Edited by AuthorSwimmerPoet

Dekard was still lost in the swarm of thoughts brought on by the past nights' events. He still struggled with the fact that the people he considered to be "his" people had tried to kill him, despite who he was. He still couldn't understand the kindness that Ailyie showed him. He knew he didn't deserve it and would have been much more comfortable in his current situation if she wasn't so kind to him. It made him feel guilty for wanting to hate her when she did nothing but try to help him. He couldn't shake the feeling of helplessness and yet every time he was about to be down and out those eyes, those emerald eyes, saved him. How can I be rid of this guilt! Why can't she just leave me to die! These were the thoughts that continued to haunt Dek as he tried to sleep in the bed of the new safe house.

When they had left the previous hideout Dek had admitted to the embedded tracking device in his ankle. Of course an argument of whether to leave him in the middle of the road ensued between Cam and Ai. After that Dek had volunteered to have it removed before they moved on. Cam obliged with a gleam in his eye, cutting into Dek's ankle and removing the device. Luckily for Dek, and frustratingly for Cam, he still had a bit of pewter left in his system to burn, so the pain wasn't bad at all.

Now he lay in bed, unable to sleep, wondering with each passing moment what the next day would bring. Like the night before he found sleep to be elusive, but he sought after it anyway. In his current state he had no will to do anything, and he just stayed in his room. In fact, he couldn't remember if he had even left the room except to use the bathroom since they had arrived two nights before. Ai came by his room a few times trying to inquire of him. He ignored her each time. He had never met anyone like Ai in upper society. He was sure that she couldn't have had an easy life since she was a Twinborn, but she was still the most positive person he had ever met. She was so full of joy. "I just don't get it." Dek whispered to himself as he sat up in his bed and started to stare out the window.

The night was a mist filled one. Something he hadn't seen in a very long time. He remembered the old tales of how Allomancers were somehow connected to the mists and so they were called mistings. The old tales from millennia ago claimed that Allomancers were born of the mist and they even spoke of Allomancers who were so powerful that they claimed power over all the metals and not just one, the Mistborns. Dekard couldn't image what the war would be like if Mistborns still existed.

Ai stood on the balcony of her room. Standing in the mists made her feel that her connection to Harmony was deepening. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the special earring that she wore whenever she needed to speak with Harmony and slipped it into her ear. "What am I supposed to do? I know you tell me there is something special about Dekard, but what am I to do if he refuses to accept it? Harmony?" Then in the back of her mind, like a whisper, she heard. Give him time you will all come to see the role he is to play. At that moment the mists eddied around Ailyie in an embracing motion and she removed the earring. As always Harmony was cryptic and open-ended, allowing Ai some peace of mind but leaving her to make her own decisions.

It was getting late and Ai felt well enough to finally go to bed. She stepped down and back into her room and closed the doors to the small balcony before making her way to her bed.

When Dek woke up he was still propped up against the wall in a sitting position. Staring out into the mists had calmed his nerves enough so that sleep could sneak up on him. Why did the mists comfort me? I never remember feeling this way when I was younger. Then there was a knock at his door and he rolled his eyes, assuming it was Ai trying to get him to come out of his room again.

That assumption was short lived because not two seconds later Severith kicked the door into the room. The door flying off its hinges startled Dek and he was sitting up in a flash with a dumbfounded look plastering his face. Sev just smiled and tossed him a vial of pewter solution. Then he pulled out a dueling cane and charged. In the split second Dek had to react he was going to ask what was going on. Then he thought better of it and used that amount of time to down the pewter and leap out of bed. It wasn't a moment too soon because as soon as he moved Sev came crashing down on the position where Dek had been sitting.

After he landed to the side of his bed Dek grabbed the table and ripped two legs off it with a pewter powered yank. Sev quickly jumped back toward Dek. Dek, dodging to his right, ran out the door to the open foyer and Sev followed, constantly on the offensive, not letting Dek get in a position to turn the tides. The two Allomancers floated around the room like razor sharp feathers on a gust of wind. The grace, control, and power that pewter gave the two of them was amazing and the other people in the house just stood at their doors and watched with awe as they fought.

Dek could feel his pewter reserves starting to diminish and he began looking for a chance to get to the satchel that Sev had slung across his body. He had seen Sev pull the first vial out of the bag and assumed that there were more in there. How can I get into that bag? I need to sever the strap or something so I can take it. Dek thought, just seconds before Sev reached into the bag and pulled out another vial of pewter for himself. Sev hadn't noticed that another vial of metal had caught on his hand and dropped on the ground beside him. At that moment, Dek saw a chance to replenish his reserves so that he could put an end to this stupid fight. In fact, Dek didn't know why he was fighting with Sev. Why did he attack me? Is he acting on his mistrust? Did Camis send him to assassinate me? With that thought Dek flared what pewter he had left and made a dash for the vial. The burst of speed and his trajectory wasn't what Sev was expecting and it threw him off. Dek easily rolled passed a surprised half-swing from Sev. As Dek came out of the roll he held the vial in one hand and was popping the cork of the top with his thumb. A second later the solution in the vial was making its way down Dek's throat and into his system. "You thought that you would be able to outlast me with your bag of pewter, but you made a mistake. Now I'm going to end this!"

Sev didn't say a word. He just smiled and charged Dek. As soon as Sev moved towards him Dek felt the metal reserve in his system and he began to burn it. Dek didn't feel the enhanced physical attributes that pewter provided, though, and the punch that Sev threw connected with his face. In that instance Dek thought he would be killed by Sev's pewter enhanced punch, but to his surprise Sev's blow became more normal in that instance and the force of the punch was not near as powerful as it should have been. Dek, still knocked to the ground, coming very close to blacking out, was surprised that the punch didn't kill him. "What? What happened?" Dek asked groggily as Sev stood over him with a look that Dek thought was confusion. In his current state he wouldn't swear to anything he thought he saw though.

"Let me see that vial." Sev said as he reached his hand out towards Dek. A moment later Sev held the vial in his hand. "By Harmony…"

"What? What just happened? Did you pull your punch?"

"You just burned chromium, Dek."

"Wait… What?"

"This bag doesn't just hold pewter, Dek. I just came back from a metal run. This is the vial for chromium. I didn't pull my punch. You depleted my metal reserves when I made contact with you."

If what Sev was saying was true and he had just burned chromium, then his situation just got infinitely worse in his own mind. From what he studied about Allomancy, if you could burn more than one metal then you could burn all of them. This meant that Dekard was a Mistborn and not only that, but he was the first Mistborn in thousands of years to exist. What am I supposed to do now? Why is this happening to me? With this revelation continuing to dawn on him he slowly stood up, shook off his grogginess, and walked back to his room without another word.

"What do you mean he is a Mistborn, Sev?" Camis said in his abrupt tone.

"I threw him some pewter this morning and started a sparring session with him against his will. When he ran out of pewter I accidentally dropped a vial of Ai's chromium and in the heat of the battle he downed and burned it without realizing it wasn't pewter."

"Great! That's all we need is for Darbringer to be a Mistborn. If he wasn't dangerous enough when we thought he was just a Pewterarm."

At that Sev responded, "Cam, you know that I don't necessarily trust the kid, but Ai's right about him not having anywhere else to go. If we play this smart we could really use his knowledge about the other side. I'm not saying you should trust him, but you should give him a chance. We might be able to use him."

Cam just stood there staring at Sev with that look in his eyes that told the people who knew him that he was thinking. Then he said, "You're right, as always. Do you want to tell Ai about the new development, or should I?"

"I'll do it. I'm afraid that if you did it you would say something that would get you and Ai into another argument about that boy." Sev said with a wink before he turned and left Cam in his room alone.

A moment later Sev was walking down the hall still thinking about what had happened and what all of this meant to them. He knew that when he reached Ai's room and told her she would be excited and the first thing she would do would to be to try and go talk to Dek. Sev also knew that Dek would be sulking in his room still unable to come to grips with what was happening to him. "That kid is so selfish. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering his upbringing. He never had to hide his entire life while trying to pursue his dreams. He didn't have to start running because he saw someone being mugged by five people and did something about it. Though I guess I was selfish once, too. I spent my whole life running from my problems pretending they didn't exist. Ignoring the death that surrounded me… Who am I to judge him? Still though I don't like the way he is treating the only person in this building that trusts him." Sev spoke softly to himself as he moved down the hall staring at the floor. He knew that he criticized Dek's upbringing, but when he thought about it he didn't have it much harder than Dek had. Not near as hard as Ai and Cam had to live. Things were different now, though. He didn't hide behind his name anymore. He was no longer Severith Thistleback, son of a rich man. He was an Allomancer and he did his best to take care of the people that he cared about.

While in his thoughts Sev arrived at Ai's door. He knew she would be awake already; Ai didn't sleep for very long, a side effect of growing up as a twinborn on the streets without a family. How positive and lit up she always was astounded most everyone in the building. She had probably had one of the harder experiences out of everyone, but she still just went about life caring about everyone and everything. That was evident in how she treated Dek, the child of the family that started all of this. Anyway… here we go…

As Sev walked into her room he could see her in her normal morning routine. Ailyie was standing there in the middle of her room wearing a blindfold and her metalminds. She was throwing knives at a target this morning and hitting the dead center every time. He could even see that some of them were stuck in the ends of the others.

"Must be nice being so extremely lucky."

"Hi, Sev. Don't be jealous." Ai said with that sweet smile that she always wore, "You have a wonderful gift too."

"Maybe, but mine doesn't allow me to do almost anything that I want and end up coming out on top."

"As always you are breaking my concentration with your attempts at being funny."

"That's funny. I'm not trying to be funny…"

"Whatever! I can hear that massive smile on your face." Ai said with a smile as she pulled her handkerchief down around her neck.

"Anyway, I came to tell you some much unexpected news."

"What? Did something happen while you were out making metal solutions in your lab?"

"Oh, no that went fine. When I got back I sparred with Dek some and…"

"I'm sure that wasn't his idea, nor did he volunteer willingly."

"Well after a pewter filled thirty-five year old was running at him with a crazed look in his eyes he obliged. Anyway, getting back to my point before I was so rudely interrupted." He said as Ai just stared at him with a look on her face that said "whatever" he continued. "Dek burned chromium this morning by accident. He is a Mistborn."

"I knew there was something special about him!" She said as she passed Sev heading down the hall towards Dek's room.

"I swear. I know that girl like she was my own or something."

Dek was sitting in the chair beside his two-legged table that was resting quietly on the ground as if it hadn't had its legs ripped off. His bed was still collapsed, so he would have to find a new one later for sleeping. Right now he just wanted to think. "I feel like I can't think of anything but the word 'why.' Why, why, why? And now this! I'm a Mistborn. How did that happen? There hasn't been a Mistborn in thousands of years, not since the one they called the Lord Mistborn. Why now? Why me of all people? My life was supposed to be easy. I was supposed to officially be announced the heir to Darbringer Media Incorporated and then be indoctrinated into the Hazekillers officially to serve until it was time to actually take over the business. Now I'm a filthy Allomancer. No, a filthy Mistborn, and the people who I was supposed to join want to kill me. I want my life back!"

"You know nothing is ever going to be the same, Dek." the melodious voice behind him said, startling him.

"Why do you insist on trying to talk to me? Don't you get it?" Dek said as he turned toward Ai. "I'm a Darbringer. I hate all of you and now I hate myself! Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Dek, you are a first Mistborn to live in thousands of years! How can you still leave no room for change, no room for adaptation? How have you lived your entire life just expecting things to always be the same and to never change?"

"That's the way it's supposed to be. I knew what was going to happen to me and it was all planned out down to the smallest details. Now I'm in a completely different place with no idea how things are going to happen."

"This is our life, Dek, and now you are a part of it! Whether you see it or not you are obviously meant for something besides the life you had before. You are destined for something great!"

"How can you be so sure, so positive?"

"Harmony told me so."

"Harmony? You still believe in Harmony after all that has happened in the world? Look around you Ai. Your belief in Harmony hasn't gotten you anywhere! You are hunted like animals!"

"Harmony allows people their free-will, Dek. I see him in different ways; he is there, watching over us. Just because he exists doesn't mean that terrible things don't happen sometimes. For there to be good there has to also be evil. You can't have a force without something to oppose it; otherwise you wouldn't know that it was good."

"That just seems like your grasping at straws."

"Anyway, that fact remains that you are the first Mistborn to exist in thousands of years, Dek! It is obvious to everyone that you are meant for something besides what you thought you were raised for. Why can't you see that?"

"Can you please just leave me alone? I really don't want to talk about it."

"You know that I'm not going to give up on you." Ai said as Dek turned away from her looking out the window. Then Ai slowly turned around to leave lingering like smoke coming out the end of one of Sev's pipes, hoping that Dek would give-in in that moment. He didn't, and she left.