you want it darker | michael langdon

chapter twelve; angels and demons.

Primrose's eyes desperately scanned the sea of survivors in search of her friend. Anyone Primrose had ever associated with was currently in extreme danger, including Juliet. She didn't want to give Michael the opportunity to use any of her friends as leverage to force her into his insane ritual.

Frankly, his behavior was worrying her. Not that it was peculiar for Michael to maim and murder, but there was always an end goal in sight. What was the goal of this ritual? Travel to a parallel world, and then what? Blow up that planet too?

Needless to say, the plan lacked longevity.

And Michael had always known that things like this were not in her nature, her opposition to evil misdeeds and acts of cruelty being one of the reasons why Michael had loved her in the first place. Should he force her into this ritual, she will no longer be the same soul he fell in love with, it would simply tear her apart.

Michael was just going to have to face the facts; he had failed.

He had brought about the apocalypse, the decimation of the whole world, and changed nothing. The greed, the wrath, the envy of the old world still lingered in this futile underground society he had forged.

He had been a mere pawn to his father, and to Jeff.

He had loved Prim and he had lost her, isolating himself for years afterward as a consequence.

And then it was time for Primrose to face the facts; Michael may or may not have gone insane.

Primrose tried her very hardest to suppress all these feelings, her doubt most of all, lest their bond alert him to her hesitation. But the feelings were so hard to fight.

There was a time when she would look at Michael and see him, *really* see him, as the misunderstood boy that he truly was. Now he is a man, and she isn't sure what to make of him. Is this creature truly misunderstood? Perhaps she is the one who has been mistaken.

She worries that he is too far gone, this destructor, this king of hell on Earth. She hates herself for it but she finds herself longing for the old Michael, *her* Michael. The delicate and tender prince with a dark side.

She wishes they could start over, be those two young souls in her mother's garden again.

As she grappled with this terrible realization, a familiar voice seeped through her daydreams and brought her back to reality.

"I sense there's something in the wind... 

...That feels like tragedy's at hand..."

There was a reason Prim couldn't find Juliet in the crowd, and it was because she was actually on stage, crooning some sad love song with the orchestra behind her.

Primrose needed to get her off that stage and fast. Juliet was far too visible for Primrose's liking.

She needed a distraction, a reason to pull Juliet offstage, so that her sudden absence would not cause too much of a scene.

She focused all her concentration and her energy on the string section of the band, hoping that if she could harness her telekinetic powers to knock over some of the cellos and double basses behind Juliet, she could swoop in and save her, and then take her away for her safety, to level one to be with her brother. It was not watertight, but it was, at least, a plan. It would all depend upon the timing...

"And though I'd like to stand by him...

...Can't shake this feeling that I have...

The worst is just around the bend..."

A startled yelp escaped from Juliet's throat as the instruments behind her collided with the stage floor.