Hi, for a prompt, maybe during a tense mission Ezekiel screw's up and the team snaps at him, but the mission ends up fine, but Ezekiel isn't. He's really upset by what they say and he disappears, leaving the team to find him and apologize. Thanks.
We'll just pretend that I didn't completely forget to post this and that school hasn't been killing me. Sorry.
 Ezekiel was freaking out. That was bad. Freaking out meant he couldn't concentrate and he really needed to concentrate right now. The team was investigating an underground tunnel system with magical properties. Apparently people were going missing down here. Though he could argue that they weren't missing anymore. They were chasing after the librarians in a magic induced haze. It gave him strange flashes to zombie like scientists attacking him and his team and he couldn't understand why, but he was fearing for their lives more than ever. His breathing was coming harsher the more he ran and he was supposed to be reading the map.
Usually, before missions like this he would have time to look over the maps and other texts they needed. He would do his best to memorize them and only use the actual thing for reference, but the mission had been a bit more rushed with the missing peoples lives at stake. Hurriedly, Ezekiel glanced down at the map, trying to figure out where to go, but the words were mixing together. The letters danced around the page and he yelled to take the next right on impulse. Bad move. They ran down the passage way to a dead end and Ezekiel cursed. Jacob snatched the map from him and looked for a way out.
"We should have gone left the exit was right there!" He shouted.
"They're coming!" Eve warned while Cassandra muttered to herself, thinking hard.
"Sunlight!" She shouted. "Sunlight should counteract the dark magic clouding their judgment." No one bothered asking how she came to that conclusion, they just started looking for the nearest source of light.Â
"There!" Jacob shouted, pointing to a crack in the wall above their heads. He waved for everyone to move out of the way before swinging his axe at the wall. It only took a few swings to create a sizeable hole and when their pursuers came close enough the light forced them to shy away and retreat.
Once they couldn't hear the people anymore Jacob turned on Ezekiel.
"What was that?" He demanded.
"Yeah Jones, you took us completely the wrong way." Eve added.
"Sorry, you try reading a map while running for your life." Ezekiel defended.
"You almost got us killed." Jacob retorted hotly. "How can you call yourself a librarian when you canât even read a map?"
"Look, I made a mistake, but everything turned out fine."
"Thanks to Cassandra. The only mistake here was bringing you along."
"Guys come on. Knock it off we need to get back to the library." Cassandra interjected.
Jacob and Ezekiel shared one last glare before following Eve and Cass to the exit.
Once back at the library they decided the best way to save the missing people was to use the sun room and mirrors to flood the caves with light. Everyone was scrambling with their tasks to set it all up, except for Ezekiel, who hadnât been given a job to help.
"Need me to do anything?" He asked Eve.
"No offence Jones, but I think you should just sit this one out, weâve got it from here."
He could only nod and back out of the room. He walked down the hall and saw Cassandra setting up mirrors.
"Need any help with these?" He asked as he reached towards the mirror nearest him.
"No!" she shouted. He jumped away from it. "Sorry itâs just that these have a precise mathematical formula for placement and they have to be exact or itâll be ruined."
"Right. Sorry. Iâll just go check on some other stuff." He said as he walked away feeling pretty ridiculous. Not even Cassandra thought of him as a valuable asset to the team and he knew from past experience what happened when he wasnât needed anymore. Maybe he shouldnât have tried working with other people again. He was way better off working alone.
Bearing that thought in mind he stepped through the back door and into his small apartment. He collapsed on the couch and groaned, what was he supposed to do now?
The team hardly noticed that Ezekiel had left, they were a bit preoccupied with saving the kidnapped people in the cave and returning them to their regular lives. The good news was that the dark magic was flushed out of the cave with the light and a bit of magic from Cassandra. The bad news was that they couldnât find Ezekiel.
"He probably just went home for the day." Eve assured them.
Jacob sighed. "I should probably apologize next time I see him. I was just stressed earlier, I regret taking it out on him. It feels like something my pop would have done."
"Iâm sure heâll understand. In the mean time we should all head home for some rest." Cassandra suggested.
They all agreed figuring everything would be fine by tomorrow, but Ezekiel didnât come to the library the next day, or the next, or any day that week in fact.
"Iâm getting pretty worried about him do you think somethingâs wrong?" Cassandra asked.
"Iâm not sure, but Iâll bet itâs got something to do with me and my fat mouth." Jacob said solemnly.
"Only one way to find out." Eve said as Jenkins pulled up the coordinates for Ezekielâs apartment. They were about to step through when the library rumbled ominously and a book fell from the shelf nearest the backdoor. Jacob picked it up and flipped through it.
"Itâs a book about dyslexia." He informed them.
"You donât suppose that has anything to do with Mr. Jones do you?" Jenkins wondered.
"He couldnât read the map." Jacob said, feeling guilt rise up in him. When he looked up everyone else looked just as guilty as he felt. Silently, Jenkins opened the back door and everyone hesitantly walked through. None of them had been to Ezekielâs apartment before. It was small, but clean and organized with only a few personal possessions scattered around. It gave Eve a sense of what her old home used to look like.
Cassandra waved them towards a couch and they walked over to find Ezekiel curled up and passed out. He looked exhausted even in his sleep. His mini library book was sitting on a coffee table in front of him. Jenkins picked it up and flipped through it to find that he had been going on several solo missions the past week. He showed it to the others and their frowns only deepened.
After a whispered discussion they decided Ezekiel wouldnât want them here right now and that he needed his sleep, they would handle this the next time he came to the library. Unfortunately, Cassandra bumped the couch on her way out and Ezekiel snapped awake looking around for danger and immediately spotting the librarians standing around his living room.Â
"What are you doing here?" He asked, voice hoarse and confused.
"We just came to see if everything was okay." Eve answered.
"Iâm fine. I can take care of myself." He retorted irritably.
"We know you can, but I also wanted to come to apologize." Jacob cut in. "I know you didnât mean to read the map wrong and I was overreacting. Iâm sorry."
Ezekiel looked a little surprised and uncomfortable. "Itâs fine. I know I messed up and Iâm sorry too."
"Is there anything you maybe want to tell us about why it happened?" Cassandra asked hinting that they knew there was more to it than a simple mistake.
Ezekiel looked confused so Jenkins took the book that Jacob was holding and held it out to Ezekiel. "The library gave this book to us." He informed him. Ezekielâs eyes went wide and he looked down in embarrassment.
"Look itâs not as much of a problem as it used to be. I just have to focus and even then I can usually handle it on missions. I was just thrown off."
Jacob sighed and sat down next to him. "Mind telling us what threw you off?" He asked gently.
"We're your team." Cassandra said as she sat down on his other side. "You can tell us."
Ezekiel felt the weight of her words. They were his team and he could confide in them in ways he couldn't with anyone else and he knew that, had known all along, and maybe that's why he'd tried to distance himself this past week.
"I can't sleep lately. I keep seeing these, things. They're like zombies and they chase us and kill us. When we were on the mission I kept seeing the missing people as the zombies in my dreams and I couldn't focus and I couldn't read and I almost got us all killed." His voice grew heavy and choked as he spoke and he hung his head because he was not okay with being seen like this.
The others exchanged looks and they knew it was from the game they had been stuck in.
An arm slipped around his shoulder and another rubbed down his back. Ezekiel sucked in a deep breath and held it because if he hadn't felt like crying before he most certainly did now. He could handle being yelled at and feeling alienated, but this support and understanding was unexpected and honestly a little nerve-wracking. It wasn't something he wanted to lose.
He tried to make his eyes as dry as possible and prepared to pull himself up and let them know he was fine, but Jacob pulled him closer and Ezekiel felt himself sag against his teammate.
"You don't have to apologize." Jacob told him.
"We get it and we just want you to be okay." Cassandra assured him.
"And we want you to come back and work with the team. We miss you Jones." Eve added.
"I will." Ezekiel promised.
"Well, now that we've made sure our youngest member of the team is alright I suggest we let him get some rest." Jenkins said as he ruffled Ezekiel's hair before heading for the backdoor. Eve followed after him, but Jacob and Cassandra decided to stay with him. He fell asleep a lot faster than he thought he would and it was the best sleep he'd had in a long time.
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