THE GOOD MAN'S PRICE
Charlie Brown wandered through the front room of the manor. After the defeat of the clique, many people had remained in the manor's main hall.
But moments ago, he had seen Linus had left with Sally and Rerun, likely taking them back to the Brown household. Him and Rerun had been supposed to go to the Browns house, and he hoped his best friend wouldn't go to anywhere else.
And, it was time he went back home himself, Charlie Brown moved to leave.
"I didn't choose to be this".
He stopped, and turned around to see Edward sitting alone at a table.
"You have a choice to be better" Charlie Brown scowled as he walked over, "you could've been a good man"
Edward looked at him for a few seconds. He looked terrible after what had happened that day.
"You think I wasn't once a good man Charlie. I was".
"What?" Charlie Brown looked shocked.
Edward nodded, "years ago I had a best friend. But I don't see her anymore, I cant…"
Charlie Brown realised, "The girl in your locket".
Edward looked at his locket, at the girl smiling back at him, "Lionheart….….….Josephine…..she was the real hero…not me".
Charlie Brown stayed quiet.
"One day, her and I saw a teenage boy terrorising our peers in our town, this underground kingpin. And we chose to take a stand, the two of us fought this boy…"
Edward smiled slightly.
"…and we won. We defeated him", and Edwards face fell with regret, "but I did a terrible thing…I let him go free".
"You let him get away?. Why?"
Edward looked at Charlie Brown, "His life would've been destroyed otherwise. I couldn't do it….I wanted so badly to be a good man".
"Then why'd you…" Charlie Brown asked desperately, "What…what happened"
His question made Edward look distraught, a single tear appeared in his eye.
"Because…there is a price of being a good man".
Slowly, he rose and gestured to a small newspaper hung up in the corner of the room, and Charlie Brown felt a cold sense of horror, as he saw the headline.
11 year old girl paralysed by rouge teenagers attack.
"That was…"
"Josephine" Edward stuttered, "Paralysed barely a week after our victory. Never to walk again because I showed that boy mercy, never considering how dangerous he really was. She suffered because I was too kind".
He looked almost tortured, "I knew then what mercy did. I was left with nothing but heartbreak, and a club, a mission, that I didn't deserve".
Charlie Brown stared at him.
"…That made me who I am….through a baptism…of fire"
He once more held out his gold locket, at the picture of Josephine smiling back at him.
"And all you've done" Charlie Brown realised, "was so that could never happen again"
Edward nodded, as Charlie Brown gazed.
"It was…never enough".
The two boys became silent. It was then that Charlie Brown realised that Edward and him, were actually alike.
They had both been weighed down by failure. Edward had constantly succeeded as a means to atone for his terrible failure. While Charlie Brown…he'd failed so many times he'd never realised he'd also succeeded.
"We act like we are worthless and alone" Edward noted, "but we, you mean the world to so many. As much as they do to you, and each other".
"But…my friend is upset".
"I remember saying you were weak" he reflected, "that you would be a burden, fail to rise to the challenge. And above all, were poor security, for yourself and Linus…"
He stepped forward, as Charlie Brown looked at him.
"…It is my pleasure to say, that I….….was wrong".
Edward put a hand on Charlie Browns shoulder. His face said it all, he saw him and Linus as good people he could never be.
Charlie Brown nodded, and he slowly turned to leave. As he opened the front door, the boy turned one last time to look at him.
"I forgive you" he said, "for everything you did. And, I hope…you can one day forgive yourself".
And with that statement, Charlie Brown left, as Edward watched him go.
"He's a good man, isn't he".
From next to him, Janice walked up, and Edward looked to her.
"I believe he is" he replied.
As the two of them heard Maddison call their names to come back to the main hall, they gently smiled.
And Edward and Janice closed the door, and returned inside.
A/N: So that was the second last chapter, the epilogue is next.
Out of curiosity, how did everyone find Edward Black(OC) as a character. Do you think he'd be a misguided hero, or worse.
Next chapter soon.