CHAPTER SEVEN

Cody settled onto the couch in Christian Manning's basement and did his best not to get to drawn down into his thoughts. Zack saw his mother and father? The last time they were around, they were evacuating from the city before everything went to shit. Right. That's why they left. Cody couldn't lie to himself without cringing, knowing the real reason they had gone away. It was because they had been too scared of their sons, then finding out they had been some of the people that had been drawing the danger towards the city. One look at their guardians and the twins were basically disowned, considered freaks, and were abandoned in the city without a word of goodbye. At the time it was all Cody needed, that one last hug or kiss, just to let them know that they were still a family.

Who could be a family with someone that was that much trouble?

It was like a murderer or someone who went to jail. How far would someone have to go before you gave up on them and didn't want to have anything to do with them? There was a fine line between what was right for you and what was right for someone else and at some point that line had to be crossed or stood behind.

"There's a lot of stuff we need to explain to them," Diamond said to Christian once everyone was gathered around in the basement. He took off his gun holsters and placed them on the table next to him. Each time he would place the gun down it would make a loud clacking sound against the metal, a great reminder of the weight it carried. Literally and figuratively. "Not that there's much we understand ourselves, but from what we know now…"

"I get it, Diamond, don't worry," Christian replied, holding up a hand. He took a deep breath, pushing himself back away from the computer. He ran his hands over his face, resting his hand on his stubble covered chin, looking even more anxious than Cody had ever seen before. It was a testament to all of the work he had been doing with Elementals for basically all his life and Cody wondered if he had ever actually been thanked for it.

Before he spoke, the door to the basement opened and there was a gust of wind as Julius Jackson and Maddie Fitzpatrick appeared in the basement as well, brushing down the disheveled clothes that had been knocked loose by their zipping to the house. In normal circumstances Julius would have been crushed under flying bodies of his siblings and cousins as they would give him a hug. This time, they sat still as their brother and his girlfriend situated themselves amongst the teenagers on the ground, in chairs, and on couches.

There would be plenty time to greet each other later.

"OK, now everyone's here," Zack said with an air of impatience. "And my first question is how do you know Diamond?"

"He was the one that had gotten me out of the State House during the last battle with Mother Nature," Christian explained patiently. "While you guys were out trying to free yourselves and close the portal form the arboris, I was being used as a confidant for those that had captured you." He scratched the side of his head. "Personally, I think they did a terrible job. But it was something they had to do."

Diamond spoke up. "We knew you weren't going to come in willingly, especially considering how we had to take you by force." He watched the group of teenagers with his calculated eyes. Cody realized his words were calculated as well and realized it was how he had always spoken. It was the way he had been trained. Who knew how long he had been trained to become that way? To shed his former self and leave that behind. Diamond didn't appear to be old, somewhere between 20 and thirty, the exact number escaped him, but the time he had been trained must have done something to him that damaged his former self.

Just like everything for the past four years had done to him and his brother. Not that it was a competition, if so, he would, in a roundabout way, have been a winner. If suffering was the grand prize, he was nowhere close to winning.

"Are you not exactly telling us that the government had been following us, videotaping us, and took us away because they wanted our help?" Bailey's eyebrows rose.

"If that's the case, that's fucking ridiculous," Riley said, her right eyebrow rising in a look of disbelief. Then her face darkened as she leaned forward, holdings her hands between her legs. Her hands were clenched into tight fists. "They've been nothing but dickwads, chasing us down and having to live a life of fear and secret because every time something like this happens, they try to cover it up." She waved a hand over at her Uncle. "Case in point, everything they've ever fucking found while in college."

"I know it's hard to believe," Christian finally said. "But it's true." He pushed his chair back and stood up to face the teenagers. He ran his hands over his face again and then started to speak. "Everything that we had ever found, while we were in college, or everything after, shows that the government was actually using us...or you rather, to help them. As a sort of social security in a way. However, the means they went to accomplish this wasn't always the best way."

"You got that right," Patrick muttered.

"There had been many elementals that had to be sacrificed so that we could really see what was going on, and your parents,"—he motioned to the Jacksons—"your mother and I, had been some of the ones recruited to help."

"And that's why Dad was a rocket scientist," Rhuben commented with a nod.

"Yes." Christian nodded back. "However he was always very smart and annoyingly so." He gave a hint of a smile, causing the siblings to turn to their youngest brother, whose dimples appeared in his cheeks as he smiled. He definitely took after his father. Christian continued, "having that opportunity was something he couldn't pass up, especially considering that the women we were seeing at the time had elemental lineage in their family due in part, that we only knew of, of their grandfather or your great-grandfather."

"But what does that mean for the rest of us?" Tapeworm crossed his legs at the knee. His arms were stretched across the back of the couch, his hands twitching, fingers rapidly tapping the couch, the coarse fabric scratched against his skin as he did so. "There's so much that we don't know…what about our parents?"

"Your parents had never been directly in contact with it, which is one of the reasons why this group right here, had awakened," Christian explained.

Zack made a noise of disagreement. "I thought you awakened because of being in immediate danger." He looked down at his hands and Cody recognized the pensive expression on his face. The look of intense concentration. It was what he always had whenever he was actually trying to do his homework. Confusion and frustration. "I remember seeing the fire and seeing Blazen when I was fighting Koto for the first time…"

"While that may be the case, you awakened because Riley awakened you," Christian explained then turned to Cody, whose eyebrows rose. "Just like you awakened because Rhuben awakened you. You saw your element and your guardian; you could have passed it off as a hallucination or a dream, as many people have done before when they had the ability to awaken. However, they had never taken the opportunity. You saw it and you didn't shy away from it, then when Koto and Reihu beat you guys for the first time, they were the ones that had seen your potential at the time and awakened you guys. Otherwise, if there is a traumatic event or you're in danger, you can awaken as well."

"Which is what happened to Crys and them," Aaron added. He seemed to have understood it completely. Cody had always wondered about him. He seemed to have some abilities of his own, though it was never confirmed what it was.

"Then what about Max and Tapeworm?" Cody asked. "Did Zack and I awaken them?"

"Yes."

"Then why isn't Bailey an elemental?"

"For the same reason you are, she was destined not to."

"But you've said that one in every five people are an elemental and with the group as large as we have, the chances of her being one are great as well."

Christian appeared irritated with Cody's contradictions. "That's something no one can explain." There was a slight growl to his tone. "None of us have ever been to the Element World so we can't understand why Geneva, Gattaca, and Mother Nature have all seemed gravitated to her."

Cody fell silent, nodding. He hadn't meant to annoy the older man. He respected the scientist as much as he had respected any of his teachers or figures of authority. He was just so tired of not having answers to the questions he had been asking since he was fourteen. Not knowing is what's going to kill us.

"Cody, relax," Noah said. He was sitting on Noah's other side, quiet as ever; pensive as he took in all of the information he was given.

"I'm sorry," Cody burst out. "But how relaxed can anyone be when everything that once made sense is now making you feel like you've seen a ghost?"

At Christian's and Diamond's confused expressions, Rhuben spoke up. "Zack and Cody saw London and Moseby at the Tipton…but they way they were talking was like nothing had happened with the SS Tipton."

"And I haven't been able to find anything with the SS Tipton since we left," Crystal added. She ran her hand through her black/blue streaked hair, eyes troubled. "And I've been searching everything and can't find one instance anywhere."

"Of course not," Christian replied. "We had to hide it." If his daughter was perturbed at her father's conspiration against her, she didn't let it show. Instead, she nodded as if it had all made sense. "Everything with the SS Tipton had to be hidden in case ones that witnessed you guys looked to see what happened."

"Typical government practice," Patrick remarked.

"It had to be done," Julius finally spoke up. His arms were encircling the knees brought up to his chest. Being the eldest of all of the elementals, Cody had initially thought he would have taken up the leadership role that had been entrusted upon Zack. But the group then quickly realized that as Julius was able to control all of the elements; it made him weaker than the others, especially as it took one person a while to learn how to control just the ones the others had. "Their main priority, other than the protection of our country, is to make sure that we don't cause a nationwide panic."

"I think it's a little late for that, bro," Patrick remarked.

It's too late for a lot of things, Cody realized. It was too late to continue to question things. It was time to get things done rather than sit back and let it happen to them. His hands clenched. He was never one that was an aggressive person, choosing to be passive and let things roll off his back. Many years of fighting for his life had changed that. Cody's eyes moved around the room, his eyebrows lowering. Computers, Filing cabinets, wires, electronics all filled the room, all of it holding the knowledge that the kids lacked.

He was tired of not knowing anything.

"So why were we brought here?" He asked, flipping his hair out of his face. He reached behind him, untied his ponytail, and then tied it up again. "Other than protection I mean."

Diamond now took up the conversation. "We never wanted to have this happen but now it's too late." He placed his hands behind his back. Cody recognized the stance and realized he had military training. To what extent did he give his life to the cause? "When the portal between the Element World and Earth opened, it started before we could stop it."

"What sort of project is it?" Rhuben sounded impatient. Her knees were bobbing up and down rapid fire. As Cody watched her, he suddenly realized how well he still knew her. He could tell from the look on her face that there was something wrong. There was a haunted aura deep in her dark blue eyes. Beside her, Reihu seemed disinterested in the conversation.

Maybe he was torn. Cody had never asked him about his experiences with WingzCorp and how the revelation of Core's true intentions had affected him. He was the one that had followed Core's orders and seen him as a sort of mentor for years and to have it all ripped away from him, just like he had been ripped away from his family…maybe he had suffered more than the others could even begin to imagine. It made sense that he and Rhuben had eventually ended up together, he realized. They were like kindred spirits in a way.

"Peregrinatio transtemporalis," Christian replied.

There was a blank look that moved through the room. Cody recognized it as Latin, he had an idea what it meant, but they weren't the words he would have chosen to explain it. As it was, even he was a little confused. It wouldn't be the first time, he thought.

"Time Travel," Sydney finally spoke up. All eyes turned to the youngest member of the group. "I would have used iter transtemporale as the direct translation but both works, especially considering the root of transteporale, which means to travel. Though it could also, potentially, be used to refer to a worm hole, which could have the same properties as time travel in general." He then looked serious. "I've heard about it, who hasn't? But I thought that, like cloning dolly, it was something that was far off and only atoms had been moved so far."

"You're right," Christian agreed. "Up until recently when we found something." He and Diamond exchanged a glance. "Or should I say someone."

"Who?" Zack snickered. "Father Time."

"Precisely."

"I was kidding."

"It makes sense though," Tapeworm said. His eyebrows were furrowed together, the skin between them wrinkled. "When I went there…in my dream…there were mentions of a king and queen of sorts. At the time I thought only Mother Nature ruled the place as you can't have light without darkness, you can't have nature without time."

"You know, you'd figure I wouldn't be so surprised about these things anymore," Riley said slowly. She leaned back against the bottom of the couch, crossing her arms over her chest. She was chewing her lower lip, absentmindedly playing with her hair. "What does that have to do with why we're here?"

Christian turned around and picked up three sheets of paper. When he turned back around, he revealed them to be photographs of the Jacksons' parents, Core, and Crystal's mother. All of the pictures appeared to be of age when they were in college, maybe their yearbook pictures. Each one of them were smiling without a care in the world. It was eerie, seeing photos of those that had passed years before, knowing the ways they had passed.

"They all had been taken from us too early because of the things we were finding out," he said. "And even with them gone, they've helped in more ways that I could ever imagine and it could be what stops this all together."

Not Core thought, Cody reminded himself. He's only missing. No one knows where he is. Not that it made a difference. The SS Tipton had been missing before and suddenly the people on there had come back. Wait… that was the connection. There had been some sort of a…rip or a tear in the time fabric. Cody had researched it before. Some referred to it as a glitch in the matrix; to a human experiencing déjà vu or an explanation for an unlikely or irregular occurrence. Cody was sure he and Zack had done it once. They had been in a mall in Seattle with their mother, the same mall they had always gone into. They went into the bathroom at one end of the mall, but when they came back out of the bathroom, they were on the other side of the mall.

Cody had been confused, not understanding how the merry-go-round had been moved so quickly. He knew Zack had seen it too, because he had made a whimpering sound of confusion. The two went back into the bathroom and talked to each other, trying to see if they had really seen it then went back out a few seconds later and found Carey waiting by the water fountain for them, like she was supposed to be. When they tried to tell her about it, she brushed it off as a kid's imagination running wild.

Over the years he had forgotten about it, now it all came flooding back.

"Who's to say that it's not possible," Cody mused. His mind was running a mile a minute and he spoke slowly, trying to extract the points that were the most needed. The ones that made the most sense. "No one knows what is possible or what isn't possible and there have been documented cases of people claiming time travel. What about that modern looking guy in the old photograph?" He had seen it on a website and for days tried to figure out how it happened. "What about those that claimed they had been abducted by aliens? I don't believe they were abducted, but it doesn't explain the passage of time and where they claimed they had gone." He gestured towards Christian and Diamond. "I'm sure there have been many instances where you guys had experienced it yourselves if not running into examples of it or studies?"

"And that's exactly why we brought you here," Diamond added.

The room seemed to hold their breath in that moment. "What do you want us to do?" Maddie asked.

"The reason all of this has happened is because of the collapse of the barrier between the Element and human world. Though there have been instances of humans in that world; as is the case from your guardians having human forms, we have reason to believe that if we can find when the barrier started to open and how to close it, we can put all of this behind us."

"You're saying you want us to be able to find a way to time travel?" The bewildered expression on Patrick's face was priceless.

"We're not saying it," Diamond contradicted. "We're telling you."

Sitting in her uncle's office, Rhuben frowned, looking over the pictures of her parents, her aunt, and their friend that had been left on the table. When she had the time, she picked them up and walked them into the office so she could have time to herself. They were frozen in time, at a time where they were clearly happier. Having gotten married right out of college and having their first child about two years later, and the rest of their children after that, they had only been in their thirties by the time they had passed. Or, as the case actually was, was murdered. It was so strange to think about, she realized. That they had been taken away from her all because of selfish reasons and it was something, at the time, she hadn't understood.

How would life had been different if they were still around? She would have been happier, that was for sure. She and her siblings wouldn't have gone through that much pain and they wouldn't have been so confused and alone when they had awakened and were trying to figure out what was going on with their powers and how to control the. They would have known that WingzCorp was actually trying to help them and maybe have stayed with WingzCorp and Nathan as he was trying to protect them in a sense. At the thought of her former home, all those years ago, Rhuben glared down at the pictures in front of her.

He had been cruel in a sense. Taking those that were normal, that had the possibility of awakening and living what could have been a semi-normal life, and experimenting on them and turning them into something no one had ever become. Reihu had been a victim of that, being taken from his family when he was a kid and had been turned into a half-human, half-lion hybrid that had been following her around since they were kids. Even when they had been fighting WingzCorp throughout the years he had been hesitant in attacking her. She knew he had a crush on her, everyone knew that, but he was essentially just a kid that hadn't been around girls as she was the only one in the DarkLions, her section of the large organization.

It was good to know that the feelings were genuine, that was a need of some normalcy as things went on. Even when she had gone out with Cody there was a part of her that knew he wouldn't understand what she was going through...what she had gone through. He was trying to be optimistic, trying to get her to forget everything that had gone on before and that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to forget, she didn't want to have all of those memories go away and in the end it was something she couldn't deal with anymore. He had understood that, when they talked, but he was still hurt and confused over what had happened to break them up.

"You know, I never realized before how much you look like your mother." Rhuben barely glanced over her shoulder as Cody walked up behind her. He picked up the picture on his left and looked it over. "Like, almost exactly like her."

"Codes…that's my Aunt," Rhuben corrected him. She reached to the right and picked up the picture lying on that side of her father. "This is my mum, mate."

Cody blushed and took the picture offered to him. Rhuben sat down on the stool by the table, crossing her legs at the knee. She leaned forward and continued to study the picture. Her father had certainly been handsome and he clearly had a mischievous side, from the glint in his eye that showed he knew more than he was letting on. At the same time, she could see how he had been taken so seriously, he commanded respect but still had the friendly demeanor all Australians seemed to have. She could see her face in his, especially the eyes as each of his kids had taken his blue eyes. Her smile was his too. However, stick her next to her mother and, somehow, she seemed to look exactly like her as well; the hair and the nose and the face structure that fluctuated between thin and round that had caused her and Riley to be mistaken for being younger than they were for years.

"Still, you look exactly like her," Cody continued, putting the picture down. "She was beautiful."

"She was," Rhuben agreed.

"Her name was Ruriko?"

"Renee…it really depended on who was referring to her at the time, but she answered to both names."

"Ah."

Rhuben stared at the pictures a minute longer and with a harsh sigh, reached out and flipped them back over. She couldn't look at them much longer. She could already feel the darkness closing in on her again and she had to close her eyes and concentrate hard for it to ward off to the point where she could control it. It was becoming harder and harder over the years and she knew it was directly linked to her despair. The next year…not too far away…it would have been ten years since it all started for her and the darkness was getting harder and harder to control each day.

"I know."

Cody's voice startled her and she managed to send out a small burst of energy across the room, knocking a clock off the wall. It fell to the floor, breaking the plastic front covering, knocking the hands into a certain position.

"I know that you're having trouble controlling your powers," Cody continued. "I saw it in your eyes earlier today," he continued as Rhuben gazed at him, her eyes slowly narrowing. "I saw it when you had attacked those two guys and gave them the…"

Rhuben closed her eyes and turned away, clenching her hands into fists as a sharp pain moved through her head. She gritted her teeth together, sucking each new and haggard breath through her teeth. Stop, stop, stop…she thought. You can do this…don't let it take you over…It took a couple of moments, but the pain finally went away, allowing her to breathe again. Just the thought alone…seeing what she had done to them made it come back. She had done it when the kids from Halo Syndicate had been attacking them. That had been the first time she had let her powers go out of control in ages, she had essentially fried the poor kid's brain, releasing thoughts, ideas and images no one had ever wanted to see and sent them into a permanent shell shock.

The same she had done to those men that had been fighting them. It was becoming harder and harder to not do it while in battle anymore. Even sparring with her siblings, while back in Australia, she had to try hard not to let it take her over completely. It was a wonder she was even able to function anymore as it was a constant thought in the back of her head.

"I know it's hard for you to control," Cody continued, his voice soothing. "But…if my plan works, depending on what happens, it could be something that really helps us."

Rhuben looked at him sharply then gave a scornful laugh. "That's great, Codes. Being able to completely get taken over…" She turned to him, glaring fiercely before lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. "Do you know what it's like? The darkness isn't just a thing…it's alive. It's something that is in everyone and if they allow it to get to them…then it has you. You're done. You're gone. It's an evil thing…as far as I'm concerned; it may be the devil itself."

"That would explain your guys' curses then," Cody said.

Rhuben didn't respond. She hadn't needed to think about that in a while; hers, Riley's, and Crystal's curses…it wasn't anything they had problems with in the past couple of years. It didn't mean it had completely gone away.

"Look." Cody took another step towards her. He angled his head back towards the basement. "I saw the look in your eyes when we were out there…the haunted look and I know you're still thinking of what you've done. You didn't have a choice in the matter, they may have killed you before we could—"

"I don't know if you really are a few sheep short of the station, mate, but they just got done saying they need our help," Rhuben interrupted. "I don't think they were trying to kill us." She turned her head away. "Which just made what I've done worse," she murmured.

"But if what they're saying is true, then we're really going to need you," Cody insisted. "It's like Tape said, you can't have darkness without light and vice versa. Geneva and Gattaca exhibit that as they're the current rulers of the Element World and hold the balance. You hold part of the balance, it'll be hard, but you and your powers are one of the most important people right now."

"What about light then? None of us holds that."

"We'd have to figure that out, but I need you to trust me on this," Cody insisted. "I…have an idea and you'd be a big part of it. I don't know if it'd word though."

"Considering the only other option that I have it death I don't trust a lot of people," Rhuben remarked. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Especially considering what happened."

"Since then have I given you a reason not to trust me, Rhu?"

"No…"

"Well?"

Rhuben twisted her mouth to the side before looking down at her hands. Even as she watched, they started to glow a light purple. It took only a little bit of concentration to get it to stop this time. It was worrying; if there was a way she could get it to stop, to be absolutely sure she wasn't trouble for those around her. If she could be sure that her brothers and sister weren't in any danger.

She glanced at the time on the clock.

"You know I'm a nyctophilic right?"

Cody smiled. "What does that mean?"

"It means, Cody, that you have a lot of work ahead of you," Rhuben said.

A/N: Now that I've got the general idea of my story fleshed out, things should start making more sense soon, haha. As it is, this story's rating may need to go up to 'M' at some point because of language and violence. I'm just giving a general warning now.

I'm doing my best to give the other characters bigger parts as the story focuses on Zack, Cody, and Bailey and revolves (mostly) around their POVs. Hopefully I did a good job of it here because I'm gonna split the POVs as it goes on because I've figured out what I'm doing now.

And now we have thrown Father Time into the mix which was an idea given to me by tiger002 which I talked to with Cry and Rhu about and they agreed that having that as an element to their world was a good idea. It gave us a good chuckle as well.

For those wondering I'm still working on Help Me, Save Me and Intuition (the sequels to Save Me From Myself) I haven't given up on them.

Cheers,

-Riles