The Elementai

Chapter 9

"Ex! You're supposed to run away from the zombie!"
"But if I get in close, I can kill it."
"You mean it can kill YOU. Don't make me lose."
"I know what I'm doing, Lex!"
"DUDE! RUN THE OTHER FREAKIN-"
"GAME OVER," the game narrator announced. Lexa threw her console on the floor violently, giving Ex a sullen pout. He smiled sheepishly.
"It's just a videogame, Lex."
She punched his shoulder hard. "Ouch!"
"It's just pain, Ex," she mocked. He shook his head, grinning. "So," he said, getting up to turn the game off. "How's your connection going?"
"Ugh."
"I'll take that as not good." He paused. "It's a connection so...you could say you guys have an attachment, right? Sort of a...relationsh-"
SPLASH! A sharp stream of water hit Ex's face. He spat it out, half-choking and half-laughing.
"Just teasing, Lex."
"Not funny, man. Not funny." Lexa walked out of Ex's cabin, heading towards Fighting class. He followed. They walked past the Science labs, the Medics class, climbed over the wall (even though they easily could have used the door) and reached the Fighting class across from Commander's fancy shmancy office. They entered the class to find most people already there, practising.
"Wanna duel today?" Ex enquired. Lexa grinned. "You're on, Lupusi."
"It's just Lupus. Lupusi is plural."
In reply, Ex got another shot of water straight up his nose.

"You know," Ex warned after a few punches and kicks were exchanged with Lexa, "Lupusi are getting stronger. More powerful. You can back out now while you're still unharmed."
"No chance."
He dodged her water-whip and morphed into a Lupus, using his speed and scratching her arm. She gritted her teeth and blindly shot water, hitting nothing. Ex turned human and tripped her, then morphed and hung his claws over her throat, pinning her down with his other paw.
She glared up at him. He seemed to be smirking even in his Lupus form.
The instructor came over and declared Ex the winner. Lexa angrily stood up, not saying a word. "You are using your skills well, Xavier," the instructor said in his husky voice. They called him Coach D, although he preferred Instructor Dawson. He was a muscular man in his thirties and gave them advice using a strange mix of sport and philosophy. "It is resourceful to go back and forth between your form, as it enables you to morph faster. It also makes you more powerful, giving you ability to tranform more easily when there is no crescent moon. You know we are not as strong on any day except the crescent moon, but that is changing."
"As for you," he said, turning to Lexa. "You are relying too much on emotion and not thinking with a clear mind. You are too impulsive. You have to focus and find the weak spots where you can act. Stop being so temperamental."
"What? So Ex did nothing wrong? This is not fair," Lexa said, "Just 'coz you're a Lupusi doesn't mean you should be biased towards your own kind."
Ex's eyes were wide and Instructor Dawson leaned down to Lexa. "This is why Commander made Philosophies compulsory. You have to clear your mind and get thoughts like that OUT. Now, drop down and give me twenty!"
'Yup,' Lexa thought as she started doing push-ups. 'From philosophical teacher to harsh sports coach just like that.'

Shouting. His parents ignoring him. A feeling of anger-so much anger, bottled up. Rejection. And something blurry; fuzzy, like he was blocking it out. Lexa tried and tried to see it, but-
A flash, and Lexa was back beside the river. Alex looked fatigued, leaning against a tree behind him. But once again he put on an unreadable expression. Lexa stood, balancing herself as she felt dizzy, then looked at Mr Pascal. "I can't do this."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't see how it's getting us anywhere, sir. Plus, there's something he's not letting me see." Alex walked over to them.
"You just aren't doing it properly."
"Yes I am! There is no way to do it, alright? I don't know--it just makes no sense."
"It will in time," said Mr Pascal. "This is only the beginning phase."
"We don't have time, sir! We could actually be doing something useful-preparing troops, weapons, defence systems. Yet here we are pretending to be meditating hippy psychics!" Lexa stormed off. Mr Pascal called after her but she didn't turn back.
This had been on her mind for the past few days. She couldn't take it anymore. So what if they could see each other's memories? How the hell was that helping them? It was just making the problem worse.
Someone grabbed her arm. She wrenched it out of the grip and turned. "Don't even try," she said before Alex could speak. "I'm not doing this. It's pointless, Carter."
"Look," he said, "As much as I hate it, we have the connection."
"You know what else will have a connection? My fist with your face. Shove off!" She turned to leave but he pulled her back.
"It's not pointless. Read this." He dug a book out of his backpack and handed it to her.
"The world's ending and you want me to read a novel."
"It's about connections-one of the few books on them."
"Yeah yeah, they're rare or whatever. But I'm not reading this," she said, handing it back, "And I'm done. I'd like to actually do something useful. And this...this isn't it."
"You can't run from it. There's a lot we can do if-"
"You sound like the Philosophers!"
"I know the potential of this!"
"How? Oh wait, maybe I'd know if you freakin' let me see into your mind. But you wanna stay Mr Elusive, Mysterious Guy? Fine by me. Because you have some dark secret and you're scared. You are a coward!"
"You're the coward! Running from the only chance we have-that the world has!"
"It's not the only chance! You're just so desperate to help because your parents don't care about you and you want to work that rejection away by helping people. Newsflash: this isn't gonna help no one, Carter! And yeah, I saw that memory," she added, seeing his slightly startled expression.
"At least I have parents," he said darkly, striking a sensitive part of Lexa. She flinched.
"I see why your parents don't want you. One look at you and it's obvious."
"You're concerned with only yourself." He chuckled darkly. "You can't even get over yourself enough to see the bigger picture!"
"The bigger picture is that the Dakai are attacking and we don't have time! And for all I know, you're one of them!"
An eerie silence fell as Lexa realised what she had said. Alex's eyes were cold, expressionless, but she could see he was angrier than usual by his set jawline, the flicker of hurt in his dark eyes.
HISS! Fire in the shape of a dagger was at Lexa's throat. She merely blinked, but inside was terrified that he might actually do it. His anger controlled him after all, and his eyes...so cold that she could've gotten hypothermia.
But then the fire disappeared, and so did Alex. Lexa did a face-palm.
This would not end well.