Chapter 59: Dream Theatre part 1
Rae walked silently down the street; her thoughts were clouded. Was she doing the right thing? She knew they were going to go no matter what she said, but she didn't want them to get hurt. She rubbed her head, "what am I gonna do…" She muttered to herself. "Rae!" Rae turned around, seeing Bronny running towards her. "Bronny? What are you doing here?" She asked. Bronny came to a stop in front of her, "looking for you of course," he said, "is everything good with you Rae, you aren't acting like yourself." Rae looked to the floor, "I-I'm fine Bronny, really." Bronny sighed, "come, sit down with me." Bronny walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. He motioned for Rae to sit with him, which she did.
"Look Rae, I get it, I really do," Bronny began, "you're scared, and truth be told, I'm scared too, we all are." Rae rubbed her arm, she stayed silent, looking away from Bronny. "Even though we're all scared, we still have to move forward," Bronny said, "it's like we said, we can't just ignore this." Bronny pulled up his sleeve, the scaring was still there. "This thing has latched onto me, and it won't stop until I cut it off personally," he said, "do you think I want to do this? Hell no, I want things to go back to the way they were before, my grades back at school are probably fucked, but if I don't do something now, we are all gonna get killed, so I have to fight, for everyone, and for you."
Bronny put a hand on Rae's shoulders, "if you don't want to come that's fine, but you're important to this team, I hope you know that." Rae nodded, "I-I know it's just…" "Just what?" Rae stood up, folding her arms together, "I've never really had any luck getting friends, a lot of people find me annoying, so they keep their distance from me," she said, "when I heard I was coming here, I have to admit, I was excited, even though I was going into this life or death scenario, I was happy to finally be with people that would accept me." She turned to Bronny, "and after that, I had a blast, we hung out a lot, and I finally was somewhere I belonged, and, I don't want to lose that, I really don't want to lose you all."
Rae began to tear up, she lowered her head, "I'm sorry, that's just my little problem." Bronny sighed, he stood up, facing Rae. "I understand how you feel," he said, "but don't you think that facing your fears is better than running away from them?" Rae shrugged, "I-I don't know, this is just way more extreme than I would've thought." "It's ok Rae, I think we're all feeling this," replied Bronny, "but instead of running, why don't we face them head on instead?" Bronny held Rae's hands tight, "we can do this Rae, I know we can!" Rae bursted out laughing, leaving Bronny confused. "Huh? What's so funny?" Rae wiped her nose, "that was so fucking cliché Bronny, like it was good in the beginning, and then you started going on the whole power of friendship schtick, super corny my guy."
Bronny rolled his eyes, "sorry, but at least I got you in a better mood, that's all that matters." Rae nodded, "yeah, I guess you're right, thanks Bronny, I really appreciate it." Bronny smiled, ruffling Rae's hair, "no problem, just happy to help, come on, let's go with the others." The two walked off, unknown to them however, they were being watched by a hooded figure. "Ah, so that is the boy," the man muttered, he slowly took his hood off, he was slightly older man, his eyes peered down onto Bronny, "that kid doesn't look so tough to me, but orders are orders." He folded up his sleeves, his arms were reptilian green, "it's dream is also my dream," he said, "so why don't we get to know each other, Bronny James."