the line. But he knew they would not let this go on forever, so he kept calm, staring in Phyllis glinting eyes and listening at her hissing voice.

"How DARE you use them on me! I have been giving you far too much credit, you understand NOTHING! You think this is just like one of you stupid village fights! Throw a fish to start it, serve boar to stop it!" Her voice was heavy with contempt. It became harder and harder to take in what she was saying, as his body started to plea for air. He realized his mistake. There was no fighting this. Phyllis was no longer in a state where she could be of advice and he had no idea how to overcome her.

Bonny started talking to Phyllis. She sounded far and distant.

Phyllis did not seem to hear Bonny either, and it was only when Bonny smacked her in the face that Phyllis acknowledged her. Obelix was ready to keep her from attacking Bonny, but Phyllis merely blinked and turned away from Asterix.

As soon as the eye contact was broken, he could breathe again, he could blink. But even then, he could not move.

"Stop it, Phyllis," Getafix said calm but firmly.

"I can't! I can't just…." She shuddered.

"Let it go." Getafix was now next to her, placing a wrinkled hand on her shoulder. Phyllis took some deep breaths, and Asterix slowly felt his control on his limbs return. He did not feel like moving at all though. He gave a reassuring wave at the others, but remained seated while Phyllis turned to look at them. He followed her gaze. His fellow villagers looked defeated. His fault. This demonstration had killed their hopes. Had she seen that coming? Or did she always have difficulties to control her powers? It had happened before; when she had thought Goliath was dead…she had attacked Bonny.

Phyllis looked at Asterix again, her eyes void of golden sparkle, but her face determined.

"What did you try to do to fend me off?" she demanded, fighting back her anger long enough to let him answer. It did not matter, he had no reply. "I couldn't do anything," he finally said, knowing he was crushing the other villagers' hope. But he had just criticized Phyllis for keeping the truth from them.

"You did nothing," Phyllis rephrased. "Because you were focusing on your ways to irritate ME, focusing on ME. You wanted me to attack strongly. The exact opposite of what your state of mind should be." She walked up and down. "And then you just…what did you expect to happen? That someone would interfere? That I would stop my "demonstration"? I learned these powers to use them on Mesmeron. They are not meant to be stopped!"

"So there is now way to…" Asterix deduced, but he was interrupted "NO! you don't LISTEN. It's YOU who made your attempt to show your village these powers a disaster! Because you do not understand…."

She was getting angry again, and suddenly turned round. "But I can show you someone who might…." And her burning gaze was back, this time focused on Obelix. "Obelix, throw that menhir at Asterix!"

Obelix had been walking up to his smaller friend to make sure he was all right, but he froze at Phyllis' words. Asterix barely noticed the defensive forces that Manilla put over him. He was focused completely on the pure terror in his best friends' eyes, who turned from Phyllis to Asterix, hands trembling around the large stone on his back. He was struggling, but to Asterix, that on its own seemed a miracle. He had not even been able to start doing so. Even so, Obelix seemed to be losing the battle. He raised the menhir above his head, something which he could normally do with one hand. Now, his arms trembled, and he desperately tried to put the menhir down. He wanted to yell at Asterix to move, but doing so, he was sure to lose hold completely. Asterix just stared back at him, speechless, but unfazed.

"Why doesn't he move," Obelix thought frantically, "Is he that sure that I'm not going to throw? That she will stop me?" he tilted the menhir backwards, he was not able to hold this any longer…He had already seriously hurt Asterix in the past twice, he had sworn to himself he would never let it happen again…suddenly his doubts about whether Phyllis would stop him did not matter anymore. He would not let her damage their friendship with these games, and he would sure as hell not let her hurt Asterix. His eyes narrowed, and he threw the menhir full force in the direction of those burning eyes.

Phyllis was glad she had noticed the change in Obelix' face in time to duck, because he had definitely launched it full force. She smiled. She had wanted to show Obelix struggling, but he had been far stronger than that. "I did NOT expect that!" she exclaimed. "And you even counterattacked me. Fantastic." Obelix looked at her in disbelief, all color draining from his face. Phyllis did not notice, she had turned to Asterix, who was getting up. "Do you understand NOW?" she asked him. "Your thoughts only strengthened my power, while Obelix…" Asterix rushed forward, but Obelix snatched Phyllis from the ground before he reached them. The look in Obelix eyes made Phyllis stay quiet. He was furious. She had expected him to be angry with her, but he looked nothing short from murderous. She raised her hands in defeat, but it didn't make much of a difference.

"I you ever do that again, I'll …" Obelix couldn't finish, he was not used to feeling like this. He was angry, yes, and it was not that unfamiliar to him, but he was also scared out of his mind. He only remembered feeling like that one time before, when the Romans had almost thrown Asterix to the sharks. Back then he could only blame his own stupidity. Now there was someone else to blame. Someone who, despite being uncomfortable in his fierce grip, could not hide her glee.

"I won't," Phyllis said, "But Mesmeron will." She felt Obelix grip tighten, and she was grateful he only held the rim of her vest. "It was not my idea to show the true potential of his powers. But would you rather have gone home thinking there was nothing you could do against them?"

"…"

Obelix pushed her away from him, and stalked away. His push sent her sliding into Heroïx hut and into his fully set dinner table. Which, was all things considered, a lot less hurtful than what a random Roman could expect from Obelix. She knew he had understood the reason behind her actions. It was necessary. But she had not missed the terror in his eyes, and it had touched her far more than she could afford to admit. For the first time in years, she had actually considered to apologize.