Bouvier Academy: Mission One

[Keira Weasley]

Chapter 39
(Jasmine's P.O.V.)

I stare at his hand and presume he was still feeling guilty. Why else would he punch the wall?

I step up to him but he turns away, causing the first loud noise in what was five minutes of silence. I raise an eyebrow and grab his arm tactfully. He stares at me as I inspect his hand. I finally announce, "That's a nasty cut, don't you think?"

He yanks his arm away from me and I groan. The infamous wall was up. I yank his arm back and suggest, "Maybe you should get this checked out."

"Maybe I don't fucking care," He retorts back to me, yanking away his arm from my grasp and striding away from me.

I walk over to him and stand behind him. Maybe I should use a similar tactic like the one I had calmed him down earlier on this morning? I place my hand on his shoulder and turn him around. He's staring at the ground as I make him completely face me. I use my right hand -despite it being covered with cloth to hold down the lotion for my burns- to tilt his chin up.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask him.

He shrugs and mutters, "Don't fuck this up... we're counting on you."

It took me a bit to realize I was the one who said that to him. I close my eyes and start yelling at myself in my head. Wow, what a way to make him feel guilty. I indirectly foretold something... nice. I open my eyes and look him in the eye, "I-I-I didn't mean that... I was just... pissed at you!"

He stares at me blankly as I continue on, "I didn't mean to... put all the pressure on you! I'm so sorry. We weren't counting on you! Of course not-- Wait, I didn't mean to make it sound like you're not important! Of course you're important! What I meant was that--"

"You're rambling," He cuts in, giving a small smile. I freeze and realize that I was. Good job, Jasmine!

I sigh and say, "Sorry. Just... sorry. I don't really know how to... apologize for saying something like that."

Jack raised an eyebrow and asked, "There are ways."

I nod, not realizing he's hinting at something. "Yeah, I can always send you to a shrink who can teach you ways of forgetting the past. That or he can brainwash you. But probably you'd just get plain pissed at me."

Jack rubbed his eyes with his good hand, "I'd kill you if you did that."

Some how, I thought he wasn't joking about that. I did see him kill three Vamps before Dieon set off another explosion as we escaped. I let out a small laugh even though my eyes are staring at him, wide as circles. "You don't mean that."

Jack lets his hand drop and says, "No, I'm pretty sure I do."

I glare at him but that makes him crack up and laugh. I gasp and punch him in the arm, realizing he was joking.... Well, that's what I'm presuming. But the punch was a stupid mistake. We both wince and yelp in pain as I clutch my hand and he clutches his shoulder.

It was funny at the moment, seeing him glare at me as I glare back at him. I finally break the war of hatred and pain by closing my eyes and bursting out with laughter.

"Jack?" I choke out, looking up at him.

"Yeah?" He asks back, rather grumpy, as he's rubbing his shoulder.

I lean over and kiss him on his cheek, "I like you."

Jack blinks at me and I can't help but giggle at his expression. Using the word 'like', especially stressing it like how I did, always throws people off. Besides, I don't even think I can confirm what I feel for him is... love?

He frowns at me, continuing to rub his shoulder like if it was easing the pain. "I... like you too."

That's good to hear. I take the damaged hand and say, "Now come on... you have to get this--"

"Jasmine?"

"What?" I ask, eyes narrow since he did interrupt me.

"Shut up."

My mouth drops open and I stare at him. I snap my mouth back and he chuckles. I glare and retort, "No, I will not shut up. You're bleeding, moron, and you need medical help!"

"I'm not losing massive amount of blood so don't worry," He tells me, patting my cheek like I'm his pet poodle.

"Get it checked out sooner or later and I'll leave you alone about it," I respond, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Fine," Jack agrees.

I nod and we both stand there, silently. I start thinking about the conversation we're having and realize that this is the first time we really had a... descent talk. Almost friendly, I might add.

I sigh and say, "Um... anything else?"

Jack shrugs, "You came here. I should be asking you that."

"Ah..." My eyes drift off to his hand and I was about to comment about but I bite my lip from saying anything.

He places his good hand under my chin and says, "Don't bite your lips."

I raise an eyebrow and retort, "Don't boss me around."

He laughs and says, "Take it as a suggestion... lips like that shouldn't be bitten at all. Well, not by you anyways."

I blush and look away. Lips like that.... Not by you, anyways... That made me shiver and I even let out a giggle. I blush even deeper and cough before asking, "What are you suggesting?"

I hear him respond, "What do you think?"

But by immediate impulse, with little thinking, I yell, "But I'm sore!" I start blushing again and correct myself, "We're sore-- Ah... I don't think we can even hug without hurting ourselves."

By then, my face was radiating heat. I could replace the sun and there'd be no difference. I couldn't believe I just said that.

I finally look up to see Jack struggling hard to keep his laughter in. My eyes shot up and I yell at him, "What's so funny?!"

Jack opens his mouth to respond but his laughter bubbled out first. He shook his head, "What you said was hilarious."

I glare at him and retort, "It's the truth, damn it."

He opens his mouth again but I snap, "Good night, Jack. And get that hand checked or I'm sending someone in."

-------------------------------------------------

I sat, cross legged, on one of the sofa's seats as I was listening to my Uncle John trying to comfort me of the 'loss' I just had. He was telling me the usual thing, such as 'You'll do fine', 'It's ok if you want to cry', et cetera. It was kind of annoying, the way people tell you you can do these things. Like I wanted their damn permission.

I snap back to focus when he said something. "Wait, repeat that?"

He pauses before saying, "I've already made arrangements for your two deceased members."

Deceased members.

That wasn't the first time I've heard it.

I shudder at the words and sniff. "Oh."

"There's no need of you guys going through the trouble and pain of arranging the funeral and such."

I shut my eyes and mumble, "Thanks."

"I'm expecting you four to return to France by... a day. I have your tickets booked, by the way."

I respond with a simple, "Thanks."

"Are you sure you're alright? I--"

"I've gone through this before... I'm fine," I lie, just to get him off my case. I didn't want him to finish his sentence. Knowing him, he would say,

I know you were attached to them but remember, a good spy never gets attached.

There is no such thing as a good spy.

He would continue on, though, and he would add, Besides, a lot of teams lose a member before their first month together. It's nothing unusual. Anyhow, it's not like you knew the girls for long. Consider yourself lucky that you didn't get so attached to those two.

I close my eyes and respond, But I did get attached... I got attached to them instantly.

I realize that Uncle Johnathon just bid his fare well to me.

"Bye," I tell him before hanging up. I dumped my cell phone into my lap and shut my eyes.

Kisa enters in and asks, "Are you--"

I shoot up, glaring at her. I grab my cell phone, ready to throw it at her if she was going to say something about my well being.

"--hungry?"

I stare at her. I let out a cry of relief and say, "Yeah. Starving."

Kisa's eyes widen -damn, if she didn't know better, she just made herself look prettier-, staring at me unsure. She stumbles, "F-F-Fast food?"

"Pizza?" I ask back but pause. "No, how about some New York hot dogs?"

She nods and says, "Are... we leaving any time soon. I kinda didn't unpack my luggage since we came here."

I sigh and say, "Yes, we're leaving. Bouvier has our tickets booked and everything else set up."

She stares at me and asks, "Um... including... K-K-Kelly and Madison?"

"Yes."

Kisa just shakes her head, sadly, as she tugs at her jacket, distracted. I cough and ask, "Are the other two coming out to eat?"

Kisa shrugs, "Dieon's gone all angsty and his room is locked where as Jack's doing the same."

I groan and get up, "Well, I guess it's us two."

Kisa giggles, "Is that a bad thing?"

I shake my head, "Actually... we can go shopping. It is... the afternoon." It was about 2 p.m.... no ounce of sleep since midnight.

She claps her hands enthusiastically, "Ok!"

"So... get some money," I suggest before turning into the hallway and heading towards the boys room.

My eyes widen as I arrive by Dieon's door, hearing rather loud rock music being boomed out. How could I MISS that?! I groan and shake my head; angsty indeed. I rummage through my cargo pants and take out a note pad. I always carried one around for some reason... I scribble down, "We're leaving tonight. Pack up. Don't worry about anything. Bouvier has everything 'planned out' -J.". I fold the note in half and shove it below the door, making it go on the other side.

I step away from the door and start heading towards Jack's room. His room was quiet so I decided to knock on it.

After a few seconds, the door slides open with Jack's eye peeking through. I can hear him laugh and he asks, "Still sore?"

I open my mouth in shock. He just made a joke-- WHERE'S THE WALL?! I shake my head and laugh, "Actually... we're leaving."

Jack opens the door more so his head is visible, "Tonight?"

"Yeah," I say. "Can you print--" I realize that his laptop was destroyed. I sigh and say, "Can you use my laptop to print out our plane tickets?"

"Oh, sure," Jack nods. He waits for a second so I add,

"That's all, loser."

"Thought so," He says and shuts the door.

I roll my eyes and head towards the front of this dump. I couldn't wait to go to So Hos.

-------------------------------------------------

"Welcome back, Ms. Parvaneh," The doorman greets me as we arrive back into Bouvier Academy.

I wasn't going to respond the usual corny greeting, It's good to be back. I nod politely and look around, pulling off my round 60s themed glasses that I bought yesterday.

I drop down my bag, starting to stretch my arms out. After getting a few hours of rest on the plane, I think I felt much better than I had through out this whole mission.

Jack and Dieon head off towards our dormitory without a word. I half expected to see some eyeliner on Dieon. That and maybe darkened eyebrows. He's taking this hard... but he should be happy that his friend -Carter?- was alive... I frown as I see the two climbing the stairs. I turn towards Kisa, seeing her fiddling with a leather belt she bought yesterday. She looks up at me and says, "Heading upstairs?"

"Nope," I say, turning around and continue my look at Jack and Dieon.

"Are you staring at his ass?" She asks, coming right beside me. Why does she always refer to him.

I blink and turn to her. I yell in outrage, "KISA! Why would I be doing that?!"

Kisa shrugs, "Well, I'm not saying it's the worse one I've ever seen..."

I laugh, "God, you're-- I don't know what you are."

Kisa grins and says, "While you're pondering on that, I'm gonna go check this place out... It is the weekend."

I shrug, "Fine..."

I turn around and pick my luggage up. I turn around, wondering where I should go. I really wanted to just flop on my bed and curl up. Probably play some music to drown away my thoughts.

I decide, pathetically, that I should go to my room. I turn around, once more, to head up towards the stairs only to bump into someone.

HEY, why don't I give you a hint of who it is? Hint: I hate him since the day we met.

"Parvey, you're back!" Kevin says with fake sweetness.

I glare at him, "Don't call me that, Kevvy."

He ignores that and says, "Word here is that you got two other people killed."

I clench my fists and narrow my eyes, "You should know by now that not all gossip is true."

He crosses his arms and smirks at me, "You should know by now that we're in a Spy academy... nothing is gossip."

"So what's your point?" I ask, hitching my bag on my shoulder as I decide to walk around him.

He cuts in front of me, "When are you planning to kill off the other three."

I swing my fist at him only for him to dodge it with ease. No wonder I dubbed him 'ballerina' when we first met four years ago; he had grace like them. He uses the momentum of my swing to push me aside, making me stumble.

I exhale loudly and say, "You're an ass hole. Go... to hell."

He raises an eyebrow at me and shook his head, "Nice come back."

I grumble as he walks away. Takes someone like him to piss the hell out of me. I thought to myself bitterly, it's good to be back.

[Chole]

Chapter 40
(Kisa's P.O.V)

I fiddle with my belt again, while looking around. My stomach was telling me that it wanted another New York Hot dog, and not the grummy stuff they serve here. Well compared to the NY hot dog, it was grummy. I roll my eyes at my stomach, and open my door. I stand in the door way, and drop my bags. Leaning back, I look at Madison’s door, it was closed as always.

Don’t look, its not going to help. She’s gone. I roll my eyes at the thought and push my bags in to my room. Winching at the pain that slid down my back, and into my toes. Shaking it off, I started putting my stuff away, blindly. Flashes of the mission went through my mind the whole time. Kelly’s face. Madison’s body. Vampires. Rocks. Fire. Bridge. Blackness. I hated the blackness.

I let the smoking can go, and watched it hit the ground and felt myself get thrown off.

Nice, I thought as I flew through the air, and hit the ground with a painful thud. A few feet away from me, I heard Dieon groan before I blacked out, for a moment. But it was enough to see everything. Licking my licks, I sat up, once I caught my breath trying to keep the painful knocking in my head.

“Dieon, Jack, Jasmine?”I say painfully, getting up looking around. I saw Jack already standing, and Jasmine talking to him. With a roll of my eyes, I turned and looked at Dieon, who was spacing out.

“Dieon..Dieon..Dieon!”I yell finally, watching Jack leave, he turns and gives me this pitiful look. He must be going crazy, inside that thick skull of his.

“What?”Dieon asked, looking at me. I take a step back, “You okay?”I ask, quietly.

Dieon stares at me, then turns to the flaming bridge. “Just let it go.”he growled, before starting to grab everything.

I yawn, and cover it, just to realize I had something in my hand. I look down at it, and bit my lip.

Kelly’s MP3

Shaking my head, I pull open my door, walk past Dieon’s room, and Jack, then Jasmines. I stop in front of Kelly’s door and slowly opened it. Pursing my lips, I left it cracked open. It seemed no one had yet to pack up her stuff. I walk over to her desk, and put her MP3 player down. My hand brushing over her notebook’s, where she had doodled all over it, as I walked over to her bed.

Not made, as always, I shake my head at the thought, as it brought a smile on my face.

Sitting down on it, I lay back grabbing her pillow hugging it as I look up at the ceiling. Questioning if I did the right thing, pulling Jack back, or even coming here. I roll on my stomach, to ease the pain in my back, and look up to see Dieon in the doorway staring at a picture of the three of them. Dieon, Carter, and Kelly.

“Dieon?”I ask, not bothering to get up. He was staring to intently at the picture. Sucking on my bottom lip, I asked. “What’s up with the picture?”I ask, looking at his scratch body. Remembering the dog chains he had on his neck as I patched him up, and how he wouldn’t let me take them off. Shaking my head, I realized I was being stared at. “Dieon, don’t start this.”I murmured, watching him turn around and leave. “Fine, Whatever.”I say, deciding its my turn to go quiet.

---

Dinner.

I sat on the counter, staring at the other three as they got ready to eat. Dieon was setting the table, Jack was putting the food on the plates, while Jasmine was pouring the drinks. I was just sitting there fixing the food. We were having spaghetti, my way, the true Italian way. It was spicy of course, with secret spices in it. With the spaghetti we where having garlic bread, sliced up, in the oven. Also Italian.

“Anyone want cheese?”I ask, holding out the ‘American Parmesan’ cheese can, trying to make light conversation.

[Nate Lupin]

Chapter 41

(Dieon's P.O.V.)

I let the silk cloths slip past my fingers and placed some silverware on top of each napkin, going all the way around the table. I hesitated as I stopped by the last two seats, torn between setting a table for four or for six.

I decided to make it four, and hoped no one would take too much notice.

-----

"My uncle says the new member is going to arrive tomorrow." Jasmine spoke up over the clinking of the utenciles on the plates. She had gotten used to calling Jonathan 'uncle' rather than 'Mr.Bouvier' like the first few days.

And I guess sort of assumed I wasn't interested to be part of the conversation which she was right, and looked at the other two expectantly for an answer.

Jack looked up and grunted a delayed reply.

"Can't wait to meet him.." Kisa mumbled.

Jasmine frowned and coughed, trying again to bring up conversation. This time with a rather more appropriate topic other than the replacement of our members, and the others autopmatically cooperated more. I figured she must've given Jack a talk, or a gift or something while they were in his room. "This is good pasta, Kisa." She commented, while Kisa smiled. "It's an old family recipe."

I stared down at my plate and drummed my fingers on the table while they had small talk.

Jasmine looked at me expectantly, and let out a groan. "Dieon! For the sake of the team and for your own personal health, get over yourself already! Eat something. I can even let you ride uncle's hoverbike if you want."

I pushed out my chair and shrugged off her effort to lift spirits. "Great dinner." I whispered, grabbing my jacket and heading out to the cold campus, shutting the door behind me.

------

I stalked into the Virtual Reality room, slipping into the electric shock suits and pulled over a pair of goggles. The cyber chamber was set to physical combat. Perfect.

"One ninja." I said, and a holographic ninja appeared in front of me, standing on his toes.

A few seconds and a elbow strike later, it was down.

"Two ninjas." I demanded, and immediately two more appeared. The first one got back to its feet, which made it three in total.

I ducked a few swings, and tackled one down to the floor. "Two ninjas." I coughed again, making the total five.

I struck the two new ones in the head, and then felt surging pain down my spine.
One ninja had me down and kicked my sides.


I knew at the back of my head saying 'End mission.' would make all the holograms dissapear in a second. I grunted and perished the thoughts of giving up.

I made two more fall to the ground, and with a rush of adrenaline, took down one more with a swift kick. Out of sheer bloodlust, I upped the five to seven ninjas and felt inflicted pain instantly. I was greeted with a rather pleasant surprise. Apparently the higher number of ninjas, the stronger they grow. Well who the hell knew that?!

My shock suit was doing poorly defending my body, and soon I was helpless in a seven against one combat.

I coudl've ended the pain with two simple words. But the one ninja was holding me by my neck, painfully blocking my windpipe.

"End mission."

The pain disappeared, and was instead replaced with a numb, tingly feeling on my flesh. I couldn't tell if it was from the combat or just another injury from the Vamp mission.

Though what bothered me the most was that I didn't tell the machine to stop. I hadn't said a word. Someone else did.

"Seven?! What were you thinking?!!!!"

A thick Itallian accent layered each word. If this was a novel, her sentance would have four exclamation marks after it.

I saw Kisa looming over me, and quickly jumped up to my feet. "Why'd you follow me?"

"I didn't, I came to practice."

I searched her eyes to see if she was lying.

"You shouldn't be out here. You'll get in shit if they catch you out this late." She warned.

I smirked. "You weren't following me, huh?"

She stared at me humourlessly with that piercing gaze, and began dragging me back to the dorms.

------

Fortunately, the Virtual Reality building wasn't too far away from the freshmen dorms. I was glad we didn't have to dig any deeper to find more energy. I don't think anyone had much left. My feet shifted into auto-pilot, putting one foot ahead of another, and I did it so successfully that I thought I could've gone on forever.

When we got to the dorms Kisa had to prod me in the back to stop me, like she was searching for some sort of off button.

We stumbled into our bedrooms and mumbled goodnight to each other, before falling into our own private hells of sleep.

-----

I did sleep, though I hadn't expected to. I fell asleep with 'Holidays From Real' on repeat.

Seems like since that night I've done less of everything: less of sleeping, less eating, less talking. I feel less of a person because I watched someone die, and the hard part was yet to come to break the news to Carter. Yup, he was alive. That minor bit of information held me up on crutches.

I got up eventually, washed my face, did the usual morning routine, and slipped into a black Guns N' Roses t-shirt with a pair of worn in jeans.

The day went grinding by, hour by hour. No one did anything much. Certainly no one talked about anything important. There'd been no time for us to check how the others were feeling. That would have to wait until the death mourners died down. Meanwhile, thinking about how they might be feeling helped me avoid thinking about how I was feeling.

The intercom buzzed and instructed Bond Team to head down to Jonathan's office. I stretched and called the others down. After a little contemplating, I realised things are really looking up. Bond Team is really starting to get along, our average grade is pulling up, and my shitheaded bastard of a friend Carter who left me hanging thinking he was dead, is alive and safe back in Toronto away from all the guns.

-----

(Carter's P.O.V.)

I sat in Mr. Bouvier's office looking over Bond Team's files. I couldn't help but notice a couple of facts jumping out at me. They twice blew up a building, a bridge, killed off my beloved cousin, and sent another member into coma. And to finish off their record, they haven't won one school challenge yet. I sighed and wondered if joining Bouvier Academy really was a good idea.

-----


(Dieon's P.O.V.)

I walked into the office and without acknowledgement to Mr. Bouvier, blinked at Carter.

"So where's the new member?"

[erik]

Chapter 42

[Jack’s P.O.V.]

I sat silently eating the spaghetti, watching everyone attempt conversation; it was a complete failure.

After I had managed cleaning off the dishes Jasmine was on her balcony, a distant gaze easily recognized on her face. I heard the door click as Dieon left and I stood in my door way for a long while. Then a few moments later I heard the door click shut again as I saw Kisa leave.

I was alone in the apartment with Jasmine. I gave a sigh, and looked at my bandaged hand, flexing it slightly. With another deep breath I stepped into Jasmine’s doorway, and stood at the balcony's double doors, leaning on the wall and knocking softly.

Jasmine glanced at me, and I stepped towards her and gave a small grin.

“What are you doing out here on a night like this?”

I saw her smile slightly as she spoke.

“It’s so beautiful out…why wouldn’t I be on the balcony?”

I stepped close to her and looked down at the side of her face. My voice was soft, and continued with our little de ja vous, but this time I felt my words were more genuine.

“What I mean is…why aren’t you out on the country side? It’s such a beautiful night, and surely the night deserves to be complimented by a beautiful presence.”

Jasmine turned and looked into my eyes, and still had a gentle smile on her face.

“Student’s aren’t allowed out after dark.”

“Well, I’m going to teach you one thing.”

She had a tired smile and sighed “I know how to have fun, Jack. I just choose not to do it at this time.”

I smiled and placed my arms around her and spoke very softly.

“I’m going to teach you how to love.”

“I know how to love.”

“Then you’ll learn to love me…”

I kissed her on the lips, holding only a couple seconds, then I let go, and handed her a repelling clip, and pointing to a rope tied to the edge of the balcony, just out of sight. I clipped myself on, giving her an enticing smile, and hoping over the ledge as I clipped myself to the rope.

Within a few seconds and on the watching as she slid down after me, and unclipped herself looking at me.

“Jack, where are you going? Night isn’t here...is he?“

“Actually, he is; Night and I have planned something for you.”

I gave a soft clicking noise with my tongue, and then was a low rumble as hooves galloped around through the darkness. I turned towards Jasmine, speaking softly.

“Brace yourself.”

She looked confused, and start to speak.

“For what—“

Just as she opened her mouth, Night emerged from the shadows at a canter, and as he passed directly in front of us, my right arm had caught hold of his neck as I felt the familiar swing as I be tossed onto his back. My motion was slowed as I pulled using the momentum I already had to swing Jasmine off her feet as within 2 seconds I was on Night’s back, and Jasmine seated behind me.

She was about to speak once more, but Night cut to the right and leapt over a meter tall hedge, and I felt that familiar adrenaline rush as I swore we could become airborne from that one single leap.

We had cleared the ground in 30 seconds, and I felt Jasmine's arms loosen up from her death grip around my waist. She sighed now getting used to the rocking rhythm of Night’s strides.

I glanced over my shoulder and smiled at her “Here…switch spots with me. It’s more comfortable, and you get a better view.”

She looked somewhat shocked.

“But you need to…erm…steer him with the reins!”

I smiled and leaned out of the way, revealing no riding equipment at all. She looked back at me.

“How are you controlling him?!”

“I’m not.”

“WHAT?!”

I smiled, replying rather coolly.

“What I mean, is I don’t have to. He knows where to take us. So here, come up and relax…I promise you won’t fall off.”

She gave a forced laugh.

“I won’t fall off…but I will knock you off.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Just then I felt Night jump, and Jasmine’s hands on my back as I lost my seat and started flying forward. Just as Night landed he leapt into the air again and I felt his back coming towards me as I grabbed his mane as he landed again. I turned back towards Jasmine “Nice try.”

She smirked “Well…I could get you off…but the horse apparently takes pride in being able to save your ass.”

I smirked and kicked my legs over his back and rode backwards, while staring at Jasmine. She raised an eyebrow.

“What are you thinking?”

I gave a crazy grin of mine, and grabbed her and pulled her so she was cradled in my arms as I side-saddled while holding her over Night’s side. Her arms were wrapped in a death grip around my neck and I could hear her cursing at me.

“I swear Jack, if you drop me—“

I let go and she fell slightly and I caught her and put her in front of me. She was now holding Night’s soft mane as he continued galloping across the country side. She glanced over her shoulder once she was comfortable again, and she looked at me.

“You know, this isn’t exactly helping me love you.”

I smiled and looked at her, then gave a knowing grin.

“Do you find me funny?”

She raised an eyebrow, and answered simply.

“Yes.”

“Does this midnight ride excite you to some extent?”

“Yes. Jack, what are you getting at—“

“Do you think I’m cute?”

That seemed to catch her off guard as she faltered a moment, then at last replied cautiously.

“Yes…in your own little weird way, you are cute.”

I gave a reassuring smile and slipped my hands around her waist, then grabbed a fist full of Night’s mane, and spoke softly into her ear.

“You have just said what the heart has thought. You have enjoyed everything so far…including your company.”

She was silent a few moments, then smirked and turned her head slightly, whispering in my ear.

“Your right…Night makes lovely company!”

She giggled and I sat shaking my head…she was good.

After a long hour of riding, Night slowed up as he entered a forest. Trees passed on both our sides, as he maneuvered skillfully through the brush. After another 5 minutes he passed through a small opening in a thicket to reveal a shimmering lake an island in the middle of it.

Night waded at a steady pace as he moved through the water that came up to his chest. I glanced down and he seemed to be walking on a submerged bridge. As he rose up from the water and stood on a small island the romantic setting unfolded.

I slid off Night, and helped Jasmine down as her eyes passed over the entire scene. At the moment, she could see nothing but a curtain of willow branches. I stepped forward and pulled a few aside as I saw her eyes light up with awe.

It was like a small room, separated from the outside world by the draping branches all around. A table set for two sat near the trunk of the willow, in the center of the ‘room’. A white table cloth swayed ever so slightly with a passing breeze, and fire flies dance around. The entire setting was alit with the warm glow of candles and the small lights of the fire flies.

A bottle of wine was chilled and sat on the table; plates of all sorts of cheeses, breads, and crackers decorated the middle providing a tantalizing appetizer; on white plates lay fettuccini alfredo, a filet mignon, and a small side of a hearty potato soup.

Jasmine looked at Jack her eyes searching for an explanation.

“Who made this?”

“I did.”

“What?! But…how did it get here? That steak is steaming hot!”

“Magic.”

She went to open her mouth again, but I gave her a quick kiss making her close it immediately. I led her over and pulled out her seat for her. I motioned to the wine bottle.

“Care for a glass?”

“No thank you…erm, I’ll start out with water though. Do you have any?”

“Only the best.” I took her glass and took a few steps towards the willow. A small circle of roots contained floating orchids and glistening water. I filled the glass and placed it before her, and she raised an eye brow.

“Erm…”

“This lake is spring fed. Some how some of the water surfaced through the tree to that little opening right there; it’s great tasting though.”

I watched as she sipped it, then her eyes lit up with delight.

“It is good.”

I smiled and picked up my silverware, cutting into the steak, and savoring its flavor; I washed it down with a glass of wine and the night seemed perfect.

I saw her eyes look at the orchids floating in the pool of water the i had filled her glass with. I picked on up and placed it beside her plate; a grin was on my face as i softened my expression, giving a gentle look.

“Such a perfectly beautiful flower…”

She studied it’s designs, and nodded.

“Yeah…just like the perfectly appetizing food.”

I munched on another cheese and cracker and glanced at her, my eyes locking onto hers.

“And their perfection is triumphed by that of a perfectly beautiful woman.”
---
I followed in after Dieon and saw Carter. I really had no idea what to expect, but I sat down next to Jasmine who was on the corner of the couch. Dieon sat next to me, and Kisa next to him.

I smiled at Jasmine and rather subtlely blew a kiss to her. A rather innocent grin lay plastered on my face. and let my damaged hand cover my smile. I watched Jonathan’s eye brow raise as he watched my gestures with his niece; quickly noticing his sudden focus on me, I instantly put my infamous wall up once more.

He motioned to Carter “This is your newest team member.”

Dieon smiled slightly at Carter, and Carter’s eyes passed over all the team mates. His eyes hung just a split second longer on Kisa and I rolled my eyes knowing exactly why.

I glanced up at Jonathan and spoke rather coolly.

“If I may be so humble to say, I’d like to point out we don’t need another team mate.”

Carter looked somewhat stunned at my outburst, and decided to respond.

“Well, from what these records say, you guys need all the help you can get.”

I looked at him with a psychopathic grin; no one in the room would expect everything i would do next, and nothing could've prepared them for it.

“We don’t need any help…after all, I, or the enemy, just kill off the weaker links of the team.”

Instantly I saw Dieon and Carter flare up as I had insulted Kelly. However, Mr. Bouvier saw the building fire, and tried to snuff out the match before anything could happen.

“No, Jack, you get another member because each team is supposed to have 6 team mates in all.”

Everyone remained dead silent, so I protested once more…I could’ve sworn it was the after effects of that wine talking. Then again...for once i was actually saying what i was really thinking.

“Well, last I checked, we have 6 team mates. 1 is dead, another is in a comma, and the rest are sitting on this couch. We don’t need another.”

“Mr. Barrie, I suggest you stop trying my patience.”

“Well, Kelly and Madison suggested that I leave that bomb in New York…and now they’re dead. So, I suggest someone listens to the smart kid for once; we don’t need another team mate.”

I felt the death glares from everyone in the room, and Mr. Bouvier fought to keep his calm.

“Well, Mr. Barrie, I am telling you, and this team, you’re going to have Carter as your new team mate.”

I stood and was now on eye level with that 6’3” man; at that moment I felt taller than I had ever felt.

“And I am telling you that we won’t.”

His tone was now stern, and commanding.

“Jack, i'm warning you...don’t try my patience.”

“It is Mr. Barrie to you.”

“Mr. Barrie, I suggest you come to your senses. There is nothing you—“

“I can kill him.”

At that moment there was silence through out the room. Everyone seemed to be in shock, but it was Jasmine who seemed to be angered with me. Yet, it was John who spoke.

“You will do no such thing.”

“Look in his bed tomorrow morning…and I’ll tell you I did such a thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have combat training with team Fulcrum.”

I stepped out of the door and waited in the hallway. I had absolutely no idea why I just did that…it just kind of happened; yet it was exhilarating.

I thought silently for a moment...inever did anything without some cause other than just for the hell of it. Now that i thought about it, this was my way for dealing with pain, and preventing it from ever happening again.

Then I saw everyone else file out. Kisa, Dieon, and Carter all stayed a good distance away from me -chatting of course- while we awaited Jasmine’s exit.

After 5 minutes Jasmine emerged, fuming, and she grabbed my arm a ripped me around the corner. Though she was shorter than me, she increased the height difference by checking me into the wall, and holding me up by the front of my shirt.

“What the hell was that?!”

“What are you talking about?”

“The lame attempt at flirting with me in front of my uncle; then acting like a complete ass seconds later!”

I extended my arms and pushed her off me and kept eye contact with her,

“What did he tell you?”

“It’s none of your damn—“

“It was about me, wasn’t it?”

She stopped short once more. I wasn’t sure if it was about me, but if it wasn’t then her little act of silence would’ve worked as the perfect bait to divert my thoughts from its real subject; of course, if I was right, then that was genuine silence as I had guessed the topic. I looked into her eyes, my tone somewhat joking. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not planning on killing Carter…yet; but the Kevin guy…he’s on my hit list.”

I was starting to flirt with her again, and i cursed myself for doing it. I needed a few moments to start withdrawing, and put up that wall.

Jasmine kept a serious look instead of a laugh I could see she was hiding. She punched me where my bullet wounds were still healing and glared at me once more.

“Why the hell did you do that?!”

I was bending over clutching my shoulder, and muttered softly “Bitch.”

I saw her knee swing up as she tried to ram it into my face, but I reached down and flipped her onto her back and looked down at her.

“Don’t start.”

“Then stop putting up that god damn wall! I can see it in your eyes…you’re starting right now! I know the real you…so stop hiding behind all those personalities. Jack, you can't keep doing this! You say you love me, but the next moment you seem to do everything in your power to piss everyone off...including me.”

I glanced away and I saw the other three peering around the corner looking at me. For that one instant of distraction, I saw Jasmine jump to her feet and send a fist flying at me. I guess she took the saying ‘knock some sense into you’ to heart.

I ducked low and put my hand around her neck and pinned her to the wall, her feet off the ground. She made a few choking sounds, and her leg swung out to kick me, but I grabbed it, holding it up around me as I looked into her eyes.

One could easily mistake that stance as rough sex.

I spoke harshly to her “Don’t think you can predict my every movements, or when my wall comes up, or anytihng of the sort; that will be your down fall. You can forget last night…you are nothing to me, and I could kill you right now and not give a damn.”

My face matched everything i was saying; my look was cold, and emotionless, and my tone harsh, and commanding. I could feel her blood pulsing through her viens, rushing to keep supplying her brain with blood; still i continued to crush her wind pipe.

Her face was purple and I dropped her and watched her slump to the ground trying to catch her breath. As I was walking away, I saw the other 3 moving in towards Jasmine to make sure she was okay; the hand print left from me wasn’t doing anything to convince them she was fine, despite her claims of well being.

As I walked up the stairs to the combat room, I stole a glance over my shoulder to see them all at the bottom of the stairs…all huddled together, looking much happier then before. Once Jasmine was away from me, and on her feet.

People say that if you tell yourself a lie, or delude yourself long enough, that that lie or alternate reality will become true. Though I had not shown it, I loved Kelly and Madison like sisters, and seeing them in that blast was like a never ending ache of the heart as I came to the grim realization…they weren’t coming back.

Well, my newest philosophy on love:

Love is only way to set yourself up for a lifetime of heartache.

Rowan was nothing to me, my family was dead, and this team the only thing left dear to me…soon they would be nothing as well. Hatred is powerful, and if I can stir enough of that inside all of them…I’ll never have to worry about the heart ache to follow after their deaths. That infamous wall of mine would become my only company, and Night my only friend. The task shouldn’t be too hard…already I’ve pushed Jonathan's buttons, and the rest of the team should fall easily into place...

In time, I know I can even make Jasmine hate me.

[Garry left me nothing to work with so i went off on a tangent. So, you better effing like my tangent, or i'll whip muffins at you till you're red with pain. Thank you have a nice day!]

[Keira Weasley]

Chapter 48
Jasmine's P.O.V.

[/b][/center]

Do you ever have those days where it begins off really good? Such as you actually had a good night of sleep and you wake up with a stupid smile on your face, happy that the morning has arrived?

I think I'm going insane if I'm thinking like that. I spat out the toothpaste from my mouth and began rinsing. Last night is like a sweet breath of air for me from the previous events that have occured. I was... happy about it. Who knew Jack had it in him to be a romantic? I really need to know the guy.

I see my reflection in the mirror and realize a smile is forming on my face again as I was thinking about the dinner he set up. I stop abruptly and curse myself for being such an idiot.

But my thoughts do trail off to what he said last night...


“And their perfection is triumphed by that of a perfectly beautiful woman.”

I blush and poke at the flower before responding, "Stop making my head swell up."

He laughs and takes another cracker, "That I cannot ensure you but at the mean time, eat something."

I take the cracker from his hand and take a bite, "Happy?"

"Most certainly," He nods and I roll my eyes.

He laughs and gets up, suddenly. He takes his wine glass in his hand and takes a deep gulp from it, finishing off its content. He places the glass back down as I try to hide my laughter. He brings out both of his hands towards me and puts on a slurred tone, "Dance with me."

"I don't take orders," I respond cooly.

He grins at me and clears his throat, resuming to his normal voice, "Will you dance with me?"

"Ahaha," I pause. "Well... let me think about this. Will I, Jasmine, dance with you, Jack?" I look down at the shoes I was wearing, "I don't know... I'm not wearing my dancing shoes."

He waits there, patiently, so I stand up, "Fine. So... where's the music?"

"Come on... where's your imagination?" He asks me.

I glare at him, "I'm not completely stupid you're asking me that."

He takes my right hand and pulls me closer, "Fine. Let's go on a whim here and say that you're smart--"

"Jack, dear, you don't want me to leave now, do you?" I ask him through gritted teeth.

He laughs and stops himself. "Come up with something."

I groan, "Only fast songs get stuck in my head, nothing slow... and frankly, I don't want to look like a retard as I do some weird fast dance to nothing."

Jack places his other hand around my waist as he slowly starts rocking me, "Fine... tell me a song and I'll sing it."

"You're serious?" I ask, surprised.

He grins at me, "Choose something or I'll pick something of my own."

At that moment, I wanted to see what he would pick out but he gave me the option so I decide, "Sing 'The Sweetest Thing' by U2."

Jack closes his eyes and grumbles, "Out of all songs--"

"It's the first slow song I could think of!" I protest.

"Fine," Jack says and cough. "Ah... how does the beginning go?"

I roll my eyes, re-thinking the idea of forcing him to sing and that maybe he didn't know the song. I put on my most monotone voice and say in the rhythm of the song, "My love throws me like a rubber ball."

Jack tries to hide his amusement and asks, "Is that your singing voice?"

I glare at him, "Does it sound like a singing voice?"

Jack shakes his head and coughs, "What kind of a first line is that?!"

I drop my hands from his hand and his shoulder and cross them across my chest, "How about we don't dance at all?"

"How about we don't dance to any music?" He asks, reaching for my hands again.

"You better be a good dancer because I will fall asleep if you're not," I warn him, resting my head against his shoulder.


He did turn out to be a good dancer. After we did dance, we ate some more before we headed off back. It was late at night. I shake my head and comb out my wet hair since it was already clinging up together. I sigh and bunch up my hair and use a butterfly clip to hold it.

Kisa walks in, already dressed, and tells me, "Bouvier wants us in the office."

I look at her, raising a questioning eyebrow. Kisa shrugs in response, meaning she had no idea what this was all about either. "Lemme get dressed and then we'll go," I tell her, pointing out the fact I was wearing my PJs.

She laughs and says, "The shorts and the tank is alright--"

"Shut up," I tell her and laugh. I shove her out of the bathroom and out of my room as she's rambling on how I can arrange it into a nice outfit.

---------------------------------------------------

"So where's the new member?"

I let out a laugh at Dieon's blunt question. I was looking at the new comer in the room and decide to sit down. We might as well talk with him, right?

I take my place in the usual corner of the couch and put my elbow on the seat's arm. I prop my head against my hand as I watch the rest taking their seats. What surprises me is to see Jack sit beside me. My eyes narrow as he turns his head slowly towards me; what is he up to--

My eyes widen, though, as I see his lips being pursed together and that's when he blows me a kiss. I blush and turn my face away as I see him smiling at me, innocently. The jack ass!

Uncle Johnathon let out a cough, making us all look at him. I notice him staring at Jack before motioning towards the stranger, "This is your newest team member."

He looks at us and by the description Kelly gave me a while ago, and some of the pictures I've seen from her, I'm guessing this is Carter. I wave a hand at him as he takes his turn at looking at me. Him and Dieon exchange a hello while Kisa was staring off at space.

It was Jack who broke the silence, “If I may be so humble to say, I’d like to point out we don’t need another team mate.”

We all stare at him, surprised he said something so bold. I frown but Carter decides to response, “Well, from what these records say, you guys need all the help you can get.”

Jack grins at him, like if he was giving a pleasant threat. “We don’t need any help…after all, I, or the enemy, just kill off the weaker links of the team.”

I was trying to restrain my hand from flying up and slapping Jack across his head. The nerve of him for saying that!

Uncle John interupts, rather calmly, “No, Jack, you get another member because each team is supposed to have 6 team mates in all.”

I nod in agreement; he's right, and now that we just lost a member, it is up to him to have a replacement.

“Well, last I checked, we have 6 team mates. One is dead, another is in a comma, and the rest are sitting on this couch. We don’t need another.”

I can see a vein becoming visible on Uncle John's head. “Mr. Barrie, I suggest you stop trying my patience.” I look at Jack and try to send him a mental message, Yeah, please stop.

But Jack continues and I close my eyes, “Well, Kelly and Madison suggested that I leave that bomb in New York…and now they’re dead. So, I suggest someone listens to the smart kid for once; we don’t need another team mate.”

Smart kid with a big mouth.

Uncle John responds, vein very visible now. “Well, Mr. Barrie, I am telling you, and this team, you’re going to have Carter as your new team mate.”

Jack stands up and tells him, “And I am telling you that we won’t.”

Uncle John was putting his threatening tone on, “Jack, I'm warning you...don’t try my patience.”

“It is Mr. Barrie to you,” Jack responds coldly.

“Mr. Barrie, I suggest you come to your senses. There is nothing you—“

“I can kill him.”

Where the HELL did that come from?!

“You will do no such thing,” Uncle John says, shaking his head.

“Look in his bed tomorrow morning…and I’ll tell you I did such a thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have combat training with team Fulcrum.” With that said, Jack left the room.

Uncle John turns towards us and asks, "Anything else you'd like to tell me or Carter?"

I turn towards Carter and immediately say, "Forget about everything Jack has said."

"Cause, you know," Kisa did an immitation of a person sniffing drugs. Dieon stares at her as if she was insane but like he was believing her.

I add in, "That and he drinks! He's drunk so he really didn't know he was saying." I'm hoping it was the wine from last night talking...

Dieon slowly nods in agreement and says, "And he's going through a rough time... all of us are."

"That and he..." Kisa trails off, back to her immitation of a druggie.

I smack her and say, "Can you stop that?!"

Carter laughs as Kisa begins, "Well, immitating a druggie is kind of fun--"

"You can leave now, if you want," Uncle John cuts in, looking at Kisa as if he was regretting bringing her here.

We all stand up, including Carter, and start filing out. When I reach towards the door, Uncle John yanks me back in and closes the door.

"Oh no..." I mutter, heading back to the couch and sitting back in the corner. Where was this going to head off too?

"So..." He pauses, eyeing me. "That Mr. Barrie is something."

"Yeah," I say, shifting in my spot, avoiding his gaze.

"Are you and him intimate?" He asks.

"NO!" I yell immediately. I snap my eyes shut and regret saying it, Jeez, he's going to take that as a definite yes.

Uncle John laughs but I can tell he was already disapproving, "You can--"

"Don't you dare say I can do better!" I snap at him, forboding what he was going to say.

He diverts the comment and says, "You can try to help him improve his attitude."

"Whatever.... I've tried... believe me," I tell him, rubbing my forehead.

Uncle John sighs, "How about Fulcrum?"

"Huh?" I ask, dropping my hand and glaring at him.

"You two were--"

"I'm leaving," I say and stand up.

Uncle John's raises his eyesbrows and says, "Fine... by the way, your parents want you and me for dinner on Saturday."

"Thanks for telling me," I tell him and open the door. I step out and slam the door out of agitation anad start making my way to my teammates. I spot Jack nearby them and head towards him.

I grab his arm aggresively and push him against the wall in a bullying style. I take a fistful of his shirt before taking out my frustration I had building up against him. "What the hell was that?!"

He puts on an innocent face on and asks, “What are you talking about?”

I narrow my eyes, really not wanting him to act dumb or toy with me at the moment. I hiss, “The lame attempt at flirting with me in front of my uncle and then acting like a complete ass seconds later!”

He pushes me off of him and changes the subject, “What did he tell you?”

I glare at him, “It’s none of your damn—"

“It was about me, wasn’t it?” He asks, making me freeze and loosen my grip on him. How'd he guess? I remain cool, though, not showing any visible sign if it was or wasn't about him. He shrugs and says in a conversational tone, “Don’t worry about it. I’m not planning on killing Carter…yet; but the Kevin guy…he’s on my hit list.”

I realize that convesational tone of his was flirting. I can't believe it! Then again, I felt my face forming that grin again and I stopped myself, trying to maintain the glare. Instead, I had to change the topic. I fisted my hand and punched him on his shoulder.

“Why the hell did you do that?!” He yelps as he was bending over, holding his shoulder. He glares at me and mutters softly “Bitch.”

Bitch?

He had no idea.

I raise up my knee, aiming to ram it in his oh-so precious face. My mistake of taking him as weak at the moment because next thing I knew, I was on the ground and staring at him, daze. He looms over me and warns me, “Don’t start.”

“Then stop putting up that god damn wall! I can see it in your eyes…you’re starting right now! I know the real you…so stop hiding behind all those personalities. Jack, you can't keep doing this! You say you love me, but the next moment you seem to do everything in your power to piss everyone off...including me.”

He looks away from me once I was done, staring off at another direction. I use the distraction to my advantage and jump to my feet, not realizing that I really wanted to inflict physical pain on him. My fists were flying at him before I could register what I was doing.

He jumps in surprise but he dives towards me, grabbing my neck and slamming me against the wall. My feet weren't touching the ground so I was sustaining up by his hand at my neck. Get the problem in this situation? I start swinging my legs like an idiot, uselessly trying to kick him. He grabs my legs and wraps it around him. What the f---

He speaks harshly to me, as if laying down the fine lines. “Don’t think you can predict my every movements, or when my wall comes up, or anytihng of the sort; that will be your down fall. You can forget last night…you are nothing to me, and I could kill you right now and not give a damn.”

I started feeling dizzy by the time he was done; not by how he looked when he said those words but that I was fighting for air. He drops me and I land on the ground like a doll, hair and limbs scattered around me. He leaves as I start breathing in and out, gulping for air.

Kisa jumps by my side, pushing the hair that flopped on my face. "You ok?!"

"Y-Y-Yeah?" I choke out. I feel my face becoming red and my eyes slowly being blurred by tears.

Dieon frowns and says, "This is what I get from thinking you guys can talk it out...."

I choke out a laugh despite my condition and say, "Really... I'm fine."

"The hand prints around your neck, your red, teary eyes and your hard breathing doesn't say so," Carter points out. Looks like we got ourselves a Mr. Obvious on our team!

I change the subject by saying, "We have class... come on, we got to go..."

---------------------------------------------------

"Nice of you lot to join us," Mr. Moore tells us with his thick Scottish accent.

"Mr. Bouvier stalled us, sir," Dieon tells him, shooting a look at Jack as he was already changed.

"Quickly get into something you can work with," He instructs us.

"What are we doing today?" Kisa asks.

"Not the usual so you can wear whatever you want," He tells us.

I smile, figuring out what the lesson might be. I run into the changing room with Kisa while Carter and Dieon head towards the boys changing room, confusion all over their faces.

I enter out after five minutes with cargo capris on, black tank, and my infamous fingerless gloves. I have my wet hair tied in a high pontail as it is lightly trailing on the back of my neck. To finish off my outfit, I had black Adidas on.

I stand beside Kisa and a few feet away from Team Fulcrum, being Kevin beside me. He glances at me and his eyes shot up, "What the hell happened to you?"

"What?" I ask him.

He looks at Mr. Moore first then points at his own neck. I slap my own hands around my own neck only to have a stinging sensation. My eyes water and I look away and mumble, "Nothing."

Mr. Moore looks around, seeing that both teams are here. "We're going to do something that's... probably a little dirty and unfair compared to what I've taught you so far. Heard of a little thing called Street Fighting?"

Half the class is stunned by the statement while the other half cheer. It was Jack who spoke some sense, "But Street Fighting... it's usually caused by something. Are you talking about the style or ways of street fighting?"

"Most certainly..." Mr. Moore says. "The point is, Street Fighting is to result in injury and in submission. Death is usually caused by it but either way. So, I'll be pairing you lot off."

"Joy...." I say sarcastically towards Kisa.

Dieon pops his head between us and says, "I swear, if I'm paired up with that Thomas I will--"

Kisa burst with laughter, "You will what?"

Dieon falls silent and backs away, only to have Carter's head come in. "Hi... have you noticed that I'm new here?"

"Oh, Jasmine, I think he's trying to make a point!" Kisa tells me and we both start laughing.

I turn to him, "Don't worry... you'll probably get paired off with one of the girls on the other team."

Carter frowns at me and then towards Team Fulcrum. "That's supposed to be reassuring? Just because you're being sexist and telling me that I can kick a girls ass?"

Kisa and I giggle as I say, "Pretty much."

"Your reassurance isn't helping... those girls look like their amazonian warriors," Carter says before poking his head back.

"It will go in this order," Mr. Moore announces, looking at his clipboard. "Jasmine versus Katherine, Carter versus Jay, Kisa versus Thomas, Dieon versus Chris, and Jack versus Kevin. Anyone else who wants to go a second time can go against Leah.... Jasmine, Katherine, get ready on the mat."

It seems like Carter was happy that he got stuck with a whimpy guy while Dieon was stuck with, well, not Thomas. But my head is ringing as I walk up to the mat, not bothering to check if my clothing has anything hanging out. Jack versus Kevin. At the moment, and for the first time, I hoped that Kevin would win.

"Round One!"

"What?!" I yelp as Katherine takes a blow at my stomach. I stagger back as Team Fulcrum cheers for Katherine while Team Bond yells for me to focus.

Katherine grins at me as I look up at her. In return, I grin at her. She stares at me, confused, as I dive at her, making her hit the ground with a loud thud. She groans and remains on the ground, rubbing her head.

In the scoring system of Mr. Moore's Street Fighting, if the persons on the ground for more than three beats, you win the round. There are three rounds in total so best two out of three declares you the winner.

"Team Bond," Mr. Moore declares as winner of the round. My team cheers for me as I wave at them like an idiot. I start cracking up and I offer my hand to Katherine.

Katherine grabs my hand and grins at me. My eyes widen, knowing that smile of hers and she flips me on the ground. I roll on my side, instantly, not aware that round two begun.

"You still play dirty!" I hiss at her as we slowly walk in a circle, directly across from each other.

"Hah, like it's my fault. You're still sneaky!" She hisses at me back.

I roll my eyes, "It's part of my attack, loser." She rolls her eyes but I use that distraction of hers to my advantage and tackle her down again. She groans and tries to get up. I use my knee and pressure it on her stomach, forcing her down.

"Team Bond," Mr. Moore declares again. I grin, truimphly, as I get up. My turn was over and so far, we were winning.

I get off the mat and sit on the bench where my team was. Jack was sitting distantly from us, watching the mat with a dead expression on. I roll my eyes and give a tap on Carter's back as he makes his way towards the mat. I take my place between Kisa and Dieon. He passes me a water bottle from the cooler as Kisa gives me a small towel. I look at the two and laugh, "Wow, we're really starting to get along...."

Dieon shrugs and looks at the mat, cheering for Carter. The first round Carter won which made me guess he was a natural street fighter. The next two rounds, though, Carter lost causing Jay to win.

Carter slumped down on the bench, upset, but he totally reminded me there of Dieon. I couldn't help myself with laughing and bringing up this remark. Dieon and Carter glare at me as I shut my mouth, turning around to cheer for Kisa. Kisa was really good at it, no surprise, and won the rounds after the first. Dieon was cheering like a maniac at the end when Kisa gave a satisfying kick at Thomas's stomach.

Dieon went up next and had Chris successfully down in the first two rounds. He was really good too as I watched him take Chris down with exceptional ease.

That lead us to the last pair; Kevin and Jack. My stomach tightens as I watch the two going up the mat, both covering their emotions. I curse at that under my breath as the rooms falls silent. How nice.

"Round One."

No one made a move. I curse again silently, realizing that the two of them had similar fighting style. For starters, they wouldn't attack first; they waited for the attack.

"Anytime now, boys," Mr. Moore says, sounding totally weird with his accent. Kisa starts to laugh but hides it with coughing.

Kevin shrugs and mutters, "Yes sir--"

Jack gave a round house kick and made Kevin fly a few feet away, landing on the mat with a nasty sound.

My eyes widen and I gasp as Dieon and Carter cheer like this was a football game. I shake my head and lean back, masking my surprise.

"Team Bond," Mr. Moore announces for the first round's winner. The rest of my team cheers as I frown, looking at Kevin's state.

Kevin gets up, lip bleeding. Kisa's eyes widen and she mutters, "Wow, that's hot."

I laugh, realizing that she must have notice his pouty lips. I shake my head at Kisa and she shrugs at me.

Kevin starts aiming punches at Jack. None was making more than three inches near Jack's body. Kevin isn't THAT bad of a... I notice something about his punches, though, and it hits me; he's trying to get Jack off balance. I bite on my lower lip as I continue watching the two, one attacking as the other had nothing but to defend himself.

Jack finally gets caught off guard when he stumbles on his pant legs. Kevin uses that and knees Jack in his stomach, making Jack's eyes widen and fall on the ground, limply.

"SHIT! GET UP, JACK!" Kisa yells, waving her hands wildly and smacking Carter and me in the process.

I bite my lip furiously and think, If you don't get up in the next three seconds I will never talk to you again.

"Team Fulcrum," Mr. Moore says. One second.

Kevin waves his hands arround, mimicking the way I was waving my hands. I glare at him and shout out a rude comment. Two Second.

I look at Jack to see him up again. I groan and curse at the luck he apparently had.

Jack staggers towards Kevin when round three is announced. Kevin turns around to face Jack only to be knocked to the ground by Jack's fist. Our team, excluding me, lets out a cheer as Kevin's head smacks the mat hard.

"Team Bond," Mr. Moore announces, declaring this round and this whole session won by us.

Both teams get up and run towards the mat. Carter and Dieon come towards both sides of Jack, helping him stand straight, as Kisa raves on and on about how little faith she had in Jack. He was glaring at her but she got to the point that she tells him she was proud he won.

"Does the team leader want to comment on anything?" Carter asks me.

I was standing behind Kisa, cross arm, and staring at them. I smile and say, "You all did exceptionally well today. I'm very proud."

"Well, you know, it wasn't hard," Kisa says, looking at Carter pointedly.

Carter frowns, "Hey, I'm still a noob. Don't insult me 'cause I didn't win!"

I shake my head and pat him on his head. He smacks my arm away as Kisa and I began to laugh.

After we changed, we met up with each other, ready to go to our History class. Carter and Dieon were in front of me, busy chatting on either side of Kisa. Kisa was staring at the two, irritation all over her face.

Jack falls behind because apparently, Kevin hurt him somehow on his leg. I narrow my eyes and ask, "You alright?"

"Just... peachy," He says, not even glancing at me. The wall.

I shake my head and mutter, "Good." I ditch him and meet up with the others, starting to argue how tomato was pronounced.

[Chole]

Chapter 49
(Kisa's P.O.V)

First round with Thomas, he got, just because he said something about our last mission, and he managed to hit me in the gut.

“Alright Thomas, we can play dirty..”I say, jumping up, glaring at him. “I have no clue what Kelly saw in you.”I say, before punching him hard in the nose, causing it to break.

“Opps.”I mutter, wiping the blood off and watching him stager to the ground and fall. I won. Last round, Im on the ground, hes on top of me, aiming a punch for my face. MY FACE. That whore! I push him off of me, kicking him hard enough to almost break his ribs. Rubbing my stomach I walk over to the team and yawn. “Calm down..”I say, giving Dieon a weird look rubbing my neck off.

Its Dieons turn, he wins, of course. Just that Carter dude that didn’t, ewwe I think he’s checking my boobs out.

Now, it’s Jack and that Kevin dude. I giggle, and cough at something the teacher says, then stare at Kevin as he stood up. I tilt my head to the side, looking at his lips. Blood was coming out of a nasty cut, that Jack caused. “Wow, that’s hot.”I mutter, looking at him once more, punching wildly. I shrug at Jasmine, while zooning in and out of the fight.

“SHIT! GET UP, JACK!”I yell, waving my hands around hitting Jasmine and Carter in the face. I giggled, and shut up as he stands up going to Kevin.

I feel really sorry for the dudes.

I watch and cheer as Kevin’s head hits the ground with a nasty crack. “Ewwie.”I say running towards Jack, ranting on and on about how little faith I had in him.
“Im proud of you, that you won.”I manage to say after he glares at me.

"Does the team leader want to comment on anything?" Carter asks Jasmine, as I turn around to see her standing behind me.

"You all did exceptionally well today. I'm very proud."Jasmine smiles, and looks at us all.

"Well, you know, it wasn't hard," I say, looking at Carter pointedly, with a roll of my eyes.

Carter frowns, "Hey, I'm still a noob. Don't insult me 'cause I didn't win!"

Jasmine pats him on the arm, and we begin to laugh as he slaps it away.

After we changed, we met up with each other, ready to go to our History class. Carter and Dieon were in front of Jasmine, busy chatting on either side of me.. Im staring at the two, irration on my face.
“OH MY GOD ITS TA-MA-TOE.”I yelled, slapping each of the guys in the face, storming into History.

–
We are all sitting in the living room, with a movie on. Scary movie. Well fixing to.

13 Ghost.

I was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, were it seemed everyone was piled onto. Lucky we have that much room. It went Jasmine, Jack, Dieon, Carter. Then me on the floor.

“Anyone touches me during this movie, dies.”I huff, handing out the drinks for everyone. I pick up the remote, and turn off the lights with a button and then turned on the movie. I lean back yawned, and watched as the Father found out he inherited a mansion type thing. Glass house. Nice.

I glance behind me to make sure, that no one was thinking about touch me when I saw Jasmine move closer to Jack, I roll my eyes, and giggle.

“What are you giggling about know?”I hear, Dieon whisper, I shake my head and shush him. He glares at me, and I roll my eyes. Shaking my head I lean back, and watch the movie. Ever few minutes Carter would squeal, and I would have to stuff my head against the couch, he sounded so much like a pig.

Right when the girl with the knife, and was nude, came in sight, the phone rang. I jumped, and glare at the others, as Jasmine got up to get it.

“That was not funny.”I say, hitting Carter hard.

[Ridley]

Chapter 49

[Jack’s P.O.V]

[/b]

Long, black cargo pants, and shirtless was my choice of dress. I had already stretched and warmed up, also enjoying my fair share of comment towards Team Fulcrum. The teacher had finally quelled out arguments, and I stood awaiting the rest of the team.

As everyone entered, the Instructor briefed them, and a few moments later they came out and sat on the bench. I glanced over at them, the faintest smile on my face as I noticed the bruise on Jasmine’s neck…good luck getting that gone.

I was kneeling with my left foot up, and my right leg folded under me as I rested my arm on my left knee. Round after round I watched the fights, and finally I was called.

“Round one.”

Both of us made no motion. We stood there, fists at the ready, and staring into each other’s eyes. The guy called out to both of us.

“Anytime now, boys!”

Kevin took his eyes off me for a split second as he went to answer him, and that was all I needed. I surged forward and gave a round house to the face, then planted my foot on the ground all before he hit the mat. When he did, I was standing over him without expression on my face. Stupid git deserved every bit of pain he was feeling.

We started fighting again and now it seemed a boxing match. Punch after punch, Kevin was no where near me…but then I realized…he had backed me up off the mat. Felt me heel slip, and for the one second where I put my fists down, I felt his knee ram into my stomach.

Already I was on the ground, trying to get a breath with all my might, and I heard the instructor announcing Fulcrum’s win. I finally stood as round three was announced, and shook off the hit.

Kevin was prancing around like a fucking frog, and I stepped towards him and as he was about to swing for me, my fist was already making contact with his nose as I sent him flying.

A busted lip, and broken nose. Nice. I looked down at him as I only walked away with a small bruise to the ribs. Naturally, the entire team came flooding towards me, and Kelly rambling on about how she didn’t think I could do it.

Or…as for the wounds, so I thought. I felt a rather odd pain around me ankle, and I figured I did something to it when I slipped. No matter. The rest of the team was off towards History.

Well, I was almost glad my ankle hurt, because no I had an excuse to lag behind and NOT be near the team. Then, Jazz slowed up and addressed the subject.

“You alright?”

“Just peachy.” I said while looking at the wall.

Then she took that as an excuse to leave me. Good.
---
Movie night and who the hell knows what we’re watching. Not really sure, but all I know is I wasn’t watching it.

I glanced over at my side of the couch to se some gooey substance, and scooted towards Jasmine to avoid it, and already I heard her snap at me.

“What?”

I looked at her and speak sharply. “I’m leaving. You know where I’ll be.”

Then stood up and headed out the door. Well…only to be followed by Jasmine.

I heard her shut the door and call my name, so I decided to humor her for a few minutes. I stood looking at her, and she checked me into the wall.

“What the fuck?”

Was all I managed to get out before she cut me off.

“Jack, I’m sick and tired of your bull shit, and frankly I’m not putting up with it anymore.”

I gave a smirk—or rather something that could pass for an insane grin—and looked down at her.

“That look in your eye begs to differ.”

“What look? You mean the longing to punch you in the face?”

“No…the look that says you love me.” I responded with an icy hiss.

She paused for a moment, as if in thought, then spoke with a coldness to match my own.

“Jack…you are nothing to me. You never were. You were a pretty face, and someone I humored when I could’ve easily said ‘no’. Don’t give yourself too much credit.”

That hurt a lot worse than I thought it would. I didn’t let it show though, and I went to speak, but she cut me off again.

“Now you listen to me. We’re going to continue this later. Go have fun with your pony, and when you come back, we’re going to talk this out like civilized adults, and then you are going to act like you’re apart of this team. Got it?”

Oh yeah...I had it alright. I grabbed her wrists with a crushing force, and twisted her arms back behind her back, so now her chest was pressed against mine, and the only thing to keep our lips from touching was my height difference.

I looked in her eyes and spoke very clearly, and very softly.

“No, Jasmine…you listen to me. For once I’m going to be completely honest with you, and after this, I swear you, or anyone else, will ever see me with that ‘wall’ of mine down. Got it?”

She seemed like she was ready to say ‘go to hell’, but something told me the fact I could easily rip her arm off at that moment seemed to silence that thought. I spoke very quietly, so that only she could hear.

“Jasmine, I do things because I can’t cope with them any other way. Unlike you, I’m not strong enough. I can’t afford to loose you, or anyone else, again. I can’t have any emotional attachment, and I knew I shouldn’t have talked to you that first night on the balcony. I’m sorry for everything, Jazzy…good bye.”

I let go of her then waltzed right out of the building.
---
After all night with Night, it was 9:00am in the morning, and I entered the building for the first time since I left. I downstairs into an elevator and took it down to the sublevels of the complex.

Lessons didn’t start till 10:00am, but as I looked at what was on the other side of the elevator doors my eyes went wide. Even as the doors finished opening, already I could feel a warm surge of wind blow into the elevator and whip my hair back. I stepped forward to see the entirety of the place.

It was a large cavern that seemed never ending, but if one looked close, they could see the other side of the cave. It was hot inside, and already I could feel beads of sweat on my forehead…and the cause of the heat was already apparent. I walked towards the open floor of the cave to see a boiling pit of magma.

The walk way was about 10 meters and then it dropped like a cliff to the magma pit; it went all the was around the room, and it was the only solid ground in the room.

I looked up to the ceiling, and saw it could be 30, 40 meters easily, and what was up there surprised me even more.

Everything from ropes, to cages, to hovering pads, walls of sharp things, and everything you could imagine was suspended above out heads.

“Great…the obstacle course of doom.” I muttered as I looked around to see black suit waiting to be worn.
---
9:45

I had already put on the suit, and it seemed similar to the cling skins, but felt…heavier almost. I heard the elevator open up and saw the instructor almost surprised to see me here. He glanced around as if looking for the rest of my team, and at last he spoke.

“Are you the only one here?”

“Yeah.” I said and walked over to a rock that jutted out of the side of the cave and sat on it.

He was about to walk off and I called back out to him.

“What are we doing, and what are those?” I pointed to the black suits.

He smiled and replied in a rather cheery tone.

“Those are burn suits. If you fall in the lava, you’ll only feel the heat, but it won’t burn your skin—“

“What about our faces, and hands?”

He smiled and pointed to small cubbies. “Gloves and masks.”

I nodded and stood, walking over and putting a them on. It seemed like a black jousting uniform…like those sword fighters wear…only, without the padding.

“And what are we doing?”

“Team Fulcrum is going against you and we’re dividing into two groups. Boy and girls. In teams of three, or two, you’ll traverse the course and navigate the obstacles to get to the other teams platform. Like…capture the flag almost. Of course, as you’re going across the course, you’ll run into some of their team mates and naturally you fight for the right to pass.”

“And if we fall?”

He pointed to the many ropes dangling randomly around the course. “You better grab one of those, or it’s going to get really hot, really fast.”

I nodded and pointed to the many levels, and mazes. “And all that other stuff?”

“There are 3 paths. Each one a certain level of difficultly. Take note, the easiest path is the one most travels, so combat I most likely to occur there.”

“And the hardest?”

“Try staying in one piece.” He said rather bluntly.

I looked up to see almost every type of weaponry I’d ever imagine. I blinked, and then looked back at him. “Well…I’ll be up on the plat form.”

He nodded. “Start climbing. By the time they get here, you should just be getting up there. Also, keep in mind the easiest path takes 10 minutes to get across without anyone blocking your path. You can judge time from there.”

Great…just pile on the pressure, huh? I thought as I started climbing the ladder.

After dozens of times of sneaking in places, climbing things came naturally to me. So he was right. 10:00am I was sitting comfortable on the Bond Boy’s platform, the girl’s right next to ours, and Fulcrums on the other side of the cavern.
---
I watched as everyone had arrived and Jasmine seemed slightly annoyed, pissed, and worried as she talked to Kisa; Dieon and Carter talking happily amongst themselves. Then I saw Jasmine pull the Instructor aside—probably to discuss my absence—and I think he smiled, but all I could make out was him pointing at me.

The only reason you could tell I was there was because my feet were dangling off the platform. So, I waited as I saw Cater and Dieon start climbing up, and Kisa and Jazzy going up to their platform.

After everyone was in place, the Instructor came over the PA system and spoke to us.

“First up will be the boys! Take your mark!”

I nodded and already started eyeing the highest course, as Dieon and Carter were just looking for the shortest path.

“GO!”

I leaped onto a hovering disk, and could just make out the Fulcrum guys moving towards us. I grabbed onto another ladder and climbed even higher until I couldn’t go any higher. I guess Kevin saw me, and couldn’t be out bested, for I saw him emerged up high too.

The place seemed simple enough…keep your balance on those hovering disks, and don’t get chopped in half.

The simplicity was about to disappear when I felt the disk slide out from under my feet and I almost fell with it. After 15 seconds of pressure, they deactivate, and you dropped in the lava.

I looked back up at Kevin as he discovered the same thing. Dodge the guns, lasers, saws, and flamethrowers; Push the other person off.

Things just got a lot more complicated.

I started off at a full sprint as the disk waved slightly from my weight, and I was leaping around like a drunken cat. The middle was nearing, and so far, I had only been grazed by a bullet.

Now came a wall of really pointy things…I had no idea what they were, but I honestly didn’t want to know. I I knew is if you slipped and landed on them, it would hurt.

Of course, I could already see Kevin at the top of it…there was about a foot of flat ground before the spiked wall, and that is where you had to jump to…of course, you had to jump 6 feet of that stupid hovering disk.

I glanced up at Kevin, who seemed to be waiting so he could watch me fall. That stupid bastard. I felt the hover disk deactivate and I lunged for the small platform, just making it. I gave a sigh of relief till I saw Kevin laughing at me.

“You call that a jump?”

I shrugged and gave a dull smile. “No, that was a frantic leap.”

Then I lunged grabbing hold of a spike and pulling myself up, scaling the wall in about 5 seconds. I now stood on level with him, and smiled. “Hi Kevin!”

Then lunged forward and went to punch him in the face. Now we seemed to be putting up a fucking show. Our fighting looked like something you’d see in a movie as we threw punches and kicks while trying not to fall and impale ourselves.

“Go to hell Jack!”

He shot back as I blocked his kick. I flipped him, but he landed on his feet as I threw another punch, and this time I got him in the eye.

He recoiled slightly and I wound up to round house kick him in the face but he caught my foot and swung me around so that I slipped. I fell and sliced my arm on something—I honestly don’t know or care what—and hung onto a rope looking up at him.

He smiled and pointed down. “Hell is calling, you stupid fuck.”

I laughed and started swing on the rope. “You’re right…and I’ll send you down in my place.”

With that I let go as I soared towards him, my foot making contact with his chin as he slipped back and fell onto the 1st level, on a hover disc. He had 15 seconds to rise, and I wasn’t about to watch.

I leapt for the disc, and slid to the other end, and curse myself for not wiping my shoes of blood. I hung on with one hand, and I saw the pressure read out counting down to deactivation.

10 seconds.

I looked back towards the girls platform to see Jazzy looking the other way, and Kisa screaming at me to get up. I looked down to see Kevin finally starting to stand, and Dieon looking up at me, before going back to fighting Thomas. Carter had already reached the fulcrum platform and was yelling for me and Dieon now…and I glanced at the ticker again.

5 seconds.

I pulled up, my arm aching from all my weight, and as I heaved my chest on the disc, I heard the hum stop as I felt it waver for a moment, then start falling.

I pushed off and reached out for the next disc, closing my eyes hoping I made it.

Then time seemed to stop…my hand touched metal. And I gripped onto it, and pulled myself up, and gave a heavy sigh as he began leaping around and dodging the obstacles.

And of course, what would this place of Doom be without a robot to come around try to pump your chests full of bullets?

So now I was stalled trying to dodge the stupid chunk of metal, and smirked as a power saw cam towards me. I leapt over it and it sliced the machine in half, and now I was home free.

3 disks to go.

I leapt over a flame, and joined Dieon and Carter at the platform. We had beaten Fulcrum. I looked at the other two…Cater seemed flustered, but over all he looked okay. Dieon had cuts on his hand, and a busted lip, but again, nothing too serious.

And me? Well, I just had a tingling cut on my arm, and a bullet graze on my shoulder, but like the other two, nothing horrible.

I nodded to them and I turned to barely be able to make out the platforms…but then the PA came on again.

“For the boy’s challenge, Bond wins! Girls…take your mark!”

I glanced around, thinking 3 on 2 was un fair, but then I saw one of Fulcrum’s girls still on the ground…apparently she was on the ‘injured’ list, so now it was two on two.

I wiped the sweat from my face, and just made out Jasmine and Kisa as the PA came on again.

“GO!”[/size]


[/center]

[Keira Weasley]

Chapter 50

"FUCK!" Kisa yelps.

I glance up at her as I finish putting on my gloves. It was like a stupid steam room. Looking around the molten-setting hurted my eyes by the light's intensity and the smoke made my eyes watery. I cough out, "Yes, the heat is unbearable."

"No, not that. They made that look fucking easy!" Kisa hisses, her glare directed towards the other end of the course. More like squinting since it was hard to make out Carter, Dieon, or what's-his-face. I notice the heat wasn't disturbing her one bit.

Right then, the P.A. went on with, "For the boy’s challenge, Bond wins!"

I wipe my forehead with the back of my gloved hand and comment, "Joy, they won... Calm down KiKi, we'll do fine."

"You're lack of enthusiasm reassures me so well," Kisa responds sarcastically.

I start fanning my hands at my face, trying to produce some sort of wind. "Ah... hey! If they can do it, so can we!" Kisa shrugs and opens her mouth but I cut her, "Now shut it."

The announcer gets back on and gives the girls two minutes to get prepared. I look over to see Katherine and Leah ready at the go as much as I am. It was Kisa that was waisting her time by re-tieing her black wavey hair up again.

I turn around and start examining the three obvious ways to get to the other side. The one just straight ahead was too open. The one up above seemed too dangerous in the way that everything looked less stable up there.

"Do you want to be on your own or would you rather tag team with me?" I finally ask Kisa.

Kisa zips up the rest of her lava suit and looks at me. After a moment, she replies, "I think tag team... the other two seem like they'll be doing the same. I wouldn't want to be caught alone, two against one."

"Good thinking," I say. "Okay, look. There are three paths and I think we should go in the middle one... there."

Kisa squints up to the area that branches off from the main path to a place located between the low and high routes. She nods and asks, "I guess we get to show off our gymnastics skills?"

"Yeah," I agree, standing up as I check my watch. Twenty seconds to go. I take Kisa's hands in mine and pull her up beside me. I slide on my mask, surprised that I'm cooler in it, and look around.

"Girls…take your mark!"

Katherine and Leah do a thumbs up motion, signalling they were ready, as Kisa rudely raises her middle finger.

"GO!"

Kisa and I bolt, jumping onto one of the strange hovering boulders. As I remember correctly, whenever I used to play a video game with hovering stone steps, they would fall after a period of time. And watching the boys fumble around with it cluelessly and setting it off to explode on them was hilarious. But it was an advantage to the girls. Having someone always going ahead of you gives you the chance of not repeating their mistake. So for us, this course will take less time then the boys.

Kisa with her freakishly long legs' jumps ahead of me as we both continue skipping across the boulder's surface. Fulcrum's girls are a match to our pace. Kisa yells out, "I see a ladder!"

I look overhead of Kisa's shoulders and see a ladder that leads up to the way we want to take. Kisa already jumps on it and climbs. I, on the other hand, need to make the opponent get side tracked.

I take a chance and with a huge leap, I jump ontop of a floating step, three ahead of Katherine and Leah. They are already jumping towards the next stone when I use all my might and kick the one in front of me. I was relieved to see it move with force, knocking against the one the two girl's landed on.

The girls scream as the two boulders explode at impact. I jump back towards Bond's path, only taking a few more steps when I jumped onto the ladder. The running I just did made me dizzy with the added heat but I quickly scurry on it, only having Kisa take my arm and pull me up the rest of the way.

Kisa grins at me, "Good job!"

I glance down to see that Fulcrum's girls became more side tracked then what I intended. They were meters below from the main path, trying to climb up with the dozens and dozens of ropes hanging around.

"Doesn't mean we have to waist time," I pant.

"Right, let's go," Kisa says, turning around and almost running into a wall of sharp spikes.

I gasp and yank her back towards me with the little energy I had left in me. If I didn't, I knew she would've stupidly impaled herself right there and then.

"Didn't you check your damn way?!" I yell at her, taking deep breaths and clinging onto her arm.

Kisa shakes her head, "No, I was watching out for you...."

I close my eyes and exhale loudly, momentarily slipping off my mask to wipe away the sweat from my forehead. "Thanks... but next time, watch both paths? Let's go, we waisted too much time now."

Kisa nods and both of us step towards the wall, looking around it. I realize there were small gaps between the pikes and I yell in frustration, "We have to climb it!"

Kisa groans, "No shit?"

I already hook my feet in one of the gaps, avoiding one spike from poking my stomach and another from my left shoulder. I gently raise my left arm and hook my hand to another spike and hitch my body so I can rest my left leg into a gap. "Hurry!" I yell, turning to see Kisa still on the ground.

She starts muttering furiously in what I presume was Italian. Similar to Spanish, -a language I learned along with French-, so I did catch a couple swear words but that was about it. The wall seemed to be slanted, making us gain some ground while we were at it. My suit was starting to cling onto my back from the bloody heat.

I finally rest a hand onto flat surface and pull my body the rest of the way to the top of the wall. I start breathing in deeply, trying to catch my breath, waiting for Kisa to catch up. Moisture had pretty much left my mouth and I regretted spitting out my gum before I came here. I peak over and see Katherine and Leah on the main path, catching up quickly. I bite my lip and decide to check out what's next in the path.

Ropes... dangling ropes to swing on with knots and loops. Then there were the ones that were attached from one side of the room to another. This was going to gain us a lot of ground if we played it right.

Kisa's heavy breathing makes me aware of her arrival. She groans as she notices immediately what's ahead of us. I yank her to her feet and start running with the new energy I gained in the past minute, dragging her behind me.

Kisa scans the jungle of rope before commenting, "We're going to put a show on for the boys."

I roll my eyes but agree, "They're watching because we're doing a better job than the other two."

Kisa laughs and starts heading towards our right. I realize that there are a couple of ropes already hooked onto a large slab of rock popping out of the ground, ready for our use. She hands me one thick rope as she takes on another.

"We'll mainly try to swing from one to another, right?" Kisa asks me.

"Yeah, like Tarzan. But... um, I don't recommend that weird skateboarding shit he'd do with the trees," I respond, tightening my grip on the rope. I place my left foot ontop of a knot on the rope, using it to put my weight on.

"Ready?" Kisa asks, voice a bit raspy now.

I only can manage to nod my head. "At the same time?" I nod my head, more urgently, so she could get a move on. I stop suddenly, placing a hand to my head; heat and sudden movement wasn't good.

"One... two... three!" Both of us jump off the edge of the platform, swinging towards the clusters of rope.

I reach out for one rope and place a hand on it. As I let go of the rope I was on, I realize I'm slipping on the new one. My eyes widen in shock when I realize there might be grease or something on it, making me slip.

I use my swinging momentum but jump towards the next rope, taking balance on resting my feet on the knot. I see a rope that was attached to the cavern walls straight ahead of me. I swing towards it, letting go both of my hands and using it to grab ahold of the rope. Once I did, I immediately swing off of it and head towards another rope.

From the new one, I spiral and catch another one and do the same to get another. This was getting easy--

I scream, jumping off my rope and cling onto one of the attached ropes as a fire is being blown overhead of me. I close my eyes and start breathing; I nearly let that thing roast me.

"Jasmine!" Someone yells overhead of me. I look up to see Kisa doing a great job at showing off her talent as she starts flipping down towards me. Once she's down beside me, she says, "You alright?"

"Yes," I gasp.

"Good, come on, we're almost at the other side," Kisa tells me. I nod and start following her, to shaken up to do any fancy tricks.

Once we reach on the other side, there's simply a path of hovering steps that leads us to victory. Kisa turns towards me and I could tell she was smiling underneath her mask. We both bolt towards the steps, not willing to spend another minute in this pit of hell.

To our dismay, once we step onto a boulder, something zooms by us. Kisa yelps, having a ripped piece of fabric on the back of her mask. I look to see another hit the boulder's side. I lean down to see they were some sort of darts. I get up with a start and yell, "RUN!"

Kisa nods but takes a haphazard leap towards the next step. I follow and land beside her, only to have her take a step towards me, slightly dizzy. I jump and yell, "Kisa! Are you--"

"I think they're tranquilizers or something," Kisa says before taking a step towards me and leans against me.

I groan and make Kisa slump on my back as I narrowly avoid two other darts. Once I get her properly positioned for a piggy back, I use the rest of the energy I have in me and some adrenaline to start my running.

I swear, you think that the thing shooting out the darts had some sort of motion detectors. The faster I got in running, the faster the darts were coming at me. One did hit my arm, which made it harder for me to hold Kisa.

I continue skipping across the steps, only to get my hip attacked by... two! I groan and continue running, knowing that even though I was slowly losing feeling in my leg, I could still make it. The platform was only a couple of stones ahead of me. I grinned, using my peripheral vision to see that the Fulcrum's girl were no where in site.

I land on the second step in front of the platform, exhaustion stopping me now. I pant and take a deep breath, ready to jump on and off from one more step. I stall a little too much, making the stone nearly explode on me as I jump off of it.

But once I land on the last step, I trigor something. It crumbles into rubble, making me fall with Kisa on my back. I scream and with the remaining energy in me and quick reflexes, I jump off and fling myself towards the platform before I could fall anymore.

"For the girls challenge, Team Bond wins!."

I'm gasping on the floor, Kisa somewhere around me since she slipped off once me made contact with the platform. I rip off my mask with my good arm and rest my head against the floor, taking sufficating hot deep breaths due to the room.

I hear voices around me but my eyes slowly become drowsy. I try to focus on the shadows around me but it only reminds me of a Satonic reference; fire reflected off the wall and the shadow of somebody creeping around. My eyes are still watery by the smoke but last I see is a familiar face... slapping my cheek... but I'm too tired to respond or slap him back.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Heavy sleeper," Carter comments as I walk into the living room of our dorm.

I wasn't asleep for the last half hour. My wet hair and change of clothes were proof that I did take a shower. Besides, my arm was finally in use again. I glare at him, though, and ask, "How long?"

"Not as long as Kisa. She's still out of it," Dieon says. "Is the school allowed to do that? People can become unconscious by that crap!"

Carter coughs, "Dieon, mind telling us why you're so snappy?"

I suggest with a smile, "Maybe he's worried about Kisa."

"Of course I am," Dieon says, glaring at the two of us as if we were accusing him of murder. "I was worried about you, too."

"I'm touched," I respond with sarcasm.

He kisses his teeth and crosses his arms. I roll my eyes and ruffle his spikey hair, only to get a glare from him.

"So where's the third dork?" I ask all too nonchalantly.

"Dieon's here," Carter says blankly.

Dieon takes the pillow behind him and whips it with excellent aim at Carter's face. "In his room, where else?"

"Maybe with his pony," I mutter, making the two laugh.

"DUDE! You know what I miss?" Carter says, flipping on the channel to a French Sitcom. Dieon and me raise an eyebrow at him, not asking outloud how he knew about this show. Carter ignores that and says, "I miss that 'My Little Pony' commercials...."

I look at him, cluelessly, but I realize what he's talking about. My mother's neice had a large collection of the colorful and wide eye plastic toys. Dieon, on the other hand, was staring at Carter. "Dude, just when did you become gay?"

"What?"

"Why the fuck would you miss that?"

I burst with laughter as Carter growls and tosses the same pillow Dieon used to whip at him. Dieon dodges it, making the pillow smack my once numb arm. I groan and touch my arm, "That hurts!"

"You made me hit a girl," Carter snaps at Dieon.

Dieon holds his hands up defensively, "I didn't 'cuz she's not a gi--"

I smack Dieon on the side of his head and challenge, "Then what am I?"

"A woman?" Dieon says, eyes squinting and rubbing his head.

"Can you two shut up? I'm trying to watch my Soap," Carter yells at Dieon and I.

Dieon shakes his head, standing up, and speaks, "I forgot how odd you were... but this is just strange."

I look at the screen, recognizing the show as one of the ones I didn't really like. I shrug and say, "Ah, enjoy?"

Dieon and me walk off into different directions; he heads off towards he kitchen while I head off towards the bedrooms.

I walk towards Kisa's door and open it, seeing Kisa's back towards me. I creep towards her door, leaning over to see her breathing in and out deeply. Good, she's just asleep. I sigh out of relief and decide not to bother her.

I close her door and start to make my way down the hallway. I raise my hand and was about to pound on the door like how I usually do but I stop myself, staggering a few steps away from the door. I can't believe I was about to go to him.

“Jack…you are nothing to me. You never were. You were a pretty face, and someone I humored when I could’ve easily said ‘no’. Don’t give yourself too much credit.”

I close my eyes, leaning against the wall across his door. That was harsh, I do agree, but it's one of those things you feel proud of saying. Like a really good insult or a joke said at the opportune moment.

Besides, it's his fault. I need to go out with someone normal... not someone that gives me shit about his so called 'wall'. Someone I can have conversation with, joke with, not something heavy like what I was guessing our thing was going at.

I sigh and open my eyes again, staring at the closed door. I get up and make my way towards my room.

Once I open my door and close it, I hear the distinctive beep from my laptop. I walk over to it, seeing that I received a notification. That's weird...

It was from Uncle John, which, at the moment, I still wasn't talking to from a previous fight.

Dinner at your parents house tommorow. Pick up at 6.

Great. Dinner with the folks is great. Dinner with the folks and one person I wasn't exactly on speaking terms wasn't.

I lightly tap my fingers on the table beside my laptop when I realized something else was a part of the message...

Guests allowed (so bring your team)

No...

Ah, shit!

I smack my own head out of frustration and kick the leg of the table by me. I stare at the ceiling, saying a silent prayer, before stepping out of my room and call everyone to come in the living room. At least this was... bare able news?

[Chole]

Chapter 51

I sit up with a gasp, nightmares fading into what we all call dreamland. I look up at my clock, and realize its almost dinner time, and Im just waking up. Getting up silently, my muscles protesting at every move I did, I make my way into the bathroom. Only stopping to grab a big t-shirt and PJ shorts to wear.

After taking a quick shower, my hair damp from it, I walk into the Kitchen and grabbed a water bottle. My barefoot sending cool chills up my spine as I walk on the cold tile. I poke my head in the living room to see everyone already in there.

“She awakes!”Carter shouted, actually putting his hands on me and pushing me into the couch. I let out a curse, and my hand goes up balled into a fist and connected with his chest. It wasn’t hard, but hard enough for him to stumble backwards.

“That’s what you get.”Dieon spoke, turning off the TV. I glare at him, turning to Jasmine and grinning.“We won right?”I ask, softly. “And why was I in my bed?”I asked watching as Jack made his appearance, Jasmines eyes watching him.

“Tranq.”Dieon told me, while sitting on the other end of the couch. Carter went to sit down on the couch also, I hissed at him, he backed off and settled for the floor, not really caring for the new dude at the moment.

My stomach lets out a grumble, I grin.“What’s up?”I say as Jasmine put on her ‘Cap’ look.

“Your all going to have dinner with me and my Family.”Jasmine let out after a moment of hesitation, and a glare at the snort Dieon gave.

“Family..”I say with a shudder. “What time..”both me and Jack say at the same time. Mine filled with dislike, his soft but demanding.

“We are getting picked up at 6 sharp. So in about an hour.”Jasmine spoke, looking at all our faces. Expecting remarks, comments, and etc: on the ordeal. Surprised at how Jack was taking it, and how Carter wasn’t making side remarks. She crossed her arms and stared at us.

“What?”Carter asked, playing with a small gadget. “Dude! Don’t mess with that.”Dieon cried, swatting at his hand.“I found it first!”Carter yelled jumping up and running around the couch, then it all happened in slow motion.

Carter runs around the arm of the chair, the recent pillow thrown at him earlier two inches near him. With a loud crash, his foot gets caught around the lamp cord and he trips of it and the pillow.
Glass breaking, muffled curses were heard.

And then it was over. A priceless moment. The squealing pig, got butchered.

I crack a grin, and stuff my feet under me as I grab a pillow and giggle into it.

“Is he okay?”Jasmine asked, obviously trying hard not to laugh. Even Jack cracked a smile, which almost caused Hell to freeze over.

Dieon shrugged, and nudged him with the toe of his shoe. “Dude.”he yelled, and aimed a kick at him just to have a hand wrap around his ankle and him fall onto the floor.

“You idiots!”I giggle, throwing my pillow at the two sprawling on each other.

Jasmine laughed, doubled over at the site. Dieon was laying face down on Carter. Looking as if the two had just woken up from a nap of cuddling.

“AWWWWWW.”Jasmine manages to let out, before turning around and double over laughing again.

Jack grinned,“Don’t they make the perfect couple?”he asked, nudging Carters leg.

“GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME YOU SICK PERVERT!”Carter yelled, after Dieon made kissing noises, while pushing Dieon off of him and quickly standing up.

“That never happened.”Deion said standing up and fixing his hair.

“What happens here, stays here.”Carter added, and took a huge step away from Dieon.

“Exactly.”Dieon agreed sitting down.

I look at Jasmine,“Did you say an hour?”I yell, jumping up. “Is it formal?”I asked, doing what all Girls do.

“Yes.”Jasmine said then gasped,“Meet back here in your formal crap, in 45 minutes, sharp!”she hissed before scrambling to her room.

I look at the confused boys.“Get your asses up and get dressed. Formal means ties!”I giggle at the sight of their faces.

“Great.”Dieon, Carter , and Jack muttered shuffling out of the room. I scramble to my room, shutting the door quickly.

--

After 30 minutes of searching for the right dress, I step out of my closet and grin. Pulling the dress on, I grab a matching purse stuffing it with all the gadgets I would need. Along with makeup, which was just lip gloss and eyeshadow. Pulling a jacket off the hanger, of course agent adapted, that went with the dress I grab my cell phone and fix my hair.

“Jas..”I say knocking on her door, to find she was already out of it. “Jack.”I knock on his, hearing a grunt I shrug, and move on.“Dieon.”I knock on his door, hearing the shower, I roll my eyes and yell. “FIRE!” Then with a smirk, I move on to Carters, I knock and tell him to hurry it up.

Finally I make it out to the living room where Jasmine was pacing,“Calm down, it can’t be that bad.”I lie, knowing something was bound to happen tonight. “By the way, you look gorgeous.”I say, looking her up and down.

“Your lying and we both know it.”Jasmine said smiling, and grinning.“You don’t look so bad yourself, Kisa.”she giggled. I smile, “Its naturel.”I say and sit down pulling my iPod out.

Five minutes later...

“Where’s the Fire?!”Dieon asked, out of breath. His hair freshly spiked, and looking like a guy in whatever it was he was wearing.

I grin,“Fire?”I ask looking very innocent. He let out a glare, just overlooking Jasmine before making a strangling gesture and straightened his tie.

“CARTER!”he barked, and jumped.“You called?”Carter said in a very bad french accent, while Dieon looked over everyone. “Yeah, your as slow as..”he left it off, about to mention Kelly.

“Jas, you better find out what your boyfriends doing.”I say, right when Jack walks in, right when the doorbell rings.

“Okay, don’t make a fool out of me!”Jasmine ordered, with a threatening look.

“Yes Ma’am.”Came our replies as we pile into the stylish black lemo.

--

“Mother!”Jasmine smiled, hugging her mother, and then moving onto her father.

I’m to busy looking at the house, to know what was going on, until I feel someone shake my hand.“You must be Miss Santos.”Came Jasmines Father voice. I popped right out of my bubble, and smiled.“Yes ,Sir,”I butter it up, while pushing a curl out of my eye.

I was dressed in a simple white gown. The skirt of the dress flowing around my feet, and the top of my dress tying around my neck and on my back. My hair pulled in a clip, full of curls.

--
After introductions, and such...the Dinner.

Sitting at the head of the table was of course, Jasmine Father, who was chatting with Jack. No surprise there. Beside Jasmines Father was her mother, and beside her mother was Jasmine. In front of Jasmine was her Uncle, and beside her Uncle was Jack. Beside Jack there was Carter, and and front of Carter there was me. Beside me was Dieon. Wow, confusing, I thought, as I think about it. I take a bite of my food, and cast a glance around the Dinning Room. My eyes settling on a very weird thing, a opened window. I move un-easily and cast a glance at Jasmine.

Not catching her eye, I try Carter but he was to interested in the china. Elbowing Dieon under the table I whisper to him,“I don’t like this.”

“You don’t like anyone.”Came Dieon’s reply. I roll my eyes,“No, I mean this whole arrangement.”I whisper, my eyes flowing up to the ceiling as I cast a glance at the window. “I mean, look, the windows open. Its already cool enough in here. Who leaves a window open, and noticeable?”I asked, only to get a shrug from Dieon.

I shifted in my seat and looked up when my name was spoken. “So, do you have any family, Miss Santos?”Came Jasmines Mother.

“No Ma’am. Not unless you count the Captain.”I say, my fingers going white as I clench my napkin in my lap. This was things you don’t talk about with me, the family I never had.

“Captain?”Jas’s mother asked, I went to speak when the desert arrived and distracted her.

Flaming Ice Cream, what the fuck? I shrug it off, and let my nerves calm before chawing down.

Halfway into the Desert, the lights flicker off. There’s a loud bang.

“What the–,”I hear a scream, and I stand up. “Jas, Carter, Jack, Dieon?”I ask, my hands going out to find Dieon or Jasmine on either side of me.

“Mom.”Jasmine asked, her voice faltering.“Dad?”she asked, again.

No reply..

(Don't yell at me on how short it is, theres a chapter. Someone now post!)

[Issac Weasley]

Chapter 52

(Dieon’s P.O.V.)

Perhaps it was the cinematic climax of the event, or maybe things just happened so fast it hasn’t sunk in yet, but I found all of this quite hard to believe. One minute, the room was dominated with pointless conversation and Carter’s aggressive steak cutting, and now we sat in our own version of a mini mosh pit, gathered around the window watching two dark figures jump on to a floating vehicle flying away with Jazz’s parents. I ran my hands along a carved symbol on the wall. I wonder what the letters N.S. stood for.

Since neither one of us knew what to do, what came next felt feverishly close to waving a white flag in resonating defeat. “We should call Jon.” I muttered, pulling out my communicator. As if on cue, it started vibrating on my palm, making Carter jump and nearly fall out the broken piece of window. A harsh tug of the sleeves by Jasmine saved him the agony of the twenty story freefall.

A fuzzy attempt of a hologram of Mr. Bouvier appeared before us, complexion paler than usual. Without warning, five voices screamed over each other desperately trying to get the same point across.

Jon sat calmly in his seat. Or rather, sat isolated in fear. Whichever one you think makes us feel better about ourselves. “I KNOW.” He raised his voice, which shut us up. “I’m sending a chopper down your way now. You kids need to know about your parents as well.” He took his eyes off his niece and eyed the rest of us. Our parents? My windpipe had a momentary malfunction before my system began working twice as hard, making breathing suddenly an involuntary action. “I want all of you to come straight back to the academy without question.”

Carter coughed. “But sir-“

“Without question.”

And the screen went blank, just as the helicopter hovered outside the shattered window, not even bothering to land on the pad on the roof. -Another consecutive event.- It was clear we couldn’t afford to lose any more time. The thought spooked me. Time always spook me.

Once we were all piled inside, everything seemed to become more reserved. Tense, dead silence disguised beneath the holler of the helicopter engine. I felt Kisa shaking beside me. I squeezed her hand. I don’t think she felt it.

-----

“Sit.” Jon instructed us, making me realize just how weak my knees were. Everyone seated themselves without a hint of protest, more eager than ever to hear what this man of self proclaimed wisdom had to say.

“Where are they?” Jazz asked him. Her voice muffled, yet she still managed to squeeze the demanding factor in there that most often manipulated people to do what they were told.

He didn’t answer her. Instead, making his way across his office, he pulled out the hologram projector. The infamous projector that seemed to be the machine that delivered all the hard to bare bad news so far this semester.

The lights dimmed, and the first image popped up. Jack let out a low grunt in surprise, recognizing as we all did the carved symbol on the wall being lit up in front of us.

“N.S.” Carter said ominously.

“New Society.” Mr. Bouvier added the needed information.

“New Society” sounded harmless enough. The scenes that soon followed proved me dead wrong.

First a lady being hooked up to a system of wires, then a man being buried in an tomato orchid. The follow-up picture showed a guy in a green jumpsuit uniform replanting a stake of tomato over the ground where he buried the dead body.

There were a lot of tomatoes in that field.

Carter raised an eyebrow. “What’s with the fruit?”

“Vegetable.” I hissed despite the situation.

“Security. Would you like to draw attention to your collection of dead bodies?” Jack snapped.

“Look who’s extensive knowledge on corpse is surprisingly up to date.” Carter murmured before they both got quieted by Jonathan.

I furrowed my brows, growing more impatient by the second. “What do my parents have to do with those men?”

A few nods and whispered agreements filled the room. Jon leaned his elbow on his desk and messaged the bridge of his nose. “If you’ll let me explain.” He sighed, waiting for us to settle down. “New Society is a research lab.”

Carter snorted. “What are they trying to do, test their shit on captives, then bury their dead bodies?”

Mr. Bouvier looked up. “Actually…”

“You’re kidding..” Kisa blinked. “What the hell are they trying to make?”

Jon kept going, making sure no one else interrupted him. “A pill.”

“Like Advil?” You could probably just guess who said that.

“Yes Carter, like Advil, but it contains herbal liqueur, which is the key ingredient in liquid heroine..” He paced the room, waiting for us to catch on. When no one spoke, he continued. “Meaning if the body is not previously effected by alcohol, the immune system will shut down in twenty four hours, and the subject will die.”

“Your mission is to obviously rescue your parents without being detected by a New Society member yourselves.” He explained.

We all nodded and hastily got up to set off without any coordinates or gadgets.

“Wait!” Jon stopped us. I turned around a bit annoyed.

“Wear these.” He tossed us each a suit that looked like an upgraded version of the cling skin. The material was definitely slipper, and thin enough to see your hand through the fabric. “Second skin.” He said. “It’s made out of synthetic material and goes over your cling skin. Protects you from any first degree burns and basic bullets.”

We nodded thankfully and turned to head towards the door.

“Hold it.” He said again, stopping us in our tracks.

“Jack.” Jonathan said, facing him. “Since none of your relatives were taken, you have the right to sit this mission out.” He said. “This won’t count towards your grade, since it’s not an accommodated mission.”

He quickly shook his head, knowing this was coming. “No need for that. I’ll be fine, sir.”

We were nearly out the door when the headmaster stopped us again.

“One last thing..” He said. To me, he sounded unstable. Sheepish, even.

“What?!” The team said simultaneously.

“There is something else you’ll need to consider.” Jon started. “Keep in mind that this mission is confidential. Not even our top graduates know about the New Society. It’s only best that the students don’t hear about organizations like these. We usually leave it to the certified agents. Mostly in their 30’s.”

“Your point, please.” Jazz added quickly.

“Once you rescue your parents, and IF you rescue your parents, you’re all going to receive a memory wipe.” He waited for our usual remarks, while we waited for him to finish. “You’ll have no recollections of your spy training, missions, teammates… and of course, you’ll have to be removed from Bouvier Academy.”

So it was either lose my family or lose my friends. I didn’t hesitate, the f word just popped in my mind so casually. My entire world appeared to be spinning. Of course there was the subconscious nausea, but as far as I was aware that was, and always had been, perpetual. Jonathan gave the team one of his rare soft gazes, and I slipped a slightly understanding nod to my headmaster, though I could not for the life of me recall what words surpassed his lips.

-----

I tugged at the dog tags around my neck. Reminding me about the last mission, and that all it brought was the death of a friend and branded our team with the permanent bad impression upon other students. I don’t know how long I’ve been pacing, but it feels weird to stop. Besides, what were the chances that all our parents got taken by the same mob of lab rats? I slumped myself on the cusions of the living room sofa after my legs felt dead from the none-stop pacing. Midnight hours seemed to have slipped away quickly without my approval. Jon insisted on us having some well needed rest before taking off. He promised us another helicopter first thing in the morning.

-----

I woke up finding myself the last to do so, the house busier than usual with people making last minute plans for the mission. It also took me a while to remember what happened last night, but it all came back to me eventually, no matter how hard I tried to prevent it. We said yes to mission, and we said yes to the memory wipe. Of course we did. They were our parents. And though we’ve had been advised to dismiss these thoughts, I kept picturing my own mother ending up like the man in the hologram: skull being ravenously devoured by maggots, six feet under.

[Ridley]

Chapter 53

Jack’s P.O.V.

[/b]

I felt Jasmine’s hand touch mine and despite my urge to take her in my arms, I gave a quick squeeze letting her know everything was fine. My eyes traveled quickly around the room, and watched Deion’s fingers trace the letters N.S.; something in my memory clicked, but I just couldn’t put a finger on it.

After a few moments of trying to scan the deepest recesses of my memory, I snapped back into focus as Jon’s hologram materialized before, us depicting him sitting in his seat. After a few moments, and lots of screaming, Jon’s voice rang out and shut us all up.

I listened to his words, and at ‘helicopter’ I looked out the window to see a black object moving towards the house at an impressive pace. As I turned back to look at the hologram once more, I saw it fade away and was slightly startled at how quickly the helicopter reached us, and at the deafening roar of the propellers.

I understood; we had to leave, and we had to leave now.

---

At Jon’s command everyone sat, but instead of following his orders, I leaned against the wall, awaiting the grim news. After all, death seemed to lurk so closely near us, I didn’t see why Jaz’s parent’s lives should be any different.

However, the hologram brought new information. At the mentioning of N.S., I realized what I had remembered. Once upon a very long time ago, I hacked into a highly classified section of the F.B.I. Well, the part of the information included a series of agencies that had permits to kill as needed, and had absolute power on any continent, country, or city; they were above the law, and as such, impervious to any law enforcement seeking to punish them.

There were only a select few, and of the few the Delta Force and the N.S. were the most common. Actually, the only reason the N.S. was mentioned was because the Delta Force would often commit the crimes necessary to obtain their lab rats.

Bottom line was, I had an idea of what fate awaited their parents, and I was slightly glad that I shot my parents. Unfortunately for them, a low groan escaped me possibly alerting them to my knowledge; fortunately for me, it seemed more out of surprise than of my hidden intellect.

I watched the images flash across the screen of the projector, and listened to Captain Obvious say one of the stupidest questions to pass my ears.

“What’s with the fruit?”

Even more stupid was Deion’s remark correcting Carter and making it known to all that the tomato was, in fact, a vegetable. I decided to save the team some time, and give the Holy Grail—more commonly known as the answer—to Dumb and Dumber.

“Security. Would you like to draw attention to your collection of dead bodies?”

“Look who’s extensive knowledge on corpses is surprisingly up to date.” Carter murmured.

I wasn’t an idiot, and I actually could hear him; before I could get a word in, Jon cut me off, and ended the feud before it got out of hand. Good thing for Carter too.

I folded my arms across my chest, and listened to the questions of everyone else; after all, they had parents that loved them…I didn’t even have that. In fact, I didn’t have parents at all. The loud gunshot forever embedded in my memory reminded me of that.

As Jon announced the mission, everyone, including myself, nodded silently. Then I turned to set off, along with the rest of the team, when Jon’s words stopped us dead in our tracks. This time, he addressed me.

“Jack,” Jonathan said, facing me, and locking eyes, “since none of your relatives were taken, you have the right to sit this mission out. This won’t count towards your grade, since it’s not an accommodated mission.”

Ha! Grades were the last thing I was worried about. Last time I checked, I passed all my missions so I was in the clear. I was probably doing better than all the other new members on my team; better yet, than all the other new recruits in general. After all, I had nothing to lose, and I’d die of boredom if I stayed here, so my answer was plain and simple.

“No need for that. I’ll be fine.”

He raised his eyebrow, and without much hesitation, I quickly added on a “sir.”

I took a step forward, and just as my foot hit the ground, Jon stopped us yet again. I turned on my heel to face him, and his eyes were filled with sadness as he looked over all of us. His words were something I didn’t expect, but something that was gladly welcomed.

“There is something else you’ll need to consider.” Jon started. “Keep in mind that this mission is confidential. Not even our top graduates know about the New Society. It’s only best that the students don’t hear about organizations like these. We usually leave it to the certified agents mostly in their 30’s. Once you rescue your parents, and IF you rescue your parents, you’re all going to receive a memory wipe. You’ll have no recollections of your spy training, missions, teammates… and of course, you’ll have to be removed from Bouvier Academy.”

His words were my salvation. At last I could forget the heartache the furtively clouded my mind, and the secret love reserved that was for Jasmine; instead of shunning all my emotions, at last I could truly forget; at last, they could truly forget.

Ignorance truly was bliss.

After grim nods from the teams, I thought for a moment that Jonathan would shed a tear as he looked into all of our eyes. Then his voice became that resembling a fatherly tone as he spoke to us.

“Team Bond, I want you to know I am proud of you. Good luck.”

As Jasmine walked out the door, I could see a look of worry on his face, and I glanced at her as she disappeared from sight, and then I headed out the door. Before I left I cast a quick glance over my shoulder at him and watched him mouth words to me, for I think he had lost all capabilities of speaking.

“Take care of her…”

---

As paced my room, a more terrible thought had resided in my mind:

What will become of me?

I had no family. No living relatives. No friends. All I had to my name was a horse and a death warrant. Surely Jon knew that, right? Of course he did! Surely he intended me to get the team out of there alive and me to die? Was I to suffer Kelly’s fate?

Of course I was.

After all…if I did live, then what would the world give me? Nothing more that a long drop with a short stop. With that bit of my conscious settled, I realized I was free to do as I wished! I had my salvation at last!

No more pain. No more guilt. No more anything.

I knew I was supposed to be asleep, but my mind was restless, and as such, so was I. I turned on my heel and felt the cold knob of the door against my palm as I head the soft click as it opened.

I glanced out the opening to see if Deion was up, and saw his door shut; I guessed he was asleep. I moved out silently, and then glanced down the girl’s hall to see their door’s shut as well. My feet moved quickly, yet silently across the carpet as I crossed the common dwellings towards Jasmine’s private hall.

Her door was open slightly, just enough to reveal her standing on the balcony looking out into the distance. I couldn’t begin to imagine what thoughts plagued her mind, but they probably were far more important than mine, and probably had nothing to do with me.

I gave a sigh as I pushed the door open and moved across her room and stood at the doorway of the balcony.

After what seemed like an eternity, I stood watching her, and she leaned against the railing watching the horizon. The clearing with the lake was just barely visible, and Night could just be made out standing near the water’s edge. I followed her eyes every now and then, noticing every once in a while they’d fall upon the black blob of a horse.

I felt almost as if she’d miss that horse more than me; my intuition was probably true at this point. Of course, I thought she didn’t even know I was there, but her words proved me wrong. As she spoke, her voice was dull, but betrayed a “lost” feeling, or at least that’s what I perceived.

“What is it, Jack?”

For once I really didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t tell her I loved her, and I certainly didn’t want to remind her of our mission, and my thoughts probably wouldn’t interest her…so I picked the one thing I knew that could change her feelings to a more positive note…or at least I hoped.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

She seemed to roll her eyes at this comment as her body turned towards me and she gave me a ‘go back to bed’ look.

“Not in the mood for jokes.”

Her tone seemed even colder than before, but I didn’t smile or even react to her words. My words were the farthest thing from any kind of jokes. I think my blank stare threw her off, because neither of us did anything for another few moments. We just stood there. She looked into my brown eyes, and I into her bi-colored ones.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Didn’t leave me much a choice there, did you?”

I ignored her comment, and spoke with a gentle tone, one filled with a boyish sense of grandeur, but also a brotherly tone to comfort a scared sibling.

“Once upon a time, I swept a fair lady off her feet—“

She interjected with a dull tone.

“We repelled down the balcony, Jack. I went voluntarily.”

“Okay…well, once upon a time, I met a fair lady, and her and I repelled down her balcony and onto my noble steed. For the entire night we rode across the country side without a care in the world. Our company the stars, a horse, and each other.”

“What’s you point, Jack?”

“My point is I’m telling you a story of which never happened, what can never be, and which I can never tell again.” I said watching her ready to sob at my words; I don’t think she needed to be reminded about the memory wipe.

“Jack…damn it! Why did you have to say that?!”

I looked at her with sympathetic eyes and spoke with a loving tone.

“Because I’m telling you I’m sorry before it’s too late. To tell you good-bye before we miss the chance. To tell you—“

I cut off there and she looked up at me, wondering what words I was going to say, but something told me she probably knew…she was just waiting to hear it. So, I decided to tell say it…after all, I may never get another chance.

“To tell you that…that I love you. I always have.”

I watched my words hit her like a dagger as tears rolled down her cheeks. Nothing held me back now as I reached out and wiped them away. I didn’t need to explain my actions, and I knew she didn’t need to explain hers. I knew why I acted the way I did, and I knew why she did as well; once more, intuition told me her knowledge was just as expanse as mine. No words needed be passed. Our actions forgiven, and forgotten.

Jasmine looked up into my eyes, and I slipped my arms around her as I held her close in a warm embrace, and I felt her arms wrap around me. Then time seemed to pass us by as I felt her hot tears stain my shoulder as she cried softly.

After what seemed like hours pass, I held her our and wipped the tears off her cheeks and looked at her with tender-loving eyes.

“Jasmine, everything will be okay.”

“No it won’t…even if we do rescue our parents, we’ll get our memories wiped!”

“Don’t you see? It’s for the better! You’ll never have to relive the nightmares of Kelly’s death, or of your past team. Never remember us. Never remember me. Everything is perfect…you have a home that will welcome you; you’re bright, and I know you’ll find a job quickly. Even, in time, you’ll meet some fantastic guy, have kids, and live happily ever after.”

I paused, awaiting her to interject, but from her face i could tell her mind was else where, so i continued.

“You won’t remember any of this…and you’ll live out your days never knowing of the heartache which lurks here. It’s our escape from what bodes ill for us all.”

She was quiet for a while, and hugged me tighter and I the same to her. Our silence was not forever, for this time she broke it.

“I don’t want to forget, Jack…and besides, what about you? You have no where to go.”

“I will manage. I always do.”

I don’t think my answer satisfied her, but she was silent anyway. I glanced over to the small cushioned couch which was nestled on the corner of the balcony, and I led her over to it, sitting down beside her.

She laid her head upon my chest as my arm rested around her shoulders, and my head upon hers. We sat like that for the longest time, but after a while I lost track of time, and the world slowly faded to black.

---

The golden rays of the sun bathed the lands, casting all shadows away with the night. I awoke to the chirping of the meadowlark, and the light of the sun warming Jasmine and I. We had fallen asleep there on that bench, and now first light woke us.

I gave her a squeeze, and stood up yawning. I offered my hand to her, helping her up as we moved about the balcony and into her room. I stood in silence as she packed her bag for the mission, and it was like this for the longest time.

At last I gave her a side long glance as I left to pack my own things.

As I moved about our apartment, I noticed the deadly calm that surrounded things; it seemed to suffocate me as I saw Kisa eating. She said nothing to me, and didn’t seem to take notice of my passing as I walked past Dieon’s room and into my own.

I took one last look, incase I never did see it again.

---

The boisterous noise of the copter blades seemed a welcome reprieve from the grim stillness that plagued us all. I tossed my bag of gadgets in as I sat in the back seat. Deion piled in, sitting in the seat in front of me, giving a blank stare out the window, as Kisa sat next to him. Carter followed up, sitting next to Kisa, and filling up that row.

Jasmine, last and most certainly not least, put her bag alongside the rest of ours and sat next to me. As the co-pilot slammed the door shut, the helicopter rose swiftly into the air, and off to our destination.

A few minutes passed as we passed over the lake and I saw Night emerge from the trees and race after the us, only to fade, along with the Academy, into the distance.

Despite the loud hum of the blades, everything still seemed deathly silent. I looked over to see Jasmine looking at the window with her hands at her side. Without a moment’s hesitation, I slipped my hand into hers and she turned to look at me.

I gave a tender smile, scooting closer to her, and feeling her head rest on my shoulder as the helicopter surged forward towards N.S. HQ.[/size]

[/center]

[Keira Weasley]

Chapter 54
Jasmine's POV

“What is it, Jack?”

His presence was there for ten minutes or so, yet he said nothing. I might as well have acknowledged him before I plan to go to sleep.

But more silence greets me. I wonder for a bit if he was actually there or if it was my imagination. Yet, I could here his soft breathing. I sigh and open my mouth to snap at him but he finally speaks.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

I groan softly and roll my eyes, turning around and giving him a stern look. I tell him with a harsh tone, “Not in the mood for jokes.”

He returns my glare with a blank stare of his own. I raise an eyebrow slightly at him, wondering where that look came from. He licks his lips before he asks me, “Can I tell you something?”

“Didn’t leave me much a choice there, did you?” I ask back, sarcastically.

His only reaction towards my comment was a blink of the eye before he put on the friendliest tone I have ever heard on him. “Once upon a time, I swept a fair lady off her feet—“

I slap my hand on my forehead as I interrupt with a monotone voice, “We repelled down the balcony, Jack. I went voluntarily.”

“Okay,” He pauses, giving me a slight look of irritation. I’ll miss that look, I thought sadly as he continues. “Well, once upon a time, I met a fair lady. She and I repelled down her balcony and onto my noble steed. For the entire night we rode across the country side without a care in the world. Our company—the stars, a horse, and each other.”

I cross my arms across my chest, not exactly in the mood to hear a cheap imitation of some fairy tale. “What’s you point, Jack?”

“My point is I’m telling you a story of which never happened, what can never be, and which I can never tell again.” He tells me, his voice dropping the innocence and kicking in with reality. My eyes immediately glaze over with tears as my breathing becomes shaky.

I close my eyes and clench my hands into a fist, speaking angrily, “Jack…damn it! Why did you have to say that?”

I open my eyes, tears ready to leak over the rim of my eyelids. He looks back at me, making me blush despite my anger at him. “Because I’m telling you I’m sorry before it’s too late. To tell you good-bye before we miss the chance. To tell you—“ He chokes slightly as my eyes widen. He tries again and continues, “To tell you that… that I love you. I always have.”

This is what I fucking needed; I finally love someone that I have to forget. I raise my hands to my face as I start to cry in them. The stupid quote I learned in English course rings in my head, It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.

It was a big surprise and a blast of warmth when I felt his hands pull away mine as he starts to wipe away my tears. I couldn’t help but start to cry more; how long will it be again until I find someone that’ll wipe away my tears so tenderly?

I look up into his eyes as he gently slips his arms around me, closing the gap between us. I cuddle into him as I return the embrace and rest my head on his shoulder. The tears now openly spilled as I used him as my pillow.

It was a long time that Jack just held me as I cried. The silence probably stretched on for an hour until I felt him loosen his grip around me, slightly shifting his head towards mine to speak, “Jasmine, everything will be okay.”

“No it won’t… even if we do rescue our parents; we’ll get our memories wiped!” I tell him, my face twisting up again as new tears was forming.

He let’s out a soft laugh, making me slightly hit him on his shoulder. “Don’t you see? It’s for the better! You’ll never have to relive the nightmares of Kelly’s death, or of your past team. Never remember us. Never remember me. Everything is perfect… you have a home that will welcome you; you’re bright, and I know you’ll find a job quickly. Even, in time, you’ll meet some fantastic guy, have kids, and live happily ever after.”

He pauses from his monologue, probably waiting for my sly comment. I just kept being silent as I wait for him to finish, “You won’t remember any of this… and you’ll live out your days never knowing of the heartache which lurks here. It’s our escape from what bodes ill for us all.”

I bury my head into his shoulders deeper as I hold him tighter to me. I won’t forget everything; most likely Uncle John would make their memories erased from the time they met him until now. For me he’d probably erase my memory from the time I returned to Bouvier in September… I wonder what team he might re-assign me to. Or better yet, what French Private School I’d be attending.

I finally mumble into his shoulder, “I don’t want to forget, Jack… and besides, what about you? You have no where to go.”

He doesn’t answer immediately, making me more worried for his well being. I remember his profile clearly; runaway, parents dead, most wanted…. He finally tells me, “I will manage. I always do.”

I chew on my lower lip, trying to control myself from snapping at his lame answer. If he had told me something a little longer or more reassuring, then I’d really leave him alone.

Instead, he pulls me towards the couch in the balcony, making me sit down beside him. I rest my head this time on his chest, being easier for me, as he wraps his arms around my shoulders. I close my eyes, listening to the loud chirping from the crickets, the wind blowing but most of all… his heart beat…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel hollow.

Depressed.

That’s the best way I can describe my state at the moment. I’m not feeling any anxiety or anticipation for this trip; more like I want to just get it done and over with. I’m not feeling any great emotion. I’m just leaning onto Jack and for once he took my hand and held it, but yet… I’m too busy thinking about everything that I’m going to lose and miss because of my parents.

But I’m doing this because they’re my parents… isn’t that reason enough? My parents care about me and there aren’t any problems in my family. I wasn’t raised in an abusive household nor were my parents never there for me. Point being? I at least owe it to them to save them. I’d want the same if the situation was vise versa.

“You coming?” Jack murmurs in my ears. I turn to see him smiling at me softly. Jeez, why does he give me so much affection now?! I’m so close to punching him but I try not to; I don’t want one of our last times together to be a fight.

“Yeah,” I say in a barely audible voice. He brushes back my fringes as I get out of my seat. I pick up my shoulder bag and head out to see we’re by the private landing in an Airport.

Dieon’s frown is the most visible thing as we approach the small group by a small Private Jet. I immediately go up to him and ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… it’s just—“ He gets cut off as Carter jumps in with a wide grin.

“We’re heading to Canada!”

“Wait—The New Society is in Canada?!” Jack asks us, ridicule clearly in his voice.

Kisa raises an eyebrow and asks, “Weren’t you living there before you came here?”

Jack nods and mumbles, “It’s just a surprise….”

“Why?” Carter asks. “Ontario grows a lot of tomatoes.”

“Since when?” Dieon asks, annoyed, as he starts to head towards the newly pulled down stairs.

Carter shrugs and says, “Well, it’s always in those veggy commercials… they ramble on about how Ontario farms provide a lot. Including tomatoes.”

Kisa over voices Carter as he goes on and asks, “So we’re heading for Ontario?”

“No… we’re going to the province by it,” Dieon says and disappears into the Jet. We follow after him, stopping for a bit as we help Carter regain his balance from tripping on the stairs landing.

Once we’re seated, all of us in our own row of seats, I peak over and look at Carter behind me. “You mean Manitoba?”

“Yup,” Dieon agrees.

“Great… the infamous Prairie lands,” I mutter, sinking into my seat and swinging my legs over the arm rest.

Kisa, right across my legs and by the right window of the Jet, leans over and pokes my legs. “Meaning?”

“Farm land,” Jack informs her. “Lots of wide fields, agriculture, et cetera….”

“I guess it’s a good location, if it’s deserted area,” Kisa comments before falling back into her seat and stretching out her long legs.

I rise up in my seat again, directing my stare towards Jack, “Can you try and find out where it’s located?”

Jack nods and comments, “It’ll be a challenge but yeah… your laptop, please.”

I rummage through my side bag behind me and pull out the silver notebook. “Here… now don’t do anything stupid on it. I trust you with one of my babies.”

A flash of something crossed his eyes before he nods and says, “Will do… now to connect it…”

He trails off as he goes back to his seat, pulling out various wires from his shoulder bag. I sit back in my seat, letting my legs swing lazily as I stare out Kisa’s window. She’s listening to Kelly’s MP3 which only makes me smile softly.

Dieon’s doing some researching of his own as I hear fumbling behind me and soon the soft clicking caused by typing. Carter’s listening to music, too, as I hear some weird rap lines.

My eyes start blinking in and out as I began feeling drowsy. Guess having a few hour of sleep this morning didn't cut it for me. But it's fine... I'm in good hands...

((I'm so sorry that this chapter's short, I just REALLY had writer's block ;__; But I did leave a lot of good openings for the upcoming chapter, right? =[ Gah, I feel horrible xD Sorry))

[Chole]

Chapter 55
(Kisa's P.O.V)

I watch as Jasmine enters her room, Carter is outside doing something I cant quite tell from the kitchen window, now Jacks going into Jas’ room. I wonder what the two’s doing, but I get distracted as my laptop bleeped.

Once I heard about our parents getting taken, I flipped, there was no way that my mother could be taken, she was dead. Yet, my father could. If he was out of prison, or worse got stolen out of it.

So why was I included in it, I don’t care much for my father, why would they want him?

I thought as I push the ‘ok’ button and bend my head down to look at the screen. My dog tags slid across the keys making me jump, I still haven’t stopped shaking since it, and remember the day I got them. Finally the slow ass computer loads and pops up with the information. Going through the major news, I see one little, no big, thing that should creep anyone out.

Mass explosion at the power plant beside the jail, causes the Prison to black out.

I read, skimming down I look to find my fathers picture on the list of who all escaped. That’s all I needed, was for my father to be in this shit.

Closing the laptop with a shaky hand I push my hands through my hair, and watched Dieon pace for awhile. Soon, he became a blob as I turn as numb as most of the others. The whole situation finally being compraheneded in my brain.

I won’t live in a place where I don’t have to worry about dieing, unless Im on a mission.
I won’t have a family anymore, just the Capt.
I will have to go back to having rules, restrictions, etc:, put on me.

Most of all, I will forget everything. Every good thing, I finally did, would be gone. The pain of Kelly dieing, the vicitory of every mission, of every thing we did together. The knowing that someone will always have my back, if I didn’t feel like watching it. I would go back to having to kick someone’s ass everyday. Having to be watched like a dog, to worry if my Father would get out of prison and come kill me also. Having to worry if I would finish school, go to college. If I would fall in love, if I would ever have a real family.

My brain’s hurting, thinking about all of that stuff. I push back off the counter and grab a glass. Rinsing it out, what I didn’t notice was that I had the water going for the past five minutes. My hand moving in the, what seemed to be a calming gesture, finally must have gotten tired because I dropped the glass. Cursing fluently in Italian, I grab the glass and a soda.

Peeking into the Living room to see if Carter and Dieon had finally gone to bed. I figured that Jas and Jack were already asleep, I couldn’t hear anymore from the room. I lean back to see the door was locked, and that Carter’s bedroom door was shut firmly. Looking back into the room, I smirk, rolling my eyes. Dieon was passed out onto the couch.

Thank god he doesn’t snore, I think as I pull a cover over him.

I’ve gotten so use to locking up everything had come so naturel to me. Turning the T.V off, covering whoever fell asleep in the living room, shutting the windows, and making sure everyone had gone to bed before myself had finally made my way to my room.

Letting my eyes scan over the room to make sure everything was actually turned off, I walked quietly to my room. As soon as I was in it, I turned on my music, lowered it, and pulled on a clean fresh t-shirt. Plopping down on my bed, I didn’t give myself time to think. I just pulled my covers over myself and fell asleep. Dreams were nothing that could calm me today.

- - - - - - -

Shockingly cold, ice water hit my back, as I layed my head against the shower wall, breathing in and out to get used to the feeling. I should be use to this already, it eased the aching muscles from hours of workouts, missions, and just plain tiredness.

Turning off the shower head, and then the water, I shivered as a bead of water slid down the curve of my back and ended up with all the others. Pulling a towel around me, I stood at the sink as Jasmine walked in.

“Sorry, need to borrow your hair dryer.”she spoke, nodding to it.

I nodded, “Go ahead,”I say starting to brush my teeth. She stares at it, for a moment then grabes it.

“Listen..”she says in a shaky voice then shudders. “Never mind.”she sighs, closing the door before I could say anything. I couldn’t very well walk out in just a towel. Carter would die seeing a girl half naked.

I giggle at that, and rinse my mouth out. Pulling on my clothes, comfortable clothes good for mission I towel dry my hair. Pulling the curls up on top of my head, I duck out of the bathroom and brush past Dieon and Carter who were arguing over the Vegetable crap.

“Tomato is a fruit!”Carter whinned, like a little kid.

“It’s a vege.” Dieon grumbled, looking like he just woke up.

I roll my eyes,“Carter, it’s a vege.”I smirk, turning to Dieon. “And its also a fruit.”I say ruffling their hairs. “Its both, just depends on how you look at it.”

Turning on my heal at the two’s stares, I head to my room. Grabbing my bag from under the bed I pile all my gadgets, and weapons in it. My brain going through as saying all the properites of them like there was going to be a big test. Not really, just a life or death sitiuation of someone else’s life then my own and the teams.

As I finish up I shoulder my bag and walk into the living room dropping it with the others. Grabbing a cup of coffee, I made my final walk through the dorms.

- - - - - - - - - -

Were all crowded around the small private jet, Dieon was staring at nothing and frowning when Jasmine came up with Jack. We had just gotten out of the car, when Dieon heard something from the pilot.

“What’s wrong?”Jasmine asked, immediately.

“Nothing… it’s just—“ Dieon gets cut off as Carter jumps in with a wide grin.

I roll my eyes and lean against the sleek jet, my eyes drifting over everyone.

“We’re heading to Canada!”He squeals like its some vaction, instead of the final

“Wait—The New Society is in Canada?!” Jack asks us, like were the one who lives in Canada.

I raise an eyebrow and ask, “Weren’t you living there before you came here?”

Jack nods and mumbles, “It’s just a surprise….”

“Why?” Carter asks. “Ontario grows a lot of tomatoes.”

I roll my eyes, great the damn tomato crap.

“Since when?” Dieon asks, annoyed, as he starts to head towards the newly pulled down stairs.

Carter shrugs and says, “Well, it’s always in those veggy commercials… they ramble on about how Ontario farms provide a lot. Including tomatoes.”

I over voice Carter as he goes on and ask, “So we’re heading for Ontario?”I ask following Dieon, my voice louder then his.

“No… we’re going to the province by it,” Dieon says and disappears into the Jet. We follow after him, stopping for a bit as we help Carter regain his balance from tripping on the stairs landing.

Once we’re seated, all of us in our own row of seats, Jasmine peaks over and looks at Carter behind her. “You mean Manitoba?”

“Yup,” Dieon agrees.

I plop down in my seat, putting my shoulder bag above me. Grabbing Kelly’s MP3, while Im at it.

“Great… the infamous Prairie lands,”Jasmine mutters, sinking into her seat in front of me.

I lean over and poke her leg,“Meaning?”I wonder.
“Farm land,” Jack informs me. “Lots of wide fields, agriculture, et cetera….”

“I guess it’s a good location, if it’s deserted area,”I comment before falling back into my seat and stretching out my long legs to keep cramps out of them. Turning to looking out the window, I plug the earbuds and then put them in my ears. After that the only thing I heard is, downloaded music.

As soon as we hit the clouds I look over to see Jack unbuckling his seatbelt and starting onto some research, Dieon doing his own already unbuckled. And Carter bobbing his head to some weird music, stretched out taking up room, his seat belt laying noisily on the ground. I shudder, and unbuckle my belt. Leaning over to unbuckle Jasmine quietly, moving her bag to the floor.

I slid in beside Dieon, leaving Kelly’s MP3 on my seat.

“What are you looking for?”I ask, peering at what he was working on. To restless now, that we were so close to the mission.

“Stuff.”he mutters, barley looking at me as he spoke. Fumbling through a folder, he place a sheet of paper in my hands and pointed to a picture.

Looking down at the picture I stifled a gasp so not to alarm anyone, it was of the bodies. There was several other happenings of the same similar stuff.

“So your checking their history?”I ask, dumbly.

He nods,“Yeah, its better to know as much as we need to know of them before we get there.”

“I wanna help.”I say, pulling my legs under me.

He looks up at me, crossing his arms over his chest and pretends to think about it.

“Please?”I pout, ready to punch him.

He must have thought I would punch him, because he rolled his eyes and gave me a stack of papers.

“Thank you.”I say smirked, leaning back so my back was against the seat, my legs pulled up to my chest as I read over the countless scouting’s and problems the N.S has caused.

Stolen experiments from highly guarded places. Bodies just thrown about, and then planted over.

It was disgusting, and as I looked up to say so Dieon, was already talking to me.

“Sorry what?!”I ask, and then over hear the pilot saying we were landing. It must have been a long time I had blacked out, and read all that stuff.

“Put on your seatbelts.”He yells, just as the jet jerked. Jasmine screamed and sat up.

“What’s going on?”she asked tiredly.

Jack was up and beside her, pulling on his on seatbelt, cursing.

“There stuck!”he yells over the load rawr.

“The wheels..”Carter was saying over the engine.

I look at Dieon confused, and grabbed a random piece of paper looking down at it. I try mine, “Mines stuck too.”I yell over to Dieon who was trying his.

“No use. Just grab and hope you don’t die.”Jasmine yells, pushing things under the seats.

Folding the piece of paper and pocketing it, I help Dieon clean up putting all the paper back in the folders and putting his bag under the seat.

“Its just the wheels.”I yell, “Its going to be a rough landing.”

The jet lurches, making all of us bounce in our seats. Carter winds up flipping on the row in front of him while Dieon lands in the seat beside him. Jack's in the isle as Jasmine's failed attempt of tying two seat belts together just made her stuck in a tangled mess.

"Did we land?" I ask, alarmed. Personally, I slammed against the window by my seat and hit my hip against my seat a little too hard.

The Pilot's voice comes over the P.A. and said in a rather calm voice, "We're experiencing some difficulties with the wheels so the landing will be quite rough--"
"Did we land, though?!" Jack demanded, crawling back to his seat. Carter finally got back on his feet again, tugging on the new seat's seatbelt. Dieon's helping Jazz get her arm out of the tangle mess as the Pilot says, "No... that lurch was the plane hitting the ground and losing our right wheel."

"We're going to DIE! FUCK!" Carter screamed, tugging his seat belt more frantically then ever. It seemed like he was about to rip it out of the seat. Dieon paused from helping Jasmine to go and punch Carter on his arm. "Shut up!"
I get up only to fall hard back in my seat. The jet was shaking violently as the Pilot announced, "We've made contact on the ground."

Carter looks like he’s going to cry.

“Then what’s the fucking problem?!”Jack yell’s pulling out a Army knife and helping Dieon cut Jazz out.

“The fucking problem is that we’ve lost another wheel!”I yell just as I feel it come on done and we skid to a stop.

“We’ve landed, please exit.”The Pilot says, just as the jets door opens.

Jack gets out first, cursing. Luckily, none of them knew much of Italian because I was having my own conversation in the back seat.

Helping Jasmine out, Jack grabs the bags and throws them on the ground.

“CAREFUL!”Dieon yell’s, “There’s explosives in there!”he announced, pushing Carter out.

Im the last to get out, I carefully make my way out.

“Is everyone okay?”I ask, still cursing in Italian. I look around at everyone and see that know one was badly hurt.

Turning I pulled my shirt up so that I could see my hip. “Ew.”I mutter and push it down.

“Lets get out of here..”Jasmine demands rubbing her arm. Jack nods handing out the bags.

Jasmine and Jack started the line then Carter who was still mumbling about something. “Your bleeding,”he says pointing to his own head as he turned back around to say something to us.

Dieon confirms it, while I pull something out of my back pocket thinking it was a tissue or something.

Ignoring the blood that was trickling down my face, damn window, I look down un-folding the paper and almost yelled.

Taking a deep breath to calm my already racing heart, I close my eyes.

“What’s wrong?”Dien ask, rubbing his leg.

“Nothing,” I lie, pushing taking the tissue Jasmine shoved at me and putting it on my head. “Nothing at all.”

(Mines also short, but its also lame. I give credit to Sasha also for helping me! Loves you)

[Ridley]

Chapter 56

[Jack’s P.O.V.]

Fuck. I thought. Fuck was all I could think, actually. We lost the whole element of surprise with that crash landing, and that pilot was calm during that whole ordeal…a little too calm. He was probably a double agent, and if not, I’m going to assume he was just so I can be prepared.

My eyes scanned out surroundings, and I sighed…out of all the places to land, we had to land in the ONLY forest in a prairie land. What luck. No matter, I had managed to steal a glance before the plane went down, and I noticed the end of these godforsaken trees was only a few kilometers due west.

Ha. West; the direction in which all wicked things seem to come. First the Wicked Witch of the West, then that Ray Bradbury novel, and then all the symbolism from Narnia, and no doubt some Stephen King novel mentions something about it. Omen? Well, if I believed in them, I’d sure as hell be spooked now.

Of course, Jazz interrupted my thoughts.

“Jack…Jack slow down!”

I turned to see everyone else at the bottom of the cliff that I apparently climbed without much realization. Jas was struggling with a rather bulky bag, and Carter and Deion was following up the rear as Kisa was trying to make a rope system to drag the bags up.

I sighed and put my bags down, and caught the luggage that Jazz flung up. She climbed with the rest with a slight grace, and I watched as Kisa got the pulley system to work; all our luggage, including Carter, was safely on top within a good 15 minutes.

I grabbed my bag and Jasmine’s and start off once more, but felt her tug on my shirt.

“I’m not a little girl, Jack; I can handle my own luggage.”

“Well, no need having everyone on the team tired out. We can go in shifts, then, if it makes you happy. But why debate; just come on. Someone has to watch out for the rest of us…you’re team leader, so take the lead.”

That was an offer she couldn’t refuse, and I could see confusion on her face; trying to decided wether my comment was an insult, a complement, or my way of giving a gift. No matter, she pressed on ward and I followed with Carter and Dieon behind me, with Kisa brining up the rear.

---

After 6 hours of trudging through that forest, we finally came to the edge of it where Jasmine called out to us, “I can see the plains!”

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to be closer to someone who wants to kill me. Of course, I kept forgetting that for everyone else it was one step closer to their parents, and for once I was glad I’d murdered mine.

---

We remained on the edge of the forest, for night was already close and we needed some rest and time to properly help everyone with their injuries. After a good hour, everyone ended up looking like mummies to some extent, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I had only my converse and black cargos on, for my shirt didn’t even resemble a shirt.

Everyone had left to get more firewood and attempt to find some food; I stayed behind tending the fire. It was nice out here…peaceful. I looked to the sky and could even make out the stars; at that moment I missed Night more than ever; poor boy…at least he was free now.

I sighed and continued heaving the logs onto the fire, and worked up a bit a sweat; I somewhat enjoyed the orange glow the fire made on my chest. Of course, that all changed when I heard Kisa giggling.

I turned around to see the 4 standing behind all gaping at something. I looked the other way only to see prairie and trees, then looked back at them, and responded with a slightly annoyed tone. “What?”

Kisa beat Carter to the point and pointed towards my back. “Tattoo!”

“Your point?”

Jasmine and Dieon ended up speaking at the same time, one sounding envious and the other slightly disgusted at it. “I didn’t know you had one.”

Carter had stepped forward to get a closer look, but I turned away from him and glared. “Do you mind? And where is all the firewood! Or food?”

Dieon was wielding a can. Only one can. He handed it to me, and smiled. “Here you go! Beans.”

I looked at it and sighed. “You got beans? No meat? No vegetables? No anything but beans?”

Kisa grabbed the can an put it on the fire, letting it heat up. “Nope. Not unless you want to be Mr. Provider, this was all we could get form the plane’s food stores.”

I shook my head and sighed, then looked at Jasmine. “Any firewood?”

She nodded and pointed behind her. “Just a few meters off. Plenty.”

I sighed and grabbed Dieon by the collar, and a gun from one of the bags and pushed it in his chest, and took another for myself. “Lets get going, Bean. We’re going to get real food.”

---

I held the gun at a ready position as I scanned the tree tops, and Dieon scanned the forest floor. We’d been almost 30 minutes in silence when Dieon wisphered to me.

“So…you’re going to kill something with a hand gun.”

“It’s not a hand gun, it’s a PP7. Use correct terms please.”

“Whatever…so you’re going to kill it with a more modern form of a pistol.”

“First of all, it’s an automatic, second, I have a silencer on it, so no one will hear us coming. So please…shut up.”

And for a while he was quiet…but again, it didn’t last too long.

“And what are you expecting to kill?”

“Nothing if you don’t shut up!”

“No, seriously, what are you looking to kill? Bunnies?”

I turned on him, putting the gun to his chin and hissing. “I’m going to kill you if you don’t shut up! I brought you and not Carter because I thought you’d be quieter! Now, since you really want to know, I’m going to shoot some squirrels.”

I turned around only to hear a whisper. “Aren’t those rabid?”

I sighed and turned back around. “I’m going to make you rabid if you don’t shut the fuck up! Now keep moving.”

Now that he was quiet I could focus on what task lay ahead. I felt Dieon touch me, and I was about ready to rip his head off if it weren’t for the fact her was pointing to a family of rabbits. I smiled and we took aim, and with a small hiss from the guns 2 rabbits lay dead, and another wounded due to a ricochet bullet.

We grinned at each other as I killed the surviving rabbit, and we brought the tree things back.

---

Dieon and I displayed the three rabbits for everyone, and I set away to cleaning them. Just shy of midnight, everyone was eating beans and rabbits. It was so nice to have warm food in my stomach, and by the end of the meal, everyone looked content.

Everyone was nestled in, and Deion and Kisa were on one side of the fire, talking and an occasional giggle every now and then. Carter was already asleep, and I was laying with my arm around Jasmine as we looked up to the stars.

She smiled, whispering softly to me.

“You remember your sketch of the night sky?”

“Yeah…what about it?”

“Looks just like that real thing.”

I felt her move closer and I smiled, closing my eyes and imagining things in the future. She’d be so much happier, and I too. No one or nothing to love…my life of heart ache would finally have evaporated.

At last I heard her speak to me once more. “On your back…that bird. What is it?”

“A Phoenix…mighty and proud forged in flames. Something of heaven doomed to hell.”

“Rather appropriate, eh?”

“For me…yes, I guess it is.”

I kissed her forehead, and I felt her rest her head against my chest. Besides the crackle of the fire I could hear her breathing…in and out. Slowly. Calmly. And seemingly endless; although, I knew one day I’d never have the pleasure of listening to the slow rhythmic breath of Jasmine. But I didn’t think much more about that, for she interrupted my thoughts.

“Could I see it again?”

I let go of her, and rolled over, revealing the phoenix. It’s mighty golden and red plumes covering the whole of my back. The wings spanning my arms, and its tail feathers just stopping at my lower back; beak open and it’s eye displaying a fierce-some gaze, but also one that reflected a deep, never-ending sadness. Around the bird, flames reached up, trying to engulf the bird as symbols lay randomly about.

I could feel her fingers tracing the image on my back, and at last she spoke once more.

“Some of these are hieroglyphs…and I can make a few out; I think there is some Greek and Russian here too, but what about this other language?”

I looked of my shoulder at her and smiled. “Elvish.”

She laughed and I nodded. “Yeah…I had to express a passion for reading some how, so what better way than a language straight from the books?”

I layed back down, and she snuggled up close once more; she titled her head up, and I looked down into her bi-colored eyes. “What now?” I asked.

“What does it say?”

“What part do you want to know?”

“Lets go with the Russian.”

I recited rather passionately for a whisper. “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted; Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore!’.”

Jasmine smiled. “Poe.”

I nodded. “Of course. Everything in Russian is Poe.”

“And the other languages?”

“Egyptian is philosophies; Greek is quotes; Elivish are things about love—more darker things than romance.”

“Oh…well, think you could read me something?”

I chose the only thing positive about love to read to her. Slowly, and gentle with a soft cooing tone I spoke in meter with my heart beat; such fervor in my voice it still surprised me.

“So sweet the hour, so calm the time, I feel it more than half a crime, when Nature sleeps and stars are mute, to mar the silence ev'n with lute. At rest on ocean's brilliant dyes an image of Elysium lies: Seven Pleiades entranced in Heaven, form in the deep another seven: Endymion nodding from above. Sees in the sea a second love. Within the valleys dim and brown, and on the spectral mountain's crown, the wearied light is dying down, and earth, and stars, and sea, and sky are redolent of sleep, as I am redolent of thee and thine enthralling love, my Adeline. But list, O list, soft and low thy lover's voice tonight shall flow, that, scarce awake, thy soul shall deem my words the music of a dream. Thus, while no single sound too rude upon thy slumber shall intrude. Our thoughts our souls—O God above! In every deed shall mingle, love.”

When I finished speaking she had fallen asleep. For a minute or two I admired her and slowly I drifted off into sleep myself.

---

Pain surged through my body as I felt as it I could no longer breathe. I was startled awake by a sharp kick to the stomach, and before I could get my barring, I was kicked once more. After a minute of relentless blows my stitches has been reopened, my mouth bloody, and bruises almost dying my entire body purple.

I clutched my stomach and looked up to see Kisa, Carter, and Jasmine in a similar state; Kisa looked ready to rip someone’s head off, Carter trying to make sense of things, and Jasmine looking completely confused.

Before I could say anything I was pulled to my feet and looked around at the others…where was Dieon? I didn’t need to wonder long, for he appeared in the same uniform of the men who had attacked us. Gleaming on their chests was a badge with the New Society logo.

“YOU RAT! CALL YOUR MEN OFF! LET ME FIGHT YOU FAIR SO I CAN I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!”

“Now now, Jack.” He spoke with a smug grin as he stepped towards me. “That wouldn’t be very nice, would it? Besides, if I did that then who would give the order to stop the death of their parents? These are good dogs; only listen to the voice of their master. So I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

I looked over at the rest, to see them all being threatened with a long black object being pressed into their sides. Apprently that was the cause of their silence. Dieon followed my gaze and smiled.

“Bang sticks. Used on sharks to repel them…quite a nasty shock it gives off.”

I looked at the ground and shook my head. “Bastard…we trusted you.”

“Never trust anyone, Jack”

His words stung…something I had lived by for so long--something i had also told him. The moment I drop my guard, I get bitten in the ass for it. I sighed in a fake submission, then in a quick movement elbowed my holder in the groin pulling a gun in the process. I pulled the trigger, but the surge of electricity through my body screwed up my shot, and Dieon was only grazed with the bullet.

"You're going to pay for that, fucker. You and you little whore, too."

Then his goons held me while he punched; within a matter of minutes i as on the gorund, and if it weren't for the motivation to get the rest of the team out of there alive, i would've let myself die right there on the forest floor. THat, and the fact i was wrench to my feet to watch him wail on Jasmine, then hit Kisa with the bang stick. Then i was zapped once more and i blacked out for a minute.

After being awoken and pulled to my feet again, I felt shackles being applied and I could only assume the same thing happened to the others for I was blindfolded as well. Shortly after, I was thrown into the back of something and I felt Jasmine, Carter, and Kisa land on top of me.

After a small groan all three moved off of me and I heard Kisa cursing—at least that’s what I assume she was doing—up a storm in Italian. I managed to find Jasmine, who worked off my blind fold and I helped her with hers.

I couldn’t hold her, for my hands were bound behind my back, but she leaned on me, burying her face in my shoulder crying. I think she tried talking, but all i could manage to understand was a little bit.

"Jack...p-please be okay."

I guess i hadn't moved very much, despite how much i thought i had. After i mumbled something resembling a 'I'm fine.' Jasmine began cursing Dieon. Carter was resting against the wall next to Kisa and I felt the vehicle lurch forward.

We were trapped, and no one knew where we were going. Although, I had a gut instinct it was wasn’t good, the little voice in my head just whispered the word grimly:

West.

[/size][/center]

[Sasha]

Chapter 57
Jasmine's P.o.V.

Drip...

Drip...

Drip...

What the hell, I thought they fixed the kitchen's leaky faucet.

Drip...

Drip...

I groan and decide to turn around. I never recalled my bed being this stone cold or hard. Funny how sleeping in awkward positions makes everything uncomfortable.

My head's the first to turn around, resting on my right side since I was sleeping on my belly. I try to open my eyes but they feel like lead. I let out a small grumble and try to force them open.

First thing I see is rat.

I blink, groggily, and raise my hand towards my face. As I lift my right hand, my left hand rises up reluctantly and smacks my face. I rub my eyes a couple of times to clear out its fogginess. I open my eyes again.

Yup. The rats still there.

OK, now is a good time to freak out.

I let out a shrill scream, my system fully awake now. I get up and scurry backwards, keeping my eyes on the rat incase it's going to follow me. I wind up colliding into something, making it let out a large gust of air. I turn my head to see I just landed on Carter's stomach. "Sorry!"

"Get off of me, then!" He responds, weakly shoving me. He's already returning back to his sleep.

"There's a rat there... I think its dead," I say, looking back at the rat again. It did look dead, since it wasn't moving and it laid sprawled on top of the hay covered floor.

Hay?

"If it's dead, there's nothing to worry about," Carter responds, shoving me with more force. I guess I'm making him slowly wake up but at the moment, that's not important.

I look around and spot two more bodies nearby; one with long rich hair scattered by it where as the other body was just bigger in size. Kisa and Jack. Kisa was resting on a stack of hay and Jack was leaning on it. I took in our setting and assumed we were stuck in a small little barn. A barn? Out of all places, why are we in a--

The last few days just suddenly bubble up in my memory, each bursting and quickly re-living in my head. No wonder I'm so tired...

A large exertion of energy came from behind me and now I'm on the ground, hay in the mouth, and head bruised. "I told you to get off of me."

"Carter, stop being an ass." I say, struggling to get up. I look down to see my hands and feet are bond together. with the white plastic cords used to tie things in stores. I grumble and start looking around the barn for anything sharp.

"That's like asking fish to stop living under water," He responds rather stupidly.

I roll my eyes and continue my search. I manage to get on my feet, so now I'm hopping around like a kid, looking frantically around. I turn to see Carter sitting up, staring at me. His eyes widen as he looks past me and starts scanning the room.

"A... barn?"

"Nothing gets past you," I tell him sarcastically. "Get up, we can't afford to waste time."

He nods and tries to stand up, only winding up doing a somersault. "My hands are tied up!"

I roll my eyes and start hopping around again, this time towards Jack and Kisa.

I miss seeing Jack's leg covered by hay since I wind up tripping on it and falling over the two of them.

Kisa lets out a yelp and starts swearing angrily in Italian. Not a morning person. She turns around, hair full of small bits of hay. "Jasmine? Is this how you wake people up?"

"I tripped!" I apologize, trying to get off of her. I wind up wriggling on top of her back and elbowing her. She screams and shoves me off.

I regain my balance but trip backwards over Jack's outstretched leg again.

"When'd you become Clutz-illa?" Jack asks bitterly.

I glare at him and try to sit up. I succeed and twist my legs a bit in the plastic bonds used to hold them. No luck, they're practically cutting my circulation.

"These are better than the ones they used yesterday," Jack stated, staring at his own wrists with the white thin plastic band around it.

"Unless... we were captured yesterday," Carter points out, his face much like a frightened mouse. He finally arrives by my side by rolling around on the ground.

"Any of you got a watch?" Kisa asks hopefully.

Carter shakes his head, which is more like sweeping the ground. I shake my head, noticing that my arms were bare from anything I had on it.

Jack tugs up his pants, slides his boots down a bit, and takes off a watch from his ankle. Carter, Kisa, and I stare at him with disbelief and interest; who would've thought of that?

"Well... it has been only a day, Carter," Jack begins, looking up at him and shaking his head as if that was a given. "And if we're at the place I think we are... then it should be one in the noon."

"So we've been out for... about a day?" Kisa states after Jack stuffs his watch back into his boots.

I nod and say, "They probably did something to us while we were in that vehicle."

"No duh," Jack retorts.

I shoot him a look for him to cut it out. He turns around in response, observing the barn.

"So what's the plan?" Carter asks us all. "Try to get our hands and legs free... and then bust out of here?"

Kisa shrugs, "Sounds good to me."

I'm not as optimistic as these two. "Well, if any of you find a way for us to get these bonds off of us, then sure, I'm in."

Kisa looks at her own bonds and grunts. “They’re tricky little things. You can only tighten them, not vise versa. Only way we can get off is by breaking it.”

“Jack, do you have anything else in your boots?” Carter asks earnestly.

Jack glares at him, taking it as if it was a joke. He tugs down his boot again and searches around the inside fabric. He manages to pull out a switch blade.

“Wow,” Kisa states in surprise. “Jack… what don’t you carry in there?”

Jack gives her a look for her to shut up as Carter takes the switch blade with his mouth. I smack his head and grab the knife out of his mouth.

I start to pull out the random parts to it... so far a nail filer, nail clipper, some hooky-thing, a weak scissor, and… ah huh!

“It looks so brittle,” Kisa mentions as I push the rest of the things back, only the knife was visible.

“Let’s see… Kisa, lean over,” I command, turning my back towards Jack and Carter as I face her. She wiggles around a bit in her spot and then does so, stretching her arms towards me. I start to work the blade on the plastic, right between her wrists.

“D’you think we made a lot of noise?” Carter asks, quietly. The realization that there might be guards outside just hit me. I tried to cut quieter.

“Of course not,” Jack says. “Jazz screeching, tripping over me twice and your gymnastic stunts didn’t make a sound.”

I’m about to lash out on him but Kisa beats me to the punch. "Why are you acting like a prissy little girl for?”

Jack sighs and then says bluntly. “Aren’t any of you pissed off at Dieon? He’s the dick head who betrayed us!”

So finally the truth was spoken out loud. We had our confrontation with him yesterday… but saying it out in the open probably made it into a fact. Dieon is a traitor.

Kisa looks away and mumbles, “I can’t… believe it.”

I notice that I stopped cutting the plastic so I get right back to it. While concentrating it, I add, “Me neither.”

Jack groans and says, “Well, that’s because you two still have that… lose faith in him, don’t you? Like any other woman….”

“Don’t need to get all sexist!” Kisa hisses back, her eyes livid.

I tug on Kisa’s hands so she can lower them back down. She seemed like she would pounce on Jack and strangle him. She lower down, reluctantly, and I continue cutting it. “Besides… Jack, I don’t think he’s capable of something like that.”

“So what? You think he’s being a double agent?!” Jack yells at us.

Carter finally speaks out, boldly, “Yeah, I think he is a double agent. I’ve known him for all my life. Dieon’s not like that.”

“But what if he is?” Jack asks in a dangerous, low tone. He leans closer towards Carter, menacingly. “What if the New Society people got to him?”

Kisa’s eyes widen and she starts to shake. I’m shaking pretty bad too but stop when I hear a snap. I let out a gasp of surprise and take off the plastic strap. “Well… who would’ve guessed?”

Kisa easily gets distracted as she stops her shaking and looks at me with surprise. A big smile plasters itself on her face as she brings her hands up. She observes the prints around her wrist and sighs, “Sweet, I can feel my—what’s that?” She stops and squints at her wrists. I’m too busy cutting the cords at her feet to look up and see what she’s looking at.

Jack leans over towards Kisa, looking at her wrists with squinted eyes. “Well, Kisa, in English… you call that a birth mark.”

Kisa elbows him and says, “No, I mean the ink prints.”

“Well, there you go. Ink prints,” Jack says right after she’s done.

The plastic snaps off of Kisa’s ankles so I start working onto Jack’s feet. I look up as I’m cutting it, staring at the two. “Jack, don’t pull her leg.”

Kisa’s ignoring both of us and finally says, “They’re numbers... 11-13-06-20.”

“November 13th, 2006… at 8 p.m.?” Carter responds quickly.

“Maybe so,” Jack nods in agreement. “Or it can be a N.S. serial digit?”

I shudder, “Either one is bad,” and go back to finishing up Jack’s bond.

Kisa lowers down her hands, placing them beneath her legs so she wouldn’t see them. “Back to the Dieon topic.”

“Can we drop that?” Carter and I say in unison.

Kisa shakes her head, “I want to drop it too but no, we have to discuss about it.”

“But you’ll rise up Jack’s blood pressure!” I joke, risking a smile towards him. He smiles half-heartedly back.

Carter cuts in, “I can’t feel my hands… hurry up.”

“I’m working with these bounds around my hands too,” I snap back at him, doubling my speed on Jack’s wrists. They snap open but as I turn to do Carter’s, he stops me, takes the blade from my hands, and starts to do my wrists.

“Do you think they got to Dieon?” Kisa asks quietly. “Do you think what Jack suggested… might be true?”

As Jack continues to cut the cords around my wrists, he states. “Well, you three are having a hard time believing Dieon would betray us for any other reason. What other option do we have left? Dieon’s an alien?”

Carter’s eyes widen and he opens his mouth to respond to that but I cut in. “What you said is right. None of us can believe he would do something like that… it’s just, if you’ve had a conversation with him, you’d know what we mean Jack.”

“Our rooms were side-to-side, Jazz! Obviously I talked with him!” Jack says through gritted teeth. He passes me the blade to finish off cutting Carter’s bonds.

I turn around and do so, placing Carter’s hands on my knee and start to cut in between the two. As I do so, I read the small number print that Kisa was talking about. 11-13-06-21.

“So… Dieon was brainwashed by the N.S. people… probably during the time before we were kidnapped yesterday morning,” Kisa says after a period of silence.

“Why don’t we drop the brain washing thing?” Jack asks. “It makes no sense.”

“It was your idea,” Carter responds like a child.

“It was a suggestion,” Jack responds back.

“A possible one, but not likely,” I reason. I finally finish with Carter’s legs and pull off the plastic. I place the knife back into the switch blade and pass it to Jack. “Now what? Three of us believe he’s a double agent, you believe he’s a traitor, we’re out west stuck in a barn, having no clue what’s going outside.”

“Don’t barns have windows?” Kisa questions, looking to see if there was any. There was a hole on the roof, the major source of light in the place. The other light filtered in by small cracks of the wooden boards. The door of the barn was sealed shut.

“This is probably some storage thing,” Jack says. “See… there are no stalls for the animals. They probably put hay in here.”

“Joy. I guess they expect us to eat the hay and that dead rat over there,” I say bitterly.

“Rat?” Kisa yelps, cringing and raising her legs up to the hay stack she was on.

“Maybe we should start looking for a way out?” Carter suggests, standing up. He kicks both of his legs, happy to have feeling of the two again. He starts walking around; looking at the place like it was his first time.

“That would be wise of us,” Jack says as the rest of us stand up. Let’s just hope the N.S. people trusted their prisoners and put them in weak prisons.

[Ridley]

Chapter 58
version: micro

[Jack's P.O.V.]

"That would be wise of us." I stated while looking around the place. Apprently, carrying around all that crap in my boot finally paid off. I was beginging to wonder if all the blisters were worth it.

Before doing anything i walked around peering out of all the cracks i could, and noting what i could see. Thus far, not a gaurd in sight. At last i turned towards the others and spoke softly. "It looks like someone dropped this barn right in the middle of Oz. All i see is corn...i didn't know corn was in Canada."

Carter turned around and looked at me strangely. "That's wierd...what happened to the tomatoes? I thought--"

"Well, isn't there corn in Ontario? Isn't that where we are? Why doesn't this make sense to you, Carter?" Jasmine said sarcastically.

I flicked her lightly, signaling to knock it off as i watched thme all look at the corn fields. At last i cleared my throat. "Well?"

"Well what?" Kise interjected.

"Did you guys see any men?" I said rather bluntly.

"Nope."

"None."

"I wasn't looking...your fat head covered all the holes."

I glared at Kisa, and the giggling Carter as he gave her a high-five for the comment. At last i smiled and pulled a small bullet shaped object from my boot. "You girls want to see something cool?"

"Ahem." Carter said, looking at me.

"What?"

"I'm not a girl!"

"Close enough, now shut up and watch." I grinned and saw Jasmine giggling into her hand, Kisa doing nothing to contain her enjoyment, and CArter fuming. I held the button and slowly a laser appeared, slicing a clear border big enough for us the crawl through. I kicked out the piece of a wood and there was a nice little hole left.

Jasmine and Carter both screamed at the same time. "YOU HAD A LASER?!"

"And you made us use that stupid pocket knife!" kisa tacked on at the last moment.

I rolled my eyes. "Just come on...i didn't remember i had it till now." I pulled out a small mirror and held it at the hole, looking on the outside...everything was clear, and i motioned for them to move forward.

Jasmine went first, then Carter and Kisa with myself following ujp the rear. I looked around to the the corn stalks sway as it seemed endless in all directions. At last i sighed and turned towards them. "So which direction of endless corn would you like to go first?"

"Doesn't matter...but at least we can eat food now!" Carter said, eyeing the golden corn stalks.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but don't you remember what fertilizes these things? Bodies, you retard." Kisa said, sticking out her tongue in disgust.

I pulled off the husk of one cob and looked at it and smiled. "It's all good...Mort Rainy ate corn fertilized by his wife, i'm sure this will be good in itself. Sweeter tasting, because humans are the sweetest meet there is," i paused and imatated Shooter's voice. "An' besides...i wrote the perfecting endin' to my story."

Jasmine looked at me oddly and with slight disgust. "You're so creepy..."

Kisa nodded in agreement, and CArter looked about ready to puke, but hunger over came him and at last he ate too. Then we started walking.

...

And walking...

...

And walking...

...

And more walking.

4 hours later, and at last I stepped forward and ran into some invisable barrier. I fell backwards and aside from their laughter, Jasmie put her hands on it...an invisable force field?

"What the hell!! I didn't know there were forcefeilds invented! FBI is no where near this kind of technology!" I stated angerly, for my nose and forehead throbbed.

"Wow...it feels so...weird." Kisa sad, watching ripples run away from whereever she put her hand, and Carter inspeccting the INVSIABLE force field...he seemed to be making no progess.

At last i banged on it, hurting my hand slightly, and muttering ow.

----

[Narrator's P.O.V.]

Their forms faded in and out, and reasembled themselves in pixel form on the computer screen as a dark form watched the screen with a playful intesnity.

The figure then changed his gaze downward as he looked through a glass window over looking the 4 strapped into metal chairs, and kept in VR-PODs. There they would remain asleep until the figure decided it time for them to be awake.

Until that time, they were subjects to a virtual reality world in which they could die; subjects to all the experiments the N.S. decided to do to them in their sleep. Their lives where no longer in their own hands, they were at the mercy of the dark figure...

Whoever it was, or even what ever it was.

[Issac Weasley]

Chapter 59

(Dieon’s P.O.V.)

I leaned myself against the bark of a tree, the only one in the mass of wheat and corn. It was cold, and the N.S. uniforms weren’t nearly as effective as the cling skins.

That night I discovered that I could sleep with my eyes open. I dreamt about my past. Carter was in it, and so was Kelly. They were both laughing and licking their ice cream cones, Carter’s was melting onto his fist. I was the only one crying, because I had dropped mine onto the pavement, and now was watching the ants infest upon it.

I woke up almost convinced that things were back to normal. Post memory wipe, everyone had gone their separate ways after rescuing their parents, I had done my part in keeping N.S. from being shut down for the high price of trust, and no one had any recollection of Bouvier.

That feeling only lasted a split second, and was less than satisfactory to feed my barely sane mind. I looked down at the pistol I held permanently in the palm of my hand. Killing them was never my assignment. The agreement was to scare them off enough for them to take their parents and leave N.S. alone. It sounded fair enough at the moment of proposal, but never did I imagine it’d be this damn hard.

At least I didn’t have a group of N.S. men with me anymore. I dismissed them the minute they were assigned to me. It’s hard enough to point a gun to your comrades without steroid (or whatever fucking pills their feeding them) pumped gansters breathing down your neck.

I got up and shook my arm to get the feeling back into it before catching sight of movement by the barn. I’d be lying if I didn’t think they were going to free themselves within fifteen minutes of realizing their environment, so their escape came as much of a surprise to me as when Carter told me the answer to ‘what’s black and white and read all over.’

Yawning, I picked myself up and slid through the patches of vegetables, brushing away all thoughts of negativity.

Man.

I wish I could cry again over ice cream.

-----

(Sorry Chole...)

[Ridley]

Chapter 60

[/size]

[Jack’s P.O.V.]

Staring at the force field was useless. We’d given that up a while ago and were now making our ways back towards the barn. We walked in relative silence, each off us gathering up the nerve to eat an ear of corn every now and then, just to keep our strength up. The sun was beginning to set, and after another 3 hours of walking we made it back to the barn; that was a miracle within itself.

I looked over at the other 3 and gave a rather mighty sigh. “I think we should go to the little clearing we stumble through. It’ll be safer.”

Jasmine nods and we all enter the corn yet again, moving through the stalks for about ten minutes until we came to a small clearing. I sat on the ground, Jasmine on my side and Carter and Kisa across from us. It was lonely, despite the fact we had each other. It was late and we were exhausted, and soon Kisa had been desperate enough to sleep on Carter and Jasmine on myself. The stars were out and everyone still remained pretty quite, until Carter whispered to anyone who was still awake to hear.

“Do you think we’ll get our parents back?”

I gave a sigh. I didn’t have parents to fight for…only the life of my team members. I pretended I was asleep, and remained quiet; to my surprise, I heard Jasmine answer. “I really don’t know…for once, I really don’t know.”

“But we’ve got to hope, guys. Hope is all we have.” Kisa mumbled shortly after.

“Incase we don’t make it, I’d like to say thanks. You guys have been great.” Carter said, his voice choking up. I heard ruffling, and I guess it was Kisa moving closer to comfort him. Moments passed, and I felt Jasmine draw closer, her hand seek mine, and entwined fingers once she found it. I kissed her forehead and just held her as I listened to the beating of my own heart.

After some while, when I was sure everyone was asleep, I slowly moved Jasmine off my lap, and rested her gently upon the ground. Something had been bothering me this entire time; I couldn’t sleep because of it. I stood and pushed through the stalks ever so silently. I wandered around for another 10 minutes, until I was at the barn again. From inside, the dull orange glow lit up all the cracks of the wood; someone was inside. As quietly as I could, I moved towards the barn, not daring to peek into it, because it would un-dilate my pupils. I pulled the knife, knowing some weapon was better than nothing, and creaked open the barn door just wide enough to me to slip in.

I had been right. A fire crackle in the center of the floor, but no one was tending it. I looked around the barn, everything was lighted pretty well, and no one seemed to be here. I let out a sigh and stepped towards the fire, looking at the wood ablaze. It fascinated me, but not so much so that my guard went completely down.

Click.

“Drop the knife,”

Thud.

“Now slowly, walk to the other side of the fire, and turn around.”

My feet slowly passed one another as I obeyed, and I stood, back to the fire. I let out a deep breath, readying myself for death. I knew the voice well, and I knew that person had a gun. So with a calm composure, I pivoted to see the fire illuminating Deion’s face in an eerie fashion. The revolver was cocked and aimed at my head, as I stood there, looking into his eyes.

“So what are you waiting for, you bastard? Kill me already…if you have the balls to do it, that is.”

“I never wanted this, Jack. Not for you, or the team.”

“You two-faced weasel. Shot me so I don’t have to listen to your lies.”

“It’s not a lie, Jack. Just, listen to me.”

I blinked slowly, thinking about what I was about to say, “Deion, just, let them go. Kill me and let the others go. You don’t have to kill all of us.”

I could see the hesitation in his face, and he lowered the gun slightly, to my heart.

“Bouvier was getting too involved in the Society’s projects. We never wanted to harm anyone at the academy, but you left us no choice. You left me no choice. I and the entire staff have come too far to jeopardize it; so we took hostages, hoping Bouvier would lay off. But instead they sent in Team Bond. This was a suicide mission, Jack. This team wasn’t ready for what it was up against, and I knew that. I tried to tell Jonathan that; but he sent us. So you I tried to set you on a goose chase where you could rescue your parents, and not learn anything about us, and everyone could go back, have their memories wiped and everything would be fine.”

“And that’s all we want to do now, Deion. It’s not too late—“

“Yes, it is Jack. You don’t have parents to get, do you Jack?”

I remained silent, looking into his eyes; cold and empty.

“You had different orders. Death was your only option, Mr. Barrie, wasn’t it? It’s why you came…because you were promised an end you’d always wanted. And happiness for those who has the misfortune of wanting you.” His gaze turned into a leer, because he knew he was on the right track, and he knew that I knew he was hitting close to home.

“John said get in, download their information, and send it to me. Getting out would be far worse, if you even managed to get in. And, well, frankly, death wasn’t a set back. You never intended to get back on that plane, did you Jack?”

I blinked, silent still.

“Answer me!”

“No,” I replied coolly.

“No,” He said, giving a dry laugh. “That’s what I thought. There is still a chance for life, Jack. Help me get the others out of here, and I’ll send them and their parents back. And you, you can stay here with me, and I’ll give you your sweet, violent end.”

I closed my eyes and I thought about it. Death was not an issue to me, but life of my team mates; I always said I’d trade my own for theirs, and now here was my chance.

“Alright.”

Deion nodded, un-cocked his pistol, and slid it into his coat pocket.

“Close your eyes.”

And because I didn’t have much of a choice, I did just that.

-----

[Narrator’s P.O.V.]

The figure behind the monitor grinned, as he looked into the room opposite the 4 VR-PODs, and keyed in the release for Deion’s pod. He looked towards the monitor as Deion’s figure faded out of the barn, and with another key stroke, so did Jack’s. Deion stirred in the room, slipped off the POD chair, and wandered into the bordering room, which housed the awakening Jack and 3 sleeping Bouvier agents.

-----

[Jack’s P.O.V.]

My head pounded with a horrible headache, and I felt as if my skull might explode that very second. As my eyes adjusted to the florescent light I felt the bondages on my wrists and ankles. Mechanical clogs meshes together and opened the top of the machine I was in and saw the white ceilings and Deion looking down at me. The cuffs unlocked themselves and he helped me out as I looked at the muddied clothing I was in, and raised a brow. “Let’s get you into something more appropriate.”

He led me out of the room and I took careful notice of all my surroundings. Everything was white, off-white, or grey, and all the doors slid and gave the faint screech an airlock makes right as you open it. We passed through several hallways, all looked the same, and it had a dizzying effect upon me. I kept trying to blink away the sensation, but it didn’t actually disappear until we arrived at our destination. Inside were racks of uniforms for NS personnel. He pulled out something that resembled a storm trooper’s armor—without the helmet and gun; exactly what he was wearing. He held out the black cling skin to me and the armor which clipped on top.

“Put this on.”

“I don’t see why I have to dress like a traitor.”

“Because you need to put on a good show, Jack, and trust me, you’ll be glad you have this on when that time comes.” He put the clothes on a bench and walked out. “You have 5 minutes to be out here.”

I heard the airlock door close and breathed in; the air was so…artificial here. Like when you’re at a doctor’s office, and it’s so clean you can smell the sterilization in the air, knowing it’s clean. The air, it just seemed too…clean; almost to the point where breathing it was too much for a body adjusted to the smog of city life to handle. I removed me shirt and jeans, sliding on the black under skin, slipping the chest plates and shoulder pads on, and then starting to lock on the rest of the armor. For durable as this felt, it remained pretty light and easy to move in, and half of me wondered what the suit was made out off.

After getting over the feeling I’d stepped out of a Star Wars movie, I stepped outside the airlock and stood before Deion. My eyes fell to the floor as I wished the suit would just suffocate me. I felt betrayed, that I’d wear the armor of the enemy, like I was being used. But I quickly banished the thoughts away, raised my head, and looked at no particular point; my jaw was set, my eyes strong, and my posture impeccable.

“Not bad. Alright, I’ve had the other 3 clothed the same way, and as soon as we get back to the POD room, they’ll wake up. You are going to lead them out of here, and I’m going to have the parents and a helicopter waiting at the exit. All they have to do is fly it out, and all you have to do is come chasing after me. They’ll leave, and I’ll hold up my end of the bargain.”

I was more surprised not by what he said, but by how he said it; it didn’t sound threatening, menacing, or even sarcastic….it sounded…sorry. I looked into his eyes, but he turned before I could really look into him. So I followed quietly until I could bare the silence no longer.

“Why did you do it, Deion?”

“Because New Society will bring about the future,” He said, not looking back at me.

“No, I meant why did you turn on us? Why not turn on them?”

He faltered in his stride, but went on as if nothing happened. I watched the back of his head, but when I was sure he wouldn’t answer, I set my eyes forward again. But just as I looked ahead, he spoke.

“I was never one of you…they got to me first. I just followed orders; Jack, believe me, I never wanted any of this for anyone. It just had to be done.”

And we stopped before a door which looked just the same as all the others we passed. He held up his hand, and the door opened, revealing the POD room again. As I entered I turned to look at his hand, which pointed to the right. I nodded and walked over to the 3 PODs, unlocking them and seeing the other 3 to be clothed exactly the same as me. I stood over Jasmine’s chair, looking at her still face and holding her hand. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, was all I could think. Then, in the midst of my silent chanting, I saw her eyes flutter as she slowly sat up, her hand instantly going to her head. But she pulled it back, to examine what she was in, and what I was in. Carter and Kisa awoke in the same fashion, and before I could let either of them muster up enough speech to start asking questions, I started giving orders.

“We need to leave. Right now.”

I turned and looked around, seeing guns on a wall rack. I grabbed them off the wall and passed them around as I looked at their confused faces.

“No time to explain. We have to get out of here right now, I’ve figured out how.”

“Jack, what about our parents?!” Carter managed to get out.

“WE can’t leave without them—“

“We can and we will. No need to kill your parents and you. Now lets go!” I half-yelled. I opened the air lock door and as soon as I opened I glanced down the halls, and started running to the right. I didn’t hear them follow at first, but a sidelong glance, and I saw them running out the door and following after. The hallway banked left and as I followed it around I saw NS members coming for us. Guns sounded, and I shot them down before they got to me. The sound of gunfire brought the other 3 quickly to me as the looked at the red among white.

“What happened?” Jasmine said, looking at the bodies.

“Open fire. Stay together and keep moving.” I said, glancing around. I had to keep them moving without asking questions. I could get them out that way. I heard more bullets but saw no one. I didn’t care about if there was something there or not, but after ducking back behind small entry ways, I stepped out into the hallway to see 2 machines in the walls. I signaled to Kisa and she gave a nod, as we stepped out after counting to three and took out the machines. And as I started running down the hall again I realized one thing: Deion was right, the armor did come in handy.

It was a pretty straightforward way to the exit; well, at least it felt like it. The passage dead ended and when I opened the airlock, a copter pad with Deion holding hostages at gun point and moving them into the helicopter. Before Kisa and Carter’s anger got the best of them, Jasmine and I slammed them up against the wall. I whispered fiercely to Carter.

“Don’t fire until he turns.”

“Why not now?”

“Because he has his guns on our parents!” Jasmine said and we all nodded and started jogging out towards him. It was agreed first person into the helicopter would start it and get it off the ground, so as we the last parent was hauled aboard, Deion turned to see us, and everyone opened fire. But not only did his armor deflect most of our bullets, I managed to hit him where the armor didn’t cover. He dropped to the ground, clutching his leg as I heard something behind us. As I stopped and looked, I saw 5 NS agents lining the outside of the bunker and starting to open fire on us. The roar of bullets was deafening as each whizzed past us or dinged off with a menacing clink.

Kisa jumped into the copter first, and the blades slowly roared to life as Carter and Jasmine grabbed onto the landing skids as it started to lift off the ground. I grabbed Deion by the neck of his armor and latched onto the skid as it raised us both off the ground. I thought my arm would pop out of it’s socket at the weight of Deion. He looked up at me, confused, and slightly furious…probably because of the fact I shot him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“YOU’RE COMING BACK, DEION, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!”

I slowly pulled up Deion and Jasmine and Carter grabbed him from me and strapped him into one of the seats with Carter beside him. I felt a bullet hit me in the shoulder—one of the few uncovered places—and pierce through the cling skin with ease. A surge of pain and I slipped, barely holding on with the arm I just used to pull Deion up.

“HOLD ON GUYS!” Kisa called, and she brought the copter level with the base, and launched 2 missiles, then pulled back, found a river, and started following it due to lack of a map. I slipped and Jasmine grabbed my hand, holding me as I dangled out of the helicopter only by her hand. I looked up into her eyes, pain reflecting clearly out.

“Jasmine, let go!”

“NO! JACK I WON’T LET YOU GO! CARTER, HELP ME!”

I didn’t see Carter appear and I shook my head at Jasmine and gave a smile.

“It’s alright, Jasmine. I’ll always fight on for you…”

“JACK!”

I reached up and undid my glove as I slipped out of her grasp, badly bleeding from the bullet wound and my skin tingling from the explosion of the missiles. And the entire world seemed to go silent for one single second. As I fell and I watched Jasmine’s face contort in fear. I just smiled and fell…and another second elapsed as I felt the river draw nearer. And just before I hit, sounds seemed to wash over me like a flood. Her screaming, the roar of the blades, and the beating of my own heart...

-----

[Narrator’s P.O.V.]

Jack hit the river and disappeared beneath the dark blue waters. Tears streaked Jasmine’s face as she stripped herself of the armor and motioned to leap; her mother and father grabbed her, and pulled her back in. She didn’t stop calling out his name, and broke free, leapt from the helicopter, and plummeted into the river, disappearing beneath its shadowy, torrential waters. Everyone on board the helicopter was stricken with grief—even Deion—and was stunned into silence or quiet sobs. The entire ride back to the nearest city was silent.

-----
From the river two figures managed to get to the shore. Both weakened severely not only by what should’ve been a fatal fall, but from previous ordeals. After a long period elapsed, the girl dragged the limp body of the male to a nearby tree and managed to sit him up. The blood from his shoulder continued to ooze out, along with several cuts and a two gashes—one on his chest and the other on his arm—and bruises from the rocks on the river bed.

The girl was weak not, and both were still partially clothed in the New Society armor, which after painfully prying it off, she moved about more freely, and the male breathed more easily. His body had gone cold and numb, lips starting to turn blue. The only warm thing about him was the blood which had already started soaking the girl, as she lay on his chest, trying to keep him warm, and herself conscience.

They sat along side the river, the willow's branches draping around them making the two almost feel safe. Lightning bugs started to dance around them as the dark skies matched the dark waters of the river. The sun had long since set, and the moon's dappled rays reflected upon the water's surface as if some show of lights was flickering a private session—just for them.

Jack was still leaning against the willow, slumped, and letting the tatters of cling skin drape around him unceremoniously. His hair was swept to the side in unequal portions and matted against his head, staining his already dark brown hair an even deeper hue. The leg armor protruded oddly, cling skin ripped, where a leg seemed broken. Underneath close eyelids laid a set of deep brown eyes, reflecting only the most powerful form of love instead of the emptiness they usually held.

And her reddish-brown hair was pushed behind her ears, head resting upon the man's chest, and her hands placed on his stomach and around his waist. A tattered cling skin covered her slender shoulders, and offered a random pattern of tares and cuts in the fabric. Her eyes, barely open and staring off into the distance seemed glossy and distant. Her viewable skin was blood soaked, same as the man's chest...but their horrifying condition didn't seem to mean anything to them.

Their blood continued flowing down the dewy blades, more his than hers, and into the dark waters of the river they'd just emerged. Their pasts were to be stolen from them, and at least, for these last few moments, it was theirs to keep...but it was at the price of their lives. One would look upon the scene and see two mangled teens, dying in each other's loving embrace...but it was more, oh so much more.

His head rested upon hers as his eye lids fluttered for a moment, and the sudden intake of breath startled the girl as she mustered up enough strength to look into his eyes. When at last his lids parted, she leaned upwards, their lips meeting, as they shared perhaps their last kiss; but it felt better than any other they'd either given or received.

And then they smiled as she curled closer, his head falling back on top of hers, and she rested, listening to his heart beat. They were like this for a while, breaths becoming shallow and heart beats dwindling. They thought the perfect death yielded only life, a new adventure for them...they were not afraid; they could not be afraid; they were in love. A more passionate love than anything ever written, dwarfing the tales of Romeo and Juliet or even the tale of the Opera Ghost or that of someone who has such Great Expectations. Their love was immortal...and powerful...strength unseen by human eyes, for there was no one to watch but the dancing lighting bugs and the humming crickets.

Slowly his smile receded, and his world ceased, becoming black…and she...she smiling as the thumping that had kept her so calm became inaudible to her ears. Her bi-colored eyes were masked with eyelids, and her breath slowed, heart weakening as well, as they laid in lover’s arms.

And yet the crickets would swear they heard the two whispering…

"Do you know what I want, Jazz?"

"What?"

"I want to die before you...so that I’d never have to live a day without you."

-----

“Wake up, sleepy,”

A hand stroked the girl’s faces as his warm gaze fell upon her. Bandages adorned the bare chest of the man, as he kissed the lips of his love. Her eyes refused to open, but after a great amount of will, they revealed a wonderful sight.

-----

[Jack’s P.O.V.]

I looked into her eyes: so unique. I had promised to love her once; I promised until the end of time. Just a silly thing, really. But it turns out, our time was not so near; Bouvier had found us, and we lived. Our wounds were only of the flesh, and nearly healed; we’d been in and out of consciousness for most of the healing process; all of this I’d have to tell her.

“Come on Jazz, get up.”

“W-Wh-Where am I? Where are we?” She sat up, slowly, and looked around the medical ward of Bouvier.

“What happened? All I remember is…the river. Ow…my head.” She put her hand to it, and peeked open her green eye at me. “So they found us?”

“Yeah. You woke up today, so that means the memory wipe is tomorrow. John said it’d be the day after whenever you woke up. So, that’d be tomorrow.” I gave a sigh, and brushed a lock of hair from her face.

She smiled at me and kissed me. “I wish we didn’t have to…”

“But we do.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to go on without you, Jack.” She said, tears starting to well up.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to. You won’t even know me, and I,” I hesitated, realizing what I had agreed to, “And I won’t even know you. It’s for the best, I think.”

She leaned forward, her arms wrapped around me tightly as I felt hot tears slowly fall onto my skin. I held her tight and whispered sweet nothings until she settled. When she let go and rested on her pillow, we just sat and smiled at each other, neither ever really feeling like talking. But after a while, she looked at me and smiled.

“Jack,”

“I know.” And that was all that as said. I leaned in, kissing her gently, and was careful not to touch a bruise, as she repaid me with the same courtesy. I kissed her lips, and her neck, holding her wrapped in my arms, as I felt her hands sliding from my shoulders to my hips, and slowly sliding the flimsy medical pants off, as I untied her gown with a single pull, and we both moved very carefully beneath the sheets.

-----

I couldn’t decide what to write. It was early in the morning, and I wanted to get the process over and done with as quick as possible. But I couldn’t just leave her. So after spending thirty minutes on her laptop—thank god for my hacking skills or it would’ve taken me just that to get into it—I saved the word document, hoping she’d find it.

Jazzy,

By the time you read this I’ll be long gone; me and my silly horse. We will have had our memories wiped and you probably won't even recall who is writing this. Just know that I loved, no, I love you. I always will and I honestly, as much as I pretend not to, hate the idea of having my memory wiped. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and now I’m afraid I must loose you. But your uncle has assured me it's what's best and I can only hope you read this.

Although if may never meet you...laugh with you...cry with you...or kiss you; just know, with every ounce of my being, with every bit of my soul: I love you. With my entire heart, I love you.

As the French would say, Au Revoir.

-Jack

I shut the laptop and walked out of her room, over a room in which I’d never knew existed. Jonathan was waiting for me inside, as he patted my shoulder and gave me one of his ‘bullshit’ smiles.

“Thanks for saving her Jack; I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.”

I nodded and he pointed to another door.

“Inside is a chair. Just sit in it, and breathe the air. It has fumes that affect how the brain interacts, and mostly cognition falters and memory fades. When you wake up, you won’t remember any of this, and it’ll be like you took a very long nap.”

I smiled at him and nodded. I passed through the door, shutting it behind me. The room was a simple sky blue color, and the chair was like a lounge chair. The fabric was white leather, and it felt heavenly to sit on. And I just sat there, like John said, breathing in and out, and feeling more and more relaxed with each breath. The air was pure…in a good way. Like mountain air. Crisp and clear. Invigorating. And then I felt tired. Very, very tired. And sleep…I never wanted sleep so much. And then I thought of Jasmine, and I knew it would be for the last time. And her face was the last thing I saw…and then everything went white.[/center][/size]

[The last time i'll probably ever post this...]

[Nate Lupin]

Chapter 61

(Dieon¡¯s P.O.V.)

When I felt the stinging sensation concentrated in an area around my chest, then spreading rapidly throughout my body, I knew I was back. The offset tension in the air, unnaturally rhythmic breathing; everything in the end went around full circle to land us back where we originally started. I realized we were in the helicopter, and I was still wearing my torn up New Society skin. I hadn¡¯t let myself lose conscience for a minute, but sometimes things would slip in and out from my mind, making it hard for me not to press the normal boundaries of realism. Jazz was looking at me all disappointed, making a blunt statement with her gaze before a more intense set of eyes caught my attention.

Carter and I have known each other for a painfully long time, and as much as it looks like I bully him sometimes, that is as far as it goes. Whenever someone else steps in to do my work, I made sure that they knew to take things up with me before taking advantage of his genuine soul. Plus, he was the only one who understood how much I adored Kelly. He was always understanding of my situation. That¡¯s why when he looked at me so forgivingly, it made me pivot my body to turn elsewhere.

By the way, I felt like giving Jack a good blow with my elbow when the kid threw me into the helicopter like the dead meat I was at the moment. Let¡¯s say I had really underestimated the power of the sleep shots until this moment. I felt like even if I had been left here, I preferred it over getting memory wiped by Bouvier.

The chopper flew over the fields of N.S., giving me one last look at the aerial view of the land. The whole mess I made of plotting against the team so far, I had nearly forgotten why I joined forces with the other side in the first place.

(Narrative P.O.V.)
[Flashback]

¡°Dieon, you know this is going to put an end to a lot of things, right?¡ª¡° Jonathan paced in front of his desk like a worried mother, occasionally stopping to gaze at Dieon in case he had changed his memory in the last five seconds. ¡°This task is completely optional, and you are fully aware of the risks?¡±

¡°I know sir, but I¡¯m sure I can take it. Didn¡¯t I already prove that I¡¯m top in almost all the physical combat courses not to mention the missile dodge?¡± It seemed like he was trying to startle him into turning down the mission. What then? Would someone else get it? Dieon would already know of all the plans though. Mind wipe? Then again, maybe he wasn¡¯t the first to get this request. Questions began pouring in at an alarming rate.

He chuckled. ¡°Trust me Mr. Barker, I know your marks better than you, and I admit you have the physical part down. I¡¯ll even give you mentality. But has it occurred to you the trust you¡¯ll lose, the endurance and dexterity you need to¡ª¡°

Dieon cut him off. ¡°I accept this mission.¡± The determination was clearly present, although he¡­ he was scared shitless.

¡°You¡¯re sure about this? You¡¯re not to tell anyone?¡± He continued to usher him, staring him in the eye as if it was all just a challenge. ¡°I¡¯m not making any guarantees. In fact, we here at Bouvier like to call these suicide missions. I think that the memory wipes should be the least of your concern, Mr. Barker. You and all of your teammates, actually.¡± He let out a sigh. ¡°Jazz will be quite heartbroken to have two failed teams, I reckon.¡±

Dieon furrowed his brows, but fought the urge to counter his words. He nodded, hoping his gesture was assertive enough.

¡°New Society will be lucky to have you.¡± Jonathan Bouvier smiled at the young man, though Dieon was already off making plans of his own.

(Dieon¡¯s P.O.V.)

For the first time since I¡¯ve boarded the helicopter I made an effort to sit up, but only managed to slump slightly against the back seat in a most awkward position. ¡°They¡¯re gone.¡± My lips said, and I heard Carter reinforce my thought with a throaty murmur of something I couldn¡¯t make out at the moment.

Craning my neck back was hard work, but I figured I couldn¡¯t stare out the back window forever. More importantly I wanted to see Kisa, who was the only one who hadn¡¯t shown any demise towards me ¨C for the lack of any reaction at all. Trying to catch her eye turned out to be a failure, however, so I returned to my slumping. The whole ¡®talk-to-no-one¡¯ act was turning me very bitter. Not to mention, it did nothing for my image. Nonetheless, I couldn¡¯t fight the fatigue any longer, and I let the sleep shot finally take me over for the rest of the ride.

---

¡°Wake up man.¡±

I opened my eyes to see Carter¡¯s head hovering above me. Immediately, I felt something had changed in the air. It wasn¡¯t tense anymore. I relaxed a little, seeing everyone was basically in a better mood than before.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Carter cut me off.

¡°Jon told us everything, you can relax now.¡±

¡°¡ªYou¡¯re lucky I spared you a pounding, Barker.¡±

I wasn¡¯t really sure who said what, and how the hell was I supposed to respond to that? ¡®I¡¯m sorry I betrayed you guys, it was all for the good of our dead parents.¡¯ I¡¯m sure that would have gone down great.

Smirking, I batted my eyelashes mockingly at Carter, who was still lingering around my face. ¡°Hello Prince Charming.¡± I pursed my lips to make an exaggerated look of an anticipated kisser before he threw a pillow full force at my still throbbing head.

¡°Hey, go easy on the boy.¡± Kisa finally said in between fits of laughter.

Even Jack was leaning against the wall with his arm around Jazz, beaming with a cup of some sort of steaming clear liquid in his hands.

Propping myself up on my elbows, I turned my head towards a new presence in the room. ¡°Hey Jon¡­¡± I trailed off, the volume in the room slowly fading.

He instructed that the memory wipe will be taking place tonight, and that Jack would be first up. We all knew that this was coming, though some if not all of us obviously tried to make the most out of the time we had left. Which, we just found out, turned out to be not so much.

Heaving a sigh, Jack got up and disappeared outside the Bond residential dorm and Jazz followed behind. I didn¡¯t see much of him for the rest of the day.

(Narrative P.O.V.)

At about quarter to 7:00, roughly three hours before the next person¡¯s memory wipe (Jasmine¡¯s), he decided to take advantage of Bouvier¡¯s wonderful landscapes, by wandering a little outside the boundaries of campus to venture towards the cliffs. It really was a shame he was too preoccupied with the events going on within Bouvier - the fact that it was all set in Paris, France seemed to waver either unimpressive or unnoticed by them all. He realized later that someone had beaten him to the chase, though the thought had never dawned to him before. The chances of anyone knowing about this place was slim, since it was especially hard to get to, and most of the students were prohibited outside campus limits after dinner that ended fifteen minutes ago. (Right now, of course, rule breaking is the least of his worries.)

He sat down beside Kisa, not bothering to find it odd that she sat slightly off center, as if anticipating the company of another to fill her left side.

Dieon glanced over at her and for the first time closely observed Kisa¡¯ profile in the peaceful, dawning light.

She had well defined eyebrows, eyelashes soft against her closed eyes, a nose that radiated the often sought after challenge of ¡®catch me if you can,¡®¡­ and nicest set of full lips he¡¯s ever seen. She was a very attractive girl. He could see why a lot of guys around Bouvier had a thing for her.

But there were also scars on her face, and her hair that reached past her shoulders were frayed. And of course, the notion of the memory wipe already sucking the light from her eyes.

This damn espionage academy was taking away all her attractive qualities.

By then Kisa¡¯ eyes were opened. Their eyes met and they stared at each other. Then she finally said as if making fun of him ¡°what¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

Dieon was embarrassed, because he¡¯d been staring at her, and she¡¯d caught him doing this, so he just blurted out, ¡°I know this sounds weird, but I hope you don¡¯t have any ideas of escaping the memory wipe that you¡¯re keeping to yourself.¡±

He watched her look down, then laughed, shaking her head. Then she continued to say something else. ¡°Can I ask you something, Dieon? I¡¯m sorry in advance if I offend you.¡±

Dieon looked blankly at her. ¡°What is it?¡±

¡°What was so great about Kelly?¡±

Dieon stared at Kisa and then his face broke into a smirk. Maybe this would be his way of offering his bouquet of flowers to the dead.

¡°I don¡¯t know how to say it, but she looked so nice.¡±

¡°Nice?¡± Kisa repeated, then quickly added, ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not saying she wasn¡¯t.¡±

Kelly¡­ well, she wasn¡¯t a dog for sure, but as far as pretty girls went, there was Jazz, Kisa, not to mention a handful of girls from the other teams.

However, Dieon wasn¡¯t done elaborating. ¡°When she looked drowsy and rested her head on my shoulders, she looked nice.¡±

¡°That day when I failed to rescue Carter at the bar and she slurred curses at me in the middle of everyone there, she looked nice.¡±

¡°When I fell off the skybike and she laughed at my pain, clutching her own stomach, she looked so nice.¡±

Ah.

(Dieon¡¯s P.O.V.)

After she listened to these observations, she nodded. ¡°You can¡¯t be hung up over her forever thought, right?¡±

I shrugged. I think I¡¯ll be hung up over her for the rest of my life.

But just as I was about to say it, Carter came running towards us, with Jazz close behind.

¡°Kisa! Dieon, we know how to¡ª¡° Carter gasped for air, clutching his side from an apparent cramp. ¡°The memory wipe.¡±

My eyes bulged out of their sockets. ¡°How about Jack? What? ¨C¡°

¡°What about the memory wipe?¡± Kisa exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

Jasmine groaned, and stepped in for reinforcement after seeing Carter struggle for a few more seconds. ¡°We KNOW how to get past it! Well, we would all still have to go through with it. See, when Carter and I were walking down the lab hall, we oversaw the end of Jack¡¯s memory wipe. They pulled out this clear orb, and ¨C¡°

¡°There¡¯d be a way of obtaining the memory! Can you believe that?!¡± Carter jumped in with the end of her sentence.

I stood there gaping.

[That¡¯s it for now.
It¡¯s a really bad place to end it. =] I didn¡¯t finish the memory wipe bit because I was feeling kind of lazy. Someone needs to write the next chapter. (Chole or Sasha. Which will be the last one, I promise.) Sorry if you feel like I corrupted Ridley¡¯s ending. It was kind of fast, and there was just a gap about the memory wipe and other stuff that needed so much filling it screamed out to me. Plus I wanted to write one more chapter. Shoot me.]

P.S. What do you know. Both chapters one and this chapter are 1,861 words long.

[Sasha]

[[ *shoots Garry* bwahahaha—T_T I’m not proud of this chapter but it’s my two cents! *gives cheesy grin and peace sign* ENJOY! ]]

Chapter 62
Jasmine’s POV

"Erm, Dieon?" I say, looking at his expression a bit worried. Despite having him back on our side, I’m not exactly sure where I stand with him. Should I be nice, rude, or what? All I can think of is being awkward, which is going great by the way.

Kisa finally smacks his shoulder and turns back to Carter and me, "You're serious?!" After Carter's head wobbling of a yes, Kisa continues. "Then are you two suggesting what I think you're suggesting...?"

"Most definitely," I say with a grin. Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel.

"BUT it's going to be difficult to manage it," Carter says in a wheezy breath. “There were too many people in that room. Ridiculously too many. I think they’re there for protection.”

Dieon’s looking quite pensive as Kisa opens and shuts her mouth continuously. Carter flops onto the ground, still gasping for air, as I sit down beside him, breathing in heavily. I thought I was OK from this run but… I guess I’m really shaky. This opportunity seems so unreal. I can’t believe it’s so easy to achieve our memories like this…

“I don’t know if we should go for it,” Dieon finally says, breaking the silence that surrounded us. He looks down at Carter and me, but especially me. “You have your memory wipe next. I don’t think we even have time… we need all the reinforcement we can get… we either do it before your turn or give up the idea in total.”

Damn these circumstances.

Kisa runs a hand through her hair and starts yanking it when she finally says, “We’ll do it.” She looks down at me and I know her eyes are reflecting the same determination I feel in mine. “We have to. This is our last shot.”

“So, let’s get down to seriously planning this,” Dieon says, kneeling down to a squatting position.

“How much time do you have, Jazz?” Kisa asks me as she kneels down on her knees, beside me.

I bite my lip, thinking briefly, before answering, “I can stall for about an hour without my uncle saying anything.”

“Good, that’s perfect,” Dieon nods. “How many guys were in that room, Carter?”

“Er, about fifteen or so,” Carter says but adds. “They were loaded with machinery.”

Dieon starts swearing at this but Kisa says, “Well we can’t knock them out with machinery, they’ve been trained longer than we have. What we should use is those bomb things that, uh, have those gases that…. If you, uh, sniff it, you get knocked out cold?”

Carter’s shaking his head where as Dieon looks amused at her. I smile at her and say, “OK, we can use those, sure. That can knock them out cold in less than a minute.”

“OK, so that’s great,” Dieon says with a nod. Abruptly, he crosses his arms and frowns. “So what if this all goes accordingly. Then what? What do we do with those memory balls?”

We all go silent, exchanging glances. What do we do with something like that? Personally, I’m confused with the concept of having our memories stored in such a thing. It’s as cheesy of an idea of something that’d be in Harry Potter. It almost makes me think that Bouvier took that idea from the book series.

Taking this silence, Dieon ventures on, “If we get Jack’s, what do we do then? Should half of us go find him while the other half of us run for it? On the other hand, if we get it, how are we supposed to escape? If we knock out a room full of men, I’m sure someone’s going to alert some alarm and make more people come after. What if a chase happens? Where are we supposed to go? Run and hide? What—”

“Dieon, man, whose side are you on?” Carter snaps, cutting off Dieon. He gives him a good stare down as he says, “Do you want to get your memory back or not? If you fucking do, why the hell are you saying shit like this?”

“He’s just saying the obvious,” I finally mumble. I raise my head up and stand. I look down at them and say, “Look, guys, let’s just see if I can steal Jack’s memory back. If I succeed, we all run for it, OK?” Before Dieon can say anything else, I continue. “You can plan that bit while I’m stealing. But… if I don’t come back, that means I failed. I’ll leave it to you guys to either attempt getting Jack and my memory back… or just going through the memory wipe.”

I turn my back to them and begin making my way out of the deserted area. I plan to raid Bouvier’s weaponry storage before heading off to medical ward.

Before I can make it past a few footsteps, though, I hear shuffling and footsteps behind me. Kisa puts her arm around my shoulder as the three come side by side me, determination all over their face. Kisa squeezes my shoulder and smirks at me. “No way in hell will I let you have all the fun, Parvaneh.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Did you take out the cameras, over?” Kisa says into the small walkie-talkie we managed to, erm, ‘burrow’ from the security room. She and I are around the corner of the hallway that leads to the chamber that I was supposed to be in ten minutes ago. She’s poking her head down the hallway where as I’m sitting, back pressed against the wall, breathing in and out slowly.

After a few seconds, a beep comes and Carter’s voice answers, “No, we didn’t manage to.” I feel a pang in my heart, remembering that Jack would usually do the technical things for us. “But Dieon and I are the only ones here, over.”

“Great,” Kisa says into the black piece and both of us stand up and start slowly walking down the hallway. She clicks it again and says, “Keep an eye on us. We’ll contact you when needed, over.”

“Over and out,” Carter answers.

Once she pockets the walkie-talkie, I motion for her to stop. She looks at me, alarmed, but I raise a finger towards my lips. I gesture to an upcoming room, walls half made of glass. I whisper towards her, “That’s the room Carter and I saw it in.”

“Oh,” Kisa says with too much exaggeration.

I want to giggle but I feel like I have no energy or time for it. I sneak a glance at the corner of the glass of the room and come back towards her. “The memory ball is still in there. We can pass by it normally… so we have to enter that bomb very smoothly.”

Kisa nods and says, “Gotcha.” She pulls out a metal contraption that looks very similar to a compact mirror. She flashes it to me and then asks, “Hey, are we allowed in there?”

“Carter and I tried. They pointed the guns at us,” I say, shuddering at the idea.

“Then how can we enter it—OH LOOK AT THAT!” Kisa exclaims, pointing at something behind me. I turn around and see what she’s looking at and nearly freak out myself. There, on the side of the wall, was the covering of an air ventilation.

Both she and I run towards it, lying on the ground and looking through it. Sure enough, we see the room faintly on the other side. We both exchange a look of glee. I lean away, crawling into a sitting position. “Do you have any tools on you?”

Kisa pulls out a small bag and opens it to reveal a bunch of useful tools. I look at it in surprise as she quickly takes out a screwdriver. “Oh… um, these were my tools before Bouvier.”

I suddenly remember that Kisa used to steal for a thrill before Bouvier. I feel another pang in my heart. “Kisa… I’m going to miss you.”

Kisa glares at me and scoffs, “Don’t say crap like that. We’re going to get the memory ball and run for it, OK?”

“But… Dieon’s questions are ringing in my head,” I tell her, putting both of my hands at my head.

Kisa wraps her arm around my shoulder again and says, “Look it. We’re going to prove it to him that we actually managed to pull this off.” She squeezes my arm and adds, “How about when everything clears up… we celebrate? Go out for a fancy dinner?”

“That sounds good,” I say with a soft smile and hug her in return. “Thanks.”

“No problemo,” she says and begins unscrewing one of the four screws of the air vent. I sit silently beside her, back leaned against the wall, keeping surveillance. It was likely that someone would pass by this hallway during our mission.

“So… erm, you know after this little mishap… what are you planning to do? With your life?” I ask Kisa, curiously. I might as well do small talk while waiting for her.

She shrugs and says, “I don’t know if I want to continue school. It’s boring as hell.”

I nod, “But… OK, we’re not going to be spies anymore.” Even saying it now, it still felt unreal that we had the opportunity to be one. “But any ideas?”

“I don’t know,” she says again as she struggles to take out the last screw. “Modeling, perhaps? People say I should go for it.”

“Hey, you should. You’re gorgeous!” She takes out the last screw and with a manly grunt, passes it to me. I struggle to hold it but manage to. She leans a bit into the exposed area and begins to work on opening the other side of the vent.

“How about you?” Kisa whispers to me, voice slightly echoed in the space.

“I could never do modeling,” I tell her, bashfully. Although my mother was one, I could probably never really get into caring about what I wear. “I’d probably become a teacher or something.”

“Teacher?” Kisa pokes her head at me and grins at me. She’s mocking me.

“Yes, teacher,” I say and punch her.

She punches my shoulder and says, “What, you’re like sixteen?”

“Seventeen,” I say, defensively. I didn’t like being reminded I was younger than all my teammates.

Kisa grins at me and says, “You still have high school. I’m practically done. So don’t worry kid, you’ll probably think of something better than becoming a teacher.” She chuckles and enters her head and arms back into the space. I poke my head right after and see her successfully take out the screws from that side as well. Carefully, she slides the cover down and puts it slightly away, leaving a good amount of finger space for her. Thank god the space was covered by a chair. Smoothly as possible, I pass Kisa the bomb she left by me. She activates it by the side and gives it a good toss, letting it roll and bump at an object, opposite of the room.

Kisa quickly scurries out of the hole and sits down on the other side of the hole. Both she and I get out our gas masks, which basically covered our mouths and nose, and slide it on. I wait impatiently, wanting to see signs of results.

Just when we saw some smoke coming out from the empty space in the wall, a round of alarmed yells occurred. Someone shouted to set the alarm on but one after the other, a body fell onto the floor.

After a minute, both Kisa and I stand up. We look through the glass wall to see that no man was standing; everyone was either lying on the ground or on a nearby table. Both she and I do a small high five and head towards the door.

Just like that, the door opens up and we both walk inside. The room is ridiculously foggy but I can still make out the bodies. I carefully make my way through the room until both Kisa and I are standing in what I think is the middle of the place.

I turn to her and ask, “Do you see it?”

“It looks like a big clear crystal ball?” Kisa asks me, sounding much like Darth Vader.

“Mhmm,” I say, waving my hands through the fog in attempts of clearing it away. It only swirled around.

“About the size of a fist?” Kisa asks, walking somewhere behind me.

“About,” I agree and continue trying to move the mist aside.

“Does it sometimes have a light going through it?” Kisa asks, almost nonchalantly.

“Yeah—how do you know all of this?” I say, alarmed.

“I think I found it,” Kisa says and when I turn, I see the ball in her hand. Through her semi-clear mask, I can see her grinning and I shriek. This was almost too easy—

Our heads both snap towards the door as someone enters in. To my horror, it’s the last person on the earth I wanted to see right now.

With a simple flick of a switch on the wall, the gas that was in the room began to evaporate. Uncle John stared at Kisa and me, holding his breath as he waited for the mist to go away. Once the room was clear and the intensity of the fluorescent lights back to its maximum, he spoke.

“Kisa, I’d like to have a word with my niece,” he says, rather courteously. I was surprised; I was so sure he’d explode.

Kisa looks in between me and him, unsurely, but finally nods. She begins to walk out of this room until she stops. She takes off her mask and gestures towards the ball in her hand. “Well, uh, I’ll just be getting out of the way—”

“Kissandra, there is no point for you to take that ball since the only place that has the technology to use it is located in this very institute.” He turns to her and adds. “But by all means, if you want a useless ornament, go ahead.”

Kisa seems to be stubborn about the matter and clutches on the ball tighter. I know by that look that she means to keep it but I hear myself speak. “Kisa, just give it back to him.”

“What?” she explodes, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

I look away from her and mumble, “Kisa, just leave it.”

She remained silent but finally she said, “No way. I’m going to take this, even if I have to get past him.”

I look at her but not in shock, in envy. I was proud of her determination.

Uncle John, on the other hand, wasn’t. Instead, he cleared his throat loudly and called out, “Bring them in.”

The door swings open and four guards come in, holding Dieon and Carter. Both Kisa and I look at them, stunned, but Uncle John says, “Now, Kissandra. Will you leave the ball?”

Kisa’s biting her lip vigorously but finally, she puts the ball down on a nearby table. One of the guards reaches out for her but she slaps the hand away and with an arrogant tilt to her head, she walks out of the room. Carter and Dieon go out of the room with equal silence.

I turn to see that I’m the only conscious one left here, alongside my uncle. I step over a body and take off my gas mask. Before I know it, my eyes well up. I choke out, “D-Do I have to go through this?”

Uncle John sighs and rubs his temple and for the first time in a long time, I think of him as my relative and not my mentor. His expression reminded me of a parents whose been trying and trying to convince their child that they won’t buy the toy they want.

But will he buy the toy or remain stubborn?

“Jasmine… you have to go through this,” he finally says.

“But why?! We didn’t even see or go through anything incredible to get our minds wiped!” I yell, scrubbing my eyes vigorously with the back of my hand.

“Then I guess you really don’t understand,” he says after a long period of silence. I look at him, confused. Understand… understand what? Before I can say anything more, he cuts in. “You’ve wasted enough time. Come.”

There really was no point of fighting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you comfortable now?”

“Yes,” I mumble, not making eye contact with him. I will never forgive him—when my memory of this event comes back to me… if ever. It’s just… if I didn’t see that memory ball, at least I still had this hope that maybe one day, in the near or far future, the memories of my last time at Bouvier would come back to me. But knowing that my memory is literally being taken away with me gives me this hollow feeling.

Uncle John moves away but he pauses. He turns back towards me and finally says, “Do you have… any… wishes? About your memory being wiped?”

I looked up at him and when I do, I see pity on his face. My cheeks redden at the idea. Wishes? I know for sure I can’t just ‘wish’ to get out of this situation so…

I lick my lips and say, “Promise me this. If, in the future, I discover that somehow my past links to Bouvier… and figure out that losing my memory relates to it... I want you to give back my memories.”

His face goes expressionless and I look at him, hopefully. Please, Uncle John, come through—

“Fine,” he says, stiffly. For the first time in his presence, I smile. “Anything else?”

“Erm… will I still be attending Bouvier?” I say, embarrassed. I don’t know if I have the will to. My first team died and my second team had their memories erased. All in a days work of Bouvier.

“Do you want to?” Uncle John asks me, interested.

I lick my lips and confess, “I’d… really like to attend a normal school again. I miss it. I miss the friends I left behind two years ago. I want to go back to it.”

“Fine, I’ll make arrangements,” Uncle John agrees. We both look at each other, awkwardly. He clears his throat, “Anything else?” He repeats but the edge of his voice meant this was probably the last wish I was making to my genie.

“Yeah… just exactly how am I going to deal with my memory loss when I wake up?” I say and once again, I feel my eyes glazing over again.

Uncle John comes closer to me and puts a hand on my head. He ruffles my hair like how he used to when I had short hair as a child. “We’ll say you had an accident.”

“Will I believe that?” I ask but immediately, I knew I would. For a person who had their driver’s license for less than a year, I already weaseled my way out of four speeding tickets.

“You’ll want to believe it,” Uncle John says nicely, leaving me confused as he steps out of the room.

I close my eyes and take a couple of deep breaths in.

As much as I want to have the past few months of Bouvier flash across my eyes, before the thoughts will be no more, I don’t do that. I don’t ponder on it. However, I think of the six friends I made, the two I lost and the one I gained. I’m going to miss each and everyone of them and—

Holy shit.

I’m not going to remember who my first was.

Now that’s something that will bug me a whole of a fucking lot.