Hi everyone, I live!

Sorry this took so long, a big thank you to everyone who followed/faved/reviewed this story, especially Lilac Gemini whose review motivated me to get off my lazy butt and get this chapter finished. Thank you all so much!

Hope y'all enjoy guys. I own nothing.

Chapter 14: Aftermath

Ash stirred, Yellow brushed a lock of hair away from his face and he quieted. Karen and Will, who'd both tensed like bowstrings when he began to move, relaxed again.
"It's okay," Yellow whispered, talking to Ash and Will and Karen and the rest of us. Green moved to brush her arm against Yellow's. Without even looking at her, but aware of the touch, I knew, Yellow pulled away.

Hurt lanced through Green's mind, guilt too. She'd never called Yellow about what we'd planned to do and the forest-dwelling female was not happy.

Yellow was only angry because we'd scared her, even now her hands were shaking with fear and tear tracks gleamed on her cheeks. Though that wasn't just Yellow. Of the eleven of us only Will, Karen and the unconscious Ash had dry eyes. Even Ruby had been seen sniffing and wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand, an act he would normally consider beneath him.

Silver was still with Giovanni.

"If you want, we'll take Ash with us," Will said quietly, "we can... get rid of this..." he flopped down heavily in a chair, "get him a new identity in a different country or... something."

Will personally was in favour of torturing Ash for some answers and then locking the bastard up for the rest of his life but that would sort of make the point of rescuing him moot.

Karen was thinking of how the RSCC was going to deal with this new de-powering vaccine, chewing her lip thoughtfully as she spoke but half of her mind was still on Will's phone conversation with Lance, telling him what had happened. Lance wasn't happy, Lance liked Silver.

Karen and Will didn't particularly care much about Silver personally but they cared about Lance and were upset because he was upset. Lance hadn't breathed a word of blame, but he didn't need to blame them, Karen and Will blamed themselves.

Karen wasn't thinking up any plans to get Silver back though, Lance would do that, she knew and if it involved any more B & E he would let her know. There was the option that Lance would simply ask Giovanni to let Silver go but there was no guarantee that Giovanni wouldn't come after us and/or Ash once Lance revoked our side of the 'bargain.'

Actually, we had no guarantee Giovanni wouldn't come after us anyway but I had some small comfort from Karen's thoughts that Giovanni wouldn't stoop to involving our supernatural or non-supernatural acquaintances, this was between us and him, our friends and family were safe.

That still meant everyone in this house plus Silver, if we got him back, was in danger. Like I said; small comfort.

I turned my mind away from Karen's thoughts, her plans for the future weren't my business, when there was going to be something done for Silver, Lance would tell us on his own, rather than risk us doing exactly what we'd just done.

We all wanted to run in and rescue him now but we'd learned our lesson and unlike Ash, Silver didn't appear to be in any real danger, I'd brushed against Giovanni's mind and he did genuinely want to get to know his son, even if he had to force Silver into some father-son bonding time by threatening his friends. So Silver would be okay, at least for now, it was safer and smarter to wait for Lance.

But now everyone's thoughts were pressing into my brain, I shut my eyes and concentrated.

The easiest way to tune out other's minds (other than getting a mind-splitting headache) was to concentrate fully on one person until all the others thoughts just faded into a background hum.

I'd just done this with first Will, then Karen, the downside being the longer I stayed following just one person's thoughts the deeper into their head I got, I wouldn't just be hearing their thoughts, I could see how they felt about those thoughts, the feelings and memories attached and every little intricacy of their minds, I could even access memories at will, if I wanted to.

So in short it's one of the most complete and utter invasions of privacy I could imagine.

I hadn't gone that far into Will and Karen's heads but I had needed to pull away from their thoughts or I would have. Unfortunately that meant I could now hear snatches of everyone's thoughts again. It was a never ending cycle.

Gold, who trusted me implicitly, had said I was free to fish around in his head any time I wanted to. I often did, when I wasn't doing something else (it can be very distracting) and I didn't feel guilty or as though I was imposing doing it to Gold, because he wasn't just putting up with me, he honestly didn't mind. He's as honest and unabashed as they come and in all my years of knowing him he's never had a thought he would feel uncomfortable with me knowing.

Sometimes that makes me uncomfortable because Gold sometimes has thoughts and there are things about him and his life that I just do not need to know but that absolute trust means more than I can say. All of my friends are willing to be around me but I've never believed there would ever be anyone else who would look at me with that kind of trust.

And then I met Ash whose thoughts I couldn't get at, even if I wanted to, and I'd hoped...

Well, I still don't believe that there will ever be anyone else who will look at me with that kind of trust.

But I didn't want to be in Gold's head right now. He was the only person who wasn't crammed into my bedroom, he was stretched out on the doorstep outside, his thoughts utter blackness.

When I said 'blackness' I did not mean Gold was asleep, I mean his thoughts were so dark I instinctively flinched away from them and every time Emerald felt Gold's emotions tears sprung to his eyes again.

Emerald could block his powers to feel and control the emotions of others at will but the longer he kept it up the more they bled in against his will. Gold's were particularly intense and hard for us to block out.

I had to go out there, I couldn't leave him like this, but I hesitated, if ever there was a time when something that had happened that Gold could hate me for, that time was now. This had been my idea, I'd had last say on the plan and I'd made the decisions.

I'd fucked up.

And it wasn't like I hadn't known this could, or probably would happen, I had, and I'd still done it and now Silver was the one paying the price and Gold felt more responsible than I did.

And once Gold realized I was the one to blame he could hate me.

And honestly, if Gold hated me, I had nothing left.

The frightening part of that thought wasn't just how freakishly dependant on Gold I could get, it was how true that was. I had two halves to my life, one half was my friends and family. People who didn't know what I could do and people whose privacy I would always feel I was invading even if they said I wasn't. People I always have to watch myself around and who will always have to watch themselves around me.

Don't get me wrong, I love Yellow and Crystal and Green and... and Silver and the others with a fierceness that often surprises me.

That makes it worse.

And the other half of my life is Gold.

I could lose Ash, Green, Silver, Yellow, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald or the others and, one day, in the future, still be kind-of okay. Maybe.

If I lost Gold I wasn't sure I would ever be okay.

My head spun and Emerald and Will were giving me really weird looks but I could barely hear them. Sometimes I scare myself with how dependant on Gold I am but I always comforted myself that he was just as dependant on me. Ignoring the fact that Gold was part wolf and had an excuse of pack mentality and I was just a freak.

But I'd never had to ask myself what I would do if Gold looked at me one day and told me to take a hike before.

And Gold had just lost the only boy he'd ever loved, Green had lost her brother, Yellow had lost her friend and Crys had lost her (as far as she was concerned) future brother-in-law and I was worried what Gold would think of me.

I really was selfish, wasn't I?

But while Gold and the others had every right to hate me that wouldn't help us find Silver. I still needed to get Silver back from Giovanni and what if things didn't go well with Lance and we had to break in and rescue him like we had Ash? Would this never end?! And speaking of, what if Ash woke up and it turned out he really was working with Ghetis from the RSCC who was making the 'cure' and wanted all of us powerless and was really a lying bastard who didn't deserve a rescue.

Well, even then he would still deserve a rescue because they were going to kill him and even then he wouldn't deserve to die. But his life for Silver's freedom if Ash was an evil bastard? I couldn't justify that. I was having trouble justifying that now.

But I was jumping the gun, Ash probably hated the SRCC as much as we did (who wouldn't) and Silver would be fine. Giovanni wouldn't hurt him, and, more importantly, Lance wouldn't let anyone else hurt him. And if Lance couldn't get him out we would. We could. We had to. Wasn't there more air in this room earlier? Had the room always been spinning?

"Blue!" Will's voice snapped me out of my panic and made me jump. On the doorstep Gold briefly considered coming in and checking on me. Yes, my erratic heartbeat was as loud to him as it was to me, thundering in my ears.

"I'm fine," I said to them both, and now to everyone else because most of them were staring at me.

Are you sure? Gold asked.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "I'm fine." I told him, I didn't need to raise my voice over a normal volume, he could hear me.

Can I talk to you for a second? Will asked.

Go for it, I told him. I leaned back against the wall, despite the fact that I was still sweating slightly and shaking and my stomach felt awful and I may have been in danger of passing out, I began to smile again, I'd had people talk to me mentally but I'd never been able to reply in kind and the novelty of it still hadn't worn off.

Agreeing with my amusement a brief smile flickered over Will's face for a second, let me talk to Gold first, I can reassure him about Silver better than just about anyone. Then say whatever you need to say. Then you and I need to talk."

I nodded and Will left the room, I heard the front door open, then shut, then idly followed Ruby's thoughts about making a pressure bandage and a sling, he was just mentally reassuring himself that he still knew how (he did), before I started getting too deep into his head I flicked over to Sapphire's thoughts so I wouldn't accidentally eavesdrop on Will and Gold's conversation.

When Will came back into the room and started murmuring quietly with Karen I took a deep breath and ducked out.

I found Gold on the porch again, after talking with Will he still looked depressed but some of the helpless fury had gone out of his eyes.

I didn't even get the chance to say anything. Gold sprung up from his spot on the floor and hugged me tightly.

I hugged him back and gritted my teeth so tightly they creaked, we were going to get through this, we would get Silver back and nothing was going to happen to anyone else. I'd make sure of it. I was done with moping. It sure as Hell wasn't helping and it wasn't making me feel any better either. But one thing I was sure of, Giovanni was going down, no one hurt my best friend like this!

Suddenly Gold tensed as he caught a familiar scent, "expecting her?" He asked.
"Last I knew she was in England," I replied, just as puzzled as he was. Over his shoulder I watched Platinum Berlitz come up my driveway, holding Diamond's hand in one of hers and Pearl's in the other.

Platinum Berlitz...

Well, she and I met a few years ago, not that long after I met Gold, and for virtually the same reason. She was a supernatural and I'd gone up to her and talked to her.

We were hardly Gold and I or Silver and Green but I considered Platinum my friend, and she considered me as much of a friend as she ever made with mortals anyway.

I'd even let her drink my blood a few times.

Platinum's a vampire.

She and Gold do not get on.

No, it has nothing to do with that old Vampire/Werewolf rivalry, that's fake, they just don't get along. But I liked Platinum.

Pearl and Diamond were two 11 year old kids Platinum had taken in off the street. Most homeless kids Platinum finds on the streets during her wanderings she finds homes for or puts in orphanages she creates and funds, she's incredibly kind (deep down) and very generous and very, very rich. But Diamond and Pearl she's always liked to keep close, since they're both supernaturals.

Diamond creates ice like Elsa out of Frozen except with more control, less drama and marginally less singing and Pearl has superspeed.

Cuz that's exactly what we need. Pearl with the ability to be annoying as he is. At 10x the speed.

I love the kid, don't get me wrong, but goddamn...

I do hate babysitting him though.

"Platinum," as I walked up to her Pearl let go of her hand and ran up to me at a speed that could almost be mistaken for natural since we were outside. He hugged me and I ruffled his hair idly as he glared around me at Gold (he doesn't like Gold because Platinum doesn't like him) and Platinum herself nodded a greeting.

I was already in her head and my insides felt like Diamond was freezing them, my breaths were coming in shallower. Oh gods. Not this.

"I didn't know who else to turn to," Platinum said quietly, her gold and silver eyes flicked to Gold over my shoulder, "is now a bad time?"

"Is there ever a good time for this?" I wanted to know.

Black was missing.

"Are we sure-"

"Yes," said Platinum impatiently, neatly cutting off Green who had been about to ask if we were sure Black was missing.

Green went quiet realising, as we all had, that Platinum would not have come to us unless she was absolutely sure something bad had happened to Black.

"Are you sure he didn't leave voluntarily?" Karen asked, when everyone turned to glare at her she raised her hands defensively, "hey, I don't know this kid like you do, I'm just asking. It can be tough for a supernatural kid in a house full of Normals. And there are plenty of normal reasons why a ten year old would run away, it doesn't have to make sense to us."

Platinum shook her head, "not that I'm aware of, his mother filed a missing person's report and they said he seemingly just vanished, he didn't have a fight with his mother or a friend and nothing out of the ordinary happened to him recently."

"So he was probably taken," finished Green, easing into a chair with a wince, her injuries were light, but many.

"I hate to point out the obvious-" began Ruby.

"But you're so good at it!" Interjected Sapphire teasingly.

Ruby ignored her except for a roll of his eyes, "-but who could kidnap Black? He teleports."

"The midget makes a good point," Gold said fairly, and Ruby glared at him though he was pleased to see Gold back to his teasing self.

"Well he can't teleport if he's unconscious," I pointed out. The words 'or dead' hung over all of us like a storm cloud but no one wanted to voice the thought.

Platinum shook her head as though trying to physically dispel that thought and spoke again.

"Well there wasn't any blood in Black's room, even if they'd cleaned it I would still be able to tell. Nothing. If he was attacked he isn't bleeding." She rubbed an elegant hand over her face, "of course, that doesn't mean he isn't hurt, just that he isn't bleeding."

Gold stood, "I'll sneak back in, see if I can pick up any scents that might give us a clue."

Karen stood also, "then I'll go with you. You'll find it much easier to sneak into somewhere with me there."

Gold nodded, uncharacteristically serious, "thank you." Karen didn't have to help us, but she was anyway.

Green stood also, "I'm coming too," she said in a tone that allowed no argument. Green still didn't fully trust Will and Karen.

Karen rolled her eyes but didn't argue. None of this escaped Ruby's sharp gaze.

"Could the SRCC have anything to do with this?" He nodded at Will and Karen, "forgive me for my accusations," he said in a tone that said he didn't give a fig whether they forgave him or not, "but someone who knew Black was a supernatural and could abduct him anyway and knew he was a supernatural in the first place and has a habit of abducting supernaturals. This has SRCC written all over it to me."

Will was shaking his head before Ruby had finished talking, "the SRCC only abducts, warns or eliminates supernaturals who are a threat, whether to others or to keeping the existence of supernaturals a secret, but we never kidnap children."

But Green was on Ruby's side, "says the man who was kidnapped by the SRCC as a child." She pointed out.

Will and Karen both avoided her eyes, huh. Well, that was interesting...

"Well," Will mumbled after a second, "the Masked Children were an exception, not the rule." He took a deep breath, "but that's a good point. I'll call Lance and find out if anything like this has happened recently elsewhere."

Karen nodded at her partner, "we won't be long," she assured him, she looked at Gold for conformation, he nodded.

The three of them left and Will went outside to make his phone call. Yellow and Ruby drifted off to check on Ash again and Platinum took Pearl and Diamond to raid my fridge (good luck), leaving me with Crystal, Emerald and Sapphire, all of whom had been very quiet.

"So, how are you three holding up?" I coaxed, trying to get them to talk.

Crystal shifted until she was sitting right next to me, her hands clenched on her thighs, her knuckles bone white.

"I'm terrified," she admitted, "lo-losing Silver," she swallowed thickly and continued, "and Black on the same night. If they weren't bad enough separately... well I just can't convince myself that this is a coincidence."

"Well, we're about to find out," Emerald murmured, patting her hand.

"Imma punch Ruby in the nose again when this is all over," Sapphire decided, "that's what that bastard gets for thinking 'e can get rid of me like yesterday's outfit!"

That startled a laugh out of all of us, truthfully I couldn't blame Ruby for trying to protect Sapphire but she was furious.

"Ugh," still half-smiling, Crystal rubbed her brow, "I just had a thought, it would have been better if I went with Gold instead of Green, I'm not injured and nothing bad would happen to him if I was there."

Now it was Emerald's turn to roll his eyes, "Gold would never let you do something so dangerous. What if you broke a nail sneaking in through the window?"

Crystal sighed because Emerald was right.

Will finished his conversation with Lance so I excused myself and went to talk with him.

The minute he saw me, Will shook his head, not that he needed to tell me.

But he did anyway, "nothing. This was completely unprecedented, to the best of our knowledge anyway, we'll just have to hope Karen, Green and Gold have better luck."

I nodded and we both fell silent.

I'll say this for the timing of Black's disappearance; it had successfully taken my mind off of Silver and Ash.

Will snickered softly, "no it hasn't," he contradicted my thoughts. "Though it is taking up the majority of your focus you are still wondering how to rescue Silver and get all of your friends through this alive."

Again, damn. Was I this annoying?

Will chuckled again, his smirk making him look a thousand times more attractive.. and punch-able.

No, no way I was this annoying.

Will smiled and reached out to brush a lock of hair that was annoying me out of my eyes.

Suddenly I noticed how close we were standing, his face was inches from mine. My heart rate picked up.

What? Was I crazy? Right here, right now?

I shook my head hoping to clear it.

Nope, the butterflies in my stomach were still there.

Damn, why did the one incredibly good-looking guy who really understood what it was like to be me and still seemed to be interested have to be an incredibly hot member of the SRCC?

Why did it have to be now? Why did it have to be Will? Did I mention he was very, very attractive?

He smirked again.

Screw this.

I grabbed the lapels of the velvet vest Will was wearing and yanked him closer sealing his mouth against mine, knocking his eye mask askew.

Will didn't hesitate he returned the kiss, one of his hands tilting my chin up, he was just over half a head taller than I was, the other moving to the small of my back.

This made it easy to wrap one arm around his neck and tangle the fingers of my other hand in his hair.

Pleasure, joy, desire... disbelief, what was I doing? These emotions kept my mind, and Will's clear of thoughts but his other powers kicked in and images began to flash through my mind and his. Not thoughts, emotions, facts, memories. My memories...

Done! Basically a breather chapter but I hope you enjoyed guys. Bye!