Argent Eye III

25

Adam was still barely conscious when we took him back, and so after briefly explaining to one of the waiters what happened, Ronan thought it would be a good idea for Kate and I to return home as well. The waiter promised that as soon as Adam woke, he would tell him to at least text me.

Ronan then dropped Kate at her flat, before taking me back to my house. He stayed in my room whilst I made two cups of tea, even though the house was empty, just in case someone should come home and see him through the kitchen window. I then took the tea up, and sat on my bed seeing as Ronan was occupying the desk chair.

"Thanks." He said, taking the steaming mug. He took a sip, put it down, and then looked at me. "So." He said. "Tell me what happened."

I realised I hadn't had much of a chance to explain anything to Ronan over the last couple of days, from going to see Koji, retrieving one of the stones from him and then finding the second one today. After catching him up on the recent events, there was one thing that I'd been refraining from mentioning. Of course, I realised how stupid it would be not to tell him.

"So, uh, yeah." I said. "There's something else."

Ronan looked up from his tea, as I sipped mine.

"What?" He asked. He put down the mug.

"So, I tried to get Fujio with my Black Prometheum, as you know." I said.

Ronan nodded.

"And I dropped it." I said.

Again, Ronan nodded.

"But it didn't disappear."

Then Ronan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I couldn't summon it back to me because I momentarily lost my powers." I said. "But I thought well, that's okay, because it would just disappear, right?"

"Right." Ronan said slowly.

"But it didn't." I said. "Fujio picked it up, and then cast his spiritual smokey stuff on it. And he took it."

Ronan was quiet for a few moments. "But you have your powers back now." He said. "You can just summon it."

I pursed my lips together and shook my head. "I can't." I said.

Again, Ronan was silent. "What do you mean, you can't?"

I shrugged. "I mean, I can't summon it." I said. "I tried, several times. It's like, it's gone or something."

"It can't be gone." He said.

"Well it's not gone." I said. "Fujio has it. Whatever power he has, it was like he made it his somehow. But it feels like it's gone."

"That's impossible." Ronan said, not accepting it. "Try again."

I put my tea down, and closed my eyes to summon the blade, thinking twice as hard as I normally would and trying for twice as long.

Nothing.

I opened my eyes. "I can't." I said.

Ronan looked incredibly concerned at this. He rubbed his chin. "This is bad." He said.

I nodded in agreement.

"You realise that this is bad in any kind of situation." He said. "But you are going through the Chaos." He said. "This is fucking terrible. How are you supposed to control your outbursts?"

I shrugged again. "I don't know."

"Bloody hell." He muttered. "We are fucked."

I was almost humoured by Ronan's words. I mean, we were fucked, but it wasn't usually like him to act like there was no hope at all. Usually it was me who would say something like that.

Then, Ronan started laughing. "Holy shit, we are fucked." He repeated.

Well, there he goes. He'd finally lost it.

I chuckled. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He looked at me, still laughing. "Every time I think shit gets bad, you have a habit of being able to make things ten times worse." He said. "It's incredible."

I grinned. "Sorry about that."

"I just..." he sighed. "Oh my. If we don't get that knife back, you are in for one hell of a Chaos. Even more so than before."

He sat there, seemingly amused as he finished his tea.

"In all seriousness, though." He said. "You're gonna have to be super careful. If you feel any inclination toward an explosion, you need to get away from anyone and anything. You call me if there's nowhere you can go, okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, of course." I said, and then frowned. "You're taking this remarkably well."

"Trust me, I'm not." He chuckled. "I can't remember the last time I laughed at something so serious."

I clenched my teeth. "Oh." I said. "Anyway, how was your new student?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Well, he's in hospital." He said, as if that were a good thing. "I reckon he'll be out in a few days. Then I guess I'll have to go and keep an eye on him."

"Stalk him, you mean?" I said.

Ronan waved a dismissive hand. "It may seem like it to him, yes, but he will certainly get over it."

I laughed. "What element does he have?"

Ronan shrugged. "Not sure yet. It's too early to tell."

"Is he young?" I asked. I always forget that other new Argents wouldn't be eighteen years old like I was- they were usually far younger.

"Eleven." Ronan said.

"Damn." I said. "I can remember being eleven. I can't imagine having powers at that age, though. Are they not, like, really irresponsible?"

"Not really." Ronan said. "It's easier to drill into them that they can't tell anyone when there's a creepy teleporting dude following them."

I laughed again. "I guess." I said.

"It does mean that I will be splitting my time between the both of you, though, and it's likely that this guy will need me a lot for the first few weeks." Ronan said.

"That's fine." I said. "Unless I'm about to explode."

"I can always tell if you need me urgently." Ronan said. "So don't worry. If you really need my help, I will come."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"In the mean time, I better go check on him." He said, standing up. "I think he will wake up soon."

"Jesus, what did you do to him?" I asked.

Ronan shrugged. "Oh you know, just a couple of throwing stars to the chest."

My eyebrows went up. "Throwing stars?" My voice seemed to get a bit louder.

"They look really cool, though." Ronan said, like nothing were amiss. "I thought I should start getting a bit more creative in the shaping of the Black Prometheum."

"I mean, I guess it doesn't cause as much damage as having an entire knife shoved into your back." I said.

"I guess not." Ronan said, amused, and then vanished.

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