Fate's Pawn: Wishes Three

Chapter Eleven: My Angel's Second Wish

The energy welled through me, flowing through me like a river ready to unleash into my master’s wish. I shook my head and just like that it died off and faded away. “No, Gulliver, I refuse your wish.” Once more I raised my chin as I met his eyes. “You’re the one that said it best, in this home of yours I am not bound by the genie rules, and that includes yours.” The relief that I could say filled me with more relief than I could ever express.

Eros relaxed and started to laugh. “Guess you should have thought that one through more, Dear Brother.” His lips twitched and he dodged out of the way of Guile as the other angel turned his focus on him.

“No, I know what I must do. Rosebud, I know you think you’ve won. I know you believe you’ve outwitted me the big bad enemy in your life, but it’s not true. While yes, it is correct that you don’t have to exist by genie laws here, then I’ll just have to solve that problem.” He grabbed my wrist and started to tug me after him. “I’ll just ask you the wish again once we’re outside.”

“Wait, stop!” I tried to jerk my hand away from him but Guile pushed on making me stumble after him.

“Stop it, Brother! Let her go! Why would you do this to her? She doesn’t want to grant that wish!”

“You’ll want this wish granted after it’s done, you prefer your real self over this sterilized version, you’re a lot smarter for one.”

“Hey!”

“Why do you keep yelling?” Dagon wiped some sleep from his eyes then frowned as he saw Guile’s punishing grip on me. “What are you trying now with my Acacia?” His lips thinned as he saw Eros’s tear-filled eyes. “Eros, what’s going on now?”

“Leave my little brother out of it,” Guile snapped. “I’m taking Acacia outside and making my second wish, and then I’ll come right back. She’s refusing to grant it here so I’m going to have to take her outside.”

“You can’t do that, they’ll find out where she is!” Dagon shook his head. “What in the world are you thinking, Guile? You’ve never been so senseless. I haven’t been through everything so far just to have you drag her out of safety and get caught.”

“They’re not going to find her in the time it takes her to grant a single wish. She’s going to give Eros his real power back and using his energy and my own we’ll make the third wish come true with force if we have to. After that, you are quite free to have your two wishes left as you will.”

“Given up on the idea of winning her over?” Dagon shook his head.

“On the contrary, but I know that doing this to her is going to make her hate me for a while. It’ll be fine, she’ll get over it since she’s immortal and we all tend to learn to get along with each other.”

“Well not all of us,” Dagon observed with a snicker.

“We don’t talk about that one.” Guile growled. “Anyway, she’s going to grant the wish and I’ll bring her right back in. No one is going to get to her by then, and I’ll be there. You know I”m not a slouch when it comes to battles, Dagon.”

“Obviously not.” Dagon sighed as his eyes drifted back to mine. “I’m sorry, Acacia. I love you and I”ll be there to protect you, but those wishes are promised. I promise we’ll be fast.”

“That’s not the point!” I once more tugged at my wrist but Guile’s hold was like steel. “I don’t want to hurt my friend, please don’t make me!” The tears were warm as they traced pathways down my cheeks. “Please, I don’t want to.”

“Acacia.” Eros stepped closer to me and glared up at his brother. “Listen, if they have to do this, it’s fine just grant the wish here. I’d never want you to be in danger. Just grant it so you can stay where it’s safe, okay? Please, I don’t want to see you cry anymore.”

Guile growled beneath his breath. “So now you’re willing to accept it? Why didn’t you just offer that in the first place so I didn’t have to drag her down here like this? All of you are always doing your best to make me out to be the bad guy.”

“You are the bad guy,” Eros answered his eyes narrowed. He wiped the tears from my eyes and gave me a lopsided smile. “Listen, I’m sorry I made such a fuss about changing. You’re not hurting me, you’re just granting my big brother’s wish. I’ll still be the same guy deep inside, okay? You’re not losing your friend, not really, I promise.”

“See? It’s just a return to his power, no one is getting hurt. Are you ready to grant the wish now, Rosebud or do I really need to take out outside of this house to get you to listen to me? I don’t want you to make me to have to do that. The last thing I want is to put you in any danger.”

I once more tried to pull my wrist from Guile’s tight grip but he was determined to hang onto me. I glared up at him and he stared at me with the most emotionless eyes I had ever witnessed. “Do you promise Eros won’t be hurt? You really don’t want to lie to a genie, especially to one with my reputation.”

Eros nodded at me. “I promise I won’t be hurt. I might be a bit meaner, and I’m sorry for that in advance. But this is what’s best, I was just being selfish earlier wanting more time like this. The truth is my family might not have much more time. We’ve been shouldering this curse as long as we’ve been fallen, call it a consequence of our sins.”

I wrinkled my nose. “By meaner does that mean you’re going to join your brother and Dagon in this futile attempt to win me over?”

Eros chuckled. “Maybe? I’m not sure, but just forgive me and remember me how I am now if I do, okay?” he grabbed my free hand in his own as he looked at me. “If I end up being a d**k, please just hit me, okay?”

I nodded. That I could do. It would be nice to get some of my frustration out at this point. Guile looked down at my captured wrist and sighed. “If you are both willing to listen to reason then I’ll let you go, Rosebud. I don’t need any tricks. Dagon is correct, taking you outside these walls would be very dangerous but I’ll do whatever it takes to save my family. I hope you can understand one day because I want you to be part of my family.”

“That’s not gonna happen.” Eros snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Not after this power play, Brother.”

“After your wishes are made and I have made my plans, Acacia and I are getting very far from the lot of you. Whatever you do won’t matter to us because we’re not going to cross paths again for a very long time.” He noticed my glare at him and looked down at the ground instead of meeting my eyes. “Sorry, Acacia, I know you are getting more independent the longer you’re free from those bracelets but I can’t let us live anywhere near these people. I love you too much to just let you be stolen from me.”

Eros shook his head. “These are the kinda selfish assholes you get to deal with from now on. Do you see why I said immortality isn’t such a sweet deal? This tends to be the case with most immortals I know. Very few are actually nice or care about much than their own selves. I guess if you had to choose between the two Dagon is better than Brother, but not by much with that speech.” He rolled his eyes. “When you’ve granted everyone their wishes and you’re just immortal or whatever they have in store for you, come to me. I promise that no matter what I’ll help you become mortal again if that’s what you want.”

“Acacia, it’s time we try this again. I wish for my brother Eros to be returned to his fallen angel status with his form, powers, and personality and everything else that made him such a force to be reckoned with intact.”

“As you wish,” I whispered the words as I let my chin hit my chest as my head slumped downward.. I couldn’t waste Eros’ sacrifice. My friend was determined to keep me safe even if it meant that he wasn’t going to be the same person that he was now. The magic flooded through me in gigantic swells and once more the golden energy drifted from me and surrounded Eros. His wings appeared once more and my power lifted him off the ground and cocooned him into a glowing sphere.

There were no screams and no cries for mercy. We watched as his body grew and his wings turned as black as the night. His eyes had been closed at the beginning but by the end, they were open once more and locked onto me. There was no playful sparkle in their depths now and it broke my heard far more than anything else had by this point. The energy surge continued to flow through me and as the last feather turned black, Eros was set back down on the floor. He brushed a hand through his now jet black hair and grinned at me.

“Eros?” I whispered. I just wanted to see his carefree smile once more.

“Of course.” He smirked and my heart shattered. He turned toward Guile and raised an eyebrow. “Did you bring dinner in celebration, Brother?” He inclined his head towards me.

“No.” Dagon had chosen this moment to interrupt once more. He grabbed me as my knees started to buckle and held me close to his chest. “Your wishes are taking more and more out of her. This isn’t safe. I can’t let you have the last wish from her, Guile.”

“I already told you it will be perfectly safe. We’re going to use our power as well to help her along. She doesn’t need to worry about anything but letting it all run through her. We could even try something else if you’re that worried, it’s riskier at the start but then there would be zero risks to her at all. We could give her our energy before the spell even starts. She’ll have all the energy she needs and if she starts to flag during, then we give her some of our blood just as we used her own to break her seals.”

“I don’t want your blood touching her.” Dagon was glaring at both of them. “There is absolutely zero way I’ll let you risk her like that. Find another solution.”

“We’d only have to do that to save her life. You wouldn’t want her to die, right?” Guile shrugged. “I don’t think any of us want her to die actually. You don’t want your best friend to die now, do you, Eros? Don’t you want her to stay alive and with us forever now?”

Eros studied me close. The playful vibe of his past self was not present in those serious eyes. “It would kinda be a shame to let her die. Interesting to see you both after the same girl though.” He chuckled. “Too bad that you already know what’s going to happen.”

“That’s enough.” Dagon cradled me closer to his chest and pushed his way past the two brothers. “She’s going to rest in my room away from both of you and recover from all of these wishes you’ve forced her to grant. You have one left and if it puts her in any danger at all, I will be sure to make your lives a living hell unlike any you’ve ever experienced to this point.”