Jack
The next day, Emily and Bloody came in. Anti stood next to the bed.
Something had been gnawing at me all night, and I finally decided to say it.
"You know, when I was in that place," I began, "the man was talking to me about alternates and hosts." I looked up at them. "He said that often, one is good and one is evil. And I know it sounds silly, but maybe it's true."
There was silence. Then Bloody's laughter rang through the apartment.
Bloody laughed for a long time. She first stood doubled over and holding her stomach, then threw her head back and let her laughter ring forth, its sound spreading through the place and making all three of us look at her.
Finally, the laughter died down. Chuckling, Bloody wiped a tear from her eye. Then she saw the looks on our faces.
"Oh, come on!" She said in disbelief. "You believe this crap? Seriously?!"
We all just looked at her. Emily looked especially shaken.
"Okay, first, let's look at Sean." Bloody waved towards me. "He's sweet. He's friendly. He's greatly loyal. But his opinion sways too easily. When I was talking to him, he thought Emily was lying. When Emily was talking to him, he thought I was lying. In between, he probably spent hours debating who was right without stopping to consider that we both were. And now some random weirdo has him on about some good-and-evil bullshit.
"Then there's Anti. Loyal to the last. Eager to learn and stunted by his inability to go outside. Constantly turned into some 2D monster in people's minds. But willing to hurt and kill out of fear before he calms down, and a bit of a bad judge of when to appear." She bent over, putting her hands on her knees to be at eye level with me. "Does that mean he's evil?" I didn't reply.
She whirled to look at Emily. "What about her?" She said, pointing. "Affectionate. Sweet. Willing to trust. But she sees the world in black-and-white, believing for a few years that I was some sort of Hyde to her Jekyll. And she constantly hides. But she doesn't hide from her problems; no, that would make too much sense. She hides with them, constantly throwing up barriers like me that don't protect her. They just cut her off from help."
"And what about you?" I ask, rising to my feet.
Bloody smiled at me. "I am willing to go to any length to protect my Emily and her friends. I trust almost anyone I meet, and I avoid hurting as much as I can. But, I admit, I may be a little too fond of my knives, and I am a little more willing than most to see killing as a viable solution to a problem. But does that make me evil? No. Am I good? Hell no."
Bloody turned to look at Anti and Emily. "There's no such thing as 'good' and 'evil', Sean. There's flawed, in so many different ways. The world doesn't appear as black-and-white, or even as shades of grey. It is a whole spectrum of colors. Some are lighter, true, but there can be more than one color that is equally bright. That's something you," she jabbed me in the chest with one finger, still smirking, "need to learn.