Edge Becomes a Witch | [Half Bad Fanfiction]

Brotherhood

'Should we have sex in the lake, maybe?' I ask.

We're sitting at the dock together, legs hanging out over the edge. He's wearing one of my scoop necks because he doesn't have t-shirts, and I tell him it's too hot to be wearing sweaters. He's also wearing one of my shorts because he doesn't have shorts, either. Luc spends some time thinking about my question.

'How...?' he finally says, sort of frowning.

'We'll find a way.'

'Nah, we're done with public sex, Edge.'

'You're still traumatized because that old grandma came in at us in the temple, aren't you?'

'That member really didn't like what she saw. She looked like one of that kind who just kills whoever annoys her, Edge. We could have been killed.'

'Nah...'

'You know members kill each other sometimes, right?'

'I've never seen anyone kill.'

'Because you just hang out here at the Shore where it's safe. The other day in the study hall, I saw a member bumping into someone who was very focused on her potions, and that someone got so angry that she just killed the other by a single movement of her finger.'

'What does Nathan do about that?'

'Killing isn't allowed, so he has to deal with it, which can sometimes be messy because the member who kills knows she's about to lose everything, and that's why she does everything she can to sabotage and hurt Nathan. Killers get expelled.'

'That's hypocritical of Nathan, I think.'

'Nathan hasn't killed any members.'

'Nathan has killed hundreds of Hunters and other people.'

'It's different.'

'I hate that.'

'I hate that you can't just be fine with him. He's really good, Edge. I wish you could see him as I do.'

'Ugh, no, I hate that it just suddenly doesn't matter that you've killed, as long as it happened before you joined the Phrontistery. No one cares about anyone's past, they just care about themselves not getting hurt, here and now.'

'If the recruitments only allowed clean records, there'd be zero members. Powerful witches are criminals.'

'You're not a criminal, Luc.'

'I killed someone.'

'Who wasn't even a human. It doesn't count.'

'You know I'm vegan, Edge.'

We just sit in silence for a while, looking at the lake and the mountains. As every day, it's sunny, hot. The air is breezy, and it smells fresh, like nature, though also like Luc, like alcohol. He always smells like that, and I sort of like it, but I wish he didn't have to drink. I asked him if he could see a future living sober, and he just laughed. He won't ever stop, and there's no reason for me to play hero and try and "fix" him. I really like the idea of me rescuing him, though. He hates it, calling it a "platitude", whatever that is.

'You said no one cares about anyone's past, but I think you're wrong. People care too much about that.'

I make a farting sound with my mouth. 'You know what I meant.'

'Ok. But you must've noticed that everyone judges everyone like crook based on their pasts, and not so much what they're doin here and now, which should be the only important thing, really.'