Democracy

Years

I gasp awake, the icy water drenching me.
I killed Luke's father. I killed Dorian's father.
"Luke?" Fern calls, worry flooding her voice. In her hands is a an empty bucket, the contents of which seem to be over me. I rush to my feet out from the icy puddle.
"Fern?" I squint, that's her name, isn't it? Relief washes over her face and she grins stepping toward me. I look across at Satherine beside her who wears an equally relieved smile at my words. Why are they so relieved? In Satherine's hands is a baby, who she rocks in her arms.
"Satherine?" I question. Words are fogging up my head and her arubt change in expression almost escapes me. I collapse backward, causing Fern to rush forward to support me. Tears flood my eyes. "I killed him. I killed Luke's father," Fern meets Satherine's eyes.
Satherine swallows and sets the baby down in a little bed made from pillows. "He's still delirious, he can only remember some of the details. Take him to the kitchen," she says and Fern pulls me into the kitchen where I sit on a stool and am given a glass of water. Cold still whispering against my skin, my teeth chatter. Satherine joins us after a few minutes of Fern saying something or other to me. She wraps a warm towel around me and I fall asleep.
I wake up with a chill in my bones. The mist has cleared.
Harriet is watching me from a chair beside the bed. I straighten. It's wrong for her to see me like this. Before I can wonder where I am, I look for my sword, with the worry on Harriet's face I might need a weapon. She never worries. My sword is sheathed beside the bed. Finally, checking my surroundings I see I am in my bedroom at Wiltin's house. It doesn't fill me with the same comfortable feeling as the one I received when seeing my own bedroom in my home.
"What time is it?" I croak out to Harriet. She looks up, meeting my eye. "How did we get back here?" She looks over at my shoes laying on the ground by the door.
"It's 11.45, Cecilia took the baby." She says and then returns her glance to me. "You walked here yourself, don't you remember?" I nod my head at her, knowing she is lying. I have something more important to ask her.
"Why did you tell me your name was Satherine?" Her eyes light up and a grin stretches across her face. "Stop it, Harriet" I tell her causing her eyes to sparkle some more. "What's there to be happy about?"
"You're remembering!" She sings. "Do you know who Cecilia is?" Her face has settled back into it's normal expression but her eyes still sparkle.
"She's Fern. Why did I forget?" Her eyes dance some more hearing Fern's name but her face becomes somber hearing my question. She doesn't answer.
There is a knock at the door. Before I can answer it is being opened. Silo stands there, Chuck stands there, he hesitates a little seeing Harriet. "Chuck," I breathe out, not nearly loud enough for anybody to hear. What is going on?
"It's William," Chuck says, worry in his voice. "He's coming," I stiffen, the scar on my face trembles. I look at Harriet and gesture for Silo to enter. He understands what I want him to do and goes to stand to attention beside the window.
"Satherine, go over and sit at the table," she nods and heads over there removing her shawl, lowering the top of her dress and flattening her hair as she walks. I look down at myself and realise that I am covered in dirt. I rush over to the cupboard and stuff my coat in there and grab a drink. Immediately after the president walks in. His eyes sweep the room looking for any imperfections. Chuck stares at the ground and Harriet gets to her feet, curtsying. "Father," I greet, barely hiding my icy tone. He scowls at me, then squints a little looking at my cheek. He steps forward, gripping my chin and yanking my head up. He is studying my cheek for five more seconds before he finally lets me go.
"Rest is a better machine than I thought," he says. I give him a confused look and put my hand to my cheek; it's soft; there's no scar. I turn away from my father even though his irritation seems obvious on the face in the mirror. But in my reflection, there is no scar. I look down at my wrists; there's no scars there either. They're all gone. I've healed completely.
"What the hell?" I breathe out, then turn back to my father. Behind him, I see Harriet shoot Chuck a smug glance before once again glueing her eyes to the back of Wiltin's head.
"The first competition starts the day after tomorrow, to celebrate the wedding. You'll then have two days, and one after that competition." My father drolls on. He then steps back, looking across at Harriet who almost shudders under his eye. "You have a day," he announces before turning to the door.
The day comes too quickly and during none of that time do I get any answers. Harriet and Chuck are both too happy for me but I think we all became fearful after William's visit.
When I lead Harriet into the training room, her eyes light up. She grabs Chuck's arm, squealing. He laughs deeply next to her. Excited, she rushes to the other side of the room where two swords hang on the wall. She picks the left one up, running her eyes over it. Glittering along with her eyes, the jewels encrested in the top of the blade clink as her ring taps against it.
"That's her sword," Chuck leans over. I look at him, confused. Why is it here? How is it here? But before I can say anything, I notice the group sitting on the ring at the edge of the room. Some of the group watch me whilst the rest are gazing at Harriet, confused at her presence. I look over at her.
"Satherine, are you any good?" I ask, knowing the answer perfectly well.
"Fuck off, Tyler," she tells me, which I laugh to, but there is an audible amount of shock coming from the watching group. I draw my sword, edging forward. Behind me, Chuck leans back against the wall, chuckling.
Our swords meet and I quickly break the contact and jab forward but am caught by her guard and my sword is veered to the side. She ducks and swipes under my legs but I step back and spin around to beside her to cut her arm but again she blocks and spins to face me. Our swords meet again and I let her break the contact and feign an attack to the right but nick her left, causing her to suck in a breath for the pain. When her sword is swung around my head, I duck my head and kick her legs from beneath her. She falls to the ground but keeps a grip on her sword, dropping on her knees. She cuts upwards through the air but misses me. Before she has a chance to swing again, I dart forward and put my sword against her neck, letting her sword clatter to the ground.
"You always win," she sighs, "it's not fair," I laugh and pull her to her feet. Then we look at the group. They all look pretty shocked.
I clap my hands, before I speak. "Get into pairs, we're going to fight, just like Satherine and I just did. You don't have to use swords, it can be any weapon. At least once go without any weapons." I nod at them and they fall quickly into pairs. Several of them pick out the largest weapon they can find. It's when I notice Michelle sitting by herself that I realise we're missing a person. I move over to Satherine, "can you go with the girl over there? She's a massive bitch, be sure to mess her around a bit. I'll be back soon," Satherine nods and marches over to Michelle, still holding her sword. Silo stands at the door. He follows me out of the door silently but stops me when we enter an empty hallway.
"What's wrong Tyler?" He asks me, having placed a hand on my chest to stop me. I don't try to push past him. I know it wouldn't work.
"It's Luke, Dorian, he's not here. He was stabbed, Chuck. What if he's dying somewhere and it's all my fault because he wouldn't have been stabbed if it weren't for me? What if he's dead?" My voice has warped from it's usually calm tone into some high pitched rambling and I'm close to tears. I can't cry, not after all these years of trying not to. Chuck is looking at me with sympathetic eyes. "I need to find him," I tell Chuck and push past him, knowing that this time he'll let me through. Chuck moves forward as if to say something but stops as somebody rounds the corner into the corridor. For the rest of the slightly hurried walk, he lags behind me.
By all first appearances the dorm room is empty. I push my hand through my hair. What if he really is dead? I launch into desperately searching for Dorian in the beds. As I edge closer and closer to the last bed my franticness grows. It'll all be my fault if he is dead. I don't want to lose him. I can't lose him. The last bed is empty.
I crumble to the ground in frustration and this time, a tear escapes. The fly in the corner of the room stops buzzing as time stops. Chuck sighs, standing above me. He moves down to sit beside me.
"Tyler," he runs a hand through his hair. "Cecilia will kill me for saying any of this but Luke, he can't be dead, not from that stab wound." I look up at him, my eyes still a little watery."Luke, Dorian got that wound in 2020."
I stop. He can't be serious.
"2020," I repeat, astonished. He nods. "That was," I hesitate, unbelieving, "that was one-hundred years ago." He nods again. I fall back against the wall. "You can't be fucking serious."
He laughs a little. "I am, completely." He falls back against the wall too. "Dude, we're all over 100 years old. You, me, Harriet, Fern, Dorian." I stare at him for a second. How is that even possible?
"That doesn't make sense. How can humans live that long?"" He closes his eyes for a second, hesitating.
"Tyler, none of us are human," I lean forward. I knew that. Deep down, I knew I wasn't human. That much was confirmed in the visions- memories, I guess. But in those memories, they all were human. How come they aren't now?
"But you all, you all were human back then." I stutter out. He nods and looks as if he is about to speak, when Dorian enters the room. I rush to my feet. He sees me and stops.
"Luke," he breathes out. He remembers too. Relief floods my head.
"Where were you?" I ask, an involuntary smile spread across my face. His eyes glitter. Chuck stands up beside me.
"Dorian," he says, holding his hand out as if to calm him. He seems pretty calm to me already.
"I could feel the stab wound," Dorian says, slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. There's something icy in his stare. "Then I woke up." His voice is empty, devoid of anything good and something about it is causing a growing ache in my chest, dread.
Beside me Chuck shouts my name and tries to push me to the ground. At the last second, I look down and see the blue pulsing around Luke's hand. He opens his palm, sending sparks shooting everywhere. They burn everything.
"What the fuck!" I shout out. Behind me Chuck is hissing and holding his leg which is reddened at the edge. I pull him so he is hidden by the bed then I stand up, drawing my sword. Dorian is seething with anger, but he also seems shocked, still holding his hand outward towards the ground.
I really don't want to hurt him. Something has clenched my heart and is squeezing, squeezing. But I have to stop him from hurting anybody else.
His hand twists out of shape as I break most of the bones in it. When he drops to his knees, he yells in the pain of so many broken ribs. Wheezing for breath, he scowls up at me, eyes icy. I move behind him and grab his head, pressing my sword against his neck, even though both of us know I would do nothing more to hurt him. Slowly I fix his broken bones, leaving his hands dangling uselessly at his side.
"We have training," I say, trying to force confidence into my voice. The words tremble. "If you survive tomorrow, we'll fight, no powers. Just like that first time." I stop talking but don't let go of his hair.
"You killed my parents," he hisses out. Guilt fills my chest. I look up at Chuck, who has found his feet. Once again, I am greeted with a sympathetic look.
"The president will kill you," I warn him. I don't want him to die, certainly not by the president's hand. Dorian squirms under my hold but eventually settles and gives a sharp nod before shoving me away immediately after I lift the sword.
The training room is hot with breathlessness and sweat. I gather the group and pair them up with different partners. Dorian is put with Michelle. Rope is given to each pair and they tie it round one of their limbs so they're joined with their partner's. Dorian ties the rope around his arm and Michelle's; he has tied up his dominant hand and will struggle to fight with any handheld weapon. The pairs then are made to fight against each other.
Michelle and Dorian are put against Emmerson and Kai, who have tied up their leg. They throw a punch but Michelle pulls Dorian back away from it even though Dorian was already ducking under it. He then yanks her forward and punches Kai in the face before shoving Michelle to the side away from Emmerson's fist. Dorian throws a kick toward Emmerson and the boy seems to lose his balance, causing Kai to panic. Emmerson manages to lean forward and shove Michelle backwards to the floor with Dorian sprawling backwards as well. Dorian drags Michelle, still stuck on the mat, forward, tackling Kai who still struggles to get his balance. He then begins to punch Emmerson over and over and over in the face and when Kai comes to pull him off, all Dorian does is shrug him away and keep pounding Emmerson. He's killing him. Emmerson doesn't deserve to die. I move forward to stop him but before I can he falls limp on top of Emmerson. He fainted. I follow after.