Chapter Thirteen: The Truth

I woke up a while later. I'm not sure how long I was out… a few hours, maybe. It was night time when I woke up, looking at the clear, starry sky. I stood up, cringing from the burn pains, and looked forward. I had blown off part of the bridge, and would have to find another way to get back to Amy. I could faintly see her; her robe had protected her from the flames.

I hobbled the other way, eventually recovering enough to do a full stride. I had to go quite a bit before I found another bridge across. I walked across it and then back to Amy, who had regained consciousness by now. I walked slower as I approached her.

"Roy! Are you alright?" she asked me as I strode up to her.

"Yeah, I'm OK. How about you?" I asked back.

"I'm fine." she replied. "What happened to that man... Brenton?"

"In the end… I killed him." I said. "He… "

"He was your friend, wasn't he?" she asked.

"An old one. But he wasn't the Brenton I knew." I replied. "He was twisted by the Order of Light."

"Okay, Roy, I'm tired of you lying and I heard what he said. So tell me the truth." she said forcefully.

"Ok. I'm getting tired of keeping secrets, anyway."

"First off, who are the Order of Light?" she asked me.

"You know as much as I do. All I know is that they're trying to 'purify' the world, which means we, or at least I, have to be killed. Their powers seem to be based on Chinese elements… I think…" was my reply.

"Okay, then… second, why do they keep calling you 'Dark Boy'?" she asked.

"… because of this." With that, I took off my coat and pulled my shirt sleeve up to the dark mark on my arm. "Jin… the grey-coated man, the Metal Master, said he 'judged' me, and this is the result. When I can't control my emotions any more, it spreads… and I get stronger." I told her. "But I'm afraid of it."

"Third, what did he mean by saying you killed all those people… Jason, in particular." Amy asked me.

"It's… true. I killed the brown-coated man back in Washington, even though he wasn't a threat any more. And I nearly killed that woman… Lyn. But I guess she used Jason as a shield… before I knew what happened, I had killed him." I replied.

"Then… I won't hold his death against you. Lastly, where's Serenity?" she asked me.

"Where is she? I thought you would have found her."

"No… I figured she might be with you." Amy replied.

"Hmph… they must have gotten her." I quickly assumed the worst.

"How do you know?" Amy asked.

"Well, they've never tried to hurt her, and I could tell… her heart's pure. We'll never see her again." I told Amy.

"What do you mean, 'we'll never see her again'? Won't they let her live?" she asked.

"Yeah, but we'll never see her again… not as she was. They'll probably twist the truth and say I intended to kill Jason… they will turn her against us, I'm sure of it." I stated.

"Well… let's rest for a while, then, and then we'll get going again." Amy replied.

"But… I killed Jason! How can you not hate me?" I asked her. "I don't understand."

"It wasn't your fault. Don't worry about it." she said with a smile.

I still didn't understand, though.

So, this is the Realm of Darkness…