Remember

Chapter Twenty-Two (edited)

 Colette. Kaden, and Jordy were ushered into a large house at the very opposite end of the small town. It looked like a mansion of logs, but nothing near the beauty of the houses in Paradisium. These homes were far less advanced. It seemed like the real world was, technologically, about a hundred years behind. Everything besides the Paradisium Federation compound was nowhere near as developed. That only proved how much the Paradisium Federation knew and was hiding from the world and its people.

"Wait here, Madrea is in an important meeting but she'll see you as soon as she's done." The woman looked to the two men who were guarding the doors, both armed with a gun of some sorts. "Make sure they don't try to leave."

"Yes, Commander Lorhan." The man station to the right responded as he closed the door behind the commander, Prissy, and Lincoln, but not before the commander gave specific instructions to keep an eye on Colette.

Colette sighed and sat down in one of the two chairs that decorated the otherwise empty room. Jordy had managed to already of fallen asleep on the chair on the other side of the room while Kaden paced quickly between the two. It seemed Kaden could never let himself relax, like his mind was constantly worrying about every little thing that could go wrong. Colette thought about trying to get him to at least sit down but she was too exhausted to make the effort. She knew he would not listen anyways.

The two men posted at the door of the room they were in, some sort of makeshift dining room if she were to guess -- though there was no table to dine at -- kept glancing at her every so often. A frown tugged at her lips every time they would exchange quiet looks of confusion and questioning. It seemed like they did not understand any more than she did about what made her so dangerous. Unlike Commander Lorhan, who claimed she was going to enslave the world.

How could she have possibly known what was inside her? Of course, Colette could feel it stirring inside her every once in awhile. Whatever power that was trapped inside her was desperate to be unleashed, but it never felt powerful enough to do what she claimed. It was more like the nervous feeling of butterflies when she was scared or angry, not some ruthless impulse to hurt someone.

She tried to push the thought out of her mind as they waited for the meeting to be over. Instead, letting herself think about all the children she saw laughing and playing outside. The world having no effect on their seemingly endless amounts of joy. A world which was breaking and nearing its end. Colette wished she could be a child again, but not just any child. She wished to be those children out in the village who saw the world through perfect clarity. Children who had not woken up terrified in a white room to find their entire life was a lie.

The door to the meeting room finally opened after what felt like hours of waiting. Jordy took no notice and laid unmoving on the couch with his arm thrown over his face. That boy was like a cat and in any other situation Colette would have teased him for it, but now was not the time for jokes. Not when they were about to face the person who was judging on whether or not to let them live.

People of all ages and shapes and sizes flooded through the doubles doors of the meeting room and swept past the bunch like they weren't even there at all. There was no way to tell what the meeting could have been about but judging by the looks of their faces it was nothing too pleasant. Colette could only imagine the hardships this little town in the middle of the woods faced; food and water shortages, sickness, death, and threats from the looming government.

After the people cleared from the meeting room and had exited the dining room a female voice called them into the room. The three exchanged looks of fear and anticipation before they stepped into the small room. The only thing in there was a bunch of pillows scattered around the room and stacks of paper.

She looked at the young girl sitting at the very back of the room, looking up at them with a look of familiarity and her breath caught in her throat. There was no possible way. Colette blinked once, twice, three times but the girl's appearance never wavered. She only smiled and waved for them to sit down.

***

Kaden was worried, so many thoughts were swarming through his mind and he could barely keep his powers at bay. They swirled around inside him, pushing at his mind and under his skin, begging for some sort of release. His powers ran on his emotions, the less control he had of his emotions, the less control he had over his powers.

He clenched his fist, his fingernails digging into the skin on his palms as he paced every inch of the room. This could not be happening. He had places to be and people to find. A person who was very much in danger. He was supposed to hear from Madie every week, but the dreams stopped coming after a month. She could be hurt or even dead and now he was stuck in some rebel town about to be killed himself.

The doors to the meeting room finally opened, but that did nothing to calm his nerves. As the people flooded out of that room and into this room, the anticipation nearly made him lose control. His skin itched and he swore to himself. Keep it in check. You have to keep it in check. Unleashing his powers would only make their sentence worse. It would only prolong finding Madie, if whoever the leader of this town was decided they weren't going to kill them.

Ever since that woman, Commander Lorhan, had spotted him from the woods his powers had been going haywire. He did not understand. One moment he was making eye contact with her and ready to send her slamming into a tree trunk and the next, it was like he no longer had powers. He pushed and pushed and pushed himself to release them, to protect him and his friends from being caught by whoever these people were, but they never came. Like they had disappeared completely. Whoever that woman was, she was much more dangerous than any of them knew if she could shut off his powers just like that.

Kaden made his way into the room and suddenly none of that mattered. He forget about the sickening emptiness he felt when captured by Commander Lorhan and her band of misfits. Forgot the overwhelming feeling of guilt and anticipation of finding Madie. When his eyes fell on the blonde haired and blue eyed girl at the back of the room his jaw dropped. His heart dropped. Every other feeling inside him was erased and replaced with a flooding sense of relief.

He ran to her and pulled her into his embrace. It took everything in him not to let the tears spill down his cheeks. She was here and she was safe. He had found her, by some ironic luck he had found her. Madie hesitated a moment, taken by surprise at his actions but quickly embraced him back. Kaden relaxed into her, taking every aspect of her in. Her smell, her feel.

He finally decided pulled away from her, his hands on either side of her face. She was smiling at him. It was an apology, one for not coming in contact with him. For making him worry about her so much. She opened her mouth to speak but he just shook his head. "It's okay." He said softly, returning her small smile. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Jordy cleared his voice from the other side of the room. Kaden had forgot that Jordy and Colette had even been in the room with him and suddenly felt his cheeks start to burn. He chuckled awkwardly before pushing himself up off the ground and walking back to the front of the room to join his friends. "It's uh, it's nice to see you alive and well." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and let out a breathy chuckle.