Chapter 5
"Guilt"

Colt could not help but feel responsible.
No matter what the others told him or reassured him that there was nothing he could of done, Colt still felt that it was his fault. Drak was gone...dissapeared without a trace. Even the formidable power of the Mewtwo could not locate Drak in his current location. Colt began to wonder whether or not he would ever see Drak again. Out of the four that followed Ella E constantly, it was Drak who he had identified with most. Drak didn't have good manners, much like him, and Drak didn't care for others feelings. Drak had been abandoned when he was young...just like him...
Colt sighed and forced the train of thought from his head. He didn't want to think about that anymore. He didn't want to think of what really happened...he couldn't even bring himself to tell the person he loved the truth. Colt sat up on Atelli's bed, thinking. Why hadn't he been able to tell Ella E the truth in that, now that he thought about it, highly romantic situation? Why had he told her something that had obviously sounded fake?
Because he couldn't think of something that would sound convincing... he thought. He could never make up good stories...he was, by nature, a direct person and dancing around an issue was something he didn't enjoy doing. He wanted to approach this directly.
That was what was so bothersome about Drak's dissapearance. When someone did something to him, Colt liked to be able to do something about it. Usually attack the person back (physically or emotionally). But now....Colt couldn't do anything. They had no clues, no leads. No way to find Drak. He was gone without a trace and that meant Colt's hands were tied.
He flopped back down on the bed, frustrated. From the shelf above him, a small object fell and hit him in the face. Vaguely annoyed (the object was not very damaging), Colt picked it up and looked at it.It was a stuffed doll of a person with flaring purplish hair and bluish skin. Underneath the person's eyes were marks of grey. Also near his nose and chin the grey fabric appeared. The doll was clothed in white with a cloak fastened with a small red stone. At his side, there was a felt sword. Colt looked around the room, seeing posters and pictures of the same person plastered all over the walls. He knew who this person was. His name was Zelgadis (that's what it said on one of the posters) and Atelli was very obviously obsessed with him. There were CD's around with his picture on him. Colt began to wonder who this person was. He was fairly sure he didn't exist (probably a television character) but he had never heard of him before he stepped in this mainly blue and purple room. He pressed the dolls hand, and it spoke in a japanese accent. "Astral Vine!"
Colt put the doll on the nightstand. He wondered why this man had a blue face and purple hair and those grey markings. Maybe he could get Ella E to tell him later. Ella E seemed to avoid the topic of her sister.
Colt leaned back on the bed, placed his hands behind his head, and thought.
Ever since he came here, he was plagued with doubt. What did Ella E really want? Was it him? She never showed any signs towards him that she liked him, like she used to...
Or he imagined she used to.
Colt sighed. He didn't want to deal with this like this...stand by idly while the others fought for her attention. He didn't want to have to sit back and let her choose herself. He wanted to do it directly and forcefully. Sweep her in his arms, give her a big kiss, and tell her that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. No complications, no others, no problems. Just a statement of how he felt without any feelings of guilt or resentment. He couldn't do that, however...the others...they were his friends. He didn't want to hurt them. But he loved Ella E so much...what could he do...Colt's eyes narrowed as he thought about Caleb. He didn't care about Caleb. He hoped that Ella E would never choose him. But he knew, to his despair, that Caleb had as much a chance as he as winning Ella E for himself. He hated that. He hated Caleb's superior nature...his haughty commands to tell him to go somewhere or bring him something. Sitting in a chair and having Caleb come and tell him to get up, as if expecting him to really do it.
Colt didn't want to seem immature...he wanted to appear willing and ready...he wanted to appear as sure as himself as Monty was. So when Ella E would walk by after Caleb's commands, Colt would reluctantly get up to try and show Ella E how good he was. She never seemed to notice.
Drak would always back him up when Caleb started getting cruel. Caleb had no idea how much his words hurt Colt. Being called "Scum" was not something that Colt would ever get used to. It hurt...But Drak...Drak would always tell Caleb to back off, tell him to lay off. Colt really appreciated that...someone was actually sticking up for him instead of pushing him back down.
Colt dwelled on that. He was always being pushed down by other people...but his strength had allowed him to resist (to a point) and survive to the level that he could never leave. The level below everyone else...including the one he loved. But Drak...Drak was the one who elevated him past that level...or would join him there. Drak hadn't made fun of the cereal he had made for Ella E...
Colt raised a hand to his head and felt the thick bandage that now went around it. The injury to his head had turned out not to be serious ("Pity." Caleb had said) and Colt only had to wear the bandage for a few weeks. Now and then when he stood up he would feel a little dizzy, but other then that the effects were minimal....physically. The wound reminded him of his in-ability to protect his friends. Before...fighting Reimia and Tashi...and Kame and Max...he had been able to protect them the best he had. He had won the battle...but now he had lost. And someone that was important to all of them was taken away...and Colt couldn't shake the feeling it was his fault.
Colt was tired. He didn't like all this thinking. As he he had thought to himself before, he liked to things directly without a lot of thinking. So this effort tired him. Feeling uncomfortable with getting underneath Atelli's covers (he had covered himself with a quilt in the last few nights he had slept in here), he curled on one side and closed his eyes. Soon, he entered his dreams.
Colt was dreaming rather quietly about wandering in the empty streets of the town (Colt was never very imaginative) when he heard a strong voice in his mind.
"Can I speak with you?"
Colt turned around abruptly and the street ended. Where it had once continued behind him it fuzzed into indistinction. Standing in the place of a lamp-post, Mewtwo looked at him.
"What do you want?" Colt said, feeling slight resentment at this intrusion in his mind. The Mewtwo's mouth did not move, his face frozen and creased with what looked like lines of worry. He obviously was in a lot of emotional pain since Drak's dissapearance.
"Tell me everything you saw before I came to Drak's aid." the Mewtwo spoke telepathically to Colt. Colt looked at the Mewtwo, again feeling strong pangs of guilt.
"I didn't see much. Drak...shouted my name, and I hit my head on the table..." Colt put a hand on his head, surprised to find it perfectly normal, before he remembered that he was dreaming. He looked at the Mewtwo curiously, but his expression remained the same pained one.
"And." The Mewtwo said, sounding more like a demand then a question. Colt began to feel even more uncomfortable.
"I managed to stand up and...I saw a man."
The Mewtwo's eyes flashed.
"What did he look like?"
"I couldn't tell!" Colt said, with growing frustration. "He was just dark, okay? What's the phrase you would use? Shrouded in Blackness or something. I couldn't see anything except his gun..."
"Gun?"
"Well...it looked like a gun, but I think it was modified or something...I'm not sure what it was, exactly. It fired a net at Drak...a weird, glowy one."
"What did you do?" The Mewtwo's tone remained impassive.
"I...I tried to stop the guy. I ran and jumped on him, but the net homed in on him...there was nothing I could do. Then the guy slammed his gun in my head and knocked me across the table...I can't remember much after that...." Colt said, thinking hard.
The Mewtwo stood quietly, no emotion registering on his face. Finally, he turned and began to walk away.
"It's not your fault." The Mewtwo said, and then he flashed out of the dream. Colt stared after it, confused. The street re-assembled itself where it had once stood, and Colt scratched his head, not sure of what to do. He didn't feel like wandering anymore...but he had no control over his dream. Not sure of what to expect, Colt chose a random direction and walked that way, hoping to find a new purpose on that road.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A sharp scream cause Colt to jump to his feet on the bed instantly. Confused by the softness of the bed's surface, Colt immediately fell on his back, then bounced onto the floor with a heavy thump.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The scream was high-pitched and shrill, almost as if it were in indignation then fear. Colt's head began to throb, half from the injury and half from the scream. Colt poked his head over the bed, and the girl in the door stopped, looking horrified. There was an awkward pause.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!?" the girl shrieked again. Colt, having recently woken up, couldn't think of any polite way to put it.
"Ella E said I could sleep in here cause we ran out of beds." Colt said.
The girl paused, then looked horrified again.
"ELLA E!?" she said, sounding surprised. "ELLA EEEEEE!" she then screamed, sounding furious. "WHO SAID YOU COULD GO IN MY ROOM!?!"
"Your room?" Colt said, swearing he could see the walls shaking. Another Zelgadis doll fell from the shelf and hit him in the head. "Are you Atelli?"
The girl saw the doll. Then she seemed to melt. She dashed towards Colt, grabbed the doll, and hugged it furiously. Colt stood by awkwardly, not sure what to do.
"Oooh, my Zelly! My Zelly-Candy! My Zelly-Chan! My Zelga-bunny!" she cooed to the doll, smoothing it's hair. "I haven't seen you in so long!"
"Are you Atelli?" Colt repeated. The girl turned, as if remembering he was there, and then blinked.
"Who are YOU?"
"Tell me who you are first." Colt sat on the bed and put a hand on his head, massaging his temples. His head was aching.
"Get off MY bed! This is MY room, tell me what YOU'RE doing in here!" the girl pushed him roughly off and straightened the bedspread. "And yes, I AM Atelli, and THIS is my room."
"That's all I wanted to know." Colt muttered to himself. Atelli turned to him.
"Now, tell me why you're sleeping in MY room and why my SISTER gave you permission!"
Colt sat down and explained the whole story as best as he could (considering his head-ache made it hard to think). Atelli kept quiet during the whole thing, looking very serious and patting the Zelgadis doll on the head.
"I think I will talk with Ella E when she comes home." Atelli said in a odd voice. Colt felt a tinge of danger in her tone.
"If you hurt her, I'll kill you." he said. Atelli looked at him.
"Are you serious?" she said, laughing. She stopped when she saw Colt nodding. She changed her expression to one of doubt.
"Could you really kill someone?" Atelli said doubtfully, glancing at him. He was dressed in her Dad's clothes. "What are you, a Rocket or something?"
She began laughing again until she saw Colt nod again. She gulped. She got off the bed, holding the Zelgadis doll close to her, and backed out the room. She paused in the doorway.
"Well...I guess you can stay for a while..." she said nervously, and shut the door.
Colt was confused and just flopped back on the bed, holding his head and groaning.
"BUT YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH MY STUFF!" Atelli's sudden scream came through the room, and Colt rolled off the bed again. Another Zelgadis doll came from the shelf and hit him in the face as Atelli slammed the door viciously.

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