Gears | A Rainbow Quest Street Racing AU

A New Face

Just because- Official art in the banner :D Completely unrelated to the chapter, but Void boyo xD

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Thursday,  September 20th - 1:24pm - Present day

"El!! Where are you?!" I look up from the blindfold in my hand to Elemental who had an unfamiliar coldness to his face, and look back around for who was calling for him. Time quickly hides behind a junkpile as a tall guy with black strands in his golden hair, silver lip piercings, and a black sleeveless leather jacket came strolling around the corner.

"Mare, what's up? What are you doing here?" Elemental places his hand on my shoulder and I look at him nervously. I didn't know this 'Mare' guy as any of Rain's friends.

"Need to talk. Heard you had come here. This Rain's runt?" His voice was gruff and low as I watch him look around the junk yard before his eyes settle on me. I feel Elemental squeeze my shoulder gently as I tense up, glaring at him. I wasn't a runt- Who was this guy to talk to me like that?!

"Rain's brother, yeah. ...Have you- Have you heard?" The guy pauses and takes a long look at Elemental, seeming- lost.

"What? What's up- I've not gotten a text in that damn group chat Rain made. In fact, he's usually one to talk if something was up." He digs out his phone and flashes it, narrowing his eyes. "In fact if this is his Runt, where is Rain. Wasn't he always around the kid when he wasn't street racing or with us-... I-... Oh Crap. I-" The harsh look in his eyes disappears as he trails off and looks away from Elemental and I, holding up the back of his palm to his mouth. After a moment, he silently looks back at me with a look of pity in his eyes, which is something that shocked me with his initial come-off.

"El... Rain's gone, isn't the bastard?" My heart clenches up at the words, even if they weren't directed at me. I feel Elemental nod gently as I pull my knees into my chest and lay my chin on my arms.

"Goddammit!" He kicks a piece of scrap metal with his face setting to anger again. "I told him to not mess around with any gangs! Now- Ugh, Crap. El, We need to tell the others-" He starts to go into a more serious mode, but I cut him off. ...No, Not a gang.

"It wasn't a gang... A piece of the old highway bridge to the east's support cracked and- fell. Rain shoved me to get out of it's path," I murmur tiredly, my voice kind of raspy. It always got that way after I cried. But I still- didn't want to remember that sickening sound I had heard when that huge piece of concrete fell on Rain...

I feel Elemental bring me in close with a hug, his strength not being that hard as he would start to oversqueeze me. He sighs and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath in of his smell. It wasn't Rain's, but it was the best I had right now.

"Damn... That- That bad? I- Freaky." I see him glance off at the skyline before the guy's head snap up and he looks off at a junk pile, not the one Time was hiding behind.

"Ay! Rats! Get your asses out here and face us like men!" His hand goes to his pocket and I follow his gaze to see a blonde and a green hair making their way over to us, both their hands up. Thera and Bolt... Must have been worried about me. 

"They're with us, Mare. Thera and Bolt. They aren't apart of any gangs," Elemental says to the guy. After a slight pause to look over the two, he hmphs before he takes his hand out of his pocket. Empty.

"Aight. Trust you on that one El- Wait, you, blonde. You're that kid Royal taught a lesson to yesterday, yeah? You've got guts to tussle with him, you know." The guy watches as Bolt and Thera walk over and I notice Bolt wasn't looking at any of us. Wait- Bolt had his hair down over an eye.

"Bolt- You didn't." Thera turns to look at Bolt with a pissed note in his voice, which in of itself made him dangerous. Bolt looks away with his hands in his pockets, not looking at Thera. To be fair, Thera was scary when he learned about one of us getting hurt. He was that overprotective of us. However, I managed to see the black eye bolt had as he turned his head to look away from Thera. Ugh- I knew Bolt had his pride he held over being tough without being a gang member, but he didn't need to get into scuffles with gang members. Speaking of which. Was this guy a-

"Bolt." Thera has a note of warning in his voice as he glares at Bolt and crosses his arms. Bolt rolls his eyes, and mumbles something to Thera that makes him sigh and place his hands down. After a moment, the guy chuckles, but looks away then at me again with the same look of pity as I meet his eyes. 

"Look. Kid, know your brother was one of the best street racers and guys out there. He had and still has my highest respect for what he did. You ever need anything from me and my gang, let me know. I'll put in a good word to my leader for you." He says as he walks over to me and crouches down in front of me, then ruffles my hair slightly roughly. I glance away from him, then down at the piece of cloth in my hand, staring at it for a moment. How can he be a gang member when he was so- Nice. They all tended to be scary and mean and all over dangerous to tussle with. I feel Elemental squeeze my shoulder and I shrug.

"It's known, Mare... Call a meeting with the others at the diner and I'll meet you guys there later." Elemental says and I close my eyes. Wait- Others???

"El- Who else did Rain know? I didn't know he hung out with anybody else but you," I say and meet his golden eyes which had shock in them. But he rubs his head and sighs, shrugging.

"Well, anybody else besides me, would be Mare, Royal, Professor, and Light. No clue on anybody else. Speaking of Light, Mare- Is he working tonight? Think he'll be able to meet up?" Elemental looks to the guy who opens his mouth to say something before his phone goes off with a 'Message from: Fucking Anime-Protagonist Light' and he looks at it.

"... Well it seems like he found out already. Must have ended up during his rounds." The guy stands up and shuts off his phone, putting it away in his pocket before he looked at Elemental. Elemental sighs and nods silently before he rubs my back and stands up. I was about to stand up as well before I hear a low mutter and the guy whirls around at Thera and Bolt.

"Say that again, punk, and I'll black out your other eye! Or do worse!" Elemental quickly goes to stop him, giving him a look as he had his hand firmly on this guy's shoulder. I see a flash of movement and Time dashes around the guy, moving to me and wrapping his arms around me. I let out an 'Ack!' as Time ends up shoving me to the ground. Yet I manage to look at Bolt who's face is pale and Thera's standing in front of him and the guy.

"Mare, Thera. STAND DOWN. Or else I'll kick both of your asses! Clear?!" Time helps me sit up and rubs his neck, mouthing a 'sorry' as he looks at Elemental. I look as well and notice the guy was holding a switch-blade and pointing it at Thera and Bolt as Elemental was dead staring him down.

"Gah... Fine. Only cause I know you El."

"Sorry El." 

The two groups tense down and I let out a deep breath. Didn't notice I was holding it I guess. Geez... I breath out gently and out of nowhere, I miss Rain. God. This was going to be hard... How can I live without him?! He was the only one I could trust to calm me down or protect me-

Out of nowhere, Time hugs me; A gesture he only showed Elemental. I look at him, tense, but then feel something drip down my cheek and bury my face into his hood.

"This isn't good around Sabs. Let's move this elsewhere. Mare- Actually... Think the other's would mind if Ti and Sabs tagged along?" I squeeze Time before I move back and wipe my eyes with the edge of my hoodie sleeve, giving him a semi-smile. With a nod, I silently thank him and he nods back, acknowledging my thanks for the hug. This wasn't the first time Time and I actually understood each other without words. We both hung out a lot while Rain was out with El, so we got to know each other pretty well.

"Sabs, we're skipping school. I'll call in since you and Ti have the same classes." I whip to look at El in shock then quickly glance back at Time who has a look of confusion he was staring at his brother with.

"Wait- W-what-" I mumble and meet El's eyes. They had that sternness in them again, but he had a bit of a smile on his face.

"You said you wanted to know who else Rain hung out with."