A/N: Ugh, sorry for late chapter again. On the bright side, this is a long chapter.

Recap of chapter six: Fedor, Kate, Raven, Eric, Ellen, and Bast go to a bar/restaurant. A strange man asks Kate a weird question, and then he Reads her. Afterwards, Kate gets drunk and shares her feelings about her parents, who killed themselves, to a not-so-sympathetic Raven. Ellen is arrested by oracles of a group called the Divine Council, which focuses on speaking for the gods and being their enforcers. Ellen assures her friends that she will be all right. Fedor is left alone and he decides to try and help Ellen.

The world of Elementzaria was the first world, created by the Primary Gods, of the universe. It began with the Elders, who were given the ability to create other elementals, though not as powerful. Since then, elementals were created and then given to couples as babies who would act as the parents; in short, elementals were created by either gods or Elders.

Over hundreds of years, the elementals became aware of other worlds, not just theirs. The gods had warned them not to visit the other worlds, but the dark elementals, having the ability to create portals, disobeyed. The first world they visited was Earth, although it was unnamed at first. It was overrun with people without powers, and so they called them mortals. Since then, many elementals visited Earth, which the earth elementals called because they had created the foliage on Earth. The elementals were told to keep their powers hidden away in front of the mortals, as to not start a war. There were many times when the elementals would show off their powers, and this created wars between the mortals and elementals. The mortals were powerless against their strange enemies, and were quickly wiped out.

As for aging, once an elemental, or also called immortal, reached the age of 25 in immortal years, he or she would have to visit a shrine of Thumaru, the god of time, and pray to him. Then, Thumaru would ask his prayer if he or she would want to keep physically aging, or appear the same age for eternity. Age brought wisdom, but only a few elementals would choose to keep aging. One elemental in particular who favored wisdom over youth, was Silver, the air Elder.

Now, since the god of time was dead, any elemental who turned 25 would fade because there was no god to grant them an extension on their life, whether full with wisdom or youth. This was the reason why Ellen had been arrested.

The young dark elemental, mind reader, and telepath, was being led through the police station filled with both mortals and elementals. The three oracles/officers ushered her into an elevator, and then pressed a hidden button. The elevator jolted to a start, and started going down. The ride was long and awkward, and the gentle music didn't help one bit; it made it worse.

After fifty floors down they reached their destinations. They were in a large room filled with dozens of steel-made cells, and the ground was made out of jagged rock which made it difficult to not stumble across.

"You'll be staying here for the night, and then your departure will be in the morning," one officer told her in a stern voice. After he took off Ellen's handcuffs, he replaced it with a metallic bracelet that had several tiny needles on the bottom that dug into her veins.

Ellen winced, and she felt her powers dissipate. She could no longer read the minds of others, something she had been doing the entire elevator ride; she found that the officers' thoughts were boring.

Once pushed into a cell and locked in, Ellen sighed. She scoped the area and wondered if there were both mortals and elementals locked up as well, since no one really knew what happened to mortals when they spoke out their suspicions. She and the other cell mates weren't wearing orange like what the other people were on the first floor.

As soon as her eyes met with the person she saw in her vision, she smiled.

"Patrick!" she exclaimed with relief at the man in the cell next to her. "What did you do to get yourself in here?"

Patrick was the stranger she had just met earlier, before all of this happened. He was wearing black shorts, a striped green and black sleeveless shirt, and a green scarf around his neck.

"I am more curious about you," he replied in his strange accent as he held onto the bars to peer inside Ellen's cell. "You seemed so innocent when I met you, and yet you are here, at one of the lowest places an immortal can be before you are ported off to Divinity."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume Divinity is the world where the Divine Council is."

"Only prisoners who will be on trial get to go there, but also Elders and Gods," Patrick explained. "Its name is misleading, no?"

Ellen giggled, even when she was in such an unfortunate situation. She was glad Patrick was here, though; it meant her vision was accurate.

"We're going to escape before we even go to that world," Ellen told him in a low whisper.

Patrick raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yep!" Ellen assured him with a smile.

"I knew you were remarkable," Patrick grinned, his eyes twinkling expectantly.

"What?" Ellen asked absentmindedly as she examined her bracelet.

"Never you mind," Patrick answered quickly, and sat back down in his cell.

Ellen shrugged and did the same thing. She closed her eyes and relaxed her body to think about how the two would escape.

Fedor wished he had a car and that he could drive. He had been sure the police station wasn't that far from the bar and restaurant, but in fact, it took him almost an hour to get to it. By the time he got there, it was late at night and there was a large crowd blocking the entrance. What he saw almost gave him a stroke.

Topaz was giving some speech, dressed in a gray business skirt and shirt; she even had the thin glasses to make her appear sophisticated. Her red shiny hair was up in a bun, and on her face was a smile that concealed her lies and secrets.

"…And that is how I will improve this plummeting economy as your new President," the fire Elder finished her speech. She received a warm applause, proof that the gullible people believed her. While the crowd slowly dispersed, she spotted Fedor trying to sneak around, and quickly went up to him.

"Don't be rude, boy," she hissed, and playfully wrapped one arm around his neck. "Come take a picture with me."

"I'd rather not," Fedor admitted, but a few cameramen had already gone wild with how their president was interacting with commoners. They clicked and awed as they circled around the two while flashing their annoying cameras.

"You see, these people love me," Topaz explained as she held her fake smile. "This world has changed over the past hundred years; people are desperate and would elect anyone as President to whoever says the right stuff and sounds convincing. I've observed these diminutive, inferior people for so long; I know what to say and what they want."

"That's just perfect," Fedor replied sarcastically. He didn't even bother to smile in front of the cameras. With Topaz as President, just like Silver had been before, there was no doubt she would make their lives as miserable as possible.

"Now that I see you at a closer angle," Topaz began saying as she eyed Fedor curiously, "You look a lot like –"

"Let him go!" Bast bellowed, startling the cameramen as he literally shoved everyone aside to get to Fedor.

For once, Fedor actually wanted Topaz to keep talking. Who did he look like?

"Oh, well if it isn't Sebastian," Topaz spat disgustedly once the cameramen had left. "Tell me, how's your sister? Wait…that's right: she's dead."

Venice, Bast thought mournfully.

Bast's sister, Venice, was one of the founders of the Red Serpents, third in command with Raven as leader, and Bast in second in command. The two siblings had been slaves from childhood to their teenaged years until they killed their masters and escaped. They had been born in a world called Slaydom, where the poor were slaves to the rich elementals. Their parents had been killed when they both were young, so the two inseparable siblings were forced to become adults at a young age. They took care of each other and helped the other steal food when there was none. Eventually, they met Raven, and the three founded the organization that consisted of dark elementals with tragic pasts.

It was awhile until Bast learned that Venice had been secretly working for Thumaru, the corrupt god of time whose plan was to kill Celeste, the goddess of judgment and death. It had only been five months ago when Venice had led Fedor and his friends in a trap, where conflict and a battle broke out. This betrayal had given Raven no choice but to kill the traitor via fire. Bast didn't figure all of it out until later when Ellen had told him the truth.

Since then, Bast had kept his feelings about her deceit inside him. He was tough and brave, and never once shed a tear in front of anyone, especially not in front of the coldhearted Raven. He wished he had caught on that his sister had other plans, and wondered why she would ever keep things from him. On some days, he would convince himself that she hadn't been herself, and that she really was the sister he always knew.

Shaking with anger, Bast began to escort Fedor away from the police station. He knew Topaz would just feed on his rage and get a kick out of it, so he just walked.

"Don't you want to say anything?" Topaz asked provokingly. Growing frustrated now as she watched the two continue walking, she yelled, "Get back here! How dare you walk away from me?"

Fedor tried turning back to spit out an insult, but the burly man grabbed his arm and told him in a hushed tone, "Don't, kid. She's not worth it…at least not now. She'll get what's coming to her soon enough, don't you worry." He then muttered with his eyes twinkling with eagerness, "Raven will kill the shit out of her."

"But I want to help," Fedor replied as he got into Bast's green car. "I want to help kill her."

"No offense, kid, but it'll be Raven who ends her. After all, it was Topaz who made everyone of Harmony betray her and do those heinous things."

"You're right," Fedor sighed deeply, and put on his seat belt.

"That doesn't mean we can't join in on the beating, though," Bast added with a grin.

Fedor smiled as he envisioned the scene. His smile then faded as he realized what he was thinking, and guilt took over him. Clutching his head, he thought, something is wrong with me.

"I'm glad I found you before I went back to my place," Bast said with relief as he began to drive. "I couldn't just leave you alone, right?"

A sudden pain struck Fedor in the back as if someone had just slashed him with a sword. Fedor gripped the door handle and cried out.

Bast nearly crashed into a mailbox, startled. "Fedor? What happened?" he demanded with worry, and quickly parked the car.

His face sweating and his face contorted in pain, Fedor managed to reply, "I think it's Raven. Is…is my back okay?"

As Bast checked the boy's back and saw no lacerations, he remembered that Fedor and Raven had some strange bond, which meant that Fedor was right; whatever was happening, it meant that Raven was in excruciating pain. Bast suddenly knew what was happening and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Is the pain gone?" he asked, his eyes wide with worry.

"It keeps coming," Fedor answered between gasps and cries. "Go, Bast. You have to find Raven!"

"I know," Bast replied, and was already opening the car door. He then took out his cellphone and dialed Hunter.

After talking on the phone for just a minute, Bast told Fedor that Hunter was sending some of his protectors to pick him up, and that he would go search for Raven.

"Thanks," Fedor said with a weak smile.

"Will you be okay by yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Keep the doors locked, and the windows up," Bast ordered, and then hopped out of his car.

"Wait! What about your car? How will you find her?" Fedor asked, sounding panicked.

"I think I know where she is," Bast answered, sounding confident. He then shrugged and said, "This car's stolen, so I don't really care about it. Just be safe, okay?"

All Fedor could do was nod; he thought he was going to pass out from the pain. It kept coming, as if someone was brutally slicing his back over and over again.

After one last glance at the boy, Bast began to run, his legs pumping and his heart filled with adrenaline.

Damn it, Raven. Are you that foolish to do it alone?

Gritting her teeth, Raven cut at her back once again with her winged, feathery sword. Another jolt of pain coursed through her body that made her fall on one hand. Her sword dropped on the floor, and Raven was left panting as she waited for the pain to subside.

Her black hoodie was off and so was her white tank top, leaving just her black bra on. Parts of a fiery-colored wing protruded from the left side of her back, and another was dangerously beginning to grow on the other side. For ten painful minutes, the dark and fire elemental had been slowly slicing the growing wing off with her winged sword with much difficulty.

Her sword, which was 14 inches in length, had once been a wing from her body long ago. It was a result of her body turning into the first Shadowheart, the only Shadowheart to ever have wings. The hilt was black, six inches long, and the blade itself was literally just black, orange, and red feathers woven together, only it had been dipped in metal to harden it. Eventually, the metal rusted and so the wings would slip away, thus shortening the blade over the years.

Raven was kneeling in the basement of a house that belonged to a couple she once killed hundreds of years ago. Since then, the place was dubbed haunted by the superstitious mortals, and so it was left abandoned. It was the very place she would occasionally cut off the annoying, inconvenient wings. Before, having the inability to feel pain because of what was done to her, it was easy. But now, feeling pain as if it was the first time since the burning, the process was almost unbearable.

Just one more slash, she told herself, and refused to shed any tears. Her whole felt like it was on fire, just a cruel reminder of the pain she felt on the stake two thousand years ago.

"I will not become what you want me to be…not yet," she promised to herself resolutely. With a shaky hand, she grabbed her sword again and, bracing herself, cut her back in a horizontal motion. Feathers flew in the dusty air and fluttered to the bloody brown rug. The feeling of a million daggers being slowly inserted in her spine was felt, and Raven nearly passed out. She fell forward after releasing her sword, and then laid there for a few minutes, telling herself that the pain would subside. She couldn't feel the cursed wing anymore, but she knew there was a gash from the amount of the hot substance she felt running down her back. She didn't know if she would heal this time, since Fedor's power had supposedly drawn out the Shadowheart part of her, but it didn't matter to her.

After a bit, she forced herself to put her white tank top back on. Her hands seemed to disobey her as they continued to shake, but eventually she was able to pull the shirt over her injured body. She winced and inhaled sharply once the shirt made contact with cuts and gash on her back. The cotton against the wounds just made it sting even more, and she wanted to tear the shirt off to at least give them some air.

I deserve this pain, she scolded herself, and then crawled over to the wall and leaned against it in a sitting position. Her vision was slowly leaving her, and, within seconds, her consciousness slipped away as a stream of blood ran down her back.

Dawn broke, and it was time for the prisoners to wake up. Ellen was roughly awoken by a screaming guard, and then ordered to get ready for departure in an hour.

Feeling disoriented at first, Ellen looked around in a panic and wondered where she was.

"It's okay, Ellen," a familiar voice assured her kindly.

Recognition sank in, and Ellen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Patrick," she greeted with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"

Patrick gave her a crooked smile and answered, "In a way, yes." He then gave Ellen a curious look and asked, "So, this plan of yours…does it happen within the hour?"

"I think so," she answered hesitantly. All she knew is that she and him would be walking calmly down the stairs of the police station like the two hadn't been convicted of anything. What events that would lead up to that did not cross her mind.

Patrick looked to be lost in thought. He then jumped to his feet, walked over to his cell door, and, to Ellen's total shock, opened it without effort.

"Wha-" Ellen nearly shrieked, but stopped; she didn't want to alert the guards. Once she knew her voice would not rise, she asked, "Was your door unlocked this entire time?!"

"You can say that," Patrick replied. He looked to be enjoying himself because of Ellen's dumbfounded reaction. "You ready to bail out of here?"

By then, several other cell mates were looking over at the opened cell, but for some reason they stayed silent and pretended not to notice, almost as if they were afraid.

Without waiting for an answer, Patrick easily opened her cell. It created a small creak, but nothing more. He then offered his hand with a smile.

"Thanks," Ellen said uneasily, and took his hand. "Now, how are we going to get past the guards and onto the elevator without our powers?"

"Last night I dug a tunnel that will get us to the first floor of the station. Let's just take this one step at a time, all right?"

"You dug a tunnel?! With what? And how?"

"Just trust me."

Ellen was always taught not to trust anyone, but the man did get her out of the cell, so it was a start.

Patrick gently pulled Ellen back to his cell, and then, after shoving away a pile of books, showed her a huge hole in the poorly built cement wall. Beside the book was just a plain, silver fork.

"You're kidding," Ellen said disbelievingly.

"Ladies first," Patrick told her as he beckoned her through.

"I…I think you should go first, so I don't get lost," Ellen replied warily. Truth was, she didn't want the man staring at her butt the whole time.

As if he knew, Patrick gave a light chuckle, but went through the hole first. "Stay close," he told her in a whisper. Once the two were through, he stopped crawling on his knees and said, "Hold on." He then reached behind Ellen with little struggle.

The sound of rocks moving was slightly heard, and Ellen cried out loudly, "Did you just use your powers?!"

"Trust me, Ellen," he repeated, and he continued on.

Sighing, Ellen followed him.

With just ten minutes having passed by, the two were in the men's bathroom in a stall.

"Ew, disgusting," Ellen commented, her face scrunched up in revulsion.

"Shh," Patrick said, and looked around to see if there were any guards. To their luck, there was no one around. He grabbed Ellen's hand and started leading her out of the bathroom.

"Wait! They will stop us once they see us!" Ellen said in a panicked tone, and wrenched her arm out of his hand.

Patrick looked hurt, but he quickly regained his usual calmness. "It's early in the morning, which means the oracles are still sleeping. The guards that woke us up are on the dawn shift, and are just plain elementals."

"Which means…?"

"Which means that they haven't memorized our faces yet. If we casually walk out of here like two couples visiting, no one will stop us. This police station is swarming with more mortals than elementals, so with our current luck, we should be fine."

Ellen remembered her vision, and quickly gave in. Her mind lingered on Patrick's curious choice of words, but she shook it off. She took his hand again, and the two walked out.

Only a few officers stopped to gaze at them, but didn't engage.

Ellen and Patrick passed through the metal detectors and were alarmed when it went off because of their metal cuffs. The two looked at each other, but Patrick looked unconcerned, and with good reason: the security guard in charge of the metal detectors didn't give one fuck about the alarm blaring because he was too busy focused on a nude magazine.

The two prisoners, about to become fugitives, calmly walked down the stairs of the police station. Ellen's heart was pounding, but it began to beat regularly once it seemed like they were free from any threat.

"Wow, we did it!" she exclaimed happily as they reached the bottom of the steps. "I can't believe we did it!" Her eyes then stopped at Patrick's bare neck.

His green scarf was loose, revealing a pulsating neck.

Pulsating neck… Ellen thought, as if trying to recall something important.

"Shapeshifters are difficult to spot, but there is one sign that's a dead giveaway," Raven said in one of the rooms of the Red Serpents' mansion.

"What's that?" Ellen asked, her eyes bulging out with eagerness.

"If a shapeshifter has maintained its shapeshifted form for more than two days, his or her heart rate will be off the charts because they have to strain to keep their impersonated form. Increased heart rates show a fast pulse, and one spot on the body that is clear sign of an abnormal heart rate is the neck; if you see a pulsating neck, then you are in the presence of a shapeshifter."

"And all elementals have the ability to shapeshift, Master?"

"Don't call me that," Raven scowled. "But no. Only earth elementals."

"You!" Ellen yelled, and grabbed Patrick by the neck. "You're a shapeshifter!"

It was Patrick's turn to seem surprised. His smile fell and his eyes widened. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied. The smoothness in his voice was gone, replaced by sheer panic.

"Who are you?!" Ellen demanded angrily, and started to choke the man, which was already starting a scene. She noticed this and quickly dragged the shapeshifter to the side of the police station where it was a little more secluded.

When Patrick wouldn't answer her, Ellen slapped him hard across the face, making him fall to the ground. She then twisted his arm back, a technique shown by Raven to ensure pain.

"Argh! All right, you win!" Patrick/? cried out. "I'm not a fighter, all right? Just let go of me!"

Fuming, but curious as to who the shapeshifter really was, Ellen reluctantly released him.

Patrick/? stood up while grasping his bruised neck. With a shudder, his whole body began to change: his brown eyes turned to a dark blue; brown hair turned to a sandy color, and his facial structure changed to someone of younger exterior and awful familiarity…

A/N: Totally obvious who it is. If it's not...then what are you reading? Kidding xD I know it's hard to pay attention to the littlest things. :P