Wow, look at that. An update and it didn't take an entire year! Anyways, this one maybe a lil bouncy, fingers crossed it's not too bad. As always, thank you for all the love last chapter and I can only hope this one isn't a big disappointment either. Enjoy and I'll hopefully see ya'll soon!
"The end has been decided."
Ray's fingers curled tighter into Brooklyn's jacket where he was holding onto like his life depended on it, his heart dropping and feeling like he got punched in the gut again.
"No." Ray shook his head, pulling away from Brooklyn's hold on him quickly as if he couldn't stand being close to him.
Shooting up to his feet in a flash of green, the rain pouring down harder around them and white bolts of lightning broke across the darkened sky.
"No, I'm sending him away! He's going to be safe! Who is she?!" Ray spat out as fast as he could, the rooftop under his feet feeling as though it was fixing to pull right out under him again.
"Even with your decision it hasn't changed this, she'll find him! No matter where you hide him, send him off, he is her end goal." Brooklyn yelled back as he stood with him, though kept his distance.
Ray shook his head, the rain water slipping down his face and hair. "But why? He's not one of us, why does she want him? Where did he get the wings, the heat?" He tried to make sense, as much sense as he could with what had been shown to him.
Feeling bile slowly rising up in his throat again, though this time he wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold it down.
"Do you know who she is?!" His voice roared as another crack of lightning shot across the sky, this time the bolts were lime-green in color.
Brooklyn shook his head, "I can never see her face." He lied through his teeth.
"And was this the vision you had the other night, when you called me at the restaurant?" Ray pressed, he hadn't heard a babies cries while there but there had been fire and smoke.
"No, they're two separate visions."
Ray's entire body went stiff, "And has that one changed?"
"No."
Brooklyn let a sigh pass through his nose, head lulling along the cold wall of his cell as he let the memory replay in his mind. Although he had lied about knowing who Anette was, had known all along who she was, he hadn't lied about his vision; the one where he was engulfed by flames as a babies cries could be heard around him yet with no way of knowing where it was coming from.
For all he could have known it was Kain that was the baby he heard, or any baby out there, but now with the world being set on fire at least that part of his vision was making sense even if he had no way of knowing if it had changed or not now.
Kai… Or more Black Dranzer had finally been released. The devastation was already immense, buildings being brought down to nothing but rubble, families torn apart and turned to ash in his wake. Granted it was still their little corner of the world at the moment, though with the world watching and looking for a way to jump in and stop him, stop Anette, there was talks of war on the horizon now against this being nobody had a clue on how to beat.
Bullets tore through his flesh and bone only for him to stand back up, blazing fires being left behind him as he turned around and disintegrated whoever opposed him.
Pairing him beside Anette's Savages, she had her own army that could withstand the might of any army now. It didn't matter how many bullets they put through their heads, they all just got back up anyways.
It'd been a week now, so he'd heard at least, that Black had been left to just roam out into the wild and do what he pleased and in turn please Anette more than she ever had been pleased in her entire life.
For as long as she could see, as far as Brooklyn could see, there was no stopping her. She had won, even if she didn't have Kain at her side right now, she would eventually and he shuddered at the thought now the longer he'd been able to sit in his own pity and remorse.
Love… He thought that's what he had, but of course the love he wanted was so far out of his reach that he did what he thought was best at the moment. Changing and flipping sides like the toss of a coin in the air.
His first goal, revenge on Kai for stripping him of his God-like status years ago when they were nothing but teenagers.
Second goal, hide Anette's identity from the other's when he figured it out so she could be pinned as the mastermind behind everything while he pretended to wipe the blood that stained his hands clean.
His third goal… It hadn't even been a goal. Nor was it really on his mind at the time but given the past four years it was almost inevitable to avoid, and once more he began to question everything. Tried to atone for his sins and stop her only to find out that he was no God. He was nothing but a mere human even still with his powers he'd been forced upon having by a man he loathed. That they all loathed.
His goal now? Just to survive another day in the new hell he'd gone and found himself in, get back to the people he betrayed and continue to atone for everything he ever did. And that was only if they listened to him.
He surely wouldn't…
But he did miss them, all of them. Despite the past and his anger and distaste for Kai himself, he learned to like the other's that had been a part of Kai's team back then when they were merely kids as he worked beside them while hiding his intentions in the shadows and darkness like he always did.
Yet, that didn't stop him craving the touch of the one that was out of his reach. The look in his eyes whenever they would talk, work or not, and of course having to endure that same anger and distaste for Kai whenever he'd be brought up in conversation.
Brooklyn had learned to bite his tongue, often, Ray was gone. Far too gone from his reach but that didn't stop him from stretching his arms out to just get a light touch when he could.
Like Anette had said, it was a weakness and although he agreed with her, Ray was also his strength. Tangling together and forcing him everyday to do better, to fix the mess he allowed to happen so long ago and stop what inevitably happened anyways.
Now… He was at a loss on what to do at all though. No longer with his weakness and strength at his side, he was left to just sit in a cold dark cell day in and day out being consumed by his own guilty conscious and wishing he could at least stretch his arms out one last time to get that ever so gentle touch from the other just to keep him going.
He'd do anything for it, sell his soul again to the devil just for a glimpse of those eyes that filled him with strength and determination and desire.
Though, he knew, if they ever did cross paths again those eyes he loved so much would harden in an instant and be the last thing he'd ever see as Ray put a bullet between his own eyes and he wouldn't blame him for it.
With another sigh through his nose, bringing his knees up to his chest and his arms around them, his wings left to lie around his back and shoulders, Brooklyn hugged into himself and let his eyes slip closed.
Not knowing the time anymore he didn't get much sleep, didn't eat much either given how Anette seemed to not really care for him and only fed him to keep him alive enough.
He'd gone to asking himself why constantly, why she hadn't just killed him when he knew she could have done so easily instead of voiding out his powers and breaking his wings that were still in the healing process even after months of them having been broken.
What could he give her that Kai couldn't at this point? He hadn't ever been on her radar as a humanized weapon, so why was he alive? Not that he wanted to die, far from it, but what was his purpose now?
Whatever it was, he was left to mull it over in his already jumbled up head for days to come in the silence of his cell alone.
"Mind her head now, there you go. Look at you, big boy." Tala cooed as he shifted Kain's little arms around to cradle Nikita's tiny head in them, having the boy sitting on his own legs at the moment so he could watch and help.
"Baby?" Kain asked as his big crimson eyes looked down at the tiny bundle Tala had gone and plopped into his arms.
"That's right, that's your baby sister. Can you say 'Nikita'?" Tala asked with a proud smile on his face, chest swelling.
"Nitito." Kain repeated in a baby slur back to him, eyes still focused down on his sister in his arms.
"Eh, close enough. We'll work on it." Tala huffed a laugh, reaching around and stroking Nikita's soft head over Kain's tiny shoulder.
It wasn't long before Kain got bored of it, wasn't like he could play with the tiny bundle he was holding and began to shift and wiggle himself on Tala's legs to get off of him to go play with all the cool gadgets and gizmos in the NICU room.
Tala's heart leapt into his throat, first thought was Kain would just toss Nikita to the ground and quickly swept her out of his tiny arms and brought her up to his chest as Kain wiggled down off the chair and toddled around the room.
"Stay out of there, those aren't for you." He quickly scolded as Kain was popping drawers and cabinets open across the room.
He let out a hard pressed huff as his words seemed to go in one pointed ear and out the other as Kain continued to rummage through the drawers he'd opened, tossing out blankets and diapers onto the floor.
"Never mind then… Just do that…" Tala muttered under his breath, shifting Nikita in his arms as he felt her wiggle in them as if she were uncomfortable.
He couldn't really believe it, she was a whole week old now, not much bigger than when she was born but so far everything was going great. She was gaining weight, her body heat was being kept at normal temperatures, all her testing was coming back perfect.
Because, in his eyes, she was perfect.
She was just also too tiny to take home right now. Which meant that he was taking every day trips to the hospital to come and spend time with her as much as he could, and sometimes that meant having to drag their first born along with him if Ray wasn't up to getting out of bed since he too was still on the mend after the labor and delivery of their precious princess.
Like promised, after he'd given birth and they both had a good long hard cry and more fussing over how tiny and stupid she was for coming early, Tala brought Ray to her room where he got to finally hold her. Bringing more tears to both their eyes as well as a wave of relief upon them.
It'd only been a week, but it had been one hell of a week with Ray being discharged and having to leave Nikita behind to taming Kain while home amongst the stitches in his stomach, and Tala fretting about the one they left behind and counting down the time till he could go back and see her, they were both running on little sleep and high emotions that seemed to clash every now and then.
He'd thought having a child with the man he loved would bring them together more, but so far it only seemed to be separating them. The love, at least on his end, was still there, but they never had time for each other anymore amongst hospital visits and Kain or work, which they were both taking a much needed break from given everything going on in their home lives.
As much as he wanted Nikita home just to be able to hold her in his arms whenever he wanted to, so he could protect her the way he wanted to, he was also dreading it in the same breath.
If having one child was running them this ragged where they barely slept together at the same time, heaven only knew what bringing home a newborn would be like that needed to be fed every other hour during the day and night. At least by the time Nikita could come home Ray's stitches would be dissolved and he'd be in better working order than he was now, but even still there was still a lot weighing on his mind just like there was on Tala's.
At the end of the month, just when they'd be able to bring Nikita home he'd be going under to have the chip in his head overridden. What that potentially meant in the long run no one was quite sure yet, it'd been a long time since he'd been able to harness Wolborg's full powers and although his potential to go Savage was slim to none, he still worried that he wouldn't be able to control it like Ray was having troubles controlling Driger's full powers right now.
They both needed to be trained, again and possibly again and again until it came to them as naturally as breathing did.
Yet, that was only if he even came out from the entire operation itself.
Although the others helping Bryan work on it were being left in the dark, especially Ray, there was a risk to it. One that Tala, despite knowing what could happen, was willing to do if it meant adding to their numbers.
The chip could ultimately fry itself and with it snuggled up inside his brain somewhere it could do more harm than good. Either killing him instantly or paralyzing him in some way.
Bryan had ran the numbers until his eyes fell out of his head, though ultimately left the ball sitting in Tala's court and now with not just one babe to protect but his own flesh and blood with them, the good outweighed the bad in his head and come heaven or hell he was going to do it regardless of Bryan's numbers and warnings.
He had to.
"Alright buddy, think you've torn the place up enough. Why don't we head back home to Baba?" Tala asked, carefully easing himself off the chair to put Nikita back in her fish tank.
"Baba?" Kain repeated, head swiveling so fast on his tiny shoulders from the pile of medical supplies and diapers and blankets he'd gone to throwing about the room on the floor he was sitting on.
"Yup, let's head back home. Get some lunch." Tala nodded, setting Nikita down in her tank and under her light swaddled up in her thin blanket.
"I'll see you tomorrow baby girl." He spoke softly to his world, brushing the pad of his thumb over her tiny forehead before forcing himself away and going to cleaning up the mess his oldest had made.
"Don't just sit there, help me out." He ordered as he stacked the tiny diapers that fit into the palm of his hand up.
Kain seemed to come to life, grabbing diapers and other things he'd found on his adventure to help and brought them over to just dump inside the first drawer he'd gone and left open.
"…Never mind… I got it." Tala sighed with a small smile curling up his lips.
Keeping the one-year-old at bay from the mess that was slowly being cleaned up, Tala finally had the floor cleared and things put back where they rightfully belonged when he picked Kain up and brought him to his hip to carry him out.
Mariah sat at the small table surrounded by the other Elders, at the head her brother sat in the silence as the meeting was coming to a close. They'd been there for hours now debating what the next step would be and how to proceed with what had been happening on the outside world for the past week.
She still had her reservations about it all. Kai was part of Ray and Tala's lives, all of their lives, and Kain's father. Though right now he wasn't him, as far as they knew, it still felt wrong to just destroy him over something he more than likely couldn't control or even knew what he was doing.
Nor, was it sitting well within her about keeping it quiet from Tala and Ray when it concerned them the most.
Yet, Lee had put his foot down about it. She was to keep her mouth shut about what she saw on the TV and news. The cable lines having been cut from the houses all but their own, so no one was able to see what was going on out there now for the safety of everyone else's minds, and in Lee's perspective, keeping Ray where he was safer while in recovery.
That she agreed with him on. No doubt if Ray knew what was going on he'd be the first one out there putting himself in danger trying to go against Kai and even with Driger's powers at his fingertips, he didn't know how to properly use them which was another hurdle that had been put up in their path that they all needed to overcome when the right time came.
As often as they'd gone to sitting in the same meetings for the past week, none of them were closer to an answer. Guns and heavy machinery wasn't doing the trick, and although there were a select few that had all their bitbeasts powers fully, Lee wasn't sure if it was enough to overcome Black and the Savage army Anette had at her own fingertips.
They'd been backed into a corner, although a safe one for now, it was just a matter of time before their own safe haven was engulfed in those blue flames that were taking over the span of Russia right now. For how long they had until that happened was just another unanswered question, and one Lee was desperately trying to grab hold of now.
If they went in now, despite their powers, they would be slaughtered on the spot no doubt. Not even Tyson's armored skin would save him, he'd just be cooked alive in it like he was his own personal oven. Max's super strength would only serve him good if he could crush Kai's windpipes, but that would mean having him get close enough to do so. Not even Lee's own speed and lightning could save his own skin against Kai right now, or Anette given what little they knew about the extent of her powers.
She said she couldn't die… Was that just a bluff, or was it true? Already her newly created Savages couldn't die, so there had to be some truth into it. And now, watching the news feeds in secrecy, Kai couldn't die either as he simply always got up from the ground and walked away as if he just woke up from a nap.
Whatever it was Anette had done to Kai, in Lee's eyes that was no longer him in there despite Mariah's pleas to wait it out and see. That they didn't have all the information and although she was right, he didn't want to risk it. Couldn't risk it anymore than they already had.
They'd gone on and ran with their tails between their legs, bringing in who they could trust and left the rest of the world to deal with what was rightfully their duty and mistakes to right.
If they had Brooklyn back that could even out the scores, given how advanced he was compared to all of them, but with him having vanished right when they needed him the most it was still a lost cause on what to do.
Where he could have gone was just another question nobody seemed to have the answers for, but wherever he was, Lee wished he had him on his side right now.
"So, as it stands-" Lee started only to get cut off by the main doors to the room being thrown open, disturbing them all as Emily came running in panting and out of breath.
Lee's pupils slit instantly as he rose from his seat, "What is the meaning of this?!" He bellowed out at the intruder.
"I-I'm sorry for interrupting, but I have th-this!" Emily panted, at her side lay a piece of paper in her hand that she quickly held up and waved about in the air as if it were a golden ticket.
"Well, what is it?" Lee questioned as Emily gathered herself up some more, sweat still running down the side of her face as she made her way up to the long table he and the other Elders and sister were all sitting around.
"It's a code, a message." Emily started as she stopped at the end of the table, meeting Lee's eyes head on from the other side of it.
"From Kenny."
It was quiet, finally, for once. After the long assault of gunshots had constantly rung in his eardrums along with the emergency sirens blaring, everything was finally at peace and quiet…
Just the way he liked it.
Quiet. Content. A void in his head almost where there was no sound coming in or out, just a blank slate.
The annoying voice in his head that had plagued him had finally been silenced for a while now too, which he was more than grateful for as well since now he could completely focus amongst the silence without the distractions around him.
He didn't ever bother talking to himself either, so not even his own voice filtered in and out of his head or past his lips. He didn't bother asking questions or fretting over things he couldn't answer.
He knew where he came from, why he was where he was now, and what his purpose was and that was enough for him to continue doing what it was he had been doing the past week since he clawed his way out of that same darkness that filled his head and broke those chains that were holding him back.
He was, at last, free. Able to stretch his wings, burn the world and take over like he'd been created to do and stand above it all like the God that he was.
Currently, having found a perch on a high beam that hung off the side of a tall building that overlooked the devastation and carnage he'd just left behind, he was crouched down, coal black wings hung around his bare back with a sphere of blue flames encasing him like an egg to keep him protected as he scanned the scene for what seemed the hundredth time.
It never got old either; the destruction and blood shed, or the heat he felt entrapped by as it surrounded him and those he ensnared in his flames. If anything, it was a rush, only driving the desire for more bloodshed and leaving more bodies behind as he went.
The world's armies could keep trying to knock him down, it only just added to the death toll, another notch on his belt and more stains on his already bloodied hands.
But, if that woman thought he was doing this for her. For her pleasure or her ideals and plans, she was gravely mistaken.
He did this for one being, one purpose, one pleasure, and that was HIS.
And he wasn't nearly done…
"A-are you sure?!" Lee stuttered as he looked over the paper Emily had handed over to him, his own hands beginning to shake as he looked it over again and again and the scribbles along all the coded words that Kenny had put down.
"I am, more than sure. He's alive, Lee. We have to do something." Emily pleaded with him, "We can't leave him there."
Lee swallowed hard, the news and evidence sitting in his hands too hard to ignore as well as the expectant stares facing him right now to take to give her an answer right now.
There was too much going on at once to even consider going in and trying to rescue Kenny from Anette, and that was even if this was actually Kenny and not some kind of trap.
They'd already been baited by Anette before; he couldn't risk it happening again and right in enemy territory either.
"Who else knows?" He finally managed to ask, looking up from the paper to Emily who had come to stand beside him.
"Just you, and well everyone in this room currently." Emily answered, gesturing out to those at the table still.
Lee nodded some to her, weighing his options again. "I have to think this over, we can't just run in there. You know this." He began to reason, quickly seeing the hopeful light in Emily's green eyes fade quickly.
"I can't, won't, risk anyone." He said more firmly, "But I promise we will figure out a way to help him." He placed a hand to her shoulder.
"You have my word, Emily. I'll do what I can, but you need to give me time."
Emily took in a heavy breath, though she understood and gave a slow nod back to him.
"And right now, if you could, keep this between us right now. No one else is to know. This information does not go past this room, is that understood?" Lee nearly growled out to her, the hand on her shoulder gripping tighter.
Emily flinched a little at the grip, though once more nodded back to him. All the while Mariah worried her bottom lip between her teeth, scraping the skin of it with her fangs and averted her eyes away from the other two.
"Do you mind if I keep this?" Lee asked, holding the paper up some between him and Emily.
"Not at all." Emily responded quickly, she had extra copies anyways.
"Thank you." Lee sent a smile, releasing the woman's shoulder and letting her step out and walk away, the doors to the room closing behind her once more.
Easing himself back down into his chair, Lee placed the paper down on the top of the table and kept his eyes down on it.
All of Emily's deciphering scribbles clearly pointing out that it had to be Kenny that sent the message, detailing where he was and that Black was out and about (which of course they knew about now), but the bigger problem was that the Village didn't know about it yet.
"I want two guards on her, 24/7. If she so much as whispers what she knows to anyone, I want it dealt with." Lee's voice rumbled out of his chest darkly, eyes still downcast on the paper.
Mariah's eyes shot back to her brother, yet once more held her tongue as the other Elder's made noises or voiced their approval in Lee's quick decision.
"I also want this burned." Lee said as he sat up more, shoving the paper across the table to the center of it where an aged hand reached out and pulled it closer to an Elder down the middle of the table who once more gave a nod at Lee's decision.
"This doesn't leave this room. We are not doing a rescue mission, even if there is a possibility that Kenny is alive, the risk is too great to go back to Russia right now." Lee said as he stood back up from his chair.
"As it stands, we're at an impasse on what to do about Kai and Anette or even these new Savages. Our own numbers aren't nearly enough, nor is the strength or powers of our people enough to take them on right now. We'll have another meeting next week, see how things have progressed on the outside… But given how this week has gone, we can only assume it'll be the same. Dismissed." He waved off before turning his own back to them all and heading for the door sat at the back of the room.
Collectively the Elder's rose from their seats, old bones cracking as they stood while Mariah continued to sit and watch as the one who had taken the paper Emily brought in to burn folded the paper in half to put in his pocket.
Something began to swirl in her stomach as it tightened with nerves, though what it was she wasn't sure at the moment but just how many more meetings did they need to sit through and hear and see the same things over and over again to come up with the same solution each time?!
Nothing was going to get done if they at least didn't try, and right now her brother wasn't even trying!
The risks were there, they had always been there since day one! When they were all stripped to nothing but their underwear and had tubes and wires shoved inside their bodies, and stuffed inside those tubes four years ago, there were risks to it! Risks they all agreed were not as great as the threat that had now reared it's ugly head at them.
This is what they were made to do, fight fire with fire so to speak (even if none of them could wield it), but that was the entire purpose of the Fusion Project. Over the years they'd already lost a good amount of friends and good people to the whole mess, on both sides of the coin, just how many more did Lee want to sacrifice before he woke up with the answers he was searching for?!
In Mariah's head, enough was enough. She may not have Galux's powers at her fingertips like Lee and Ray did now, but she was still a force to be reckoned with and if there was a way to rescue Kenny from Anette then that helped the other's still working on the Reversal serum.
She'd had enough of sitting on the sidelines, doing nothing, waiting for something to be done or something to happen to them.
Rising from her own chair as the room was finally cleared, pink ponytail swishing, she let herself out of the large council building that sat in the heart of the Village and climbed into her awaiting Jeep parked outside.
Luck would have it, on her way towards the facility they'd gifted Emily and the other's with, said other female was still walking herself back towards it along the dirt path as Mariah pulled up beside her.
"Need a lift?" She called over to her, Emily raising her head at the familiar voice and giving a questioning look though climbed into the empty seat beside Mariah all the same.
"I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon." Emily commented as Mariah continued down the road.
"Well… I have a few things I wanted to talk to you about." Mariah said quietly, remembering her brother's order of having Emily being watched now.
"But not right now, nor here." She said in an even quieter whisper, pressing the gas pedal down harder and taking them out of the Village towards the outskirts where they'd originally landed when they had arrived months ago.
Keeping the Jeep's engine running, having parked in an open field, Mariah threw the Jeep in park and turned to face Emily's bewildered face.
"I want to help you, but if I'm doing this then you need to listen to me and listen carefully. Crossing Lee, as Head Elder, comes with heavy prices and even as his sister I would have to pay for them."
Emily opened her mouth to speak yet was cut off when Mariah held a hand up to stop her.
"He's having you followed now, 24/7 observation so you don't let on what you know about Kenny or Kai and Black Dranzer. As I'm sure you know by now the rest of the Village doesn't know what's been happening on the outside, we did it to keep everyone from panicking. Especially Ray and Tala right now given the birth of Nikita, and so early too.
"But even still, it's been a week now that Kai has been on this rampage and we still have yet to come up with a solution on what to do. But, if Kenny is actually alive, then we may have a chance."
"B-but how?" Emily questioned while she had the chance to.
"He was the one heading the entire Reversal sector back in Russia, with the headquarters coming down and us being led to believe he died, we had to start from scratch. If he is alive, if we can get him back, that helps us moving that along. Right? And we're also missing people still who did go through the Fusion Project with us, like Johnny and Oliver." Mariah started explain, watching Emily's eyes blow open wider.
"You think she has them?!"
"I don't know, but again, nobody knows where they are or why they haven't been in contact with Ray for a long time now. But they were in our compromised database. And know what we do now, about Bryan, it's a safe bet to assume she's done something to them." Mariah said as she shook her head, though didn't want to go and really jump to major conclusions like that.
"So… Where do you fit into all of this?" Emily asked skeptically, her eyes narrowing some.
"You said there's a high price to pay for crossing your brother, and that he now has me under surveillance. How can I trust you?"
Mariah's face fell quickly, grabbing up Emily's hands over the center console in her own.
"Emily, please. I know when we first met we didn't get along well, but when you lost Trigator I just wanted to be there for you. After that I thought we had developed some kind of friendship, and even more so doing what we have these past four years. I want this to stop before it gets out of hand before the world is thrown into an all out war and there's nothing left!
"If going and getting Kenny is the first step to preventing that war then I'm behind you one hundred percent, but you have to trust me in this just as much as I trusted you when you put me in that tank four years ago." Mariah voiced in a pleading tone, her hands tightening their hold around Emily's gently.
"We can't go alone…" Emily started after having expelled a heavy sigh, "Nor do I think it wise we try and get Lee on our side with this either."
Mariah nodded her head in agreement, a wobbly smile stretching along her face as she seemed to brighten up.
"You leave Lee and the way out of here to me along with everything else, I'll come to you once I have everything ready. Okay?"
Emily stared back into Mariah's yellow eyes for a moment, giving another slow nod back to her. Being under watch she wouldn't be able to do anything but wait for Mariah to come to her, but even then she still worried what kind of price they were all going to have to pay for going behind Lee's back like this.
Though right now, having Kenny back with them all outweighed the threat of Lee than anything else. They needed him, just as much as he needed them to rescue him from that hell hole Anette had dragged him to.
"I should have everything ready by the end of the month." Mariah affirmed, letting Emily's hands go only for Emily to grab her by the arms, startling Mariah.
"We can't at the end of the month! Tala is supposed to undergo his surgery at the end of the month!"
"I… I wasn't going to pick Tala…" Mariah stuttered out, eyes wide at the sudden outburst.
"But… Wouldn't it be better to have him and the other two who know the Abbey?" Emily questioned.
"I was thinking the same, but Spencer was my main choice because I know about Tala's surgery and Bryan needs to be here for that. So they stay back, and Spencer goes with Max and Tyson and I."
"You?!" Emily spluttered.
Mariah nodded almost proudly, "I'm much faster than all of them, if they need to get out in a pinch, then I can do that. I'm not gonna just send them out there on their own like that."
Emily sighed once more, feeling like her nerves were fixing to break and ran a hand down her face.
"Okay… Okay… We have the team, but what about weapons?" She asked.
"We have a whole armory." Mariah chuckled back to her, "Don't worry, let someone else be the brains for once. I got this. Let me do this."
Emily just looked at her skeptically for a second, "Okay… Not like I have much of a choice right now it seems anyways."
"That's right, you don't. So. Let's get ya back to the Village now before Lee's spies start wondering where you are." Mariah chuckled again, turning back around in her seat and throwing the Jeep in drive.
"Are you going to tell Ray and Tala?" Emily asked quietly as the wind swept through the hair.
Mariah frowned some, shaking her head slowly. "They have too much going on right now… They don't need to worry about this."
"But Kai…-" "I know! Just… We'll tell them when things have settled down… Ray… He's not… He's not doing good right now…" Mariah sighed quietly, keeping her focus on the rocky path before them as she drove.
"What's going on?" Emily inquired.
Mariah turned her head towards Emily, her yellow eyes watering quickly as her bottom lip trembled.
"I don't know…"
After coming into a quiet and dark house, setting Kain down from his hip, Tala flicked the lights on and let out a sigh at just how quiet the house was. Knowing full well Ray was probably still asleep even if it was noon now, and more than likely hadn't moved an inch since he left the house after breakfast himself.
Watching Kain for a second, making sure he steered his tiny feet towards his pile of toys in the living room instead of anything of value or breakable, Tala head towards the hall at the back and towards his and Ray's bedroom. Sure enough, just like the rest of the house, it was dark and quiet with no lights on and Ray was there on the bed fast asleep curled up on his side.
As used to the sight as he was, it was a sight that was beginning to outstay it's welcome. It was a rarity if Ray ever got up to eat or even shower since giving birth, and although Tala knew the stitches would be hindering him some, the nurses had gone and explained they wouldn't hinder him like this.
Which then had Tala begging the question as to what it was that made Ray stay in bed all day and all night.
Stepping into the room, leaving the door open and flicking the lights on, he sat himself down at the end by Ray's feet and gently stroked his leg under the thin sheets.
"Hey, Kit, c'mon time to get up." Tala cooed at him as he continued to stroke his leg.
Ray's ears twitched, brows furrowing in sleep as he shifted some and tried to curl his leg closer to his chest but with the sting and pull in his lower abdomen he couldn't and stopped short when a small hiss passed through his lips.
"Time is it?" He groaned out in his half-awake-half-asleep daze.
"Nearing one in the afternoon. Why don't you get up and I'll make us all some lunch?" Tala pitched, retracting his hand back to his own lap.
"…I'm not hungry." Ray mumbled back to him, closing his eyes again.
Tala's face contorted some as he stared at him, Ray's hair such a mess that he could hardly see his face and was sure the last time he'd even taken a brush to it was three days ago.
"Ray… Talk to me, what's going on?" Tala asked as gently as he could, though of course this wasn't the first time he'd asked the same question and always ended up walking away empty handed.
"I'm fine. Just tired." Ray answered his go-to response.
"You're always tired, but probably because you sleep all the time. When was the last time you got out of bed?"
"An hour ago to pee." Ray muttered, his voice lowering some in agitation.
"That's not what I meant." Tala huffed as he rolled his eyes, "I meant to eat, to bathe, to play with our son or come out and see our daughter!"
Ray flinched a little on the bed like he'd been physically slapped, this time having no words to say back to him as he lay curled up on his side.
He really didn't have an answer for him at the moment, he just didn't feel like getting out of bed or eating right now. Even sitting down and playing with Kain, stitches or not, was a chore in a half that he just couldn't do right now let alone getting out of the house and going all the way to the hospital to see Nikita.
He felt drained, no matter how much sleep he got. He felt miserable, no matter how many good things there were going on around him at the moment. Nor could he ever remember a time when he ever felt this way before, where he didn't just feel useless to those around him, but where he truly actually believed it for once and this time he didn't know of a way to change it.
"I'm sorry…"
"I just don't know what to do for you if you don't talk to me, Kit. So what's going on? Are you not happy, or are you hurting?" Tala pressed, putting his hand back on Ray's leg under the covers.
"No… I'm fine… I'm not hurting. And I am happy." At least, he thought he was…
Sure, not having Kai right now was horrible but he had Tala still and that was something to be thankful for. Especially after the past four months of ups and downs and now having Nikita and Kain.
All three of them were happy, healthy, and that was something that should in turn make him happy. But, he couldn't get himself to smile about any of it or even bring himself to ask how Nikita was doing whenever Tala came back home from the hospital.
It wasn't that he didn't care about her, he did, he loved her dearly and would protect her no different than he'd protect Kain and Tala. He just… He didn't even know.
Tears pricked at his eyes, closing them again and forcing his legs up higher to his chest.
"Just let me sleep some more. I'll eat when I'm hungry."
Tala looked down at him, part of him wanting to drag him out of bed and throw him into a shower but didn't want to risk ripping the stitches or being electrocuted if he ended up pissing Ray off.
Pushing himself off the bed, Tala wandered back to the bedroom door and paused before leaving. Looking over his shoulder at the lump he'd left behind and hearing the soft shuddering breaths coming out of Ray now as he tried to fight them back from being too loud.
"When you're ready to talk, I'm ready to listen." Was all he gave him, flicking the lights back off and slipping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
As the rest of the week carried on, no talking ever happened. Ray seeming to slip further and further into his own head as he refused to move from the bed unless it was for the bathroom, forcing Tala to juggle the house and Kain best he could on his own.
His visits to Nikita were having to be cut down from his normal two hour visits to a brief walk in and check up with Kain at his heel and always causing a fuss, and currently he couldn't get a hold of Mariah to babysit for him as she was too busy doing something for her brother (so she said at least), and with his surgery coming up faster as the days continued to pass by he was nearing the end of his rope.
They were meant to be finishing Nikita's room, since that had to be halted with Ray going into an early delivery, and since he was running a one-man show now with a one-year-old always on his hip he could hardly see straight enough to tie his own shoes at the moment.
Enough was enough, he couldn't bring a newborn into this horrible sad environment that was essentially being run by child that couldn't even put on his own shoes without help! Nor could he juggle both kids at the same time or leave them for his surgery that was in two days with Ray if all he was going to do was lay in bed in the same clothes and his unwashed and unbrushed hair.
The stitches should have been dissolved by now, so he didn't have to worry about that, but Ray still had fangs and claws and lightning that he couldn't properly control that Tala was still wary about getting in the way of.
Though with one day left, another night of juggling dinner just for him and Kain, the babe making a complete mess of it all over himself and the floor which resulted in a long and drawn out bath before bedtime, Tala went to bed with an aching back and head. Slumping in it beside Ray who seemed numb and deaf for once to everything going on around him, and unlike most nights Tala laid on his back instead of trying to cuddle up to him and hold him.
After hours of going in his own head with the best way to get Ray up in the morning, Tala's eyes finally fell shut on him and he rolled and put his back to Ray in his sleep.
Though beside him, Ray lay awake at the unfamiliar cold shoulder he was getting and lifted his head over his own to look behind him at the back of Tala's head and let out a deep sigh.
He really wasn't expecting Tala to be okay with how he'd been acting, but if he could figure out a way to stop it himself then of course he would. He didn't like being this useless to him and Kain like he had been, nor skipping out on going to see their daughter when she needed both of them around.
It just hurt. All of it did and he didn't even know where to pinpoint where exactly it hurt the most or why.
He did want it to stop though, just as much as Tala, he just didn't know how to make it stop like they both wanted.
He knew he stunk, knew that it wasn't a mend to everything and Tala may knock him away, but he rolled over and put his arm over Tala's side as he scooted up into his back. Breathing in his familiar scent, letting his eyes fall closed once more as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Morning was slow, almost painful when golden eyes cracked open. After a long night of silently crying into Tala's shoulder before drifting off again into a dreamless sleep, Ray pulled himself away and rubbed at his face to get the crud and oils off his skin that had built up over the month of not bathing.
Tala was still fast asleep, hadn't even flinched during the night once and so far it was quiet down the hall for once which meant Kain was still asleep in his own room for the time being.
Kicking off the sheets that were just as dirty as he was, Ray's feet touched the cold wood flooring of the room as he shuffled his way out into the hall for the bathroom.
Whatever was wrong, it still clung and hung over his head like some dark cloud that fogged up his head. When he caught sight of himself in the mirror, that he normally avoided every time he came into the bathroom to just pee, he hated whoever that was staring back at him. He didn't really recognize that man that had dark circles under his bloodshot and puffy eyes, now the rats nest of hair that was tossed and knotted all over the place. Even if he wanted to take a brush through it, it'd probably only break the brush in the end.
Stripping himself of the same clothes he'd been stuck in by his own making for the last weeks, he let them drop to the floor and kicked on the water for the shower and letting it run to get warm before stepping inside.
At first the water felt like hot needles piercing his skin, even if the water hadn't been turned on that hot, making him wrap his arms around himself yet didn't move out from under the warm spray as his hair matted down around his face and could feel the grime and dirt wash out without having even put his fingers through it (and that was even if he could).
Losing time just standing under the water, his ears perked at the sound of the bathroom door opening as Tala stepped into the room.
"Kit?"
"Tala… Can… Can you get the scissors?" Ray's hoarse voice asked through the shower curtain.
Tala stared at the curtain, brain processing the question for a minute before giving a silent nod and stepping back out of the bathroom for the kitchen, returning a few seconds later with the scissors Ray had requested and pulled back the shower curtain.
"Oh… Damn…" Tala bit his lip before he laughed. There wasn't anything to really laugh about in this moment, but the way Ray looked with his messed up hair drenched and still tangled all around him it certainly was a sight to see.
"Can you?" Ray asked with the saddest kitty eyes Tala had ever seen in his life.
"Y-yeah. Of course." Tala said quickly, eyes snapping away from the dark hair and setting the scissors on the counter to undress himself before stepping into the shower behind Ray with the scissors in his hand again.
"How short though?"
"Just all of it…" Ray answered, Tala not missing how quickly he watched his shoulders tense.
"Are you sure?"
Ray wanted to shake his head no, but instead gave a silent nod and held his breath.
"I'm sure we can get this taken care of…" Tala bargained instead.
"Just do it!" Ray snapped at him, the quicker it was over and done with the easier it would be.
Tala sighed at being snapped at, but he knew how much Ray prided his hair… At least before he used to…
Taking up the wet and tangled locks in one hand, finding most of the knots near the base of Ray's neck he took the scissors higher above the knots and started to cut through the thick hair.
Slowly, bit by bit, as each section was cut away and the weight was lifting off from the back of Ray's head and slivers of dark hair was washing down the drain past his feet, the entire weight was finally lifted and Tala was left with the rest of it all in his hands to save it from clogging the drain.
Setting the scissors down on the shelf in the shower, he pulled the curtain back again and grabbed the towel hanging up and threw it down on the floor followed by the hair he'd been holding onto.
"Done." He announced even though he was sure he didn't have to.
Ray's hand slowly lifted up to the back of his head, fingers splaying through the shorter ends of his hair where they laid flat against the back of his neck.
"Looks good." Tala voiced.
"Thanks…" Ray whispered back, letting his hand drop down to his side and almost jumped when pale arms slithered around his middle and Tala's face buried into the crook of his neck.
"Gonna tell me what's been going on now?" Tala whispered against his wet neck.
"I don't know…" Ray answered in his whispering voice, his hands coming and settling over Tala's around his stomach decorated in stretch marks.
"I just… I don't feel happy like I know I should be, and I want to be happy… I have you, Kain, Nikita… And it's not even about Kai right now, or the rest of the world… It's just… Since having Nikita everything hurts and I don't know why." He explained as his voice began to break on him.
"It's going to be okay; a lot is going on." Tala tried to soothe behind him, pulling Ray closer into his chest.
"She's gonna be okay, has already put on a pound since she was born. She's even starting to get some hair in."
"No. I know she's going to be okay. It's not that… I love her, I do. I'm just… I don't know." Ray shook his head, fighting the tears best he could at the moment.
"You don't feel connected to her, like you did with Kain?" Tala supplied, at this point he was just shooting in the dark for an explanation to help them both though.
"I think so. But it felt like even if I went in to see her it wouldn't help, so I just didn't. Then I felt like shit for not going in to see her when I should have, and then felt more like shit for leaving you to do everything on your own. And then it just kept cycling around in my head that nothing was going to get better even if I did get out of bed or not, so why bother at all?"
"You're depressed?" Tala asked as he pulled away, gently turning Ray around to look at him in the face.
Ray nodded before he shook his head then shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know." He cried back at him, "Why would I be? That's what isn't making sense even to me right now. I don't want to feel like this, I don't want to just lay in bed all day and night and not do anything to help you or avoid our children."
"So… Why'd you get up today?" Tala asked, gently caressing Ray's cheek and wiping the water and tears that were cascading down his face with his thumb.
"You-you have your surgery today… I-I wasn't going to le-let you go alone." Ray hiccuped back at him as his chest heaved, forcing the tears best he could to still down his face and out of his eyes.
Tala faintly smiled at him, yet if Ray wasn't doing good in his own head at the moment, the last thing he really needed was him there with Bryan in the same room while he was knock unconscious getting the chip in his brain overridden or potentially fried to a crisp.
Yet, he did want him there at the same time. Just like Ray had wanted him there when he gave birth to Kain and Nikita, he wanted him there for the comfort of knowing he at least wasn't completely alone.
"If you think you can, but you really don't have to come with me." Tala voiced quietly.
"I have to… I know it's not good enough to make up for this past month, but I want to be there for you." Ray said a bit more firmly, clutching onto Tala's hand that was still cupping the side of his face.
"And I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry for something you can't control. We'll get you checked out, see if there's a way to help you. I know what it's like feeling this way and being stuck in your own head, it's not fun for anyone involved, I just wish you had talked to me sooner." Tala soothed again.
Ray's bottom lip wobbled, unable to come up with anything else to say but another 'sorry', he went for moving into Tala's chest and burying his face in it as his arms slipped around his back and held onto him.
Tala reciprocated the hug, holding him back and placing the side of his cheek down on Ray's head.
"Whose going to watch Kain though?" Tala finally asked after the more peaceful silence had befallen them aside from the soothing sounds of the water from the shower head falling around them.
"Where's Mariah?" Ray asked as he peeled himself back enough from Tala to look at him.
"She said she's busy with something Lee has her doing." Tala shrugged at him.
"Oh… Well there's plenty of others that we can ask, I'll get in touch with Gary or Hilary and see if they can." Ray said and let his arms drop down to his sides, backing away fully to finish his still much needed shower.
"Okay, I'll see you in a little bit then." Tala smiled a little at the back of his head again, placing a kiss to the top of Ray's head before he went to leave only to have his wrist grabbed and stopped.
Turning to give Ray a questioning look, his mouth opening to speak it closed shut as Ray pulled him in close again.
"Stay with me?"
Tala's smile returned as he gave a nod, closing the shower curtain again and cupping both sides of Ray's face in his hands before pulling him into a much needed kiss.
Dropping Kain off at Tyson's and Hilary's for the time they'd be gone at the facility Bryan was working at, Ray and Tala had walked in hand in hand beside each other.
Sex wasn't a fix for everything, Ray knew that, but it did fill in the gaping hole that had been created between them by the distance he'd put up between them. And although Tala had some good advice that he would look into doing, right now his focus was solely on what Tala needed from him while his own problems were put on the back burner.
Walking into the small building that had been given over to the other's working on the Reversal Process and Bryan's own little side project, they were both hit with sudden nerves at all the computers and tech.
Emily swiveled in her chair as the doors opened and the two walked in, giving them both a faint smile as they walked by before turning back in her chair and focusing on her own work for the time being.
Although today was no doubt going to be hard for those two, it was only going to get harder knowing what she did and had to keep under lock and key. Though at the same time, given how she was being watched, she was also in the dark about Mariah's plans and all that she was doing. All she did know that something was going to happen today, what that was she wasn't sure nor did she even really want to know either.
The less she knew about it, the better off they'd all be.
"Hey, you ready?" Max asked as he popped up from his own chair near the back of the main room next to the back room where Bryan was waiting for them.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Tala forced a chuckle and squeezed Ray's hand in his.
Even with them on the mend, he hadn't disclosed what could potentially happen to him if this whole operation went downhill. Didn't need Ray more worried and upset than he already was, but then if it did down spiral, that left Ray with dealing with it all on his own…
"Alright, well let's get ya in and put to sleep." Max just smiled back to him, opening the back door for the two and leading them into the room.
"Don't punch him this time." Tala joked to Ray as they walked in.
"I make no such promises." Ray smirked.
"Alright, just need you to take off your shirt and lay down here for us." Max instructed as the door was closed behind them.
Tala pried his hand out of Ray's, doing as he was told and laid out flat on his back onto the table in the middle of the room where Max came around him and started placing sticky pads over his chest and on his temples.
"Gonna give you the good stuff now, so just a little pinch." Max said as he tightened an elastic around Tala's upper arm, pressing the needle through his skin shortly after where Tala hissed through his teeth.
"Count to thirty for me." Max said as he went to untying the elastic.
"One. Two. Three." Tala started while Max continued to go about him, fiddling with the computers that he was now hooked up to where his heart monitor began to beep in time with his counting.
"Seven. Eight. Nine."
Ray stepped up closer to the head of the bed, brushing back Tala's twin bangs from his face and offered a smile down at him and got one back as Tala continued his countdown when Bryan walked into the room.
"Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen." He broke off to yawn, eyes drooping on him.
Bryan didn't say anything as his eyes caught Ray's for a brief moment, setting about his laptop on the trolly on the other side of the bed by Tala's head. Working quietly to get it booted up while Tala continued to count and yawn in between, his eyes having fallen closed around twenty and not opening again.
Ray shifted his feet as the room fell to silence, Tala's counting have dropped off at twenty three where he had passed out from the drugs Max had given him and now with the other two focused on working around him he was left to just stand there and watch.
"What're the odds of this actually working?" He finally asked.
Bryan lifted his head up from his laptop, letting a sigh jet through his nose before he stood up taller.
"It's a 50/50 chance. Either the chip overrides like we plan on doing, or it fries on him and causes more harm than good."
Ray stared at him for a second, his eyes going wide as Bryan's words sunk into his head.
"What do you mean more harm than good?!"
"Just what I said. If it fries out on him, then it could do more damage than we're anticipating. What that really means, we're not sure as we don't know until we get there. Either he'll wake up and be fine, a little dazed and confused, or he could end up paralyzed or not wake up at all."
Ray's heart dropped into his stomach, mouth stuttering out words but not able to form anything coherent for a moment before he threw his hand out over Tala's chest protectively.
"No! You're not doing this then!"
"It's not up to you! He asked for this, it's not your decision!" Bryan yelled back at him, "Now either stand back and let me do my job here, or you can get the fuck out!"
Ray's eyes narrowed as they slit at him, "He didn't tell me the risks, we wouldn't have agreed to it if they were this severe!"
"He knew the risks and still agreed to them to help you!" Bryan roared, "Now one last time. Either stand back or get. Out."
Ray hesitated for a moment, looking at Bryan with a hardened glare and then down at Tala's sleeping face below him before slowly easing away from over the top of him.
His heart slamming in his chest fast and faster as Bryan snorted at him and went back to clicking keys on his laptop, Max having stood back and watched the entire blow up and was at the ready to intervene if needed yet seeing no need to he went back to finishing up his own tasks and with a few more clicks and tinkering the two of them stood back and waited.
Ray's breath caught in his throat as Tala's face twisted in his sleep, his body jerking some on the table while his heart monitor began to beep louder as it increased.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing… Yet. It's just barely started." Bryan informed, eyes on the screen of his laptop the entire time as he watched the green bar loading on his screen.
"The chip is inside his brain, snuggled up in the most important parts of his cortex. It's why removing it surgically would be more of a risk than just trying to override it." He continued to inform over the sound of Tala's heart monitor beeping loudly.
"Why was it put in there to start with?" Ray found himself asking, tearing his eyes away from Tala's body jerking on the table.
"Boris thought it good to hide the creation he'd made from the world until the first worlds was done. Tala had always been able to wield Wolborg's powers like second nature but given Boris' plans he wanted to wait it out as a last show of power, so when they put Tala under before his match against Tyson they put in the chip to void them out."
"But why?" Ray pressed.
Bryan shrugged his shoulders at him, eyes still on his laptop. "Can't tell you what ever went through that man's head."
Ray nodded back, not really getting the idea behind the reason for the chip but what more could be done about it aside from this apparently?
His own eyes went back down to Tala writhing on the table, his heart rate only increasing with each beat and beep of the monitor. The sound almost deafening in Ray's ears the longer it went on for, and like Bryan had said it only just started.
After what felt like hours, though really had only been mere minutes, the room began to fill with an icy chill to it. Ray's teeth beginning to chatter and his arms going around himself as did Max's own arms around himself, the blare of Tala's heart monitor still filling the space of the room as it had been.
"W-what's g-going on n-now?" Ray questioned through his chattering teeth.
"What we wanted to happen." Bryan answered as if he wasn't bothered by the cold seeping into the room.
"S-so th-this is good?" Ray asked.
Bryan looked up at him and gave a nod, watching Ray's worried expression relax for the first time since Tala had gone under. His eyes quickly adverting again to the screen of his laptop when his own eyes went wide as the green bar began to turn red and the background of his laptop started to flash at him.
"Shit…"
"What?!" Ray panicked.
Bryan didn't answer him, his fingers quickly smashing buttons left and right on his laptop he nearly broke the keys in his frenzy.
Max rushed up to his side, looking over Bryan's shoulder and his own face dropping quickly at what he read on the screen. Running back to the monitors Tala had been hooked up to, rummaging through the drawers in the cart for a syringe while Ray continued to shake and tremble as the chill in the air only got colder around them.
"What, what's wrong?!" He begged with his voice cracking.
"Not yet Max!" Bryan called without having even looked up to see what the blonde was doing, though knew he'd gone to grab the syringe that would wake Tala up.
Max faltered with the needle in hand, looking from Tala to Bryan and back again a few times though lowered his hand to his side.
"What're you doing?! Wake him up!" Ray cried over the top of Tala.
"NOT YET!" Bryan yelled back at him.
The shrill blaring of the heart monitor kept going, increasing in volume as Tala's body twisted and convulsed on the top of the table, the air getting colder and colder to the point they could see their own breath in front of their faces.
With a few more clicks on his keyboard, the green bar was back and the flashing on the screen had stopped. Bryan standing back from it and huffing a breath of relief, only for the room to suddenly be hit with a dead silence that caused his head to jerk to the heart monitor where a single blue line ran across the screen.
"N… No… No!" Ray yelled, tears not even falling with how cold the room was as his body went to jerk towards Tala on the bed only for Max to come up and grab him around the chest.
"Get him out of here!" Bryan hollered, rushing around the head of the bed to the crash cart in the corner of the room.
"NO! Tala! Tala you can't leave me too! Wake up, p-please wake up!" Ray cried and screamed, kicking and fighting to get out from Max's hold on him but was barely making in dent with the blonde's strong grip around his middle like he was made of nothing.
Sparks rose under his fingertips as he tried to claw into Max's shoulder, having been twisted and thrown up around into his chest to be carried out. The sound of thunder roaring overhead outside that it shook the small building they were in, making Max flinch and duck down while hissing as the sparks zapped through his clothes and into his skin.
"Let me go Max! Let me go!" He flailed and kicked, the sparks turning into thin lines of lime-green bolts rising from under the palm of his hand and up his arms.
Max had no choice but to bite through the shocks and pain he was receiving, it making it harder to get Ray out of the room as his knees went to buckle under him yet kept pushing on to get them out.
Ignoring the commotion behind him, Bryan had the crash cart ready. Pushing the pads into Tala's chest where his body rose up from the shocks only to fall back limp, the heart monitor showing no signs of a heartbeat that he went to rubbing the pads together again.
Kicking the door open, Max went to just throw Ray down on the ground to stop getting electrocuted himself, though as Ray's claws sunk in deeper into his shoulder, he let out a pained cry and stumbled into the door frame. His grip on the other loosening some that it gave Ray enough leverage to pull himself over Max's shoulder higher, the thin bolts of lightning that had been surging up and down his arm and hand being shot out towards Tala's body where they connected and made Tala's body jolt and nearly jump off the bed.
His head came up only to fall back down onto it with a hard thud, Bryan's breath being caught in his throat as the lime-green bolts dances over Tala's pale skin like they were alive and crawling all over him that he couldn't get the pads back on him.
With his vision going blurry, hand bleeding, Ray's head and body slumped down over Max's shoulder who had finally gathered himself back up and carried them out of the room and managed to shut the door behind them with Ray passed out on him.
Being left alone in the silence and cold of the room, Bryan's hands fell to his sides as he stood over Tala's body. Cold tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as the pads dropped and clanked onto the floor by his feet, his own knees buckling under him where his forehead fell into Tala's chest now that the lightning had vanished. His back rising with a shuddering sob as he cried into Tala's almost frozen chest.
"I'm sorry…"
Letting the warm air glide through his feathers, he soared higher and higher through the smoke and flames that he'd left behind him. Twisting around through the air, breathing in the smell of it all and reveling in it all as a smirk crawled up his pale lips.
Freedom had never smelled or felt so good before…
As he kept climbing, higher and higher, a sudden foreign feeling stabbed him in the chest. His wings beating back to steady himself before he came crashing back down to the Earth below him. His hand going to his chest where the pain was and increasing in intensity, though there was no blood or even an open wound.
The pain itched almost as badly as it hurt, even if there was no rhyme or reason to why it suddenly hurt to breathe.
Then, something even more unexpected happened as he caught something trailing down his cheek. His hand coming up from his chest quickly to find his skin wet, yet there were no storm clouds overhead or any rain in the air.
Pulling his hand away from his cheek, his fingertips coming back wet with the tears that had rolled out of him, the smirk that had been playing on his lips fell to a hardened frown at himself.
The hell was this?