Daniel Lapitan
Danny woke up to dim sunlight streaming through the old van's windows, uncomfortably cold and stiff in a curled up position. Blinking groggily, he ran a hand through his hair and sat up in the passenger seat. He was alone. He didn't remember falling asleep, and for a moment his mind was blissfully blank as he tried to remember how he'd gotten there and what he'd been doing.
Then he remembered everything.
Ion.
The realization made Danny's eyes burn and he struggled to swallow over the lump in his throat. It still didn't feel real.
He found himself wishing that he was able to use his power on himself. He'd always been able to give his friends some measure of comfort or peace or hope or confidence, but he was helpless to do anything about the emotions that were smothering him. Choking. Crushing.
Breathe.
He let out a shaky exhale and grasped for the door handle, then stumbled outside. The trees around the clearing they'd parked Betsy in dripped with condensation, and the air was full of a chilly fog that hadn't yet been burned off by the rising sun.
With a twinge of panic, he wondered where everyone else was. Images of Jack, Yohan, Mira, and the others being captured by Onyx flickered through his mind, and his heart began to race.
Then they came tromping out of the woods and into the clearing. Nat and Mon were in the lead, holding plastic shopping bags and talking quietly to eachother. Jack wasn't far behind.
The sight of them filled Danny with relief. "Where've you guys been? Where's Mira and Yohan?"
Mon looked up and raised an eyebrow as Danny's disheveled appearance. "We needed supplies. There's a gas station not too far from here, so we went out and bought what we needed."
Jack plopped a couple bags of chips into Danny's arms. "I hope you don't mind doritos for breakfast. They didn't have much to choose from."
"And Mira? Yohan?" he insisted.
"Here."
Danny turned to see Yohan climbing out of the back of the van.
"Mira's still sleeping," he said.
"You're jumpy today!" Nat noted as she, Mon, and Jack headed towards Betsy.
Danny felt his face flush in embarassment. He scratched his neck and shrugged noncommittedly. The fear and panic had drained away as quickly as they had come, leaving him feeling silly. When had he gotten so paranoid?
When Ion... He forced his mind not to follow that line of thought.
"After Mira's woken up and we've all eaten something, we should talk about our next steps," Mon said.
Everyone nodded their understanding, and the group settled into the familar routine and rote actions of an ordinary day on the road.
After the other day's disaster, it felt wrong. Nonetheless, time kept on tumbling forward, and they still needed to do normal stuff like eating and breathing and figuring out how to not die. The world hadn't stopped for Ion, and it wouldn't stop and politely allow them to grieve either. Nope. Onyx wasn't going to let them slip through his fingers just like that. He'd be after them again in no time.
The thought made Danny sick. As he ate, the chips tasted bland and seemed to stick in his throat. Still, he manged to choke them down eventually.
The rest of the group was ready not long after Danny finished, and the six of them gathered together.
"Onyx is going to be after us. We need a plan." Yohan summed it up concisely.
There was a pause, and then Danny spoke up. The words felt strange, like something someone else would say. But still right somehow.
"We have to stop him. Whatever it takes, we can't let him keep doing this."
A flicker of surprise crossed over his friends' faces as they turned to Danny, and he felt his face heat up again.
"...We will," Mon answered. "But we can't just yet. We're not ready- yesterday is proof of that."
"Then what's next?"
Mon took a deep breath. "I suggest that we get as far away from Onyx as possible. Just find a safe place to lay low for a while. Onyx will have his guard up and people out searching for us after our break-in the other day, so it'd be stupid to try something now."
Mira chipped in, her voice wry. "Also, we've been sleeping in a van in the woods and living on snacks and fast food. We'll need more resources if we're going to take on someone like Onyx."
There was a short silence as they all realized the same thing. Their odds were so, so terrible. Jack shot Danny a pleading glance and he obliged her. Stirring up his power, a kind of burning warmth in his chest, he reached out to his friends and gave each of them a little bit of courage, confidence, hope.
They all seemed to stand up a little straighter, to breath a little easier, and Danny felt grateful that he could at least help them in this small way.
He met each of their gazes, willing them to feel his conviction. We can do this.
Gender:
Points: 2160
Reviews: 91