Quote Originally Posted by InTheMachine View Post
John
Coils of black smoke emerge from Jaal’s nostrils, but he says nothing back to the magician.

“John,” Stella says, looking up at him. “You’re asking something of me that isn’t fair.” She returns her gaze to the ground, crossing her arms over her midsection tightly.

“I can’t wait. I have to know. Why did he tell you whatever his secret is, and not tell me? How do you and Seraph know he’ll be back?” As she speaks, the tears that she’d been holding back spill over onto her cheeks. “I c-can’t stay in the dark anymore. I don’t think I can bear it.”
“I warned you at the start that I was going to be unfair.

“He didn’t tell me,” John Said quietly. “I discovered it on my own. All he ever told me is that I should stay away from his packets and that he needed them because of something the Darkwatch caused. And because of what they caused, they hunted him, believing he was a monster.

“Like you, I wanted to give Raphael some time — especially because of you. The revelation wasn’t an easy one for him to make, if he was having to build up to making it.

“Until a short time ago, I wasn’t even certain if anyone else knew. I suspected Seraph did, of course. But I have no way of knowing how much Drake knew,” John said, motioning back toward the team lead.

John chuckled and looked down. “Funny thing, that. In bringing you here, Raphael entrusted many of our secrets to you. But he cares for you so much that he is afraid that if you learn his secret you might reject him, leaving him with a magnified pain and the memories of you.”

“Forgive me if I have lost count, Stella,” John said looking at her. “It has been an interesting day, to say the least and I have spent more of it in different states of being than is normal. But you know the importance of threes to practitioners like us — both for those who ask and those who answer.

“I will ask you a third time: Are you sure you want me to tell you? And know that, when I answer, I will not have the whole story and knowing incomplete stories require you to hold judgement in abeyance until you learn the rest.”