Two Points for Honesty Chapter 12, a warriors fanfic

Shocked silence radiated throughout the room. Brian looked over the group, feeling a sense of deep satisfaction at their horrified expressions. The body of a teenage girl, broken and lifeless, her empty eyes staring out into oblivion. Perhaps that what was taken to prove to them all just how wrong everything about them was. This girl sacrificed her own life to save the rest of them from a bloody fate.

Suddenly, great peals of laughter rose from Dennis where he sat on the bleachers. He waved the guards who stood erect beside the door to his side, where they spoke in hushed voices, aiming pointed glances at the sullen group several times.

"Faith..." Stan mumured softly, shaking her shoulder as his voice quivered. "Faith." Tam only stared, her stony expression beginning to shake. Craig bent over Faith's body, tears sliding down his cheeks. Scarlett looked at Brian helplessly, wiping the tears from her own eyes. Over the past several months, they'd become such good friends, it seemed completely unreal that she would die now, in this forsaken place. "What will they do with us?" Scarlett asked, not even caring how weak her voice sounded. She however drew strength from Brian as he looked at her, calm and controlled. "Don't worry." He told her, then adressed the others. "We'll get out of here."

"Not right now, you won't." Dennis cackled, coming up from behind and clapping one gnarled hand on the young man's shoulder. Snickering, he backed up as guards began to flood over them, grabbing them one by one. Brian put up the most fight as they wrenched both of his wrists behind his back, trying to reach Faith's body, which was being hauled away now by the man Dennis had called Broken. He stopped his futile stuggle however as Dennis approached him and whipped out a long knife, which he held to his throat. Brian gulped heavily, feeling the cold metal press against his skin. "Wouldn't want any of your little squad to get hurt now, would we? Just settle down, Brian. They're gonna be fine just as long as you cooperate. Well... can't say that about the Thundera... but better the rest then none at all, eh?"

He sheathed the knife and began to walk away, ignoring Brian's shouts demanding for him to explain what he meant. "What do you want with Scarlett?" He yelled, renewing his struggles. He was quickly subdued however, and the guards began to shuffle the five away from the arena and towards a heavy metal door. They pushed it open, revealing a dark corridor that split into two different pathways. Some of the guards began to speak urgently to one another before Dennis called out directions, along with several insults to his apparently dimwitted comrades. At these orders, the guards split up, separating Scarlett and Brian from the others. Stan, still immobolized by shock, only stared uncomprehendingly as he, Craig, and Tam were escorted down the hallway on the right. The last glimpse he got of them was Scarlett looking over her shoulder fearfully.

"What are you going to do with us?" She asked the guard holding her arm softly. The buff man gave her a cold look and shook her arm roughly. "Keep quiet." He growled, looking at his companions with a snicker. Scarlett met Brian's gaze for only a split second before he looked away. He didn't know where they were going. That was obvious from the way he tensed at every turn and kept looking around, searching for some kind of landmark. For so long, he'd been sure that he'd been to every crevice in the Shadow's headquarters. It seemed he was wrong. Dead wrong. Every single direction he looked, more doors, more hallways, more things kept from him by the people who'd imprisoned him since the day he was born. All this time, all he'd been to them was a name. A name that got them special priveledges.

At last they came to an ebony door at the end of the hallway. Suddenly, their captors appeared restless, speaking to themselves in hushed voices about what to do. "Should we just push them in and leave?" One suggested, to which another replied, "No, he'll punish us later." Through the general discontent, Brian exchanged a confused look with Scarlett, which the guard named Broken noticed. Grumbling under his breath, the massive man yanked the door open roughly and grapped Brian roughly by the sleeve of his shirt, pushing him inside. Scarlett came next, before she could even voice her annoyance. The door slammed shut, and the two were plunged into darkness. In the background, the soft, haunting melody of a song played on a cheap radio could be heard.

Hello, I'm your martyr, will you be my gangster?
Can you feel my trigger hand, moving further down your back?
When you hide, hide inside that body
But just remember that, when I touch you
The more you shake, the more you give away

Scarlett scooted her way closed to Brian, her hand closing over his. "Brian..." She whispered, her voice shaking. Brian didn't reply, only wrapped his other arm over her protectively when the sound of soft laughter sounded from not far away. "Who's there?" He demanded, feeling Scarlett press closer against him. The muffled sound of footsteps on the cold concrete floor came with the next chuckle, slightly louder than the last. A voice, a young man's, cold as ice and smooth as a snake's. "What's wrong, brother?" The man whispered, making Brian stiffen immediately in shock. "That's dissapointing, I have to say. After all these years, you don't even have the decency to remember who I am. What would father say, I wonder? He'd be dissapointed as well, I know that. His prized little son, all grown up, but stupid as he can be."

A cold, flickering light suddenly flooded the room from a dim bulb dangling from the ceiling. Standing below it, a bloody knife in his hand, was a tall man. He was identical to Brian as far as the features of his face, though his skin and hair was darker, and his eyes were the eeriest shade of ice-blue. He smirked at Brian's stricken expression, at Scarlett's confusion, as he lifted the knife to his mouth and licked blood from its shining surface. His cold eyes flickered to Scarlett, and his face morphed to an expression of interest. He kneeled down beside her, taking her face in one hand. "Well, hello there, beautiful." He murmured, noting with amusement the way she flinched away from his blood-laden breath. "You don't remember me, either. Quite a surprise." As he leaned in slowly, a sudden force slammed into him, and the knife was knocked away from him. The man stumbled back, watching silently as the knife clattered to the ground noisely. He looked then at Brian, who had taken his place beside Scarlett.

Cold, but I'm still here, blind, 'cause I'm so blind, say never
We're far from comfortable this time
Cold, now we're so cold, mine, and you're not mine, say never
We're far from obvious this time

He was obviously shaking, and still he looked at the man he'd once called his brother with as much defiance as possible. "Hawk..." Brian murmured, his eyes wavering with supressed emotion. "What the hell are you doing...? Why are you even here...?" He gulped heavily, looking away from his younger half-brother. "They said you were dead! Why... why would you let me believe that?" By this time, his thoughts had become too jumbled for him to speak straight. "After all I'd done to keep you out of this... you were with the Shadow the whole time...?"

"Don't delude yourself." After the crackling emotion of Brian's voice, Hawk's was almost comically blank. He jabbed his thumb in Scarlett's direction, then to a dark corner of the room that had been overlooked by the two shocked prisoners. Standing on a stool, his neck tied in a noose that dangled from the stake he was tied to, his listless green eyes fixed on Scarlett, was Fiorella Thundera. Across his cheek was a raw red wound, probably the source of the blood on Hawk's knife. The breath hitched in Scarlett's throat as she saw her father, poised for death, and her hands flew to his mouth. "This is what we've been trying to do from the start, idiot." Hawk rolled his eyes. "You know. One of us does some act to make the kid terrified of us, the other befriends her, then together we bribe her to give over the Thundera fortune when she inherits it. Duh. Sometimes I really wonder what dad saw in a dimwit like you."

Wait, another minute here, time will kill us after all
Now can you feel its second hand wrapped around your neck
So fall into my eyes, and fall into my lies
But don't you forget
The more you turn away, the more I want you to stay

Brian's brows furrowed for the longest moment as he looked at Scarlett, then Hawk, then Scarlett again. Memories long-since buried because of the pain they brought were slowly resurfacing in his mind. The girl with the curly red hair, daughter of his father's arch rival when he'd still been a decent man with a business career. The girl who he was supposed to befriend. He'd done a bit more than that, actually. The girl who he was supposed to lead here. It suddenly made sense why he'd been so reluctant to let her in to his life. His mind was telling him to pay attention to his memories, to what what ultimately be this girl's demise. He'd been so stupid. But what has Hawk's part been again...? To harm the girl in some way. Watching Hawk, noticing in disgust how his tongue swiped over his teeth, no doubt savoring the taste of blood, he was reminded of those little scars on Scarlett's shoulder and collarbone. The scars she'd shown him once, where her attacker had dug his teeth deep into her skin, marking her forever, as he stole her innocence away from her. "It was you."

"What was me?" Hawk seemed genuinely confused for a moment, then his eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, that. Well, yeah, that was me. It was my job, remember? Not to say I didn't enjoy it. I'm sure she did, too..." He never got the chance to finish, and Brian leapt to his feet and slammed his fist into Hawk's jaw. His half-brother lurched backward, smirking. "What, did that hit a nerve? You can't stand the thought of your pretty little cheerleader underneath me, screaming 'stop, no!'?" He cackled rustily, earning another punch, this time to the gut. They kept coming now, fueled by ballistic rage. He'd never hated anybody quite as much as he hated his half-brother right now. Never before had he wanted to kill somebody as badly as he did Hawk, who just a few years ago was the most important person to him in his life. Who he'd wanted to protect from the fate their father set for them. For whom he'd become the big brother he'd lost, when his own brother Tad died. When Brian finally tired, he let his brother drop to the ground and stared down at him, not yet feeling as though he'd fulfilled the proper punishment for this monster.

Scarlett was immobile, looking at her father, then Brian, then Hawk. She didn't know what to do, who to believe, what was happening. Brian had betrayed her... or had he? No, he loved her. He never would do something like that. Hawk was the man who'd attacked her in the alley, years before. Her father was once rivals with Brian's father. There was too much to take in. Too much to think about. She couldn't move, couldn't do anything, not even warn Brian, as Hawk slowly reached for the gun in the holster of his belt. Hardly even noticed as he raised the weapon shakily, pointed it at his half brother, and pulled the trigger.

A muffled yell escaped Brian as the bullet dug into the flesh of his arm. He dropped to one knee, his opposite hand clutching at his injured arm as blood trickled onto the ground. Hawk cackled as he rose slowly, his face distorted from the punches Brian had landed. "You fool." He grinned, holding the gun up again. Brian's eyes widened immediately, and this time he couldn't hold back a cry of agony as the bullet tore into his shoulder. He crumbled to both knees, glaring up at Hawk with hate-filled eyes. The brown-haired man lowered the gun and shook his head. "You thought you could replace Tad." He murmured, his hand tightening on the metal. "You though you could be my big brother, like he was. I will always hate you for that, Brian." Another shot, to his leg this time. Brian was gasping for breath, sweat beading on his forehead, his face contorted in pain. "You will never be my brother. I always loved dad, more than you ever did. Still he favored you. Well, guess what? I'm his favorite now."

You're so endearing, you're so beautiful,
Well I don't look like they do, and I don't love like they do
But I don't hate like they do
Am I ever on your mind?

The next sound was the strangled gasp of Fiorella Thundera as Scarlett snapped the rope binding his neck. The sharpened stake rolled to the ground, and Fiorella collapsed in his daughter's arms. Hawk noticed immediately, of course, and cursed under his breath. Leaving his brother gasping for breath on the ground, Hawk slipped the gun back into the holster and approached Scarlett at a brisk pace. Her father slipped to the ground as Hawk grabbed her roughly by the neck, pressing her against the wall. She stared at him, her eyes wavering as terror overcame her, his rank breath fanning over her face. "Well, well." Hawk snickered, licking his lips sadistically. "The little girly decided to save her daddy instead of her boyfriend, hm? That wouldn't make a very good romance story, would it?"

"Nope." Scarlett suddenly grinned, nodding to something over Hawk's shoulder with a wink. "That would be an awful ending." The bullet hit and the boom sounded before Hawk could comprehend what she meant. Brian, on his knees, struggling to stay upright, had slipped the gun from the holster, and shot his brother once in the back. The man lurched forward, Scarlett slipping from his grasp. She looked at Brian, whose arms were shivering now from exhaustion.

Suddenly, Hawk twitched. His shoulders moved, and he straightened up in slow, robotic moments. He turned around, ever so slowly, to face his brother. His eyes were crazed, and Brian noticed with a start that while one glowed its normal ice-blue, the other was golden amber. "You're a traitor." For a moment, two voices spoke as one, one was Hawk's himself, the other was one much older, deeper, more sane. Just as evil, though. He staggered forward, one hand outstretched toward Brian, blood making a trail behind him.

Without thinking, Brian felt behind him. The wooden stake, its sharp end pointing toward him, was by his side. In a swift moment, he gripped the coarse wood. Just as Hawk reached him, he hefted the stake. The sharp end pierced his chest, and the sickening sound of tearing flesh filled the room. He lurched once, pushing himself further down the stake so that it stuck out his back, slick with his own blood. Brian stared up at the face that now seemed incredibly innocent, the child he'd once known, with warm light blue eyes. The only difference being the blood that trickled from the side of his mouth, dripping slowly onto the stricken face of his brother.

COLD, you broke me from the very first night
I'd love you 'til the day that I die
I'm far too comfortable this time
COLD, I loved you from the very first night
You broke me 'til the day that I die
I'm far too obvious this time

The stake fell to the side, and with it the lifeless body of Hawk. Brian was left there, shaken and bloodied, his shoulders hunched in defeat even though the fight was his. Scarlett crawled slowly to his side, across the cold cement ground that was now slick with crimson liquid. It'd been almost physically painful to her, watching Hawk shoot him repeatedly, but they'd fallen into the strategy so easily, she and Brian, she knew she couldn't break character. Now, seeing him so broken and spent, she wished more than ever she'd intervined. Saved him from this.

Brian looked up, and the briefest flicker of recognition showed there. He didn't move as she placed one hand on his shoulder. Not for a moment, anyway. Soon, as the shock began to wear off, he began to quiver. He wrapped his arms around his chest, trying to hold himself together, to hold back the emotions he'd managed to keep stored away within him for so long. But when Scarlett prompted him to look at her, his defenses fell. His golden amber eyes filled with tears, and suddenly he looked like the tortured young man he was, not the strong adult he'd been forced into being from the very beginning. Sobs shoke him, and Scarlett pulled him close. He held on to her tightly, his tears dampening the fabric of her shirt.

The song slowly faded in the background, and the lightbulb flickered out.

So, like, I'm not even really sure what to put here now. o.o

Wait... yeah, actually, I do. Adressing everything people have said about hating Ben for the way he spoke to Brian... sorry to break it to you guys, but he was right. Honestly, Brian was being an idiot. Keeping everything in, taking everything onto his own shoulders, it didn't make him strong. It broke him, and it hurt everyone around him. He thought he was being brave, which he was, to an extent. But in refusing to rely on others, in refusing to accept the fact that his family loves him and hates to see him in such pain, he failed everyone. Himself, his friends, his family... everyone.

I want that to be a lesson to everyone. If you have a problem that you can't solve on your own, NEVER refuse somebody's help. They only want to help you get through it. And don't go thinking for a minute this has to be somebody you trust or know very well. Anybody you've ever met, anybody's whose life was touched by yours, they're as good as any. Even talk to me, if you want to. I've suffered with clinical depression since I was seven, so trust me, I know what it feels like to be in that much pain without anybody understanding.

So don't try to figure out who's your friend. Trust everyone. Get hurt as many times as it takes from betrayel. Your real friends will always be there to help you back up.

Reviewers: Spottedwing19, Sparkheart of ThunderClan, winterthaw of thunderclan, Queen Of The Pens, Ivypool Luva, kate882, tufted titmouse, Nightkill, littlemisslibrarian, GlimmerIcewood, Stargazer2000, and Brambleflight.

Next chapter will be the last, people. There will be a sequel, and I'll tell you more about it next chapter.

Please review? X3