P R O P H E T

    He’s surprised he’s not dead yet. But maybe he was a trap...something to lure his friends. The thought made him laugh bitterly at himself. “Don’t fuckin’ kid yourself...they won’t come for you, Biersack...” He sighs, lifting his hands a bit, causing his shackles to rattle as the chains clinked against the cement floor. His hand moved through his hair, moving it out of his face.

Ethan fought back as the other went to disarm him. Meanwhile, Ella remained frozen in place, clearly troubled by the whole ordeal. She wasn’t a fighter, not by any means. Her usefulness stopped at the limited knowledge of medical things and vast knowledge of plants. Oh, but when the gun slipped from her brother’s fingers, being thrown off to the side, she hadn’t thought, simply acting on instinct. As the male pushed away from the prophet, violently removing himself from his grasp and reached for the gun, she got to it first. Her hands shook, even as she placed the weapon behind her back; out of sight, out of mind, right? Only now, she was face to face with someone who, looked like her brother, but clearly, he was lost. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind, if she pushed hard enough; he’d kill her.

                                   “—Ella, give it to me! Now!” 

                                                  “—Haven’t you done enough, big brother?” 

Cue a bit of, what looked to be, dust being blown into his face; it wouldn’t kill him, but believe us when we say, it would most certainly hurt. Using this as her chance, she made her way over to Andy, though her eyes stayed trained on her brother as he writhed in pain. It hurt to watch him like this, tears welling in her eyes, but she wouldn’t allow him to hurt anyone else, least of all someone she considered a friend. 

                    “—I was only trying to bring you home!” 

                                   “—What home, Ethan? These people, they’re important to me. I will not see them come to any harm; do you understand?” 

Oh, he understood quite well. Ella was never one to be violent, but right now, in this moment, that was a definite threat. She’d kill him, her own brother. Of course, she’d rather not, but her choice was clear. If it meant protecting everyone, she’d do whatever necessary. 

               “—Seriously? You’d take some phony prophet’s side over your own blood? You don’t even know him! He’s just as bad as I am!”

                   Andy had managed to get the gun on the ground, but still struggled with Ethan, figuring he’d keep him away from the gun. It wasn’t like he wanted anyone to get hurt, he had an army behind him because they agreed with the message he preached, the freedom of thought and expression that F.E.A.R had repressed since the world had ended, divided by the war that’d been waged all those years ago, when he was just a child.  He’d been labelled an enemy because he’d ‘woken up’ from their control, even if it took the fact he knew they’d exploit his powers for their own gain, the prophecy he could see and the true extent of the hatred that F.E.A.R held and spread against anyone who didn’t fit their mould.

He doesn’t say a word when he heard Ethan yell for Ella to give him the gun, Andy does look at her though, trying to figure out what her game plan is here

           He seems just as surprised to see her step between him and Ethan, defending him. His brows furrow, he didn’t want her getting hurt to protect him.

                          “Ella...don’t do this.”

Andy’s voice finally filters through, in an attempt to try and bring reason to the current situation. No one had to die here. He’d seen families torn apart by this sort of thing before. He was a fighter, but he wasn’t someone who took joy in violence, not for a long time, in fact, it made him a little squeamish at times, as much as he tried to hide that.

              “I make no secret of hiding who I was before I became the Prophet, that I was an agent of F.E.A.R in charge of capturing defectors, killing people. Does that make me a bad person? Make me a phoney for wanting to preach freedom of the people who’ve been oppressed since the wars? No one deserves to be living in fear of being themselves. That is why there’s rebellion.”

Of course he wasn’t expecting Ethan to listen to him, still, he’d say his piece now and hope that the other man understood why people followed him into battle, because they fought for a better future, he was just one of five people they labelled ‘leader’.

He was telling him to shoot; to do his job and be done with it. That is what he sent for, after all. So why couldn’t he pull the trigger? The act of murder wasn’t hard in itself. He’d done so more times then he’d like to admit. And this guy? Not only was he a traitor, but he took his sister from him. The gun was aimed, bullet in the chamber, and going back without killing him would most certainly mean his own death, but…  could he live with the consequences this time? Clearly, the other knew who he was talking about; knew his sister and oh, if they knew each other, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. Was he prepared to truly lose her? 

                “—Why the fuck did it have to be you, huh? Why couldn’t—” 

The sound of light shuffling could be heard behind him. Being as twitchy as he was, Ethan turned and shot at the sound, only to freeze. 

Before them stood Ella, frozen in place, miscellaneous plants at her feet. She had been gathering what she could in hopes that she could replant some of them in the compound, allowing Legion access to what could be turned into medicine. Her brother’s shouting in what drew her to them and the bullet had just barely missed.

                    Andy had braced himself to get shot, if this was the way he was gonna die then he’d face it bravely. It was hardly his first time facing down the barrel of a gun, yet he was afraid, what human wouldn’t be? His eyes narrow as the other hesitates, he’d been about to retort when the shuffling caught his attention as well, most likely another member of the legion coming out to gather supplies or investigating the shouting, it wasn’t uncommon, but almost as soon as the shuffling had caught his attention had a gunshot filled the small room, bouncing off the walls and ringing in his ears, heart pounding as he physically jumped at the sudden loud B A N G.

          “—I don’t think it’s stupid; the gesture in itself is very noble, I guess…” She just wasn’t fond of it being done for her sake. Not to say she wouldn’t still be a bit frustrated regardless, because she would. He was, after all, one of the very few people adults, she could tolerate for any length of time. “It’s just— someone already gave me my chance and it’s one too many, so I don’t need anymore.”

Opening up? Maybe just a little, just enough that maybe he could understand. This had nothing to do with him being the Prophet. It had nothing to do with any loyalty to Legion or any other notion he might come up with. She was just tired of watching people die. Honestly, how much blood could you get on your hands before they were just permanently stained red? 

               Andy tilted his head a little and he sighs and he rubbed his shoulder a bit, he was clearly a little uncomfortable, at least in the physical sense. He purses his lips when she mentions that she didn’t need any more chances, he disagreed. “I get it, the stuff we do to survive, the stuff we’ve done in the past....leaves a pretty big black mark. I may not know any of the circumstances and I don’t need to, the world’s fucked up, you gotta be a little fucked up to survive it these days.”

          His responses to her questions received a few light nods in return as she gathered items to change the bandage of a particularly nasty wound. Though, upon hearing his name, she froze. It was only for a moment, but noticeable nonetheless. It had just occurred to her that she’d never really gotten his name until now. Andy. A light smile graced her features as she got back to her previous task.

               “—I’m recommending you stay put for today and get some rest. Tomorrow, if you feel up to doing things then I won’t stop you, but don’t push yourself too much. Your body needs time to recuperate.” she paused, clearly checking over him for anything she might have missed. “Your injuries don’t seem very extensive, but head injuries are tricky.” In other words, she’s going to worry and check on him until she knows he’s fully healed regardless of any protests he might have.

              He honestly felt too dizzy to do much else than lie there, whatever he’d been hit with had knocked his brain around a little, he had every intention of letting himself get over the dizziness before he tried to do anything, an injury like the one he had could cause himself or someone else to get hurt, so in the infirmary he’d stay, just for a little longer.

          “—Bullshit! People die for you all the time! Ella ran off because of a simple misunderstanding; that’s it! It’s you that’s got her all mixed up!” Never once had his sister left his side and she definitely never stayed away. Even when he upset her or did something to hurt her, she was nothing if not loyal. They were twins, after all. Perhaps that was why he took her leaving so hard; at least in part. 

His fingers twitched around the gun in his hands, fear bubbling within him. He knew what he had to do. This was the only way. But would this really solve anything? He’d what, go back to work? Maybe. Could he really guarantee the same could be said for Ella though? F.E.A.R. was a lot of things, but forgiving was not one of them. They’d only allowed him to search for the ‘traitor’ after days of ‘re-programming’ and he hadn’t actually done anything. His sister had technically sabotaged and betrayed them. Who’s to say her fate wouldn’t be the same as very traitor he was ordered to kill? 

           “—You know what happens, right? You’ve seen it. When people take your side, they’re killed on the spot, if they’re lucky or made to wish they were dead. My sister doesn’t know any better… She doesn’t deserve that. How good of a life can you really promise her? Any of these people even? You’re just a coward.”

                “People die for F.E.A.R!” He snapped, “misunderstanding or not, our causes may be different, but this is war. There are causalities no matter which side you’re on. I didn’t make the decision for your sister.” He may not have understood the whole sibling thing that was going on, but he knew what F.E.A.R was, how it’d destroyed any innocence he’d had as a kid, people were escaping long before he came around.

Andy’s shoulders were tense, the anger in his voice directed at Ethan covered up how scared he was, he didn’t have backup, no one to see this, would they even know? He was willing to stare death in the face and tell them to fuck off though, despite being afraid of what’d be there at the end. He narrowed his eyes at the other, watching his movements, listening to his words.

                   “—Why not?” An incredulous look overtook her features; concern and frustration peaking through, despite her best efforts. Truthfully, she didn’t understand his logic.  It made no sense to her why he would take such a risk. She could understand if it was for someone important, or at the very least someone innocent, but her? “—If I fail to protect myself then that’s on me, no one else, just me. If you’re going to insist on getting yourself hurt trying to save everyone, at least make it for someone worth something.” 

Getting hurt wasn’t unusual for the redhead. She often took on jobs that were too much for one person alone and though she always seemed to manage them, she put herself at risk doing so. Her safety just wasn’t a priority for her; not unless it was a threat to everyone else. If there was any chance of a threat to others, it would be a different story entirely.

                 “Because I’d rather die protecting someone than not doing anything to prevent it.” Andy answers honestly, he would have done this for anyone, a few scrapes and bruises were nothing compared to some of the injuries he’d received protecting someone else. “Call it reckless, or stupid, I don’t care, I’m gonna give everyone the chance to live, live for a better life than the one we have now.”

[ ♤ ] ~ “What gives you that idea? I’m sure it can’t be that bad,” she asked with a small tilt of the head before turning her attention in the direction of said well, half expecting some explosive disaster.

[ ♤ ] ~ “They weren’t really that good then, were they?” Lorelei taunted lightly. “Tell me, what master plan fell through this time?”