In the cave…
Staring at the walls of the cave made Barry's mind race…he couldn't stand being locked away any longer. Glancing at Brianna, knowing he needed to convince her to leave the cave with him…not wanting her to stay here or face her father all alone.
Knowing her father would manipulate her to do what he wants; playing on her fears keeping her hidden from the rest of the world using her power for his own gain.
His heart was heavy with the knowledge of someone so powerful and kind being trapped by her own fears. It was a conversation they had many times…too many to count. He needed to leave…to see something else. "You know you could escape if you truly want to? You really don't need your father as much as he needs you."
Brianna glances up to him, "Barry, that's not an option. If someone could kill my mother after everything I've done to protect her…. my father loved my mother and he loves me…he's keeping me safe because of fear of losing me like mother. "
"Don't you want to know what the outside world is like now? You created me two hundred years ago out of loneliness…I've never been outside to see or experience anything except you and your father's interactions. Let me go and experience life."
Brianna looks horrified at the thought of letting Barry go yelling, "NO!"
Barry walks around the small cave with candles lit in different cut outs to make a ledged for the candles, but one spot on the wall was no longer apart of the natural cave wax coved the bottom of the ledge as the candles burned the wax dripped down covering the side of the cave wall. "Why not? You had a chance to experience life outside this cave. Brianna, you told me fantastic stories of your travels…and all the amazing things you have seen…all I'm asking is for me to create my own stories…to become my own hero."
Her gaze turns down not wanting to look him in his eyes. She loves Barry like a brother even naming him after her own beloved departed brother. She didn't want to lose him to the wild unknown sighing, "I'd miss you. What if someone hurts you…and you die?"
"So, you would keep me here…even though I'm miserable? Deny me the chance of doing something worthy…due to fear?"
She didn't want to keep him there and make him miserable or deny him the chance of becoming…anything. She wanted him to have a life to have experiences of his own…to be his own hero. "No."
Hearing her faint whisper of no, not wanting him miserable he slowly walks to her as she was sitting on a ledge she cut out of the cave wall for her to lay on as a bed. Bending down placing his large hand over her small delicate hands, "So, let me go."
A familiar sting in her eyes knowing she was about to start crying in a small shaky voice she ask, "Would you come back to visit me? I couldn't bare the thought of never seeing you again, my sweet Barry." Brianna reaches with her right hand to softly stroke his cheek.
Hearing her shaky voice he leans into her soft hand, "Yes, and I'll tell you stories of my adventures."
~xxx~
Present day...
If she only knew how that fated trip would have ended she would have never let him go, then again she would have never met and fallen in love with Galahad.
She was soon pulled from her thoughts of the past by the sound of people talking then she remembers the reason she was really there for; turning around she sees the backside of the reclusive caretaker across from him was her husband. Only the worktable between them she wished they would be farther away from one another. Judging from his backside the caretaker was the exact height as her husband and had the same taste in clothes; he had a little more weight on Galahad and graying hair, but that was just her observation from the back. He was standing next to the redhead that came to dinner the other night with her arm linked with his. Surprising herself jealousy rose within her as she witnesses the redhead looking up at Jenkins lovingly. Who does she think she is standing next to my… She didn't finish that thought as she slides over just a little to look at her Galahad's face.
"Ah, Mr. Jenkins I would like to introduce you to my wife, Brianna."
Jenkins turns around with an eyebrow raised; her name is the same as in my dreams. Seeing her in a white summer dress with little purple flower designs, his eyes take her in lovingly; he searchers for some kind of imperfection to focus on to break this hold she has on him. He couldn't help but to look her up and down; noticing her well-pedicured toes, wondering if her legs felt as soft as they looked, the way the summer dress was design perfectly for her body not to mention how her eyes just saw into his very soul.
Cassandra felt Jenkins move the arm she was holding onto so she releases his arm; she glances upward to see his face noticing how his eyes not only was looking at Brie up and down, but how his pupils seemed larger than usually. She knew scientifically when someone is looking at another they are in love with that person's pupils dilate at forty-five percent, she always wondered if that fact was true, and now she's witnessing it happening with Jenkins.
Jenkins felt an elbow in his side as he looks down to see Cassandra giving him a pair of eyes as if he was in trouble. Realizing he was acting ungentlemanly like he clears his throat, "Hello…Brianna."
Hearing his voice for the first time realizing how much he sounded just like Galahad it took a moment for her to respond, "It's nice to met you Mr. Jenkins. You could call me Brie."
"Brianna is such a lovely name; please allow an old man the privilege to call you by your full name," protests Jenkins.
"Brie...umm," Judson clears his throat, "Brianna," questions Judson.
Galahad turns seeing Judson inside the mirror his face turns a paler white he stutters, "Th…there's a…ma…man…in that mirror…he's…in…the mirror…and…he's ta..ta..talking?"
Brianna slowly walks to the mirror, "Yes, I'm here," The librarians watch in confusion when Brianna approaches the mirror stopping in front of it.
"Well, it's been a long time…you look the same."
Brie smiles when she sees Judson in the mirror, "You look…well, Judson."
"You mean I look old," chuckles Judson. "He's been waiting for you here in the annex for over a thousand years…umm…Charlene helped with keeping him here like you wanted us to as you instructed in the note." Judson stood proud as he informed her.
Brie's smile fades from her face, "Ummm…what note?"
Judson fidgets a little before answering, "The note about keeping…you know…Galahad here in the annex…close to the library until his father was defeated."
She lowers her head knowing she did not write the note. Her fears were confirmed they were the same person…just split. "So, their not just look a likes then?"
Judson taken back by the question, "I….I'm sorry what? Look-a-likes?"
Brie glances back, "Galahad and Jenkins please come here, but try not to touch one another. I'm not sure what's going on here."
Judson looks at the two men who resemble each other, but at different times in their life span. "I would think time travel…or a spell…perhaps?"
Brianna asks questions about the note he referred to earlier he explain the penmanship was like hers even signed with her own name. "The note was explicit on what you wanted from Charlene and I," explains Judson. "We were to keep him here at all cost, and if needs be Charlene should use her womanly ways to keep him here. Umm…we did what we thought you wanted."
Cassandra watches as Jenkins eyes open wide with his mouth slightly open as she could see his mind searching his memories of all his encounters with Charlene only when he hears the snickering of the other librarians does his face turn to stone, but Cassandra can see the hurt in his eyes which only made her want to hold him.
Brie started to pace in front of the mirror…womanly ways what does that even mean? What did she do? Don't lose focuses…don't lose your control, Brie chants this in her mind trying to keep her composure. "I would have never written a you a note wanting you to keep him here with out his permission, or have Charlene manipulate him with her womanly ways…really womanly ways what does that even mean?!"
Judson looks at Brianna, "We did what we thought you wanted us to do. Please stay calm."
"Calm? Stay calm?! Now not only do I have to figure out if they are really split or if they just resemble each other, but who did this to them and why? There are two possibilities…and it's a fifty-fifty shot if they will survive, Judson." Everyone was silent for a moment glancing at each other trying to understand what was happening and what was going to happen to Jenkins.
"Umm…excuse me what does fifty-fifty shot of surviving mean," questions Baird with her hand still in the air.
Brianna turns from the mirror to looking in between Galahad and Jenkins while answering Baird, "It means one spell they touch then poof Galahad and Jenkins become whole again and live a happy life…the other one poof and they cease to exist. Everyone they ever loved will forget them as if they never existed in the first place."
"Oh," exclaims Braid
Cassandra lets out a soft, "No."
Brianna hears Cassandra's small plea knowing in her heart they both loved the same man. She couldn't fault the young woman; he was an amazing person. "I never would have do that to you Galahad…sorry…Jenkins. When I left due to your destiny I always knew I would see you again. Can't lie, I was an emotional wreck, but I couldn't stand in the way of what you needed to accomplish. Loving you was the easy part…leaving you was the one of the most difficult part."
Hearing the conversation, investigation mode took over the Coronel. "What happened that day that Galahad came back to you," inquires Braid.
Brianna knew what she wanted to know, but her information she remembers wouldn't be helpful. "Galahad came to me while I was standing on the mountain cliff looking over the ocean just watching the waves crashing into the mountain sides…he came alone." She wasn't going to tell them she was thinking about jumping off the mountainside into the sharp rocks below, due to complete loneliness. That wasn't their business. "He just appeared out of thin air. Galahad…Jenkins, I've never realized at first there was something off. I was too happy to have you in my arms again…then I just became fearful to ask after…everything that…happened."
"What happened," questions Jenkins.
Galahad came out of his shock from everything he just witnessed. Hearing his wife speculate about him being apart of the older man made his jaw clinch and his fist ball up on his sides. He needed to prove himself, "I found her standing incredibly close to that mountain's edge knowing about the sharp rocks down below; I pulled her from that edge and we made love right there."
Jenkins turns his attention to his look alike, "What's the first thing you remember?"
Annoyed by the older man Galahad answers, "I remember waking up in a soft bed with one thought only….find her…protect her and that's what I did." Seeing the older man's face sour made Galahad balled up his fist again wanting to attack him; he couldn't do it physically, but he could do it in other ways, "…And I did find her, protected her, and made her mine."
Shame consumes Jenkins due to him not being able to do his duty and be with Brianna at the same time, but his eyes never left Galahad; he would not give the younger man the satisfaction of knowing he was infuriating him.
Flynn, Ezekiel, Stone, Baird, Cassandra and Brianna watched as the two men stared at each other with locked jaws with eyes on fire. "Just remember old man…she's my wife."
There that statement she is his wife. Galahad was with her all this time while he was in the library waiting and pinning over Charlene hoping one day she would return his affections. Brianne wouldn't have been his if he would have been stronger, but fear changes a man.
"She would have been mine if…"
"If what? You wouldn't have given her up so easily just because of your destiny? Just because you couldn't be with her and do your duty isn't my fault…no it was more like my gain, old man."
He couldn't stand the thought of this man saying these truths as his friends stood by to listen to his failures. Jenkins quickly reaches for his sword off of his desk hearing the steal of his blade scrap across the table fuels him as he masterfully places the sword dangerously close to Galahad's throat, "Not another word." Galahad never flinched or moved out of the way he stood his ground staring into Jenkins eyes.
"Whoa! There Jenkins. We still don't know if you are really the same person. This is just assumptions at this moment of time," comments Braid trying to calm the situation.
"No…he's me… arrogant piece of…." Jenkins lowers his sword lifting his opposite hand to adjust his bow tie.
Cassandra watch as the two fought over the same woman while her stomach was in knots worried what would happen to the man that slowly made his way into her heart. "Why don't we run a DNA test just to make sure they are the same person," questions Cassandra.
"No, we can't do that. Jenkins is immortal," answers Flynn.
"Semi-Immortal, Mr. Carson," replies Jenkins.
Ezekiel looking confuse ask, "Why not?"
Flynn smiles as he went into professor mode explaining the reason immortals couldn't have their blood checked. He droned on and on about the scientific reasoning of why until Brianna had enough.
"Ezekiel, this is why." She reaches for the sword in Jenkins hands then precedes to cut her hand open blood starts to pour out of her hand onto the blade of the sword; within moments her self inflicted wound healed the blood on the sword began to vanish.
Ezekiel, Braid, Jake, and Cassandra watch in shock and amazement as the blood disappears off the sword.
Ezekiel was the first to speak, "So…kinda like disappearing ink instead disappearing blood. Cool."
Brianna places the sword down on the desk near her knowing she was about to regret what she was about to say. She knew it would hurt her husband deeply, but she needed to know for sure. "There is another…way."