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dé·jà vu
ˌdāZHä ˈvo͞o/
noun
a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.
tedious familiarity.
"to list the opponents of his policies is to invite boredom and a sense of déjà vu"

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"Deja vu is the mind's way of telling us we are in the right place at the right time."

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The group walked out of the hotel, all cleaned up and in nice clothing.  Wesley and Lela were chatting away while Ashlee and Sam were talking as if there was no tomorrow. Nathan, however, was trailing behind them, trying to calm his nerves.

His stomach kept twisting and churning, and he was beginning to feel nauseous. Nathan put a hand on his stomach when Ayden slowed down so he could walk in time with Nathan. "You okay?"

Nathan nodded. Ayden frowned. "You sure? You're looking pretty green. Maybe you should go back to the hotel."

Everyone stopped and looked back at Nathan. Nathan sighed, looking down. "Fine, I guess I will."

Sam turned around. "I'll come with you, Nate."

"No, I'll be fine on my own, Sam. Go meet with the priest."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay then, whatever you say." His friend said, waving him off.

Nathan nodded before giving everyone a quick goodbye. Then, he made his way back to the hotel room where he made his bed on the couch. Nathan lied down.

As he began to drift off, he felt like he heard a voice in his head.

Thank you.

♤•♤•♤

Ayden stood in front of the wooden door. He cleared his throat before he knocked on it. The group waited before the sound of the knob turning was heard and the door opened.

A very tall man stood there, towering over them. He looked like he was from Pretium, due to his darker skin tone. He had black hair that was shorter on one side but seemed to fall down in waves on the other side. On the longer side, his hair was dyed a crimson color. His golden eyes seemed to examine them as he stared at each one. The Pretium native was wearing a black dress coat with a long coattail that reached his knees. His white button down was complimented by his red tie that was tucked beneath it. He wore black pants and black dress shoes. The guy looked like a butler, to put it frankly.

"The Elements and...company?" He said, his voice deep and smooth.

Ayden nodded. The man gave him a stiff nod before stepping back. "Come in."

The group made their way in and followed the man as he walked ahead of them. Soon, he stopped in front of a huge doorway. The man opened one of the double doors. "The Priest awaits you."

Ayden was the first to walk in. When he got inside, he saw a young man sitting in the chair. His legs were rested up on the desk and he was slouched down in his seat. In fact, he was asleep. Not only that, but he was wearing a bathrobe. Lela frowned. "This is the Priest?"

The man from before walked in. When he saw the guy asleep, he scowled before walking over to him. He raised a hand and then hit him on the back of the head, successfully waking him up.

"Wha-? I'm up! I'm up!" He cried out, sitting up. He blinked, probably trying to get his eyes to wake up as well. When he finally noticed the Elements and Sam, he yawned. "Oh, Gerald, the Elements and that dude are here."

Gerald, the butler, groaned faintly. "Yes, sir, they are. I let them in, after all. Are you going to introduce yourself?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, names Manuel Stilton. You can call me Manny, I don't care. Make yourselves at home. Any questions?"

Sam nodded. "Why are you so young? I heard the Priest was old?"

Manuel nodded. "I am old."

Lela sighed. "You couldn't be more than thirty."

"Or so it seems." Manuel said, wiggling his eyebrows and fingers.

Wesley frowned. "Are you mental?"

"No, just hungover. Actually, what's the difference, eh Gerald?"

"I believe you have being hungover and drunk confused, sir."

Manuel sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. "I'm sorry, I got drunk last night. The anniversary of a very unsavory thing. Anyways, it's time to get down to business."

Ayden looked around before sitting in a chair right in front of the desk. Of course, he pulled it back a little. Didn't want to seem too weird. Lela and Ashlee took the loveseat that sat diagonally in the corner. Wesley looked around before settling for the ottoman of a chair, while Sam sat in the chair behind it. Sam slouched down in it and put his feet up around Wesley. Wesley turned to glare at him. "What? You sat in the area where my feet go. You have no one to blame but yourself, Wes."

Manuel chuckled. "You know kid, you remind me of someone I used to know."

"Who?" Sam questioned.

"His name was Spirit, but he's gone now." Manuel said. He then mumbled something under his breath.

Ashlee furrowed her brow. "What's you say?"

Manuel waved her off. "It's nothing. Now, what are your names?"

♤•♤•♤

Ayden looked down at the plate of food Gerald had brought them. Manuel was already wolfing his down as he laughed at something Sam said. How this man wasn't choking was a miracle to Ayden.

As Manuel and Sam were laughing, the door opened. Ayden turned his head towards the door and saw a woman walk in, followed by a woman who also looked like she was from Pretium. The first woman had flame red hair that cascaded down her back in waves. Her eyes were a bright blue, similar to Manuel's. Her skin was tanned, and she had a little flush in her cheeks as if she had just been running. The woman wore a light blue dress that ended just above her knees. It was tighter on her torso, showing off her curves. In her hand the woman held a pink rose. "Manny? Who are here people?"

"Generation ten, Venus."

The woman, or Venus, nodded before putting the rose in a vase on the table. The other woman walked forward and stood next to Gerald, who put a hand on her shoulder. She had dark hair with a purple sheen to it. Her eyes were an orange color, and were framed by thick lines of black. She was wearing a yellow dress. The top seemed normal until it showed off her stomach. The only way the long dress was connected was by the multiple strings on her sides. The skirt of the dress had strings of golden trinkets of some sort, and it jingled slightly when she walked. "I'm Delphine." She said, waving.

Ayden smiled at her and waved before looking at everyone else. The only person not to be saying hello was Sam, who was staring at her. Delphine smiled at him and winked before moving away from Gerald. Sam's face flushed red.

"Venus, I'm going to go clean something. I'll see you later." Delphine said, smiling at Venus.

Venus smiled at her before nodding. Once Delphine was gone, she turned to everyone else. "So, you're the Elements?"

"Yes ma'am," Wesley said.

"Who's this?"

Sam looked up. "Wha-? Oh, I'm a friend of an Element."

Manuel nodded. "Nice, I had a friend too. Which one?"

Sam frowned. "We don't really know. Sadly, he couldn't show up today. Got extremely nauseous on the way over."

"But that makes no sense. These guys here are Elements. At least, so they told us." Manuel said, clearly confused.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "He's a new Element."

Manuel and Venus glanced at one another before Manuel burst into laughter. "He's a what?" He cried out.

The teen nodded. "Yeah, he's a new Element."

Venus rolled her eyes. "Look, honey, there's only ever been four elements. No more, no less."

"But Nathan is different! He actually does have powers! Just ask them!" Sam cried out as he pointed at the Elements.

Manuel turned towards Ayden. "So? Is he telling the truth?"

Ayden hesitated a bit before nodding. "Yes, Nathan is an Element."

Wesley scoffed. "Oh please, we aren't positive if he is. They claim he isn't the Evil, but they have no proof that that's true! For all we know, Hickory was being controlled by him! I mean, you guys all experienced what he can do!"

Venus frowned. "What's he do?"

Sam let out a low growl right as Wesley opened his mouth. "Nathan is a good person, Wesley. Besides, we've seen the Evil. He tried to-" Sam stopped as tears began to fill his eyes, "-tried to- to-"

Venus put a hand on Sam's back. "It's okay. Why don't we meet this Nathan fellow, okay? Have him show us."

Sam nodded slowly as the tears rolled out of his eyes. Ayden felt his brow crease and his lips turn downwards. Poor Sam he thought as he looked at him. Venus stood up and gently led Sam towards the door. Before she left, she looked towards Manuel. "Manny? Get Delphine and meet us at the front door."

"Yes ma'am!" Manuel said, mock saluting her.

She chuckled before walking out. Manuel then hurried out the room. A few moments later her came back with Delphine who smiled at everyone. "So, we are going on a trip then?"

Ayden nodded. "We are meeting Nathan, Sam's friend."

"He sounds nice. Is he?"

Ashlee shrugged. "We don't really know him, so there's really no way of knowing."

Delphine nodded. Then, everyone got up and followed Manuel, Gerald, and Delphine to the front of the house where they found Venus during Sam's cheeks.

"See? No need for tears."

"I don't need to be cleaned off, Venus. I'm fine without this." Sam argued, attempting to stop her.

Venus chuckled. "Whatever you say, Sam."

Sam sighed as he looked over at Ayden and he others. He cleared his throat as he stepped away from Venus. Wesley rolled his eyes before marching forward. "Lets go see Nathan."

As they were walking, Ayden noticed the four other people grouped together. They were speaking in soft whispers, and Ayden noticed Wesley glaring at them.

"You okay Wesley?" Ayden asked, looking at his fellow Element.

Wesley frowned. "I don't know. Why are we trusting these people? I know Manuel is the Priest, but why isn't anyone noticing him? All of them are ignoring us."

Ayden looked around, realizing Wesley was right. Ashlee frowned. "I'll go ask someone."

Ashlee walked to the nearest person. "Hey, have you seen the Priest around?"

"Yeah, he's in his house."

"Really? I thought that was him." She said, gesturing to Manuel.

The person laughed. "You must be misinformed, ma'am. The Priest is an old man."

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem."

She walked back over. "I assume you guys overheard the conversation."

"Yeah, we did."

The Elements looked at one another, and then glanced at Manuel.

"So..." Lela murmured, "who is Manuel?"

♧•♧•♧

Hey!

Sorry about the slow updates, I've been busy with schoolwork.

Anyways, what did you think of this chapter?

And, any thoughts on what'll happen next?

I'll see you all later!

--Paige