8 Free as a bird

"I promised him once

That all we really had

Was a weak flower."

                                                                                                     -E. E. B.

EMA's pov

Connor, Yuko, Fran and I came to England and this time we went straight to dining room where Astra and Zack sat together on one sofa. Connor left to get Malia and in the meantime Astra said how today is some bonding time for us and he planned out few things we can do together. Then Connor came with Malia and she went next to Fran. I could feel how they were already closer than before.

"I didn't do my morning meditation yet.", Malia pointed out. She wore one loose white dress and had bed hair. It was six in the morning here in England and we all still felt somehow sleepy. Astra was basically sleeping on Zack's lap, but Zack didn't mind. I wonder will Connor and I be like that one day?

"Can you teach me how to meditate?" Fran asked Malia and she nodded.

"You can go to garden. There is one really nice place to meditate in the back. You'll see big rose bushes and just go right behind them.", Astra told them and they left to find that place. Then Astra took out one sheet of paper that had few things written on it. Does he really always plan everything out?

"I do. Everything is easier that way.", Astra answered my thoughts out loud and gave me a wink. He is so silly. "So Yuko, I have something you're going to like. Gardening."

Yuko smiled and said:" Where can I find the tools for garden?"

"Down the hall. There is one door with flower drawn on it. You can't miss it."

"I'll go with you.", Connor said and went out with Yuko. Just Zach, Astra and I stayed it dining room.

"I guess we are stuck together!" Astra said and went out of the dining room too. Zack and I followed him to kitchen.

Everything was white. Every single stove, table, microwave... everything. And whole kitchen was huge. Like those in big restaurants. It was honestly just breath-taking. There Astra started to look around and pull things out of drawers.

"Don't just stand there. Muffins aren't going to make themselves.", he said.

So both of us looker around for ingredients that Astra had written on one of his papers. After we took everything out, Astra and I started to make muffins while Zack sat on one chair just looking at us.

"You could help out too, babe.", Astra said to Zack.

"I enjoy just watching you more.", Zack said. His voice was very deep and it made Astra stop for a second.

"So Ema, how was your trip to Japan today?" Astra tried to make conversation going.

"It was great. Especially this one book shop Yuko showed us.", I said while mixing sugar and butter. "Have you ever been to Japan?"

We kept our small talk going for some time and it stopped when we put muffins into the oven. As we waited for them to finish, Astra went to get some decorations we can put on muffins. He went to other room in floor above so Zack and I stayed together alone.

Zack didn't speak at first and I was too scared to start a conversation. Then he actually did it.

"You and Connor, huh?" he said.

"Yeah... I guess that's fate." I sat down on one chair next to him and rubbed my hands together trying to get some muffin mix off.

"Did you fuck yet?"

And I coughed.

"What? I barely know him!" I said perplexed. How can he just ask that?

"You two may be soulmates or whatever, but that doesn't mean you don't have to use protection."

I just stared at him.

"As only straight couple in group, you two can have kids and Astra is worried that kids will be born with powers too."

"We barely kissed, Zack!" I defended myself, now feeling blush rushing to my cheeks. Geez, I can't even talk about kissing without blushing.

Zack just hummed as Astra came inside and found me blushing like mad, sitting next to Zack.

"So you asked her about sex?" Astra asked and I felt my face heat even more. Why are we even talking about this? "Don't worry! We talked with Connor about this too yesterday. But he didn't answer us when we asked him did you two have sex yet. What a prude."

I quickly took few eatable sprinkles and started to decorate muffins to take my mind off things.

"Are you okay? I can feel you're disturbed.", Connor said through link.

"Yeah, I am. They are just asking some... things."

"I'll fucking kill Astra, I swear.", Connor said jokingly. He could never hurt Astra.

After we finished decorating every muffin, Astra called the rest of the group back to dining room so we could all eat now. It took them less than five minutes to come to dining room and we all sat either on chair or either on sofa. Most of muffins had names written on them and some just had sprinkles.

"Are they all same?" Malia asked as she reached muffin with her name.

"No. most of them have different jam inside.", I said while biting down into my muffin.

Then my eyes caught Malia and Fran.

"You have different one than me.", Malia said quietly.

"Yeah. Want some?" Fran answered while bringing her muffin to Malia's lips. Malia bit the muffin and moaned.

"Your muffin is better! That's so unfair!"

"Want to trade?" Fran asked. Malia nodded and they traded muffins. This whole thing made me giggle a bit. Connor noticed and asked me do I want to try his muffin.

It was a dirty joke. His muffin. Sure. I winked and he almost choked.

"You are driving me nuts Ema.", he said whipping his lips.

Then we heard Yuko pretending to puke after seeing us. "Mixing saliva is disgusting guys. You can just spit in each other's mouth and call it a day."

We laughed at his comment.

"We can do that. Right, love?" Zack said to Astra. In return Astra grabbed his head and kissed him. That earned even more fake puking noise from Yuko. Somehow I think Zack is speaking more often.

"We should kiss too.", Fran said to Malia, but Malia just ignored it.

After Zack and Astra finished eating each other's face, they offered to show us where will we be training together.

We walked down the hall and into the basement. We came to one big metal door. Zack opened them for us and said:" We made this room after Astra and I started living together. We can also train in garden."

Then I saw what was inside. Every single wall, floor and ceiling were made out of metal. There were a lot of gym equipment, but one pool was sticking out the most. I think that's where Astra trained the most. So they have a pool too.

We came inside and decided to play around a bit. Especially Fran. This was my first time seeing her power and she made it worth the wait. Since metal reacts with electricity, we all saw how she made one big bolt of thunder travel around the room and back into her hand. Purple lightning made every single corner of the room shine and it was gorgeous.

Then Zack decided to show us what he can do. Metal that guarded floor moved as one big chunk of ground went up as Zack moved his hands. It looked like earth bending from Avatar, but in 3D. Astra watched what Zack did with adoration. They were so adorable.

Then it was Astra's turn. He decided to do something majestic and started to take off his clothes until only his underwear was left. I was looking at a boy half naked and didn't feel bad at all. He was like a brother to me now.

Astra jumped into the pool and water started to rise together with Astra inside. Suddenly one big part of water wasn't even toughing the pool. It was flying above it with Astra inside holding his breath. Then he went back into the pool and easily dried himself by just removing water that was on him with powers. He got dressed again.

Then Yuko stepped in and touched chunk of earth that Zack dragged inside. Flowers started to appear everywhere on it and they started to take shape. In less than few seconds there was a big replica of Zack. It was huge, but the breath-taking thing is that replica started to move.

"Everything in nature is alive. Just like every flower individually, I can move a lot of them at the same time. Nature is just so... beautiful. Everything is in peace and union.", Yuko said while gently moving replica around the room. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

"I wish people were like our powers are. In union, peaceful.", I said surprising everyone. "It's my turn, right?" Then I did my thing. I showed what can I do. Floor started to disappear in darkness and instead of it grass appeared. Sky wasn't blue or gray. It was in all rainbow colors, changing slowly. Starts danced around it and moon moved slowly across it. Wind was blowing grass and air smelled so fresh, like sea. And there was just us seven, standing in middle of endless field. This was perfection. Just us, alone on this world.

No, that's wrong. What did I just think about? What about my family?

Hallucination stopped as my thoughts crashed. It's not supposed to be like that. I was being too selfish.

"That was perfect..." Astra whispered.

"Yeah.", Malia and Fran commented in the same time. Yuko was silent, with a smile on his face. And Connor just looked at me, probably feeling my distress.

"What's wrong Ema?" he asked me and everyone's eyes turned to me.

"We shouldn't think like that. Just us is not perfection. We need other people."

Peace they all felt was gone now as we realized how wrong that beauty was. We all felt guilty. Except Astra and Zack.

"We don't need anyone.", Astra said. That didn't sound like him at all. "People are evil. All of them. We can do fine just by ourselves."

"Can you hear yourself?" Fran asked. "You can't just go and kill everyone!"

"We won't kill everyone. We can just stay here, alone. Just seven of us.", Astra explained and took one step to stand out better. "World would hate us if they knew about our powers. We would be inhumanly used. So why don't we just stay together?"

"That's bullshit.", Fran argued with him. "I am not even talking about that." As she said that, she walked outside with Malia following her.

Astra was angry too. He went to one corner of big training room with Zack calming him down. Yuko was deep in thoughts about all of this and Connor just waited for my reaction. Then Yuko looked between Connor and I and said:" Somehow, three of us are always stuck together."

I giggled remembering how he and Connor came to see me home and how we all went to that book shop today.

"I guess we are.", I said. Then I remembered something that can make this situation better. Cuddle room. Connor probably heard what I was thinking about and called Astra to suggest him that we all come to cuddle room and get some sleep since we all woke up early.

"Malia take Fran to cuddle room I've shown you yesterday.", Astra said to Malia. He looked less angry just by standing next to his boyfriend.

Zack, Connor, Astra, Yuko and I went to cuddle room together and when we got there, Malia and Fran already waited inside sitting on few pillows that were everywhere on soft floor. Astra sat down on Zack's lap and Zack sat also on pillows and rested his head on few. I sat between them leaving some space for Yuko and Connor. They turned on TV and put cartoons on. Then Connor sat next to me and Yuko, instead of sitting where I left him to sit, sat in front of me and rested his head on my lap.

We watched Big Hero 6 and Astra enjoyed it the most. After few minutes of just watching and relaxing, Connor pilled my head so it rested on his shoulder. I didn't mind. If anything, I enjoyed sweet smell of his hair.

I felt my mind get all mushy and sleep coming to me. Astra's giggles and Fran's soft snores disappeared and I fell asleep.

This was home.