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The Only Way Forward is Together
After I explained the plan to the team, they moved into position as I ran to the opposite side, a few meters away from the fight, to make the air there colder for me to use, but I needed some time that the team was going to buy.
Owen sprinted towards Fabian, the air shimmered with thin glowing lines as they began to trace and form a 5-meter high magnet around Fabian. The magnet let out a deep, resonant hum as it came to life. The magnetic field hit Fabian, nullifying his magnetic field as he stumbled into the ground with force.
On top of the wall, glowing lines began to appear again, forming what seemed to be a giant grey magnet to fall on top of the walls, sealing Fabian inside. Fabian's eyes widened with surprise as Ivory teleported to the roof of the magnet walls with Braden. Braden then used his gravity powers to make the field surrounding Fabian heavier, nailing him to the earth.
Fabian let out a high snarl and reversed the polarity of the magnetic field, sending out a magnetic force outward, destroying the magnet walls and the one above, as the force sent Ivory and Braden flying. Chunks of thick, heavy magnets crashed all around. Ivory couldn't teleport away due to the magnetic field, which Fabian used to pull Braden towards him, readying a glowing fist to land on him.
Liam, with his only arm, swapped Braden with a chunk of magnet that was next to him, replacing him with a bigger and thicker piece, which headed directly at Fabian. Fabian shattered it with his punch with ease.
Ivory rolled on the floor, blowing away the chunks falling toward her. Fabian looked to where Ivory landed and charged at her like a bull, throwing anything he found in his path. But Ivory did not hesitate; with her palm open, she blew everything he threw at her back. Fabian prepared to counter but suddenly stopped mid-charge. His body twitched where he stood, and the chunks of magnets and debris all hit him with great force.
"You like that?!" Ryan yelled out, not too far from him. He had sent out jolts of lightning to the ground to stop Fabian, rendering him unable to use his magnetism to counter. But Ryan's triumph was short-lived, as from the dust, debris came flying out towards him. Caleb once again used his swap powers from afar to change Ryan with a giant piece of wood that broke into pieces as the debris smashed through it.
"I'm tired of this game! You're next, Caleb!" Fabian roared furiously. Caleb's face turned paler with Fabian's threat.
Ivory suddenly teleported in front of Fabian, silencing his threat, "I can teleport again, did you forget?" she taunted him as she placed her hand on his face. They both teleported a few meters off the ground to where I was, and Ivory used her powers to blow Fabian to the ground, shattering the earth with the powerful impact, pieces of the ground scattering everywhere from the force.
Ivory quickly teleported away and reappeared next to me. "Tell me you're finished?" she asked, her voice tinged with desperation.
"Almost!" I said, trying to keep my focus on the cold environment I was creating around Fabian, making it gradually colder and colder. "Where's Ryan?!" I asked. He was vital for this plan to work, the only one who could briefly nullify Fabian's powers.
Before Ivory could answer, Fabian got up, noticing the air growing colder. "So, you do have a plan," he grinned, but his grin quickly faded as the gravity around him intensified. His movements became sluggish, his muscles bulging as he fought against the crushing weight, eventually forced to his knees. "These flies keep popping up," he murmured.
Braden appeared, sweat dripping from his forehead and brow. "This is all I got, it's now or never!" he screamed. By the way he was breathing heavily, it was clear he was pushing himself beyond his limits.
Ivory seized the opportunity. She teleported but materialized mid-air, falling hard to the ground right in front of Fabian. An evil smile cracked on his face. "Predictable. The first thing I did was use my magnetic field around. I'm not falling for any of your traps!" he yelled back, the magnetic field causing the freshly made floating snow to fall faster to the ground. He put his bulging hand on her face, covering most of it, his fingers wrapping around half her face. "It's over," he said softly.
"You're so predictable," Ivory recanted softly, and she was quickly swapped with Ryan, who now wore a smile wider than Fabian's.
Fabian's eyes widened as Ryan grabbed his hand, tightening his grip as much as he could while lightning burst from his body continuously. Now, it was my turn. With the mighty cold air around and the snow, I imagined a storm as the cold air started to pick up, swirling around Fabian and Ryan, frost starting to form on their clothes.
Fabian's left hand, gripping Ryan's face, convulsed erratically, but he controlled his right hand and swung it at Ryan's already cracked ribs, sending him lunging backward. Ryan quickly got up, his face etched with pain but his body ignored it. He shot out lightning back at Fabian, but the lightning shifted path, striking the earth around Fabian.
"I can't repel your lightning, but I can change its trajectory!" Fabian boasted, defying the gravitational pull to the ground and getting up slowly. His magnetic field expanded all around us, a light pressure on our bodies, stiffening us in place.
"Owen! We need you now!" I cried out.
Owen started yelling as he ran towards us, "I'm here! I was getting the last piece of the magnet! It won't be as big as the one before, but it'll do its job. You'll have a few seconds tops! So make it count!" The shimmering lines started to form in the air once again, bringing the magnets back to life. Only four thin ones materialized instead of the big one from before, Owen's power clearly wearing out.
Fabian swung his fist at one of them, shattering it into pieces. Just then, the others came to life, with the same low hum as before, disrupting Fabian's magnetic field for a quick second. Braden used his gravity powers one more time, though they were weaker than before. Fabian could still move, slower but fast enough to break another magnet.
Ryan quickly re-engaged, running forward with his body sparking with lightning. He slid under one of Fabian's slow punches and placed his hand on the icy ground, sending a web of lightning spreading. Fabian convulsed as the current coursed through him, disrupting any magnetic field he might've tried to use. Ryan then jumped on his back and put both hands on Fabian's head, massive lightning bolts emanating from him, making both of them scream in pain. "Don't worry about me! Give it all you got, cabrones!" Ryan yelled out. If Fabian was feeling pain, it meant we were close to beating him. Just one more push.
My hands moved like waves, feeling the coldness in the air. I motioned it to move faster and faster, the wind growing increasingly frigid. Ivory teleported rapidly, each time delivering a powerful blow that sent shockwaves through Fabian and Ryan, knocking them back and forth. Ice formed rapidly across Fabian and Ryan's bodies, creeping up their limbs towards their chests, due to Ivory blasting the wind with her force blast.
Fabian yelled in frustration, trying to summon his magnetic field to no avail. Braden doubled his efforts, intensifying the gravity around Fabian so much that the cold air became a pressing weight, pushing him down until he was kneeling.
I stepped forward, the air around him shimmering with icy mist as it turned to spikes of thick ice, layer after layer, encasing him. The ice started to get wider, moving upward to the sky. "Caleb, swap Ryan with the remaining magnet!"
Caleb nodded and formed a vortex between the magnet and Ryan, swapping them instantly. The ice peaked higher than all the houses, finally starting to take shape on top, getting thicker and denser as the icy wind kept swirling around, merging with the ice, with Fabian at the bottom, locked in place, weighed down by the ice formed on top of him.
For a moment, it seemed we had won. Fabian was trapped, but then his eyes burned with fury and desperation as he managed to free one hand. A surge of magnetic energy burst forth, ice shards exploding outwards like shrapnel toward Caleb and Braden. They didn't have time to react. Caleb put up his remaining hand for cover, the ice piercing it as well as his body and legs. Braden jumped to the side, releasing the gravity hold on Fabian, but the ice cut him in several places.
I couldn't focus on them; if I did, Fabian would break free from the ice prison. But we needed something else to replace Braden's gravity. I looked around, trying to think or find something to help weigh him down as Fabian's other hand broke free.
Then, from the shadows beneath the top of the ice, hundreds of tendrils emerged, wrapping around Fabian's arms and body inside the ice. The tendrils tightened, binding him with black tendrils that merged with the ice, turning it an eerie black to the top.
The ice completely wrapped around his body, forming a giant black ice diamond. The structure was imposing, jagged edges catching the light in sharp glints, towering and formidable. Weakened and beaten, Fabian was finally fully bound, completely immobilized. His breathing was labored, his mouth and glaring eyes the only parts of him still free of the ice prison. The sight should have filled me with satisfaction, but I felt hurt and uncertain.
The dust settled, and the sound of combat faded as Cristofer finally emerged at my side from the shadows. "We've stopped all the Mateos' clones. Daniella's bringing Yelena to regroup with Kyriah and Jessie," he said with a hint of relief. "With everyone accounted for, let's end this once and for all." His eyes glared at Fabian as sharp black tendrils emerged from the shadowy ice prison, all pointing at Fabian.
I grabbed Cristofer's shoulder as I yelled out, "Stop! Not yet."
"Why not?! I am taking care of my mistake!" Cristofer recanted, his voice thick with guilt. His eyes were filled with pain, and though he believed it was his fault for Davos's actions, he still hesitated.
Ivory chimed in with a serious tone, "Ellion, Fabian is either a clone or the real Davos himself. We need to find that out now, to know if he is still among us or not. That Fabian is not real."
I glanced at Fabian, who had been surprisingly quiet, just staring at us as we argued. "He is real to me," I said to Ivory but also for Fabian to hear. I walked towards him. "This is what you wanted, didn't you? To stop you? Well, we did it, Fabian. What now?"
Fabian stared at me for a few seconds, contemplating what to say. "You did see the real me, something I've been battling all this time. And you, with such simple words, made me see things so clearly. I am Fabian, your friend." His eyes turned red, filled with tears. "I am sorry for deceiving you until the end, my friend. When I told you to stop me, I wasn't referring to the Fabian me. I was speaking of the real Davos," his voice changed to an ominous undertone that sent shivers down my spine, knowing that I was wrong. Fabian is not the original Davos.
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My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, desperate shout. My head snapped around, my heart leaping into my throat as I saw Annabella sprinting toward us, her face filled with horror. "It's Yelena! She is the real Davos!"
In that split second, my eyes darted to the remaining group and found Yelena among them. Then, the world seemed to slow as I noticed Daniella on the ground, bleeding from one of her legs. Yelena suddenly multiplied in a burst of small particles, just like Mateos', their forms blurring as they all lunged ferociously at Kyriah.
Kyriah caught off guard, tried to activate her erasure powers, aiming to wipe them out in one fell swoop. But as she focused, Yelena's clones' arms stretched unnaturally long due to her elasticity powers and grabbed a hold of Kyriah. She quickly dissipated the clones with a touch of her pink glowing erasure energy. However, the remaining Yelena threw a metal bar from the debris that went through all the clones and Kyriah's energy, piercing Kyriah's left upper arm and pinning her to a cracked wall.
"Ivory! Teleport me there!" I yelled out to her in desperation.
"I-I can't. I only have enough for one go, and we might get caught in Kyriah's powers... I can't risk it," she replied, keeping her eyes on the chaos unfolding before us.
I looked at Cristofer, who was clenching his teeth in fury. "If I let go of the shadows, Fabian will be able to break free! Dammit!"
Jessie could barely be seen between the crowd of Yelena clones, but after they vanished, Jessie had cleared away from the clones, trying to keep away from danger. Yet Yelena's arm stretched out once again in a deadly arc towards Jessie. Before she could react, the elongated limb wrapped around Jessie's throat, the razor-sharp nails extending and slicing deeply. Blood spurted out.
Jessie's eyes widened in shock, a gurgled cry escaping her lips as her life was brutally and swiftly severed from her. Her body went limp, the light fading from her eyes as she crumpled to the ground.
"NO!" Cristofer yelled out as his body merged with the shadows on the ground, advancing fast toward Yelena. The shadow inside the ice diamond was receding, pulled by the trails of the blur of shadows heading to Yelena.
Still processing the carnage before us, I ran towards Kyriah, maintaining the icy prison became the last thing on my mind as I heard it softly crackling.
Kyriah, pinned against a crumbled wall, her face clearly in agony but the determination in her eyes undimmed. She raised her right hand, the familiar pink glow lighting up the surroundings, aiming directly at Yelena, before she could absorb Jessie's Clemons Cells. But before Kyriah could unleash her power, Yelena sent a massive chunk of debris flying towards her. It slammed into her with a sickening crunch, pinning her further and extinguishing the glow of her powers under the rubble.
"Kyriah!" My voice tore from my throat, raw and desperate. I whipped my head around to Ivory. "NOW, Ivory!" I demanded, my voice filled with the desperation that had overtaken my fear. Maybe we had a chance to stop this if we had teleported earlier.
Ivory's eyes met mine and she forced herself to move but her face was still etched with doubts. I hadn't seen this side of Ivory before, the fear of losing her powers actually freezes her in place.
Cristofer was almost there, his shadows unfurling around him as he continued to charge. Ryan, Braden, Owen, and Caleb stayed behind, too weak and hurt to continue fighting.
Ivory was about to teleport when suddenly the ground trapped us in place. The landscape dragged us down by a force so immense it felt like the world was ending. Yelena had amplified her powers to an unimaginable level, her control over magnetism turning the ground into a giant magnetic field, pinning us firmly in place.
From my prone position, I could see Yelena, her form blurring and shifting as she absorbed Jessie's Clemons Cells. The air around her shimmered with raw, uncontrollable power, a sign she was entering the Omni State. In that state, she was going to be a god among us, invincible, fueled by the life force she'd stolen. Just like I did that time with Nicholas...
The crushing pressure of the magnetic field made it hard to even breathe, and I watched helplessly as Ivory strained against the invisible force, her teleportation once again nullified by the overwhelming power of Yelena. Cristofer's shadows twisted in agony, unable to break free from the magnetic grip either. Annabella, Caleb, Ryan, Braden, Daniella, and Owen were caught just as helplessly, their bodies pressed to the ground by the same force that held me.
I watched, my breath shallow, as Yelena reached a new peak. Her eyes began to glow, the irises swirling and merging into hues that defied description. It was like watching the very spectrum of human emotion and thought merging into one transcendent vision. She looked up to the sky, her face filled with awe and speechlessness, and spread her arms wide as if to embrace the heavens themselves. Brightly-colored tears streamed, mingling with the hues in her eyes.
"I can see everything," she whispered, her voice filled with wonder and sorrow so profound. "Every moment, every particle... it's all here, laid before me. I can see the old paths, the secrets buried deep beneath the ground, even the secrets that the wind carries. I see the fears that drive us, the hopes that sustain us. Every choice, every regret... it's all part of the tapestry of existence. It's overwhelming, this knowledge, this understanding of the very fabric of life."
Her radiant gaze swept over us, and as she looked, it was as if she could peer straight into our souls. "Now, I want to see your paths, your pains and joys. Your fears and secrets."
Slowly, the pressuring magnetic field started to lift us off the ground and pulled us closer to Yelena. Then, the air around us shimmered and small particles of light began to gather, forming into shapes that were both familiar and heartbreaking—clones of Jessie. The clones of Jessie reached for us, their hands closing around our throats as they lifted us higher into the air, suspending us in a helpless levitation. Their eyes glowed with the same spectral light as Yelena's, filled with an impossible array of colors. This was a display of power that went beyond what we'd seen before, able to create clones not from her body but from the very air around us.
As the spectral clones of Jessie tightened their grip, Yelena maliciously grinned.
"Oh, the pain all of you have suffered. Especially you, Cristofer. You've made so many bad choices that I don't know why you continue to try to fix things. You only make things worse for everybody around you. You abandoned your family and you abandoned your friends because pain always followed you. The best thing to do is to abandon us too, we'll be better off without you like Jessie already is," Yelena said with a tone of superiority and looking to hurt Cristofer.
"But Ivory!" she yelled out with glee. "They say I am a monster, but you're the real monster! Playing God with your friends, giving them Clemons Cells, and lying to them to get them to join your own revolutionary army of power! If anyone here is a villain, it's you!"
Yelena's words hit us like a physical force. Everybody's eyes snapped to Ivory, searching for any sign of denial, but the truth was written all over her face. The Sunspears' foundation was built on a lie, on a monstrous, horrible lie.
Braden, struggling against the tight grip on him, stared at Ivory, anger bursting out unrestrained, "You did this to us?! You gave us these cursed powers and manipulated us for your cause?!"
"N-No, it can't be true. We were born with these cells; she found us because her powers sensed them in us, right?" Ryan asked with disbelief, his eyes pleading for the truth as he too struggled with Jessie's clone grip on him.
The clone that had a hold on Ivory let her go as she stayed suspended in the air. "Tell them the truth, there is no reason to lie anymore," Jessie's clone said with a benevolent voice.
Ivory's face crumpled, but her eyes remained unwavering, "Yes, it's true," she admitted, her voice shaking but laced with a steely determination. "I can't sense Clemons Cells, but I can give them to those who don't have them. I gave you all these powers because I believed it was the only way we could fight back against those who would oppress us. You needed to be strong. The Sunspears needed to be strong."
Everybody was stunned. Cristofer was shaking his head; he never trusted Ivory but still let himself be involved in this. Braden was about to yell something but the clone that had a grip on him put his other hand on his mouth with force, deepening its nails into his cheeks as a warning.
"Was it to... all of us?" Daniella asked with a disappointed voice.
Ivory didn't dare look at any of the gazes upon her. She remained unflinching, staring with dead eyes at Yelena. "No. I chose each member of The Sunspears because I saw potential in them. I used my powers to give them a chance to be more than what this corrupt world wanted them to be. I believed in us, in our mission..."
Jessie's clone that stood in front of Ivory grabbed her face with force. "All. The. Truth," she threatened, then slapped her face.
Ivory looked back at the clone with her resolve intact. "I can give people Clemons Cells with just a touch, and with my teleportation, I traveled not only all over Vanity Island but all over the Union of Columbia, watching and selecting who I should give these cells. And so, when they weren't aware, I touched them and watched carefully in the oncoming days if the power that manifested was useful. If it was, I approached them with my lies, like I did with all of you."
"Manifest? So you don't even know what powers might emerge, you just hope it's a good one?!" I asked, rage finally bursting out. "And what happened to the others?! Left to wonder what is happening to their lives and bodies as they suffer your consequences?! You're the reason for the sudden surge of people with these cells!"
Yelena stepped forward slowly, darkness surrounding the vibrant colors of her eyes. "Now this is where things get more interesting. It's time, Ivory, to tell Ellion how he fits in all of this crusade of yours. Tell him the truth about Annabella and widen his already broken heart more." Her grin spread, more terrifying than before as she lifted one of her fingers and pulled it towards her, yanking Annabella with her magnetism and throwing her to my side.
"Annie!" I yelled out, still suspended mid-air, still unable to move. "What did you do to her?!" My instincts as her protective big brother flared up.
Ivory glanced back at me with sad eyes, her hazel gaze covered in red, holding back tears she could no longer contain. "I'm sorry, Ellion," she said softly.
"Was she one of your experiments too? Was I?!" I replied, anger evident in my voice as Annabella sat back up slowly, still straining against the magnetic field.
Ivory's voice trembled as she began to speak. "Annabella... she was one of my first. I wanted to see how Clemons Cells would develop in someone from a young age, and how they would react. Would they be more powerful? Would their abilities manifest faster? I was still testing it out. I didn't think much of it back then. I gave the cells to many people around that time, to those who wouldn't draw much attention." Ivory's face twisted in anguish as she continued, "She didn't have good parents or any family. Whatever happened, it wasn't supposed to affect anything. Either I would have a good recruit for my revolution, or it would just be another lost soul in the poverty of our island."
'Not good parents or any family member?' I thought deeply. "Quit your lies! You know she has a brother—ME!" I yelled at Ivory, but her face stayed somber, her eyes filled with regret and guilt. I looked at Annabella, searching for her reaction. She was speechless, her eyes wide as if memories were slowly flooding back. That's when I knew—something horrible must have happened. "What, Ivory? What did you do?" I asked, my voice turning soft, not even knowing what to expect.
"I noticed that strange, inexplicable things started happening around her. When she wanted something, it would suddenly appear before her. Sometimes she would float along with her surroundings. When she was happy and giddy, everything around her seemed to reflect that joy—even her parents weren't as horrible during those times. But when she was sad, lonely, anxious, or angry, things would suddenly turn worse. Her surroundings would react to her emotions, spreading hate and chaos. The animals would fight, and her parents would become their usual horrible selves. They were terrified of her; they didn't know what to do. One night, they suddenly weren't there. But you were." Ivory's voice finished in a whisper, her face completely red as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks, though she managed to maintain a firm tone.
I was baffled. I didn't know what to say. What could I say? Where was I in all of this? I looked at Annabella again, and she had broken down in tears, whimpering, struggling to say, "I-I-I feel it's t-true, b-but I can't re-remember a-any of it!"
"What happened that night that I appeared? Wasn't I there before...?" I asked Ivory softly.
"I don't know what happened," Ivory replied, finally breaking down.
"But I know," Yelena said in a hollow and ominous voice. "I know what happened that night of the storm, a memory you chose to forget, 'Annie.' But don't worry, I'll make you remember. I'll make you both relive it," she said as Jessie's clone placed her right hand on top of Annabella's head. The vibrant colors swirling around Yelena's eyes suddenly latched onto Annabella's and mine, and suddenly the images before my eyes warped.
I was woken by the sound of a terrifying storm. Thunder roared, the wind screamed like a banshee, and the rain fell like bricks. The lights went out, and with a flash of nearby lightning that lit up the pitch-black room, I saw my reflection in a cracked mirror on the wall. And what I saw was the least of what I expected—I saw a little, wide-eyed girl, shivering with fear. That's when I realized I wasn't physically there; I was in Annabella's memory.