Peppermint

Chapter 36 - Mental Hopscotch

***ALEX***

"What?" I'm not sure I heard Elliot right. "No, but...you wouldn't...you're gonna burn it down? Not in AK's body, you better not."

"Believe me," Elliot growls, "I don't like it either."

I resist the urge to seize my cousin's body by the shoulders and shake the Lord out of him. "So don't bloody do it, then!"

"You don't like having to be here, and yet here you are-"

"That's different! You're talking about sacrificing an innocent man!"

"Shut up! Shut up, you little shit!" Elliot's eyes blaze through AK's.

I avert my eyes from theirs, though I feel like I'm losing the battle by doing so. "I see now how you could be all buddy-buddy with Scoville."

Elliot scoffs. "Everyone learns something a little different from me."

"You try and burn this down and I'm gonna fucking freeze you!" I throw out one hand, twisting my wrist in hopes of creating another ice blade that comes dangerously close to his neck. A rash idea, but I'm too pissed to care.

At least until I realize that I'm not making any ice. Hell, now that I'm able to get a good look, my skin's back to its normal color. Well, its normal winter shade, anyway. Not as deep a tan as I get in the summer, but still dark enough to show that no, my toast ain't naturally tartare. And for sure not as deathly pale and blue as it was after Josh had died and my icy side had really taken over.

"The fuck are you doing?" I yell at Elliot.

"Glad to see we understand each other," he says. "I can't suppress your powers forever, but even a Breaker like you can't repel this particular power of mine. Not right away." Am I wrong, or does he look regretful? No, he's just putting that on. Or that's just AK making his own expression show through the control Elliot has over him.

"You fucking-"

"Stop resisting!" Elliot may sound like a bloody cop, but he's not screaming at me the way Scoville probably would in this situation. "It'll just make your powers return more explosively. Trust me, I'm trying to avoid that." He clenches his fists, and bursts of light spill out from them both. "There's gonna be only one explosion here today, and that'll be mine."

"There doesn't have to be an explosion," I say as strongly as I can. "We've done our damage. We've done our fight. Let's just get the bloody hell out of here, huh?" I turn towards the door and walk up to it, but pause with my hand on the knob. "It's Christmastime. Do we have to keep fighting?" Now I sound like my mom, and I'm okay with that. Because for once, I'm the one making sense. This despite me being young and stupid.

"You know how I said we understand each other?" Elliot growls. "Well, clearly we don't. Look!" He holds up his hands, which are spilling more and more light, enough that the light actually falls on my shoes and leaves little burn marks. "My control is slipping on these two boys. I'm not gonna be able to hold on to them much longer, and if I do-"

"You'll blow up my cousin? Is that it?"

"If I stick in his body too long, then I will. But if I get back to my own form, then I can give Allen a fighting chance-"

"Then why are you chatting with me?" I let go of the door, gesturing out across the factory floor beyond the broken window. "Where the hell are you?"

"Out there, if you'll let me go find him!"

"Why do you have to go find yourself first? Just beam out of AK's body and go!"

"Because if we're closer together, I can pull off the switch mor-"