I'll make my stand

Elliott knows the place, he has been there before once, when unsuccessfully he tried to start a conversation with Elard about the future of the magical community and what they could do to change it, if they did it together. But Elard had always been very proud, very strong headed, and even if he wouldn’t admit it, Elliott was too. He walks downstairs to a basement, the room is big, there is a table, some chairs, a couch, a tv, and a fridge, it looked like a nice home, a bit shabby, with a feel of improvisation and possibly stolen furniture,though oddly comfortable and warm, but at the same time Elliott felt cold, maybe because he was unwelcomed. It seemed like music plays somewhere, he isn't sure where it comes from, but he notices the tap of a foot to the rhythm.

"Ras Algethi" Elard deep voice calls him as he stands up from a chair and takes a few steps towards him stopping Elliott from entering more in the room, behind him still sitting on the table there is a blonde brawny woman, another shedim, he recognizes her from the last time he talked with Elard.

“My name is Elliott” he simply says in response.

Elena doesn't move but her eyes are fixed on Elliott, and he knows this, but he tries to seem confident. Next to her a new face calls his attention, a very thin man, with curly hair, dark skin, glasses and a tartan three piece suit, he drinks a glass of milk with a straw, as a crow rest on his shoulder. He is another shedim, Elliott can tell but he seems to not care much for the unexpected visit. Over the couch there is someone else lying down, their face is partially covered by their hoodie so he isn't sure if he already knows this person or not, they may be asleep he thinks and tries to step a little closer into the room.

Elard shows a smirk, but he doesn't really seem happy to see him, more like amused.

"Are you here to fight?" he says as if any other motive of his presence wouldn’t be satisfactory.

“I’m here to talk” Elliott answers.

“Ugh…” Elard complains “You always want to talk, but all you talk is none-sense” he directs a disgusted look towards Elliott.

“Caw! None-sense!” the crow speaks as if it was a parrot, and even if this confuses Elliott for a moment he then directs his eyes to Elard.

“You never want to listen, I’m surprised you know what I want to talk about at all...” even if he promised himself to be calm, so things didn’t end in a fight like last time, Elliott can’t avoid showing how upset he is.

“Oh, really? Enlighten me with your peaceful protests and your respectful debates” Elard mocks him “I’m tired of that garbage, and I’m tired of you coming here every time there is a big crisis in the magical community, like trying to convince me I should be on your side” Elard frowns “I’m not on your side, I’m not on those idiots sides either, I’m not going to be controlled by anyone, not by them, not by you, I plan to make my own revolution”

“Your own revolution? By joining forces and ending other people’s lives?” Elliott asks concerned “Didn’t you see what happened with the Fae? How is that going to end well? Who is going to benefit from that?”

The figure on the couch moves and sits up, his hoodie no longer covers his face but Elliott has yet to look at him and realize who that person is.

“Don’t you understand?” Elard speaks loud “We won’t have real freedom until the last one witch who knows the spell is dead and gone”

“We can be better than that” Elliott insists “We can find a way to break the spell, to destroy it, to erase it, there must be a way” even though he knows it has been a long process that someone has to still yet find a solution to “and we can fight together for our rights, for a better future, so this community grows stronger and evolves.”

“Don’t be naive, who is going to give us the answer to that? There is no book, no person, who is going to be giving us the information, that knowledge is passed down from one son of a bitch to the next, and man, you know how much they don’t want us to know” Elard expression turns dark, hurt “not even you in your fancy school have the answer, do you?”

Elliott looks down to the floor, partially ashamed that even if he wanted to dedicate all his time to that task, in all these years he hasn’t found anything truly relevant for it. Elard was right in that, whoever, if someone, had the answers to the defeat of that spell they weren’t going to give it away to shedim, and definitely won’t let them have access to anything that would even allude to it.

“I don’t… but that doesn’t mean that-” Elliott tries to rush because he knows Elard will try to interrupt him and he does.

“See, you have nothing, you just have fake hopes, a nice speech and a handsome face, some people may listen to you because of that, but that doesn’t make you right” Elard complains “These are the options, you are with us or you are with them” he says bitterly.

“You know is not that simple, and you know I’m definitely not on their side” Elliott frowns, suddenly even if Elard had always been taller than him he seems even bigger, intimidating, but he stands his ground “If we don’t stand together, we fall apart”

“Are you a pop song? Give me a break” Elard mocks “I’m not going to stand next to you knowing you are going to leave me behind”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Elliott asks annoyed, Elard and him are face to face, standing each a bit closer to each other as if trying to intimate just by standing there “Me? Leaving you behind? That’s rich”

“You were such a fierce warrior!” Elard shouts “I wanted you by my side, when I started making plans you were there, you wanted to join me, we could have made great leaders for the revolution” his tone shows anger but his facial expression shows sadness.

“I never wanted that” Elliott says sorrowfully “I admired you, what you wanted to achieve, the freedom of our people, it was a dream, the hope I needed” he admits, “but then you killed and run, and justified your action as the first step of revolution, and I just couldn’t follow that… that wasn’t what you said we would do, the revolution I imagined would never be built over the bodies of other people... you left me behind”

Elard stays in silence, the whole room does, even the soft music coming from nowhere stops playing. Elliott was looking at Elard the whole time, but when he looks away, he does the same, perhaps, for a moment all those memories are too much to bare. It is then when he notices the man on the couch and recognizes him as the shedim he helped escape from the Erhenthal home. He barely can react when Elena talks.

“We all killed to be free” she says bothered by Elliott’s words “You think you are better than us?” she stands and looks at Elard then at Elliott again “You got it easy, fancy boy” she says with disdain “Whatever way you got out of that place, you got lucky and got a life, and now you are in a witchy school getting pampered, i guess being their pet is better than being their slave” she mocks “while you are assimilated and made to believe life can be good, we are seeing it for what it is, being on the run…. we are never going to be part of your utopia, because you already don’t want us there”

“Is that so?” Elliott asks looking at her then looking at Elham, and finally looking at Elard. The other shedim with the crow, hasn’t spoken a word, in fact hadn’t even looked up, however, he seems to be talking in whispers with the crow from time to time “that’s not true” he says to Elena “you know that’s not true” he then looks at Elard.

Elard shakes his head.

“You are among them, you call them your friends, people who let us suffer, who see us being used and abused and don’t move a finger, people whose families are proud to say they own us” Elard says “You will change your mind… eventually, and maybe we will be okay with you joining us” he chuckles.

Elliott shakes his head, disappointed but partially feeling like for once they could talk and maybe that meant something.

“Or maybe you will change your mind” he says though not very convinced as he walks to the door.

“Or maybe none of you will” the silent shedim finally talks.

“Caw! None of you will” the crow repeats and for a second Elliott feels like he is smiling.

The curly-haired shedim moves to the door and opens it, moving aside as if waiting for Elliott to step out.

“Are you going out? I’m going out” he looks at Elliott very seriously as if nothing that happened had to do anything with him. The crow looks at Elliott too and now it makes him feel uneasy.

“Yeah…” as he leaves feeling now kind of out of place and awkward, he walks slowly upstairs and notices the other man follow. He turns his head around a little, just curious, and notices how the crow slowly flies away from his shoulder and then lands on the stairs, in an instant a figure appears wearing a long black feather coat, with long thick deep black hair, and a prominent nose. Elliott almost trips as he gets distracted by this.

“Caw” they say mockingly and showing a sharp smile.

When they are at the end of the stairs, Elliott starts moving away to look for the perfect place to teleport back to NYADA without being noticed, however as he does he can’t avoid to eavesdrop the others conversation.

“I don’t eat” the shedim says.

“You can order a glass of milk if you want” the trickster complains “Do this one for me, Robert, I really want to try that restaurant”

“Bob” Bob corrects.

“Robert” Lazarus teases.