Need to talk

"Azazel is still alive" said Curtis.

"I can still feel him, even though his power is weak now" said Curtis as he sighed.

"So I failed" said Annie as she sighed, she only had one thing to do, and that was to get rid of Azazel once and for all, and yet here she was powerless, and even when she did have her powers, she was unable to defeat Azazel.

"Don't say that my dear, it is not your fault at all" said Stella as she smiled and she turned to look at Annie, she knew that this had to be too much for Annie to handle, she was just so young, and yet she had all these problems, she had to face the reality that Azazel was still alive.

"But it is the truth Aunt Stella, I wasn't able to defeat him, and now he is still alive" said Annie as she sighed.

"Oh my dear, don't think like that, Azazel has been alive for some time now, and you are not the first one to fail, many have failed, and I am just thankful that you are alright" said Stella as she smiled.

"I might be alive, but I have no powers at all" said Annie as she sighed, she was only telling the truth, she was being realistic, what were the chances that she would be able to defend herself if Azazel was to strike?? She would be as good as dead then, because when she faced Azazel one on one, she truly saw his horror, his wickedness, his evil… and she was now truly scared of him.

"Everything will be alright Annie, believe me it will be" said Stella as she forced a smile, she could only try to make Annie felt better.

"Aunt Stella, something else happened when I was fighting Azazel" said Annie as she seemed to remember something.

"What is it my dear?" asked Stella.

"Well Azazel accused me of killing his wife" said Annie.

"He said that he wanted me to suffer the same way he suffered when his wife died" said Annie as she sighed.

"Oh my…" said Stella as she did not know what to say, that was a serious accusation on Azazel's side.

"Aunt Stella, I never did anything of that sort, I didn't even meet her before" said Annie as she shook her head.

"You do not have to explain anything my dear, I know you had nothing to do with his wife's death" said Stella.

"But that only means one thing" said Stella as she seemed to be thinking.

"You were framed" said Curtis as he spoke up and Annie turned to look at him.

"Framed?? By who??" asked Annie as she did not know who would frame her like that, she could not kill anyone at all, and yet Azazel accused her of killing his wife.

"Well we have no idea" said Curtis and Annie sighed, why did she just have to have many enemies for no reason? What did she do to deserve all this??

"My dear, what else did your magic tell you?" asked Stella as she had been thinking and it would seem that they were all on the same page, they all had no idea of what was going on, but if Annie's magic was suddenly talking to her, then maybe she had all the answers that they needed.

"Well nothing that we don't already know" said Annie.

"She told me that Azazel was still alive, and after that, the world we were in collapsed and I woke up" said Annie as she explained.

"So you did not see her after that?" asked Stella.

"No… No I haven't" said Annie as she shook her head.

"Alright" said Stella as she could not hide the tone of disappointment in her tone.

"My dear, please do not worry yourself about this, me and Curtis will handle it, we will find a way" said Stella as she smiled in an attempt to reassure Annie and Annie forced a smile, even though it was impossible for her not to worry at all.

Annie was only sixteen, she was still a girl, Stella was sure that this was not how Annie had imagined her life, she was not like other normal teenagers, she had stopped everything in her life to come to the witch realm and come a fight a man that is over a thousand years old, and it just was not fair and neither was it easy for her at all, she deserved to be free just like everyone else.

"I will take my leave now" said Curtis as he stood up without warning and he did not even wait for Stella and Annie to react and he just opened Stella's office door and he closed it behind him.

"Don't mind him my dear" said Stella as she looked at Annie and she smiled at her.

"I wish I could not" said Annie as she sighed, she now understood why Curtis was so angry, and it was her fault.

"Believe me when I say my dear, that we will find a way to fix everything" said Stella as she sighed.

"I hope so Aunt Stella, I truly hope so" said Annie.

"Can I go now Aunt Stella?" asked Annie.

"Of course you can my dear, and have a goodnight" said Stella as she smiled.

"Thank you Aunt Stella, and have a goodnight too" said Annie as she smiled and she stood up as she walked out of Stella's office.

"*Sigh*, Oh my, this is never going to end is it?" asked Stella to herself as she sighed.

Annie walked into the hallway, she had to look for Curtis, she turned to the left and she caught sight of him resting on the wall outside on the way to the garden.

"Curtis" called Annie as she walked to where he was outside, it was chilly outside as the wind blew gently.

"What do you want Annie??" asked Curtis as he sighed and he turned to look at Annie.

"We need to talk Curtis" said Annie.

"I do not want to talk" said Curtis as he walked away and Annie ran after him as she stopped and she began to heave, she couldn't even run without getting tired immediately.

Curtis sighed as he turned round and he stopped walking as he walked back to where Annie was.

"Tell me this Annie, why… why did you bring me back??" asked Curtis.

"Why would you ask me that Curtis?" asked Annie as she breathed heavily and she looked at Curtis.

"Annie, I am only your guardian, nothing more nothing less, you should have just let me die, and all this would have been avoided" said Curtis.

"How can you say that Curtis? How can you??" asked Annie as she could not believe what she was hearing, she was angry at him, did he not care for her at all??

"You are much more than just a guardian, you are much more" said Annie.

"You are my best friend" said Annie as tears began to drop from her eyes.

"You are my brother, you are family" said Annie as she cried, Curtis was being selfish, he did not care for her at all.

"And you ask me why I would save you?" asked Annie.

"I cannot imagine my life without you, I would be lost without you" said Annie as she cried.

"And that is why at that point I did not think at all, all I wanted to do was save you, I wanted to safe you Curtis" said Annie as she cried and she looked at Curtis as a tear slipped from his eye.

"But you should not have done that Annie" said Curtis as he wiped his tear away quickly.

"I am not important at all, I am not" said Curtis.

"Don't say that" said Annie as she sniffed.

"It is the truth, I am your guardian, and yet I was unable to protect you, I am useless" said Curtis as he told Annie how he truly felt, he was dealing with the guilt that he was unable to protect her, he had tried to revive her but he just could not, he was useless, he felt horrible when he saw her in her coma, just laying there, sleeping all day, while he, he was alive because of her sacrifice when he did not deserve it at all.

His heart ached every single time he saw her, she was so fragile, feeble and weak that it pained him, he could not even do the one job he was created for, time and time again the cycle continued and he continued along with it, but this was the one time he truly felt like this was the end… he could not go on any longer

"Curtis, don't say that you are not useless, you are not useless to me" said Annie as she wiped her tears and she smiled.

"It's not your fault Curtis, I knew what I was getting myself into, but I did it anyway, I am the one to blame" said Annie as she smiled.