Crystal Powers

~22~

After endless searching of the lake, the hunters finally gave up. They all sat in the middle of the forest, tired and exhausted.

"I think we are just being idiotic looking around for these kids." one of the hunters said, drawing in the dirt.

Suddenly, a large pain struck his foot, making him wince. He looked up at the leader of the group.

The leader was holding a gun, having it still aimed at the hunter's foot.

"Shut it, Pipsqueak. Next time it will be your head."

Pipsqueak was terrified, as he just nodded and looked at the ground.

He wondered why he was even in this business. His parents were hunters, sure, but that doesn't mean that he wanted to be a part of the family business too. To be honest, he just wanted to be a teacher.

But nope.

He was contemplating whether or not he just stay with the rest of the group or if he should just leave.

He knew for certain that he would instantly die if they caught him escaping from the rest. He signed a treaty, saying that he must keep loyal to his troops and yadda yadda yadda.

He was cut from his deep thoughts when the leader told the team to pack up and move past the lake. The leader was rambling about the whereabouts of these special children, but Pipsqueak didn't listen. He already knew for a fact that the kids weren't there - it was really simple, but the hunters tend to over-analyze everything.

He stayed in the back of the group, limping as he walked, hoping that his foot would heal sooner or later. Once the group was so far away that he couldn't see them, he ran back to the front, tears falling from his face as the pain of his foot because unbearable.

As he began to stumble off, everything else began to slowly turn to darkness, as Pipsqueak fell onto the ground - cold, tired, and exhausted.

~~

Pipsqueak woke up to find a young girl staring at him.

She had curly blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She pushed her black-framed glasses up, as she was a bit taken back when he tried to sit up.

"Sir, what are you doing? Are you alright?" she asked, softly.

"I...I'm fine, thank you. I just had to run away from some people and I ended up here." Pipsqueak mumbled, as looked down at his foot.

"Why were you running away from them?" Sapphire asked.

"They...were after me for something." Pipsqueak explained. It would be best if he didn't explain in full how he was in a government group that hunted innocent people, especially not to this average girl.

"Is that why you got shot in the foot?" she pointed towards his injured foot.

He nodded and tried to stand up, but was pushed back down by Sapphire.

"I doubt your foot would be better if you just walked on it." Sapphire reasoned.

He just sighed in defeat as he sunk back down the tree.

"Why are you out in the woods?" Pipsqueak asked.

Sapphire quickly thought of a lie, "I'm camping with my family." she explained.

As Pipsqueak and Sapphire walked back to the entrance of the forest, he was wondering if she was actually out with her family.

"Have a safe trip back!" Sapphire shouted, looking at the man who was limping as he left the forest.

After he was gone from view, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, "That was close." she thought as she ran back to where her friends were.

~~

"You came in contact with a hunter?!" Dawn whispered fiercely.

Sapphire just shrugged, "Yeah, he was shot and I helped him get on his way." she said.

This time, instead of Dawn, Phoenix smacked her lightly on the head.

"You could've gotten yourself killed!" he said, obviously mad at his friend.

Sapphire just put her head down to the ground. She didn't die, nor did she give any locations or speculations that she and her friends had powers. She just tried to do the right thing, since he was injured and seemed different compared to the rest of the hunters that they had seen that day.

She began walking until someone grabbed her hand.

She looked up to see Camden hovering slightly above the ground.

"I found a spot we can hide, ready to go?" he asked, looking at the saddened Sapphire.

She just nodded, making Camden give Phoenix and Dawn a questioning look before they left.

~~

Pipsqueak opened the door to his apartment to find his wife who was sitting on the couch with tissues and a box of chocolate. "C-Ceren?" she asked.

He just smiled as he went up to his wife and gave her a hug, "How's it going sweetie?" he asked.

"It's wonderful now that you are back," she replied, digging her face into his shoulder. Her smiled faded once she saw her husband sticking his foot out.

"Honey, what happened to your foot?" she asked, worry expressed throughout her whole face.

"It's...nothing, have you eaten dinner already?" he asked, limping away.

"Ceren, please tell me what is wrong." his wife asked.

He sighed and turned to his wife, "Um...I quit my job today. I decided it wasn't for me when the boss shot me in the foot." he said, not wanting to look at his wife's expression.

"Ceren...your life is now at stake! You know that you can't just quit, they'll track you down!" she said, almost at the point of crying.

"I know, but I don't want to be on the team. I'd rather just settle down, I know how patient you been with me, and I really want to start our family without worrying about if I will get killed," he said, digging his face into his wife's shoulder as she placed a hand on his hair and began to pet him softly.

"Ceren dear...I see someone...flying."

"What do you mean you saw someone flying?" Ceren asked.

He looked to where his wife was pointing to. He clearly saw a human, flying in the broad daylight. The human defying gravity looked like your average teenage boy.

Suddenly, it hit him - he had just seen one of the kids with powers.

He turned to his wife, "We just saw one of the children with powers!" he said, amazed by the fact that his whole entire team couldn't find them, but he did without even trying. He rushed back to get his shoes on.

"Honey wait!" his wife said, but Ceren was already out the door.