(Quick A/N sorry for taking a lifetime, life's been very difficult and so has this chapter but it's here now and I'm going to hide because it all goes downhill from here bc shit writing and drama ^-^)
What you give is what you get
And in your case that's nothing but guilt and regret
And all the flames you kept in your brain
Came out your lips and sent you straight into your own grave
Fire ~ PVRIS
Tyler
In a matter of minutes everything had changed.
Troye was a test subject.
I was a test subject.
What a messed up life we'd had, without even knowing.
My brain couldn't quite understand it. How had we never known? There should've been signs. There had been signs. We'd been able to cast spells together. And they were terrifyingly powerful ones. It wasn't completely unusual, it was written about in legends, according to our Powergy teacher...
That teacher was in the room with us. Phil. The third test subject in the room. My aggrieved stare narrowed down on him. How had he not known about Troye and I being test subjects like him? Surely he must've recognised the similarities in our powers? Wondered how we were so powerful?
He'd hidden it from us.
Perhaps he's the one I should be angry at.
My lips curved into a snarl, like a beast, as my last shred of humanity began to rip away. "You knew, didn't you?"
His brow creased. He was still mute.
"All this time... You kept it from us..."
He shook his head desperately. Wanting to speak. But he couldn't. Because Khanye-Knot didn't allow him to. Even if he could speak, it wouldn't have changed a thing. I wouldn't have listened. I was done with the waiting game. I just wanted to end this suffering. Once and for all.
Staring at my target, I lifted my hand. My energy flared. My energy blazed. I let it override my mind. Embrace the flames as my head grew numb. This was all I knew. This is what I loved. The rush of power no one could compete with. The sweet pain of violence.
I heard the crackle of a flame. I glanced down, acknowledging the fire that roared in my palm. Licked my skin with ferocious heat. It'd hurt him. Good.
I pulled my arm back - aimed - let go. The fire spun. Wildly. Gaining velocity. Faster than my heartbeat. Haphazardly twirling towards him. Strike him in the heart. End him once and for all.
With his body still controlled by the president, Phil remained still. Like a porcelain doll. Serene, tranquil, at peace. But his eyes were screaming - screeching. Wanting me to stop before it was too late. Praying I would.
I didn't. I watched the fire bloom. Watched it devour the distance between it and Phil. I licked my lips. Savoured the taste of revenge. I felt more drained than ever before, but it was worth it. It had to be.
Just as the ball grazed his shirt, something happened. It was dissipated. By a tidal wave of water.
In a frenzy I spun, scowling at the only Water in the room - Troye. He was panting. Heavily. As if all his energy had gone into that one spell. Why had he wasted so much energy on protecting Phil? Why had he prevented me from dealing out justice?
"He's not the enemy."
I felt a bitter retort on my lips. But it was never spoken. I saw the way he was staring at me. The way he'd used to look at me, when I'd fucked up big time. Big blue orbs begging me not to see the world as black. Willing me to see what was in front of me, no matter how annoyed that could make me. craving to see my humanity return.
I lowered my hand.
He wasn't the enemy.
Guilt caught up with me for the act I'd almost succeeded in; Khanye-Knot smiled crudely. "You're always picking the wrong fights, Yokela. Lester was the runaway boy long before we got to Troye. The marks of the tested aren't always the same. If he could speak, he'd say he didn't know. But, sadly for him, he can't say such things."
She went over to Phil. Moved close his face until an alarmingly small distance was between them. "How do you feel little Lester? Sad that you've lost your voice? Aw, you poor thing. It's not yours. It's mine. It was always mine. The moment you stepped foot in France it was mine. And you were wrong to ever try to defy that. You were wrong to think you could live out your days in the countryside with someone you loved. No monster can be loved for long. I just saved you from learning that the hard way."
She stepped back, malice glinting in her eyes still. Phil couldn't say anything in his defence. He could only stare back, eyes seething in hatred- but mostly despondency. This torture he endured was unstoppable. He was a just body without a head to rule it. He saw no future in this impending doom. I couldn't bare to observed him for long. He was too broken. The usual optimistically whimsical light in his eyes had been crushed.
And I'd helped crush him.
"Why don't you want me fighting?"
"It's petty. Unnecessary. I need little Lester." She dragged a red fingernail under his chin. He winced. "He still has uses. And your futile anger might ruin things."
"What things?"
"Hush little Yokela."
"Why don't you just say what's going on and get this over with? This game your playing is just as petty as my anger. Worse even. Why can't you just-"
"Silence," she said softly, as one would to a baby. But the menacing undertone was not one I'd ever link to motherhood. "If I said everything now, where would be the fun?"
"This is fun?"
"This is fun."
She was sick. Getting pleasure from other people's heartbreak. She was twisted in all the wrong ways. Yet she was determined in proving to everyone that it was the us who needed help. As if she was the only one who could see the world with flaws. But she saw cracks and splinters where there were people. Just people. And she'd do anything she could to heal with world the best way she saw fit. And the only way to do that was remove people.
As the darkness grew Troye spoke in a quiet voice. "What I want to know is, what was the point in testing me in the first place? Or anyone? If you ended up making us stronger then surely it went wrong?"
"Oh on the contrary. What we learnt through those tests is incomparable. The strongest, the ones similar to wild animals, were easy to control. And we have controlled them. They make up our armed forces in the most difficult of places. In confinements like this. But that's not all. The results have made it possible to deduce how exactly a person builds up the energy to attack, how your body chemistry changes as you generate a hex."
"Why's that important?"
"If you know how something's created, then you know how something can be destroyed."
I shivered. Troye stood straighter. "Someone never paid attention in physics then, because energy can't be created or destroyed."
"But you can remove it from a person."
Both our jaws dropped. "That's - not - possible."
"Anything is possible if you put your mind to it."
I was used to hearing such phrases in an education environment, not a president who found a horrific solution to her final problem.
"You harvest people?"
She smiled complacently. "In a sense, yes. Ha, the first farmer president. I guess you are the tainted fruit that needs to be picked, to feed my flock of sheep."
"You mean goats."
Khanye-Knot turned slowly to Connor, who'd made that correction. "Excuse me?"
"Sheep are innocent. Goats are demonic. Like your followers."
"What does that make you then?"
"A goat who wants to be man."
Khanye-Knot rolled her eyes. "How quaint. It's no the time for some supposedly poetic quote. It just sounds like a fairytale idea, Franta. But fairytales are make-believe. Bedtime stories. What you've done is worse type of nightmare there is."
Connor looked away, deteriorating until he became a crumple on the floor once more. Korey looked at him with unease - stuck in a limbo between wanting to help and leaving him be. But his leader didn't allow him to help. So he didn't. Even if it did leave him looking harrowed.
Meanwhile, sneering lines that detailed the president's true nature were ironed out after a moment, and she smiled placidly at Troye and I. "Our devices hook into a person. And they send a signal through your sensory neurons, all the way to your brain. It triggers the need to release energy. So down comes the power, into your veins, to where our devices are, and out pours your powers.
"The power is in its purest form, able to be passed into any other person. And we give it to a select few of the trusted Normals. To use it for good. To protect humanity against the terror you and your kind have inflicted. To prove how powers can be used for good."
"Most of us live that way already!"
"That's not true. We found that almost ninety-eight percent of Elementals have cast destructive spells."
"That makes it sound worse then it is. Defensive spells include cleaning for goodness sake!"
"Regardless of your own biased beliefs, we can't allow such a race to go around with no boundaries. And this is the only way forward."
"This is horrible."
Korey shook his head, smiling ruefully. "Not really. When you think about it, it's a good thing. Because we can manage who has power, make sure no one is too strong, and give more to those who deserve it. There's no harm in that. Distributing power evenly.... That's basic equality."
If I could have slapped some sense into him, I would have done. But I was firmly held by a guard, so all I could use were the power of words.
"What's wrong with you? How can you possibly think it's okay, taking away a part of someone? You're treating powers as if it's something that can be traded. But it's not a social status. People can't help being born with powers. It's their nature. And you can't change that. If they use it for good then there's no reason to take a part of them away. But you're not even trying to teach people how to use powers for the greater good. You just want to cull people to give even more power to those who are higher up the ladder."
"That's not what is-"
"What happens to the people after?" I said, cutting off Korey's whiny excise to face the president once more.
"It depends on how much we take."
"How much do you take?"
"On average, about 8 litres. Some people, who pose a threat, get more taken. And the weaker get less taken."
8 litres. That didn't seem too big a value by itself. But I knew my biology. There was 40 litres of fluid in the human body. 5.5 litres of blood. She was taking a lot. More than what could be healthy. And it wasn't a healthy practice in the first place.
"What happens to them?"
"Well, removing powers is a gradual process. About three hours each time. Afterwards the person is weaker. Obviously. They can't cast spells that are nearly so powerful. Some can't cast at all. And on occasion their speech becomes slurred. Or their neck becomes disfigured. But these are minor things. Overall it's clear to see this program has been all great success."
Like hell it was.
"You said you take more from threats but who counts as a greater threat?" Troye asked.
"Let's see... There's children for starters. Better to take it all so they never know what they're missing. And then there's the likes of Tyler's mother-"
"How much did you take from her?"
"Enough."
I wanted to tear out my eyes. Tear through the walls until I found what the president had done to her. Tear at the president until she was little more than bones. "You can't do this. No one will let you anywhere near them when they find out what your doing to them. And they will find out."
"But Tyler, you know and yet you've failed to notice the process has already begun on you."
Time shifted into a void. Life went on pause. My sense went into overdrive. I noticed it all. Accuelty aware of everything. How the cold weapon the guards had pressed to our necks weren't guns at all. They were the devices with the hooks. They were taking our power. I could feel my power ebb away. The cold harsh reality of what was happening to me took its toll as I stared in the dark pits of the president's eyes.
We were becoming powerless.
Internal walls were crumbling away. Slowly but surely, my identity was being torn away from me. The one part of me I'd relied on my whole life was vanishing. A tear in my heart nothing could heal. All my dreams had come to die. I would become a shell - no, I would be worse than that. A life without a spark wasn't a life worth living. And she knew that. She knew what made me tick. What made me ticked off. She knew I was nothing without Fire. She was destroying me the best way she could. And she was doing a damn good job of it.
My anguish couldn't be contained. So I hurled it at the nearest target - Korey. "How can you let her do this? Why are you helping them?"
"It had to be done. This is making everyone equal."
Monty cracked his knuckles, clicked his tongue, released a animistic snarl. "Korey, my son, you've been living under her thumb for too long. You're helping people who'd have you dead in a heartbeat if it wasn't for who you are."
"Who you are?" I echoed.
He was the same as me. In almost every way. We'd been brought up together. Under Monty's roof. Played together, stayed together - until the events in Vegas had drawn us apart. We shared almost identical pasts. The same everything-
Except there was one difference I'd never dwelled on for long. One difference that had never beemed like a big deal. One difference that suddenly had the pieces of this game begin to fit together.
Korey met my gaze for the first time that day. His gaze was unwavering, heavy with the worst of truths.
"She's my mother."
Silent. That's the only way I could describe the room. No words, no gasps - that was it. Just silence. It had a likeness to the silence that follows the waking of a nightmare. When your shortened breaths have all but passed. When you only have the quiet of the house to fill your ears. It can feel like a timeless zone. It's dark and nothing changes in that time. Apart from one thing. You feel the nightmare nibbling away at you. Luring you back into sleep. And there's no one there to turn to, to comfort you. There's just silence.
"How did this even happen?"
Monty's lips twitched. "She wasn't always... like this. You must remember seeing her when you were younger?"
Of course I did. I remembered Korey and I almost getting attacked on our way home from school, hackled with the abusive shouts of "ELEMENTAL SCUMS! YOU'LL BURN IN HELL!" I remembered how we sought refuge at home, when she was there. I remembered how she'd given us comfort with"if all Elementals go to hell, Water's would be sure to put out the fires."
"Well yeah... I never thought you'd been with her though..."
Khanye-Knot spoke before Monty had a chance. "We were both young and foolish. He used his powers to trick me, into thinking I was in love with him. He made me think Elementals were virtuous... it just goes to show, they're anything but that, if they're willing to deceive normals in such ways."
"No magic can make you fall in love. You just can't cope with the thought that these ideas you've bestowed upon this country could be wrong. That being an Elemental might not be evil-"
Korey shook his head, smiling as though I was a naive child who knew no better. "I would never exist if that was true. Mom doesn't think being Elemental is wrong. She thinks people misuse their abilities. She just wants to distribute power fairly... Do you see it now? Why this is a good thing? Mom just wants justice for all."
He was just as delusional as his mother.
Monty massaged his eyelids with clear resignation. "You've never been the brightest Korey, but I fear whatever intelligence you did possess has been lost to her." Korey frowned, then started say we were the ones who weren't intelligent. Monty wasn't having that. Even in his weakened state, with his powers no longer at his disposal, he could still command the room with a look. A look of finality that had Korey doing an impersonation of a fish.
As Monty began to lecture him, as he used to back in the old days, I heard a little noise. A squeak. Like a nail being dragged across metal... Or screws being worked free. It sounded again. From the ceiling.
What was going on?
Keeping my movements restrained I glanced up, trying to not draw too much attention to what I was doing. Above, a vent was opening. At first I could make out nothing. Just the black pipes. And silver panelling. But then my eyes adjusted. Spotted the outline of three blobs - bodies - people. Three faces peered down. They were fiddling with an object. Dim red numbers lit up.The white's of their eyes the only thing assuring me they were who I believed them to be.
Caspar, Hannah and Grace.
They'd come to save us.
I secreted my smile, drawing my eyes back to the happenings on this level. Khanye-Knot was rambling once again, on and on about the importance of her mission, with Monty interjecting whenever he saw it fit. No one else had noticed the people above. Thank goodness.
I tried to stay nonchalant as those above tried to drop something into the room. I kept focused on the irate air that surrounded me in this cell. Stayed calm. Collected. Trued not to think about things too much... Until I remembered the radio message. The one we'd received from Joe, that ended with his abrupt shout for Caspar. Caspar's here. He seemed fine....
So where was Joe?
In a hurry I brushed it off. My face might've given away my worry. I couldn't allow that. I could ask that question later. Once they'd succeeded in saving us. For now, I had to seem unaware.
Monty was still speaking softly as he spoke over the president. "You don't understand this. You never have. You can barely even grasp at the truth, my dear. You think injecting yourself with power will make you a stronger force. But it just makes you a hypocrite."
"You have no right to lecture me. You have no idea of what we're capable of. I can tell what's happening in so many places, right now. Heightened senses. Using my powers for good. And I can exactly see what you're doing girls."
Shit.
Everyone turned to look up, to see Grace and Hannah with their legs dangling. They froze instantaneously. Rooted to the spot in fear.
"Korey, be a lamb and get them down."
"Certainly."
Korey clicked his fingers. An old trick we'd learnt when we were five. That had their fingers slipping from the surface. The two came tumbling down with flailing arms. They levitated just above the ground. Then fell the rest of way. Fingers inches apart.
Caspar was still up there. Watching. Waiting.
There was still hope.
"Tut-tut-tut Grace. I did my best not to expect this. Truly, I did. Your family always spoke so highly of you. Why did you have to fall in love with an Elemental, mm?"
"I don't know."
And with those words my heart plummeted. Perhaps the words themselves meant no harm, but her delivery did. She said them in a tone of apology, for the sin of even associating herself with the likes of us.
"Mistakes happen. I've made them. Korey is one of them," She laughed. And Korey laughed too. Perhaps they made that joke all the time, but it was distasteful. Korey wasn't a mistake. And to view him as one was made was dejected.
"I understand the temptation of forbidden beings. But I'm afraid every action has consequences. I just wonder how many crimes you have committed in this... disgraceful relation."
She brought forth a box. Wooden, with no decoration. Such a simple box in the hands of such a complex monster. But now was no time to analyse a box. She opened it up, the box facing us all. Inside was a grey dead item. Lying on a quilted surface, as if it was a treasure in it's own right. But how can a gun ever be cherished, when it's purposes only involve destruction?
Then again, it did belong to a genocidal maniac... so it no longer seemed so odd.
With sedate movements pervaded with care, the resident removed the gun from the box, holding it in her hands as the two became one. An extra limb. She almost seemed to cradle it, like it were her own child. The one she preferred, seeing as this one had no emotion - ruthless - just like her.
The thing about murder is, unless it's you holding the gun, you don't always have to carry the blame. And Khanye-Knot had become an expert when it came to being blameless. With a beckoning finger Phil was forcefully bought closer to her. With staggered steps. She placed the gun into his hand. Made sure his fingers held onto it tightly. Snapped her fingers. Phil turned like a clockwork toy - movements sharp and painful to watch. Eyes brimmed with terror. Chin quivering. And he began to walk towards Grace.
"No, please-"
"It brings me no pleasure-"
Phil raised the gun.
"But I didn't mean to-"
The safety clicked off.
"I fear it's too late for you-"
Finger on the trigger.
"Please! I'll do anything!"
The president held out her hand. Phil came to a halt. Stopped raising the gun. Lowered it. Khanye-Knot smiled. "Very well. I'll give you a chance. Because I believe you can be saved. Redeemed of your betrayal."
"I offer you a choice. A choice between life or death. Come back to us. And leave the Elementals behind you."
Grace remained still. At first she was enraged. Forced to chose between infatuation and life. It was impossible. In that moment she was being forced to make the hardest decision she'd faced in her short life.
But the hardest decisions are the easiest to make.
Grace took in a deep breath. Her expression cleared. A clean slate. Vacant of emotion. And we all knew what her decision was.
Grace took a tentative step towards Khanye-Knot.
A second step. A third. A forth. There was no turning back now.
"Grace?" Hannah squeaked, eyes wide like a mouse watching another caught in a trap.
Grace took one last glance at Hannah. I saw her emotions as a film across her eyes. Heartache. Unreserved, brimmed with the purest of despair. "I'm sorry Hannah. I'm so so-"
"Grace," Khanye-Knot said, her warning tone sending her apology away, along with all my faith in her.
Grace straightened her shoulders, eyes freezing over."I have to live. You'd do the same."
"I never would. And you know it."
Grace did know it. But she wouldn't allow herself to. Not now.
So she turned her back on us, towards the gloomy path she'd chosen. And she continued to walk over - steps heavy with guilt. Khanye-Knot smiled. Nodded with pride. Welcoming. Grace's steps were growing lighter in her assurance that this was the right decision. Held her head higher. The president continued to beam. Opened her arms. Like a spider enticing a fly. And like a fly Grace flew forward, wanting to be accepted. The president bought her into an embrace, holding onto her neck. Then he brought her ear close to her mouth. And said the words that would scar the last part of Grace's memory:
"I never trust a traitor."
In a sudden rush of movement, Grace's neck was snapped back with a sharp crack that was worse than the sound of gunshot but that didn't matter and Grace jerked manically and fell like an unwanted rag doll and-
She landed with a thud. Dust sprung up at the impact. Not wanting to be near her corpse. Her eyes gleamed with newfound fear, that would remain until the end of time.
"I'm glad that's over."
"Why..."
"I meant what I said. I don't trust traitors. She was the greatest traitor of all. Slimy git. I've done you all a favour, removing one more sin from this wretched earth."
"You didn't have to do that."
"But look how distraught you are because of it. I wouldn't change it for the world. The eradication of traitors is the greatest of pleasures. Speaking of traitors..."
All eyes went to Connor. Khanye stalked towards him. Korey blocked her path, telling her not to. Connor scampered back. Whacked his head against the door. Cried out in pain. Stifled a cry as she continued to walk towards him.
"Don't hurt him-" Monty began.
"Silence you old fool!"
She struck out her hand. It was the first time she did the act of violence herself. She didn't seem angry. Or happy. She was emotionless as she knocked down another obstacle. Monty went down, whimpering. Landed, squirming and rising, body seeming to be possessed by a demon. His face contorted in pain until peace settled.
His chest continued to rise. Slightly.
He'd be dead soon enough.
And so would Connor.
If I couldn't stop it.
Korey was still pleading with his mother. Telling her that exile was a worse fate. Asking her to let him have a trial. Trying to convince her he wasn't all evil.
"You can't pick and choose who gets to live," she said, side stepping Korey to finally be in front of Connor. She fiddled with her pockets. Fiddled until she produced a vial. A lumoius vial. Of yellow and green.
"But you said we only kill dark elementals. He's not dark."
Once again, I wihsed I could hit him. He still didn't get it. "Korey of course he's not dark. Hardly any Elementals are dark."
"But-"
"Don't you understand? We're the dark elementals. You and I. No one else."
Reality had finally struck at him. "What?"
"We're the ones that know those spells that should've been destroyed. We're the ones in the family that started this. We're the ones that-"
As I spoke I became distinctly aware of the president. She still held the vial in a tight grasp, but Connor wasn't in her line of sight. She was communicating to the guards holding Troye and I. I noticed the throb in my neck intensify. Noticed how she was walking over to Phil. Noticed the words "Do it" ghost over her lips.
Time was slipping away from me. I had to convince him now. Stared him deep in the eye, hoping this would work. "Korey, you can stop this. You can stop her. You still have power. More power than she ever will. You can stop all this-"
"JUST DO IT!"
I spun my head right round. Seeing a bloody Khanye-Knot with a distorted face, glowering like a wolf now.
But she wasn't the one I should've been looking at. I should've been looking at Phil, the one with the gun in his hands, who was in Khanye-Knot's hands.
The last thing I heard a gunshot.
And then all I knew was darkness.
The darkness.
Just silence.
~~~~
Before you get your knickers in a twist I'l update within the next two weeks okay petits pois