War

Thierry was darker than Emerald thought. Much darker. He must be getting pretty frantic. Of course, it wasn't anything different than what Jonathan had achieved but the fact that Thierry was willing to try it without considering how Emerald would feel about it and that he didn't even tell her or his workers, or even Circle Daybreak, seemed very unlike him. Or the him he showed the public. And it wasn't just that, either. Most of the papers were about what Thierry was planning to do with her, yes, but some of them were about Jasmine and different Night People like her.

The notes about Emerald's power and how it was going to save the world were older, but the notes about how to achieve this goal, for example, get it from Emerald, were more new, like a few days old, kind of new.

Jonathan, Emerald thought, as she sifted through the notes. They must've gotten the information from Jonathan, he was after all still alive. And it made sense why Thierry kept him alive, so that he'd give them this information. Then again, Jonathan didn't strike Emerald as one to give up such vital information so easily either…. She supposed it wasn't a long shot, considering she knew what Thierry would do for his cause. She'd experienced it firsthand when she'd been brainwashed and kidnapped his soulmate. He'd tortured her for three days straight, but if she could hold out, so could her father, which just confused her more.

She'd have to dwell on that later, though, there were more important things at hand, like the fact that he had those papers on Jasmine.

Emerald had been right when she assumed Thierry had sent Jasmine but not because he was too naïve, oh no, it was the exact opposite. Jasmine did just what Thierry had wanted her to do—except she didn't get anything out of Emerald, much to Thierry's disappointment. Emerald was completely and utterly wrong when she'd said Thierry was too naïve to know what Jasmine did. When it reality, Thierry knew exactly what he was doing.

And that only pissed Emerald off even more. It wasn't enough that he'd destroyed her life, he had to send a torturer and assassin after her, during it all to get information out of her. Sadly, none of his notes said what information he'd been trying to obtain.

Well, if Thierry wanted to talk, then they would talk.

Unfortunately, after that little stunt Emerald pulled, Thierry now had guards nearly everywhere around his mansion and keeping watch for her around the safe haven. Pertaining to his mansion, two on each side not including the two at the front door, the back door, and Emerald guessed, Thierry's office doors. She had no choice but to make some kind of distraction or at least get them to leave their stations somehow. What was interesting, however, even though there was a haven-wide woman-hunt for Emerald, Thierry hadn't thrown any of her friends in prison. Either Thierry was still trying to butter her up, or he was still trying to keep his morals, Emerald just happened to be an exception. It was nice because she didn't have to worry about them while she dealt with Thierry. It also meant that though there were workers swarming his safe haven, her friends didn't know why they were, and wouldn't either confront Thierry or Emerald about it. It was strictly between Emerald, Thierry, and about 100 of his workers, whose only orders were to capture Emerald.

It'd been a little over 24 hours since she'd stolen those papers and it only took her several hours to finish going through them. They were searching for her all right, but they hadn't found her and they weren't going to. And after her talk with Thierry the hunt would be called off, that she knew for sure.

It was mid-afternoon when Emerald donned her overcoat and slipped the folded pieces of paper into the inside pocket of her jacket. Mid-afternoon probably wasn't the best time of day, but Emerald had decided that she wouldn't push Thierry over the edge and wake him up in the middle of the night just to talk. She was already going to surprise him by sneaking into his office, so she figured that would be enough.

She'd just have to disguise herself as much as possible to get to the building. To get in was a different story. So, as an added to her jacket, she put her hair up into a bun and tucked it under a hat. She also grabbed a pair of fake glasses and would be turning her collar up to cover her face partially. She would make sure to keep her back straight, shoulders back, and chin up though so she didn't look like some suspicious character slithering around the haven. Emerald would also being wearing a pair of 3 inch high heels, to give her some height.

If worst came to worst, though, she'd be having this upcoming conversation in a jail cell. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen.

Walking with confidence so she wouldn't look any more suspicious, she made her way to the office building. There were points in time when Emerald would pass one of Thierry's workers and they'd look at her longer than she liked, but it would pass and Emerald would continue on. She sneaked around the perimeters of the house, looking where all the guards were stationed, stopping on the left side (the most concealed part of the house because a few yard away from the wall was a small forest-like area). They didn't move, they merely stood at two different points rigidly and looked around.

Emerald searched for some kind of distraction she could make to direct their attention elsewhere if only for a second or two. It was a good sized rock that she found. She weighed it in her hand and tossed it a few times before throwing it to her left through the leaves of the trees, to make some noise and direct their attention away from where she was standing. She held her breath as she watched them through a small opening in the bushes she was currently hiding in. Like Emerald had hoped the two looked in the direction of where rock had landed and then slowly started toward it, not calling for backup for whatever reason that Emerald didn't care about.

When they were several feet away, Emerald dashed out of her hiding place and toward the guard closest to her, ramming her elbow into the back of their head. Before the other guard could even scream or call for backup, Emerald performed a side kick that the guard blocked with his forearm. Her left fist flew out, he leaned back, narrowly avoiding it.

He then opened his mouth as if to yell for backup, but before he could do so, Emerald tackled him to the ground, swinging her fist down into his temple, knocking him out without too much sound.

Trying to get her breathing under control, Emerald looked up and around to make sure that none of the other guards had heard or were even paying attention to the scuffle. Thankfully it had been relatively quick and quiet. None of the other guards seemed to notice. Emerald got off the guard she'd just knocked out and took his communicator, pushing in the earpiece into her ear and brining the microphone up to her mouth as she went back to hide in the bushes several yards away from the bodies, so she could edge past when the other guards came running.

"Emerald has been spotted on the north-east side of the mansion. I repeat, Emerald has been spotted on the north-east side of the mansion, heading toward the courtyard." Emerald spoke, lowering her voice, trying to make it unrecognizable.

Suddenly the guards around Thierry's house came rushing to the north-east side of the house, one of them going to check the two unconscious workers, yelling at the others to head toward the courtyard.

Through the comms unit one of the guards barked an order, "Cypress, Kaya, stay at Lord Thierry's door."

"Ten-four," they answered simultaneously, not only confirming that there were two guards at Thierry's door but also confirming Emerald would need a new way into Thierry's office.

As the rest of the guards headed off and the one checked on the unconscious two, Emerald took that time to quietly slink through the bushes and then book it to the front doors. Looking around, she pushed her way inside, quietly shutting the door and making sure no one was in the foyer or coming down the stairs.

The coast was clear and with that, Emerald headed toward the staircase and up to the second floor. Emerald finally came to the hallway that connected to the hallway that held the door to Thierry's office. She stopped her internal babble for a moment and, not daring to even breathe, she peeked around the corner to see the guards stationed in front of the door.

Pulling back behind the corner she tried to think of some way she'd be able to get into Thierry's office when suddenly there was noise through the comms unit.

"She's not here, Cypress, Kaya, check the house now!" The woman barked. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Ten-four," they said in sync once again. Emerald stood, getting into a fighting stance, ready to take on the two if need be, but the footsteps faded in the other direction. Emerald thanked her lucky stars, said a prayer to Tyche (the Greek goddess of luck), and then quickly made her way down the hall and to Thierry's door. Of course it was locked.

Heart pounding, Emerald quickly knelt down in front of the handle and took out her tools to pick the lock. Thankfully she'd done this enough times it took mere seconds before there was a click and the door swung open with a small swish and that was that.

Emerald stood again and slid inside, closing the door behind her, making sure to lock it. Now she could relax and marvel at how serious Thierry was taking this. The papers Emerald held were more important to Thierry than she realized.

Thierry's office was actually very nice. It was fairly large, too. The wood walls were decorated with big paintings in ornate frames. Emerald's heels clicked loftily against the clean, polished wood floors and the two opposite walls on Emerald's left and right were actually just bookshelves piled with books upon books. It was almost overwhelming. It almost felt like he was showing off.

Figuring she'd waited long enough, Emerald went over to Thierry's desk, pulling the earpiece out of her ear, throwing the whole unit onto the table. She then sat down in his chair and threw her feet up on the table while taking her hat off, throwing that on the table too, and letting her hair down before picking up the phone and dialing the building behind the courtyard's number. She supposed she could've dialed Thierry's cell, but she was having a little fun with this now, admittedly.

"May I help you?" The woman at the desk asked.

"I'd like to speak with Thierry, if you can find him." Emerald requested not caring to add the "Lord" in front.

There was a small, tense pause on the other end before, "Of course," The woman's voice was strained and an octave higher.

Emerald waited, looking around at all the books and paintings, not really registering the titles of the books or what the paintings were of. Finally Thierry came onto the phone.

"Emerald," he greeted coldly, making Emerald smile.

"Hey, Thierry, how are you?' she asked, playing around with him.

"What do you want?" Thierry questioned trying to keep his voice calm, but it was tense and she could hear the anger.

"I guess not," She sighed and stood up.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Emerald. You are wearing my patience. Tell me what you want." Thierry growled through the phone.

Emerald's jaw tightened and she slammed her fist down on the table, all joking gone, what Thierry had said reminding her what she'd read.

"It's not about what I want, is it, Thierry?" she hissed, gripping the phone, the plastic groaning under the pressure she was putting on it. "You want to talk? Fine, let's talk. Your office. Five minutes." Without waiting for a reply Emerald slammed the phone down, hanging up on him.

She picked the comms unit back up and inserted the earpiece back into her ear so she'd know if anyone was going to come barging into the office. After all she'd done, she'd hate to have gotten caught because of an emotion like anger. A female's voice was speaking, "All clear, she's not here." Outside Emerald heard what sounded like footsteps returning to Thierry's door, so she assumed the female had been Kaya.

"We'll be back in a few minutes. Keep on the lookout for Emerald." Emerald couldn't help but chuckle at this. She also almost felt bad that she'd deceived them so easily.

Almost.

"Ten-four," they replied.

Taking a deep breath she sat back down and put her feet up again, waiting for Thierry.

A few minutes later, outside the door she heard Thierry approach. With a small very small sigh she threw her legs off the desk and stood, walking to the front of the desk to lean on it, arms crossed, a small delicate smile on her lips.

"Any sign of her?" Thierry's voice came through the walls.

"No sir," Kaya said.

Emerald's smile grew wider at that statement.

There was the sound of a key sliding into the lock and the door finally opened. Thierry froze for a moment when he saw Emerald, their eyes locking. But his shock was quickly composed as he stepped in and turned to face his guards through the opening in the door.

Emerald waited knowing that he wasn't going to tell them about the breach; he was doing the exact opposite, actually.

"You guys look a little tired, why don't you get some rest?" Thierry asked quietly.

"Um… okay…? We'll send—" Cypress started.

"No, that's all right. I don't think that she'll get past the guards outside of the house." Thierry interrupted and assured.

"Is… everything all right, Thierry?" Kaya asked. Thierry suddenly shifted his weight, closing the door even more, like Kaya had just tried to look into the room.

"Yes, it's fine. What I said earlier wasn't a request, it was an order." Thierry's voice rang with authority then and reluctantly the two headed off. When they were gone, Thierry stepped back into the room and closed the door. There was a moment of silence as Thierry composed himself, back still facing Emerald, who was waiting patiently. Finally, he turned and faced her, his face a mask showing nothing. (It was now Emerald's goal to break through that before their conversation was finished.)

"Hi, Thierry," she greeted with a sarcastic grin.

Thierry's hands clenched and unclenched as he took a few steps toward Emerald, who still remained leaning against Thierry's desk casually.

"You wanted to talk?" Thierry asked in a strained, quiet voice.

"Here," Emerald reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the papers, unfolding them and then throwing them at Thierry. Only they weren't bound, so they flew every which way, scattering and fluttering slowly to the ground. "I don't want or need them anymore." All the joking was gone from her tone and features and the atmosphere changed. It was no longer a game, it was a war.

Thierry didn't bend down to pick them up. He simply looked at her… well, glared would be better suited for what he was doing, actually.

"What are you playing at, Emerald?" he finally asked.

Emerald stood up and took a couple of steps toward him. "You think you can mess with my life and get away with it?" she hissed. Thierry opened his mouth to answer that question but Emerald interrupted him: "Think carefully before you speak, Thierry, your life may depend on it."

Thierry's mask broke and he came forward, stepping over all the papers littered about on the floor, getting into Emerald's face.

"How dare you threaten me in my own home," he growled.

"How dare you mess with my life," Emerald retorted, meeting his gaze evenly. "You have no right. I'm only repaying the favor. Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, there were repercussions to your actions?"

"I know what I'm doing," Thierry answered in a hard voice. "It's for the good of the new millennium. I'm trying to integrate Night People and humans, and you, little Miss Special Snowflake, are the key to achieving that goal."

"Because you can't find the fourth Wild Power. Yeah, yeah, I've read it all. You don't need to tell me. But did you ever consider how I felt about it? How I would react to having someone toy around with my life and my friends and the people I love to get what they want? Like my life is some kind of stage and I'm just the puppet?" Emerald's anger grew and grew with each word that came out of her mouth.

"Maybe the earth doesn't revolve around you, Emerald. Maybe, one life is a price to pay for millions. Have you ever considered that?"

"But it's my life, Thierry," she reminded him.

"Do you even realize how… conceited that sounds?" Thierry asked, not wavering in his resolve at all.

"How about this, Thierry?" Emerald asked her voice hardening. "Just imagine with me for one second that you've just been through five years of pain and torture and heartbreak. That you were tortured by your own father for a year and you escape only to run into your mother after two years and are tortured again." Thierry opened his mouth to speak but Emerald continued to speak, quickly, not giving him any chance to say anything. "Then just imagine with me here for a moment, that you find your soulmate, one who loves you for you no matter what blood you have on your hands, no matter how many skeletons are in your closet. Someone who you think will never… hurt you.

"But… they do. They hurt you. They rip your heart out and squeeze it in their hand right in front of you until it's crushed." Emerald's voice had become softer, ragged, almost, and her eyes had glazed over. "The one person you thought you could trust. Turns out the one person you love… doesn't love you." Thierry tried yet again to speak, but Emerald spoke over him, her voice hardening and becoming louder. "Oh, but wait! It doesn't end there! Oh, no! As if you haven't already been through enough, they die. You soulmate dies. And though they've broken your heart, though they fell in love with someone else, you know that you still love them. You've… always loved them.

"Numb, you go back to your father who kills you slowly and painfully just as your soulmate wakes up from their slumber that a certain witch has put them in. You think, it's too late. You're dead but your soulmate's actually alive and grieving over you until… you miraculously wake up too. You're both alive. And you find out that they really did love you after all and it's all happy and you're filled with joy and warmth and… love. But this only lasts for a second because you find out that it was all a lie.

"You've been used for someone's own purposes. This whole time. Everything: the breakup, the falling in love with someone else, the death… all a lie. But by now you're hurt beyond repair. Your heart is covered in scars and scar tissue. You can't believe that the one you were supposed to trust indefinitely has broken a sacred promise you made a long time ago to avoid this kind of thing." Throughout this whole speech, Emerald had gone back and forth from looking directly at Thierry to gazing off into the middle-distance, but she focused back on Thierry, meeting his eyes. Her voice, however, shakes with emotion and her eyes have unknowingly filled with tears. "You've lost everything. At the hands of someone else."

Thierry opened his mouth, but no words came out as he stared down at Emerald.

"Call of your workers, Thierry," Emerald told him quietly, in a tired voice, turning and walking back to the desk, leaning on it again, arms crossed. The expression on her face is blank, no emotion in or out.

"What makes you think I'll do that? I'm going to have you arrested as soon as this conversation is over and done with. I can't ignore a threat to me and my goal for the future of the human race. I'm sorry that that's happened to you, but I can't let the Night People get away with genocide."

A smile crept onto Emerald's face then, reminding Thierry of when she'd turned completely soulless, and a chill ran down his spine. Not saying a word, Emerald pushed away from the desk, uncrossing her arms, and walking up to Thierry, who was frozen to the spot.

She reached up and rested her hand lightly on Thierry's neck, leaning in close like she's going to kiss him. Instead she put her mouth to his ear and whispered, "I know everything that you've done to ruin my life, Thierry. Or have you forgotten? The papers we're currently standing on?" Emerald paused and let that sink in. Thierry's eyes wandered down, looking at the mess of black and white on the floor. "I made copies, both hard and digital. You've got a lot of dark secrets that you wouldn't want your precious Circle Daybreak knowing. Your soulmate, Hannah. I could ruin your life in the blink of an eye. I could take everything you hold near and dear to your heart away from you so fast your head would spin.

"So, again, I ask: call of your workers." Emerald put the comms unit she'd stolen from that one guard into Thierry's hands—she'd taken it off the desk right before going up to Thierry and threatening him—as she said this before pulling away and stepping back to lean on the desk yet again.

Thierry glared at her, his chest heaving. Emerald merely smiled humorlessly and waited. Slowly, Thierry brought the earpiece to his ear, and then brought the microphone to his lips.

"Stand down. The hunt for Emerald is over. I repeat, stand down." Thierry paused, glaring up at Emerald. "The hunt for Emerald… is over." There was a moment as someone replied but Thierry interrupted them, "Do not question an order." he spat. With that he yanked the earpiece from his ear and dropped the comms unit next to him on the floor, not taking his eyes off Emerald. "Happy?"

"Quite," Emerald replied, walking around the desk and grabbing her belongings, and then heading for the door. "I guess I'll be seeing you around then, Lord Thierry," she said, starting toward the exit.

"I hope you realize that your actions have repercussions as well, Emerald." Thierry spoke quietly with Emerald half-way out the door. She turned partially to look at him. He was still standing with his back to her.

"Oh, I know," Emerald smiled without humor at him when he turned around to look at her. "The way I see it, though, is if you don't care about your repercussions, then why should I?"

"You know, I'm starting to see how much you and your father are alike." Thierry commented.

She wanted to respond that she was nothing like her father, other than the physical characteristics she'd inherited, but stopped. She was probably more like her father than she would ever outwardly admit to anyone, more like her father than ever she wanted to be, and she knew it too. Telling Thierry that she wasn't anything like her father… well, just felt wrong.

A bitter half-smile reached her lips and she gave Thierry a small noncommittal sort of sour chuckle as she turned away, exiting the office and closing the door behind her with a soft click.

Yes, another chapter within a matter of days! A new record!

So, I think I've kind of, maybe, probably, almost got a posting schedule started…? But that's a huge kind of, maybe, probably, almost. If I can actually live up to a schedule, then I would be posting on Thursdays and Sundays. You didn't hear it from me, though, because a wise prophet once said: "Writing is hard." Not a promise, not a guarantee, just a… heads up, for the lack of better words.

As always, I hope you enjoyed!

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight