Remember

Chapter Thirty-Five

Days of training only led Colette to believe that the darkness inside her was playing some sick and twisted game. As soon as Colette felt like she had even an ounce of control the darkness decided to do it's own thing and rip another innocent dummy to shreds. Prissy was getting tired of having to rebuild the dummies time after time, dummies that were beginning to look a lot more like blobs of splintered wood than a makeshift person.

Each time Prissy wove tighter and stronger vine enforcements and each time the darkness shredded it just the same. At least someone was seeming to get a hold of their power. Colette hadn't seen the beautiful green vines turn into a mass of brown thorns since the day she had woken up in her room.

The others in the village were getting better control of their powers as well. The invisible girl had taken to playing cruel games on her mother by disappearing and reappearing with a surprise. The mother was able to produce her invisible shield as a dome as well as a circle in front of her to deflect others powers. Then, there was the little boy who could manipulate electricity could now power up cars and microwaves as well as produce sparks between his fingers. As for the old lady, well., she still believes she can produce fire but nobody has seen even a small flame from her.

Colette admired her will power though. To be able to keep trying and trying even when everyone doubted her was something that was rare. If Colette were in her place -- and in a way she was -- she would have given up by now. It was nice seeing people who had enough dedication to do the things they never thought possible, to fight for their lives -- to try and survive in a world that should have killed everyone by now.

"Alright Colette, one more time." Prissy wove the vines holding the splintering wood together tighter and stronger than she had before. Again, Colette's only goal was to send a blast of darkness to knock the thing over. Hopefully this time she wouldn't completely obliterate the dummy in the process. "I'll try and hold the reinforcements this time so you can have more time to get control of your power."

Colette nodded and positioned herself a good distance from the wooden dummy. Kaden had been teaching classes with Madie about meditation and methods to calm the mind. It was supposed to make focusing on the powers easier, in turn, making the control easier but it didn't seem to be helping much for Colette.

"Blast of darkness, knock the dummy over, and nothing else. End of story. OK. I got this. I will get it this time." She mumbled the words to herself before shutting her eyes and clearing her mind like Kaden had taught her. Colette was supposed to picture exactly what she wanted her power to do, all the way from the release, to the hit, and flowing right back into her. So she did exactly that; watching as the darkness in her mind slowly released from her fingertips, as she maneuvered her hands to make a ball of the power, then as she sent it flying towards her target and knocking the target over, and then she felt the rush as the darkness flowed back into her.

When she opened her eyes, the wooden dummy was sprawled out on the ground completely in tact -- well it was in a few pieces but better than the shredding it had been in before. "Yes!" She exclaimed looking at Prissy who ran up to her and congratulated her with a high five.

"I knew you could do it." A big smile spread across her lips but slowly disappeared as clapping started up behind Colette.

She turned to find Commander Lorhan with a sarcastic look written upon her features as she continued her slow clap. "Well, well, well. It seems like you can control it after all. I almost didn't think you could do it." She chuckled lowly and turned to her daughter. "I'm surprised having such a disappointment as your trainer, my own power stained daughter, was able to get you anywhere. Well, then again, she was able to hide it from me for so long. Her powers, that is." Commander Lorhan shook head as she clicked her tongue in disappointment. "At least you made yourself useful. Lord knows you couldn't do shit with a gun."

Colette glanced at Prissy. The younger girl was doing everything she could to keep her anger in check. "Well I'm sorry that I'm not a cold hearted killer like you. What's it like mother, killing people and not even caring? Do you enjoy watching the life drain from people's bodies, watching as the light fades from them? Did you enjoy watching father as he bled out from under the knife in his back?"

"You watch your tongue." There was hint of a crack in Commander Lorhan's voice as she stared her daughter down. "Your father was a bad man who did bad things. You kn-"

"No." Priscilla cut her off and took a step forward and when her mother tried to take a step back she found herself rooted in place -- quite literally. The grass had grown up around her feet and wrapped around them tightly, holding her in place. "You're no better than he was. But at least he killed for a reason, at least he used his powers to try and save his family."

"Your father was a drunk!"

"What do you expect of a man who had to keep so many secrets from his family? He feared for his life when he found out about his powers -- when others found out about his powers. And the worst part wasn't that people hunted him and his family down, it was that he couldn't even feel safe in his own home in fear of you finding out. In fear that he couldn't control his power and would end up hurting us!"

Lorhan reached for the gun at her hip but a vine quickly shot up from the ground and ripped it away from her, pulling it back with it as it returned to it's home under the ground. "He would have gotten us killed... you are going to get us killed."

"I'm not afraid of you Mother. I know what I'm doing. I have a reason to fight and train. I have people and things to fight for. I have a village to fight for, one that you claim to protect but who are you protecting them from with your pathetic guns? You think you stand any match against a Govie with a power? No. But I do."

The Commander was silent for a moment. "And you think that when it comes down to it you'll be able to kill a Govie? Tell me Priscilla, will you be able to live with yourself after knowing you killed another human, good or bad?" Prissy said nothing as she stared at her mother. "That's what I thought." She chuckled. "Power or not, you can't do a damn thing for these people."