Wow, so I just read this great book called "The Hunger Games," awhile back, and guess what they have in Panem? Peacekeepers. Grrr…..I feel stupid. Anyway, this is the third "book" in the now saga of Stella, thanks to Anime-Cartoon Freak who suggested I write about their kids. Now, I was a bit sad to end the series too, so I was happy to comply :)

"Woah!" Curt exclaimed. "It's a Bakugan!"

"Curt, please." I rolled my eyes, shivering in the bitter cold. We were still wearing our summer clothes, and this BattleZone was the opposite. I surrounded myself and the kids with warm air, and Lily gave me a knowing smile.

"Well, what is it then?" He asked, gesturing in front of us. The small mountain of ice was translucent, and I could see some sort of red life-form…I don't exactly pay attention during Mom and Dad's stories, but whatever it was, this guy looked big, scary, and angrier than Abbi after her mom accidentally shrunk her favorite sports bra. I swear, that bra was MAGIC.

"It's a Red Sentient. Dad taught us about them, remember? This one is Krytus. He was banished by Sage after the war ended." Lily said, in that annoying encyclopedia-style voice of hers. Yup, you guessed it; she's one of those kids. Loves our parents, all A's, but I thank God every day she isn't a teacher's pet. I do not need that staining my rep. The kid's kinda shy, but a few of my friends have sisters her age, so I'm working on it.

"Oh sweet!" Curt exclaimed, getting closer to the ice. "This guy looks super mad!"

"You would be, too, if Beth trapped you in a refrigerator for all eternity right before you had the chance to take over the Multiverse." Lily replied instantly.

"Wait, what?" I said, suddenly more interested. "What did Beth do?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"You know, if you weren't so busy trying to figure out how to heat up the air around you and instantly straighten you hair, you might learn a thing or two from Mom and Dad. They teach us this stuff for a reason, you know." She scoffed.

"Hey, all I wanted to know was why Beth has anything to do with Krytus! I didn't ask for a one-way ticket to lecture-land." I retorted.

"Geez, you two. Chill out!" Cole started laughing.

"Right," Beth began. "Well, after the Red and Blue Sentients were unfrozen/reunited with their minds, they all wanted peace. So, Sage, Krytus's TWIN," She nodded at Beth to make sure I understood. "Banished Krytus way out here, and now-"

"Yeah, yeah, Vert became the leader of the Council of Five, Mom married Dad, and boom, we're alive. Point is, what are we still doing here?" I said boredly.

"I wonder if I could melt it…" Cole muttered, tracing a hand across the ice.

"Cole, bad idea. You can barely stand weather that drops below fifty degrees!" I said. "You aren't strong enough to melt that." I fervently hoped he wasn't. The kid was a sixth grader, and to be honest I haven't been paying much attention to my siblings' abilities, but the Red Sentient looked strong, cunning, and ready to rip someone's throat out.

"Oh yeah?" Cole demanded. Right. Here's the thing about Fieras…They get frustrated, angry, and take offense a lot more easily than other Peacekeepers. It's actually crazy how in touch we are with our element. Like, take Lily. She turned out to be an Agua, instead of a Flora. My mom had seen it coming; she had actually named her Lily in terms of water-Lily. I hate to admit it, but she can be pretty clever. Point is, if Lily gets mad, you have NO IDEA. Like, it's scary! She's total pokerface, calm, façade, whatever, but underneath, the water's boiling. Pardon the water pun.

"I bet I could." Cole muttered, clenching his fists and glaring at the mound of ice that held the Red captive.

"Cole! Don't!" Beth exclaimed, shivering a little in the cold.

"Don't tell me what to do!" He snapped. Crap. I thought. I sucked the warm air from around him, but it didn't help. The kid was literally fired up.

Friggin' Peacekeeper puns. I swear, it comes with the Essence. I should probably back up a little as to, oh, I don't know, how we Takazumi kids got into this situation?

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"Hi honey!" My mom said cheerily as I slung my backpack into my locker.

"Hey, Mom." I greeted her, going over for a hug and cookie. "So, I was wondering, since it's Spring Break, could Abbi sleep over tonight?" I hinted. Mom was actually pretty cool about stuff like this; apparently she was a real social butterfly in high school.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Claire, but we're going back home for break, remember?" Mom bit her lip apologetically.

"What?" I gasped. "But Mom! I made plans with the girls!" "The girls" being my best friends besides Abbi: Brittany, Delia, and Ellie. Most people just call us the A.C.

"Sorry, Claire, but you've known about this for quite some time. You'll have to re-schedule." She said, wiping off the counter.

"Mom! That's not fair!" I complained.

"Claire, you know it is. We haven't seen Rose and Aaron since Christmas." My mom reminded me sternly.

"But we ALWAYS go there! Why can't we go somewhere cool like Disneyworld?" I begged.

"Because Disneyworld isn't my HOME. Claire how many girls REALLY get to go to a different planet for break? You're more blessed than you realize!" Mom said.

"Clearly I'm not, because I have to miss a WHOLE WEEK of gossip, pedis, tanning and Delia's pool party!" I shouted.

"Claire, I know what it's like. You'll have plenty of fun when we get ba-"

"You don't know what it's like!" I screeched. "You didn't have friends! You lived in a jungle for nine years!" I took a deep breath, preparing for the final assault.

"You didn't even have parents!" I finished, sprinting up to my room. It was all so unfair! My mom was free as a bird at my age, and here I am, trapped. After a few minutes of sobbing into my pillow, realizing I would ruin my mascara, stopping, looking in the mirror at my red face and then crying all over again, there was a knock on the door.

"It's closed for a reason!" I snapped, but of course that didn't stop my dad. He silently padded in and sat down next to me on the bed, and began talking.

"You know, Claire, your mother has had a lot of pain in her life." He began, and I pulled the pillow over my head. But this didn't staunch the flow of guilt.

"And I don't think you understand that, because she's tried to shelter you. Your mother doesn't want her children knowing about the horrors of the world, of her past just yet, but if you two are ever going to see eye-to-eye, you need to know. You're old enough." He continued, calm, as if he was telling a story.

"Age seven. She found out that she was an Omnis; one of the most powerful people in the Multiverse and most wanted dead. She watched hulking, animal humanoids mercilessly slaughter everyone she had ever known and loved." Dad paused.

"She saw her sibling's corpses and watched Kalus torture her parents into eventual death. Your mother was beaten, abused, and kept in a pit full of bloodthirsty Vandals and the few surviving Peacekeepers. And she was seven." I kept my head under the pillow but was hanging onto every word.

"Age eight. The other Peacekeepers had died long ago, but knowing she was an Omnis they had never talked to her anyway. Stella met a Blue Sentient, Mortalus. He helped her develop her powers and escape. Four years later, she watched the only friend she'd ever had die." My dad continued on, almost emotionless, like an audio tape. An audio tape I wanted to jam the stop button on and throw into the darkest corner of my closet. But he went on.

"At twelve, she was re-captured by Kalus, enslaved for four more years until we showed up. And it still didn't end then." He said, and I felt a tear slide down my cheek, but it wasn't for myself.

"After she finally thought she was safe, Stella found about her family. Her dead, slaughtered family, except her brother, who didn't even want her to stay." My dad let out a bitter laugh. "Ouch, huh?"

I lifted my head for a nod.

"But the most fascinating thing about your mother is that through all of this she's barely cried. I literally, lived through her experiences as a slave, and through the pain, torture, and whipping, not once did she cry."

"Nuh-uh." I said, in disbelief, previous rage forgotten.

"Mhm. When she gave birth to you…not a sound."

"No!" I gaped. Dad nodded.

"All five of you. By the time the twins rolled around the doctors remembered her, but the first time they were in shock. Running tests, plugging in a thousand monitors…it was unheard of." He finished, then paused.

"Your mother doesn't like to show pain, Claire." He said softly. "Not for me, not for anyone."

"But she's down there, trying not to cry, because of what you just said to her." Dad said, and I felt another tug of guilt. We both stared at each other for a second, leaving our eyes to communicate and not saying a word. I huffed, and stomped out.

"FINE."

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"Hey, Mom." I said slowly, sliding onto a stool in the kitchen. Mom was washing furiously washing dishes in the sink. It must be tough, being the Omnis. I know how Cole can be, but having an internal battle between all FOUR elements? I'm just glad she has a distraction.

"Uhm, about what I said earlier…" I drew out the apology, wincing. "I'm sorry. I didn't really know much about your past until now, and I didn't mean to bring it up."

"Oh, of course you did, honey." My mom said, surprising me. "You knew exactly how much it would hurt, and you said it because of how angry you were. You can't help that you're a Zephra."

"Wait, what?" I stopped her, mostly confused but kind of offended.

"Air is an interesting element, Claire." She said, drying off a plate and whisking it into the cupboard with a flick of her wrist. "For every breeze, something is moved. For every emotion you feel, you want someone else to feel it equally. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." She stated calmly.

"So, when I was mad at you…" I began, somewhat understanding.

"Literally speaking, your breeze wanted to "rustle some leaves," pardon the punny explanation." My mom winced. "You wanted your anger to affect someone else, and congratulations, you succeeded. Don't worry, we can work on it."

"Oh. I'm sorry." I said again. "Mom, when you get mad, what's it like to have four different "personalities" going on in your Essence?" My mom paused for a second, eyes gazing out the window and straight into space.

"Overpowering. That's why it takes practice." And with that, she concluded our little "chat."

Welcome to the Takazumi household, where Essence-fueled emotions run wild!

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The next day, we left for Handler's Corners. Yay, car rides. Let's just say that when Cole tries to burn a chunk of my hair off because I won't pass him the freaking fruit snacks, I don't get too happy! Then Lily tries to calm me down by DRENCHING MY HAIR WITH WATER, so this story ends with both of them almost suffocating to death by me and Mom having to suck the water out of my hair.

Ah, family. Speaking of which…

"Curt! Hands. OFF. The Battle Keys!" I snapped.

"But they're so COOL!" Curt exclaimed, piling as many as he could into his arms. I "breezed" them away and back into the vault. "Aw, man." He pouted.

"Swiper, no swiping!" Beth yelled. Being a second grader, it's been a year or two since she's watched that show, but some things just stick. AND HAUNT YOU FOREVER.

"Okay, where's the Key…" Dad muttered, typing onto a keyboard. My Mom was earnestly chatting with Sage, her back turned to us kids. I really do question her parenting skills, especially at times like this, when Curt takes the BattleKey he was hiding under his shirt and runs off with it.

"Curt!" I hissed, following him out into the desert along with Cole, Lily, and Beth.

"What?" He shouted over his shoulder, kicking the BattleKey ninja-style (Yes, my brothers are learning Muay Thai. It keeps getting harder and harder for us girls to get the TV remote back!) The blue portal swirled open, to which Zone I couldn't tell, but it was most definitely NOT hom-MY MOM'S HOME.

"Close that!" I demanded.

"Aw, come on, Claire-Bear!" Curt teased.

"Don't call me that!" I snapped. It was what my mom called me when I was, like, three. I grew out of it! I swear!

"What's wrong, Claire-Bear? Afraid of a widdle BattleZone?" Cole asked smugly. I swear, if I was a Fiera the kid would be BALD. Like, I would be able to see my reflection on his scalp.

"No." I crossed my arms. "I just don't want you to trip over a rock and break something."

"Hey!" He replied.

"Fighting won't solve anything." Beth reminded us. Hmph. Terras. Mature, "grounded"….THE PUNS ARE BACK!

"Come on, let's go in! Just to see?" Curt begged.

"Curt! No! Mom and Dad said we can't go into a BattleZone without them." Lily said, and for once I was glad for her goody-two-shoes attitude. I didn't want to have to say it!

"Aw, just one time…" Cole pleaded.

"No! Boys, close it!" I said firmly, right as Curt darted into the portal. "CURT!" Cole soon followed, and I ran after them with Lily and Beth on my heels.

And that just about brings you up to date on our little "adventure," here.

"Cole, I'm telling you, don't do it. You remember what Dad told us about this guy!" I said.

"But I can melt it!" He shouted.

"That ice is several feet thick. I think it would be difficult for even Mom to melt it." Lily commented, and that really blew Cole's fuse.

Okay, again with the puns? REALLY? Sorry, I swear I'm done!

Cole stormed over to the ice, placing his palm on it and closing his eyes. I could literally feel the heat in the air as little water droplets started to roll off the mound.

"Cole!" Beth shrieked, hiding behind me. Curt and Lily gathered as well, Lily trying in vain to re-freeze what Cole had melted. Unfortunately, he was a sixth grader, and she was only in fourth.

"I'm almost through…" He muttered, and I could have sworn that the Krytus' eyes flashed pure evil.

"Cole, please! You don't need to prove anything!" I shouted.

"Just his hand!" Cole yelled back, as the last shards of ice liquidized and fell to the ground, revealing the Reds' fingertips.

"Ok, there, you did it!" I convinced. "Now come, on!" I tried to pull my gaggle of kids away, hoping that a few phalanges weren't enough to arouse a cryogenically frozen Sentient.

"Fine. I told you I could do it." Cole crossed his arms, grinning smugly. I rolled my eyes when we heard a cracking sound from behind us, and I froze, not daring to turn around.

"Claire?" Beth whispered. I squeezed her hand as the sound of ice shattering into a million pieces assaulted our ears, and I screwed my eyes shut, praying to wake up, when the most sinister, evil voice that I know will never leave my thoughts penetrated the silence. Krytus spoke.

"Hello, children."