The Mage, The Protagonists, and the Antagonist
Chapter One: The Beginning of the End
"You're weak!"
"That's true."
"You can't win in a drawn out, full on fight with me!"
"That's true too!" They nodded with a grin and a giggle.
She growled, "You're powerless! so why-"
"Hold on, that bit's not true. I may be weak, but I'm not powerless." They crossed their arms. "I'm fast. I've got grand powers. They just aren't for offence. They're for defence." She opened her mouth, most likely to shoot down defensive powers, but, "I'm not done. You haven't hit me once yet, remember?" They grinned again, fluttering their wings slightly so that they hovered an inch off the ground. "Don't you want to know my grand powers?" They were teasing her now. Luckily, she fell for it. Just a little more time.
"Grand powers? What, running and hiding?" She spat.
"Exactly." They said, matter of factly. They had her now. "For example, in a physical fight without powers, if you were to swing a punch at me and miss, that would take twice the effort." They tilted their head. "It's the same here. You can fire at me with all your powers, but if you can't hit me, you'll only end up draining yourself. So much that even a weakling like me could finish you off." They flew back a bit and did a flip in the air. "Easy peasy, lemon squeazy."
"That's a coward's plan! I expected better from you!" She shouted, clearly offended.
They frowned and narrowed their eyes. They mustn't, they told themself. I have a code.
"That's not my plan. My other grand powers, want to hear them?"
"Don't give me that rubbish about people underestimating you." She rolled her eyes and readied another attack.
"That's one of them." They nodded. "But also, they overestimate me."
*"What?"* She shook her head. "That's not possible. You can't overestimate someone while underestimating them."
"You can." They insisted. "In fact, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out, my best power, my real plan, after all that time we spent together."
"Yes, yes." She waved her hand dismissively. "You're a wonderful strategist. Don't forget though, you promised it would be you who defeated me."
"There you go." They shook their head, now flying higher, looking down on her. "Overestimating me again. I'm not exactly a good person, Cassandra."
"Bullshit, Landrow."
Landrow smiled wickedly. "You really don't know? You don't know my role at all."
Cassandra frowned. "What-"
"I'm the decoy. The distraction, the bait. The Shaggy and the Scooby-Doo, if you will." They flew up much higher now, out of range of... something.
"... What are you talking about, Landrow?" Her voice shook and she stared at them.
"You changed, and I changed, Ca-ssan-dra." They tilted their head more with every syllable of her name. Suddenly, they flew in close, whispering. "I'll let you in on a secret, before you die, Cass." They grinned a horrible grin and she began to wonder what they were really planning. Cass. They didn't call her that normally. It was a signal. But one that meant the guards were coming, to play along with those horrible games. What did they mean by it now? "I'm not weak. I've got powers beyond compare. I could've killed you even back then. What did you think I was doing there, Cass? How do you think we escaped?"
"We- There was an explosion! We got lucky!"
"Did we?" They hissed, grinning still more wider. Then they flew back again, quite suddenly.
"Goodbye, Cass. I am.. saddened that we didn't stay on the same team." And they were. "But don't worry. An antagonist isn't always the bad guy. Look at L. And Light! The protag isn't always the good guy." They quickly shut their mouth when their team came in and grabbed her.
"Good job, Landrieu!" One of them shouted. Landrow just nodded and wiped at their tears. "Oh, don't cry. We can rehabilitate her. You'll have your friend back." Landrow just smiled back and nodded. Cassandra didn't understand. Why did they say their name so funny? That wasn't how it was pronounced. And.. Rehabilitated? Cass...
"I have to admit." Another one said, "I was worried you'd try to kill her." Cassandra squinted. Kill me? She thought.
"They have a code. They don't kill." She said. She had an awful feeling about just what else was in their code. Why it was there. Why they were in that horrible place.
"Can't, more like." Another joked. "They only know defensive spells."
Again. Not true. Strange, how little these new friends of theirs knew about them. Landrow smiled sheepishly. They did know the other spells. They just sucked at them.
... right?