A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 40 Powers and Ties

Callin was so stunned he could hardly think. Ahleena was a Weaver? And she had tried to bond with a Rift Wraith? Now he understood that image in her mind, that image of a young girl covered in her parent's blood, sobbing over their bodies. Sobbing with soul-shredding guilt. She had been forced to kill her own parents!

Then, through the link, a light blazed so bright that Callin cried out and fell to his knees, his hands flying up to cover his eyes. It was the purest rage he could imagine, given direction by a perfect connection to Ahleena's life force. As if she were rage to the very core.

He opened his eyes and saw all color in Mirage fade to black as Ahleena stalked towards her. And that oppressive blanket of foul, alien wrongess once again tainted the air.

"I. am. Not. A WEAVER!!!" Ahleena snarled, and Callin saw both of her blades suddenly begin to blaze with flickering light, as if the steel itself was lit from within by an inferno. An inferno of light so pure it seemed to cut apart the air about it.

Mirage was in a ready crouch, but she was still smiling.

"Foolish Weaver. You are already Rift Rent. I can Command you, I can end you. I own you."

Ahleena bared her teeth, not pausing in her snake-like, dancing side-step, the tips of her swords beginning to swirl in a particular pattern.

"Try it, Wraith. I control my life-force now. It is my swords, I have become a cutting edge. Try and take it from me. Try it and bleed."

An uncertain look flicked across Mirage's face, before the same dangerous, wretched smile reappeared.

"How can you cut what you can't see?" Mirage asked mildly, then glittering black motes suddenly seemed to fill the air in the clearing, sparkling points of absolute darkness, winking in and out of existence.

They clouded the air instantly, effectively hiding Mirage from sight. And they brought that foulness, that reality sickness, with them. Then, Callin felt the taint in the air fade, and in seconds it was gone. The black specks in the air faded with it, returning the clearing to sight and normalcy.

He stood up, his claws sliding back in, his racing heart calming. She was gone, of that he was certain. He looked over at Ahleena and saw she wasn't shutting her powers down as easily as him.

She stood as still as a statue, looking like a Ninja carved out of stone, albeit one holding two deadly, blazing swords. He cautiously reached for her through their link, extending a mental hand, a pure, unquestioning offer of support, of friendship. And he saw her turn, both with her powers, and her body, to pin him with that seething light.

"Who was that? How do you know her?"

Callin almost couldn't answer her, his mind swimming once again with memories of his past with Mirage. Time spent together in the nightmare that was the labs. But time together that had made it bearable, had given him strength. And now, having seen her again, having seen what she had become, he felt like she was truly dead to him. He clamped down on his emotions, pulling his mind deep behind the walls of the animal within, living only in the moment.

"That was Mirage." He said flatly, turning away so Ahleena wouldn't see the cold animal glitter in his eyes. The look that would give away his pain.

Ahleena could feel how far inside he had gone, could feel the animal in the forefront of his mind. And she understood. He had pulled back from reality, pulled back from his human side. He was living like an animal in order to hide from his past. Mirage was obviously so much more than what he had ever explained.

She decided to let it go for now, wanting to get back to the mansion and talk to the professor. Wanting to create a plan. She had no doubts that Mirage would be back. And she suspected she wouldn't be alone.

She set off towards the mansion, feeling his relief through the link that she hadn't pressed for more answers. She wondered what extent their relationship had been. How far had they bonded? It would explain some things, but then in another sense, it didn't work. Callin was a Flayer, and so was Mirage. They couldn't bond if they were both Weavers or both Flayers. It wasn't possible.

She pondered this as they ran, analyzing Callin's powers in new light. Was he really a Flayer? Not all of his powers seemed to fit. He was such a confusing mix to her. A mix of abilities, powers, and nature that just didn't fit within her experiences.

She turned her thoughts to Mirage, analyzing what little she had sensed about her. Was Mirage a true Flayer? It didn't fit, either. She growled in frustration. How could it be that she was one of the most learned in telepathic, psychic, and ESP powers and yet now she was facing those who to her knowledge shouldn't, couldn't exist.

Ahleena found her thoughts spinning to Carmen. Analyzing what she knew about her powers. And a sudden revelation struck her, nearly making her stop running. Mirage's powers had seemed familiar, tickling her memories. And now it dawned on her why. Her powers were extremely similar to Carmen's! Callin sensed her momentary hesitation and immediately knew she had discovered something.

"What is it?" He asked, running steadily next to her, his breathing deep and even.

He was pacing himself, keeping his energy in perfect motion, keeping it in tune with his body. It was a new experience, something he had never tried before. And he was realizing that it was enabling him to run without seeming to tire, to run without his body feeling affected. He could sense that it was pulling at his powers, but it felt good to be able to access even that little bit of his powers by choice. Normally he couldn't touch them past the blocks in his mind unless he was losing control.

"Do you know if Mirage has any family?" She asked, sensing that he was somehow tapping into his powers.

Sometimes she felt like he was learning more about his powers every week than he let on, and she suspected much of that was due to their advanced training together, through their complete mind-link.

Callin frowned, thinking about the little he really knew of Mirage's past, beside the labs. By mutual, unspoken understanding, neither one of them had asked the other much about their lives before being brought to the labs. Because they didn't trust their own memories when it came to their past, both because they were so young, and also because they understood that the lab had been tampering with their memories all along. What memories were really true, besides the ones they created together? So they had lived in the moment, together, never pondering the past and hardly daring to dream of a future.

Ahleena sensed the turmoil that simple question had wrought, and she found herself once again vowing to destroy the labs, to wipe them off the face of the earth entirely. It was a vow she felt held to her soul, a vow that defined her every day. Because she would finish it, or die trying. The labs could not be allowed to exist, to torment these children, to create such a living hell for them that they could barely function.

"I...don't know. Why?" He finally said, sounding distant, cold.

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Hi to all my fans who've made it this far! I hope you like this rambling, wild story! Please vote and hurl some comments my way! Thanks All!!!!
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