The Storybook Dimension

See disclaimer.

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Not Today

Chapter 1: Tempt Fate

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Will Stronghold

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The last time Warren and I spoke, and by that I mean really spoke to each other instead of screaming threats, was five years ago.

It was two years after our high school reunion. He may be brash but he’s not completely oblivious. Things were changing, and we both knew it. I tried to tell him. I tried to make him understand.

It wasn’t my fault. I never meant for it to happen.

The second statement was more true than the first. I’m not going to say that I lied to Warren that day, any more than I lie every day when I wake up and look in the mirror. But it wasn’t quite the truth either, and we both knew it.

Part of being an adult is taking responsibility for your actions, he told me.

Hearing those words from Warren Peace was strange, humorous even. It was something Layla would have said. She should have been telling me these things, but she wasn’t there, and nothing I could do would change that.

The next time I saw Warren was the day the Bureau of Superheroes took him for questioning about the escape of Baron Battle.

It was all over the news. The supervillain had escaped after serving barely one of his life sentences. Some people argued two (Baron Battle had apparently died in prison, and was subsequently resurrected), but the point remained – Baron Battle was free, and the Bureau had neither the resources nor the firepower to recapture him.

The day they came to arrest him, Warren had a stoic, distant look on his face. He left without a fight, saying nothing to the reporters that swarmed around, shouting for his statement.

The Bureau released him three days later on lack of evidence. They also never completely trusted him again.

I’d like to say that that was the day Warren stopped trusting people. But I think it happened long before then, maybe even the day that my parents destroyed his family and sent his father to prison.

And now, fittingly, the father is free and his son is captured, locked in my prison. I take a closer look at my arch-nemesis, the hero who has sworn to fight me until his dying day. I had hoped that this Warren would be different than the one I was friends with, way back then.

If he was different, maybe it would be easier. Maybe then I would I break every bone in his body, as he screamed for mercy. Or maybe I would just kill him and throw his body into the ocean. I had hoped he would be different because then, when I looked at him, I could see only an enemy.

But this Warren is the same as the one I knew. Maybe he’s little older, a little wiser, but aren’t we all? He has the same eyes, the same stubborn posture and the same angry glare.

He hasn’t changed a bit.

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Warren Peace

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Devastator flinches when I call him Will – he doesn’t like being reminded of his given name. That’s why I do it, even though I probably should be begging for my life right now.

I’m too proud for that, too stubborn.

I idly wonder if he’ll snap my neck if I call him Stronghold.

My father once said that a short life with dignity is better than long life of humiliation. That was easy for him to say, since he could reincarnate and live sequence after sequence of short lives.

It’s not so easy for someone like me, who has only one life and one chance at getting things right. I don’t believe in hell, but if I had to choose a deadly sin, pride would be the one.

If I had to choose one for Will, it would probably be wrath, or maybe envy. For all I know, it could be greed.

I’m not sure I know him well enough to tell.

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Will Stronghold

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The laboratory is quiet – too quiet. I speak to fill the void.

The words, like most which leave my mouth, are cruel, intended to cut and wound. “I see you’re still fighting evil and defending the weak. Aren’t you tired of playing hero all the time, Phoenix?”

“I don’t play hero. This isn’t a game, Will.” Warren scowls and crosses his arms. “Why did you save me, anyhow? I thought you didn’t take prisoners.”

“Even I make exceptions. I mean, you must be worth something to someone,” I say. “Of course, I’ve heard you haven’t been doing so well lately. Is the life of a superhero too much for you, Phoenix? The stress finally dragging you down?”

“The fact that my father is Baron Battle and that I was once best friends with the most dangerous super-villain in the world doesn’t do much for my reputation.” Warren replies dryly.

Touché. The hero wins this round.

It bothers me that Warren still has the sharper tongue.

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To Be Continued

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