(~~~)
"Seth you can't do that."
"Seth you can't go over there."
"Seth, you can't, you're not normal like them."
"Seth you—
"Seth."
"Seth you CAN'T"
"You Can't."
Seth peered over the edge of his window sill, staring at intently at the snow-covered ground. He'd always wanted to touch snow. "Seth, get out of the window, you're glowing!" his nanny called over to him from the living room where she sat on the sofa. Seth took a look at his arm and indeed his veins, glowing a bright, shimmering white, were showing through his skin. "Your parents should have been back by now, Seth, I don't know what's taking them so long," his nanny continued as she kept glancing at the clock.
Seth plopped down onto the ground and glared at the cream-coloured wall in front of him. The longer his parents took to get home, the more tempted he was to shatter the window and go outside. What did the cold even feel like? His mom always said it was uncomfortable. Seth only half-believed her. Snow looked so pretty, it couldn't be that bad being cold.
…What was that noise…? "Merche, what is that noise?" Seth asked curiously, as a strange ringing sound echoed from the kitchen. Merche, his nanny, looked surprised as well.
"Well, that's the telephone, Seth. Let me go answer it," she answered, smiling over at him. Seth wasn't stupid; he knew something was wrong.
The intuition of a Light Elemental is never mistaken.
….
A ten-year-old Seth Rollins sneakily peeked from behind his book at the teenage boy not very far from him. He was, oddly, wearing darkly shaded sunglasses. It was easy for Seth to figure out that this boy was a Darkness Elemental. With Seth being an Elemental, The Light Elemental no less, his sense of who was what was heightened dramatically. He scooted a bit closer to the teen. No reaction. He scooted closer. Nothing. He stood up and then plopped down in front of the obviously older teen. His head moved upwards a bit.
Seth felt uneasy by the fact he could not see the teen's eyes.
"What do you want?" the older boy muttered, voice startlingly deep. Seth blinked a couple of times.
"I wanted to say hello…" he replied slowly. He tilted his head to the left. "You're the only other Elemental at this Adoption Centre. I just thought—
"Don't you know what type of Elemental I am?" the boy snapped, mouth turned down in a harsh frown. Seth laughed quietly and smiled.
"Duh, of course. You're the Darkness Elemental. It's pretty obvious." Seth brushed back some of the blonde hair that was falling in his face. "What does that have to do with anything?"
The teen stared, or at least Seth was pretty sure he was staring, at Seth for quite a while. Seth's smile wavered and finally, the teen spoke, "My name is Randy…"
….
"We're what?" Randy gave Seth a flat look. Even though Seth had been hanging out with Randy for weeks now, and Randy had removed his sunglasses by the third day, he still wasn't used to seeing those almost lifeless-looking blue eyes. Seth stopped taking the clothes out of the drawers he shared with Randy.
"We're getting adopted, Randy. Together. The Both us. By the same people." Seth sometimes doubted that Randy was actually 16 years-old; a whole six years older than himself. His comprehension skills seem to be quite slow.
Randy gazed blankly at Seth for a whole five minutes. "Seth, why would anyone want to adopt me?" he asked. At this question Seth tapped his fingers against the clothes he'd been attempting to force into his bag.
"They're this really wealthy and popular family," Seth started, "and they have a son who's only three years older than you. They wanted to adopt me… but I said I wouldn't leave here without you." Seth awaited Randy's usually outburst of anger whenever Seth did something that would compromise his ability to get out of this godforsaken orphanage.
"It's a lot easier to be mad at you when you're not nice all the damn time," Randy grumbled, a stark contrast from the tantrum Seth expected. Seth grinned and tied the ends of his bag together.
"Don't just sit there, get packing!" Seth tossed a bag over to Randy, who didn't even bother catching it.
…
"Seth, shut-up."
"No, way this is great. You like him."
"Seth, I will fucking blind you."
Seth promptly shut his mouth, a grin on his lips as Randy pushed him on the swings. Seth had never played match-maker before, but there's always time to start new things.
…
May 28th, aka, Seth Rollins's 16th birthday. What a time to be alive.
He'd just witnessed murder right in front of him.
….
"Randy, why… why are you doing this…?" Seth was very aware of the quickly fading light, caused by someone he considered his best friend, his brother even. He nervously glanced around as it became darker and darker, now the only light being produced coming from himself.
"I gave you two options," Randy held up two fingers, his tone matter-of-fact. "One, you join The Authority; or two, you disappear from existence… We are currently in this situation right now because you didn't pick option one." Randy shrugged nonchalantly. "What a shame."
Seth wasn't panicking. No, he was not. Okay, yes he was. What he'd gathered from this situation was that Randy was going to turn off all of the light. If Seth couldn't see, if Seth literally lost all ability to see, he'd just fall asleep. He'd fall asleep and never wake up until there was the possibility of sight again. "Okay," Seth muttered, calming himself down a bit. "Randy, you're crazy. I'm the Light Elemental. I can just make light. I'm making light right now." Seth gestured wildly to his overall body. "I kin— gl—
Seth was abruptly aware there was light and suddenly he could breathe again. He sat up with a gasp, an immense ache forming at his temples. What was happening…? He remembered… He remembered… Seth blinked at looked to his right. People. There were people staring at him. Why was there glass all over the floor? More importantly, who the hell were these people? He sat up a bit straighter and laced his fingers together. "…uh, hello?"
"Good news, guys," spoke the only person who was standing, "He knows how to speak." Seth recognized his voice. The man had a combination of dirty blonde and brown hair that was an unruly mess upon his head. Seth's eyes were flickering back and forth between the glass on the floor and the blue eyes of this… stranger.
"He also apparently knows how to shatter all of the fucking glass and lights in the whole building," another man announced as he stood from his semi-crouching position. This man's general aura radiated annoyance.
"I can fix that," Seth breathed as he slid off of the bad and clapped his hands together. The Glass on the floor disappeared and Seth was suddenly no longer the only source of light in the room. Silence fell. Anxiety was beginning to bleed into his calm demeanor as Seth waited for one of them to say something.
"Oh, come on guys, you're making him nervous!" exclaimed a kind-looking blonde woman with bright blonde hair. She smiled reassuringly at Seth. "So, what's your name?"
"Seth Rollins…."
"Well, hello Seth." The woman walked forward to him and offered her hand, the inviting grin still on her face. Seth decided she liked this woman. "I am Natalya; I'm a Fire Elemental," Natalya turned part of her body to face the would-be audience in the room, "That's Naomi, Roman, Daniel, Nikki and Brie, Punk and—
"Dean," Seth interrupted. He remembered from when he was still 'sleeping,' his voice and the voice of others addressing someone named Dean. Dean raised an eyebrow at him, still maintaining eye contact. Natalya paused for a second to give Seth a confused look to which Seth responded, "I could still hear and feel when I was, uh, asleep."
"That brings us to a new question," Daniel said. "How old are you? How long have you been 'sleeping?'"
"You can't be much older than seventeen," Brie noted as she inspected Seth's appearance.
"Sixteen actually, although I guess it depends…" Seth continued to stare at Dean, feeling a weird sense of familiarity, except he knew for a fact that he'd never met this man before.
"Depends on what, exactly?" Daniel questioned, crossing his arms.
"How long has it been since the death of the Undertaker?"
"Eight years…" Punk answered immediately. Seth broke eye-contact with Dean to stare at Punk in shock. He'd been in a comatose state for eight years?
Dean knew by the look on Seth's face that he'd been sleeping for all eight of those years. Dean also knew for a fact that this kid was most definitely The Light Elemental. He was pretty sure everyone knew, but no one was saying anything about it. So, that's where the Elemental of Light had been all this time. The Authority had him locked away. "You're The Light Elemental," Dean said, bringing Seth's attention back to him. The teen nodded slowly. Daniel and Punk exchanged a look. Dean knew that look. They were going to talk to Cena.
"Alright, here's the deal," Punk said before anyone burst out talking. "Sense you are the one who found him, Dean, Seth is going to room with you. Naomi, Natalya, show him around the complex, alright?" With that, he and Daniel began to leave the room. "Also, Roman, file the mission report."
"Of course I have to file the report," Roman muttered with a roll of his eyes.
Dean watched the three people leave the room before returning his gaze back to Seth. Brie was fussing over him with her doctor stuff and he heard her tell him that she was an Earth Elemental. Nikki watched the exchange with a sort of amused grin and Naomi and Natalya were discussing something to the side. "So, Seth what exactly can you do?" he asked. The black-and-blonde haired teen frowned slightly at the question as if he were remembering something unpleasant.
"I have wings," Seth replied as Brie took his temperature; the woman made a face at whatever was on the thermometer.
"Is your core body temp always this high?" Brie practically dragged Seth over to her office.
"Is that it?" Dean pushed, his curiosity rising. Seth's mouth straightened into a thin line.
"The people I lived with were not… they didn't encourage me to use my power," Seth said slowly, "ever." Dean then noticed the trails of where Seth's veins would be were beginning to glow a dark yellow softly.
"Why are you glowing?" Nikki asked, eyeing Seth with a strange look.
Seth sighed, an edge of a groan sneaking into the outlet of his breath. "It just happens. I can't control it."
"Didn't anyone teach you how to use your power?" Natalya inquired.
"Like I said, the people I was living with did not encourage me to use them, at all." Seth pulled his arm away from Brie. "Are you finished?" Brie raised her hands up in surrender.
"I'm done."
"Well it's about time!" Dean exclaimed. "Let's go, kid." Dean gestured with his hand for Seth to follow him. Without a hint of hesitation, Seth trailed after Dean as the older man left the Infirmary. The girls who were left in the room noted this oddity. A few moments later, Dean walked back into the room, Seth behind him. "Nattie, Naomi, are you coming?"
As they walked through the halls, Dean was suddenly hit with the need to see the wings that Seth had mentioned earlier. "Yo, kid, didn't you say you had wings?" Seth glanced over at him and nodded. "I want to see them." Seth stopped walking and so did the three people accompanying him.
"Close your eyes," Seth commanded. "I mean, unless you wish to go blind," he added at the incredulous looks he got. It reminded him of when… Seth shook his head and placed his hands together.
The flash of light was so bright, Dean was pretty sure he'd gone blind even with his eyes closed. He blinked a couple of times before focusing on Seth. "Damn." Seth did have wings. They were sparkling white and created a halo of light around Seth. They were also huge. "So that's why they call 'em Angels," Dean commented. For the first time sense he woke up, Seth smiled.
( ~ )
The blindfold was off and Seth Rollins was awake. Randy knew that Hunter and Stephanie knew that Seth was gone from their HQ, but they didn't know that he was awake. No, only he did. Randy stood and continued to gaze out of the window. So The Voiceless had figured out how to get the blindfold off? They must have a Fire Elemental then. The only one Randy knew of that they had, had been Beth Phoenix, and she'd been killed along with their Water Elemental, one of those Uso Twins…
Someone opened the door to his room and walked in, closing the door behind them. "Randy," Cody whispered. "Are your glasses on?" Randy took his sun-glasses from the window sill and placed them on his face before answering.
"Now they are."
Cody opened his eyes with a sigh of relief. "Hunter and Steph wanted to talk to you." Randy figured that they'd want to. They needed to make sure that Seth hadn't woken up. He contemplated whether or not to tell the truth once he spoke with them. What difference would it make, really? They'd still send him to find the poor kid. Had Seth even aged? He probably hadn't, which meant that Seth looked as young and pretty as he did when he turned 16.
"Tell them, I'm on my way," Randy said to Cody, to which the younger man nodded. Cody was almost out of the room, the door open in his grasp, when he stopped and turned around. He walked back into Randy's room and closed the door behind him, a reflective look on his face. Randy watched him, curious as to what Cody wanted.
"Do you regret it?" Cody asked finally. Randy reached up and adjusted his sunglasses, the movement causing Cody to tense up. Randy couldn't help the small grin at that. Soon, the smile vanished.
"Regret what?"
Cody looked as if he regretted asking that question. "I mean, do you regret all of this? Do you regret ruining Seth's adolescent life and leaving him in a coma for eight years?" Cody flinched as he finished his statement. He'd probably just dug his own grave.
"Well you definitely know how to make someone feel bad," Randy laughed humorlessly and he turned away from Cody and stepped back to his window. "Yeah, I do regret it. It's too late to do anything about it now."
"That's not true," Cody countered, and his voice lowering. He walked closer to Randy as he said, "Betray The Authority Randy. It wouldn't be that hard; you're the only reason they're in power and everyone knows it. Hell, they know it!" Cody studied Randy's still figure as the older man watched the sky, the only thing worth watching, from the window.
"…It's true," Randy agreed. There was silence for a few moments. Cody cleared his throat.
"Well, I have to go, I've got a mission," he said slowly. Randy turned his head to look at Cody, at least Cody thought he was looking at him.
"Bye, Cody," Randy replied quietly.
