No. 26: Strangers Appearance

No. 26: Strangers Appearance

Terra was glad to be back in the comfort of her skirts, but it was getting colder, so she had to wear more than one. She pushed her hair back with her free hand as the wind blew it, her other still pressing on the black and white keys. She was fully aware of the boy standing in the doorway, but she just let herself blush since he couldn't see it, and smile since she let herself remember that blissful moment during the heat of battle.
"So, who taught you how to play?" Venn's voice asked from right next to her.
"My grandmother." Terra replied, still playing. "She use to have this beautiful piano forte in her parlor, and she'd play for hours on end, any song I wanted, then she taught me and soon I'd be the one playing while she made requests."
"Sounds like an awesome grandma."
Terra nodded.
"Yeah, she was."
They were silent as she continued playing, Venn had sat down next to her, and she was fine with that. Maybe a little bit more than just fine.
her hand bumped into his as he took of her left hand. She grinned and dropped her hand onto the bench and continued playing her right.
"Hey you're getting really good." She commented with a smile.
"Well I had a good teacher." He replied, squeezing her hand that laid on the bench. She tried to ignore the butterflies and focused on playing.
The song came to an end and when it did, he pulled her to her feet.
"Come on, the Professor wants to see us all." He said, guiding her through the mansion. She ran a step to catch up with him and wrapped her free hand around his arm that held her other hand, pulling him closer.
He glanced down, smiling. It wasn't a secret anymore, to them, or anyone around them. But though they were often called a couple, they weren't. Yet, anyways.

They met everyone else in the Professor's office and sat down on the couch, which was the only available seating left.
Everyone shot them teasing looks, which Venn incidentally didn't notice, but they're attention was taken up by the Professor.

It had been a few weeks after Sage's invasion, but the Professor was healing slow, which was probably due to his old age, but they were all praying non stop for his quick recovery. His left arm was in a sling, because of the bullet wound in his shoulder, and he moved a bit more slowly, but at least he was walking about now, which was better than the first week after the invasion, he hadn't even gotten out of bed.

"So, I hear no one knows why they left." He said, eyeing each one. From Brandon, slouching in one of high backed chairs, to Kaleigh sitting on the arm of the same chair, swinging her foot like a child, to Cliff lying on the other couch, to Stryder in the other chair, with his elbows braced on his knees, to Venn and Terra.
They all shook their heads in unison.
"Hmm...interesting. But you felt that same alien feeling the rest felt huh?" He asked, addressing Stryder nodded.
"Yes sir, just as they all described it."
"Well it's obvious your Element is no longer dormant, but still..."
"What is it?" Cliff asked, voicing the same question that went through everyone's head.
"Is it just erasing their brains and then they become idiots?" Brandon asked. "Because if it was, dude that would be awesome!" Kaleigh slapped his shoulder with a stern look, telling him to shut up.
"I don't know anymore than you do. You can't even see this Element, you just see it's effects. It's..." Stryder struggled to find the right words, but finally gave up and shook his head. "I don't know. Alien." He finally decided.
The Professor nodded slowly.
"Hmm....It might take us a little longer to figure out what it is, but we'll figure it out Stryder. I promise."
Stryder nodded in thanks, and the Professor took it as a key to move on.
"But, we do have one more order of business."
Just then the door opened once again, and in came two people that couldn't possibly be anymore different from each other.
For starters, one was a woman, and the other a man.
The woman was pettiet, wearing a business suit, and a sour look on her face. And the man was tall, broad in everyway, he had a marine haircut, and chiseled muscles that stretched out his shirt.
The kids looked from them, to the Professor again. He sighed and had an odd look on his face.
"I have learned that I alone am not a good enough teacher -" He put his hand up to keep them from protesting, and moved on after they fell silent. "- so I had to call in some back up. These folks are not Elementals, but they know everything there is to know about them. This is Lydia Forks, and Captain Bryan Smith."
Shockingly, the marine, looked much more friendlier than the lady. And so they all gave him smiles and her hesitant 'hello's.
"Miss Forks will be overseeing your education, and Captain Smith will be overseeing your training. Trust me, you're in very good hands."

.:+++:.

The kids had decided to treat themselves for their victory, since for the past few weeks they had done nothing but worry over the Professor, and clean up the evidence that the fight was ever here so none of the boarding students, when they came back, would freak out.

So, they ended up pulling to cafe tables together at Brandon's favorite ice cream shop, eating pistachio ice cream and talking about the latest things happing the world like any other teenager.
For a moment, they were just any other teenagers. They could laugh, they could tease, they could joke, and they didn't have to be serious. It was so blissful, and such a blessed moment they knew they wouldn't forget any moments like these.

Kaleigh pumped into Brandon's shoulder as she licked a drip of her ice cream before it could fall onto her hand.
"Hmm?" He asked, his mouth full.
"So, are you actually ever going to ask me out on a proper date? With out it being ruined by mystery guys giving cryptic warnings," She shot Stryder a glare, who playfully pretended not to notice. "or muggers in the alley?" She finished, turning her attention back to Brandon.
He smiled, meeting her gaze and shrugged.
"I don't know. That's half the fun though isn't it?" He asked.
She rolled her eyes and shoved his nose into his ice cream cone.
"Oh burn!" Her brothers shouted. Everyone laughed so hard their sides hurt.
It was times like these, that they were glad God had brought them together. That even though all the hard things they had all gone through, it was worth it, not just for the victories, but for the little moments of joy that became treasures.