JUNE 23RD

0646 EST

The instant feeling of crippling vertigo racked through Bristol's body like a rogue wave, something too powerful that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't resist. She collapsed to the floor, her scream reverberating off the metal walls surrounding her. Each one of her nerves felt like they were on fire, her stomach filling with a widespread panic.

She could hear the muffled sounds of the battle waging around her, but she sank into a visions of her worst nightmares. She tried to fight them, but they were so vivid, so natural, so...real. There was no oasis left in Bristol's mind, only demons and shrouds of her worst fears come to life.

"What're you doing to her?!" Tristan bellowed, and Bristol felt the temperature drop a bit with his anger. She knew he probably tried to charge him, but Phobos simply knocked him away, adding more force to his attack on her.

The tempest in her ears roared as images of Tristan, CJ, and Avi lied unconscious on the ground, puddles of blood spilling from their unmoving bodies. She stood before them, watching them in horror.

This is your fault. All your fault. Your secrets did this to them. If you weren't so afraid of controlling the other elements, they would be alive.

Bristol winced, tears spilling. She saw herself collapsing next to each of them in turn, checking for some kind of sign that they were still alive. No pulse, no breathing, no nothing. Bristol stood, her blue uniform stained with the blood of her friends. Her cerulean clothes didn't resemble the calm Caribbean waters that stood for her strength, but a deep ocean after a shark attack, a spill of blood filtering through the waters.

She screamed out in agony, her cheeks wet. Phobos wasn't done yet. She saw flashes of monstrous tidal waves, herself trying to tread water as the waves pounded her beneath the surface. She heard rumbles of thunder, saw the darkness of the ocean at night.

Paddling to the surface, Bristol gasped for breath. The night was pitch black, the waves a deep shade of navy. She could make out the shape of a wave forming in the distance, but then the clouds cleared and a bolt of white-hot lightning came racing down from the heavens above.

The feeling of the strike probably would have sent Bristol back into some sort of traumatic shock if Phobos hadn't averted his attention to someone else on the team. She gasped for breath, rolling over as fits of coughs racked her body. The sounds of the sudden battle were clear. This was real. Her nightmares weren't.

With a pounding heart, Bristol gazed at the scene before her. Phobos was apprehended by Avi, whose resonations were probably distorting his attempts to spread fear. Tristan was freezing his hands and feet together into makeshift cuffs, but he didn't realize his mistake.

Phobos's powers weren't exerted through his limbs, but rather his mind. Just one intense look from those piercing gray eyes and you were a victim of your own mind, your own fears come to life. That's why Avi's resonations were working.

However, even Avi needed a break. She stumbled backwards, gripping the wall nearby Bristol for support. A black and red streak darted into view as alarms echoed through the hallways. CJ had most likely pulled the alarms, gone for help, but he didn't see the torture he was about to give himself.

With Avi trying to maintain her energy, Phobos was able to recuperate. And his gaze was locked on a certain brown-haired speedster. Even the fastest boy alive wouldn't be able to outrun the monstrosities of Phobos's powers.

Bristol grit her teeth, her heart still racing and her head throbbing. "Leave him alone!" she roared and through her arms forward, channeling every ounce of energy she had into summoning every drop of water that ran through the pipes above them until a tidal wave of her own making swept Phobos away.

Her legs wobbling a bit, Bristol stood, but she kept her hands forward and her brown eyes locked on Phobos's figure in her wave. She didn't care that her muscles ached or her heart was pounding or she was due to pass out at any given second. She wasn't going to let him hurt her friends.

"Bristol, stop! We have to get out of here." Tristan tried grabbing her arm to deter her focus but she sidestepped away from him.

The nonexistent draft in the hallway grew into a hurricane force gale, lifting Phobos up until he was levitating above a wave. Bristol's entire body felt like it was on fire, but she wanted to stop him. She wasn't going to let him hurt her friends, or torture them, or kill them.

No. Not if she could help it.

"Have fun in prison, Phobos!" Bristol managed, her voice weak. "Because you aren't leaving anytime soon."

"Bristol, we have to go!" CJ said from behind her.

With a deep breath, Bristol's control on the two elements went slack. The wave disappeared into a series of puddles and Phobos fell to the ground as the wind disappeared. Guards raced in from every direction as Bristol stumbled away.

"Avi, do you have a way out?" Tristan barked as he knelt down next to Bristol, whose vision was blurring and head was spinning.

"Certainly." Avi noted.

Bristol felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, and through her blurred vision she could see Tristan's ice blue eyes looking at her in concern. "You shouldn't have done that." He muttered softly.

"I h-had to." Bristol coughed. She hadn't summoned two elements at once before, and it was bad enough with her terrible lack of control on air. She had practically given herself a death wish.

Tristan shook his head and looked behind them. "CJ, can you—"

"On it." Bristol heard CJ say. Suddenly she was being lifted up and that's when her lights went out.

~~~

What Bristol didn't know was how they had gotten back to headquarters without a portal. Surely, CJ couldn't sprint them across the world and a quartet of oddly dressed teenagers would have raised questions at any airport. It was a mystery to her, but one that she didn't have the energy to solve.

What she did know, however, was that she was in her bed, safely tucked asleep under her covers. She had heard bits and pieces of a conversation as she dozed in and out of consciousness, one between her companions and Priscilla on 'why exactly was she training in her uniform' and 'why didn't any of you tell me.'

There was mainly a lot of guilt-tripping on Priscilla's part but that's when Bristol had either decided to go back to sleep or simply lost consciousness again. Either way, that's where her attention on their snippy caretaker ended.

However, Bristol woke up a few hours later. She discovered that it was still dark out, maybe the middle of the night or a few hours past it.

Bristol sat up, stretching a bit. She had slept, but she hadn't dreamt, and after what she had gone through at Shadowedge, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to again. The slightest though of what had happened sent her into a feeling of misery, so Bristol did her best to avert her attention away from their covert op.

She pushed herself out of bed and padded across her room to the door. She found herself walking through the deserted hallways of headquarters, hugging her arms to her chest to keep warm in the metal draftiness of the corridors. Eventually, she reached the cortex and the training platform.

Bristol stood at the end of the platform, just enough of her motion activating the small lights underneath it. She bit her lip; was overexerting herself after she had passed out from doing it before really worth it if it meant controlling her powers and therefore, her fears?

She shrugged. "Worth a shot." She muttered to herself, stepping onto the platform.

Normally, each member of the Union, when doing individual training, was supposed to dress in their supersuit to accustom their bodies to exerting their abilities in the clothing. However, after the visions of Bristol's outfit caked in the blood of her friends raced through her mind, she wasn't sure she wanted to put it on until it had been cleaned at least four times. Despite it all being in her head, she couldn't bear the thought.

Bristol walked over to the opposite edge of the training platform, entering in her information as walls closed in around her to make her training private. Once the formation was done, Bristol stood at the center of the glowing platform.

Her elemental control was derived from her energy and what she had around her. Air should have been the go-to element, because it was literally everywhere, but her main control over water came from how she developed her powers in the first place.

She forced the thought from her mind. She wasn't going to have a traumatic episode over that. No, she needed to focus.

It started off well, with Bristol slowly testing out each of the elements. A gust of wind here, a pillar of earth there, a flare of fire as she flipped herself into the air. Anytime she needed a small break, she formed a levitating orb of water, stuck her hands inside, and recharged her energy. Water gave her power, everything else just destroyed her from the inside.

Eventually, however, Bristol started to get frustrated. Her wind gusts were pathetic, they could barely ruffle her hair. Every pillar of earth that she formed would just crumble a few seconds after stabilizing. Her fire was mediocre at best and she was about to lose her mind.

Despite her rapidly increasing heartbeat and the occasional blur of her vision, Bristol began to forcefully maintain her rock spires, her flares, her gusts. She wasn't going to rest or reenergize until she could summon a fire blast worthy of a fire-breathing dragon. She needed to become that dragon, that monster to her enemies. She needed an empire of elements to take down any enemy that crossed her.

She needed to be stronger, faster, in more control than she already was. She was the Elemental Empress; her elemental empire was her strongest asset. She couldn't let her fears get in the way of saving her friends, no. They needed her. She needed them. She needed to be stronger.

Only it was faltering. And Bristol was at her weakest.

Bristol collapsed to the ground, coughing and sobbing. "I'm sorry," she said to no one. "I'm sorry."

The sound of someone storming onto the platform made Bristol jump. She looked up and saw Tristan, hurrying over to her in worry. "Bristol, what're you doing out of bed?" He asked, kneeling down next to her.

She couldn't meet his gaze. "I...had to train." She mumbled. The second the words left her mouth, Bristol knew it was hopeless. Tristan knew, he always had known about her secret.

"Come on." Tristan said softly. He helped her up quietly, offering her his side to lean on. She accepted it and with tear-stained cheeks, she was led back to her room.

Bristol didn't know why Tristan always helped her out when she suffered like this. Most of the time, they were two opposing sides in a feud or debate. But the second Bristol was in danger, he acted quickly to save her. It confused her, but warmed her heart a bit.

They reached her room without waking the others and Tristan helped her into bed. She buried herself under the covers, already beginning to doze off as her head hit the pillow.

"Thank you, Tristan." Bristol muttered, her eyes fluttering shut.

The last thing Bristol saw before falling asleep was Tristan's soft smile as he backed out of her room and shut the door. Then, Bristol fell asleep to the sound of her slowing heartbeat and two sets of footsteps outside her door.