Chapter 6: Encounter

A Chapter by Ashheart15

When everything seems to be alright, there's always darkness on the way.

Poor Gabrielle. After being in Sebastian’s dining room for nearly an hour. She had come out with eyes red from crying. Sebastian guessed that his uncle had not taken it slow as he had suggested. Preferring to give Gabrielle a crash course in, well everything.

She now knew that her father was an insane murderer who was not human and that she was also not human. Sebastian knew exactly how she felt. He hadn’t even known he was an Elemental until his parents died.

“Hey” she was on her way out of the apartment when Sebastian finally got up the courage to actually say something. His arm was all bandaged and would hopefully start to heal. It wasn’t a bad injury. Just painful.

“I get how crazy this afternoon has been, but maybe tomorrow after school we could train together? I know this old construction site; we won’t hurt anyone if we try out our powers there” Sebastian wished someone had offered him help when he first learned about what he was. He thought Gabrielle might appreciate the distraction.

“Yeh, ok sure. Um I guess it’s not bad idea. I’ll meet you at the front gate after last class” Gabrielle seemed very overwhelmed and kept looking at her hands as if she’d never seen them before.

Sebastian walked her as far as the door to the apartment block and then watched as she walked down the street. His mind kept going back to the moment he had been struck. The brilliant light that had almost blinded him.

She sure is something, Gabrielle had surprised him. He’d thought she would be much less compassionate being one of the most popular girls at school. He felt protective of her, and he would do anything. Anything if it meant she was safe.

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Sebastian was in English class trying to focus on what the teacher was saying because if he failed at school his uncle would be very angry with him. Also it might start him again about how Sebastian failed to control his powers.

It wasn’t like Sebastian didn’t try or anything. He did try but the only thing that ever happened was ice. It was so frustrating. Both for Sebastian and for his uncle.

Sebastian always felt bad because his uncle believed in him so much but Sebastian couldn’t seem to do anything that made him feel like that belief was warranted.

The classroom was quiet except for the droning of the teacher’s voice when Sebastian felt his ears pop. The ground rumbled underneath his feet, he looked out the window and saw smoke. What’s happened? Gabrielle?

Around him Sebastian’s classmates began to panic. The teacher was trying to keep everyone calm but his reassurances fell on deaf ears as students ran past their classroom screaming in fright.

I have to find out what’s happened and I won’t by sitting here! Sebastian made his way through the panicked crowd to the classroom door. It was worse outside, there was smoke in the hallway and so many kids running around that you could hardly see anything.

Sebastian grabbed a kid as he ran past. He was shorter then Sebastian and had eyes red from the smoke. Sebastian was in Eleventh grade so he guessed this kid must be in Ninth or Tenth.

“Hey! What’s going on?” he asked trying to keep his head down and avoid the smoke as much as possible. It was pretty thick and smelled like burnt plastic. It was slowly filling up the entire school.

“There was an explosion down in the Math rooms. No one’s sure what happened, we’re just getting out here!” the kid wrenched free of Sebastian and disappeared back into the crowd. What class did Gabrielle have right now? could she be down there? did she cause the explosion?

Sebastian had no idea what he should do. Should he go down and see if Gabrielle was down in the maths rooms or contact his uncle? He really wanted to just go home but if there was even a small chance Gabrielle was in trouble. Then Sebastian had to go and check.

Coughing in the smoke and with one hand over his eyes Sebastian waded through the crowd in the opposite direction from where kids were running. It was slow going moving against the panic but Sebastian made his way down to where the smoke was thickest.

It was hard to breathe, and he couldn’t really see anything. Surely no one was down here anymore. Sebastian was going to turn around and leave holding onto one of the classroom doors for support. When he heard a faint sound that wasn’t normal in a school.

The crack of lightning hitting the ground. Gabrielle what are you doing? It was her, she was here somewhere and it sounded like she must be in trouble.

Maybe she’d gotten trapped in the explosion. Fear would set off your power whether you wanted it to or not. Sebastian knew this from the cooling fog that was slowly joining the smoke. His own reaction to fear.

“G-Gabrielle!” he coughed through the smoke putting his hand out blindly looking for the door to the room where the sound had come from. Stifling his coughing with his sleeve he opened the door.

“Let me go! Who do you think you are!” He couldn’t see for the tears running down his face but Gabrielle was in the room. Sebastian could hear her. A hand grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him further into the room.

Sebastian saw the outline of desks and chairs. Gabrielle was tied to one, a hunched figure in the smoke. Sebastian couldn’t see who was holding him in much detail but as soon as he opened his mouth Sebastian knew exactly who it was.

“Looks like this boy thought he could be your knight in shining armour… Pity he won’t get the chance to play the hero” crap, crap, crap. Sebastian’s knees would have given way if his shirt wasn’t holding him up. It was Eric Fairless. Not one of his men, it was him in the flesh!

“Well my daughter, I better get rid of this before we go…” he shook Sebastian by the collar and he strained against him pushing his feet into the ground with the hope of pulling himself free. No luck.

He tried to use water, but there wasn’t any around and the only thing that reacted was the misty fog which followed him into the room.

“Ah a water one, ridiculously common, don’t worry son. You’ll be with you mother soon!” He had known that there was an Elemental responsible for his parent’s deaths. He just hadn’t known who until now although it should have been obvious.

“You- You killed my parents!” Gabrielle began to sob she must have recognised Sebastian’s voice. Oh they were both so dead. If only Sebastian could do something. Something to get them both out of this alive.

Something cold and wet slid past Sebastian’s ear and hit Eric in what Sebastian hoped was his face. The hand holding his shirt let go and Sebastian stumbled but managed to keep on his feet.

“You really think you can beat me boy? I nearly killed your Uncle Sebastian! And if it wasn’t for sheer dumb luck I would have killed you as well!” Something bright and fast and hot was flying towards Sebastian. He just couldn’t turn away in time.

It collided into his chest and then everything slowed down. He screeched at the burning and smelled his own flesh cooking. He collapsed to the ground one hand reaching towards where he could hear Gabrielle yelling his name.

Everything began to fade around Sebastian and he let himself be carried into the warm blackness of unconsciousness.

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