»--Final Phase--« | Ryan Mitchell

(7) Ryan

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Skye leaned against Carter as I kneeled beside her worriedly.

It couldn't be true. It couldn't. He was gone. There was now way-

"That's why I stopped you. I couldn't let you destroy my son."

"How can that be? Ryan was killed in that car crash," Dana asked, confused.

I put a firm hand on Skye's shoulder. She trembled.

"No, he wasn't," he said. The room remained silent, waiting on him to explain.

"It was late. It was pouring rain. Ryan, Skye, Dana, and I were coming home from visiting your grandmother. You three were in the backseat playing with the new toys she had given you."

"A firetruck, a turtle keychain, and a stuffed rabbit." Skye whispered. I remember her being excited to go on that trip.

"There was a truck coming from the other direction. I only looked away for a second... and then it all happened so fast." he paused.

"It was raining..." Dana whispered.

Suddenly, something clicked in my head. A realization of Skye and the former love of thunderstorms she used to have.

"We tumbled over the cliff and then I found myself hanging onto a root." he continued, "Skye was still in the car when it hit the ground... I thought, I thought I had already lost her. Ryan was slipping and I didn't know what to do. I screamed for help and Diabolico appeared."

"Diabolico?" Dana repeated his name.

"Diabolico saved him with the terms that I would not see him again until his twentieth birthday. I didn't want to make the deal but I couldn't bear the thought of losing two children in one night." his voice was broken as he spoke.

"And today is his twentieth birthday," Skye whispered.

"Sir, we won't fight him and we'll do anything we can to help get him back." Carter spoke, his hands firmly on each side of Skye's arms.

"Can I please be excused to talk with my daughters alone?" Captain Mitchell asked.

Carter and I helped Skye to her feet. With one look from her I knew exactly what she needed. Our arms wrapped around each other as tears fell down our faces. I pulled back, giving her a silent nod before leaving with the rest of the rangers.

I went back to the only place I knew would get my mind off of it.

The training room.

More specifically, the firing range. Technically I wasn't supposed to be throwing knives and hatchets in there but I had the clearance to move things around to wherever I needed them.

Thoughts swirled around my head as I pulled my knives out of their sleeves. As they found homes on the board at the other side of the firing range I imagined it was the demon that took Ryan away from all of us.

Before I knew it tears streamed down my face, I was too exhausted to get my knives back so I fell to my knees. I didn't realize I let out a scream until the echo of it came back to me.

What happened to him?

All this time he's been alive, where was he?

Sitting in the silence that followed my scream felt like toture, but I couldn't force myself to get back up. Ryan had been my only hope after my mom left. My dad was never truly the same. Ryan was so close to telling his dad, then he was gone. We were so young. The only thing that could've saved me from my dad was gone. But somehow, he came back.