FIRE [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 7: The Reshaping of a Pure Mind

 Dominick, Gavin and Aimee went at their keyboards, pressing buttons before they knew which buttons to press; they knew what was going on outside and that they had to move fast. No casualties.

"Tell us when you find something," Aimee and Gavin articulated, without looking up from their screens, not even to acknowledge their unified speech.

Dominick retorted, "If you are waiting for me to get us out of this, we are doomed."

"We are all doomed if you don't focus right now!" yelled Valerie, still cooped up in the chopper with her brother, before they gave out further orders.

The soldiers and agents who had dispersed from their posts had met towards the middle floors of AIM. Levels seventeen to twenty were overflowing with men and women, firing their armaments and taking cover behind the expanses of expensive furniture – Maisons du Monde and the like. Windows and chandeliers were taken out in the process, feathers and stuffing from opulent seats and their cushions flew through the air like confetti, alongside bullets and bullet casings. The number of breathing agents was still abundant.

Meanwhile, Stefan remained caged with Abba, thinking about how much he would rather be fighting out there. He could not just sit there, useless to everyone except Abba, the last person he wanted orders from. Break up with Aimee...

"Think about it," said Abba. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Stefan; I am trying to show you the truth. What good is there in loving someone who is not in love with you? You know about Suzanne and Benjamin?"

He nodded, "Aimee told me. You knew?"

"A few days after Jane or Celeste was born, they confessed that she was theirs. I forgave my dear sister, and I forgave Benjamin, obviously, that is what married people do. You and Aimee are not married, last time I checked."

"Get to the point, Abba," he sighed.

"I think you should break up with my daughter –"

"Aimee," he strongly interjected.

She brushed off the comment, "– because she is in love with Gavin, and she will either cheat on you or come between you and your best friend. You will lose trust in both of them."

"You just say anything, don't you? That's not gonna happen. She's the most loyal human being I've ever met, and you'd know that if you'd actually played the role of her mother instead of letting her think you were dead!"

"Stefan, I'm not your enemy," she eased into her words. "I could have taken her back months ago, I would have, but I saw that she needed you. She loved you. But she doesn't anymore. You just cannot see it because you are blinded by the love you feel for her."

He choked back his tears, or tried to no success. "I don't trust you."

"You don't have to trust me," she sat up from her cerise chair and circled around the desk to his side. "Just think for yourself. And for Aimee as well, set her free."

She sat atop the desk and summoned back that monochrome screen, told it to rewind to that morning at Gavin's house, when Aimee was with him. They were alone, dancing, laughing.

"What is this?"

Abba did not reply, only nodded toward the screen so that Stefan would stay focussed on it.

Aimee stumbled, but Gavin caught her. And at that moment when she gazed at him, perplexed, faintly enchanted, Abba shook her head, pretending to be both heartbroken and disappointed in them. She crossed one leg over the other and held her chin up with her palm, her elbow on her knee, as Gavin fought the temptation to kiss Aimee. Then, Abba slid her finger across the seemingly impalpable screen, before it dematerialised.