Ignite Me

Chapter 7: "Resolutions"

"Are you ready, love?"

"As I'll ever be."

His brows crease with concern, blind trust and a hint of disbelief shading his emerald eyes as he cups my cheek. His gaze travels from my eyes, down to the slight bruise on my cheek which I got from God knows where, lingering on my lips. The pad of his thumb brushes my lower lip. "You were gone for two days. It may not have been as long as last time, but they must already have suspicions about your intentions."

All the emotions I've seen him from the past two days, ones that he's only ever willing to show me, are no longer in his eyes when he speaks. "Castle would've at least thought about the possibility of you hiding something. He must have thought that you've been working for me. Or the Reestablishment."

I frowned. "I'm not working for you, I'm working with you. They're completely different things, and, honestly, I do not and will not work for anyone but myself." I raise my eyes to meet his. "And if it doesn't work, I'll find a way. Adam and Kenji are still my friends, so he'll understand."

He sighs, running a shaky hand through his disheveled hair. He's been doing this ever since the plan took place. "Understand what? That you've been going in and out of Omega Point because you're helping me? Or because you're dating his older half-brother, who is also the guy he once worked for and the guy he despises the most?"

"Dating?" I mouth, quirking a brow at his words. We never actually had the chance to talk about what... we are.

He doesn't say anything in reply, so I continue. "He'll understand that I have reasons as to why I've been going out of the place." To be honest, I don't think I have the courage to tell Adam about who Aaron really is to me. I'm sure enough that he never even knew that Aaron and I had...something; just thought that Aaron pined for me because I'm his experiment.

Eventually I would have to tell him, whether we both like it or not. He deserves to know instead of wondering why there was no spark when we touched last time, or why I never tried to kiss him when I was there. Maybe the old me would have. Maybe her heart would've leapt at the sight of him, desperate to cling onto the only person who considered her human and capable of emotion back then.

But things have changed. That is not who I am.

I don't think I can ever get her back even if I wanted to.

I told Aaron about it last night. He was offended when I told him that I plan on telling Adam once everything has been resolved. I was on the verge of showering him with apologies, but in the end he nodded in agreement, understanding why. "Even I would lose my mind if I heard that the woman I love was in love with someone else."

"I'll be watching you from afar when you talk to them, just in case the situation gets worse." He says. He pulls me into his arms and kisses the crown of my head, mumbling something I wasn't able to understand.

"What did you say?" I ask him when he pulls away.

"Good luck." He repeated. "They're going to help you, Juliette. I may not know them well enough, but what I do know is that they're your family. They will trust you." When I look up at him, I notice the spark of admiration and pride in his eyes, and even a bit of jealousy. He understands that it may not actually be true, his words, because our blood family had never helped us before—but this is different. We both know it is.

Sometimes the people we aren't related to or rarely even know are the ones who were more of a family than our actual ones.

Aaron blinks and tilts his head slightly—a gesture that he most likely isn't aware of, and a gesture that makes me want to smother him with kisses—before uncircling his arms around me. I try to ignore the fact that my body misses the presence of his warmth and welcome the cool wind that ghosts along my arms.

Here I am, standing not more than 40 feet away from Omega Point. Even if it's disguised as something you wouldn't believe to be an extremely large compound, I may probably not get over the beautiful sight of this place. This new home of mine.

A home that will be destroyed all too soon.

When I turn around I'm surprised that Aaron was already gone. But I knew that he was out there, watching me, always ready to get out if things go wrong and risk his reputation. I know well enough that he's as willing to risk his life for me as I am for him.

I clench and unclench my fist, the rubber suit I wear squeaking from the friction. It's been a while since I last wore this suit, too. It was the suit I wore in preparation of the war. Also because this would help me from hurting anyone.

Hopefully these upcoming few days will be the last time I wear it.

oOo

When you walk down the hall do not look at anyone. Keep your chin up and your face expressionless. They must all know about you. You do not look at them until you arrive at Castle's office. Whoever it is, just don't. Because if you do, they will know.

Know what, I wondered. Aaron had given me those exact instructions before we arrived at Omega Point. I did just as he said, ignored anyone who seemed like they wanted to approach me, and kept walking until I found Castle's office. When I spotted Sonya and Sara in one of the halls, they smiled at me despite my ignorance. It's a relief, I suppose, that at least a few know of what I've done and accepted that. A miracle, really.

When I reach the doorway to his office I see Kenji and Adam outside the door, standing on either side with their arms crossed. Kenji didn't seem to show any resent, anger or curiosity towards me. Or maybe he's hiding it.

Adam, on the other hand, is different; his emotions are too raw and obvious that I can barely look at him without wanting to reach out to him. The anger and confusion was something I could take, but the plain hurt and betrayal was more painful. That was what I always hated when it came to being misguided by other people. There was the anger, the hatred, the resentment. But what had always hurt the most was when there was also hurt and heartbreak. Always. They always had to be together.

"Hey guys..." I say timidly. I try to walk to the door but Kenji raises his hand, blocking the entrance and my chance to avoid conversation.

"What are you doing here?" Kenji says first, his jaw tense as he looks at me. There was a sense of calm and quietness in his voice, and that scared me the most. He looks like he's been dragged through hell and back, his outfit a crumpled mess, his black hair longer than usually with some sticking out everywhere, his eyes bloodshot. But I guess everyone's exhausted these days with the preparations for Anderson's next attack. I hated having to tell them later that it'll be extremely soon.

"I was just going to tell Castle about this—"

"Tell him about what?" He scoffs. "Tell him about how you've just up and left? You've been gone for days, dammit!" He snaps before softening his features. "Adam's been frantic, thinking you were kidnapped again, and Castle was somewhere in between going all crazy ape shit and asking everyone to search throughout the entire compound. Everyone was worried, Juliette. I don't think that this 'disappearance' of yours is something you're not aware of." He emphasizes on the word, making air quotes as he says it.

"Tell me what you found during your soul searching mission—another dog? A cure for cancer? A plan to defeat Anderson?—because I am so, so tired of having to look for someone who seems like she doesn't even want to be found!"

I'm left standing there, speechless and scared to death, my feet glued to the floor and the echoes of Kenji's words flooding my line of thinking. Adam tries to stop him from going further, but Kenji shoves him away, bringing along a piece of his anger. Adam falls to the ground, surprised. He doesn't get up, nor does he try to stop Kenji again.

Kenji's features softened, his shoulder slumped. He sighs, blinking his eyes repeatedly and pinching the bridge of his nose. He says it softer this time. "We've been worried sick about you, Juliette. The moment you've gotten here you've been stiff and isolating yourself then the next thing we knew you were gone again." He glances at Adam, who's only beginning to stand up, before turning to me again.

"We know the pressure of...everything has been hard on you, but it would help if you at least told one of us your problems sometimes—unlike some people we don't cover our ears and groan whenever someone needs to talk to us with their problems. I know that it's more than just a dog. It's something big and something I feel would change our lives forever if you told us."

"We're serious, Juliette." Adam says this time, his voice slightly rough and hoarse. "You can tell us anything. No matter how horrible it feels like."

I want to tell them so many things, things that will leave me guilty, things that may probably ruin them and their perspective of me forever. But now is not the time, I think. So I shake my head, a small smile on my lips. "Some day," I say, ignoring that rapid beating of my chest as I look into his eyes. "I'll tell you everything. Just... Not now."

He frowns and bites his lower lip, nodding. "No matter what it is, okay," He says. "Even if it breaks me."

I nod. "Even if it breaks you." I take a deep breath. "But now we have bigger things to handle. And I really need to tell Castle about this."

"About what?" Kenji asks. "Is his army already prepared?"

"No, but hopefully we are because we only have a few days left until he charges again." I turn my gaze to Kenji, then Adam. "I have a plan on how to take him down."

oOo

"So you're telling me that while your two friends and almost the entire people here have been frantically searching for you, you were trying to find a way to know more about Anderson and his next attack?" Castle slowly repeats. He glances at the Adam and Kenji, who are standing on either side behind me, before turning his gaze to me again. I could tell that he doesn't believe a part of it, but he's trying to understand.

I nod, a pang of guilt hitting me, before adding, "I was able to formulate a plan."

This catches his attention. "How?"

I do just as Aaron told me to say. Or just as what his mother wrote down. But then he tells me to add the very important details; details that they were supposed to know long before. I turned to Kenji since I could barely look at the man on my right. "Remember when I disappeared from you guys during the battle?"

"Of course." It's Adam who replies. "It's not something I— we could ever forget. We looked everywhere once the soldiers retreated."

"Well one of the soldiers tackled me and they were able to trap me." None of them seem surprised, but all the color of calm and composed is drained on Adam's, replaced with raw and uncontrollable anger. Castle encourages me to go on and suddenly I don't feel like telling them anymore, just as Aaron suspected. I feel as if all the energy is drained from me and I can no longer tell them the darkest of my secrets.

"They... took me to Anderson's house. And Anderson shot me in the chest."

It takes them 3 seconds. And I do not know which one makes me even more terrified.

3

Castle stands from his chair, horrified.

2

Kenji mutters a bundle of words that would have made me blushed months ago.

1

Adam is already by my side, worried and angry and horrified and and and

0

and I continue

"He shot me because he said it was unfair for him to be crippled while I'm not." I say slowly, looking down at the boy kneeling in front of me. I will not tell them that it's also because he wants to teach his son a lesson. He wants his son to know that loving the enemy was worse than loving no one. So he shot me.

He shot me to prove that not everything and everyone in your life could stay with you forever. He thought this would make him more centered on his task at hand, make him more cruel.

He was wrong.

"A...Warner found me then and treated me—"

"A Warner?" Kenji interrupts, raising his brow. "I never knew that Warner was a kind of separate species now."

I ignore him. "I was already close to dying then. But he released Sonya and Sara from wherever they were being held to heal me."

"Heal you?" Says Castle, intrigued by the new information. It didn't take much, though, to notice that he's masking his true emotions: fear, amusement, betrayal. He's such a mixture of everything that it's confusing to know which is which.

"Warner... Warner told the girls to touch him so he could transfer their healing Energy to me." I explained. "He... He can absorb other people's powers."

I've never seen Adam look so pale before.

"What?!" He bites out. He throws a couple of four-lettered words around the room and they bounce back between the metal walls that surround us. I see Kenji trying to raise his hand to Adam, to stop him from whatever it is he's about to do, but decides against it at the last minute, his arms now lifeless at his sides.

Adam pinches his nose, rubs the temples of his forehead. He rakes his hand through his messy brown hair, breathing heavily through his nostrils. "He can absorb powers. You knew this and you only told me—told us now?"

"I didn't know," I say hurriedly. "I didn't know that he could do it. I— I only knew after I woke up."

He laughs. He laughs and it's all so hollow and bitter and so, so tired. It's a sound that's been foreign in my ears until now. "What else are you not telling me?" He says. "That he knows me and James are his half brothers? That Anderson has powers too? That you and Warner are together?"

I remain quiet.

Adam sighs. Watches his hand clench and unclench and clench and unclench until he's found the process too boring and leaves his hand open, his palm etched with nail marks from pressing his fingers against it too much.

He closes his eyes. Massages his temples. "Maybe we should talk about this later. We've got much important matters to talk about." He averts my gaze and looks at Castle. "She told us that she has a plan on taking down Anderson."

"How?"

"While I was with... Warner, healing, he told me about Anderson's plan; when he's going to attack, where his men will come from. He, too, wants him dead." I say as a matter-of-fact. If they can't trust Aaron then at least they should know that they have something in common. "He helped me devise a plan and told me that the soldiers from his Sector will be helping—"

"But how are you so sure that he's telling the truth?" Kenji interrupts, squinting at me. "How do you know that he's not just tricking you and luring you into Anderson's trap?"

"I know more about him than you guys ever will." I told him in the calmest voice. I could manage; it's tiring to hear people ridiculing your loved one. "I was able to gain his trust. He didn't wish for Sonya and Sarah's help just because he wanted to kill me after healing me."

He raises a brow, crossing his arms. "You sure it's not just because he's madly in love with you?"

"No." I bite out. "It's not because of that and if it was then maybe he would've just tried to gain my love rather than my trust. Did you know that his mother died a few days ago? Or that she died because Anderson ordered her doctor to inject some sort of drug in her every month? Or that Warner's first name is Aaron? Or that he actually knows—"

"Knows what?"

"N-nothing." I stutter, suddenly all too aware of everyone around me. They're all surprised, probably because of my wide knowledge about Aaron's life. I try to return to the main topic. "Hopefully that helped you in some sort of way. Now, at the concern at hand: we have a plan and all we need is everyone's full cooperation. Especially yours." I look at Castle.

He hasn't seemed to move from his chair since I came here, but I could see that he's ruminating about everything I've said. He opens his mouth after a few seconds.

"Where is Warner?"

I shrug. "At his house I think. He didn't tell me." He's supposed to be outside the building, waiting for me.

"Why did he free Sonya and Sara?"

"It wasn't him who captured them to begin with," I say. "He freed them immediately after they healed me, was what they said."

"So all this time, while you were gone, you and Warner were coming up with a plan to kill Anderson?"

I nod. That and the fact that I kind of realized how much I loved him while we were there, isolated from the chaos and madness you and your people had to face.

"And when you were gone few days ago...?"

"We were setting the final plan."

"I see," he says, slightly out of breath. He glances at Adam and Kenji, who suddenly seem willing to listen to the plan, too, and turns to me. "Tell me this plan of yours."

I released the breath I never knew I was holding. Thank God, I think. "First, we need everyone to evacuate this place. And I really mean everyone..."

A/n: Sorry for the late update! I've been very busy... And kinda forgot that I haven't posted this chapter yet. I already have chapter 8—which was supposed to be a part of chapter 7 but I figured it's be too long.

I had too many distractions:

Me: [searches for ways to murder people]

Me: [searches for speculative Reichenbach Fall theories]

Me: [searches for Tom Hiddleston things (damn son)]

Me: ...I think I forgot something

Anyways, leave a review! And correct me if I had any mistakes!

((Quick and unimportant question: if I make a youtube blog will you guys support me? It's gonna be full of nonsense but yeah...))