Chapter 4: The one thing that changed it all
Rocky wasn't sure he wanted to return to Lackadaisy, but he knew it would probably be some time till he saw everyone, judging Mordecai's seething face. But then he seemed to calm down and went into another room, Nico and Serfine behind him, leaving Rocky alone in the dark bleeding, bruised, bonded, and broken.
The hurtful words still rang in his head, and he was still deeply upset with how his life was turning out.
He recalled when his mother died. When he was 4, he didn't understand what had happened. But now he knew. He wished he didn't. His mother got sick when Rocky was born and kept getting weaker till she just couldn't hold on anymore.
Tears began to form again. "I am the reason she is dead. I couldn't stop that from happening, and I can't stop this either." He wished he could rewrite everything. He wished to make things right. But no matter how hard he wished, Rocky was forever cursed in his life-and so were everyone else he loved.
***Mordecai stormed through the house. He had a plan B, and it had better work. He already looked like a cheap failure. And he did not want Nico and Serfine to find that out. They might even kill him on the spot.
Would it be better to be dead than to be wrapped up in a situation such as this? If he did die, the first thing Mordecai would do was apologize to Atlas. Lackadaisy didn't deserve his betrayal. Then, he would ask him who had killed him. After all, almost no one knew the answer to that question. Mordecai was trying to find that out.
Maybe if he made it out of this mess alive, he would give Lackadaisy that answer as an apology. Then, he would have nothing to do with bootlegging again. He'd had it with bloodshed.
Mordecai had never wanted to manipulate Rocky. He wished Nico hadn't brought up Mordecai's special ability. The look of pure pain, the tears just pouring down his face…and yet.
Rocky still resisted!
How?!
Rocky would be broken for a while, and even more after Mordecai's next plan. Mordecai would have to put Rocky through pain and still have him live…so his cover wouldn't get blown.
But Mordecai still didn't understand why Rocky said no!
Mordecai made it feel like there was no purpose in life!
Maybe there was more to the young man than he thought. Maybe…just maybe…Rocky had a fire burning inside…and he just didn't see it yet.
"Why can't we just kill him now?" Serfine's voice broke Mordecai's thoughts. At first he thought she was talking about him, and he almost froze.
But he quickly realized it was Rocky, not him. "Because I have something that can still get him with us. Remember when I went on a vacation to the beach, and that turned out to be a treasure hunt all over the world? I found the treasure, and it was this."
Mordecai waved his hand over to a mirror with a glittering orange-yellow stone below, on its handle.
"A mirror?!" Nico said.
Mordecai nodded. "This is no ordinary mirror. It has mystical mysterious powers. It is called the alternate phantom mirror."
"What kind of powers?" Nico asked.
"You'll see."
Mordecai hoped this answer was enough for the two of them. He didn't actually know what powers it held, but Mordecai was sure it wouldn't kill Rocky.
"He'll be fine. I'll be fine."
Mordecai explained the plan to Nico and Serfine. He could tell they were not as on board with it as much as his usual ones, but they agreed.
Mordecai wanted nothing to do with Lackadaisy, but he was definitely getting involved, and he wondered if it was to haunt him forever.***
Rocky awoke to find he wasn't in the chair, and he wasn't tied up.
He bolted straight for the door, but frowned when he found it locked.
He sighed, and looked around for something to help him escape. Something caught his eye. Right in the middle of the room, was a floating mirror with an orange stone near to the bottom of it. It was pretty, and Rocky wondered why he didn't see it before. Something was different about it.
Rocky stepped closer to it and laughed. His reflection was…weird. The glass swirled around, like water. He reached forward, to touch it.
Suddenly, a watery hand shot out of the mirror and grabbed his, forcing his full palm to touch it. "What the heck?!" He tried to pry his hand back, but it was sealed there with an unbreakable force.
Rocky gasped as he began to absorb the mirror's power. It was like it was in his body. Lightning struck outside of the Mansion. The mirror's power crackled-like energy.
Suddenly he felt part of him breaking apart and entering the mirror. The parts now felt empty, stolen with no purpose. No light, no life. Just…numb. It continued throughout his body, starting with his feet, and ending with head. Even his eyes faded to dull gray-ish. Everything felt dull.
Then an electrical surge ran through his veins. He couldn't help it. He laughed. But the mirror seemed to want that too. It took his voice with his laugh through the mirror, never to return. Rocky couldn't laugh!
Then he heard laughing from the other side of the mirror. Rocky's eyes widened. That was his voice! That was his laugh! The person wouldn't stop laughing. Then, almost immediately, everything stopped. Rocky's hand came free.
The mirror fell to the floor, its purpose of terror done. But what Rocky saw behind the mirror was more terrifying than anything he'd ever see in his life. He gasped. "I-you're ME?!"