Prompt: Your fingers tensed around the object in your pocket, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.
A/N: Back story time! Of Jamal and Terence from week 20! And also a little bit of Rose too. Enjoy!
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Terence was staring out the window, waiting for his brother to come back. He was in college in another city and he missed his big brother very much. He was waiting for the familiar noise of his parent's car. His family was one of the few that could afford such luxury, everyone else was travelling either by bicycles or bus, and Terence was really good at guessing which car passed by only by the sound of it. When he heard the low rumbling of his parent's car engine, he rushed outside of the house and jumped in Jamal's arms as soon as he stepped out of the car ''BROTHER!''
''Hi, lil' bud. I missed you too.''
Their father let out a small laugh ''Oh no, not this time, Jammy! You are helping me unpack your stuff this time!''
The two brothers hugged each other a bit tighter and gave their father a heart breaking pleading look, but it failed miserably and they both had to help to bring all Jamal's bag and books back in his room. Terence still had about a month of high school, but as soon as he would be done with it, the two brothers would spend most of the summer together. Jamal was already planning everything out while Terence was studying for his exams. And at the last day of school, the two brothers managed to get their parent's blessing to go to their cottage right outside the city on their own. Their parents were a bit worried to let them go alone, there was a big storm coming after all and they never let the kids alone there. Jamal crossed his arms on his chest ''It's only a little bit of rain, we will stay inside while it pass and I am not a child anymore!''
''We know, sweetheart'' his mother said ''It just that you both will always be our little babies! So becareful out there!'' and she put them in a sweet embrace, that they both accepted before running to their room to get their stuffs ready for their weekend.
The next morning, their parents got the food and drink ready for them, gave them the 'becareful out there speech' one last time and the 'becareful on the road' one too before giving Jamal the car keys and they were both on their way. The ride went really well and they were at the cottage in no time. That's how their parents always called this place, but it was more like a castle. Gigantic rooms, almost all made of marbles and other pricy materials. There even was a fountain in the hall. It was all too much, but it was a nice and quiet place to relax and enjoy the nature around it. The two brothers were enjoying the late evening around the camp fire, grilling marshmallows. That was when the lightning and thunder began. They tried to ignore it, but after a few minutes, they saw that it was only getting worst so they headed back inside. When it started to rain, they sprinted the few feets they still had to make, but they never made it in time. Right in front of them, a spectral fog with white, blue and purple lightnings exploding around it grew and grew until it was big enough to swallow them both in it. they woke up the next morning still in front of the cottage, they felt all stiff and tired, but still alive and well. They both helped each other to walk inside, they took a look at themselves, trying to find any injuries, but they found nothing beside small bruises from sleeping on the ground and dark circles around their eyes. They still thought it would be wiser to end their small trip earlier and head back home to tell their parents about it.
They were lucky that their mother was a doctor, she did a full body exam on them and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They decided to stay at home for the next few weeks, to make sure nothing bad happened in the long run. And something did happen to them... Terence was the first one to notice. At first it was only impressions, like he could tell how his brother or parents felt. And then he felt something different and powerful irradiating from his brother. One day, they were helping their father to paint the living room.T heir father was all the way up the ladder to paint the ceiling while the two brothers were right beneath him. That's when Terence decided to talk about what he felt to his brother ''Do you feel...different... since the cottage?''
''Not really. Why?''
Terence explained how he heard that some people seemed to have developped powers since the storm and he was wondering if maybe it had affected them too. Jamal didn't want to believe him at first even if Terence was giving lots of examples of how Terence just knew how people felt. It was not only because he was empathic, it was something else ''And I feel something else in you too! Please believe me.''
''No! Stop with this... nonsense, please! I don't want to think about it!'' Truth was, Jamal was feeling different, but he didn't want to believe it. And learning that maybe his brother was affected too made him even more protective and anxious about it. Their father looked down to see why they were arguing about and has he did, he kicked his pot of paint, making it fall in the brothers direction. Jamal raised his arms in a protective way only to see the pot of paint crash on an invisibles shield a few inches above his brother and him. The three of them stared at paint slowly falling down the invisible shield. They then looked at each other in disbelief. What happened? Did they really just saw what they just saw? They settled a family meeting to talk about it. What they should do? They decided to keep it secret for now. Maybe more informations will come has the time passed. And did the info came. And not good ones.
It took a few more weeks, but now everybody knew. Some people all around the World developped Powers. Most likely because of the Storm, but noone could confirm this theory. While some did good things with their new abilities, a few took advantage of it and, of course, people only talked about them. That's why the goverments all around the globe united they strenght and created The Hunters. A group of elite reinforcers of the laws trained and equiped to find and hunt the Threats. That is how they called people with powers. Jamal and Terence were glad that they were able to keep their little secret between them. Nobody knew about it and their family made sure to keep it that way. Nobody came to bother them, but as Jamal was getting ready to go back to college at the end of the summer, he couldn't let himself go ''Please mom, dad! Innocent people get hunted and even killed for something that is not their fault! Something that happened to us! We have to do something!''
There was a big argument between the brothers and their parents. The youngers wanted to do something for the people like them. When they told their parents how they always told them to follow their dreams and do what they thought was right, the parents didn't really have a choice but to let them do it. But only after Terence promised to come back home often to get home-schooled with them. He was still only a highschool student after all. Their parents also helped in their own ways by trying to find the parents of other child with Powers while Jamal and Terence went on their own hunt to find people like them before the Hunters could. And they knew exactly how to do it. They would walk around town and Terence would tell Jamal whenever he would feel someone with Powers, just like he did with his brother. And it didn't take long before he did. He felt a really strong power from a random girl. they tried to follow her, but she was moving way too fast in the crowded main street. It took them a few days, but they finally managed to find where she lived. A court. She was a consort, or atleast she would be a consort, because she still looked a bit young to be an actual one. They didn't really know what to do so they did what they always did: ask their parents.
Their mother had to help a few of the women there in the past and from what she learned and heard, everybody working there were bond by some kind of contract that anyone, including the person bond to the contract, could 'buy' to become the new owner of the contract. If the person could buy their own contract, that meant they were know free to go as they pleased, but if someone else bought it, the person now had to work for them. This didn't seem really fair since it was almost impossible for the person to buy their own contract, but it wasn't technically slavery so... The authorities never did anything about it. Maybe they could go and ask her about her contract, maybe find a way to help her to buy her own contract if she wanted to. They would have to find the way to help her on their own. The two brothers felt a bit unconfortable at the idea of 'buying' someone's freedom. It was a part of reality that they never saw or heard of before. But they decided to try anyway. For all the people that were being hunted right now, they had to try something. The feeling Terence got was really strong, they truly believed this young girl could help them in their quest to free all the people with powers. They all went to their room, trying to find as much money as possible, along with jeweleries and other valuable trinkets that could help them... Help her get her freedom. They stuffed everything in a bag and in their pockets and they went out again to try and find her.
They were both walking the main street up and down for a good while now. Terence could feel her strongly, but they couldn't find her anywhere for some reason. Terence threw his arms in the air ''How is this even possible!? I know she is here. And she is close!''
''I don't know... Tracking is hard I guess.''
Terence threw his head back and while doing so, he caught something on the corner of his eyes. He turned his head up and there she was, sitting on the top of the roof of some random shop. He gave a quick nudge in Jamal's arm to catch his attention, but doing so, he also got the girl's attention. When she saw that they were staring at her, she ran away, jumping from roof to roof. They ran after her, trying to keep track of her. Atleast Terence was still able to sense her so it was easier to follow after her. They finally got a hold of her as she was getting inside the court ''WAIT! Please, we don't want to hurt you. Only talk!'' Jamal shouted, out of breath.
''Not interested.''
''We know about your... power.'' Jamal said in a much lower voice, looking around making sure nobody could hear them ''We are like you. We want to help.''
The girl stood straight and tall in front of them ''I have no idea what you are talking about.''
She said it with such a convincing voice that Terence almost doubted his feeling, but he shook the feeling off ''I can feel it, maybe it hasn't come out yet, but you do have one. And a strong one. We don't want to hurt you... We even want to help you with your... contract? Is that how it is called?''
''Why would I get rid of my contract?'' she asked, arms crossed in front ofher chest.
''Well...'' The two brothers were shocked. Why wouldn't she? To be bond to someone by some kind of contract must be horrible. To not be free to do whatever you wanted. The girl let out a small laugh ''I can do whatever I want. And soon I will be able to get a whole lot of money from rich men that think they know better than me. I will be able to take care of my 'contract' without anybody's help. Thank you.'' and without waiting for an answer, she stepped inside. They both followed her without thinking, still trying to convince he rto change her mind ''But we are more than happy to help! We won't ask for anything in return-''
''Yeah right. Like I wouldn't have to do anything to help you after that?''
''Well...'' Jamal couldn't help but tense his fingers around the necklace that he put in his pocket. He was ready to pull it out at any moment now. Maybe seeing that they were being serious about this would help her change her mind. She went in a room and Jamal rushed behind her, pulling the necklace out of his pocket ''We are serious about this, please let us help you!''
A women let out a big gasp at the sight of the golden necklace full of diamonds and other stones on it. She pretty much looked like an older version of the girl he was talking to. The older woman asked if they wanted to buy her daughter. Jamal were out of word for a few second, but when she asked again, a bit more agressively he answered ''Well not exactly, but-''
She didn't let him the time to finish his sentence, she snatched the necklace from his hand and threw a piece of paper that she was keeping in her pocket ''Here. She is yours now.''
''I'm sorry, what?''
But the woman was way too captivated by the necklace to give the young man any attention at all. The girl only sighed and dragged him out ''Well I guess you're happy now. You got what you wanted.''
''That's not what I wanted at all! What just happened?''
She didn't say another word. She dragged him in an office where she talked to what seemed like the owner. The old lady couldn't help but laugh ''A simple necklace? Your mother is even more pathetic than I thought!''
The young girl took the paper on the desk and stormed out of the room without a look behind her. She turned to Jamal and tossed the paper at him ''Just wait for me outside okay.''
''Okay?''
Jamal took his brother with him outside. Terence was even more confused than his brother, but waiting outside as they were asked. While they were waiting, they read the piece of paper. It was really a contract for the young girl. Her name was Rose. This was an horrible contract, they were about to rip it in pieces, but Rose stopped them ''This is an official contract form. You can't just rip it off!''
''Oh... I'm sorry about all of that... I didn't mean to... We didn't want to-''
''It's fine. Not your fault. You couldn't guess how my... mother would react. But now I am yours so... What do we do?''
Jamal and Terence both made disgusted face ''Please... No... You are your own person. And as I read... To repay me you only have to repay me what I payed you for.''
''Plus the interest.''
''No interest! Please, nothing of that... Only a... nice necklace and this whole contract thing is over!''
''Cool...So what do we do? You want to save the world or something?''
The brothers both looked at each other. That was kind of what they wanted, but hearing it from another's person mouth was a bit...weird. It all made it so real and impossible. But they wanted to find a way to help people like them. Rose was more than willing to help. After all, most of the people that were trying to hunt them were white rich men and those were the most fun to play and mess with. They all looked at each other awkwardly. Jamal decided to break the silence with a simple ''My name's Jamal by the way.''
''And I'm Terence, his brother.''
''And I'm Rose. We will need a place to hide to make a plan to defeat the Hunters... Like a Lair or something!''
The brother looked at each other with this knowing look ''We know just the right place!''
''Well let's beat the crap out of some political people then!''
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A/n aaand again, almost too late to finish this story. I always want to write so much about those characters that I end up not writing anything because I feel overwhelmed! But I did it! I hope you enjoyed this little back story.