Elements

Chapter 5

Iodine P.O.V.

I was walking back from my class to my dorm, the teachers decided to give us the rest of the day off. As I clutched my binder to my chest and stared at the ground my mind raced through all of the possibilities of things that could happen in battle. When I reached my dorm I fumbled for my keys and sighed when I finally could hold them in my hands properly.

Turning around and leaning against the outside of the door, I bit my lip. I don't often feel this frightened. Not about myself at least.

When everyone was young, they let our parents come see us once a week. I loved it, and I feel it probably impacted me more than most of us. I couldn't forget their three promises they made. To each other and to me... And they expected me to promise the same.

"Put others before yourself, please. Our intellect may not be the same as your own power, but it's the closest we can get to you. Use your power for good, protect others. You may only be one person but you will make more of a difference if you die protecting someone than leading yourself to a abyss of death."

That one impacted me the most. They spoke wise words, never anything unimportant. It was always business with them. I'm sure this would be bad if I had grown up with them, but I hadn't, so they felt like the best parents ever. They never wasted any time we spent together.

"Stay around people with whom there is a circle of impact. They must impact you, and you for them. This cycle is as important as any, as learning to lose and grieve is just as vital as learning to love and memorialize success. For there is failure in life that cannot be avoided. You must make sure these failures are not caused by capriciousness."

Sure, at that point in life, I didn't understand half of that, but I wrote it down. I eventually came to understand it. Sometimes I would repeat this to Xenon but in fewer words. I hoped it would calm him down, it rarely worked, but at least it gave him something to think about.

"Pride is a sin. Let yourself be conceited, and you will surely perish in a gloriously painful way. If you let yourself be egotistical, you will die in an enormous black abyss of death."

That one kind of scared me. My parents basically told me that being proud would get me killed... I guess it was kind of true though.... Right after that my mother had won an award for her studies in ancient human history. She was happy, and so was my father. My mother had a heart attack right after she was handed the award, and my father committed suicide not long after.

I didn't hear about their deaths until three years after it had happened, when I was fifteen. It struck me like lightning to the heart, but only for a few days, since I hadn't seen them very much anyway. I remembered that around that time, everyone's parents except for Xenon's, since they had died in a car crash in which he was involved, had died in the span of three months.

I always thought it was strange. I couldn't believe how they just died like that, I began to think. Maybe it was the....

A loud clang shattered my train of thought. A metal water bottle rattled as it hit the floor. The hallway was silent before it happened, so it scared me half to death. Flustered, I turned to my door and unlocked and opened the door. They had enough girl rooms for most of us to have our own room, so I had one all to myself. I pushed the door shut and flopped down onto my bed.

I had a black and white chevron cover on my bed, and I sunk into it. I turned my head to see my binder sitting right in front of me. I reached for it and pulled out the sheet of our battle teams or waiting teams. Our teachers had given it to us, so that we could either find our teammates, or just get ready mentally.

I took a deep breath and unfolded the so very neatly folded sheet of paper. I closed my eyes when it was completely unfolded, bracing myself for seeing people i knew die. I took another deep breath and opened my eyes and stared down at the paper.

Iodine.

Well that's not a surprise, I mean, I'm supposed to be on my own team.

Nickel and Copper.

What a shock that they would put the two twins together. They would to horribly if they were apart, so I guess it would be in the school's best interest to keep them on the same team. 

Cesium.

I had never really talked to Cesium much, but nobody really has. She's extremely introverted and almost never talks to anyone. She would be a very good asset to the team though, her power was to take different gasses like oxygen and carbon dioxide and take them out of sections of air.

I read over the names probably three more times.  It would be so weird not being with Zinc, Xenon, or Argon. I read the last part of the letter.

You are to appear to training hereafter every day at six-o-clock a.m. sharp until battle. You will then appear on the front lines to be sent into battle. If one of you dies, another will take their place. If three of you die, you will take someone else's place. War is a dangerous place. You are to remain brave and determined before, during, and after your battle shifts and training. Training will start the morning after the day this note is sent out. 

We will not stop until we are safe.

We fight for freedom and life.

We are The Army of Elements.