The muted sounds of the monitors were the only things to be heard in the room. Angelique kept her vigil over Jason's still form. In the space between not being enemies and not really a friend, her time keeping watch over her friend was about the only place among the Guardians that she truly felt safe. Not that she felt threatened by them, but after her little dust up with Sparx and subsequent admonishment by Charley, she was subdued.
Charley was right, though. She did request sanctuary using Jason's name. Her behavior had been atrocious. The way she had acted was an insult to her friend and their friendship.
I wish you would wake up, Jason, she thought to herself. I am so scared right now.
Everything that she thought she was had been taken from her in a flash of her father's ire. She had learned much in her long life about manipulating others. In a dark, painful moment, she learned that she was still playing a child's game in comparison to that which was played by her father.
“So, all that you were is gone. As simply as that.” An aged male voice seemed to come from a blue will-o-wisp that was hovering inside near the window. “I think your friends would disagree with that.”
Angelique flinched when the voice broke the silence. “Go away, old man. I don't have time for your games.” Now she truly felt defenseless.
“There is always time for games, Angelique. This one is fairly played out for the time being.”
“What do you want, Arkayne?” she asked. Not quite petulantly, but all the same, not too far removed from it. Some habits are hard to break.
The will-o-wisp disappeared in a small flash, in its place stood an old man with a wizened face. “I wouldn't mind a bit of brandy, perhaps some whiskey. And a cigar, I suppose. If I were to visit your father I imagine I would already have them.” He moved to the side of Jason's bed. “But I'm sure the good doctor would frown on a doddering old fool smoking in a room with her patient.”
“Can you do anything for him?” she asked.
Arkayne arched an eyebrow at Angelique. “Can I do anything for him? I daresay that I can. The question is 'should I do anything for him?' Sometimes it is better to allow nature to take her course. His body is healing. It needs time to expel the chemicals that got into him. His mind needs time to deal with other things. Right now he has himself locked in,” he tapped a finger to his own temple, “and he's waiting for the key.”
Angelique turned her gaze from Jason and looked at the frail older man. “You know what he went through?”
“Oh, yes,” he answered sadly. “One must keep his eyes on all his pieces. Until they are removed from the board.”
“Is he...” she started to ask.
“Removed? Only from this game. There will be others, I'm afraid.” He turned and found a chair. “I'm getting a bit too old for this. I need to sit for a spell.” Angelique winced at his turn of phrase.
“How are things with you, dear girl? What is it like for you to actually have a friend?”
Angelique's eye flashed fire. “You should know how things are with me! I've been stripped! Blocked!”
“Yes,” he nodded, “yes. I understand. No, dear girl, I don't know how things are with you, exactly. You weren't my piece to keep an eye on. It was actually the second question that I was looking for an answer to. What is it like for you to actually have a friend?”
“I have had friends before, old man!” she snapped.
A flash and a crackle, like lightning and thunder, passed through the room. Angelique cowered from the display. “Mind your temper!” the old man growled. “I am not talking about minions and toadies, girl,” he spoke quieter. “I am talking about true friends. Someone that you consider at least an equal. Like Charlemagne. Or young Scott, here.”
She moved around, interposing the bed between herself and Arkayne. “There are times that I miss just spending time with him.” She slid her fingers into Jason's unmoving hand and held it. “There have been times where I was about to do something and I caught myself, thinking 'Jason would be disappointed in me if I did this'.”
Arkayne's eyes gleamed with delight at this simple confession. “And how did that make you feel?”
“Confused. I've only ever worried about my father's reactions before.”
Absentmindedly, Arkayne fumbled in his pockets before pulling out a long-stemmed pipe. “What now, dear girl, will you do?” She gave the old man an admonishing look. He looked at the pipe in his hand and the unlit match in the other. “Oh! Well. I'm not going to smoke it.”
“I don't know yet what I will do. Wait until my father's temper settles, I suppose.”
Arkayne cleared his throat. “Your father does not take betrayal lightly. Even if a part of what occurred played into his hands, he still will hold that you, his own flesh and blood, betrayed him. That is not something that Anton will easily forgive, nor will he ever forget.”
“What is this all about, Arkayne?” she asked.
“You, dear girl. This is about you.
“Through the actions of Scott here, your father lost his most powerful piece. His queen. You.” He tamped the tobacco in his pipe down with his thumb. “Further, your father has lost Charlemagne. Her loyalty was ever to you. Never to your father. Not wholly, at any rate.
“Doctor Tyler also planted a seed in another of your father's pieces. Honest gratitude can do wonders for a man's self-esteem. I'm sure with his actions on that beach that Scott here would also like to thank him.” He set the pipe stem between his teeth.
“Between you, Charlemagne and Stinger, your father has lost two pieces and a third is wavering. In return he has secured the services of a rook. Maybe a knight. Though I have my doubts.”
Angelique released Jason's hand and sat herself in Jason's reading chair. “Is this what you do, old man? Playing your game with my father, force people to do things?”
“'Force'?” He raised an eyebrow at that. “Hardly force. Cajole, maybe. Urge if necessary, but it is always through free will. I could force you to do what I think is best, but what would you learn from that? The hardest lessons must be learned freely.”
She pulled her legs up into the chair with her. “What, then, would you suggest I do?”
“The hardest thing, Angelique. Change. Grow,” he said tiredly. “But know this, whatever you do; you cannot stay as you are. Too much has been done to bring you to this place, to face this question, and for you to find an answer.”
“All of this,” she asked, horrified, “was because of me?”
“No. No, of course not, dear girl. It was done for you. Not because of you.”
“I don't see the difference, Arkayne.”
“You will. One day, you will.” He forced himself to his feet using his cane to assist. “I must go. Scott is out spirit walking. It won't be much longer as these things are counted, and he'll awake.”
She looked up at the old man. “You won't stay until then?”
His form wavered and once again the blue will-o-wisp was in the room. “No, dear girl. Scott has little reason to bear me good will.” The floating blue light passed through the glass of the window out into the night.
Angelique rested her head on her hand and gazed on Jason, lost in thought. After some time had passed she stood with a sharp intake of breath. “It was you!”