Dignified

Chapter twenty one

Zach had no idea why he had yelled Estemus' name first, but he was glad he did. There was a loud thud as Estemus appeared, hitting the ground hard. The jocks looked up and stopped hitting Zach.

"Get the hell off of him." Estemus growled lowly, his eyes dark. One of the boys laughed. "Oh yeah? What're you going to do if we don't?" He sneered.

"You don't want to know."

"Yeah, that's because you're not going to do anything."

Estemus narrowed his eyes and appeared behind the jock, hitting him hard across the head. "I'm sorry. What was that?" He asked, sticking his ear out sarcastically.

The other jocks all stepped back, eyes wide with disbelief. "What the hell?"

Estemus turned to them, hitting his boot on the ground and yelling. The boys scattered and ran, running into one another. He grabbed the boy on the floor's jacket and pulled him up, pushing him forward. "Get the hell out." He ran, nearly in tears, trying to catch his friends. Estemus turned and offered his hand to Zach. He eyed his hand closely, and decided to take it. "I thought you wanted to kill me?" He said, brushing himself off.

"Yes. I want to be the one to kill you. Not some high school idiots."

Zach nodded, looking around for a place to run.

"Running from me wouldn't be wise, Zach." Estemus said, reading his mind. "Why are you even going to go back?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Zach frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you even going to go back to your brothers? You'll just go back to your stupid little penthouse with your idiotic father who doesn't give a damn about you."

Zach's face hardened a bit. "I'm going back because I love them."

"Do you, Zach? Do you love them?" Estemus asked, trying to corrupt him. "They don't care about you, Zach. For crying out loud, your brother pushed you off a building!" He yelled. "What makes you think he loves you? And you know for a fact that Scott doesn't love you, so why do you even bother going back?"

Zach clenched his fists. "Shut up. That's not true. They love me, I know they do. I don't care if my dad doesn't love me, but I know my brothers do." He said firmly.

"Stop lying to yourself, Zach. Instead, why don't you come with me? I've been watching you, Zach, and I know you crave power. Join me on Chronis, and I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams. Whatever kind of power you want, I can give it to you." Said Estemus. Zach bit his lip, pressing his eyebrows together in thought. The offer sounded very tempting. And Clark did push him off a building and had picked Scott over him. Estemus grinned deviously, approving of Zach's thoughts. "What kind of powers have you always dreamed of having?" He asked.

"Don't you wish you could walk through walls or predict the future?"

Zach nodded without realizing, completely absorbed with everything Estemus was saying. Estemus took a step closer to Zach and lowered his voice. "I can get you any kind of power you want, Zach, and all I want in return is your brothers. Surrender your brothers to me, and you and I will take over Chronis, becoming the two strongest leaders to have ever lived." He said, raising an eyebrow. "Think about it Zach. You know where to find me." Zach blinked and Estemus disappeared. He looked around the school parking lot and realized he was completely alone. "Walk through walls.." He muttered, loving the idea. "Predict the future.." Three Chronics. Fire, the ability to walk through walls, and being able to predict the future. There'd be nothing cooler than that but was it worth the price? Would having unlimited power be worth the lives of his brothers? Zach's thoughts were interrupted as someone yelled his name. He turned and saw Clark pulling in next to him. "What the hell are you doing? Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?" Clark shouted, eyes wide with anger.

"Sor-"

"Just shut up and get in. I want to go home."

Zach glared at Clark for a second before getting inside.

"You're such an idiot, Zach. Did you really take the long way around just for some stupid girl who was probably out of your league?" Clark said angrily as he began to drive. "You're always making me do more than is necessary."

Zach rolled his eyes and leaned against the window. Maybe Estemus was right. Maybe he wasn't loved as much as he thought. Maybe it would just be better to turn his brothers in to Estemus and gain power for himself..

Once they pulled into the garage, Zach jumped out of the car and rapidly made his way to the penthouse, feeling the need to be alone. Ryan grinned as he got out. After a long day, he could finally see Peyton. He considered his options and decided against the elevator. "I'll see you guys upstairs." He said, turning the corner into the alley behind the apartments where he'd been attacked. He looked around to make sure no one was watching and jumped, flying straight up. He didn't stop until he reached the top, front flipping onto the railing. Ryan grinned, having landed perfectly on the bar with perfect balance. He jumped down, throwing his bag into the sofa and heading across the hallway. He knocked on Peyton's door, a smile on his face. Peyton grinned when she saw him, stepping outside and closing the door behind her. "Hey, how was school?" He asked, looking down at their hands that were only inches away from each other.

"Pretty boring. Same as any other year. Mr. Hampton pulled his same prank on the sixth graders with his wig." She said, laughing.

"That prank is seriously getting old. It was funny at first because nobody knew he was wearing it, but now it's just silly." He said, grinning.

Peyton smiled, leaning against the wall. "What about you? How was the new school?"

Ryan put right hand up on the wall beside her and leaned on it.

"Eh, it was alright. Well, sort of." He said, shrugging.

"What happened?"

"We got into a fight with some of the jocks."

Peyton's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh my gosh, were you guys okay?" She asked worriedly, bringing her hand up to his arm. Ryan shivered at her touch, but tried to not grow nervous.

"Yeah, I mean, we do have super powers. It was nothing, really. But there's like no teachers monitoring so it's really weird. They can do whatever they want and get away with it. None of the teachers found out about it." He said.

"Oh...okay, good." She said, reluctantly moving her hand.

He nodded. "Did you get any homework?" He asked.

"Loads. Speaking of which, I should probably get working on that.." Ryan nodded again and stepped back. "I'll see you later." She said, waving and stepping back into her apartment.

"See ya." He said, but she didn't hear him. He sighed slightly and headed back into his place, running his fingers through his hair.

In the other room, Zach sat alone with his knees pulled up against his chest. He sighed in frustration, laying back on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. Was he really capable of doing something like that to his own brothers? Maybe his brothers didn't love him, but he loved them. Then again, he would also love having more powers. Instead of always being pushed aside, people would have to listen to him on Chronis. He'd become a ruler and never again would he have to deal with being ignored. Never again would he have to deal with being bullied, or being pushed around. "I don't know what to do.." He said quietly.

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