Sitting at a large, rectangular, cherry wood table, Bartholomew had sat and made small talk while Augustine prepared us tea. I was never really a huge fan of super hot beverages so when Augustine poured the steaming hot tea into the little porcelain cup that sat before me, I couldn't help but just sit and stare at it. I didn't mean to be rude, but I didn't have any intention of burning my tongue either.

Another thing that began to bother me was that I was sitting at a table drinking tea with the most elite people of my species in jeans and a hoodie. I was way underdressed and it was really starting to bug me as I noticed The League constantly staring in my direction.

As Augustine and Marcel-Oliver took their seats, we all sat and just stared blankly at each other. Kratos and Shadow looked around anxiously which made me think that maybe The League had never done this for them before.

As Shadow finished taking a sip of his coffee, he managed to plaster a smile on his face. " We would like to thank you all for your hospitality. We don't deserve any of this, but this was a very kind gesture."

"Yes, thank you all," I said.

" Thank you," echoed Kratos.

Augustine deeply chuckled, laughter rupturing from his chest. "It's our pleasure. Not often do we have company such as this."

Marcel-Oliver stared blankly in my direction.

"So," I spoke up, " why exactly am I so important? I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it."

Augustine sipped his tea and smiled, his teeth so bright that they nearly blinded me, " Ah deary, you are a rare treat to our species. So rare that you're potentially dangerous."

"Which means?" A sudden knot began to squeeze in my stomach. What did he mean?

"Well has Shadow explained to you how your power works? How you can change mindsets?"

"Yes, he has," I nodded.

" But has he explained that you need a Balance and a Guardian?"

"What?"

Augustine looked over at Shadow, "Tsk. You haven't told her about that? Yet you call yourself a Master." He shook his head back and forth.

Shadow's cheeks turned a rosy color and I couldn't make out whether it was because he was angry or just upright embarrassed. He spoke up, " I wasn't sure if that counted for all Breakers or just the Ultimate Breaker. I thought only the one with the highest power recieved a Balance and a Guardian."

Augustine shook his head and stated in a reprimanding way, " No, Shadow. Every Breaker gets them."

I looked over at Kratos to which he just confusedly shrugged.

Shadow looked ashamed, " I'm sorry I didn't inform her. I was not aware of this myself."

Augustine then averted his attention back to me. "Every Breaker gets their own Balance and Guardian. Since Breakers have such extraordinary powers, these two people are basically made as built in security for the Breaker. The Balance is someone who will literally balance your powers. As a Breaker, you possess the highest ranking of power within our species. This means that it is very, very easy to lose control of it. Thus, there is need for someone to balance it. The Balance will help keep you calm, and some of your excess power may even be transferred to him or her when you have an overflow of it."

" So The Balance is an actual person?"

Augustine nodded his head, "Correct and so is The Guardian."

"Am I allowed to choose them?"

Augustine smiled at this, as if saying I were nothing but a foolish little girl, " Miss Kiyano, when you are destined to have such power as this, you cannot pick and choose these things. These things choose you."

I assumed his answer meant no. "How will I know who is chosen?"

"Oh, you'll know. Just don't be afraid when you see people acting abnormally nice or overly protective of you. That is another thing that comes with your power."

"What do you mean?"

A deep, masculine voice erupted from Marcel-Oliver as he spoke up. "Since The Breaker has power over mindsets, even the cruelest heart can be Broken. The hearts filled with hatred and malice will be filled with love and joy. Your power is a radiance. It radiates outward to those within a certain proximity of you, which is great when you are in danger. Your powers can make an attacker change his route and make him want to protect you instead."

My mind shot back to Jagger, and how he had been faltering with his decisions. He hurt Seth, but he didn't harm me. I had always wondered why and now this all started to make sense. If I had Broken him, then maybe his intention really is to protect me.

"It's a quite powerful gift," said Augustine.

Marcel-Oliver agreed, "That it is."

"Well that clears things up a bit more."

"The Guardian on the other hand," continued Marcel-Oliver, "is to risk life and limb for you. He is to take a bullet for you. He is to put you out of harm's way, hence why he is named the Guardian."

Bartholomew spoke up, "And don't think that just because they are referencing to he that both your Balance and Guardian are going to be males. They can be females just as well."

"Yes they can," added Augustine.

"Great point. Thank you for that correction Bartholomew," said Marcel-Oliver, his grouchy expression still plastered on his face. As there was no conversation to be made, you could heard the slurps from everyone enjoying their tea.

After a minute or so, Augustine decided to break the silence."Miss Kiyano, I am sorry to hear about the loss of your parents. Shadow explained all that happened since the Xeria Reina mission." His eyes scanned over Kratos, a cold glare within them.

All this time, I had been pushing the thoughts of my losses to the back of my mind. Hearing him talk about the situation so freely was like ripping off a band-aid. The wound was in the process of being healed, but was still bleeding and hurting.

"Yes. I try not to speak about it too much."

An awkward silence lingered through the air as I stared down at my reflection in the tea that I still hadn't touched. I decided that now would be the perfect time to take a sip. The lukewarm water fell on my tongue, and it tasted like green tea that had an overwhelming taste of pepper in it. Was this some kind of chai tea? This was the most horrible tea I had ever tasted in my life and as I struggled to drink it down, I also struggled to keep my disgust hidden. I would've been better off getting a bottle of the lemon Pure Leaf.

The porcelain teacups clattered against the little plates they were resting on. "Wow, this is some great tea. I've never tasted anything like it before," Kratos said.

My head shot toward him, and he sent a smirk in my direction. Had he been staring at me this whole time? Was my disgust that obvious?

Bartholomew spoke, "Please do help yourself to more. We have plenty of more where that came from."

Please tell me you have Pure Leaf in your kitchen as well.

"Why thank you Bartholomew," he replied, but only I could sense the sarcastic undertone to his statement. He went and got the fancy looking pitcher and poured himself some more tea. Right now I had the sudden urge to go across this table and slap him across his face, but I managed to keep my composure.

Augustine clasped his hands, "So let's talk about Xeria Reina."

"What is there to talk about?" Asked Kratos.

"We've lost her coordinates. There's no track of her as of now," said Bartholomew.

"We have to find her," demanded Augustine. "We have to."

~*~

Throughout the remainder of the time, the men conversed about their plan to find Xeria again and how The League would be in contact with Shadow. As of now, we were moving out of the raggedy old building and back into our car.

" See that wasn't that bad," said Shadow.

"The tea was pretty horrible," I said.

"There's one thing I can agree on," replied Shadow, chuckling.

" Oh what are you guys talking about? That tea was perfectly fine," stated Kratos.

I stopped in my tracks and glared at him, to which he smirked at and kept walking.

"Shadow, I think I found something we can get KL for Christmas," he stated, chuckling to himself.

We all got into the car and began our journey back home. Sitting in the backseat, I rested my head against the window and drowned in my thoughts. I wish my parents were here with me now. They'd know what to do. They'd guide me in the right direction, no matter how crazy the circumstances were in my life right now.

Suddenly, something flew through the air and a giant POP erupted from my side of the car.

"Oh gosh, we have a flat!" Exclaimed Shadow.

Suddenly, another pop erupted from the other side of the car. "This is no flat, Shadow! We're being targeted! Everybody get out!" Exclaimed Kratos.

"How? The car is moving!" I exclaimed in a panic.

"There's nobody else on the road. We can get out now with no damage to anything but the car," said Kratos.

Another wheel popped and the entire car began to swerve. When I saw Shadow open his door, I knew it was time to go. All three of us opened our doors and jumped out simultaneously. The car kept running forward and as we ducked behind the concrete median, we saw a blinking arrow shoot towards the car and as if in slow motion, it flipped over, exploded, and caught on fire.

Shadow pulled a cellphone out of one of his pockets. "I have little time to talk, but track my phone. Our car has left us down and we're being attacked. We need your help."

As I looked over I noticed that Kratos was on the ground while a familiar black haired man stood over him. A blonde man appeared in front of Shadow and I, and I recognized both the men as Jagger's friends. Nicco swung at Shadow, and Shadow managed to react quickly as he put him in a headlock. I began to run away, but Jin transported and grabbed both of my arms in one of his hands.

"Get off me!" I screamed, while struggling to release his grip. Farther down the road, I saw Kratos get up and stare straight at us.

"Sorry. No can do little lady," he said in an eerie tone that sent chills down my spine. Suddenly, I felt the barrel of a gun viciously press up against my head.

"You don't need to do this. Let me go," I said trying to keep my composure. He could shoot me right now and that could be the end of my story. He could literally kill me right now. I tried to think positive thoughts, but that was all that was running through my head in this exact moment. Kratos looked over at us.

"Let her go Jin."

"Make another move and I will not hesitate to pull the trigger Alexanderson. She's dangerous and she's a threat to our species. Even you know that."

"Let her go," Kratos said in a demanding tone. I felt a bead of sweat drip off my forehead.

Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation in my fingertips and then was when I knew that my power was ready to go.

" Let. Me. GO!" I said and suddenly such a strong power erupted from me that even I was winded by the aftershock.

The burst of power shot Jin several feet away, landing on his back. Looking that way, I had seen that Shadow had just now managed to knock out Nicco. Something on Nicco's side caught his attention, to which he examined. Running over to Kratos, I heard a very loud POP POP POP that rang through my ears. It was none other than the eruption of gunshots. Looking behind my shoulder, I could see that they were flying in my direction, but they weren't aimed at me. They were aimed at Kratos. Intuition took over as I jumped in front of them, feeling three sharp, stinging pains rip through my bare flesh.

My vision began to blur, and though I heard my body fall to the ground, I couldn't feel a thing. Touching my stomach, I could just make out the crimson blood that was now all over my hand. Fighting my consciousness, I tried to make out what was happening. I heard a boy scream my name and I heard someone's fearful gasp.

Throughout the whole scene the one thing that I most remember was a laugh that was abruptly cut off. Pop pop pop.

© Lightning_Stryker 2015