After Fate Fell

17 • ELLA

1 year, 3 months, and 13 days after it all
•ELLA•

Mexico City is much less humid than Mérida, which I can't decide if I like or not. I took a short plane ride here mid-morning after my trek back to the city of Mérida.
Now I'm just hoping Five isn't difficult to find in this big, bustling city in the heart of Mexico. I haven't tried to contact him through telepathy yet, but I was planning to as soon as the plane landed and I got out into the city. Which is where I am now. So it's time.

I decide to sit down at a bench, possibly a bus stop, but there is nobody else sitting here, so no bus is coming soon. I close my eyes and focus all of my mind's strength on reaching out to Five.

Five? It's Ella. Can you hear me? I send out.
I open my eyes, because I don't want the people around me to think I'm crazy. Now I just have to wait and hope that my message went through. That's the bad thing about telepathy, the sender doesn't know if the receiver has gotten the message, unless they respond.

After a minute, I know that either I didn't focus enough, or he heard me and is ignoring me. There's no way he heard me and was like "oh I'll just answer later". That's not how telepathy works. So I decide to try again.

I close my eyes and completely forget about where I am, I don't think about the bench, the noisy cars, the people, or anything. Except this message I'm trying to send through. I take a deep breath and try again, using all my strength. I didn't realize telepathy could be so exhausting.

Hey Five, it's me Ella. I'm in Mexico City. Please respond.

I decide not to open my eyes. It'll distract my focus on this. Who cares about the people? Let them stare. This is important and I don't care what kind of looks I'm getting right now.

Ella?

It's him. I've never been so happy to hear from him before. I'm just surprised he responded. I guess it's probably because it's me. Him and I actually get along okay. If it was Nine trying to communicate with him, forget it. That's a feud that will never end, neither of them will ever reconcile.

I've gotten so excited that I almost forget to respond.

Yes, Five it's me. I respond.

After a moment,

What do you want?

It comes across less harsh than the words themselves would suggest, but it's still a bit snappy all the same.

I need to meet with you. There's something important I need to discuss with you. I tell him.

But how did you find me? He asks.

Legacy told me I would find you here. I say to him in my head.

You were in Mexico? He asks. Why?

That's what I have to talk to you about. I had to talk to Legacy, and I found out something that I need you for.

I choose my word carefully, saying that I need him rather than saying "we". Because then that would involve the other Garde, and for now, I just need him to cooperate with me, and then we can figure things out from there.

There's silence on the other side. I can't tell if he's thinking or if he's just abandoned me. Why is he so hard to get along with?

Okay. He says after a while, surprising me. By now, I had almost accepted the fact that he was ignoring me. Where do you want to meet?

You know the city better than me. I say. You pick the place.

And so at 4 in the afternoon, in a restaurant on the corner of two streets bustling with traffic, I see him walk in—looking the same as I remember him—through the glass doors and look around, looking for me. I wave to him and my two eyes meet his one.
He sits down, expecting me to talk first.

"Five," I say in greeting.

"Ten," he says and I flinch.

"I don't go by a number anymore," I tell him. "I don't find it fitting after the war is over. The charm was broken years ago, and I wasn't even part of it, it was just kind of a filler name for me really." There I go, getting carried away about something completely unimportant to the pressing topic here. But it really is important to me that people understand why I can't be a number anymore.

"Okay then. Ella," he says, fixing himself.
I prepare myself to tell him what I haven't been able to get my mind off of since Legacy told me about it.

"Five, something is wrong. Lorien is dying. Something is depleting her energy, and I'm afraid that if we don't do something, all that is Loric will cease to exist, soon." I feel that that's a good way to put it, as dark as it may sound.

"What?" He asks, confused and rightfully so.

"Lorien is going to fall. Unless we stop it from happening."