Ivy

I stood there, unable to decide on which definition I could give to what my eyes currently beheld, or what emotions I had to settle for, seeing as I was confused, amazed, scared-- no- not scared, terrified.

I knew it was him, I watched as Rider shrinked in his grip, almost like he was sucking up all of his energy, his life. The light from Ethan's fingers only grew brighter by the second.

I couldn't even find words at that moment. They seemed to have failed me. Looking around the area, I could see several limp bodies around, probably the ones who had tried to stop him from coming to find me.

My heart dropped in disapproval.

I guess I had momentarily forgotten who these people were, and what life meant to them.

They killed without conscience, and it didn't sit right with me, especially not when Ethan was doing the same thing.

"Ethan?" My voice came out quiet, unable to hide the fear that flowed through my veins, from my voice.

I get it that he was trying to help me but-- killing to do so, that's-- that's not right? Even if they were the bad guys.

He turned towards me, his eyes also wide with what I could place as confusion. "Ivy."

I gulped down as my gaze settled on his glowing eyes, so bright and blue.

My heart hammered against my chest as I tried to piece all this together. He had powers? But I thought-

He blinked, and just like always, his eyes were back to the their normal emerald green. The glowing from his hand fading away.

He shook his head, almost like he was trying to clear his thoughts, then he looked around him, as if just realizing where he was.

Realization met with his eyes as his gaze met mine again. "Ponytail." Relief flooded through his whole features as he rushed to me, pulling my body into his warm familiar one. "Thank Goodness you're okay, you don't know how worried I was about-"

I pulled away, stopping him. "What was that? What is this? What happened here... Why-- why did you hu-"

"Not here." He said as my eyes searched his.

"No Eth-"

"The Inc cops are gonna storm this place any minute now. I'd prefer they don't find us here... Go out, I'll find the others."

I furrowed my brows. "The others? Et-"

"Ivy, we'll talk about it later, now, we gotta get moving."

I fought really hard to stop the glare from forming on my face, as I brushed by him, towards the entrance.

* * *

Even as he dropped the warm tea in front of me, I allowed the silence stretch on.

We were back at his house, not before making sure Fiona, Roman, Caramel and Ralph were out of arms way from the Inc cops.

I can't believe it... What they did, the number of people they killed? Was this how it worked? Did they train them to fight and kill? Did they find pleasure in doing it? How could they even live with themselves after-

"You know we had to, right?"

My gaze snapped to his, causing him to take a small step back.

"You had to?"

"They stood in our way, stopping us from coming to you, they were fighting to kill, you couldn't have expected us to let them have their way, could you? Do you want to see any of us dead?"

"No. No Ethan, that's not it. They were many, the people you guys gunned down, killed like they were nothing-"

"In here, it's either you kill or be fucking killed."

My palm slammed against the table, the tea jumping from within the mug. "There was no need for all that. I was already making out a plan to escape, Ethan. Where is your trust in me?"

He looked taken aback? "Oh, so I should have stayed back, and relaxed when I know you're probably in trouble somewhere?"

I sighed. "Don't you feel remorseful? For all the lives you took?"

"Would they have felt remorseful if they had taken my life? Or yours?"

"Eth-"

"It had to be done. Okay? That's how things are done here, Ponytail. I warned them, but they didn't listen. Look at the bright side, the Lithians are no more, and the ones who fled are probably locked up already. Now I have one less thing to worry about."

I went quiet, knowing there was some truth in what he said, but that didn't make it all okay. No it didn't.

He came around the counter, coming closer to me, but I didn't look up at him.

"Are you seriously mad that I wanted to protect you?" He asked, his voice softer than before. "Ivy, you-- you couldn't have expected me to leave you there?" He sounded so confused this time.

I let out a breath, summoning the courage to look up at him. "I'm not mad. I just don't like the method in which you went about it. You and everyone else. You don't just kill people, Ethan. Did you think for a moment that they'd have families and maybe even kids? A life of their own?"

He went quiet, his brows still pinched with confusion.

"Hey," I said, reaching up to caress the side of his face. "I love you, okay? And I appreciate that you came for me, even though I was, doing perfectly well. But I- I don't think I like that side of you, I don't like that you hurt those people, it's wrong."

He swallowed. "You were taken, Ivy. Under those few seconds when I saw your picture, I lost all sense of conscience. All I wanted was to have you back with me. So-- maybe I didn't think, maybe I became what I'd fought months to not go back to. I just didn't know how else to handle everything. I was scared, I'm not as strong as I used to be, and the thought of Rider, hurting you just-- it drove me mad." He looked down for a moment, before dragging his gaze back to mine. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It won't happen again."

Unable to even stay mad at him, I wrapped my arms around him, allowing his warmth encase me as my heart hammered against my chest. "Were you hurt?"

"No." He answered, as he pulled me closer to him, his fingers buried in the dept of my hair, massaging my scalp like he knew that was exactly what I needed to ease the dull headache growing gradually.

I could literally stay like this, with him for as long as he'd let me.

Suddenly, my mind took me straight to the reason why I'd wanted to rush back to see him before Michelle grabbed me.

Didn't he remember?

At some point I'd have to tell him... We'd have to talk about it. From my head against his chest, I could hear the pace of his heart, speeden up.

Oh no.

"Ivy-"

"How did you do that? With your hand, the light, Rider-" I asked immediately, cutting him off as I pulled away from him, watching him closely.

He swallowed. "I don't know." He said in all honestly.

"I think we should see Malcolm... Cause when I was talking to Rider, I saw some kind of vision."

He furrowed his brows. "Just like you did with Caramel?"

I nodded.

His brows etched down. "That's impossible."

"What? What do you mean."

"I don't have a chip anymore Ivy."

My eyes widened, as I searched his face for any clue of him messing around, there was none. "You're serious."

"I am."

I paused, my brain trying to comprehend what he just told me, but my mind couldn't come up with a valid conclusion, so rather, I decided to blurt out the questions my mind was screaming at me to ask.

"Wh- how- when. What happened?"

"I'll tell you, everything... But first, last night-"

My heart skipped a beat.

"I-" he exhaled. "Ivy, why didn't you stop me? It wasn't supposed to have-"

"You looked like you needed me-"

"It doesn't matter, Ivy. I was drunk... Dead drunk... I don't have my chip to help suppress the effect of the alcohol."

My teeth clamped down on my lower lip. "I don't regret it happening... Even though it wasn't in the best circumstance. I don't hate you for it."

He raked his fingers through his already rough hair. "Tell me I didn't hurt you."

"You didn't, but keep in mind you're going to have to make up for last night."

He furrowed his brows. "Wh-"

"Topic for later." I said, moving to the space around the kitchen, as I paced. "Now we have to figure out why Glory would want the chip away from you, and why I'm still seeing these visions." I said, pausing for a bit.

Shit.

I have to tell him everything... He has every right to know about what Glory did, who she really was to him... It's now or never, Ivy.

"Ethan." Even as I called his name, the pace of my heart changed, wondering how he was going to take this news. All he did was give me a knowing but curious look. "There's something I haven't-"

"I know." He cut me off.

I stopped, my attention resting fully on him. "You- what?"

He nodded. "I know everything. Glory told me everything, and she also told me you knew. The adoption papers, your discovery on the outside with Roman, the fire, and her making me some kinda test subject."

Dumbfounded, I took a step closer to him. "I wanted to tell you- I swear I-"

"It's okay." He said, shoving both hands into his pockets as he shrugged. "I understand why you didn't, it wasn't something so easy to tell anyone."

I sighed, walking towards him as he brought his hands out of his pockets, pulling me to one of the nearby couch. "I hate that you've been through all of this."

Pulling me close to him on the couch, my head rested against his shoulder. "It's over now, Ivy. What more could they do to me? They took their chip, and I'm back to being human."

I raised my head. "No you're not." I told him.

"I'd like to th-"

"No, you're not Ethan, cause you can-- you can electrocute things and people, and I still get these visions despite the fact that you don't even have a chip anymore."

He nodded. "I think this is Glory's private project. According to her, the chip was suppressing my potential, and my-- my powers, or whatever the fuck we're calling it, has been there the whole time, it was just null until recently, when you know, we met."

I sat up straight. "I was also one of her victims from that hospital."

"Yup. She told me that I'm like some kinda tether to you and the other 11 children out there. Whenever I'm around, your powers are at their full capacity. But whenever I'm not, it's just suppressed."

"So we like- tap from your strength?"

"Something like that."

I blinked. "Ethan, there are 11 more like us out there, Nathan included."

"Nathan?"

I nodded. "Roman found him, he's safe."

His emerald green eyes seemed to have brightened. "When was this? How-- where is he?"

"On the Outside, with a perfect family, he's in highschool, and according to Roman, he's doing just fine."

Ethan swallowed, some hope shining in his eyes.

"We can take a little adventure if you like, we can go find him-"

His eyes widened as he shook his head. "No... No, that's never gonna happen."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Why?"

"The moment I walk back into his life, he'll be dragged into mine. His powers are gonna start activating with me close by. I'm not gonna do that to him. No, he's better off thinking I'm dead."

My shoulders dropped down in disappointment. "How about the other 10? I feel like they all have the right to know what happened to them... I mean, think about it, now that Glory knows that her project wasn't a total failure, and somehow, you're connected to each and everyone she experimented on, don't you think she's gonna try and find them, seeing as they might each have their own special ability?"

He thought about it for a second. "You're right."

"It would be only sensible to find them, before she does."

He didn't look comfortable with that suggestion. "Listen Ivy, you're right. And yes, Glory might have something else cooking up. But," he took my hand in his. "I think we need a break from all of this drama. Too much has been happening all at once and I need to run some tests on myself and on you, just to understand what this all really is. The last person I want to cross right now, is that witch. I don't want to have anything to do with her anymore. If we take some time for ourselves, I'm sure we'll be able to come around and find a perfect way to deal with the others like us."

He was right.

I nodded. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

I smiled. "Yeah."

He pulled me to him, his lips coming to kiss the side of my head, tenderly.

Maybe we did need a break from all the drama... But, that doesn't mean Glory would also take a break... I didn't want her dragging any more people into this mess...

Roman, you and I have a lot of research to do.

____

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For those of you who don't follow my social media, I announced that I wouldn't be able to update for some days. I'm not feeling too well at the moment, but this update had already been written, but not edited.

Even now it's still not edited, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging, and I'm planning on fulfilling my promise of finishing the first book this month, so hopefully, you're going to see more updates.

And if due to any reasons I'm not able to finish it this month, then, it should be all done by the first two weeks of March... Seeing as I have school to deal with also. (Hopefully, this wouldn't be the case)

With all that said, What do you think of this chapter?

Till the next one...

Bye beauties... Oh! Before I forget! When I meant you were going to have to say goodbye to two characters before the series ends, I meant this very first book... So... Get.... Prepared!

See ya!