"I can try…" he swallowed, "Um, You can see me again." He spoke as he let go, he wasn't using it with much eumph or force so it he wasn't using it at all, it usually came out when he was very emotional. Not just causally. "Did it work?"
Charlie blinked as he disappeared as soon as he let go, a little weirded out by his disembodied voice. Emery looked back to see if he was still there.
“Uh, no,” Charlie’s said. “Hmm, maybe the effect will fade over time.”
He sat down and held his knees, "I hope so.." he didn't like the fact that no one could see him, and he didn't know why he couldn't work his ability, he was all around extremely sad. He didn't want to be like this forever, he didn't have enough arms to touch everyone and make them see him.
"Ah, if I may be of assistance?" Emery volunteered. "I know from both human and alien studies that one's ability is usually strengthened when aided by strong emotions. Perhaps using any emotion he has to strengthen the command when he speaks will break the effect, and clearly, the emotions he has are quite strong."
"True, and he was pretty freaked out when he first disappeared," Charlie replied, then attempted to translate what they said into kid language. "Hey, how about you try again? But this time, you do it with more feeling. You use the feelings inside of you and put them into your words. Does that make sense?"
She seemed to genuinely want to help Matteo, despite how uncomfortable he had made her feel during lunch. He was just a small thing, he didn't know any better, she thought.
"Wow, you're actually being genuinely concerned for my wellbeing?" Malachi chuckled. "Nice change of pace. And I'm alright, though I'm still wondering if my injuries are sticking around longer than I'd like, even though you healed me. A lot that's happened recently has been making my head spin, haha."
A smile grew wide on his face. "Aww, you're cute when you're concerned too," he said. "Of course I want to carry you, I just said I like doing it. It's no trouble."
He kept leaning on the sphinx, just for a little while longer.
"Well- i just- yeah so what?!" She huffed at him pointing out that she was actually being concerned for him. "i caused most of the wounds that are impacting your ability to walk, and my healing barely seems like it did anything, so of course I'm worried you idiot."
She turned to look at him when he started talking about her cute while concerned. "I told you i am not cute!" She pouted at him with her arms crossed, like might as well be her favorite pose at this point
"well then i guess you can keep carrying me, but if you can't do it anymore then you don't have too" she got slightly more comfortable in his arms. this feels nice…. She thought before realizing her thoughts. W.H.A.T. what was that?! Her thoughts were making her fluster just slightly, she just kept her arms crossed. Why am i so against this?
"Et alors? Well, it's kind of a big deal when you've expressed mostly apathy about my wellbeing up to this point." The smile was glued to his face as he watched her, it wouldn't leave for a second. "Oh non, you definitely did something, otherwise I would still be unable to walk. My head and back just ache sometimes."
Snickering at her denial, he continued, "But I think you are. You can't change my opinion any more than you can change the fact that you said I'm pretty, mon chéri."
He stopped leaning on the sphinx, taking rhythmic breaths to keep himself steady. The constant smiling and seeing Arden flush slightly again made it difficult to make deeper breaths though.
"Et alors? Well, it's kind of a big deal when you've expressed mostly apathy about my wellbeing up to this point." The smile was glued to his face as he watched her, it wouldn't leave for a second. "Oh non, you definitely did something, otherwise I would still be unable to walk. My head and back just ache sometimes."
Snickering at her denial, he continued, "But I think you are. You can't change my opinion any more than you can change the fact that you said I'm pretty, mon chéri."
He stopped leaning on the sphinx, taking rhythmic breaths to keep himself steady. The constant smiling and seeing Arden flush slightly again made it difficult to make deeper breaths though.
She didn't have a response to the first thing that he said, about her changing from apathy to more empathy, which was extremely strange for her, it seemed the longer she was away from the lab the more she could actually feel things, emotions. Things she hadn't felt before, but still felt familar.
She looked at his face, studying it, noticing how the smile never seemed to leave his face, how can you smile so easily and happily?
"well i guess your right." She kept her pouted expression though it seemed a bit more focused now.
She immediately flushed up and playfully swatted him when he mentioned her calling him pretty. "That didn't happen!" She was quick to deny but she knew she said it, and she had truly meant it.
He blushed at that, not expecting that at all, he softly smiled at Alister though holding onto his hand. He left his other hand under noels hand, not moving it any time soon.
Not too soon after Vixen and august had there exchange they had an alien patrol coming around the corner, nah it was just two aliens having gone rogue and split from there group, the encounter wasn't very brief but it wasn't very long either they all had to fight the aliens and knock them unconcious with the help of everyone's abilties.
They tied up the aliens and stopped to take a breather at the border, before eventually getting back and ready to get going again. They walked for a good while, Evan had a slight limp there was a possiblity that his wounds had reopened but there was no blood yet, Trent got a few cuts on his face, and cuts on his ears a chunk out of his werewolf ear that was bleeding, almost through the bandage. Alister only got scratches because of Evan and Noel, Noel had a ton of cuts and bruises. The rest we're just barely hurt, and they walked for a good while before Evan almost stopped short.
He heard talking and not just any voice, a vlice very familiar.
"guys i can hear Malachi, he must be up ahead." He spoke, making sure the rest of the group could hear him.
"Really?!' trent could barely contain his excitement
He laughed, flinching away from her swat. ”Êtes-vous sûr, ma douce?”
He sighed, realizing he’d gone straight back to calling her nicknames and saying foolish things instead of focusing on the important stuff like he promised to himself only a few minutes ago. He couldn’t help it, it seemed. She was just too adorable.
They continued onward, bantering and bickering and maybe flirting all the while. The sphinx and the boy Quinn would occasionally get caught up in their feline shenanigans. Eventually they could see the District 6 border in the distance again, a high wall shielding the city behind it now.
~
The battle was very jarring for Alister, for everyone really. Never had he physically gone against the aliens in this way before, so it made it difficult to fight properly. Thankfully his sister and his soulmate had his back, and his agility made it easy to dodge attacks. I would say that Vixen actually was the most vicious, nearly taking a bullet to the shoulder and attempting to claw an alien’s face off. She ended up with a deep wound in her shoulder and claw marks along her collarbone. August came out of the fight pretty much unscathed, save for a bruised arm, due to her invisibility. And of course, Alister and Evan felt flowers bloom on their bodies with each new wound. Poppies, daisies, and buttercups littered their cheeks, chest, and shoulders. Alister could feel something growing from beneath his shirt, so he already knew that Evan may have reopened his wounds again.
They quickly disabled the security cameras around the border so no one would know of their presence while they rested, fixing up their wounds as best they could for now. Then they crossed the border, the dull grays and browns of the back alleys quickly turning into the ambers and golds of the dappled autumn forest.
Once Evan alerted them of hearing Malachi up ahead, Vixen’s fox ears twitched up, and her eyes were alert. “Yes,” she confirmed. “I can hear a deep male voice several yards from here, as another voice.”
August quirked her brow, all at once very excited and confused at the same time. “Could it be the other human who escaped the experimentation labs?”
“It’s likely,” Noel said, fidgeting with excitement as she walked. “C’mon.”
~
Malachi was laughing, about to retort to something Arden said when something in the distance caught his eyes. A group of humans, though he wasn’t sure of what kind of humans from here.
“Arden,” he said. He let her down on her feet in case she needed to defend herself.
“Can you tell who those people are?” He asked.
As soon as he set her down at the sight of humans, she immediately got defensive, her body tensed up and so did her expression, she was focused on the upcoming people if she needed to fight them, if it was humans then it had a possibility that it was the rebels,
"No. your not fully healed, go with the beast and hide. I'm going to see who they are. I'm not taking any chances."
She moved to watch the group. (You can either have malachi stop her, or have her go forward to watch them)
- Evan frowned at other voice that she could hear, it sounded like he had heard it before but also not at the same time, he shook his head, listening back in and turning back to the group.
"keep your eyes peeled, the one that's with him, she's a female by the sound of her voice and shes coing to scout us out though i dont think she will be easy to find. Malachi should he up ahead from how close they sound."
Trent nodded, tilting his head up in the air to see if he could maybe catch the females scent and also looking above them and in the higherish levels for her.
Malachi put a hand on her shoulder. The more he stared at the group of humans ahead, the more he was certain. It was them, he was sure of it.
He kept his hand on her to stop her. "I am perfectly capable of defending myself if I need to. And I know it's them, my friends from the rebellion. I can't hide, I need them to know I'm okay and that you're not a threat."
He turned to the creature to ask her to guard Quinn, but she was gone. A soft, gentle hum told him she was still nearby, but it only lasted a moment. He sighed, then started foreword to meet the group, dropping his hand from Arden's shoulder.
The creature spoke into Arden's mind, even though she was out of sight. If they are enemies, I will help you destroy them. If they are allies, then this is where we part ways. Goodbye, familiar friend. Discover my name, so that I may remember my past, please. I hope you discover your name, too.
~
August narrowed her eyes, then said, "If she's just going to scout us out, that means she won't be hostile toward us, at least not yet. There's no need to go after her." She turned to the others. "I need you all to get in formation behind me and O'Shea. In case something happens, the last thing I would want is for any of you kids to get hurt. No, Pike, I don't care that you're 18 and Noel, you're the youngest one here, even if you're second in command, shut up."
Noel had opened her mouth in protest, but now she closed it and rolled her eyes. She got in formation, showing her brother where to go. Soon they were all in place, and the group continued forward, August and Vixen leading the way.
Evan let go of Alister's hand, flashing him a comforting look before moving making sure to get into formation, still listening for there conversation. what did he mean by her not being dangerous, he could mostly understand but was still expecting an explanation when they got to him
Trent got into formation as well despite his want to protest getting into position.
~
Good bye, i will look forward to our next meeting, hopefully i can help remember yourself
"the beast has gone, hopefully i can get something to help her with her memory as well as mine." She whispered to Malachi, before sighing.
"Alright, but i hope your great with words because i doubt they will think I'm not dangerous when you tell them what i did, what i used to be."
She noticed Quin hidding behind Malachi, and her face softened. "It's okay Quin, no one's gonna harm you, there's just some humans coming for Malachi, they are friends of his."
He nodded in response.
He nodded. “Yeah, she deserves it. La dame bête saved our lives, after all.” Then he flashed her a smile. “Hey, it’ll be fine. I know these guys, and you’ve changed. If there’s anyone who knows anything about change, it’s my friends, my family. Maintenant, allons-y.” He glanced at Quin with his last few words, also offering him a soft smile. He had a feeling the small boy would know to flee in cat form if anything went wrong.
~
Alister squeezed Evan’s hand before he let go, anxiety’s beginning to settle in him again. He had no idea what to expect.
The group was assorted into two rows, with August, Alister, and Evan in one row, and Vixen, Trent, and Noel in the other. As Noel and Evan were considered to be the strongest of the ‘kids’, they guarded everyone else’s backs. They marched on.
As they got closer, August could see the two… no, three people up ahead. One was definitely much taller than the others, and she could even see the twinkle of his eye from here. Something pulled August foreword, ahead of everyone else and out of formation.
~
Malachi couldn’t help but move faster once he could make out who was among the group. Between them was a small drop in the hillside, so he quickly moved downhill to close the gap between them.
“August? August, is that you?” he called. “I’m so glad you’re here, mes amies!”
Kali nodded at his words, she exhaled as they got closer, "I know, i know, i just hope your right…" She gave a glance at the approaching group, noticing how he moved forward towards it calling someone's name, maybe he has an s/o?… Of course he would have one, i mean, who wouldn't take this man so he was no longer on the market? She thought a little bit jealously, quin moved to her and held her hand, and she smiled slightly at him, before turning back to the group and following after Malachi with Quin trailing behind her.
~
Evan smiled as he continued to hear Malachis voice get closer and closer to them, he didn't even pay attention to what Malachi was saying he was that happy that they had found him, finally. He looked down and he could see little dots of red in his side where his wounds had reopened, but he decided not to say anything, it was just a little blood and he didn't want to ruin this moment or make everyone worry about him.
Trent smelled the blood, bit he didn't push to see where the smell came from, he was grinning a lot when malachi came closer and he could hear him as well.
"Malachi?" August called, moving faster toward him. Malachi moved faster as well, and they ended up running up to each other with him giving her a bear hug and lifting her into the air. Noel then also broke formation and rushed forward to meet them. Soon the formation had completely dissolved, everyone joining the others. Before it had dissolved though, Alister felt the flowers bloom beneath his shirt, making it bulge out slightly. He turned behind him to see red spots on Evan's side and immediately came beside him.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
Meanwhile, Malachi was laughing and crying with the others, embracing Noel, and patting Trent on the back, and shaking Vixen's hand. "Good seeing you back, Pike!" he said. "And who might you be?"
"O'Shea. Ambassador for the District 7 rebellion," Vixen replied simply, the tiniest of smiles on her face.
Malachi introduced himself, then noticed Evan and Alister. He didn't notice the blood on Evan since he was already covered with cuts and flowers, and ruffled his hair.
"Arden," he said, the name feeling strange in his mouth since there was another Arden with them. "It's so good to see you okay. Who's this, a soulmate, perhaps?" he chuckled, holding a hand to Alister.
Alister blushed but took the taller man's hand. "Alister Storm, sir. Noel's brother."
"Your brother?" Malachi turned to Noel.
"Yep," Noel said. She was grinning from ear to ear, clearly overjoyed with having Malachi back. "Long story."
"I see," he said. "You'll have to tell me that story sometime, haha. Nice to meet you–"
"Malachi?"
He turned to see August gesturing to Arden.
"It's… it's you," she said to her. "You are the one who abducted him."
Kali just kinda stood to the side a bit while everyone embraced each other, looking away until she was finally mentioned. She tensed at the mention,
"uh,- right- about that-" she rubbed her hand on her arm that wasn't holding Quins hand.
"I um- broke him out…after..bring him to the faculty…"
She felt like her voice was quieter then normal, though she hoped she spoke at normal volume. Quin just kinda hid behind her softly.
Evan smiled softly at alister, "Yes, I'm fine it's just a little blood, I'm sure it will stop bleeding soon so don't worry about me okay?" It was gonna slowly continue bleeding but let's not talk about that :)
He grinned at Malachi when talked to him, "yeah it's good to see okay as well, and a h u m w e l l-" he flustered up at the mention of a soulmate watching as Malachi moved on to talk to alister and smiling at alister, he moved to rub his eyes as he watched everyone encounter, but immediately felt more awake when august started talking about well, her. The other Arden, his…sister. He looked at her in the eyes seeing how she was seemingly nervous.
"you helped him?" He was both shocked and not shocked. The reason he wasn't shocked was there was a little boy finding Comfort in hiding behind her and that says something in itself.
Trent was on guard with this chick.
Alister’s brow knotted up with concern. “No, it won’t. We have to tend to it soon, at least before we start traveling back again, okay? And no, I’m going to worry about you. That’s kind of my job, isn’t it?”
He turned to see if he could alert August of Evan’s wounds, but they were now caught up in the new girl’s situation. She was the one who kidnapped him? She was so tiny, she must have had some sort of ability to pull it off. He decided to wait, just because he didn’t want to add to the commotion.
“Ah,” Malachi was saying. “Everyone, this is Arden. She doesn’t know her first name. But I think she might be related to you, Evan. Anyway, yes, she did in fact abduct me yesterday while we were evacuating everyone out of the prison. I did kind of… force her to escape with me. But now, c'est une copine, she’s a friend.”
August was staring between them with narrowed eyes. They settled on Malachi. “She still kidnapped you. You know what we need to do now.”
He sighed. “Yes, I do. It’s only proper.” He glanced at Arden reassuringly before turning back to August, a serious expression crossing his face.
She cleared her throat as if preparing for a speech. “Malachi, did this person abduct you with the intent on bringing you into extraterrestrial custody for the purpose of harming, experimenting on, or executing you?”
“Yes,” he said, voice firm.
“Did this person attempt to harm or kill you herself?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened with shock, but she quickly recovered. She turned to Arden. “Miss Arden, I would like you to name your supernatural ability or abilities, if you possess any. If you do not cooperate, we will be forced to restrain you.”
She took out a pair of shackles, two metal rings that were magnetically stuck together.
The sight of the shackles unnerved her, she wished he would look at her with that some reassuring look for at least a little bit longer, she didn't know how much she could take, especially if they planned on keeping her chained for a good while, since she wasn't going back to the aliens, she didn't want to go back to confinement.
She stared at the cuffs, oh no she could feel a memory trying to push it's way to the surface, she swallowed to keep it, almost about to start panicking, no no no not here not here not infront of all of these people no no no
She gave Malachi a panicked look, asking him to help her, please desperately help her she couldn't be seen crying infront of these people they would think she was weak and pathetic and- she realized she forgot to respond to the lady's words. She swallowed again though she felt it still trying to come up.
"my ability is based solely on darkness, And that's all you need to know really." She fought back the urge to glare at August though it was still coming through she was usually way more hostile when she was trying to cover up the fact that she was in pain, especially when she was about to get a huge vision.
"malachi please…" She whispered, just under her breath so that only Malachi could hear her, Quin who i totally didn't forget about, understtood the message of her being in pain, and we'll he moved infront of Kali and stared down august
"H-hey! You can't p-place judgements on h-her just yet! She s-saved me s-shes my mom Y-you can't put those things on her!" In truth Kali could feel him shaking but he wanted to do something to help.
"did that Just-?" Evan had just kinda stared blankly, he had been trying to reassure alister he was fine while also being very very tired, different then normal tired, he knew that he might black out if he bled more.
Trent smelled the blood more strongly now and moved over to Evan grabbed noels arm and pulling her to direct her to Evans shirt being somewhat side soaked in blood, "He's trying to hide he's not okay."
Malachi glanced between Arden and the cuffs, and quickly moved to put his hands on her shoulders in reassurance. He gave her a soft, calm glance, then turned back to August.
“August, please, she is traumatized from her life with the aliens and possibly finds the cuffs triggering. Could we have another method of-“ he was cut off by Quinn stepping in front of them. August blinked in surprise when the boy stepped in, at first too caught up with Malachi and Kali to register Quinn’s presence. She stared at the scene before her, something flickering in her eyes, perhaps something like sympathy. She put the cuffs behind her back.
Meanwhile, Alister felt Evan swaying beside him. “Evan—“ he put his arms around his torso to steady him. Okay, this was getting bad, it didn’t matter if they were causing a commotion or not. He felt more flowers bloom on his side.
Noel started at Trent grabbing her arm, her eyes going wide with the sight of the blood. She pulled away from Trent’s grip, dashing over to August.
“Evan’s wounds from the prison reopened, he’s losing blood fast,” she told her.
August forced her attention away from Kali, Malachi, and Quinn. He brow creased with worry as stared at Evan. She turned back to Kali and the others, evidently conflicted. Taking a breath, she pulled out the medical kit they had used when they rested at the border. “Take this,” she said. “Do you think you can help him while me and O’Shea deal with them?” She gestured to Malachi and the others.
Noel nodded firmly. “Yes. Thank you.” She went back to where the boys were, unpacking the kit as Alister laid Evan on the ground.
August turned to Quinn, emotions swirling in her mind. After pausing for a moment to steady herself, she bent down to get eye-level with the boy.
“I am not placing judgement on her.” Her voice was shaky. Malachi could tell everything that was happening was starting to overwhelm her, he felt the same way. “She attempted to harm the leader of our rebellion against the aliens-“ she nodded to Malachi. “- and we know she is potentially dangerous. We can’t have anyone getting hurt by her, but that also means we can’t hurt her either.” Her eyes flickered to Arden for moment. “We are just using the cuffs because we can’t take any chances. We don’t trust you to be without them.” Then she straightened, turning to Malachi. “Have you seen this person use her ability? How powerful would you say she is?”
He coughed, trying to get his voice to work. “Yes, and very.”
“Then you know there is no other way we can restrain her.”
“… yes. I know.” He glanced down at Arden. “I’m sorry.”
August’s grip on the cuffs tightened. “Miss Arden, I need you to hold out your arms.”
Quin still glared at August and attached himself basically to kalis hip, staying close to her .She made herself stop shaking long enough to be able to hold her hands out for cuffs though her body protested immensely and her mind was screaming bloody murder at her she was sure she was gonna either go deaf or bleed out of her ears.
As soon as the cuffs were on though Malachi could sense her body tensing up a lot a lot more then she just was, he could probably see her distracted eyes as she went through her vision, her voice only slight mumbles that not even Malachi would hear, though he could see her panicked expression, extremely panicked for what was going on inside of her head,
She was reliving the time that she was first brought to the lab, right after her mother had just been Murdered infront of her and then she was pulled away from her mother's corpse sobbing and yelling curse words at the aliens, until they threw her in a cell and locked her up, cuffing her to make sure nothing suspicious was going on inside her cell.
She was forced to go to the chair one day, she fought tooth and nail and they forced her into the chair, they secured everything In place and you could hear her screams through out the whole facility. They had to continue this over and over until she finally couldn't even remember herself.
She was relieved when it was finally over, blinking back tears that fell.
Evan let alister lay him down, although as soon as he laid down he found it even harder to stay awake, "i don't know why you guys are so…worried …I'm fine…really, noel will patch me up good and I'll be fine, it wasn't that much blood anyway." He tried to sound light hearted and also serious to make them not so upset or tense, but he probably sounded a little loopy.
“Evan, you’re losing blood faster than if a vampire was literally sucking it out. Shut up.” Noel gritted her teeth as she frantically went through the medical kit, pulling out a roll of gauze bandages. Alister had rolled up Evan’s muscle shirt and put his hand on the wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding after cringing at first seeing it, and Noel also put a hand there too. She then brought out a towel, which was thankfully still wet from the last time they used it, and the siblings brought their hands away so she could clean it. Both of their hands were covered with crimson.
Alister held Evan’s head in his lap, his mouth set in a frown. “I have officially made it my job to worry about you, Evan.” At this point he had his shirt rolled up as well, the bluebell flowers were getting rather annoying at this point.
It was happening again, Malachi could see that quite clearly. Why now? She hadn’t had another one of her flashbacks in a long time. Clearly the cuffs triggered her, but then, what triggered the others? Ah, it didn’t matter now. He held her close to him as August adjusted the settings on the cuffs so they would repel her powers.
”C'est bon chat noir, ça va,” he whispered. ”Rien ne vous fera de mal. Nous n'allons pas vous garder comme ça pour toujours, je le promets.”
August stepped back, giving Malachi a strange look. “What happened that made you able to speak like that to her, even though she tried to kill you?”
He blinked, unable to meet her gaze. “I suppose I’ll tell you that when I tell you the full account, right?”
She sighed. “Yes, I suppose you will.”
