One Apology

Daniel faded to the rooftop, staring out at the city. He could hear the music playing downstairs, wondering if she was enjoying her fourteenth birthday. Two years had passed since he’d last seen her. She probably wanted to keep it that way. He couldn’t blame her, but he wanted to apologize. There wouldn’t be much time after this.

He let the energy swirl around him, the same way he had when they trained together.

“What are you doing here?”

Daniel’s breath caught in his throat. “I came to see you.”

He couldn’t believe he hadn’t felt her fade behind him. But then, two years ago she had barely understood what it meant to use magick.

“Aren’t I just the luckiest girl around?” Jasmine took a step forward, her fists clenched, calling upon the magick around them and waiting for him to do the same. When all he did was shift his weight from foot to foot, her anger only increased. “What, now I’m not even enough of a threat for you to try and defend yourself?”

“It’s not that,” he said. He had to take a deep breath, the words in his head becoming a jumbled mess when he looked into her dark brown eyes. “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Great, well that makes everything better now, doesn’t it?” She shook her head. “Apology not accepted, now go away before I do what you did to Emily.” She turned her back on him, but she could still feel his eyes on her.

“Jasmine,” he whispered, slowly taking a step towards her. “My father’s dead now.”

“So what?” she asked, whirling around to face him. “Are you going to say you had no choice? That he was the one making you do all of those things? That he was the one who made you kill Emily?” Jasmine looked up at him, staring straight into his blue eyes as all the pain and anger rose inside her. “I was there, dammit.”

“If you’d just-”

“Just what, Daniel?” She shoved him, hating the sight of his blue eyes. “How dare you come back.”

He grabbed one of her hands and let out a sigh. Too late she felt the energy in the air swirl. Before she could draw some of it inside herself, he pulled out a cord and wrapped it around her wrist. Jasmine struggled to call upon the energy floating around them, failing each time.

“Jasmine, stop, you’re gonna-”

She cried out as the cord flashed, sending bolts of electricity through her.

“-cause it to activate.”

She grabbed at the cord and pulled. It flashed again and this time she fell to her knees, gasping as the pain threatened to knock her out.

“I’ll help you out of it after you let me explain.”

Still shaking as the electricity ran its course through her, she flipped him off.

Annoyed, he picked her up and walked until they were close to the edge of the rooftop. Weakly, she cursed him. He didn’t say anything, though. She was nearly limp in his arms, and if it weren’t for the anger inside her, she probably would’ve lost consciousness by now. Once there, he sat her down so that her back rested against the ledge.

“I killed him, Jasmine.” Daniel licked his lips and cursed as she blankly stared at him. “He was getting worse. The things he wanted to do to Anna…” A short, humorless laugh escaped him. “That’s why I killed him. Because he wasn’t just focusing on Anna anymore. He wanted to be known by everyone.” He paused. “Not just that, he wanted everyone to fear him.”

“So that makes everything right?”

“No.”

“Then why are you telling me this?”

“Because,” Daniel snapped, “you were always so stupid back then and I couldn’t get you out of my head.”

She looked away, hating how easily his words cut her. “What’s the point of remembering someone stupid?”

He walked over to her and forced her to stand up. “Because it’s you, you idiot.” Still holding her up by her shoulders, he shook her.

“Daniel,” she said, struggling to get out of his grasp. “Shut up. I can’t-”

“Can’t what?”

“You killed her!”

“I told you to keep away from there.”

“That doesn’t excuse it!”

His hands cupped her face, hoping that some of the tears brimming in her eyes were for him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Her hands wrapped around his. “Why are you really here?”

With a sad smile, he let go of her face, bringing both her hands up to his lips. “Just stopping by to wish the birthday girl the best.” He tried not to let the tears streaming down her face distract him as he removed the cord.

She grabbed his hand when he turned to go.

“You still smell like lilies,” he said, pulling himself away from her. “You think you can ever forgive me?”

“Daniel, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Do you remember what you wished for back then?”

He watched her frown and tilt her head to the side.

She didn’t know why she felt so scared.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Giving her a small smile, he took a step back before tucking his hands into his pockets. “I found a way to keep my promise.”

Energy swirled again, but they didn’t look away, his blue eyes locked on the dark brown ones he’d missed so much. Her throat clogged at the pain shining in his eyes, reminding her of the boy who’d teased her so that she could train longer, who wanted her to feel safe around him. The boy who hadn’t made fun of her for not understanding things.

“Jasmine, we’ve been-”

Jasmine’s eyes widened as she turned towards the familiar voice. “Derek?”

“Who’s this?” he asked, taking a step towards her.

Jasmine looked from Daniel to Derek, her heart beating too loudly in her chest. “Derek, this is-”

Daniel cleared his throat. “You should get back to them,” he said, shifting his weight as he stared at the ground before him. “Wouldn’t want you missing the events of your own party.”

His words brought back the fear she’d felt earlier and she walked over to him. “Daniel, wait-”

“Daniel?”

Derek rushed forward, confused that Jasmine had run to Daniel instead of him. He had to ignore the pang in his heart at the tormented look in her eyes when he faded before she could reach him. She stood there, hand still outstretched, fingers curling around what would have been Daniel’s shirt.

“Jasmine, what’s going on?”

“I haven’t seen him since that day,” she whispered.

“Was that the guy who killed Emily?”

She nodded, shrugging out of his arms when he hugged her, trying to comfort her away from those awful memories.

“Why was he here?”

Tears trailed down her face as she looked out at the city.

“I’m not sure.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. “He never did like answering questions.”