John~
The bedrooms in Nine's Cali hideaway were great and all. Well al the rooms were, the whole thing was. But really the biggest thing for me was the secrecy of it. The private beach that was surrounded by huge dunes covered in dune grass, with private property signs and invisible electric fences. And the huge gates that surrounded it. and the amazing security cameras that were mounted at every corner. It was really more like a wall. And it surrounded the whole property. There were currents in the water that would shut down boats power if they got too close. It was just state of the art everything. And I knew we couldn't stay forever, but this was exactly what we needed at exactly the right time.
Nine pulled up a chair, and sat down next to me with his breakfast. Seeming to read my mind he said, "I wanted to keep this place hidden until we were at a place of total desperation. And standing in the woods not knowing if my brain was my own it felt pretty desperate." He took a huge bit of eggs, and looked around the room aimlessly. Everyone was still asleep. It was four in the morning. We should have been asleep.
It had been three weeks since our trek through the woods. A lot had happened since then. Six and One were becoming friends. Okay, they could talk and not bite each others faces off. And Ella's legacies were getting stronger. She could age up now, and she did it, almost all the time. If a stranger walked in here, which they couldn't because of all the security, they would think she was a regular 18 year old girl. The only time she looked like her normal self is when she slept. Which she now did with Nine. They're like a thing I think. But I haven't asked him about it yet.
Also in the last three weeks Five has gotten fully involved with us, following our trainings, giving us Mog secrets. I don't know if we can fully trust him, Six doesn't either. But I think that we need to at this point. We can't be wary of any of our own.
Which brings me to Adam. He's been having these weird dreams lately, about his family, and he won't give anyone much detail besides One, who sometimes is just a total airhead. So I'm just hoping he knows when it's the right time to let us all in on what's going on inside his head.
Down the hall a door opened and closed, I knew it was Six. She was always up nowadays. Sleeping plagued her with nightmares, and she pushed herself to train her way back into her old self. Everyone else though it was working. But Me sam and Sarah were in her room with her at night. We heard her cries and screams. She wasn't giving into the fear. She was holding out in the badass way that only Six could. But I could see the effects of the horror movie that played inside her head.
"Coffee's on the counter." Nine said as she walked out, not bothering to look up from the newspaper he acquired from some hidden corner. The three of us kind of had this tradition now, of getting up too early. I cooked Nine breakfast, he made Six her coffee just the way she liked it, and she got two bowls of cereal, always putting just a little more milk in mine than hers, because she knew I like to drink it.
A minute later she was sitting to my other side, bringing two blue bowls and her mug to the table with telekinesis. IN about thirty minutes Sam would wander out of his room. Six would give him the last few sips of her coffee. If she finished it all he would take her mug and make his own coffee, drinking it black. Everyone else was always up by seven at the latest, but never out of their rooms before 6:30. So it was nice to have this time just the four of us. Six only said it once, but we were the core of the group, and she believed it was important for us to stick together, and stay balanced with each other. Hence the unspoken but still enforced morning traditions.
"I think we need to focus on combat training legacies today." Six said. Another reason we three got up so early, because we were the leaders at this point. Everyone looked to us at different times of need. So we planned out the daily schedule together. We also made a chore chart, but that was just so we didn't get stuck with the crappy jobs. "Like healing under intense pressure," Six continued, "And TK when there are guns going off, and me staying invisible after getting shot and stuff." Every day there was another focus. And we were so obviously growing stronger. I just hoped it would be enough when the time came.
"That seems like a really good idea. But I think we should go for real this time." Nine was always supporting the idea of using real weapons, without the ability to kill. He also kept reminding us that if anyone dies Five could just save them. I would then remind him of the emotional baggage that comes with death, and the fact that we shouldn't just kill people to bring them back to life. Six agreed with me heavily.
"I think we should use the water to our advantage. Swimming, drowning. We don't know what they have up their sleeve at the Mog caves anymore." I was opposed to real death. But near death was something I could handle.
Six nodded, her mind obviously working. She then looked at the clock in the kitchen.
"Can you..." I nodded and got up, so did Nine. He went into the kitchen to get a Loric chest out of the hidden safe in the pantry, I went with Six into the living room to help her with the process. As much as she could pretend the mental wounds didn't affect her, she was still missing a great deal of skin on her back. And Five had this healing cream stuff that was obviously Loric in his chest, s we had been rubbing that on Six's back since we got here. And slowly but surely her skin was returning to normal. We did it when everyone was asleep so that no one would see her cry, and so that she didn't have to take off her shirt in front of everyone here.
Also because the smell of burning skin made everyone very nauseous, and that's kind of what it smelled like when we did this.
Nine came back, and Six was already on the ground, a pillow by her face for her to scream into. The first time we did this we were not so prepared for how bad it would hurt her.
(two weeks earlier) "Guys!" Nine called from the kitchen. "I got it. Get Six to take her shirt off." Things were still difficult with Six and her memories. Everyone was just trying to give her space to breathe. But she wanted her back to be headled some, because she really could barely move.
"Nine will that hurt?" Henri asked, really seeming uncertain about us just applying it to Six's back without any knowledge of what it would really do.
"Could it get much worse than this Henri?" Six tried to joke, but clealy already knew the answer. It could, and he could tell she really didn't want it to. We got everyone except Sam, Sarah, and Henri to go outside and just have some fun after our strenuous work out that morning. Six was on the ground on her stomach, the lose shirt she was wearing lifted up over her head.
"Okay wait. What if it really hurts her a lot?" Sarah asked, starting to look a little worried as nine walked in with a metal container full of the green goo in his hands. Sam got shifty when he saw the silver metal. He still struggled with flashbacks too. He subconsciously rubbed a hand over the biggest scar on his arm.
"What does it look like?" Six asked from the ground, trying to turn her neck to see. Sam knew she got startled seeing the same silvery metal, so he stepped in her line of sight.
"It's green."
"We're sure this will work? Even if it hurts?" Sarah asked again, now looking at Henri.
"Something about Loric healing is that it usually gets worse before it gets better. So I would say we know it's not working if it doesn't hurt." Six visibly winced.
"Well shit then. Just do it." Sam knelt down next to her, and she grabbed his hand. "It can't be that bad... right?" She was starting to look nervous.
"Okay. I'm going." Nine used the tips of his fingers to scoop out the grainy cream, and after taking a deep breath he began to rub it over Si'x back. The sizzling was instant, and her scream followed not soon after. The smell of burning flesh filled the house, and Eight came rushing back inside as Six cried out.
Sam shouted from her side, and looking down I saw that she was squeezing his hand. By the look on his face there was a really good chance she broke it.
Nine jumped back in surprise, but Henri seemed to expect this. "Do it again." He commanded Nine, who nodded grimly, and without warning rubbed more on Six's back. She cried out again, writhing, but seeming to understand that this had to happen. Using his good hand Sam wiped a tear from her eyes, As Nine did it again, and again, and then a final fifth time. Henri told him that was enough for now, and he went back into the kitchen to put the container away.
"Okay, ready?" Nine asked, just as Sam walked out of our room, and over to the table to get the half finished mug of coffee Six left for him. She nodded and turned her face into the pillow and screamed. None of us really responded anymore. But after the damage she did to Sam's hand she wouldn't let any of us touch her when we did this.
His hand was fine thirty minutes after anyway. I healed it right up. But she still felt bad.
The horrible process continued, and the horrible scent filled the air, but it was soon over, and Six pulled herself up to a sitting positon, wiping at her eyes.
"God. Nothing feels as awful as that does. I don't even know how it could do so much good yet cause such intense pain. And that smell. It's just foul." She pulled her hair up in a bun, and walked into the kitchen, just as a door squeaked open down the hall. Ella came out, looking older yet again, and smiled at me. Things had been tense between her and Six since the brain washing issue at the Mog cave. But it didn't interfere with training exercises so I was just going to let them handle it on their own time. Also because I had no idea what I would even say. Or who I would side with. It was all just risky business.
"Hi John." She plopped down onto the couch next to me. It was hard for me to be so near to her when she wasn't her normal young self. And I think she knew that. But didn't change anyway.
"Hey Ella. How'd you sleep?" I asked, not looking at her directly, but trying to pull Sam in the room with my TK so I wasn't alone with her. She was also prone to just start crying since things went so poorly with Six, and I just never knew what to say.
"John!" Six shouted from the kitchen, storming into the living room, fully recovered from the pain she just endured. "Sam and I are trying to have a conversation. Could you please stop trying to drag him out of the kitchen by his ankles?!" Ella snorted a small laugh, and looked away bashfully. Six regarded her with her eyes but didn't say anything. Eight and Marina walked out of their room at the same time, both yawning heavily.
"Six, some of us need a little extra beauty rest. Could you please keep it down?" Eight joked, punching her in the arm as he walked by. Poor guy.
"Oh Eight, I was just about to say the same thing to you and Marina. I mean the two of you last night-" Marina threw her hands over her ears.
"SIX!" She whined loudly, turning the deepest shade of red I've ever seen. Ella smiled again, but still seemed detached from the fun of the conversation. Nine joined the fun, glancing up at the chore chart for the day.
"Conveniently for everyone who is still sleeping, you two are on breakfast duty." He said nodding at Marina and Eight. And so the monotonous schedule continued. They knew not to cook for me, Nine, or Six. And only to make enough coffee for 6 cups. And that we wouldn't have to go wake anyone else up, because they were all already awake. Just sitting in their rooms waiting for the smell of breakfast to drag them out.
Sarah walked down the hall and sat next to me, rubbing her tired eyes. "Morning guys." She said trying to cover a yawn, looking out the window at the peaceful waves and rising sun.
Adam and One came out next, with Henri, Kat, and Adelina trailing behind. The three were talking about something serious, and continued into the training room without acknowledging our anyone who would have greeted them. Sam then went into his dads room, where Crayton was also.
Things were getting better between Six and One. I think Adam sat her down and had a talk to her about team unity. Just like I sat down with Six and had a talk about now acting like a ass sometimes. It went pretty well. Probably because Henri put her on bedrest for the first week we were here, so she couldn't just get up an attack me like she probably would have if she was all healed and healthy when I said those things to her.
Six plopped on the ground across from Ella and I, rolling her head in a circle, not saying anything. Ella shifted uncomfortably, she was never this close to Six for this long. Nine was standing in the doorway watching Ella closely, his arms crossed. He kept glancing at Six, who sat still as a stature, legs crossed underneath herself. Ella began to chew her lip. It was really getting ridiculous how uncomfortable she was around Six. Nine continued to watch from the door. Ella's morph slipped for a second and she shrunk back into her natural self. Nine's jaw got tight as he saw her discomfort. Six opened her eyes, and looked at Ella.
"Are you okay?" Her voice didn't hold edge. She seemed sincere, but like she wasn't sure how to ask. I didn't understand what happened between them, but my mind constantly went back to the fear Ella had when we were walking away from the woods after the explosion. She just kept telling us Six was going to hate her. That Six's brain was going to hate her. It didn't make much sense to me, but she didn't seem to know how else to say it so that we would all understand. Six didn't seem to outwardly hate her now, but at the same time none of us could read her mind.
"Yes I am." Ella said, clearly trying to regain enough focus to shift back into her new self.
"You don't have to do that." Six said, looking up at Nine for a minute, but clearly talking to Ella. The young girl shrunk into the couch shaking her head.
"I don't know what your talking about." Ella said, her voice shaking. Six's eyes hardened just slightly as Ella grew more upset. I glanced at Nine who hadn't moved from his place in the doorway. Sarah looked at me, also uncertain of what was going on.
"You don't." Six restated in a way that made it clear she didn't believe Ella. Ella stood up, as she did she shifted into the older version of herself, shaking her head definantly. Six stood up to. Standing just a little taller than Ella still. "I think you do." She said, her voice now holding an edge. Ella's eyes grew steely, and she pushed past Six, walking down the hall. Nine glared at Six accusingly.
"She's shifting to try and ease her guilt. But it's draining her energy. She needs to take a nap by lunch every day. It' stupid." Six responded to his look, raising her eyebrows in a challenge.
"Yeah but she needs time Six." Nine got soft when it came to Ella. None of us had a good guage on their relationship though.
"She needs to just move on. I did." Six looked at him strongly, willing him to keep fighting her. It was in her nature to challenge people's emotions like that. I always blamed it on the fact that she was alone for so much of her life.
"Did you Six? Really? Because we all hear you at night when-"
"Nine." Sam cut him off sternly, entering the living room at the perfect time. Nine would go to the end of the earth protecting Ella. Even if that meant making Six angry with him. Even if it meant hurting Six.
Nine rolled his eyes at Sam and walked down the hallway into his and Ella's room. Six's jaw was tense before she briskly walked out the back door, jogging down the beach. Sam took a deep breath and sat next to me where Ella was.
"People are so high strung right now." He said slowly, looking out the door where Six was getting smaller and smaller as she ran. "We've been here for a while." He added for good measure, looking at me, trying to figure out what I was planning I think. I didn't really have a plan though. I was content to stay here for as long as we could. And it felt like we could be here longer.
"I think we just have to sit together. Maybe even have another time of sharing stories. Reminding each other what we went through, and that we're all fighting on the same team. Everyone here has the same goal in mind. We just have to remember that we can't achieve anything without each other." I said, just as Nine and Ella walked back into the kitchen together. "We also need some really good combat training to get out all this pent up anger." I added for god measure, ignoring Sarah's sigh at the thought of us all attacking each other at full strength.
"Eat up guys!" I called to the late risers who were finishing their breakfast. "Once Six gets back we're going to start our training for the day, and you're gonna want all the energy you can get for this one.