Bran eyed the flower in Will's pocket. "Ooooh!" he said in a mocking falsetto. "A red rose, is it?"
Will said amiably, "Get lost."
"Not so pretty as Jane, the one that threw it."
"As who?" Will said.
"Jane Drew. Don't you think she's pretty, then?"
"I suppose so, yes," Will said, surprised. "I've never really thought about it."
"That's one good thing about you. You're uncomplicated."
-Silver On The Tree
* * *
After Jane and Will had made up, it seemed everyone's mood had become sullen. Will woke up to breakfast each morning with a grim Simon, a grim-Simon-in-training (Barney), an icy Merriman who only spoke to him when absolutely necessary, and the worst part was Bran never spoke to him at all. He even avoided eye contact. Many a good glass of orange juice was spilled because Bran never looked Will in the eye when he passed it over to him.
The entered the Lost Land three days after the ball. After stonily wishing them luck, Merriman and the Drews turned quickly and left Bran and Will to their own devices to battle the Dark. Jane alone blew Will a discreet kiss and waved affectionately to Bran, both gestures taken by both boys with extreme gratitude.
Will chattered mindlessly and attempted to make enough small talk to keep Bran saying something to him, but the other boy's only responses were either one-worded or a simple nod or shake of the head, or even an intelligible grunt.
It was only when they were leaving the village and a small girl had thrown Will a flower did Bran feel the need to address him.
"Not so pretty as Jane, the one that threw it," he muttered, staring at his horse's reins.
Will was shocked at the sudden conversation that Bran was providing. He tucked the rose into his pocket, waved to the girl, and quickly turned his attention back to Bran. "What did you say?"
Bran looked up at him icily. "I said that the girl who threw the flower at you wasn't as pretty as Jane. I was hoping you would agree with me." He quickened his horse's pace.
"Of course I agree with you!" replied Will quickly, urging his horse forward. "She has nothing on Jane at all." While Will answered Bran, he wondered what had provoked his comment. Of course the girl wasn't as pretty as Jane…but why would Bran feel the need to address it to him so coldly?
Bran snorted and stopped his horse so he could face Will. "Of course she is. No one is nearly as perfect as Jane Drew in your eyes, right Will? You just love her so much. So much that you're content to hurt her again and again. So much that you'll garner all her affections so that she's fixed solely on you and no one else, then break her heart over and over. But she'll always be hopelessly devoted to you. Which is just how you want it."
Then as sharply as he has stopped, Bran turned and urged his horse forward, leaving an astonished and speechless Will behind him.
* * *
Those were the last words that Bran said to Will. They ventured through the Lost Land silently, each boy seething with his own rage at the other. After returning with Erias, Bran wordlessly presented it to Merriman.
Merriman thanked Bran, but didn't say a word to Will before he exited the room, most likely to inspect Erias and probe its future use. Bran turned on his heel and went outside, where the Drews were playing croquet.
"Barnabas Drew," Simon was saying through clenched teeth. "Jane and I have perfectly good eyesight." Barney innocently dropped the ball that he was cunningly moving towards the right of the field.
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he replied coolly, standing next to Jane.
Simon opened his mouth to lecture but saw Bran standing next to the tree, watching their game. "Bran!" he cried. "You made it back, splendid show, old man!" He sounded like a 60 year old man and looked like one even more when he clapped Bran on the back with authority. "I suppose Will Stanton made it back, as well," he sneered nastily.
"Well, yes—" Bran began before Jane throwing her arms around him cut him off. "Hey…" he said, laughing as he hugged her back. "Be careful with me."
"Careful!" huffed Jane as she embraced him. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you two? It's not everyday that you see two people that you love sucked into a swirling vortex. Did you get the sword?"
Bran's head swirled. Love? Jane loved him? Probably not as much as she loved Will Stanton, he decided bitterly. "Yes…" he replied slowly. "We got the sword. Merriman is inspecting it now. I suspect we'll have to go to the tree very soon. So be prepared." He shrank away from them. "I'm going to go lay down for a bit. See you at dinner."
Bran walked away, leaving the confused Drews to their game. He had a million feelings shooting through his mind and none of them cheery. Jane Drew was just a silly mortal girl. He couldn't explain the tightness in his stomach whenever she came into a room, the red flush he would get to his white face whenever she smiled at him…and most importantly he couldn't explain the rage that rose up in him whenever he thought about Jane and Will together.
Balling his hands up into fists, Bran swung a punch at a low-hanging branch and succeeded in scaring a group of angry robins out of their nest. Perfect Will Stanton. It's not enough that he's lucky enough to be an Old One and have the admiration of the entire Circle of Light, but he also lived a normal life with a normal family. Bran was just a stupid freak orphan who only had a faux father figure. Surely Bran adored Owen Davies, but it wasn't the same. Bran was teased all his life for having a slut mother who dropped him with Owen, and he was constantly harassed for his different appearance. His life was absolutely pointless and meaningless until he found out his true heritage. And even then Will Stanton overshadowed him.
Now Will Stanton was taking the only girl Bran could have ever cared about.
Granted he didn't know Jane Drew all that well. But what he knew he liked. After their initial falling out when they first met, Jane was nothing but jovial and kind to him. She never pointed out his difference from other people and always treated him like a unique individual. She was pretty to boot, not exactly a supermodel but lovely to look at just the same. Bran could see himself marrying her. He could give her a good life, a nice farm life in Wales where they could make a family. And most importantly, grow old together. That, Bran thought maliciously, Will Stanton could never ever provide her.
But why would Jane Drew want a nice life with Bran Davies when she could get her heart broken by Will over and over? Then she'll just up and die on him and he can go on with his charmed life of saving the world. Bran had been punching at the branch for so long that the leaves had fallen off and made a neat pile.
"Bran?"
The albino boy turned around to see Will standing there, watching him attack the tree. Feeling stupid, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "What?" he answered tonelessly.
"I want to talk to you," Will said quietly, stepping forward. "You've been avoiding me for nearly a week now, and when we were in the Lost Land you would have just assumed step on my face as look at me. What's the matter with you?" He touched Bran's shoulder.
Bran angrily swiped his hand off. "Don't touch me." He began to walk briskly away. He wouldn't justify himself to anyone right now, let alone Will Stanton, the very person he was raging at.
Will caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "Tell me what I did to you, Bran. I won't leave you alone until you fess up."
Silence reigned as Bran kept his back to Will and Will kept his grip on Bran's arm. Slowly, the blond turned around. "You want to know? Fine. I was outside in the bushes the night of the ball. I saw you win Jane back over. I saw everything. I saw the way she looked at you and the way she smiled. You're promising her the world and you can't give it to her."
Will released him. "That's what's bothering you? Jane and I? Why? You hated Jane when you first met her!"
"Well, I don't hate her now!" Bran snapped, adjusting his glasses. "In fact, I liked her company very much. But it doesn't matter what I want, because the great Will Stanton always gets what his heart desires, even though getting it will ruin an innocent girl not to mention his own life!"
Will's eyebrows were so high that they almost reached his hairline. "You…have a crush on Jane? You've wanted Jane all this time? Bran, how the hell was I supposed to know that?"
"I don't know!" yelled Bran. "But the point is you're going to just hurt her when you have to let her go, or she's going to hurt you when she dies, and either way Merriman will hate you and the Light's cause will just go down the crapper! But you don't care, because she's just another conquest!" To accentuate this point, Bran sharply pushed Will on his shoulder, sending the dark haired boy a few steps back.
Will stumbled, and clenched his hands so tightly that the knuckles turned white. "I don't know what you think you're talking about, Bran Davies. I love Jane Drew very much. More than you think I do. She's not just a conquest to me; she's more than that. I've loved her for so long and I can't even show it in public because either her brother will pummel me or Merriman will lecture me. So don't feed me your sob story about how your life has always been a meaningless misery and if you could only take Jane away from me everything would work out for you. And how I've overshadowed you for the past three years and how I don't deserve a single thing I get because I didn't suffer for it. Just save it, Bran. Because I don't want to hear it." Will spat on the ground and turned around, finished with the conversation.
"Well, you don't have to hear a bloody thing now," Bran roared as he dove on Will and tackled him to the ground.
The two boys exchanged punches and kicks and pulls, rolling around on the ground. Through his blurry sight, Will saw Simon and Merriman rush outside and yank them apart. Will tasted blood dripping from his nose into his mouth, and saw that Bran was nursing a black eye.
"Now, honestly boys, what on earth was that?" Simon prattled like an ashamed father. "We're supposed to be working toget—"
"Work with that bloody wanker?!" screamed Bran, struggling to get back into the fight. "I'd rather die!"
"Well I hope that you do it, and decrease the population AND my problems!" hollered Will, fighting against Merriman's grasp.
"ENOUGH!" Merriman bellowed. The struggling stopped and all the eyes were on Merriman. He stared them down for a few moments. "You two had best leave your problems down here. We're leaving to go to the tree soon. And for Merlin's sake, clean yourselves up." He released Will and disgustedly walked into the cottage.
"Well, you heard Merry," said Simon pompously. "Let me find Jane to get you cleaned up. She'll know exactly what to do." Simon continued talking as he walked away into the cottage after Merriman, a nodding Barney not far behind.
Will spat blood onto the ground and rested his hands against his knees. When he looked up, Bran was staring coldly at him.
"You heard him. Clean yourself up. You've got the play the hero again, don't you know?" Bran shook his head at Will and walked towards the back porch, where a concerned Jane was calling him and Will to clean them up and probably ask why there was a fight in the first place.
Will narrowed his eyes and followed.
-Sorry I took so long, but finals are such a bother! This chapter is a little more in-depth, not like that monstrosity I posted last time…be kind with your reviews!