Chapter 27: Guilt

Daniel pushes himself to his limit in an attempt to find Gabrielle's army.

Chapter 27: Guilt

Sebastian stood in what had been his bathroom. Looking down through the brand new hole in the wall. His uncle had buried the three boys he’d killed. He felt so confused, they had been Peacemakers and so his enemy by default but they were just innocents caught in the crossfire.

Gabrielle was the guilty one, their deaths hung off her shoulders more than his. He may have been the one to kill them but she sent them out here. Inexperienced and young with no chance of winning and she didn’t even care.

They were bait, they were supposed to weaken him so that Gabrielle didn’t have to put in as much work when she made her next move. You would send innocents after me. She would know, that Sebastian was a boy with a good heart. Regardless of anything else, she knew this would hurt him.

The hole in the wall would need to be repaired by his uncle at some point. Wouldn’t want to make it even more obvious that something not so right was going on in their neighbourhood.

“Sebastian?” a soft voice from behind him made him turn. Alina, alone without her brother. Her white eyes were warm and friendly and the red in her hair a startling contrast to her pale skin.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” the two of them had never said more than a few passing words to each other. Sebastian had butted heads with her brother a few times but he hadn’t had any interaction with the twins apart from that.

He should involve himself more, he knew they were more advanced than him as far as power went. So he wouldn’t be able to help with their training, but if they were living in his house he should get to know them better.

“Darcy, well I know he’s hard to talk to, he’s always been standoffish” that was putting it lightly. The only person Darcy ever spoke to without being rude was Alina. The elements alone would know how Shaft and Daniel put up with him.

“Nothing I say to him will make him change, it’s just the way he is, but I did want to say sorry on his behalf, we’re still adjusting to not living in one room” that was something Sebastian kept forgetting about. The Twins had been kept almost completely isolated before they came here.

Then again with their powers they probably could have left whenever they wanted.

“Darcy has always been a more restless than me. He hated being cooped up and he could have left whenever he chose to but he stayed for me” Sebastian knew without a doubt that Darcy would never leave Alina behind. They had each other. If nothing else.

They were a team of five, and so far, it looked like they would be the only ones capable of stopping Gabrielle. If there were other free Elementals with power enough for this fight they were so off the map that Daniel couldn’t contact them.

“This fight, it’s probably going to be fought by children only a little older than you. I can’t even explain to you how messed up that is” under normal circumstances there is no way he would have fought them. If they stood in the way of him and Gabrielle and laid their lives on the line. Then he would have no choice.

“Light isn’t meant to be used to harm people, but I can stop them from participating in the fighting without hurting them” Sebastian remembered Alina’s failed attempt at caging Gabrielle. He hoped if she planned to use the same technique that it actually worked.

“Sebastian!” uncle was calling him, perhaps he had finally found something, and hopefully that something was a lightning Elemental. He’d sure like to pay her back for making him kill those boys.

“bring me a pen and a piece of paper as fast as you can!” Sebastian grabbed a red pen and a piece of lined paper from his desk. Luckily he had this for school work, not that he had been keeping up with his studies lately. It just didn’t seem important with everything else going on.

Uncle was on the ground floor in the kitchen, and he had the determined look in his eye that told Sebastian something important was going on. He placed the pen and paper in front of him and stepped back. He had a feeling he should keep his distance from whatever was about to happen.

“With a bit of luck, I will be able to find her and when I do I’m going to write the location down before I lose the connection” this would take his uncle a fair amount of power. Sebastian hoped he didn’t strain himself, he wasn’t exactly young. He could hurt himself.

“This time I’m not giving up until I’ve got her!” Sebastian and his uncle shared the same stubbornness. Sebastian must have gotten it from his mother, Daniel always said she was the strongest person he’d ever known.

Sebastian wouldn’t ever admit to being worried, not if it would mean losing their opportunity to find Gabrielle and the army. Yet, he couldn’t help but hope that it would be quick. The more power his uncle had to spend the riskier it was and the longer he would take to recover.

“Aren’t you afraid Uncle?” his voice cracked on the last syllable, giving away his fear. Damn the elements, he hadn’t wanted his uncle to think that he didn’t trust him. After being alive much longer than Sebastian he knew his own limits better than Sebastian did.

“With you by my side my nephew, I am never afraid” he put his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder and Sebastian felt steadier. Less like he might fall to pieces at any moment. He knew his uncle understood him, understood how he felt better than anyone ever could.

Daniel held the pen and paper in one hand and spread the other palm down on the ground. The same as how he had taught Sebastian.

Green flowed out of him and he closed his eyes to help himself to concentrate. Sebastian did the same when he was using his water vision to find someone, he supposed what his uncle was doing now was no different. He’d searched this way for Gabrielle before, but he hadn’t found anything.

As time went by the green brightened and sweat started to pour down Daniel’s forehead. Sebastian knew his uncle was pushing himself harder, straining to reach further. He didn’t think he was going to be able to find her, that his stubbornness wouldn’t be enough.

Then, the frantic scratch of pen on paper as Daniel wrote down an address in red. He drooped as he came back to himself, Sebastian ran forward to support him but Daniel waved him off.

He stood but fell onto one knee his face a grimace of pain. Sebastian looked down and saw some of the green of Daniel’s power climbing up his leg. Before Sebastian had the chance to see it properly Daniel covered it with his hand. When he lifted his hand whatever it was had disappeared.

“Uncle, what… What was that? What happened?” Sebastian had never seen anything quite like that before. It was like the power had gotten away from his uncle and had been thinking for itself. Like a hungry beast trying to devour its prey.

“I didn’t think… I didn’t expect… Don’t worry it’s not important right now, what is important, I know where she is” Sebastian wanted to ask. He wanted to know what it was that happened just then. Gabrielle was his number one priority though. So he didn’t.

“She’s almost out of the city borders, at a beach area with cliffs and enough remoteness that no one would notice her army” his uncle was still pale but he really wanted to tell Sebastian what he knew before he went and rested.

“That’s what I saw but I also saw something else, something of much more importance” information more important than Gabrielle’s location. Was there even such a thing?

“They are moving Sebastian, the army its leaving. Moving into position for whatever strike Gabrielle is making next” so now that they knew where she was she was leaving that place. Making this whole thing a giant waste of power and time.

“Rest uncle, I’m going to figure out her plan, and then I’m going to put a stop to all of this! Before anyone else gets hurt!” Sebastian stalked off to his room. The green he had seen all but forgotten. Daniel stood and winced, keeping the weight off his left foot.

He pulled down his sock and he saw the pulsating green cracks already spreading up again after he pushed them back down. It had been excruciating, but Sebastian had enough to worry about. Now was not the time for him to know about this.

I won’t have a choice soon. Daniel thought as he limped his way up the stairs to his room. I won’t be able to hide it and then I’ll have to watch my boy fight on while my body breaks.

Author's Note

Like the earth beneath our feet Daniel is incredibly stubborn. He knew the risks, but he also knew he was the only one who could do this.