Hey guys! The promised update is here! Chapter 13!
Okay, the results of the voting are- 7 reviews voting for Sam/Six, and 4 reviews and 1 PM for Nix. Looks like it's going to be a Sam/Six story. Hope I don't lose any readers because of that! That's what I'm really terrified of.
Okay, just one problem. Since you guys have voted for a Sam/Six, I really have no one to pair Nine with. I'm going to be needing suggestions, since if I can't think of anything, it will end up being a Nix story. You also need to decide before the next chapter, because they've already re-united in this one.
So please suggest a pairing for Nine via reviews or PMs! And please, I'm begging you, no one ask me to pair him with Marina! That's never going to happen! (Sorry, I get a little defensive of Marina/Eight).
Okay, enough jibber-jabber. Chapter 13! Enjoy!

Ella

My father leads me through the passageways of the Mogodorian base, turning into seemingly random corridors and tunnels, until I'm well and truly lost. He's taken the form of Setrakus Ra, so he's much taller than I am, and when he strides, I have to jog to keep up with him. I try not to fall behind. I have the feeling that if I do, I will be wandering these corridors forever.

My father glances back at me and chuckles at the expression on my face. 'This Ashwood Estates, the largest Mogodorian base on Earth.' he says, spreading out his arms. 'A good portion of it was destroyed recently, but it has already been rebuilt and upgraded. Like it?'

I open my mouth to answer, but then we walk into the training room, and my voice abandons me.

It's gigantic. It's at least three times the size of Nine's penthouse itself, and it's designed pretty much the same way as the Lecture Hall- an empty white expanse, with a panel built into the side wall, looking in from the control room.

Only it's not empty. Ball bearings swish randomly across and disappear into slits opening out in the walls, re-emerging randomly through another slit somewhere moments after. Panels slide open in the walls, exposing crossbows and machine guns that disappear immediately after firing. Jets of flame erupt from the floor every now and then, and best of all, cracks open out in the floor, swallowing anyone who's caught unaware.

My father gives me a reassuring glance. 'Don't worry, Ella. They're all designed to be extremely painful if they strike, but none of them will cause a fatality.'

I raise my foot to step into the room, but my father grabs hold of my shoulder to stop me. 'Not yet, Ella.' he says. 'First, you need to be able to revert to your true age.'

I blink in confusion. 'This is my true age.' I say. 'I'm twelve.'

My father grins with delight. 'No, you're not.' he says. 'You are fifteen years old.'

'How…..' I begin, but my father interrupts me to explain.

'I was worried about you, Ella, when I sent you to Earth.' he says. 'You are my successor, the heir to the position of the tenth Elder. Your powers are considerable. If you got your Legacies at the same time as the rest of the Garde, you would draw attention. They would know all your strengths, your weaknesses, and they would be able to use them against you. So I placed a charm on you too, to restrict your Aeternus to three years below your true age.'

'You mean…..' I ask.

'Yes.' he replies, a satisfied expression on his face. 'Now, when I lift the charm, you will revert to your true age. You will possess all the Legacies you should have received by now. And you will be able to control them just as well too.'

'Then why don't I take on a form even older than that?' I ask. 'Then I would have all my Legacies already.'

My father kneels down next to me. I do my best not to recoil. Just because I know what he really looks like, doesn't mean I can't smell his putrid breath in this form.

'Shifting ages is no easy task, Ella.' he says. 'You already know that. It takes energy. Your Legacies are already so restrained because all this while, you have been in a form that does not belong to you. When I lift the charm, you will understand what I mean.'

I shift my weight restlessly from one foot to another. When my father lifts the charm, I will grow. I will become more powerful, gain more Legacies in a matter of moments. My energy will be restored too, energy which I have lost because my Aeternus has kept me locked in a different age. I will be able to do so much more than I imagined I could.

I remember everything that has happened to get me here, and my resolve falters. Marina looking after me in Santa Teresa, protecting me from the other girls, accepting me as her partner, her sister. Six saving my life, both during the battle in Spain and in India. Eight teleporting us out of trouble from the cave. Nine, helping me get over Crayton's death, joking around, trying to make me feel better. If I do this, I will have to kill them all. I will have to kill them in cold blood.

But what is the alternative? I remember the neutral expressions of the Elders as they destroyed Lorien, the cruel grin on Pittacus's face as he killed my mother. I imagine them taking over my friend's bodies, forcing them to watch as they do the same for every family on Earth. I can't let that happen. I steel myself and speak before my resolve can waver again.

'Do it.' I say.

John

Time seems to slow down.

In that moment, I'm painfully aware of everything- the grass tickling my bare neck, the swaying leaves of the trees above me, the prickling pain in my chest because of my crushed ribs, and the savage grin of the General as his sword arcs down towards my heart.

Then there's a scuffling sound in the background, and time speeds up again.

What seems like a black wall slams into the General, making him lose balance and topple to the ground. His sword-hand jerks, and the blade misses me by inches, clattering to the ground next to my shoulder. I'm alive. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the black wall seems to come to a halt and land on my shattered ribs. Pain explodes through me, and my consciousness is sucked away so fast, it probably gets whiplash on the way out.

Everything goes black.

Ella

'The first thing I need to teach you,' my father tells me, 'is how to create an illusion.'

We're standing in the centre of the training room, and all the activity has stopped. My father says there will be enough time for combat training once I've mastered my Legacies.

I still can't believe how much I've changed since my father lifted the charm. Sure, I look different too- I'm much taller, though still just as thin, and my hair is long and flowing, my face thin and serious. But the biggest difference is the power I feel within me, coursing through me like adrenaline. I didn't realize how tired I had gotten from holding my twelve-year old form for so long. Now, suddenly, I'm full of energy, like I can do anything.

My Legacies have arrived too. The moment my father lifted the charm, the lights in the room all went haywire, changing colour from blue to green to magenta. The panels in the room cracked, and I began to grow in size, until I had taken on a form similar to his- that of Setrakus Ra. Light manipulation, telekinesis and shape-shifting, all three of them together. I don't have his regeneration Legacy yet, but he tells me not to worry. That will be my master Legacy. It will come soon enough.

Now I'm back in my fifteen year old form, and my father is giving me Legacy training. I'm a little uncertain that I can control so many new ones together, but my father keeps assuring me that I will be fine.

'Illusions are a combination of your telepathy and your light manipulation skills.' my father begins, and I force myself to pay attention. 'With your photokinesis, you can create false images, and you can use your telepathy to sense your opponent's reaction and modify them to make them more believable. Observe.'

He raises his hands, and suddenly I'm not in the training room any more. I'm falling out of the sky, far above a city, tumbling to the ground below. I keep picking up speed, the ground getting closer and closer. Just before I crash to my death, the city disappears, and I'm back in the training room, still frozen in fear, convinced that I'm about to die.

'Incredible.' I breathe, slowly recovering from the shock. My father smiles at the compliment.

'Now your turn.' he says.

For the next couple of hours, we train, practising different Legacies until I can use them at will. I practise my telekinesis, deflecting the arrows fired at me by crossbows, and my shape-shifting, trying to maintain my form while my father fires painful but non-lethal ammunition at me from his gun. I get better at creating illusions too, although as much as I try, I can't fool my father. Even so, I can sense myself growing stronger, and I'm proud of my progress in such little time.

Finally, we arrive at the Legacy I used against him during the battle in Dulce.

'The Legacy is called Disruption.' my father says, when I ask him about it. 'And there are just three things I truly know about it, even though I possess it myself.'

'Like what?' I ask, urging him to answer.

My father's grin is one of satisfaction. 'Firstly, this Legacy is confined to our family. Apart from the two of us, and our descendants, no one does or will possess it.'

My mouth sags open with shock. 'I thought that Pittacus had all the Legacies.' I say.

My father sighs. His grin disappears, and he holds his hands to his head, like he doesn't understand it either. 'I don't know, Ella. My theory is that some Legacies, such as Sight, the advanced version of Precognition, or even this one, the ability to disrupt others' Legacies, are so rare, that even though they are technically Legacies, they have ceased to be considered so. In that context, Pittacus most definitely has all the Legacies. But I can tell you for sure that this Legacy is confined only to the tenth Elder and his successors.'

'You said that you know three things about it, Dad.' I say quietly, trying to hide how much my head is spinning, how stunned I am at this discovery.

My father's face brightens again. 'Yes.' he says. 'The second thing about this Legacy, is that it will be several decades before you can control it well enough to take away even one of the Garde's Legacies. I took me almost half a century to master it myself, and even so, it requires a lot of energy and concentration.'

'But I managed to disrupt your Legacy in Dulce!' I protest. 'How did I use it then?'

'That is the third thing I can tell you about it.' my father says. 'Those Legacies, such as Sight or Disruption, that have become so rare that they are not even considered Legacies anymore, that even Pittacus doesn't possess- they are the easiest to take away using your Disruption Legacy. That is the only reason you succeeded.'

I deflate. This Legacy is one of my most powerful ones, but I will not be able to use it until well after the war is over. My father senses this, and places his hand reassuringly on my shoulder.

'Something to make you feel better.' he says, trying to brighten my mood. 'You're ready.'

I light up. I know what's coming next.

'Combat training.' I say.

John

When I regain consciousness, I'm not sure whether I've been out for a few seconds, or an hour.

My vision is still fuzzy, but I can now see that what I'd thought to be a black wall was actually BK in the form of a bear. His fur is shredded and his arms are twisted at awkward angles, and he's staggering unsteadily on two legs as he blocks the General's path to me, but I know that he saved my life.

Or maybe he just delayed my death. I'm beginning to realize that a badly injured Chimaera isn't going to hold someone like the General for long.

I groan and lift my arm, pressing my hand to my chest to heal my ribs. The icy energy flows through me, and I sigh in relief as the bones begin to knit together.

Bad idea.

BK glances over on seeing me awake, and the General sees his chance. He's dropped his sword, but he takes advantage of the distraction to slam into BK, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

I have maybe five seconds before he's standing again. BK, on the other hand, is in no condition to move, let alone fight someone like the General. And there's something else too- a soft, rhythmic thud… Very much like the marching of feet.

Mogs. Lots of them.

I furrow my eyebrows with concentration, and the icy feeling increases, my bones assembling themselves faster than ever. I stagger to my feet, stumbling over the rough ground, my palm still pressed against my chest.

The last fragments reattach themselves, and I feel the pain disappear just as the General rises and advances towards me.

My hands light up with my Lumen, but it's too late. The General's hand snaps forward, his fingers closing around my trachea. He lifts me effortlessly off the ground, his grip tightening, slowly strangling me.

The fire in my hands fizzles out, and my vision tunnels as I gasp for air. I can hear the thudding getting louder as the Mogs advance, slowly getting closer to our position. Hazily, I see BK try to drag himself towards me, then collapse again.

But that's not all. I hear something… Like voices, screaming, calling out my name.

'Nine!' I rasp, as loudly as I can through the General's choking grip. 'Six! I'm here!'

The General's eyes widen. 'The other Garde.' he murmurs. 'A golden opportunity.' I feel something brush against my thigh, but I barely notice. I'm a lot more focused on the General's relentless grip. To my surprise, it suddenly slackens, and then he relinquishes his hold on my neck, dropping me to the ground and turning to run into the forest, from where the thud is sounding out, from where I know the Mogs are coming.

I fall to the ground, clutching my neck, coughing desperately, trying to get air through it. Moments later, Nine and Marina emerge from the forest, running to me, closely followed by Six and the others.

I stand up before they reach me, raising my palms to indicate that I am fine. Marina stops, nods once, and rushes to BK to heal his wounds. Nine grins at me, relieved that I'm alive, and flicks his hand. My bracelet zooms towards me from where it was lying on the ground.

A small part of me wonders how he knew it was there.

'How did you find me?' I ask, as I catch the bracelet.

Sarah finally appears as I slip on the bracelet, and I'm about to turn to run to her, to ask her if she's fine, when the first line of Mogs appear into the clearing.

Since they have arrived, since we have been reunited, we have spoken a word yet. We don't have to. We know each other too well by now. Simultaneously, wordlessly, as one, we turn to face the enemy.

Nine is the first one to break this silence.

'Let's begin.'

Not my best effort, but I wrote it in a hurry. Hope you enjoyed! Please review, and don't forget to suggest a pairing for Nine!
Thanks for reading!