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“Daddy’s flown across the ocean,
Leaving just a memory,
A snapshot n the family album,
Daddy, made especially for me,
Daddy, whatchya leave behind for
me?”
Pink Floyd, Another
Brick in the Wall pt 1
“Jericho…” Everett started with regretful reverence,
“had joined with the Brotherhood of the Sun.
I think he felt that he could better serve the ideals of Chivalry in
that role. The reality, though,” he
hesitated as he toyed with a sugar packet, “is that he had become a
megalomaniac. He believed in his own
invincibility and infallibility.”
Across the table from Everett,
Alan listened with harsh intent.
“Jericho received some kind of order from
the Brotherhood higher ups, the Triumvirate or something like that, to bring
an end to a local do-gooder group called the World Alliance. This is how I met Marilyn and this is what
reunited me with Jericho
after so long.”
“What happened?” Alan asked
quietly.
“We got caught up in Jericho’s attempt to
destroy the World Alliance, and then we were poised to stop him as he
constructed his military base out west.”
“Where the big Ever-After project
is now, right?” Alan asked.
“I would imagine. I don’t know and, to be honest, I don’t
care,” Everett
said.
“You don’t care about corporations
taking over governmental roles?” Alan asked.
“I don’t care about what happened
in the wake of that tragedy.”
“You killed Jericho,” Alan stated.
“Actually, I didn’t,” Everett pointed out with
casual indifference. “In all honesty,
I’m not sure if I could. Jericho was older than
me and, for as long as I had known him, better than me. Morgan’s the one who killed him.”
“Morgan, the guy from the club
tonight?”
“Alan, I honestly and truly
believe that Morgan is the most dangerous person in the world, bar none.”
Alan was still for a moment. Everett
could see him thinking, but wasn’t sure if it was about Morgan or Jericho. When he finally asked “How did you know Jericho prior to everything?”, Everett was disappointed.
“He went to the same high school I
did,” Everett
said. “I was a freshman the year he
was a junior. He and Sydney, the dame
that was there tonight, knew each other as well.”
“Did he and Morgan know each
other?”
“Yes,” Everett said. “They knew each other quite well. I don’t know, at all, if there’s any truth
to this, but I’ve heard that Morgan was the one who introduced Jericho to Chivalry.”
“He was your friend,” Alan
pondered. “I just don’t understand how
you came to be at ends with him.”
“He tried to have someone I knew
framed for murder,” Everett
said. “He tried to exterminate the
World Alliance, he tried to…”
“Did you ever ask why?”
“Why?” Everett exclaimed, astonished and
disgusted.
“Why? Why did he feel the World Alliance had to
go?” Alan asked. “Everett, Jericho, and I admit I
only know him through his reputation, was not the kind of man to just blindly
follow orders, nor was he the kind of man to do something casually and
without reason. If he targeted the
World Alliance, there was a reason and probably a very good one.”
Everett stared at Alan for a moment. Slowly, his head shook. “I can’t believe I’m hearing a knight say
something like that.”
“What? Considering the possibility that one of the
greatest knights in the history of the world might have known something about
the World Alliance that no one else did?” Alan asked. “Everett,
you hadn’t had any contact with Jericho
for years before this happened, correct?” Everett said nothing. “The Brotherhood of the Sun dealt in things
far beyond what you can imagine.”
“Marilyn and the Alliance
were nothing more than a bunch of college kids trying to make the world
better,” Everett
said lowly. “They were just a step up
from charity car washes and cake walks.”
“How did you meet them?” Alan
asked rhetorically. “As I understand
it, you met them when they were trying to get information on a local white
slavery ring. They were already beginning
to step into the world of vigilantism.
Is it so hard to believe that they might have become a serious threat
one day?”
“Threat to who?” Everett countered, mindless of his and
Alan’s raising voice. “And how would
anyone know that?”
“There are those in this world Everett, that can see
not only what is but also what will be,” Alan said.
“Oh, don’t give me that psychic
crap,” Everett
snapped. “Nobody can know the future;
nobody can plan and predict what will happen tomorrow.”
“Everett, there are forces in this world far
beyond your, and even my, understanding,” Alan implored. “You have to believe me, that what’s at
stake, for the knights, for the world, is far greater than anything,
ANYTHING, you can imagine.” He paused,
searching Everett’s
face for the slightest sign of willingness to believe. “Jericho
understood this. Better than anyone,
before anyone. He understood the
future the knights have to have in order for the world to survive.”
Everett chuckled sadly. “Sounds like hocus-pocus,” he said
disgustedly.
“Sounds like magic,” Alan stated
directly.
“Alan,” Everett yelled, “there is no such thing as
magic!”
Alan smiled into a laugh, shaking
his head. A bittersweet look overcame
him as he stood from the booth.
Mindless of the stares of the restaurant patrons, he stared down at Everett with sad
disappointment. “You know so very
little,” he said quietly before turning away and walking out.
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