Mine...Yours Pt. 12

Trust spoke up then and in his high childlike voice said, "So what?" The bandage covered aspect of myself fixed him with his eyes and waited.

"So what? We need to all be one, because this is killing me, its killing all of me!" He turned to me and looked into my eyes. "Isn't it hurting you too?" I swallowed, unable to look away from that innocent child's face. He put his hands on my waist.

"I searched everywhere for good memories to bring you back to us when we would visit you. Justice and I would go down to your box and wait for you to come out. It was dark in there and dirty, but we would wait in there for you to come back and notice us again. We wanted you to be free, to be with us again so we could all be one..."

Tears came to his eyes, "Now you're here, and you need to...you need to...AHH!" He screamed as a bandage wrapped around him and he was tossed to the side to lay next to a motionless Justice. I did't even think, I just attacked. There is one thing I don't tolerate, and that's hurting kids! Well, beyond a wholesome discipline like spankings and such. I plowed into that walking linen bandage and started pounding on him!

He just began laughing, and began laughing even harder when my shields came up and my power flowed into my body. What was with this guy, I was hitting him hard enough to break bricks like Styrofoam and he was laughing?

I was yanked back by the bandages but they didn't seem to hurt me like it did the other aspects...he stood and dusted himself off, and I really took a close look at him. He was wrapped like a mummy from head to toe in pure white linen cloth, even around his fingers and toes. Just a nose hole and some eye holes was all that could be seen.

His movements were pained, made sense when I remembered that he had told me that those bandages were the pain of nine years of what had happened to me wrapped around him...but what aspect was he?

The others all made sense, the costumes, mannerisms and all that showed me who and what they were. I had nothing to go on here! Well it felt pain, that was something...but so did my other aspects. It seemed to be able to use power like my own, even told me how it would allow me the use of it sometimes. Appeared to want to teach me, and guide me sometimes...though it had kind of a cruel way to go about it!

So what feels emotion and pain and is linked to all of my other apects and fellings and yet is still linked to me after a fashion when I concentrate on Survival alone...

Shit!

"You're my Heart...!" I exclaimed softly.

The head snapped to face me. I began walking towards him, hands outstretched. There was so much I wanted to say! So much I should do! Just saying what he was out loud seemed so insufficient. Just recognizing him...what had I done?

I came closer still and he braced as if from a strike but instead I ran fingers over those bandages, I could feel tears prickling at the corners of my eyes as I tried to feel his features to remember. I started pulling and trying to tear the cloth then found the knot and started unwrapping the linen from around his head as he faced me stoically not moving a muscle until soon I saw him...

My face, frozen in time...the expression of dismay that showed how my heart had fallen inside of me when the guilty verdict came down. A young man of 26 looked into my eyes and said softly, the rasp still there but not as strong. "How could you do it to me? How could you take me and wrap me up like that? How...? He stopped as I hugged him tight and began sobbing. It was as if a little piece of who I was was coming back, not smothered anymore by the pain.

"I thought that..." I sniffed and hugged him tighter. "I thought that if I pushed it all down around you, that I wouldn't feel it...I was going crazy I tell you! I was going to go postal or do something stupid! So I...So that's what I did...I am so sorry."

He pulled back just a little and stared into my red-rimmed eyes, now a match for his own.

"I can't forgive you..." he said softly, as the bandages slowly began to wind up his neck. I saw this and grabbed the linen, trying to pull it back down. I was pulling as hard as I could and even with my power it wouldn't budge, then I had a thought and I turned to look around at those who were watching, and I saw a young man with a kind face in overalls and a straw hat.

"You, Compassion?" He nodded and his smile showed through his lips exposing a gap toothed grin. He came forward and I took his hand, without even hardly a thought I felt him slide into me, and like a jigsaw puzzle I had a larger picture inside of my mind.

"Even with Compassion, I can't forgive you..." my Heart told me. I nodded in agreement.

"No, I can't...but I can forgive myself." I replied. I softly took the end of the bandage and it yielded to my fingers as I began to unwind it.

"What are you doing?" My Heart asked sharply. I smiled sadly as I continued unwinding the bandage. I felt a pickling begin in my fingers, like a low hum of electricity was flowing through the fabric.

"This should never have been placed on you. Pain is meant to be shared, not shouldered alone..." I said quietly. My Heart's eyes widened and his hands came up to grab at mine.

"No! Don't take it away! I need this...I need this strength, this power!" His fingers dug into my wrists and I paused to consider him, my younger self.

"No, you don't need it..." I thought a moment and then amended my words. "I.don't need this pain. I need something different to fuel me, to make me move on. I need a different form of protection..."

My heart stared at me and whispered softly, "Lucretia...?" I nodded. "She needs me...?" I nodded again, slowly.

"How do I get this off?" My heart said as he began pulling on the bandages. I felt a hand on my waist and looked down to see Trust looking up at me.

"Pain is meant to be shared, to be carried by many people. That way it is, made smaller with every hand that touches it." He took the end of the linen cloth from my fingers and clenched it in his own grubby fingers and looked up at me with a quavering smile.

"See?" He said bravely, as his hand began to jerk and tears formed in the corners of his eyes. "It's not so bad..."

I ruffled his hair as he sniffed and wiped the sleeve of his shirt over his eyes. "Pass it on..." I told him.

Soon every single aspect of who I was, the hunters, the knights, the boys and men all came forward and all took a piece of the bandage and kept pulling. My Heart grimaced and groaned as the cloth began to pull from him, in some areas it tried to stick in place and he yelled that he wanted it to stay, but I spoke to him/myself calmly and softly and pulled a little harder. Sometimes I had to give a yank and we all cried out together as flesh sometimes came along with the bandage!

After a period of time, I don't know how long, we were all standing together in a group, every hand holding onto the linen, my Heart holding onto the end. He looked up at me, smiling a tremulous smile and said. "We...no..I am FREE!"

Then all the aspects began to move towards me, each holding a piece of bandage. In moments they sank into me and I could feel in my mind who and what I was. It shocked me to realize I had hidden away so much of who I had been or was or whatever! It was...weird and yet comforting. Like sitting in a bean bag chair for the first time when you thought a straight ladder back chair was the only way to go.

I opened my eyes and felt, for the first time, almost complete. What I had felt before when Justice and Trust came in was NOTHINNG compare to this. I saw Heart looking at me, the final piece of myself. He was still holding one end of the bandage and carefully fingering it before he looked into my eyes.

"Never again...you hear me? Never. Again!"

I nodded, and with a cry he leapt forward and hugged me...and disappeared. The world shook under my feet, and the glow intensified from the pond. I stepped over to it, admiring it's size and depth. Didn't take a scientist to figure out that this is where my power lay. I had tasted it before, and knew what I was now. I was a telekinetic mage. I could move things with a thought, and protect myself from harm. I was like an X-men character! I almost slapped myself in the face at that!

I stepped closer and caught the reflection of the blue sky above, that was slowly changing to purple and orange, the sun was setting. Made sense, I was whole now. I knew who I was. Now...how do I get out of here?

I thought about jumping into the pond...maybe have a cool transportation event like in the movie Tron. Then shrugged. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens?

The blue glow was getting stronger, and I was surprised at the intensity of it. Was the power waiting for me really that strong? I searched back in my mind and couldn't remember a thing that would explain to me where it came from...

"It's a Brooks family thing..." I heard my Dad's voice behind me. It also came so suddenly that I jumped in place!

"Whoa! Dad! What the he...heck!" I caught myself before swearing. He was standing there, smiling at me and I could have sworn I saw tears in his eyes. He sniffed once and coughed.

"Its so good to see my son back!" He said. Then stepped forward to wrap his arms around me. I could feel his chest shaking as he kissed the top of my head and his arms tightened almost painfully around me.

"The Brooks family always has one every few generations. Don't know how it started but every now and then we have a family member pop up who is special, gifted. We don't say anything about it because sometimes it skips several generations. We just take it as it comes." He said as he wiped his eyes and stepped back, smiling at me.

"Your Grandfather knew plants, could talk to them and help them grow. We thought that was going to be it, and then my younger brother, your Uncle Grover, turned into a bear cub in his crib. Now you, my son...you're a mage!" He glanced up at the sky and smiled wider at what he saw.

"And a very powerful one at that too..."

I looked up but didn't really see anything. "What do you mean?" I asked. He looked back down at me and spoke quickly.

"There isn't much time son...Lucretia is fighting her old master even as we speak. She is not strong enough to fight him and the wizard he has bound to his service..." I blinked and shook my head trying to keep up.

"Lucretia, old master, and...huh?" I stuttered.

My Dad put his hands on my shoulders squaring me up to face him. "That doesn't mean anything right now, important thing is you understand this. Lucretia needs you...you must go to her. Feel her...Find her. That's the most important...Feel Her...Find Her...Save Her...Understand?"

"Feel Her...Find Her...Save Her. Sounds simple enough." I said slowly, giving a lopsided grin at the end. Dad nodded and gave me a startlingly fierce grin in return. Kinda creepy to see that on him. My Dad was an easy going guy all about honor and stuff. Not violent at all, I knew he could be but still...

Creepy!

I turned from him and got ready to jump in the pond. I had read this story before. Power in pool, jump in pool and go home. Made sense.

"What are you doing?" Dad asked. I looked over my shoulder. "Umm...power is based out of this pond, because it's glowing? Jump in and go home right? Or wake up from this weird dream my head likes to do to me every now and then...?"

Dad laughed very hard, and covered his mouth before putting his hands on his hips and smiling at me. "Only you Gregory! Oh my son...are you in for a surprise!"

I didn't know what he meant, but...oh well. I looked back into the pool that was the glowing with the same blue light as my power. Wondered if it was cold? Just jumping in like this fully would be a heck of a shock if this pond was cold!

I tucked and jumped, thinking I'd land feet first, but instead I kept going up, and up and up! I shouted in surprise and looked up at where I was...falling? Or...man this is confusing. I saw the sky flickering with the same blue as my power, I looked down and saw the pond reflecting that same light. Did that mean...?

I thought the pond had been the seat, the center of my abilities, but now I realized it was so much bigger than I thought it had been. I remembered what my Heart had told me just a while a go before I knew what it was, that I had been using just a fraction of my abilities! I smiled as a warmth filled me.

I was whole...I had power...I still had pain, but it was spread out over who I was.

I was me!

The sky swallowed me up and I closed my eyes in contentment.

Chapter 38: Lord.

"Gregory! Put me down right NOW!" I opened my eyes to see Mom looking right into them. She looked angry, flustered and very...well...put out I think is the best way to say it.

I also wasn't touching her, and I don't really remember Mom being tall enough for me to look her in the eyes, and why was she holding her arms out like that?

"M..." I had to cough, like my throat hadn't been used in a while. "Ahem! Mom?" I tried again.

"Gregory, yes I know your awake now and I am glad you are. I love you but could you please put me down!?" Mom said rapidly.

I swiveled my eyes and gasped as I realized that I was floating above my hospital bed and Mom was being held up as well! I looked back with wide eyes and cut the feeling of energy towards Mom making her scream as she fell!

...Right into Dad's arms.

Whew! I looked down at my arm that was feeling pain and saw the needle still taped into place from the IV. I hardly thought about it before it slid cleanly out of my vein. I was still floating over the bed in a hospital gown, and again without even hardly thinking about it I righted myself and stood on my own two feet! I rolled my neck and experimentally flexed my arms and rolled my shoulders. I was feeling pretty good actually. I remembered the werewolf attack and grimaced a little. I felt my shoulder again, the left one, and realized I had no pain. I looked over at Mom who had righted herself and now hugged me and began bawling!

"My baby! I was so worried and scared for you! Then Lucretia was here and then Gwen came here and fixed you up. Your foot was broken so badly your toes stuck out in different directions and she fixed you, but you wouldn't wake up! Then you woke up and I started floating in the air with you then you opened your eyes and...I am so happy your okay!" She clutched me tighter and continued crying.

Lucretia had been here? Of course she had been...she had saved me. Saved me...Find Her...What had...?

I felt a fear, and an anger that wasn't my own bloom inside of my belly and I growled. Dad took Mom's elbow and gently pulled her back.

"Come on Honey, Greg has something he needs to do..." She looked up at him in surprise. "But he is just out of the hospital bed..." I tuned the rest of them out as I concentrated on what I was feeling. The feelings were so strong and they pointed towards...There!

I started walking and would have walked out of the room before Dad put a hand on me, I turned to him with a snarl as a part of myself long buried began to surface. He just smiled at me, his face awash in a soft blue light I assumed came from my eyes.

"Need these or your going to get arrested for indecent exposure. Wish we would have brought you some clean clothes."

I looked down and took the old jeans of mine and Dad shrugged out of his flannel shirt and handed it to me. I had always hated going commando, and was careful how I zipped up my pants. I put on Dad's shirt and left it unbuttoned, "I love you guys, I need to go." Mom gasped.

"Gregory, please...be careful." I snorted at that which made Dad frown. I gave Mom a quick hug. "See you all soon. I need to go."

How did I know where to go, I didn't...I just knew the direction. I just felt, her...I felt my Lucretia. Same as when she hung out with Jemima and Gwen the first time and got upset by the movie. I had taken her to other movies, not to too many movie theaters though. I took her to see a matinee showing of Ironman, the first one which was being replayed for cheap at a restaurant. It's a real treat since you can order food and they bring it to you in the theater. She ended up standing and throwing her drink and my drink and our plates of left over chili cheese fries and my hamburger at the screen! All this while she is telling "Tony Stark" why he was an idiot!

We had been asked to leave, no surprise.

I ran down the hospital stairs instead of the elevator and ended up jumping the rail and falling the three stories to the bottom floor with a dull thud. My power had slowed my fall, and then pushed me forward just like how I had practiced holding myself off of the ground earlier. Strangely different though, I began pulling myself along faster, my range of only two inches was gone, it was more like, I have no idea the range! I would reach out, picking a streetlight base or parked car and pull myself there with a thought, and fast!

The speed I was making my body move was starting to hurt, so I began to harden my shield around me. I was ignoring the pedestrians and traffic, thankfully not much of those out on a rainy night. I felt her in the direction of my route where I pick up dumpsters in the industrial district. I was moving faster and faster...telephone poles blurring past me as I raced along on a cushion of air not even moving my feet! I saw lightning and fire and heard roaring as I got closer...then a sound caught my ears...one I never heard before and prayed I would never hear again.

Lucretia screaming in fright and in pain! It tripped something inside of me and my body seemed to take over! My shield became opaque completely covering me from head to toe. This panicked me because now I couldn't see, Lucretia liked to give me a hard time about this since when I did this she called me a turtle. She had been fascinated by turtles, because they would crawl into their shells and couldn't see anything going on around them, but were still protected. More than one box turtle had been surprised when she had swallowed them whole, but I made her spit them back out. It had been unnerving to see her throat bulge like that!

Anyway I couldn't see and was racing forward towards the sounds of her screams and trying to stop myself from holding that shield when I had an idea that made me want to groan in exasperation at myself.

I opened my Sight...and could see through my shield. I saw several cars parked close to the construction zone where this battle seemed to be taking place and I saw a large, thing. Looked like a minotaur with wings but with a man face instead of a bull face. And four wings? Guess he would need the extra lift to get that much bulk off of the ground. My Sight showed me a glowing line of green energy constantly flowing from a kneeling man to the giant that was now holding Lucretia on the ground. I figured she would have a few tricks for him and zipped closer to the man. He saw me and raised a hand in my direction.

Silver flashing bolts shot towards me and I let them come, speeding up and slamming into them making them give off a ringing pop as I did. I let my shield fall but held my Sight in place as I looked at this...person. He looked deranged and his specter behind him looked to be shouting but I wasn't hearing the words. Another who looked even more insane if that were possible was shouting at someone else and not even looking at me. There was another behind him that was crying and wailing like it had lost it's best friend.

I determined, in my personal opinion...this man needed professional help! He also had cast a spell of some sort at me, and was helping the unfriendly winged giant hurt my Lucretia! The very thought of that made my blood boil! I saw him start to raise his other hand towards me, slowly as if not trying to attract my attention. I grabbed it by the elbow with my other hand, maybe a little too tightly because he screamed again.