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Despairs in Our Wake

The USC had left Amaracuya completely, the hospital returned to the locals, and the governor was forcefully brought back to the island to put things in order. Even after everything that happened, the people seemed more relaxed and happy. Some of them even apologized for their previous hostility.

Communication was restored on the island as well. I contacted Ivory and the group, recounting the events that transpired. It was only a matter of time before the whole island of Vanity knew what happened here. Slowly, Amaracuya progressed and made its way to recovery. This island fell to ruins because the governor was corrupted by the USC, but now the locals knew it for a fact. We now have their support for the revolution.

The day before, we had Mayra's funeral, which was completely packed. It looked as if the whole island came to pay their respects. I could see on Leo's and Diego's faces that this outpouring of support made them feel better, knowing they were not alone. This small island was their whole family.

After ensuring Leo and Diego would be alright and the island wouldn't descend into civil war, we packed our belongings and headed back to the ferry to return to Vanity Island. Which was no longer guarded by USC agents.

"Thank you, for everything," said Gonzalo to Fabian, Kyriah, and me before we boarded the ferry. "All of you are always welcome here. Anything you need, you come right here. And you," he grabbed Kyriah's hand, "don't ever forget where you came from. There aren't many of us Sangre Savia left, and we must always stick together." He smiled warmly, and Kyriah returned the smile, hugging him tightly.

Leo stood next to Gonzalo, his eyes already blurred with tears. Most likely, he hadn't said anything yet because he was trying to hold them back. Fabian pulled him closer, embracing him. Fabian was so tall that Leo's head only reached his chest. "You're a man now," Fabian said to him. "Which means you don't have to hold back your tears. Always show the world how you truly feel."

Leo let his tears flow, covering his face in Fabian's chest, his voice breaking as he tried to speak. "I-I-I won't let my mother's death be in vain!" he managed to say through his sobbing.

"I know," Fabian replied softly, patting Leo's back reassuringly.

Leo tried to rub his face clean as he calmed himself down. "They will hear our voices. They will see our strength, and we will fight until the end," he said, his voice now firm and his eyes shining.

I still felt horrible about what I did to Leo. I didn't dare embrace him like Fabian had. Leo noticed my struggle, and he stepped forward and hugged me. "Thank you, Ellion. I know this wasn't the way you wanted it to go, but you still stuck with me until the end. We'll always be in your debt," he said.

He and I felt differently about the situation, but I didn't want to diminish what he was feeling. I hugged him back and forced a smile. "And Diego?" I asked. Diego hadn't been seen much since Mayra's funeral, and he didn't speak to us that day. It was no surprise if he resented us.

"Diego, well, he did not take Mom's death well. He completely blames himself. But I know he wanted to help, in his way," Leo said, his face changing to a worried expression, but his voice still held a positive tone.

We all said our goodbyes, gathered our belongings, and boarded the ferry to Vanity. The ferry ride back was a quiet one, each of us lost in our thoughts, most likely reflecting on everything that had happened and the path that lay ahead.

I leaned against the railing, feeling the cool sea breeze against my face. The ferry cut through the mucky waters, the engine humming in the silence. I pulled out my phone and found we were finally within range of a cell signal. I called Ivory to let her know we were close and to meet us at the port.

"Okay! Everyone is here waiting for you, at Cristofer's place," Ivory said over the phone.

Cristofer's place? I thought he was very secretive about it. "What do you mean by everyone?" I asked curiously, knowing the whole team had been divided across the island.

"Everyone on the team. I asked them all to reconvene here for your return. It's been almost a month since we were all together. A lot has happened over here since you guys left. But we'll talk when you get here!" said Ivory, about to hang up.

"Wait, what... does the team think?" I asked ambiguously, not wanting to ask out loud if the team was disappointed in me.

"About what?" Ivory asked, not really knowing what I meant.

"About... what happened here. What do they think of it?" I asked, my tone sounding a bit desperate.

Ivory stayed silent for a few seconds before responding, "Ellion, you guys did great. You got Amaracuya to join our cause. What Max did was very unfortunate, but you have to look past the horrible things. You freed the island from USC's grasp, giving the message to Vanity that it is possible to free us from them. And yes, many people died, but all of them were from the USC's."

And Mayra, I thought. If we hadn't intervened, she would still be alive.

"Everybody is eager for you guys to come back. Although, Annabella is taking it a bit hard. She's been quiet ever since she heard about Max. I don't know what's going through her mind, but I am keeping an eye on her for you," Ivory said warmly.

Knowing the team still supported me eased my anxiety about meeting them, but Annabella worried me. She didn't take bad news well, especially if it was about people she loved. The first few years after our parents died, she was very secluded and said very few words. I have to be there for her, no matter what. "Thanks, Ivory. I'll see you soon," I said as I hung up.

Upon reaching the port, Ivory was already waiting for us. She greeted us and quickly teleported us to Cristofer's place. It looked like a deserted urbanization nestled atop a small mountain, offering a breathtaking view of a small town below. There was a dead silence outside, the only noise coming from inside Cristofer's house. The houses all looked modern, with double stories, sleek lines, large windows, and well-maintained exteriors that spoke of upper-middle-class affluence. Their structures were still intact, the only thing amiss was the layer of dirt on them, even though the grass was neatly cut.

As we walked through the imposing front doors, the size of the hall struck me. It was cavernous, with high ceilings and expansive space that echoed our footsteps. Luxurious furniture was meticulously placed, giving the hall a grand yet inviting feel.

Ivory led us through the spacious hall. "The rest of the group is waiting in the living room," she informed us as we reached the end of the hall, where two grand doors met us. As the doors slowly opened, we were greeted by the sight of The Sunspears gathered in the expansive living room. The room buzzed with conversation, and most of them didn't even notice us enter.

"You guys are finally here!" Daniella quickly yelled out. She seemed to be playing cards with Liam at a tall table next to a large sofa. With her super speed, she ran towards all of us, gave each of us a quick hug, and dashed back to continue her card game. Her curly, messy red hair was a blur as she zipped through the room.

Liam smiled and greeted us from his seat. Owen was face-deep in a book next to Yelena, who was deeply asleep despite the noise. Charles, Braden, and Ryan were all excitedly yelling as they played a fighting game.

The kitchen was openly visible from the living room, only a countertop separating the two rooms. Jessie was sitting at the counter and gave us a warm smile as we passed by.

Alexander was leaning against the wall, unsurprisingly engrossed in his cell phone. His serious face lit up as soon as he saw us, his lips stretching into a wide smile. "Finally!" he said, opening his arms wide to try to hug all three of us at once. "You guys have been missed!"

The guys playing the game finally noticed we were there, and Ryan quickly threw his controller and jumped at me. "Cabrón! You're here!" he exclaimed, joining Alexander's hug and tightening the embrace.

It was indeed a nice and welcomed hug, but I couldn't get my head in the moment as I couldn't see Annabella around. "I missed you guys, too. But, where's Annie?" I asked, trying to break free from their caring grips.

"She's at the back," Ryan replied. "She's still a little down, but we've been keeping her spirits up. It's a shame what happened with Max," he added, his face turning somber.

I glanced toward the end of the living room and saw a door leading to the backyard. That must be where she is. I was about to head there, but Ryan started to quickly recount everything they've been doing in the towns while we've been gone.

"While you guys were gone, we kept the fight going over here!" Ryan said enthusiastically.

"Fights? What fights?" I asked, worry creeping into my voice.

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"Don't exaggerate, Ryan," Alexander cut in. "We had some trouble up in Soliviento Town with some officers and that Chief Varbero. They wanted to arrest us, but we managed to hold them off," he said with a proud grin.

"So, you did fight?" I asked again, my concern deepening.

"No, no... Well... Kind of. We didn't physically hurt them—"

"Well, I did, a little," Ryan interjected.

My face frowned as I listened, and Alexander noticed. "He didn't kill them or hospitalize them, he just stunned them a bit with his lightning. We set up some traps around the town and blocked off roads to prevent the officers from ambushing us. But they did manage to come in. Surprisingly, the people stood up and defended us. The whole town! Can you believe that?" Alexander's face lit up as he recounted the story.

"Yeah, that's really amazing. And what happened to the people?" I asked.

"They were fine. The officers were there only for us. There was a bit of a scuffle here and there, but no one got hurt or arrested. Just a bit electrified," Ryan replied, nudging me with a grin. "We're finally doing it, hermano, the people are standing up for each other." Ryan smiled widely.

I smiled back, seeing them all happy and positive about the cause was uplifting. "That's great, guys!" I replied, glancing once more toward the end of the hall, thinking of Annabella.

Ivory noticed my eyes wandering. "Go, Ellion. I know you're dying to head over there. Everyone is just excited that you're back and that we're actually making progress. And now, thanks to you, we even have Amaracuya supporting us. It's unbelievable. But your head seems to be elsewhere," she said with a warm smile, dragging Ryan off me as he groaned.

Thank you, I mouthed to her as I headed to the back. I opened the door and saw that the backyard didn't have any division with the back of the other houses. It had patches of rustic, terracotta tiles on the ground that led to a small open space with a black, retractable roof supported by two sleek metal pillars. The roof looked like it could be opened or closed depending on the weather.

In the middle of the space was a table made of fine wood, surrounded by chairs crafted from the same rich wood, their backs and seats upholstered in soft, cream-colored fabric. Annabella was sitting in one of them, staring out at the horizon.

I approached her slowly, but she did not react to my presence. I gently placed my hands on her shoulder, but she didn't flinch; instead, she kept her head down. "Hey, Ellion..." she said, her voice barely audible.

I bent down next to her, and her lifeless eyes slowly turned to meet mine. "Annie, I'm so sorry. It was my fault he ended up doing what he did. I didn't trust him and ended up pushing him to his limit." I knew this wasn't going to make her feel any better, but I needed her to know it was my fault all of this happened.

Everyone had been celebrating what happened, seeing this as a major victory for us, and maybe it was. It just wasn't the way I wanted it to be.

Annabella put her hand on my face. "You can't keep doing this, Ellion. Taking every blame for yourself. You're a good leader because you always think of others and can adapt to new situations, but a good leader also knows he can't control everything. Some people are just who they are, and there is nothing one can do to change them." She smiled softly, but it quickly faded.

"But you did change him. In the end, I know it was his thoughts of you that made him change his mind and give himself to the Cell Seekers, because he mentioned you, and told me to tell you he was sorry for not coming back. I'm sure he felt ashamed of facing you after what he did." Annabella's eyes swelled with tears as she hugged me tightly.

We lingered in our hug for almost a whole minute when we heard the backyard door open. Annabella and I both looked back, and it was Cristofer. "Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Ellion, when you have the chance, come by my office. I want to talk about something. It's the first door on your right when you come back from the backyard," he said as he closed the door again.

I turned to Annabella. "You feel better?" I asked her, still concerned.

She nodded as she rubbed her tears away. "Better now that you're here," she said warmly. "Go meet with Cristofer. He's actually been more open and social with all of us. It's a nice side of him, but it's really weird at the same time."

I stood up and chuckled at the thought of Cristofer being carefree as I walked back through the backyard door and to Cristofer's office, which was already slightly open.

I slowly opened it and looked around at the spacious office. It had a bookcase on its right side that covered the entire wall. The left side of the room was adorned with various pictures of the four islands of Vanity, all captured from different angles and towns. There were many photos of people who looked like doctors or scientists, alongside pictures of what seemed to be Cristofer's family. There was also a group photo of teens who looked like close friends, with Cristofer among them. At the far end of the room, a crystal window stretched from the ceiling to halfway down the wall, bathing the room in natural light. In the center of it all stood a desk, cluttered with documents and files. Contrary to the pristine appearance of the rest of the house, this office was a chaotic mess.

"Close the door; they're always making lots of noise," Cristofer said as he removed some files from a chair.

I closed the door behind me, but it didn't make much difference. Ryan and Charles's excited yells still pierced through as they played. "What is this place? I noticed every house around was uninhabited, but they all looked modern and neat."

"This is one of Hector Roses' corrupt plans. A million-dollar investment to house the needy that was never intended to see the light of day. They built the infrastructure and houses, and of course, they had to be modern houses, but it was all a façade. None of the houses had plumbing systems or even cables for electricity. Then they just made an excuse about the land, claiming it was unstable and could lead to a landslide, so they had to scrap it, but not before they pocketed the money."

This. This is one of the reasons why we do what we do—to remove that corruption from here. That money comes from the USC to Vanity Island, but they have to pay it back, and the government leaves it to the people to repay the loans they take to enrich themselves. It's a vicious cycle that is holding back the island, and it has to be stopped.

"But how do you have water here and—oh, Owen, right?" I asked Cristofer, realizing how they managed to set everything up despite the lack of infrastructure. Owen's ability to create anything out of thin air came to mind.

Cristofer nodded. "It was a team effort, but yeah, mostly Owen. He hated every moment of it," he said with a smile, reminiscing about those times.

It was a strange sight to see Cristofer smile and appear more relaxed. It was out of character for him, but of course, I didn't really know him well. Yet, I could see how much his team loved him. In closed doors, I bet he's humble and charming with the others.

"Please don't tell me you called me here just to praise how well things went in Amaracuya. I can't take any more compliments about the horror that occurred there," I said to Cristofer, my voice heavy with frustration.

"No, I don't share the same sentiments as the others. The others may look at it as a way forward for our cause, a significant blow to our enemies. But you see it as it was—death and misery. However, you can't let them see you sympathize with the USC; it'll make you look weak," Cristofer said, finishing cleaning off the files from the chair in the corner. "But I'm glad to see you're still human."

Cristofer then pulled the chair from the corner and offered it to me, but I declined. My attention was drawn to the maps and photographs on the wall. There were numerous pictures of different buildings with armed guards outside, dozens of red spots on the maps of Vanity Island, and some of the scientists' pictures were crossed out.

But what caught my eye was one of the family photos, in it, was a man with light hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair, alongside a woman with light dark skin, straight black hair, and brown eyes. Among them were four kids, all a mix of their parents. The oldest seemed to be Cristofer, with his uncombed, straight black hair.

"My family," Cristofer said from behind me. "And next to those photos is the first group I freed from the labs in those buildings," he added, a note of melancholy in his voice.

The photos he pointed to showed him as a young adult, around 20, alongside five others—two men and three women, they all looked around the same age. Among them was Arianna. "What happened to them? Did all of them join the Cell Seekers?" I asked.

Cristofer hesitated, struggling to open up. "Not all of them," he said solemnly. He then pointed to a woman next to him in the photos, a skinny figure with thin jet-black hair. "This was Destiny. A long time ago, before they even formed the Cell Seekers, Felix, their leader, had been looking for us for some time until he eventually found us in one of our hideouts. We tried to escape, but we were surrounded. After everyone had been captured, Destiny sacrificed herself to give me a chance to escape once more, and I did. That decision has haunted me for the rest of my life." He stared blankly at his old photos. "Now, they're with the enemy and have been hunting me ever since."

There was more to the story, but it seemed he did not want to divulge any further. But this explained why Arianna knew about Cristofer, like the rest of the Cell Seekers, they were all good friends at one time.

I started looking around at the papers scattered on Cristofer's desk. One of them had a picture of a small kid, titled' Project Mendel, Specimen: Owen Sterling' written next to it. They looked like files with information on his team. I grabbed the file. "May I?" I asked Cristofer, and he nodded.

"So, why did you want me to come here?" I asked, opening Owen's file and skimming through it as Cristofer spoke.

"I wanted to say, I'm sorry. I know we haven't talked since what happened with Mateos. I was angry and blaming it all on you and your team. But that was wrong of me. It was my fault for everything that happened with Davos. I saw his true nature years ago and ignored it, thinking it would fade in time, thinking that by sticking together like a family, we were all going to be fine. And I was wrong on that."

"You don't have to apologize. I get it. You were just trying to protect them," I replied, dropping Owen's file and starting to look around for another one. The files had information on their name, age, blood-related relatives, their powers, and experiments done and planned for the future. Each detail painted a picture of their pasts and hinted at their futures.

"But I was doing it all the wrong ways, just like I've been doing everything all my life. Ever since they joined The Sunspears, they've been happier and more self-reliant. I've never seen them with such confidence as they have now. I thought I was protecting them, but I was just holding them back. Maybe if I had loosened up a few years ago, Mateos and Zeke would still be here. Even Davos." Cristofer's face was etched with regret, a deep sorrow that words couldn't easily soothe.

"They were kids, and now they're older and curious about the world. Let them go. You did your job. Now it's time for you to be patient and supportive of their decisions. That's all they need," I replied.

"That doesn't sound bad," he said with a grin. "It's been amazing seeing them grow up."

The room fell silent for a moment, filled only with the ambient sounds of the house and the distant, muffled excitement of the others. I continued to look through the array of files, but the one I was searching for seemed to be missing. "Hey, where is Davos' file?" I asked Cristofer.

"That's why you're going crazy over the files," Cristofer said as he went through the files himself. "His real name is not Davos, that was his Doctor's name, which he took upon himself when he killed him." He continued to sift through the papers, finally pulling out a file and handing it to me.

Reading the caption of the file made my heart sink in terror; it read, 'Specimen: Silas Varro.' Varro... Fabian mentioned that last name on Amaracuya. I opened it slowly, dreading what I might find, and just as I feared, next to 'Blood-Relatives' was listed 'Soren Varro' as his brother. The same name as Fabian's brother. My hands started to tremble, as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, with a horrifying clarity.

I looked at Cristofer with utter shock and disbelief, my words struggling to come out, fearing that by saying it, it would make it true. "I-I think... I think Fabian has been secretly Davos all this time..."