Mokita (TST FF)

Chapter 7

The familiar man from her memories sat with his feet propped up on a large wooden desk, ignoring everything going on around him, instead, focusing on the old book in his hand. Food was scattered all over the place; various fruit, vegetables and other packages containing god knows what. I, however, was more focused on the way that this man could act so casual whilst surrounded by kids that had gotten their lives ruined by the organization that he worked for.

I snorted loudly when I saw that the clothes he wore were white. Purity my ass.

"Who's this shuck face?" Minho exclaimed, finally noticing Janson.

The man glanced up, a smirk falling over his lips as he saw me standing just metres away from him.

"Emma!" He grinned, sounding as if he was the happiest person in the world. Everyone in the room turned to look at me. "I assumed you would have been dead by now!"

"I hoped you would have been dead by now." I snapped back, my dislike for him showing. He looked surprised for a second, before his look turned to one of confusion. "Miss me, Janson?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, looking nothing but speech less. I smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold the shuck up. You know this guy?" Minho asked, seeming as if he were offended.

I shrugged. "I wish I didn't. He was in one of my memories when I first went through the changing." I explained, and he squinted his eyes at me before nodding.

"Good or bad?" He questioned, eyeing the guy accusingly.

I rolled my eyes. "What do you think, Minho? The guy doesn't really scream 'I want to be your friend'."

"Well you didn't really scream 'I'm actually a bad guy', but I guess you can't really judge people by first impressions." He snapped, throwing his hands up in the air. I stepped back, a bad feeling flooding the pit of my stomach. Almost immediately a look of regret flashed across Minho's face, and he opened his mouth to speak, but was effectively cut off.

"Well look what we have here. The lovers are quarrelling." I clenched my fists, biting down on my lip to stop myself from saying something that I would most likely regret. "Just like the last time you saw each other before Minho was sent into the first trial."

"What is this shank even talking about? As if I would date Emma." Minho snorted.

I took a deep breath, trying to control my emotions. It didn't work. "Because you'd never even think about dating the bad guy, right? I'm sorry, but who have you been calling baby girl for the past year, Minho? Who have you been constantly flirting with, despite the fact that I have a boyfrie—"

"Oh my god, Emma, you are so full of yourself. Whenever a guy pays you just the tiniest bit of attention, you assume he's head over heels for you! Do you honestly think that if you met Newt after the Glade, when everything was back to normal, that he'd fall in love with you like he did?"

I stayed silent, not really knowing what to say, or think for that matter. Newt stayed frozen in place, his eyes wide, as if he didn't believe what Minho had just said. I didn't really believe that he would ever say something like that either, and yet, he still continued.

"You can bet your pretty little face that after all of this, Newt is going to run away with a girl just as screwed up as he is. You just happened to be the first girl he saw in two years, so you were his only option." I brought my bottom lip between my teeth, my vision blurring as I stared weakly at the boy in front of me. Minho's previous regret was long gone, and he didn't care about how much he was affecting me.

Ben stepped forward, giving his friend a light, non-threatening shove backwards. "That's enough, man. Emma's your friend, not your enemy. Don't ruin that. She's already been through enough—"

"Why, because she watched Chuck get stabbed? Because he bled all over her precious clothing? Because it was her fault in the first place?"

My heart pounded in my chest, and I said nothing, the short intakes of breath starting to hurt. My hands went numb as I clenched and unclenched them at my sides, a cool bead of sweat running down my forehead. Lowering my head, I stared at the ground, trying to focus on one thing instead of the swaying room. A pounding headache ran through the back of my head, and I let out a low growl of pain, the only sound I could hear being Janson's sadistic chuckle.

"Oh, this is getting much better. I knew Emma had anger issues, but I didn't know she could control them quite like this." Janson laughed, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever seen in his life.

"What are you on about?" Minho growled, not even sounding the slightest bit confused.

"You didn't know? Emma's blood is very special, which is the reason that we brought her into the organisation in the first place. We called it Nepenthe. It means 'something that can make you forget grief or suffering'. Those people that tried to break in, with Emma's help, can be cured. There is, however, a catch."

"A catch?" Aris growled, his stepping forward to advance on the man. He got a mere three metres away before he smashed into something. He looked up in confusion, placing his hand flat against what seemed like an invisible wall.

"Yeah, you can't get through that. It's impenetrable." Janson shrugged, a smug look crossing his face. "Now one of you do me a favour and bring out Thomas? Make sure you give him something to eat as well, he might need it. Make sure he doesn't eat too fast however. Someone over there has already thrown up."

I squeezed my eyes shut to try and ignore the immense pain that pounded at my skull, not aware of who went to go retrieve my brother, who I assume, like everyone else, was angry at me. I felt like hitting something at the mere thought of it. My brother and one of my best friends hated me. My own boyfriend didn't even stand up for me when Minho questioned our entire relationship. Was what he said true? Did Newt only fall in love with me due to the circumstances?

I don't know how much time passed before Thomas entered the room, but when he did, he didn't notice me standing in the corner, my eyes closed in pain.

"Ah Thomas. Finally come to join the party. We were just discussing how your sister is saving the world." Janson smiled, grinning at Thomas like a madman whilst gesturing towards me in the corner. Thomas finally noticed me, and his eyes widened at my appearance. For once, I hadn't been crying, but I admit I must have still looked like complete klunk.

"What did you do to her?" Thomas asked, stalking towards Janson.

"Careful!" Aris called out, but Thomas ignored him, successfully slamming face first into the invisible wall. He let out a frustrated groan, running his hands over the flat surface as if to find a way to get to Janson.

"I didn't do anything. It was Minho who triggered her attack." Janson shrugged, carelessly examining his fingernails, as if he were bored out of his mind.

Thomas turned to Minho, who clenched his jaw and avoided his eyes.

"What did you say?" Thomas demanded, glaring at the older boy.

"Stuff." Minho muttered, something flashing across his face. He looked visibly pained, as if he had just only realised the things he had told me.

"None of that matters. In 47 minutes I implement phase 2 of the trials, so we have to get story time over and done with." Janson interrupted Thomas, who looked ready to kill Minho. I thought it ironic, considering that the stuff he had said to me earlier wasn't exactly the nicest.

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asked, clearly annoyed.

"As I was saying, Emma can save the world, but it comes at a cost. A very personal one at that." Janson said, ignoring Thomas, who seemed to lean forward slightly as he listened to the man speak. "Whilst Emma's blood might make people forget their grief and suffering, aka, curing them of the flare, with drawing it from her body does damage to her health, physically and mentally. With every drop of blood taken from her, her health plummets. We're taking away her nepenthe, so there's nothing left to make her forget her grief or suffering. Unfortunate really, especially in this world we live in."

Everyone went silent, until finally, Thomas spoke up, his voice so quiet that I could barely hear him and his eyes glistening with tears. "So she's dying?"