(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 72

Dre, Kim, and Michal joined Keiko and Megumi on the other side of the car before they made their way down Kim's driveway towards her front door. "Huh." Kim looked over towards her parents' Jeep, perplexed. "Now that I think about it, dad's usually at work by now. I don't think he said anything about taking a vacation, and I'm pretty sure he's not out on holiday."

"Do you think he heard about the attack at the school?" Keiko asked.

"It's possible, I suppose," Kim answered. As she answered the door, she saw that both her mother and her father sat on the love seat in front of the blank television. Her father was comforting her mother as she wept into a handkerchief. They both were in their running uniform, and her mother luckily had her disguise on. Their jackets were strewn on the floor beside the door. It was apparent. They'd somehow heard about what happened at the school, possibly whenever they were out jogging. "Mom? What's the matter?"

They both gave a start at their daughter's voice, as if they hadn't heard the door opening. "K-Kim?" Rain stood; Dre could hear the startled gasps from the rest of the group behind him, no doubt taken off-guard by how tall she was. "Oh, my God. I thought something had happened to you." She rushed to embrace Kim, crying more vigorously into her shoulder. "After I heard about the school, I... I just..."

"I'm okay, mom," Kim said. "How did you hear about the school?"

Stevie stood. "When your mother and I were jogging, we'd heard what sounded like a Siren's song by on the other side of the football field. We were already by the school's track, so we decided to go and check out what was going on. When we were passing the bleachers, we saw Ichinose staring at the baseball fields. Rain was the first to see what was going on. The outfield of the varsity field was filled with Edge Walkers. We were going to lend a hand, but Ichi told us that it was too dangerous, and to avoid any oncoming conflict, he would have to have his team apprehend the Sirens." Stevie exhaled as he lowered his head. "I wanted to argue, seeing as though you were so close to the conflict, but I owe him everything for helping our family get started. Your mother, on the other hand, I had to take kicking and screaming back to the house. She didn't make it easy for me."

"Of course not," Rain said, raising her head. "What would've happened if the Siren's decided to go to the school? What if they're more Sirens in the school? We have to take Kim out so that we know that she'll stay safe."

The group inhaled sharply. Kim looked on the verge of tears. "But mom-"

"No buts. We're going, now." She turned to Stevie.

Her father walked towards Rain and cupped her cheeks. "Ichinose wouldn't let that happen, baby. Neither he nor McManus would. Don't forget; even if that does happen, with most of the teachers at that school being Masters, they would catch hell trying to get to our daughter." Megumi cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her small chest.

Both Stevie and Rain looked as if they hadn't noticed the group behind Kim. "Oh! If it isn't Megumi. And Dre, me boy! Nice to see that you're safe as well."

"Nice to see you too," Megumi said with a slight edge of irritation.

"So, will Kim be able to stay at the school, Mrs. Rain?" Dre asked.

Rain looked at her husband and sighed from the look he was giving her. "I suppose that since Stevie wants to be stubborn about it, I'll consider it. Please, make yourselves at home." Dre let out a sigh of relief as they entered the house. "Oh. Who are the people behind you?"

Both Michael and Keiko stood rigid. As they were going to introduce themselves, Stevie interrupted them. "You." He pointed at Michael. "I sense something about you; something perplexing. You're Human, and yet... you're not. I feel death's embrace on you, but also an angel's presence. Who are you?"