Those Tears

The five children were now fully rallied, their morale at 100%. As they hyped each other up, they heard the door behind them opening. Two kids teens who looked like they were as old as the other five teens walked into the gym with judgemental stares.

“Alex, are you using the gym right now?” The taller of the two spoke past the five kids, not giving them any verbal attention at all.

“Yeah, can’t you see, dumbass?” Alex snarkily replied.

“Hey, be nice to these two, they can use the other court to spar.” Bloom came from behind the two as Alex’s demeanor changed.

(The court consisted of two full-sized basketball courts.)

“I told them they could spar as long as they didn’t get in the way of the new kids.” Bloom smiled.

“Now introduce yourself. Come on, don’t be rude.” Bloom passive-aggressively pushed the two towards the group of five.

The two kids looked at the five with the same judgemental stare. Their identical buzz cuts gave them a sharp face, just as sharp as their all black jeans and even darker t-shirts.

“You two are weird as fuck.” Chase said as he put his arms behind his head.

Amora pinched his side to tell him to say sorry.

“Hey!” Chase reacted.

“No thanks.” The taller one said as they both walked to the other side of the gym.

“Don’t mind them, they’re always like that. The taller one is Taro, and the shorter one is Kai. You’ll meet them later on when you get situated.” Bloom smiled at the kids, failing to suppress her annoyance with Taro and Kai.

“Alright, then. Let’s get started.” Alex turned back to the five teens. “Let’s get started. Where did Sierra leave off with you guys?”

“We only know how to channel spirit into our hands,” Vida said.

“We can’t even do that, only these three can.” Chase pointed at Amora, Hendrix, and Vida.

“Oh god, this is going to be hard. Alright then. I’ll get you two up to their level. And you three, you try to conjure up a simple version of your Modes.” Alex led Chase and Akilah over to the middle of the court as Bloom walked over and ushered the three others to sit down with her.

“Now, you three. What are your modes?”

“Mine is my guitar.” Hendrix held onto the acoustic guitar on his back.

“Oh! You’re just like Jaden! I mean Mr. Frewin, sorry.”

“Mine is love.” Amora answered with uncertainty.

“Oh wow! That one can go so many ways. It’ll take longer to master, though. Remember that.”

“Mine is life!” Vida had no such uncertainty in her answer.

“Wow! That one will be even more difficult!” Bloom said such discouraging words in such a supportive tone that it threw the three kids for a loop.

“Well, what I want you three to do is find a way to think your Mode up into existence! Follow my lead.” Bloom sat in a meditative position with her palms facing up in front of her. After a few moments, lightning started to spark in the space between her hands.

The kids watched on in amazement.

“See? I want you guys to do that, but with your Modes! It’ll have an extra step with you ladies, but I imagine it’ll be pretty easy for you, Hendrix!”

“Hendrix, it’s just like what you did in the alleyway, right?” Vida asked.

Hendrix put his head down as he looked into his hands.

“How did I do that?”

“Oh, so you’ve already materialized it once? Then all I want you to do is replicate that feeling. Spirit is stronger when charged with emotion, but the hard part is controlling that emotion. See-” Bloom was interrupted by a loud bump that came from the other court.

“Watch out!” Amora pointed to behind Bloom as a large object hurled at them.

Hendrix instinctively got Vida out of the way, pushing himself onto her in the process.

The object crashed into the wall behind them. As the dust settled, it was clearly Kai.

“Got your ass!” Taro yelled from across the gym.

“What the fuck! Are you two trying to kill each other?! Out! Now!” Alex screamed at the two

Hendrix and Vida simultaneously began to blush as the adrenaline of the situation settled.

“Um, uh. Sorry.” Hendrix said as he got off of her.

“Let’s just act like those two were never here, shall we?” Bloom wore her smile like nothing ever happened.

The training went on until the sun turned an afternoon orange. Chase and Akilah caught up to the other three towards the end of the day while they bickered about who got it first (It was Akilah).

“Alright, that’ll be it for today. Go get some rest. After breakfast and chores we’ll start up again.” Alex said.

“Chores?! Ughh!” Chase let out the loudest sigh ever heard by mankind as the five teens left the gymnasium and made their way to their bedrooms through the confusing maze of hallways.

After another five minutes of getting lost and finding the way, the five teens managed to arrive at their bedrooms.

“Oh no! It seems my bedroom is locked from the inside! I guess I’ll just have to stay in Amora’s room!” Chase said as he confidently walked over to Amora’s room.

“That’s the wrong room, now get in yours. And goodnight, sweetie.” Amora said as she kissed him on the cheek and closed the door to her room. Chase had a defeated look on his face as he trudged back to his actual room. All five of the kids exchanged their goodnights to each other as they closed their doors.

A couple hours passed, and Vida couldn’t sleep. She was tired of staring at the ceiling of her room, so she decided to get some fresh air through the porch at the end of the hallway. She exited her room and made her way to the porch where she surprisingly found Hendrix, who had the same idea as her.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Vida asked.

“Nope. You?”

“Nope.”

The wind blew as Hendrix began to speak again.

“I think I killed a man. He probably had a family.”

“Hey, you saved us. It’s alright.” Vida put a hand on Hendrix’s back.

Hendrix felt comforted, but he remembered Vida’s look on the train.

“If you weren’t alright, you would tell us, right?”

“What do you mean? I’m fine.” Vida smiled.

“Some of the closest people to us died, Vida. It’s okay to not be fine.”

“I’m fine.” Vida began to cry through her words as Hendrix silently hugged her.

“I know you more than you think I do, Vida. Just like you know me. And just like you comfort me when I’m down, let me comfort you.” Hendrix said while Vida continued to cry through his hoodie.

“I was so scared.”

“So was everyone else. It’s okay to feel scared. Let’s get some sleep now, is that okay?” Hendrix then walked Vida back to her room and said goodnight.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, Hendrix. Stop worrying about me.”

Vida closed the door to her room and smiled to herself. Hendrix did the same in his room. The difference was the kicking and screaming into her pillow that Vida did on top of her bed.

The Next Day

The kids all met in the dining hall after finding where exactly that was. They were fed by the collaborative efforts of Bloom and a very quiet, yet scary man who spoke not even a word to them as they told him what they wanted on their plate.

“Finally, I’ve been starving this whole time!” Akilah announced as the group sat down.

“You keep eating that way nobody’s gonna want you.” Chase started laughing at his own statement like a maniac until Akilah physically assaulted him with a punch to the gut, having to reach around Amora who was sitting in between them.

“Can’t you see I’m working out now, idiot? This is just fuel for my muscles, you might need some of that.” Akilah looked Chase up and down in a condescending manner. The two then exchanged silent but malicious looks for the rest of the lunch as Amora sat between them, totally used to it.

Vida was laughing at the pair as Hendrix turned to her.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Oh, I’m fine, Hendrix. Stop it.”

“Alright. Haha. Just checking in since you’ll have a hard job today.”

“Ohh… Right.” Vida slumped as she remembered that Bloom specifically told her that her mode would be the hardest to manifest out of the group.

“Ha. Don’t get discouraged, I’m sure you’ll do great.” Hendrix smiled at Vida, which could only make her smile back.

“Vida and Hendrix sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Akilah and Chase happened to say as they watched the two.

“I said it first you fucking idiot!” Akilah yelled over Amora’s head. A sort of tug of war of the shirt variant started over Amora’s head as she continued to sip on her apple juice, her second one since Chase didn’t want his.

“A-alright, I.. I think that’s enough of that. I’m going to throw my trash away, does anybody need anything?” Hendrix stood up as he began to stutter over his words.

“N-no I’m fine.” Vida was still blushing from the rhyme.

“I’ll take some apple juice!” Amora raised her hand as she ducked under Akilah’s arm that was now wrapped around Chase’s neck.

Before Hendrix could fully get out of his seat, the group heard a sharp “Hey.”

They looked to the end of the table to see the two boys in black t-shirts and black jeans. They recognized them from the gymnasium yesterday.

“What’s up!” Chase put up a high five to no avail, they just looked at him in disgust.

“Don’t get in our way today. We’re using the gym today so find somewhere else to learn the basics. You should be grateful we gave you a heads up.” The shorter boy, Kai, finished his statement as the five looked at him for a moment in disbelief.

“So, we need the gym because that’s where we meet Alex. You can ask her, actually.” Vida replied politely.

“I don’t care. And clean your hair. You have leaves and shit stuck in them, it disgusts me. And you.” The taller boy, Taro, pointed at Hendrix.

“You piss me off. Do you think you’re better than me just because you’re ignoring me? You haven’t looked up from that plate once since I’ve started talking, are you some kind of pig? It would match your pink hair.You think your pink hair makes you special? It just makes you easier to spot when you’re bleeding in the dirt. Bottom line, don’t practice in the gym toda-” Taro was interrupted by Hendrix.

“I think that my friends deserve an apology from you two.” Hendrix stated with pure malice in his tone.

The two boys were a little set back by this, but regained their composure.

“I think you guys need to apologize to us. Your weak little friends got in our way during training. You even managed to get us in trou-”

“I think we’ll use the gym again today. You guys can find somewhere else to throw yourselves around.” Hendrix once again interrupted them. “I don’t like the way you two spoke to my friends.”

“What are you gonna do about it?” Taro asked.

“Meet outside, in the courtyard. In an hour after chores.” Kai stated. “You’re gonna get your punk ass beat.” The two walked away as the attention of the table turned to Hendrix.

“Dude, you’re like some kind of superhero! That was sick, Hendrix!” Chase shook Hendrix’s shoulders as Hendrix was still absent in thought.

“Are you actually going to meet them? I wouldn’t want you to get hurt, Hendrix.” Amora asked as she stopped sipping on her apple juice.

“Hendrix.” Vida placed a hand on his shoulder as he came back into the real world from la la land. “You don’t have to meet them there, y’know. You can just ignore them.”

“I don’t like the way they talked to you.” Hendrix stood up. “I’m going to go ask Bloom what the chores are for the day.”

Hendrix walked away, back to his quiet self.

The next hour went by slowly. The other four were genuinely concerned for Hendrix as they counted down the minutes, seconds, and moments to when they got done with their chores.

Once the laundry and dishes were done, Vida heard Hendrix say something she didn’t want him to say.

“Alright, I’m heading out.” Hendrix fixed the guitar on his back as he stood up and walked out.

“Wait.” Vida put her hand out to Hendrix but he didn’t hear. She quietly followed him from afar to make sure that he didn’t notice. Halfway through the walk to the courtyard, Vida noticed that Chase, Akilah, and Amora had the same idea.

“Y’all ready to see Hendrix kick some ass?” Chase put a fist up as he whispered.

“Chase, this isn’t funny. Hendrix might get seriously hurt.” Amora stopped him.

Hendrix finally made it the courtyard. It was a large grass area covered by buildings on all sides. In the middle, a concrete square sat awkwardly. Around the edges sat bushes perfect for the four to hide in.

“Look, the punk finally made it.” Kai exclaimed.

“Let’s get this over with.” Hendrix muttered.

“Why the guitar on your back? Take it off.” Taro pointed at Mr. Frewin’s guitar on Hendrix’s back.

“No.”

“Alright.” Taro shrugged. “Guess we’ll have to punch through that too.”

Out of nowhere, a blur of lightning replaced the spot where Kai was as he appeared in the air behind Hendrix. Hendrix was fast enough to turn around, but not fast enough to block the fist straight to his face.

Hendrix went flying. He tumbled over grass and concrete alike until he met the feet of Taro, who kicked him in the gut with such force that it flew him back in the direction of Kai.

Vida tried to stand up from the bushes that the four were standing in but Akilah managed to bring her back down. Taro side-eyed the spot where he thought he saw movement, but it must have been his peripherals messing with him.

On the other side of the court yard, Hendrix managed to stand up. He knelt over, coughing out blood while he did. Vida cried at the sight.

Kai began to run circles around the bloody Hendrix. He ran so fast the Hendrix could feel the air being sucked out of his lungs. Hendrix collapsed to his knees as Taro began to speak.

“See? This is why you don’t fuck with us, punk. Were your little friends really worth getting all bloody over? You-” Taro stopped in the middle of his speech as he noticed something was happening.

Hendrix looked up to the sky while still on his knees. Kai was still running around him, so it wasn’t unusual for him to be gasping for air, but he sensed Spirit gathering at Hendrix’s mouth.

Out of nowhere, a frenzy of guitar strings expelled from Hendrix’s mouth, moving with an organic feeling, like the tentacles of some great beast. Taro froze in fear, but Kai kept running, fully focused on his own speed.

Out of nowhere, one of the guitar strings crossed the path of Kai, leading him to hit his face into the steel cable at full force, knocking him out instantly.

“What the fuck?!” Taro yelled as he looked at Kai’s unconscious body lying on the grass.

Taro quickly bolted for Kai, trying to save him from whatever attack was next. In the effort, two of Hendrix’s cables caught Taro, one restraining each arm.

Through all this action, Hendrix stood lifeless on his knees as these guitar strings seemed to move of their own accord.

As Taro was lifted into the air by these strings, he felt a strong vibration going through them and into his body. He could feel his bones quake. His muscles felt like they were going to tear at the seems. He screamed in agony.

He screamed even louder as he saw another cable starting to aim for the middle of his head. It dashed towards his forehead. Taro thought he was done for.

Bloom and Alex appeared out of nowhere, Alex clasping the string that would have killed Taro, with blood seeping from her palm.