Fighting With Fear-KOTLC Fanfic

Lost Brother

Rowan's POV

We were halfway to the melted tower when we heard a sound behind us. I grab Biana and dive into the darkness of a building's shadow. My heart pounds in my ears and I put a hand over my mouth, muffling my noisy breathing. What if it's the Neverseen? Have they came back, knowing I would want to look for Thom? I can't let them find us.

I hear Biana try to quiet her breathing also and we wait for the source of the noise. A small something tumbles in front of the building, pushed by its own personal wind.

Making sure there was no one there, I creep towards the object lying on the ground. Biana follows closely behind. I kneel, trying to get a good look at the thing. Even though the buildings in Atlantis glow, they're not very good for seeing this thing on the ground. I glance at Biana-who was looking over my shoulder-and create a tiny flame on my palm. Even though Biana flinched at the fire, she doesn't gasp and back away. I relax and turn towards the object, bringing the flame closer. I gasp and feel the color drain from my face. I scoop it up and stand abruptly, diminishing the fire.

"What is it?" Biana asked. Apparently she didn't see it as clearly as I did. Not trusting to keep the tremor our of my voice I show it to her.

"Oh, my gosh," she quietly gasped.

I close my fist around the Neverseen brooch and tell her, "We have to hurry."

Trying not to wake the elves living in Atlantis, Biana and I sprint to the pile of melted crystal. The Neverseen know I'm here. Do they want to take me back? I don't see why, since I obviously love Fi-everyone here. I can leave my family behind if I can gain a better one here. One that actually loves me.

Our trek suddenly ended when a buzzing noise hits my and Biana's ears. We slow down and hug the wall of the nearest building. We peek around the corner and my body deflates at what we see. Gnomes are already starting to build the structure of the new tower. And they were humming.

It was a low rumbling sound, and in a strange way it calms me down. But not much.

I lean against the building, my hope of finding Thom slowly vanishing. Biana looks at me, expecting a plan.

"Gnomes. How did I not think of that?" I whisper, holding my head. They could've found Thom already. We shouldn't have come here. It's hopeless.

"Maybe we can vanish and creep over there. I can make a another person vanish too if I keep in contact with them," Biana whispers back. I look up, thinking over the idea. We had to be careful, and extremely quiet, but we might be able to do it. The gnomes were humming. Maybe they won't hear us. I finally nod.

Biana grabs my hand and vanishes. I look at my own hand to see if it worked. I smile. It did. I couldn't see my hand. We leave the protection of the building, and walk over.

Biana leads me over to a section that the gnomes haven't touched yet. We decide to let go of each other's hands so we can cover more ground. I start over to the right and Biana starts on the left. I look for footprints, a piece of his shirt, anything. I'm careful of not stepping on any crystal, as I didn't want to break it and risk the gnomes coming to investigate.

After about five minutes of searching, I find something. I call Biana over. I kneel and pick up a strip of Thom's shirt. It has blood on it. I look beyond where it fell and see footsteps. "Yes," I say quietly, triumph laced in my voice.

We follow the path of footprints to a little alley between two towers. They stop abruptly and I look up. And gasp.

"Thom!" I say as loudly as I dare. I rush to his crumpled form and roll him onto his back. Biana rushes forward to help but stops when we see his face.

"Oh, Thom," I sob. His face was as pale as the moon tonight, and his eyes-that once held so much laughter and stories- were dull and stared up at nothing.

"No, no, no, no, no. Please Thom. Not you," I say, no longer whispering. No longer caring. I check his pulse, desperately trying to find one. Oh, God, please, please don't take him away yet, not tonight. Tears stream down my face. I no longer search for a heartbeat. I know I won't find one. I take Thom's face in my hands and sob, my whole body shaking.

"Oh, Thom. If only you would wake up and tell me a story," I whisper. I bring my forehead to his, feeling his icy skin, remembering the way his arms felt around me when we reunited again at Everglen. Not icy, but they were warm. So warm.

"Rowan. The gnomes are coming. We have to go. They can take care of-Thom." Biana's voice hitched at the last word. But I didn't care. Let the gnomes find us. I know I wasn't being fair to Biana, she will also get caught. But another part of me said to leave it be, focus on your best friend who died. I tried not to look at his burns. I know he must have gotten it from the tower.

"Rowan." I feel Biana's hand on my shoulder, squeezing.

I ignore her and lay next to Thom. I close my eyes and think about him. How he always told his ridiculous stories. How he could make anyone laugh with his jokes. His bear hugs that made you feel safe. I shake harder when I think about it. Thom is-was like a brother to me, and I feel his loss burrowing into my heart, making me ache all over.

"Hey! What are you guys do-oh," a voice gasped. I don't bother to open my eyes or move. I know it's one of the gnomes.

"We need to go home," I hear Biana say. She didn't bother to defend why we were here, that our friend died and we found him. Footsteps come up to me.

"Miss, can you stand?" the voice asked.

No, probably not.

I open my eyes and stare up into the face of a male gnome. At least I think he's male. He takes in my red, puffy eyes, my slightly askew hat. He glances at Thom but quickly looks away, wincing. "Oh goodness," he rumbles.

He helps me stand and I lean against him. He guides me over to Biana who puts an arm around me.

"Do you know Alden Vacker? Can you contact him and tell him that his daughter and Rowan Jensen are in Atlantis and want him to come and get us?" Biana ask the gnome who helped me up.

"Yes. I will send a gnome to Quinlin and ask him for an imparter," the gnome answered.

I follow this exchange with tired eyes. I keep finding myself staring at Thom. But I tell myself that I don't want to and quickly find something else to look at.

...

Alden, Fitz, and Della arrive twenty minutes later. They rush over to us. Alden, Della, and Fitz engulf Biana in a hug while I stand over next to Thom and watch. I rub my eyes, wishing I could stop the tears from flowing. I was trained to never cry over a lost agent, no matter how close you were. But I decided what I was taught at the Neverseen base wasn't important in this situation. Not when the agent who died was like my brother. Fitz came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I sank into his chest and begged the tears to stay away.

Fitz slowly starts to rock back and forth and I tighten my hold on him. "It's going to be okay," he whispers. I sure hope so.

When we arrive home, Alden told me that the Councilors were coming to Everglen to talk to me. I sighed, too tired to feel worried. Fitz walks me up to my room. We stop at my door and I turn to him.

"Thanks for coming," I say, not looking at him. He doesn't answer, instead he leans down and kisses me on the cheek.

"Good night, Rowan. I'm sorry for what happened today."

I blush and watch him walk away. I touch my cheek, hating how a bad thing and a good think happened in one night.

I walk into my bedroom and climb into my bed, not bothering changing into pajamas. I crawl under my covers and close my eyes. I fall into a dream filled with Thom, laughing and joking around.