Unlikely Alliances (The Pack)

Six - Hello Darkness, My Old Friend...

They were in the dark again.
Well, he was, everyone else could probably see just fine.

'Simon?'
'Yeah?'
'It happened again.'

"It" - The inconvenient occurrence of Vikram Barn's ability. All the other Keepers could control their abilities easy peasy (lemon squeazy), but for the mocha-skinned teenager it would always be difficult difficult, lemon difficult.
Light footsteps began to approach his room as Vik sighed, keeping one hand over his eyes while using the other to try and find the black bandana he wore in situations such as this.

Three soft knocks, then- 'Is it safe to come in?'
'I'm covering my eyes so you should be alright.' He heard the door creak open and closed his eyes, even though he already had them covered. 'I hate being like this. I hate my ability.'
His housemate sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed as grabbing a strip of fabric from the nearby desk. 'Here, I got it.'

'Thanks Simon.'
'No problem,' While tying a few knots, the lanky pureblood continued. 'You know, your ability can be useful. Think of all the times it's saved someone.'
'Yeah, sure, and let's forget all of the times I've turned someone to stone. They can't be turned back, Si - I'm basically a murderer.'
'Don't say that.'
'I'm not wrong though, am I?'
'It's not your fault that you can't control your power. Maybe if Tobi were here, it would be different, but we've only got eachother right now.'

Vik looked away, guilt flooding his eyes - Not that anyone could see them - as he nodded. 'Right. I-I'm sorry, Simon.'
'It's okay. So, how did you find out this time?'

I bet you're all wondering, yo, what's the small kid's ability? Well, young intellectual, Vikram is basically a gorgon. You know, the creature from ancient Cyrilan mythology which could turn people to stone with a single glare? That thing. The separation between Vikram and the gorgons though is that a; he was not part snake, or any other creature, and b; he couldn't control it. It just... Happened, sometimes, unless he felt threatened.
In which case, his ability would actually listen to him.

'It's something I've been noticing recently. Whenever it activates, everything gets turned grey; Not literally, but visually for me stuff gets a grey tint.' He explained, falling back onto the bed and letting out a huff of annoyance. 'Most of the time, anyway.'
'Hey, this is good! You've got some control over your ability.'
'I guess... So, what were our plans for today?'

-+-
Boom, WOOSH-

Barely managing a safe landing from the hastily thrown enderpearls, Preston ended up on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath. The area around him was reasonably quiet apart from a few birds chirping and his own coughing, so was able to deduce that he was safe for now.

Ugh... Where are the others? Dang my head hurts...
'Preston? Preston, mate, where are you?'
Well there's Lachlan.
'Yo Lachlan, I'm over here!' A familiar blond head popped out of a nearby bush and sighed in relief, the rest of him following as the younger prodigy made his way forwards.
'Oh, thank Urie... Are you okay?'

'A bit sore, obviously, but I should be alright. What about the others?'
'I, uh, don't know. I kinda tried to follow a random pearl's path, and figured it was you because you disappeared first.' The Astralan grinned awkwardly, sitting cross-legged next to his friend who just rolled his eyes and threw a handful of grass at him.
'Smart boy, too clever for me.'
'Oi, rude, I panicked.'

'I know, don't worry. We should probably try and find them though.' Preston suggested, cautiously pushing himself up in case he was injured while his friend nodded.
'Right. Where should we start?'
'Probably calling out their names and such, they'll have enough sense to call back unless they're unconscious. Hopefully it won't come to that.'
'R-Right.'
'Are you sure you're okay?'

The prodigy let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as he nodded. 'Yeah, I-I'm alright.'
'I call bullshrimp. You were limping when you came over, and your arm's bleeding.' Both facts were true, and the Tauran stared pointedly at Lachlan until he looked away and nodded.
'I... Was hit by some of the blasts. I should be okay soon.'
'Sit. We don't need you getting more injured than you already are, it'll probably be a good idea to rest for a bit.' The blond flashed his friend a grateful look and flopped back onto the ground, relishing the cool grass as it swayed in the light breeze.

'This is probably the best thing I've felt in ages.'
'How long were you in there for?'
'Many, many years. Like five and a half? Maybe? I didn't have a way of telling the time. It's just nice to be breathing fresh air again, like wow.' He sighed contentedly, wriggling around in the long blades of green as his friend rolled his eyes.

'Having fun?'

'Hell yeah.' The Astralan responded as Preston snickered, throwing some more grass at his friend as he laid back
'I can't believe you've been in there for so long, and all because you were friends with the prince?'
'Yep. My abilities as a prodigy are a bit more harmful than helpful though, so it's understandable. They do come in handy though, like during the breakout.'
'Until you explained it, I literally thought I was going mad. So what are your abilities, then?'

The prodigy smirked proudly, and pointed to a large flower. Nothing happened for a few seconds, with his smile turning to a frown, but then a bolt of lightning shot from his fingertip and set the plant ablaze.
'Ta-da.'
'Okay, that's impressive. Lightning, mind-reader and part dragon?'
'I mean, I should be, but apparently I don't get the dragon part until my eighteenth birthday. Now I know that's actually gonna happen, and I won't be stuck in the cells to experience it!' The blond smiled childishly, before burying his face back into the grass and squealing.
'I'm just so happy, dude, this is amazing!'

'Wait wait wait, you're not even eighteen yet?'

'Nope.'

'Oh my- You're a baby. You're actually a small child. How the fudge are you so tall?!'

'Genes, I guess.'

Yep, Lachlan was still rolling around in the grass. A few sparks would fly every few seconds, but that was probably a reaction to finally being outside. He pretty much was a child.

'Hope I'm not interrupting the party, boys.'
'Rob!' The Astralan jumped up, ignoring his own injuries, and ran to the treeline as the prince appeared. He didn't appear to be injured, save for a few red marks on his arms and neck, but his expression was terrible. Mournful, even.

'Lachlan! Thank the lords... Preston, are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. What happened to you?'

'The guards didn't recognize me on the cloak, and thought I was breaking in. I fought them off, but your friend ran into the main markets.' He admitted, brushing his hair back only for it to fall back into it's slightly curly style. 'He was safe, the last time I saw him.'

'If he's safe, that's good enough for me. Thank you for helping us, Robert.'

'Eh, just call me Rob. All the formalities suck.' The Candelian grinned warmly, eyeing the skies and the clouds in the distance. '...We should get going. It looks like a storm's on it's way, an I'm guessing you don't want to get caught in the rain, Preston?'

'Fudge that.I made that mistake once, I'm never going in water ever again. Not while I'm like this.' The Tauran pulled a face, inhaling slightly and looking to the nearby mountains. 'We might be able to get to a cave before it reaches us. I get the feeling a camping trip is upon us.'

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today:) has:) been:) so:) great:)))

QOTC - Last Song You Listened To?

AOTC - "Good For You" from the musical Dear Evan Hansen