Story a day: Wanting the same thing

This is my response to today’s story a day prompt. One did not go up yesterday, so I did not actually forget.

Anyway, today’s prompt is:

The Prompt

Write about an odd couple. No, your characters don’t have to be an actual romantic couple. They can be siblings, classmates, friends, enemies, or anything in-between. But you do need to have a couple (two people), and they do need to be at odds. Their personalities and their motivations should be dramatically divergent. Try to exaggerate their differences and see what action transpires. 

This is actually a scene from my work in progress because I thought that it suited the prompt well. I have not actually done a character spotlight on Jordan, but there is one of Warren that you can read here. I have also done one on Alice.

Enjoy!

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Warren strode towards the door, his fingers clenched into fists to display his anger at what he had been forced to do. There was no way that he wanted to go into this room and admit to his enemy that he needed help. However, he saw no actual choice in the situation. He pushed his shoulders back to attempt to show confidence in what he was doing before he opened the door and walked inside.

“Jordan,” he announced as he stepped inside, without actually looking at the occupier of the room. “I will come straight to the point and tell you that I need you to talk to Alice.”

The other man huffed out a breath. “Why would I want to do that?”

Warren felt himself press on the bridge of his nose. “Jordan, you know as well as I do that we both want the same thing right now. We both need her to be back here, and with us.”

“No. You want her to be back here so that you can control what she is doing, and I definitely do not want that to happen.”

“She needs to be taught about her powers. Even you must understand that she can’t just be left maybe controlling people without some kind of guidance. I simply want what is best for her, and I assume that you did as well.”

Jordan gave a snort. “What is best for her has nothing to do with you.”

“I am the nearest that she has to a father. I do actually care about her, it is not all an act. Jordan, as much as it pains me to say this, I need your help. She won’t listen to me, so I was hoping that you would be able to talk her round. What exactly would I need to offer to convince you?”

“There is nothing that I want from you.”

“Not even the chance to go home?” When Warren asked that question, he watched the conflict of emotions that were plainly seen on Jordan’s face. There was no doubt that the other man wanted to go back to the spirit world more than anything else, but something seemed to be pinning him to reality. With a gasp, Warren realised what that thing was. “You have fallen for Alice.”

Jordan’s wings flexed as he considered what he was going to say. “I supposed that I have,” he admitted it last. “I know that you are probably going to use that against me at some point, but, I don’t really care about what you do. Just know this, Warren, I am never going to help you to bring her back under your control.”

Warren’s nails were grazing his palms as he considered his options. Knowing that a Guardian had fallen for a Walker was something that he could probably use to his advantage. Of course, that would depend on the way that Alice felt about the situation. If she was somehow romantically involved then this was about to get messy, but, if not it gave him the perfect way to ensure that Jordan would be completely destroyed. Now, all they had to do was to try and convince Jordan to help get Alice to return. He considered that he knew the perfect way.

“Oh, I am sure that I will be able to convince you at some point.”

“Never. The last thing that I want to see is that she will become everything that you want her to be. The only thing that I will say to her is that she needs to run like hell.”

“That will depend on many things. Most of all, what her own feelings might actually be. Is she likely to listen if you tell her to go?”

Those shoulders sagged in defeat, and Jordan looked away. “Probably not.”

With a grin Warren went back towards the doorway. “Then I will have your help, won’t I?” He chuckled as he walked out of the room, locking the door behind him. His plan was to wait until Jordan fell asleep so that he could reach Alice in the dream that night.