Third Person

Nike was one of the few children born with wings and she is so flipping COOL!

Cody thinks he got all the cool kids with his adorable star princes but now I've given them competition with not only my precious and powerful gem child, but now my daughter with WINGS! HA! BEAT THAT, CODY!

Today, I taught her how to use them properly! I might be a flightless bird but I know how wings work.

Even though Atlantis water means you can swim any distance, when Nike uses her wings, she's much faster than anyone else and doesn't seem restricted by gravity as much as the rest of us.

I love my kids

—K.J.

———————————

A Couple Days Earlier...

Carlo felt a weight on his chest as he left his home behind.

He knew it wasn't his luggage he carried with him- he could carry twice as much and walk a mile before feeling tired- but rather an emotional weight. Guilt? Maybe, it sure felt like it.

In his hands, he held the paper that changed his life. A long speech about Atlantis needing to change, and at the end of it all, the signatures of both Hemlock and Cecelia. He knew the signatures anywhere, Hemlock's being quick and messy, most of the letters blending together and even a few being skipped, while Cecelia's was loopy and seemed like she spent ten minutes on it before being satisfied with the result, with small little details that Carlo hardly noticed until just now. Nobody else wrote like them. He let out a short laugh how vastly different they were.

Carlo had read through it a thousand times, hoping he would feel different the next time he did so, but each time he still had a feeling that this was something he needed to do.

He found it curious how in the speech, they made a huge effort to single out the word 'ROOT', putting it in bright green and all capital letters. Not to mention there was drawings of roots covering the paper behind the text. Hemlock made an effort to show that word was important, meaning it must've been. Hemlock rarely did anything without a reason, even if she'd deny it.

As he moved further away and towards the directions given on the flyer, Carlo still couldn't believe he was doing this. He was ordinarily one to think something through before doing it, but now here he was, still no idea why he wanted to leave. All he had was the feeling in his heart that this is what he needed to do, and an ambitious hunger that kept him famished.

Carlo looked back one last time and the house was out of sight. He thought about what he was doing again, but determined he wasn't going to doubt anymore and continued ahead. No regrets.

...Well, maybe there was one regret in his heart. The reason why he kept hesitating. Leaving the house behind meant Nike with it. They had been joined at the hips since they were kids, and even though both of them made other friends that the other wasn't particularly attached to, they had always stuck together. They had promised they would be, after all.

Nike... Nike was a strange one. Bouncy, energetic, with a love of puns and sometimes, a rather dark sense of humor. She often wasn't afraid of voicing what she thought, and always told Carlo everything. She was the opposite of Carlo is so many ways.

And Carlo loved that. She was real with him, she was different, she gave him another perspective- even if he disagreed with it- and it was good for him. It is good for him.

Yes, he would miss so many people, like his oldest brother Aaron or Emrys and Zero or even Gargoyle, but Nike was at the top of the list. Because Aaron had Araminta, and Emrys and Zero had each other and even Gargoyle had Joker- but Nike? Nike might've had friends, but nobody could replace how close he was with her.

It made him hesitate, he turned back again. He told himself that he wasn't going to do this but now he couldn't help it. The thought of Nike waking up in the morning and being all alone haunted his thoughts and nearly made him take a step forward-

"TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

A sudden force knocked him off his feet in pure surprise and sent both him and the other tumbling to the ground. Dazed, it took him a moment to process what had happened, and the fact that there were a pair of strong arms wrapped around him. It took him another to realize it was a hug, and what had been shouted at him before it happened.

And then, he knew exactly what happened.

"Bolt, get off of me." He grunted, though he couldn't deny the relief in his heart and the slight smile on his face.

Nike giggled, following the order and helping him up as she did. Her hair was everywhere now, but all it took was some adjustments for it to be back in neat ponytails. Her multicolored eyes shined with joy as she crossed her arms. "You were in your thinking space again, thought you might need a jumpstart to get you out of it."

"It did work." Carlo finally let his smile shine through, then he blinked. Looking around, he had to ask. "What are you doing out here?"

"Probably the same as you." Nike's eyes quirked, then nodded at the poster in his hand. She dug into her pockets and pulled out a crumpled version of the same poster, then waved it around for emphasis. "Which means I'm in luck! You're considering joining too, huh?"

Carlo nodded, then she tilted her head. "What's your reason? I'm gonna be honest, it's partly because it means I might get to do some illegal stuff and I have a lot of pent up rebellion. I think it's a teenager thing. Or a Nexus thing." She shrugged to herself. "Maybe it's one of my parents, I don't care."

Unsure how he was gonna explain himself, he latched onto the first thing he could think of. "Partly? So outside of causing some chaos, what else?"

Nike moved to the poster, pointing at the names at the bottom. "These two. I wouldn't go through with it any other way, I'd just dismiss it for an adrenaline rush or something like that. Like the other day I wanted to rob an ice cream truck. Did I do it? Nah, of course not. I thought about it, but I didn't want to get thrown in jail the second Mom and Dad leave so I ignored it."

Carlo snickered but stopped when she pressed on. "But these two made a difference. Anybody else I wouldn't trust to run something like this. But Hemlock, we know her. We worked on a group project that one time, remember? We had to figure out what the 'Mystery Chemical' was. Hemlock planned out everything and while it was way more work than was actually needed, we were the only one's in the class to figure it out. The teacher set it up so we weren't supposed to but she did it. If anyone's going to lead some sort of rebellion, she's the girl for the job."

"And Cecelia?"

Nike snorted. "You're kidding, right? C'mon, think back to the project! Hemlock was going to strangle me after I made a few jokes when we failed and she was going to implode on herself after the third day. Cecelia's the only reason she didn't, not to mention that girl bought us all treats once we finished. She has my trust."

Carlo laughed. "Anybody can buy your trust with some food."

"Yeah well, that's just a bit of trust. My REAL trust only comes after-"

"A near death experience, I remember." The green haired boy wasn't sure if he wanted to groan or grin at the memory, eventually settling for a playful eyeroll. "I still can't believe you thought breaking into the zoo was a good idea."

"The lions were asleep, weren't they?" Nike nudged him. "And stop changing the subject, why are you avoiding telling me why you wanted to join?"

Carlo's shoulders tensed, but he sighed, shaking his head instead of avoiding the question again. "Not getting out of that one, huh?" His eyebrows quirked, then his eyes trailed to the ground.

The girl with mismatched eyes watched him carefully, then it clicked in her head. "Well, I'll be a chicken's daughter! You don't actually know, do you?"

Carlo's silence only spoke volumes as she laughed. "That's it, isn't it! Jeez, Carlo, you always act like you think through every single option and possibility when in reality, you just go with your gut!" She poked his stomach for emphasis, making him try and swat her hand away as lightly as possible. Nike only laughed more at that.

"C'mon you lumbering tree! Let's go!" The winged girl pulled him along, and he allowed her. Both were headed in the same direction after all, and they didn't want to be late.

When they arrived, a small crowd of a variety people had already arrived. There wasn't any pattern just by the naked eye, Carlo noticed soldiers, scientists, a few farmers and even common folk he'd just seen on the street. They had all gotten in a group and chatted among each other. Nike and Carlo had just joined them when all suddenly fell silent.

They soon learned why. Familiar wavy, orange hair caught their attention, and soon, as they pushed to the front of the crowd, they saw Cecelia's fact that matched it. Her blue eyes, though warm and welcoming, was enough to silence everyone. They knew who she was, and they knew she was one of the bosses. Disrespecting a boss of an organization you're about to join is never a good idea.

"You all know exactly why you are here. I don't have to explain any of that, do I?" She smiled, her hands behind her back as she paced back and forth in front of them. "Which is why, I'm going to get to the chase! If you would, all of you follow me. We can't talk out in the open and without Hemlock, so I will be taking you somewhere where we fix both of those problems."

Just as Cecelia turned to show the way, her eyes met both Nike and Carlo's. They widened and signaled both of them to follow her. The pair gave a look to each other before jogging ahead, walking side by side with the red head.

"Good to see both of you!" Cecelia cheered, putting her arm around the both of them. "I know for a fact that Hemlock is going to want to see the both of you."

-------------------------
Present Time

"You want us to do what now?" Aaron's eyebrows lifted at the heir to the throne.

Leo sucked in a long breath, trying to cool his nerves before explaining again. It was already clear that he was well beyond tired. Besides him, Araminta had her arms crossed and slight dark circles under her eyes. "There's been a few different problems since..." Leo trailed off, then shook himself. "So we're planning on splitting different people into groups to investigate. The guards are on it as well but I figured we might as well do something, right? I was hoping you three could check out some of the farming in the Fourth Sector? If you're not busy that is. It's okay to say no, I can always-!"

"Sounds like fun." The voice came from behind Aaron, and he didn't have to turn his head to know it was his half brother, Phoenix. The boy yawned a bit but grinned brightly. "Gives me something to do! What's going down there anyways?"

Araminta answered this time. "Disappearance of crops. Normally, we wouldn't blink twice at that, plenty of animals get to them every year, but it's three times as big as usual, and more of a clear cut than just sporadic patches. I blame Hemlock."

"You can't just blame everything on Hemlock." Phoenix pointed out.

"Watch me." Araminta argued back.

Leo paused until they were both done to continue. "The uh, the point is, we're all pitching in since our parents are gone. Have to fill the void."

"Which means we're going on an adventure!" Jasper popped up behind Aaron, cheering slightly. Jasper had changed into a bright pink sweater with floral patterns on it, and now bounced on his feet. Nexus energy buzzed in the air for a moment before Jasper quickly waved it away, realizing he was letting it get out of control again. "I'm ready, I love the farm lands! It always smells so good at they have those funny little guys standing in the middle of the field that sometimes have crows on them!"

Aaron blinked in surprise. "You mean scarecrows? You actually like those?"

"Yeah, they're funny to look at! Why, do you not?" Jasper cocked his head, his both of his tentacle arms wrapping around Aaron's arm and his head propping up on his shoulder. "I actually tried to keep one in my room once! Then Magnus refused to come in so I had to get rid of it."

"...Well what'd you do with it?" Phoenix asked, now curious.

Jasper paused for a long time then began to pull at Aaron's arm, gesturing for the door. "Let's go investigate!"

Phoenix laughed as he followed, and Leo suddenly gained a worried look on his face. Araminta was silent for a while before breaking the silence. "Well, that's gonna haunt me for the rest of my life. I better not find that later."

---------------------

Phoenix found the farmlands... Dull.

Yes, necessary and full of life and all of that- but Phoenix didn't like spending more than an hour there. It bored him, there wasn't anything to do but stand around and "Enjoy nature" as Aaron explained. Except unlike his slightly younger brother who was gladly frolicing in the fields and now was out of sight with the corn stalks being far taller than him, Phoenix wasn't a nature guy.

He preferred to be busy. Nature was about the experience- looks, smells, all of that- but standing around and trying to "Enjoy" it only made him restless. His hands fidgeted, itching and pleading for something to do.

Aaron came back results that the large disappearances of crops tended to happened at night, between 9-10 PM, and then again at midnight. Phoenix almost screamed, it was hardly noon! He couldn't stay down here for that long!

Aaron had left to find where Jasper had wandered off to, leaving the redhead alone. He took his goggles from off his forehead and began to take it apart, then putting it back together again. Anything to keep his hands and mind busy. For a moment, a brief flash flickered from his fingers, but he quickly blew it away.

"Not your scene, huh?" A sudden voice startled Phoenix. He whirled around for the source, finding himself face to face with bright green eyes. Wait... Are they glowing?

The kid looked around his age, with messy, green hair that Phoenix couldn't tell if it was dyed or not. His eyes were only green, no whites or even a pupil, and the longer he stared at them, the more he was convinced they were glowing. His figure was long and slender, though only an inch taller than Phoenix himself. He wore a long sleeve green shirt with a black and red vest over it.

Phoenix hesitated for a while, but eventually answered his question by shaking his head. The kid clicked his tongue, confirming what he already suspected. "Thought so! You're awfully fidgety. Why don't you put it to good use?"

"Good use?" Phoenix echoed, then looked around. "What kind?"

"Oh I'm sure you can find all types, maybe even one that suits you!" Pure green eyes trailed down to his half finished goggles, then nodded towards it. "I think Miss Morry broke her tractor last night, why not start there?"

Phoenix paused for a long while, then nodded. "Got nothing else to do, and sounds fun enough. How'd you know about her tractor? Family friend?"

The boy giggled. "You could say that. People around here actually like me, they don't care who you are or what you look like if you help out!"

"Yeah makes sense." Phoenix turned, them paused for a moment, processing. Something about the way he said it was odd. "Wait, I never caught your name-"

Phoenix broke off when he faced him again, blinking in confusion. The green haired kid was long gone, without so much of a trace that he had been there before. Phoenix shook it off, then went to find 'Miss Morry'.

————

As Phoenix had been advised, he put himself to work for the farmers and found that hours passed by quickly. He grinned and wiped the grease off his hands and onto his jacket when he finished up fixing someone's grill. The light was fading, it was almost time.

Aaron and Jasper apparently had been enjoying the fields all that time, having a small picnic out of snacks the younger had snuck with him. How they were entertained by doing nothing, was something Phoenix would never understand. He could hardly watch movies unless they really grabbed his attention. Needless to say, Phoenix was a bit of a nightmare in school.

The three then engaged in a stakeout, waiting and hoping that something would happen like it did the night before. Phoenix has luckily brought one of the farmer's broken radios with him and began to get to work on restoring it to its former glory.

For a moment, all that could be heard was the slight static coming from the radio, and Jasper's humming of a song that neither recognized. And then, a soft beating sound.

Aaron noticed it first, looking up into the sky and frowning. "Whale Gulls know not to come this far out... Where's that coming from?" His green eyes moved all around, then stopped dead. He tugged on Phoenix and Jasper's sleeves respectively, grabbing their attention, and then points towards a growing spot in the sky.

With the natural light from the Nexus' work gone, it's hard to see exactly what it is but it's apparent it has wings, and it's very much alive. Slow at first but at the sight of crops, it seems to get eager and picks up the pace. Just as it's right above the first row, it swoops down and disappears in the field.

Both Phoenix and Aaron are on their feet in a split second, but Phoenix acts first, diving into the field and not waiting for the others. He can't tell if he's breaking the crops or not, he just runs and hopes he'll catch them in time. Behind him, Jasper calls his name but he doesn't answer. He barely even thinks about it.

However, the winged being didn't stay in the same spot they landed. Phoenix sees crops pulled up, but they're gone. An almost growl like noise escapes him as he further investigates the rest of the field. A voice whispers for him to coordinate with Aaron and Jasper- to tell them what he's learned- but Phoenix's blood roars in his head and the thought is gone before he can even open his mouth to go through with it.

All he can think about is trying to catch the culprit, no matter who or what it is. When he sees it again in the sky, carrying a large bag, he ignites his hands and begins to throw fire at them.

Phoenix's fire, something that came from a genetic accident when he was playing around with various chemicals, is something that seems to flow through his very veins. He can feel it, and it almost seems alive to him. Like it can understand his frustrations and emotions and matches it. At the same time, Phoenix feels like he himself becomes fire in that moment.

The heat makes him feel powerful, and all he can think in that time is 'Burn, spread, burn, destroy, BURN' and fire fills his vision. Everything seems to turn into colors of red, orange or yellow, even if it wasn't before. The winged figure swerves out of the way of the fireballs he sends, and so he sends more. Fire blasting from his hands in waves, fire consuming his entire body, and all he can feel is the power as the smell of smoke fills the air, and he can feel the ashes below his feet.

"PHOENIX!"

Two voices yell at the same time, and all of it is gone just through the distress in their voices. He switches back, his vision returning to normal, and realizing what happened. His interest in the winged figure is gone, and the commotion around him is apparent.

His flames were spreading through the field, the fireballs he sent had landed further out, and everything was being destroyed in its path. Phoenix yelps slightly, then with a swift swipe of his hand, the fire extinguishes. Gone in a flash, without a single lingering ember.

Phoenix can't, however, make the ash and destruction go away.

----------------

Aaron tells Phoenix that the damage luckily didn't get too far, and it was just in a small area. Jasper tells him that luckily, no one was harmed. The farmers tell him they're lucky he put it out so fast.

Phoenix doesn't feel lucky.

He doesn't get why nobody is screaming at him yet. Not even some of the grumpy farmers. They look at him like they will, but none of them do. He even watches as the fire fades from their eyes when they come over to, and change their mind in the end before even reaching him.

It doesn't make him feel better. He wants someone to yell- get mad at him and scream to never do that again so he'll be sure he's gonna listen. He wants them to shake him until he's pale and can barely even ignite his hands to light a candle. But, none of them do. The ones that do approach him just tell him they can fix it and not to worry.

Phoenix doesn't understand why.

He just sits a few feet away from the field on the ground. It's only eleven at night but Phoenix already wants to go home. He almost did but Aaron stopped him. He didn't say a word, just tugging on his sleeve and pointing to sit down.

Phoenix barely gets out a sigh before Jasper suddenly plops down beside him. He smiles, sitting criss cross and with his tentacle hands rested on his thighs. Blue eyes locked with yellow before Phoenix looked down. Jasper spoke first, after waiting for Phoenix to say anything.

"You going to join me and Aaron later? We still got another chance at this, given they do follow the same pattern as before."

Phoenix gave him a look. "Doubtful. Not feeling up to it."

"We could really use your-"

"I'm not having a good day, okay, Jasper? I'd rather not." Phoenix spoke louder, trying to get his point across.

Jasper paused slightly. "I get it, but also, we still have work to do. Leo and Araminta asked us to do this, we can't let them down! And we need you, you're fast!"

"I also burn what I touch!" Phoenix blurted out, throwing his hands up and letting them slap back down on his legs, shaking his head. "I could've- and probably would've- burned down that entire field and more if you two weren't there. I'm more of a hazard at this point." His eyes trailed around as a slow hiss escaped his lips. "I don't get why nobody has lectured me by now."

"Well, they're farmers, they love efficiency!" The pyromaniac just gave him a blank stare. Jasper decided to elaborate. "Well, farmers are always looking for ways to improve their rate of growing crops so they look for ways to cut down on time. Efficient!"

"Jasp, I don't think you understood me. What does this have to do with me?"

"Well, why would they need to yell at you if you're already doing that yourself?"

Phoenix stumbled, blinking faster before uttering out a blunt. "What?"

Jasper's smile faded for a moment. His eyes sparked with power but a deep breath seemed to stop any from leaving him. "I guess it's kinda hard to know what you look like without a mirror, huh? You've been sitting over here looking like a kicked puppy this whole time. Anything they could say, you've already said to yourself. Clear as day. You're a scientist, you figured out your flaws pretty quickly and what went wrong, and you got discouraged for that. Why would they need to punish you? You're doing that to yourself, aren't you?"

Phoenix didn't say a word. Half out of the truth, but the other half, pure shock. He wasn't expecting this talk. Not from Jasper.

Jasper didn't seem to wait for him. "And of course you're having a bad day! That's all you allowed yourself to see! I fibbed a little bit earlier, I'm not a huge fan of the farmland either. I like staying inside and eating what Aaron makes or making friendship bracelets with Florence or fashion shows with Magnus! All of that's inside."

Phoenix took a moment to form the words, but eventually asked, "So, you just faked being happy?"

"Mmmm, in the beginning I did." Jasper nodded. "But then, I became actually happy! I convinced myself to have a good time by telling myself it would be fun, and it worked! My points is, you gotta change your attitude, or nothing will change at all. You think these farmlands are gonna change? Nope! The people? Maybe, but probably not! You have to adapt! Like natural selection!"

"That's not what-" Phoenix shook his head, deciding to drop it and smiled slightly, making Jasper brighten up. "Thanks, Jasp." Jasper quickly scooted closer and gave him a tight hug before pulling away and looking at something behind him.

"You two wrapped up?" Phoenix turned, now noticing Aaron standing behind him, with a suspicious smirk on his face, gesturing towards the fields. "Our winged being might come back."

Jasper sprung up and began to skip towards the spot they were hiding out before. Phoenix caught up with Aaron as he followed after, eyebrow raised. "You... Did you..?"

Aaron shrugged slightly. "I'd be wrong of me to not know my boyfriend's superpower of somehow knowing the right thing to say to cheer someone up, and Jasper is right, you did look like a kicked puppy. For a scientist, you're a very emotional person, Phoenix."

Phoenix felt a half chuckle escape him. "You'd make quite the evil mastermind if you used your smarts for evil."

"Yeah, but even if I thought about that, I could never do that to Jasper. He'd tried to follow me, and he's not villain material. Couldn't do that to him." Aaron winked at him. "But, ruling the world doesn't sound too bad, does it?"

"At least you're dating a prince." Phoenix snorted. "Might not be heir, but a prince is a prince."

"He's already, my prince." Aaron winked again, then stopped and laughed at himself. "Too cheesy?"

"Little bit. Moving on."

Phoenix and Aaron reached Jasper just he pointed out that once again, the winged figure was approaching.

Phoenix took a deep breath, looking at Aaron and Jasper. "Okay, fire's off limits, what do we do?"

"I wouldn't say completely off limits... If you got close, you might be able to make a precise shot, we just have to get close to them. By the looks of it... They'll land in the most lush place, we have to go further down!" Aaron decided. With a nod, the three of them took off, with Phoenix in the lead and Aaron in the back.

As he predicted, they swooped down and landed right in the middle of the undamaged parts of the field and began quickly taking corn stalks left and right, uncaring of the damage they caused. Phoenix burst into the area they were in, and then stopped as mismatched eyes met his.

"Nike?"

Nike locked eyes before her wings extended to their full length again. A grin formed on her lips. "Sorry, Bird Bro. Got a new gig now, don't take this personally."

With a swoop, she used her wing to smack him in the face, poking his eye and making him flinch and hold it. Then, she began flapping hard, trying to grab more food and keep him at a distance through intimidation. Phoenix stumbled back for a moment, trying to see.

And then, a zap rang out.

With his uninjured eye, Phoenix peeked out to see a spot on Nike's wings and arm where slight soot had formed. Groaning, she didn't wait a moment more and took off into the sky, carrying her bag with her and not looking back.

"I got her!" Jasper's voice was distinct, and excited. He caught up, huffing and proud of himself, and then slowly, the smile faded. It was replaced with a look of realization. "Oh. Nike. I..." He trailed off, but they knew what he meant.

I didn't realize we're now on different sides.

I didn't realize we'd be fighting our own.

I wish things could be different.

And silently, they all agreed.

*******************************************

I'M NOT DEAD WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ah, been very very long but I finally updated this book! I got so pumped for what I set in store that I just HAD to get this update out so I can continue and get towards what I have planned!

You get to see into the true nature of quite a few characters here! And, soon enough, you'll see even more with the rest of the things in store~

For now, just enjoy! I hope you guys liked this! Do be sure to comment, for it fuels me greatly, and farewell, y'all!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter

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