Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Red)

Okay. Well, this was sorta kinda not good.

I’d faced off against Argot twice before, as you probably know by now, and I did not want to do it again, thank you very much. He was seriously powerful, and I had no idea how I was supposed to outsmart him again. I’d gotten lucky twice. I didn’t know if I could do it again.

Plus, it was getting dark. I could see as easily in the dark as I could in the daytime, thanks to my epically cool eyes, but I had no idea how Blue was going to do. Especially being a newbie to this whole fighting business and all.

I think it’s safe to say that our odds majorly sucked.

“Okay. On the count of three, basically do whatever you can to get away. Rendezvous point is Orange Village. There’s a café on Ripley Street. I forget the name, but you’ll find it. If I don’t show up within one day, go on to Rogue City without me. Orange and Green’ll find you. Good luck.”

Blue tossed her baseball cap to the side, her long blue hair cascading down around her face. “That goes for you too. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Stupid?” I gave her a wry smile, knowing that both of us could and probably would be captured and killed by the next day. “What’s stupid?”

I was out of the jeep before she could respond, blasting out a series of fireballs to cover my escape. Argot appeared next to me, his teleporting powers kicking in.

“Uh-uh-uh. Cheap tricks will get you nowhere.” He wagged a finger at me, and I gritted my teeth.

“FIRESTORM EXPLOSION!!!”

The explosion was gigantic, as I’d known it would be, and I used it as cover to swerve down an alleyway. I just hoped the attack hadn’t hit Blue. Where was she, anyway?

“Jet Stream!”

And then she was flying past me, clinging to a jet of water she’d probably just conjured up, so fast that all I saw was a blur. Smart trick. But where was Argot?

“Don’t let your guard down, boy!”

Something slammed hard into my stomach, making me fly across the alley and crash into a brick wall. Argot’s foot. I struggled to my feet, knowing I had to run or die, ignoring the pain. My ribs were bruised, possibly broken. It hurt like crazy, but I had to make it out of there. Had to stay with Blue. If I didn’t, there was a possibility that he could catch up to her. Blue was smart, but I knew there was no way she could take him down by herself, and I swore to myself that I’d never let any of my friends die in front of me ever again. The first time had hurt enough.

Someone grabbed my hand, dragging me forward, running as fast as they possibly could. Blue, playing the hero and coming back for me.

“You hurt?” she called without looking back. I struggled to keep up with her, my sneakers pounding the pavement, blood trickling down my leg.

“Ribs,” I said, sparing only a single word. It hurt too much to say anything else.

“You said Green’s a Healer, right? Then that means we gotta get to Rogue City, quick. Any way out of here?”

“Airport,” I gasped. My chest was killing me. “East side.”

“All right. This is gonna hurt, but it’s the fastest way I know to get there. Try not to pass out.”

Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good.

“Jet Stream!”

Blue jumped, gripping the water spell as hard as she could, repeating her last trick. We shot upward, the g-force pulling hard on me and making me gasp from the pain. Blue’s face was white from the effort of hanging on to both me and the spell.

“The same trick doesn’t work on me twice!”

Argot appeared next to us, and I did the first thing that came into my head.

“FIREBALL BARRAGE!!!”

Argot was forced to teleport somewhere else to avoid the fireballs, keeping him out of range for the present, but now I felt like I was going to pass out. I could barely breathe at this point, my energy almost spent. I hadn’t taken in that much fire in the first place, and Firestorm Explosion was one of the biggest spells I knew.

“Red, you okay? You don’t look too good.”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t.

“That may have bought you a little time, but you can’t run forever! Surrender now, and I might not hurt you as much!”

Argot was next to us again, running along the roof of a skyscraper. Blue flew even faster.

“Darn it, if only today was an Air day…” she muttered, then suddenly gasped in pain. We dropped a couple of feet, and I felt something warm and sticky on my arm. Blood. Argot had thrown a knife and vanished, and I knew exactly why.

I pushed away the pain as best as I could, managing to croak out, “Hurry. Poison knife.”

Blue’s face was already white, but it went even whiter at my statement. “Are we almost there?”

I spotted the airport lights in the distance, giving her a single nod. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the spell to go even faster.

But there was a reason Argot let us go – because he knew there was no way we could escape. Sooner or later, Blue was going to pass out from the poison, and when that time came, it was a simple matter of scooping us out of the air. I could already see her eyelids drooping, the latest participant in this war fighting to stay conscious.

But Argot didn’t know Blue.

“Hey, Red?” she gasped. “Do you have any firepower left?”

“I...c-can…try…”

“Okay. Direct the last of your power behind us, like a rocket launcher. I’ll do the same. Maybe we can still make it. On three. One, two, three!”

I don’t know what the people down below in Yellowton saw, but I’m guessing we made a pretty bizarre rocket. We blasted across the sky even faster. Like a shooting star, kinda. That trick probably – no, definitely saved our lives.

We crash-landed at the airport and managed to sneak into the cargo hold of an airplane headed to Rogue City just in time. Blue passed out right when we got inside, and I had to drag her, my chest still aching like crazy, behind a couple of boxes. Once we were hidden as much as we could possibly be, I leaned against the wall, taking breaths as shallow as possible, my eyes closed.

That was way too close. If Argot hadn’t underestimated Blue just a little, we would’ve been absolute toast. And we were still toast, if we couldn’t get to Green on time. Argot’s poison usually took about six hours to kill. It was a four-hour flight to Rogue City.

And we still didn’t know where Argot was. For all I knew, he could be right outside the door, preparing to barge in. If that happened, we were dead. Blue and I were in no shape to fight.

Blood dripped from a long gash in my leg to the floor, but I ignored it. If Argot thought to search the planes after we left, he’d know instantly that we’d been here, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. Let him wonder how the heck we did it. It made me feel somewhat better, imagining him with a puzzled look on his stupid face.

And then, just when the plane was about to lift off and I thought we were safe, the door to the cargo hold opened.

I froze, not daring to breathe. Was it Argot?

The newcomer strolled in, his footsteps echoing on the steel floor. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping against reality that the old childhood belief was true, and if I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see me. Unlikely as heck, but hey, when you’re desperate, you’re desperate.

The footsteps stopped. Right in front of me.

Knowing the game was up, I opened my eyes, preparing to use the last of my strength to punch the guy. Maybe I’d hit him somewhere important.

But there was no one in front of me.

What in the world?

The space in front of me was empty. There wasn’t anyone there. For a second, I wondered if the childhood belief actually was true, only in reverse, and since he couldn’t see me, I couldn’t see him. Stranger things have happened.

And then he appeared. Right out of thin air.

The guy in front of me was obviously a soldier, about my age, maybe a little older. He had that look in his eyes, the suspicious one that trusted no one whom he didn’t know as well as the back of his hand. There was both a sword and a camouflage device hooked to his pants, which was probably why I didn’t see him. His eyes studied Blue and me, obviously unsure of what to do.

“You a runaway?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I told him, out of sheer instinct. “Me and my…my sister. Look, dude, we’re desperate. Can you maybe…not report this to the authorities?”

Something flashed in his eyes. Suspicion, maybe? But it was gone in an instant, and out of nowhere, he nodded.

My heart jumped. “So… You’re not reporting us?”

“Why would I?” He let out a sigh and sat down. “I’m in the same situation.”

I felt a little like laughing. I highly doubted this guy had the most dangerous assassin in the country, possibly the world, after him. I also highly doubted that it was his sole duty in life to defeat said assassin, and his unfairly overpowered boss as well. But there was no way I could laugh without passing out at this point. After the adrenaline rush from this guy showing up wore off, I doubted I could even force out another word.

“What’s wrong with her?” He nodded at Blue. “She’s not sleeping, is she? Not with her skin that color. Food poisoning?”

I didn’t feel up to explaining, so I just nodded. It was close enough to the truth, anyway.

He studied her for a second. “I’ve got some medicine that works pretty good for poison.”

I was instantly suspicious. Why would this stranger waste his time helping us out? He claimed he was “in the same situation”, but I didn’t know that for sure. Plus, no one short of a saint or millionaire would help us out of sheer pity. I didn’t trust this guy.

He moved to take something out of his pack, but I shook my head, and he stopped, catching my look. “Hey, I won’t hurt her.”

I shook my head again. He sighed.

“This flight is delayed. It’s going to take five hours instead of four, maybe five and a half if we’re unlucky. They’re searching the planes, something about Argot finding two of the Seven. Luckily for us, this plane has already been searched, so they won’t find us. Still, five hours could mean a matter of life or death for your sister, if it’s a serious case.”

My blood ran cold. There was no way I could make it to our hideout in an hour, especially without a car. Blue was certainly dead if I refused this guy’s offer, but only probably dead if I didn’t. I took the latter option and slowly nodded.

He removed a small vial from his pouch, pried Blue’s mouth open unceremoniously, and let a few tiny drops fall onto her tongue. “It should take about five minutes to work. Where’d you guys get all those injuries?”

“Foster home,” I answered shortly, closing my eyes. If Blue woke up, then I could pass out in peace, and it would be up to her to wake me up later. Providing that this guy wasn’t sent to kill us, obviously.

Five minutes of awkward silence later, Blue did exactly that.

“Wha… What happened?” she asked groggily, attempting to sit up. I shoved her down almost immediately. At the current moment, she was behind the crates, in the dark, where her hair could be passed off as brown, or some other darkish color, but if she sat up, the guy would instantly see her blue hair. The dark was also the reason he hadn’t seen my eyes’ true color, since they now looked brown as well.

“Who’s that guy?” Blue asked, instantly on alert. I shrugged.

“I’m the guy who gave you the antidote to your food poisoning,” he replied. “The name’s Lucas. Your brother there doesn’t seem to be talking very much, does he?”

She glanced at me. “Yeah, his social skills are kind of weak.”

Normally, I would’ve responded, but with this guy staring us down, I couldn’t. Not to mention the pain I was feeling, besides. Anyway, if she was better enough to be sarcastic, that was probably a good thing.

“’m gonna take a nap now,” I murmured. “Seeya in five hours.”

“Yeah, okay. Sleep well, bro,” Blue told me. I nodded and closed my eyes.

I was out in two minutes flat.