CHAPTER 87
FEAR
December 12, 2010
4:02pm
Charlottesville, Virginia
Russell Family Home
"Dammit Peter!" Adam yelled throwing the cordless phone against the wall. The phone shattered upon impact and fell to the floor.
"That isn't the way Mum taught me to hang up the phone," Keegan said from the doorway. "In fact I don't think that she would be pleased with me if I decided to hang up the phone that way."
"No Keegan I don't think that she would be," Adam sighed flopping down on his bed.
"Your talk with Peter didn't go well I take it," Keegan commented.
"And that would be the world's biggest understatement," Adam muttered staring up at the ceiling. Keegan startled Adam when he spoke it had been quiet for so long that Adam had just assumed that Keegan had left
"Jason and Jack are scared. Jason more so," Keegan said leaning against the door frame, looking more vulnerable that Adam had ever seen. "I-I am too."
"Keegan why aren't telling this to Mike and Maddie," Adam asked the boy.
"I don't know," Keegan confessed. "I needed someone to confide to and so do you. Neither one of us want to burden anyone else. I've already caused enough problems. Mummy and Daddy and Mike and Maddie don't talk about it but I can sense that I scare them. Mummy and Daddy don't know how to deal with having a child that is as powerful as me. And you..."
"I've caused everyone enough worry by running off that I don't want to add on to the grief list by telling them that Peter is afraid to come home," Adam finished.
"You can tell me I don't mind," Keegan offered.
"It's not like you can't just take a peek inside and tell what I feel," Adam teased, and Keegan quickly flashed a small smile. Keegan's smile disturbed Adam a bit. Adam could see Keegan becoming another Jeremiah, a boy who closed off his emotions as to not burden his family.
"I don't want to be closed off," Keegan said reading Adam's mind. "I don't want to keep all my feelings secret."
"You can tell me I don't mind," Adam echoed Keegan's words, patting an empty space on the bed next to him. Keegan climbed up on the bed next to Adam.
"I don't want Jack to die," Keegan whispered. "He and Jason and Amy are my best friends in the world. I don't want to lose that."
"I know the feeling Key," Adam said ruffling the boy's hair. "I also know that it's hard losing someone you love. By the time I was your age I lost both my parents. I don't remember my Dad that much and in a way his death hurts the most, because I didn't get to spend as much time with him. You haven't know Jack and Jason that long, but you have a bond with them that is grows deeper everyday. And no matter what happens you will always have that bond with them."
"But still I just want for there to be a happy ending, why can't our family have that?" Keegan asked.
"Because, things aren't always easy for us, and sometimes our stories don't always end the way we wish them to. But depending on the way you look at it things do end happily."
"There's nothing happy about losing someone you love," Keegan argued.
"Who said that we are going to lose Jack. This family has a habit of pulling miracles from up their sleeves," Adam tried to reassure Keegan.
"Forgive me, but during my years at the Centre I managed to develop a pessimistic view of life," Keegan muttered.
"My Mom -my biological mom-use to tell me that if you think bad thoughts then bad things will happen and if you think good thought than good things will happen," Adam told Keegan.
"That is a ridiculous theory," Keegan stated.
"Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. But I've always taken her words to heart Keegan. If we allow ourselves to think that we have already been beaten then the Centre has already won. We have to believe that Jason's powers will develop; that he will succeed in healing Jack...that Pete will come home," Adam whispered the last part.
"You two are very close aren't you," Keegan observed.
"Yes...at least we once were. I'm worried that he really won't come back. He's so frightened that he won't be forgiven for the things he did as John. What Pete doesn't get is that to us he isn't John," Adam said.
"But to Peter a part of him is John. To him he is still very responsible for the things he did as John," Keegan told Adam. "We all have a darkness in us Adam, Peter at the moment is trying to accept his."
December 12, 2010
10:12pm
Carthis, Scotland
The New Centre
"Why wasn't I told who you were?" Peter questioned Ares, Ajax, and Achilles.
"They were afraid that we would reject them," Alex said from her spot on the bed glaring at her newfound cousins. The young girl still wasn't too happy with the fact that the boys had kept their paternity secret.
"Be nice Alex," Bane whispered placing a gentle hand on Alex's shoulder.
"I'll be nice when people stop keeping essential facts from me," Alex grumbled.
"Don't make me start calling you Katherine," Bane threatened.
"That name only works when my parents call me that," Alex replied.
"I don't care, those boys are my responsibility, just as to Jake, you are his responsibility. They are the brothers I never had, and despite their tough exterior they are still little boys grieving over the loss of their father. Not to mention they are your cousins," Bane reminded Alex.
"You two are well aware we can here you," Ares told Bane and Alex.
"Good," Alex replied. "Now listen, do any of you remember what it was like to heal, how you did it?"
"We were five when we got our healing abilities," Ajax began.
"We were seven when we lost them," Achilles continued.
"I remember that our powers were tied to our emotions. We had to be completely calm, not allowing anything to get to us," Ares said trying to remember what it was like to have his healing abilities.
"That's not exactly true, there was one emotion that our whole ability was based on," Achilles reflected.
"And what emotion was that?" Peter questioned part of him already knowing the answer.
"Love," Achilles replied. "You see we were never able to heal anyone other than each other, unless it was someone we truly cared about."
"And at the Centre there weren't many people we cared about," Ajax murmured.
"There was this one girl," Ares said.
"There's always a girl," Alex grinned.
"Her name was Kyra, Ki for short, and she had the cell right next to us. Ki was part of the Midas project too, and the four of us trained together," Ares paused pain flashing in his eyes. "One day -about a year before, we lost our abilities- there was an accident. It was my fault we were learning to load guns, how to use them and my gun went off. Ki, was hurt...bad. I-I ran over to her, and I don't know how I did it but I pushed back everything and just focused on Ki. I healed her. If I hadn't she would of died, you see the bullet went right through her right lung."
"You loved her didn't you?"Alex asked.
"I was a six year old boy," Ares said dismissivily, yet a hint of red crept up his neck. "I didn't even know what love was back then."
"But you know what love is now. Tell me the truth, did you love her?" Alex pressed.
"He still does," Achilles muttered.
"Where is she?" Peter questioned.
"On SL-12. Ares usualy goes to visit Ki around midnight," Ajax grinned.
"Will you two shut up," Ares hissed growing redder by the second.
"Why cousin I do believe that you are embarrassed," Alex teased
"Don't we need to let everyone know that love is the trigger to get Jason to heal," Ares said in attempt to change the topic. Alex decided to ease up on her cousin and let him change the topic.
"I'll get Air and the others to tell Will and Alley. Will and Alley are the ones who train the younger kids to use their powers, hopefully they can help Jason," Alex said.
"Right now it's our only hope. Dad and everyone else are still trying to find a cure just in case. But in the end this is all going to come down to Jason," Peter spoke.
December 12, 2010
4:28pm
Charlottesville, Virginia
Russell Family Home
"Hey there Christian, what are you up too?" Will asked entering one of the many work rooms on the third floor. Jason sat on a stool tinkering with a bit of electrical equipment on the worktable in front of him. Will found it odd that Jason was alone, rarely was he ever with out the company of Jack, Amy, and Keegan.
"You only call me Christian when some thing is wrong," Jason remarked not looking up from his work. "Usually I'm just Jason, or Jace. I'm Ace when you're in a particularly good mood. You call me Zane when I'm in a little bit of trouble. And when I'm in a lot of trouble I'm 'Zane Jason Christian Russell'. But you just called me Christian. I'd ask what was wrong but I know."
Will walked over to his little brother and picked the boy up, holding him close. "It's okay to be scared you know," Will whispered.
"Never said I was scared," Jason mumbled against Will's chest.
"I know you didn't. Yet that doesn't mean that you aren't scared," Will replied. "But it's okay to admit it, no one will think any less of you. We all have our own fears."
"Even you?" Jason asked.
"Even me," Will admitted, and Jason looked up at Will shock on his face.
"You never get scared Will. You're the bravest person I know," Jason said.
"I bet you didn't know that the day you and Jack were born was one of the scariest days of my life," Will said.
"Really?"
"Really. You can ask anyone around here for confirmation. I was a walking wreck for a solid four months," Will told the younger boy.
"But why?" Jason asked.
"I was scared that I wouldn't be able to protect you or Jack. I wanted to be able to keep the two of you safe from all of the evils of the world," Will replied.
"That's silly. You can't keep me and Jack safe from all the bad stuff," Jason said. "You couldn't stop us from being taken," Jason added so softly Will could barely hear it. It was the first time, either Jason or Jack had ever willingly mentioned their abduction or stint at the Centre.
"How I wish that you and Jack were never exposed to that life. It was the one thing I prayed for everyday since I learned that Mom was pregnant with the two of you," Will said.
"D-do you still dream about being at-at the C-centre?" Jason questioned. It was one of moments that Will wanted nothing more than to lie. He understood that Jason's true question was if what Jason had endured at the Centre would stay with him for the rest of his life. All it would take was one simple word, and Will would either give Jason hope or destroy it.
And yet, Will couldn't lie to his brother, not when Jason was looking up at his elder brother with his blue eyes that were begging Will not to lie. Will brushed a lock of Jason's red hair from out of the boy's eyes a placed a kiss on Jason's crown.
"Yes," Will said finally. "I still have dreams about the Centre."
"Thank you, for not lying to me," Jason replied.
"Our family has been lied to long enough. You know something, though I still dream about the Centre, the funny thing is, I never dream that much about what the Centre did to me. I dream about the night they took Alley from me. I dream that she never walked back through that front door."
"How did the Centre take Alley from you?" Jason asked and Will realized that Jason knew so little about his family's history. Will decided it was time to change that.
"The Centre made Alley sick, a lot like how they made Jack sick. Only Alley's illness wasn't real, it was a trick. But it seemed real enough. The Centre managed to fake Alley's death. That day... that day was the worst day of my life," Will began. Will then spent the next two hours telling his little brother all about his life at the Centre, both the good times and the bad.
"I don't think I could have survived what you did," Jason told Will.
"Yeah you could have. You're Jarod and Morgan Russell's little boy, it's in your blood to fight," Will said ruffling Jason's red locks.
"I was ready to give up. I did give up. I wanted to die Will," Jason admitted tears rolling down his face.
"Christian," Will sighed, pushing back his own tears as he pulled his brother into his arms, allowing his shirt to be dampened by Jason's tears.
Up Next: Jeff and Will worry about their children's futures. And Jack is frighted by the prospect of dying.
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