The doctors of the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester all agreed on one thing. The patient in Intensive Care, in the last room at the end of the corridor, was not normal. Every single physiotherapist, neurological consultant and attending nurse that had tended to Claire Riddle had returned to the staff room looking ever so slightly disturbed and saying that they didn't want to work with the girl who struggled to move anymore.

A psychologist by the name of Dr. Frederick Johann overheard a couple of nurses discussing the strange Miss Riddle. They spoke of how they had both tried to communicate, and although few words had been said, they somehow knew exactly what Claire was thinking of them. Those eyes of hers, blue-green and supposed to be empty… it was like they were channeling all of Claire's remaining life, watching them and knowing exactly their faults.

Like she was staring into their souls.

Johann smiled to himself. He liked a challenge. For everybody else, people like this Riddle girl presented a problem, as doctors didn't want to heal them, or even go near them. For Frederick Johann, it was just another spirit he had to break.

XXX

"Thomas McElroy, you are being formally suspended from the practice of law for two weeks due to improper relations with a client," Justice Banks said dryly. "And may I add that your conduct, when you have such promise, is an absolute disgrace?"

"I know, I know," Tom McElroy murmured, "I'm such a bad, bad boy."

"Should you wish to remain on your way to becoming a barrister, you will leave my courtroom right now," Banks snapped, waving him away in disgust. She glanced once at the young man stepping down from the dock and rolled her eyes. How could such a bright gentleman behave so appallingly? That, and he had no remorse for his actions either.

Tom was met by his younger brother, Drew, outside the courtroom as he pulled on his long dark coat (despite the sunshine outside). Drew fixed Tom with a long, serious stare.

"So that's it? You had sex with your homicidal client and you only got a two-week-long suspension?" Drew said disbelievingly. They descended the front steps of the courthouse toward Drew's red Toyota. "That's… no, seriously, Tom, I have a question. How do you do it? If Rick Hayward had even thought about doing that, he'd have his balls grilled by a judge. He'd get struck off."

"That would be because Rick Hayward is a prick who needs his balls grilled," Tom snickered. "It's only someone who knows a judge's home phone number that gets away with doing something anyone else would get burned for."

"Why are you a lawyer? You have no morals."

"That's precisely why. I'm a bloodsucking parasite. Honestly, it's fantastic," he chuckled. "Personally, I'd rather be perceived for who I am warts and all as a suspended lawyer than a librarian."

"There's nothing wrong with being a librarian," Drew mumbled defensively, pushing his Ray-Ban glasses further up his nose as he opened the driver door. "It's not like I'm sad enough to run a… I don't know… an abattoir."

"I don't know," Tom shrugged. "A bit of blood and guts might be good for you."

"We're not having this conversation again," Drew said. "We're discussing your actions, we're discussing how Mum and Dad are going to kill you for getting a suspension, we're discussing how the hell you get away with being such a jerk-"

"Well, you know what they say. I guess I got the looks and I got the brains."

"That's not funny, Tom." The two got into the car. Once inside, Drew turned the key in the ignition.

"Lighten up," Drew grinned. "I'm not dead, I've not been fired, I'm not on drugs, I'm not an alcoholic, I've not killed anyone and I got laid." He threw his hands in the air. "So, technically, what was bad about this situation? At all?"

"Are you really so dense that you need me to tell you the answer to that?" Drew sighed. "In fact, forget it, forget it… I need a drink. Let's just get you back to your place and then I'm going home."

"To Louisa?" Tom teased.

"You're so immature. And no, not to Louisa, thanks very much," Drew grumbled. "I broke up with her. She was cheating on me."

"Ouch. Sorry, man. Say, does that mean Louisa's single now?"

"Just get out of this car right now," Drew growled, turning a corner toward the exit.

"I'm joking – ouch, shit!" He glared out of the windscreen. They had screeched to a halt as another car had come in the opposite direction. "Who's driving that crock of shit…?"

"Teru Mikami."

"Oh, man, fucking Mikami. You think I'm an asshole? He's the king of them. Like Peter fucking Perfect." He glowered at Mikami's car, sticking his head out the window. "Learn to drive that bathtub, you dick!"

"Tom, leave it, Jesus," scolded Drew.

"What a twat," his brother grumbled.

"He's a nice guy, Tom," Drew insisted, "nicer than you can be sometimes. At least he has scruples and doesn't seek to have sex with everything that moves."

"That makes me sound like some kind of horny bastard with no care for your basic morals," Tom said. He caught Drew's eye and nodded slowly. "Touché."

For the remainder of journey, not much was said, and not much was needed to be said. Tom was anticipating the reaction of their parents, one being a hugely successful senior solicitor and the other being a devoted, family-orientated homemaker. Whenever this was explained to a stranger, the stranger assumed that it was the McElroys' father, Harold, who was the senior solicitor, when actually it was their mother, Jean. Harold McElroy was a cookery-loving clean freak that had been the one making their nativity play costumes when the boys were only seven and five years old. Jean McElroy was just… terrifying.

Drew stopped the car outside Tom's newly-bought house. The two young men waited in the car for a moment, then clambered out. The sun warmed the path to the front door and Drew put a hand on his older brother's shoulder. There were only two years separating them, yet often it felt like much more than that, and like their ages were switched and Tom was younger.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tom muttered. "Let's go inside. I'll make you some coffee before you head home. Couldn't make you go on back to your empty apartment with no sustenance, could I?"

He dropped his coat on a peg by the front door and headed towards the kitchen. It wasn't a huge house, but being a lawyer paid well if you were good and he didn't have to share with someone to pay the rent. Drew followed him inside and was about to sit down when he decided to be courteous.

"Here, give me your jacket, I'll hang it up for you," he suggested. "Knowing you, you'll just chuck it to one side and it'll get crumpled for when you next wear it."

"No," Tom refused. "I'll keep it on."

"Come on, man, it's really warm in here."

"I said no, Drew," Tom responded firmly. He went to the shelves and removed two mugs for coffee. He had already switched the kettle on for the water.

"Is there something wrong-?"

"I just don't want to take my jacket off is all," Tom snapped. "Is that too difficult for you to understand?"

Drew frowned. "Tom-"

"Get away from me."

"Okay, there really is something wrong, isn't there?" Drew deduced. He rushed over to his brother and fought to get his jacket off of him. "Give it to me, Tom, for Christ's sake! What's up with removing your – jacket…?"

He had finally managed to yank off Tom's suit jacket and was now staring at the bloody mangled mess that was the back of his brother's previously spotless white shirt. The weird thing was that the skin exposed by the blood-soaked rips in his shirt were only smeared with scarlet, not sliced open or even scraped a little. He could only gape in disbelief.

"What… happened…?"

Tom punched the wall angrily. "Why did you have to find out?"

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Stay back."

"Stay – what?" He staggered backwards as there was a weird wriggling under Tom's skin where his shoulder blades were. He groaned in pain whilst the clear white skin split open and pure white began to grow out sideways. Fluffy white feathers were emerging. What felt like hours later, but could have only been about ten seconds, a glorious pair of white feathered wings had sprouted from the spot where Tom's shirt had gotten torn up.

"You're…"

"A Child, I know." Tom was watching his reaction with serious (for once) green eyes.

"But they're accepted now!" Drew tried to comfort him. "They've been made public, they're okay with everyone."

"You idiot. You think that's really the case?" He rolled his eyes. "I have no choice. I'm going to have to look for those other power groups, the ones-"

"The ones who got arrested?" Drew choked out. "Are you insane?"

Tom smirked and gestured to his wings. "What do you think, little brother?"

XXX

The neighbors who caught sight of thirteen people leaving one small house widened their eyes in disbelief. Had they been there all that time? And of course, they recognized their faces, but where from…? Nosy as they were, they still couldn't quite pinpoint the familiarity. Then one removed his shirt. Underneath he wore a blue one-piece suit, almost like a costume – with a lightning bolt emblem on the left breast.

"A child of the storm," one woman whispered, amazed.

"The children of the storm!" gasped another neighbor, recognizing the face of Beyond Birthday and gawking.

"Still think it's a good idea to leave?" B muttered.

"We can go back to the orphanage now," L told him. "It's better."

"I don't trust that Prime Minister any further than I can throw him," Rose said in an undertone. "Something about this doesn't feel right to me at all."

"Are you kidding?" Lara beamed. "Look at this place! Doesn't it feel great to be out in open air again, not having to worry about being arrested or anything? Just living…"

"One month ago she wasn't quite so optimistic," Mello chuckled. "Surely this is a good thing? Who cares if a politician looks slimy? All politicians look slimy. I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go home."

Matt grinned at Tessa. "Race you there."

"You know you're going down!" Tessa yelled, running after him.

"Hey! Tessa! Matt!" Elisabeth called after the two. They stopped and looked back at her. Finally, she just smiled and relaxed. "Nothing. You two have fun, okay?" She glanced at L. "I never thought I'd be able to say that again. I didn't want to tell the others, but I thought this was going to be some Martin Luther King kind of thing, with years of campaigning and hoping and stuff, but… you know what?"

"What?"

She put an arm around his waist. "I like this route to freedom much, much better than my idea."

"So do I."

"You know we've still got to find all of those people with powers, don't you? They need to know we're not so far away, that they're not alone," she pointed out. She exhaled slowly. "One month in that place… just a month… it makes you appreciate how free we are now."

"Oi!" Rose shouted further up the street. She jerked her head sideways. "We don't know about you, but we're heading off home!"

"Race you," Emilia teased Light.

"That's just not fair."

"Coward," she taunted and sped off, leaving him to walk back with Misa, who had not forgotten his actions at the aquarium over a month before and was currently giving him the cold shoulder.

"We're safe, and none of us ended up in hospital!" Elisabeth laughed. "This is unbelievable!"

"I understand," L said, but something was niggling away at the back of his brain.

Hospital? What about that word made him think he had forgotten something very important?

Hoping you guys enjoyed the latest chapter, plus the introduction of two new OCs (I know, they do just keep coming from my brain), Tom and Drew McElroy. For your information, Tom is 22 and Drew is 20.

Thanks to those of you who have already reviewed; they help me get chapters out because then I put this story on priority and write more for it.

C.