John
I sent them off together, and hopefully that wasn't a stupid choice. It seemed right at the time but based off the look Sarah gave me she did not agree.
"You're just pushing Six's buttons..." She trailed off as she brushed past me and into the bathroom, I rolled my eyes, kneeling she saw, and say on the bed, waiting for her to be done with her shower, and for everyone to come in for the meeting.
Malcolm walked in with One and Adam in tow, hand in hand. I smiled at them when they walked in.
"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked quickly, telling by their faces that there was something on all of their minds.
"I wanted to talk to you about my legacies." Ones voice had a bold strength to it, but her eyes showed a fear she was trying to hide.
"Okay, right on. Shoot." I offered wondering why they were coming to me and not... Well not anybody else, who would know a lot more than me.
"As you probably know, I sort of have them to Adam thinking I would be dead forced. But obviously, I'm not dead anymore, but I'm having troubles with them." She tucked her dirty blonde hair behind her ear, and I leaned my head against the baseboard, taking a long deep breath.
"Okay. So what can you do?" I asked trying to figure out how we were going to fix this.
She stared at the notepad that was on the table beside me. I didn't notice it at first, but knew it would come in handy for the meeting. She was staring at it, her face contorted in concentration. Adam look very sorry next to her.
Then the pas shifted to the right about two inches, and fell of the table. I subconsciously picked it up with telekinesis, then jumped at her shout of frustration.
"See! I can't even move a notepad and you can pick it up like its nothing!" She smacked the wall behind her, and the bed shook with the force. Malcolm took a step back, looking at me. Then I got an idea.
"Focus on the notepad, and do it again." She glared at me, fuming angry, then focused on the notepad, and shifted more, and floated in the air for a second, before smacking the ground.
I hoped my plan would work without putting a home in the wall.
"You're right. Your screwed you can't do it." Adam shot me a panicked look, and One glared defiantly.
"What?" Her voice held venom that only Six could compare to. I looked back, hopefully equally defiant.
"You're too weak. You gave away your legacies to this boy you barely knew, and now you can't even pick that notepad up from the ground." I mocked her, then poured salt in the wound by picking it up and tossing it at her. She looked at it, trying to stop it, but I pushed harder, and it smacked her cheek before hitting the ground.
Her eyes glued to mine, and I tried not to shy away, if looks could kill...
I raised my eyebrows in a challenge, and picked up the notepad again. I felt a tug as she looks at it, then began to pull against it harder. She did the same, and it tore in half. Then before I chose my next object, a tv remote was flying at my face. I stopped it before it could hit me. She then pulled the hanging mirror off the wall, and I dropped the remote and grabbed that before it could hit my face. Adam put his hand on her shoulder, and she stopped and looked at me, eyes dancing.
"Woah..." She trailed off, looking the mirror I was still holding in the air. I made the choice to drop it just as someone opened our door from Marinas room, and she quickly stopped it from shattering on the floor, still using her TK. She then hung it back up on the wall, as Sarah came out of the shower, smelling of fresh linen scented soap.
"John!" One jumped up and down excitedly, and threw her arms around Adams neck. I smiled at her, before pulling Sarah into me. She pushed away, giggling as Ella, Crayton, Henri and Katarina walked by.
"You need to shower." She said mocked hitting my chest, and taking to very real steps away. I looked behind me, and Henri was laughing, nodding to the bathroom door. I walked in and shit the door, jumping into the shower quickly, and just relishing in the feeling of the warm water washing the grime away.
I was done within five minutes, and walked out in the same clothes I went in with. That was being brought up at our meeting. We needed to shop. ASAP.
Sarah was waiting when I walked out, and she gave me a long kiss before Nine Marina and Eight walked in, laughing about something. I set my arm around Sarah's waist and pulled her closer to me, taking a mental count.
Henri, Katarina, Crayton, Adelina, Malcolm, Adam, One, Five, Marina, Eight, Nine, Ella, Sarah, me. No Six or Sam. I put my hand on top of my head and ran it through my much too long hair, noticing that it could use a good cut soon.
"Six and Sam?" Sarah asked me quietly, looking up at me.
"They either got lost, killed each other, or found the coffee stand in the lobby. And I'm thinking option three seems most right." She laughed, pulling away from me and twisting her hair up into a bun. The room was really crowded, and no one was really talking.
Six pushed the door open, pulling Sam behind her.
"On time!" She declared with a glance at the clock, I had to laugh, and take a sip of her coffee. Everyone was staring at me.
"You guys can sit and stuff." Six said, nudging me to take the control they all expected me to have.
"Right, okay." Everybody sat, some one beds, some one couches, on the floor, even Sam and Sarah moved away until it was just Six and I. She looked at me with questioning eyes, and I silently asked her to stay.
"Okay, so we have a lot to go over. A lot of pasts to cover, and a lot of plans to be made. So yeah. First thing first. Everybody, Crayton." I pointed him out standing next to Ella, he smiled politely, and waved, and asked everybody to share their names. We all did, and it was a good refresher for the other Cepans.
"Next up. Five- freaking epic legacy." He laughed at my frankness, and everybody smiled and even clapped for him. "But uh... We gotta figure out how that thing works. Which on a side note leads us to the next fact: I died. Now I'm alive. One, Henri, Eight, Katarina, Adelina and Crayton were also dead, and now they are not. That is all Five's doing. And we are greatly dented to him for that." He smiled at me, clearly humbled by my words, and my refrain from mentioning his past.
"Now, I think it would be best to take some time to tell our stories. So I will start us off, give the rundown of my life, then pass the torch. I get it if anybody wants to leave something out, but this will let us all get to know each other a little bit better." No body seemed totally against the idea, so I began to talk.
I went into detail, simply because I could, talking about all my time in Paradise, Mark James, the school, Six finding us, Henri dying (which I made a note to ask him about, I mean we cremated him). Going on through Sam, Six, and I splitting up. Sam and I finding Nine. I went though the adventures Nine and I had, and the battle at the cave. I went through the most recent tortures very vaguely, and then I got to being trapped in the Mog cave most recently, and stopped talking. Six glanced at me.
"What did they do to you?" She asked gently, her eyes encouraging me to speak.
"They injected me, over and over with this thick green liquid, it was cold and paralyzing. It slowed my thoughts down, and my heart, and after a while I just passed out." Six chewed the side of her lip, and nodded.
"I guess it's my turn?" Everyone nodded, and she took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. I knew how hard this story was for her, I grabbed her hand, and squeezed (in the most loving brother way) she looked at me, and started her story. She took everyone on her journeys with Kat, through to their capture, then she stopped. She looked at Katarina, and continued her story, brushing over Katarinas death, and going on, covering her side of our parts together. Meeting Ella and Marina and everyone, the fight, splitting up again, Eight dying. She got to getting captured in the cave, and stopped. I turned to face her totally. She locked her eyes with mine, took a shaky breath, and recapped what was done to her in the cave. She continued through the few tears, and rubbed her jaw once. Then she finished with,
"and now we're here." She glanced at Sam. "Your turn." I squeezed her hand before letting go. Sam groaned and stood up.
"Well if you don't know, I'm human." Marina threw her hand over her mouth and gasped loudly. Light laughter filled the room, and I was glad it was so easy for all of us to joke around with him like that. "I know, I know. Hard to believe. But I grew up in a real house, with this guy..." He elbowed his dad and continued on with his story. He lead everyone through the lack of a father, and meeting me. Out adventures, leaving nothing out, taking us through his opinions on everything. Meeting six, the three of us together, being teens, splitting up, getting captured. The gory and the gross. Then being saved. He finished with a smile, and "I like to pretend that every human lives like this, but then I remember that I'm still the weird one." We all laughed again.
"Mines a quick one, so is it cool if we brush through it?" Sarah spoke up, standing as Sam sat. Eight leaned away from her.
"She's human too." He whispered loudly, knowing everyone heard. Sarah's laugh rang above everyone else.
"Well yes. And that's a good place to start. I'm simply a human. And idiot human who fell in love with an alien-"
"That hurts..." I interrupted her, and she rolled her eyes. Six snorted from next to me.
" As I was saying: John came to paradise as he told you all already. And we met, we started talking more, then all of a sudden Mark James's house was on fire, and I was on the run with an alien. Then he left..." Sarah continued through her story, not stopping as years began to fall. She went through the story of her capture, about her parents and brother. About us finding her, and all of us reconnecting.
Henri gave me a few disapproving glances, and I knew I would hear it from him later. Everyone was silent at the end of her story, and Crayton was the first to speak.
"Your bravery is astounding, dear, and we are proud to have you fighting for us." Sarah beamed, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"Me next?" Marina asked. She spoke her story in a very detached way, as if it had happened to some body else. And I guess in a way it had. She was a different person now, and everything she was telling us came from her previous being.
Marinas story some how led into Eights. He told everyone about being a god, and changing forms, how amazing he felt when we Loric finally found him, and then he brushed over the fact that he died. But went into great detail about the fact that he was now alive.
"It went like this: I was dead, and then one minute I woke up, but everything was fuzzy, and my chest hurt really bad, and I was super dizzy. I saw someone moving in the corner, but they were gone by time my vision returned to normal and I had no idea at the time that it was Five. Then they brought Ella and I together, and we began to piece together, that someone was helping us. We had these crazy theories, that line Setrakus was secretly on our side. Turns out it was Five, but hey, that's pretty cool too. So go team."
That led us to Ella. She told all about her and Crayton together, and about what she and Marina did. About being with all of us, and Crayton dying. She went over being reunited, fighting in the huge battle at the West Virginia cave, about learning how to control her legacies, and then being taken to the Mog cave. She explained to everyone that Setrakus believes she is his heiress, but that she doesn't want any part of him. Clayton looks at the floor for that part of the story, and I wondered if he knew anything about Setrakus's claims.
Ella's story somehow led to Nine talking, and he spoke with his constant dramatic flair. People laughed at the appropriate parts of the story, and he went straight thought, not stopping for anything. He explained this situation with Maddie, all the way through to go Sandor died. To getting captured, and me finding him, to his side of our numerous adventures, and the huge battle. He talked about getting split up, and described to the new guys his most recent torture. Six shuddered beside me, remembering for the third time her torture.
After Nine, Malcolm stepped forward, "May I?" Henri looked to him, his eyes twinkling with the smile on his face.
"As long as you don't claim to be 'just some human.'" Sarah laughed freely, as did Malcolm, who nodded as well.
"Okay, I was assigned to assist you Loric as you came to earth for the first time..." He went through seeing us all, and his shock, and through being captured and taken. Being tortured, hooked to machines, and used. To still wondering whether he was safe to be around. Explaining how they got a hold of his memories and all the things he knew about that. He went through Adam finding him, to them finding Sam, to them finding us.
Adam took his chance and began his story. It was the most I've ever heard him talk. He told us about growing up a Mog. About his sister Kelly, about being tested on and getting Ones legacies. About lying to his family to save the Loric, and failing. About finding Malcolm, and what they did together, getting to find Sam. Thinking he wasn't going to make it, then finding us again in the pent house when it was burning. It was all new to me, and I was surprised I hadn't heard the story before.
One found that to be opportunity enough for her to go for her story, and we all listened with eager anticipation. She borough us through her death, being the only Loric not protected by the charm, she lived protected by her cepan, until she 'grew up' and started acting out. Did a lot that almost got them killed. She said dying didn't hurt, but that even though she's 21 she still looks the age she did when she died, and that makes her angry.
Then we all got kind of quiet.
"Okay, well I died too. And then they took my body and stuck me in that room. And then I was alive again." Adelina said quietly, tuckinf her hair behind her ear. "And before you ask, I don't remember death very much. It's like a long nap." Her demeanor seemed very peaceful and calm, and I saw where Marina got her ways from. I hope that Adelina had a dark streak like Mar did though. Comes in handy in battle.
"My story is generally the same. I remember being tortured, and the final blow. Then I woke up and saw you guys." Katarina explained quickly, with a shrug.
"I remember the battle, and all of it. And dying then... Five was standing over me."
"But-no." Six definitely had the same thoughts as me. We cremated him. I watched Henri burn.
"We cremated you." Sarah explained quietly. Saying the thing none of is wanted to say.
"Well then..." Henri trailed off, clearly not knowing how this was possible.
"Maybe they knew then. Or hoped that they could resurrect you and bring you back to life, use you as bait or something." Six offered.
"Brilliant, but that doesn't explain how he is actually here." I retorted, not liking the fishiness of this whole situation.
"We-er they, took his body when you weren't there." Five said sheepishly, looking at the ground. Six'a eyes flitted over him, and then back to me.
"Why?" She didn't catch the harshness in her voice, but the rest of us did.
"Because, like what you said. They had no idea what we could do with it. So they took it, and put a fake there."
"Riiiight. Like they just have freaking decoy body lying around?" She bit back, clearly angered by this. Even though Five had nothing to do with any of it.
"Sort of yes..." He backed up slightly.
"Right. Duh. Because what they just anticipate our deaths, and get the damn bodies ready for replacement?!" She was walking towards him. It dawned on my that she was probably just venting all her anger in him, the pent up emotions for the last week were spilling out on to him. But I had to stop her anyway.
"Six. Youre losing it." I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
She stopped and stepped back, bringing her hands up to her temples. "I'm sorry." She walked out the door. I managed an apologetic look at Five before following her out. The door closed and I stopped, realizing that I was the third guy to go after Six just today.
Then I realized I didn't care. She isn't a player like that. And she needed my help. I ran down the hallway, mentally begging her to not be invisible.
That was a long chapter. And a long wait. Sorry guys. So review. Sorry it was kinda boring. It was rough to write. And to review. So let us know what you think. Try to do better next time friends.
Love~
Bea and Keelan