ELEMENT

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Voice of Reason

The back door to Cole's house swung open with a creak, and slammed shut. The frame nearly separated from the wall.

He walked into the backyard, kind of angry. But mostly worried.

Cole's arms were crossed, and his movements were erratic. He was almost hesitating to call her, his breath huffing in an attempt to control his emotion.

And he sighed, giving in. "Meadow!"

Meadow's voice called from the door he slammed shut, like she hadn't just appeared there. "You're angry about something."

He nodded passive-aggressively. "Lots of mixed emotions."

Her finger ran across the doorframe, thinking to herself that she could fix it. "...I didn't know you'd find out."

"Oh!" Cole laughed sarcastically. "So it was meant to be a secret! That's just fucking peachy!"

"You haven't yelled at me in years, don't start again now."

"Are you fucking serious?!" It was more angry that Meadow had ever heard him sound. "What are your goddamn priorities? Why can't you just—?!"

"Don't yell at me."

"You realize what the risks are, and you still do it!" Cole huffed, ignoring Meadow's blank statements. "Thinking it's the noble thing! You'll die out there, you know that, right?!"

"Cole, don't yell at me."

"You're so irresponsible. This is what I was just saying!" Cole came closer, his arms flapping. "I can't even leave you alone for over an hour!"

"Cole!" Meadow's voice was sharper than a blade, but still Cole ignored the stab.

"You need to take a fucking break from this!"

"I messed up," Meadow reasoned, "and this is how I have to fix it."

"The world doesn't always need saving, Meadow! You're not always going to have to be the hero!"

"I know perfectly well what I have to do."

"Do you?!"

Pfft. Do you really?

"Yes, I do." Meadow retaliated. "And you're being a right pissface about this."

"You wanna know how I found out?!" Cole spat back, more angry than he could control. "An overlapping variable, that's how! You're being embedded in the past, you're interfering with our parents' lives, with MY life—"

"If you yell at me one more time, Cole—"

"You're so fucking irresponsible! You're acting like a child, and I just wish you'd ground yourself and have a sense of mortality!"

"Cole, I am not interested in having this conversation." Meadow's irritation shined through her eyes as she stared up at him. "Stop yelling at me. Now."

"...Is this why your eyes are like that?"

"No!" Meadow's voice cracked in surprise. "No, that's--it's unrelated!"

"You scare me, Meadow." His voice almost became calmer for a second, before he remembered that he shouldn't back down. "You put yourself into all these situations, and I'm just sitting on the sidelines and hoping you survive!"

"I always do, don't I?"

"No, because what happened a few days ago—"

"Do not bring that up." Meadow pointed. "That was different. That was another timeline."

"Meadow, it was more than once."

"...Maybe."

"Do your friends even—"

"No, and they never will. They don't need to hear about this." Meadow raised a hand. "As soon as this is over, I promise you, I'm done, okay?"

"Meadow." Cole was standing over her, taking her hand. "You're going back?"

She inhaled sharply, not wanting to answer the question.

"Please. I know you're attached at this point, but you have to stop."

"You know I have to do this, Cole."

"And you know you never had to do anything."

"Please, just—let me handle this."

"Look who's begging who!" Cole seemed to get more aggressively persistent. "You can't be this dimwitted."

"Let go of my hand."

"What happens when you mess up so bad, he recognizes you? When Mom recognizes you?"

"Let go!" She gritted her teeth, not looking at him anymore.

"Stop playing God and just listen to me! You're powerful, I get it, but it won't be enough!"

"You don't understand anything!" Her eyes flashed purple, just for an unnoticed moment.

"You can't keep pretending that this is helpful! You're starting to act like Peter—"

And before she'd realized what she'd done, Cole's grip had loosened as he backed away. He held his hand with his other as he seemed to stare down in contempt horror, Meadow returning the look.

Cole's hand was covered in blood, dripping onto the grass. It wasn't severely injured, just cut on the palm. Meadow was holding a small purple spike, appearing through anger. And as she realized what happened—what she did to her brother—it disappeared, and she stared at her own hands in desperation.

Meadow took a sharp breath, walking towards her brother. "Cole, I'm-"

"Just go." His voice was small, whispering, but unwavered.

"I'm so, so sorry, I didn't realize what I'd done! I just got so—"

"Angry?" Cole's tone was laced with anger. Hate. But not for his sister.

"Cole, please, I'm sorry."

"Go, Meadow."

She turned away, hesitating before she tried to teleport away.

And then:

"You should have let him kill me."

She turned back to him, breathless. "What?"

"It would have hurt way less than this."

Meadow didn't respond. She disappeared. The world was quiet again.

And Cole turned away to fix his wound. "She's going to get herself fucking killed."

To Be Continued in Chapter 30