Chapter 4

"Those…those were your parents. They were both murdered in an attempt to save your life."

Those words rang through James' head as he stared at the floor on his knees, motionless. They died…protecting me…he thought. Why can't I remember?…why can't I remember who they are, what they even look like?

Anika stood over him, her huge blue eyes staring into the back of his head. She wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. Sure, she had figured out that his powers flowed through his emotions, but at such a cost…His parents died in order to save his life, which means that people will always be out to kill him. She had to do something, but what she wasn't sure of yet.

"I know that your mind is in turmoil right now." She said. "But, you have to stand, you have to get up and fight. Because I think, that people will come for you again, but maybe they don't even know you're alive, but then again maybe they do. You have to be strong, not just for yourself, for those who believe in you, and for you parents."

Anika had hesitated before saying those last four words, but after she did, James lifted his head until his brown eyes met her blue ones. James wiped his eyes with his hands, and rose to his feet.

"I, I understand. But I though that no one else had my powers, so how can I learn?" He asked.

"Simple," Anika replied. "The basics of every element are extremely similar. That much, I can teach you. But as for the rest, your unique powers will come out as a result of battle. In other words, you'll have to learn them on your own."

"I will do whatever it takes." James said. "I'm ready."

"Alright then." Anika said. "First things first, you'll have to control your powers if plan on using them. All you have to do is relax and focus on nothing more than battle. Your aura should emit into plasma around your hands. It's that simple."

"Simple, eh?" said James, staring at his hands. "Alright, then."

James closed hid eyes, and put his mind on the fight with Aaron he had this morning. He saw his own movements, and how his punch sent Aaron flying. He reopened his eyes, and much to his surprise, his hands had black plasma flowing around them.

"This…this is cool." James said with a grin on his face.

"This is just the beginning, now you have to use your energy to shoot it from your hand. Just make a motion of pulling back and pushing forward with your hands will do the trick. Like this."

Purple plasma gathered around Anika'a hands, and in the motion she described, she shot a purple ray at the wall, leaving a burnt mark on it. James looked at his still glowing hands, pulled back and pushed forward as hard as his could, sending a black ball flying from his hands and crashing into the same wall, but unlike Anika, his shot put a huge dent into the wall.

"Heh heh, a little too much?" James said, half-smiling.

"No, it's alright, this room is used for training, that's what it's meant for." Anika said with a laugh. "I think that will be enough for today, so you can go and get accustomed to the school. I suggest that you come back tomorrow, so that we can explore into your powers a little more."

And with that, Anika walked out of the room, leaving James standing there staring at the floor. My parents were killed. He thought. I can't even remember what they look like, their names, nothing. But I know I'll find out who killed them, if it's the last thing I do. And with that, James walked out the gym.

Later that day…

James walked down the school hallway, heading for the stairs near the cafeteria. As he approached the stairs, he noticed Jasmine was walking up to him with a girl walking alongside her. The girl was about the same height as Jasmine, with flaming red hair that fell to the top of her shoulders. With her big light-brown eyes, she was dressed in the school uniform: a white shirt with a red tie, a black skirt with a red stripe at the bottom of it that fell to her knees, and black buckle shoes. She was laughing at whatever Jasmine had said, but stopped when the two girls walked up to James.

"Hey Jaz, you going to introduce me to your friend?" the girl asked.

"Elmira, this is James. James, this is my friend Elmira." Jasmine said, gesturing to the other girl.

"You can just call me Mira." Said the girl, extending her hand.

James smiled weakly and shook Mira's hand. His mind was still on the topic of the nightmare that kept playing in his head, and he really wanted to be alone right now.

"You'll have to excuse me ladies, I have to be somewhere right now." James said.

"We can tag along if you want, we're not busy plus it's already lunch." Said Jasmine.

"No! I mean…no, I have to go by myself. Catch you later!" he said, and with that, ran up the stairs.

"You friend's a little shy, eh?" said Mira.'

"Not usually, I wonder what's up?" Jasmine replied, looking at where James had stood with a puzzled expression.

The rest of the day, James mind couldn't focus on anything but what had happened to his parents. In class, he just zoned out, not even registering what the teachers were saying about the school year. And of course, Jasmine became well aware that he was deep in though, as they were in all of the same classes. When school was over, the two walked home together, with mostly Jasmine talking, and James pretending to be hearing.

"…I can hardly went for the school sponsored tournament, I mean, that's gonna be a blast! I'll bet that-" Jasmine stopped halfway and looked at James, who was staring at the ground. "You listening?"

"Huh, what? Oh yeah, yeah. Look I'm really tired, you know, long day and all. I'm gonna go lay down." And with that James walked through the front door of Jasmine's house, straight to the guest room in the back, closing the door behind him.

"He's acting really strange lately." She said to herself. "Well, I need to go clean up my room, I left it a mess before I left this morning."

"Oh honey, I thought I heard you come inside." Said her mom from the kitchen. "Listen, I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Jasmine asked, putting her bag down under the table in the front hallway. "Something up?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Her mom said, a saddened look upon her face.

Later that night…

James stood out on the second floor balcony in his pajamas (a white undershirt and some black shorts), leaning onto the rail staring out into the night sky. I feel so…so empty. What would my life be like right now, if they were still here? Did they even love me? Don't be stupid, of course they did, otherwise they wouldn't have risked their lives…for me. James' period of thought was interrupted when a slight knock came from the balcony door. He turned around, and standing in the doorway was Jasmine, wearing her own pajamas (a light pink sleeveless shirt, pink pajama pants with clouds on them, and pink bunny slippers).

"Hey, can't sleep?" she asked, with a weak smile on her face.

"No, not really." He replied, turning back to the sky.

Jasmine walked up next to James. "I knew you were acting weird today, but I didn't want to ask you, if you didn't want to talk about it. But Ms. Reynolds called my mom to tell her, and…she told me what happened."

James closed his eyes and looked away, wanting to desperately change the subject and keep those thoughts out of his head.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know." she continued.

James laughed to himself. "Of course you didn't know. I didn't even know until today." He said.

"But you know, that I'm always here if you need anything, just let me know." She said.

James turned to face her, and slowly looked up at her face. Jasmine gasped lightly, realizing that tears were falling from James. "Thanks, I really needed to hear that." He said.

Jasmine quickly embraced him, holding the sobbing boy tight in her arms. "I'll be there for you. I'll protect you."

Author's Notes

Hooray, I finally finished chapter 4. I wanted to have a little softer scene, so I added that little piece at the end. Sorry, sapph1re, no fighting in this one, but as Jasmine said: there will be a fighting tournament held by the school. Sadly, I don't expect to finish the next chapter until after exams which start Thursday and end next Tuesday. Soon enjoy this for now. Thanks for the reviews, and I hope you like it so far!

-The Night Knig