Lost Children of Atlantis - 11. Chapter 11

Time passed, and while I was severely pissed with still not being able to move, even though I (consciously, at least) knew why, at least something was going on around me. Something less boring than silence, at least.

"You realize," Alliesa said, "even with everything we can tell him in a few hours, he'll never stand a chance against Arriata in time?" Yes, while I laid there -- still naked, under the blanket, I might add -- it seemed like the entire Citadel arrived to "help" me. Which, apparently, wasn't going to happen. Great.

"This wouldn't have to happen," Ryan said hotly, "if it wasn't for the damned war between your two sides!" He sounded truly angry, and I felt him place a hand on my hip, either protectively or possessively. "He's an innocent to this war, and now Arriata has him in her sights."

"Which wouldn't have happened if he hadn't run off," Benito said with a scowl. "It's his fault he's in this position. If he'd never entered Oakland, she would never have sensed his presence and inspected."

"And why did he run off?" Shemara countered. "Probably because your Citadel still insists that we cut ourselves off from humanity." I saw Benito look apprehensive, and she nodded firmly. "As I suspected, he was in love, and you chased him away by telling him that his future was to never know love again."

I felt Ryan's hand flinch when Shemara mentioned Tyler... if not directly, that is. "W-What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice lower -- and thick-sounding, for some reason -- all of a sudden.

She waved her hand towards the Guardians. "Oh, they tell their new recruits that they can never interact with mortals anymore, especially no one from their old lives. It's not so uncommon for one of their number to try and run from being told they can never see a loved one again."

"And with good reason," Benito countered. "They aren't ready to deal with what we have, no matter how much both you and the Fallen believe so. Mankind is still in its infancy, for all its technological toys and modern marvels. There is still war, murder, rape, theft... all form of evil still exists in the world today. What if we were responsible to bringing another Hitler, another Stalin, into power, hm? Only this time, instead of chemical and nuclear warfare, a madman with Esseren and all the powers that includes!"

"But at the same time," Aricus countered, "while there are those who are unworthy of such powers, there are also those who would use our knowledge -- a little bit, mind you, not everything at once -- to further advance humanity."

"Humanity?!" Benito scoffed. "What you call humanity is still cave-dwelling aboriginals, compared to our knowledge, our power. They may have made their caves more comfortable now, granted, and filled them with shiny toys, but the nature of their primal existence remains the same." He stopped, as though thinking, then shook his head. "To what purpose do we strive forward? Humanity itself returns to its caves each night; why must we set an example for this generation? Why are we required to give them something greater than they have, something they will merely twist and pervert to serve their own selfish ends?"

"Enough!" Ryan shouted, so forcefully that I actually jumped a bit. Shocked, I tested my arms, finding them a bit slow to respond, but effectively under my control. Ryan felt the jump, and looked down at me, concern in his eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked me gently, as though they hadn't been arguing moments before.

"Maybe..." I started, unsure what to say. "Maybe you're right, Benito. I don't want to think about what these Esseren could do in the hands of a madman." He smiled -- more like a smirk, really -- but I cut him off as he moved to speak. "However, not all humans are madmen, and not everyone would use these for evil. If all humans did so, what's the point of recruiting individuals to become new Guardians, huh?"

He looked stunned, but I pressed on. "Maybe restoring the Citadel is the right answer -- no, it definitely is," I said quickly, seeing a slow anger beginning to rise in his eyes. "But restoring the Citadel in thousands of years won't help if all of humanity turns on itself now, leaving nothing but the few Guardians and Fallen to bicker in the new Citadel. We want to restore the Citadel too, but we don't want to forsake the humans to do it."

"Well said," Aricus said solemnly, clasping a hand briefly on my bare shoulder. "But this type of intellectual discourse is better suited for times of peace, and that's not what we have now." With a flourish, he stood and moved out the door, followed by all save Ryan and Benito.

"Your training begins in 5 minutes," Ryan said softly, smiling down at me. "Get up and get dressed, and let's get going."