Rebecca thought she had forgotten this feeling.
This feeling of complete and utter uselessness. She thought she had gotten past this feeling of helplessness inside her, but she was starting to think it grew every time she simply pushed it aside.
All she could do was hate herself for being so weak as she dangled off the ground as her dad gripped her neck.
He looked gone as he screamed at Rebecca.
Instead of hearing his voice, Rebecca heard nothing as dad's grip slowly increased while tears streamed down his face. She couldn't understand why he was crying in the first place. It was something about mom, but Rebecca soon couldn't hear anything as the voices began to fill the void of sound around her.
At first, they were incoherent voices yelling over each other, but the less Rebecca struggled the easier it became for her to separate the voices and identify what each one was saying.
"Let go already!"
"Why do you hold on when you are weak?"
"You burden everyone with power!"
"Give in. It is easier that way."
"No one said you have to stick along for this long."
"It's painful, isn't it."
"Just let go, and you'll never worry about this pain again."
Let go?
"Yes, stop trying to fight it and let go."
Rebecca, barely conscious, watched her dad's movements as she slowly stopped flailing around, and she noticed his grip loosened ever so slightly. Maybe if she closed her eyes, she thought, maybe then he'll let go completely.
"Yes, stop struggling."
All she had to do was close her eyes.
Just shut her-
Rebecca's eyes shot back open and she turned to face the little girl's voice to see little Halley crying by herself. She instinctively reached out to her, and he felt dad's grip shoot back up again, but she had to fight back this time.
She had to get to Halley, she thought as the voices screamed against it. She kicked and punched at her old man until she managed to bite a part of his hand.
He threw her across the empty void to Halley, and Rebecca didn't think twice as she grabbed ahold of the crying child. The longer she consoled her, the more she felt her own body grow, but Halley somehow remained the same size. She looked down to wipe her tears, and when she did, she ended up crying herself as she promised to protect Brianna with her life.
A promise she had made once, and a promise she would give her life to keep.
*****
Confused would be the word to describe Rebecca as she woke up in what looked like an abandoned school building.
Frazzled would be another as she slowly remembered the last two weeks of her life, and shocked would've described her as Sky walked into her room.
"Why are you always the last to get up?" The little colourful girl asked, but Rebecca didn't even bother to point out how incorrect that statement was as she stared at Louis.
She couldn't tell if she was dreaming or not as he walked closer and closer to her and even sat down on her bed.
"Rebecca! Answer me!" she finally heard Sky yell as Louis placed his hand on her forehead and then on his own.
With his face right in front of hers, Louis continued to place his hand on her forehead before telling Sky, "Doesn't seem like she has a fever."
"Are you sure?"
Louis turned around to check again and suddenly started to blush out of nowhere.
The silence between them made Rebecca rather self-conscious about her own appearance as Sky finally said, "Geez. Get over yourselves. You're not horny teenagers anymore, you know."
She looked rather disgusted as she stormed out of the room. Not that she or Louis cared as she realised he seemed as self-conscious as she was.
How adorable~, she thought as he cleared his throat and sat upright.
"Are you really alright?"
Yeah, she was. She simply got a bit flustered.
"Oh, that's great then."
After searching her mind for a topic of conversation for three awkward minutes straight, Rebecca finally noticed Louis' missing arm and asked him if he was alright.
"This is nothing, but it seems something was out for my arm, huh?"
Right! That was the same arm the Saviours attacked a year and a half ago. While on the topic, how the abyssus did they become friends anyway?
Louis laughed as he responded, "No idea. Kylian and William dragged me along into your suicide mission, and I guess I befriended almost everyone after they saved my life."
Almost?
He blushed at the question before he leaned towards the floor and looked up at Rebecca.
"I was under the impression that we became more than friends. Perhaps I was wrong."
Rebecca felt her own face flush red as she mustered up the courage to say … nothing as Brandon walked into the room with his hand over his eyes.
"Please give the love-making a rest. Everyone is waiting for you two." the embarrassing twin declared as Rebecca threw the closest shoe at his head.
With her pinpoint accuracy, he was soon wailing while holding his head.
"Daisy~" he cried as he ran out of the room.
"Glad to see him in high spirits."
Too high, if you asked Rebecca, but that oaf managed to break some of the tension in the air as Louis helped her to her feet.
She repaid his kind gesture with a kiss on the cheek, before he added one more on her lips, leaving both of them red in the face as they finally walked out of the room.
*****
An abandoned school field. Ten magicians, one dormant, and one hybrid all spread out in a circle with one man who was supposed to be dead in the middle.
They had heard Raphael and Daisy's explanation, but Rebecca still couldn't really wrap her head around PROJECT ANARCHY, or how Richard was planning to use it to destroy the world. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't a time to ask questions as she walked up to Michael's father and pulled a stick from a can.
Rebecca stared at the half red stick in her hand as Raphael explained the exercise.
"Everyone with a blue stick will form one unit, while everyone with red will form another. Those with blank sticks will stand-by and not interfere unless it is absolutely necessary."
Chayse adorably raised his hand at the explanation before asking, "I didn't get a stick. Am I not allowed to play?"
"Not at all, Mr. Chayse. If you have no stick, you will be the one being attacked when either unit is engaged."
What? There was no way they could all just attack Chayse like that!
"And do you think Richard will care?" Halley questioned, "We're in a war, Reba. We need to be able to hold our own."
"I'll be alright, Miss Rebecca, so don't hold back."
It was easy for him to say. He wasn't the one who would end up with a stained conscience, Rebecca thought as the red unit was called up first.
Rebecca looked at Awan as he instructed her to place a barrier around his little boyfriend, and he seemed pretty into the exercise. Celestia and Louis did too, and soon, she was the only one underestimating Chayse as Awan shrouded the inside of the barrier in darkness, making a two-way mirror effect.
Meanwhile, Celestia was coating Louis' eyes with her cloud white magic before he walked up to the barrier.
"Don't go easy on him," Michael called from the sidelines, "He's a lot stronger than you think."
"We'll see about that." Louis replied with a smirk as his eyes turned their fire red. It was only when Louis kicked Chayse across the barrier that Rebecca realised all the defensive fighters had been placed in one group, while the offense was on the blue unit.
The part that confused her the most was that they had chosen the sticks at random.
However, Rebecca's attention was soon back on Louis and Chayse as the deer-boy finally caught one of Louis' lethal fire punches, but he didn't see his leg coming, and was soon lying on his back.
Resilient and apparently immune to pain, he jumped back up, but it was clear he couldn't see anything around him as he faced his back to Louis. Aware of his own vulnerability, Chayse suddenly closed his eyes as Louis' caution increased with every step.
With tensions filling the barrier, everyone was waiting for Louis to attack his lost opponent, but he seemed to have been taking his sweet time until he suddenly bolted at him.
Chayse immediately turned to face him as Louis threw a punch, but Chayse managed to grab both his fist and his leg, leaving Louis without any other tricks.
Or at least that's what Rebecca thought, but Ares' magician soon left everyone speechless and he opened his mouth and blasted Chayse with blue fire.
The blast from the flames almost made Rebecca lose her grip on her barrier, and filled her with worry as the flames receded.
As the smoke cleared, Rebecca saw Kiara standing between them with her hand in front of Louis' mouth.
"Switch!" Raphael called and the red unit moved out of the way as the blue team began their onslaught.
Chayse, being able to see again, immediately started dodging Halley and Brandon's downpour of turquoise and sunlight yellow arrows as Mrs. Park snuck up behind him.
However, Rebecca could tell when he was about to dodge an attack rather easily after watching him fight Louis. She didn't know if it was intentional or not, but his ears always wiggled in the direction of the attack, allowing him to dodge the attacks of a trained assassin.
Though he was keeping up with Mrs. Park, the difference in strength was obvious as every hit slowed Chayse down a bit, but it wasn't enough to prevent him from dodging Michael's random lightning strikes.
He dodged long range and quick attacks well, but when up against Britney and her pearl eyes, there wasn't much Chayse could do to keep up with her. For every attack he dodged, she managed to land two more on the hybrid until Raphael called "Time!"
After a few minutes of Raphael writing things down, Rebecca noticed how he, Kiara, Daisy, and all the dragons had blank sticks.
This "coincidence" confused her until Raphael said, "Chayse and Michael, switch."
"Aren't the mashups supposed to be random?" Michael argued.
"Nothing in this world is random. Everything follows a pattern or a plan."
What was that supposed to mean? How could he have planned the units when they all picked their own sticks?
Rebecca couldn't understand the man's mind at all as he had the blue team gang up on Michael, and this time, Britney and her mom went first and didn't waste any time.
While Britney had the power to knock Michael's defenses down, Mrs. Park had the technique to keep his defenses down, and soon the 18 year old magician was on the ground.
His father hadn't called time yet, which meant he had no time to waste as he managed to roll out of the way of one of Britney's (quite literal) earth-shattering punches, only to be attacked by the twins' arrows.
Backed into a corner, Michael's eyes glowed thundercloud gray as bolts of lightning contorted themselves around him, placing him in what seemed to be an impenetrable sphere, but Halley and Brandon's arrows didn't ease up.
It was apparent that Michael was just wasting time at that point, so Rebecca began coming up with plans to break the lightning barrier as Raphael stepped forward.
Rebecca saw him take a deep breath before he suddenly yelled out, "Axel Augustine Sullivan.", and every bent bolt of lightning straightened itself out.
Michael stood there, motionless as the dust around him cleared, but there was something eerie and familiar about the way he just stood there like a lifeless doll.
"Louis, join the blue team."
"Yes, sir!"
What? Why? What exactly was going on?
Her confusion only increased as Chayse and Britney went to attack at the same time, a lethal mashup. At least, it was supposed to be.
You see, Michael did not move at all until Raphael called out, "Self-defense.", and when he did move, Rebecca could barely recognize Michael's movements.
He grabbed the deer-boy's fist and Britney's leg with ease as he swung them around and away in opposite directions before returning to that lifeless stance. It was as if he was just waiting for someone else to attack, but none of the kids were brave enough to.
Mrs. Park, however, was up for the challenge as she ran up to Michael and went straight for a punch, but the possessed child dodged her fist and caught her arm. If she was anyone else, Mrs. Park's arm probably would've gotten torn off, Rebecca thought as she broke Michael's grip and kneed him in the face in the same backflip.
Everyone's excitement went up at her successful attack, and that same excitement went right back down as Raphael said, "Attack."
The only thing anyone could see was Louis' blue flames as he blasted Michael with everything he had, but when the smoke cleared, he was his new target.
Brandon managed to yank him out of the way as Britney roundhoused him towards a trap Halley had set on the ground. When they thought they had finally got him, the ground started to shake and the sky began to roar as a sudden lightning storm destroyed Halley's trap.
Lightning bolts filled the young magician's eyes as he looked around the field, like he was searching for a new target. He looked round and round before his eyes settled on Rebecca.
Sensing the impending danger, the magician tried to put up a barrier, but Michael had already got her by her neck.
Rebecca saw everyone running towards her as his grip tightened around her neck. She tried calling out to him, but there was no use.
Michael was gone.
"Code:Break."
As suddenly as he grabbed her, Michael let go of Rebecca's neck as the glow in eyes faded. He dropped her body, but managed to catch her head before it hit the ground, and he hugged her as he sobbed.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Reba. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."
She was alright, she lied, just a bit startled, but the hostile environment turned vicious as Louis began to yell at Raphael.
"What the abyssus was that? What did you do to Michael?"
Awan and Brandon ran up to stop him from grabbing Raphael as he yelled, but the mysterious man didn't seem phased by anything as he said, "Clean yourselves up for the afternoon briefing." and walked away.
Rebecca saw Brandon whisper something to Louis, but her attention focused more on Michael as he cried over her.
"I'm so sorry, Rebecca. I'm sorry."
Geez, she was fine, so he could stop being such a crybaby, but the lighthearted joke only made him cry even more as more and more thunder filled the sky.
*****
"A long time ago," Raphael explained, "My late wife and her Magi tricked the Magi, Zeus into making a contract with our son, Axel. Though I was against the whole thing, it doesn't change the fact that I helped my wife create a way to optimize any magician's power."
"When Axel first made his contract, he was a Class C magician. A few days later, he was a Class SSS magician at the age of 4, but the project had taken a toll on him psychologically."
"By wiping your memory, Michael, I thought I could reverse those side effects, but there was always the chance being with us would trigger those memories to return. I had to shut down the project, and so I asked my little sister, Clara, to change your first name and keep you away from royalty."
"However, as luck would have it, you won the scholarship to the most prestigious academy for magicians in the world."
"Why is that important?" Brandon asked his boyfriend, "You see, my boss here, thought he had destroyed the project by disappearing, but he didn't count on Doria sending the files to her older brother, Richard."
Richard Mustollini was Michael's uncle?
"Yep, and he and my boss are the only people who know how to use PROJECT ANARCHY."
What did he mean by "use"?
"I stored all the files about PROJECT ANARCHY in a cellar in case Michael ever remembered and wanted to get rid of it."
"And we found that cellar," Halley said.
"And removed the files marked PROJECT ANARCHY." Louis added.
"But those files were empty!" Michael argued.
"Because I switched them out before a certain coyote could take them."
"My mother?" Awan questioned, "What did she want with those files?"
"We're not sure, but we do know the power levels of Richard's men are on par with you dragon tamers." Mrs. Park added.
"And they have two dragon tamers, as well." Britney added before Chayse asked, "Why is Mr. Willy still here then?"
They all turned to see the Earth dragon sleeping in lizard form on Kiara's shoulder before turning to Sky and Timmit.
"They probably already made their bond," Sky said, "But there's no rule that says we have to stick to our tamers like the skin on their backs."
So, William and Kylian had their bonds?
"Yep."
Great.
"We still have the advantage, though." Timmit added, making everyone turn to him with doubtful gazes. "Think about it. We can throw them off by distancing ourselves, and then take each one out in 2 v 1s, as Isra fights Esros."
Wouldn't that be catastrophic?
"I can manage," Kiara said, "But we need to crush their numbers."
"And we have to save the prisoners too." Celestia added with a smile.
"First," Lady Chaeryoung said as she walked in with a smile, "We need to plant these."
*****
Recon.
Rebecca's favourite type of mission, she thought as she, Chaeryoung, Louis, Britney, and Sky ran through the Palace Rus with their masks on.
The magic Sky had imbued in them allowed only fellow dragon tamers to see them, meaning the only way their mission could go wrong was if they ran into William or Kylian.
Worst case scenario was a short, smoke filled fight, but Louis was confident in their luck as they continued running.
Rebecca remembered the few times she had entered the palace, as they raced through the seemingly endless corridors.
The last time they were there, they were being honored as heroes, and now they were sneaking around planting-
"What do you think you're doing?"
Though it had gotten deeper, Rebecca instantly recognized Kylian's voice as he questioned them.
She looked to Chaeryoung as she signalled for her, Britney, and Sky to go on without them.
All she could really do was trust they would escape with minimal injuries as one of Chaeryoung's smoke bombs clouded the hallway, allowing for the three girls to escape.
Britney squeezed Rebecca's shoulder as they ran, and she felt a bit better about the situation as she remembered how kind-hearted Britney had become. She really felt as if she was watching her own daughter as they came to a fork in the corridors.
Their maps indicated they had to go down all three hallways, so Rebecca embraced Britney and Sky before they all split up.
As she ran down those hallways, that feeling from before reentered her head as she remembered how Raphael warned her to be extra careful.
"Axel chose you in that exercise because you were the weakest person on that field."
She knew that. She didn't need him to remind her.
"Woah, calm down." Athena said as she flew next to her magician, "Anger always clouds the mind. What's important is that you get this done and get back to your friends."
She knew that, but the voices in her head didn't as they began playing the sound of Brianna crying, louder and louder.
No, those sounds were coming from somewhere else. Was that-
"Wait!" Athena called, but it was too late.
Before Rebecca even knew it herself, she was jumping through the glass window to the execution site as memories flooded her mind.
Memories of Brandon and Halley constantly arguing.
Memories of her and Louis constantly arguing.
Memories of William picking on Michael or Britney laughing at her and Brandon.
Memories of Kylian smiling,
Kiara smiling,
Celestia smiling,
Grandma Bao smiling,
Uncle Yang smiling,
Uncle Jebediah smiling,
Grandma Maya smiling.
Mom, Dad, Brianna all smiling.
She couldn't think of any of the bad.
She couldn't think of any of the trauma that was constantly plaguing her mind.
She felt as though her soul was free as she let go of Athena's hand.
Why was she crying?
"I couldn't protect you."
Nonsense. She had given her a reason to live, a chance to love, and a way to protect everyone.
And so, Rebecca bid her final farewell to her first friend as everything turned to that tangerine orange light she had always longed for.