Trapped

Layafette:

Jacob and I watch as fireballs form right in A's hands. Giant, massive fireballs burning so bright, they brighten the night.

A screams as he throws the fireballs. They fly through the air toward us. Even before they reach us, I can feel the intense heat.

Crossing my arms just before one of them hit me, the impact is more than strong enough to knock me off of my feet. My arms burn as I fly through the sky and I only stop after hitting the surrounding fence.

Jacob:

Shooting out both my hands, I struggle to hold back the fireball. My feet skid against the ground as the fireball and I push against each other.

Exactly like A, I scream as I throw the fireball into the air. The fireball erupts after a few seconds, the whole sky burning as it does.

I look at my shaking hands as they burn red.

"Okay," I say, inhaling before exhaling. "I guess it's time to go big."

I close my eyes and start to focus. I feel my power spread out from within me. It starts at my heart before flowing like a river. I feel myself growing stronger. When I open my eyes, I see myself glowing.

A:

"What the heck," I think as I rise my burning hands and shield myself. One of the shadowy figures had finally lost his shadow and is now a man. A tall man with black hair and a short beard, this man is also glowing. He's glowing so bright it beats my burning hands.

As the man's glow intensified, I have no choice but to step back. Through the cracks in my fingers, I get a peek at the man as he stands before me.

Seeing his face triggers something in my head and I fall to my knees.

"The headaches," I cry as I feel the pain comes back to me. It feels like something is crushing my head, squeezing it to the point of near-explosive. I close my eyes and slam my hands on my head as I scream. Despite the darkness I am seeing, I am also seeing flashes of something else.

"What is this," I cry as I see pictures of the man and me. "Is this a memory?"

My apparent memory shows the man and me fighting each other high in the sky, surrounded only by clouds. He is glowing once more, and once more, I have my hands on fire.

I bite my tongue as I fight through the relentless, aching headache. Opening my eyes, I see the glowing man charging toward me. He jumps into the air and rockets toward me.

It takes everything I have just to bring up my hands. As I do, the man grabs them and pushes me back. We both fall onto the ground and roll around until we both land on our feet.

"He is stronger than before," I think as he pushes me back. "It must be the glowing light. What is that glowing light?"

I do not have time to think about the answer. With one final push, the man knocks me off my feet and pins me to the ground. He places one hand over my chest and holds me down. Pulling back his hand, he then punches me over and over again.

As he prepares for his fourth punch, I regain enough of my sense to grab his hand. He is surprised by this and does not do anything except try to pull back his hand. With this small opening, I slam my hand against the side of the man's face and unleash a firestorm.

The glow fades and the glowing man quickly becomes only the man as he gets up and holds his face. Screaming as he stumbles around, I see my chance and run up from behind him.

This time, it is me who holds him. I wrap one arm around his throat and hold one of his arms behind his back.

"Tell me now," I say, staring at the man's smoking, sizzling face. "Tell me everything you know! I know you and I have met before! We had this exact fight before! You know who I am! Tell me! Tell me now! Tell me or I'll do this!"

I hold my burning hand over the man's face. He struggles to break free but cannot. As it seems, without the glow, I am much stronger than he is.

"You don't need me to tell you who you are," the man answers. "Just look at yourself now!"

"Look at me now," I repeat. "What?"

While wondering what the man could mean, the first shadowy man yells from the side. I turn my head and see him flying toward us. Before I could do anything, he tackles and knocks the two of us to the ground. There, the three of us struggle with each other.

"Let him go," the shadowy man says. He grabs my burning hands and pulls. I can hear the sound of sizzling but despite it, the man is still pulling. "Jacob! Move!"

The man, apparently named Jacob, jumps out of my grip. With him free, the shadowy figure can finally let go of my hands. Screaming as he falls to the ground, he cries and rolls as he looks at his red hands.

The shadows around his hands are gone, most likely burn away by the fire.

"Those are small hands," I think as I push myself up. "Wait, those are really small hands. Too small for a man. The second shadowy figure is a woman. It is a man and a woman. What does that mean?"

I do not have much time to think about it. Jacob hovers over the shadowy woman as she cries. He pulls out a bottle of water from his pocket and washes the woman's hands. Afterward, he swings the bottle and throws the water around.

I take a step before the water can hit me.

"Holy water," I think, "No doubt."

I watch from behind the line of spilled water as Jacob throws the woman's arm over his neck. They both look too tired to fight anymore. With both of them tired, I walk around the holy water. and approach them.

With my hands still on fire, and the whole gas station still surrounded by walls of fire, a power even I do not I could do, I look right at them.

"I do not want to fight anymore," I start, the fire on my hands dying down and my hand returning to normal. "But I will not be attacked anymore, nor will I live in secret. I demand, for your lives, that one of you tell me everything you know. Either you, Jacob, if that is your real name, or you, woman, tell me everything you know about me. If not."

It is like a click. I click something in my head and immediately, my hands go burning.

"If not," I repeat, "Then we will fight, and you will get burned. Badly."

Layafette:

"It looks like we're out of options here, Jacob," I say. "I'm so sorry about this."