Where The Wind Blows

6

(JEANINE)

Dry blood flakes off my nose and mouth, Death constantly reaching towards me - its claws grabbing my collar but it seems like it has a bad grip. My blonde hair now stained with red.

I see Viola drag herself towards me and presses her hands onto my head and I see the pain which she is suffering from. She wants me to survive and fight alongside me.

But why?

Was it because I pretty much sacrificed my life for her?

She brushes my crimson flakes from my face and I see Nicholas Lynch and Liang Hsin run towards me with urgency, faces white as ghosts.

"Are- are you okay, ma'am?!" Nicholas places his hand onto my shoulder, arm underneath my arm by Liang. 

"Yes." I dust myself off. "Escort Viola back to the Healing Faction, give her tending." Nicholas escorts Viola out of Buckingham Palace, leaving me with Liang. 

"What do you want me to do?" 

"Help me to find Lawrence." 

"The Descendant?" 

"Yes. The Phoenix - she has immense power which we can use for good."

"So... we're gonna kill her?" I turn to Liang and push him away, making him release me. 

"Killing my sister? Who would do that?!" 

"You?" I walk up to him and grab his collar. "I am not that tyrant anymore - the one who influenced me to become the sadist I was: or still am... But I am not gonna let war console me - neither the Emperor and Empress." I turn to the exit. 

"Lawrence taught me to be my own person. So that's who I am gonna be..." And I stagger towards the exit; limp through the streets then I manage to walk, jog &c. I stop myself in the middle of a T-Junction and the majority of the cars are gone - the ones which were left abandoned by owners are smoldering in flames: by whom? I haven't a clue. Thick black smoke cover my path as I look around, arm around my mouth to stop myself from suffocating, eyes sting ferociously - pretty much throbbing too. I can't stay straight for much longer. 

"Where are ya?!" I yell whilst coughing. No response. Did she do this? Did her dark side take control of herself? The flames flicker with a bio-luminescent neon blue, light making a dramatic effect on the thick smoke like a strong lightning storm is brewing in the clouds ahead.

"Lawrence?!" 

"Oo yer lookin' for?" comes a Cockney-rural accent through the smoke. 

"Hello?" A beam of white light scatters through the smoke and as it draws closer, I can see a tall silhouette. 

"Am lookin' for ma pa? Yoo know where 'e is?" I squint as the light draws closer to me, sun slowly getting swallowed up by the horizon. 

"What does your father look like?" As the silhouette walks closer, I can see someone who highly recognise as Daniel Eaton by the figure - only to look more robust. He edges closer to me. 

"Wait... I recognise yoo..." I can see a sense of panic in his body - as to what I can see (so far). "Yoo know ma pa! Yoo tried to kill 'im! My ma is dead 'cause of yoo and I almost died." 

"Back at Haven?" 

"Yeah." 

"You ain't-" 

By coincidence, he emerges and he stares down at me scornfully, khaki clothing on with a red phoenix on his back. His black empty iris' flicker thoroughly as if he is a robot, trying to scan for recognition. "Toby Rexha. Yoo thought I was dead." 

"I- I... Yeah..." I bite my lip and I cover my mouth and nose again but he stops, grabs a flannel and a bottle of water, tips it over the material and then covers it over my mouth and presses my hand onto it to support the thing. 

"Yoor an ally then," he smirks. "Bit of a change from a powah-'ungry woman to a innocent one. I got informed ba ma pa before he went missin'. James? Seen 'im recently?" 

"No. You know what?" 

"What?" "If you help me find Lawrence Holloway, I'll help you find James Rexha."

Toby stops and contemplates for a few minutes. 

"Come on... the flannel is drying out!" 

"Fain. I will. By the way she's known as the 'Only Hope' to all of the people who is in tha war. So if she joins the Emperor and Empress, we're screwed but if she stays with us, we will win this war. But if she stays in tha middle of it, everyone will keep tuggin' at 'er." I smile. 

"Great. Thanks for the information. Now... let's go and find them both."