The Elite

Forty-Eight

Leon

Vili's control was absolute with no wiggle room. He had no concept of me while in this state, making me feel like I didn't exist. I felt more like a drifting mind, inhabiting Vili's body and Vili's thoughts. In this way, how could I take over something that was not mine? So all I could do was stand there, listening to voices come over my bracelet, Tass having opened a line to me. My world changed just standing there. First with the revelations, and second hearing Tass and Julian die.

They were dead. Two of my squad members were dead. Dead. I loved them like family, and now they were dead. After all I'd done, they'd still died. And I knew they weren't coming back. I'd felt Vili's power being restricted, ending his control over me, and then I'd heard things I never wanted to hear over my bracelet.

Two of my beloved squad was dead, and were never coming back. The mere thought made me just want to collapse and never do anything strenuous again — just live out my monotonous existence without two of the squadmates I loved as younger siblings.

"Happy endings don't exist," I said aloud, feeling the sadness inside. "Being a hero just isn't realistic. You always fail. I'm just to make the Elite pay until they're dead."

My heart was broken into so many pieces that I found myself having difficulty caring about anything anymore. Caring was just going to lead to more heartbreak.

So, I left, anger burning bright within me like the everlasting flame.

I wasn't paying attention when Vili walked my body to the cells, so I really had no idea where I was going as I walked, resulting in me getting lost, which only stoked my rising anger. I was useless.

Two minutes later after I realized I was lost, I heard the soft murmur of voices accompanied by the padding of feet. Pressing myself against the hallway wall, I decided to listen in hopes I would hear something that could help me end the Elite, or at least get me out of there.

"I can't believe they killed Julian."

I was pretty sure I recognized the voice as Iekika's.

"Neither can I."

"After all these years... I just want this to end," Iekika sighed. "The young ones were born into the hate, but I find it increasingly harder to care about winning."

"Why must Vili be so strong? He is not as old as we are. He does not understand."

"Nirmala... we have talked about this. We should not overthrow Vili."

Overthrow Vili? Normally, I'd be intrigued by how this was turning out, but I found myself not caring all that much. I was barely keeping myself from jumping around the corner and attacking them for letting their comrades kill Julian and Tass.

"You are weaker than I, Iekika," Nirmala said. "You do not understand. Killing Julian was the last straw. He could have brought back someone who knew how to end this conflict. We must not let this continue."

Nirmala and Iekika were getting closer. I knew I should probably use the element of surprise to attack them, so I stepped closer, hoping I would be able to hear something that I tell me how I could save Julian and Tass. My foot accidentally kicked a stone, sending it skittering, making detectable noise. I froze, feeling like an idiot.

The sound of running feet informed me that Iekika and Nirmala were running towards me. I had one second to make a decision. Then they'd get to my position and kill me. The element of surprise was gone. There was no time to run. I just wished I could turn into the wall, but I couldn't. Unfortunately, I wasn't Julian. I couldn't think of a brilliant plan in a second.

I closed my eyes, tears slipping through my lashes. This was exactly why I sucked so much at being squad leader. It hadn't even been five minutes since I pledged to avenge Julian and Tass's death and I'd already failed.

"Khadija," Nirmala hissed, "were you spying on us?"

I frowned, opening my eyes, wondering why Nirmala just referred to me as Khadija. Upon opening them, I was greeted by a strange sight. Nirmala and Iekika were standing in front of me, facing down the real Khadija. Khadija was looking in my general direction, confused and worried.

"I was... I was spying on Emote," Khadija said.

It worried me, wondering how long she'd been doing that. It also confused me. If she was spying on me, why did she look as if she lost me when I was right in front of her?

Iekika snorted. "Emote?"

"Yeah. He was right there..."

Khadija pointed directly at me. Both Iekika and Nirmala turned to look at me. I knew that this was the point when they'd see me, since they'd hadn't before.

Strangely enough, though, they didn't. They both turned away.

"Where did he go?" Nirmala asked.

"I don't know."

I had no idea why they weren't seeing me, but I decided that it was a good opportunity to make an escape. Shimmying along the wall, I tried to move past Iekika and Nirmala.

"Nirmala!" Iekika said with a sharp intake of breath. "The wall's moving."

Nirmala snapped her head around, turning to look at me. I froze, but it wasn't good enough. She lunged, grabbing me and pulling me away from the wall. I let out a little shriek and tried to kick her unsuccessfully.

Iekika let out a curse. "Look at him!"

I looked at myself, surprised to find myself colored the same grey as the wall. I must have been camouflaged and the wideness of the hallway and the dim lighting must have made it difficult for me to see.

"Let him go, and get!"

My head flew up, and turned to see Black Queen and Nefarious as they appeared. Looking down at myself, I realized that I was no longer grey. That suggested it was Black Queen who made me grey — likely from a stolen power — in an attempt to save me.

"He was spying," Nirmala said. "He needs to die."

"Fine," Nefarious said, "but let us do it."

Nefarious seemed oddly serious about that. I knew it was all an act, and that he was likely just doing it to get Nirmala, Iekika, and Khadija away from me. However, it was super believable. Almost like it was real.

"Why do you want to kill Emote?" Khadija asked disdainfully.

"He got us killed!"

"...What?" I blurted out.

I had a distinct feeling Nefarious was being serious about this, meaning Black Queen actually tried to stop Iekika and Nirmala from seeing me so she could kill me personally, not save me, in which case I was screwed.

"Do you not remember the fact that you used to write letters to Eshe and your family?" Nefarious asked me. "Do you not remember when you wrote about the fact that the Elite were going to Saint Louis to talk to some people that were going to help your cause a whole lot? In other words, us. That letter alerted the yeuven, and got us killed. We lost years with our son, and got him mistreated by Jobi, and now he's dead. It's your fault we lost our son!"

Rather than worry about the fact that Black Queen and Nefarious had a good reason to kill me, I was thinking about Julian and how horrified he'd feel to know that I got his parents killed. I'd inadvertently hurt the boy who meant so much to me. I'd been the cause of his parents deaths and led him down a path to his death. Nothing could make up for that.

I retreated into myself, feeling awful. Maybe I deserved to let Black Queen and Nefarious kill me, for Julian. Maybe this was how it was supposed to end. I was a complete and utter failure. I had failed Julian so much. Maybe if I died, I couldn't ever fail him again. No one could rely on me again and be hurt when I failed.

So, I resolved to die.

But then I heard a recognizable voice over my bracelet that I'd never thought I'd hear again, saying, "It was a spaceship!"