Trust Me | Fang x Janet

Dual Wars (Pt. 1)

EMZ POV
"Wait...what?" I asked, confused. "You want to help me. Like, help me, help Janet."

"Exactly!" Piper said, as if it all made so much sense. Nani, Rico, Poco and Sprout nodded enthusiastically, like they agreed too.

"I don't get it," I tried to clarify. "I thought you guys didn't like Janet, and supported Fang. And I thought you said she was 'the enemy'."

"Well...honestly, I've felt that Fang was always a but mean to Janet, and bullied her for absolutely no reason. And I thought, well, it doesn't look that bad, so I thought I could just leave it," Rico confessed.

"And now that we've seen the video about every horrible thing Fang has done, we now know the deep truth. And we're not gonna let Janet suffer because of him. We need to bring justice to her, and make sure that Fang knows this isn't okay," Nani pumped her fist into the air.

"It's thanks to you, EMZ," Poco added, looking kindly at me. I blushed from the compliment, my heart pounding as he said, "You stood up against Fang, and gave us the courage to start our own revolution against him."

"You're right," Andrea said. "We owe thanks to you, EMZ. Without your help, we wouldn't be here."

A number of other faces in the sea of people shouted about starting a war against Fang, to take revenge on him. Not just for Janet. But for ourselves. For fooling us, for coercing us, for hiding things from us, for controlling us.

Just then, my phone chimed with a post from the local news.

"Retropolis is preparing for war," I read out nervously.

"Uh-oh," Piper murmured. "That's definitely not good."

"No, guys," Jessie stood up and looked at everyone. "It's a sign. As one war starts, another blossoms. And thus begins the dual war : Brawltopia City against Retropolis, and all of us against Fang. Long live the revolution!"

"Viva la revolution!" The crowd roared along with her.

Maybe Jessie was right. Maybe it was a sign. But I couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that this impending war was in the near future. Just like the betrayal.

Janet POV
"No...no...no...no..." I whispered to myself. "It can't be, I can't be in love with him. He tortured me, pained me all my life! So why do I like him? It's impossible!"

And yet, the reminder of torture and pain that he caused to me matched with what he said about being sorry for the aforementioned—which made it even more real, scary, and oddly...

Comforting.

If I could ever forgive Fang, honestly?

He would make an awesome boyfriend.

He cared for Bibi.

He was nice to her.

He was handsome.

Stylish.

Fit.

Charismatic.

"NO!" I yelled at myself. .stop thinking about this now, he is your enemy! And you can never look past what he did, even if...he is...really, really cute..."

"Argh..." I growled as a mental image of Fang smiling widely, leaning against a shelf and eating popcorn, with his hair styled so perfectly, flashed through my mind.

"Hi, Janet," I heard his voice in my mind.

"STOP!" I shrieked. I needed something to take my mind off him. Something. Anything.

Then I took out my phone and read my latest notification.

"Retropolis is preparing for war with Brawltopia," I whispered.

Oh, crap.

Perhaps, just maybe, my wish had come a little too true—and also at the wrong moment.

Now there were two wars that would begin to rage.

Dual wars.

One last hazy mental image swept through my mind, knocking me off my feet as I groaned and fell, dazed.

"You'd better join my side, Fang. I still like you," an unfamiliar girl spoke, looking at Fang and I, collapsed on a pile of rubble. Fires everywhere, blazing with a deafening roar But the only thing I focused on was that traitor as she warned, "It's time to change sides. Switch over. Before you get caught in the cross fire."