Chapter Twelve: Realizations

Bramble found herself on Chad’s front porch that evening. She wasn’t sure how long she had stood there unsure of whether she should knock or not. It was an odd notion - she hadn’t been nervous to see Chad since the first night she had visited. In the last few months it had become part of her usual routine; A routine that had been compromised due to a misunderstanding.

Or so Airin had said.

The notion that kept Bramble’s hand by her side was the simple fact that she wasn’t certain it had been a misunderstanding. What if Chad’s had meant to take advantage of the situation? She wasn’t certain that Chad had any real lasting feelings for her. The choice to confront Chad was made for her when his little brother threw the door open in a hurry. The young man stood there, eyes rimmed with dark eyeliner, looking slightly dazed. Soon a smile broke out on his lips and he called up the stairway, “CHAD! YOUR FRIEND IS HERE”

Apparently he didn’t remember her name. Which was a good thing since she didn’t remember his either. He gave a small nod before brushing past her and heading down the sidewalk.

Bramble could hear banging upstairs and then silence. A few seconds later the patter of footsteps resounded from the stairs. She nervously rubbed her wrist as the familiar brunette came into view. He seemed surprised to see her but it only took a second for a smile to take over.

“Bramble,” he was breathless, “I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“Yea, um, I may have overreacted a bit-”

“No,” He interrupted, “No. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Brambled nodded in agreement with him, “Yes, you are right. You should not have kissed me. I should not have run away though.” Chad ran a hand through his hair as he leaned in his doorway, “What made you come back? I thought for sure…” He trailed off at the end but Bramble knew what he was going to say. He was certain she hated him. That she would never allow him near her again.

“I ran into Airin afterwards,” she pursed his lips, “he said you liked me. Do you like me?”

This seemed to startle Chad momentarily, though he nodded in response, “Yes. Bramble, I think I do.”

“He said if you felt like he did about me than kissing me would be the easiest way to tell me.”

“He kissed you?” The jealousy laced in his voice was evident.

“No! No. He found me crying and told me that I should talk to you. That you probably didn’t know how to express your feelings properly. He told me he liked me and then brought me home…”

“He knows where you live?” This time the jealousy sounded a bit more wounded. Bramble realized that Chad didn’t know where she lived, “I thought you didn’t trust him.”

“I don’t! Chad, why are you doing this? Stop it.” She blew the hair out of her face, “I don’t want to lead you on. I don’t want to date you.” The pain that flashed in his eyes forced her to continue, “Chad, I don’t want to date anyone.”

“Why not? Is it because you don’t think you’re good enough, Bramble? Because you are. You’re good enough for –"

“It’s not that. It’s this,” she gestured to him and then to herself, “I can’t stand answering to someone. I should not have to answer to you about Airin or any other individual. I can’t just let you or some other guy take away that freedom. For once in my life I can do what I want -with who I want. I don’t want anything jeopardizing that.”

The silence that stretched between them lasted forever it seemed. Finally Chad spoke, “I wouldn’t force you to stop anything. I’d let you do whatever you wanted…”

Bramble held up her hand with a sad smile, “That’s just it. You’d let me do whatever I wanted. You. You’d let me. I’d still be walking on eggshells waiting for the day that I crossed some invisible line. I’d be asking your permission and checking in with you. It’s too constricting. I can’t.”

The defeated look told Bramble he finally understood. She took a deep breath and turned around, “You are my best friend Chad. I want to continue talking but I have to go. If you’ll let me, I’d like to come over tomorrow.”

The silence began to creep around Bramble, causing her to shiver. She had a feeling Chad was going to tell her he had no interest in just being friends. That he never wanted to see her again. She calmly took a few steps off his front porch before Chad’s voice rung out, “Of course. See you then.”

*

Bramble arrived at the Jarvan’s home a little later than normal. Over the course of two months the rest of the team had begun to trust her, slowly letting her in on ‘secrets’ that many weren’t allowed to know. Including the location of their hideout. She kicked up a welcome matt and picked up the key to the quaint blue house. She navigated the inside easily in the dark and began to head through the main corridor of the building. Within minutes she was in front of a painting. Skillfully she removed the hanging from the wall and knocked several times. The top left. The bottom right. Twice in the middle. Slowly the wall began to swing open and revealed the bare room she had grown accustomed to spending her nights in.

“Bramble,” It was Chance who acknowledged her presence first. He seemed to be present at all of their meetings, though as far as she could tell he never really contributed anything. Matter of fact, he rarely spoke during their encounters. He spent most of his time with his nose in a book and scribbling away in a notebook. He had told her once that he documented everything that occurred there and brought it to his father. She still had never met that man but Chance spoke kindly of him. Bramble did not know how she felt about a man who sent a boy to do his dirty work.

“Chance,” She greeted with a small smile. Despite his quite nature and consistently bored appearance, she had grown fond of him.

“Oh good,” Jarvan was standing by the fireplace that lit the room ablaze, “we were about to get started without you.”

“I wish we would have.” Honey had tried to whisper Marshall. She was incapable of being quiet and Bramble found herself shooting a glare at the blonde.

“Honey, if we’re planning on helping out Azreal than you need to put your differences with her aside,” This was Marshall, which surprised Bramble deeply. He never stood up for her and rarely ever did anything to displease the blonde. She figured Honey was pleasing him outside of their meetings. Judging from the wounded look on Jarvan’s face whenever Honey’s hand slide into Marshall’s, his thoughts ran parallel to hers.

“Azreal, will you come out?”

Bramble’s eyebrow arched and she looked at Airin expectantly. She had never heard of this Azreal before. He didn’t need to explain though. Out of the corner of her eyes she realized the wall was shaking. It began to bend and warp, twisting in odd shapes and angles until finally it seemed to break off. A young man stepped out of the gaping wound in the wood. His green eyes analyzed each individual impassively as he slowly strode into the middle of the room. Bramble noticed two things about him. One was that his hair was a subdued hue of red. The other was that his right ear glowed a vivid blue. Somewhere in-between the warping of the wall and the appearance of the young man, Honey screamed.

“Bramble, Marshall, Honey,” Jarvan said to each in turn, “This is Azreal. He is here to request our help on a different mission.” The red head nodded along with Jarvan, “One that, if you agree to help, would be ready to begin tomorrow night.”

“Wait, who the hell are you?”

“What mission?”

“I’m in.”

Azreal looked at Honey, Marshall and then at Bramble in turn –the same order that they had spoken in. A small smile curled onto his lips as he took a seat next to Airin.

“I believe I’ve already been introduced but if I must, my named is Azreal. The mission,” he glanced over at Marshall, “is to destroy a shipment of Spectors that seem to have been purchased by the crown.”

“The crown,” Bramble whispered, eyebrows burrowing, “why would the crown need Spectors? Vestiges are free here.”

“Honestly, we don’t know,” Jarvan admitted, “perhaps it’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Azreal spat.

“Either way,” Airin interrupted, “my grandfather would want this. The Spectors were never intended to be used for the purpose of hunting down and capturing Vestiges. They were created to help us not hurt us.”

Bramble felt like fainting. Cress. Cress had been the one to develop the one weapon capable of discovering and tracking the energy emitted by an ignited spark. And he was in the hands of King Richard; the man who had started the revolution of kidnapping and enslaving the Vestige.

The nausea was over-whelming.

“Airin, I think I know why King Richard wanted your grand-father.”