ashes, ashes, we all fall down

Arden sighed when he felt her hand on his shoulder, rubbing his face. The whole situation in the wider perspective frustrated him. Neither Khione or him asked for this, they were both born different and were there to be a part of the government’s plans of a new generation of super soldiers for sale. The woman who birthed him–from what he had heard–was forced to carry him and died when he was born. It was something he had overheard one day in the experiment room.

“We need to leave here soon, you know. Especially with this out, our faces are going to be released to the public again to work on the people’s fears. A small town like this, it won’t be hard to point out a familiar one.” Arden said, locking his hands together in front of him, little bits of ash on his skin that he shook off. 

The location was nice in the sense that it was quiet, there weren’t many triggers to cause either of them to lose control of their powers–something they’ve ran into while making their way up there. “I’m still saying we should head into a big city, try to camp out there as long as possible. It’s going to be easier to blend in.” 

Khione bit her bottom lip, staring at the snow-covered ground. Her hand left his shoulders, and she clenched her fists on her lap as she thought. She had grown used to sneaking off to sparse towns, where the faces weren’t many. As long as they remained hidden and went out sparingly it was difficult to place them, and they hardly drew attention. Yet every time Arden suggested they went towards a city, insisting it would be easier to hide Khione had refused. 

“But…the people,” she protested, glancing up at him. He knew how she felt about cities. With an increase of population came a higher possibility something would happen that could cause them to snap–specifically her, and expose themselves. Khione had spent her entire life trying to rein in her powers, and if her concentration ever snapped there was no telling the chaos she could cause. There was a reason she had been kept away from the other mutants, at the highest grade of security. 

Khione had the ability to control the essence of life. Everything contained water: food, plants, the air, blood. As a result everything was subject to her will. It was power man craved, and yet the highest curse bestowed upon man. Arden had yet to see the destruction she could cause in action, but Khione knew. And it was why she was terrified. They could be spotted by a scout, and then when a fight inevitably broke out there could be casualties. She didn’t want to risk it. She shook her head, turning towards him. “Too much room for error. I could hurt someone.” 

“You got me, right?” Arden said. “If you were afraid, I wouldn’t let you hurt anyone.” 

She watched as his arms blackened, showing no signs of fire. Fighting the urge to glance at the director and see his disapproving stare, Khione felt like the only way to get them out of this was to drive him into fighting back. She willed the water in front of her, forming a stump of ice chest height. Sliding her hand across the surface, she shot sleek ice disks in Arden’s direction. “Fight back!’ She yelled, each one hitting closer and closer to him as he moved about the room, dodging her. She drove down the temperature of the room, knowing he’d be forced to heat up.

The last thing she wanted was this fight resulting in losing her only friend. She’d been kept in such a high profile prison of sorts all her life it was no wonder the other mutants wouldn’t even go near her–but Arden had, and that had changed everything. Khione grit her teeth, her eyes narrowing as her disks became heavier, hitting the places Arden had been just seconds before. “C’mon Arden! Fight back!”

Fight back! Arden knew that he couldn’t exactly keep the defense position up for long. The injection felt different than the normal adrenaline that is given to the mutants before the fights, it felt more like what they would pump into him when they bring him to the medical room. His chest started to cover with ash underneath his shirt as his heartbeat made the burning feel stronger throughout his body. As she made her moves, he moved away. The temperature drop caused the ash to heat up and emit smoke. Arden wanted to plead to Khione to calm down, he was afraid of recreating the events of the white room back when he was nine. He didn’t want her to be the charred body.

Both of them have had trouble controlling their powers, but it was different for him than her. Khione was able to control a substance that was readily available, whereas Arden had to create it and with that it wasn’t as easily manipulated. His body started to convulse, bits of fire flaring out from his arms and through his shirt. 

Arden narrowly dodged the disks as they were thrown, he nearly trips as he does, bringing his arms up to protect his torso. The heat begins melts the disk as it comes closer, he allows his flames loose to melt the rest and as it travels across the room it produces steam. In his thoughts he tries to create a plan to satisfy the energy. The scientists had been having him run different methods of ash control, among them is the creation of objects through hardening ash. The objects wouldn’t be durable, not like they would want it to be. Arden manipulates the ash that appeared on his body to form a large hammer-like shape. 

He runs over to her, swinging the hammer to have it miss but not hit the ground. When he turns to swing it again at her, he is relieved to have her grab the handle before it hits her. “Khione, I need you to finish the fight soon, please.” Arden whispers quickly. “I’ll be okay if I lose. I need you to finish it.”

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Khione could hear the mutants’ screaming through the protective glass as a few guards came into the arena to pick up the body. Her opponent was alive–barely, but the fight had fried her nerves. She was pumped with adrenaline, quite literally–it had taken several doctors to strap her down long enough to get the needle in, but now she knew that what little control she had managed to work on the past few weeks was gone. 

It was Evaluation Day, and while there were a series’ of tests they had to undergo one of the most important tests to pass was combat. If a mutant could not prove their worth the facility had them cancelled, and that meant imminent death. There were an endless amount of resources being put into them becoming soldiers and when they failed, that meant they were cut from the budget.

Khione did not want to hurt anyone. But even more than that, she did not want to die. She was known for defending her life fiercely in the arena, and today was no different. She took a tentative step backwards, the crowd’s yelling making her anxiety shoot through the roof. Her wide eyes scanned the room, waiting until they had brought in her next opponent, and when they did her heart dropped. Arden.

No, no. She didn’t want to fight him, her expression fell, her eyes falling to the program director behind the glass, with a satisfied smirk on his face. They had tried their best to hide it, talking in secret during the time they had gotten to see each other but the program director knew they were friends, knew there was something there–and so he pitted them against each other.

The door buzzed and opened. Arden looked from the screen to the doctors who politely asked him to follow them. The fight was still going on--but he knew that Khione would win this one and that meant that he would have to fight her. He didn’t want to fight her, he would fight anyone else but her.

Basic protocol for the fight was for the tested mutants to be given shots of adrenaline to simulate their powers and test their limits. He had passed Evaluation Day before just by defending himself for a long as possible, maybe he could do that again. But now they were all older, things were getting more serious.

The needle went into the vein, the pain ceased to exist after years of being injected with chemicals and other substances. There was discomfort as he felt his veins start to warm up, he looked at the smiling doctor before he was escorted out. Their eyes met, the warmth started to burn, spreading up his arm and into his chest. 

Arden gave Khione a small nod before they were instructed to begin. 

Discarding the water into the cup on the counter, Khione followed him out, stepping down to lean on the stair banisters. She watched as he grumbled, flicking the cigarette until it consumed his shirt on the ground. Thankfully this part of the street was empty, people always avoided this part–which was why it had been the perfect spot for them to camp out. Still, Khione’s piercing blue eyes snapped up to see if anyone had caught the exchange.

When she confirmed the street was barren like always, she sighed. “A common enemy gives the people a sense of camaraderie,” Khione pointed out. “Even though those pulling the strings are the ones they should be afraid of.” Khione said carefully. She then moved to sit beside him, placing a cooled hand on his shoulder. “We know the truth. We are not terrorists–they are.”

Arden sighed when he felt her hand on his shoulder, rubbing his face. The whole situation in the wider perspective frustrated him. Neither Khione or him asked for this, they were both born different and were there to be a part of the government’s plans of a new generation of super soldiers for sale. The woman who birthed him--from what he had heard--was forced to carry him and died when he was born. It was something he had overheard one day in the experiment room.

“We need to leave here soon, you know. Especially with this out, our faces are going to be released to the public again to work on the people’s fears. A small town like this, it won’t be hard to point out a familiar one.” Arden said, locking his hands together in front of him, little bits of ash on his skin that he shook off.