Rachel

Ivar had come into my room and had been yelling at me complaining about different things for almost ten minutes now. I still had no idea what he wanted since he was barely making sense.

"It's like you don't care about anything, you've been acting completely normal since it happened," He finally got his point across.

"Is that why you're so angry?" I replied, I forced the tears back. "Because I haven't shown my anguish to anyone else?"

"I doubt you actually care," Ivar yelled again. He looked ready to hurt me, "You don't even seem..." He was cut off.

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you Ivar," Jared was standing in the doorway.

"But she..." He was cut off again.

"I said that's enough," Jared commanded.

"But..."

"Ivar," Jared was getting impatient. "You mourn your way and she'll mourn hers. Now get out, this is her room after all."

"Who put you in charge anyways?" Ivar grumbled as he was walking out.

Evidently Jared was not in a good mood. In a flash Ivar was being held against the wall by the throat and Jared was the one holding him with a single arm.

"I could show you right now Ivar," Jared threatened. "I could take your powers away and make you a normal human just as easily as I could improve the powers you now possess and make you more powerful. The choice is yours, go ahead and question me if you want, but don't do it here. If you want to question me, you are free to leave."

Jared put him down and he walked very quickly from my room. Jared said something to Ivar as he left, "If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will take your powers and then leave you on the street to beg for mercy from our enemies."

Ivar only stopped long enough to hear and then he was gone. Jared started walking out of my room but I grabbed his arm, "Please stay."

He looked down at me, I could see he was no longer the boy who had first saved me. Something was very different about him, he was stronger in every way. I felt like he could see right through me and perhaps he could, but it didn't matter I wanted him here. Ivar had been right, I'd been trying to deny my brother's death and pretend like it didn't happen, because I had been scared. Jared looking down at me, it felt like he could hear everything I was thinking.

He smiled softly, "I can hear your thoughts actually, but you are the one who opened your mind to me. It's one of the advantages of having ascended magic. I'm sorry you had to see me get angry at Ivar, he only understands violence and aggression. At least in his current state of mind. His brother's death has cut him deeply."

I embraced Jared and started crying in his arms, "Why did I let them come with me Jared?"

"You couldn't have stopped them," He answered. "William could have sensed you and your brother could have just made sure you couldn't go invisible until you got there."

"But I could have gone back for them," I said again. "It is my fault one way or another."

"Why do you fight?" His turn of thought caught me off guard.

"I don't know why I fight," I drooped my head.

He pulled my chin up, "Let me show you why I fight."

I felt the energy burst forth from him and reach, at the very least, the edges of the base giving everyone a vision from the past.