It was a good day to be Daniel Radkowski. "Rad Dan" strolled down the quiet, foreign street and took it all in. England, land of false teeth and shitty food. That 'free' plane ticket had been a godsend: He'd thank that business dick next time he visited Massachusetts General... Not that he'd ever visit a hospital. He was INVINCIBLE! Or at least, felt that way.

The smell of that pool gas... Chlorine? Filled his nostrils. It stung, burned, and sturned (Dan's personal amalgamation of the two). The smell was coming from... A cafe? He knew these britbongs didn't have any good food... But did they really drink chlorine? This he had to investigate.

A loud crash filled the dining room as the door flew open, Dan's foot located squarely in the center of the frame. "EY, YOU TEA DRINKIN' SHIT FER BRAINS! WHICH ONE A YOU'S IS POLLUTIN' MAH AIR WITH YER STENCH?"

"GET OUT OF MY ESTABLISHMENT!" the owner of Midnight - Roy Taylors roared this as he grabbed his shot gun and was backed up by the large man who worked in their kitchen. Mason, Kelsie and Jaden stared onward as the two of them rangled the offensive man out the door and the scuffle slowly faded. The dark iron colored eyes of Jaden narrowed as the person vanished from the windows....was he? No, surely not.

"Well....let's hope not."

Jaden looked at the now three women and frowned before looking at the clock. He walked behind the door next to the bar and grabbed his scarf and jacket before stuffing his gloves into his pocket. With everything in place and his apron laid to the side for washing later Jaden exited the room and looked at them as they stared between themselves and him.

“Are the three of you ready to leave? I don’t particularly care to wait.”

They said nothing as they stood and walked out the door with him – British weather often turned bitterly cold in the evening – though it was the first week of fall – and he knew that the girls weren’t going to be happy standing in it as the winds picked up. Therefore, he lead them silently down the sidewalk to a tiny coffee shop that had been pushed into a nook. The owner knew him enough because he liked to go there and read on occasion – plus the owner had a marvelous collection of classic literature – and now he saw their hesitation and tilted his head and slowly the three of them followed and he looked around to find there wasn’t a soul in there at the moment besides the owner.

Jaden kept a close eye on the three of them as they watched him again while he shrugged off his jacket and scarf before laying it over a cushy armchair. He looked at them and headed for one of the bookshelves nearest to Aura and browsed the shelf before him as they sat in a frigid silence.

He wanted to ask who they were, what they wanted, and most importantly – what they really were. He looked at them and couldn’t help but feel a sting at the way they appeared. Willowy, Fairy-like, and more like a Mermaid than a person – they belonged in Fairy Tales - not the real world. Did they think like him? Did they understand how different they really were? He felt his questioning and curiosity turn to annoyance when silence and slight fidgeting continued.

“It wouldn’t kill you to talk you know?” he snapped.

The three of them flinched and blue eyes locked with his passive gaze as he watched back and grabbed a book without looking and felt a feral snarl appear on his face.

"Are you going to talk? Or did I waste my time in letting you convince me to speak with the two of you pixies?" he watched intently.

"They're just scared....why am I so defensive?"

"Well? Come on then Hydrogen....Helium....Chlorine...speak up."

It was a good day for Herschel. His living assistant packed him a light meal, a few potato pancakes. They were nice and easy on his dentures. Central Park, it was a nice and calming spot. Hopefully it wouldn't be so filled with pollutants as to spark up the trouble on his worn lungs.

Herschel slowly glanced at the back of his wheel-chair, making sure his respirator was there. Sometimes damn kids would try to play with it. Damn kids. He needed it, but kids these days wouldn't respect the property of their elders.

He slowly pushed his wheelchair forward as he moved up to a nearby bench. It was crowded with fellow elderly citizens, who had aged better than him.

Reaching into a pocket he pulled out a bit of bird seed. He eyed the nearest pigeon as he sprinkled the seeds around his wheel-chair. "Come here you little shiska." The pigeon came and partook in the bird seed, as Herschel gave a small smile.

Today was to be a good day. He could feel it.

Aria felt the fire building up in her hands again and she pressed them against her body as if to block the flame. A cool, almost slippery sensation around her hands, dulling the burning, and she looked up to see Aura smiling at her. "Relax, Aria. I'm shielding you. You won't light anything on fire tonight."
Somehow she gathered the courage to speak. The downside of being shielded by helium was that she invariably inhaled some, and now had to talk with a high voice further made squeaky by the helium. "What... what are you? And why do you stare at us like you hate us? Have we ever wronged you?" She whispered, scarcely daring to look up lest those dark eyes ensnare her again. He was quite handsome, in a dark way. God, no. Aria, don't you dare even look at him that way. No no no no no, he's bad for you, he hates you, if the way he's looking at you is any indication. Don't get your heart broken because he's the first boy like you that you've ever met. "I just wanted to talk to you to ask what you know about... this... And about how you cope. Because it seems that you've adapted to the powers far better than I have."

"Well, that's interesting....I can sense what you are....and my power really isn't developed...just....intergrated. I've adapted it to my own body enough to where my control is better."

the girls gawked at him and he felt as if this was about to become a one sided response. With a sigh he ran a hand through his hair and moved to flop down in the cushy arm chair and open the book in his hands - The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

"I don't exactly hate you....I dislike how you act....so peaceful....calm...normal. It's discouraging to think I'm the only one who chooses to keep clear of human beings...."

The girl, Aria he noted wouldn't make eye contact with him and he felt himself frown ever so slightly while he eyed the two sisters and the woman with those too green eyes. They were just as unsure as he was, and that made for bad outcomes. Yes, he could fight with his powers, but he had just gotten it to where he could equip it. His eyes landed to the pixie of a girl and felt a little warmth spread through him and he shifted slightly. She was pretty in a otherworldly way he supposed. His mind dared to wander and he refused it before looking at them again.

"Guess what I am....tell me what you think I am."

Aria bit her lip. Normal? God, he'd never seen her at school, then, the way everyone, even the big football players who had so wronged Aura, would flinch away from her. How in middle school when she'd snapped at those popular girls, the ones who were tall and pretty and cruel, and she'd just snapped in the middle of gym class and roasted them and destroyed the gym floor, how everyone had looked at her so terrified, even the teachers, even the psychiatrist they sent her to, just the slightest flinching every time she moved, the way their eyes would track her far beyond the normal demands of good manners and even to creepiness.
"I'm not normal. I have to pretend, every day of my life, that I am, or the world won't have a place for me. I'm too human to live without them, too human to live within them. I'll always be an outcast, unless I pretend." Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked them rapidly away.
She was rather shocked by his next question. "What you are. Elementally speaking you're a metal. My guess would be iron."
"It's got to be your magnetic personality that tipped her off." Aura said. Aria grinned up at her, thankful for the sudden rescue. But then her face went serious again.
"I'm unsure of what you mean, what you are. You're like me. Cursed. But not like me, because you accept it. Because I've not seen you around school though you act like an educated boy. Man. Whatever you call yourself. You accept it and you stay away from people to keep from hurting them, and I can never stay away, no matter how cruel they've been to me, because I love them, and it's that love that is going to destroy both me and them." Her eyes welled up again and this time she did not try to blink the tears away, instead letting them trickle down her cheeks.
Aura put both arms around her little sister most protectively. "Why do you scare her?" she asked the boy. "You're trying to unhinge her and I demand to know why."

He watched the two girls closely - Chloe not speaking, only watching - and felt a small flicker of emotion for the two. How could he not? He might have been detatched, but he wasn't heartless to the point of harming someone like her sister - Aura assumed he was.

"I have no intention of hurting her....I have met one person like me before I came here....and he was....burning like hellfire and cold like ice. My intentions do not include unhinging your little sister...."

Aura went on the defense when he sat up straight and looked at Aria who was wiping her eyes as he kept an intense gaze upon her. He owed explanations, and he suspected that with someone like them it was needed by now.

"I am the element of Iron - I accepted who I am by trying to keep someone I cared for safe and ended up puncturing the lung of one of the guys who attacked me and her....she called me a monster.....and a week later...I was a citizen of England. As for the answer to what I am.....there's nothing human about us."

The women stared at him as he looked down at the worn, yet polished wooden floor and tried to keep himself levelheaded as he listened to their calm breaths, the deadening silence as he looked at them again though he felt some reassurance in the fact that Aria was glancing at him.

"I could be an angel, a savior to people...a normal person on the street...a creature of ancient lore that maskquerades in the flesh of a mortal...or I could be a demon wearing a mask of lies and illusions. I'm a monster, a demon, the things that humans hate....Aria..." she flinched and looked at him.

"Your right...the love you have for humans....will kill you - so you need to harden yourself to the reality we face. There's nothing that can be done to stop it or change it. Elemental powers aren't supposed to be real...and we aren't supposed to exist in this world....we're....devils."

It was as those words left his mouth that a sharp slap resounded and a sting was left upon his right cheek. Cold air, the smell of fresh cool air and the sensation of his throat tightening before the air returned and he kept his eyes downcast with his bangs hiding them.

"We're....devils but....can we be more? I'd like to know..."

It was a typical evening out in the UK. Josef shuffled about in the city streets, wandering, searching. Mahmoud had promised a good sum of money for the wherebouts of his most recent target. Josef couldn't see what the worth of a thief was, even if he had powers; it wasnt like he could accomplish anything that Mahmoud's trained men couldn't. None the less, it wasn't like he was complaining, time away from Moscow was a welcome change, even if it was just an exchange for another dreary land with bad weather. As he treked about, the russian picked up on something. Sounds, voices, and Josef was quick to investigate. At first, it didnt look like much. They were children, but the exhange between the hostile boy and the small girls caught his attention. Josef picked up his phone and dialed his boss and spoke up in Persian. "Mahmoud... man pidakradam chiz..."



Alessa sighed as she was making her way to the airport. Her last few hours in NYC until she devoted herself to digging up ammonites in the mountains. Sharks and mollusks would be her new friends for the next two months. Alessa wasn't too excited for that southern weather; sticky, sunbaked days spent in the field and cold nights in a tent city.

Alessa shook her head, "No, no, I should be happy. This is my first time in the field...this is good!" She spoke up to herself, clenched fists close to her body as she trotted down the pathways. Central Park, a good place to spend her last few moments in her hometown. She had a great deal of memories here.

"Maybe I should have spent more time out of the city," Alessa uttered to herself, as she took a seat on a park bench, thinking about how much she hated hiking outings back in Languedoc, when her mother wanted to go see the old country. "Ah mon deiu, how am I going to survive in a mountain range if I can't even handle Alès". Alessa rested her head on a hand, watching the old folks feed the birds. She liked the birds.

"Well, Mr. Oberschmidt, it seems you're perfectly healthy, with no sign of damage to your tissues or nerves. Now, we'll just give you a quick x-ray, and we can see what's causing you this trouble, okay?"

"Sure thing, doctor. Hey, if it's not anything to do with the skin, what could it be?"

"Well, I suppose something could be wrong with your heart or lungs. It could also be an issue with the way your ribs are oriented. Have you been struck in the chest hard enough to cause immense pain or received CPR recently, sir? No? Please follow me."
Fargus got to his feet and followed the doctor a ways down the hall to a relatively-isolated apparatus. On a shelf nearby were a set of thick, lead-lined aprons.

"Please put this on, and step into the machine... there we go. You might feel a light tingling sensation, but it's nothing to worry about."

The apparatus hummed and whined, an LED on the top of one of its many lenses glowed red. After a few seconds, the humming stopped and the doctor waved Fargus out of the apparatus. The doctor bid Fargus to stay here for a while, as she collected his X-rays. After a few minutes, the doctor came back with a rather concerned look on her face.

"So what's the diagnosis, doc?"

"Your ribs are oriented normally, but it seems that your right false rib is significantly denser than the others. In most cases when a piece of bone is different than the others, it's due to the bone recently healing or it's cancerous. However, your rib is wholly condensed. I suspect it's at least a 50% increase in compact tissue, that's replaced most of the rib's cancellous tissue. Since this is a less-important bone, you should be fine. However, if this condition spreads to, say, your pelvis, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do short of replacing the bone entirely. I'll have to prescribe you some painkillers for now, but you should get used to the pain within two months. Please come visit us again if you experience any similar pain in other parts of your body. Now, on to the matter of your bill..."

Several minutes of discussing health insurance later, Fargus stepped out of the hospital, none the worse for wear. He pulled a cellphone out of his pocket and made a few calls.

"Hey, brother, it's Fargus! Yeah, thanks again for getting me the same coverage; it's really saved my life here! ...Yeah, come on down to the park when you get off, the boys and I are going to celebrate our good fortune, and I want to thank you personally for your generosity. ...One hour, good to know! I'll see you later, man. ...Love you too, bye."

Fargus hailed a cab, and gingerly stepped in, massaging his ribs. As the cab drove on to Central Park, Fargus texted Gunther and Peaches.

Going 2 Central Park meet there in 1 hr
going 2 clbr8 appointment
see u soon!

Herschel kept watching the pigeon pecking at the seed on the ground. There was always harmony to be had from just watching the pigeons. He stretched his head back up as he just glanced forward for a bit, observing his surroundings. Herschel moved his arms to rest them back on his wheel-chair as he took a small breath.

He noticed that there was some youngster just on a bench. He glanced over to them as he spoke up, "Ah the spark of youth, what are you doing over here with us Zeydes? Usually kids aren't the type to hang around with us fuddy-duddies." He gave a smile as he lifted his right hand ever so slightly, and wagged his finger. "Good to see some of today's youth who can see the simpler things in life. Such as feeding the pigeons."

Reaching back to his pocket, Herschel searched for more bird-seed. He realized that he didn't bring that much to begin with. He frowned a bit, before he glanced at the youngster. He paused for a moment as he glanced at the individual, "Here for the bird-watching? Planning on feeding any of the pigeons yourself?"

Aura hadn't even realized she'd moved to slap him until the slap had already struck his cheek. But then her rage burned and she was suddenly glad she had no fire powers. "How dare you speak that way to my sister? How DARE you?!"
Aria ducked her face, letting her hair fall in front of it to hide her face from the boy. Devils. Surely not...
But isn't that all you are? You burned those girls, burned them and watched and laughed as they burned. The one didn't survive and the other two were maimed for life. Isn't that all you are, a demon? Isn't the boy right?
Shut up! she told the voice. Just shut up and quit bothering me!
And it laughed. She raised her eyes slowly so that the boy could see the hurt there, and spoke quietly. Two words. "You're wrong." She took a shuddering breath, wincing at how thin the air was. She was really panicking, to be secreting that much hydrogen. "About you. About me. If we can control ourselves, there's absolutely nothing for them to fear. For us to fear. You say there aren't supposed to be elemental powers. Why then do we exist? Why would the deities, the higher powers, whatever they are, why would they let us exist if we're devils? If we're the usurpers come to claim their thrones, then surely we would have all died as soon as our powers manifested by a divine intervention. Because we are too painfully mortal" She waved her hands to indicate her tiny, frail frame. "too painfully mortal to ever pose a threat to a deity. So surely we are meant to exist."
Aura had gazed off into the window of the dusty bookshop, hearing through the cracked-open door a man talking... She frowned. It wasn't any language she recognized. He was pointing... right at them. Her blood ran cold. She got everyone's attention by clapping as loudly as she could.
"Okay, look. We can finish this debate another time. But there is a man out there talking in a bizarre language on the phone and he's pointing at us and looks dangerous. We probably ought to run. I can't pretend to like you, Jaden, not after you hurt my sister in this way, but we've got to stay together. You too, chlorine-girl-whose-name-I-don't-know, because you've been seen with us and that makes you an enemy in this man's eyes. This situation screams at me that it's a bad one to be in, so... We run, now? Somehow?"

The fine smell of high class wines filled Mahmoud's nose as he took a long sip. Looking out, he glanced upon the dark waves, his private plane just out from Moscow. The UK was not familiar territory to Mahmoud, but this was not an oppourtunity he wanted to pass up. Josef's report sounded too good to be true. Soon he would be in Oxford, and closer to others that clould be of use to him.


Alessa stiffened up in surprise when a voice interuped her bird gazing. "Oh! Don't mind me, monseur; I wanted to take in the scenery...I'm leaving soon...and this is the last time I'll see old central park in a long time." she explained with a smile to the elderly man across from her. "I'm just here to watch; I just wanted to see the city and its life one last time before I fly out to North Carolina"

She glanced at her watch, still plenty of time before she had to catch her flight. She might as well be friendly for a while. "I'm Alessandra, but you can call me Alessa if you want"

Xenia let out a long breath, feeling his chest press in as he exhaled. He wandered around Central Park, defeated after the outcome of last night's confrontation by his landlord. He'd been evicted. As simple as that, and no amount of pleading would change the old crane's mind. He had no job, no home, and no money. When was the right time to become a beggar? Should you do it while you still look fresh and clean? Or should you wait until it's obvious you're down on your luck? Either way, he'd doubted that he'd ever find one of his "kind" not with his current state. Who knows where they could be? South America, Europe, Asia, they could be anywhere. Or maybe he was the only one? It hadn't really crossed his mind, but at this point it seemed viable.

"How did I even expect to find them? I've hidden in plane sight for this long, they could be right in front of me," he said under his breath, annoyed at his previous optimism. He looked around the park, seeing too many possible faces. That couple under the tree could be like me, or that man wearing a fedora with his dog. Heck, that old man feeding the pigeons could be the same as him! The possibilities were too great. He'd be lucky if he was in the same country as them, nonetheless actually finding one.

At this revelation he decided to sit down on the grass. He was out of luck. He was playing a game of hide and seek with the world as the play ground. Heck, they could all very well be hiding for all he knew.

Dan was in no mood for any of this, not today. Being dragged into an alley by some fat brit and his mute kitchen friend was not exactly one of his favorite activities... All though, this certainly wasn't the first time it had happened. First time since he got his powers, maybe. Speaking of... "You think you can take me? I'll wreck you, pal!" These two looked tough, especially considering the one had a gun, and were Dan "less special"... Well, thank god he wasn't. "I'LL WRECK YOOOOOOOOOU!" a blast, only a meter or two in diameter, shot forth from Dan's body. The blast caught the two men, sending one flying against a wall, the other going head over heels into a dumpster.

Fuckin' awesome, thought Dan to himself, followed by an oh shit. The man in the dumpster was letting out a low groan, indicating that he was clearly alive. But the one against the wall, The one who had the gun... He wasn't making any noise at all. Oh shit oh fuck oh CHRIST, Dan's supreme intellectual capacity kept repeating, He's fuckin' DEAD!

Rad Dan was OFFICIALLY in over his head. Roughing people up and taking their wallets was one thing, but that guy... He wasn't breathing. Dan wanted to run screaming, hide, go underground... SOMETHING... But he knew he couldn't. Not in England, at least. Then it struck him: The idea of the century. A quick peek out of the alleyway revealed that the group of weird brits from earlier were... Still walking, still talking. All he had to do was "blend in" with them, and he'd be home free. Stepping out of the dank sidestreet, he started up his best nonchalant whistle possible and walked briskly towards the four freaks.

Jaden glanced at them as Aura pointed this out and instantly stood. He had little time for fussing about what was happening – they were bad news and he knew that the girl was right. He grabbed Aura by the wrist – hearing her outraged statement and a slew of insults follow the action – and then grabbed Aria’s as well. Chloe stood and then he dragged them behind the counter of the coffee shop and ducked down.

“This place is a safe haven for the odd ones out – the person who owns it lets me stay here when I’m trying to avoid people learning the truth.

I think we can use the seller to get out onto the street and then I know where we can go that’s safe to lay low for now,” he stated.
The three females wanted to either protest or something of the sorts, but they said nothing as he cast a withering glower in their direction and moved back a bit as the man from outside came in and began searching for them. He walked around from where he’d spotted the four of them and then looked at the bar. He walked over and looked around it to find nothing. Prior to him getting there Jaden had revealed a false floor area that lead down to the seller with a rather handy escape route. At current they were all hiding just under the man’s feet and were waiting for him to walk away again before moving.

Once the sound of footsteps began Jaden silently ushered them from the small stairs and the trapdoor to a tunnel and began to lead them out of the seller. From there Jaden intended to take them to someone he’d met during his first month in England – a middle aged man who seemed to know far too much about them, but was safe to trust. Jaden knew the man: Clay Ashner – would hide them until they were safe for the time being. It was as he turned a corner and began to walk further down the line that he heard and felt the sensation that the people following him were still tense.

“Aria….I want you to know….I believe there’s a chance for us to be more than devils….and also….once we’re safe we can talk rationally about who we are…but….I…suppose….I should apologize for making you feel distressed….my intentions aren’t to hurt people….but….maybe….you can show me different? Miss Aria?” the girl flushed as she looked at him.

Jaden paused as they made it to the exit of the tunnel – a heavy, early century door stood in there way and he took in a deep breath as he looked at Aura who was still glaring and constantly looking between the slightly happy and flushed expression on her little sister’s face, and the green eyed woman named Chloe. He nodded to them and pushed the door open and they came out into the open night several streets down from the small coffee shop. Jaden helped the girls out – with a begrugeoned face from Aura – and a flush from Aria. Chloe thanked him softly and soon they were heading down the street and towards an old brick Victorian house that his friend had. However, he could tell that Aria, the little pixie of a girl, had a question she wanted to ask him.

“Well…here goes….”

"Is everything alright Miss Aira?" he felt a little odd as the girl looked up at him.

Chloe hadn't exactly been happy as she was dragged along with these three strangers and into a bookshop, but her curiosity about the others made her comply. When the boy, who she'd hoped was just a gloomy emo waiter, called them by the names of hydrogen, helium and chlorine, however, she had to suppress a shudder. She had assumed for a long time that she had some sort of connection with the element, but for another person to say it so bluntly?

She was silent, however, as she watched the exchange between Aura, Aria and Jaden, but a bitter thought of I should never have bothered with that shitty café tumbled through her mind on repeat, though with slightly different wordings each time.

And after that weird man pointed them out in a language she didn't recognize or understand, Chloe really didn't enjoy being dragged behind the counter and then under a false floor; the only reason she tolerated it was because the look of the guy sent a chill down her spine. It was cramped, but once they were in the tunnel she felt a little better. Although it was getting hard not to huff out chlorine fumes, she resisted the wave of annoyance that had come over her and listened in almost complete silence as they emerged onto the evening street.

Quietly her angry thoughts about the coffee shop were replaced by another: I may have killed someone, she thought, some of the blood draining from her cheeks, but I am not a devil. She cast guarded looks at Jaden, then at Aria and Aura. She didn't want to share her story, and she certainly didn't want these people even knowing that she somehow represented the seventeenth element. And the growing darkness unsettled her. Soon the sky would be the same hue it was as when she had hyperventilated an insane amount of noxious gas into some pervert's lungs. "Thank you all very much for the chat, and for getting us out of that situation with the who-knows-what-language-he-spoke-guy, but I have to go home."

It was very hard for Aria to not panic at the charming boy. Were her emotions really so bare on her face? "Oh, n-no, I-I'm f-f-fine..." she stammered out. "I-I'm fine, r-really." She blushed and looked down. "As far as t-t-talking about... all this... C-can it wait, just for a bit? U-until I-i g-get my own m-mind around it?" Biting her lip, wishing the boy would just quit looking at her like that. He's bad for you, Aria, bad bad bad bad for you, he's scary and he made you cry and you don't want to spend time with him. On and on until her thoughts reassembled in their natural order.
She fliched at Chloe's comment. "But... That man. He just felt... wrong... He'll find us again. Don't go back on your own. Please, don't."
Aura looked at the older girl. "Please don't. Stay with us. And please quit exhaling so much chlorine, or between the three of us we're going to kill everyone in this building." She was sweating helium, her voice having gone all squeaky, and Aria's too. Between shielding Aria's hands (lest she light the entire place on fire) and her natural nervousness, the whole cellar was pretty much full of helium.
Turning to Jaden, anger in her bright blue eyes, she said softly, "We're not done with this conversation. You and I are going to have to... iron out our differences at some point." She flashed a razor blade of a smile, her arms going protectively around Aria again.

“That’s fine by me…my friend is just down the street and I’m sure he’ll be fine with me dropping by with some people who need help.” Blue eyes narrowed and he rolled his own dark gray ones as they walked down the street.

“I hate to break it too you Chloe….but….you go off on your own and that man will either kidnap or kill you. For now the four of us are sticking it out and we’re getting through this,” he stated.

Jaden didn’t like the fact that the three girls seemed so tense, but they really needed to do something. However, he had another problem following them. With a sharp hiss he turned on the person standing there and narrowed his eyes in a menacing way. His eyes going cruel and the iron bangle on his wrist taking form. Within seconds he had a whip made of his element in his hand and was deeply considering ending the person’s life as a means to gain more of the element. He took in a deep breath feeling his other piece of iron on him deeply thrumming and desiring to allow him to equip it to his teeth and nails.

The others were staring wide eyed at the transformation of the iron bangle and the faint energy of protective rage coming from the boy as he stood there and waited for the other to step out of the shadows. Jaden hissed and the person flinched while he looked them over in a very predatory state. Whatever had overcome him was more demon and less human. The person stared at him and Jaden felt his body prepare for a potential fight.

“Either you come out now and behave yourself….or I will slit your throat so fast you’ll be meeting your maker before you can beg for mercy.”

Aria panicked, whirling around. Her blood ran hot and even Aura's shield couldn't stop her from sparking and igniting the air immediately around her. Aura spun too and held her hands up, smothering the flame around Aria. "Get it together, Aria!" she hissed, encasing her sister in more-or-less a bubble of helium. "Don't you dare panic!"
But her eyes went wide too, looking at the iron whip in Jaden's hand. My god... He's dangerous. And he's flirting with Aria. I can't let anything happen there because she won't be able to protect herself, and neither will I be able to protect her. She frowned, pushed the thought from her mind. She just had to protect Aria, and then she could deal with the emotional things later. If there was even going to be a later.