DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I also do not make any money from this.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (male x male), Yuri (female x female) adult topics, swearing, sexual scenes and violence

PAIRINGS I know of so far: (pairings will be added as they are mentioned in chapters)

Ron x Hermoine, Blaise x Cho, Neville x Ginny, Saito x Draco

This has not been Beta'd.

'text' is thought

"text" is talking

Hidden Element

Chapter 47: The Chase

Elementals:

Ice and Void – Draco Malfoy

Fire – Pansy Parkinson

Earth – Blaise Zabini

Nature – Cho Chang

Light – Cherrie Everdeen (OC)

The Forgotten:

Electricity – Saito Blackstar (OC)

Animal – Carsly Hendricks (OC)

Shadow – Alakai Petrovski (OC)

Water - Yasmin DiAngelo

Wind - Miya Hendricks (OC)

They had made the search as easy as they had claimed. At the far corner of the town where the forest began, a slow tornado wafted back and forth, the electricity in between only meant one thing. Pansy had burnt a few Death Eaters along the way, and Draco hoped that his warning had reached Hermoine in time before something happened to her while she was off guard.

They were all there, the five of them plus Cho, still in the clutches of Alakai who chuckled to himself as Pansy growled at him angrily.

"Now, now, pretty little necks can go snap at any moment. You better calm down spit-fire." Pansy stopped where she stood, Draco pausing right beside her.

"No, Alakai. We want her released. After all, a previously kidnapped but now injured wife will attract Earth more than a kidnapped wife would." Carsly sighed, long nails scraping against the insides of her palms. She glanced down at said nails before glancing at Cho.

"It doesn't mean we can't leave a mark though." She grinned, slicing Cho across the cheek, making her flinch at the sudden action. Alakai chuckled as Carsly swiped at the blood that had begun to pool, making a streak across her face. He then released her, shoving her forwards. She fell to the floor, knees scraping across the ground, her white skirt covered in leaves and earth. Dark bruises covered her wrists and slightly across her mouth where Alakai had held too tight.

"Damn it!" Cho choked hoarsely. She licked her lips and snapped her neck to the side to glare at the shadow man.

"What happened to this so called truce?" She was not going to start a battle that would lead them into war. She was loath to cross that unspoken boundary first.

"Change in perspective?" he grinned, white teeth sticking out against the black of his body.

"Saito.." Draco started softly, yet before he could even start talking, Carsly interrupted him.

"That's not how things are going to be run anymore, Malfoy. Although the hierarchy hasn't changed, the trust in companions have. We didn't want you here for Saito, no. We wanted you here so we could settle this. This stupid neutral ground hanging between us makes no sense. None of us want it! We are black and white; do you see any grey here? So why pretend when all we want to do is stab each other in the backs?"

"We want you dead." Alakai stated bluntly, smiling back as Carsly pouted his way. She wanted one of those villain speeches, and he had let her have one, albeit short. He wanted to get the show on the road. He wanted blood stains and screams, not peace talks, or talking of any other kind.

"That's fine with me." Cho growled. A thick vine suddenly twisted around Alakais leg, pulling him down. He fell forwards, arms going up just in time to protect his face. Carsly couldn't help but laugh as his language turned colourful. His grip ripped off the plant and white eyes fixed heatedly on Cho, still on the ground herself.

"Tag, you're it!" Her hand suddenly sunk into the ground, being pulled by the force of something into her very own shadow. Closing eyes tightly, her arm started coming back up as a tree sprouted from her arm had been imbedded. Its roots started growing above the ground, forcing their ways quickly towards Alakai who stood up hastily.

Draco made a move to rush to her side, but Pansys arm snapped into place before him, preventing him from moving. She shook her head. This was Pansys battle now. None of the other elementals had made a move from their positions to interrupt the battle thus far either. Once someone did, her fist would be up their throats.

"You think nature could beat me? The damn things cast constant shadows. How interesting." Two of the roots shot forwards once more, the edges sharp, scratching deeply into Alakais shoulder as he dodged. A wave of inky darkness slid up the roots that tried to repeatedly stab him. It quickly snapped downwards, cutting the roots from the tree.

With a sudden step, Alakai stood behind her, shoving her once more. She landed on her stomach, and raised herself by her elbows.

"You're toying with me!" She screamed angrily.

"You're a clever piece to getting your husband here, and secretly, you want to be saved. Aren't you scared?" He grinned. A branch twisted around his neck and lifted him upwards.

"I can save myself." She spat, the branch closing in around him tighter and tighter. She clenched her teeth, wanting him to be crushed, or at least his wind pipe.

"Yet you wield the one thing with a constant shadow." She stood up hurriedly, almost tripping in her haste as she found him beside her once more. Her world spun when he punched her in the jaw. Her vision spun, her stomach suddenly tight with nausea. Her hand strayed to her mouth, her other hand on a knee, as if trying to find balance once more.

"Argh!" she groaned as her head started to pound, though found time to smile softly as a massive branch the size of the tree trunk rammed into Alakais back, sending him crashing further into the forest. She licked her lips once more before standing up once more and turning to look at the two that had come to her rescue.

"You take care of things here, ok? I'm going to catch me a shadow." She grinned before following the trail Alakai had left behind.

"Cho!" Draco shouted as he made to run after her, yet a hand snapped out before he could run past the group of elementals.

"You and I need to talk." The sound of the voice he knew all too well made him suddenly regret all the choices he had made. Anger. Not the disagreeing or misunderstanding kind, but the teeth grinding anger that made men act violently.

"Why are you doing this?" Draco asked softly. Saito wasn't evil, but he did have that ever present tinge of ambition and need for power that walked hand in hand. He had helped and understood him like no one else could, and that had made him care for Saito, yet there would always come this day. The day where sides would have to be picked.

"Because you'll choose the wrong side." Saito stated matter-of-factly. "You'll do it unconsciously, but that would be all it takes. I can't let you do that, Draco. You have to stand aside for this." Draco's mouth opened minutely, yet he had no idea what to say. The idea sounded so romantic yet so absurd at the same time. There was something disturbing, however, about watching people you knew fight for a cause that you were supposed to be part of.

"It would be my choice though." Draco reached up to put a hand gently on Saitos cheek. "I can't stand aside when my friends are being attacked. You can't expect that of me."

"You won't believe me now, but you will in the future. It's impossible to throw away all that you've known and raised to be, all those habits since birth. You can grow, mature, but those base instincts will remain, parts of your past are never erased, nor is the memory of it. You fight to survive, and I get that at that point of time, befriending others and removing yourself from a family potentially dragging you down was in your own interests. It had to be done. But what you are is neither good, nor innocent, nor heroic. You're a snake that sheds its skin to adapt to the situation, yet a snake you will always remain." Saito embraced Draco tightly.

Dracos eyes widened in disbelief as his body suddenly shook, before his eyes rolled up and his body went limp.

"We've got to stick together." He sat down, legs crossed, as pulled an unconscious Draco towards him.

"That's something you never expect to see. Pretty boy being ko'd by his master." Carsly giggled.

"We're not here to play around." Saito growled, voice serious and gentle face morphing into one of savage rage. "We have a couple of friends to kill, all in the space it takes for him to wake up. Think you can manage?"

"You're going to loose him, you know." Pansy smiled. The sentence obviously irked Saito.

"I won't. He'll stay." Pansy took a few steps closer before stopping, arms crossed.

"Draco never thought the way normal Death Eater kids did, and that's what attracted Blaise and I to him in the first place. He could take us places. Yeah, we were little snakes then. We saw a means to survival in Hogwarts, yet we also saw our future way out. Draco will never be the way you need him to be, he only looks it because he's stubborn as hell. He has this idiotic pride and a poker face to boot. But he won't like the removal of his freedom. He won't like the exclusion of the world he chose to live in, and he won't like the elimination of the friends he came to choose on his own. You loose Draco there in fowl sweep, hands down."

"Draco can choose his own love too, even if it ends up clashing with what he wants." Pansy raised an eyebrow defiantly.

"You really want to go there? You want to talk about Draco and love? How about I key you in on a little subject called Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter." She laughed softly at the hatred she saw across her face. This probably meant she would never again be invited for tea. Her laughter fell short as Yasmin stepped forwards to stand before her brother, her usually bubbly features now sharp and serious.

"Et tu, Brute?" A bang echoed across the forest, birds swarming into the sky from their perches as trees fell to the floor. It was unclear what was happening, but the cause for it she had forgotten till now.

"Cho!" She gasped. She wondered briefly if Draco would be alright, yet she remembered what she said when the others first came to look for Ice. He was in the safest place he could ever be. Saito would protect him to the end. It was Cho that needed the help.

A blast of water almost knocked her over, and she quickly swiveled towards the source.

"You!" she growled at the bluenette. She twirled a piece of her before tucking it behind her ear and laughing serenely at Pansy.

"You don't think I'm going to let you go, do you?"

"Yasmin, this is serious! I'll fight you later!" A wall of water rose and towered above her.

"You will take me seriously, or you will die." The wall caved in like a tsunami over her, bringing with it debris and trees lodged out of the ground. That fizzing sound, however, alerted Yasmin that her fun would only just begin. Smoke rose from Pansys body where the fire had fizzled out the water.

She growled as he her pent up anger overtook her body, fire shooting from her hand. Yasmin glided to the side, smirking as the pieces of ash brushed against the trees.

"You'll have to do better than that."

Pansy had been trying to hold it all in, she had. It had worked up till a point, yet she had never been good at keeping her temper. Now a days temper equated to fire. What little control she had, slipped from her grasp and with a shout, a large phoenix burst into flame above her, cawing is it stretched its wings.

This time there would be no idle chatter, nor friendly fire. It was shoot to kill and Pansy planned on going full blast from the beginning,