James returned the manor the next day and saw some of the guys from last night's raid were still there. They were receiving medical attention from his mother. When he entered they all looked up at him. For some reason he didn't like it.

Last night was an experience. That's how James put it to convince himself. The fact that he'd deliberately killed one of their own last night was eating him away. As he looked for his mom someone called him from behind.

"Umm, excuse me?"

James turned and saw a girl about his age. He'd seen her last night at the raid. He didn't remember her name like he didn't remember most of their names. He was about to speak when Hermione called him over. "Sorry," he muttered before heading over to Hermione. The girl watched him go to upstairs with Hermione.

James saw his mother when he entered the room. Hermione left them alone as she closed the door while leaving. "You wanted to talk about something?" he asked.

"You showed promise last night," she said slowly. "People are really talking about it…about how you and Pan took almost half of Tenille's army down last night on your own. Because there is no imminent leader in this group we all took a vote last night…about whether or not you could stay in this group."

"What was the outcome?" he asked.

"I guess you already know," she said.

"So why do you not want me in on this?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Daphne. "You're my son…my only child and I can't lose you!"

"I don't see aunt Hermione act like that with Pan," said James. "From what I see you are just selfish."

"I don't care if I am selfish," she said, her voice quivering. "A mother has full right to protect her child from a life threatening situation."

"I can make my own decisions too!" said James. "You…You want me to just sit there doing nothing while my own father and godfather are being tortured every day and night?" Daphne didn't reply. "I thought so, too," he said as he left the room, banging the door on his exit.

Hermione came a minute later finding Daphne crying. "Hey, is everything okay?" she asked immediately by her side. Daphne nodded.

James couldn't believe this. He could feel his magic responding to his emotions. He needed to calm down before he exploded in anger and anxiety. He closed his eyes and focused on his thoughts and emotions. Once he'd calmed down he opened them and looked at the beautiful view from the balcony of his room.

He understood why his mother was against the idea of him being on the field. He would've been surprised if she wasn't because no mother would want their child or children to be in any life threatening situations, especially if their children are one of the primary targets. But she also needed to know that he couldn't just sit around. Who knew how his father and godfather were. It had been over a month. None of them had heard about the two since the day they'd been captured by Tenille. Who knew if they were even…No!

James shook his head, shoving those thoughts out of his mind when someone knocked on his door. He turned and saw the same girl peek inside. "Um…is it a bad time?" she asked meekly.

"No, no," said James wiping his tears. "Come in." the girl slowly walked in, looking around.

"Whoa, I've never been here before," she said as she looked at his stuff.

"You wanted something?" asked James. The girl jerked at his voice before fiddling her palms in nervousness. James rolled his eyes. "You don't have to be nervous," he said.

"Um, my name is Ava," she said slowly.

"Hello, Ava," said James. "Is there something you want to ask from me?"

"My dad," she said. James looked at her confused. "Last night during the raid…he was…he was captured by two skrulls."

"Skrulls?" James asked.

"The monsters that attacked us last night," she said. "We call them skrulls."

"Oh," James said. "Is your father…?" he stopped wondering if he was alive or dead.

"You killed him with the killing curse."

James' mind went numb hearing that. The man he'd fired the killing curse on was this girl's father. He didn't know what to say as his legs started to shake and his throat went dry. He somehow went over to his bed and sat down.

"Are…Are you okay?" Ava asked as she saw him nearly faint and walked over to him, supporting him on the bed.

"I…I killed…I'm…I'm sorry!" he could only gasp as he was unable for form proper words.

"You did him a favor," she said. James' head snapped up looking at her with wide yet confused eyes. "You did him a favor," she said again.

"Wha…?" he couldn't understand what she was saying.

"A skrull is one of many dark creatures created by Tenille," Ava said. "They all work directly under her command. Whatever they see or feel she sees and feel and whatever they absorb she absorbs." She still saw James confused looking at her. "Whatever the skrulls kill they absorb its life energy and magic, ultimately feeding Tenille. Whoever was killed last night in the raid on our side, their soul and power lies with her now. You didn't let that happen to my father. When a skrull kills someone that person feels excruciating pain before dying. The pain is rumored to be even greater than a cruciatus curse. When you killed my father you relieved him of his pain and his life force from being taken away by Tenille. I don't know if I would've been able to fight him if I saw him standing on the other side…a member of her army of the dead. So, thank you."

James didn't answer as he kept looking at her in disbelief. He had killed her father and she was thanking him for it? What was going on?

"I wanted to ask, though," she said, "how did you kill him using the killing curse?"

"What…What do you mean?" asked James.

"The killing curse requires the caster to hold extreme hate towards their target," said Ava.

"I didn't…I didn't hold any hatred towards…towards your father," he said. "I barely knew him like I barely know most of the people here. I don't even know why I killed him. I acted without even knowing. I didn't know what I was doing. I know it sounds crazy but I am telling you what I experienced. I am sorry for killing your father but my intention was never to do that. I didn't harbor any ill feelings towards him or anyone else in this house. I barely knew him or anyone!"

He breathed hard as his breath felt short. "Maybe mom is right," he said slowly. "I shouldn't be here. I was better off as a muggle."

He stood up and started to walk towards the door when Ava grabbed his hand, stopping him. He turned around, looking her with teary eyes. "Don't blame yourself for what happened," she said. "You are not responsible for it."

"But…But I killed him!" he said.

"It was a mercy killing," said Ava. "That's how I see it. That's how everyone is seeing it. Plus you and Pan took down the most skrulls last night than anyone of us has before. You can't just leave!"

"I can," he said. "I have a muggle life. I was a fool to come here…"

"And what about your dad?" James stopped and looked at her. "What about your godfather? Pan's father? Are you gonna leave them just like that?" she walked over to him, barely inches away as she looked deep into his eyes. "After Harry and Gohan got captured, our side started to lose people faster than we could anticipate. With you now joining us some of us have gotten that hope back…that we can still win this fight. I don't care how you feel about it but for once think about others. Last night you and Pan did something we had only seen both of your fathers do. It gave us hope that the future might not be that bleak anymore."

James looked at her. He looked her deep in the eyes and all he could see was how he had killed her father last night. He couldn't do it. He was not up for it. He was not built for it. He was stupid to try and be like this. But he wanted to save his father and godfather. That's all that mattered to him but after last night he came to realize there was a lot more to it and now that he thought about it this was only a glimpse of what he'd seen. If Tenille had really taken over the entire magical world then there were countless people under her mercy.

He looked at Ava, seeing her wet eyes something stirred inside him. What was he doing? He couldn't leave them like that. After all it had taken to convince his mother, Hermione and Abe he couldn't back out now. "It is really okay," Ava said. "It is not your fault."

He calmed his mind, bought his emotional turmoil under control as he gave it all a thought. Thinking irrationally would get everyone killed. No one wanted that. He didn't want that. He put his hands on Ava's shoulders, looking close into her eyes. He hugged her whispering a 'thank you' before leaving the room. Ava stood there motionless looking at him go with a bit of blush on her cheeks.

00000

Tenille took the report of the situation. So he had decided to join the fight. She licked her lips as she smiled. Getting up from her throne she headed over to the prisons to tell this good news to Harry. This would be delightful.

00000

"I'm sorry, what?" Pan asked wondering if she'd heard it correct.

"I said I want you to train me," James said. "Everyone's been talking about how our team was the best during the last raid and you know it as well. However, I am not prepared enough to fight properly on the field. I want you to teach me how to manipulate magic without a wand."

"I am part saiyan and part witch so that comes natural to me," she said. "For you it will be a lot harder to do so since you are not half alien."

"Your friend Krillin and other humans of the Z Warriors can do it," James said.

"That's different," Pan said. "That's ki manipulation which allows the user to perform powerful ki attacks. In your case it's just raw magic which is a lot harder to control in its raw form."

"Can it be done?" asked James.

"Yes," Pan said.

"Can you teach me?" he asked.

"Probably but I don't know," she said.

"Can you teach me?" he asked again, this time more seriously.

She looked at him as she thought about it. "Yeah, I can teach you," she said after a few minutes of thinking. "But don't hold much hope because I am not a teacher and I might get frustrated on your failed attempts."

"You won't," James said with a cheeky smile.

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"For the love of god it's feeling your ki flow!" Pan said tiredly. "It's the hundredth time that I'm telling you...why are you so thick up here?" she said pointing to her head.

"Technically it is the twenty-third time that you are telling me this," James said as he struggled forming a ki/magic ball with his bare hands.

"Oh, so you are keeping count?" she said. "That's even worse. Focus!"

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Thanks for reading…