Rasta

"Yo, Cass called you down for dinner fifteen minutes ago. Are you alright?" Marc stood at Annabelle's door.

"Yeah I'm coming. Sorry you had to come all the way up here." She followed Marc down the stairs. Gathering her hair in a ponytail she thought about what had happened earlier.

'I need to work on not letting names bother me. I can't believe hearing his name got me so worked up.' The boy wasn't similar to her brother in any way, except for his name. However, just hearing him call himself Rasta had caused her to sulk in bed for the rest of the day.

'I wonder why Dora wanted to know how long it would take the school to realize something was going on. It's not like the security system is that bad.'

"Whatcha thinkin about kid?" Marc watched her as she almost fell onto the floor because she missed the chair.

"I met a transfer student today. His name is Rasta."

"Oh Annabelle, is he?" Cass asked.

"No, he is completely different. I also can't feel any energy coming off him."

"Oh..." Cass and Marc said.

"It'll be alright, you'll find them eventually Annabelle, Marc and I've got feelers out for anyone that doesn't fit the mold. Any time someone seems off one of us will take a break from the university and go check." Jazz tried to reassure her.

"Thanks Jazz, but it's been two years since you came up with the program, and it's had no hits. I think we should just assume that any survivors are so well hidden that the parameters won't show them. Either that or it won't be my siblings that it finds."

"Hey that's a defeatist attitude it'll work, and we'll find your brothers, plus if we find another Pasefien they might be able to help us find your brothers."

Annabelle didn't answer and just finished her food. "I'm going to go for a walk, I'll let you guys know when I'm on my way home."

"I'll come with you, it's not as safe as usual since there are so many visitors."

"Thanks for worrying, but I'll be fine, and I kind of need some alone time. I'll keep my IO out so that if I need to, I can call you guys, but I don't think anything will happen."

"Alright but check in every thirty minutes." Jazz spoke from the end of the table.

"Will do." She set a timer on her IO and headed out the door.

There were a lot of people on the street, even though it was dark. Most were there because they family that were graduating, but there were a few that were there to see if they could do a last-minute transfer into the ARD.

As she walked down the street it started to get darker, the buildings not reflecting as much light as the sky turned a dark blue.

She clenched her fists, remembering the spark of hope that had come with Rasta introducing himself. Only to have that hope crushed when she couldn't feel any energy coming off him.

[Flashback]

Rasta sat in his highchair, grabbing his food with both hands he tried to eat it, getting more on his face than in his mouth.

"Alright baby, let mommy help you." Her mother reached over to wipe the food off his face and picked up his spoon, scooping some of the food onto the utensil she gently put it in his mouth.

"Mom I can help." Annabelle stood to the side, hands on the chair, raised up on her tiptoes in order to see the top of the high-chair's table.

"It's alright baby, you just finish eating." She was just about to put more food in his mouth when a burst of energy pushed her hand away, spraying food all over the space.

Annabelle watched wide eyed as her younger brother suddenly developed his base power, it was unusual for such a young child to develop powers, it was also a slight problem. Since it was hard for children to control their powers when they developed at a normal time, but for children who had them appear early it was impossible.

"Annabelle go get your dad."

She didn't wait around, running to her father's office she burst in without knocking. "Daddy Rasta developed powers!"

"What?" He had already picked her up and was moving towards the dining room.

"Rasta developed powers. Mom said to come get you." She hugged his neck as he picked up speed. Worried about his son and wife.

"Emmy are you alright? Is Rasta okay?" He put Annabelle down and reached out to Rasta. Picking him up he used his own powers to cancel out the toddler's power.

"I'm fine, and he didn't get hurt. Honey, I don't know what we're going to do. He's got too much power for a child his age. I'm worried that he'll hurt himself or someone else."

Interrupting his wife Terry said. "Let's talk about this alone." He glanced at Annabelle and said, "Hey baby, why don't you go see how Cyrus is doing with his schoolwork?"

"Okay daddy."

[End Flashback]

'I have no idea what dad said to mom. They were talking about Rasta being early and strong. There is no way I'd miss him if he was near me. God, I wish I had just eavesdropped.'

"Hey beautiful, want to hang out with us?" Some guys had walked up to her while she wasn't paying attention.

"Yeah, no." She paled. 'Oh f*** I'm so used to acting like a b***h that I just responded the way I would on campus.

"Hey b***h we were just trying to be nice, no need to act so rude!" One of them reached for her arm and dragged her towards them.

"F*** you *ss**** let me go!" She tried to shake him off but didn't have any luck.

"Hey man she said let her go, it's not nice to grab someone." A voice came out of the darkness, the person speaking hidden from sight.