Two days later, I sat on a familiar brick building's rooftop, swinging my legs over the edge and trying to ignore the smell of smoke in the air. The last time I had checked the time, I had an hour until our next meeting with the city's leaders. It had been quite a while ago--definitely more than an hour.

I tried to will my hand to move, to will my eyes to look at the watch perched on my wrist that the Evo had thrown at me with so much disgust. His words resonated in my head:If you're going to invade our home and slaughter our people, the least you can do is be on time to your own meeting. I couldn't look down--knowing the time meant knowing I had to leave, and I was too soul-weary to do that.

I closed my eyes, trying not to remember the past two days. I tried to forget the screams as Evos were funneled by a "crowd control force" into a huge, empty hall, tried to forget the looks of horror and fearful tears as Evos felt everything for the first time.

It didn't work. The sight of an eight-year-old little girl, her hair done up in a french braid, sobbing for the first time in her life, would be burned into my mind forever.

"Hello," said a smooth voice behind me. I jumped, stifling a curse as I near fell off the edge, and scooted back, my heart pounding. I glanced backwards, looking up and finding... Maximus?

I blinked. "What are you... How did you know about this place?"

"You're lil' boyfriend told me all about it," he said, sitting down next to me, "He sent me to come an' find you. They're gettin' worried."

"Yeah," I replied, looking down. The wind was whipping around us, getting hair caught in my mouth as my words tripped out. "I know I need to go, I just..."

"Don't want to own up to your mistake? None of us do."

My breath made a little puff of visible air that was swept away instantly, cold filling my lungs and making them burn. "I didn't know. I thought... I thought it would give them emotions again. I thought they'd be able to feel, not that everything they would have felt in their lives would hit them at once."

"Yeah, well." Max said, his voice bitter for the first time I could think of, "We all mess up sometimes."

"Yeah, we don't all mess up so badly that suicide rates rise by 200% in two days."

"That's true." He paused, letting his words sink into my guilt conscious. "But it's not all on you. Your team found the bomb, misinterpreted, and set it off. My people hurt you badly enough that you had to set off a bomb. There's plenty of blame to go around."

"I should've known better."

"No offense, but ya aren't exactly a science expert. How would you have known any better?"

"Not about the bomb--about the Wrobel. I should've known better than to get involved in any of this. My parents did, and they died--most people would know better after that, but no, I just had to go and screw over the world."

"Hold on now, ya can't take all of the credit. The world was screwed up long before you. And besides, how about the rest o' us, huh? How are we supposed to live with emotions when you're hogging them all?"

I laughed, and the sound echoed for a moment across the barren rooftops. "Fine, I guess I'll have to share the guilt."

I stood, holding out my hand to Maximus. "I'm really sorry. For everything. I know that you got pretty lucky, only being happy--I didn't mean to screw that up."

He watched me quietly for a moment. "It was nice, being happy. But sometimes it's also nice to be sad. This was hard, it all hitting me at once--but I think in the long run, it'll be for the best."

Again, I blinked. The past two days had been nothing but sleep-deprived meeting full of complaints. I hadn't heard a single person talk about their emotions as a good thing.

"Sit down, lass," Maximus said. I realized I was still standing and sat, trying snap my shell-shocked mind back into coherent thoughts.

"They can survive another hour without you."

The cold, rough concrete bit into my skin, and the air was cold enough that I could feel my bones shudder with it, but for the first time in awhile, I felt at peace.

***

Of course, that all changed the instant I walked into our temporary based of command. Alex, Jax and Mr.Burns--the de facto leader of the Evos--were all currently screaming at each other, faces red and hands forming crude gestures. Sophia and Aretha were both watching the whole situation darkly, but neither tried to stop them.

I took in a deep breath, mentally apologizing to my poor, raw throat for the next bout of arguing. "HEY!"

They both stopped, turning to face me.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Jax looked relieved. "See? I told you she was coming."

"Great," Mr. Burns grumbled, still scowling so deeply that his thick mustache appeared to be drooping. "Now your leader shows up, two hours late."

I raised an eyebrow, looking between all of them. "Look, I know I was supposed to be here a while ago, but I was late with good reason." I glanced backwards, through the open silver between the tent flaps. "Come in."

"Max?" Alex said, looking startled. "We haven't seen you in weeks."

"I know," he said. "The whole 'running away to join the rebellion set against my people' thing kinda got in the way."

"Um, hi," Aretha said awkwardly. "You don't know me, but I'm Aretha--we didn't get to meet before the Wrobel kind of got... Blown up..."

"Nice to meet ya," Maximus said, nodding in respect to her. "Mr. Burns, sir, Violet an' I believe we've come up with a temporary solution to all the violence."

"Oh?" he asked, looking dubious. "Do tell."

"As I'm sure you know, there has always been a small portion of the Evo population that has been born with a single emotion."

"Yes, yes, the defects. What of them?" he asked, impatient.

"Well, I was born with the ability to sometimes feel happiness. An' I know a few others who I've talked to, and they all agree that this transition falls on us. We can form our own police force, offer counseling... whatever people need."

Mr. Burns blinked, straightening. "That is surprisingly... not idiotic."

"Yeah, just keep on singing the praises," Aretha muttered, rolling her eyes. I gave her a sharp look--he was softening. The last thing we needed was for him to shut down again.

"How many of you guys are there?" Sofia asked, looking at Max. "We'll need to organize you into teams based on ability and gear--anything we can get our hands on, really."

"Hold on," Mr. Burns began. "Who said that I agreed to--"

Whatever he nonsensical complaint was, he never finished. A woman, her face pale and eyes puffy red, stumbled through the tent entrance, small, choked sobs escaping her lips.

"Please," she managed, "Someone help. My son--he's about to throw himself off the roof."

I had never seen people move so fast. Max was out of the tent in milliseconds, looking for the boy, bolting down the street in the direction of the woman's shaking finger.

"Split up," Sofia ordered, looking at us, "Look everywhere on these blocks. We aren't letting anyone else die."

I watched her as she set off, her stride powerful, and made a mental note. Three desolate blocks away, I heard Maximus' shout as he located the jumper... And caught him.

There was an eleven-year-old boy in his arms, tears leaking out of blue eyes and dark brown hair flying in all directions. His mother came running up, gasping for breath, and lunged for her son, holding him close and sobbing.

Mr. Burns watched from the sidelines, his face resigned. "You have your police force."

I let my eyes flutter closed and smiled as the first shred of hope in days crept in. "You won't regret it."  

***

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't feel like it's very strong (I kept getting distracted while writing it), but... meh. That's what editing is for, right?

Okay, so no, I didn't finish NaNoWriMo, but I did get a good chunk of the sequel written, and..... I'm seriously sooooooo excited for you guys to meet my new set of characters. I love them all so much. 

What do you guys think about Max coming back and leading the police? Yay? Nay? Don't really care?

Might be finding out the mole next chapter ;) and no, I haven't forgotten about it, but I think our characters have been a bit busy, don't you? They don't have time or energy to deal with that right now. 

Another chapter or two, then the epilogue, and then......... Well, then we're done. Nuts, right?

Thanks so much for all the support, love, and patience <3

--Earthstone