Morph [EDITING] || Wattys 2017 Winner

~THIRTY FOUR~

A/N: I'm posting an extra chapter this week to give you guys a MASSIVE thank you! Morph reached #29 in Adventure yesterday, and I absolutely could not be more thrilled - so thank you all for supporting this story, and voting, commenting and following! :)

~amelie~

Three days after my mother disappears, Elian decides to carry out some last minute rescue missions. Just like we did before my father's revelations about Roman - but this time, all at once. All three of them, Dad, Elian, Markus - I'm still not sure exactly when he became one of the inner circle - work on plans and strategies twenty four hours a day, and at the end of the fifth day they announce it. Six teams will be going - five I don't know, but the last one is Genevieve's, and it includes Thomas and Cerise, the weather manipulator, as well as Minerva, the invisible girl. Hunter, the twins and I are confused that we're not going, but when we confront Elian he just waves us off, and gives us some excuse about still needing time after you-know-who left. But we haven't gone on an official mission in way too long, and even though I've been out of the compound multiple times on my own the others are getting restless. We need a mission, and we need it soon, but Elian refuses to let us go. So when the six chosen teams start to prepare in the kit room, I'm training and trying to expand my abilities. I know Amber and Lila are with Matthew and my sister, and I know I should probably be there too, witnessing their meeting. Dad's gone too. But something holds me back, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm just trying to distract myself from trying to work out what it is, for as long as I can.

"Hey," comes a voice, startling me.
I turn round to see Hunter standing there with a half-smile. "Hey."
"You okay?" His question isn't just the standard conversation opener. He's genuinely worried about me.
"Yeah," I say, looking down.
"You don't look okay."
I stare at him for a second, and he takes a step closer. "What makes you think that?"
He waves his hand around the room. "This. Training while your relatives are meeting for the first time. Amelie... normally you would be there," he adds, frowning. "Something's wrong, because you're not acting like yourself."
I brace a hand against the wall and sigh. "I just... it's so hard, so confusing, all these things that are happening. All these people that aren't who they seem. Dad, Ryan, Roman, even my mother..."
"Your mother?" he frowns. "Isn't she... where is she?"
"She disappeared. Right after she had a huge argument with Dad. I don't even know what they were talking about, and he's refusing to tell me..."
"Hey," he says, laying a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. We're going to sort everything out."
I look up at him. "How?" I whisper.
His worry shows on his relatively tranquil expression before fading again, as quickly as it came. "I... I don't know. But we will."

There's a long pause then, and neither of us knows what to say. But I'm happy enough that someone is here with me, even if they're silent. I'm glad that someone has thought to check on me, and now that they've found me needing help, they're staying.

Suddenly, Hunter looks up, as if remembering something that only just occurred to him. "We need to be in the control room soon," he says. "Elian wants us to help guide the teams through their missions."
"Okay," I say quietly, casting my gaze around the messy training room, objects scattered all around it.
He notices. "I'll cover for you for a bit, if you need to clean this up."
"Thanks."

Hunter smiles, and walks away, leaving me alone again. Quickly and quietly, I begin collecting apparatus from around the room, gathering it in my arms and taking it to the left wall, which slides up to reveal a storage space. I pile in the equipment, trying to make sure it doesn't topple, and then I fetch another load. It only takes five minutes, and then I'm walking out and aiming for the planning room.

When I get there, blue light illuminates me and I stare. I've never been in this room while a mission has been in progress before. Glowing blue screens line the walls, and there are chairs in front of each group of screens. Camera feeds, blueprints, pictures of the team carrying out the rescue. I spot Thomas' face in one corner of the room, and walk over. Lila is sitting in front of his team's screens, monitoring their progress and helping them through.

As I watch, she says into her microphone, "Stay alert. They know you're there." She looks down at her map for a second, and snaps her head back up to watch the team, telling them to "turn right, then go straight until I tell you, and then the cell block is to your left."

Presumably her team says something back, because she then starts a heated debate about which way to turn. I look around the room at the different screens. Markus seems to be manning two at once, and I realise they're probably mine and Hunter's jobs. Suddenly someone clears their throat behind me.

Elian says, "Where's Hunter? He was supposed to bring you over here."
I frown. "He went ahead of me. Is... he's not here?"
"No," Elian answers, brow furrowing. "We really need him. Markus is doing both your jobs, for now, but he and I need to start linking the missions together so everyone can get out safely and at the same time. We need you two to take over your teams." He pauses. "Can you find Hunter? Quickly?"
"I'll try," I reply, and that seems good enough for him, because he walks away to the wide table in the centre of the room and starts sorting through the documents all over it. It's clear the conversation's over, so I walk out.

I stride through the corridors quickly, trying to find Hunter as fast as I can. But as I reach one of the medical rooms I hear voices, and I realise they're both male. And they're both familiar. So I halt, and I frown. I haven't seen these two people interact closely for a long time. In fact, it almost seemed like Dad was avoiding Hunter, ever since Matthew joined us, ever since my parents' argument drove my mother to disappear. The voices float out of the doorway, quiet and serious, and they reach my ears.

"...something I have to tell you," comes my father's voice.
"I'll get the others."
Dad's voice rises in volume. "No! I mean..." he continues quickly, "...just you."

I frown. Keeping secrets is not okay, especially when for almost the entire rebellion my father has been the enemy. I have to hear this, and though I feel slightly sick at the thought of betraying both their trusts, I understand that if this turns out to be something bad Elian needs to know.

And, on top of that, I have a sinking feeling that this "something" was the cause of the argument that made my mother disappear.

I can almost hear Hunter's frown as he says suspiciously, "Go on."
"Good. Good, okay. I... I don't know how to say this."
"Just try."
Dad takes a deep breath. "Hunter, I... I knew your parents."

A bolt of shock shoots through me, and the air becomes electrically charged with Hunter's silence. The hairs on the of my neck stand on end.

"What?"

The single word snaps something inside me, and I realise how wrong it is that I'm hearing this. This is none of my business - it's between a man who holds the memories of two dead people, and their son. So I turn away, and as quickly and quietly as I can I start stepping away.

"I knew them, and I killed them."