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Callen didn't search for anyone. The desire to be alone was overwhelming. He found himself seated on the rectory's clay shingle roof, staring at the cityscape as the sky darkened. Below, cars sat in the standstill of rush hour traffic, and the hordes of normal people began their commute home. Despite the hustle below him, the sounds of the city didn't reach his ears. His earphones were pressed in his ears and one of his favorite hypnotic rock drew his dazed mind into the ethereal as he sat on his lofty perch.
He was still numb from what Dr. Brewer had said and found his thoughts dwelling on those who played next to him in Boston Children's Hospital. He remembered the faces of those he saw die, and remembered those he left behind. "Guess I'll see you soon Derrick." He whispered.
About halfway through Metallica’s The Unforgiven, he gripped his father's cross. Images of his family began to trickle into his mind's eye. As he tried to push them away, his gaze locked on the cross on the church spire next to him. He felt his first tear roll down his cheek and soak into his shirt. He swallowed hard and fruitlessly tried to hold back his tears.
"What are you doing Callen?" Ania asked. It took him a second to realize his sister had sat down next to him. She tugged one of the earphones out of his ears. "You there?" She smiled.
He didn't say anything, and attempted to wipe the tears from his eyes, but it was futile. They kept coming. "I'm dying Ania."
She nodded.
"No one can stop it now." Callen cried. "Even these knights with all their technology..."
"What exactly does that mean?" Ania said bluntly. "Technology, no matter how advanced, is still made by people. People can be wrong and they are wrong a lot.” She gave him a strange look and her eyes scanned his body. She looked at him as if his physical form wasn't even there. She blinked and looked him in the eye. "And how is this any different than usual?"
He sniffled and the tears slowed. She, after all, was right. He took a deep breath. "Well, the day might be closer..."
"Might, being the key word. No one knows when they'll die, Callen. You still have time." Ania said. "You never got better like Dr. James said back in Boston. You have been getting worse this whole time. I just wish I knew sooner."
"You said no one knows when death will come," Callen said. "Or is this one of your colors and elemental things?"
"I don't." Ania said shaking her head. "I just wish I knew what I knew now sooner."
What good would that do?" He sniffled. "Dr. Brewer can't cure me, so knowing sooner would have done nothing."
"Not true," Ania said. "And why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" He felt the spit of rain against his cheek.
"About Dad, Panacea, and his secret lab."
"Wait, what?"
"Before you passed out in church, you whispered about Dad and something called Panacea," Ania said with a grin. "And, well, like a good sister..."
"Correction, like a good group of friends, including your sister..." Sadie said as she pulled herself out the closest window onto the roof, followed by Tende. "We did some digging...and had a good old time."
"Seems your dad was a busy man." Tende added.
"But..." Callen started. He gave Ania a worried glance. He had mentioned her powers.
"It's okay," Ania said. "They know what I see. Tende has been helping me and teaching me to meditate. Only Sadie and Tende know what I see, and they promised not to say anything to anyone. So, don't you worry. Anyway, that's a story for another day."
"Yup," Sadie said. "Like Tende started to say, your dad has been busy." She reached into her pocket and handed him a flash drive. "Everything we need is on there."
"What?" Callen asked looking confused.
"Well, Panacea is a mythological cure-all," Ania explained. "Ancient alchemists used to search for its formula. When you mentioned that when you passed out, we decided to look into it. We didn't find anything on Panacea per say, but..."
Sadie grinned devilishly. "Through a bit of careful thievery from one Bethany Cole..."
"We found clues in the files we stole that pointed to cancer research and other things we couldn't understand," Ania said. "But, one thing led to another and we acquired the location of a secret laboratory where dad was working before he disappeared."
"Felix helped us pull it out of her personal laptop computer using a hardwire connection to Mavis. It was weird. She didn't have it connected to Mavis and Felix said something about her personal tech being of a make he didn't recognize, but I don't know what he was talking about. Anyway we got what we need." Sadie said. "We think your dad was working on a cure and at the very least, it could be a place to start to get you fixed. I know it's a long shot, but it's something."
"With Sir Reeves, Lady Cole, and your grandpa out working, that leaves only Felix and the priests at home base," Sadie said. "And he is going to gear us up and help us get to the lab. So, tomorrow morning, we're going to the docks. But, you gotta come. Because according to those files, that place's computer system locked it up tighter than Fort Knox when your dad disappeared. There's no remote computer access to the facility and that means you need to unlock it. Felix can't do it remotely, and he isn't exactly physically built for fieldwork. Not to mention, none of us are exactly computer geniuses...so that leaves you."
"Yup." Tende said. "We got brawn." He pointed to himself. "We got magic," pointing to Ania. "And we got, well, whatever Sadie is good for...and..."
"Hey!" Sadie yelled. "Not cool."
Tende laughed. "Just saying," he chuckled. "Now we need your brains and we got the workings of a real Shadowborne party for a quest of the up-most importance. I think a real quest is better than that new patch that just came out." He laughed. "So, what do you say? Wanna help us try to cure your cancer once and for all?"
Callen wiped the last tears from his eyes and felt a little hope trickle in. He took a second and took a deep breath. "Wow." He sighed in disbelief. "I can't..."
“We need you Callen," Ania said. "Here's our shot. Maybe dad did something there that will allow Dr. Brewer to create a cure or maybe dad made a cure...who knows. And, you can. You have to. For me, mom, everyone...Just imagine how Mom would feel if she woke up and you were dead and you didn't try." Tears grew in her eyes.
"No...I wasn't saying I can't go." Callen corrected. "I was saying, I can't believe you guys did all this based on a whisper. I've been having dreams about this stuff for a while and here it is. Guess Dr. Brewer was right. I guess I'm not ready to stop fighting yet. So, what's the plan?"
"Well," Ania said. "We got the data, we'll get us there...all you gotta do is figure out what to do when we get to the lab..."
"Alright," Callen said. “The best place to start is electronic files you acquired..."
"Well, let's not sit around and wait to get rained on..." Sadie grinned. "You got work to do..."