Basic Oblivion

Chapter 14

"Synn! Are you okay?!" Jason asked, seeing his friend on the ground, burn marks on her arm.

"Yeah...I'm fine," Synn said as she slowly sat up, wincing and immediately reaching for her injury.

"What happened?" Justin asked.

"I'm not sure," Synn said. "I was talking with Daniella when suddenly....Wait! Where's Daniella?!"

Jason shook his head. "Not sure. You're the only one we found."

"We were separated by the blast," Synn said. "I have to find her. She could be hurt."

"You aren't in any position to much of anything right now," Lucas said, looking at Synn's burns. "First, we've got to get these taken care of."

"I'm fine," Synn said. "I'm a demon, I'll be healed in a matter of minutes."

"Still, it may be best for you to hang back," Justin said.

"Synn...are you sure you want to insist on searching for her?" Jason asked.

"Wha-?! Jason, she shouldn't-," Justin started only to be interrupted by Jason.

"Synn is my friend and a more than capable fighter, even in her current state," Jason said. "Even though I would prefer she give herself time to heal, it's clear she would go off on her own to search for Daniella regardless."

"Yeah...I would," Synn said.

"Then it would be best if you came with us," Jason said. "Lucas, heal her burns as best as you can first, then we can split into groups and look for Daniella."

Lucas nodded as he put his gloves on, pulling up the keypad and typing in a code that made the palms of his hands glow green. They watched as the burns slowly began to fade away.

"There," Lucas said. "I've done as best as I can, at least for now."

"It'll be enough," Synn said. "I'll be fine to fight if I have to at the very least."

"Good," Jason said. "Now then, you go with Lucas and make your way through the East side of this floor. Justin and I will check out the West. If either of us find Daniella then radio the others with her location. If she's hurt then try and get her to the Medbay."

"Sure," Lucas said.

"Be careful you two," Justin said.

"Don't worry about us," Synn said. "I'd be more worried about whoever dares to lay their hands on Daniella."

****

"Not that it's any of my business or anything, but how exactly did you end up meeting Synn?" Justin asked as he and Jason turned to walk down a hallway.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

Justin rolled his eyes. "She's a demon," he said. "Unless she just has abilities similar to one then I don't exactly see how that's possible."

"Umm....Didn't you come back from the dead?" Jason asked sarcastically.

"You know what I mean," Justin said with an annoyed sigh.

"Look, it just isn't something I really want to talk about, okay?" Jason said, his voice suddenly sounding sad. "All of my friends and I have suffered in some way. We've all lost something or someone we cared about deeply. It's part of why we're together in the first place."

As Jason tried to walk away, Justin grabbed his shoulder and spun him around so they were eye to eye. "Is that why you've been acting like this?" Justin asked. "Killing people for a paycheck? Nearly killing my friends? Losing control of your forms?"

"I already told you it was just a one time thing," Jason said. "I'm not going to lose control again. As for the other things, if I could have managed another way then I would have. I didn't do those things because I enjoyed them you know."

"But you still did them, Jason," Justin said. "You killed people. You've been letting yourself live dangerously close to all that darkness inside of you. If you keep on letting it in like you have so far, I'm afraid it'll end up consuming you."

"Hey, it wasn't all killing. There was a bit of exploitation, blackmailing, and interrogation too. I like to branch out into other things than the basic 'murdery' side of being a mercenary," Jason said. "Anyways, not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but I think it's a few years too late for you to play the big brother routine."

"I'm looking out for my family," Justin said as he walked past his brother. "At least what's left of it...."

Jason didn't say anything as he looked down, following his brother with a few feet of distance between them. His ear twitched as he suddenly looked behind them. "Hey," he said to his brother.

"I'm not in the mood to keep arguing with you," Justin said, still not looking at Jason.

"No, listen," Jason said. "Someone is headed this way."

Justin turned to look at his brother. "Who do you think it is? The person that attacked us?"

Jason began sniffing the air, looking for a scent. After a brief moment, he shook his head. "With no wind, it's too hard to tell by smell, but I think I can recognize it," he explained. "It kind if smells like-"

Jason was cut off as someone came flying past him, nearly tackling Justin. For a brief moment, it seemed like a fight was about to break out, but it didn't take long to recognize the girl with her arms around Justin's neck.

"Sam?! What are you doing here?!" Justin asked, surprised to see her.

Sam released Justin and brushed her hair from her face. "Marie and I were training when we heard the explosion," she said. "I was worried something had happened to you so I sent Marie to go get Kylan and went looking for you. I ran into Synn and Lucas and they told me what happened."

Jason just sighed, looking annoyed as he watch the exchange between the two. "Touching reunion...really, it is, but we still have an unknown attacker on the loose and someone who may be in serious need of medical help," he said as he walked past them. "I'm going to go and find her. You know, since that was what we're supposed to be doing?"

"Hey, don't take things out on her," Justin said. "Whatever it is that's got you in such a bad mood isn't her fault. If you're pissed, then take it out on the person responsible for this or whatever it is that's got you in such a shitty mood."

Jason continued walking, not even looking back at them. "...I plan to," he said under his breath.

"Perhaps it's best that you relinquish those foolish hopes," said a boy's voice from somewhere in the darkness. Chains flew from the shadows and wrapped around the three of them, binding them at the wrists and ankles. A fifteen year old boy walked from the shadows wearing a turquoise long-sleeves shirt with pink trims around the wrists along with a pair of jeans and a turquoise streak in his light brown hair. Chains slid out from under his sleeves and wrapped around the their necks. "We meet again, Jason."