Falls on Deaf Ears - Book 2

"You are not fit to be one of us! The juridical council agrees upon immediate loss of powers!" The man dressed in juridical clothes boomed in the courtroom as several onlookers gasped. Some remained quiet as they knew the true power of the judge before them.

"You can't do that! He is my son!" A woman stood up and shouted at the top of her lungs, wanting to be heard.

"Would you like to stand beside your son as well, Mrs. Abigail Q?" She quietly sat down after a few seconds of exchanging stares at the judge. "I didn't think so."

A man in his mid thirties, who sat next to her and appeared to be her husband, tried to console her. "You shouldn't upset the judge. He is far more powerful than you think."

Abigail shot him a quick glance with tears running down her face. "The least you could have done was save your own son! You are a disgrace! You are supposed to love him no matter what! You…"

Before she could continue, the judge hushed the courtroom once more, "Quiet back there! One more outburst and you'll find yourself in contempt." He paused for a few moments and slightly let a small smirk escape from his mouth. "We, the judicial council find you, Randall Q, guilty of befriending an enemy of the Ouranian Continuum. The penalty for such an offense is punishable by immediate death!" As the judge finished the final word, a man dressed as an executioner walked towards the center of the courtroom and stopped immediately. He held a heavy axe in his left hand. When he snapped his fingers, Randall appeared directly in the center of the courtroom, his head was tied down on the mound by a strap. At first Randall was shocked by the turn of events. The judge's booming voice filled the courtroom again, startling Randall. "What do you have to say for yourself, young man?!"

Randall let loose a few tears and sniffled before replying in a soft voice, "I loved him…" he paused then corrected himself, "I love him with all my heart and nothing will change that! Even if I die, it still won't change how I feel for him!"

The judge stood and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Our species and theirs cannot, ever, ever co-exist with one another! There will never be peace for as long as I live!" He immediately sat back down then looked towards the executioner and nodded. "So be it." 

The executioner nodded in reply then turned his attention towards Randall and proceeded to bring the axe down hard.

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Randall's POV:

Time began to slow down as I watched the axe inch closer and closer towards my neck. I closed my eyes to avoid watching the inevitable happen. My whole life flashed before my eyes. As I watched each memory fly by, I cherished every one of them, every moment, and every experience of my life. When I got to the memory of my soul mate, I let the tears flow thoroughly from my eyes at the sight of us accidentally bumping into each other on a barren planet. I had remembered father's warnings of our enemies, but he didn't seem to act like an enemy of our kind. You see, I am half Ouranian and half human, my mother being human. This energy being I had met that day was the Ouranian's biggest enemy: The Anadan. Our people and their people have been at war for as long as I could remember. There have been times of peace, but they never lasted long. It was also a very taboo subject to be discussed on our home planet and the Continuum. I was only given a vague description should I ever encounter one. I was also a very stubborn kid and one day I ignored my father and teleported to an empty planet to just be away from him. When I arrived, I found myself in the middle of an energy battle between what appeared to be a young energy form and two older energy forms. I ignored it and was about to teleport elsewhere on the planet till I heard a faint cry for help. I could tell it was a kid about my age fighting a losing battle and decided to do something about it. I immediately teleported behind the two energy beings and attempted to say 'hi', but they ignored me. I kept trying till one of them took notice, but told me to get lost. They slowly crept closer to the younger form and away from me. I was starting to feel agitated and did something I hadn't thought of doing. I held out my hand, palm side up, and with a single thought, the two energy forms appeared in the palm of my hand, obviously shocked.

"You two should get lost and leave him alone!"

It appeared as if they were caught with their pants down and escaped immediately. By escaped, I mean vaporized into thin air. I had never seen such a power like that before but I decided to walk towards the younger form to see if he was all right. Once I came within a meter of him, he immediately became fearful of me, as if I was a big threat to him.

"Please… don't… hurt me." His soft words caught me by surprise.

He suddenly shifted to his solid form and I immediately recognized what I had just come across. It was our enemy, but something was telling me to be his friend. I tried to teleport out of the area, but my powers weren't listening to me. It was as if an unknown force was preventing me from using any powers. I took a deep breath and returned my attention towards the young boy. He appeared to be around my age. He seemed to be what a normal nine year-old human boy would look like; but I now know how far off my guess really was. He was wearing a green shirt with black pants. His clothes appeared to be out of place compared to how the rest of him looked. I stared down at him, looking into his bright red eyes, and just stared at them. His skin looked normal, but his hair was so fine and so white, I would have been blinded if I stared at him for too long. I could see the beginnings of some blue highlights starting to form at the top, but I decided to stop staring at him. When I crouched down to check him out closer, he cringed even more till I finally spoke.

"I won't hurt you. I know you know what I am, but I won't hurt you." I extended my arm slowly to offer him a handshake. 

It was customary for humans to do so when greeting one another, so I tried that attempt. At first he cringed and closed his eyes in fear, but after a few moments, he opened one eye and looked at me again, still in the same position with my hand extended and a small smile on my face. At first he hesitated, but slowly and carefully, he extended his hand towards mine. I wasn't sure if he knew what kind of greeting I was offering, but I somehow knew that he knew my intentions were harmless. When our hands met, I felt an electric shock run though them, as if I had found someone important. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I immediately withdrew my hand, but the boy just froze there with a shocked expression on his face. Slowly, that expression changed to a smile and he lunged forward, embracing me in a tight hug. I was shocked at the sudden change in him.

"Thanks for saving me."

"Huh?" I found my mind wandering and my lips moving on their own, as if I was responding to him by instinct.

"Thanks for…"

"…saving you." I finished the sentence but didn't stop. "I know, but you should leave before anyone finds us."

"I don't wanna. I feel safe with you."

He had tears flowing down his cheeks from his eyes, but he sure looked cute that way. I shook my head after having such thoughts. I wasn't sure what I was feeling, but I felt a certain need to be with this boy, yet I continued to deny those thoughts. I tried to push my body away from his, but I suddenly felt my arms wrapping him to return the hug. We stayed like this for a while, but to me, it seemed like an eternity. Heh, an eternity. We age slow and live for millions of years, depending on a variety of things. The universe is a big place, with many uncharted areas of unknown, untouched space. Even though I may look like I am an eleven year-old human male, in reality I am actually much older than that. A thousand Earth years old would be an exact figure. My human mother was given powers by my birth. It's probably one of the advantages for humans giving birth to Ouranians. As my mind began to wander, I felt a slight tingling within my head and wondered what it was. I had learned from father that he taught us of way's to block certain telepaths, but I haven't come across one till I met this boy.

"Hey! No fair poking around in my head like that."

He looked up then his expression immediately changed, as if he was hurt by my words. I reached down and ruffled his hair, "Don't worry, I don't mind. It’s just… a sorta funny feeling for me to experience that."

He giggled then resumed his previous task of poking around in my head. After a while, I heard an unfamiliar voice within my head. I was caught slightly off-guard, but I decided to go with the flow. I could feel the boy was hurting and it seemed like he needed someone to talk to or something.

'Don't be alarmed, I'm only learning your language. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble.' A voice spoke from within my head. I wasn't sure what to do, but I tried to reply by thinking up a simple thought.

'I.. uhh… am sorta new at this, can you hear me?'

I waited for a minute and there was no response. I looked down at him with a puzzled expression and he just grinned back. It wasn't a normal grin since I saw a hint of mischief behind those eyes.

Trying again, I pushed my thoughts outwards and a bit louder just in case. 'Can you hear me? Or are you just messin' with me?'

This time he giggled. Suddenly he disappeared and re-appeared standing directly in front of me. His clothes had changed to an all white outfit. 'Hmmm, looking better.' my thoughts then drifted off to how sexy he looked.

"I'm glad you think so."

"Huh?" I wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"I heard your thoughts, you know…" He tilted his head and grinned slightly.

"Ohhhh!" I sighed then stood up, feeling slightly flushed while dusting off my clothes. Changing the subject to hide my embarrassment, "Won't they get dirty easily?"

He shook his head. "Naaah, but yours are!"

"Huh? That can't be!" I immediately looked down just in time to see a finger coming straight up to my nose. The second he touched my nose, it sent another waves of sparks flowing through my body. I looked at him in surprise and he started giggling like mad. Talk about a little prankster like I was. His giggling began changing into laughter and it got contagious. Soon, we were both laughing so loud, it hurt, but in a good way. When we finally stopped, he walked towards me and gave me a hug.

"I hafta go. You should too, before they find you."

I had a slight assumption on who 'they' were, so I nodded in agreement.

"Bye…" He disappeared after immediately shifting to his energy form.

"Wait! I didn't get your name!" I waited for a response but nothing.

'Its Bel… and don't worry, I'll find you.' 

I smiled inwards as he had been reading my mind again at the unasked question I had been wondering. Suddenly, I sensed something unfamiliar coming and decided to teleport to another planet for further exploration. A planet with civilization as it was my school assignment.

The scene went blank and another image appeared as if I was re-living it again. It was the horror of seeing Bel trying to defend himself against an adult Ouranian. No matter how much I tried to not think of that scene, I couldn't escape it.

---

I opened my eyes to see the axe just inches from my neck. Everything was in slow motion and I wished time would move faster so they could get it over with and let me have my peace. I closed my eyes again and the very same scene I tried not to think of popped back up.

---

I was back to watching Bel fight off an Adult Ouranian, but something told me to rush to Bel's side and help him. At first I hesitated, but watching Bel lose the battle hurt me more than he was. I immediately teleported straight to his side and thrust my hand outwards with the palm facing the adult Ouranian. I was at least happy I did some damage as the move sent him flying across the barren land.

I wasn't sure how I got there, but I somehow heard Bel's screams for help. Suddenly, several more Anadans began to appear in Bel's defense. I could sense the anger as one of them quickly moved towards me, shifting from his energy form to his solid form. I could have sworn I saw some resemblance between Bel and the man. I later found out the man was his father.

As he rushed towards me, he pulled out a dagger that can be extremely harmful to our race, possibility even kill us. It was their only weapon against us and he was just inches away from me and froze when Bel let out a blood curdling scream to stop the charging Anadan. He immediately looked at Bel and noticed he was in pain. He looked towards me then at the fallen Ouranian by a dead tree. He disappeared and re-appeared directly above the Ouranian and suddenly plunged the knife into his chest. He wasted no time and teleported back over to Bel to try and figure out what was wrong. I tried to move closer, but his companions didn't allow me to make a move.

"Please… let him help me…" Bel spoke softly towards the man who was holding him.

"Shhhh, try not to talk, my son."

"Daddy, please, let him help."

Bel's father looked up at me with hatred in his eyes, but silently agreed to let me help his son and relaxed a bit. He looked up at his companions and nodded to them, signaling them it was 'okay'. As his companions eased off, they still held their gaze on me as I slowly moved towards Bel. When I arrived to his quivering body, I was shocked to see he had red blood, like a normal human. I didn't have time for such questions and pushed them into the back of my mind and tried something new. Something I hadn't tried before.

I was about to heal Bel when his father spoke, "He dies, you die."

I swallowed hard and slowly placed my hands on Bel's wound on his chest. It felt like a big gaping hole from an energy blast, and I suddenly started to cry as I felt his life slipping away. Several random thoughts began to roam in my mind as I thought of the good times I had with Bel. He had become my best friend, but it felt like something was missing.

'Bel, don't go! Please stay with me! I need you!' I shouted in my mind in hopes for Bel to be able to hear my thoughts.

I continued shouting even when I thought it felt hopeless, 'Bel, I love you! Please don't leave me!' 

I looked down and let the tears flow freely over his motionless body. After a few moments, I was about to remove my hands but a soft red glow above the wound began to emit from the palm of my hands. I suddenly knew why and how to control the new found power and concentrated on healing Bel's chest wound. It seemed harder than it looked but after what seemed like ages, the wound was finally healed and the red glow subsided. Bel's father couldn't believe what he was seeing and he returned his attention to Bel. At first Bel wasn't responding to his father's words, but after a minute, he began to slowly awaken then sat up in a jolt and looked around. When he saw me, he immediately lunged forward, giving me a death hug that was so tight, I couldn't breathe. Next, he broke the hug and planted a big kiss on my lips that sent shivers down my spine. It caught me off-guard, but I grew to like it and began to return the kiss, until Bel's father coughed to get our attention. Bel slowly broke the kiss and immediately jumped up, finally realizing his father was right there. His fearful expression was put to rest when his father re-assured him everything was okay.

"Am I to assume you two are very close to each other?" Bel's father asked with curiosity.

At the same time, with grins on our faces, Bel and I spoke the exact same words, "We are."

---

I watched the scene go blank and another memory popped up. I wasn't sure why I was re-living this memory again, as it was only yesterday the events there took place. I tried opening my eyes to shake the painful memory away, but my body wasn't allowing me. I haven't felt any pain yet and I knew I was still in the courtroom as the room was filled with such commotion. I assumed my mother was desperately trying to put up a fight to save me, but I knew her efforts were in vain. The judge, our leader, is so much more powerful than any of us. It was rumored that he rivaled in strength with that of a Q, but they were only rumors. Other rumors claimed he was a direct descendant of the Q, but no one knows for sure. People liked to talk and he enjoyed seeing their fear as he approached them. Never the less, I gave in and decided to let the memory flow freely.

---

I found myself in my room carefully working on a school assignment based on Earth when suddenly the room felt very bright. The brightness only lasted a second, but it caused my heart to beat fast.

"Ah, Bel! You scared me!" I didn't turn around to greet him, but I knew it was him. I have always known who it was when someone popped up behind me to try and surprise me. If it was someone unknown, I never let my defense down and usually reacted fast.

"Sorry, Rand." Bel said softly, using his nickname for me. He sounded hurt and I turned around to see why there wasn't any happiness in his voice. To say I was surprised was an understatement of the century. He looked terrible with bruises all over his face and arms. I immediately jumped up and brought my hands to his arms, causing him to wince slightly at the pain. Within moments, a red glow enveloped him then he was fully healed, but I couldn't undo the damage he had experienced.

"Are you ok?" I asked with concern in my voice.

"Yes… no… I dunno." Bel shrugged his shoulders then proceeded to check out the contents of paperwork on my desk. I immediately felt myself blushing a bit and quickly reached my desk to cover up the papers, but he had caught some of it.

"Showing interest in Earthlings." He commented trying to shift the topic with a growing grin on his face. It was more of a statement than a question.

"It's a report for school on a new species."

"Ohhhh! Anything good?" His grin became broader as he was showing some more interest in my report. Bel has always been interested in discovering new species and trying to be friends with them. Bel could easily be friends with anyone who didn't show any intent on harming him for who he was.

"Well, they're cute and learning about their new powers." I paused for a moment and continued, "Did I mention they're cute?"

Bel rolled his eyes and giggled, "You'd think anyone is cute."

I rolled my eyes and my mind wandered. 'If only he knew what I think of him right now…' 

Suddenly, Bel's expression changed and he moved closer to me at a snail's pace. It seemed like he was struggling to say or do something he was afraid of. I was also wondering if he had read my thoughts at that very moment.

'Crap, he read my mind. What do I do now? I can't help feeling this way towards Bel.'

Bel moved much closer to me as I began to become more and more distracted between my thoughts and what Bel was going to do. I envied him for his ability to read minds. I let my mind wander again then felt a certain wetness on my lips after a few moments. I was surprised, but I also welcomed it. The pressure increased and I could feel the passion flowing thru my lips from Bel. I finally understood the meaning of 'love', but 'they' always say you'd have to experience it for yourself to know what it is actually. My mind became lost in thought as I began to return the kiss. My arms found their way to Bel's back and pulled him towards me. Suddenly, a thunderous boom filled the room, interrupting our private moment. In the hole to our left stood a small squad of our army and my father standing behind them.

'GO BEL!' I screamed in my mind.

'I don't want to! They're going to kill us!'

'Don't worry about me, GO BEL!'

'But…'

'Please hurry! I love you!'

'Love ya back!' With Bel's final thought, he disappeared in a red flash without shifting to his energy form. I knew he only used that method of teleportation in case of emergencies, but I had nowhere to go as I suddenly felt some of my power being drained from me.

Just before I passed out, I heard my father's words echo the room, "Take this trash before the council for his judgment and punishment! May the council have mercy on his soul."

Everything went black. Now that I saw that memory again, I knew something was slightly off. I remembered seeing a small shadowy form behind my father, as if someone were controlling him. I knew that was impossible as my father was head of the military division. He was tough and strict, but he loved mother and me. I tried to figure out what was going on, but I was awakened by the sounds of reality. When my eyes sprung open, I could hear chaos within the courtroom. It seemed that some of our people were in disagreement with how my punishment should be dealt and tried to stop it. My last thought was seeing the large axe at a hair's length from my neck. I closed my eyes tight, wishing I was elsewhere. Suddenly, I lost consciousness and became vulnerable to everyone and everything.

---

Everyone in the courtroom let out a gasp as they watched the final moments. Almost everyone tightly closed their eyes and looked away, all except the Judge and Rand's father. Rand's mother lay on the floor, in a pool of her own blood. She had become too noisy the moment she saw her son on the mound, waiting to be executed. She couldn't stand to watch any more, but Rand's father made the first move. In one swift move, he instantly teleported his blade from his side to his hand, then quickly thrust it through her chest, striking her heart from behind. Some people in the crowd saw what happened and changed directions. Rand's father quickly teleported out of the room in a flash of light before the angry mob could do anything to him.

The Judge smirked to himself then turned his attention to the events before him. He directed his thoughts towards the boy and towards himself, 'At last, we will rid ourselves of a meddlesome kid who wants peace between the Anadans and us. Peace… hah! As long as I am around, there'll NEVER BE PEACE!'

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Editor's Notes:

Cool chapter!!! What has Hammy got us into now! My gosh he has idea’s coming left and right. Now what is going to happen to Rand? I don’t see that we know for sure here just yet but I sure want to know. It sounds like Rand’s dad is real piece of work to be able to let Rand possibly die and kill his own wife! I wonder what the rest of the people in the courtroom are going to do? What about Bel? 

What a way to start book 2! So many questions and what a plot line! Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long to find out! What has Hammy started now!

Until next time!
Boxerdude

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