“I’m sorry all of this has happened to you,” Adelina admitted gently. She knew that she probably didn’t even know half of what Landon had been through over the course of his life but she knew that he deserved so much better than the hand that he had been dealt. He was a great guy but for some reason the universe seemed determined to screw him over time and time again and Adelina knew that she would do whatever she could in order to stop him from going through something like that again. As he spoke about his powers and not wanting to try pyrokinesis while he was in the school, Adelina’s expression turned thoughtful for a moment before she quickly snapped out of it when he continued.
“The super strength part is cool, it’s just a case of learning to control it like with everything else,” she nodded.
“I get why you’re worried about trying it at school so what about out here?” she asked as she gestured around them.
“It’s nice and peaceful and I could help you if you like. We could bring some training dummies out here and you could give it a go. There’s plenty of water in the lake if we need it,” she offered. She wasn’t an expert in phoenix powers but she knew that she could ask her dad and Elias for some help and she knew that she didn’t want Landon trying to figure this all out on his own.
As Landon spoke again, Adelina found herself nodding.
“I can understand that, I was the same when I started learning how to use my powers,” she admitted.
“It’s easy to focus on not wanting to become the monsters that some people think we are but sometimes not learning to control our abilities only makes things worse,” she added. She knew that it was easy to lose control and she had seen the damage that had been done when Raf had lost control and had hurt Landon. She could understand that Landon didn’t want to hurt someone but not taking the time to learn to control his abilities meant that he could hurt someone accidentally and she was certain that he wouldn’t want that either.
“You don’t need to thank me,” Adelina assured him, a smile forming on her face as she looked over at Landon.
“I know I do. I appreciate that, thank you,” she nodded. She had her twin to offload on when she needed to and she had her brother and dads as well but Landon didn’t have that. He only had Raf and she knew that she wanted to make sure that there were other people who cared about him too.
“I won’t say he’ll get over it one day because I’m not sure he will but he’ll learn to live with it,” Adelina said gently, reaching over as Landon rubbed his hands together and placing her hands over his.
“You’re still here and as awful as it was, at least you know what you are now so some good did come of it in the end,” she added, hoping that Raf would be able to see the silver lining one day too. Neither of them deserved to carry that weight around with them so she could only hope that sooner or later they would find a way to move on from what had happened. They deserved that much, at least.
As Landon said now he had her by his side he didn’t feel afraid of anything, Adelina couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’m happy to help,” she grinned. She understood that Hope had been looking out for Raf and she could understand why her friend had been so upset but lashing out at Landon wasn’t the answer, not when he was the one who had actually died and would have stayed dead if he hadn’t been a phoenix. He had been through something traumatic too and she knew that she wouldn’t hesitate in stepping in if he needed her too. She really did care about Landon and she knew that that was never going to change.
Landon’s next words were enough to have a smile form on Adelina’s face.
“You’d better not, otherwise I’d have to hunt you down,” she teased. Adelina had never really felt like she was missing out on anything while she was growing up because she’d always had her dad in her life but the truth was that losing her mom before she’d even had the chance to get to know her had made Adelina realise just how precious the time she had with the people she cared about was and she knew that she wanted to make the most of it while she had the chance. She could see that Landon was surprised when she said that she would share the spot with her and she nodded.
“Of course. I hope being out here helps you as much as it has me,” she said gently.
“I hope you’re right. My mom died when I was a baby and my dad nearly died while he was working a couple of years ago. I don’t want to lose anyone,” Adelina admitted. She had spent a night believing her dad to be dead before he’d made his way home and now Hope and Josie had died at the hands of Ben’s father. The world they lived in was dangerous, that was for sure, and Adelina knew that she needed to be able to protect the people she cared about so she wouldn’t have to feel that pain again. As she looked over at Landon her heart skipped a beat and she realised that he fell into the category of people that she cared dearly about, she didn’t want to lose him either.
Adelina couldn’t deny that she was surprised when Landon offered to play the guitar if one of her songs needed it.
“You mean that?” she asked before she could stop herself. She knew that Landon wasn’t the kind of guy who would say something that he didn’t mean, though, so she soon found herself nodding.
“I’d love that, thank you,” she said sincerely.
“I’ll even add a part especially for you,” she added, knowing that nothing would make her happier than to have an excuse to spend more time with Landon.
As Landon mentioned Ben’s father, Adelina nodded.
“I do. I never thought anyone would get the drop on Hope like that but he did and that scares me,” she admitted. She knew that Hope wasn’t perfect but she was the only one of her kind and she always seemed so confident and in control. The fact that the angel had managed to get the better of her, Josie, Jed, Ben and MG really was scary and she knew that she didn’t want that to happen again.
“We are but we’re going to have to work harder to make sure that he doesn’t get one over on us like that again.” Only half the squad was there that day so she hoped that it would be different when they were at full capacity but she also knew that she didn’t want to take any chances.
“I think that’s exactly what he wants,” she agreed. They had no way of knowing when Ben’s father was going to attack next but she hoped that they would be ready when he did.
“I hope you’re right. I don’t want to take any chances so I’m going to try and get stronger and I think the others are too,” she nodded. None of them wanted a repeat of what had happened last time.
“I know you have Raf but if you ever want to train together let me know.”LANDON KIRBY