
Misery Saves the Night
By Brittany Allen
Table of Contents
Prologue: The NSSH and You pg. 3
Chapter 1: The Capture pg. 8
Chapter 2: The Girl on the Seventh Floor pg. 22
Chapter 3: Have Wings, Will Fly pg. 44
Chapter 4: Into the Unknown pg. 62
Chapter 5: To Farous We Go pg. 84
Chapter 6: Operation: Get that Witch pg. 105
Chapter 7: She Chose Him pg. 129
Chapter 8: Reflections pg. 152
Chapter 9: Deceit pg. 175
Chapter 10: The Awakening pg. 195
Chapter 11: Long Awaited Reunions pg. 218
Chapter 12: From the End to the Beginning pg. 243
Prologue
The NSSH and You
A soft, warm wind blew on a day just like any the people of the country of Disten had experienced before. The streets were full of people coming home from work or heading out for the evening. In the small neighborhoods citizens walking at their leisure on the sidewalks waved to everyone they met, whether they knew them or not. They were a picture perfect society, but not without their fair share of crime just like the other parts of the world.
In all the euphoria and picturesque life that was Disten, lay a secret hidden in the shadows of their government. For the past two decades people with abilities not known to that of the normal humans began to show up all around the world. Their numbers were small and the people were mostly mild in their temper. Though, there were those handfuls of super powered humans that chose to set people on fire, blow buildings up, rob banks, and raising the crime levels in general.
In all of the panic the nation's government elected a new leader named Temthaw Vene. This man, Temthaw Vene promised he could control the new breed of people. Half of year in his position, Temthaw had leveled the old government and replaced it with his own. The new government was called the Nation Security of Super Humans. Sadly it was exactly what it sounded like.
Normal citizens loved the NSSH as they watched crime limits fall to the lowest level in history. What these people did not recognize was that their neighbors, coworkers, friends, and many others were slowly disappearing. Around the same time the NSSH began acquiring large patches of land that was off limits to civilians. No one paid too much attention to the actions of their government as long as they were healthy, happy, and safe.
For the sake of those missing, whom were never reported gone, someone should have cared. Inside the newly acquired land, the NSSH constructed tiny homes with the bare minimum access to necessities. Each house, which was nothing more than four walls and a roof, was one room with basic utilities. That one room served as the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom. Entire families of special ability humans were shoved into these cramp quarters so that they could be watched and regulated.
Once all preparations were complete, every one of those gifted with an unnatural ability were shoved into the cramp Zones. Not one person was spared from the NSSH wrath, other than the normal humans that was. Men, women, and even children became the new inhabitants of these man created hells. To ensure that there would be no attempts of escape; guards were stationed outside of each of these neighborhoods that were called 'Zones.' With the guards not being enough security for Temthaw's liking, a fence that surged with power dampening electricity surrounded the compound.
For the first several months, the prisoners did not sit back and accept the new forced upon them. All over the country people banded together and did everything they could to force their way out of the Zones. Each attempt ended in failure and each time they exhausted more and more power. With the special power restraint electronic fence, the power they used was gone forever and little by little they were losing all of it.
Inside a shack in one of the several dozen Zones, a couple sat on the dirt floor in the summer heat. The only thing that relieved them of the heat was the occasional breeze that came sweeping through the open front door. Her husband wiped the beads of sweat off of her tanned forehead and pulled back her violet hair with a hair elastic to try and cool her. She looked into his mournful silver eyes and ran her hand softly over his milky white skin.
"I know you are doing all you can for 'us,' but ugh!" The woman grabbed her bulging belly in pain. "It's that fence. I heard the couple on the north end of the neighborhood lost their baby because of it." She cradled the bottom of her stomach. "We can't lose ours. We have to get out of here soon..."
"And we will. We will." As his wife drifted to sleep, he laid her head tenderly on a lilac silk pillow which it also happened to be the only belonging they had from their old lives.
Straining to stand, the man pulled himself off of the ground and snuck out the back door of his house. Under the cover of the night, he crept down low behind the rows of bushes that lined the back of homes. Crawling along the path dirt and twig pieces dug into his hands. Against his boney legs the ground was hard causing an agonizing mounting pain with each stride.
He headed south while trying to avoid the patrol vehicles and spot lights. This was the first time he had done anything so reckless in his life, but for the sake of his wife and unborn child, he'd do anything. Heart racing and sweat coming out of every pore, he finally spotted several other prisoners of the Zone. Two men and four women greeted him behind the safety of the bushes.
"We are to move soon. I have knowledge from reading one of the tech soldiers mind that the fence is will be down for ten seconds while they put a new program in place. This new security program will not only be able to tell that we are still in the zone, but also where we are at during every second of the day!" The woman with the triangle face and short red hair whispered to her friends.
"That means this is the only chance we'll have of getting out of here." A man with a frail body frame poking his head out from behind a tree trunk said what everyone else was thinking.
"Yes, but during that ten seconds they're going to have us all locked in our homes so we can't escape." The second man said as he held back the urge to punch a tree.
"My wife can't survive much longer here. I am pretty sure your families are in the same way. We'll need to pull everyone's powers who can still manage them. I have the perfect plan." The man relayed his idea to the others who agreed that it might just work.
In the week leading up to the switchover, the group recruited all those willing and able. They knew being confined in that cage was not right, not even for an animal. For their families these people would risk their own lives at the slight chance that they might make it out. The team met in the same spot behind the bushes to fine tune the last details of the plan until it they had it all memorized by heart. Days passed slowly and the minutes wound down until the moment had finally arrived.
Inside their homes, guarded by a dozen NSSH soldiers, they waited for the moment to arrive. The man held his barely conscious wife in his arms while waiting at their back door. While waiting he went over the operation in his mind.
"First because we are only allowed the ten second window, we have to take out the guards first. Team one, the Psychics have that covered. They are going to pull their forces and send out a wave a power that is lower than what the minimum level for the scanners are. That wave will not knock out the guards, but make them believe that everything is running smoothly. That's when the fence goes down and team two moves in to destroy the fence. With it out of commission, I help those too weak to move with my abilities. After we make it off of the Zone and into the woods, we're on our own." His wife was losing her balance so he wrapped her in his right arm and let her head rest on his shoulder.
"Three. Two... One!" The psychics let out the call and the next minute of his life was a blur. He felt his body moving and power surging, but was in another consciousness completely until he found himself out in the middle of a field under a crystal blue moon.
One last look behind him, and he saw the Zone had gone up in flames. He had helped many people move out of the Zone, but now it was time for him to focus on his own family. As soon as she was out of the Zone's boundaries, his wife was already feeling better. She no longer needed her husband's assistance and was able to use her own power to make them invisible even to the eyes of the NSSH's most powerful soldiers. Dodging spotlights, soldiers, and dogs, the couple headed west towards the mountains.
"This isn't the last we'll see of them." She referenced to the NSSH. "We may not have started this war, but somehow I know the ones to stop it will be us." With a strong desire in her eyes she felt her stomach twitch.
"Their days are numbered." The man said as he helped his wife sit down a fallen tree. "I heard rumors of a group in the west..." He stopped when his wife grabbed his hand.
"THE BABY IS COMING!" She screamed, but then smiled. "They'll be born free and healthy."
"They have no idea what will be coming for them." He looked into her eyes and she raised her head to his thin lips. "I love you and in the end that is all that matter."
Night had come and all citizens locked themselves in their homes. Everything at the neighborhood Nation Security of Super Humans, or the NSSH, was quiet and undisturbed. This was the way each night had been all over the country of Disten for the past fifty years, ever since the NSSH had moved in. Once the streets had been full of people talking and playing around, but now lonely security vehicles roamed city streets at night, arresting anyone who dared stepped out of their homes. For this was not a normal country with your everyday citizens.
Disten was a country of super powered humans who lay under the control of their government. Since the sixties those humans who were born with the ability to foresee the future, move objects with their minds, and any other power not born in "normal" man was segregated into small, secured facilities, or Zones. In these Zones, superhuman individuals lived together for days, weeks, or even years on end without stepping outside electromagnetic walls. They waited for the day when their government would call upon them to serve the nation. Many times the individual would never return to the Zone from their mission.
Now, these men, women, and sometimes even children were not considered heroes, for their actions could be considered villainous. They would do anything and everything the NSSH told them to do. Whether it would be rushing into a burning building to save civilians or going overseas to carry out a political assassination, they would comply.
Most super powered humans would die on their quest mostly due to poor training and nourishment. If they would complete their quest, they would be hired on part or full time to a part of the NSSH government. With the loyal NSSH officers, came the handful of people who escaped their captures and went into hiding. If anyone had managed to escape, it would usually be one or two months before he or she were inevitably caught again. Only two people had ever fully eluded the NSSH with their ware bouts unknown. These two where on the NSSH most wanted list. A kill on sight order was out for these two people and no one ever disobeyed orders.
Beep!
...
Beep!
"Ugh?" A young man stumbled out of his sleep and out of slumber. "What?" His hands brushed piles of papers off the security console in front of him. "No!" Something on the screen before him had him fully awake now. It was a message from field scouts with what surely had to be a joke.
"This cannot be..." Hands shaking and his heart racing, this man no older than in his late twenties or mid-thirties closed his eyes and concentrated. "Lieutenant Sean, sir?" He communicated through brain waves, a telepath.
"Officer Ian, what has got you all up in a flurry?" Lieutenant Sean, also a telepath conversed back. He could hear the younger agent having a panic attack.
"Huh, huh." Ian inhaled than let his breath go. "Lieutenant, there has been a sighting. The Hunter says so."
Sean, who had been reading the local newspaper, let out a jolly laughter. "About time. About damn time." He slowly stood out of his comfortable black leather swivel chair, still laughing. Sean took a sip out of the cup of coffee sitting on his mahogany desk as though he knew what the boy was talking about. This was a day he had waited decades for.
Having not received further instructions from Sean, Ian reestablished contact. "Sir, are you still there?"
"Meet in room B in five, soldier!" That was all Sean had conveyed before contacting several other NSSH officers working in the neighborhood area.
He wobbled, being a heavy-set man as he was, over to his mahogany wardrobe that matched the desk in his office. Inside of it was a row of white, standard issue lieutenant uniforms. All nine uniforms of which had not been worn within the last ten years. Sean picked the suit hanging on the end of the right side of the wardrobe. It was the most recent uniform he owned and the biggest as well.
"Ugh!" He struggled out of his gray sweatshirt and sweat pants, leaving him short of breath and blue in the face.
Within three minutes of struggling with his uniform, Sean had managed to button the button at the end of his crisp polyester shirt. Thunderous plods of his steps could be heard the moment he stepped out of his office and into the main hall of the NSSH headquarters where they worked. His eyes caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall to the left.
"Ugh!" The lieutenant picked up his pace. "Thirty seconds left. Good grief I should have said thirty instead of five." His legs started to cramp and he lost his balance. White fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling began to blur as the gray walls spun around the lieutenant.
Luckily, Sean was at his destination, room B. Before going into the room, he straightened the dull crumpled suit he had so forcefully shoved over his bulging frame. After pushing the last strands of grey hairs into place on top his head, Sean turned the cold door handle ready to greet his troops.
A bright white light greeted him inside room B. Nine men stood around a silver metallic rectangular table, all of whom saluted the lieutenant as he entered.
"At ease, gentlemen." Sean sat at the head of the table and the other men followed suit.
"Here you are, Lieutenant Sean sir." Officer Terrance, to the left of Sean, passed the lieutenant a manila folder. "This just came in, and if I may say so sir, there is not much to go on."
The lieutenant let out a grunt then thumbed through the folder.
"Has not approached... Has not been approached..." He said a few words aloud while reading all of the available information. "No pictures!" Sean slammed his swollen fist on the desk. None of the officers stirred, they had gotten used to their superiors antics.
"No sir!" Officer Arcane on Sean's left informed the group. "The patrol squad only got an alarm as they passed its position by mistake. Unfortunately they believe its abilities may be blocking any readings of it, sir."
"Ugh, yeah. I suppose that sounds about right. Maybe..." Sean scratched his pale white neck. "Alright, you three there." He pointed to the three officers on his right. "You will be led by Arcane to bring about a thirty mile diameter quarantine force field of the surrounding area."
The selected team stood and saluted their lieutenant. "Yes sir!" They shouted remaining in their position until they were to be dismissed.
"Terrance you and the other four, which includes Ian, will lead the capture with me." He surveyed the group. "Who is the Nature Combatant here?" Sean referred to the one team member who could shape and control nature to their will.
A poor sullen excuse for an officer raised his hand. "I am sir." He stood before Sean like a pale reflection in a mirror.
"Good." He commented speaking to himself. "And the Healers?" The lieutenant referred to the twins at the end of the table.
Ever since the first recorded history of super humans, twins had always had the ability to heal and mend others using their abilities. However, that was not the case with triplets and other multiple births. Triplets had been known to be fire starters and sextuplets usually developed psychic abilities due to so many of them sharing one brain wave.
"Combatants!" Sean signaled to the final two in his command. "And Terrance you are my defense, correct."
"Yes sir!" His team chanted in unionism.
The lieutenant stood and admired his hand chosen crew of only those he deemed the best. "Now, need I remind you that this is a Level Five security danger and we must take the necessary steps and precautions to make sure this is done without a hitch?"
"Yes sir!" The nine officers saluted once more.
"Now fallout, soldiers." Sean led the two teams out of the room.
They walked down the hall together in the opposite direction Lieutenant Sean had come from. At the end of the hall, there were three directions; forward, left, and right. For each team there was a path. Arcane's team went left for that was the way to their division's transportation. Team Two went left for ammo and weapons, for 'insurance', before they rejoined team one at the rendezvous position.
Team Two loaded up on semi-automatic handguns, gas grenades, and stun guns in a faintly lighted room at the end of their hallway. These were all instruments that scientist believed should knock out or kill any super powered human if initial sedation failed to do so. A few of the soldiers had sparkles in their eyes as they selected their weapons. They were trained to be the best, but being the best was easy when almost everyone conformed to the rules of the NSSH. So when it would come time for them to be in an actual conflict, it was as if Christmas had come early. As soon as they had made sure all weapons were loaded, with a silent nod to one another, the headed to their hanger.
As for the lieutenant, he headed forward and up several flights of stairs before he reached his destination, the roof. Resting on top the small river stones of the Disten NSSH headquarters building roof was a shimmering black helicopter. Inside, the pilot motioned for Lieutenant Sean to come aboard the aircraft. With the blades pushing dust and small pebbles at him, the lieutenant forced his body through the mess and jumped into the cockpit of the vehicle. Now he sat in the copilot's seat and gave thumbs up signaling them it was okay to head out. The helicopter took off with a jolt shaking the lieutenant, but leaving the pilot with a satisfied grin.
Team one had reached the destination first and secured the area as they were told to. They cleared out any citizens, who were legally permitted to be out, away from the scene and sent them back to their homes. Failure to follow the soldier's orders would result in immediate death. Dressed in their black camouflage uniforms, Terrance led his crew in formation around the target. Spreading out in a circle, they channeled every bit of power they had. Everything had to play out perfectly with no room for mistakes.
Ian was not a part of the force field squad. He was a special soldier in his own right. No other officer in NSSH history held his job position as it was created be Lieutenant Sean specifically for the boy. What Ian did for the NSSH was to supervise the night field agents and occasional act as a "filler" member on field missions. Tonight was the first night he had actually stepped out of his office since being employed by the NSSH.
For safety purposes Ian and the other officers were given orders not to look into the direction of the target. Still treating the creature as unknown to them, they should not have any contact with it. As a straight by the book man, Ian did not even let the thought cross his mind. Instead, he focused on his task and the beautiful scenery around him, and what a night it was.
A beautiful crystal white moon shone full in the sky above them and cast its glow onto the team. Everything thing underneath the satellite was illuminated its soft blue light. Warm air ruffled their uniforms and cooled their bodies. The scent from nearby flowers floated into their nostrils and soothed their tension away. It was the perfect weather for a mid-summers night full of mystery with a slight possibility of adventure.
"Wicked..."
Ian twitched. "What?" He turned side to side. "Did somebody..." His question faded as it was answered while he watched his other teammates setting up a force field. He shrugged it off. "Just the wind playing tricks on me I suppose."
Two miles away Sean was getting out of the helicopter, looking rather shaken over his flight. The pilot laughed at the lieutenant's misery. Bad blood flowed through the pair. It was bad and old blood that streamed from decades of just being partnered with each other. All Sean could do was take what was served and wait for the ball to be in his court.
Two slick black military jeeps, in the same style as the copter, greeted Sean. One man stepped out of the vehicle to his right. Lieutenant Sean shook the other man's hand who was obviously a rank or two below himself.
"Greetings lieutenant, I am Corporal Tristan and it was I who first spotted the beast. Hop in and we will take you to the site." He told Sean opening the jeep's side door and pointing to the back seat.
The jeep started off shaking all of its fares as it sped over the many river stones beneath its tires. A dry spell has cause the old river of the mountain region to dry up. Beneath the beauty of Disten laid years of harmful pollution caused by the run off of various NSSH facilities. In particular, it was the research divisions dumping toxic wastes into, at the time, uninhabited land.
"As you already know, lieutenant." Tristan paused midsentence to take a puff the brown cigar that hung loosely from his thin lips. "We have restricted almost all officers and civilians from nearing or disturbing the creature and..."
"That is why you ordered my team and I here." Sean buffed one of several large medallions hanging from his left breast pocket. "I am the most experienced and most qualified telepath the NSSH has in it employment and my officers are no different." He did not hold back on the blatant bragging.
"But you are mistaken, Lieutenant Sean sir." Tristan made the lieutenants brow rise. "They are the government's property and not 'yours'. Even you are part of the government's property."
Sean was raising his hand ready to object and teach the boy a lesson when all of a sudden the jeep stopped. He did not need anyone to speak to tell him why they had stopped. They had made it to their destination.
"Not naturals." The voice whispered again.
Ian whipped around to see he was still off all by himself. "Finally he's here." Dismissing the voice again, and walked over to greet his superiors. Everyone was signaled to disperse from the scene and give Lieutenant Sean room to work.
"Peace... Guardian..." Whispered the voice only for Ian let it pass in one ear and out the other.
"What is he doing?" He asked the Combat Team leader, but was quickly shushed as he readied himself for the capture.
Being that this was the first time Ian had actually been allowed on a field mission he was not aware that Sean was trying to paralyze the creature who sat on a branch on the tree in the center of the field. If he had known about what was to come, Ian may had said something to the lieutenant and avoided the inevitable catastrophe that was being set into place.
Sean crouched to the ground as low as he could and waddled over to the tree with the creature sitting in it. "Your body is weak." He spoke in a tone different from the one of his natural voice. This voice was slow and dazing to its target.
"No closer." Ian slapped his head hearing the voice again. "Your death is your own choice."
"No!" Ian gasped feeling his throat closing. In a moment of clarity Ian knew where the voice was coming from. Even with his most dire efforts he could not yell to warn Sean of the imposing danger. For the first time that night, Ian had looked directly at the creature in the tree.
Clinque! A sharp chime from an unseen bell rang the moment Sean noticed the thing in the tree had a pair of glistening silver wings. They mesmerized him with their crushed crystal glow covering half of the creature's body height. It had begun.
"Oh..." Ian was truly lost for words. He gazed at the beings sleek and toned legs and its thick, long hair flowing in the breeze of the night.
"No closer!" The being shouted, but its words were to only be heard by Ian.
Sean was right next to the tree now, getting ready to release his full hypnotic powers when the creature stood up on the branch. If anyone other than Ian had broken orders and actually looked at this beings form, they may have warned Sean. However, everyone else had been so fixated on waiting for their signal and waiting on orders that they had forgotten about what a true threat the creature could really be. Even behind all their abilities and force fields, they were opened for any and every attack the creature could throw at them.
Sean's voice got louder and louder. This was his second mistake. Ian watched as the beings eyes opened and against the night's sky, its eyes looked like two silver oval moons shining and they cast a spell of their own.
"Humph!" He huffed, still unable to find his voice. Ian knew what was happening, they had awoken a monster.
Sparks flowed through the creatures veins and illuminated the dark of the night. It drifted down from its resting place in the tree and landed face to face with Sean.
"Ha!" Sean said in satisfaction, actually believing that the being was now under his control. "Eh?" This was the first time Sean or anybody had seen the creature up close and this first encounter left him speechless.
Its long mauve hair flowing in the wind covered its bare, full chest and ended just below the back of her knees. Tiny waist and wide silver eyes made her the most beautiful women Lieutenant Sean ever had the pleasure of laying his eyes on, even if it was the last thing he might ever see.
One moon white arm reached in the air and pointed to Sean, but he only laughed. The Combatant Team had set a force field around the girl even though they could not see her. It was a secondary measure in case it failed to be subjected to paralysis.
Ian could feel the creature's heart beat fiercely. He knew she was getting a feeling of something she had never felt before, helplessness. This unfamiliar emotion filled Ian's own senses. Somehow he could feel her aura and it was not pleasant.
Rapid images flashed into her mind of possible battle scenarios to escape the situation; unfortunately, Ian was seeing these images as well. They flashed in a strobe light fashion and were unable to truly make out what was actually being shown. Then they stopped and Ian saw the future that was about to be played out. He dropped to the ground as sharp pains attacked his sides and he felt his heart begin to constrict. Nobody bothered paying attention to Ian as he curled up on the ground and struggled to find his voice.
"She's not going anywhere, boys." Sean sent the team the signal.
One by one, and quite unnecessarily too, remaining members of team one and team too rushed the field with the woman as their ultimate target. The woman could feel their presence and cocked her head to one side playfully and for one second Sean was sure he had heard her giggle. He wanted to call off the troops, but all too soon, he realized who was actually in control of the entire situation. Sean could no longer move although he could feel his body moving. Now he was her puppet.
More sparks flashed from her being all the while everyone else was unaware she was now calling the shots. Fully charged and ready to go, the woman turned Sean facing the troops only yards from her current position. Both teams stopped in their tracks.
"What is he doing?" The nature ability officer asked feeling something was off.
"It is okay." Sean heard himself tell the officers. "She is under my complete paralysis. Harmless."
"She?" Many of the men chattered now approaching slower and with more caution.
Only inches from her, the woman set her plan into action. In a flash, the officers saw Sean fly into the air and head toward the jeeps.
CRASH! He had made direct contact with one of the vehicles.
"It's a trap!" Ian, feeling slightly better and up off the ground, shouted in an effort to spare their lives.
A warm white energy emitted from the woman's body a flooded the area in the force field.
"Ah..." Teams one and two cooed soothingly right before disintegrating into thin air.
Remaining members of the NSSH felt their hearts stop and eyes widen, for this was the first time they had ever seen a super powered human with that ability. To them, they were unprepared to deal with this situation and made an effort to run for cover.
The woman would not have anyone flee from her and now with the force field down, she was ready to stretch her wings, literally. Lifting in the air, in a flash she had tilted her stomach toward the ground and flittered off for the other men who were at this point jumping into their car. Streams of glittering silver light emanated from her wings as she crossed the sky with only one thing on her mind. When the other officers found that their vehicles no longer worked, they had no other choice but to watch what the woman was planning to do next.
She stopped and stood in the air just enough room to avoid touching the ground. Her oval crystal eyes stared daggers into the men's souls, letting them feel the pain of all their past wrongs. However, she was not done with them yet. Without any warning, she flung her arms behind her back and turned her left shoulder at them right before charging towards the car. With both arms behind her, this woman built up an enormous amount of white sparking energy.
Her arms found their right place at her side and while still running on air, she managed to let both balls of energy go towards the jeeps. Each man inside those vehicles tried so desperately to get out of the vehicles and if it was not for the woman sealing the cars shut, they may have escaped emanate death. The orbs of energy had direct contact with the cars and for a moment, it seemed as though they were duds. The men trapped in the cars let out a sigh of relief before the cars exploded into a million pieces into the air.
Ian, who had been watching all events unfold, took matters into his own hands. He had been trying to use his telepathic ability to contact help. There was just one man he was trying to find. There were only two men in the world Ian truly trusted. One was lying on the ground unconscious, possibly dead. And with some stroke of luck, Ian hacked into his best friend's brainwave.
With the evils now destroyed, the woman stood hovering on the ground admiring her own handy work. She was so caught up in her moment that she failed to notice the seven foot tall mass of flames and boulders coming up right behind her. In one smooth movement, the moving human volcano struck the girl in the center of her back with his hot rock solid fist. Her body jerked forward and all of her joints locked.
The injuries had sent a reaction throughout her entire body. It started as a spark at the base of her brain and continued downwards from there. Her powers began to fluctuate and search for a direction, instructions, or an outlet. These powers found no such relief and had only one way to go now.
"Trey!" Ian cried in relief as the golem threw his body on the boy's fragile form. "Hey man!" He screamed. "I am happy to see you too but..."
"Shush, you idiot!" Trey pinned Ian to the ground. He knew the boy's body would not last through what was happening.
CRACK! The woman's body hung loosely in the air and the scene fell silent. Three seconds later a crystal white light, much like what she had used earlier that night, expunged itself from her body. Rays shot from her brilliant oval eyes and expressionless mouth. Cries called out from her body, but no one was there to come to her aid. Built up energy was exiting her body not fast enough. A round ball of energy started to form in the pit of her stomach. When it was big enough, it shot out of her torso, sucking almost all of her life force with it.
This force of energy did not stay around her body, but flowed in all directions including at Trey's own rock hard body. However, the rock man was not all unaffected by her power. Layers of rock were stripped away as fresh lava flowed through his cuts and hardening in place of the already damaged rock. His only choice was to pull through the pains and wait for her to drain completely and stop her rampage. The entire event lasted longer than he had anticipated. Rock was being broke through faster than he could heal it back. Trey was about to faint from the pain of constantly growing his rock skin back when the light extinguished and the night had become dark once again.
Trey released Ian from under his chest and sat next to him on the ground. He waited for his body to heal again before checking out the scene. What he saw was completely amazing. As her powers injured him, they repaired the land around them. Streams were no longer polluted, manmade contraptions like barb wired fences and bear traps where destroyed, all floras had grown and sparkled with life, and the animal's population multiplied.
With Trey taking all the injuries, Ian was up on his feet and rushing over to the woman's side to see if she was still alive. "After all." He thought to aloud. "Nothing could have survived a drain like that. That woman is definitely dead."
The story was entirely different once Ian had crossed the scorched earth where wild flowers and flowing green grass once grew and was now growing. He stopped by her side, much more out of curiosity than for caring for her wellbeing. After all, this being had made contact with him, and although he did not fully understand what she was communicating to him, he still had the urge to see her up close.
"Ugh!" Ian got a full look at her nude body and backed up. "No, no, no." He continued inching away from her until he could no longer see every detail of her body.
With his strength returning, Trey sighed and joined Ian at a safe distance from the woman.
"G, g, g..." Ian murmured, feeling ashamed for looking at the naked woman.
Trey slapped him on the back. "You cannot tell me that." He laughed. "That you have never seen a woman? I am sure Justine could tell me otherwise."
The golem went over to check on her condition and it was after her got a good look at the woman's body that he joined Ian a safe distance from her.
"That's not a woman..." Trey felt the same disgust Ian had felt when he had seen a young girl had taken the woman's place.
"I know." Ian finally managed to croak out. "She has to be no younger fourteen, fifteen years old."Trey nodded. "And she is still breathing."
It all became silent again while they surveyed the damage that one little being had caused. She had killed both teams and the higher ups from the NSSH without taking a single scratch from any of it.
Errrrrrrrrrr! Errrrrrrrrrr! A siren rang out into the silence. It was a convoy lead by several NSSH security vehicles and followed by half a dozen ambulances.
Ian had called for the proper authorities after contacting his golem buddy. It was just that Trey responded faster than the rest of them. In seconds, dressed paramedics were out on the scene and a second force field was in place. Many of the remains that they found were scattered parts of the men trapped in the jeeps.
"We've got a live one!" A male paramedic shouted over the helicopters and shouting from other personnel on the scene. "His identification says Lieutenant Sean."
Ian, who had been getting treated by another paramedic, shook his head in disbelief. "The old man was alive after all that had happened." He was sure Sean had been crushed from the blow sustained from being thrown half a mile through the air and landing on an armored jeep vehicle.
"Make that two!" A Healer commented after she checked the girl who had been responsible for the entire ordeal.
"Alright!" The highest ranking Healer called. "Get all those who have a chance of survival on a stretcher and back to the NSSMC." The NSSMC was short for Nation Security of Super Humans Medical Center. Even as the girl gave every ounce of life she had to be free, in the end she still ended up as their wild animal in a cage.
Ian and Trey were loaded into an ambulance of their own. The youngest of the pair watched the unnamed girl get loaded into the ambulance opposite of them, but unlike the girl Trey and Ian had an NSSH representative riding with them.
"Now." The man with slick black hair and a pointed nose adjusted his glasses. "My name is Cirri Shor and I am here to take account of tonight's events."
Without caring for what Cirri had to say, Trey reached over towards his head and pulled out a single strand of hair.
"Ouch!" The pasty pale excuse for a NSSH officer rubbed the spot that was now one hair short. "And what was that for?!" He demanded, ready to pull rank on Trey.
"Eh?" Ian raised a brow. "What?"
The burning mass of stone and lava bellowed while slapping his knee. "You saw that did you?" Trey quieted down. "Not too many people can see me when I collect their DNA. I can slow the time around me in order to gather samples of people for my tracking purposes. That single strand of hair I took from you will allow me to track you all over the world and beyond."
Cirri was unnerved. He had fallen into a Hunter's trap. Now Trey would be able to follow him and find him where ever he was.
"Give it back!" Cirri reached for the hand that had stripped him of a strand of hair.
"Too late." Trey explained. "As soon as DNA touches my skin, it is burned and imprinted into my memory."
Ian scouted away from the golem. "Uh, Trey..." He stammered. "Did you ever take a piece of my DNA?"
Trey pulled Ian back to his seat. "Of course! The first time we met all those years ago. It is sort of a habit or hobby of mine if you will."
Cirri readjusted his glasses once again. "Now if we can get back on track, I need you two to fill out these lines here." He pointed to their personal information on the forms. "And you can use the last two pages to write your statements of tonight's events.
Trey watched as Ian did as Cirri told him to, but he would not be subjected to such humiliation.
"And why are you not filling out your report, Trey is it?" The NSSH officer let his glasses hit Trey's eyes with their glint.
He leaned his massive body against the back of the ambulance sending it tipping dangerously close to the asphalt. The driver gave the steering wheel a sharp jerk in the opposite direction before the vehicle had stabilized.
"Heh, because the same reason," He reached over and grabbed the forms that Ian had been so diligently filling out. "That my buddy isn't either."
Ian did not dare challenge his mammoth's friend's intentions. For whatever Trey's reasons were, he knew what he was doing.
"And those reasons are?" Cirri indulged the man.
"I arrived on the scene not but seconds before you guys did and I found Ian here passed out." He did not look at Ian although he could count on him to take his side.
"Umm..." Cirri looked Ian over looking for possible tells that Trey was lying. What he did not count on though was Ian being a very gifted liar. "Is that so, Mister Ian?"
"Yes, I had fainted from low blood sugar." The boy came up with a very plausible lie. "If you check my files you will see that I am diabetic and was working late when the call came in there by not giving me a chance to get anything to eat. Shortly after helping the others secure the sight I had passed out and I guessed they did not bother to check on me."
Trey was proud of his friend. He had come through for him like he knew Ian would.
Cirri processed all the information, going over all details presented before discovering one vital flaw in the duo's story.
"If everyone was either dead or unconscious at the scene, then how is it that you," He pointed to Trey. "Knew there was something going on? This is... Was a classified mission and from what I was told you were not on this case." His thin lips curled into a wry smile thinking he had the pair beat. There was no way they were going to get out of this lie now.
Ian started to shift. "Oh no! He found out! No, no, no!" His heart beat increased thinking to himself. "How is Justine going to react when I don't come home! And how will she take it when they tell her that I am being held at a NSSH jail division?"
"Lieutenant Sean." Trey took over seeing how anxious Ian was starting to become.
The nervous boy officer sighed in relief. He knew Trey had his back, even though it was Trey who had started the whole mess in the first place.
"Being the accomplished telepath as he is, Lieutenant Sean sent a distress signal that I just so happened to catch wind of." Now it was Trey's turn to smirk and watch Cirri ramble.
In the second ambulance, the girl found at the scene was being given immediate medical attention. Although she was still breathing and had a pulse, it was like she was an empty shell. She did not respond to any of the medicine they had administered her. Reports done on her body showed that there was no brain activity present. It was almost as if she had been this way all her life.
"The hospital is coming up." The driver shouted back to the medics who were still performing various tests on the girl.
"Alright!" A woman shouted. She shook her long lemon blond bangs from her face. "I need force fields all around this girl. When we enter the building, all precautions must be taken and maintained!"
The girl everyone had been talking about was nothing more than mere flesh and bones strapped to a stretcher. Her long mauve hair hung loosely over its side. Both her hair and body was covered in dirt, sweat, and the damp morning air. She looked uncomfortable like she had just crawled out of a sewer as she slid all over the stretcher. But no one seemed to give the girl any mercy or pity. All they wanted was to try and salvage what body was left of hers for medical testing.
An ambulance zone for special cases, like the one they were dealing with, was coming up fast. In its door way stood several Combat teams. Each one stood ready for this girl's arrival and kept track of each move the ambulance made. They were dressed in dark black tshirts and denim jeans with the same sturdy, determined look on each of their faces.
"I heard she took out two teams of the best ability enabled humans that NSSH has in its employment." One officer chattered to his teammates.
"Yeah." Another one started all while keeping his stance and eyes on the approaching vehicle. "Plus a dozen high ranking government members. She even got General Harold of Division three."
The young men oowed and awed at every little piece of information they feed each other, whether the information be true or just tall tales and rumors. This young girl was on the grid for less than seven hours and their whole continent seemed to know of her existence.
For the rest of the ride the ambulance was quiet. Cirri was busy writing down the 'new' information that Trey and Ian had so easily given to him. As for Trey and Ian, they were having a conversation about what really did happen that night. Luckily, for the pair, they both were psychic and they could talk freely without anyone not involved in the chat sticking their noses where they did not belong.
"Why did you make me lie, Trey? You know they could have us murdered for this?" Although Ian was a terrific liar, at heart he was still too pure for his own good.
"Easy. Ease on up little man. I started the lie and you followed with it. Not once did I force you to do anything you didn't want to. Therefore, I owe you no explanation of my actions." But Trey had just given his explanation for everything he had done that night.
It was just like Trey, employed to the NSSH, but a true loner at heart. He knew how far he could push the government before they started to push back.
Being born a Hunter had afforded him with an ability not many other super powered humans were given. But this ability was not supernatural, more political than anything. With the title of a Hunter, he was able to travel where ever he wanted with almost unlimited access to any part of the nation. No checking in to any of the higher ups and not being confined to a Zone. Trey chose his path for freedom and not to help his country, although that sometimes happened along in the job.
Ian stopped their little conversation, they were right up at the front entrance of the hospital and he had to go over the lies he had told to Cirri in case someone would ask him to repeat it.
"Justine!" One name popped into his mind. "Oh no, I will have to explain this all to her. Ugh!" He groaned at the thought.
Cirri was too busy finishing his report to notice they had almost reached their stop. His companions had already gotten out of their seats and were ready to jump out the back door as soon as the vehicle parked, or even before that. Trey was still unsure how fast and how much he wanted out of that tin death box with wheels. After all, he did prefer walking to riding any day. Ian, on the other hand, only wanted to get over with whatever was coming next.
Eek! The ambulance pulled to a screeching halt. Cirri dusted off his deep navy blue suit and put all of his papers in a black leather suitcase. Without warning or assistance, Trey turned the handle and hopped out of the back door leaving his foot prints burning in the cement below. Ian was a little more hesitant in jumping from the back of the ambulance and over Treys newly formed foot prints. After having failed to put out the fire himself, he summoned all the courage his lean body held and crawled off the ambulance, passing right by the ever shrinking flames.
With his company gone, Cirri poked his out the door and was surprised to see that no one was there to greet them. Where the help was were busy getting Lieutenant Sean out of the ambulance in front of him. Having sustained critical injuries they had to take great care not harm him further. The Healers exhausted themselves doing everything they could to patch up Sean, but Healers really do not have too much energy to begin with.
Ian was right by his superior's side as he was taken into the hospital, wishing he could have done more for Sean. The lieutenant was Ian's mentor and being an orphan, Sean was also the only father figure he had ever known. He followed the surgeons and Healers taking care of Sean onto the elevator.
"Is he going to live?" Ian shook a surgeons white sleeve.
"Huh?" The man who Ian had been bugging turned and stared wide eyed at the boy. "Who are you and how did you get here."
He placed a gray bony hand on Ian and in less than a second, Ian was back on the first floor. Ian grabbed his head with both hands, trying not to tip over.
"Ugh." His head was still spinning after being transported, another form of psychic abilities. "A warning would have been nice."
Even though this was not his first time experiencing the effects of transporting via psychic ability, Ian had never been one to hold too well to the feeling of all his particles dispersing and then reconfiguring themselves. He leaned to his left, and then put all his weight into his right side unbalancing his stance.
"Whoa!" A woman coed as she caught the falling boy in her tan boney arms. "Now I thought I was told you were unharmed from tonight's escapades."
That voice was a familiar one to Ian. Standing on his own, he turned to find a face that matched the arms he was now wrapped in.
"Justine!" Ian's hands slipped around the woman's tiny waist, pulling her closer to his chest.
Sweet perfumes flowed off her body giving him a warm and familiar feeling. He needed this too, being close to Justine, his fiancée. As a vision of beauty itself, she was different than most other people who worked at the NSSH. At six feet three inches tall, with shinning lemon blond hair that reached her knees, Justine could have anyone she wanted, but she settled for Ian. Like Ian, she too was in her thirties although she lacked his similar abilities.
They stood under the golden glow of the waiting room lamps for what felt like an eternity. Justine was the one to break away from Ian, leaving him puzzled.
"Since you have already been cleared." She twisted a lengthy strand of her blond hair between her bones like fingers. "We can leave the hospital now."
Ian was stunned, she was not usually this straight forward or forceful. "Umm..." Was all he could manage to mutter.
"That is." She recoiled. "If you are not feeling well, we can stay a little while longer and have you checked out." Justine reached out and gently stroked his elbow.
"Uh, no that's okay." Ian finally responded his voice low and dragging. "It looks like you have been waiting up all night. Sorry to cause you so much worry." He let Justine's arm fall from his. "You should go home and get some rest. I want to stay until I get word of Lieutenant Sean's condition."
This left Justine feeling exactly as Ian had a moment ago. It was not like him to be so inconsiderate of her feelings, but Justine had done the same with his.
"Uh, eh..." The towering woman tugged at him again. "Then I will stay with you." She motioned to the empty seats in the waiting room.
Being a private clinic for employees and members of the employee's families, the Disten NSSMC was empty during most nights. Nights were very much like this one. Ian was emotionally and physically stretched, so he decided to take Justine up and her offer. He laid across two conjoining seats and Justine was even kind enough to let him put his head on her lap.
In the busy half of the hospital, the girl was being wheeled out of the ambulance. Several Combat teams hovered over her with their loaded riffles even though two teams of force field ability humans already had her secured. Then again, after hearing that she had single handedly destroyed so many of their best, all precautions were being taken.
Limp and practically lifeless, the medics allowed the girl to continue to flop helplessly in the harnesses on the stretcher. They had her loaded into the waiting elevator where a group of soldiers were already anticipating her arrival. The whole trip had been quick. From her being brought through the doors until she was unloaded on the seventh floor and hooked up to various monitoring devices machines of every sort, it only took four minutes.
One machine showed that her heart held a steady and normal rhythm, while another showed her brain activity. This information caused some surgeons and scientist great grief. They were hoping that this being would have no chance of survival so they could pull her plug and dissect her six ways from Sunday. But this new revelation meant they would have to care for her until she regained consciousness or died of her own accord.
Upset, everyone did their jobs to make sure her life was preserved such as hooking her up to a ventilator and even cleaning the dirt and grime from her moist pale, tan skin. Once the last person had gone, they turned all lights off and left the girl alone in the dark. It was obvious that anyone could not care about her past their own selfish desires or mere job description. For the time being, this would be her life, dark and lonely, until someone, anyone would step up and keep her company.
Trey was headed out the front entrance of the hospital when he spotted Justine leaving a snoozing Ian on a chair in the waiting room. It looked like she was in a hurry to get to where ever she was headed to, probably needed to use the restroom, or something. The morning sun cast its orange glow on Ian's dirt smired face. But that is not what made Trey go over to and examine Ian. It was more about what Ian was whispering in his sleep.
"Disaster... Wind Child..." The man repeated these phrases over and over again.
Now he was intrigued. Was this why Justine had left in such a rush?
At the same time, and if anyone had given a care, the girl and only patient on the seventh floor was twitching. Her actions only started out as twitching, but as Ian's rambles quickened so did her convulsions. The many monitors she had been hooked up to were screeching and overheating from the readings. Everything was happening rapidly. Too rapid for them to compute all the information they had been receiving. An alarm was sent off and the entire nurse's staff was alerted to the situation.
Trey grabbed Ian by his narrow shoulders and rocked him. He heard an alarm somewhere in the hospital go off and with the response it was getting, the Hunter had concluded it was all due to their star patient, the girl on the seventh floor.
"Hey kid." He shouted just above a whisper. "Wake up!" But all was to no use.
Ian's speech sped up and his body started to move all on its own. Trey stood back and kept an eye on his friend as he sat straight up. His eyes were still shut, but he seemed completely awake. Something had control of Ian's will and it was acting through him. This was no coincidence and Trey knew it.
"That girl..." He reached out and held Ian in place. Raw strength pulsed through his veins allowing Trey to easily over power Ian's weak body, even if someone else had been controlling it.
"Hehgwtanuis?" Ian's words were running together and Trey could no longer hear his words clearly.
He rolled his head around on his shoulders all while still maintaining his speech. The whole scene was beginning to look like something straight out of a horror movie, a movie Trey wanted no part of.
Inside an operating room, surgeons were finishing the final parts of stitching together Lieutenant Sean. In all, they had corrected four broken ribs, a punctured lung, both broken legs, and popped his right shoulder back into place. It was nasty work, but this NSSMC was the best one in the country and they had the survival rate to prove it.
"There!" The last stitch was sewn and Sean's condition was downgraded from critical to stable.
Several nurses swarmed his body, finishing left over work. They did things such as cleaning the body and making sure no surgical instruments were left inside Sean.
Clinque. The invisible bell rang again, this time to signal all electricity in the hospital shutting down. First the florescent lights above the operating room fizzled off and on, and then the whole hospital followed. On the seventh floor, the girl rose off the bed, her body emanated the same glow of crystal white energy that had escaped her body several hours earlier. Still held on to the bed by restricting straps, she was only able to get an inch off the bed. Almost all the onlookers, who included all forms of hospital staff, knew what she was going on.
"She's going through a process known as a 'Reboot.'" The head physician narrated the scene for those who were not familiar with what they were seeing. "A Reboot is common for super powered humans after they experienced near fatal injuries. What happens is after the person's power had come to a halt or slowed down, due to draining life force but they were successfully resuscitated, their powers would go through a surge until it regained its normal state in the body." Her body thrashed up and down in desperate pain. "Although this was common when bringing people back from the brink of death, the act of people actually being revived is rare all in itself." He pushed his broad shoulders through the group to get a better look.
Being that there had only been a handful of actual reboots ever have happened, all the information on and about them are sketchy at best. The staff could only stand by and marvel at the girl. Her mauve hair flowed with heated energy, similar to what happened when Trey so forcefully gave her a slap on the back. But now the expensive monitors, and just about everything else that was not nailed down, formed in a cyclone around her bed, which was nailed down. If anyone wanted to get near her to help, not that they even cared, the protective barrier of machines and monitors prevented them from coming three feet close to her.
Flashing movements and lights, this event was coming to its epic end. Ian was still in the waiting room in an all-out battle with Trey. Justine had still yet to reappear.
"Nyeaus." The boy repeated, with the same cocked head and sideways smile as he pushed against the rock man's best efforts.
"Ugh!" Trey pressed the palms of his hands down on Ian's shoulders in an effort to subdue the boy. "Sit... Sit down!" But Ian refused to budge.
Ian's slim body twisted from Trey's grip, leaving the golem to believe Ian had given up. But just as quick he thought he had won, the boys boney shoulders rammed him straight in the chest. His sharp feature sent stinging pains throughout Trey's torso. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest in pain. Without a second thought, Ian used this opportunity to escape. Stepping on the heaving back of his friend, Ian was finally on his way.
"No you don't." Trey's hand covered itself in flames as he stretched out for Ian's leg.
"Svythke." His chanting stopped.
Head still slightly bent on his shoulders, Ian slowly turned his attention to the hand that was still grasping his leg. Ian jerked his leg free, without any effort on his part, and grinded it into Trey's rock protected back. He broke through several layers of rock before turning his mind to the elevator and returning to speaking non sense.
"Higuwas..." Ian's voice faded from Trey's ears.
Still lying face down on the static gray and blue carpet, Trey pressed through the shooting pain that flowed in his body. He used one hand to give him a boost off the floor and back on to his sturdy legs.
"How the...?" The golem had never had anyone fight back and still be conscious as long as Ian had. "Since when did he have power like that?"
He watched Ian's legs stumble and wobble like they were made of over cooked pasta as he entered the elevator. Shaking the entire ground floor, Trey took off charging for Ian. Trey knew he could not let anyone see the boy in this state. Someone might want to put him in a cage and do test studies on his body, as so many scientist and doctors in the world so did those days.
Ding! The door began to close.
Trey jumped and slid across the floor, creating a new path through the lobby by doing so. His arms had reached the doors before closing and Trey stood off the ground pushing back the doors, permanently breaking them. He grabbed Ian by the neck and sent him flying out of the elevator. This action had taken the smile right from his face.
"Loivder..."Arms back and head down, Ian was not taking any more of Trey's interruptions. "Gyaski vabf cecans..." Ian chanted hands at his side, similar to how the girl was fighting the night before, and rushed at the golem.
Trey was still getting his balance back when he watched as his friend came charging after him. He took a step to the left, avoiding another one of Ian's unusually strong upper cuts into his gut. Ian hunched over, but never wasted a second going after Trey once again.
One, two, three. Ian swiped after Trey's body, desperately trying to disable his opponent. Trey had no time to turn around and had been running backwards from Ian's attacks. The fight had turned and Ian had Trey standing on an armchair in an attempt to shake him off. It was not long before Ian destroyed the armchair with a single blow to its cushion.
"Keep this up kid and," He tried to warn Ian only to get a face full of his fist.
Trey tipped backwards crashing through the cement wall behind him and on to the floor of the women's bathroom. He destroyed the floral print pink tile floor and two sinks. Water gushed out the now exposed pipes from the wall. Steam rose off of Trey's body and clouded his vision which left Ian a window of opportunity that he was not about to waste.
"Kiovt!" Yelling at the top of his lungs, body as limp as ever, Ian tried to crouch and drop kick Trey.
Luckily for Trey, the steam around the boy's body parted as he attacked, letting him get a clear shot at Ian. "Ugh!" He put all he had in one final attack against Ian.
Crack! Ian was sent flying through the other end of the bathroom. Trey had back slapped Ian who went through several stalls and a concrete wall before stopping. If it was not for the spectacle going on floor seven, everyone would have gathered around and surveyed the damage that had happened in the lobby.
On the seventh floor the girl's light began to dim and fade away just as she glided back into her bed. Now her gray skin was tan and lips blush red instead of blue. She was alive, not like she had been, and no longer an empty shell. A soul with true and honest feelings flowed through her veins. Only two things were missing now; to wake up and to be given a name.
"Coo..." She exhaled letting out a high sigh.
Everyone from in the doorway hesitated to step forward and get good look at the girl cooing in her bed. Her features were relaxed and serene with a sense of being, not like she had before. Instead of lifeless body, her cheeks now flushed with blood causing them to have a hint of a sun kissed blush. Only looking of her early teens, she still retained all of the beauty of her adult body; long lengthy mauve hair, plush breast, tan skin, and toned hips and thighs.
Over half of the hospital staff moved into the room and tried to get a better look at her. One doctor was so bold as to try to touch the girl, only to be met with a shock from her skin. He recoiled and nursed his singed index finger. The other members of the hospital staff backed away and examined her from afar.
"All readings are normal." Her nurse, the women who had found her, declared to the interested spectators around her.
They all leaned in closer to get a better look, staying just above her skin.
"She looks like any normal teenager." Someone from the crowd gave their two cents.
"But pink hair?" Another questioned the girl's appearance. "This girl is odd enough..."
A doctor pushed her way through the staff in the hall and in the room. She drew the curtain around the girls bed shut.
"This girl needs rest in case you missed the show she just put on." She said matter-of-factly in her island accent while pushing air with her hands signaling them to leave.
Shamed, they hung their heads and moaned as they left the room. In seconds the last person had left and all that remained was the girl and the doctor who ordered the others to leave. She moved the curtain open a crack with her mocha colored hands and gazed at the child in the bed through her piercing sharp violet eyes. This women's heart sank as she could see the girls hardships and pangs that she had faced and of the ones yet to come. Her first thought was to pity this girl, but she could also see her true purpose and identity.
Trey stumbled through the debris left behind from several sinks and restroom stalls. He ran after Ian as the boy began to rise from a hole in a nearby wall.
"Grrrr!" The Hunter reached down and wrapped his rock solid hand around the boy's shirt collar. "Now you've done pissed me off, boy. And no matter how close we may have been as friends, that is not going to save you from my fist!"
Ian's blue eyes widened at the sight of Trey's fist that was covered in a deep sapphire flame. Trey brought his hand back then let it come swinging forward, but Ian put his hands across his face to soften the blow. Nothing happened. After a minute, Ian removed his skinny arms from his face to find that Trey still stood above him, fist ready to smack him senseless at any moment.
"Hey, dude!" Ian squirmed as he made a lame attempt to get his friend to release him. "What's up?! Let me go!"
As soon as Trey was sure it was Ian and not some possessed demon girl puppet, he released Ian and let him fall to the ground and back onto the broken tiles that now covered the floor. He turned to leave, like he should have done twenty minutes ago.
"Are you not going to tell me what has just happened here?" Ian dusted himself off and rushed after the golem.
"Huh!" He muffled a laugh. "Just ask your girl." Was all that Ian was going to get out of Trey.
Ian turned to look around the lobby. "Where is Justine?" He went to face Trey only to see that the Hunter was already gone.
The pain of being thrown all over the ground floor was just now starting to hit him. Ian crumpled to the ground and sought out help via telepathy. He tried to sort through his contacts and the list started to shrink as he crossed names off.
"Trey... Sean... Justine..."
Trey had been cast out for obvious reasons, Sean was still incapacitated, and he would never dare invade Justine's thoughts, for she had forbade him to so. His list only included one name, just a random name that had been there since before he could remember.
"Uh..." The pain was now a faint tingling sensation that soon disappeared leaving Ian feeling better than he had when he left for work the evening before. "Wha.....?" He was able to stand on his own now. "Must have just been a spasm or something..."
Click, click, click. Came the sound of a pair of high heeled shoes crossing the rubble and without notice, something reached their skinny arms around his waist.
"Oh, what happened to you?" Justine rubbed her face into his back very gently. "I leave you alone for one second to check on Sean and you..."
Ian cut her off. At the mention of his lieutenant all other thoughts faded from his mind. "I am not quite sure. I blacked out and woke up to find the lobby this way..." He scratched the back of his head and Justine released him.
"Oh, well you look fine, in fact better than you had when I left you earlier." She hugged him from the front this time.
"Eh, yeah so about Sean," Gently pushing her away, Ian avoided eye contact with her, as he usually did.
She slipped her dainty hand into his. "Come on and you can see for yourself." Justine pulled him off the pile of broken tiles he had been standing in and on to a more solid section of the lobby.
Ian gazed at the room and the destruction he had no idea how it happened, but somehow knew it was his fault.
"Don't worry." Justine pulled his hand harder this time. "I will call someone and tell them that the girl on floor seven did this, which I am guessing since she sent tremors throughout the entire building, shaking things loose from their foundation and stuff like that." But Ian resisted. "Huh, what's wrong?"
"No," Justine dropped his hand at once. She was about to open her mouth, obviously very hurt. "Let's just go home. It has been a crazy shift." Now it was Ian holding onto her hand and leading her.
Her eyes softened at the very romantic and considerate gesture. "Now that's more like you." She took him up on the offer and Ian picked her up off the ground and carried her across the debris.
"Ah." Justine sighed in contempt as she rested her arms around his thick neck and her head on his narrow shoulders.
The pair left the hospital looking like the perfect young couple madly in love. Although Trey, who had been watching from the shadows in the hospital parking lot, could see differently. He was one of the handfuls of people who really knew what was going on. Everything had been set into motion only hours ago.
The Hunter had waited outside the hospital until nightfall and just as he had suspected, nothing happened. On floor number seven, the girl still slept peacefully and the hospital maintenance crew had cleaned up and repaired the mess he and Ian had caused early that morning. Thanks to the girl, all the electricity in the hospital was out for their little duel. Not one of the cameras caught any part of him trashing the building. Just like Justine had told Ian, the staff just attributed it to the girl on the seventh floor.
On the other side of the town, Ian was waking for the first time since he had gotten home. Overwhelming emotions of peace, love, and something else crossed his face and he looked at Justine who was sleeping soundly to his left. After a couple seconds of admiring his fiancée who he had compared to an angel sleeping on a pure white cloud, Ian lifted the black cotton sheet covering him and slid slowly out of the edge of the mattress.
"Yeah." Ian yawned stretching out his entire limb as he checked the time on the clock on the bed stand. The little red digital numbers read 6:00 p.m. Shocked by how late he had slept in, Ian rushed into the bathroom and hopped in the shower.
"Hmm." Justine stirred. "Is that you?" She called out to the bathroom across from her.
"Uh huh." Ian shouted through a mouth full of foam. In a hurry he had brushed his teeth in the shower while washing his hair at the same time.
She turned in the covers. "What are you doing? It is so late in the afternoon."
Ekk. The shower squeaked as it was turned off. Steam drifted into the bed room as Ian stepped out of the bathroom.
"I have to work tonight, remember?" He kissed her on the cheek wearing nothing but a gold colored towel.
Justine tossed to the other side as he put on his uniform. "Oh, but I think they would understand it if you stayed home just one night. It is not as though you get paid by the hour."
"I know." Ian replied buttoning the last buttons on his blazer. "But I just don't want to miss a day now that Lieutenant Sean is hospitalized. If they bring in a new lieutenant or something else happens, I don't want to miss it." He grabbed the keys off the nightstand and kissed Justine's cheek one more time. "Don't worry." He turned the bathroom light off before heading to the front door. "We have the weekend coming up. I love you."
Ian turned to leave, not waiting for her to respond. Justine usually waved or did nothing at all when he told her that he loved her each night that he left for work. Tonight was one of those nights when she waved to him. But her actions never put him in a bad mood. She had been that way since they met. He brushed it off as another one of her quirks, like never calling him by his name or trying to keep him in her sights at all times unless he was at work.
"Ah." Ian sighed on the front step of his house feeling great sense of accomplishment. One story and white, Ian was on his way to owning his first, and hopefully only, house. It was just one part of the dream almost every citizen of the nation had; the house with the white picket fence, two cars in the drive way, and a lovely wife and children. Except for the children part and the second car, he was almost at fulfilling his dream. He skipped on the cream colored cement stones that laid a path through the crisp blades of grass that covered his front lawn, trying to avoid the now activated sprinkler. Yes, Ian was truly the poster child for everything this nation stood for and offered.
With one last and final look at the house, Ian opened the door to his light blue sedan and sat down inside. He did the same thing each and every night he left for work. It was like he lived his life by going through the motions everyone expected of him. Though, the boy could find comfort in this thought as he enjoyed the scenery on his way to work and this way thinking about his life always made him feel at peace.
Rows of single story homes lined both sides of the streets all of light pastel colors. Even the yards looked identical as well as everyone's mailboxes. This was a neighborhood as old as this city itself and tolerated nothing but conformity. The neighborhood home owners association saw to that and Ian complied with the rules no matter what they called for. He was just a regular boy scout going through life with a big goofy smile on his face.
Coming out of the neighborhood and onto the freeway ramp, Ian waved to every one of his neighbors out for an evening stroll. Ian was so straight laced that the NSSH allowed him the luxury of living out of a Zone as long as he stayed to their standards. Though, that all Ian seemed to be doing; staying and complying standards, never wondering what would he do if an unexpected variable was tossed his way. What would he do then? But of course, thoughts like that were so far from his mind, Ian never thought close to those kinds of thoughts.
A quick half hour on the freeway and Ian was at the neighborhood NSSH. All Zones had been locked down for the night which always gave him an extra sense of security as he stepped out of his car and into his office building. He himself had never had to live in a Zone. That may have been the reason that caused him to imagine the inhabitants to seem like snarling beast that foamed out the mouth when someone unfortunately came close enough in contact with them.
With a Zone only several miles away, Ian always felt safer once he was in the NSSH building. He jogged across the parking lot like he did each night and into the building not glancing back for one last look at the outside world. Inside the Disten NSSH headquarters was the same as it had been every night for the past eleven years he had worked there. At the front counter was the same security guard that was there every night and he waved Ian through like he had done many nights before. But none of this got to him, it was the way his life had been set out and he played through.
The elevator dinged and he stepped inside, nodding politely to the other employees on their way to work as well. Two floors later and having suffered through the same tasteless elevator music that played each night before, Ian stepped off and went into room A, the last shift conference room. Inside the room, he was not greeted by his regular group of friends, for the girl had killed them all the night before, but a new team.
"Hey!" Several of the greeted their new team mates.
"Hi." Ian smiled a warm and sincere smile.
Although the last group of men were great and very close friends of Ian's, in his line of work many of his friends have died and he learned years ago the best way to get past it was to move on and not think about the past. So that is what he did, he pulled up a chair next to who he thought was the Nature Combatant part of the group and introduced himself.
"Hi, my name is Ian." He extended his steady hand. "I am the second in command Telepath."
The soft orange haired boy just smiled politely and turned his attention to the wall on his left. Not being discouraged, Ian went to try his luck with another one of the men, but a tall muscular man had pushed the door open.
This man swung the door shut and made it tilt on its hinges. He flipped his strawberry red hair from his ears and took the seat at the head of the table. "Alright!" He commanded complete and utter attention from the group. "I am your lieutenant of tonight and your schedules are as followed." His deep and loud voice boomed through the room, practically shaking the walls and windows with each word. "Kaze," He pointed to a young boy with coal black eyes and long cloud white hair. "It says here you are a Healer and as we have no missions schedule for today, you are assigned to floor three, room twenty seven. Um..." His plump fingers flipped through the pages on his clip board.
"Next is Miuan, the Nature oriented boy." But the person who stood was no boy, he was every bit a man as their new lieutenant in size and attitude. "Uh, yes well you are to go and check out the several surrounding farms of North Disten and try to quell what the farmers call 'disturbances and unbalances.' And take along Tosum, the Animal ability boy, with you." He was referring to the orange haired boy who ignored Ian. "And lastly Ian."
His heart jumped; finally someone had paid attention to him.
"You have sentry duty over at the Disten NSSH Medical Center." And with those words, the boy died a little inside.
"What?" He was speechless. Not many of his nights were spent out of the safety and familiarity of the Disten NSSH headquarters.
"Yep, and your charge is classified so you will be notified further once you arrive there." This new lieutenant turned to his crew. "Now I know the team is only half the size as the one Lieutenant Sean over saw, but I Lieutenant Faitsei will be your leader from now on, so get used to working in the field and by yourself."
This night that had started so right had turned so wrong in the one place Ian had ever felt safe and secure in. But, like the good little soldier he was, Ian would take the job watching over a patient who was probably too doped up to escape.
Trey continued to watch the hospital parking lot and was delighted to see Ian's sedan pull up and park not too far from where he had stationed himself. From that distance, he could also see that Ian was upset and yelling under his breath, which was not like the boy at all. The Hunters job was not over yet, he would wait just a little longer in the shadows and out of sight.
Scuffing his feet, Ian waved to the woman behind the service desk. "Hi..." He said through closed teeth.
Being polite, she smiled and slightly tilted her head. "Are you from the NSSH? Here on sentry duty?" She handed him a file, not bother to wait for a response or checking for his identification.
"Floor seven..." So far not so bad. "A girl." Was starting to sound better. "Thank you." He waved back to her and skipped up the stairs, for some reason the elevator had 'closed' sign hanging on its stainless steel doors.
Ian did not bother to read the rest of the file and was looking forward to an easy night of watching some unconscious prisoner in a safe and secured NSSH facility. Stepping out of the stairwell and onto floor seven he looked into each room as he passed. Mostly the seventh floor was used for 'higher risk' patients, like celebrities, higher up personnel, and...
"Eek!" He squeaked surprised by what he saw through the cracked door of one room, and then he took off running down the hall in the opposite direction. "Huh, huh, huh."
An empty supply closet was opened on Ian's left, so he took the chance and jumped in it without any hesitation. His breath was heavy and his heart rate increased thirty beats. Ian's first response was to read the rest of file that he dropped back in the hallway.
It took several minutes for his fears to subside and then a couple more before he was able to leave the supply closet. He glanced up and down the hallway, to make sure he was alone which Ian could not figure if it was a good thing or not. Creeping down the hallway, keeping on constant look out, he spotted the manila folder exactly where he had accidentally left it. Inside the folder, it confirmed his worst fears. Now knowing he had no other choice but to go back, he prepped himself for this assignment.
For some reason, the lights in the hall seemed brighter although it did not improve his attitude any.
"Huh, huh, huh..." Ian had his hand on the door knob and his eyes tried not to look directly in the room.
"Hum?" The patient on the bed cooed playfully as she watched someone enter the room.
"Ugh!" By accident, the first thing Ian managed to do was look the girl in her very light silver eyes. His body was without any emotion at the moment. To him she was just another piece of NSSH property and should be treated as such.
He entered without saying a word and took the chair furthest away from her bed. Ian was trying not to get too close to the girl, although he was sure his government had his safety in mind when he was given this new assignment he was not willing to take any chances. She was cuffed and harnessed to the bed, not to mention the extra strength force field that had been put in place only moments before his arrival. It was safe to say no one was going anywhere that night.
The girl did not put any further interest in the man who had entered the room. Many older men had come in the room to read the charts and pump her full of medication. All of these men had left which she was sure Ian would do. She went about brushing her long mauve hair through with her fingers, though the effort proved useless as her harness only allowed her limited movement. Swaying back and forth in the bed in an attempt to reach the back of her head, her slender arm rubbed against an exposed piece of jagged metal.
"Sssss." It sliced right through the first layer of her skin. Her skin split and she could see the white meat beneath it. Instincts told her to close the skin and put pressure on it, all of which she proceeded to do.
Ian took a sly glance out of the corner of his eye as the girl stopped moving and clutched her right arm.
"Ah!" Through the half inch long cut on the girls arm a single droplet of blood oozed off onto the sheets. Ian could never really handle the sight of blood, but knew what to do. She was his charge and it was up to him to provide her with some kind of first response medical attention. He stood and went over to the cabinets in front of her bed; all the while she never took her eyes off him. This girl thought he was getting another needle to poke her sore arm with. Instead, Ian grabbed a bottle of peroxide, cotton balls, a tube of antibiotics, and a box of butterfly band aids. Without saying a single word, he tossed the items on the metal tray next to her bed and returned to his seat.
The girl looked questionably at Ian. After two minutes of nothing, Ian gave in and looked at the girl who was still sitting exactly as she had been when he 'handed' her the first aide supplies. She had her head cocked close to her right shoulder, mouth slightly hanging open, and one eyebrow raised. Almost as if saying 'Are you for real? How am I supposed to bandage myself with one hand?'
"Ugh!" Getting out of his seat and giving in to this girl, Ian mumbled ever louder, rolling his eyes quite a few times. He opened the brand new bottle of peroxide and handed it to the girl.
"..." She only rolled her eyes at his lack of effort in helping her.
"You have got to be kidding me..." Ian continued to speak under his breath.
He grabbed her arm and pushed it over a tin garbage can next to the back of the bed on the floor. The girl released her hold on the skin flaps and the cut reopened, letting the cold solution that Ian was now pouring, clean out the wound.
"Sssss." She hissed at the tingling sensation in her arm.
"Oh sit still! It is your own fault." Ian was wound pretty tight on that night. "Justine was right. This is too much for me right now. I should have stayed home with her..."
Hearing his harsh tone, she took back her arm and made an attempt to finish cleaning her cut on her own. She tried brushing her arm against the cotton balls on the tray to absorb any excess peroxide. This ended shortly after she had tried to start it. Her restraints prohibited her from leaning far enough onto the tray to touch the cotton balls. It was already bad enough that the tube of antibiotic cream had fallen onto the floor when she was trying to make contact with the cotton balls.
Teary and puffy eyed, she reached out and gave Ian her arm once again although Ian was debating whether he should help the girl any further. After all she did ruthlessly kill all of his friends and superior officers, including the fact that she critically wounded Lieutenant Sean. But then he let it slide when he remembered that it was up to the NSSH's courts to decide her punishment. He grabbed her tan and moist arm and dried the peroxide off with the cotton balls after having picked the antibiotic cream off of the ground.
"There now." Ian had applied the antibiotic cream and slapped three butterfly band aides on her arm. "Looks a whole lot better than it did." He smiled an innocent and friendly grin at the girl.
But the girl still did not care one way or the other for the man. She merely used him to get her own desired result. Ian still stood over her and she tossed on her left side facing the plain white hospital curtains, turning her back to him. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his chair. Needed something to do, Ian picked up a news magazine off the nightstand, probably left there by one of the nurses.
The hours ticked by and neither one made neither any movement nor any attempt to speak. Ian had preferred the silence. It reminded him of his regular nights at the Disten NSSH headquarters. As if the night had just begun, rays of orange sunlight peaked out from the slits in the windows curtains.
"Uh..." First his left arm and then his right stretched above his head.
It was time for him to leave and he did not bother saying good bye to the girl. Not like he would ever be seeing her again or anything. Instead he skipped out of the room and took the elevator up one floor to visit a familiar friend. Being the polite thing to do, Ian knocked on the door before entering.
"Uh?" The gruff old man's voice shouted right out the door and echoing into the hall way. "Who is it?"
Ian rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes. "It is me, lieutenant."
Sean did not miss a second before inviting the boy in to his room. He was glad to have a visitor that was not part of the hospital staff. "Come in." Now his voice was more hoarse and strained.
Ian opened the door, but was not greeted by the same light of the sun from the room he had just left. No, Sean's room was virtually stark black, with the exception of the blue glow of the television set on the wall.
"So what brings you this way?" He pointed Ian in the direction of a chair close to his bed.
Ian stumbled around with possible lies as he knew his friend would have a stroke if he knew the girl responsible for him being in the hospital was only rooms away and that he was babysitting her.
"My shift lieutenant sent me this way for some paper work on you." Ian tried to avoid eye contact.
Sean looked deep into the boy's eyes, sending a series of shivers up Ian's spine. He knew that the lieutenant was deciding if Ian was telling the truth or not.
"Um, you know they needed me to check on you." He scratched the back of his head. "How are you anyways?"
"Uh huh." Sean was willing to let Ian slide for now, still not thoroughly convinced. "Well, now that you mention it, I have had better days." He reached for a cup of water that was sitting on the metal tray over his bed. "You know something," Sean took a sip from his glass. The water was the only thing keeping his voice from straining too much. His eyes stared straight forward and Ian knew what the lieutenant was about to say was going to be serious. "I did everything right to trap that girl."
Ian scrunched his pants legs with his fist. He sure was not expecting Sean to talk about the accident so early after it had happened. "Well, maybe..." There were no words he could think of to add to the conversation.
"I felt the connection when paralysis completes. It was her energy and mine together as one and I was so certain I held control over her." His plump hand ran through what was left of his gray hairs.
"You should try to not think about what happened that day." The way Ian was talking about it was as if it happened years ago. "When Psychics relive traumatic events soon after they happened... Your mind may never be right again."
Sean threw his paper cup at the window towards his right. "I have been conscious for eight hours now and no one here wants to talk about the other night!" Now he stared straight into Ian's sleep deprived eyes.
Thinking quick Ian said the first thing that came to mind. "Maybe it is best that you rest, that is all." He tried to reassure his former commanding officer.
The vain on Sean's forehead throbbed. "Don't you lie to me boy! You have better tell me the truth right now, or so help me I will morph your mind into mush!" He pulled Ian out of his chair and held him by his neck.
"Okay, okay." He gave in. Sean had multiple psychic abilities, many unknown to both Ian and the NSSH and Ian was not about to go taking the risk. "How much do you already know?" Ian flailed hopping to be released from his grip.
"That demon girl took control of my body. Ugh." He shuddered at the thought of having another being, especially a female, commanding his every will. "Then I watched as she tossed me through air and that's it. What happened after I blacked out? How many of us made it out alive?" Sean finally let go of Ian's throat. "Could not have been too bad if you are still here."
Being nice, Ian threw the remark to the back of his mind. "Well, and don't go telling people where you heard this from but," He gave a brief hesitation before continuing. Ian wanted to get this subject done with as quickly as possible. "She killed them all."
The expressing that Sean had after he had told him that everyone had died was not the one he had expected. Maybe surprised, angry, or even curious, but never admiration for her. It was as if the lieutenant, her victim, was proud of what the girl did.
"He must be affected by the medication." Thinking to himself, Ian hoped that was all that it was.
"Uh?" Seeing how confused Ian seemed to be, Sean shook the thought from his mind. "Oh, um just was not expecting that from such a small woman." That was all that needed to be said before Ian relaxed. "Well if all the others died, then how is that you managed to live?"
"Trey saved me." His answer was just as simple as that. "I was fortunate that he was in the company of a teleporter when that girl began her rampage or else I'd be..." It finally sank in. "I'd be dead too. For the first time since the accident, I finally realize how close I was to losing everything; my life and Justine."
Sean knew this to be true and not just one of Ian's probable lies. It was several facts that he knew about the Hunter that made what Ian said be true. One was that Trey was as reliable and dependable to each one of his allies when they truly needed his assistance. Lastly, Trey and Sean went back many decades and there was no one that knew Trey like he did. Plus the way Ian was selling his joy for being alive was really compelling.
"That Trey is a good man, very good." Ian nodded in agreement. "And what of that woman? That murderous winged devil from hell."
It was the second time that morning that Sean's words sent shivers up his back. "Winged?"
Ian had not thought about it until that moment, but he had almost forgotten that the girl had wings. Thinking back to the shift he spent guarding over her, Ian noticed that she no longer had wings. Her back had been covered by a standard green hospital gown but Ian could have sworn that her back was bare.
"Eh he." Ian sat there speechless unable to come up with a passing lie. So many possibilities crossed his mind, but his mouth didn't seem to work.
Still staring at the boy, Sean waited for an answer. He stared directly to his blue eyes and therefore, straight into Ian's very own soul.
"Uh..." Ian wanted to say something so desperately to pass the awkward silence. "Speaking of... Um, women?" Knees shaking and eyes closed, he stood out of his seat and crossed backwards towards the door. "I have to get back to the one waiting up for me at home." And in the end, Ian managed to come up with a lie after all.
Still not entirely sold on his words, Sean turned away from Ian and went back to watching the drab television as he had been doing when he was so rudely interrupted. Ian rushed out of the seventh floor hallway and jumped down the stairwell faster than most people could even think. Coming out onto the ground floor, he kept his eyes fixed onto the black double sliding door that lead to the parking lot.
"Just a little farther." Ian whispered passing the receptionist.
"Have a good morning and hope to see you back here on time tonight." The woman behind the desk giggled.
He slowed than stopped on the black mat before the doors. "Excuse me?"
"You should at least make an attempt to read your folder." She scolded the older man and went back to typing on her computer on the desk.
Ian made it all the way through the parking lot and into his compact car before opening the folder. "Eek!" His heart skipped a beat, almost passing out. On the very front page of the report it read: to guard subject each night until further notice.
Beep! The sound from the horn of Ian's car echoed from the parking lot and into the hospital's lobby, waking the ever watchful Trey from his slumber. Shaking the sleeping pigeons off of him, the Hunter jogged over to Ian's car and in the front seat he found Ian there, passed out over the steering wheel.
"Huh!" Trey gave one of his admiring sighs. "Now it could not have been that bad." He went on to shake the very so over dramatic Ian from his unconscious state.
"Wha......?" Murmured a few people who had gathered out in the parking lot upon hearing the noise coming from Ian's car. They tilted and peered at Trey and wondered if he was mugging the boy in the car.
Trey brought his hand around to his backside then with full force, slapped the boy hopping to bring him around.
"Huh?" Seemingly uninjured from the attack Ian grew wide eyed when he caught sight of the Hunter holding him up the collar of his shirt. "How do you keep popping up from nowhere!?" Ian screamed down at Trey.
Once back on the ground, Ian dusted himself off and waited for an explanation. "You see here kid." He pointed a long red rock finger at the page in the folder Ian had been looking at before he fainted. "You have babysitting duty until they reassign you and so do I. That girl on the seventh floor is really important to the NSSH, especially Temthaw Vene.""Huh?" Ian muttered for the second time that day.
"I am here guarding this forsaken place until I am told I can go." Trey whispered only loud enough for his friend to hear. "The NSSH wants a Hunter placed here if any unauthorized personnel should enter or leave this building."
Ian shook his head now fully understanding the entire situation.
"I'll see you back here tonight." He shoved the little man into the car. "Now go home and get some rest."
Without another word, he put the car in drive and headed out the parking lot back the way he came. Trey was being ever watchful in Ian's rear view mirror. Pulling his car into the drive way he had left hours ago, Ian finally realized that he was home, not remembering anything since being parking lot. All he wanted to do was get into his pillow top bed and go to sleep.
"I'm home." Ian announced while knocking twice on the front door. Even though he had a key for the door, Justine told him she liked it better if he knocked and announced himself before coming in the house. This was as Trey once put it, how Justine was keeping Ian on a short leash.
"Hi." Justine opened the door and allowed her fiancé to come inside. "I'm headed off to work. It's an emergency!" She pulled on a pair of black heels while chewing a slice of toast. "I don't know how long I'll be, but foods already made. It's in the refrigerator. All you have to do is heat it up." With her keys in hand, Justine was almost out the front door when she caught site of Ian's red eyes and limp posture. "Awe. You've never looked more adorable than you do right now."
"It's been a night." Ian waved goodbye to his love on her way out the door.
Justine closed the door and her heels could be heard skipping on the stepping stones. The engine in their light blue sedan turned over and Ian knew that at any moment he'd be all alone.
"I wish I had someone to talk to." Ian sighed as he crawled up on their couch. "I can't recall one real conversation we've had in at least eight months..." Unable to gather up the 'want to,' Ian decided to sleep on the couch. It was something he so rarely did. "A bed is for sleeping." He yawned. "A couch is for sitting, Justine always says..." Eyes heavy, Ian didn't even notice he had fallen asleep.
The day passed and the night came. Ian was up and taking a shower like he did every night before work. He got dressed and left for work, but unlike every other night he was not headed to the Disten NSSH headquarters, but to the medical center. For Ian, who had been so used to the same routine day in and day out, he found the change to be quite enjoyable. Taking the exit opposite of the one to his office, Ian saw sights that were unfamiliar to him. For one instance, he saw a pond that was covered with blooming lily pads along its edges and how the orange and dark mauve sun reflected on that ponds rippling surface.
"Hmm..." His mind wandered with the thought of the color mauve. "The same color of the girl's hair." Then he started to remember bits about that girl's image. "That same mauve colored hair and how it's so long and lush. The way it manages to beautifully bounce with her movements." Ian's facial expressions softened before he smiled thinking of her. But Justine's accusing stare popped into his thoughts and Ian just as easily forgot about the girl he was about to go see.
Tonight, Ian did not wait for his car to turn completely off before taking the keys out and went running into the hospital. His routine was different and now he felt that everything about his life was changed. The girl, the one from the night before, waved him in and he trudged up the same staircase he climbed yesterday. With each step, Ian felt his feet get an ounce heavier. The reason for this was written all over his face.
"That girl..." Just more under his breath muttering. He had still to come to a conclusion of what he thought of her. All he could think of was that he did not care for her. "That night..." Ian referred to the night he had first seen the girl and how she had connected to his mind. This was something that he would never forget, the feeling of her inside of his body. "Ugh." He shuddered just before coming to the last step of the staircase. "I hate my job." Only more of the same thoughts followed. He stepped into the hallway the same way as before and took a deep breath before entering the girl's room, bursting in unannounced and uninvited.
"Mmm?" The girl mewed sitting in her bed. She tilted her head and waited for someone to step in. Her look of curiosity died away once she saw that it was the man from the night before. She took note that he was wearing a new uniform; white button up dress shirt with black slacks. This was his uniform while on sentry duty. Even so, she still did not really care for him. As she had the night before, she turned on her side and continued ignoring Ian.
Sitting in the same seat he had sat in only fifteen hours before, he picked up the new magazine laying on the stand next to him. For roughly five hours, Ian read every article, caption, and advertisement in the magazine before he remembered why he was trying to pass the dulling hours.
In her bed, the girl laid quietly and as still as anyone with countless hours strapped to a bed could be. Starring at the closed white curtains began to bore her. It had been almost five hours since she had heard anything from the man. Silently and slyly, she turned on her other side and checked on the man only to find he was staring right into her glistening pale silver eyes. She blinked twice, unsure of what to do next.
"Hi." Was the first thing that came to his mind upon seeing the girl with a blank expression across her face? "How are you?" More of a statement he was not expecting an answer to than any kind of question. Unphased by the generic greeting, she flopped back into her previous position and Ian was right back at the beginning of the magazine he had just finished reading.
Another four hours passed and Ian, once again left without saying good bye or good night, leaving the girl to consider him rude. This continued on for the next two months as Ian's orders had not yet changed. By now the girl had memorized his schedule, more from boredom than anything else, or at least that's what she convinced herself. Eventually she came to look forward to Ian's visits.
Ian coming to watch over her was the one constant in her life at that moment. He had gotten her new royal purple cotton pajamas. Something between the pair was growing that Ian even got permission for her to get out of her of her bed to use the rest room. That was steps above him letting the girl bandage herself what felt to him like an eternity ago. The girl still had to have sponge baths from the nurses. Slowly, she was softening up to the man even if she never showed it.
Unaware to her, Ian looked forward to the moment when he would enter her room and see her ignoring him. Although the only thing he would say to her was "Hi, how are you?" and she would say nothing, nor look at him, something was indeed happening.
It was not only Ian who had the same assignment for the last two month. Each day and night Trey would stand by the same shaded wall, only moving to get food. He had no other needs, like bathing and using the restroom. His rock skin peeled away when a layer died and was quickly replaced with a new, live layer of rock every three days. But soon this whole thing or routines and boredom were going to come to an end, and Trey knew at any moment something was going to happen.
Ian skipped up the stairs to the girl's room, hoping to spend the night guarding her as he already secretly passed his judgment on her. Tonight was the start of the third month, middle of July, and there was nothing he looked more forward to doing. He wiped the happy-go-lucky smile off his face and kept his head down as he entered her room. Out of the corner of his eyes Ian watched her watching the curtains. Eventually the fifth hour was approaching and Ian was about to say his greeting as he knew it was this time every night that the girl would turn over for a brief second and check on him, but something had finally stuck him; he did not even know her name for she never said anything back to him.
"Maybe she cannot speak?" Ian thought, though he knew full well she could.
The girl was about to turn over, knowing full well what the man was about to say when the unexpected happened. "You know," Ian said, his voice laughing each word. He sounded nervous. "Of the full two months I have been coming into this room each night, I... Well, I do not even know your name."
And with those words, her mouth went dry. "How unexpected." She thought, her voice different from the night she had attacked him and his team. It was soft, and very feminine in the way that it was not squeaky and high pitched, but sweet and trusting.
"Recarie." She choked out, making the first time she actually said something directly to the man sound like a rusted chainsaw trying to start. "And... And yours?" Her voice a little smoother this time.
He blinked. "Oh yeah, how inconsiderate of me." Ian scratched the back of his head, wiping off dead strands of hair in the process.
"Of all the rude things he has done..." Recarie thought to herself, as she spent most of her time thinking it made her words jumble and come out of order when she actually did say something. "This is the one he calls inconsiderate?"
"It's Ian." He gave one of his nervous, but permanent low laughs. The conversation went stale. They had run out of talking material without passing half a dozen sentences between them. Ian gave another one of his nervous laugh.
Recarie's heart went racing. She had wanted to talk to him for so long. Now it was her chance and she was not about to waste it. "You see." Recarie tried to keep the uncomfortable silence at bay. "That's why I do not talk to anyone. It all goes south."
"Ah." Impressed by her near perfect grammar, Ian decided to go with it. Her eyes met directly with his. This told him that Recarie was interested in what he had to say. "Yeah, but..." He lost his train of thought while gazing at her paling tan skin. "Where did you wings go?" This was a question that had been on his mind since Sean had mention it so many months ago.
A wave of electricity flowed up her spine and shook her body and very slowly, Recarie turned and looked at her back. "Woo..." She sighed in relief. Her wings were in fact still there. They had to be because she could she them with her own two eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"You know," Ian almost started to explain, when he could see the truth on her face. "You don't know, do you?" Her head shook from side to side, signaling she did not know whatever it was that Ian thought she knew. "Almost three months ago, when we found you?" She did not seem to follow him. "You attacked me and my teammates, killing all but two of us?"
It felt like she had been told a story where she was a villain. "Kill? No, I could never take another life. It's far too precious of a gift. Ugh!" Recarie felt her heart constrict and her throat starting closing in.
"What's going on? Are you alright?" He bent by her side. Ian rushed to her without hesitation. Seeing his new found buddy in pain was a sight he could not bear. Knowing that he had caused her distress was even worse.
All kinds of alarms rang out from the machines attached to her. These alarms did not just ring inside the hospital, but outside as well. Trey was awake and alerted when the first siren went off. As fast as his rugged body would allow him, he was making his way through the lobby and up the stairwell. He left the cement steps gashed with his foot prints. He knew immediately what room all the alarms rang from. It had to be the room where a crowd of on lookers usually gathered around and gawked at the girl inside.
Ian was kneeling on the ground trying to keep her harnesses and straps from breaking. It was a poor attempt and after more than six minutes, she was free and floating toward the ceiling.
"Are they there?" She called down to Ian motioning to her back now feeling better.
Unsure what to say Ian continued to stare at Recarie who was making a dash for the door. All the while she unbelievably flew in one of her two piece night gowns. The one she currently wore was supplied to her by a very generous and caring nurse half a month ago.
"I can feel them." Recarie shouted. The vibrations of her wings fluttering were sent throughout her body. "They're an extension of me, of my body! Like an arm or leg."
The group outside her room stood there is disbelief. Not only was the girl able to break her bonds, which should have been near indestructible, not only was she flying and flying quite fast at that, but she was talking. As they thought about it, they realized that none of them had ever tried to strike up a conversation with the girl or bothered to say hi.
Through the open door at the end of the hall and up the staircase, rather than down to the lobby, Ian still followed the girl. Unfortunately for him Recarie was proving to be a far greater opponent then he had ever thought possible. As he managed to catch sight of her at each turn in the staircase, she disappeared just as quick.
"Ugh!" His legs started to gain weight and cramp up. "Can you please stop?" Ian pleaded, but Recarie was already out of range and did not hear a word said. When he began to slow down, almost about to give up, Ian saw small wisps of red and gold flames drifting down from the stairs above. "Ugh!" Once again he grunted and pushed through the pure physical pain his body was now experiencing.
His reasons for continuing were that he knew a good friend had his back. Faster and faster Ian caught up to Recarie, watching the lines of fire twist, turn, and burn from her. She was marked by a Hunter and would never be able to hide again.
Recarie was at a dead end. The door to the roof top had a padlock locking it shut. One small child like hand ran over the handle, static coursing through her body she suddenly knew what needed to be done. Clank! Light from her finger tips flowed into the lock, making it glow with her energy. Coming up right behind her, Ian watched as the lock melted into a pool of liquid on the ground.
"No!" Ian knew if she got out in the open, then there would be no stopping her.
With powers like Recarie's, she could go anywhere and do anything. That would mean a big problem for the NSSH and an even bigger problem for Ian. Determined and not yet defeated, Ian gritted his teeth, held his hands at his sides, and jaunted up the last few steps, onto the rooftop and into the fading moonlight.
This was the top of the hospital, the twenty third floor. Standing on the edge of the pebble covered roof, was Recarie. Her thick hair waved in the cool gentle wind, bare feet shifting small stones, and leaning forward, she was getting ready to jump. Little thin rays of light cast down on the conflicted Recarie, illuminating the blotches of sweat that had developed all over her body. The flames that gave away her position swirled in a gust of wind that circled her torso and lit her features up.
To Ian, it was a sight right out of a fairytale. He could not help but to soak in her beauty and feel her pain. After all, Recarie had infiltrated his mind and developed a link between them.
"..." She whispered, voice constricted and muffled.
"Wait!" Cautiously, Ian inched closer to her hoping to prevent the girl from doing anything rash. Her head turned to him, yet the ever blowing wind pushed long locks of hair in front of her face. "You do not want to do this." He tried to remember some of his negotiating skills from the NSSH academy. "Just come back over here and we can talk about anything you want." But his voice was lost in the howl of the nights wind.
For a minute it looked like his words had gotten to Recarie. She was halfway between Ian and the edge of the roof. One bare and dirty foot in front of the other, Ian was almost able to reach out and touch her.
"Yes, that's it." He was kneeling on the ground now, like a person trying to coax a puppy from its hiding place. "Just a few more inches..." His arm extended and she raised her arm.
When everything seemed to be going right, Recarie straightened her back and pushed out her chest. Her right leg crossed in front of the other as she knelt towards Ian. Completely and hopelessly transfixed on the girl, Ian was unaware of what was going on around him until she whispered into his ear.
"Catch me." Recarie let the two words fly to him on the wind with her mouth so close to his ear.
After she wiped the hair from blocking her view and tucking it behind her ear, Recarie took one last look at the man on the ground. The flames around her were getting brighter letting her know she must think and act fast if she wanted to escape. She kicked the air from beneath her feet and ran on the air towards the opposite side of the roof.
"Not so fast!" Trey pushed past Ian and was right behind the girl, still leaving his foot prints with each step.
"I should be going after her." Ian tried to convince himself, but his body would not budge. "They'll kill me for sure if she gets away. The way I have been kind to her and the special privileges... What have I gotten into?" In his daze Ian watched the Hunter make his way to Recarie. He was sure he was in for a show.
Recarie paid this no mind, the warm air felt cooled on her hot skin and she felt as light as air itself. The Hunter stepped up his pace to try and catch her, but she was already leaping off the building with perfect stride.
"You have to be quicker than that!" Her voice traveled from over the buildings edge.
Trey was unaware whether the comment was directed to him, or to Ian, but it was the Hunter who had his mind set on catching her.
Air pushed up on Recarie's torso and limbs as she was diving off the building and crashing towards the ground. She tried furiously to fly, though somehow it seemed that she had forgotten how. With the hair out of her face, fluttering behind her, Recarie had a clear view of the pavement. Her arms moved from side to side and she kicked her legs in every direction.
"No, no, no, no, no. This is not going the way I planned!" The ground was coming up fast and she was bracing her body for the impact. "Oh!" Luckily for Recarie, she avoided crashing and remembered that it was a feeling that allowed her to make contact with her power. "Panic is what seemed to set my powers off before." Tapping into that fear, she turned her body and took to flying through the trees in the parking lot.
Ian and Trey were still on the roof, the latter of which was watching his prey get away flying through the darkened, dusty purple sky. Trey wasted no time in pursuing the girl. After grabbing a hold of Ian, keeping him close to his rock covered chest, without warning, Trey jumped right off the roof exactly where Recarie had gone over.
"Are you..." Ian was just about to say 'nuts' when he knew that the Hunter was indeed eccentric.
He felt the warmth from Trey's body and the cool breeze that drifted up his backside. Ian was unsure whether his body was hot or cold at that moment. The whole experience left him mildly uncomfortable. On the other hand, Trey had no care for how Ian was feeling. After all it was his fault the girl was getting away.
Halfway between the ground and the roof, the Hunter reached to his right hip and pulled a tightly bound leather whip. He bent the whip back and then it was sent unfurling towards a nearby tree branch. The tip of the whip just managed to wrap around the thick limb several times allowing Trey to swing and firmly land on the branch below it.
Trey was already off and running while Ian stopped to catch his breath. "A little warning next time might be nice!" He screamed at his buddy, who by at that point was too far away. "Great! Just great! This shift can only get better..."
Recarie was making her way through the forest that surrounded the hospital. It was taking all the coordination she had to keep from bumping into the many trees and crashing to the ground. "Damnit!" Her sweet and innocent voice yelled out. "Why are there so many trees? Come on!"
She dipped and dodged, trying her best not to have to slip through small openings in the forest, but the tree limbs were so vast and so many, that there was hardly any space to move. If it was not the trees, it was the vines and moss blocking her view and constricting her movements.
"There!" Recarie heard the Hunter shout.
"Huh!" She used almost all of her energy to speed up and immediately felt the strain it was having on her heart. This burst of energy did not last long before it made Recarie light headed. Blood started to ooze from her nose and all over her gown. Unknowingly to her, she was almost exactly where she needed to be.
Only several yards away, was a residential neighborhood. Recarie knew this was the one place she might find sanctuary. The barbwire fencing and keep out signs were dead give a ways. Slowing her speed, she so effortlessly glided over the sixty foot fence and over its jagged top. Having crouch behind a row of thick shrubs to catch her breath, Recarie felt her head become clearer and the blood stopped flowing from her nose. Now all Recarie needed was a place to hide.
Eek! Sirens wailed while police vehicles patrolled the many streets of this fenced in neighborhood. Although Recarie did not know it, she had just flown into a Zone.
"Everyone stay in your homes." The NSSH officers called from their cars.
Now the morning was coming and beneath cracks of purple sky's came the dark orange of the rising morning sun. There was rustling in the bushes behind the fence she had just come from and knew that Ian and his Hunter friend would be there shortly. Instead of dodging trees, now Recarie dodged searchlights from the helicopters in the sky and from the police cars below. She ducked behind a house that was built like a flimsy shed to hold gardening tools, not for sheltering people.
As she finally noticed that this was not a sunshine and smile neighborhood, but one of depression and suppression her heart leapt again. She looked for a haven, anywhere that would hide her from NSSH. "The government shield that's posted on everything should have been a warning." Recarie argued to herself.
All residents were locked in the homes made of a cheap tin roof and four drywall walls. Windows were just squares cut into the walls without glass to keep bugs and other junk from floating in. They were only luck enough to have the window because patrol officers were complaining of the stench of stale air that floated off the residents bodies. Everything they were given was only the bare minimum that the NSSH believed they needed to survive on.
"Oh..." Recarie held her hand to her heart. Too pure of heart, her round blue eyes stung with oncoming tears. "How anyone could possibly live in such dilapidated homes? Their faces show the same misery that I felt while in the hospital." Peering into house after house, Recarie saw that families of up to six lived in the single room homes.
"It's not so bad." A woman with an island accent said out of nowhere.
"Wha...!" Recarie jumped, being so deeply in thought and not noticing the mocha colored woman sitting on top of a red sedan next to her.
"For most of us we know no other life." She opened one of her closed eyes and eyed Recarie up and down with her violet eyes.
What a state the girl was in. Dull and muddied mauve hair, damp splashes of blood all down her hospital gown, dried tears on her dirty face, Hunter's flames floating from her body, and quivering from what the woman recognized as uncertainty and fear.
"Poor child." The woman patted Recarie on the head as a friendly gesture. "You can go in my house and clean up." She flicked a lock of soft lemon yellow hair off of her shoulder. "There is a wardrobe of clothes about your size inside. Feel free to take what you wish." Recarie did not move from sheer confusion and the woman's temper flared.
"Look!" She yelled silently. "If you don't get going, that Hunter on your tail is sure to catch up to you and I am sure you do not want to spend your days in a place like this." Her arms spread out and signaled to the Zone she lived in.
Recarie turned around and got a good look at the crumbling shacks and felt the peoples despair. "Thank you." Recarie got the point and rushed into the house, still floating several inches off of the ground. "I've already been caged once... And that's more than enough for me."
The woman sat still on the car as if nothing had happened as a NSSH vehicle strolled past ignoring the fact that she was out of her home. She returned to her meditation pose and cleared her mind of all negative thoughts that clouded her being.
After failing to locate a handle, Recarie pushed the screen door to the shack open. To her left she found a corner that was cut off from the rest of the one room home by a plain off white shower curtain. Recarie could not recall ever having a proper bath or how to clean her own body, but she cast off the soiled gown and hopped behind the curtain. There were three long yellow tiles that formed a square along the wall with the purpose of keeping water from spilling out of onto the white tiled floor. Only one handle was on the wall with the option of cold water, and not hot.
"Ugh!" The first blast of cold water sent Recarie into the border tiles, stubbing her toes in the process. Though after two minutes her body had adjusted to the temperature and became bearable. She did not find a bottle of shampoo or conditioner, but a fresh unused all-purpose body cleaner bar that she washed all parts of her body with. The bar was also used to clean her hair and face. As soon as she knew there was no more dirt clouding her form, Recarie wrapped an idle pink cotton towel around her and hopped back out of the shower.
In no time at all, she had located the wardrobe the woman outside had mentioned. It was an old weathered wooden double door closet that sat against the north wall of the house. Paint chipped and faded from all over and the brass handles had tarnished from years of use. Recarie grasped the curved handles and was not sure what to find in the closet. Closing her eyes she pulled on the handle ever so gently and the wardrobe opened.
"Ah!" A delighted giggle escaped through Recarie's naturally rose painted lips.
She was surprised at how modern the clothes on the hangers before her were. Small hands dove right into the clothes and she pulled out the first couple of pieces that caught her glittering eyes. The first thing she put on was a black halter top that showed off her midriff. To accompany the halter top, a pair of snug black shorts and a matching rhinestone, thick black belt. Then she added something not too many people would dare even try on. She put on a beige over skirt that showed off her shorts.
As a final result, Recarie looked like a goddess from the clouds of heaven. All she needed now was a pair of shoes, and as the woman only had one pair of strap up black pumps, she pulled them on and admired the final look in the only mirror of the house. It was a full length body mirror that was just a rectangular piece of glass leaning against the wall. The people living in this neighborhood were flat broke poor and made do with what they had.
"Ah!" A sigh of satisfaction spread across Recarie's little tan face, only to have it fade as quickly as it had come. "Exactly how did she come to acquire these clothes? Hm."
Her hair, limp and damp, hung messily over her shoulders and down to her knees. Not knowing what to do, Recarie looked around the room when she saw a dresser with a brush and elastics on it. This was the woman's makeup dresser and one lonely, short wooden stool was tucked underneath it. Recarie, inspecting the items on the desk, identified each one. But she did not know how to use them from personal experience, only that she observed the many nurses using these items as they passed time in her room.
The one with a handle and many bristles was used to comb a person's hair, so Recarie choose that one first and straightened the mess that was hair. It was the first time she had tried brushing her hair with something other than her fingers.
"Shit!" Yet more swearing from such a sweet creature. Recarie was brushing too quick of her hair when she snagged the bristles on a knot.
Taking a deep breath, Recarie started over again and placed the brush at the top of the head as she had seen the women in the hospital do, but their hair was already straight Recarie was not prepared for having to brush out all the little knots in her hair. More cussing followed until she had untangled every knot and bound her thick wavy mauve hair back with an elastic just like she had seen the nurses, both male and female, do. Little wisps of hair fell from her scalp and hung above her eyes, giving Recarie's face shape.
In a tin box next to the brushes and elastics, were many tubes and clear cases with pressed powders. Recarie choose a random tube and twisted the bottom and out from the top came a light rose pink colored lipstick. Three movements over her lips and the girl just became a little brighter with color to her face. Even with her natural rosy lips, it brought out the life in her. She went on to experiment with the pressed powder eye shadows, but not the blush as her checks were naturally rosy. There was also no need for the mascara that sat on the desk either, as Recarie had thick and long eyelashes already. The girl now looked a whole three years older, more mature for that matter.
"This is some powerful stuff. It just... It just makes me look alive." She placed everything back where she had found it.
Soon, Recarie felt rejuvenated, energized, and full of life. She was pleased with the outfit assembled from the woman's clothing and crept over to the door to thank her for all her help.
"Hurry up or we'll lose her!" Ian screamed running through the thick forest of trees. His legs felt weightless and he was tired of the golem slowing him down. What Ian failed to recognize was that Trey weighed a good five times more than he did, so it took him longer to run vast distances.
"Quiet boy!" The Hunter barked back. He was now thoroughly feed up with Ian. "If you had done your job..." His voice died down and trailed off. It was also Trey's job to guard Recarie and he could not yell at Ian for failing to do his job when he too had lost the girl. "I mean," Trey tried to save himself first. "There is Zone up ahead. We will have better luck catching her there."
In all truth and honesty, Ian was not quite sure if he even did want to 'catch' Recarie. Besides her killing all his friends and superior officers some odd months ago, he did not see why they could not simply let her go. Blood flushed through his face, but this was not the first time. Most times when he thought about Recarie, he got hot and his palms sweated. It had all come to the point where Ian could not and would not look her in the face, all unaware why.
Branch after branch fell while Trey cleared him a good sized path. Still continuing at his pace, he managed to catch up with Ian who had, for some reason, started to daze out and slow down.
"Don't feel so bad." Trey slapped Ian on the back, grabbing an extra piece of D.N.A. without the boy knowing it. "If you are thinking about your commander, he has just relayed new orders for you, or should I say us." He went back to chopping down tree limbs.
"Oh, and what did he say?" Ian hung back waiting for the Hunter to clear the way for him.
The sight of a ghastly neighborhood surrounded by a barb wire fence was coming up. Trey gave a grunt of disgust, not only for the abomination called a Zone that was coming into view, but also that he would have to check in and out of it.
"Just more paper trails." Trey went on one of his usual 'The Man,' rants.
Fed up with the stalling, Ian grabbed Trey by the arm, as much as he could anyways. "What did he tell you?!"
"Oh, just that since you lost the girl on your time you are responsible for catching her and bringing her back to the NSSH headquarters." He could not help hide the smirk on his face.
Ian slunk back, walking even slower than he had been. "Well that's..." His words stopped and depression took its place among his list of daily emotions.
Seeing his friend looking worse than he should, Trey thought of relaying the rest of the message, or most of it anyways. "He also says that there is a promotion waiting for you back at the office." He looked over his shoulder to catch Ian's expression.
His little head perked up and his eyes were so bright, it was like the sun had been shining. This did help Ian's mood, it really did. The day was looking a little less smoky.
"But you have to catch the girl first." And just like that, Trey had crushed the boy's spirit for the second time that morning.
That morning was not all bad, though. During the conversation they had managed to walk around to the front of the Zone to the check in/out station where two guards in standard white NSSH uniforms took their identification cards and allowed them entry into the neighborhood.
"Ugh!" Ian cringed at the atmosphere in this Zone.
All he wanted was to crawl back into his soft leather chair back in the NSSH office where he worked. This girl had been just one accident after another and it caused her to lose her cuteness in the process. Now he had to acknowledge the existence of the morbid Zones and the poor, sorry souls that inhabited them. He watched other super ability enabled humans peek from behind the tattered curtains with their physically and emotionally starved eyes. It was all too much for him to take. Unlike these people and families, Ian would be leaving there of his own free will when his business was over.
"Oh..." He moaned in pain. His stomach was churning with guilt.
"You need not worry about those folks, kid." Trey went off calling Ian names again as he tried to console him while the strolled through the neighborhood following his tracking flames. "These people really do not mind it so much here."
Even though Trey told the truth, Ian was finding it hard to believe. The houses were set up in uniform rows and only had several feet of yards per house. How could anyone not mind living in such a place as this?
Down one of these rows, was the woman sitting on the red car, enjoying the setting moon and the rising sun. Recarie had just floated into her house only seconds before. She was fully aware of the Hunters presence and his youthful assistant searching the hell they called a neighborhood.
"Too close for comfort." The dark woman whispered as she saw Trey's trail leading straight to her door step. "..." She chanted several phrases and the trail dispersed into thirty different directions. "This will buy her some time."
Following the single trail of Hunters flame, Trey was sure he would find the girl. At least that was true before the one flame separated into dozen of flames leading the duo in multiple directions. Trey took the lead and pointed Ian down one lane as he ran off down another. Ian had almost hoped he had not followed the Hunters orders. The same pathetic sullen faces that had gazed so mournfully at Recarie ducked and hid from the man's view, but not before he was able to glance at them. It all made him want to vomit.
"These people make me sick." Ian rubbed his stomach to try and sooth the ache that had formed. "They don't have to live this way if they did not want to." He whispered out of ear range of anyone's house.
Once Ian had finished following one false trail, he turned down another row and followed the next trail. After one trail had been searched, it faded into the morning's thick, damp air. His polyester NSSH officer uniform felt moist and tight from the humidity. All he wanted to do now was find the girl and leave as soon as possible.
"Hm, but do I want to?" Ian questioned himself again without even fully realizing it. The set of flames he had been following faded so he shook the thought for the moment and focused on the next trail.
Trey had followed one single trail, leaving Ian to trace down all the false ones by himself. Of course a Hunter with his experience could tell his flames from artificial ones conjured up by another's ability. As a Hunter, Trey also knew that there were only three people who could scattered the trail, one of which resided in this particular Zone. Approaching a dark skinned woman sitting on top a car, he was ready for some answers. "Do not bother, Hunter." The woman commented in a harsh and commanding tone. Yet, her voice always seemed calm and rational.
"It's my job, Yasire." He laid one hand on the car, to her left side.
But Yasire did not seem to care; her meditation was at the top of her priorities. "Um hm." She eyed him over with closed eyes. "Which job?"
Trey took two back steps. "Look sweet thing, I know she is in that shack you call a home."
"Do not call me sweet thing! And what is it to you?!" She shot back, voice quick and sharp. "What is that girl doing in there? She is taking forever!" Yasire thought to herself.
"To be honest, I could go charging in there any time I wanted to." He eyed the door way and the flames that lead there.
"So? Then what are you doing out here?" Not one time during the whole conversation had Yasire opened her eyes? It was part of the spell she had chanted to keep the trails separated, but Trey's words were getting to her and her concentration was waning.
He leaned his ridged back against the car's hood, and then shrugged his shoulders. The only thing on his mind now was the violet and peach sky, watching as the sun rose.
"Humph!" Yasire continued her spell as the Hunter did nothing to arrest the girl in the house behind them. The pair continued to linger in silence. Once or twice Trey had yawned and stretched his arms, but Yasire refused to budge. Finally, she gave in. "I know you sense that boy of yours, Ian, is headed for trouble." Her radiant yellow hair tossing over back. "You had best go and retrieve him." Yasire spoke to Trey in a concerned motherly voice.
Trey shrugged. "Might as well." He pushed off from the car. "Not like there is anything happening here."
The Hunter got one last good and full look at the woman on the hood of the car before heading off after his charge. Trey could not care for the sight of Yasire's magnificent form, or the way her hair blew in the damp morning breeze against the dark clouds and light sky. His job called and he knew Ian would not last too much longer on his own.
"Sometimes I swear that boy is not worth the trouble." Trey didn't bother saying goodbye. Something told him he'd be back there anyways.
Just as Yasire had said, Ian was headed for trouble. By some luck and chance he had found Trey's trail, but followed it to the back of the woman's home. Although the house had only one window which was in front of it, he could hear the girl swearing like nothing he had ever heard or thought was possible, from inside. He did not notice that Trey was in front of the house talking to the woman who lived in it and assumed he was alone, besides Recarie of course.
Footsteps were leading away from the back of the house where he was and headed towards the front door. If Ian was to catch this girl, he would have to act soon. Feeling braver than he had in recent months, he hurried to stop Recarie from escaping him yet once again. Click! The front door opened and he jumped in front of it, but what he saw had stopped him in his tracks. This one poor choice would prove fatal for the boy in the future. Looking back on it, Ian should have picked up his feet and ran away.
Recarie twisted the door knob and opened the door. She stepped outside and froze not expecting anyone to be there. A shiver went through her body and she looked Ian dead in the eyes causing her face to burn bright read. Something had happened and she was unable to move from that spot. Her head was telling her body to dash, but Recarie knew that this was not possible. A thousand thoughts went through her mind before she finally took one step back. With gritted teeth and balled fists, the girl was ready to make her getaway.
They had found themselves in one of those situations where two people are going down a hall, both going in the opposite direction. One of them goes left as the other tries to, and then they both move to the right. Some polite smiling and quiet awkward laughs are exchanged in the process, both parties trying to not look the other in the eyes. And then it continues until one of those people speaks up and say 'I am going this way,' and breaks from the situation. But in Recarie's and Ian's scenario, one wanted to flee and the other one wanted to prevent them from escaping.
Even though Ian was in an arm's length away from her, he felt like averting his gaze. It was true. Recarie's appearance would make most men blush, well men like Ian any ways. Pushing all other thoughts out of his mind, he brought himself back to the present. In a daring, very daring move, Ian reached out and grabbed Recarie's arm.
"I caught you!" A reference to Recarie's owns words earlier that morning.
She looked into his hazel eyes with an expression Ian could tell meant 'No you just did not!' That stare of death Recarie sent into his being, started to make Ian rethink his last action, for he knew it might be his last action. In an act of defiance she pushed her arm down and out of his grip.
"And what makes you think that you have me?" Recarie was not being a snob. Her tone was playful and she spoke between a smile, obviously not taking the man seriously.
He did not move. "You have nowhere to go?" Even Ian was unsure of his own statement, still managing to talk through his nervous laughing.
Recarie hovered several inches above the ground, still standing in the door way. "You do not have the nerve to catch me."
Yasire sighed and hopped off the car, rolling her eyes. She knew that this little fit of witty banter was going to explode into something out of everyone's control. Her lengthy multilayered dark violet skirt swayed back and forth with each tall, strong step she took toward the pair. This was a woman of great untold power and demanded total respect from those around her.
Ian took a step forward. He did have the nerves and she just struck one of them. "Listen, little girl, you have no idea of what I am capable of so you have better lay off." His voice serious with traces of nervous laughing in it, Ian took two more steps towards Recarie.
"Oh my, my." Finding her own strength, she reluctantly took a step back. "Feeling brave are we now?" She leaned her body forward.
"Stop it here!" The island woman shouted.
Recarie's hair was standing on its end, crackling with sparks of her power and Ian was just about ready to try his latest psychic ability development. Yasire knew this was not heading in a good direction and would stop it right then and there.
The girl's devilish grin faded once the kind and generous woman approached. For helping her, Recarie had developed a sense of respect for the woman who she still did not know her name. Ian, on the other hand, did not have a clue who she was and did not back down.
"This is no way for an NSSH officer to behave." Yasire shamed Ian. "You have not even read young Recarie here her rights yet, have you?"
Ian shrunk back and hit a wall, although he was sure that there was not a wall there a moment ago. "Eh?" He gripped.
"Watch where you are going." Trey yelled down to the man who had bumped into him.
During all the commotion, Recarie shrunk back and made her get a way without Ian's notice. She ducked low towards the ground and waddled along the outside of Yasire's house and then when all ways were cleared, she jumped into the air and took off into the golden sky.
Meanwhile on the ground, Ian was too busy being hounded by both the unknown woman and Trey. Through the bits and pieces of sentences Ian could make out, he knew that the woman was telling him how to do his job and that Trey was ranting on about respect for one's property or something similar.
"Look!" Ian pointed to the object flying in the morning sky. "There she goes!" With his feet firmly pressed to the ground, Ian was about to take off running after her, but something had grabbed the back of his uniform, preventing him from pursuing Recarie. "What now?!" His head hung low.
Trey had pulled the boy to face his face. "Look!" His voice rough and angry as he pointed to the ever fading blur in the sky. "She is headed out towards the sea and we are unable to follow her further." He dragged Ian out of the Zone, bidding farewell to Yasire by waving his hands who rolled her eyes in response.
Ian was still being held by the back of his uniform and his shoes scuffed against the asphalt beneath them. Although he did not want to be lead like he was, he had hit a low point in his self-esteem.
"Trey, I failed my job didn't I?" It was the most serious he had been with his friend in a while and was hoping for the same in return.
"Oh yeah little buddy you sure failed big time." True to Trey's style, he simply mocked the man's moment of self-pity.
"I lost the girl and there went my possible chance of a promotion with it." Ian wouldn't get out of his funk. "Everything was in my reach, and yet now I am back to where I started."
"You're not going to make this day any easier, are you?" He slapped Ian on the back just as the guards closed the gates behind them.
In the sky, Recarie was weaving in and out of the clouds and letting the wind ruffle her overskirt. "Freedom!" Her naturally quiet voice declared to the world as she stretched her thin arms. "Oh..." Recarie had been hit with a wave a depression. "Those people... There're still put up in those 'Zones' and I'm above it all, enjoying this glorious morning."
The feeling of the damp and humid air had lost its enjoyable feeling. Her speed decreased and she began to lose altitude. "Somehow I know that I have to help those people, because it is just not right to be locked up and separated from the joy and freedom of being able to explore a world that was so vast and wonderful." Recarie dipped her toes in the cold sea's water. "But for right now my first priority is to get away from the NSSH and that man." Her sentence trailed off into mumbled ranting which seemed to be becoming a habit of hers.
Down below her was lengths of sand bordered by water, salty, salty water. The sand was so white and pure that the sun beating down on it made it look like it was set ablaze. As for the water, it was so clear that Recarie could see the fish swimming about by the shore in the shallower water. Rows of palm trees created a boundary from the start of the white sands, sealing the secret paradise off from the roads that were several miles away.
Every thought was pushed from her ever thinking mind. All Recarie could do was dive towards the water, wanting to touch it for the first time in her memory. She skimmed across its shimmering surface, letting her left hand split a path through it. Twisting on her back, Recarie stopped flying and settled on top the water, allowing her body to just barley touch it. The ocean seemed endless, with various possibilities for the girl.
It was like the scene from a postcard on stand at a tacky souvenir shop, but the scenery soon faded from Recarie's thoughts. They were replaced with visions of a certain man who she had grown to loathe. This was a man whom she hated more than she was enjoying the beauty of the beach. She flew off of the water and landed on the silky white beach sand and lay beneath the shade and shadows of the palm trees. Recarie continued to think how she hated him and why.
"Stupid man!" She muttered in much annoyance, like Ian did when he was mad. Sand trickled through her nimble tan fingers. "Treat me like a damn child..." Her ranting continued in much of the same manner.
Feeling unnaturally safe in here current surroundings, Recarie lay in that same position until nightfall had come. Above her she gazed at the beauty night had brought with it. Silver shining stars sparkled against the pitch black and blue night sky. They illuminated the dark waters of the ocean and turned the sand she laid on, a pale cerulean. It looked more like freshly fallen snow than like any beach sand.
"I only have ever seen the night sky from behind curtains and windows. There's quite a difference." Her thoughts turned back to her current situation. "What am I to do now? It was not like I could spend my whole life on this strip of sand and water. But what else is out there?"
Recarie could still not remember her life before the moment she had woken up in the hospital, if she had a life before that point. Was there family out there waiting for her and wondering about her wareabouts? Only if Recarie knew the answers to these questions would she have known her next move. Unfortunately for now, she would have to wait for fate to push her in the right direction. But what she did not know was that fate was already on its way.
"Do not move." A voice from up above shouted as a light beamed down on her.
It took both of her arms to shield enough of the light out of her eyes to see several black helicopters flying above. Not long after the helicopter showed up did a ground team surrounds her. They came from behind the trees and out of the water. She had let her guard down in the serenity of the beach that she had forgotten she was still being looked for by the NSSH. When Recarie wondered how she had been trapped, she noticed the Hunter's flames had reappeared and danced along her body.
Dozens of men, and only a handful of women, jumped out of the armored jeeps while they were still in motion and rushed Recarie. Force fields were being created and the sand from under her began to part and swallowed her body in its pit. Water from the ocean formed a cyclone that shot out like a winding serpent around her body. This was a very well planned attack, and through the attacks and constant movement of people Recarie watched as Ian and Trey lead the entire ordeal.
For some reason, she felt rejected, hated, and ignored all at the same time. She did the first thing that popped in her mind when her adrenaline started pumping.
"I just need to focus." She felt deep within her heart and found her power. A sensation like fire shooting through her veins, but it wasn't painful. "You all sure you want to do this? There's still time to turn back."
Since Recarie's emotions played a big role in the use of her powers, it was no time before she was counter attacking her foes. Skittering over the sand as graceful as a skater on ice, her powers had easily allowed her to disassemble the sand back it the inanimate state it had come from just by thinking about it. The water serpent and wild animals that had recently shown up were an entirely different problem.
Recarie had to physically fend the creatures off with bits of white energy that stemmed from her fingertips. "It is just enough to knock out the animals, not kill them in the fight." After all she was an animal lover at heart. She would do nothing to harm them past what was necessary to ensure both of their survival.
After pushing a deer to the ground, a moose had come behind her, ramming her back sending her nose first into the sand. Next came a pair of brown bears. Their mighty roars announced their arrival. The bigger of the two made a swipe for Recarie as she laid stomach first, but she rolled over just in time to dodge the attack. She countered by flying off the ground and confusing the bears by conjuring up a water spout. This twister of water collided directly with the bears before they were able to do another attack. With each power she fended off, she also severed the processors powers and left them helpless.
"This is sick!" Recarie spat after wiping the blood from her lip. "Why don't you give up or send me someone worth my time!" She hovered just above the shore line.
Blue moonlight lighted up her body's slender curves and turned her mauve hair a deep violet. Recarie looked very much how she did when they first encountered her, but this time they knew she at least had a soul. A second wave of Combatants were arriving and taking their place. The water behind her rippled from the energy Recarie was emitting. She felt like she could take on the world.
"She is as good as we thought." Trey commented back to Ian as they watched the battle.
"..." Ian was unsure of just what the girl was capable of. "Perhaps..." He watched his soldiers get beaten down one after the other all while backing Recarie closer and closer to the water's edge.
Out from in front of Recarie came a sand tornado created from several nature enabled soldiers. She was too busy batting off flying animals and trying to stay on her feet. Sweat and dirt blurred her vision which put her at a disadvantage when the sand tornado finally smashed into her. It came fast and struck Recarie with no warning. Her body was swept into its center, leaving her temporarily defeated.
On the ground everyone watched the collected amount of sand granules graze and cut her fair skin. They watched as she frantically tried to escape the layers of wind and sand only to be pushed back to where she started.
"Ugh!" Recarie cried sweetly like a small child as she was cut by something in the sand.
Up until this point, Ian had tolerated the attacks, but to see this being become so helpless and fragile, biting his lip was no longer helping. His palms sweated and his heart was ready to explode from holding back. Hearing Recarie's cries did not help either. Although maybe it was from something else.
"Stop it!" Ian shouted surprising not only himself, but also those who were under his command.
With Ian being the commanding officer of the mission, they had no choice but to obey his orders. She was dropped and Ian rushed forward to her. On his hands and knees trudging through the thick sands, he pointed to four other officers and they ran with him.
There was Recarie lying on the sand dazed and barely able to see straight. For a brief moment it looked as though Ian was on his way to help her, but as soon as he and the men following behind him surrounded her and began to set up a force field, Recarie knew it was only her imagination. She could see the pure hate and determination that brightened his eyes.
"Forget this!" She yelled giving the same gesture with her middle finger.
Ian saw that this was directed at him and could only blink in amazement at her varying attitudes. "What is with this girl?" He kept that thought to himself.
Recarie rebounded and stood straight up as she calmed her body and searched her heart for advice. Flowing inside her, she felt the answer trickle out of her finger tips and show itself as rose colored sparkles.
"It's time to end this!" She took a slow step forward watching how the others around her reacted.
"Just like a girl." Trey commented at the color of her energy.
These sparkles gathered around her left hand forming a type of glove. She reached her hand out to the surface of the force field and split the white translucent beams of energy. There was a gap wide enough for Recarie slip out. Immediately she dashed towards the oceans water, leaving everybody, including Trey, chasing after her. The cool nights air that had begun to blow at that exact moment, prompting Recarie to take to the sky.
"You guys suck!" She shouted back over her shoulders, dodging the nine foot waves that were being thrown in her direction.
Recarie disabled the three men below her who had been causing all the havoc with the water. But her troubles were not over yet, not by a long shot. She was very valuable to the NSSH and they would pursue her until she was caught, dead or alive. The helicopters followed her over the surface of the water, firing heat seeking missiles, one after the other. One missile was fired, Recarie ducked into the water leading it off her trail. Once in the water, the missile detonated and sent water shooting several feet in the air. It was this rush of water that caught Recarie in its mist and pulled her back into the oceans depths.
Tiny arms broke out of the dark, sapphire waters and back into the sky. Wet and cold, Recarie had had enough of it. Now she was standing her ground, and if it took her life, she would fend off the remaining NSSH force that had shown how far it was willing to go on this night. Recarie stood on the water's surface and prepared for the next attacks.
"Come on." Recarie whispered into the dark.
"..." Silence echoed in the blowing air.
"Huh?" There was nothing else out there with Recarie. "Where'd the copters go?"
In the brief moment she had been pulled under the water, everyone had disappeared and why was the moon higher in the sky than it was seconds ago? Something had happened, but Recarie was not about to stay there and ponder what it was. She flew in the opposite direction of the beach and into the vast ocean and the twinkling night sky. Her destination, she figured, was whatever piece of land she would land on first. If she never saw Disten again, it would not have bothered her in the slightest of ways.
"That girl." Ian climbed into the back of camouflaged military jeep. "Seriously, what's her deal?" He sat in the seat next to the Hunter.
"Hm?" Trey raised a stone eyebrow.
"It is like one minute we have her cornered and outnumbered, and then she pulls a stunt like that." Tossing his arms in the air to demonstrate his point as he so often did, something was different about Ian.
Maybe it was his new promotion, which he was awarded only because Sean was so kind as to speak on the boy's behalf, or the way he looked Trey in the eyes when he spoke without the nervous laughter. This Ian was more confident in his words and actions; this was 'Working Ian.' While on the job around his peers, Ian was the little awkward boy who let others lead him, but on his own, he took control of the situation and was the leader.
"How did she disable the electronic sensors in the copters?" His arm leaned against the jeeps window as he gazed at the rising morning sun coming up over the horizon.
The Hunter shrugged, shaking the armored vehicle in the process. "The only thing I care about is the flames." He looked away from Ian's direction. "You know, they only last two weeks, a month at best, if I am not within a three mile radius of her."
EEEEEEEEEEEK! The jeep jerked as it made a sharp turn onto the freeway back towards Disten's NSSH headquarters. Several cars swerved into each other trying to avoid a collision with it. Horns blared and people stepped out of their cars waving fists and swearing like Recarie when she brushed her hair for the first time.
Ian and Trey paid the scene going on outside of their vehicle no attention. The affairs of the local normal citizens did not concern them. Their only focus was turning in for the day and starting fresh once night fell.
Much of the rest of the ride was spent in silence. Before reaching the NSSH headquarters, their driver picked up an extra passenger. His slicked back short black hair and glistening oval glasses, made Ian's heart race and face flush. Besides meeting in the hospital ambulance a few short months ago, Ian felt very deep in the core of his soul that he had recently seen this man, but could not place him in any recent events.
"Hello gentlemen." Cirri pushed his glasses off his nose and back into the rightful place in front of his eyes. "Well?" He pulled out a familiar manila folder. "What is your excuse for this failure? Hm?"
"I have nothing to say to you." His words were not arrogant, but matter-of-factly. "I am the leader of this mission and do not have to report into low level boys like you." Ian shrugged and, like Trey had been doing since Cirri had joined them on their little drive, ignored his presence completely.
"As that may be Lieutenant Ian," A glint from his glasses fell right in the path of Ian's brown eyes. "I am to get your informal reports before your minds are able to warp and morph them that delicate information." He held out three separate forms for each of them, but neither of them took the papers. "Fine, if we must do this, I will take down your reports orally."
"He, he, he." Trey hushed an immature giggle.
"I already have statements leading up to the battle over the water. All you two need to do is fill me in on the rest." Cirri, in true nerd fashion, clicked his pen and waited for one of the men to start spilling out information.
"Once she, and by she I mean, Recarie, flew out over the water and took out the last of our ground force, I sent in the helicopters." Ian could picture each moment clearly, even though he had a pulsating headache. "Shots were fired and then..." He was speechless.
The car was quiet as Cirri waited for Ian to finish his report. Leaning forward, Cirri waited anxiously for the next sentence. His tapping of his pen became louder and quicker as his temper flared in impatience.
Leaning forward, Cirri could no longer take it. "Well?!" He shouted practically jumping out of his seat all while containing himself.
"Oh..." Ian shook from his trance. "It was actually quite beautiful and serene now that I think about it..." He went back to staring wearily out of the cars window.
Cirri, not being able to hold his anger, finally snapped. "Just answer me! What happened next?"
"The dang girl disabled all our electronic vehicle and devices, and then shot out across the water faster than you could begin to blink!" Trey shook the jeep and punched a hole in the indestructible flooring.
"No need to get antsy, Mr. Hunter Trey." Cirri waggled his finger. "Tsk, tsk."
This was the last straw. Trey was ready to rip the unsightly man apart, but luckily for Cirri, the vehicle had reached its destination. Cirri was satisfied with the report and jumped out of the car before the Hunter actually tried anything on him. Being a frail waif of a person, it would certainly not take Trey much to hurt Cirri.
Next, it was Trey to jump out of the jeep and he pulled along the dazed and day dreaming Ian along with him. The morning sunshine did not improve his mood. Already he had to deal with Cirri and now Ian's mind was vacant space between his ears. The new lieutenant must have been deep in thought to not notice he was being laid in his car, with his fiancée in the driver seat.
"You had best not harm him, witch." The Hunter warned Justine before he let go of the car's door.
"And you had better mind your own dang business and learn your place, Hunter garbage." Her angelic face twisted in nastiness and her words were said in pure hatred.
She sped out of the parking lot of the Disten NSSH headquarters, leaving smoke in her wake.
Ian could not take his mind off the scene of a graceful Recarie twisting her body like and island dancer, weaving her invisible powers in the air with each move. Her overskirt flowed in a rhythm with the wind that Ian could only describe as magical. He remembered the moment when she stopped her performance; how all the copters suddenly lost power and crashed to the ground. All electronic devices, including all vehicles, died and she disappeared over the water in a shot of pure sparkling silver light.
"What a day." He managed to comment to his fiancée who had been ranting on about her work day on their drive her. "What a day indeed."
As the day dawned, an unidentified figure flew over the water. Her back faced the water and she was fast asleep. Sometime after her most recent fight with the NSSH, Recarie had drifted into a peaceful slumber above the oceans salt water. During this time, her hair went from being silky smooth and straight, to dried and coarse strands that resembled hay. It was not only Recarie's hair that was affected by the sun and salt water; her lips were cracked and blistered. If anyone spotted her out floating so close to the water, and with the way her looks were, they would have thought she was a victim of drowning.
Luckily for Recarie no one would be finding her out on the edge of the ocean. Instead, the depth of the water became shallower and the voices of sea gulls were being drowned out with the voices of human beings. Recarie was washing onto the white, crushed marble sand of the shore and out of the salt of the sea. Her body tumbled out of the air, landing her face first into a pile of hot, white sand.
"Owwww!" Now wide awake, Recarie rubbed the dirt out of her eyes. "Ohhhh..."
In front of her was something not like had ever seen before, people that looked like her. Well, not so much as they were tan and had mauve hair that reached their knees, but more so that they were not tight laced like those back in Disten were. These people were happy and Recarie could see that many were not normal, in the superhuman kind of way. Children bounced around creating bears and castles in the sand with just a few swift movements of their hands. The adults, both special ability and not, conversed about politics and the latest in sports all while not moving their lips.
These people lounged around in the golden sunlight that shone down from a clear blue sky. Rows and rows of palm trees lined the section of sand between the water and land. A true paradise.
"Is this..." Her voice trailed off. "A Zone!" Recarie stood up out of the mound of sand she had fallen into, not bothering to dust herself off. She did not make it far.
"Oof." Two voices cried.
"Oh, I am so sorry." Recarie, in her disarming sweet and innocent voice, spoke first as she helped the person she had bumped into up.
"No, it's my fault." They rubbed their heads. "Once I start running, I can't help it."
Recarie stared wide eyed at the boy, no older than most people thought she was. His slopping shoulders and unruly auburn hair that glistened in the sun somehow made her feel calm and reassured.
"Running from what?" Recarie had forgotten why she was running. She was too entranced by the boy's looks.
This was, in fact, the first time she had seen a boy, or someone younger than their mid-twenties. He could be compared to the young female nurses that had worked in NSSMC. His skin was not quite as tan as Recarie's, but not as pale as the sand they stood upon. There were no wrinkles on his forehead or bags under his eyes.
Copying the boy, Recarie dusted herself off as she watched the boy do so. She was still enthralled by such an encounter that she ignored the thirst on her tongue or the hunger pangs in her stomach. Being in this boy's presence was way more fun, and much more exciting.
"Well this is no way to start off our first meeting." He reached out a lean lengthy arm and held his fist open in front of Recarie.
Recarie had not actually shaken someone's hand before, but had seen it practiced by people in the hospital. Her curiosity got the better of her and she tilted her head to the left to examine the hand. The boy raised a brow, never having seen such actions by a person. It was the look you'd get from a dog yeah sure, but by never a person.
"You must not get out too often, do you?" Laughing the boy took her tan and dusty hand in his. His touch was gentle and not like those who had treated her at the NSSHMC. "My name is Daouen, and yours?"
"Huh?" She was still in Daouen's energy. "Oh, um? It's uh..." Recarie tilted her head and stared into his eyes. "My name is Recarie."
Smiling, the boy shook her hand. "See, now that was not so bad, now was it." His warm smile and understanding of the situation put the jittery girl back on the level.
"Uh huh." With lips closed, she smiled back at the boy, still shaking hands.
They continued on shaking each other's hands until Recarie's stomach began to rumble loud enough for Daouen to hear.
"Oh, have you've eaten today?" He did not let her hand go. "Because right off the beach's sand is an air conditioned café and..."
Instantly, Recarie had remembered why she was leaving the beach and headed back into the water. She tried to shake his grip, but Daouen was not paying her any attention even though Recarie was struggling to free herself from his hand.
"Eh, what are you doing?" He still held onto the strange girl.
"You're with the NSSH, aren't you?!" Recarie stood firmly in the sand, digging her feet into the second, cooler layer of it. "Well I am not falling into your trap and will not be confined to this Zone!"
Daouen let her hand go. "Excuse me? We are not in a Zone..." A realization hit him. "You are from the continent over, aren't you?"
Several yards from the boy, Recarie stopped running. "Eh?" This had been quite the confusing morning for both parties. "Continent over? I am in Disten, right?"
Now a group had formed a circle around the pair, watching the proceedings. Once the organization NSSH had been mentioned, everyone within hearing range stopped having fun and sprang to their feet. Recarie may not have noticed, but she was a long ways from 'home' and on this side of the world, things were different, very different indeed.
"Girl, this is Farous and here." Daouen looked over at the crowd. "The NSSH is nonexistent, let alone allowed on these lands."
"Huh?" Recarie's face flushed with embarrassment.
"Wow, you really aren't from here." He slowly paced towards the confused girl. "Like I said, there is a café a ways from here." A tan hand reached out to Recarie. "I could shed some light on your little predicament if you would allow me to take you there."
Recarie could see the truth and caring in his eyes. Without too much hesitation, she accepted Daouen's offer and his hand. Instantly, his emotions could be felt in her body just by touching the boy.
"He seems honest and very welcoming." It was like seeing the truth in Daouen's soul. "Is this part of my own power or is it that Daouen is more than what he seems?" Whatever was happening, as long as the NSSH was not involved in it, she would just go with the flow and listen to what Daouen had to say.
He slowed down, letting Recarie's hand go. "I would not mention the NSSH or anything about where you are from out loud and in the open, like you just did back there." Daouen spoke low and Recarie could tell from his tone that he was serious.
As the sands of the beach began to turn into grass and asphalt, a small bubble gum pink shop came into her view. Acanelle's Café was written across the front door in glittering gold letters. Similar gold coloring framed the square windows on either side of the front door. People sat drinking from dainty tea cups off of cutesy plates rimmed in light rose pink coloring. It looked as though it was the most innocent establishment in existent. But then again, so did everything else about this place called Farous.
A woman in a ruffled gold apron met them at the entrance of Acanelle's. "Ah, a table for two?" She winked at the pair playfully, already knowing the answer and led them to their table in the back of the room.
They were seated by a side window and handed a menu. The waitress informed them that she would be back in a few minutes to take their orders and Daouen got right to explaining this new place to his newest friend.
"You are in a country called Farous." Being in a secluded section of the café, he felt free to talk, but whispered.
He held out the seat for Recarie to sit and then motioned her to sit; all of this was still new to her. Following his instructions, she sat and allowed him to push in her seat. Daouen was a gentlemen and it showed to the fullest extent.
"In this land, the NSSH does not exist nor do they have authority to be here." He took his seat opposite of Recarie. "Several decades ago when the NSSH was founded, they tried to gain access and set up headquarters in our borders. Luckily, our government pushed Temthaw Vene and his soldiers back to their continent and prohibited them from ever stepping foot on this soil." Daouen glanced over his shoulders; the waitress was taking other customers orders. "There are no Zones and every superhuman ability enabled person lives as free as those without powers."
Recarie had nothing to add to the conversation, so she kept quiet and sipped ice cold water from the glass the waitress had delivered to their table. Without taking their orders, their waitress scurried off to the other customers. Even as the café was near empty and most people opted for the scenic patio outside, it was still terribly busy inside.
"I guess that means that not all nations are like the one I came from." Recarie folded her menu on the table. "Hm." She slipped into deep thoughts. "That is better than I thought. But there are more countries out there. I wonder..." Her words became quieter as she rambled on.
Daouen adjusted his seat. "Yeah, um..." This girl was a peculiar creature, and not to mention a complete space case. "That's one of the best things about living here. You can just take off in one direction and go for miles and miles without anyone to hassle you.
"Is that what you were doing?" Her ranting finished. "Running on the beach?"'
This was Daouen's favorite subject. "Yeah!" He jumped right into it very enthusiastically. "When I start running, it feels like I am floating off the ground. As if the wind lifts me and propels me forward, like I could do anything. So light, so free, so happy. Complete and utter ecstasy."
His eyes widened and looked towards the ceiling like it was the sky outside. Recarie could see how much running was a part of his life just by the way he spoke. So much passion and energy, she hardly knew what to say.
"So, what about you, quiet girl Miss Recarie?" His eyebrow rose and fell just as quick.
"Oh, um well what do you mean?" She thumbed the menu, even though she had never seen one before or knew what its purpose was.
"Like, you must have come from another continent. Probably fleeing the NSSH?" Setting down the menu, Daouen starred at her in her sparkling eyes.
Her skin jumped at the mention of the NSSH. "Thanks for your information, but I really must be going." Recarie pushed back her seat with a loud skidding noise that caught the attention of several patrons and staff members.
Daouen bolted from his seat. "But we just got here." Not chasing after her or following Recarie, he paced behind her.
"And you can stay here by yourself." Recarie said back to him politely. She knew it was not smart or safe staying in one place. "Stupid!" Her palm, spread out flat, slapped her forehead with a thud. "How could I have said so much about myself to a semi-complete stranger?"
Almost to the door, Recarie's overskirt snagged on the edge of a table that was splintered on the edge. Pulling at the fabric over and over again, Recarie finally managed to spring free all before she lost her balance with the final pull. She yanked her body to the left and fell back first onto marble tiles that covered the café's floor. That was all it took to knock Recarie out, well that, thirst, and hunger anyway.
It was his rare day off from work and Ian went about enjoying it the same way he always did. Sleeping in until well after noon, Ian woke up and saw that Justine was already gone, as she usually was gone before he woke up. He hopped into the bathroom and took a nice long, warm soothing shower not bothering to wonder where his fiancée was off to. After getting dressed, Ian left the house he had thoroughly cleaned the night before.
This day off was a chance for him to forget all the hardships of work and all of the people there, including Recarie, even though she still lingered on his mind. Ian turned on his little sedan and did not look back at the house as he drove out of the drive way and onto the streets. Without having anyplace in particular he wanted to visit, Ian just kept on driving.
"Maybe fishing..." His thoughts wandered aimlessly. "Yeah, that sounds good."
He often fished on his days off, even having a special place that not many people knew about to fish at. A left turn, two rights, exit nine, another left, down a lengthy dirt road, and Ian had made it. But there was still a fair distance to go. Packing up his fishing rod and tackle box, Ian started off on unbeaten trail that headed up hill. Pine tree branches made a thick barrier hard for most people to get through; luckily Ian was not most people. Using his telepathy the sticky limbs parted and allowed him passage up the hill without any incident.
Just getting to this place was near impossible which allowed Ian complete secrecy while he was there. "Almost there!" He strained the last few steps up the steep hill and emerged at an emerald lake that had a cascading waterfall flowing into it.
Weeping willows, out of place on a mountain full of pine trees, dipped into the lake. These trees shaded almost all light from entering the secret hideaway. Thick moss and vines grew on the surrounding rock walls of the half mile wide secret retreat. This was a special place, but not just because it was Ian's get a way, but for a hidden quality that Ian did not even know of. Soft green-grey grass blades softened his steps to the edge of the lake. A breeze of warm air swept through ruffling Ian's cotton clothing. He closed his eyes and inhaled the cleansing breeze and exhaling the stress.
Ian tossed down his rod and tackle box. That had all been just for show in case someone had ever spotted him doing what he was about to do next. Not being a slim fellow, but not a plump one either, he looked rather fit when he took off the onyx black polo shirt. Underneath the shirt he wore a plain white tank top that matched his blue denim jeans and black sneakers.
"Hum." Even as it was his day off, Ian used this time to hone and develop his abilities.
Taking his stance, Ian was ready to test his newest developed power, particle manipulation. This was a power that was unheard of and not many other abilities came close to it. It stemmed from Ian's power of telekinesis, but it also involved the target. Through his regular telekinesis Ian was able to move and control most any objects. Particle manipulation went one step further in the sense that he could break the object down on a molecular level and build it again to fit his own design. This was just one of many new power developments that Ian had been experiencing since his first encounter with Recarie.
"Recarie..." Ian whispered, feeling safe enough that the NSSH was not on his tail. "Ugh!" He heaved as a rock was sent hurtling into the air with only the slightest move of his eyes. Ian was getting good...
In midflight, the rock disappeared and thousands of tiny, almost nonexistent grey orbs took its place. His left index finger drew a few invisible circles then the orbs formed a triangle, Ian was still getting used to this power. He was able to break the target apart, and form simple shapes and items with it. Ian pushed his palms against each other and the rock reformed just as it was before.
"Yes!" This was the first time he was able to have the item hold its shape after forming it back. His luck ran short when the rock fell into tiny grey stones on the ground, to be lost in the tall grass blades.
"Ugh! Forget this." He dropped to the ground. This was also his favorite spot to think. "Is this what my life has become?" Ian sounded unlike himself to speak aloud. "Practicing in the forest? My fiancée off to somewhere I don't know? Gawd!"
His hands dropped down in his open palms. If it was not for a sense of purpose and being pulling on his heart, he would probably leave it all behind and start anew somewhere else. Eventually all thoughts faded to peace as Ian watched the waterfall endlessly. It would seem no more training would take place on this day.
"Tssss." The air blew past Ian's round ears. Someone else was there.
"I thought I would find your sorry self here." Came a hoarse whisper from behind him.
Ian jumped to his feet. "Is that how you talk to your superior officers?" He dusted the grass clinging to his pants. The last thing Ian wanted was Justine asking where he's been all because she spotted strange grass stains on his pants.
"No, just you." Trey could always find his target thanks to his Hunter flames. "Still messing with the natural order, aren't you?" He referred to the many grey pebbles on the ground that used to be a single large stone. "And still unable to properly use it."
"Why don't you try and change a rocks chemical makeup." Ian sat back down. Trey was often bothering him at this secret place. "And then bring it back together." His voice was more of informing than anger.
"I have news on our fugitive." Trey took a seat next to his superior.
This was good news, yet Ian was still feeling like nothing mattered anymore. What was happening to his always happy-go-lucky attitude and warm inviting energy? Maybe it had something to do with the invisible force pulling on his heart and telling him to cross the ocean.
"It is nothing definite, but we have several sightings in one specific location." Trey handed Ian the files he had been hiding in his satchel.
The depressed man reluctantly took the folder. "And, not that I care to talk work on my only day off, but what of our mole?"
"Already closer to the target and still undetected from both Recarie and locals." Trey eyed Ian over. The others man face was flushed red, but why?
A faint sigh escaped Ian's lips. "And let me guess." Trey helped him up off the ground. "We are heading out?"
His implication was confirmed with a single nod of Trey's rock face.
Ian had only one question. "When?"
The duo headed out from the little paradise. "This part you will like." He burned each blade of grass back into the earth while walking down the hill. "Not for a month. There is already a Hunter on her and they're devising a plan on Recarie's capture..."
There he went again, blushing as red as a tomato. What was Ian thinking about?
"What!" Ian just let the Hunter's words register. "Who is planning this and why am I not part of it?!" Maybe the blushing was just anger.
"Well Sean is out of the hospital and then there's Armen, Lioel, Gillian," the list went on and on.
"Alright, just shut up." Ian waved Trey away. "They are all lieutenants like me, why am I not included?" He reached his car.
"That does not matter. You are still in charge of leading this party." Trey watched as new grass sprouted from where he had stepped and burned the land.
"Oh well." Not wanting to further interrupt his free time, Ian sat in his car.
"So what are you going to do with your vacation?" Trey leaned into the car window. "There is still much left to this day."
The car engine sputtered to life. "I don't know... Want to go get drunk or something?" Ian opened the car door for his best and maybe only friend.
Even though Trey did not like being encased in, what he described as a tin death box, but at the prospect of free booze, he accepted without hesitation.
The sun was setting and the ride back into town was quiet. But fortunately for Ian, the guardian had a question that had just been burning on his mind.
"So what is your deal with Recarie, actually?" He raised a brow and looked into Ian's eyes.
Caught off guard by the question, Ian swerved in and out of several lanes before his heart stopped racing.
"Wha...!" He gasped for air.
Trey raised a brow. "I thought so..."
"Ugh..." Recarie had known she should have gotten used to fainting and being knocked out by now, but each time was just as bad as the first.
"Slowly!" A female cautioned as she helped Recarie sit up.
"I can tell you are the kind of person who is prone to danger." Joked a distant familiar male's voice.
"Oh..." Recarie lay back down. "Not you." She knew who it was.
"Daouen, at your service." He bowed and lightly kissed her limp hand that was hanging off of the faux leather couch she was laying on.
"And Caleth!" The female introduced herself like a magician's assistant on stage. "The Force of Nature! Mu ha, ha, ha!"
Daouen inched over to Recarie's side. "Please don't let her scare you off, like I almost did earlier."
It was just as she had expected, this boy was a true gentleman. Maybe Farous was a safe haven from the NSSH. After all, had she not been informed that they could not operate, or step foot on soil outside of their own continent. Recarie twisted on the couch and ignored the two, turning over the thought of possibly finding a home in Farous.
"Mmm..." A sweet smell floated her way and she sat up. After clearing the haze from her eyes, Recarie noticed she had not left the cafe, but was in one of its many spare rooms. "Food?" She questioned Caleth.
"You poor thing." Caleth, a girl no more than sixteen with olive green hair and stunning gold eyes, brought Recarie a bowl of three bean salad. "Eat this and feel better."
She did like Caleth told her, and gobbled down the entire chilled serving, then asked for another. During the second bowl, Recarie told her new friends her life story, or just the short few months she could remember of it. It was at the end of her enticing and heroine tale that Caleth offered her the room for as long as she stayed in Farous.
"I may have forgotten to mention, but I am the owner of this café after all. I just have many other people to manage it." She smiled with her eyes closed.
Even though Recarie knew, via her abilities, that Caleth and Daouen could be trusted, staying in one place too long did not seem like a good idea.
"I can see by the look on your face that you've been through a lot in a short time. How about you rest for now." Daouen ushered his friend out of the beige room. "And we will meet up later tonight." He was about to turn off the light. "Oh, by the way Caleth took those clothes you were wearing to get cleaned."
Now that he mentioned it, Recarie was kind of cold. She was wearing only a shimmering gold tank top and matching floral print shorts.
"There are more clothes in the dresser behind you!" Recarie's new friend Caleth shouted from behind Daouen as he shut the door.
Recarie did not mind this. In fact she felt comfortable and considered the two to be her friends. They were the first true and only friends, unlike those back in Disten. She threw a pillow that she had been laying on at the neighboring wall.
"Stupid Disten and all those... Disten..." Recarie's eyes itched. "Why am I, crying? Everyone there was bastards." One person popped into her mind and stayed there. She hugged the second pillow she had been laying on. "Why am I hugging this pillow?" Recarie was not sure, but she may have been missing one of Disten's residents.
It could be the fact that she might never see him again that made her crawl into a ball. Or it could be living in a new place after spending all those months in a cramp hospital room with... Recarie could not bring herself to think his name. Each time she did, her legs got a little closer to her chest and her hold on the pillow increased.
As the sun set, Recarie began to fully wake up and pick herself off the couch. It was the first time she had really looked at her new living quarters. There was a dresser there much like the one that nice island woman had. It stood against the west wall, opposite the wall with the room's only window. To the south wall was the door Daouen and Caleth had left out of and to the north...
"Another door?" She knew what was on the other side of the first door, but what could be on the other side of the north door.
Curious, as she was, Recarie crept to this door and turned the knob slowly. With both eyes shut tight she pushed the door forward and stepped in. As soon as she entered a light came on. In this room was a shower, sink, and...
"A toilet!" She had not known how much she had to use the bathroom until her eyes feel upon the white porcelain toilet.
It was after another three hours that she spent cleaning herself up that a knock came at the door. No one spoke. It was just a knock on the door; a light almost inaudible tap. Cautiously Recarie slide out of the bathroom and across the floor.
"You there!?" Another unfamiliar person asked on the other side.
"Who... Who is there?" Shaking from the cold and nerves, Recarie stuttered slightly.
"I guess that would be a yes then." This young boy's first impression was a rude one. He spoke as if talking to her disturbed his soul. "Look not that I had to or anything, but Caleth and Daouen have finished closing the shop and asked me to see if you were still here."
Now that he had mentioned it, she was still there. "Is it so bad for me to stay in this one place for a while? Just till the NSSH backed off of hunting me down? That Caleth girl seemed kind enough and the boy named Daouen was so accepting of me." Recarie brought her leg in from the window she had almost squeezed her body through and opened the door.
"Yes?" With her head tilted and mauve locks of hair flipped over both her shoulders, Recarie looked this new boy directly in his purple eyes.
"I have been asked to invite you out with us." Recarie could see he was not interested in her existence by his flat voice and averting eyes.
"What? Who are you?" She snapped out of her split second day dream and remembered what she was doing. "If they wanted to ask me something then why have they have not come and asked me in person?" So many words for such a simple point.
This unfamiliar boy turned to leave. Recarie took in his appearance. Black denim jeans with frayed hems and a matching black shirt with a hands length tear on its left seam. Was the boy a lazy shopper or flat broke with the tattered rags he tried to pass as clothing.
"My name is Tory." He flipped his chestnut red bangs out of his eyes. "And I really could not care one way or another if you are coming or not."
How confusing this Tory boy left Recarie with his nonchalant attitude. Feeling sure of herself and her powers if she needed to use them, Recarie followed the boy down the hall and into the cafe's kitchen. There she watched Caleth jump out of the patio chair she had been sitting in. Her green hair was now tied back in a ponytail this time. Before Recarie knew it, this girl was hugging her and pulling her ribs closer to the point they almost touched.
"I am so excited! When I got that flash of you half alive I was not sure whether you had died or..." Daouen butted in.
"Caleth, the amazing." He clapped playfully to lighten the mood. "I can see you are just the tad bit confused, but that is perfectly okay." Daouen, along with Caleth, led her out the door. Tory followed behind them.
"What's going on?" Recarie's voice was almost as flat as Tory's.
They followed a path out of the kitchen's back door and down a red and brown brick alleyway. Out of the alley the came to one of the main streets in their town. It was like an explosion of stars appeared before Recarie. Beautiful sparkling lamps lit up the rustic brick streets. There were no cars and people walked to where ever they were headed to. Many shops were lined up on the left and the right. Their windows glowed a warm and welcoming glow to all who passed.
"Welcome to our town." Daouen bounced out in front of her spinning like a top.
Caleth joined him, pulling Recarie along with her. "You see." She led her new friend along the sidewalk. "Some nights after work we like to go out and just relax. Food, shopping, the theater, and just stuff like that."
"Though we always try to find some new mischief to get into." Daouen teased the new girl.
Behind her, Recarie caught a glimpse of the Tory boy. He kept his head down and shuffled his feet all while mumbling underneath his breath.
"What's wrong with him?" Recarie asked in her soft voice, but no one heard her. Caleth and Daouen were too excited to show her the sights.
"And this!" Daouen and Caleth shouted at once as they stepped out onto an opening in the little town. "Is the Town Square."
"Even though it is technically circular." Recarie failed to get Caleth's joke which left the other girl pouting playfully.
Tick. Tick. Tong! A bell somewhere off in the distance rang. The sound of bell in the clock tower off in the other part of town was so enchanting that Recarie blocked out all other noises and spun to find its source. She had heard a sound similar the bell's chime some time ago, but could not place where it was from.
Tory left the group and sat of the edge of the fountain. He dipped his fingers in the clear water that looked deep midnight blue. What had happened to his friends that made them so into some random girl? There were hundreds of girls just like her that came into the café every day. "What makes this Recarie girl so special?"
"It's cold!" A high pitched male voice cut through the darkness.
"Then come closer to the cauldron, my love." Another gruff male voice called to his husband.
"He'd better get here soon..." A young woman squeaked. "Need to be home right now."
"He'll be here any minute, young one." An island accented woman patted the girl on the back. Even in the pitch black room, she always knew her way around. "Just be paitent."
"Alright, quiet, quiet, quiet." An older male joined the group. "Reflections felt playful today..." He put on a stone violet cloak just like the ones everyone else in the group was robbed in.
"We're running out of time!" The first man yelled. "She has taken to that, to that man!"
"Wouldn't have been my first choice..." The island accented woman agreed with the man. "Not even in the top ten at that."
"But we already made the decision a long time ago to not interfere with her life now." The first man's wife hugged him. "You feel warmer now. He, he."
"The NSSH is already making plans to go to Farous." Their leader put a thick finger in cauldron's now silver liquid.
"But that is against their very own rules!" The young woman screamed. "That land is off limits to them and it could start a worldwide war if they do!"
The group huddled closer to the cauldron. Summer was becoming fall and the stone walls did not keep out the chilly, and very occasional, breeze.
"Looks like they want their army of super soldiers just that badly. Who needs the entire world under their possession anyways? I mean for real, come on now." Their leader revealed images of the NSSH in the cauldrons liquid. "See. They are even working on a technique to take her powers from her."
"Ugh!" The lovey dovey couple screamed like concerned parents.
"All in favor of 'that' man being her guardian for the time being, say 'I'." The young girl of the group issued a quick impromptu vote. She would not have what she was watching be done to any more human beings.
"But he is so old!" The second man twisted the tip of his boot into the moist dirt they stood on.
"Sure enough." His husband agreed.
"We must trust in her decisions and um," the rarely outspoken island woman stalled. "Um, forgive her for her past power trance induced killing rampage."
"We can always forgive her for things done without her consciousness, but I am still wary about this man." Their leader tapped the cauldron. "Taking a vote. Yes or no? Yea or nay?"
"Might as well." The couple pouted.
"Yes." The other two women agreed.
"Then that is a yes." Their leader went back to the door. "Let us get back to the things we call lives."
"Life is just one big stage upon which we all have a role?" The younger girl tilted her head in contemplation. Behind her the two men came and wrapped her up in their arms.
"See you all soon." With those last words to each other, they parted ways.
Time seemed to pass faster than Recarie realized. Fall was ending and winter was right at the door. She floated around the café in her pink and gold waitress uniform. For staying in the café's spare room and free food, Recarie agreed to working at Acanelle's. Her old life was slipping away, as short as it had been. Now she was fully involved and happy in Farous.
"Hey." Daouen caught Recarie's absent gaze as they both passed through the kitchen's doors. He said something else, but it completely escaped her busy mind.
"Huh?" She stared deep into his ash grey eyes. "Oh!" Recarie finally noticed the boy. Her eyes caught in his gaze again. Something was happening.
Daouen blushed. "I said you are high spirited today."
"Yeah..." Recarie could not speak. What was happening to her? This was not the first time she and Daouen had been intently looking into each other's eyes while they spoke. But this time she could not stop smiling and with each word, a spark flew through her skin. "Bye." She waved and headed to the kitchen, leaving Daouen alone and confused.
Across the room, unknown to either of them, Tory had been watching the whole incident. For some reason, that conversation did not sit well with him. Maybe it was his distrust for that Recarie girl or something was off with Daouen that day. Even after more than a month of working at the café, Tory still had not accepted Recarie. He shook these thoughts from his mind. Soon they would be closing the shop for the day and he would not have to see her for another two nights.
"Alright." Recarie called to Caleth across the room. "I am out of here." Waving to her friends, she left to her room in the other side of the café.
Once every two weeks, Caleth, Daouen, Recarie, and Tory would get together at the end of the day to go out after work. Tonight was such a night and the weather was just right. Black and gray storm clouds were coming on land from the sea. Thundered roared in with the clouds and the citizens of Farous knew rain would soon follow.
She took off her waitress outfit and hung it in the closet next to the only other clothing articles she owned; an overskirt, halter top, shorts, a belt, a pair of jeans, a purple hoodie. The last two items Caleth had given to Recarie the first night she stayed there.
"What was I thinking?" She referred to the overskirt.
An hour later after getting off work, Recarie was ready to 'hit the town' as Caleth had so colorfully put it. Spending the evening with her two friends, and Tory, kept her mind off of other pressing matters. Like the NSSH or her destructive powers she so rarely used. Recarie had pushed all of that to the back of her mind, almost having started a new life.
Tick tock. The clock on her wall chimed. It was going on eight thirty. Her friends were late. Pulling herself right side up, she leapt from the couch towards the back wall in her room. 'If they're not coming to get me,' Recarie's thoughts buzzed. 'I will just go find them.'
After leaving the safety and comfort of her room, she was enveloped in darkness. The café was closed and no one was there. Faint footsteps could be heard coming from behind her, but that was impossible. Only thing behind Recarie was a wall, a solid brick wall.
Outside thunder roared and shook the windows. Recarie could feel the rain coming upon the Farous. Inside or out, she felt trapped and panicky. It was easy for her to forget that she had such amazing abilities to defend for herself. Maybe life in Farous had made her soft. Too fragile for her own good.
Gliding on air, keeping her head down, she made a dash for the kitchen. She sprang out the back door, stumbling over three garbage cans in the process. Recarie did not let any of this faze her. The sound of the ever approaching footsteps motivated her to keep going.
A white full moon cast its light on Recarie, making her skin sparkle like hardly visible stars. Rain began to fall slowly, but only at first. Each drop that hit her body stung like acid ripping through her skin. She needed to find shelter, if only Recarie could recall where she was. By some chance, she had run down several alleys, two backyards, and a shopping plaza. She had successfully gotten herself completely lost.
It was obvious that she had left the main part of the city. Only trees and the rain surrounded her now. As Recarie tried peering through the thick mass of unruly grass blades to try and spot the city lights, she remembered something.
"Duh!" After slapping her head, Recarie brought her body off the ground. But this was a poor attempt. "Stupid dense grass." It closed in on her and prevented her from getting far. Recarie was a rabbit being hunted by her imagination.
All she had to do was cut the grass down, but Recarie could not bring herself to destroy the flora. Now she would have to figure something else out.
"CRACK!" Lightning sparkled through the pitch black night sky, lighting it up with its purple electricity.
Frightened by her first thunderstorm, Recarie took off through the maze. Rain stung her eyes and mascara melted down her flushed cheeks. Running in sandals was made difficult as her feet slipped in and out of them, courtesy of the rain. At this point Recarie did not care where she was headed and coming out of the thicket, she saw a house.
"..." She was left without words, like a certain man often did to her.
The mere sight of this two story brick house caused her power to lift her off the ground and to its front door. Standing on the faded pine wood porch, Recarie took a deep and long breath before knocking with all her might. She had succeeded in shaking the house to its foundation with her strength and impulsiveness.
As with most houses built several decades ago, the door creaked open and Recarie allowed herself to go in. There was no need for Recarie to announce herself, no one had obviously lived there is years. No furniture in the waiting room except an old faded purple runner. A stairway greeted her at the end of the room and divided into a left and right section.
She started up the stairs and took the path to the right because it had antique oil lamps she could use to light the way. A flicker of Recarie's pure white energy lit the tip of the lamps wick. Fortunately it still held oil in it and she was now able to see the end of the hall. In the distance, orange flames danced to the right, seeming to go up the wall. This scene brought her to a halted pace.
With a bit more caution then she had when she entered the house, Recarie had made it to the end of the hall and the source of the dancing flames.
"What a beautiful mirror..." Running her still dripping wet fingers over the carved wooden frame bits of the decaying paint flittered to the ground. It reflected the oil lamps on the wall, giving them a supernatural appearance.
To her left a boarded window let in small cracks of the silver moon light. Recarie looked ashy like she was almost drained of energy in the mirror.
"Oh!" Almost as if she had seen a loved one for the first time in years, Recarie's little face lit up at the sight of silver sparkles floating around her back. "He, he, he." Instead of going to touch her back, she leaned in close to the mirror's surface. It rippled underneath her finger tips like still water being disturbed. Reacting to her touch, the silver liquid bound from its frame and went after Recarie's arm that had stroked it.
"Damn!" Up in the air Recarie sprang toward the front door.
The liquid took on an almost human like form as it chased her down the hall. Every few seconds Recarie looked back to see if the creature was following her and by now it was reaching out to grab her. It was right on her heels and she was almost at the front door. In a swiftness motion she had never done before, Recarie was down the stairs in a burst of blue light.
"Go, go, and go!" Motivational words slipped from her lips.
Recarie was more than desperate to rid herself of her pursuer. An energy came from it that had her in such a panic. Wanting to be out of its presence brought a surge of tears down her face. The front door was several yards away. She reached out for the knob in utter vain.
"Shuuu!" The front door popped off its hinges and following an almighty swell of wind, came Tory along with rain and leaves. Much like the rest of her night, this wind was not normal. It had not come from the storm.
"No!" The gust sent her tumbling into the grasp of one thing she had been trying to escape. She could feel it latch on her body as though she was its missing half. Freezing, wet slick tentacles wrapped around her even as Recarie tried to resist.
First it went after her torso and once that was incased in its being, her mouth was gagged. Her sight was being phased out. It was sapping Recarie's energy. Before blacking out to it, she felt comfort in the fact that she was not alone even if she could not stand the person she was with.
In a small suburb of North Disten, Ian was waking up after a night of little sleep. A month of planning the NSSH's invasion of Farous had left him weary. Not just the physical aspects of the planning process had caused his sleepless night, but the emotional ones as well. During the day, Ian was putting the finer details into capturing his target, though when the night came so did his other side.
"Is it right to break our own laws in an attempt to bring a living human back to this land just to dissect her for our own uses?" Was often the only question passing through his mind at night and this was only with minimal contributions to the NSSH.
Ian was at the end of his month long vacation, if it could have been called that. Each day he and Justine spent around each other caused further and further strains on their engagement. Seeing each other for longer than their usual twelve hours a day was making Justine tense and Ian would withdraw to another room in which she did not occupy. For the most part though, Justine would leave during the day and Ian would be left to himself.
He had been keeping up with the house chores which also worked as a distraction for the worries that plagued him. "Just where was Justine going every day? It was surely not work." Ian would mumble to himself. "She only works eight hours a week..."
With most of these thoughts out of his mind, Ian forced himself out of bed. He could not lie there all morning, although he doubted anyone would miss him if he decided to do so. It was half an hour later when he was dragging his feet out the front door.
"Bye..." He did not know what else to say to the vixen lying in bed. What could he say?
Even though Ian knew she was awake, she gave him not the slightest bit of acknowledgement. Her actions made him think whether or not this bothered him. The front door clicked shut with a soft clink. Without his last look at his house, Ian got in his car and made his way to work. As the day started with bright yellow sunshine, happily singing birds, and clear blue skies, how could anyone be down?
On a morning like all others, somehow this one left him feeling different. This was his second field mission. Both had included the same girl whose name he could not even speak. Ian took all the same roads and passed all the familiar sights.
"When did my life become one massive routine?" These thoughts made the drive to work seem short with his mind elsewhere.
"Now do I need to go over this briefing again, or do you fully understand what I have been up here yelling about these past two hours?" His crew of twenty three sat in their fold up metal chairs in the vehicle hanger mute as silence. "Now we are going after this beast not only for the crimes it has committed, some of which includes countless charges of murder, but as well as bringing it back so we can slice it's D.N.A. a hundred ways for from Sunday advancing our army." The three lieutenants, Trey, and nineteen Private rank officers made up his team.
"If anyone has any questions, now would be the time to say them. Once we reach Farous, you'll only be able to contact your designated lieutenant once every three days until this mission is complete. You are to blend in and not draw attention to yourselves." Sean rubbed the bandage he still wore on his glistening forehead.
"Where is..." One private raised his hand. Asking the question everyone wanted to know.
"Probably just now getting out of bed." A woman in the audience teased. Her tan, milky fingers twisted a lock of her blood red, violet tinted hair.
"Or the pressure of his shower knocked him out." This came from a man who was hidden by Trey's rock physique.
"Ugh!" Sean tossed his chair across the room. "I've had it! Get on the damn boats and out of my sight!" Something clearly had ticked him off. "Lieutenant Ian is a damn fine good man and you'll give your superiors the respect they deserve!"
Like ghosts, his subordinates rose from their seats and headed for the end of the hanger that led to an underground lake where their boats awaited them. They may not have looked like it at that moment, but these men and women were the best in their company. That may have been the reason Sean put up with them as much as he had been. When the moment came, he knew they would be prepared and ready to act and think accordingly.
"And if he does not show up?" Trey approached Sean in the most informal of ways. "You of all people know his true thoughts about this mission."
"If he does not show up here bright eyed and bushy tailed in ten minutes, we leave. That's all there is too it!" And with a wave of his hand through the air, Sean left it at that. His word was definite.
Trey followed behind him. This vehicle hanger was extensive in all directions. The Hunter was unsure whether there was an end to it at all, well with the exception of where they were headed. Their walk was shorter than he had been expecting. Staring at each, tank, jeep, and four wheeled drive that passed the time considerably. They were in the perfect location for launching their mission. Since they were underground, no one would be able to see their descent into the sea that connected to their little lake.
Pulling into the NSSH's parking lot, Ian thoughtlessly drove right pass his usual parking spot. 'Did any of it matter anymore?' Was the one thought on that repeated in his mind. Once he decided on a spot to park, he sprang out of the vehicle. For the first time all morning, Ian had checked the time.
"Damnit, damnit, damnit!" He chanted all the way into the building and to the ground floor.
"Damnit is right!" Sean's grinding voice rang through his head.
"Sir!" They began a telepathic conversation. "Why did you not notify me of the hour?" His thighs chaffed while he hopped down the stairs two at a time.
"Should I also cook your meals and prepare your baths?" Ian could picture how angry Sean looked.
"Eh?" Ian had known better than to add any sort of quip.
"Get your ass on the boat and I don't want to hear it." He gave Ian a kick to help him on his way.
Ian shared a boat with the other lieutenants, Commander Sean, Trey, and four Private class officers.
"Strap in to your harnesses and brace for any sudden shifts that can occur on takeoff." Sean did not like the tone of their captain's voice. He knew this man all too well. "Three, two ..." And with a sharp jerk, they were on their way to Farous.
An hour or two into the trip, Sean had briefed Ian with an added lecture.
"It is your mission and yet everyone, with the exception of you, showed up with plenty of time to spare!" And there seem to be no end to it.
At the other end of the boat, the violet and red haired woman, Lieutenant Gillian, practiced her ability. Pointing out and in a wave motion, she moved her hand in front of her face and in its place streamed small wisp's of dazzling lilac flames. They were similar to Trey's Hunter flames in both that they were chain linked, but separate. With a flick of her wrist, the flames danced in a circle before her face before slowly coming together to form a fully bloomed rose. Her gaze fell from her practice and over to Trey, but he was not paying attention. The rose's petals subsequently wilted.
Commander Sean was sitting up against the back of the boat, every so often looking Ian up and down. His looks were not going unnoticed. Ian had known from the first minute he had stopped lecturing him, that Sean was eyeing him, as if sizing him up for some unknown qualifications. Each glance was followed by Sean mumbling something to himself and from what Ian could hear, it was something about his flaws.
"What!" His words shook the others out of their daydreams.
Sean tried to play it off by acting as though he did not know who Ian had been referring to even though he was looking directly at him.
"You have been staring at me from the moment you stopped yelling at me!" Everyone's attention was now on the two highest ranking officers in the boat's cabin.
"Sit down, boy! You are being paranoid." All Sean wanted to do was diffuse the situation.
"No!" Maybe being trapped in that boat almost nine hours was getting to them all. "I want to know what it is you keep saying about me under your breath, as you keep doing! And I am not being paranoid. The only one being paranoid here is Trey!" He gestured to the golem cradled on his seat in the fetal position.
Trey had been rocking himself back and forth before Ian's comments. "Of course you would be a little 'off' being stuffed in this tin can of death. The only thing holding the aluminum together is duct tape and chewing gum." His blazing sapphire eyes shifted to Gillian. "And what is your problem? Can you not smell all the fumes in the air!?"
"Huh?" She was caught a little off guard and stopped her little show, her mouth hanging slightly open.
"Yes you. Playing with your flames and waving them all through the air! You could set us all on fire." For some reason, Trey's hysterical outburst had a comical effect on Ian who was now giggling away in his chair.
"Oh and you think that is funny, do you? Why don't you tell us all of what you think of our target? Hm?" A small confrontation had turned in to a full blown spectacle.
Trey did not even have to mention her name and already Ian was blushing from the embarrassment. "Wha... What is that?" Between chocking on his nerves, he had been taking deep breaths to calm himself. It had been a long time since Ian last thought about her. The shock of her image suddenly popping into his mind was unsettling.
This was turning in to a soap opera, much to the rest of the crews delight. Not bothering to be discreet, they had inched closer to hear everything that was going on.
"You know what I am talking about. Just look at you." Everyone gave Ian a good look. "You are so red right now that you look like you have fallen asleep in the sun! What exactly do you two have going on?"
Ian's view turned to Sean, pleased with his eye's for help. "Damnit!"
"Dude, she's like twelve!" Someone shouted out amongst the crowd.
"Got a little thing for the enemy, have you?" The taunting continued.
"Aren't you married?" There was no end to it.
He retreated to his seat, knowing the commotion was not going to die down any time soon.
"Are you sure, momma?" A scared young girl, no more than three looked to her mother for reassurance.
"Just relax, honey. Just step in front of it and let it take you. I am right behind you." The mother gave her daughter all the encouragement she needed.
On the damp dirt, Recarie was waking up. "Hello?" She had heard two sets of voices in the black abyss, a mother and a daughter. Not a single reply other than the trickling of water off in the near distance. "Shit!"
Dark surrounded her in all directions. There was nothing to do put pick a direction and follow to the end. Recarie dusted herself off before finding her strength to stand up.
"Ugh!" She had touched something wet and soft on the ground where she had placed her hand. Immediately she took off in the fears that it was the monster that brought her there.
"Mm?" The thing she had touched was waking up. "Hello?" He spoke out to no one. "Anyone there?" Obviously he could tell he was alone.
A light blue shine emanated from the walls around him. From what Tory could tell, he was in underground tunnels somewhere under Farous. Placing one hand on the closet wall near him, Tory started off in a random direction.
"Stupid girl..." He kicked a pebble into the distance. Tory was referring to Recarie who he had been following all night. "Nice quiet life till she showed up..."
The fair blue light had grown brighter as time passed in the tunnels. By now Tory could see how they were in fact, small carvings into the stone wall. Spirals, triangles, and block shapes repeated in no specific pattern. The carvings could have been hieroglyphs or random children drawings.
Further into the tunnel Tory was able to hear the chanting of several voices, both male and female and then he saw it; the outline of a pair of silver wings bouncing in front of him.
Recarie ran her fingers over the carvings on the wall, taking a guess as to what each on meant. With her other hand she tried to use any of her abilities, but they were not working. Something was blocking them or more like cancelling them out. Maybe it was whoever making those loud thuds behind her. She picked up her pace as did her constant pursuer.
In moment of clear thought, Recarie stopped. "Why am I the one doing all the running?" Recarie could be brave when she wanted to be. She turned on her heels and headed back the way she had come and it was not long until a figure came into view.
"You?" The first thing she wanted to do was ring the little neck of the black haired boy. Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.
Tory stopped. Recarie looked pissed and ready to tear him apart. Her speed increased and, if he was not terrified out of his mind, Tory would have dodged her fist that was aimed squarely at his head.
"What the hell!" He stuttered throwing up his hands in front of his face.
"Yeah, seriously!" The wall next to his face cracked under Recarie's brute strength. "Why are you following me?!" She held her anger back, to a point.
"Shit." Tory watched as solid stone crumbled to dust an inch from his skull.
"I said," Recarie hit the wall on the other side of his head to the same affect. "Why have you been following me since the café?!" She dropped him to his feet.
"Look, I am just going to come right out and say this as I have no need to lie to you. I do not trust you. From what I have heard, you have come from Disten and could very well be one of their little spies trying to break their own laws and step foot on Farous land!"
Now she was getting somewhere. It was no secret that Tory had not instantly fallen for her like the rest of his friends and customers at Acanelle's had. There was definitely something not right about her and Tory was determined to find out what it was.
"When I came to get you at the café tonight, you were out of there faster than I could see you. I followed you through town and into that creepy old house. The last thing I know is that you had sent that liquid metal like creature after me." Getting it all out in the open began to fill Tory with enough confidence to push Recarie's hands away from him. "You have everyone under your little spell with your 'cute' and many voices, but I am not convinced."
"Uh!" No one had spoken to her like that before. It was strange and stung her heart. "Forget this." Recarie turned her back to him and carried on her way.
Satisfied with clearing the air, Tory followed Recarie with a fair distance between them. As the time passed they carried on in silence.
"What are you doing?!" Her anger had returned.
Without thinking, Tory had tossed his hands high in the air. "Look I am just trying to find my way out. So what? You just happen to be going the same way I am. I don't know how many hours, or days for that matter, I have been down here and I want out of here before those creepy voices drive me insane." He pushed past her.
"Oh, you hear them too. I thought it was just me going mad." This girl's temper had its moments of flaring up and cooling down in a split instance.
All other thoughts fled her. Her attention turned to the back of Tory's head. From this distance he was not too bad looking and she did not have the instinct to want to stab him through the chest and watch his blood spill slowly from his body.
"No!" She felt torn. Recarie could fell legs weakening. Her hands trembled, not from nerves but hunger.
Tory had heard her weep, but had no care to check on her. It was when the tunnel began to dim did he look back. There on the ground, back up against the wall, was Recarie.
"What is your problem?!" Tory stood next to her, arms crossed. "Not that I care or anything."
"Then what do you want?" She made an attempt to punch his knee cap in, but could only swing her fist.
"It would seem that if all persons in this tunnel do not keep in motion, the light goes out. Either you move your butt or I am stuck down here for eternity." He half lied.
"Food?" By this point she was weak and vulnerable.
Tory searched his pockets and threw a granola bar at her. "Here, food. NOW! Can you get moving?"
The granola bar was unwrapped and consumed faster than it took him to finish his sentence. "Thank you." She did not have to like him in order to show proper manners in such a situation.
"... Ever." Recarie could hear the last word Tory had said with no heart. She was pretty sure that the first word to that sentence was 'what'.
Silence. The sweet sound of silence began to dig its way into the back of her head. If it was not broken soon, Recarie was going to snap.
"You know I am not as bad of a person as you make me sound like." A futile attempt at a conversation. Tory remained silent. "Sure, you know I have killed a dozen or so people, but all in a power induced trance and for self-defense." Recarie watched him cringe, but at least she could tell he was listening. "And those 'voices' of mine that you mentioned, I cannot help it! It is like a self-defense thing. I try to have everyone like me and not to cause conflicts."
"... And you seem to be doing such a great job at that." Sarcasm was all Tory seemed to be capable as far as conversation skills went.
"You are impossible, you know that?" Recarie walked past him, her dull mauve hair swishing behind her with every step she took. She would not try to make peace with the boy who did not even bother to acknowledge her attempts. "Not that I think you care, but I can smell the outside up a head."
"Oh." He picked up his head. Tory did care they were almost out. Being in those tunnels was making him claustrophobic and jumpy.
A golden shine shone through the end of the tunnel. At first small rays of light and then Recarie emerged into the full warmth of the morning sunshine. Dried oak leaves crunched underneath her feat. Above her, birds sung and squirrels pranced around the trees. All she wanted to do was spread her now invisible wings and join them in the sky, but a voice in the back of her head spoke up. That little voice told her to wait on Tory and make sure he made it back to town safely.
"Humph, humph, humph." Behind her, Tory popped out of the tunnel and out of breath. Maybe being alone in the darkening tunnels made him panic. Maybe.
"Do you know where you are?" Recarie kept her distance.
"I hear seagulls, so I am guessing not far from the beach. Humph." He took in another breath full of air.
"Good, then do you need any further assistance here?" Recarie avoided directly asking if he needed her help specifically.
"It was you who had gotten lost in the first place." Tory walked off in the direction he knew was headed toward town.
"Ah..." On a sudden draft of comforting wind, Recarie followed it off the grounds.
Less than a minute of flying towards the scent of the salty sea, she had left the little forest and soared above a rippling meadow. Each blade of grass moved with the wind, making the land, from Recarie's view, looks glossy from the sun's light. At the end of this meadow came cliff so fragile, the most averaged sized person weight could send it crumbling into the sea below. But it was not the land that was calling her.
Soaring to the very point that split the land from the body of water surrounding it, Recarie could not escape its pull. A feeling of urgency and fear crept under her golden tan sparkling skin. On the wall of the cliff a tree root stretched out in the air towards the sea.
In the corner of her eye, the gleam off of a dull metal surface caught her attention. Perching on the suspended root coming out of the side of the cliff, Recarie watched the preceding on the beach below her. Several boats lined the shallow waters and out of those boats poured NSSH officers. Recarie could tell it was the NSSH when a familiar face emerged from the tin ship.
Trey stepped onto the crushed marble sands of the beach, turning handfuls of it to glass with each step. Back on land, or more like on the edge of it, Recarie instinctively ducked her head down out of any of theirs possible sight.
"Oh crud! Humph!" All the air seemed to have escaped her lungs in a single exhale. In seconds, she was up in the air again headed towards the café.
Thoughts of her previous life in Disten came back in the form a blinding white light and a throbbing migraine. Ian, the Hunter, all the people she had supposedly murdered, and those locked up in the NSSH Zones. Recarie's stomach had turned inside her. She had forgotten about all those people's lifeless expression...
"Gawd! Why me?" Tilting with her back towards the draft, she descended to the approaching brick road. "They're here for me!" Her legs could barely support her on the uneven path she stood on. "What do I do? Tell Caleth? What will Daouen think?" Several seconds later, after replaying the last sentence over again and again in her mind Recarie started walking. "Why do I care what he thinks? Since when did I get like this?" Crawling out of an abandoned back alleyway, she stumbled in to people while in her daze. "Where did all that come from? Hm..."
"Now this is the last time we will have direct contact." Ian was now taking his role as leader. "If you do not know your roles, then it is too late to and so good luck then." Behind him, Sean was as ever watchful as usual. "NOW GET LOST!" Obviously he was still feeling the effects of half a day of being cramped in the tin boat with the teasing of his subordinates and commanding officer.
"We promise not to harm her pretty plush face for you, boss." And the taunting continued even as they went in to the thicket that separated the beach from the town.
When the last of the privates and their lieutenants left the beach, Ian was left with Sean and Trey, if you could count Trey. He was busy watching the back of Gillian disappear into the brush.
"Dude, I think I'm in love." Trey punched Sean.
"You know it is only because your abilities are so similar and nothing else." Ian turned to face the ocean. "Hunters will pick up on the wavelength of other Hunters and when they are of the opposite genders, sometimes it attracts them to each other."
"I don't care what it is as long as it never goes away." Trey straightened up his back which made him appear taller. "When I'm around her she makes me feel like I want to be a better man. Like a house in the suburbs and two point five children."
Ian sighed. "Yeah, that's 'the' dream. Trey, buddy, I've been there and let me tell you, it is not as wonderful as you think."
It was Ian's first time out of Disten. The large expanse of water before him was humbling. He gained a sense of just how small he was in the world, how fragile he was.
"Beautiful." Even though trip had taken longer than expected, due to unforeseen weather disruptions, Ian was able to find peace in the miracle before him.
"Now if you two are done being pansies, we should mingle with the local's and give the performance of your life." Sean was referring to blending in and not causing suspicion. "Not that I need to tell you what you should already have tattooed into the back of your minds."
Snapping back to reality, Ian was pulsing with the determination not to mess up his first leading mission. It was not far to town from the beach. They only had to walk half a mile before they were getting lost in the crowds of tourists and locals. Trey went off in one direction, Sean to another, and before he knew it, Ian was all alone.
For the first time since he had landed on the beach, Ian felt alone. No one among the crowd was familiar to him. He had no friends to share his thoughts with. It was like the night Recarie showed up and changed his whole world, changing everything he was used to. But none of this mattered now.
"Alright." Balling his fist, Ian took a step forward. "I can and will do this!"
"Hi!" A high pitched squeal took all of Ian's focus.
"Oh hell..." He immediately recognized the shriek. A pair of boney arms wrapped around his neck from the back.
"Mm." She seemed to be enjoying herself.
"Justine? What are you doing here. No wait." He pushed her arms off and looked her in the eyes. "How did you get here?"
"Ouch! That really hurts." In a mock fit of anger, Justine pushed Ian away. "Your fiancée travels almost half way around the world and goes through all the trouble of getting this visa just for you to ask why she is here?" Her act was not convincing.
"For an entire month you treated me like I wasn't even supposed to be around you and now you pull this stunt?" Ian was almost at his boiling point. A second later Ian's heart lurched, but not from guilt. It was like he was being pulled into one certain direction and whatever was in this direction was his sole purpose for living.
Justine was pretending to be hurt. "I just realized that I take you for granted sometimes... And after you left, well I knew I had to make it up to you."
"I am on a miss... Let's not speak here. I have work to do." He took control of the situation. "This is the name and location of my hotel. Will you please go there and wait for me? We can talk more about this over dinner." Ian's big and beautiful round eye's made Justine give in. She took the paper he was holding and left without another word.
"So you two disappear for three days and without a single word to anyone and then you show up alone!" Caleth threw the dish rag that was slung over her shoulder at the floor. Daouen dodged the projectile just in time. It was a soft piece on linen, but with Caleth's arm, it could have broken a limb. "Well all is good now." Her mood was ever changing. "Just get to work and I am sure Recarie will be back in no time."
In the café's kitchen, the back screen door popped open and Recarie bolted in and headed right for her room. Her movements did not go unnoticed as Caleth, Daouen, and in all of the confusion, Tory followed right behind her. Caleth pressed her round ear against Recarie's door.
"Recarie?" Daouen and Caleth asked concerned. They could hear her sobbing on the other side of the door.
"I just don't know what to do!" Inside her room, Recarie crawled into a ball on her plush couch.
"If you open the door and let me in, maybe we can talk about it." Caleth pointed out and a split second later the door opened on its own.
Daouen tried to follow her into the room, but was pushed flat against the wall on the other side of the hall. He would have to settle for listening through the closed door.
"What?!" Caleth screamed and the sound of a porcelain vase slamming against the wall told the boys in the hallway that the situation was not good. "Breaking their own rules! Do these idiots even understand the true consequences for what they're doing?!" A mirror could be heard shattering during the pause in Caleth's rant. "Oh well, no matter." Her mood had suddenly changed again. "I know how to solve this."
Recarie wiped off the tears that had stung her eyes and made her mascara run. "Really?" Her glossy eyes were hard to resist at this point and Caleth wrapped her lanky arms around the shaking girl.
Inside the room, Caleth instructed Recarie on how to use her own power. The girl's idea was to change Recarie appearance and attempt to alter her D.N.A. so that the Hunter could not use his flames to trace her. Several bright flashes of light, a lot of yelling, and some screams of horror later, they were done.
The door to her room creaked open and Caleth stepped out first, much to both of the boy's displeasure. "Listen you two!" Caleth grabbed Daouen and Tory by their shirt collars. "This here," she pointed to the lengthy, black haired woman behind her. "Is Sazelina and she has been working here three years, got it?!"
"What is this all about?" Tory was able to cough out a full sentence before Caleth tightened her grip.
"Just do what I say and don't ask questions. It is better for safety and that of our great nation that you don't know." She let them down gently and Recarie, now calling herself 'Sazelina,' joined them.
Once the boys had agreed to the new arrangement, everyone went about their work as usual. Sazelina, the now six foot tall Recarie, was out waiting on tables. An hour into her job, she had become disgusted with the number of people who asked where Recarie was.
"What happened to the little cutie?" A red haired plump man asked Sazelina as he sipped green tea from a dainty pink cup.
"Yeah, where that Recarie go?" The customer behind the first man voiced his own concerns.
"Looking back on it now, I should have never let anyone know my real name." Recarie thought to herself as she headed back to the kitchen for the next customers' orders. She turned around and saw many of the male customers in the waiting line outside looking for something and she had a pretty good idea about what the something was.
At the front entrance, Recarie watched one of those male patrons ask Caleth something. She then got to see Caleth scream at the man and make some sort of threat. Being too far away from the situation, Recarie didn't hear the words that had been exchanged, but knew it had to do with her. The man picked himself off of the white tiled floor and ran out the door.
"Don't worry." Caleth reassured any nearby staff. "He'll be back."
Sunset was coming and Ian was out to make contact with the other lieutenants on the mission. He had to collect their information for the day and clear any questions and grant any orders they might have. Using his psychic abilities might be a dangerous decision as it could be intercepted by any other clairvoyant in the town.
Lieutenant Armen was over the east end of town and Ian was in charge of the south. The east part of Farous contained the café Acanelle's and their NSSH mole. Armen was to erase all traces of their presence or suspicion from the locals mind. This was just courtesy of another branch of the massive psychic tree. He could sense emotions and twist the thoughts of anyone with a week mind. This was Ian's first report to get.
Atop one of the various hills that lay scattered on Farous' landscape, there stood Armen. He was tall and slender like someone who should be behind a computer somewhere and not on a life or death field mission. His short golden blond hair was moving fiercely with each swift move of his hands. In his mind, Armen was conducting an invisible orchestra. The towns people were his musicians and their thoughts were the music they played.
"Beautiful sunset." Ian began a generic conversation.
"I can assure you one hundred percent that there are no civilians within a mile or hearing distance from here." Even as he spoke, Armen never took his eyes off the land.
"Err, well good. And what is it that you have for me?" Ian sat next to his companion's feet. He had been standing for hours and this was the first break he had taken.
"Even in our street clothes, the locals and even other tourist notice us." Making swift movements with his hands through the oncoming breeze, Ian knew he was altering someone's mind.
"And you are on top of this right?" A very informal way of proceeding through his testimony.
Silence from Armen was the only reassurance he needed. After dusting himself off Ian decided he would make his way to Lioel and then on to Gillian. The sun was falling quick and the air was getting colder. He had to be quick in his work; after all he had to get back to Justine.
"Gawd, my life keeps getting worse and more messed up." Ian rested his head in the palm of his hand. "Maybe when I finish this mission, it'll all come back together." Optimistically, Ian smiled and headed for the woods.
Gillian had a hold of the west side of town. She slowly hypnotized people to act on her behalf if the need ever came. At the current moment she had twenty people under her spell and was working on another three. Nothing could distract her from her job, not even the sound of dead leaves being crushed beneath a pair of hiking boots.
"Hey Hunter trash, could you be just a little less noticeable and not shake the earth with each step you take?" She did not even need to look up to tell who was there.
"And shouldn't you know to not address me as Hunter now that the mission has been initiated?" Not so much as a question, but as a warning.
In her presence, unnoticeable in enclosed space, like the boat they rode in on; his body gave off a soft glow as hers did the same. Gillian was not paying him any attention as Trey watched over her shoulder while she sent her flames into people's bodies. She was stitching her power into them and then sending them back off into the word until they would be needed.
"Is there something you needed?" In a rage she flicked one of her violet flames at his face.
"Just to tell you that you would be better to stay over here, hidden in the woods." He flicked a wave a flames at her.
"Hm, hm, hm." Now she was not paying Trey any attention at all. Once more than a minute passed without another word from the Hunter, she gave in and took a break from her work, only to find no one was there.
"That man needs to stick to his own business and worry about himself." Gillian tilted her head to see if there was any view of Trey left. "Hm." She was alone and part of her kind of wished that he was still there annoying her.
As Ian finished his rounds he made his way back in to town to retrieve Justine. She was spread out on the yellow and blue comforter twisting locks of her lemon hair. Once in the room with her, with the door closed, he could not bring himself to speak. It was not because of her pose, but the realization that she was actually there that had stunned him.
"I'm hungry." She sat straight up and crossed her legs. "And I have been in this room all day."
"Not that being hungry is the least of you worries." Sitting on the bed next to Justine, Ian opened a menu he had withdrawn from the bed stand.
"No room service!" Ian suddenly found himself on the floor after she pushed him off the bed. "Someone mentioned to me about the cutest little café with a perfect view of the whole city and that is where we are going."
"But we can't make any more waves in this town than necessary." He gently pushed Justine off of him. "I need you to stay in this room until the mission is over and then we can go home."
"No, I am here legally and it took a lot to get that visa! Ugh!" Her bone like fingers grabbed him up off of the ground. "I want salad, soup, dessert, and tea! I want to go out and feel the cool air as it blows through my hair!" Knowing he could not fight Justine as she usually always won, Ian hung his head. She had won.
Sazelina, also known as Recarie, was back to her old self dashing around Acanelle's. The day was almost over and with it, her shift. Her three foot long ponytail tied back on the back of her head, dancing with her every move, round puffy sapphire eyes, and juicy red lips made everyone forget about Recarie. Now customers were coming back every half hour or so just to gaze at the vixen.
With the added number of patrons to Acanelle's stress seemed to build on the entire staff, but mostly on Sazelina. If she had remembered that her veins pulsed with immense power she had displayed in Disten, then maybe her night would not end in such a way. Wobbling back to the kitchen and then to front of the café where her section was located, was building pain in her arms from the sting of her heels. Recarie had the distraction of an additional unseen energy that had her thoughts everywhere else.
One more customer and then it would be time for Sazelina to retire for the evening and she was looking forward to it. She was to wait on table six, a young couple who were just seated. The man's back was turned towards her and could only see the woman's face.
"Hello, my name is..." And Recarie froze. His neatly combed chestnut hair, sky blue eyes, and round face... The same face she had thought about for many nights and recently was just forgotten.
Her mouth went dry and all words had escaped her thoughts. Should she run and give anyone reason's to doubt her identity? Or maybe jump in his lap and swing her arms around his thick neck? Recarie could feel a pull to him.
"Sazelina and how may I start you out this evening?" Playing the long and awkward pause, she handed them their menus.
About a minute or so after Sazelina had approached the table, Ian never laid his eyes on the beauty again. He was sure he didn't want his fiancée to catch him ogling another woman. Though he had never seen this Sazelina person before, his body was drawn to her presence.
"I will have the side salad and the grilled chicken breast." When Ian was sure she was finished, he began to make his order. "And he will have the sirloin steak, medium rare, roasted potatoes, and,"
"No." Recarie jumped at the sound of his youthful, and yet mature voice. "I will have the tilapia and sour cream and chive mashed potatoes."
At the sound of his voice, she could only stare at her black note pad. After so many months, Recarie was finally hearing his voice for the first time. Her knees wobbled and her hand shook. It took everything she had to hold back the tears that were building in her eyes without a reason.
"Are you going to write down our order or do you not even know how to do the job you are paid to do!" Justine wasn't loud, but it did not take the sting out of her words.
At the sound of Justine's words, Recarie froze. She was shaking. "Be back with your order in just a minute."
"Are you not going to ask what we would like to drink? Or how about asking what appetizers we want?" More spiteful words.
Recarie could not turn around to face the pair for a second time.
"That's okay." Came Ian's voice, much to her relief. "Just bring us two waters."
Taking a deep breath Recarie turned back around to the table. "And I will have them to you shortly."
"Ugh!" Justine had no problem showing her frustration, wherever it stemmed from. She got up from the table without another word and left to the rest room.
Back in the kitchen, Recarie was giving her table's order to the cooks. She was smiling like some love sick fool, yet her eyes were plagued with anxiety. After she had filled the two glasses with the finest filtered water in Farous, Recarie was headed back out to the floor. Happiness was clouding her better judgment and her sight.
Justine had just exited the restroom the exact moment Recarie left the kitchen. Recarie was still blinded by her wandering thoughts and Justine was wiping her hands dry. This was the entire perfect recipe for disaster. It was only seconds before they met at a cross section in the middle of the café.
"Omph!" Justine cried out falling to the floor, two glasses of water falling on her in the process.
On the floor, Sazelina was flat on her back after falling backwards from her run in with Justine. The back of her head was sore and she could feel someone grasping her hand to help her up. As soon as her sight cleared she was looking into the cutest and most sincere pair of blue eyes she had ever seen.
"Um, thank you." But she had failed to notice it was Justine's hand digging her claw like nail into her arms.
"Are you okay?" Ian wanted to ask the waitress, but spoke to his fiancée instead.
Justine pushed passed Ian and went to the girl with the olive hair and tan skin. "I would like to speak to the owner of this, this, this circus! If the owner is unavailable, I would like to talk to the manager." Her shirt was dripping wet from the two glasses of water that had spilled on her.
Caleth helped to steady her friend who was missing one of the heels from her shoes. "And luckily for you, I am both." She enjoyed watching Justine blink twice at her remark. "Just go rest up, I have got this." Caleth whispered to her friend.
"I am so sorry." Shaking, Recarie tried to make her apologies, first to Ian and then to Caleth. "Thank you." She left the scene and limped to her room.
Past the kitchen, past the glares of her coworkers, Recarie stood in front of her door. Hands shaking she turned the knob and ran in and fell to the ground by the back wall. Her eyes squinted and tears pushed through her eyelids.
"Huh!" She gasped for air curled against the wall with her head in her arms. "Humph, humph, humph. Oh gawd!" Recarie muffled her cries.
Inside her room, Recarie could still feel a faint pull on her heart to somewhere in the café. It made her feel complete, wanted, and in the most pure of senses, it made her not feel alone. Slowly the tears stopped, but her chest still ached.
Her heart searched for any reason to stop hurting, but each time she found one two more reasons would take its place. Recarie reached down to her feet, removed her shoes, and then tossed them at the wall. After wiping her face dry, she slipped out of her work clothes and into a black tank top and a pair of forest green shorts, which was not something she would normally wear. At this moment she wanted to be anyone but herself.
Once the mess with Justine had been cleared up, Ian escorted her back to their hotel room. "Please stay." She half begged her fiancé before he left.
"I have a night meeting with our mole." Ian fixed his hair in the bathroom mirror. He could not even look into his own eyes as he lied.
"And am I just supposed to stay here?" Where Justine was looking for an answer, she did not get one. Ian left the hotel room without another word and headed back to Acanelle's for the second time that night.
Out on the brick street the man fiddled with the item in his coats pocket. It was the heel from one of the waitress issued shoes at Acanelle's. He had picked it up on instinct while Justine was bickering with the café's owner. Even as he crossed the towns square and stared into the freshly visible stars in the skies, Ian did not know what he was doing or what he would do once he got there. All he knew was that he had to go back to the café. It was the one place in the world where his heart had felt complete.
"Now that we are all here." A voice hissed in the darkness somewhere under the streets of Farous. "Let us begin tonight's and perhaps, this month's final meeting."
"So true." One of the women whispered. She was crying for a reason even unknown to herself.
"Oh no!" The island woman stroked the crying woman's hair. "This is no good."
"Not like we did not expect it. Her tears only confirms it." A squeaky voiced male felt comfort in his wife's arms.
Their leader signaled them to the cauldron in the center of the room. It gave off a golden light in contrast to the blue light the walls shinned.
"Even though he is not the guardian we would have chosen, this man must be more than meets the eye." The leader dipped his hand in the cauldrons water and let it drip through his finger, resulting in the image changing.
"And that boy?" The third woman stroked his face above the water surface.
"He is a great second." When she stopped her tears, the woman stepped back from the group. "And even she has connected with him."
"That girl needs not to be so greedy." The island woman teased.
"So why is that we are here?" Squeaked the only other male in the group aside from their leader.
"We need to prepare for the coming tests. There are countless decisions we must decide on tonight that will affect the future. Not just our little society will be affected, but the world." Their leader knew his position well.
In the alley behind Acanelle's, Ian found the back door entrance and slipped in. By now all customers had left and only three employees were left cleaning up in the dining area. He was able to get from the kitchen to the hallway without anyone notice. Before he could realize where he was, Ian stood in front of Recarie's door. As it was his heart leading the way, he really had no clue where he was or what was behind the door, but he knocked lightly anyways. After a short sound of ruffling from behind the door, the knob turned.
"Caleth, I really don't..." Her words trailed off as her eyes widened and watered.
Before her stood the man she had made a fool of herself in front of only hours ago. She could have stared into his baby blue eyes, flung herself at him, and say all the things that her heart kept secret from her. Recarie was too far into shock that she had not noticed the black heel he held.
In his slightly swollen hand Ian raised the item he held on to so tightly. The woman behind the door faded back into the five foot tall girl with mauve hair. She was the same girl that he had only one true conversation with, but felt like they were one in the same. On the other hand, the other part of his body told him that he was engaged to Justine, but only in a whisper.
Conflicted, Ian wanted to run his fingers across her horrified face to tell her it was okay, but he did not want to lie to her. In that moment, standing in front of the girl he searched for months for, he did not know what he truly wanted.
Recarie backed slowly into her room and Ian went running back the way he came, dropping her heel in the process. Before shutting herself off in the room she saw the item he dropped. Taking a great chance with her personal and mental safety, Recarie stepped into the hallway and picked the heel up. Smiling to herself, and letting her heart break, Recarie dashed back in her room. She was thinking about running out of the café and chasing him down, but stood in front of her mirror.
"What am I doing?" She whispered. All the thoughts swimming in her head, needed to come out. "He is engaged to another woman. He is one of the NSSH grunts after me. But why do I feel like THIS!" Recarie did not know even what it was that she was feeling, other than guilty. She wished she could go back to being Sazelina.
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! Soft taps came from her door.
"Oh hell." Recarie crept to the door. Was it 'him'? Her heavy breaths could be heard from the other side of the door.
"Everything okay, Recarie?" Recarie breathed a sigh a relief. It was Daouen. "It has been a while since any of us had seen you."
Recarie opened the door, but she did not want to look desperate for company.
"Um, yeah. I am fine." Although she did not look it.
"Yeah." His crooked smile told her that he knew she was lying. "Listen, Tory and Caleth are already out and they sent me to check on you." Daouen leaned on the door and closer to her face. "If you are 'fine' as you say, then why not join me."
"Why not." She grabbed the purse Caleth had given her and joined Daouen in hall. "I need to get out of here and be around people before my thoughts drive me insane." Came her thoughts.
"Come on." Trey begged his friend. "Just tell me!"
"Should I?" Ian asked Trey as the Hunter was plucking D.N.A. from unsuspecting civilians passing by. He only happened upon Trey as he was sprinting across the town's square and back to his hotel room. What Trey had been doing out there was another question completely.
"Do it and you might stop wailing like a baby." The pair circled the fountain in the center of the strip mall.
"Alright. Well it all started when I went to this café." Leaving out some minor details Ian had filled Trey in on the current situation. "For some unknown reason, there I found myself in front of this girl's door after having broken into the place. One minute she was the waitress and then the next she was our target. I felt the hurt and uncertainty that she holds inside. I wanted to hold her and let her know that everything will be alright."
"Dude, come on! She is like, what Twelve?" He had finished plucking human D.N.A. and went on to the pigeons and rats that also traveled the streets.
"There you go." He flung his hands in the air. "That is exactly what I knew you would say about her. She just does something to me. I've changed so much since the first moment I saw her."
"You are finding yourself questioning authority and wondering if there's more to this life." In a rare moment of sincerity, it was like Trey could read his mind.
Thanks to the work of Gillian and the other lieutenants, the unsuspecting town folk did not see anything out of the ordinary in the town square. The seven foot tall golem picking the feathers of pigeons did not seem strange in the least sense. Everyone who passed smiled and waved politely at the pair.
"I watched over her for months and even though she had never said a word to me, the night she escaped that hospital, I could feel the connection." His hand slide over his heart. Ian could feel the invisible force struggling to bring him back to the café.
"And what of Justine, your fiancée?" Trey sneezed. He had caught the scent of a peculiar individual.
"I have thought about her too." Ian eye's darted to the sky. "It was like I met her one day at work and then the next we were engaged and living together. Thinking back to it, I don't even remember proposing to her!"
Ian doubled over and fell next to the fountain. How was it that just now he was remembering these things? Why did it take Ian years to question the blank spots in his mind where there should be memories? Happy, loving memories of his courtship of Justine? Endless nights of sharing their hopes, dreams, and visions of the future? There was nothing.
"And now you are all over Recarie?" The Hunter joined him on the ground.
"When I looked into her eye's this evening, it was there!" Ian was bringing all of his thoughts out in the open. "That spark! For once in my three decades of existence, I felt excitement. I was alive."
"Who's eyes?" Trey wanted to 'help' his friend resolve his issues.
"You know who I am talking about." Ian turned away.
"No, I don't." Trey was serious. "You say 'her' or 'she' and speak of completing you, but you have yet to say her name! If you ask me, you just like toying with the idea that a younger girl is in to a man like you!"
Silently, with his head bowed, Ian stood. He would not take that from anyone, even his best and only friend. Sure, he may not know exactly what that girl meant to him, but she did mean 'something' to him.
Daouen and Recarie had just turned out into the streets from the café's alley way. She was lost in her thoughts as she stared at the sky. Daouen seemed to be a little off of his normal self. He fidgeted and kept looking at his watch.
"So..." Daouen began. "What do you want to do tonight?" He turned to Recarie, to look her in the eyes, but her thoughts and sight was elsewhere.
"Hm?" A sigh escaped her mouth. Too many thoughts to sort out jumbled her head.
"Distracted much?" He raised a brow to be playful. Recarie did not say anything. "That's cool." Daouen let her absentmindedness slide for the moment.
Something stung her throat, she tripped and almost fell knee's first onto the street. Luckily, her companion managed to catch her hands at the last moment. He slowly raised her to her feet and in a completely predictable fashion, their eye's met. Recarie felt that same sensation as when she had gazed into his eyes at the café, not too long ago.
"Are you okay?" Daouen had to ask even though it was obvious she was fine.
"Oh, yeah. Thank you." Recarie was drawn to his eyes. They sparkled with the light of the moon. For the first time, she was seeing him in a different light. All other thoughts seeped out of her head, to be replaced with that one image of his shaded features and crooked, playful smile.
It was Daouen that leaned in close to her face. Tilting her head slightly, Recarie followed even though something was wrong with the situation. She wanted to run away. Why couldn't she? Recarie did not want to kiss the boy. Trying to pull away proved futile as it seemed to bring her closer to him.
"No." Recarie's mind whispered in repetition. She wanted to scream. She wanted to take flight!
Ian was going to prove to Trey, and to himself, that his feelings were not solely ideas and wishful thinking. "Recarie..." He whispered.
Trey jumped up and smiled triumphantly. "There, that's not so bad. Now, say it louder. Let the whole world hear the secret of your heart."
"Recarie!" Ian shouted it this time. Something was wrong and he knew it. Turning around, he'd seen it.
At the mention of her name, Recarie broke away for a brief second and caught Ian's eyes. Without saying anything, Ian knew she was scared and trapped. A thought that struck him as strange when he knew the power she was capable of unleashing.
Recarie did not want to kiss Daouen. Her first kiss would not go to just anyone just to have kissed someone. It would not be meaningless. She was not about to just pass out something so precious to the first guy that came along. The first kiss she'd give was going to be to her true love, the same person she'd kiss for all eternity. Daouen was not to be that person.
Before Daouen could move in, Ian sprang to Recarie's aid. He pushed the boy in the chest and sent him crashing to the hard brick road. Adrenaline, something Ian had not experienced in a very, very long time, pulsed through him. His first thought was of pounding the boy in to a mess of broken bones, but then they shifted to someone more important.
Shaking, Ian looked Recarie over. She was shaking as well. A sense like she was violated flashed through her mind. The thought of being controlled by someone she had so easily given her trust to unnerved the fragile girl.
Knowing she needed someone, Ian reached out to put his hand on her shoulder to calm her, but stopped. That was not what she needed at the moment. Recarie lifted her head and her sparkling eye's looked depressed and hopeless. They could feel that the other wanted to say something, but held back.
A hundred thoughts that started with 'maybe' or 'what if' kept them where they stood. Well that was until Daouen rebounded and struck Ian. The lieutenant was caught off guard and fell into the fountain. Looking at the mess before her, on a whim of instinct, Recarie jumped off the ground and prepared to fly, but only half of her heart was in it.
"Ugh!" Daouen shouted as a glowing red thread made its way out of his index finger's tip. Recarie watched as he pulled it until it was the same length as him and as thick as his fist.
"Daouen?" She knew something about the whole situation was not right.
The boy slung the rope behind his back and Recarie turned and made a second attempt to run. At this point a crowd had gathered. Ian had noticed this, but knew as long as his crew kept up their solid work, they should be perfectly fine. More people joined the crowd to watch Daouen sling the rope forward and around Recarie's waist as she was in midflight.
"Umph." The breath was being drawn from her body. It was the result of Daouen's abilities. She was growing weary and descending.
Ian came to his senses and for the second time that night, he attacked Daouen.
"Sir!" Daouen lost his concentration and the rope disappeared, allowing Recarie to go free. "I had her!"
"Stand down! You are causing a scene and unwanted attention that this mission does not need." Ian had him pinned to the ground.
"No!" With all his might he pushed Ian away and ran after the girl who was leaving a trail of tears in her wake. Daouen used his speed to dash up the street and jump into the air, swinging a new red neon rope at her. Just like the first time, it wrapped around her waist and pulled her to the ground without too much of a struggle.
In all of the confusion, Trey had slipped away, but he did not go unnoticed.
With her mind being so scattered, she could not concentrate her powers so they amplified and dispersed. Energy Recarie could have used to fight back fled her body and destroyed anything in its wake. Buildings crumbled and the roadway was stripped away leaving only the sand beneath it. Debris flew in the air and the civilians fled for cover.
A second red neon rope extended from his other hand and Daouen flung it towards her. This second one bound her slender legs making her sink faster. Ian used his abilities to break some of the nearby bricks and send them crashing into Daouen's eyes, but that did not help the situation any. Recarie was still trapped and Ian knew the other NSSH officers were closing him.
Ian's thoughts rushed and he was not sure it was even him making his decisions anymore. All he could see was Recarie frantic and exhausted face and her cries rang in his ears. Every emotion, sense, and feeling built to a point until they ceased to exist in his body all together. It was like Ian had snapped.
At full speed he charged after the boy and using only his hands, grabbed the ropes that bound Recarie. Her binds disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. This may have helped had he been a few seconds earlier to her rescue, but the ropes had already done their job. Recarie was lying flat on the ground, but she had not blacked out.
Faster than he could make himself move, Trey traveled two blocks and jumped into a man hole. Once at the bottom of the hole, he traced his rock index finger along the wall behind the stairs. A blue light followed it as he moved his finger along. Several symbols appeared and he pushed his hand into the blank space on the wall between them. A seven foot section of the wall vanished in a poof of shining gray smoke and the Hunter stepped through it. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Trey continued his rushed pace. Eventually more blue symbols lighted up around him in the tunnel allowing him to see his way through the maze.
"Crud!" He came to a dead end. "Why!" In a mock anger he turned around and took another path. "Of all the nights I forget my way!"
Something about this Trey was different from the Hunter he was on the surface. His eyes were softer, almost worried even. The wind wafting past him felt cool and practically lifted him off of the ground. At the end of his last turn was a mirror with a moving glass. This liquid reached out and absorbed him into it. He did not struggle and quickly found himself in a dark room. In this dark room he spotted four other individuals.
"We need to hurry!" The island accented woman grabbed his hand.
"But this is her fight." He brushed the tears away from her eyes. Surprisingly his stone fingers did not tear or burn her skin as they passed over it.
"And we are supposed to sit here!" The squeaky voiced man's wife pushed him.
Trey did not move. "We have already gone through this." He ran his fingers in the cauldron's liquid like he had done not so long ago. "We will watch from here and if any of you go above ground, well you know what will happen."
The other four fell silent at the words of their leader.
"See?" The other female pointed out Ian standing in between Recarie and the boy who had attacked her.
Using the powers of the cauldron, the squeaky voiced male read the colors coming off of each of the people in it.
"His rage is strong." He commented on the purple waves coming off Ian. "But the boy's determination is stronger. Ian will need to open his heart to the truth hidden inside to be able to save little Recarie."
Clink. The squeaky voiced man's wife heard a shuffle in the darkness by the door.
"Move!" Daouen's hands glowed bright red. "What do you think you are doing here? Were the rumors true?"
Ian did not answer. "And you are going against orders!" His hands trembled. He gave a glance back at Recarie just as she was getting up.
Stumbling to her feet, the person who stood was different from the girl who had fallen. Recarie was all there consciously, but her mindset was different. Her eyes squinted and hands fell to her sides with her fist balled. She was pissed and would not let anyone push her around.
In front of her, Ian performed the same actions before he went sailing towards Daouen. It was not the doing of his own will, but of hers. Recarie had complete control of Ian.
"Son of a..." Daouen dashed to the side before his commanding officer could land a green pulsing hand on him. He knew what that green glow meant among the psychics and would not fall to it. "You will die for this!"
Out in the crowd Gillian, Lioel, Armen, and their crew joined the villagers. Even though they could break up the fight, it was not part of any of their orders and so they knew that they could only watch on as their superior committed treason.
"Is the crowd still under control?" Lioel asked his teammates.
"All that and more." Armen cracked a rare joke.
"Looks like we are all good on this part." Gillian sat on the fountain and watched the two males fight it out.
Not far from Ian was Recarie making her puppet dance. She dodged to the left and Daouen's rope took out the left side of the town's clock tower. The other half fell behind her, leaving dust to fill its void. For a brief moment she could feel Daouen get distracted and took that chance to make her escape and it came not a moment too soon either.
In the air, Recarie glided with the wind. On the ground behind her, Ian followed. Zooming through the woods outside of town, he did not have power over his body and that meant not being able to dodge the numerous trees he collided with. It was only because Recarie was sending her power through him that Ian was not seriously injured.
In the tunnels beneath Farous, the island accented woman crossed their hideouts room. By the door she reached out her hand and grabbed a body.
"Bring him into the light." The other woman instructed. She had seen him once before.
"And what do we have here?" Trey took the dark black haired boy from her. "You know what we have to do to you know, don't you boy?"
Hidden in the cloaks, the other four laughed and the boy starred the Hunter dead in his eyes. He did not bother with the other members or whoever they were.
"Some nerve you got there." He set the boy down. "Maybe instead of killing you, now that you know my identity and all, we can strike a little deal with you."
Tory dusted off his hoodie and jeans. "Can you help her?" His voice stern and serious even his he looked like a puppy dangling from its mother's mouth.
Everyone stared wide eyed at their capture. They were certainly not expecting him to volunteer with so little coercion.
"We cannot interfere with Recarie's life at this point boy, but you can." The squeaky voiced man scratched his nose allowing Tory to see a wedding ring on his ring finger.
Tory stepped right in front of the cauldron and watched as Daouen sank back as villagers grabbed him. Through all of the commotion, Armen and Lioel had been knocked unconscious by stray debris. Villagers were freed from their trance and attacking Daouen leaving Recarie to escape. They had recognized the boy as NSSH scum and would not allow his actions to go unpunished.
This was one thing Trey and the others were not expecting. If anything they had expected Recarie to kill him or at the least, permanently disable him from using his abilities. They gathered in a circle and began chattering inaudibly for Tory to hear. He could pick certain words out of their conversation and did not like any of them.
"Shut up!" The room shook. Tory rushed Trey. "Just tell me what to do?"
"And what makes you so sure you can do anything?" The third woman in the room leaned over to look him in the face, leaving him still unable to see hers.
"Yeah." The couple joined the woman. "Just who the hell do you think you are?"
Not taking their taunts, Tory backed up allowing them to see all of him. "I am who I am and it was you who said that I might be able to save Recarie so tell me," his fists trembled. "What do I have to do?"
Trey and the other exchanged smiles. This was indeed the boy they needed.
Above ground on in the town square Farous Police Authorities were arriving on the scene. The NSSH officers were no match for their abilities. In comparison, the NSSH lieutenants were novices. Only their psychic abilities surpassed that of the FPA, but no one there had that ability. Though poor attempts to flee from the FPA were made, a portion, very small portion of Farians pitied the officers as they were chased, brutally battered, and detained for processing through their courts.
A second team of FPA officers went into the woods after Ian and Recarie. Since not one of the villagers could give an account of what had happened that night before they came to. It was all the same story of waking up in the time square and 'that' boy was attacking 'that' man being used like a puppet by 'that' girl.
Back in Disten, the remaining surviving NSSH higher ups, were getting ready for a press conference on the steps of their headquarters. Personnel scrambled all over the building, shredding any document that may be linked in a negative way to Farous. Anyone who may have heard of the Farous operation had their minds wiped clean from one year previous, to that day. All of this was done on the orders of Temthaw Vene. His orders were absolute.
"Thirteen hours ago, a disturbance occurred on Farous soil. That very same soil that we had taken an oath to never step foot on without Farian law permitting us to such." The older gentleman behind the podium, Temthaw Vene, owner and top officer of the NSSH, wiped the sweat the formed in great beads on his forehead. "The two dozen officers that caused the incident yesterday were acting alone on not on word given out by this organization. We are personably taking responsibility for it and are offering a hand a friendship out to our neighbors across the waters. We want to rebuild your town and guarantee that all those who were involved, including our former commander and lieutenants, will be brought to justice with punishments deemed fit for those found guilty of these crimes."
His speech continued, but by then Gillian had turned away from the television in a strangers home she had found. The owners of the house were out screaming their outrage at the NSSH government. Her brilliant hair was now charred and shortened to just below her shoulders. Though that was the very least of her worries. Along with the severed finger of hers that she held with her four fingered hand, Gillian was now one of the five most wanted people in Farous and she was all alone." Flames emitted all over her body, but she kept the length down to a minimum so she didn't accidentally set the house of fire.
"I have given my life to these bastards. I have even killed on their orders never questioning the innocence of the target..." Her flame went out and died. "All for nothing. They turned on all of us without a second thought." She sank to the floor in a crouch. "What am I going to do?"
Morning was coming soon and Gillian knew it wouldn't be long before she had to move on. Everything seemed hopeless. With her head buried in her arms, Gillian pondered what her next move was going to be. A single tear fell from the corner of her eye. Through everything, she was still too proud to cry properly.
In the sky, the sun was rising and Recarie was fading out of consciousness with her influence over Ian still going strong. Stars sparkled like diamonds as the sky turned a soft blue. Recarie liked staring at stars and feeling the morning breeze against her soiled skin.
"Hm." Her head rolled side to side enjoying the sensation. She smiled before passing out several hundred feet about land.
Ducking beneath tree branches, Ian could only keep moving forward as that is where he was pulled. It was still dark from where he was and a comforting wind blew past him. In the blink of an eye, Ian's heart lurched and he went running forward. He could feel it, she was getting closer. Bending his right leg first and pushing off of the ground with his left, Ian leapt several feet in the air. He kept his arms spread out in front of him, ready to catch the falling girl above him.
Recarie floated gently in his arms and Ian feel slowly back to the ground. Back on the ground he wanted to throw her on the ground and leave her there, but he was still under her power. Ian propped her head on a soft patch of grass as he leaned his back up against a hollowed log.
"How did this happen?" Several hours before, Ian had had a job, a home, and a fiancée, but in a flash of poor decisions, he was now wanted by the FPA. He had seen the television broadcasts through the windows of empty homes. Ian was all too aware of what was happening in the world around him.
"I was foolish to..." His eyes, cold, confused honest eyes, looked at Recarie. "Oh gawd, all I have lost!" He lost it all over one girl. "Was she even worth it?"
Now that Ian was there, with the girl he had thought about for so many months. They were alone and he could be with her as long as he wanted. So many nights had he secretly wished for this, but now he wanted his life back. He wrapped his shaking fingers with locks of his greasy hair.
"How could I do this?!" Everything was so different and to Ian, different meant wrong. He loved his fiancée, didn't he? And the organization he worked for and the house he lived in and the woman he lived there with. It all now seemed impossible and it was all Recarie's fault.
"Ugh!" The pain began to take over and Ian rolled into a ball on the ground grunting through each sharp stab.
Above his knees he caught a glimpse of a golden ray of light. It was coming from Recarie. She was healing and coming back to consciousness. Everything was blurry at first to her, but she could hear Ian's wails loud and clear.
"Oh!" Without a second thought, Recarie went to his side. There he was again, the man who had saved her life. "Here." She went to put one hand under his back to sat him up right.
"Don't!" Ian snapped. The last thing he wanted at that moment was to have her hands on him.
Recarie flinched. The first word he had said to her in almost four months was not of admiration. That one word was of hate, anger, and disgust. Her mind went blank. This was not what she expected their reunion to be.
Her eyes began to sting and then tears built up. All breath escaped her body and her heart raced. This was not how she imagined it all to be. She dug her fingers into the dirt as she gasped for breath. In a situation like this, there was only one thing Recarie knew to do. So, forgetting her troubles, or at least trying to, Recarie got up and ran.
What Recarie did not count on was Ian following. After dashing through half a mile of open fields, she sensed Ian still on her trail. She slowed and stopped. There it was, with a hand on her heart, she felt it.
Ian was thrown into tree after tree as Recarie fled. He was sure that a tooth or two had been lost and the last tree limb he smashed into left splinters all throughout his body. His speed slowed as he saw the trees thinning and the mountains in the distance appearing.
Now Ian could walk a normal pace. The woods ended and he stood atop a hill, but not alone. Glistening mauve hair flowed with the breeze. He heard her cries and felt the tears drip down her face. Her pain was now his pain. Any emotion she was experiencing, Ian felt it too and it didn't feel good.
Soft blades of grass crushed beneath his bare feet. Recarie knew he approached, but did not care about it anymore. The mountains in the distance were all she wanted to focus on. Ian approached, all his rage and anger pent up was just ready to give the girl who had ruined his life a good what-for. Inches behind her, Ian was ready to get it all out.
His heart fell too as he got a wave of what Recarie was feeling. They were both experiencing the same emotions. Fear, confusion, hurt, and all the others that came with their situation. He sat next to Recarie and looked at her, not saying a word.
The hill took a steep dive and their legs were able to hang in the air. Taking several deep breaths, Ian tried to clear his mind. All he wanted was a little clarity. Recarie needed a couple of seconds to realize that his eyes were on her. She wiped the tears and mucus from her face before lifting her head and staring at his.
He tilted his head and smiled then turned his attention back to the snowcapped mountains before them. She watched his short hair wave in the wind. Recarie had not expected him to be smiling after the way he had reacted to her attempts to help him. At all one moment she got it. Recarie stopped sniffling and crying. Now all she wanted to do was look out into the valley below and forget about her worries for a while.
"He, he." She laughed bringing her hand to her lips.
Ian looked over and watched the girl smile. Feeling like a weight had been lifted off him, he joined her. They laughed together. Completely without a reason, they laughed anyways.
In Farous, the FPA was having a meeting to decide whether what the NSSH was telling the true or not.
"Our representatives that were sent to Disten found no traces of those men and women's supposed mission." A woman in a white polyester coat and slacks stood before a table of other FPA members. "Our Psychics, our best Psychics, scanned the minds of the entire building and the computer hard drives."
"Nothing?" A younger woman in the same uniform stood and the other took her seat. "That is too perfect. Too... Too clean." Taking her seat a man stood wearing the same standard issue FPA uniform, but his had less medals on it.
"But we gave our full investigation in to this time sensitive issue. I recommend that we give the accused back to the NSSH and accept the olive branch." Taking his seat, no one else stood to speak.
"Let them aide in rebuilding the damage their associates and that girl did to our town and we will give them back their traitors. In the process we will build a new relationship with them to advance both of our societies." At the head of the table, a gray haired woman said what they all were thinking. "Any objections?" More of a threat than a question. "Good, then let it be done."
Across the water in Disten, they prepared to meet on neutral grounds for the prisoners return. Back in Farous, the prisoners were led out of their white padded rooms and into a dingy operating room.
"This will only take a moment and before you know it, you'll be back in Disten." The man in charge hissed the 'is' in Disten.
Still carrying her severed finger, Gillian huddled in the bushes like a squirrel staring at a clinic. She had yet to decide whether or not to go in and have here finger reattached. That meant a possibility of being noticed and arrested. The noon sun beat down on her back and sweat dripped into her eyes.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take." And in the next moment, she staggered to her feet and headed for the hospital. In front of the hospital was a nurse who screamed for stretcher as soon as she saw the battered and bleeding Gillian. Her skin tingled, something was happening. Before passing out, Gillian saw two hooded figures hiding in the exact spot she had just come from.
"We need to get this man to the third floor! He's lost a lot of blood." The nurse had been referring to Gillian.
"But I'm not a..." And the sedative had kicked in.
"Shush now, lovely." One of the nurses at her side brushed her cheek gently. "You'll be just fine." He left her as she was taken into room seven of floor three. "At least I hope so."
Hours had passed by and Recarie was getting drowsy. It was nice and peaceful where she sat with Ian, but that peace had made her a tad bit tired. She was afraid of getting up. If she did, she feared the moment would disappear. The moment she had wanted for months.
"Um." She cleared her throat so that maybe, just maybe, he would start the conversation. Recarie knew it was going to be awkward and embarrassing, but she was going to be honest and let it all out in the open.
"So..." When Ian had failed to start things off, Recarie jumped in. "Hi. My name is Recarie." She reached out her hand, but Ian did not shake it. After a moment of silence, she was beginning to wonder if Ian would speak to her at all. "But you already knew that... Yeah..." Only the blowing wind responded. "Eh. You know there is really nothing else I can bring up in a situation like this. A little input from you might be nice here."
"What am I supposed to say?" He was kind with his words and tone.
"For real." Recarie stood. "Of all the things I want to say, I will tell you this: I am not sticking around here for those NSSH goons, no offence or maybe, yeah to hell with what you think, to come and get me." Recarie stood. "If you excuse me, I am off."
"Where are you going?" Ian was standing behind her.
"Excuse me for not trusting you and all, but that is a secret." The sound of her invisible wings fluttered in the wind.
"Not like I just did not save your life back there." Ian was still calm, showing very little emotion. For some reason those words seemed to freeze her in her spot. Recarie's blood boiled and her face turned red. "And whether you intended to or not, you have made me your puppet." Now his rage showed. "I have lost my job and life because of it." Ian stepped to her closer. "So I think the least you can do for me is tell me where you are going, because whether I like it or not, I have to follow you."
Recarie started off in the direction she was facing. "I don't even know what happened back there. He was my friend and I thought... Well, forget him!"
"But you saw me back at the café you were working at..." He blushed and even if he could not see Recarie's face, she was blushing.
"And you knew that was me and did not alert the NSSH immediately?" They headed down the hill together.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha." They laughed together sliding down the hill. The grass was glossy and they let their arms fly behind them.
"We are so messed up." Recarie shouted to Ian. They were just living in the moment, but it all came to an end when the hill met leveled land. "Ah."
"Ha, ha, ha." Ian was still high with adrenaline.
She observed their new surroundings. Trees were in every direction she looked. Not far ahead of the pair, was a small cottage.
"Do you hear that?" Recarie raced to the house and Ian trailed behind her.
"What is it?" They pressed their noses against one of the wooden paned windows.
"A television!" She turned the knob to the front door and welcomed herself into the house.
"That's breaking and entering." Ian whispered standing outside the cottage.
Inside the little house, Recarie turned the television on. Flipping through the channels, she found the same thing on each of them.
"No!" Recarie gasped and covered her mouth so Ian would not have to hear her cry for the second time that day.
Ian rushed in the house and kneeled by her side. "What is it?" She pointed to the news program on the television and turned up the volume.
"Acting alone, two dozen Nation Security of Super Humans, also known as the NSSH, officers entered Farous to retain one of their citizens that had fled custody several months before." The news anchor spoke the words as if she had said them hundreds of times before. "Now the officers that were arrested that night will be returning to Disten for execution, the sentence passed down on them today after an investigation and trial. Although there are still four members at large and the one café waitress known as Recarie, we are told that this sentence goes for them as well. On to other news." She shifted the paper in her hands. "Disten has already given the Farian government an undisclosed amount of money to aide in the reconstruction of our town. There has also been talk of reconciling between the FPA and the NSSH..."
"Agh!" Recarie screamed as she sent a nearby iron into the television set. "Humph, humph!" She was about to black out.
Standing next to the front door and a safe distance from Recarie's rage, Ian processed the news he had just heard. "How could they... No."
"So they sell out their own loyal men for a chance of peace with this continent?" Another item, unseen by Ian who was already occupied with thoughts of his own, crashed on to the wall on an inch from his head. "Bull! No! No! NO! This is where this ends!" She went towards the back wall of the room which was luckily a bathroom. "I have had enough of their games."
"Wait!" Ian snapped out of his little world. "Where are you going?"
She rolled her eyes. "The bathroom, duh."
"But this is someone else's home. You already destroyed their television set and now you welcome yourself to their facilities?"
If it was one thing Recarie hated, it was being talked back to. She had just a little bit too much pride. Without an answer she opened the bathroom door, gave Ian one last look with her squinting eyes, and slammed the door behind her.
"Why, lord? Why?" Ian whispered as he sank into the nearby sofa, but not by choice.
From inside the bathroom, Recarie was controlling his every movement. "Just sit there like a good boy and tell me if the owners of this place show up!" That was a command, not a request.
"Come on." He rummaged his mind for a solution from his invisible ties. "Of all my training and practice, why?" Ian went on to try and contact Trey through his telepath abilities, but he could not even picture the Hunter. "Of course." Even if he could not summon his powers, Ian still had his wits. "She has them. Only through her can I get my abilities."
In no time at all Recarie was out of the shower and dressed in the clothes of the woman that lived there.
"Finally. Now can we go?" He had not even bothered staring at Recarie as he spoke.
"Not like that you aren't going anywhere." Recarie looked Ian over, slightly blushing in the process. She was still unable to believe that he was there, flesh and blood, with her. Struggling, Recarie sent him in the bathroom. "And don't come out until every bit of dirt has washed away down the drain!"
Stars in the late evening sky began to twinkle and shine. This day that had come and was ending felt different, new even, to the two people in black cloaks standing on top a hill.
"Well kid." Trey patted the boy's back. "This is where I leave you."
Tory stood with the air ruffling his loose hair. He gave a glance down to his hand that was now marked with glowing blue symbols that led in a spiral up his arm from his palm.
"Good now. Be a good boy now." Trey turned and left.
Tory did not need to watch the Hunter leave. He would be fine on his own now. Thanks to the Members, he had found out some things about himself that should had stayed hidden. There were no feelings of being in love with Recarie, nor was he being controlled by any of her invisible strings. It was something stronger and more heart based. This boy had a higher calling to her.
"This is not happening." Lionel, still in his lieutenant's uniform, hit the back of the boat that he sat in along with the officers he had been in control of a day before. Now he had nothing. His title meant nothing and all his hard work and life's work led to nothing.
"It is fine." Out of nowhere a women seemed to have popped out of thin air. "So what the NSSH has sold out all of us? So what if they want to use their mistake as an excuse to get into the FPA's pants? So what, right?" Her blond hair brushed against his arm. It was the only thing he could see of her arm as he kept his down.
This officer looked at her comrades. The blinking florescent lights and no windows did not help make them look any more optimistic. Everyone was sentenced to death without even an actual trial and this one woman looked as if she had won the lottery. Who knows? Maybe she did. Or just quite possibly the situation she found herself in had caused her to go clinically insane.
Out on a hidden path, Recarie and her company traveled until the sun had set and the moon shone. She and Ian had not said a word since they left the small cottage. What did they have to talk about? They were fugitives from two sets of government and he was her unwilling companion.
Ian had not noticed it, but night and turned into morning and then morning into night. They had travel for two straight days and not having stopped for food or rest, Recarie still had energy to burn. He began to lag behind then blank out completely. Still conscious enough, Ian felt the cold blades of grass under his exposed skin. A bitter breeze blew past the very tip of his nose.
"Tired." Recarie joined Ian next to where he lay. She stared at the sky and watched the stars twinkle.
"Could you tell me what your plans are?" Ian remained on his back staring at the sky, but not seeing the stars. "I have not questioned you or your motives and followed you faithfully, even if it is by force."
"Hm. You have earned that much." Several rustles later through her purse, a granola bar landed on his stomach. "I am headed back to Disten."
"Crud!" A piece of the bar had gotten caught in his throat. "You are what?!" His eyes looked the young girl over. First he was angry and a little bit confused, but as he looked at the girl lying on the ground with her hand limp on her exposed midriff, he calmed down.
"Ah." She turned on her side not facing Ian. "Tell me you can put all of those men and women out of your mind as they are shipped across the sea to die for nothing. It was never their fault for growing up in hate. They did the only thing they knew to do and that was to listen and obey the NSSH." Recarie heard Ian take his spot back on the ground. "When I left Disten, I promised that I would return to free those like me. I would free the enslaved and prisoned that looked at me with such hunger in their eyes."
A short silence passed and Ian was ready to talk again after finishing his granola bar. "What are you? At some moments you can be a beast of imaginable power, then a fragile soul and back again."
"I'll tell you when I have that figured out myself." The last word from her lips seemed to stretch with the wind. She passed him a bottle of water from her purse.
Several feet away from where Ian was lying, Recarie pulled her legs towards her chest and shut her eyes. She had said all she had to tell Ian for that moment and closed her eyes. Another gust of cold air brushed over her exposed legs and Ian felt the chill through her.
Quietly, with his back facing hers, Ian scooted closer to her until they were inches apart. Recarie could feel his body heat against her and inched closer to him. Before either of them knew what had happened, Ian had wrapped his left hand fingers in between her right hand fingers. Recarie did not notice it was not actually his hand she was holding, but a physical projection of it from his mind. Now a warmth had started in her heart and flowed inside her. Neither said anything else that night as they laid nearly back to back.
The next morning the duo was up again and approaching a town. In the distance Ian spotted a leveled clock tower and brick streets torn up with bricks still lying scattered here and there.
Without warning, he grabbed Recarie's arm using his telekinesis. He never actually touched her arm. "We are not going back in there!"
"Why not?" She easily shook free of his hold.
"Have you forgotten that this is the place that you destroyed? Don't you remember that news report? Daouen is still at large." Recarie looked at him wide eyed like he was speaking another language.
A tingle traveled through her nose. "Of course I remembered Daouen! He was a boy who made me feel welcomed and that I was part of our little makeshift family of abandoned and lonely children. Daouen had made me realize so much about herself that I had failed to see who he truly was."
Holding his ground Ian stared into her eyes. She knew that he was not going to budge. "I am not going in there and neither should you."
Recarie felt her heart being stabbed. He had talked to her as if he was some sort of parental figure to her. "Then stay, if you want to. I can make you come with me if I wanted to... But I don't." With nothing left to say she entered the small town.
It was obvious that no one was in the city as they had fled only four hours before.
In all direction, ruins stood where shops and homes once were, but there was only one place Recarie was looking for. Buried beneath all rubble and debris, she found the remnants of her old room.
Ian took a deep breath and stuck one foot in the boarders of Farous and then observed the town. Papers fluttered in the streets and aluminum cans rattled on storm drains. It seemed to be the same paper everywhere. Plastered on shop windows and lamp posts, the same notice. He grabbed the closet flier and read the big, black bold letters as he heard something approaching the city.
Recarie grabbed a hand full of pebbles and gently let them fall to the ground. The place she now stood before used to be full of life and love. It was Acanelle's. A place that Caleth ran and cared for with everything she had.
"All of Caleth's hard work, gone." A tear trickled down Recarie's cheek.
"... North and find her." A voice whispered on the wind.
"What?" Recarie asked the invisible force.
"Don't linger here too long. In the mountains lives a woman who can help you. Go north and find her. Be well Recarie." The words looped only for Recarie to hear. After a few listens to the message, Recarie realized it was Caleth giving her friend one last bit of help.
Those words hit Recarie hard. Her eyes let a wave of tears fall down her cheeks. Lost in the moment, she failed to see Ian running up behind her shouting words she did not want to hear. He waved a hand full of fliers and dust clouds formed behind him.
"... Run!" Only his last word seemed to reach Recarie.
After wiping her face, Recarie went wide eyed as she watched bull dozers and tanks follow behind Ian. "Damn." Running with her feet flat against the ground, Recarie led Ian out of the shopping district and into an overgrown field by mistake.
"Huh!" Ian patted his knee as he coughed out a breath. "I don't think they saw us." He peered over at Recarie.
"You're right. Can't you hear them finishing the town off with money sent from the NSSH?" Frustrated, Recarie grinded her teeth. "Let's go."
"Where?" Ian had almost reached out to grab Recarie's shoulder, but remembered his position.
"North." And that was the end of their discussion.
"But we have no food, money, or transportation." He just could not let Recarie have the last word in the conversation. "And what's up north anyways?"
"Do you ever shut up?" Her feet kicked up the dirt where bricks once had been on the back road out of Farous.
"Do you ever give straight answers without a fight?" Ian followed a safe distance of four feet behind Recarie. "The North it is then."
"Are you sure you can handle this?" Temthaw Vene held a leather briefcase under the guise of darkness amongst tall oaks.
"You are the one who had asked me here." His partner, a youthful tan skinned woman grabbed the case.
"Ah yes, very well." Vene turned and left. He had not planned on his meeting taking as long as it did, but dawdled away back to his sports car for safety. Making a deal with the devil had shaken him to the core and when it came to Temthaw Vene, that was saying something. Here was a man who had sentenced two dozen mildly innocent people to death to cover his own tracks. His meeting with the dainty woman had him looking over his shoulders to make sure she was not there. On the list of things he was not proud of, this ranked very high to almost the top.
"He's coming around." A nurse alerted the doctor outside of Gillian's hospital room.
The man, about five feet ten and pale peach skin, checked the chart at the end of her bed. "Everything seems to be going smoothly for you." He had the most charming, wide mouthed smile on his face. "Your finger has been reattached and you should be able to leave in the next forty eight to seventy two hours."
Gillian, still feeling the effects of the anesthesia, watched the man leave. "Hm?" A slight glimmer of gold floated off of him. It was just for a second, but that was enough for her to identify it. Her face got hot and she turned shy. "Ha! I have you figured out Hunter!" She tried to point her newly reattached finger at him.
"Hunter?" The nurse looked at the man in the door way. "Doctor, what is this man talking about?"
"Oh, that is just him coming off of the drugs." Before more suspicion could arise, Trey left faster than he could be spotted. "Now that that is taken care of, off to Operation Summit." He shed his psychic induced guise and stepped into the four foot tall bushed that led from the small hospital and into the mountains. "This is not so going to be fun."
Another night had come and Ian and Recarie resumed their journey to the north as instructed by Caleth. They had taken to sleeping alongside tall oak trees during the day and traveling at night.
"I'm hungry." Recarie grabbed her stomach and rolled her head back. "This town coming up better have food."
"Why would a town not have food?" Still following a safe distance behind his captor, he managed a good quip every now and again.
Recarie stopped and Ian froze. He knew that look even though he could not see her face. "Did you say something?" Her voice deep and quiet. It made chills run through his spine and tingle in his feet.
Ian took a few steps back. She turned her head and then the rest of her body until she was facing Ian.
"Hm..." Ian held his hands in the air above his head, a sign of good faith that he was unarmed, but Recarie did not care.
"I did not think so." She continued on her way.
"How did it come to this?" Thinking to himself, Ian followed his master. He looked and the mauve ponytail bounced. There was still a longing to hold her inside of him. Just the slightest touch would have been enough to quell his feelings. Ian also had developed a part of himself that would have rather been in the company of a grown and mature woman, Justine's company. "Sigh."
Behind her, Recarie heard Ian sigh. "Oh gawd." She knew of his pain. "If only I could face him and look in to those rushing blue eyes..." Her eyes caught sire of the town up ahead. "We're here!" Recarie put on her happy 'everything's fine,' face.
The town looked as though they had stepped back in time. Lampposts burned with twinkling candle light, horse drawn carriages lined the cobblestone streets, and the villagers wore attire more fitting for several centuries past. Going with the flow, Recarie entered the first shop that she caught a whiff of.
"A bakery. Well, no surprise there." He stood outside as Recarie went in and got food. "Just how is she expecting to pay for it anyways?" Ian turned around just in time to watch her give the plump woman behind the counter a gold earring. "..." Wide eyed and speechless, Ian entered the glowing, candle lit shop.
"Thank you." Recarie was compelled to curtsy as she took her food. She caught site of Ian entering the shop. He was pissed by the looks of it.
"And now you're stealing?!" He held the door open for her even though he really didn't want to.
Try as she might, Recarie could not ignore him. "And how else do you suppose we are to survive out here? Hm? If you just so happen to have a wad of currency in your pockets that you've forgotten about then we can back track all those miles and return these jewels back to the people who have probably forgotten about them."
Opening his mouth to speak, Ian's mind was unable to come up with a comeback. "But," he had figured it out. "Didn't you get paid from when you worked at that café? I mean I even saw you with a purse on 'that' night."
"And in case you have forgotten the battled that ensued 'that' night, it was a little more than difficult to keep a hand bag attached to my side." Her anger level was rising. She had made her point and for the time being Ian had decided to back off.
From the incident at the bakery, Ian and Recarie continued north to meet this person Caleth had sent them to. Their path led along the mountain side with a detour on the coast of Farous. Recarie continued to use items of value from the cottage in the woods that they broke into at the beginning of their journey, much to Ian's dismay.
"We cannot do this forever." Ian walked along the beach and Recarie played in the salty water at midnight, the time she always felt most energized.
"Hm?" Recarie was breaking loose and blowing off stress doing a mix of ballet and martial arts above the water. She looked like a figure skater as her back bent back and her long legs skimmed across the water's surface. Taking off running, she dodged orbs of water she sent towards herself. "Go ahead and stay on the sand if you wish. There are only so many miles before we reach the north and our world is turning to hell."
Ian had been stuck holding her bag with their supplies and loot. He thought about the many ways he could dispose of the stolen goods, but none of them allowed him to send them back to their rightful owners. Lost in his day dreaming, Ian almost did not hear the slight shuffling of the sand half a mile behind them.
Eyes wide and body tensed, he put the bag straps on and rushed at the water. He used his powers to push her under water where he joined her. Recarie's eyes glowed a color he had not seen for nearly a year.
"There's someone out there." He used his mind to talk to her and once the water stopped boiling, he had known Recarie heard him.
Recarie closed her eyes and felt the vibrations of the person approaching. From what she could tell, this person weighed close to two tons and from the heat they were giving off, she had a pretty good idea of who it was.
"Hunter." Ian heard Recarie whisper in her mind for him to hear. But Ian was too shocked by her new found psychic ability that he failed to recognize what she had said before their assailant put one foot in the water.
He was the first one to jump out of the ocean, leaving Recarie by herself, still under the water. Ian was relieved to see the golem who was just barely visible through the steam he created.
"Trey!" The older man could have hugged his friend at his first glance. "A familiar face after these last half dozen weeks is such a relief!" He was all smiles until he noticed that Trey did not speak to him and had his facial expressions in 'serious' mode. "What's wrong? Come on dude..." It was a little late but Ian remembered that Trey was NSSH. His first thoughts were of Recarie and how he had to keep her safe.
Slowly, Trey began approaching the small man. With each step Ian prepared his body and mind for battle.
"Shuush!" Bounding out of the water, Recarie landed knees first in front of Ian with water spraying into the air behind her. Her hair clung to her body as did her soaked clothing.
After a moment of silence Trey activated his Hunters flame only prompting Recarie to charge up her own powers. They stared into each other's eyes with only the waves crashing on the shore cutting out the silence.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, dude come on." Trey broke his stone cold stare into smiles and giggling. "I thought it was you who had fought for her." His bawling laughter continued.
"Damn." Ian let out a sigh. "I forgot the NSSH was out for you too." Recarie stepped aside and watched the pair interact.
"And what the hell have you been up to?" He slapped Ian on the back, but he was able to hold his ground. "Having that little girl fight your battles now?! Ha, ha, ha."
Remembering Recarie's existence, Ian watched as she calmed down. She was like a child who stood to a parent's side as they talked to an old friend.
"So, what are you doing here?" Ian, playing the part of an adult, brought him over towards Recarie.
"Need you ask? I have been searching all up the country side looking for you." The Hunter looked Recarie over from the corner of his eye.
"Oh, we're headed north to find someone who might be able to help us get back into Disten. We just barely passed the guards at this town's entrance. Now that the NSSH has gotten it foothold here..." Trey cut him off.
"Why the hell do you want to go back to Disten when there are several other continents of neutral territory out there?!" Sand beneath his feet turned to glass as his temper flared.
"Farous was considered neutral and now look at it." Ian's voice stayed ever calm. "The NSSH killed all those men and women who came to help us on that last mission. Being out here in the open and away from that pressing government, I can see things clearly. The NSSH must be stopped and the only way to do that is by getting to the heart of their operations headquarters."
Trey took a step back. "Sounds like you have this all figured out. Well, almost figured out."
Recarie had enough of the conversation and began on her journey again. She cut Ian off in midsentence who was forced to follow her.
"Got you on a leash already does she?" Trey was not one for subtlety.
Ian blushed. Just what had the nature of their relationship become? Was he still her servant and puppet? He had come to notice that as the weeks passed on, Recarie's hold on him became weaker as if her power was dwindling.
"Grrrr..." From the front of the line, they could hear her growl at the comment.
"Oh, so will you be joining us on this little venture?" Ian dropped his pace to match that of Trey's. "You never did say what you were doing here."
"I already told you. I have been looking for you. As I am also being targeted by the NSSH, I figured we could find a way out of Farous and get a permanent and safe location to reside." They continued to follow Recarie and soon his feet cooled from walking in the icy cold winter's water. "But you and Shorty here have other plans. Oh well. Guess I have to get in on this and keep your simple butt out of trouble."
"There's no telling you no, right?" The chilly midnight air blew past his bare shoulder. He thought about asking Recarie if she needed a jacket, but he never spoke out of turn.
"Jacket!" Recarie screamed at Ian as though he should have known what she meant.
Immediately, Ian reached to his back ready to shuffle through their bag, but it was not there. "Um, it would seem as though, um..." He knew what telling her he lost the bag would mean.
"Ugh!" She had enough of that night. First being thrown into the water, then the unwanted stranger joining her duo, and now their clothes and funds were lost.
"Better get ready to run." Ian told to Trey and he stopped and stretched his legs.
Whoosh! Recarie took off running than jumped into the air taking flight for the first time in a month. Behind her on the ground, Ian ran with her. No longer did he stumble when she pulled him. Now he stayed at right with her, never straying far. Recarie had noticed this from the sky and she flew among the clouds. Her cheeks blushed and a wry smile floated over her face.
Not far from the newly formed trio stood a boy marked you with blue tattoos. Thanks to his cloak, he was almost invisible to any kind of detector. Unknown to Recarie and Ian, it was he who helped them get into that town. Tory, forbidden to directly interact with Recarie was able to help out unnoticed in the shadows. He was able to, at times, mask their presence from Hunters and nearby Psychics.
This boy still was uncertain of why he was doing this. The pain he went through when the other members of his order had infused his skin with their secrets, felt like nothing more than being pinched. But why had he done it?
"I need a break from this all. A break from him and his lackey." Recarie flew above Ian, but not out of his hearing range.
"And I can hear you!" Ian shouted smiling up at her. He had gotten used to running after her and lost five pounds in the process.
"Good! I want you to!" She increased her speed.
Trey took in the scene, listening to their voice tones and facial expressions. They seemed to be friendly with each other and not so much kidnappers and hostage.
"And so what is your relationship with her?" Trey asked the same question he had asked back over the waters between Disten and Farous.
"Dude, seriously?" He turned his attention to the sky. "She can hear us."
"Who can hear us?" Trey stopped running as he broke the glass that had formed on his feet. Ian tried to stop, but was tugged along with his master. "He, he, he." The Hunter chuckled, pleased with his handy work. "They have probably never said each other's name to each other. Kids these days."
From the night came the morning and the trio found a small cave along the edge of the ocean. Trey volunteered to stay up and watch out for trouble. He knew that Tory was out there and felt the presence of someone else. This person had a stronger energy than Tory, matching or maybe very well exceeding his own.
It was noon when Trey had stepped out of the cave. The tide was low and the water was warm. Fish swam in the shallow stretch of water making easy prey for Trey.
"Lunch." He said smiling and rubbing his hands together.
"Bait." A voice whispered into his ear.
Trey did not flinch as he drop kicked the woman standing behind him. Before Trey could move, the woman was already several yards behind him. Skipping the first step of witty banter before a battle, the Hunter charged the woman and forced her into the woods that surrounded the cliff on the beach. He never let up as he went on a series of punches to her gut and kicks to her legs. He was eventually freed from the fight to catch his breath, and was only after she had laid several well placed hits to his right elbow, chest, left heel, and below his right ear.
"Bitch!" This woman had Trey in the fetal position on the ground. She had hit the exact places on his body where his nerves were most exposed, paralyzing him.
"Oh now, now." She waggled her long index finger at him. "Tsk, tsk. You don't talk to a woman that way."
"And I didn't." He spoke out through shocks of pain. "Ow!" The heel of the woman's four inch pump dug its way into his spine.
"Was that a yelp of pain? Why I must have the wrong Hunter because he could not be this soft." Her heel went deeper, if at the point it could even do that. "Where's the girl? No use beating around this bush."
"You know my role here. I am not allowed to interfere with her decisions. None of us are." Trey cringed. The weight of the woman sunk into his back. She was several times heavier than she looked.
"Oh, oh. If I dig any deeper... Well you should not have let me get this close, but then again you were always bad at keeping away from me." She bent down next to him. Running her hands over the Hunters weakened body, she found what was most exposed.
"Aw! Stay away from that." She had broken away layers of his rock skin which did not heal or grow back.
"I know your body all too well." Her nimble fingers sunk into his flesh. They wiggled and squirmed their way through muscles and fat. "Here we are." Between her index and middle finger on both hands, she pulled out two stones. "Now, one for all stored D.N.A. and the other... He, he, he." Her heel withdrew from his spine.
"Ugh!" Trey struggled to stand, but he already knew what had happened. The Hunter was paralyzed and now unable to track anyone ever again.
"Why not just be a good little Hunter and sit, er, um lay there." The woman turned her back on him. She took her inch long index finger and sliced the palm of her opposite hand open. First she placed the smaller of the two gems, the one that held the source to Trey's ability to track, in the wound. For the second stone, she made a cut on the back of her neck and gently slid the stone inside.
"Yeah, you think you got me!" Trey rolled on the ground gritting his teeth while speaking. "Ha!" He forced himself to move.
On cold damp sand Recarie twisted and turned trying to get to sleep. What was once a little pain in her head was now a full-fledged headache. "It's no use." She sat up and stared at the cave around her. On the opposite wall, very far from where she had been laying, Ian was sound asleep using his shirts as a pillow. It was the first time Recarie had seen him without his shirt on and could not help but looking him up and down.
"He's not extremely defined, but he is very well toned." She tilted her head sideways to try and get a better look at his body.
BOOM! Something had hit the outside of the cave. Ian jumped awake and Recarie turned her head immediately before he caught her staring. Without saying anything, Ian crossed to the caves entrance just in time to see a six foot tall woman remove two stones from Trey's back. Recarie did not know what was happening, but Ian sure did.
Using his telekinesis, Ian pushed Recarie to the back of the cave and pressed his palms firmly upon the moist ground. In one quick movement, Ian brought his hands in and pushed the air with his palms up. This move brought the stone beneath the sand up to cover the caves entrance. Air grabbing Recarie's arm, he used his ability to break the stone at the back of the cave creating new path for them to escape through. With a mere wave of his hand, the solid stone of the cave broke apart and turned to dust around them.
Outside the cave, the woman had caught a whiff of Recarie and a blue trail of flames streamed from her finger tip to lead the way to her target. Tory wasted no time and covering up Recarie's trail, but this woman was persistent. He rushed along the outside of the cave using his own powers to hide Recarie's presence. Even while outside of the cave, Tory knew she was still inside and moving throughout it.
"Ah!" The woman struck the cave with a whip of fire. Inside small loose rocks fell on the duo and they hurried along faster. "Um!" She sent a series of waving blue flames at the cave.
Tory watched as the hillside caught on fire, but as much as he cared for animals and vast amount of land, he had to make sure Recarie was safe. His cloak waved in the wind as his bare feet barely touched the land. This woman had Recarie's sent and not even the power of his masters masked her.
"Uh!" Rocks fell upon the pair as Ian continued to create them a path. But as they further along, Ian was rushing with his attempts to break the stone. Now he broke it into tiny rocks as his energy was waning. Dust stung their eyes and the tears made it hard to see. Even in the pitch black tunnel of the cave, Recarie's invisible wings glowed a dim light enabling them a sense of where they were going.
Ian could not stop to check on Recarie as all of his attention had to be focused on making them a path to escape through.
"Umph! Crud." He took a tumble after getting his foot caught on an exposed tree root.
Without a word Recarie burned with energy and took Ian's place in front of him. She ran her hand over the stone, seeing every molecule that made it up.
"Ugh!" With her power concentrated in her fist, Recarie parted them and turned the entire length of the cave in to an open tunnel. She could see a faint light at the very end of the tunnel. "Come on. Suck it up!" Recarie used her powers to weave a splint of energy for Ian's hurt foot and they continued on their way.
Back to the outside of the cave both Tory and the woman had followed the cave out into an open field. There were no trees and no buildings, only blades of soft grass. The sky above them had gone from clear blue to smoky gray with swirling red clouds. He was closing in on her even though she was still running faster than the lightning that struck around them.
"Ah!" Jumping head first off the top of the hill and rolling through the air down to the ledge the woman in the black leather boots, Tory grabbed her and pulled her off the ground. They went spinning into the air and off of the mountain side.
She made a reach for his shoulder and then kicked him in the stomach. Tory grabbed her foot and pulled her down with him. The woman was prevented from grabbing onto any protruding tree limb to save her from crashing into the jagged rocks below her. Her hands swiped at Tory's scrawny fingers at they dug into her boots.
Neither of them was able to speak. The wind rippled their skin as they continued to fall backwards and no amount of struggling with each other would stop that. They were approaching the water fast and Tory smiled as now he knew that he had the woman, but by that point she did not look afraid.
Recarie and Ian stopped running. They both knew if that woman was still after them she would had already have been there. Ian was leaning on a crutch Recarie had fashioned for him from her energy. She was in front of Ian, mumbling something he could not hear, but he could tell she was pissed.
A breeze from outside the tunnel rushed past them. By now the sun was beginning to set and stars were coming out. Another day come and gone.
"I'm hungry damnit!" Recarie kicked the wall. Ian did not say anything and she had to look behind her just to make sure he was still there.
"What?" Ian was wondering why she was looking at him with one raised eyebrow. "Oh. Were you talking to me?" His soft voice echoed around them.
"Of course I was talking to you! Who else is in here besides us?!" Her small hands flew in the hair and she stomped her feet.
"Oh, well you did not say my name so how was I supposed to know." Ian watched as Recarie slowly turned her head back at him with her eyes squinted and teeth gritted. He knew that look.
"Really?! Really?! We are not doing this now." She stormed off in front of him.
"And why not?" Ian dropped his crutch and limped after her. "You run too much, do you know that?"
"Why?" Recarie gave in. He was right; they had needed to talk about this some point in their travels together. "Sigh."
"Alright." He stalled the conversation. "Just going to say this straight and no matter how embarrassed either of us get, we need to get this out."
"Crud!" She buried her head in her hand.
"Now, I have lost my whole life. My job, my country, and my... My... Justine." Ian got lost in his words. It seemed like forever and ago since he had thought of her last.
"I did not force you to chase me half way across the world and then have your own government turn on you." Recarie pointed out in her defense.
Ian swallowed the lump in his throat. "No, you didn't and I'll give you that, but from the first moment I looked at you, you have had the control over me making me into your puppet."
"Can we just stop doing this?" She let her voice go silent.
"In this month I have been forced to travel with you, you have not even called me by my name? Is that how low you think of me?" He made another attempt to reach out to her shoulder to stop her from walking away.
"Instead of asking these pointless questions, shouldn't you be more concerned about your friend back there who is most likely paralyzed for life?" She felt Ian get closer.
"Trey is Trey and I know he can take care of himself. Stop changing the subject." They were at the edge of the cave and the late evening sun warmed the duo.
"And you! The only time I have ever actually heard you say my name was back in Farous!" She watched as Ian's face turned bright red. "You were right about this conversation being embarrassing!"
"No... Now that was only because Trey had pushed me into saying it!" He met Recarie at the exit of the tunnel.
"Then." Recarie seemed to be taking the situation more serious now. It had hit her that this was the time to discuss their relationship. "Can you tell me why you returned my heel that night? I mean you were right there with your fiancée and we both know you knew it was me from the moment our eyes met." Her voice came down to the level of a whisper and she kept her head down.
Everything became still, like it was the calm before a very nasty storm. The sky was still a mess of gray and swirling red clouds and stood as Recarie's back drop. Her head lifted slowly and she turned it to look Ian straight in the eyes.
"Um, to be honest as possible it was because I felt something drawing me to you. You feel it don't you?" He lowered his voice just a bit louder than hers and joined her on the tunnels end.
They gazed into each other's eyes as the warm evenings wind blew past their legs. It was as if they could read the others thoughts and nothing needed to be said. And nothing more could have possibly have been said.
"You should have never got off that crutch." Recarie went to touch Ian's foot which looked as though it had swollen to twice its size. Her voice was warm and motherly as she fastened him a new one that was a bit more solid than the last. "How's that? Are we all good here?"
Ian leaned on his support and hopped out of the cave and onto the less solid ground. "No, not really but this will do for now."
Outside Recarie joined him just as small droplets of rain fell from the sky. She looked at their surroundings to see they had traveled up hill. By the looks of it they had made it several miles in only six hours. Not much further up from where they stood was a two story house, much like the one she had the pleasure to visit back in Farous.
"This rain will take care of the fire. That house will provide shelter for now." She took charge and led the way up the continuing hill.
Behind her, Ian followed her without question, though he had a few about their chosen resting place. It was a two story tall brick home with dead plants in what used to be a garden. But as the rain began to pour down faster, Ian went with it and into the unlocked house.
"No, no, no, no, no." Recarie had seen this same house before. The inside was almost exactly like the house she had taken shelter in Farous. Almost alike in every way, but it only had on staircase leading to the upper floor.
"And how about this one?" A faint older female asked.
"What?" Recarie looked to Ian, but of course he was not the source of the voice.
"I did not say anything." He held his hands up to show his innocence.
"I think I have been here before, and not just because of my misadventure back in Farous..." She eyed everything in the sitting room on the first floor before ascending the stairs. Half of her thought there would be a mirror at the end of the hall she had stepped off on, but there was none.
On the first floor Ian stood watch for anyone that might have followed Recarie. After all the time they had spent together, he knew Recarie could take care of herself even if she did not know it herself. He lifted his head and looked at the ceiling in the exact spot she was on the second.
Room after room, Recarie found nothing, not even furniture.
"Damnit!" She was hoping that there would be a little more than dust and cobwebs. "It is a little too much to ask for fate to throw me a frigging bone?"
Click! A piece of hail hit the window. Recarie crossed the room and put her hand against the cold glass. She watched as the moss and vines in the tall oaks around the home waved in the violent winds. In her mind the scene was of beauty and serenity.
"I always love when it storms." A young girl's voice echoed in the room.
Recarie whipped around faster than the lightning outside could strike. Thunder from outside shook the house, rattling the structure. Chandeliers waved and vases crashed to the ground. In an instance Ian rushed up the stairs, but there was no Recarie. The hallway stretched hundreds of feet in either direction.
Where there once was a door, Recarie now stared at a mirror. This was a mirror she was all too familiar with. Its glass rippled and she knew what was to happen. Recarie stepped as close as she could get to the mirrors frame without actually touching it herself.
BOOM! The thunder cracked and made Ian jump off the floor. With the help of the lightning, he noticed its light only lit up the middle portion of the hall. It was this middle section that was the true portion of the house. Everything else was illusions and cheap parlor tricks put there by the homes former owners.
Upstairs Recarie was getting ready to touch the mirror. After her previous experience she was more than a little cautious about it. As she watched the liquid ripple and wave, her mind cleared and everything seemed light as air. Recarie ran her fingers over the surface and let it wrap around her hand. It slowly made its way up her shoulder and started to cover her head.
"Crud!" Ian blurted out after having crashed through the wooden door. He watched the mirror skip her head and wrap around her waist. "No!" Running, but not fast enough, Ian made it to the center of the room where the mirror had moved.
"He, he, he." Recarie giggled from somewhere behind the mirror that stood unaided in the room.
"No." Now on his knees, Ian ran his hands along the mirrors frame. "No..." His voice trailed off as all he could see in the mirror was his own reflection.
Feeling something tingle in his legs, Trey made an attempt to stand up. He toppled over before he could straighten out his left leg.
"Could I be of some help?" A boy behind his reached out his hand and smiled.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Trey allowed Tory to help him stand before he fell over again.
"Came back to help you. After running several miles, throwing myself off of a mountain to take that evil bitch off Recarie's trail, sending her to the rocks, landing on her corpse to save my own skin, and running all the back here to check on you I'd thought you'd be a little bit more grateful." Tory stood at the Hunters side.
"Well I am not going anywhere for a long time kid, so piss off and go back after Recarie." He shoved the boys hand away when a spark caught his eye. "On the other hand, come closer. I may have a use for you here." Tory could not refuse one of his masters and obeyed.
"Wait, wait! What do you think you're doing?" Trey had grabbed Tory's hand and ran his stone finger running up the boys arm.
"You see these? They are not just flashy tattoos that make a good impression on the ladies, but they also hold my powers as well. Oh la, la. He, he, he." He grabbed hold of Tory's arm as he flinched back.
"And so you plan on reviving the rest of your body with your powers that you will take from me how?" Tory wasn't afraid, but his heart beat a little faster than it was.
"Oh, you need not worry. It won't take but a few hours and it will be a lot more excruciating than it was to infuse them to you." His skin crumbled to ash as it rubbed against Tory's.
"What about Recarie?" Now he was just trying to get out of the transfusion.
"I can still sense her and know that she is moments away from never needing anyone to watch after her and fight her battles for her ever again." He looked Tory straight in the eye. "How about we begin?" His wry grin did not make Tory feel any better about the transfusion process.
Inside the mirror, Recarie found herself in a place unlike where it took her before. She was surrounded by mirrors of every size and shape. Each one reflecting her image back to her. After crossing behind and through several mirrors, she became lost. There was no way to tell which direction she was going in or had come from as the mirrors where constantly moving.
"Lost miss?" A young girl with blond hair stepped out in front of Recarie.
"Oh hell!" Recarie screamed. The little girl, no more than six or seven, seemed to have popped out of nowhere. "You scared me." She took her hand off her chest as if it had helped heart stop racing.
"Huh! And you swore. Swearing is bad." She waggled her tan hand at Recarie.
"Oh. Oops, sorry. Been, well, forever since I have been around children." She bent down to meet the child on eye level.
"And just who are you calling a child. I am thirteen years old." Despite making childlike remarks and looking like one, she was almost the age most people have mistaken Recarie for.
"Ha, I know exactly what you mean. Now, if you do not mind could you tell me where we are?" She was natural with the child.
"You, well you are wherever you want to be." She grabbed a hold of Recarie's wrist and pulled off into one direction. "This way now."
The space around the mirrors was pitch black. "How do you know where you are going? The only thing around us are mirrors and they are always moving."
"I have been here quite some time. You kind of get used to it." Her voice was softer and filled with a greater sorrow than how she was speaking earlier. "Yes, the mirrors are always moving, but they always move back."
"Oh..." It took Recarie a moment or two before she realized what the girl had meant. As the mirrors moved in one direction, they moved back to the place they had come from. "Nifty?"
"Yeah, but this place gets better." The little girl led Recarie further down a direct path. Soon the mirrors reflected something other than their reflections.
"And who are those people in the mirrors? Is that you?" Some mirrors showed several different people. One was a tall man and a couple holding each other's hand, then there were various different women, but the little girl stayed in each mirror.
"Memories. You see these mirrors are like eyes and some say that the eyes are the window to your soul. Every mirror captures a small part of us forever in that moment." She pulled Recarie faster.
"But I still don't know why I would be here in your memories." Her hand dropped the little girls.
"Don't you?" The girl turned to Recarie even though she kept her face down.
A gush of wind soared from the sides of the invisible path. The mirrors flew with it sending them the stark black sky around them. Single bits of white sparkles reflected on the mirrors and the reflected lights danced on the wall as though they were coming off of a disco ball. As the wind settled, Recarie was able to drop her arms that where shielding her face.
"Hey!" She was left alone. "Little girl! Where are you?! Huh, huh, humph!" Her abandonment issues were getting the better of her as she sank to her knees and took in lungs full of air.
Tip, tip, tip, tip, tip. Tiny little footsteps got closer and louder behind her. Recarie turned just in time to see the little girl reach out her arms to push her into the mirror behind her. Recarie reached out, but there was nothing to hold on to. Even the little girl was gone. A similar metallic liquid to the one the mirrors glass was made of flowed freely around her.
"Can we stop now?!" Tory roared over the sounds of the power transfer. "We have been at this for over two hours!"
Trey ignored him as the writing that made up Tory's tattoo's flowed from the boy's body and into his soul. It came in continuous waves of blue light that sank into his rock skin and into his very life essence. A stone was beginning to form only an inch above his heart. This was the stone that gave him his ability to hunt others through their D.N.A.
"Puff!" He tossed the boy away from him and towards a nearby tree. "This will do for now as you won't stop complaining."
"Can you find Recarie now?" Tory rubbed the tattoos on his arms that were once a light crystal blue. Now there was a deep mix of twisting rose pink and light lilac. "What the heck? Dude, why am I inked like a girl?"
"Ha, ha, ha, ha." Trey could not pretend to care. The boy was striped up like a berry flavored candy can. "That is just the power signature of another one of us who marked you. The blue one is our orders color and now we have broken that down to a lesser form, hence it taking the colors of the second most influential member. He'd be tinkled pink to see you."
"Ugh!" He grabbed at his dry and frizzled hair, but he did not need the dramatics to let Trey know her was frustrated.
"Is it worth it?" Trey turned serious sitting atop a hill with the purple and black night's sky around him.
"I know what you mean and I have been asking myself that for quite a while now." He turned away from the Hunter and looked at the silver twinkling lights in the night sky. "And I will never be any more ready to give you the answer."
Nodding approvingly of his apprentice, Trey said nothing and gave him his full attention.
"You ever been around someone for so long and you start to get this... This vibe from them?" Tory slouched his body and lay on the grass. "It was not like the pull she has over other people, but I can feel her. Recarie is meant for something more than working for minimum wage in an ocean side café. She will be the one to end the wars, bring peace to our nations, and just overall save the world."
"Ha!" Trey snorted testing out his new power. "And you think one person, one little and fragile girl like her can do all that?"
Tory released the grass he had torn apart in his hand and let it dance on the cold nights wind. "You know what? When I am near her I believe it with the full extent of my heart that she can."
Trey liked what he heard. "So, now that you answered one of my questions..." He gritted his teeth. Saying the next part was difficult for him to get out. "Do you have any for me?" It was like an invisible force was making him say the last sentence.
"As a matter of fact I do. Just who the heck are you and why do you care what happens to one café waitress from Disten?" Now he was staring directly at Trey. He had not just asked that question as if it was one random thought floating around in his head. No, Tory had been thinking about it since his new life started that past month when he took his oath.
"Ah. A very valid question you got there kid, but I have to be going now. Got to see how a man is doing. She is probably pretty pissed at me." He wobbled while trying to stand. "Bye!" In a flash he ran off down the hill and out of Tory's sight.
"Dang, he moves like the wind." Tory sighed and lay back down. He spent the rest of the night resting under the stars. Maybe the fates would be kind and send him a sweet dream.
Ian waited outside the mirror Recarie had fallen into. "Where did she go? Is she gone forever? Is she safe? Hungry? Lonely? Scared?" He was going out of his mind with questions about his master and so preoccupied with many other daunting thoughts that he overlooked the greatest detail of the scene. "Oh..." It had finally hit him. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. No way!"
Ian lifted his arms and ran them around his legs. They weren't there anymore. The sense of his heart pulling him towards Recarie or the willingness to fly into battle without thinking it through first. Her spell over him had broken and now he was free, free to be himself. But where could he go? He was in Farous. There was no job for him there, no home to return to at the end of the day, and no one waiting for him at home to ask and listen about how his day was. Nothing.
"But there's..." He looked into the mirror. "No one..." Ian stayed in the same spot all night and into the early hours of the morning. Recarie was still in the mirror and he was starting to believe she would stay there. "Is this the way it's meant to be." There was an empty place in his heart. "Bye." He gave himself one last look at the mirror before he closed the door to the room and left the house.
He knew he could not wait forever for her. Tory watched Ian leave the house and all he wanted to do was rattle him back to his senses. "That man is the one she chose to be her guardian and now he was just leaving her?!" Thinking against going over to Ian's older body and pummeling it into the dust it was becoming, Tory snuck into the house through its back door and searched for her energy.
A faint life signature led him to the second floor where he found a hall with no doors. Every minute he wasted looking for an entrance into the space of wall where he sensed Recarie was another layer of her energy that disappeared.
"Mm." He crouched in front of the wall where a door once had been. "Everything seems to be connected to... Energy. Mm..." Tory stroked his chin with his right hands index finger and thumb. "Well maybe..." His hand ran over the cherry wood paneling. "Energy!" Lilac and pink tattoos glowed on his arms.
These tattoos slowly released a wave of power that connected to the paneling and passed through it.
"Yes!" Tory grabbed hold of the rope of energy and tied it to the stairs banister. "Here goes!" He took off with a dash and just before he collided with the wall he grabbed hold of the rope and spun into the wall. Seconds later of frightening uncertainty, Tory found himself inches away from smashing into a levitating mirror in the center of the room.
The liquid inside of the mirror rippled and slowly crawled out its frame. It sniffed Tory's arms and legs. After giving him a look up and down, the liquid crawled back into its frame.
"Reflections." A lemon yellow haired woman came up behind Tory. "It's his name and he rejected you. Sorry."
"Hm?" Tory, dressed in his light gray purple cloaked turned around to see one of his masters standing behind him. "And just how long have you been standing there?"
"You know you should not be here, young Tory." The island accented woman, Yasire, reached out for his arm. "That is why Reflection denies you so."
"Well you should not be here either." He touched the frame that held Recarie inside.
"Others are on their way and we are to operate in the shadows, which you have been doing a great job of by the way. We all really do appreciate a second guardian even if it goes against all of our rules. Sigh. In times that continue to get worse and with there being so few of us left, that a little bending of the rules doesn't really matter anymore. Although, holding true to our most cherished laws are what keeps us going." She tugged him towards the door. Dark and ominous clouds gathered around the house.
"I will be back here..." Tory followed his second master out of the room.
"Yes, but not for a while. Leave here, and like the good little child you are, get out of sight." Yasire left him outside of the ever changing house. "No direct contact with young Recarie or you'll die by my bare hands." She shouted cheerfully as she waved goodbye.
Tory waved back to her then as soon as Yasire faded over the horizon, he climbed a nearby tree and waited for the visitors. "If these people Yasire says that are coming so much as look at her the wrong way, I would certainly make my presence known."
Ian had been wandering the woods in the area around the house Recarie left him in. "Ugh." Moaned the man who had not eaten in two days. "Wonder how Trey is doing. Sigh." He looked up at the trees and watched the moonlight twinkle between tree limbs. "How long have I been out here?" Ian looked through bushes for some sort of berry or in the best case, a bird's nest. "What would Recarie do?" And as if some sort of miracle had taken place, Ian came to a dirt path that led to a quaint housing community. "Yep, this looks about right."
From the dirt path to the backyards of small town suburbia, Ian eyed the neighborhood. He saw people of super human ability, but no plain humans. Ian crawled onto the patio of one of the houses and, fully aware of his wrong doing, swiped some plain clothes to blend in with the rest of the population. Recarie had turned the innocent man into a rebel, well sort of. Ian still knew it was wrong to take the clothing, but would do what was necessary to pass the town without an incident.
"So what do I do know." Ian whispered to himself. "Ugh!" He shuddered seeing his reflection in a mirror. In the first time since he was a toddler, Ian was completely and utterly alone.
"Hey!" A rugged voice screamed above the crowd of late night shoppers.
"Oh crud!" He pulled his hat down and crept into the closest alleyway.
"Hey you stop!" It was a soldier. A NSSH soldier!
"No..." It was unmistakable. The uniform was different, but the man was definitely a NSSH foot man.
The soldier passed right by Ian who almost died from a panic attack. After calming himself down, and making sure the soldier had left, Ian made up his mind about the whole situation he had found himself stranded in.
"Okay." Ian told himself as he exhaled. "Calm down. We've got this." He stepped out of the alley he had crawled into and in front of one of the locals.
"Oh, hey there!" The younger man in his early twenties helped Ian off of the ground. "You need to watch where you're going. I almost tripped you."
"Yeah, oow." Ian faked a head injury. "I was just trying to avoid those NSSH guards running after that boy. They sure do seem to be everywhere these days."
"Ever since the Farous higher ups gave them permission to stake out in our towns, they have been running after every stray sound." A woman who had been passing by joined the conversation.
"Oh..." Ian acted like he had already known that. "They still haven't located the last, what was it, five or six fugitives from that incident last month?"
"And they're not going to either." The man who Ian had bumped into began to walk away as one of the guards approached. Following his lead, the woman took that opportunity to take her leave.
"And what's going on here?" An NSSH soldier laid his hand on Ian's shoulder from behind him.
Ian's first thought of running, something better crossed his mind. "I hear you are still looking for those Disten criminals, and I think I know where one is. A girl with waves of mauve hair and legs that you never seem to stop moving."
Seconds later, he had a full view of the brick wall the soldier had shoved him into. "You lie!"
"He, he. Never." The guard gripped Ian's wrists tighter. "I want to meet your commander or whoever is running this mission here."
The second guard used his walkie to contact the very man who had gotten the NSSH hold in Disten. Temthaw Vene got permission from the Farous government and called for his most experienced teleportation ability enabled human and was at his soldier's side in only twelve minutes.
"Oh, ho, ho." Ian pretended to be a light headed local. "They sent me the big man boss himself."
This attitude did not sit well with Temthaw and in front of the passer byers, shoved Ian into the brick wall again.
"And just who the hell might you be old man?" The soldier who called in the situation fumbled through Ian's pockets.
"Sir!" The enthusiastic soldier saluted and then handed over Ian's wallet.
"Cole Raden." His identification card read. Temthaw gave Ian, or rather he gave 'Cole' a good look over. The gray hair and wrinkles that draped his face were the very same as on the I.D.
"I know where that girl is that every one of you NSSH goons are looking for." The goons comment did not sit well with Temthaw who tossed Ian to the ground.
"Wipe the blood from your foul mouth and lead the way." Temthaw could feel this man was telling him the truth, as was part of his ability. Much like the ability Tory held.
"Stay where you are or you will be fired upon!" One of the soldiers shouted out at the crowd that had begun to follow Temthaw and his posse.
The crowd dispersed and went about their day. Ian continued to lead them right to Recarie. His thoughts slipped to the tiny girl who held an untamed power and a will to match it. He admired her pride and blushed every time he imagined her smile where her lips barely separated to show only a hint of her sparkling white teeth.
"You see." Ian sounded twice as old as he actually was. "I was on my weekly walk from my cottage in the woods several miles away from here. The exercise keeps my failing body in shape. Uh, well back to the point of the matter, I was coming out of a tunnel in a nearby mountain and I saw a breath taking beautiful youth much like the one all over the news, walk into that house right over there." They had approached the house Recarie had disappeared into. "So I followed her in and when she finally went to sleep, as you youngsters have more energy these days, I went into town to alert the officials."
"Show us!" Temthaw had 'Cole' released and followed him into the house.
The inside of the house had changed. It was colder and darker than Ian had remembered. Items of furniture had appeared and only half of the staircase. Someone, or more likely something was messing with them.
"Up there." Ian pointed to the upper level of the house. "The structure of the house has changed since I left it. Probably the work of that," he hesitated with the next comment. "That witch, but looks like we can stand on those shelves over there to get to the second floor." Without another word, the soldiers lifted the elderly man up to the stairs and followed behind him. "These walls are very tricky. Only a gifted eye can see the door that leads to the room she is in."
"There!" Temthaw had pointed to the correct space in the wall that held Recarie behind it. Ian could only stand there trying to figure out how the man that had probably never been on a field mission in his life, spot her location so effortlessly.
"Wait!" Ian shouted out before the soldiers could cross the barrier. "The room behind here is tricky and I must go first to lead the way."
Temthaw allowed Ian to go first, but with a guard by his side in case he was planning on tricking them. Taking a deep breath of air, Ian pulled the man with him into a seemingly solid wall. The soldier stood in awe before doubling over and puking on the carpet. It was not only the front room that had changed in appearance, but inside this room as well. Hundreds of mirrors floated in room. They went up, down, and side to side.
"What the heck is this!?" Temthaw grabbed Ian, but he had not noticed being grabbed.
Ian had his eyes fixed on one mirror that, among all the others of various sizes and shapes and sizes, stood dead still. A little girl with mauve hair skipped on an invisible walkway. The liquid in this frame stepped out and started towards the intruders. Several of the soldiers attacked or tried to manipulate the matter, but nothing stopped the creature from going towards their boss.
Half way across the continent, Trey was being chased by a brown haired woman. She was shouting inaudible obscenities.
"I am not sorry!" He shot a beam of flowing flames that looked like rose petals at her.
"Damn you Hunter!" Gillian used her own fired based ability to send a wave of purple flames straight for his head. She ran up the hill after Trey, only to stand at the top alone.
The warm sun covered her back with its rays and the clouds above her seemed so close that if she reached one boney hand up, she could pull them down. "All alone, I am free." She whispered into the wind.
"Listen to me this time, please!" Trey whispered into her ear from behind her. He so gently lifted a lock of her hair so she could hear what he had to say. "You know there are hundreds of NSSH soldier that search these lands for us."
"And if I hand you over to them, then I would most certainly be off the hook for any claims that I had any part in that last mission." She pulled away from the golem.
"Would you really do that to me?" His rock covered hands took hers. "If you had listened to me in the first place, I could have had you half way across the globe a month ago. You would never have had to worry about any of this."
Gillian allowed Trey to continue to hold her hands. "And if it had not been for you adulterous BFF Ian, none of this would have happened." She turned her head towards his gaze. Even though she would never admit it when talking about this moment in the future, her stomach churned from the moment he took her hands, in a good way.
"Well most of us cannot choose who we love and I can tell you that without a shadow of a doubt, the I..."
With the wind blowing wildly and sending her hair to a hundred different directions, Gillian grabbed Trey's hands, clutched them in hers, pulled him close to her, and kissed his stone lips. All of her building emotions had crashed and flooded through her veins. Taking the moment like a true professional, Trey slipped his hands along her sides and let them rest on her finely toned hips.
"I love you." Trey finished his sentence. "Now." He straightened his back. "Will you allow me to protect you?"
"Hey!" True to her style. Gillian stuck her face in his. "Just because I kissed you doesn't mean..." This time it was Trey who did the interrupting and kissed his fiery vixen.
"I will never try to change you or even dare ever tell you what to do." Their foreheads touched. "But some serious stuff is about to go down and when it does, I need you to trust me." His thick fingers ran through her fine hair.
"You can have this one chance." She playfully bit his lip. "Don't disappoint me or there will not me a second chance, get me?"
Trey was almost sure he knew that Gillian would say that, or something along those lines.
Each NSSH soldier that had failed to damage the liquid mirror creature, panicked they looked to their commander who then looked to his boss, Temthaw.
"Well what are you all looking at me for? Kill it!" Temthaw tried to leave the same way he had come, but found that the portal to the hallway had closed. "Son of a!" He scrambled behind several of his guards in hopes it would fall upon them and leave him alone and free to leave that little house of horrors.
What no one in that room knew was that the creature was only after one of them. Ian willing went forward and allowed it to swallow him. Once Ian had been completely enveloped in the liquid, it returned to its mirror frame. In the liquid the soldiers and Temthaw could see the mauve haired girl now joined by the other man on their most wanted list. As they stood in the room they wondered had this man planned this all from the beginning.
In front of him, Recarie danced like she was trying to catch a butterfly. "Re..." He started to ask.
"Hm?" With a smile unlike he had seen before, Recarie stopped moving and acknowledged the visitor. "Oh." She giggled. "Hello there. I remember now." Recarie went back to dancing.
"Um, remember what exactly?" He inched closer trying not to fall. Ian was still unsure of how they stood upon nothingness like the black space beneath their feet.
"That's just it! Come on." She waved for him to follow her as she had one leg inside one of the mirrors around them. Ian surveyed the mirror and the reflection in it.
"Here goes." Just like Recarie, he put one leg in and then pulled his entire body through. The surroundings had changed. They were in an empty dining room. "Whoa."
In only seconds the room filled with transparent items. A table in the middle of the room had balloons attached to the chairs with a cake on the table that was littered with confetti. Next several human like shapes gathered around the table and huddled next to a little girl. This little girl was unmistakingly Recarie. With her mauve bouncy hair and crystal blue eyes, Ian would know that girl anywhere.
All the other people there where black hazy figures and not detailed like Recarie. A banner hanging from the ceiling read 'Happy sixth!' The girl at the head of the table looked more like three years older than six. Dating on the birthday cards set up along the table was more than over a couple of decades ago. Ian watched Recarie give it her all to blow out the candles. He was sure she would use up so much breath she would become weightless.
"Hm." Ian smiled. "Never changed."
"That's mom and dad." Recarie went around pointing out the figures. "Big brother, big sis, and auntie." She pinched the see through younger version of herself on her big rosy cheeks.
"How do you know that they are your family?" He crossed the room in long strides to be next to her.
"Because." Twisting a lock of loose hair, she looked over at her companion. "I remember this. We were all there. Everyone had been happy that day. One of only a handful of happy times..."
"How are we seeing this? Are we somehow in one of you past memories?" The figure broke apart and reconfigured themselve's as he ran his hand through it.
"Well as I have come to see this is that the mirrors go only to places in the here and now. But..." She stroked several of the figures faces affectionately. "The event we are seeing is very much real."
Ian let her have the moment to herself. She seemed to be feeling a great loss and longing for those around her. Once the scene had disappeared Recarie walked back to the frame that led them there.
"Ready for another. I have a lot of things here that I would like to show you." Ian could not get a reading off of Recarie. She was almost emotionless, but overjoyed with happiness.
"Sure." He swallowed the lump in his throat and joined her back on the other side of the mirror.
Out of one mirror and into another. They had seen scenes of Recarie sleeping peacefully as a child, playing in wide open yards, scraping her knees and having her mother kiss the wound to make it better, literally. There had been ones where Recarie played with her brother, sister, and aunt. Ian could tell her family cared a great deal about her. In the memories she was never alone and always had either her brother or sister present with her.
Ian stepped into one mirror that showed a night scene. They were out in a field. Dozens of men dressed in NSSH uniforms surrounded the area, trapping a woman sitting in a tree in a force field.
"No..." Ian stood with his mouth gapping over. They were about to relive a moment he was just starting to forget. "Let's get out of here."
"..." Recarie did not pay him any attention. With her head down she gritted her teeth and balled her fist. "But... Don't you want to know what happened?"
"What! I know what happens!" He swung his hand towards his back in a show of anger. "You kill almost everyone here in a murderous blind rage! Do you really want to go through that again?" Ian walked over to the little girl. "Do you?"
Recarie shook her head.
"Then let's get going before it starts." He headed for the mirror.
"No. I meant don't you want to know how I got up in that tree? Or how about why I was not in one of your Zones on a registry?" The wind chilled the rage showing on Ian's face.
"There are a million reasons. Like you came from another continent." He wanted to pull her through the mirror.
"Then I would have been detected entering Disten airspace. No. Let me tell you what happened." Just before the scene around them got to the point where Sean approached her, it changed. The new scene was of three hours earlier. "Over there." Her voice soft, she pointed to a point in the sky a mile away from where they stood.
A stream of what looked like thousands of diamonds lit up the sky. The trail continued to stretch in their direction. At the head of the diamonds, was Recarie. She was crying in vast amounts, leaving behind a trail.
"What's wrong?" This was the first time he had seen her crying. Even if she cut her self and was gushing blood, Recarie never cried like what he was seeing now.
"It started that morning on my seventeenth birthday and my family decided it was time to show me the world. Ha." She watched herself hit the tree and tumble through its branches eventually catching onto a branch and pulling herself up. "They told me all these wonderful stories of a great planet where people worked together for one common goal to better man kind. You see, before that morning I had ever only known the lands around my home and never interacted with another human being. And in that moment the world became a vast place to me, before they told me I could not take part in that world. It was our jobs to work from the shadows and never be known. With a broken heart, and spirit, I honored my parent's wishes and went through the agonizing nine hours of our families ritual tattooing. But by mind snapped. Evidently, I was not as strong as they thought and went out of control. Fleeing my home trapped in my own mind, I came to this place and when I sensed the pure ugliness of almost every one of their souls, my other personality, along with what my family had told me, I set to correct and purify this place."
"Oh, so to that part of your mind that took over, we were unnatural." A sudden moment of realization hit him. "Well that sure does explain a lot..."
"But it does not rectify it." She headed back for the mirror. A slight drag in each of her steps. "Come. I have just one more I want to show you."
Ian had decided that it was best to be silent and did what Recarie wanted. Out on the path in the room of mirrors she kept her head down out of shame.
"I am still following my parent's wishes." She said out of almost nowhere.
"Excuse me?" Ian was a little slow to catch her meaning.
"After this last little trip down memory lane, I will be heading back to Disten." Her fragile hand stroked the mirrors liquid. "Violence is not the family way and in a brief moment of a blinding rage, I did something unforgivable. As I said what seems like forever ago, I will set those in captivity free. Come now." Recarie crossed to the other side of the mirror and Ian followed her.
Coming through to the other side, Ian was met with a bright light then everything turned black. He was standing on top a hill. The grass beneath his now bare feet was cold and numbed his toes. Ian knew where he was. Recarie laid down on the grass in the same way she had more than a month ago.
"This is..." Ian began as he joined her on the ground.
"Can you remember that night? After escaping from the NSSH, we came to rest here. We had traveled for two days straight and I told you my plans of returning to Disten." She inched even closer to Ian who lay next to her. They starred at the stars and listened to the wind blow. "This is nice, isn't it."
As Ian was getting into a comfortable spot, his hand accidentally brushed up against Recarie who flinched and moved her hand back. Both of their faces turned red and familiar thoughts surfaced in their minds.
"I..." They started at once.
"Let me say this first, Ian." Recarie choked out his name for the first time like it was something stuck in here throat. "I know you are no longer under influence and I do not intend on unwillingly binding you to me, again... I am headed to Disten tomorrow and you can follow me if you want."
Something about Recarie's bravery and use of words, or maybe it was when she spoke his name for the first time, made Ian's heart race. He wanted to roll over and look her straight in the eyes as he pressed his body gently on top of her. Instead, without looking at the younger girl, Ian grabbed her hand with his and wrapped his fingers between hers like he had done the last time they were there, but this time it was real.
"I know we will be going to Disten tomorrow, Recarie." Ian yawned before drifting off to sleep. To him, and Recarie, everything in that moment felt, well it felt right.
As they slept side by side, Recarie and Ian never let go of each other's hands. Not even the cold air that battered their exposed skin bothered the pair. For the first time since she woke in that hospital and since Ian first reported to Sean that there had been a sighting, everything seemed to be in place and going according to plan.
Ciru Shor stood outside the Disten NSSH headquarters. He was checking his watch and tapping his foot impatiently. "Where is she?!" And just as he spouted those words a middle aged man with hip length white hair strode up the walk way. "Sean!" Ciru hissed. "You're more than late!"
Sean ran his hand over his friend's shoulder that relaxed him. "And it's Ray today." Together they turned and looked over the building. "Can you believe my love, that it all ends here?"
His friend wrapped one arm around Ray's waist. "I can. Our little girl is all grown up and taking the world on all on her own."
"So openly too..." The air shifted and the pair spotted a third member to the party. "That you Justine?"
The pale white woman with now sparkling silver eyes, a family trait, stood next to her mother. "Things are proceeding as planned. Can't wait for this barbeque!" So out of her normal character, this was the true Justine and not the one Ian had known, but still one he would get to know.
"Meeting out in the open? Why aren't we getting brave?" Trey joined his family.
"But you know that we are momentarily invisible." Ray hugged the Hunter.
"It has been a while since we all did gather together above the ground." Yasire waved to her sister and gave a crushing hug to her brother in law.
"And who might this be?" Ray and Ciru eyed the light lilac haired woman at Trey's side.
"Some of you already know. This is Gillian." Gillian shrank back. She did know some of the people before her.
"Let me see, I arrested you, you're, or more correctly, were Ian's fiancée, and you are that annoying by the books NSSH guy?" She turned to Trey. "And you mean to tell me that you are related to all of these, characters?"
"There's mom, you're former commander, dad, the one you arrested is Auntie, and little sis." He pointed to the cast before them. "And if everything between us goes right, your future in laws!" Trey wrapped his girlfriend in light hug.
"Been on one date." Gillian said out in front of his family. "If you could call that nauseating ride across the sea with your paranoid self a date and you are already taking me to meet your parents." She eyed him up and down. "You sure move fast."
"Life is short." His sister shouted out kindly.
"And you never know what tomorrow will bring." Her could be future mother and father in law said together hugging each other and rubbing their cheeks together.
"For real..." Gillian watched as the birds flew from the top of the NSSH headquarters to a nearby tree. "Bad omen."
On the other side of the pond, Ian stirred in his sleep. Smelling the morning air, he sat up slowly and stretched. Recarie was already awake and watching him with relaxed eyes. Had she been watching him all night, Ian would never know. She had her knees tucked under her chin and her hair was tied back.
"Hi." Ian greeted her with a whisper.
"Hi." Recarie returned the greeting still looking like a silly love struck school girl.
"We probably should be going." He wobbled over to the mirror's frame. "Coming?" Bending low, Ian reached out one hand hoping Recarie would take it.
As Recarie stood, she looked especially glowing against a sky of pink, peach, and violet clouds. She put her hand in Ian's and together they crossed the portal. The time crossing between the two surrounding seemed like an eternity. All the while, she felt safe in his hands allowing Ian to guide her.
Out of the room of mirrors and onto the floor of the home Ian had left several hours before they arrived back in the real world. Still lost in her euphoria high, Recarie had not noticed the NSSH guards all around her.
"Humph!" She was winded as one soldier struck her neck from behind and the one jab to her gut. In a matter of seconds she was lifted off the ground by wind and gagged with a wave of water circling her small frame. "Hm!" With dropped eye brow's and tears streaming down her cheeks, she watched the rest of the NSSH soldiers, including Temthaw Vene patting Ian on the back and congratulating him on the capture.
"... Reinstated." She heard Temthaw mention to Ian. "Cleared charges." He went on to babble about leading Ian out of the room. With one last look at Recarie he had the men who had captured her to take of her.
"Ah!" It felt like her internal organs switched places as she was jerked back and forth while they led her out of the house.
Camera crews, FPA officials, NSSH officers, and civilians greeted her outside the house. People's cameras flashed violently, microphones were shoved in her bound face, and then pushed away by the NSSH soldiers. She watched Temthaw talking to various news stations at once like he had just invented a way to solve the world's problems. A few feet away, Ian tried to cover his face while sitting in the back of a white stretch limousine. Ian was the one everybody really wanted an interview with. They all wanted to hear how he brought down the worst mass murderer in their history.
Needless to say, he did not want to talk to any one at that particular point in time. Being left alone seemed like his best choice in that situation.
"Hello." A younger man, who had been sitting next to Ian the whole time unnoticed, introduced himself.
"Oh heck!" Ian jumped back. "Did things just get a lot darker in here?"
"Yes, why yes they did. Now my name is Jeremy and I am here to he, he..." His dark hand patted his sleek hair back. "Debrief you."
The creepy crooked smile Jeremy was giving him should have been enough to send Ian out of the car in an instant. But Ian was not thinking straight as his thoughts were jumbled at the moment. "Okay..." Before he could get out another word, Jeremy leapt at him, placing both hands on Ian's forehead.
"Stop squirming and the 'debriefing' will be mildly less painful." Ian stopped moving. He sat there with his mouth open and drool dripping down his shirt as the NSSH agent wiped his memory of the last six months, give or take a few weeks. "You'll never miss them." Jeremy had completed the memory removal and implanted replacements to his employer's specifications.
In a patty wagon surrounded by dozens of armed soldiers, Recarie knew she should hold a brave face, but she would have rather let the tears fall and snot run from her nose then care what the others thought of her. She did do a great job in making the soldiers uncomfortable with her babbling brought on by a most devastating heartbreak. Just as she had completed one chapter of her life, it took a twist, dive, and spiraled out of control.
"Why!" Recarie screamed, but her mouth was still gagged with a ball of water. The restraints were unnecessary at this point. If she had the will to put up a fight, which she most certainly did not, there was nowhere for her to go.
Outside the vehicle, Tory ran along it. They were headed to the towns port and then off to Disten, where she would stand trial and most likely be found guilty, sentenced to death, and then dissected as they had originally planned to do to her. Tory wanted to break through the sides of the van to stop any of this from happening, but even on his best day, the boy was no match for an NSSH military team. For the time being, Tory was to remain by her side in secret, as always and only.
Her ride rolled right onto the ship waiting for the NSSH on the ocean's edge. Temthaw was talking over future possible treaties with the head of the FPA. With a final hand shake, Temthaw was on the ship with his soldiers. He sat next to a still unconscious Ian.
"Wow, you really did a number on this one." Their boss joked with Jeremy. "Hope nothings broken in there. It's been twelve hours already." He slapped his knees then held his sides to keep them from splitting.
"Hmove." Ian mumbled.
Temthaw pushed the man sitting next to Ian to the ground. He wanted to be the first one that Ian saw to make sure the memories had taken.
"Ou." He rolled off the seat, but hung off the ground thanks to his seat belt.
"Hold up, Lieutenant!" Temthaw pulled Ian back up. "This is a rough ride and you know that. No sleeping on this trip or you'll wind up with a concussion."
Everyone in the boat was silent. This was the moment of truth. They watched as his mouth began to open. The words he would say determined if they would have to kill him or let him masquerade as one of their greatest enforcers.
"Still not home yet?" And with those four simple words, everyone relaxed. "It seems like this mission will never end. Been a hell of a month, am I right?" Ian held up his hands looking for a high five, but there were no takers.
"Yes, the talks with the FPA have been a success and soon our two great nations will benefit from this union." Temthaw slapped Ian on the back.
The rest of their ride was filled with talks about what they would do when they got home. No one mentioned Recarie and no one would ever speak her name. Under the direct penalty of death, the whole of NSSH was forbidden from talking about the mauve hair firecracker. All documents mentioning her, both paper and digital, were erased. It was almost as though she had never existed.
Clinque. An invisible bell rang in Ian's ear. She was not completely forgotten.
Most of the soldiers, or at least the male portion of them, swapped stories of former girlfriends and their wives. Others talked about what they would eat once they got home. Ian found he could not contribute to either conversation. For the life of him, Ian could not think of any ex's and he wasn't at all hungry.
In Recarie's boat she had refused the food substance her captors tried to give her. Must have been a nutrient supplement bar, made from oats and whatever they pumped into it, or at least that's how Recarie saw it. Her stomach growled, but from anger and not pain.
"Why?" She flopped sideways on the seat. No one heard her cries. After five hours of her whining, they combined their abilities to form a dome that silenced her. "Hmph, humph. Hiccup!"
This was not how it's supposed to be, Recarie knew that. With the final moments before they pulled into the NSSH docks, she was already losing her energy. Guess she did not know if he really loved her after all.
"Oh, did you hear that?" Trey, in his family's underground lair, twisted his finger in the air. Spirals of silver, indigo, violet, and sienna streamed throughout the air.
"No..." His mother, still insisting being called 'Ray' dropped her jaw in a comical fashion that was not at all appropriate for what they were hearing.
"How are we going to fix this?" Yasire poked her sister on the shoulder. "And we 'are' going to fix this!"
"Yeah, no doubt about that." Ciru agreed without protest.
"Well you all sure seem to break our rules more easily these days." Justine nudged her brother.
"You all know it has been coming." Trey ran a rock finger along the cauldrons rim. "We are the last family and only a handful of others remain. It is time we stop living in the shadows and finally make our stand once and for all."
His family knew what he was saying. They all agreed it was time enough to let the world fight for itself, like a parent letting their child pick themselves up after falling. If still following the metaphor, the world was falling, but they would be there to tell it how to balance and not hit the ground.
"Sounds fun." Gillian joined the family in the circle. "Those NSSH bastards deserve what will be coming and then some."
"We'll be able to aide in the NSSH destructions and stop that conference!" 'Ray grabbed her husband's hands. "They should never be allowed to have a base within Farous!"
"Yeah, I mean are they frigging crazy?" Gillian high fived her future sister in law.
"Temthaw is going mad." Tory joined the group.
"Good gawd!" Gillian shrieked. "Y'all just keep coming out of the woodworks! Anyone else out there I don't know about?"
The cold weather began sweeping in as the fall left. Ian opened the door to his house. His large, empty, and cold home. Since returning from Farous a good three and a half weeks ago, Ian felt like he had lost something. It was not much of a feeling that he sat and thought about for hours on end. More like a fleeting thought that popped into his head every now again just to leave as soon.
Stepping through the door way, he flicked on the light to illuminate the wide spaces of his home. Silence filled the emptiness, but that did not help his situation at all. Not being hungry as he had been finding himself, Ian went into the kitchen and warmed himself a frozen diner. He turned on the television and watched the morning news before turning in to his twin size bed.
That was how it had been since he returned from his last mission. Every morning after work, Ian followed the same routine. No one ever stopped at his door step or asked him to go out for drinks. At one point in his life, Ian was sure he had a friend who he used to get messed up with, but now every day he lived his life in solitude.
Ian had come to this life by blaming himself for a past, and yet, forgotten wrong. He had hurt all those around him, but could not think of whom they were or what he did them. On his second day from returning home from his last field mission, Ian swore off friends. In Ian's mind he did not deserve emotions like love and happiness in his life.
At the NSSH each day, Ian was sure he was going mad. There were faint whispers of a level ten prisoner on floor seven. Each time he turned to look for the source of the whisper, no one would be conversing. He had dismissed these whispers as stray thoughts, as he and everyone else knew perfectly well there was no tenth threat level or a seventh floor for that matter.
Soon after the rumors of heads of other NSSH offices were disappearing. Ian's Commander. Robert Faitsei held a meeting where he put Ian's mind to rest reassuring his troops that there were no such disappearances. Temthaw Vene also spoke at that meeting letting everyone know that the talks with Farous were going well. Ian liked that part especially well.
"Ian!" Faitsei grabbed the man's boney shoulder. "Sheesh, man! Don't you eat?"
"Well I did have someone who used to..." He searched his mind. There was a shadow of a memory, but Ian put this off as part of a dream. "I mean no. No I do not."
"You have better load up on those carbs. We are sending you on a field mission." He shook Ian's shoulder and stop shortly after he heard something pop.
"Really? Don't I have someone who can go for me?" Ian was still recovering from his first field mission in Farous.
"Now, don't be a baby. You are just going out into the country to investigate some unbalances and disturbances..." He eyed Ian's arm to make sure it wasn't damaged.
"But sir, did we not already send two men to that same job almost half a year ago?" With one eye brow raised a silent alarm went off in his head.
Faitsei stood speechless. "Ian, on the other hand." He grabbed both of Ian's shoulders this time and led him down the hall. Together they boarded an elevator. "Why don't we stop at level five and you have a nice talk with The Severs."
Ian had not heard of this particular type of officer. "And who are The Servers."
Ding! The elevator stopped. They reached their destination.
"Just step forward and meet them yourself." The door opened and Faitsei pushed Ian through the white light the greeted them.
Several men, all unseen to Ian, grabbed him and pushed him down on a metal operating table. Before Ian could tell it, he was dreaming. It was a nice dream. To him, everything felt warm and fuzzy. The clouds above him were the first thing that formed. Next came the grass beneath his bare feet. He had been at this place before and he knew it was no dream.
"Damn it!" Temthaw banged the wall in the room that was level six. "You guys have better go deeper and remove more!"
Temthaw had wanted to slap one of The Servers, but knew it could jeopardize the operation. The Servers where a group of usually four to five super powered enabled humans. They used a mix a psychic powers and healing abilities to mush and warp a mind to their pleasing, or in this case, to the specifications of someone else.
With their hands massaging the various dent, curves, and temples of his face, they worked their powers into him. Inside Ian's mind the sorted through memories and all of the emotions and scents that came with them. Some memories could not be completely removed so they shut off things that might jog his mind. They blocked his mind from recognizing certain scents that could trigger a memory that needed purged from his brain.
In Ian's mind was unaware of what was happening in the real world. He was so happy where he was standing. Even the breeze that periodically would blow, somehow lifted his spirits. Ian recognized the color of the sky as it changed from a smoky violet to a soft pink. No, not pink. This color was one he had grown quite fond of for some reason. It was a wispy mauve.
His body started to spin itself as he was lost in a high of the most euphoric of emotions. With his eyes closed he had images of funny people. Like the girl with the olive green hair or the guy that was a moving pile of rocks. He laughed at these thoughts. None of it could have possibly been real. Since when was he so imaginative.
Inside Ian's little world, a black cloud started to darken the sky. It grew and expanded over all of the mauve. Ian did not know this was his mind processing the removal and suppression of his memories. He could only interpret it as the dream ending and he expected to wake up at any moment.
"So, we're almost there." A distant voice called out to Ian.
"Hm, what?" Ian lifted his head off the armrest of his seat. "Oh." Once the fog in his mind cleared, Ian remembered where he was. "Was I asleep long?" He asked his partner.
"You can say that. Another five minutes and you'll be able to see fences." Ian's partner, Miuan, was driving the black sports utility vehicle to the country side. "Here." He handed the sleepy lieutenant a napkin to wipe the drool off of his mouth.
"Thanks." He cleared the drool off of both sides of his mouth and the armrest. "So tell me about these unbalances again." Ian took a few aspirin that were so conveniently left in his coat pocket and chugged them down in hopes of quelling his throbbing headache.
"Well as you know, the soil in these parts has turned to unfertile dirt. Animals are no longer afraid of man and destroying all crops that do grow." Miuan made a right turn and pulled onto a dirt road that led to a picturesque red barn. "People are also acting strange. Like some will snap for no reason and go on shooting sprees at the over populated animals. It just doesn't make any sort of sense. All weather patterns are normal. There's been no development, land wise, in the past twenty years that would cause the animals to seek new territory."
"Have you checked the water?" Ian said in one of his absent mind moments.
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Miuan was not laughing. "Because we have and everything is safe and on the level."
The duo exited the car and approached an older man with gray hair and tattered overalls as he was working on an upturned lawn mower.
"Excuse me sir." Miuan shouted. He seemed to be the one in control of the situation, even though Ian was his superior in the case.
Something about the way Miuan ignored his rank and his presence at that point reminded him of faint lemon string, whatever that meant to him. He took the time to inhale the fresh country air and admire the dark rain clouds that had been playing in the sky since early in the morning. The mud sticking to his boots did not seem to bother him as it should have. Being away from the NSSH as far as he was should have frightened Ian, but things felt, well they felt right to him.
"Come on." Miuan motioned Ian back to the car. "That old timer said that the first thing he remembered about these instances happened further up the hill in the forest."
"Oh." Something sparked in his mind. "Seems like I have been down this rabbit hole before." Ian tapped away at the car window as the rain started to come.
In the North Disten NSSH office, a pair of scrawny men were running through a corridor. Light fixtures blinked like strobe lights as they dangled from the ceiling.
"Oh, crud man!" Trey, now looking like an ordinary man with black hair and chiseled facial features dodged a piece of the ceiling that had begun to crumble.
"Language!" Ray slapped her soon on the wrist. "Now keep moving."
"If you and dad never started those stupid rumors, ugh!" He skipped over a corpse lying on the ground. "We would have never had to do this."
Ray handed Trey a small black box. "Just shut the heck up and keep moving. Remember do as I say and not as I do." She had to add in a bit of motherly advice.
Trey took the box and they parted ways. "Love you mom. Better meet back at the rendezvous!" He took down the crumbling hallway and entered the stair well.
"And I love you." She whispered on the wind, a common ability in her family, hopping it would reach her son. Ray was very proud of all of her children, thinking about this as she climbed the stair to the top floor where the head of that branch was located.
Several weeks ago, out of spite and anger, Ray and her husband, Cirri, started rumors of top officials disappearing as it was a thought they fancied. After all, if there was no NSSH, then a true and just government could rise and all would be set right with all the wrongs with their world. They took advantage of the officers heading on vacation, which was perfect because no one was every told about where the higher ups were going or that they ever left. Cirri and Ray were quite the cunning pair.
She pushed past the smoke clogging her vision and choking her, and made it to the top level. For a moment her powers wavered and if anyone had been looking directly at her in the wall of smoke, they would have seen a six foot tall beauty with curves in all the right places, but that was only for a moment. Ray gathered herself and burst into the office in the room behind the door at the top of the stairs.
"..." The sound of the air being cut told Ray that she was not alone. Snakes coiled around her legs, she heard the hum of a force field forming around her, and felt all of the elements rush her. Even though she could not see what was going on in the room with the thickest smoke in all of the building, Ray could only smile and laugh.
"Damn!" Arvin, safely locked in his panic room knew that laugh. Even behind a three feet of the strongest alloy his engineers could make up, the man felt defenseless. He knew that voice, even from just her laugh and as he listened to the thumps against ground that told him she was running out of victims. Seconds later, it all fell silent and Arvin knew his men were not the one celebrating a victory.
Click, click, click. Layer after layer of metal melted from her touch. Ray's prey could only sit and wait for her to break through the last inch and he'd be dead.
"I should have kept you on ice!" He shouted from his safe spot. The clicks stopped. Armin grinned thinking he had gotten into Ray's psyche. "How you have managed to evade us these past decades, well I can't fathom how you could do such a thing since we got your daughter, husband, son, and his now fiancée." Those were his last words.
Outside the room Ray waited for him to sweat all the liquid from his body. With the quips he was throwing out showed he was scared and desperate. Even though she seemed calm, she knew what was about to happen to Arvin would pay for everything he had ever done and everything he had just said.
"Ugh!" There was no final pop into his hold and she completely surprised him. Ray pounced into the room, ready to take one more threat away from her family and the world.
Downstairs three floors down, Trey pushed his way past any remaining guards. The numbers had thinned since his family had first laid siege to the building only seven hours before. Now, it was not like they just stormed the place and killed everyone, because that was not their way. They asked Arvin to step down and promise to never deal with the NSSH again, thus effectively stopping one of the NSSH support posts.
Just like they were expecting, though hoping against, Arvin sent an entire team down to meet them. From there they had to fight their way to the main technical office where they stole all of their information on things like past and future missions as well as all super ability enabled humans locked away in their Zones. This was the information that Trey took to safety as his mother finished the job.
Just seconds after stepping out of the building the top floor exploded with a bang. It sent debris into the air and the lower floors followed in a domino effect. Trey walked away as his job there was done. He smiled and twirled the little black box that held the data stick in it.
Not everything was going cheery for everyone. Inside floor seven was Recarie. They had doped her and left her wandering in a white padded cell drooling all over her paper thin dressing gown. If she had given any care into her life from that point, Recarie's body would have been strong enough to fight against the drugs. But she was so broken down that at least this way no one would have to hear her crying anymore.
"It doesn't get any better from here." One of the other members in the cell, a boy, spoke to her. He flipped a wave of platinum blonde hair, though it just fell back into place. Daouen had not had a proper bath since he was brought to that place. "You know, a woman had told us that you were the one to save all of us from here and I know we don't deserve it for what we did to you, or at least tried to do anyways."
Recarie's consciousness started to fight through the drugs. It was the first time she had recognized someone she had used to know.
"But she's gone and soon the rest of us will be." There were no windows in the room, though if there had been, Daouen would have been getting his one last glimpse of the world.
Deep somewhere under Disten Cirri was taping his foot impatiently. "Where are they?!" Justine hugged him.
"It will be alright. Any moment now." Yasire patted him on the shoulder. "Any moment now."
Gillian was feeling a little uncomfortable. Sure she had agreed to marry Trey when he proposed on their third date at some musky lake, but Gillian was still not ready to call herself part of the family. Every time she got around Trey, her spirits seemed to get lifted and her happiness seemed to never go away. She was starting to wonder whether it was one of his powers, but they both knew what it really was. The two were deeply and madly in love.
The door creaked. Someone was coming in. Everyone got their hopes up and strained their eyes to see who it was.
"Oh!" The foursome groaned.
"Well so sorry to disappoint you." Tory joined them by the cauldron.
The weather was getting colder and every now and again he would return to their lair and warm up. It was one of the cauldrons affects, lasting warmth to sooth one's mind, body, and soul.
"Still not back yet?" He had his hands hovering over the caldron, much to everyone's annoyance.
"No, not yet." Cirri pushed the boys tattered gloved hands away from the cauldron. "And shouldn't you be out there watching after my youngest daughter?!" He was taking his anger out on his usual source.
Every once in a while, Tory and Cirri would get in an argument. Something about Tory bugged the man and since Tory did not take anyone's bulling, he always pushed Cirri back.
"Come on, old man." Tory jumped right into an argument. "Just tell me how I am supposed to stay inside the NSSH all day? Hm?! I have done everything I am supposed to and tomorrow I will go back to spreading your rumors and planting those thoughts in that man's head, but for right now, chill!"
At that exact moment the door creaked open again. This time, it was the two people they had been waiting on. Trey held up the data stick proudly and Ray waddled in after him. She was a little bruised and for the first time in a long time, she was no longer a scrawny man, but the true woman Cirri had married and birthed their three children.
"Oh hell?!" Tory stood there wide mouthed. "And who is that."
"I, I don't know." Gillian was just as puzzled as he was.
The woman had long tan legs and small, plump lips. Her body length gray hair with violet streaks hung over the couch she now rested on. Cirri let his wife's legs rest over his lap.
"Mmm, thank you Cirri." Ray purred as he massaged her sore feet. Justine took to tending to her wounds and Yasire brought her a cup of raspberry tea. "Tory could you be a dear and come here." She signaled the boy to her side.
"Um, who are you?" Was the first thing he muttered.
"It's me, Ray. Ray is short for Rheanne." She watched Tory nod as if understanding what was happening.
Under the moon light of the early night, Ian collected samples of soil, leaves, and animal leavings. This was all new to him, but Miuan had given him full instructions and a simple demonstration of how to tell different specimens apart. All of which had been very helpful since he had almost left a dead rabbit behind. After all, what evidence could he find in the carcass of old long ears?
Owls weaved in and out through the stretching tree limbs above, it all seemed normal enough. Under an inch or two of moist black soil, he found grubs and worms, that too was normal. There was no discoloration of local flora and all wildlife seemed to be where they were; owls out and about while the deer and ducks slept. Normal.
Even though everything seemed to be in order, Ian went on getting everything on his list. He just needed one more species of fowl to collect a feather from and then they could head back home to run experiments on his findings.
"You'd think one of those owls up there could help me out. Molting as they are..." Ian shut his mouth once he heard a twig snap behind him. "Miuan, is that you?"
Whoosh! A gust of wind pushed Ian to the ground. Any sane person would immediately get up off the wet dirt and run, but to Ian it felt quite nice. He laid there for a few seconds to marvel at the stars as they twinkled against blue velvet. Half a minute later, the sound of hundreds of dead leaves and twigs breaking echoed in his ears.
This time Ian sprang up and looked around for the source, or sources, of all the racket. Nothing was there. Not a single creature or mutated plant stirred in the forest that night.
"Oh heck!" Ian sighed in anger. "Damn it, Miuan. That was not even funny."
"At least to me it was." The younger man slapped him on the shoulder.
"And what the heck possessed you to do something like that?" Ian gathered his bags and began to walk out of the woods.
"Because you are so dull!" Out in the field, officers seemed to feel on the level with their superiors. "And I wanted to see what you got."
"Some dead animals and leaves..." Ian held up the specimens in his slightly plump fingers.
"No, your powers. I wanted to see what you got." He dropped the satchel he had been holding. "Let's spar." Miuan signaled Ian to come closer.
"Shouldn't we be headed back into town?" This did not shake Miuan's thoughts.
His partner charged at him faster than Ian could see. The younger man left sparks of silver energy streaked across the ground as he went for Ian. As for Ian, he wasn't sure what to do. Sparring was prohibited on missions, as it was clearly stated in the NSSH rule books. Miuan was getting closer and he was running out of options. Ian knew he was no match because his ability was limited to communication and small object telekinesis.
BOOM! Something collided with him. The air burst into a white and blue shimmer when Miuan struck Ian's body sending the attacker to the ground. Miuan was expecting a little resistance, but not a full scale force field. Since when could Ian do something as advanced as that?
"Dang." Ian felt up his body to make sure he was still there. After rubbing his hands over his chest for a second time, Ian relaxed. "All here." He sighed.
Miuan was dusting his butt and legs off as he watched Ian examine himself. "If you send up a force field for just a tackle, than what would you do...?" A dangerous thought crossed his mind and he summoned up his ability.
He started with ripping tree roots out of the ground with a mere upwards movement of his hands. Ian saw this coming and his heart lurched and ended up in his throat. Bracing for impact, Ian threw his hands in front of his face. Then several seconds later, when the roots should have wrapped themselves around him, Ian lowered them. The tree roots burst into billions of little atoms and dispersed in to the air around them.
"Well, got any more tricks up your long sleeves?" The nature oriented boy was already planning his next attack.
"I... I don't know." Ian watched the blue energy trickle in his finger. "But I would sure as heck like to find out."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Miuan was planning his next moves. He was thinking of using the water from a nearby stream.
BOOM! Miuan was not the only one thinking about the stream. Ian had already gathered the water and sent it at Miuan's stomach. When Miuan recovered, he looked up to see the lieutenant still in control of the water. Almost everyone who struck using fresh water in that form lost hold of it, that's why most officers carried containers of salt water with the where ever they would go. Salt water was denser and held better to manipulation.
"Let's go!" Twirling the water around his body like it was a serpent, Ian taunted his opponent.
Not much could hurt or break water, but Miuan had a plan. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Everything in the musky night air seeped through his pores. Air started to pick up speed and swirl around him. Ian knew what was happening and sent the water at the boy. Miuan was faster than Ian's attack and sent the electric charge build up in his body as a lightning bolt. This had effectively broke the water serpent and electrocuted Ian, but not severely.
Lying on the ground, Ian so graciously took the hand that was reaching out to him. "Thank you."
"No problem." Miuan joined him on the ground. "I did knock you down and all. Surprised to see you are still conscious."
"I did not mean thank you for the hand." Ian brought his legs close to his chest. "But for this battle."
"Did not know you could do any of that." In a sportsman like gesture, Miuan punched Ian in the shoulder.
"Neither did I, though I suppose it all stems from my telepathic abilities." His eyes stayed transfixed on the stars above them.
Miuan got up off the ground and helped Ian to his feet. "It must have been that time you spent in Farous. We all know you were not capable of that before your mission."
They traveled back to the car where Ian took the driver seat this time. Miuan had carried his bags back to the car. A sort of cost of losing their little match.
"Yeah, probably. Maybe." Ian tried not to think about it too much. Each time he tried to think of the mission his mind sent him back other memories or focusing on driving.
It was Ian's turn to drive and rain started to sprinkle on the windshield and with the orange glow of the street lights that lined the road, the small droplets sparkled. Something made him think of another place where there was a glow like that. He remembered a place with brick streets and the smell of the ocean. Just reminders of his trip to Farous Ian thought. All of it was just faint remnants of a routine trip and nothing more to him.
Next to Ian in the passenger seat, Miuan slept without a sound. As a nature oriented super powered human, Miuan really felt most content when the elements manipulated themselves. Like when it rained or when a bolt of lightning would strike a tree and cause a fire. Earthquakes also put them at ease when most people would be worrying about their lives. It was when things like tsunami's and hurricanes struck that made this particular set of humans feel the most connected to the earth and grounded in a sense of euphoria.
Ian envied his partner. He knew what the rain did to his kind and he wished there was something to put his mind at ease. So many nights had he been tossing and turning unable to go to sleep. Insomnia was the word Ian was looking for to describe his condition. With all of the quietness around him at those early morning hours when he tried to sleep, Ian's mind was the most alert. Always thinking of a hundred things every minute and never able to keep on one subject, Ian was becoming a 'bit' sleep deprived.
"Huh." Ian laughed. "Must be losing it this time." He chuckled while watching the image of a cloaked figure in the middle of the road.
As his car kept getting closer the figure remained firmly put in that one spot. Ian's mind took a few seconds to catch up with him. He jammed his foot on the break and tried to swerve to avoid the person standing in the middle of the road who he now believed was flesh and blood and not just something his mind fathomed. None of the commotion jolted Miuan from his slumber. As long as the rain continued to fall, the man was basically useless.
"Shit!" The vehicle slid off the road and into a ditch. Ian punched the steering wheel.
The dip into the ditch was not so bad. Ian was still conscious and Miuan seemed to be okay. He got out of the now sideways car to survey the damage. Besides being nose first into a thick mud ditch, there were no visible signs of damage, apart from being stuck in a hole.
"Now what?!" Drenched from the rain, Ian threw his arms in the air defeated. Ever since he returned from Farous, his life had been a living hell. "Humph."
Ian held back the mucus running out his nose, but he could not stop the tears from running down his face. He kicked the cars bumper only have his thin leg slip off and land in the mud. This only angered him further and in a flash of blind and furious rage he unintentionally sent the car flying out of the ditch and crashing on the road. Still the car had yet to receive any damage and Miuan still seemed fine.
Climbing out of the hole, covered in mud and soak with rain, Ian sent off waves of energy. Trees split in half, transformers blew, and much to Ian's own amazement the rain stopped in midstream. Millions of little rain drops stayed in place only to confuse Ian further creating a dozen new questions.
"And where the hell did that person who caused all this." He kicked a stray stone.
"Head home." A voice whispered. "She is there."
It did not take any more than that for Ian to get back in the car and head back to the Disten NSSH headquarters. The rain stayed frozen in place and only began to fall again after Ian left the area. There was something wrong with his world and now he knew it for sure. Missing memories, unexplained new developed powers, and his increasing twitches. Something was telling him that there was one place where he could get the answers he was looking for.
Tory was waiting at the edge of the Disten shoreline. Following Rheanne's orders, he was on his way back to his homeland, Farous. Since the NSSH left Farous, laws on the water were a bit more relaxed for the people of Disten wanting to visit Farous. The Farous government lifted the travel ban for Distenian's and only held a limit to those who may visit their land. But every week, the limit decreased and more 'tourists' visited the forbidden land.
The FPA watched as their economy improved from the revenue of their tourism division. They became so blinded by the money and all the happy words the NSSH was telling them that they did not seem to notice much else. It was hard to see that people from Disten were arriving in Farous, but not leaving. Only thing they did see was their bank accounts growing. Not even the comments, letters, and emails of concerned Farous tax paying citizens seemed to get to them.
Rheanne and her clan saw this and that was why Tory was to set off across the water and bring the data sticks from the other three NSSH branches. These data sticks held all of the NSSH files that would not show up on any scan of their computers or employees minds. She had great faith in the boy and reassured Tory that Recarie would be fine until he came back. Besides, Tory would have other things to worry about on his trip.
Watching the sun rise over the water and turning the sky all the soft colors of sherbet, he fumbled with the data sticks. Three out of four, the last being the NSSH headquarters, but it would not be long before that would be in his master's possession as well. A boat cut across the water. A shabby little ship with a stubby little man in a white captain's uniform waving at him.
Joining Tory on the boat was six other trusting looking people. A newlywed couple looking forward to their one of a kind honeymoon on the once forbidden continent of Farous held each other tight looking out over the side of the boat. Then there was an older man in his late sixties and three high school graduates, all jittery about seeing Farous. The boat docked and everyone scrambled on board. No one seemed to notice Tory, but the less attention he got the smoother his quest was bound to go.
He still had to figure out how he would get his findings to the FPA. Though, even if he did that, how would they respond to the data? Tory had plenty of things to mull over on the twenty some odd hour's trip. That is, if he could keep his focus as the boat rocked and half way tipped over each time it hit a wave.
Miuan had awoken once the rain cleared and the sun rose. "Ugh!" He screamed seeing Ian's tilted smiling face looking at him. "Dude! Have you been watching me sleeping?!"
"No..." Ian had been, but he was a good liar, one of the things he was sure about. "We're here." He got out of the vehicle, grabbed the bags and opened Miuan's door for him.
"Okay...?" The other man took his senior officers assistance and after a very long yawn, he hopped out the car. "Whoa!" Seeing the mud splattered all over the vehicle shocked him awake. "Fall in a hole or something while I was out?"
"No, no." Ian led the way into the NSSH headquarters. He and Miuan split ways as Ian went to turn in their findings to the lab all the while he looked like someone had slipped him some very, very happy pills.
He took the elevator to the top floor, level six where the labs were held. The elevator's panel on the inside only had six buttons on it, but on his little break before Miuan woke up, Ian had time to fully notice the building he worked in. From the outside, the building only had six floors, but using his new found powers he broke through the guise over it and saw that the sixth floor was twice as tall as the other floors.
"Hm..." It was at that point something sparked in his mind. "Why would that floor be taller than the rest? Hm..." Did not take a genius to figure it out. So there Ian was and the little lights on the door kept flashing as he waited for it to reach six.
Thankfully for Ian, no one else had needed to use the elevator and security was busy laughing at the former officers as they drooled on themselves in a monitor on the other side of the security room. Four, Ian's heart rate increased. Five, now his palms sweated. What was he going to do when he reached floor six or even the fabled floor seven for that matter?
"Level six." The female voice announced on the elevator automated speaker system. Ian took a deep breath as the bell dinged and the door opened. A bright white greeted him, the florescent lights on that floor. The whole situation seem familiar somehow.
Exhaling the breath he had been holding in, Ian stepped into the hallway. There was no going back now and Ian had yet figure out a battle strategy. In front of him were two double doors with an oak frame. After passing through the doors he gave a weak wave to the woman at the receptionist desk. This floor was known throughout the Disten communities for having a female only staff. Not that men weren't allowed, it was just not many men had the qualifications to make it in that particular field.
"Samples from the Miuan/Ian disturbances and unbalances quest." Ian laid all the samples on an idling cart and signed several sheets of paper work. He also used that time to study the floor. "Looks at tall as any other floor." Now that the receptionist was wheeling the samples into a back room, Ian mumbled freely to himself. "But where is that seventh level?"
In the white padded cell, two nurses were escorting a drugged Daouen back into the room. Now there were only four of them left. At times when they were lucid, Daouen and the rest knew the others had died during the experimentations and had been harvested for parts. It would not be long before Daouen succumbed to that fate. His body could only take so much torture. Their food rations did not help their bodies recover after the procedures.
Vile after vile of blood, injecting them with strange and questionable concoctions, and everything else the scientist wanted to do to them took its toll on their malnourished bodies. Once the drugs passed through his system, Daouen saw he had five new holes in his body being held together by cheap thread. Two stitches over his left hip, one over his heart, and another two on his right foot. He had seen those same injuries on the last guy who left and never came back. That just meant Daouen had one more trip to the operating table before he would not be coming back.
Recarie continuously kept running into the same wall. She often did that and Daouen would turn her around, but he was too weak to move now. If you stared at Daouen long enough, he would blend perfectly into the white wall he was slumped against and Recarie was getting there too. None of the nurses ever came to retrieve Recarie for their experiments. They would enter the room make her swallow pills and inject her with funny bubbling liquids.
He knew they were prepping Recarie for the operation they were trying to perfect on the rest of the former agents. "Recarie." Daouen gasped. His voice was like two cinder blocks scrapping against each other. Every time he found a burst of strength, he would try to shake Recarie from her trance. "Recarie!" He pleaded with the girl.
Something seemed to click in her mind and she approached him. Her head tilted slightly to the right side as she stared at him with her mouth hanging wide open. Daouen almost fainted. That was the best thing that had happened to him since they were herded into that room.
"You!" He coughed. Bits of blood splattered on his fist. "Take my hand." Daouen held all of his hopes as he was used to disappointment.
For three minutes all Recarie did was stand there and stare. Oh, and she also drooled a puddle on the floor where she stood. The doctors stood outside the door and chattered quite excitedly from what Daouen could tell. Something from their experiments on him must have went right because two nurses came in the room and they each took a person back with them.
It was too late. The final stages of their plan were taking place. Soon they would come for him and then lastly for Recarie. Daouen waited for the doctors to head back to the operating rooms at the other end of the floor. Once he knew for sure that they were not in range of them, Daouen sprang at Recarie. He heard two bones pop, both of them his, as they pair toppled to the floor.
"Dangn it!" His boney fingers gripped her wrists. "Remember!"
Inside her mind, Recarie was quite contempt with her current situation. She was wandering through a maze of glass mirrors. They showed pictures of birds and mountains. Some showed meteor showers and rain storms. Recarie could smell all the scents that came with each scene. To her, life was good.
She spent all of her time exploring the maze and discovering new sensations. There was nothing else Recarie wanted. Anything she needed was there. Her body did not cry for food or water and all she wanted was more maze to explore. This was how her life, as far as she had known it, had been for months since her return to Disten.
It was not until Daouen jumped on top of her with his near weightless being that she sensed something was wrong. All of the mirrors turned to horrible images of people being killed by a winged vixen and Recarie knew she had been some where similar.
"Ugh!" In her maze world, Recarie dropped to her knees and covered her ears from a deafening screech.
All of the mirrors shattered and turned into glittery dust around her. The sound stopped and she stood again to survey her new surroundings. Nothing but darkness on all sides took the place of the maze. Everything seemed to be cast in a light blue neon light.
"Burr." Recarie shivered and spoke for the first time since she became imprisoned in her mind. "Oh."
Gently all of her memories popped back into her head. She felt a sense of serenity now that she had become whole again. But even with her mind whole, she still longed for several things and one of those things was freedom. The sound of something she compared to a stage light clicked and the blue light formed a rectangular path in front of her that led to a white door. With her first step, Recarie burst into a full run for the door as the glitter continued to fall.
An eternity passed and she finally had her hands on the door knob. She swung the door open without any hesitation and jumped into the black void on the other side. Seconds later her eyes opened to an egg shell white ceiling and a corpse lying on top of her. In a spell of freight, Recarie pushed the dead boy off of her.
"Huh!" She covered her mouth and eyed him over. "Daouen..." With all the questions that came with her newfound freedom, Recarie did what she did best. Wiping the drool off of her mouth and neck, she ran.
As much as she wanted to give Daouen a proper burial, she would have to leave him for now. After all, wasn't he already claimed to be legally dead by the NSSH? Recarie pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and searched for an exit.
"Great." She rolled her eyes. "Another door." Even in a situation such as the one she found herself in, Recarie was still full of sarcastic comments.
All she needed to do was summon a few sparks of energy and the lock would melt, or unlock itself. She had not used her powers in quite some time and was not sure of how it would manifest itself. Recarie touched the cold steel and searched for that place where her powers derived from. With her eyes closed, Recarie tried to find that feeling that lead to her powers, but there was nothing.
"Shit!" Recarie directed her anger at the knob and the door opened. She could not believe what had happened, but took the chance and ran out of the white padded cell.
Immediately Recarie found herself at a crossroads of sorts. There was a hall to her left, right, and directly in front of her. If her powers were working, Recarie would have just blown a hole in the ceiling and flown out of there, but they weren't working so she relied on intuition.
"The left!" She huffed finding herself out of breath sooner than expected.
All while dashing down the hall and trying to avoid the cameras lined all along the wall, Recarie looked at her hands. They weren't as thin as Daouen's had been, but she was not in good shape either. It was going to take a miracle for her to escape the building.
Out of one of the doors Recarie ran past, came two doctors. They seemed to be chatting over the notes in a folder they held together. Recarie had nowhere to hide so she kept on running hopping that they would not notice her, but being lost in her own thoughts she ran into a garbage can.
"Hm?" The doctors looked up from their notes and saw Recarie had continued running.
They needed no time to react as one, a telepath, sent out a message to all other telepaths with proper clearance that the girl on floor seven was out. Another alarm sounded throughout the office building that the other doctor had set off to put the rest of the staff on alert. Recarie was nearing the end of the hall and it seemed she had chosen right. There was a staircase and an elevator and she choose the staircase that lead to the rooftop.
"Damn it!" She cried as this door was locked, but the elevator dinged and a man stepped out.
With a rush of adrenaline, Recarie grabbed the man in the white coat and sent crashing to the floor as she jumped over his head. The man was knocked unconscious and Recarie was free to go. Her plans had changed now that the elevator did not have an option for the rooftop. It looked like if she was getting out, she would have to fight for it.
Ian was just getting finished with his paperwork on the sixth floor and peered through the crack in the door the receptionist had gone through. Everything seemed to be normal than several of them turned pale. Something had happened and Ian knew those women were just sent an alert that was out of his clearance. He tossed the clipboard at the desk and casually walked out the door.
"Oh heck!" Ian's pace increased. "They're on to me." He pushed the elevator button. "Come on. Come on. Come on!"
It was not coming fast enough so he tried the staircase next to the elevators, but they had been locked. Ian thought his heart was going to explode from all the stress just when the bell dinged for the elevator. The simple chime of the elevator sent his stress out of his body and for a brief moment, Ian actually believed he had died. He ran to the elevator and the stainless steel doors could not part fast enough.
Recarie was slumped against the back of the elevator trying to catch her breath. Whatever life Daouen had sacrificed to give to her, was just enough to keep her heart beating. She took several deep breaths to calm herself and stop from exerting so much energy. Everything was going well until the little light for floor six lit up on the elevator. Someone was waiting to get on the same elevator she had commandeered.
She checked for a hatch at the top of the elevator's roof like in the movies she had watched back in Farous, but this ceiling was steel just like the doors were. Seconds ticked away like hours and then the elevator stopped. Recarie kept hitting the close button hopping that the door would stay shut, but just like everything else in her life, she was not about to get her way.
The door opened slowly from all of the button pushing Recarie had been doing. Recarie decided that she would beat down the man she saw impatiently tapping his feet through the opening doors. Once the doors opened fully and the light cleared, Recarie balled her fist and looked the older man straight in his tired blue eyes.
Ian stood there in front of the unknown girl. He took in all of her features. From that matted and grungy mauve hair to her striking sharp cheek bones and hips. On all accounts, this was the most beautiful girl Ian had ever seen.
On the other side of that elevator Recarie was glued to the spot. She had been in this same situation before. "Ian?" Her eyes leaked tears without her notice.
Backing up, Ian gave the girl another look over. "Do I know you?"
"Huh!" Recarie's heart ripped into two and her legs shook. "Huh!" She gasped for air. The situation had become too much and just in time, the elevator door shut.
Recarie retreated back to the back wall and sobbed her problems away. She felt as though no one understood her and there was no one to talk to. There was a darkness that entered her thoughts. This darkness was full of all of her doubts. Ian had hurt her more than a few times in the past, but Recarie knew his reasoning behind them. Though, this one, this one time when he did not know her, it cut her deep.
Tory watched the stars twinkle in the sky and felt the mid-winter breeze cross his exposed face. "There's to be snow soon." He clutched his feather down jacket to keep the air out and crossed the blue sand into the same Farous he had left.
Places destroyed in Recarie's battle against the NSSH had been rebuilt, but they weren't the same. In fact, nothing was the same anymore. NSSH guards still wandered the streets as they looked for the remaining three fugitives. Non super powered humans from Disten roamed the cement streets that used to be lined with bricks. The town he had lived in for the past decade was gone.
The FPA headquarters for that side of the continent was only one town away. That was one of the reasons he had taken the boat trip that landed in that part of Farous. Well it was its location and that he wanted to visit his former home. Though being there now all Tory wanted to do was leave and never come back. Tory had made his decision.
"Once this mission is done. I am never coming back." Dressed in his normal street clothes, Tory started his five hour walk to the FPA headquarters.
It only took half an hour to walk through town, but the forest, one of thousands in Farous, was a good four hours. This would give Tory plenty of time to fine tune his plan. On the boat ride over, he had come up with a plan A and a plan B. When both options were played out, Tory remained uncertain of what he would do, but he was sure he could come up with something.
Wolve's native to that side of Farous could be heard howling in the distance. Tory was familiar with the animals of that area and knew he would be safe in his current position. He looked at the moon and knew it was what had the wolves in a uproar. That was when he saw the first cluster of snowflakes begin to fall and they were falling fast.
To conserve energy, Tory started to walk slower. It allowed him to keep warm and keep a sense about what was going on around him.
Click. Something stepped on dead leaves and put Tory on alert.
"Not wolves. Not rabbits, as though they would pose a threat." He began to cross off animals as he pounced off the ground and into a tree. There he stood perched on a tree limb like a vulture observing a carcass. "Omph!" Tory fell to the ground. Something had pushed him and then it disappeared. "Crud!" This person was attacking from all over.
From his left, right, front, and back, this person struck with lightning fast attacks. All Tory knew was that this person hit him, then disappeared. This was not someone he had faced before, or was it?
"Hm?" Tory had sensed a familiar energy and grabbed a hold of its signature using his abilities. When the person came in for their next attack, Tory foreseen it and grabbed their slender leg before they could kick him. "Oh, it's you. Well if I'm not surprised." He yawned as if expecting his opponent.
"A few jagged rocks were no match for me." The dainty woman with inch high heels and waving salt water dyed chestnut brown hair broke free of his grip. "I thought your master would have taught you better."
"I have no time for this." All Tory wanted to do was turn and leave, but he knew the woman had to be taken care of. "Look, I am giving you a chance to walk away and let me do my job or we can fight with me killing you. Either way, I still get to my destination."
"You sure know how to piss off women, little boy." She flicked her hair. "I can see he has taught you some things. Too bad nothing practical."
"That a 'no' then is it?" He took his stance. Legs slightly spread and hands resting at his side, Tory focused his energy. This time she was not getting away. "So be it!"
Tory dashed at the woman, but instead of going to a direct attack to her front as he let it seem. As the woman went to dodge his attack, Tory was there to meet her with a blade made of his own pure silver and purple energy. He watched her side bleed and drip all over the fresh fallen snow.
"I really don't want to do this." Tory taunted as he had control over the situation.
"Ugh." She used her speed to dash off in every direction around him.
The snow underneath her feet melted and left an easy trail for Tory to follow. He was able to make direct hits with his energy now in the shape of thin daggers. She pulled them out of her shoulder and leg and went straight for him. Following a move Tory had pulled earlier, she went in for the blow when he tried to dodge out of the way.
"I am so done playing." Gritting his teeth, Tory met the woman in the middle of the woods clearing.
With a few hits from her, Tory was able to block each one. It was the same when he tried to drop kick her and make another hit to her side. They were evenly matched and it would all wind down to who had more stamina and energy. Dashing around the woods had used up a lot of energy, Tory noticed, but it all depended on how much she had to begin with. He looked at her side and watched her stretch open the wounds each time she moved to strike him.
He wanted to vomit. This fight was not like him. Last time he was pumped full of adrenaline and acting impulsively. The woman held her poker face, but he could sense her feelings all too well. Lost in his thought, she got in several hits, but nothing critical.
"Time to end this." She wanted to take advantage of Tory while he was spaced out. "Ugh!" Two waves of flames streamed from just above her wrist and she grabbed a hold of their blue ends. Rushing him, this was her final attack.
Rheanne had her entire crew's appearance changed with her psychic ability. Her powers were unmatched. That was how she and her family had gone unnoticed by the NSSH for so long. When she and Cirri first escaped the Zones when they were teenagers, she had been using her exceptional powers to make sure they would always remain undercover and safe. For added security, they joined up with relatives who operated an underground order to help combat the young NSSH.
They stood at the entrance of the Disten's NSSH headquarters. A tear came to Rheanne eye as she took in the situation. After all, she and Cirri had done everything in their powers to make sure none of their children ended up in NSSH control and yet, there Recarie was. Each one of them, after Recarie fled her tattooing, decided to let her live her life and never again interfere in it, but now they would no longer hold back.
"Are you all sure you're ready for this?" She asked the team.
"Won't they notice a group of unfamiliar people sneaking into the building of operations?" Gillian, disguised back as the man she was in Farous raised a very good question.
"Not a problem." Cirri, still the same old Cirri, but with no glasses and blond hair, went to adjust the glasses that were no longer there. "In about sixty seconds, we should get the signal and we can head right in."
"Oh, I am so excited. We haven't all been on a mission of this magnitude in decades." Justine, a six foot tall woman with strawberry red hair grabbed her aunt's hand.
"Quite excited. Wish we weren't here to save young Recarie's life." The words she spoke sounded weird coming from a short man no taller than Tory.
"Yeah..." They all agreed sounding like a bunch of zoned out surfers.
"Ah!" Someone screamed coming out the door. After he fled to safety, a hoard of people followed as they ran for their lives from an imaginary fire.
"Showtime." Rheanne, back in her 'Ray' form kissed Cirri in front of a crowd too busy trying to survive to notice the two men in a passionate embrace.
Holding hands they walked into the building, no one was there to stop them. Nodding to each other, they broke off and went their separate ways. Everyone had solo jobs. Yasire was to make sure everyone who did not pick a fight with her got out of the building. Justine was off to the controls room to access the power and other utilities. Gillian was to free all animals, and in some cases people from laboratory cages. Rheanne had given her only son the most sacred order to make sure Recarie got out of the building safely. As for Cirri and his wife, they split up to cover both sides of the buildings with explosives. This was just a precautionary measure in case something went wrong. Like if Temthaw Vene pulled out the heavy artillery, a very high possibility.
Ian banged on the elevator door trying so desperately to open it. He knew that girl and somehow he knew she was the reason for him being caught up in that mess.
"Ugh!" Summoning his powers, Ian ripped the elevators door back without laying a single hand on them. The steel door folded back like paper under his might. "Dang!" He was too late though and the elevator lift was already gone.
"Go, go, go!" The women in the office behind him screamed encouraging their employees to get out.
Panicking, Ian went back over to the staircase and turned the wood door into thousands of tiny splinters. He was not wasting time any longer. It was like a dream as he tumbled down each step. His lean legs wobbled against themselves in his rush to get down to the next floor and then, Ian finally made it. Heart pumping, Ian blew away the door the same as the one before.
Several crowds of people started to charge for the staircase as everyone knew that you take the stairs in case of an emergency. Ian was being pushed back down the stairs, quite the opposite of where he wanted to be.
"Elevators are locked!" A man screamed as more people pushed their way into the cramped stairs.
"Locked?" And now it all made sense to Ian. "She's the one who caused the alarms? Must be a valuable creature to cause all of this commotion..." He rode on the wave of people as they headed to the ground floor.
Inside the elevators, Recarie thought she was on her way out of the building. Everything seemed to be going well until the elevator stopped. She felt it jerk and send her several inches off the ground. Instead of falling into to the blackness of her mind, Recarie stood. With her family in mind Recarie floated off the ground. Shaking as she tried to reach the ceiling, she felt the metal and it melted away. Recarie had just enough strength left to land on top of the elevator lift.
"Dang!" Trying to stand, she fell against the dusty surface. "Why is it just so hard for people to leave me alone?! I just want to go back home with mom and dad..." But this was no time for tears and she had nowhere to go. There was nothing Recarie could do. Without her abilities, she was stranded.
In Temthaw's office he called all of his Psychics, Combatant teams, and anyone else he could get his hands on. The monitors on his desk that showed what was happening in every corner of the building, blanked out one by one.
"They're here." Surrounded by a room of scrambling people trying to get him protection, he could not help feel alone and ignored.
"I can't get a hold of any teleporter, sir!" One woman shouted over all the noise.
"The Combat teams are on their way, but we lost all land lines of communication, sir!" Another employee thought it was the perfect time to share their bad news.
Dink, did, did, dink. The lights blinked a few times before going out completely, leaving them with only the emergency powered lights.
"Damn!" Temthaw watched the last monitor fade out. The last thing he had seen on it was a gray haired woman waving at him and blowing a kiss. This only angered him further, as was Rheanne's intention.
"Harm my babies will you!" She shouted grabbing the camera from its foundation on the wall with her bare hands.
"Dang that's hot." Cirri caught a glimpse of his wife as he was headed to another floor. He also had a chance to see his daughters and future daughter-in-law in action. At that moment he had never been more proud of his family.
Gillian was just getting done with the labs on the second floor when she stopped for a glass of water from the water cooler. With the electricity out, there was no air conditioning and she had worked up quite a bit of sweat.
"Who knew just how many labs we actually had here?! Dang!" She wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead.
Luckily for Gillian she was not alone. She was able to persuade one of her old animal ability comrades into directing the creatures out of the building for her. Or she could have let them wander through every inch of the building and possibly die in its inevitable destruction.
"Enough wasting time." Gillian was pumped and ready to get on with round two.
Yasire had been pretty lucky in getting people out of the building. Little to no resistance from most of the employees. She was doing pretty well until she reached the fourth floor and found herself in front of a Combat team. These men and women had got to their station just in time to find Yasire standing before them.
"No chance you would like to leave this building in peace, would you?" Playfully she flicked both wrists as she asked the question. The Combat team only glared at her. "Well, he, he." She chuckled manically. "Bring it on!"
At those words the team all charged for her at once. Their first mistake. Yasire very rarely had to use much of her power, but when she did she usually went out of control.
"Punch, kick, spin..." Yasire whispered as she charged her limbs with a paralyzing power. The team never had a chance against her and in three minutes, twenty of some the NSSH's best were out cold. "No, ignore these." She was choked up. Saying those words took more from her than the proceeding battle. "Their souls are pure darkness. Even without the NSSH, they would have done horrible things in their lives."
"Okay, Auntie!" Justine, now looking like her normal self and not the form her mother had masked her in, saluted her aunt playfully.
Justine had done her job and was rushing to the rendezvous point. Twenty minutes earlier, Rheanne had retracted her power that disguised her family so she could focus solely on her task. She knew her oldest daughter had taken care of the utilities. By taken care of, she knew Justine had trashed all of the computers in the control room and left them inoperable.
Trey, now as the mammoth golem he was born as, trudged through a sea of people to reach his little sister. Trying to go up the staircase was impossible and Trey did not give up easily when it came to family. On the third floor he stood in front of one of the four elevators, pushed in the doors, and grabbed a hold of the ladder attached to the wall. With each grab of the ladder and each foot step, Trey shook the entire central building.
"Ha, ha, ha." If he could laugh at anything, it would be that one moment where most people would be embarrassed for shaking an entire building with their body mass.
He could sense Recarie's energy as it was part of their family's signature. Trey had always made sure that as a Hunter under the employment of the NSSH that when it came to his family he would always put them first. Even as he chased Recarie all over Disten, Trey never actually put much effort into it. Not many people outside his family knew that he may be heavy, but he could run just as fast as any professional track star. Just one of his many talents the NSSH was not aware of.
Temthaw could feel the small tremors in the building getting stronger and closer to his office. "Where the hell are my enforcers?!" He hurled a phone at the window, sending it right through the class.
The people trapped in the office were starting to wonder if that one man and everything he stood for was worth risking their lives over. They looked at him questionably and then went about their duties, although there was not much more they could do at that point.
Cirri placed his last charge. It had taken him a bit longer than he had hoped. He was ambushed by half a dozen security personnel. By the time he had sorted them out it was already time to meet up with the rest of his gang.
Tory was limping on the ground. The woman lashed at him over and over again with her whips. It was the one thing he had overlooked. With her anger elevating so did her power. There was not much more his body could take and he could no longer block her attacks. This was it for him.
"I'm sorry." He whispered through his busted lips while staring up at the moon. "At least I can die knowing Recarie will be safe."
"Ugh!" A familiar female's voice shrieked through the air followed by a thump.
The woman did not get her final attack off on Tory. A beautiful young girl with snow white hair and tan skin had run her blade through his opponents legs. She did not kill the woman, but the blood loss was enough to ensure that she would not be waking up in a long time.
"You ought to be more careful, Tory." This girl's hair was cut short to just under her ears in the front and tied in a ponytail in the back. Her tight pink and blue shorts ended just above her knees and her white baby doll top waved in the night's air. She sheathed her twenty four inch blade on her back and held out a hand to help Tory up.
He did not take her hand and she bent down to him on the ground. "Who are you?" The woman looked like a warrior angel sent from the heavens to save him.
This mystery woman leaned in close to his face and kissed him with a smile on her face. Sparks of gold energy transferred from her lips to his. She pressed Tory against the tree he was leaning against and ran her right hand over the left side of his body. Tory did not know what to do in the situation. Instead of sitting there shocked, he decided to return the kiss she was giving him. Before he could react, the girl was already standing in front of him.
"You can get up now, Tory." She watched the boy blink as he examined his body. The injuries were gone. "Yeah, don't think that little make out session was because I like you or something."
"Who..." There were no other words that came to mind as he stood.
"And as I am no longer your boss that does not count as sexual harassment." She giggled.
"Caleth. Oh crap!" He trudged through the snow and wrapped her thick waist in his exposed arms. "Dang!" Tory did not want to let her go.
Caleth gave in to the moment and hugged him closely, even going so far as to lay her head on his shoulder. "Nice to see you too." They stayed in the same position until a wolf's howl broke the mood and Caleth broke away from the boy. "So!" She sniffled wiping a tear from her eye and then slapping Tory on his newly healed shoulder. "What kind of guardian needs someone else to come and bail his butt out, huh?"
"Um?" Tory was still unsure of what was happening. "What? What are you doing here and what's with the get up?"
"You don't like it?" She turned her back to him. "Well too bad. This is me. Not that I am not the girl you used to know. No, that was only part of me." Caleth grabbed his hand and started walking in the direction he had been headed in before that woman attacked. "I am also part of a secret society that goes back decades and now works to defeat the NSSH and restore the natural order of Disten."
"And what about her?" Tory looked over his shoulder to still see the woman lying on the ground and bleeding from the wounds she had sustained in battle with him and Caleth.
"Sigh. So many questions from you tonight." She pushed him playfully. "But if you must know, the cold will stop her bleeding and she'll live. Her abilities will kick in and warm her up. See, she is not going to die. Maybe she will even take something enlightening away from the whole experience and change her way of life and do something positive and productive." Without any warning she grabbed Tory's face and kissed him again. "Ah! That's what I wanted."
"Not that I am not liking this, which I am..." Tory brought his face from hers. "So this means, what? You like me or something?"
"You really know how to ruin a mood, you know." She slid her right hand down his left arm and wrapped her fingers between his. "But yeah, and I am pretty sure you have always known that. From the first day we met to that one where I had to leave you and return to my family, it has been something I always wanted to say to you."
"Every time our eyes met or when we passed each other in the hall and avoided eachothers gaze." They continued walking. "All of that." Tory looked at her hand that held his.
"All of that and I am now here to make sure you make it through your job safely." The whole scene was something magical and the pair felt like the moon was smiling down on them.
At the main FPA, plain clothed Disten tourists were entering the building with Disten soldiers. From one point of view it looked like the NSSH planned on overthrowing the FPA government, and in a way they were, but not yet. This group of people were there to talk to the head of government and bring him news of the tragedy in Disten.
"Sir!" The soldier who also doubled as their receptionist barged through the recently appointed head of FPA, Helina Carol, office doors. "There are a group of NSSH representatives with news of the happenings in Disten.
"So?" She raised a brow taking a break from her paper work. Helina was working on using some of the large amounts of revenue to improve their public school system. There was no need for her to get into the affairs of other nations when it did not involve her country.
"They also have some evidence that several people from the same group attacking the NSSH offices are headed this way!" He stepped aside as the NSSH soldiers burst into Helina's office.
"Sorry sir!" One of the soldiers apologized for her group. "But you must see this." She placed a small disk in the computer sitting on the side of Helina's desk.
What played was ten minutes of footage from the three previous raids on the NSSH office buildings. It showed dozens of men and women, actually just the various disguises of Trey and Rheanne, destroying the buildings and killing all those in it. Helina sank back into her chair and gasped. She could not believe what she was seeing.
"And now some of these people are headed your way." The same soldier told the shocked Helina.
"Well don't you have men out there on the streets to take care of these people and prevent them from entering my building?" She summoned her own staff to take care of the threat. "Because as you can see, I have all of these fine folks at my disposal."
"We did!" The same soldier speaking for the entire group slammed their fist on her desk. "Here." Helina was handed five photographs of the assassin Temthaw had hired in a battle with Tory.
"I know this forest..." She thought of what needed to be done. This evidence was pretty strong and it was not like she could ignore what was being brought on her on soil. "Okay. This is what I need to happen."
Inside of Temthaw Vene's office, he was getting word that the coup in Farous was going as planned. They had already planted the idea that Disten was a good place, both in their morals and character. Phase two was in place. It was now time to persuade the FPA that they were in danger of a massive invasion and have all of their forces split between protecting themselves and have the rest sent to Disten. After all, the two continents that had stopped all contact with each other for over half a century, were now bonded allies.
Temthaw knew the forces from Farous would not make it to Disten in time, but at least they would not be able to protect their boss. He was sure that he would be there to watch Farous fall and have it added to the NSSH government where he would then have the people enslaved and made into soulless puppets like his soldiers. If only he could get his hands back on Recarie they could subtract her powers source, now that it was at its lowest level and being suppressed. He wanted to copy her power and clone it so he could infuse it to his soon to be soldiers in Farous. But he figured one out of two was not so bad.
Ian was being led further and further away from the girl so helplessly left in the elevator shaft. "The heck with this."
He used the same emotion of anger and longing that he discovered on his trip to the country side to freeze the hoard of people. Climbing over their heads and shoulders, Ian crawled to the nearest floor and used his power to push the people out of the hallway so he could have a clear crack at the elevator. The people started moving again and Ian realized he was only on the second floor, but that did not matter.
Now that the elevators were locked and the power off, Ian was free to travel the elevator shaft as he pleased. He pushed the doors back and found a rusted metal ladder on the inside of the shaft. Running up the ladder faster than he could think, Ian could feel his heart leading him in the right direction.
Clinque! Clinque! Clinque! An imaginary bell rang aloud, but this was not in his head. Its sound flooded the building and Ian knew he was going in the right direction. He saw an elevator stopped somewhere between the fourth and fifth floor.
"She did not get far." Ian commented as his mind pictured the half dead being who knew his name even though he had never once seen her in his life. He knew he had to reach her. Something in the bells ring told him that he could save her and she could save the world.
All the commotion outside started to die down as more and more people made it outside or were beaten by Yasire into an unrecognizable mess. Closer and closer, Ian felt his heart beat faster and his palms sweat. He was perspiring to the point he had to wipe his hands on his pants every time he grabbed another ring of the ladder.
On top of the elevator Ian was making his way to Recarie who laid on its dusty top. She would have coughed the dust from her lungs, but there just wasn't enough strength left for her to do much of anything. The one thing she could do was watch the light at the top of the elevator shaft continue to dim.
"Sorry that I was not able to save you, but at least in my death no one can use me for any further evil." Recarie lost all feelings in her hands as she took the energy to speak. "I loved this earth and all of the beauty it contains. I will miss my family and watching the sunrise from the top of soft, grassy hills. No longer will I be able to feel the autumn breeze or smell the sweet wild flowers." Her head rolled to the side as she fainted for a moment before coming back to life. "I have out lived my lives and the one thing I will miss is being able to see his face. It will also be one of the things I will regret the most. In all our time together, I never spoke much or even made it look like I paid you much attention. But I want you to know that every day from the first time I met you in that hospital till today that I never stopped thinking about you. Our time in Farous together was the happiest time in my life. With this last breath." She finally was able to cough. "I want to say that I love you Ian and I will never forget you." A single tear fell from her right eye and down her cold dead cheek.
Ian flung his body on top of the elevator. He had only heard the last couple of sentences, but somehow he had always known how the girl felt about him. When he was safely atop the elevator, Ian searched for the girl, but he was too late. Her body was a pale moon blue and her eyes were lifeless. His hand lifted her hair as his fingers slid though the soft mauve hair.
"Mumph." His voice quivered as he tried not to cry. Ian searched her open eyes for blue moons he remembered from his dreams. There was nothing there.
With his body shaking, Ian laid his chest against hers as he embraced her as he had so longed to do. Her skin was ice cold and he wanted to call out her name, but he did not know it. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew the girl and it caused his stomach to tighten as he could not remember it. Bringing her body to lie peacefully back onto the ground, Ian wished he could trade places with her. He would give up his life so that she may live. If only he could do such a thing.
This girl looked like a princess waiting on her prince to wake her from her slumber with his kiss. Ian leaned over her body and closed in on her face. He was going to kiss her when a spark from her blue lips zapped his lips.
"Dude, what the heck?" Trey was on the ladder behind Ian watching him about to kiss the Hunters baby sister.
In his deep emotional state, Ian had failed to notice the building shaking as he sat next to Recarie's body. "Who?" He muttered before he watched Recarie's body turn from blue to an acceptable peach.
She sprang from the dust, grabbed Ian's face and kissed his neck. Recarie looked like a vampire sucking the blood from a willing victim. As for Ian, he had no time to react. The girl was sucking his energy straight out of the core of his heart. Her pupils were dilated and Trey knew that Recarie had no clue what she was doing.
As much as Trey did not like watching his youngest sister sucking some guy's neck, a man twice her age as it was, he had to make sure she did not take too much from Ian. "That girl sure has more lives than a dang cat!" He slapped his knee as he chuckled. "At least she did not go through another Reboot. That might have killed us all."
Ian had not noticed anything. Unknowingly, Recarie had put him in a paralyzed trance like state. His mind had stopped working and he could only see the darkness of the elevator shaft the way it was before Recarie attacked him. He was in no pain or felt any emotion of any kind.
Recarie needed a great portion of Ian's energy. After having been near death and brought back to life more than a few times, her atoms had become split and unstable. She needed more life force than Ian had, and would have to do with what she could get.
Gillian was resting against the doors inside one of the laboratories on the fifth floor. She had sprained an ankle and dislocated her right shoulder. She only had enough time to take a short break and start on the sixth floor. When all of that was done, she would meet up with Trey and the others to go after Temthaw.
"Crud!" She dug her finger into a gash on her leg. "What kind of laboratory does not have a frigging first aid kit!"
"Hm?" Someone had heard Gillian's voice from the hallway.
Inside the room, Gillian dragged her body against one of the cabinets that held all sorts of vials, beakers, and everything else you needed to conduct the most abominable research on the planet.
"Everything but some band aids." She observed.
"Hello?" The woman standing in the door way looked around the room. "Hm..." She entered the room quietly and the slammed behind her.
It almost seemed to Gillian that the unknown woman at the door had left. If it were not for the heat the woman was giving off, Gillian would have believed she was gone. She could hear the woman get closer as she shuffled through chairs and making her way through desks. Without another thump or stumble the room was silent. Gillian was able to sigh in relief.
"Hi!" The woman popped out from around the other side of the cabinet.
With no warning, Gillian slung a clip board at the other woman's face.
"Damn it Gillian!" Now the voice was recognizable. "Here I come to check on you and you attack me?" Cirri rubbed his forehead.
"Oops! Oh, so sorry!" She begged Trey's father forgiveness. "Please don't tell Trey about this."
"Ha, ha, ha. No problem. It's quite all right." Cirri pushed the glasses up on his nose. "But it looks like you got yourself in quite a jam." He grabbed her leg and checked out her other injuries. "Aren't you fortunate that I always carry bandages and antiseptic with me?"
She smiled weakly and went to grab the supplies from Cirri.
"I am a certified nurse. Now let me tend to these gapping wounds." He teased his patient. The injuries were not as bad as he made them seem and with a little talent, Cirri had patched the woman up. "Good as new."
Her shoulder had been popped back in place, ankle compressed, all cuts cleaned, and the gash on her leg was stitched back up. Cirri did the most outstanding job treating her wounds. Even she could not tell where he had stitched up her leg.
"You think that is impressive?" He helped Gillian up. "I have three children and a wild wife. Those cuts and scrapes you have there are nothing compared to what they would come home with." She fell into a wide leather chair. "Rest up, but make sure you clear the sixth floor soon, okay?"
"Sure." Gillian nodded and Cirri waved as he left to join the battle. "Um wait, I have just one question I have been meaning to ask..." She reached out to grab Cirri's shoulder.
"I'll humor you, but make it quick." In his female form, Cirri politely smiled.
"Um, well it's just why do you and Miss Rheanne parade around here in opposite genders?" Not being one for embarrassment, Gillian blushed while mumbling out the question.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha." Cirri bent over and grabbed his stomach from laughing so much. All it did was make Gillian more embarrassed about her inquiry.
She got up to leave the room before Cirri could stop laugh. "Oh, no, no, no. Please come back here. It's just that I don't think I've ever been asked that before. There's a real simple answer for it to."
Standing in the doorway, Gillian went back to her seat next to him. "You don't have to be so rude about it."
"Well I thought the answer was really obvious." He straightened up and put on his serious face.
"Well obviously not." Her voice was relatively calm with only a hint of anger.
"My family and I are well known by the NSSH and so we take different forms to avoid being noticed. I mean, would you think that this beautiful woman standing before you was actually the man who takes down mission reports or one of the top persons on the NSSH most wanted list?" Cirri patted her head like she was a child. "I'll be going now, but never hesitate to ask me anything." He waved as he finally left leaving Gillian a few minutes of peace to herself.
Outside the room Justine ran into her father. She seemed frantic and Cirri lost his balance. Whatever she had told her was not good because he came back into the room Gillian was still resting in.
"Gillian, please come now and take care of the next two floors! There's not much time left. The FPA has troops on the way and if we don't get this done in the next several hours, we are way past screwed!" Immediately after his last word, Cirri joined Justine and Yasire who had just completed her job. They left the fifth floor as quickly as super humanly as possible.
"Everyone's out, but people are coming back in." Yasire ran up the cleared staircase.
"Yeah!" Justine heaved trying to keep up with her dad and aunt. "And when these Combat teams come, the FPA has their goons on the way. Tory was supposed to expose the NSSH not make them look like the victims!" She ran with her head down.
"Our contact has notified me that she and the young man are on their way to the FPA's main headquarter, but that was over an hour ago." Yasire looked to her brother-in-law.
Cirri had a stone cold face. His mind took in the information, sorted it, and then relayed back to his wife and son, where ever they were at that moment. "Rheanne and Trey know this now. We have to get to the sixth floor and wait for them there." Silently, they agreed with the decision.
Rheanne could barely see from the stinging sweat in her eyes as another NSSH soldier came at her. She grabbed his arm and sent him hurtling to the ground. If they would have taken the deal for peace, then they would have chosen right. Even though her back was sore, her legs felt like they would give at any moment, and all the other aches and pains she was experiencing, Rheanne was glad they chose to fight. Inside their souls she could see their wickedness and need for punishment.
It was like she was dancing and the last standing ten guards were her partners. After one would fall she would select another and attack them until they lost consciousness. This was what she called a night out.
"Ha, ha, ha. You guys have been a blast, but I must be going." With a flick of her thick and straight hair, Rheanne took her leave.
BOOM! She turned around.
"That's not good." Suddenly everything turned real. "Dang it all." Like a disappointed child she trudged her feet along the hallway on the sixth floor.
What had her in a depression was one of the men she had just defeated set off a grenade. Eventually the shock wave it let off would ignite all the other soldier's grenades and any other explosives in the building, including the ones she and Cirri had set up.
She sat on the ground and crossed her legs. Humming continuously and concentrating on her energy signature from the past three hours, Rheanne was able to find the shock wave and suspend it. It was not a definite solution, but it should be just enough.
Tory and Caleth could see the FPA headquarters coming up over the horizon. It looked like a beacon of all that was right with their world. The duo could not wait to get into the building and warm up with some tea and present Helina with the evidence the world needed to see.
"Finally, the NSSH will be discredited and a true government can take its place." Caleth said those words like she had wanted to speak them for a very long time.
"Innocent people will be freed from those horrible containments and we will be a part of making this history happen!" Tory shared in her enthusiasm.
"Yep." Caleth brought him closer to her. "Life is all good."
How wrong her words were. At the top of the hill they had been climbing was the FPA and standing in front of it were three dozen FPA soldiers. They looked the soldiers right in the eye and knew the situation was wrong. Caleth scanned the weaker men's minds and discovered the NSSH was tricking the FPA. She found out that they were the FPA's new target.
"Run!" She clutched Tory's hand and pulled him through the snow.
"They got to her. Were too late." Tory wasn't moving. Only Caleth was in her right mind and trying to flee the thirty six men and women chasing after her.
"Here boys!" Caleth whispered and in no time they were joined by a pack of wolves. "Tell the others." She had a power over wolves. This was a power that no animal manipulator could break. "Tory, the wolves are off to tell the other animals and spread my powers to protect them. Right now I could really use you!"
Whoosh! A ball of flames crashed into a tree in front of Tory.
This was enough to snap him from his funk and use his abilities. He dug his hands in the back of Caleth's shirt. Over both shoulder blades Tory ran one finger down them and burned his energy into her. From the two inch glowing scar he stretched that power and expanded them until they looked like wings.
"Is this sort of what you were talking about?" He grinned at the girl hoping she would not kill him instead. Tory did after all rip her shirt off and put his essence into her back.
"Next time ask for my permission first!" She bopped him on the head. "But yes. These wings will do nicely. Grab my hands!" Caleth now flying in the air, reached down to Tory. "We need to get back to town!"
Tory did take her hands, but with some reluctance. "Why there? I can assure you that our pictures are already plastered all over the news by now. Nowhere we can run, or fly, is safe."
"If we cannot trust the government, we have to bring our findings straight to the people. I know someone who can help with that." She told Tory as he hung from her hands as she flew across the tree tops.
"And with all your majesty and wisdom you did not see this coming?" Tory only teased.
"I gave up my foresight when I went back to the masters and regained my original form." The sun was rising and Caleth planned on using this time to her advantage. "You can do me another huge favor by shutting up and focusing on hanging on."
She did not have to ask twice. Tory hung there holding on to Caleth's arms with all his strength. Not like his life or anything depended on it.
"Morning news stations are preparing for the days reports and if it's one thing they love is raw and real footage of what the government is hiding from the general public." Caleth shouted over the roar of the wind that blistered their skin.
"Can you read my mind or what?!" Tory shouted back at her. "That's my plan 'B' exactly! But once that fails, we are so screwed." Caleth lifted Tory so that his face met her while she hugged him tightly, just for being cute she said.
The town was coming up and the army was right behind them. Animals weren't a problem, but snow, trees, and every other thing in that forest that was of the elements attacked without mercy. Caleth's body was pelted with snow balls that left her with throbbing sores. The more lethal soldiers sent tree roots from out of the ground and at Tory's legs.
"Son of a..." Tory screamed as the tree roots slowly pulled him to the ground bringing Caleth along with them.
"Can you fend them off?" She asked Tory who was still facing her.
"I gave most of my power to you, but I might be able to buy us some time." Jumping out of her arms, Tory landed knees first on the ground.
Caleth continued on to town. "But that's not what I meant, you dolt." A tear froze in the air as it streamed from her red eyes. All the energy he had given her was almost gone and so was her own.
Seven armed men circled Tory on the ground. Both NSSH and FPA soldiers were there. Tory could not tell if the FPA men were on his side or why they were there in the first place
"Dudes, before we get this thing going I need to ask you something." As a gesture to show he was unarmed, Tory held his hands above his head. "Just why are you FPA men here? I mean, several months ago, I am pretty sure you would never be able to even fathom the idea of standing with the NSSH. The same people who snuck onto you land and corrupted your government." The soldiers did not even blink at his words. "Don't you think it is strange that after a couple dozen NSSH officers 'trespassed' on your land your leaders were more than ready to sign treaty with them? Any halfwit infant could see that those NSSH cowards were just covering their hides and I have the proof."
A NSSH soldier advanced on him. "Liar. Those men and women came to this land without orders and the NSSH has already been cleared by the FPA."
"Yeah, she's right." A couple of the FPA soldiers whispered.
"And did you also know that the NSSH has been conducting experiments on their fellow officers to extract their powers to amplify their own? That way something like wiping and blocking minds could be easy and untraceable. I've got solid hardcore evidence. Can you show me yours?" His words made a little less than half of the soldiers consider what he was risking his life to say.
"Proof my butt." Another NSSH soldier used his powers to summon a gust of wind to knock Tory off his feet.
"Yep, and right about now it should be plastered all over the Farous morning news." Laughing to himself, he could feel the emotions of those who turned into that mornings edition of the news. Outraged and confused most of the people started calling their local government offices. "You guys thought you could take Farous to add to your collection, but after Farous then what? Neara? Then what after that? Soon you would own the world, then what? I just can't find your logic in that." He shrugged his shoulders.
Several NSSH guards went to grab Tory, but the FPA soldiers stepped in front of the boy to protect him.
"He's telling the truth. I may be the only empath here, but if you all could feel what I am, you would know it too." The tall man overshadowed Tory and he knew he was in good hands.
"Thank you Caleth." He whispered into the morning's breeze.
Trey reached over the top of the elevator towards Recarie. He was too heavy to actually step on the lift, so Trey had to try his best to shake her off Ian from the nearby ladder. "Go!" His rock hand just barely reached her shoulder. "Get off now or you're going to kill him!" A wave of warm air wafted up the elevator shaft. "Crap! Hey, we need to get going!"
Recarie was still sucking on Ian's neck. Her marks covered up the entire right side of Ian's neck all the way down to his shoulder. "Hmm?" She looked up from her power source. By now her pupils were back to normal and she looked like a sleepy child. "Trey?" Stretching her arms, Recarie came to her senses. "Trey!"
The elevator shook and loose metal atop it started to rattle as Recarie bound over the elevator to her big brother.
"Hey! Oh my gawd! How long has it been?" Her string lanky arms wrapped around his neck. "Wheres mom, dad, sis, and auntie?" Recarie still held the Hunter in her grasp. Trey did not move and Recarie tensed. She looked up at him and backed away. "Trey?"
"It has been a few decades since you left us. We tracked you for years until you settled down in this part of Disten. Luckily for you, I was already stationed here and we have our long life span. You had all of us so worried, do you know that!" He reached out and grabbed his sister back into his grasp. "And now you are in this mess. You will forgive my actions as I tracked you, won't you Carie?"
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that. Crud!" She flung around to look at the nearly conscious Ian lying in the dust as drool dripped out of the corner of his mouth. "Ian, sweet Ian." Recarie grabbed him in her arms. "Hey! Don't ever call me Carie! You know I hate that name. Be back in a minute. Meet up on the sixth floor." In an instant she was gone.
Back in her full set of mind, Recarie used her teleportation ability to leave the building and she landed in the woods not far from the NSSH headquarters. She looked down at Ian. Time seemed to slow down and tears fell from her eyes. Ian had the appearance he had been in water too long. His veins were more visible now.
"Hey." Ian whispered out of his hoarse mouth. He lay with his chest against hers, although his face was facing away from her. "You had something you wanted to tell me?"
"Mm." Recarie was speechless. She tightened her grip on him not wanting to ever let him go.
"Not too tight now. You'll crush my fragile human body." Ian smiled as he tried to stand.
Recarie helped him stand up. Her hands cupped his elbows as the barely visible NSSH headquarters served as the background. Nothing was said and Recarie turned to leave. The moment she turned Ian brought her to his chest. It was a great embrace, besides it giving her the feeling that it was the kind of embrace you give someone you'll never see again and you want to remember that moment for the rest of your life, kind of embrace.
"I am not going to make you stay." His mature voice floated into her ear.
"Ha, ha, ha. Good." She chuckled between her tears. "That is going to make this a lot easier." Recarie's eyes met his sparkling blue eyes. Standing on the tip of her toes, Recarie leaned towards him and Ian leaned towards her with his eyes shut.
Several seconds passed and still Ian had yet to feel Recarie's lip. Instead of a kiss, Recarie gave Ian one of those goodbye embraces before disappearing.
Ian tumbled and fell back against a tree before crashing to the ground. He rustled his hair with his dirt covered hand. "Is this really happening?"
"Are you really just going to sit there?" His mind answered back.
A cold wave of the early morning air brushed his neck. Ian knew what he had to do and tried to stand. A short attempt that was followed by him crashing back to the ground. Still determined to be at Recarie's side, Ian pressed his hand against the skin cutting tree bark and tried to stand again.
On floor six, Trey, Justine, Yasire, Cirri, and Rheanne braced themselves for the hundreds of soldiers approaching them from all sides. They could have left, but there was never an option for the group.
"Oh gawd, oh gawd, oh gawd." Justine had never been up against the amount of opponents that were gathering around them before. "Mom!"
"It is going to be fine." Each of them standing back to back, Rheanne grabbed her daughter's shaking hands.
"Oh." She calmed as her mother's cold hands reminded her of her childhood and happier times. "Good."
"Anyone else want to freak out before this happens?" Trey tried to lighten the mood. Gillian was not present. He had said she could sit this battle out and Gillian now waited for him outside the building.
"We are going to be fine." Cirri calmed the team.
Surrounding them were over two hundred soldiers from all branches of the NSSH military. Some were normal humans without any abilities at all, except maybe being a great shot. Then the other eighty percent were the ones that used natural born talents.
"You have the chance to leave now!" Yasire shouted above the howling wind. "All of this can be avoided and finally you and your families can be free!" Her hands gripped Rheanne's and Justine's tighter.
One of the normal humans shot a bullet off at them. It was blocked by a force field Cirri created. "Ugh!" The soldiers shouted as they charged the family.
Water was stripped right out of the air and made into strong serpent looking blue creatures. Some of the Combatants sent charges of pure energy at their targets. Safe inside their bubble, Cirri was the one to absorb the damage. Rheanne held her husband's shoulders and whispered naughty encouragements into his ear.
"Wait for them to exert more energy. We need them to weaken before we even stand a chance of lasting five minutes." Yasire still held on to her niece and nephew.
Off in the far corner of the room where the door was, several of the soldiers were seen being thrown in the air. The other's caught sight of this.
"Recarie!" Rheanne shouted before seeing the wave of violet flames that drifted over the hoard and exploded in the shape of a heart in front of Trey.
"He, he." The golem chuckled and blushed slightly.
Gillian came in swinging. She was able to penetrate some of the nearby men's minds and turn them against their team mates. This allowed her to fight her way to the center of the room where her family was. Every time she moved, it was like time slowed for her. Even with dirt and sweat smeared all over her body, Trey thought she never looked more beautiful to him.
Trey could not wait for her to make it to them and rushed out of the force field. He pushed past anyone who came near him. Any water based attacks were evaporated by his self-made chain of flames. Bullets did not make it past the first layer of rock and he was able to punch out anyone using energy to strike him. Once the soldiers were knocked out, Trey made sure that they would not be getting back up any time soon.
Drop kicks, upper cuts, and whips of fire made Gillian's heart beat faster. Her body was hot and sweating. With all the discomfort, she actually felt pretty good and Trey was getting closer which made her exceptionally rash.
"Ugh!" One of the bigger female soldiers tackled Gillian straight on and pushed her to the ground. She had pinned Gillian in the exact places that cut off her powers. Not many people knew about those points, as each ability had their own secrets.
Not far behind her, Trey used his bottled up rage and a wave of fire spread out of his body in every direction for fifty feet. This attack burned through most of the soldier's protective gear and singed their bodies. Those closer to him were left with third degree burns and crying out in pain on the ground.
The woman on top of Gillian was pushed off by his powers and left unconscious. Gillian laid there, not able to catch her breath in a room lacking necessary oxygen. Trey leaned over her and picked her up in his arms.
"Let me down you dork." She was feeling a bit better already. "I'm no damsel in distress."
"But you are one heck of a damsel." Trey let her down and held on to her sides until she balanced herself.
"Here comes more!" Justine watched as more soldiers entered the level to replace the ones that Trey and Gillian had defeated. "Forget this!" She fled the force field and jumped right into battle. Saving her energy, Justine used her natural strength and grace to fight the monsters coming after her.
"She's right!" Yasire joined the fight.
"Go, go, go!" Rheanne shouted at Cirri who was low on energy, but still had enough stamina to last a few rounds. She jumped into the air and took off for those attacking her family. "You were warned!"
Those who had begun their attacks went down quicker than they were able to enter the room. Justine was all over the room. Moving from one opponent to another like a crazed child throwing a temper tantrum. She felt like all of what was happening was a fairytale. Her body floated in the air as she attacked and her adrenaline was pumping. There sure was some magic in the air.
Flying up the side of the building in a short white skirt and a tight purple plaid tank top, an outfit she got from a girl who had the misfortune of being in Recarie's path back to the NSSH headquarters, Recarie could feel a large amount of heat coming from the top floor.
"Level seven." She whispered. Any power masking the top floor had no effect on Recarie. It was clearly visible and her destination point.
In her wake, windows shattered and the building shook. With her curly hair tied back, you could see the unemotional face. Behind that face was stirring feelings that all fell into rage. Hovering outside of the seventh floor, Recarie rested her hand upon the window. She could feel Temthaw Vene's presence inside. Stepping back a few feet, Recarie drew her hands back and placed them in front of her. One hand in the other, she felt her powers build and then quickly threw her hands apart. This motion effectively shattered the seven windows to her left and right.
She stepped right into the huge gap in the building and into Temthaw's office. Secretaries and assistants stopped in their tracks. Papers were scattered all over the room and Temthaw was nowhere to be seen.
"Do you want to give up now, or shall I kill you instead." Even though Recarie had no intention of killing them, she was hoping they would save her some energy and choose the easier option.
"Oh thank gawd!" One of them threw their hands in the air. "I am so tired and fed up with all of this."
"Me too!" Another assistant tossed the phone in the air.
Recarie accepted their surrender and teleported them outside the building to the parking lot where they could watch all of the fireworks that were about to come. She scanned the rooms for any other life forms and found the man she was looking for.
"You know." Recarie began. She was all too sure that Temthaw could hear her. "All I wanted was to live peacefully. Living out my life in a drab and routine way like the other half of the world would not have been so bad. You'd think someone might listen to me and care about what I want, but all you could see were your own selfish ambitions. So many lives have been lost at your hands. Some of them I knew. If I was not right here, right now, I would never believe one person could cause all this and if you give up your position as the last head of the NSSH, we will spare your life."
The only thing that made a sound was the wind blowing through the broken windows. She had her answer.
"Aren't you curious of how your family is doing?" Temthaw's voice echoed on the walls. "Three hundred of the NSSH's finest men and women are ripping them apart right now." His chuckles had no effect on her. "And yet here you are like a coward sitting out of all the action. But no matter any of that. Once your mother's powers drop she will no longer be able to suspend the explosion that is soon to come."
She was not really affected by his words, but left him to join her family in battle on the floor below. There was no way for Temthaw to escape and Recarie knew that. Using what little powers that dwindled in her body, Recarie blew a hole in the floor straight to the battle on the floor below.
Her family felt her presence and looked at her magnificent entrance. She was surrounded by the bright morning light and her silver wings sparkled like diamonds. A power emanated from her body. This made the soldiers hesitate and jump. They could feel her strength even though her power was at its most minimal.
"Now!" Her angelic childlike voice boomed. "Anyone wanting to surrender now can leave, but if you continue to put up a fight I will have to murder you." She blinked her eyelashes furiously.
It did not take much more for the rest of the standing soldiers to go scrambling out of the door and into the staircase. Reaching the floor, Recarie's family pushed past the mob to get to her. They could see her in the back of the room looking like there was no happiness left in the world. So much her family wanted to ask her and now they would get the chance. Recarie was so close.
Rheanne had tears in her eyes. She wanted to hold her daughter who looked so tough, yet fragile and in need of protection. Trey, Cirri, Yasire, and even Justine were right behind her. Recarie did not move an inch to greet them. With the same cold expression, Recarie turned away from her family and before they knew what was happening, they were all outside and a safe distance from the building.
Everyone had been safely evacuated and only Temthaw and Recarie remained. She returned to the seventh floor and he was there waiting for her.
"And so what if you destroy the NSSH buildings and take down the heads of government?" He threw a random book at her. "Our ideas and legacy still remains in the minds of our people. You cannot just take a caged animal and release it back into the wild to survive. It always will come back to you for food and direction. These people have never known freedom and would be lost without us. Can't you get that? We are the only form of government here and when you take away order only chaos remains!" The vein in his neck throbbed.
"You have never spent a day out in the real world. All this time you have spent high above the clouds has made you blind to what has been going on all around you." Recarie was calm and dodged the second book he tossed at her. "Those people you talk about like you know them were once free and some of them you turned into soldiers, but all of them have been your puppets. That's right, I am aware that you started the NSSH and shoved all of those with super human abilities, like yourself, into cages. I see it all so clearly as I read your mind." She stepped closer to him. "People need to live their own lives and find their own destin... Destinies!" Her hands trembled and legs locked.
"Looks like you have come to the end of your little rant." Temthaw stepped out behind the desk and jammed his foot into her ribs as she lay sprawled out on the ground. "You've used more energy than you had. Looks like it's catching up to you. Whatever made you think you could take down an entire government? Hm...?"
Recarie reached out and grabbed his ankle while she lay on the floor. Using the same technique she had used on Ian, Recarie absorbed a small portion of Temthaw's energy.
"Bitch!" He kicked her again. "Go to hell." Temthaw went in to deliver the final blow to break all of her ribs.
"Only if you join me." With a smirk on her face. Recarie used her last bit of strength. Her eyes lit up like sparkling oval moons and a blue orb of energy expanded from her naval until it covered her body. "He, he, he." She laughed in such a dramatic way that Temthaw thought she was demented.
Inside her blue orb, he watched as she weaved pure platinum energy with her hands. Recarie strung it in all directions until it was laced on her hands like yarn. Swinging it left and right, then over her head it draped over her body. She could have been mistaken for a tinsel laced pine tree. Her body absorbed it then expelled it in a blastd that consumed Temthaw first, followed by the whole seventh floor. It flowed down into the lower levels which removed her mother's power that kept the grenade from exploding. One by one the bombs went off with Recarie still in the building.
Outside Ian was just reaching the parking lot he had seen so many times before. Hundreds of people watched in awe at the bombs going off in the building in front of them. A boom was followed by a burst of flames each time a bomb detonated. The top floor was the first to crumble and each one under it followed suit until the building was no more than a pile of rock, metal, and dust.
Ian pushed his way to the front of the gawkers. The heat of the remaining flames was unbearable. He had to step back from the debris and bumped into a wall, or something like it.
"Trey!" Ian fell on the ground in excitement. "Where is she?"
Rheanne joined her son. "Who?" She asked Ian with a raised brow.
"Recarie! Where is she?" His hands trembled and his legs could not stop shaking. "The most beautiful woman in the world. The one woman I love more than life itself! Where is she?!"
A silver speck floated on to his cheek. Small glittery flakes were flowing from the air. Ian looked up to see a shining Recarie drifting to the ground. The dark rain clouds had gathered from the smoke rising into the air and blocked the sun. Along with Recarie's energy burning off in the form of the silver flakes, came the ash flowing in the air from the fire.
Recarie reached the ground where she laid on the black asphalt. Ian ran to her and for the first time he was aware of the heart beating in his chest. Her family walked slowly behind him as to let the pair have their moment as it was probably their last. Approaching Recarie, Ian took off his jacket. The explosion had ripped most of her clothing off.
"Ian." A small hand reached for him.
"Yes." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Recarie."
"Ah, you say my name in such a way that makes me melt." The back of her hand rubbed against his cheek.
"How do we always find ourselves in this situation?" Ian picked her head off the ground and tucked his shirt under it to make her a little bit more comfortable. He tried to pretend like he did not see her legs disappearing in to silver sparkles. "The first time we met, when we reunited only hours ago, and now."
"This is just fate's way of telling us that we weren't meant to be together." Recarie laughed coughing up more blood. "Damn near had enough warnings."
"Ha, ha, ha." His eyes tightened. Tears stung his eyes and they trickled down his cheek. "For real." Her legs were completely gone. "I guess it is the best time to say this, so here goes." Ian took in a deep breath to gather all of his courage. "Hm?"
There were no needs for words. Recarie beat him to a confession when she lifted herself up and with eyes closed shut, kissed Ian. This was a moment they waited for and Ian made the most of it. His fingers ran through her hair as he let his passion take over. The onlookers blushed either from the public display of deep pent up emotions or maybe from the fire burning behind the couple.
It took only seconds for her torso to dissipate taking her hand with it. The last thing Recarie did before disappearing completely was bite Ian's bottom lip and then wave to her family standing behind them. Rain started to fall slowly and Ian held on to her hand until it too died out. Only his jacket remained.
Trey laid a heavy hand on his best friends shoulder. "Dude, you should get out of the rain." His words bounced right off of Ian.
"You will get sick. With all the ash and body particles, you're bound to catch something." Justine touched one of Ian's hands that still clutched the tiny hero's jacket.
Even though Ian was still unsure of what was going on the familiar voices made him feel at ease. "But..." He put up a mild struggle.
"A lot has happened today and there's a lot that needs to be discussed." A woman very much resembling Recarie crouched in front of him. "We lost a wonderful soul today." She smiled and Ian took her hand. "That's a good boy. Now let us take you home." This woman even spoke like Recarie.
Tory, with Caleth, arrived back in Disten. It has been two weeks since the last of the NSSH government institutions were taken down. All Zones were destroyed and the thousands of people that dwelled there were free. Things were not like Temthaw had predicted, but they were also not like Recarie and her family had expected either.
Former Zone inhabitants were finding homes and jobs thanks to the FPA and local organizations around Disten. These newly liberated human beings did not put up any resistance for the change. As an added measure they were all were given a therapist they were able to see every week and whenever they needed to talk. Overall, people were glad the NSSH was gone and they called for Trey and his family to form the new government. They planned to utilize the existing public services, like police, hospitals, and schools but without the restriction placed on them by the NSSH.
People were free and equal at last, but at a great cost. Those involved in the coup were given a proper investigation. Rheanne, Trey, Justine, Yasire, and Cirri were cleared on all charges as they never actually killed anyone, stole anything, and now that the government was being reformed being super powered was no longer illegal. They later accepted political positions and would straighten out Disten in to a democracy where each citizen had a voice and would be heard. Life was good. Well for most people anyways.
Ian had been welcomed into Recarie's family and they told him everything. Some things he was told came as a disappointment. "So we never actually...?" He asked Justine.
"Nope, sorry. All an illusion on my part or sometimes I messed with memories in your head." They sat apart from each other in the society's liar. "All on my mother's orders of course."
"I did it as a favor for a very dear person in my past life." Rheanne sipped a cup of tea Cirri had brought her. "Oh and please don't feel weird around me because I used to masquerade around as a two hundred and forty pound man."
This was new information to Ian, as was most things he was told that evening. "Sean?" His own cup of tea fell out of his hands.
Cirri came and kissed Rheanne in Sean's form. "Yes, and I adopted this guise because of a very kind friend of mind asked me to. They also asked me to take care of you. This person meant a lot to me."
"Now, I have a question for you." Trey slapped his buddy on the arm. "Going to be my best man?"
Ian seemed spaced out still thinking everything he had been told over. "Oh yeah. You're engaged to Gillian... Sure. I will do it."
"You should be thrilled!" Trey rubbed his knuckles on Ian's head.
"I miss her..." Just when everyone had gotten over the hardest part of healing, Ian brought it right back.
"We all do." Yasire Held her glass in the air. "To the great hero. To our Recarie."
"To Recarie." Caleth, Tory, Justine, Cirri, Gillian, Rheanne, Yasire, and Ian cheered and suddenly everything seemed a little better.
Waves crashed on the side of a brown cliff. The rain was falling hard and lightning jolted Recarie awake. She was hanging half way off of the cliff thirty feet above the sea.
"How...?" She looked at her hands and then touched her face. "Is this the afterlife? The dark skies and terrible weather would mean I got sent to a bad place. Guess I was not nice enough. Oh yeah... All those trance induced murders... Yep, that'd sure enough do it."
"Ugh!" A young woman deeper in the cave screamed. "Who, who, who." She breathed heavily.
"Guess I am not the only new arrival tonight, or is it today? Eh?" Recarie shrugged her shoulders and went to meet the woman.
Deep inside the cave Recarie spotted the woman leaning up against the cave. Her violet bangs were matted to her face and she seemed to be in a great amount of pain. She wore a brown and violet muumuu that almost covered her fat belly.
"Oh shit!" Recarie screamed. "What are you doing giving birth in a cave and in hell at that?"
"What? Who, who, who." The woman breathed heavily. "Hell?" She tensed and put a hand on her stomach. "Contractions are getting closer and they still aren't here. Hey!" She yelled to Recarie who was trying to get warmth by the small fire. "This baby is coming out backwards."
"That's not good..." She joined the woman at her side. "What do you need?"
"An epidural and for you to turn it around!" The woman gripped Recarie's hand as another contraction came and went.
"What? NO!" Recarie was still held in the woman's surprisingly strong grips.
"I will instruct you. I can sanitize your hands and my baby will be born." Her breath went over both of Recarie's hands. "There, now could you please do this? My husband must have run into some trouble and won't get here, ooh! Soon enough."
"Okay." Recarie positioned herself in front of the woman and placed her hands on the woman's stomach. She could feel the child inside her. "I need you to relax. Don't want the cord to strangle your baby. Ready?!" The woman gave her a 'thumbs up' as she tried to breath.
"Ugh!" She screamed as Recarie turned the baby to face heads down. "Oh my, ugh!"
"I said relax damn it!" Recarie could feel the child move with her hands and everything seemed to be going well. She knew the woman was in pain and should be in a hospital giving birth to her child. On the bright side, Recarie also knew she was not in hell, but then just where was she? "Almost there..." Inside the woman's stomach Recarie knew the baby had been turned and that it was getting time for her to push. "Okay, for real now just relax. Think about, um, like the smell of fresh cut grass or the way a sunset looks as you watch it from a hill."
"Humph, humph, humph." She inhaled and exhaled a couple of times and was able to clear her mind. "Thank you. Do you have a name?"
"It's Recarie and you're welcome." The sweat poured down her face and her tattered tank top had splotches of sweat all over it. "How'd you get here anyways? Shouldn't you be in a hospital?"
"Funny story really. Well I was... Oh gawd dear lord help now." She grabbed Recarie's arm, as it was the closest thing to her. "I'd hate to ask this of you after you have already done so much for me, but ugh!"
"No, no, no!" Recarie flinched as the woman's nails dug deep into her skin.
"Just get down there and use the towel there to catch my baby!" Recarie did as the woman asked. How could she refuse a distressed woman in labor?
"So." She wanted the woman to relax. "Tell me about that story."
"Alright, well this is not my first. I have been through this a couple times before." Since Recarie was not near her, the woman had to settle for a nearby weathered tree limb to grab while passing her next contraction. "My husband and I are out here on business and when the storm clouds, who, who! When the storm clouds came, I stopped off in this cave to wait for him to get the car. Some four miles back along the coast..."
"Here it comes! Push during this contraction and that should do it." At the other end of the woman she was able to see the baby's head. "Just a little bit more!" The woman grabbed the back of her legs and pushed with everything she had. "Almost there!" First the head then the tiny arms followed. Recarie guided the rest of the newborns body out. The child was a pale blue, but it's whining and strong movement assured them, the bouncing baby girl was perfectly fine.
"Got something to...?" Before Recarie could finish her sentence the woman cut the umbilical cord with a safe shot of her power. Recarie wiped the girl off and the handed her to the exhausted woman who was crying for some reason. She peered at the loud baby closely for the first time and saw she had a head full of mauve hair. "Mom?!" Her voice startled the woman.
"Excuse me?" The woman held her daughter and looked at the stranger. "Wait..." She saw the two girls had the same hair color.
Recarie backed up. "Shit! I am in another memory! How do I keep finding myself in looping situations?" She rubbed her forehead.
"Honey!" A man shouted from the entrance of the cave. "Rheanne." He rushed right past the ragged girl who was heading in the direction he had come from.
"Whah!" The newborn cried and it made Cirri blush as he knelt down to check on his wife.
"Meet your daughter." Rheanne cooed at the baby.
"And her name?" He let Rheanne sterilize his hands before stroking the girl's cheek.
"I want it to be unique, like us. Like she is. Ha, ha, ha. And like her birth." She kissed the musky smelling man. "A combination of our names."
"Ciranne?" Cirri gave it a shot.
"No, I was hoping we would call her Recarie." The baby giggled at the suggestion.
"Then Recarie it is." Baby Recarie giggled again. "She likes it. Oh, and who was that young woman that passed me? Did she help you?"
"Like you have no idea." Not wanting to, but needing some rest, Rheanne handed her husband the daughter. "I need rest, if you would."
"This is a fifty-fifty relationship, remember?" He smiled and held his daughter for the first time.
"If that were true, you would have held her for four and a half months." She chuckled while leaning against her husband. "Goodnight."
Recarie raced off the side of the cliff. Things were getting too confusing for her. She dived into the water, but when she opened her eyes above the water, it was day time. It was the same secluded area she was in just moments before, but something seemed different.
"What is that smell? Like burning wood..." Recarie scanned her surroundings and off some ten miles she could see smoke.
Before she knew what was happening, Recarie was off flying down the beach. For some reason her nose tingled and she was getting teary eyed. Maybe it had something to do with the cries for help she was hearing. It was a man screaming somewhere inside the burning home.
Recarie watched four men dressed in white polyester uniforms get into a black van and drive away. As much as she wanted to go after the people she was sure had caused the fire, there might still have been someone in the house.
The fire had spread to the dried, dead grass in the front yard, but Recarie used her powers to create a protective blue orb. She was able to cross through the flames and put them out as she walked. What she found inside the house was not good. There in the kitchen was the man she was pretty sure was the one screaming for help. His body was charred and Recarie knew he was already dead. Her next stop was the top floor.
Up the remnants of the stairs, Recarie came to the master bedroom. Inside she watched what was left of what she believed to be the man's wife burn into ashes. Upon seeing this, Recarie puked up anything she might have had in her stomach.
"Whah!" A little boy cried.
"Someone's alive." Recarie was moving faster and more of the fire was going out. She could feel the child's energy, but the flames made it difficult for her to exactly pinpoint him.
There was no time for her to stop and concentrate, but with some luck she found the boy in the parent's closet. He was tucked away behind secret panel at the back of the closet. Coughing out the smoke, Recarie pulled him close and blasted a hole in the other side of the house allowing them to get out. The boy, no more the three, was cradled in her arms and just before he passed out from that day's excitement, Recarie was able to look into his stunningly blue eyes.
"No..." Recarie stood on the edge of the beach. Her hot feet were able to relax in the cold water.
"Hey!" A familiar woman's voice screamed from a little ways down the beach.
"Hm...?" Still cradling the boy Recarie turned around to see the woman she had just helped deliver her baby, but she seemed different somehow. Her hair had streaks of gray in it and she had lost all of the baby weight.
"Damn!" Rheanne panted. "We're too late!" She fell on the ground to try and catch her breath. "Hey!"
Recarie wanted to run rather than facing the awkward situation. She knew her mother would have put two and two together and figured out that she was an older Recarie. "Yeah...?" Her one word sentence stretched.
"Is that the boy from the house over there?" Rheanne admired the pose Recarie held. She looked very protective of the young boy. "Were there any other survivors?"
"No, just this little one." The boy still slept in her arms.
"My husband and I were here celebrating the first birthday of our youngest daughter and we saw the flames from up the coast." She eyed Recarie up and down. "I never had a chance to thank you for your help last year. Taking off as suddenly as you did."
"He, he." The situation was indeed awkward. "You remembered that, huh? Ha, ha, ha." Recarie laughed nervously. "The NSSH was the one to deprive this boy of his family and home..." She rocked him gently in her dirty arms.
"Them again! Ha, you don't need to tell me. That night a year ago, we were on a mission. Thankfully Cirri made it to the meeting point." She looked back to see Cirri approaching.
"Eek!" Recarie could not take seeing her father as well in her current state. "Well." She said in a hurry. "You don't need worry too much about them. The NSSH will surly get what they deserve. And as for thanking me, I could really use a favor."
"Anything to such a wonderful young woman as yourself." She meant every word.
"Could you take this boy and watch over him. Not adopting or anything, but more like supporting him from afar and when he's older you could be his mentor." That was sure not asking for a lot.
"Most assuredly." She took little Ian from Recarie who turned to leave. "If I may say one last thing." Rheanne put a hand on her daughters shoulder. "This journey you are on will be a healing one. You may not know where it will lead, but in the end you'll be in the one place you're meant to be."
Teary eyed, Recarie kept her back to Rheanne. "Thank you." She put a hand on her mother's hand that was on her shoulder. "Oh, one more thing. You have son named Trey. He would make a great guardian for young Ian here."
"Sure." Her hand slipped away. "Our clan does not age like everyone else, but time does take its toll. Like these strands of gray." She flicked her hair.
"You'll always look beautiful." Recarie started to take off in a run. "Thank you!" Eyes closed, fist clenched, and head down, Recarie was unsure where her next time jump would take her.
It was not long before her feet stopped touching sand and started stepping on crisp blades of grass. The sky was dark and once again Recarie found herself in the middle of a wooded area.
"Shit!" A woman grunted running right past Recarie. Tree roots came out of the ground and wrapped around the stick of a woman. "And they have a nature ability... Damn!"
In no time at all Recarie went to fighting off the attacks of the NSSH squad that shortly followed the suspended woman. Her silver wings left lines of same colored dust as she knocked each goon out one by one. The woman hanging by the tree roots admired the look of rage on her saviors face. It was like she hated the NSSH as much as she did.
Once Recarie had the last man lying on the ground unconscious, she went over to the girl tangled in tree roots. She had sparkling silver eyes against the night sky that looked like they belonged with the stars. Her short lemon blond hair was stained with dried blood. This girl must have been in one hell of a battle from what Recarie could tell. Without any words, Recarie cut the girl down from her bindings.
Before falling to the ground, the girl was able to straighten herself and land knees first on the ground. "Thank you."
"No problem." Recarie reached out a hand and helped the girl up. "I was, uh, just passing through."
"I am grateful for you saving my life and all, but what is an ability enabled human doing out here?" Acting on suspicions, the girl went straight to the grilling. "Are you from Neara or Farous?"
"I am with the society. On kind of journey at the moment." All of it was true, sort of anyways.
"You know." The girl dusted herself off. "I believe you. Not many people have eyes or that sort of weird hair color outside of the families. My little sister, for example, has the same hair color. Well it sort of a chestnut right now because of an illness, but when she gets over it, it'll be shining mauve."
Instead of blurting out the girls name, Recarie decided to leave. It looked like Justine could make it out of the woods safely at that point. "Please be careful out there."
"Wait!" Justine stopped Recarie. "You saved my life. In my family we always repay debts, especially ones of this magnitude. Just tell me anything to do for you."
There was only one thing Recarie needed. "I have something I need guarded, but it is too much of a hassle to ask of a stranger."
"No! Anything. Name it." Justine meant every word.
"There's this guy. He is probably in his mid to late twenties." Recarie turned to face her sister. "I need someone to give him extra protection. I only ask that you stay by his side and make him happy until I come back again."
"Sure. Who is this man that you care for so much?" She flicked her bangs out of her eyes.
"His name is Ian and I am sure your mother has someone watching him already." Tears fell from her eyes and sparkled as they burst on the grass below her.
"Oh, okay." Justine stood there as the girl disappeared in a without a warning.
Opening her eyes, Recarie found herself surrounded by an infinite darkness. "Hello?" Her voice echoed in the abyss. "Hello?" She asked again. It was not hot there, but not cold either. No noise other than Recarie's breathing rattled the space. "Not much to do here..."
Trying to keep her sanity, Recarie continued to float around the emptiness. No sounds or sights to entertain her, she dug into her thoughts.
"Sure do miss everyone. Wondering how they are all doing. They should be just fine. If I have learned anything, they've been just fine without me. I mean, what do I have to offer the world anyways?" She twirled sideways. "With the NSSH out of the way, everyone should be able to live their lives now. Where would I fit into any of it? Any reasons I can think of are purely selfish." Recarie dipped her finger in the dark and touched some black liquid that she swirled with her index finger. "I have played out my part in that story and am only excess now. No one needs me and I can't see what more I need in life. Hm."
She stopped playing with the liquid. Standing up straight, Recarie walked all over the confine. "Forwards, backwards, and side to side. Nothing, nothing, everywhere and yet there's no limit to it!" Any more of the 'nothing' and Recarie was afraid she'd go insane. "I have begun to miss how the humidity of the morning felt after having stayed up all night. Oh, and the way the morning clouds change colors depending on the season." The liquid around her began to ripple. "Then there's that big oaf of a brother, Trey. Justine was the best older sister and even through that whole amnesia thing, she stayed true to her promise. Dad, ha! That's where Trey gets his craziness, or maybe it's from mom. Hm... Auntie was always there to help me with anything that might be troubling me. She could whip up the best cherry pies anytime of the year. Ha, ha, ha. What a cast of characters." She ended the memory trip with a heart heavy sigh.
A swirl of white appeared in the mix of black. It did not blend into gray, but began to spur more white swirls.
"Damn." She gasped for breath. "And my first love... I will miss him. Even if we would not have lasted, we would have would have at least given it a try. There would not have been all these 'how it could have turned out's' or what might have been." Recarie floated to the ground. All the while she failed to notice the swirls of blue and green that joined the white as it twirled around her. "You'll always be in my heart no matter how much I say I have moved on. And, humph!" She wiped her eyes. "And I'll always be with you no matter what worlds we may be in. My only regret is not being brave enough to say it sooner even if you rejected me. You were the one I would have never been able to forget. I catch myself thinking about you at all hours of the day! I love you Ian more than life itself! I will find my way back to you!"
At those words the once dark realm pulsed with energy, shook, and contracted. Recarie searched for something to hold on to, but she should have known better. Colors blotted out the black and gravity pushed Recarie to the ground. She was pinned there and unable to move. All around her the walls seemed to be getting closer and they actually were.
"Ugh!" There was no fighting the force. She stayed there with the pressure building on top of her. All the liquid in her body felt like gel beneath her skin. "Humph! Recarie took a deep breath readying herself for when her skin exploded.
POOF! Something popped. Recarie opened her eyes to find her body intact.
"Damn!" She also saw that she was falling through the air.
Her hair, loose and in her eyes, prevented Recarie from seeing the stars in the dark night sky as they shinned like diamonds. Falling fast, she tried to slow herself down, but her powers seemed to have weakened. This was all very bad for the little girl as the ground was fast approaching. The only thing she could do now was brace her body for whatever impact that was coming.
It was not long before she felt the first brush of a tree against her skin. Recarie tipped and tumbled through the thick tree limbs and heard something crack. Her body was too numb from the cold fall that nothing hurt her. Sharp twigs scratched and tore her skin. If there was a bright side to this, it was that at least she was slowing down.
"Omph!" Finally Recarie stopped. She was upside down and her legs had latched onto a tree limb. "Hm?" Once her heart rate turned back to normal, Recarie noticed that the bottom of the tree seemed to be on fire.
Recarie lowered herself out of the tree to discover that it was actually candles at the base of the tree, but that was not all that was there. Bouquets of flowers and balloons lined the base of the tree. Stepping back, Recarie knew where she was. She knew she was back to where her real life had begun.
Clinque! The bell chimed and Recarie kicked up her heels. She knew where she had to be. Recarie could tell that by the snow on the ground, it was not long after she had 'left.' Anyone would have been smart to stay out of her way. Her large and giddy smile was enough to make crowds part. If Recarie's smile did not work, her outfit would have. Large rips in her purple plaid tank top and white skirt along with her dirty body made her look like she had just crawled out of a grave.
"Alright." Even while running, Recarie was able to take in the sights.
Land where Zone's used to be was now cleared and waiting for neighborhood playgrounds and community centers to be put up. The NSSH headquarters was now a vacant lot. Decisions about what to do with the haunted land had yet to be made. Everything made Recarie's heart leap with almost as much joy as the thought of where she was heading.
"Woot!" Unable to control her excitement, Recarie startled several passerbyers.
All she needed to do was take a left turn, two rights, take exit nine, another left, down a lengthy dirt road, and Recarie had finally made it to the lake her family's lair was hidden at. Up a steep hill and through the pine trees and she was there. Before going behind the waterfall to her home, Recarie washed in the healing emerald waters. After running that marathon, Recarie needed that break. She wrapped her hair into a ponytail and put on the clothes she had 'borrowed' from a clothes line on the way there. As much as she wanted to see her family, Recarie needed to look presentable and now she did.
Scars all healed and powers back at a safe level, Recarie parted the waterfall and stepped behind it. The cave behind it had the glowing blue markings of her family on them. These markings said what clan lived there and also doubled as protection talismans. Not far into the tunnel, Recarie started to hear the voice of her family.
"They're all here." Almost in tears she reached the little home that her family had carved into the mountain. "Including him. Awe." Her head drooped at that thought of the man whose face she tried not to remember even though she wanted to be his world.
Light from inside the main room could be seen through the curtains several feet in front of Recarie. She peaked in to get a sense of her family before making her entrance.
"There's mom!" Recarie whispered. "She looks like she's doing well. Ah, it must be nearing the holiday's morning. Everyone is all dressed up in silvers and blues."
Standing in front of a long refreshment table with a great spread of sweets and appetizers were Trey and Gillian. They were talking to Cirri who sported a small goatee now. Rheanne was handing out sparkling cider drinks to Caleth and Tory who were playing some sort of card games and eating mixed nuts.
"OMG!" She mouthed seeing the baby bump on Justine. "When did that happen?"
But that was not the only surprise. Two little girls and a little boy came bursting out of the kitchen and pulled on Gillian and Trey. The girls had short coal black hair while the boy sported deep violet locks. All three of them had the same sparkling silver eyes of her family. She could have sworn they called the pair mommy and daddy. These children were probably three years old by Recarie's estimate. Recarie was about to turn and leave when the kitchen door opened and the last party guest entered the room. He joined Justine and put his arm around her shoulder.
"Oh no..." Lip trembling Recarie knew what had happened. "Ian!" She accidentally shouted and gained everyone's attention in the process.
Ian could see the person standing behind the curtain, but for only a few seconds before she jolted off. Everyone else saw her too. Only able to stand there from the shock of seeing the girl, everything was silent. Ian ran out of that door before anyone else could. Standing in the tunnel, he couldn't see Recarie anywhere. This did not stop him. He could feel her presence.
"I've been gone too long." Recarie cried running back to the waterfall. "I've got nieces and a nephew and one more on the way. How could Ian do that?!" Someone was behind her and getting closer. She dashed through the waterfall and lost her balanced. "Hmph." In true Recarie fashion she cried while sitting in the cold water. "I should not have come here."
PLUNK! Something came crashing out of the water fall, splashing water all over her face. When the focus came back into her eyes, Recarie was face to face with a man she had longed to see.
On his knees, Ian looked at the soaked young girl. His breaths were long and deep as he studied her. Shaking Ian brought his hands out of the water. He wanted to put his hands on her to make sure she was real. Recarie had turned her head away and stood up. Face full blown red, Ian could sense that she was angered and he knew it was wise to not bother her while in that state.
The moon's blue light lit up her body and Ian was sure she was real. "I can't stand it." He grabbed her hand, but to only have her pull away. This did not make any sense to him and without words he got off his knees and wrapped his arms around Recarie with his chest touching her back. She did not say anything as she tried to break away, but Ian only held on to her tighter.
"Let me go..." Recarie was barely able to say anything while trying to deal with what she had just seen. Ian said nothing. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" He still held onto her tight.
"Why are you so afraid of me?" Ian finally managed to form a sentence. "Do you know how long your family has missed you...? How long I have missed you..."
"Well you obviously didn't miss me too much!" She was finally free from Ian's hold.
"What are you talking about?" Stupidly he reached out for her hand again only to have Recarie slap it away.
"You know, I must have been pretty naïve to think that I could have just shown up here and everything would be the way it was. To think that you had been waiting for me all this time, only to find out you are with Justine!" Recarie fell on her knees.
"Oh, that..." Ian stopped trying to get a hold of Recarie.
"After all I went through to get here... I should have stayed in the abyss." Her family had joined the pair, but they stayed hidden behind the waterfall.
Ian said nothing and Recarie was pretty sure he got out of the lake. When she finally stopped shaking from nerves Recarie was able to stand again. She wiped the tears from her eyes, but that did not help as snowflakes began to fall and melt the moment they touched her face.
"To think I honestly loved you." She mumbled.
Eyes closed, she felt someone grab her face. Opening her eyes, she got a good look at his. Ian's face showed he was serious and Recarie felt slightly scared.
"I never stopped loving you. It may have been difficult for us in the beginning, hell even in the middle, but since I first saw you I always had this feeling we belonged together. When we were in Farous, I wished we could've lived like that forever because at least I knew you would always be by my side. Even when you asked me to turn you into the NSSH, I believed in you and it physically crippled me each day I was away from you." Ian's thumb stroked her cheek to wipe away a falling tear. "You're sweet, generous, kind, considerate, and everything else that makes you beautiful inside and out. Even though you jump to conclusions and never let others know how you truly are feeling, I've always been drawn to you. I have been only helping Justine these last months. Her fiancé, Miuan who is a very good man and former NSSH agent, is out of town for the next three weeks and since I had some free time I told him I would help Justine out until he returned. There's never been anyone in my life except for you and there will always only be you. I love you Recarie." Ian did something no one was expecting as he got down on one knee. "With all that said and us being the two biggest drama queens on the planet, I am down here on my knees in the freezing water asking if you will marry me." He pulled a ring out of his pocket. "I bought this when I returned to Disten after our adventure to Farous. Even though I did not know why I had at that moment, I know now it was because I wanted to be by your side forever. Just say yes."
"Ha, ha, ha." Recarie burst out laughing. "What a relief!" Laughing was a way for her to release her stress. "We are a bunch of drama queens aren't we?"
Ian was a little puzzled about her reactions. "Yeah. 'We' are."
For the third time that night, Recarie dropped to her knees and kissed Ian. She had waited so long to kiss the man she loved, that she pushed him over, all the while still kissing. Without words, as they had said enough that night, the two were able to tell each other all the things they hadn't said.
"Gross!" A little boy shouted.
"Ssh!" His mother pulled him aside.
Ian and Recarie blushed. "That's Trey and Gillian's son?"
"You have no idea how much you missed." He leaned in towards her and kissed her lightly on her lips.
"But you will help me catch up won't you?" Recarie raised one eyebrow and helped Ian out of the water.
"So was that a yes?" Yasire shouted over the rushing water.
"Most definitely." Leaning on Ian with her finger woven between his, they joined their every growing family.
"Welcome home Recarie." Everyone shouted, though the children were a bit puzzled about what was happening and who she was.
Recarie hugged her mother who had huge tears trickling from her eyes. Cirri wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her around. He had missed her for so long.
"I am very proud of you, my little Recarie." Squeezing all the air out of her body, he turned her over to the rest of the family.
She was little confused about why Caleth and Tory were there, but embraced them none the less. Yasire and Justine welcomed the younger girl home.
"Don't you ever leave us again." Justine hugged her little sister. "It feels good to know you're back with us here."
"This feels a little weird... Or more awkward at that." Recarie thought as she was embraced by the woman whose fiancé she had tried to steal. "Something I'll get used to, I suppose."
"Hm?" Her family looked at her trying to figure out just what she meant.
"Said that aloud did I?" A sudden urge to flee crept into her thoughts.
Trey just playfully punched her on the arm, but Recarie knew it was all in good fun. Face softened and content, Recarie knew she was in the right place. With all the people who truly loved and appreciated her at her side, they all entered the lair. Their family was now complete.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
© Copyright 2012 by Brittany Allen

