11 The Truth Will Come Out But Will It Set You Free? (1/2)
He wipes some of his tears and laughs, ”Haha. Are you like okay? What does that even mean. Like seriously? Hello? I'm right here, Sophia.”
”Oh, please. Don't mock me. You're horrible you know? A horrible actor.”
”Hm? Acting? I'm being real here. Very real.”
”You're emotions they're real. I can believe that. But the real Bradley has to be the Shadow Beast. And if he's the beast, then you must be someone else.”
”Oh, and who could I possibly be? You're being ridiculous. I really thought that an apprentice of Cecilia Ipruk would be better than this.”
”Better than this? I'm the best! In fact I'm the best person you'll ever meet.”
He rolls his eyes.
”You want to know something, 'Bradley'? Do you want to know, why I know your parents love was strained? Does the name, Darmae Farona, mean something to you.”
His eye twitches again but he says coldly, ”Pfft. That maid? From my childhood? What's she got to do with anything?”
She has everything to do with this! But, he's still not cracking. Not yet. She was hoping he would have a stronger reaction. Sophia tries a different approach.
”Hm. She's here you know? She told me some interesting things. If you were Bradley. You would remember her much more fondly. After all, you loved her a lot. Your cold reaction just now, is very suspicious.”
//Might or might not be a lie.//
”You would believe the dead over me?”
Ms. Ipruk thoughtfully responds with, ”The dead don't have much to hide after all they've already lost their lives.”
”Oh, so you believe the nonsense your pupil's spouting too, Cecilia?
”Of course. I'm her teacher after all.” her smile is icy, ”Besides little one, there's so much against you here. Sophia's right.”
”...”
”There's something that has been bothering me. After hearing your confession, about the barrier, I got to thinking, Gee what a talented young lad. 'Bradley' you said you're almost 30 years old?”
”So?”
”And you've been practicing magic for how long?”
”…a few years.”
”Let me tell you something, no amount of talent, could make a spell as strong like that. It would of had to be made by someone with a lot more experience.”
”Okay, so I didn't make it then.”
”No. You did make it. Why? Two reasons. One, you wanted to hide what Mr. Johnson created. If you paid someone else to do it then there would always be that risk of it getting out. Second, the magical energy of the barrier, it's yours. It's your energy. Tell me how that's possible?
”I…”
”You did it. Somehow, you gained years of experience in a short amount of time to make your magic powerful. How is that even possible? Unless, you're not really 'Bradley' after all.”
'Bradley' gives a soft smile.
A smile of defeat?
”Yes. You've caught me, Ms. Ipruk. You've always been brilliant. I'm not really Bradley. I'm sorry for lying.”
”I wish I could say it's nice to see you again, Mr. Johnson.”
Sophia isn't shocked about his true identity but to hear Ms. Ipruk call him that, it's very surreal. She almost can't believe it. But it's the truth, this man, who's supposed to be dead, is very much alive.
//How?//
”I'm assuming you're going to explain why you're possessing your son's body and said son is in a Shadow Beast. Unless…”
”Yes. Yes. Yes. I will. I will make it clear that no, I didn't want this to happen. Not at all. I really did not think that out of everything, I would find myself in this very shitty situation.”
Well, that's certainly one way to put it.
”You might want to sit down for this,” They don't sit down. He does though, but on the ground instead. ”It really started with the fucking accident. If I can even call it that. You see, it was my son's birthday, I asked him what he wanted and he shrugged and said 'I dunno, a dinner with the both of you would be nice for once', so I planned for that. I drove on the safest road and yet…”
”A Shadow Beast attacked you? I presume.” Ms. Ipruk finishes for him.
”Yes. Yes. It came from the front but it was so sudden, I couldn't react fast enough… As we flipped over, all I could think to do was put a barrier around us, trying to lessen the impact… My legs were broken and everything was painful but I managed to crawl out from the car and I pulled my wife out with me, just barely but, I was too late. My wife… she didn't make it.”
”What about Bradley?”
”He also managed to get out of the car but he was in a worse condition than me. Something punctured his side. I did my best and probably sloppiest healing ever but I was losing him. I could feel his soul slipping from my grasp. I-I...”