Champions of Serenity: Destiny Fulfilled

Chapter 1

Footsteps from above them shocked all of them back to reality. “What…” Karen started to ask and was silenced by Debra’s upheld finger. The nest they had made earlier was now buried under even more rubble. It seemed like ages had passed since the last time the eight of them were aware of Earth and what was happening when in reality it was only a few hours.

“Our rescue.” Debra said simply. She started to stand and push against the table they were all sitting under. Then she heard a curse from above and someone yell down to not move help was on the way. “I guess we wait now. What a trip. Darin, Mike, are you two okay? Last time we were here you hadn’t joined us yet in Sandeenai.”

Darin and Mike looked around and Darin sniffed the air. “There are two national guardsmen above us, I can smell them. Wow, this is…”

“We know, Darin.” Emily said softly. “We all got to check it out last time we were here. You should see how strong we all are now. So what is our next step, Deb?”

“Yes, Leader Deb, what do we do once we have been rescued?” Mike asked, grinning as he used Korol’s nickname for their leaders.

Debra rolled her eyes at Mike and then looked at the others. “Well, to begin with, we don’t want to bring any unwanted attention to ourselves. I would suggest a low profile, especially on our new powers. Secondly, we help where we can when we can. We were chosen for a reason, to help bring balance to Sandeenai’s Circle, so we will do that.”

“Why keep a low profile? I mean, there are people out there all over trying to make a big deal out some of the things we can do. We could be famous.” Karen asked, not liking the hiding part.

Taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Debra didn’t answer right away. The sounds of the two rescue workers digging down to them came closer. “We don’t have much time, Karen, so I’ll put it this way. How many of those so called psychics are real and how many just make stuff up based on really good guesses? I would say most of them. The true psychics aren’t out advertising themselves, they are quietly helping in police stations and volunteer groups where possible. What is their reason for this? Because they don’t want to be dissected and used as someone’s science project for grant money. I don’t know about you all, but I would like to have a normal life, well, as normal a life as someone who will never age can have. Once you become famous, you can’t become un-famous, Karen. Just ask all those child stars who wished they had never really gotten into the business to begin with.”

“Are you all right down there? How many are there?” The voice sounded close, maybe just on the other side of the heavy table they had used as the top of their shelter. From the amount of rubble being shifted the rest of the house had finished collapsing on top of them.

Debra looked at each of them in the eye and got their agreement to her plan of not becoming famous for their new powers. She pointed to Darin and he called back to the guardsmen. “There are eight of us and we are fine, but really thirsty. How long have we been down here?”

The table shifted and then was lifted. Sunlight blinded the group for a moment and Debra wondered if it had been an eternity they had been trapped. A tall, black man held his hand down to her and helped her out of the hole they were in, answering as he did. “About twelve hours. We had to wait until this morning to get into the city because of the damage.”

A shorter blond man looked into the hole as he helped Emily out. “Did you take a good look at this, Jeff? These people really knew how to ride out the quake.” He gave Emily a smile and then reached for Mike who was almost out of the hole himself.

“Yes, Ben, I am looking. And Michele is going to be pissed when she hears her computations were off. She was dead sure the epicenter was right in this neighborhood.” Jeff said, giving Phil a hand out.

Debra was looking around at the once beautiful neighborhood. It looked like something out of a bad scifi movie or one of those disaster movies she had always enjoyed until now. There weren’t any whole houses and closing her eyes, she could sense the death toll was high here. A tear slid down her face as she looked around and saw distant fires burning out of control, entire city blocks devastated, and the sounds of sirens coming from everywhere.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she looked into Jared’s gentle face, also showing signs of his sorrow. “Looks like we have our work cut out for us, Deb. I meant what I said before, about talking to me if anything is wrong.” His mental voice startled her for a moment and then she smiled at him, shaking her head.

“You are an imp, my friend. And I will, talk to you that is, I promise. I think I’m okay for now, except for this.” She waved her hand to include the entire city.

Karen came up to the two of them and scowled. “Stop thinking at each other you two.” She hissed.

Jared shrugged and turned to look at Ben, the shorter of the two national guardsmen. “I don’t know what made you think this wasn’t the epicenter, Ben.” Jared said and pointed to a hole in the ground that used to be the Hollingsworth’s swimming pool and hot tub.

The national guardsman let out a low whistle and looked at the eight of them once again. Debra felt the aftershock before it hit and wrapped her magic around Jeff and Ben and pulled them away from the fissure just seconds before they would have fallen in. She leaned back against Jared in her panic and had to take several deep breaths to calm herself. Neither Jeff nor Ben understood how they were saved from falling, only that they had been.

“So much for not using our powers.” Karen mumbled to Debra and went to help the two men to their feet.

“You need to be more careful, if the shock had happened just a second sooner you would have been killed.” Grant said as he helped Jeff to his feet. “Deb is there anything we can do to help here?” Grant waved to where Emily was being held by Darin, both in shock over the condition of their neighborhood.

Closing her eyes, Debra sent out her magical senses and found small pockets of life in the ruins; most wouldn’t last the day if help weren’t coming quickly. Nodding, she opened her eyes and a rim of purple slowly faded from around the blue they were normally. “Okay, teams of two. Phil and Jared, Emily and Darin, Mike and Karen, Grant and myself; Jared, Karen, and Darin, use your other senses to find those still alive and bring them to the top of that rise over there. It’s clear enough for emergency vehicles to get to them there. For those that didn’t make it, line them up nicely covered along the side of the road in front of whatever house they came from for easy identification. It should take us about an hour to work our way through this area.” She looked at Jeff and Ben and shrugged. “Use whatever skills needed to get the job done, but no showing off. Meet back here in an hour.” The two national guardsmen looked at each other, confused, as the people they just rescued split into four teams of two and started digging through the rubble of other houses.

“Wait, where are you going?” Ben called out and tried to stop Karen from lifting half a wall off of two trapped children. When he saw what she was doing, he backed off and waited with Jeff by their jeep.

For an hour, all eight of them lifted and carried, finding all those still alive within a three block radius and pulling them to safety. The dead amounted to more than the living, but at least they were able to save some. Jeff and Ben moved their jeep to the hilltop where the Circle was bringing the injured and still living people. From the back of their jeep, they dispensed water and first aid as they could. When the Circle returned for the final time, Jeff radioed for more help in their location and a water truck to be sent for those that they weren’t able to supply a bottle of water to.

“I don’t know who you people are, but it was a pleasure watching you work this hour and more. If there is somewhere we can take you, I’m sure we can squeeze you all in now that we no longer have those cases of bottled water in the back.” Jeff said and Ben nodded his agreement.

Debra used her magic to trace each of those living within the city to their neighborhoods. Only Phil’s had survived with little or no damage. When she told the others of this, they decided to make Phil’s house their base of operations for a few days until things could start getting back to normal in the city. It would take years to fully recover from the devastation of the earthquake, but the majority of the rescue work would happen within the next few days. The Circle decided to help out as much as possible and avoid the press at all costs while doing so. The adoration from Jeff and Ben had only brought home Debra’s fears about what could happen if they used their powers too openly.

The sun was high and by Jeff’s watch it was almost two in the afternoon when the reinforcements arrived to help pick up where the eight had left off. One of those who arrived was the pissed off Michele who wanted to know why Jeff and Ben hadn’t reported back sooner the exact location of the epicenter. She was even more pissed off when they left her to set up the equipment she had brought with her to take the eight of The Circle to Phil’s neighborhood. They had been ordered by their company commander to help these eight after Jeff had told them of their rescue assistance.

It was late afternoon, almost dusk by the time they made it to Phil’s house. As Debra had seen it had barely been touched by the earthquake that had devastated so many others. A uniformed policeman stood at the roadblock at the entrance to the street checking identifications so that no looters could damage the property of those who lived there. He was a handsome black man who also lived on the street and recognized Phil immediately.

“Hello, Richard, how are the wife and kids?” Phil asked as he showed his driver’s license anyway. He listened politely as Richard told Phil that his wife and kids were in Indiana visiting her mother and had missed the whole thing. “Good for them; I was in a house next to the epicenter and am lucky to be alive. These are my friends and they will be staying with me for a few days until things get straightened out here.”

“Welcome, friends of Phil’s.” Richard said and shook hands with them all. “Not many can be counted as such to our resident bachelor. It’s nice to know he counts a few women as friends. I’ll have to tell the wife, she was sure he was walking on the other side since he didn’t entertain anyone but clients at his home.”

Phil blushed deep crimson and Debra softly spoke up. “I can assure you, Richard, Phil doesn’t bat for the other team.” If possible, Phil blushed even deeper and mumbled his farewell to his friend and ushered the others down the street to his house. Jeff and Ben had already left and promised to be back first thing in the morning to help them with their next day’s work.

“So, did more happen than what you let on between you and Phil?” Jared mentally asked after Debra defended Phil’s manhood.

“No, but I have a feeling that it’s going to. And you can just but out of it. I don’t want to feel pressure from anyone on either him or me to make a couple of it just because Airidon and Tris have. I mean, are you and Karen going to start sleeping together just because Jehro is trying to get with Shrina?” Debra retorted and took a look at the conservative two story brick home that Phil called his own.

The street was residential and looked to be one of the gated community neighborhoods where families were the rule rather than the exception. Phil’s house was neat and clean with crisp lines in the brickwork and in the flower gardens that fronted his property. This was the first time he had ever brought anyone but the aforementioned clients to his house.

“Well, let’s see what damage was done to the inside.” Phil said, getting himself under control from his embarrassment. He unlocked the front door and paused on the threshold. Inside, things had been tossed around but the damage would be easy to clean up.

“Damn, this is a nice place, Phil. Why haven’t you ever invited us here before?” Grant asked as he entered and looked around the living room. Soft greens and blues toned down the deep mahoganies and rich cherries of the wooden paneling and leather couch and chairs. Paintings that had been thrown to the floor were undamaged and were of landscapes rather than of people. Phil was standing over a table where a ceramic family of Irish Setters had once lived but now were scattered and shattered on the floor. Stairs led to the second floor and a door opened to reveal a kitchen beyond the living room. A hallway led to a dining room, an office, a bathroom, and another living room converted into a den. Thick carpets of deep brown complemented the hardwood paneling of the walls.

Without saying a word, Emily went into the kitchen and started looking for cleaning supplies and brought out a box of trash bags and a broom and dustpan. Karen found the vacuum cleaner and everyone started to pitch in to set Phil’s house back to rights. After a moment, Phil walked out the front door, his face stoic. Debra looked at the others and went after him.

“Phil?” Debra asked when she found him in the backyard looking out over the Pacific Ocean.

“Thank you for what you said to Richard. I had no idea people thought I was gay.” He began and put his arm around her shoulders. It felt right to both of them and she just seemed to fit perfectly against his side. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t be so upset over a few broken items and tossed around pictures. I mean, I still have my home where the others don’t. It’s just…this is the first place that was truly my own and I didn’t want to have that violated. Does that make any sense?”

“Yes, Phil, it does. You, having grown up with nice things around you all the time but none of them your own, treasure your space and the things that you picked out as your own. Don’t think for a minute the others don’t understand how you are feeling. They lost things that were theirs as well and feel the same way. Why do you think they are so willing to help you clean up?”

Phil looked down at Debra and found her face turned up towards his own. “If I didn’t know any better, Debra Collins, I would say you had an insight into my soul. I know that you wouldn’t pry into my mind without permission. How did you get so wise?”

“Don’t confuse me with Emily, she’s the wisdom. I’m just the leader. And you are right, I wouldn’t pry without permission. I just know how it felt to me when my space was violated in Coeur d’Alene. I thought no one would understand but I have learned differently.” Debra smiled at him and hugged him gently and then turned to look out over the ocean that was black, deep blue and silver in the early evening light.

Phil frowned. “I didn’t know you had been robbed. No wonder you were so protective of your space.” Debra couldn’t let the misconception stand. She shook her head, not wanting to meet his eyes when he figured out the truth. “Not robbed…” He hissed and she could feel anger pulsing from his body and his arm tightened around her protectively. “I’m sorry, Debra. No wonder you have had such a hard time with trust. What happened to the guy?”

“He was executed. I wasn’t the first but I am the last of his victims. If it weren’t for Darin and Jared… Well, let’s just say that parts of my life and Tris’s life echo each other too closely to be coincidence. I think that Chaos had a hand in what happened to me just as he had in what happened to Tris. Phil, don’t feel sorry for me, it’s made me a stronger person.”

“Why don’t I believe that, Debra?” Phil said softly but acknowledged that he was getting rather protective of this quiet girl who was unlike any who had tried to get into his heart in the past. “Shall we go in and see what else needs to be done before we can eat and bed down for the night? I think I have some food in the house, but I’m not really sure. I’m not much of a cook.”

Phil and Debra returned to the house to find it was almost cleaned up. Phil headed upstairs to check out the bedrooms and Debra headed into the kitchen to see what she could come up with for dinner. Neither one spoke of what they talked about to the others but somehow Jared knew.

“So you told him? I’m proud of you, Debra. He deserved to know. He’s a good guy and will take good care of you.” Jared said as he helped Phil make up beds in the spare rooms upstairs. “No, he didn’t say anything to me, but there is a stance to his body that wasn’t there before and it’s one I recognize. I have it myself, especially concerning you.” Jared said before she could jump Phil’s case for being indiscreet.

“I didn’t actually tell him, he sort of figured it out on his own. He knew something was wrong and hit on the right nerve with me to get a reaction. At least he stopped feeling sorry for himself, so that is a good thing. And I wish people would stop thinking I need taking care of. I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. How does soup sound for dinner? Phil only has cans of soups and chili in his pantry and nothing but beer and soda in his fridge.”

Debra started opening cans and heating them in a big pot she found after searching through his kitchen. The smell of steak and baked potato soup filled the house and brought everyone to the kitchen as soon as the house was cleaned up. Serving up seven bowls, Debra took a bowl of corn in butter sauce from the microwave.

“What?” She said when she didn’t take any of the soup and found everyone staring at her. “It’s Tris. I tasted the soup earlier and because it had meat in it, she threw a fit. Right now I’m not strong enough to fight her on this, but believe me, she and I are going to have it out once I have some sleep under my belt. I refuse to give up my steak just because she’s a vegetarian most of the time.”

The others laughed at the sour tone in Debra’s voice as she ate her corn and drank a soda. “I had forgotten about that, Deb.” Grant said, slapping her on the back in camaraderie. “I guess I was just so used to thinking as Fini I forgot that you had different dietary tastes than your counter. So, what’s on the game plan tomorrow?”

Debra set the empty bowl into the sink and looked at the others before answering. They were all standing around the kitchen, too hungry to take their bowls into another room to eat. When the pot was empty and everyone was at least no longer starving, Debra turned to clean up the dirty dishes.

“No, you cooked; we’ll do those, Leader Deb.” Mike said and gently picked Debra up and set her aside. Then he and Darin washed and dried the dishes, setting them in the rack for Phil to put away. “Besides, you still haven’t told us what we are going to do tomorrow.”

Debra looked at them all and was surprised that they were waiting for her to say something before offering their opinions. She leaned against a counter and shook her head. “I hope you guys aren’t expecting me to have answers for everything, because I don’t. As for tomorrow I say we work in two teams and see how much of this city we can put back together. Just stay away from reporters and those who are glory seeking.”

Darin, finished with the dishes, stood next to Deb and draped his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry if it seems we all are depending on you, Deb. It’s just that right now, none of us are really thinking straight and you seem to be thinking on overdrive. Don’t worry, give us a little time and we won’t ask your opinion for everything. We are still recovering from the shock of the earthquake, the fact we now have counters that have given us magical powers, and that we get to be heroes on two worlds. In fact, I’m curious why you are taking it all so calmly. This is your first earthquake, even if it isn’t for us.”

Debra looked up at Darin and his familiarity and felt sorrow. She didn’t want to hurt him but she knew that they didn’t have a future together. He saw something of that in her eyes and nodded with a wry smile. She gave him a quick kiss and then remembered they weren’t alone as a cupboard door slammed shut.

“Who says I’m calm, Darin?” She held out her hand and all could see that it was trembling. “I’m just not letting the reaction stop my brain from working. So, tomorrow, Phil will take Emily, Jared, and Darin. I’ll go with Mike, Grant, and Karen. That way we have two trackers per group and can divide further into four groups if we need to. To make it a little more fun, let’s make it into a competition. See which team can clean up the largest area first?” Debra finished with a yawn.

Phil showed them all to beds, sharing for the most part, but real beds that were soft and comfortable after the cramped cave they had been using during the quake. By the time full night was on them and the moon was rising, the house was silent as everyone was asleep.

Chaos watched Debra and her Champions as they slept. If he had a tender place for Tris in his heart the place for Debra was a thousand times more so. He had watched as she survived what Dreybrenic had done to her and dealt with it on her own. He had seen her fall to pieces and pull herself up by the boot straps. He had messed with her when he really shouldn’t have and yet she still came out of it ahead. She was right when she said she didn’t need taking care of, she could probably handle Tris with one hand tied behind her back when it came down to it. He was amazed she was truly able to pull off the strong leader with the vulnerable woman and not have it seem like an act.

Then when she defended Karen against everyone who would have banished the annoying assassin she proved once again she had more backbone than anyone was giving her credit for. It was better than watching the chaos caused by the gathering of Serenity’s Champions on Sandeenai. The constant underestimating would prove to be something he might be able to use later. He reached out and into that other world for a moment to caress the sleeping face of Debra. “So innocent and yet not naïve. I hope you never lose that, Sweet Debra.”

Turning from his mirror in his palace, he found himself looking at his sister. “What? There is nothing that says I can’t play a hand in both worlds.” He said defensively. “Besides, I wasn’t doing anything but watching.” He adjusted his cherry and amethyst robes to cover himself a little more when Serenity just smiled at him and left. “I wasn’t hurting her, I wasn’t.” He sounded like a petulant boy instead of the god he was.