Thank you all for being patient! And thanks to JimStar, Malica15, author12306, Claudia Donovan 13, EbonyIvory and Guest (sorry, not sure what your name is) for reviewing last chapter! School's started again, so I'll try to update once a week for now.

JimStar: sorry for the confusion, Ella is Chase's mother, Helen is just a messed up OC I use from time to time.

Confessions and Confrontations

"Hey, Chase?" the drowsily whisper reverberated off the walls of their room. Chase shifted in his bed to look at Bren, who lay sleepily in his own. When they had first gotten to the temple, Chase had been too exhausted to even notice, but when he went to bed the next night, he had suddenly been struck by something akin to loneliness. Even before they ever met Beyal, the three of them had slept in each other's field of view, wanting to know that the others were safe from S.T.O.R.M., or One-eyed Jack, or some other threat/crazy lunatic that might ambush them in the night.

They'd dragged an extra bed in Chase's room as a solution. Jinja sneaked in sometimes, when she couldn't sleep or had too much on her mind, and the three of them would tak themselves into the wee hours of the night. But, as the only girl in the group, she preferred her privacy as well.

Which was why Bren and Chase had now become roommates – and it reminded Chase dimly of a simpler time when Bren had slept over at his house, his father had cooked them pancakes and they'd all sat down to watch a movie.

"Yeah, Bren?" he said, there was no need for whispers when they were both awake, no one could hear them in the privacy of their own room anyway.

"I was thinking..." Bren's voice was still groggy, but stronger, when he spoke back. Chase could almost hear the sarcastic response Jinja would have given to that statement, "Don't hurt yourself" or some other retort he had come so accustomed to – but the room remained oddly silent.

"About what?" Chase questioned, his tone softer.

"About everything." Bren said, sighing.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

He heard Bren chuckle lightly, a mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes "You don't have any money."

Chase snorted, looking up at the shadows that hung across the arched ceiling.

"I'm confused", Bren said after a while and Chase waited for him to go on "It's just... I don't know what to think anymore."

The statement rung true for the both of them. Chase had had his distractions up until now. His mother, his training and helping his friends with their chores just to keep busy – because if he was busy, there was no time to think, to consider. But it had already been four weeks, an entire moth, since they arrived here – he should have been ready to face the facts, and yet he shied away from them. He didn't spend nearly as much time with his mother as he would have liked, some mysterious duty always keeping her away.

He was hesitant to broach the most sensitive issues, the questions that desperately screamed to be answered. He hesitated, and than she was on her way, as if sensing that, by staying too long, things would lose their blissful simplicity and entangle everything in one big mess.

There were other things on his mind too, problem after problem that he didn't seem to be getting any closer to getting solved. He worried about Beyal and he wondered about Dax – but his mother was the immediate issue, dancing before his eyes every time she entered the room.

"Me too", he said finally. There was silence after that.

"I wish Beyal was here", Bren admitted softly. Chase half-smiled – yes, because Beyal was the only one to keep hope in a seemingly hopeless situation, he was the one who reminded them that all was not lost.

Chase watched as his mother's retreating back vanish through the dark doorway, sighing longingly. Why did she have to go? She always had to go. Whenever he was about to question her, he hesitates, just like he did now. His mother, as if sensing the shift, excused herself and left to do some mysterious duty she never told him of. But Chase didn't push her, he couldn't. He had just found her, and they were off at such a good start - could he really ruin that?

And there was also the issue of what to tell his father? They'd been in touch, because Jeredy had insisted - but again, Chase hesitated. What was he supposed to say? "Hi dad, how are you? By the way, do you know mom's a monk and has been hiding away in ancient library at the top of a mountain?" Yeah, he could imagine how that would turn out, though he rather not.

"Indecision lead my heart, for I know not where my wits have gone." Chase blinked, only now realizing the new presence in the cafeteria.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The girl smirked at his dumbfounded expression "Exactly."

Chase watched as she walked across the room and towards the door his mother had just disappeared through.

"Um, who are you?" the girl stopped just a few paces out the door, the darkness of the corridor already engulfing her pale face, her eyes narrowed in irritation "We've already been introduced." she answered simply before walking away.

Ella still couldn't believe it, though she knew it was true, she just couldn't. How could she?

A tall, dark-haired boy with glasses sat at one of the long tables in the temple cafeteria, reading a big, ancient-looking book with fascination in his eyes. The girl sitting opposite him gave him an annoyed look. "You're going to burn a hole in the pages if you continue staring at it like that."

The boy snapped out of his daze "Oh, sorry Ella, you said something?"

Ella huffed indignantly "Honestly Alvin, how you don't fall right into the book is beyond me."

Bookman. Alvin. Bookman. Alvin. The two just didn't click as the same person in her mind. Alvin, while obsessed with books and gaining knowledge, a fanatic really, wasn't ruthless.

She still remembered the young man that came to the temple only a few years after her, thirsty for knowledge. How could he have strayed so far, changed so much, since Master Ey had banished him? Then again, she wasn't there when it happened, but she knew how the story went.

Alvin had been banished for trying to obtain a forbidden scroll. Ella suppressed a shiver. Those things were called forbidden for a reason! The information they held would give too much power to the one who read them, they could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Alvin had wanted to harness that power, but the temple knew better, and so he was banished.

But she hadn't known at the time. She had been exploring the world, spreading her knowledge... until she met one man in particular. Jeredy Suno had always been something special, and she guessed that's why she feel in love with him – because he had a answer to every one of her questions, riddles and tricks. He wasn't easy to fool. And it had been so lovely, first dating, then marriage and then Chase. And then it was all over because of a brake-in at the temple. The intruder, thankfully, hadn't had time to take anything before he was spotted, but he had gotten away.

She didn't even want to imagine what would happen if such a person got their dirty little hands on a forbidden scroll –

"Are you done daydreaming?"

Ella jumped slightly, turning around to see violet eyes staring back at her "You really should learn more respect for your elders, Helen." The girl just continued to glared.

"Please, you're not that old." It was impossible to tell if it was a compliment or not.

"What do you want, dear? If you don't mind, I'm in a hurry–"

"Yes, as you always are." Helen snapped, irritation coating her tone, her violet eyes narrowed.

Ella stared, taken aback "Excuse me?"

"No. No more excuses." The girl said evenly "Don't brush me off like you do your kid."

Ella's eyes narrowed at this "I do not–" she began indignantly.

"Oh, really?!" Helen exploded, violet eyes flashing dangerously "He just met you a couple of weeks ago and you keep avoiding him every chance you get!" She took a calming breath before continuing, voice steadier this time. "I that's not brushing off I don't know what it is."

Helen crossed her arms across her chest, still glaring. Helen had always had a temper, always been stoic and moody, because, Ella knew, the girl knew where she had come from and who exactly had abandoned her on this mountain, not even bothering to lead her to the temple itself. That was the root of her distrusting nature. It was fortunate that some monks had found her on their way back from one of the near-by villages. Ella didn't like dwelling on the dark thoughts of what would have happened to the poor girl if she had stayed alone in the snow.

But unlike all the others here, she didn't accept help. She had desperately clung to her old life at first, but when it came apparent that no one was coming back for her, she had closed herself off and become melancholic and snappy character that now roamed the halls of this very temple - uncaring of what her words did to others, simply speaking her mind.

Ella's expression softened "Helen, dear, it complicated–" she tried to placate the moody teen, but the girl was having none of it.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." She snapped, stomping over to the door she had come through a few moments earlier. "And when he leaves, tell yourself that it was always too late." She added as she vanished into the hallway, leaving Ella speechless.

Today was the day. That was a fact Chase knew well, still, he was incredibly nervous. What if he messed up? What if something went wrong? What if he did something wrong? His leg kept bouncing, he just couldn't keep still.

"Will you stop that incessant tapping?!" Bren snapped, frustrated.

"Huh?" Chase blinked owlishly, he hadn't realized he was annoying the others. Bren's comment earned him a smack upside the head, courtesy of Jinja. She scowled at him, before turning to Chase with a smile on her face "Don't worry, you'll do fine." she assured, putting her hand on his shoulder briefly, still, Chase could clearly see the hidden worry under her words. She was convincing herself just as much as she was him.

The three lapsed into silence, waiting in the empty hall while the monks discussed the event in the main chamber. Some time after, Sky came to get them. "Everything's settled." He said while leading them in.

Bren took one glance at the rooms occupants and frowned. "Hey, where's that girl, Helena or whatever."

Sky chuckled softly "She's not, as you would say... fond of social gatherings." He explained, though most wound agree that this was anything but. Still, it gave the girl the excuse to avoid company, something she did very often, it seemed. But Sky's tone of voice told them that it wasn't the real reason, however, or the main one, at least, Chase thought.

"What's her deal, anyway? She really snappy and all that, bossy too." Bren asked. Sky glanced at him, his expression unreadable, then, he said "It is not my place to say."

Before they could question him any further, Master Ey called Chase over to the table to begin the ceremony.

Chase's mother was seated across from him, she smiled encouragingly as he settled down. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Chase glanced at Master Ey, green eyes uncertain, before turning back to his mother and giving a slight nod.

"Let us begin then." Ey said, and with that, the ceremony began.

It was a bit like floating, Chase mused, his concentration wandering. He was still dimly aware that he and his mother were still holding hands, combining their forces so that they had a better chance of success. Chase was unsure of what to do next, since his only explanation was "Do not worry, you will find your way." Why was Master Ey always so cryptic? Seriously, would it kill the guy to give a straight answer from time to time?

But Chase had no time to be annoyed at the old man, he was impatient to reach Beyal, but, at the same time, he knew he had to take his time.

He thought about his missing friend, trying to remember everything he knew about him, like he did whenever forming a telepathic connection. Snap-shots and laughter whizzed past him, engulfing him. Team Core-Tech, his team, gathered around a campfire in the middle of nowhere, joking, bantering, laughing – simply enjoying each others company.

Voices rang in his ears, repeating jokes and jibes and comforting words. Images of the four people he considered family, their team, his team...

"C-Chase?" a hesitant voice echoed quietly in his mind, and Chase snapped out of his reverie.

"Beyal!"

AN: Evil Cliffy! Yeah, you hate me now, I know. Please review!