Green eyes opened sluggishly before widening in shock as her sleepiness evaporated instantly, her implants kicking-in.
'Gotta thank Defiant again once I get out of whatever this bullshit is.', she thought as she flipped herself upright, quickly turning to scan her surroundings, before glancing at herself.
'Huh. Already in my suit.', Vista frowned at the sight. She knew she could get tired after some of the more intensive patrols, but to fall asleep in her suit? After getting implants from Defiant? That was worthy of suspicion.
'Plus, Byron would never let me go to bed in my suit.' Whatever was happening to her was clearly not normal.
Putting that thought at the back of her mind for the moment, the teal-clad veteran hero bent the space around the buildings around her, leaping higher and higher up to get a vantage of the strange yet oddly familiar city around her.
Finally reaching a sufficiently high vantage point, Vista peered from the edge of the building, only for her eyes to widen in shock at the sight before her.
"What… the fuck?", she muttered as she gazed ahead only to find herself looking back at her.
Plastered on a billboard next to a myriad of ads was a girl that, aside from the gleaming black plate armor, looked identical to her, only she was unmasked. Even stranger was the figure next to the doppelganger, a tiny slip of a girl with a smile that Vista swore could melt hearts, that had… were those tails? Multiple tails? And now that she was paying attention, Vista was pretty sure those were fox ears on the girl's head.
'Just what the heck is this place…?'
—
Panting heavily, Astra spared a glance at the downed ABB gang members strewn around the alley.
"Suzu, are you OK? Are you hurt?", she called out to her companion on the rooftop above her, receiving a firm nod and a shake of the head respectively before she allowed herself to relax slightly.
Whatever satisfaction at her new friend's safety was short-lived however as she realized just how much danger she'd put the little Vulpo in. She hadn't intended to bring Suzuran to her patrols, but with her range limit 'reset' once more… Well, it was either leave her adorable friend at home to suffer the headaches from her power's connection or leave the rest of New Wave to pick up the slack while tensions with the ABB were high.
'Damn it. Knew that truce wouldn't last forever.', she thought with a sigh as she scanned her surroundings one last time for any remaining threats.
'This ambush was too coordinated. Were they trying to target Suzu? Did they-'
"Big sister Missy?", her gentle friend's voice called out from above, shaking her from her thoughts, reminding her that her friend was still up on the rooftop and needed attending to.
Jumping up to join her, Missy could tell Suzuran was confused about something, her head tilted slightly and her expressions looking as if she had a question in mind.
"Does Big Sister have another big sister?", Suzuran asked before she could comment on her quizzical expression, eyes filled with curiosity.
Confused at the sudden and odd topic, Missy shook her head. "Sisters? No, I'm an only child I'm afraid. Why do you-", Missy paused as Suzuran pointed to the rooftop behind her. Turning, she stiffened before subtly moving into a combat stance as she saw the cape, who god knew how long had been spectating their fight from above.
Any warning or question she wanted to ask died in her throat however, as the visored figure took off her helmet to reveal an all too familiar face.
—
Standing protectively in front of Suzuran, Astra watched the doppelganger who claimed to be an alternate her warily. Slowly, the words in her mind were voiced out.
"You say you're me. Prove it. Prove to me you're Missy Biron."
In contrast, the figure facing her stood confidently from the slightly higher roof across them, "We grew up in a screwed-up custody battle which made us miserable." Pausing for a moment, the figure glanced down, her face showing slight remorse. "Bad things happened to us both that made us triggered, but they were different for the both of us."
Looking back up, Vista could tell her counterpart wasn't entirely convinced. Sighing, she continued, "Also our first crush was Gallant on the Wards team.", only for Astra to respond with an expression of confusion.
"You mean… Vicky's boyfriend?!", her younger self responded in a questioning, even slightly judgemental tone. "Why would I do that?! That's so… wrong to do to them!", at that, the cautious stance of the girl seemed to drop in bemusement, Vista feeling the same along with a growing flush on her cheeks at the blunt chastisement.
—
Suzuran sat uncomfortably on the recliner in the living room of her new big sister's home, her tails shifting minutely every so often. Glancing between the two girls engaged in what looked like an intense battle of stares, Suzuran found herself seemingly shrinking even more despite her already diminutive size as she wrung her hands nervously.
Noticing this, Missy broke first from the staring competition, hands reaching for Suzuran's shoulder. "It's OK Suzu", she said with a reassuring smile, "Let Big Sister take care of this, you go play a little more on the computer, alright?". Anxiously, Suzuran glanced one more time at the strange clone of her new friend before nodding curtly and letting herself be guided away.
Closing the door, the hero Astra let out one last sigh for the day before turning to the stranger in the living room.
"OK. You said you have questions, and so do I. Let's talk.", Astra said with a serious tone, frowning slightly at the amused glint in her counterpart's eyes.
—
"So, you're about eleven or twelve now, right?", Vista asked, eying the remarkable physique her younger counterpart had. 'I wasn't like that when I was her age… and I trained hard!', she thought to herself with equal parts amusement and frustration.
"Close. Twelve and a half.", Astra replied, eying the scar that ran across the strange girl's face, herself apparently, with some unease and well-hidden horror from an inherited lifetime of schooling expressions.
"Huh. So that's different. I was a little earlier then…"
Vista watched as her younger self paused, seemingly taking in the statement before her eyes widened in a realization of sorts before shifting into one of fear.
"Did- did mom and dad…", she asked, tone an odd mix of awkward and afraid.
Vista had researched her counterpart before approaching her and was dismayed to find out the background behind her trigger event that had since gone public. After some careful composing internally, she responded.
"No, no. They're doing fine. Still the same, but fine.", the older girl said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Her younger self saw this and nodded in sympathy and instant understanding.
The two realized that despite the differences in the events that changed their lives, it turned out that neither of them had quite come to an acceptance of their upbringing that they were completely satisfied with, after all.
Her head bowed, it was a while before Astra spoke up again.
"I'm glad to hear that."
—
"I can't say for sure. So much has already changed with you joining New Wave instead of the Wards. I can only tell you about my journey.", the older girl said, eyes cast off to the distant skyline.
"And… what was that journey like?"
Vista turned to face her younger self, identical eyes gazing into Missy's own only somehow tinged with a sense of weariness, her lips a thinned line before breaking out into a small, bittersweet smile.
"It was filled with tears. So many tears. I saw the people around me change in ways I never could have imagined. Some for the better, others for the worse. And for so many others… they never had the chance to change." 'Like Gallant, Aegis… everyone else on our team', a voice in her mind whispered. Even now, some wounds still hurt in ways she couldn't quite understand.
Missy's eyes widened in understanding and shock at her older self's words, her hand gently reaching out for Vista's hand before choosing to abandon caution to pull the taller girl into a hug.
The sudden hug shook Vista out of her reverie, her hands frozen for a moment before slowly lowering to return the embrace.
—
The two girls stood in front of the shelf, both gazing up to look at the ornate sword spear that looked out of place on a high shelf where one would usually find family photos and not war gear.
"Wow. She really did just keep it on the highest shelf, huh?", Vista said, breaking the silence between the two.
At her words, Missy looked down, face flushing with slight embarrassment as she wrung her hands, "Yeah… and I know I should probably find a proper place to keep it. It's been months since I earned the right to use it after all. But…"
"But it reminds you of her, doesn't it?"
Missy blinked at the words but did not respond, choosing to continue to gaze at where the clone of her mentor's signature weapon rest.
Vista turned to face Missy, a sympathetic smile on her face as she reached out to hold her hand comfortingly.
Idly, she noticed that the eyes of her younger self had become wet, tears on the verge of falling out as she struggled to keep her lips from puckering in sorrow. "I… I miss her. So, so much. "
"You'll see her again Missy. I'm sure of it." came her words as her hands wrapped around the smaller girl into an embrace.
—
Two pairs of eyes stared at the video in front of them, one pair with particular intensity and the other in bemusement.
The video showed cuts of Astra and Suzuran on their patrol, the older girl being seen gently holding the little fox-girl's hand at times, carrying her and jumping from rooftop to rooftop in other scenes. Suzuran's expressions, whether scared or happy, never failed to garner a nearly ridiculously positive response from the commenters on the video site, while Astra herself seemed to get an almost equal amount of positive attention as the 'adorable, loving big sister'.
Missy groaned as her hand reached to cover her face, "Ugh, this is worse than that time they saw me hugging Nearl! I don't even know how they did it this time!".
The little girl threw her hands up in frustration before smacking the table with both her hands, "That's it! I am so taking a page out of Vicky's book next time. Next paparazzi I find hiding in a bush is getting punted straight into the dumpster."
Vista smiled brightly at her, eyes twinkling with amusement; which only succeeded in making Missy pout at the indignity of it all.
"I had a similar experience when I was your age."
"A good friend of mine gifted me this… absolutely beautiful bunny plush once,", her hands gestured as if to emphasize the sheer cuteness of the gift. "She hoped it'd cheer me up after some… bad things had happened to the city".
"And even in all the misery that seemed to have choked the life out of the city, someone found time to take a picture of 13-year old me and post it online.", Vista continued breaking into a chuckle when she saw the curious, now turned furious face of her younger self at the indignity that had been inflicted on her alternate self.
"Please tell me you gave them a piece of your mind.", Missy said, practically pleading in tone.
"Oh believe me, I wanted to. But then, I saw people who had nothing but frowns on their faces for days, weeks; finally smile for a brief second.", Vista replied before turning to face Missy, "And I realized it was all worth it."
"Some day, I think you'll feel the same about this."
Her answer appeared to shake Missy out of the vengeful state she was in before, angry yet adorable face seeming to shift into one of thoughtful contemplation at her words.
'Huh, I really was quite cute.', Vista thought with an inward chuckle.
—
Posting this here for completion's sake. Was always very curious about how Canon!Missy and DC!Missy would interact, so decided to give a shot fleshing it out. Would more than welcome feedback on this. Hope it's an enjoyable read!
Soooo, Missy get fluffy tail and ears when? I really want her to have her new moms' animal features...or a bunny. Earth Bet could use more adorableness in the world. After all, If you see an adorable little girl holding a spear with a cute tail and ears, would you fight her, or be captivated in awe of the adorable? Especially one who denies that she's cute? I'd get diabetes and fall over dead.
Once again, Sorry for the delay, folks. Gooey's been really busy hyperfixating on another quest and making fanart for it (lmao).
Also, we've brought a new beta on board to hopefully speed things up in the future. Everyone say hello to Johnnyboy, author of Bocchi the Scion!
Trauma, disassociation, panic attacks, injury, the other shoe.
The next day, Nearl watched Missy trudge into the kitchen and immediately knew something was wrong; the girl seemed distraught and not quite there mentally. Given what day it was, it wasn't all that hard to figure out why.
Frowning in concern, Nearl decided to take over preparing breakfast for the day despite it being Missy's turn while she thought of how to broach the subject. In the end, she settled for the direct approach, as that seemed to have always been the correct choice with her student so far, even on sensitive matters. Missy seemed to just trust her with practically anything at this point, and while quite touching, it was a little concerning how quickly she had latched onto her nonetheless.
"Given your expression, I take it you aren't feeling all that well today," Nearl spoke softly as she placed a steaming mug and a plate of toast in front of Missy, pulling out a chair for herself to sit across from her. "Would you like to talk about it?"
Missy stared idly into her silly cartoon dog-shaped mug as if the hot chocolate within held all the world's answers, chewing her lip in thought for a while. Sure enough, her trusting nature eventually shone through and, with a sigh, she replied. "I… don't know? I've been feeling pretty alright the last couple of days, all things considered, and I had a lot of fun with Elle yesterday too. But then I got up today, I remembered what day it was, and it all went out the window. I guess I just… kept thinking of the funeral as something that'd happen way later. That I could just make it future Missy's problem. Then outta nowhere it snuck up on me and it's just..."
Nearl set her own mug down and crossed her arms. She tilted her head upwards with a deep breath, considering the issue before speaking again. "I get it. I truly do. I was… in a similar state after grandfather passed away. I would set my feelings aside and pretend I was fine so I could carry on with my duties as usual. I thought it worked for a while, until one day Shining made me step away from our work, took me aside and just stared at me expectantly. She simply… knew, somehow. She told me that I couldn't go on like this anymore, and I just… broke down in front of her. I guess I hadn't been as subtle as I hoped."
Chuckling ruefully at the memory, Nearl shook her head before turning her focus back to Missy, who froze at some point during her retelling. "What I'm trying to say is that avoidance is not a healthy coping mechanism. Ignoring your feelings will not make them go away, Missy. In fact, it tends to only make them explode in your face at the worst possible moment. I was lucky I had friends who put a stop to my foolishness, because now I know I would've fallen to pieces if anything so much as poked me the wrong way back then."
"I…" There was a lump in her throat preventing Missy from speaking. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the words out.
Seeing this, Nearl reached across the table and gently took ahold of her hand. "Hey, it's alright. You don't have to hold anything back; no matter how serious or trivial it may seem to you, you can just tell me. Or if you just need some time to process things, that's fine too. But whatever it is that's bothering you, I will not allow you to let it fester in silence, understood? It would be very remiss of me not to help you avoid the same pitfalls I went through."
Missy hunched in on herself, eventually finding her voice. "...Y-yeah. I get it. I just… Can I get a raincheck on that? I don't feel like I'm ready to talk about it just yet."
"Of course," Nearl agreed. "Take your time, but I would like you to at least begin approaching the subject within the privacy of your own thoughts. Don't let it become a personal taboo, because the more you refuse to acknowledge it, the more power over yourself you're giving it until eventually you're all but running away at the slightest hint of it. It is painful to face your grief, I know, but it is something you simply must do if you wish to move forward. And when you feel ready, we'll talk about it, alright?"
"...Okay. I… I can do that," Missy conceded, nervously gulping before she turned away in embarrassment. "Could we, uhm, talk about something else for now though? This is kind of a heavy way to start the morning."
Nearl blinked before smiling warmly, accepting the clear desire to avoid the topic just a little longer. "Alright, what would you like to talk about?"
"Hmm. A couple of things, I guess. How do you deal with a reputation you don't like?" Missy asked, straight to the point.
Nearl raised an eyebrow. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with what they're showing on the news, would it? Does it bother you?"
"I mean… maybe a little bit?" Missy hesitatingly put forth.
Nearl shot her an unimpressed look.
"Okay, fine. It bothers me. It bothers me a lot," Missy admitted with a helpless shrug. "I don't like people thinking I'm all cutesy and girly. And I really don't wanna be known as the adorable New Wave kid. No one's gonna take me seriously!"
"But you are adorable." There was an amused smile on Nearl's face as she took a sip of her mug, ignoring Missy glaring daggers at her.
Upon seeing her expression, Nearl backed down, clearly intimidated by the sight of a twelve year old scorned. "Alright, alright. To be honest, I see no particular issue with it. It certainly won't affect your performance out in the field, and if anything, it might actually be advantageous to you in a variety of situations, including combat."
"Wait, what?" Missy reeled back in confusion, her anger forgotten.
"Take a moment to consider it from an outside perspective. Your appearance will make people underestimate you. In combat, opponents might hesitate to attack you, overlook you, or even sometimes dismiss you to focus on someone like Victoria, considering her to be the bigger threat. But you and I both know that appearances can be deceiving, don't we?" Nearl explained with a smile, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes.
Missy furrowed her brow, mulling the idea in her mind. "...I guess so. I– Hmm. I never really thought about it that way, to be honest."
"It's not something I'd recommend relying on, however. You will, inevitably, come across opponents who won't care whether you are a child or not, and increasingly so as time goes on and the public grows accustomed to you. But while it lasts? You should use it to your advantage, if possible."
"So I should just… play it up and act cute while I can?" Missy asked, a hint of distaste in her tone.
"Oh, no, not at all," Nearl was quick to deny. "My apologies, I didn't mean to imply you should change the way you act; People will call you cute regardless of what you do or how you present yourself, simply because of your age. It's outside of your control, so it's a pointless thing to worry about. Merely use it to your advantage if it's convenient. But at the end of the day, your capabilities and actions speak for themselves, regardless of what others may think. That is what I think you should focus on if your image truly bothers you."
Missy leaned back and crossed her arms with a pensive expression. "Results win over looks, huh?"
Nearl dipped her head in agreement. "Quite so."
"Hmph. Well, that's good to know, at least. Clearly I'll just have to become so good that people will have no choice but to take me seriously."
Nearl's eyes crinkled in amusement as she smiled. "Clearly."
She watched as Missy let out a relieved sigh as if some great weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Thanks for the advice, Nearl. You're a lifesaver."
Nearl shook her head in response. "Please, it's the least I can do for you. In a way, your situation is similar to something I've seen in Rhodes Island a few times before."
"Wait, really? How so?" Missy asked, leaning in with an expression of clear interest.
Nearl nodded before explaining. "I've met a few operators who had to deal with image issues similar to yours in the past. Myrtle and Popukar, for example. You might've seen them in your visions, perhaps?"
"Ahh, well… no, not really," Missy said sheepishly. "To be honest, the dreams are pretty scarce on stuff about Rhodes Island besides a few things from your time in Chernobog, and even that was mostly just seeing you fight."
Nearl frowned, humming in thought. "...It's strange how your power seems to focus only on specific aspects of my life, while entirely ignoring others."
Missy shrugged, seemingly accustomed to the oddities of her power. "Not much I can do about it. I know certain parts of your life pretty well, but outside of that? Vague impressions are the only thing left by the time I wake up. So far, the only people I've seen enough to remember are… let's see…"
She narrowed her eyes in thought as she began listing off with her hand. "Your family, Shining, Liz, a few people you interacted with during the Major like those Pinus Sylvestris girls, some of the knights you fought, that one peach-haired girl that's perpetually flirty and whose name I can't remember, and I guess the Doctor and, uhm… Amiya," She admitted, shuddering at the mere mention of that last one, which did not go unnoticed by Nearl.
"I see. So essentially anyone that was around during the Majors, which is an interesting thing to note. Although, I must ask, are you… scared of Amiya?" Nearl asked with a furrowed brow, pointing out her reaction.
"Oh, yeah. Terrified," Missy openly admitted without an ounce of hesitation before taking a sip from her funny-looking mug.
Nearl blinked in surprise.
Missy rolled her eyes at the reaction before explaining. "Why wouldn't I be? If a stranger reached out across dimensions, broke your special power and invaded your dreams to basically interrogate you at gunpoint in the one place you thought you were safe, just because you saw a memory of them, wouldn't you be scared? Because that sounds absolutely freaking terrifying. I kinda just keep expecting her to jump out at me whenever I'm asleep, to be honest."
At some point during her explanation, Nearl's palm had found its way into her face as her shoulders slumped in defeat. "...I hadn't realized it had been like that. Neither of you mentioned your encounter being anything like that," she groaned, her tone full of frustration and regret.
"I'll… I'll talk to her tonight. I'm very sorry you had to go through that. Amiya is usually such a sweet girl; she'd probably cry if she knew how much she scared you, however unintentional it may have been. Please don't hold it against her," Nearl apologized and pleaded in equal measure.
"I mean, not the best first impression, but I guess I can give her a chance if she's really as nice as you say she is," Missy accepted with a shrug, before adding some humor to her voice. "Just, y'know, give me a little warning next time I'm about to get assaulted in my sleep, yeah? That way I can at least get a couple of hits in before she vaporizes me or whatever."
"She would never do that. And please do not attack Amiya in your sleep, Missy," Nearl sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. She sounded like an overworked mother tired of putting up with her children's antics.
Missy huffed in amusement. "Kinda interesting that you didn't say she couldn't vaporize me, but fine, fine. I'll try not to beat up any bunny girls I see in my dreams."
Taking a moment to finish downing her mug, she tried going back to what Nearl said earlier. "We got carried away though. You said something about a couple of people who had situations similar to mine? I wanna hear about that."
Nearl shot her an exasperated look, still slumped in her seat, before taking a deep breath to compose herself, by now familiar with Missy's penchant for sudden topic changes.
It was a little disconcerting how she seemed to be able to discuss traumatic events only to switch to making light of a situation right after. Not five minutes earlier she was practically on the verge of tears and overcome with anxiety, and now she was simply joking around like usual, worry for the upcoming events of the day seemingly forgotten. It spoke of either a certain strength of character that was highly unusual for someone her age, or a lot of experience in compartmentalizing one's own emotions. Both were yet another worrying sign hinting at a troubled past.
Truly, Nearl had her work cut out for her.
With a deep sigh, she straightened in her seat and shifted mental gears to answer Missy's question. "They are two somewhat special cases, although not quite unique in Rhodes Island, strictly speaking. Myrtle is a Durin, which is the main cause of her circumstances. I assume you remember them?"
Missy narrowed her eyes in thought, trying to recall her lessons on the many different Terran races. "They're, like, the dwarf people, right? They live in caves, build stuff, and all that?"
Nearl made a so-so gesture with her hand. "Not quite. While they do live underground and possess advanced technology, not much else is known about them, as it's extremely rare for them to ever leave their homes. I've only ever personally encountered two of them in all of my years, and only because they willingly chose to come to the surface and eventually stumbled across Rhodes Island. And they're… not exactly dwarves, from how I understand this world to use the term. As far as I know, no matter their age, they all simply look… well, like children, essentially. Pointy eared children. I'm fairly certain Myrtle herself is somewhere in her twenties, yet she looks about the same age as you."
Missy just… stared at her, wide-eyed and incredulous, seemingly struggling to grasp the idea that yes, somewhere out there, there was an underground civilization entirely composed of pointy eared children. "But- That's just… Yikes. How do they like, do anything?"
"I'm sure they manage, somehow. Myrtle is an operator after all, and a surprisingly effective one at what she does, from what I've heard," Nearl said, shrugging. "Although I never got to interact much with her, she did face the exact same difficulties you're worried about. Nobody would take her seriously at first. I distinctly remember hearing her complain about how people kept patting her head and giving her candy."
"So… how did she deal with it?" Missy asked, intensely curious to know the answer.
"There was no magical solution, I'm afraid. She endured it as best as she could and merely focused on her work as an operator," Nearl explained. "After she started showing results, people stopped doubting her as much. Durin tend to be very… carefree, I suppose, so it didn't seem to bother her all that much in the first place, even if some people can't help but still view her as a child. In the end, she was accepted as another part of Rhodes Island. She's actually quite popular and has become somewhat of a mascot amongst operators, from what I hear."
Missy hummed thoughtfully with a hand on her chin. "So a point in favor of the 'results beat looks' approach. What about the other one?"
"Ah, Popukar was much the same. People initially had their concerns about her, but she was eventually accepted due to how effective she is in the field. However in her case, she is actually a child, so the concern was warranted. I believe she's a year or two older than you, at most."
Missy reeled back in surprise, eyebrows raised. "They let kids my age join Rhodes Island?"
"Not… exactly," Nearl winced in response. "She was initially there as a patient, having been rescued from her previous circumstances, which were rather… bleak, from what I gathered. She essentially views Rhodes Island as her home, and insisted quite strongly on being allowed to become an operator to join her friends and be a hero. Doctor Kal'tsit personally approved her request, for reasons the rest of us aren't authorized to know. Though she's generally meant to be kept in logistics, there wasn't much the others could do to stop her if she truly wanted to go out into the field, so in the end they had to allow her to follow along on occasion, albeit with several stipulations to ensure her safety as much as possible, and generally only for low-risk missions such as clearing out hostile slugs and the like."
Missy furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why wouldn't they be able to stop her though? Does she have some really dangerous Arts or something?"
Nearl shook her head. "No, she's… not exactly a caster, to my knowledge. Rather, her oripathy granted her super strength, and other augmentations Doctor Kal'tsit has not cleared for my records."
Missy blinked owlishly, taken aback. "...Oripathy can do that?"
Nearl closed her eyes with a sigh. "Missy, the sheer number of side effects, symptoms and conditions oripathy can cause on an individual are as vast as they are unpredictable. It can enhance or weaken your body, your mind, and even your Arts in every possible way you could imagine. In some rare cases it can actually permanently remove your Arts, mutate them, or even grant new ones entirely, and many, many more terrible things besides."
"I knew it was bad, but…" Missy trailed off.
"I know. The unpredictability of its effects is part of the reason why it's so hard to find a cure, but I feel we have gotten carried away here. I'd rather not discuss the bleak realities of oripathy over breakfast. Was there anything else you wished to discuss before we began our training?" Nearl asked as she rubbed her eyes from mental exhaustion.
"Hmm. Well, now that you mention it, there was something weird going on with my power that I wanted to look into."
If anything, that seemed to exhaust Nearl even further. "Nothing to do with the spirits of my ancestors, I hope?"
Missy was quick to shake her head in denial. "No, no! Nothing like that. I'd definitely let you know earlier if that happened again. It was mostly just… feelings that I noticed while we were meditating yesterday. I think there's things I can do with my power that I haven't tried yet."
"Is that so? Any idea what it could be?" Nearl asked with interest.
"Well, there's two sources of it that I noticed. One that's coming from you, I think, and the other one from somewhere far away. But I think I can… Hmm…"
Nearl tilted her head in curiosity as Missy trailed off, deep in thought.
"Oh, now it's close! I get it, I think I know what it is!" The girl suddenly exclaimed as she jumped in her seat, before turning her gaze towards a spot in the floor, strangely enough. "Say, did you by any chance leave the other spear in the basement?"
Nearl blinked in surprise but was quick to catch on. "I did. You're saying you're able to sense its location? That's certainly quite useful. It would also explain why it felt far away yesterday, since we left it here before leaving."
Missy nodded distractedly in agreement, an expression of intense concentration on her. "Yeah, but I feel like there's more to it. Almost as if I can just…"
Between one blink and the next, a dark swirl of liquid shadow appeared in the air between them, rapidly taking shape and solidifying into the aforementioned weapon, popping into existence above the kitchen table before subsequently dropping onto it with a loud crash that sent all of its contents flying.
Quick to react, Nearl snagged their mugs out of the air before they could spill everywhere, managing to at least salvage that, if not the rest of the food and utensils that clattered all over the floor around them, as well as one unlucky plate that shattered.
Feeling the beginnings of a headache building up, Nearl slowly turned towards Missy with a deadpan look full of parental disappointment.
"Ahahahah… Uhm, whoops?" Missy cringed in response.
"And what did we learn?" Nearl chided as she stood behind Missy with her arms crossed while the girl scrubbed the jam-stained floor with a rag.
"Not to experiment with unknown powers in unsafe or delicate environments. I knoooow," Missy dutifully replied with a drawn-out groan.
"If you knew, then you wouldn't have done what you did in the middle of the kitchen. You were very lucky that all you got for your trouble was a broken plate and some stained floors this time," Nearl shot back without mercy.
"Ugh, fine. I wasn't thinking and got carried away. I'm sorry, okay? I'll be more careful from now on," Missy admitted with a sigh.
"That's all I ask," Nearl nodded, before turning around and heading into the living room, leaving her with some parting words. "Now, if you still want to test this ability of yours, then I suggest you finish cleaning this mess quickly so we can move on to training. We don't have all morning, after all."
Jolted by the reminder, Missy began vigorously scrubbing down the floors for all their worth.
"Alright, floor's clean. Nothing I can do about the plate though, but I already swept all the shards and put 'em in the trash, so there's that," Missy said, walking into the living room a while later, dusting her hands off and stretching.
Nearl hummed approvingly without opening her eyes or turning from her spot on the mat. A small orb of golden light gently hovered above her palms as she sat in silent meditation.
"And the weapon?" She calmly asked as Missy came to sit in front of her like usual.
"Right, so…" Missy replied as she plopped down on the mat before trailing off, face scrunching up in concentration.
Once again, her copy of the Pulsar manifested in the air right in front of her, although this time Nearl reacted in time and caught it before it could fall to the ground.
"Convenient," Nearl murmured as she examined the summoned weapon with a keen eye, looking for discrepancies in its make, yet finding none. "Very convenient. Very useful, too."
"Call it again?" She asked, running a hand over the blade. Her student was quick to comply.
After a few seconds, the weapon seemingly broke apart into motes of black dust that quickly scattered to the wind like sand slipping through her fingers, prompting Nearl to frown. Then, it reappeared in front of Missy in a hazy swirl of dark liquid that rapidly took shape and became the weapon once more.
"Hmm. Breaks apart into dust, reappears as fluid when taking shape. It's not instant, but it might be quick enough to use in battle if you can disengage and get some breathing room. Doesn't feel any different from the real thing, but we might need to test its durability to see if it matches up…" Nearl rubbed her chin in thought, quickly breaking down her observations.
Missy nodded along as she held the blade in her lap and ran a hand through it with an oddly puzzled expression. "Pretty sure I've seen this before in my dreams. Black ink that shapes itself into objects. Not really sure why it looks like that of all things, but I guess all powers have weird quirks like that, right?"
"Could be, could be not. Either way, we have no way of knowing at the moment. Figured something out?" Nearl asked, noticing her student's expression.
"Yeah, it's– Hm. It… feels weird? To the touch, I mean. It's really hard to describe," Missy said with a frustrated expression.
"Try regardless?" Nearl asked with a tilt of her head.
Huffing in irritation, a frown creased Missy's brow as she racked her brain for the right words. "It's… something about the touch? Tactile sensation? – You know how you can kinda tell what things are made of just by touching them? Like you grab something and you just go 'Oh, this is made of wood. This is made of plastic. This is made of metal' and so on?"
Nearl nodded, following along so far.
"Well, this feels completely different in a really weird way. When I touch the blade, it doesn't feel physical at all. It feels like… an emotion? An idea? Holding Pulsar feels like I'm holding 'conviction' and 'valor' in my hand. It's super weird, but also oddly… reassuring? It's kinda nice, to be honest."
"Synesthesia," Nearl helpfully supplied, humming in thought.
"Synewhatnow?" Missy reeled back with a confused expression.
"The sensation you are describing. It is somewhat similar to synesthesia. It's when your senses blend together and your brain interprets them in ways you normally wouldn't be able to, usually as a result of hallucinogens. Hearing images, tasting colors, smelling sounds, or in your particular case: touching emotions, I suppose."
"Huh," Missy said, looking surprised. "Guess it wasn't as weird as I thought, then."
"On the contrary, this is about as unusual as it feels to you. I've never heard of an object that induces the effect with but a mere touch. Although, if you don't mind…" Nearl said, leaning forward to place a hand on the weapon.
After a moment, she shook her head and returned to her spot. "Nothing. Still feels normal to me. It seems the effect is something only you can perceive. Although I can't say I understand why that's the case, beyond that it is simply tied into the nature of your ability."
"Beats me. Wish the damn thing would've come with an instruction manual included," Missy grumbled sullenly, focusing on her copy of the Pulsar, trying to figure out what else it could do.
Almost as if to mock her, the weapon was quickly enveloped in a wave of black ink similar to when it was summoned. When the effect passed, she was left holding a significantly larger Pulsar, having somehow returned it to its original size and leaving it looking indistinguishable from Nearl's own version.
"Oh, come on!" Missy cried out in indignation as she held the now comically large weapon, practically dwarfing her in size twice over just in its folded form.
Nearl huffed in amusement. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about finding you a replacement once you are done growing up. Could be useful in combat as well. At this size, Pulsar is closer to a greatsword-lance for someone like you. If you're strong enough to wield it even in this manner, that'd give you some more options in a fight."
Missy raised an eyebrow. "Kinda feels more like a battering ram to me at that point, but whatever. If it doesn't work out, I guess I can just…"
With that, she took a few seconds to focus, and once again her weapon was enveloped in a wave of ink and returned to its more Missy-friendly size.
"Theeeere we go, much better. Still feel like there's more to it though. Hmm. That's odd…" Missy muttered as her face scrunched up in concentration.
Nearl shrugged in response. She didn't see much issue with it. "Minor inconveniences aside, I cannot overstate just how useful and accommodating your power seems to make the weapon for you. Why, if I could recall my own spear back to me after throwing it, I'd be a far more… dangerous… Missy?"
Halfway through, Nearl trailed off as she noticed Missy had become eerily still. Missy's gaze was cloudy and distant as she stared into the weapon resting in her lap, her mind seemingly somewhere far away. Nearl called out to her once more, receiving no response.
Concerned, Nearl reached out to tilt Missy's head upwards and stared into her clouded eyes. Snapping her fingers in front of her face and gently shaking her seemed to be of no avail. Missy was completely unresponsive, the only indication of her still being awake was the steady rise and fall of her chest and an expression of tremendous effort, teeth clenched and green eyes narrowed in complete focus of something that Nearl couldn't perceive.
Before Nearl could truly start to worry, Missy's weapon began to vibrate in place as if being shaken by an outside force. Cracks began to form and spread across its surface, streams of black mist emanating from within the cracks to waft in the air, the very metal seemingly flaking off into dust before her eyes to reveal an uncanny sight hidden beneath the surface.
Darkness. A liquid, roiling shadow made of ink in the shape of a weapon containing a jagged core of pure, radiant gold that shone from within.
With a deep gasp, Missy suddenly jolted back into awareness, breaking out of her trance.
Blinking rapidly, the girl shook her head and looked down to the otherworldly weapon in her hands. "Whoa. Trippy..."
"...Missy, what did you do?" Nearl asked, concerned.
"I'm… not sure?" Missy watched the ethereal form of the Pulsar with wonder.
Shaking herself out of her stupor, she turned to address Nearl. "I was sorta pulling it towards me in different ways earlier, but the last one felt… different. I think I was in the dream again for a moment there, which I didn't even know was a thing I could do. And I guess I kinda just… pulled it out of there and closer to here? I think? It was hard though. I'm not sure I can do that a whole lot without getting tired, but Pulsar now feels almost… raw in this state. Easier to feel, easier to hold."
Missy poked the weapon with her free hand experimentally, seemingly wondering if ink would get stuck to her finger. She almost looked disappointed when it didn't.
"I think I can do something with it when it's like this, something important. But it's not… ready? Hmm. Feels like I'm missing something here, but I don't know what that is. Looks freaking sick though. Like, how cool is that?!" Missy excitedly waved the otherworldly weapon around, watching the mesmerizing trails of fading ink it left in its wake.
Nearl was quick to grab the blade and halt it in its tracks before Missy could poke someone with it, gently guiding it back down. Oddly enough, it didn't feel any different to the touch despite the drastic change in appearance. "Yes, I must admit that it does look quite beautiful, but it's still a deadly weapon, an instrument of violence. You should treat it with the respect it deserves. Besides, special powers or no, you're still not using it until you actually learn how to wield it."
"Aww…" Missy pouted, practically deflating on the spot.
"Don't you 'aww' me, young miss," Her mentor sternly reprimanded. "You'll get to use it eventually, and regardless, we're still not done here. Earlier, you mentioned there were two sources of your 'strange feeling', so we need to check what the other one does to make sure it's safe."
"Okay, okay. But uhh… are you sure we should do that? Because I'm pretty sure the other weird feeling is coming from you, y'know? And given what it did to the weapon…" Missy trailed off with some nervousness.
"Yes, I'm aware, but we still need to test it. Better to find out now than to be caught unaware out in the field," Nearl held her ground.
"But what if I turn you all spooky and shadowy once I put my grubby lil' hands on you?" Missy exclaimed in concern as she did exaggerated grabby hand motions at Nearl's face. "Or what if I accidentally make you all small and tiny like me?! Or maybe make you reeeeally big? Well, bigger than you already are, which would definitely be impressively large for sure, because you're already huge as heck. Or what if–" the girl continued on, but found her increasingly nonsensical and incoherent ramblings cut short by Nearl gently placing a hand atop her head.
Not like a head pat though. Nearl simply placed her palm on the top half of Missy's face, blocking her sight before tilting her head upwards, unbalancing her and causing her to flail comically as she fell onto her back with a loud squawk of indignation.
"Missy, it'll be fine. You're worrying too much," Nearl said. Her tone was warm and assuring, completely at odds with the blatant bullying she had just inflicted upon her poor student.
"Gah! The heck was that for, you jerk?!" Missy glared at her as she got back up into her previous cross-legged position.
Nearl looked at her with a compassionate gaze before shaking her head. "I know you, Missy. I can tell when you're just joking and when you're genuinely worried but try to cover it up by making light of the situation. Again, it will be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen to me. I trust both you and your ability."
Missy's previous bravado immediately vanished once the words registered, causing her to slump dejectedly in place. "Ugh, that's not allowed. Pulling that move should be illegal. No one should be able to see right through me that easily."
Nearl gave her an unimpressed look in response, unmoved by her attempts to deflect the issue.
"I'm just worried, okay? What if my power does something weird to you and I can't take it back? Why do we have to test it out and risk it?! Why can't we just let things stay the way they are?!" Missy shouted, desperation entering her voice.
The two of them stared at one another in the sudden silence, one breathing heavily and the other one watching on with eyes full of pity.
"Missy…" Nearl's tone was gentle as she spoke.
"Sorry. I'm just– Sorry," Missy turned away to rub her misty eyes with her sleeve, sniffling. "This stupid day is stressing me out. I didn't mean to yell at you. You don't deserve that."
"It's alright. You don't need to apologize. I get it," Nearl reassured her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, well, I'm a mess today, so you get apologetic Missy whether you like it or not. Let's just get this dumb power thing out of the way," Missy replied with a self-deprecating snort.
Nearl stared into her eyes in contemplation, before heaving a sigh and nodding her head. "If that's what you want…"
"Yeah, yeah. It's fine, I'll get over it," Missy said, distracted. Then, she roughly took hold of the hand Nearl had placed on her shoulder, focusing intently for a few seconds.
Humming thoughtfully, she spoke. "Okay, I can definitely do something here. Not sure what, but it feels even harder than what I did with the weapon. So uhh, fair warning, I might space out again."
"Understood. I'll watch over you in the meantime, then." Nearl replied, taking a quick look at the clock behind Missy.
Missy nodded in appreciation before going back to focusing on her ability. Sure enough, her eyes quickly grew distant as she fell into a trance.
Between one moment and the next, Missy was suddenly hunched forward in exhaustion, breathing heavily as a bead of sweat trailed down her face.
Nearl looked confused for a moment. "What was that? You suddenly moved. How…"
She trailed off as she caught a glimpse at the clock above the fireplace and did a double take.
The time read nearly half an hour later than it should've.
"Did.. we just freeze?"
"I think so? I was trying to uhhh…" Missy trailed off as well once she looked at Nearl, dumbfounded.
"What? Something on my face?" Nearl asked, tilting her head in confusion, one hand reaching up to touch her face before pausing upon actually seeing it.
That… was not the same gauntlet she had just been wearing.
"Bwuh?!" Missy seemed utterly bewildered by the change.
"...Oh. This is… interesting. It's my other equipment. Quite convenient," Nearl mused to herself with a tone of mild surprise at best as she examined her new – or rather, old – armor.
Fastening straps, checking pockets and assessing the state of her changed equipment, Nearl felt the need to ask. "So, what exactly did you do? Can you explain what it felt like on your end? Because to me it seemed as if we had suddenly jumped twenty minutes ahead between one moment and the next."
She waited silently while Missy took a moment to figure out the words. "I… think I was in the dream again? Didn't even know I could do that without going to sleep, to be honest."
Nearl hummed in thought. "Some sort of waking dream, perhaps? How strange."
Missy nodded, scratching her chin. "Yeah, guess so. It was a lot more loose than usual though. I didn't see any specific memories, just flashes of a lot of different things passing by, like standing in the middle of a storm. It all felt like different aspects of you, different emotions, different ideas. I just tried grabbing the nearest bundle of them and dragged it inwards. It felt very… protective, I guess. So that's probably why it changed your whole… y'know."
Huffing in amusement as her student gestured helplessly at her changed outfit, Nearl nodded. "So certain memories in your dreams correspond to certain pieces of my equipment? Hm. If nothing else, this will be quite useful, depending on what you can bring out. We'll have to continue testing this at a later date."
Missy blinked, slightly confused by her seemingly easy acceptance. "You're just… okay with this? Just like that? I thought you'd be more, well… shocked? Upset about losing your spear?"
"Not as such, no. Besides, you shouldn't be so surprised, Missy. Your ability has been nothing but accommodating this entire time; Something like this isn't all that unexpected given what it's already shown itself capable of. After all, should it be that this body of mine is merely a construct in some fashion, then what's to say it can't be modified?" Nearl commented as she fiddled with the straps of her shield.
"But I thought–"
"That I'd change? I'm fairly certain I'm still the same. So no, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. While I'm flattered that you worry for me so much, I don't think this level of concern is warranted. I'm not made of glass, you know?" Nearl gently patted her head with her shield arm.
Missy pouted in embarrassment, yet did not move to stop her. "Okay, fine. Maybe I overreacted a little bit," she admitted with a grimace.
"Just a little," Nearl smiled in response. "Although I must reiterate, this is indeed quite useful for our purposes."
Missy huffed in annoyance, blowing her own hair out of her face with a breath before turning to eye Nearl's old armor in curiosity. "How so? I thought you stopped using that armor after the last Major?"
"Not quite, no. I simply have different specialized loadouts for different purposes. It's not exactly unheard of for operators with a wide range of talents to have them. I choose my equipment accordingly depending on the type of missions I undertake. Though I suppose I have been using my duelist loadout a lot more lately," Nearl mused to herself.
"So like, one is for defense and the other one for offense?"
"Precisely," Nearl nodded. "Not only am I able to protect both myself and those behind me much better with the kite shield and heavy armor, but the durability of my constructs and my healing Arts are further enhanced by the specialized casting unit in the mace. This loadout is actually much more fitting for deploying in an environment like this city, as it is specialized for protecting others and avoiding large-scale destruction, unlike my other loadout," she explained, showing off her strangely shaped mace and shield to her.
Missy raised an eyebrow at the weapon, all previous concerns and worries evaporating in the presence of the new cool shiny thing, like the child she was. "How does that work? Like, I knew Pulsar boosted your Arts 'cause it's also a casting tool, but I didn't realize you guys can just… make casting tools that boost specific parts of your powers. That's kinda nuts, y'know? People would probably kill for that sorta thing over here."
Nearl nodded in understanding before she took on her usual lecturing tone. "From my meager understanding, the configuration and composition of the originium circuits within a casting unit may be tuned towards enhancing the outputs of specific aspects of your Arts. A standard unit will simply grant you a general boost and allow you to cast freely, while a specialized one may be tailored to your Arts, sacrificing performance in certain aspects while boosting others even further. Furthermore, the quality and make of the unit itself will determine just how large the boost is, meaning that cheaper units will usually grant much smaller enhancements compared to ones of superb make."
"Oh, so one is specialized and the other one is general?"
Shaking her head, Nearl replied. "Both are specialized, actually. The mace boosts my constructs' durability and healing, while Pulsar improves the damage I can inflict at range. Although I must admit I'm not the most knowledgeable on the subject; beyond a basic academic understanding, I focused more on learning how to use the tools rather than how they're made. Maria would be able to give you a much better in-depth explanation than me in this case, given originium engineering is one of her passions."
Missy blinked at that, quietly soaking up the knowledge like the little sponge she was. "Huh. Guess I'll have to ask her to teach me if I ever end up meeting her."
"Oh, please don't say that. I dread to think about the sort of trouble the two of you would cause the day you inevitably meet each other. And that's without even adding aunt Zofia to the equation, who will undoubtedly make the whole thing worse," Nearl said with an exaggerated shudder.
"Pffft. They'd love me and you know it. Bet we'll be giving you gray hairs in no time," Missy shot back with a smile.
Nearl chuckled and replied in a teasing tone. "Perhaps, but you are very lucky you are stuck with me instead of aunt Zofia. She would have treated you like a plush toy instead, clinging to you all the while and refusing to ever let you go. You would've spent the rest of your days being smothered and playing dress-up doll for her."
The sheer amount of visceral disgust and contempt on Missy's face in that moment was so great that if she had soured any further, she'd have turned into a lemon tree. "Okay, yeah, nevermind then. I regret everything. If I do end up meeting them, please don't ever leave me alone with your aunt, or I'll get you, you hear me?! Now let's move on to something else please!"
"Do not fear, I shall keep you out of the evil witch's clutches, oh fair maiden. I am a knight, after all," Nearl teased once again, chuckling lightly.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Now hold still, I wanna check if there's anything else I can do here," Missy grumbled as she grabbed Nearl's hand and focused once again.
Her mentor blinked in surprise at that. "There's more?"
"I mean, probably? That's why I want to check."
"That's… hm. I don't remember necessarily having any other loadouts besides these two, so I don't know what exactly you'd be bringing out besides this, to be honest," Nearl said with some confusion.
"Well, we might as well take a… look…" Missy trailed off as she suddenly swayed in place, clutching at her own head with a pained groan.
"Stop," Nearl immediately ordered, already at her side and fussing over her. "You said this took a lot of effort? I believe we may have found your limit, then."
"But I can still– Hnng. Ow…" Missy tried to protest, before her headache suddenly spiked in intensity, cutting her off.
"Okay… nevermind, I'm pooped. I'm just gonna… lay down for a moment…" Missy wheezed as she practically face-planted on the training mat.
Nearl just sighed in exasperation. Out of all the things her student could have inherited from her, it just had to be her own bullheaded stubbornness, didn't it?
Suddenly, her grandfather's penchant for punting her into craters made a lot more sense to her, if this was what he had to deal with back then.
"Feeling better yet?" Nearl idly called out as she adjusted her tie in front of the large mirror in the foyer, having changed out of her armor in preparation for the dreaded hour.
"Mrgle…" Missy groaned miserably in response from the adjacent room, regretting her life choices as she nursed a glass of water and some aspirin and laid her head on the kitchen table.
"At least we now know where your limits lie. It's a good thing we figured them out sooner rather than later, despite the pain. A shame about missing today's training, but we can pick back up after we return, if you're feeling up for it," Nearl commented, adjusting the cuffs of her sleeves.
"This doesn't feel like a good thing…" Missy groaned as her forehead tried to become one with the table.
"Oh, it's just a little headache. I'm sure you'll be fine, eventually," Nearl waved her off as she walked into the kitchen, having finished changing.
"Just a little headache, she says. Well why don't you just…" Missy grumbled as she propped her head up with a hand to try and shoot her mentor an irritated expression, but trailed off into stunned silence at what she saw.
"Wha– Since when–?!" Missy choked on nothing but air, her hand slipping and causing her head to fall and bounce off the table.
Nearl raised a confused eyebrow at her student's shenanigans. "Something the matter?"
Missy was quick to rise, sputtering in response. "You- Wh- Yes, there is! I thought we were supposed to wear a dress! How come you get to go with a cool suit?!"
"Ah," Nearl blinked, before shrugging her shoulders in careless indifference. "I don't subscribe to the idea that women should dress a certain way."
Missy stared at her mentor in starstruck awe, realizing she still had much left to learn. "So cool…" she whispered.
"If you are feeling well enough to be impressed, then surely you are well enough to go and start getting ready, aren't you?" Nearl quipped, not missing a beat.
"Fiiiiine. I'll go put on my stupid girly dress. Wish I had a cool suit like yours though…" Missy grumbled petulantly as she stood.
"If that is what you wish, I'm sure we could get you something tailor-made for you at some point," Nearl replied, which made Missy pause in surprise, not having expected a real response, let alone for her mentor to agree so easily.
"...Thanks," she bashfully replied before heading towards her room to change, a small smile tugging at her lips, although one that wouldn't last, given the upcoming events of the day.
"Missy! Are you done yet? Mr Hawthorne called and said he's almost here!" Nearl called out to her a few minutes later.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses. I'm here already," Missy replied with a sigh, walking out of her room with an unhappy expression after having put on a dress.
It was a sleeveless black dress that reached below her knees. Practically as simple and inoffensive as a dress could be, but, well… dresses just weren't part of Missy's preferences. At all.
"Something bothering you?" Nearl asked.
"I guess so," Missy said, dejectedly.
"Is this about the dress?" Nearl narrowed her eyes at her.
"No, no. The dumb dress is fine, I guess. It's just, ah, well, what you said earlier about avoidance kinda stuck with me, and I realized that yeah, you were right. I really am dodging this as much as possible. The fact that we're about to leave only just now dawned on me and it's making me all nervous and anxious," Missy admitted, sheepishly scratching her head in embarrassment.
Really, even though she was putting on a brave front, on the inside she was a lot more scared than she appeared. She simply did not want to deal with all of this… mess.
Why did her stupid parents have to be so awful to each other? Why did they have to go and get killed in that damn crash? Why did her father have to fall into a coma? Why did a part of her seem so convinced that he would never wake up? Why did it feel like she was just in denial about him being pretty much already dead? Why did she have to be the one to deal with all of the fallout from that? Why, why, why, the familiar thought got stuck in her head and sent her mood spiraling down.
Suddenly, two strong arms wrapped around her, bringing an end to her train of thought. She looked up as a shadow enveloped her.
There was a soft look on Nearl that Missy was starting to get familiar with. It spoke of a lot of things: worry, warmth, protectiveness, and many more things that Missy couldn't hope to describe.
Nearl didn't talk as she held Missy, but she didn't need to. The close contact alone did wonders for calming her thoughts, slowing down the pit in her stomach that continued to grow as time marched on.
They stayed like that for a little bit, before Nearl decided to break the silence, speaking softly to her.
"I promise you it will be nowhere as bad as your own imagination built it up to be," Nearl comforted her.
Missy pondered the words. She trusted Nearl's advice, she really did. After all, her mentor was someone with plenty worldly wisdom to share. And yet, she couldn't dispel the creeping sense of mounting dread. The closer they drew to the funeral, the harder it became for her to distract herself from it.
What a pain it all was.
Ultimately, she knew that Nearl was right. As much as she wanted to will it all away, it wasn't like she'd suddenly not have to go to a funeral. So with that in mind, she tried to mentally prepare herself for the rest of the day.
She didn't succeed.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hawthorne eventually arrived with a car to pick the two of them up, meaning it was time to leave.
As they rode in the car, Mr. Hawthorne and Nearl talked quietly about something, but by that point Missy was too distracted to notice what their conversation was about. Hell, she could barely even notice the view outside the window. Her mind was too much of a mess to pay attention to much of anything.
She tried thinking about Nearl's words of advice over breakfast. Of how she should think about her grief and not let it become a personal taboo in her mind, and so she did. She found herself pondering the storm of emotions within her head. How was she supposed to act? How was she supposed to feel?
How did she feel?
Her feelings about her mother were still a complicated mess, even now.
Despite all this time, she found herself unable to get her emotions in order. Contempt. Anger. Sorrow. Grief. Loss. Relief. All of these blended together into one overwhelming mess that left her feeling utterly lost.
She felt a calloused hand squeeze her own, pulling her out of her thoughts. Turning, she found Nearl giving her a reassuring nod.
"Let's go," Nearl said softly, making her realize they had arrived, leaving little room for argument. After a moment of hesitation, Missy reluctantly let go of her hand and exited the car.
She remained silent as they followed Mr. Hawthorne into the church proper, only to pause for a moment.
She found herself surprised at the amount of people present. Over two dozen, and out of which she'd vaguely remembered less than a handful. Apparently her mother had more of a social life than she had been aware of.
"Is something wrong?" Mr. Hawthorne asked quietly, pulling Missy out of her musings, if only for a brief time.
She shook her head. "No. I'm just… I didn't expect this many people to show up," she admitted.
Mr. Hawthorne nodded, giving the crowd a glance. "I suppose so. I don't see anyone problematic, at least. Just make sure to not agree to anything weird if someone talks to you."
About to respond, Missy got sidetracked by a familiar voice.
"Hey there," Vicky greeted them. She was wearing a black dress as well, and it probably wasn't intentional, but the girl sounded far too cheerful to her at the moment.
Nevertheless, she nodded back. "Hi."
"How are you holding up?" Vicky asked.
Missy frowned, glancing at the floor for a moment.
How was she holding up?
"Could be a lot better," she responded half-heartedly.
Before she could react, she suddenly found herself enveloped in a hug.
"I know it's hard, but you can get through this, okay? I know you. You're a strong girl," Vicky reassured her.
For some reason, the hug just felt so… crushing, compared to Nearl's warmth. She didn't usually mind Vicky's forwardness, but today it just seemed to grate on her for some reason.
"...Okay," Missy mumbled in response.
Thankfully, rescue came from an unexpected source.
"Hey, give the girl some space," Amy demanded, having caught up to Vicky.
Looking behind the new arrival, she spotted the rest of New Wave, all of them dressed formally in dark colors. Perhaps Vicky had dashed ahead and Missy had just entirely missed it. At this point, it wouldn't really be surprising. She was really out of it.
"Alright, alright," Vicky agreed, releasing Missy from her clutches.
Amy nodded, more to herself than anyone else, extending a hand. "Sorry for your loss."
Missy quietly took the hand and nodded.
Following that exchange, Amy seemed to do her level best to disappear in the background again. It certainly felt like she was just as uncomfortable being here as Missy herself was.Though oddly enough, she seemed to be glancing at Nearl a lot. Although in her defense, pretty much everyone seemed to be stealing glances at Nearl every so often. Her mentor was very… distinctive, and her choice of formal wear certainly enhanced that.
Looking around, the first other teammate she spotted was Neil, Manpower. It made sense, given that the man towered over literally everyone else around. He seemed distracted by something. Following his gaze, she saw that said distraction turned out to be his children, whom she recognized due to Eric's distinctive blue hair.
While she couldn't hear them from here, it seemed like Crystal and Eric were quietly arguing about something.
Finally, she spotted the last member of the Pelhams, standing close to them. Sarah, whose gaze seemed to be torn between their argument and Missy. After noticing Missy's gaze, she gave her children one last look, sighed, and went over to her.
"Hello, Missy," Sarah greeted her warmly, electing to go for a simple handshake.
The woman seemed conflicted for some reason. As if she wanted to do more, but chose not to. Perhaps she could read the room and knew to hold herself back, unlike a certain someone.
Last to catch her attention were the two adult Dallons, who seemed even further behind.
Mark seemed… dejected, all but staring in Missy's vague direction with a somber look on his face. She could certainly emphasize; going to a funeral while depressed seemed like hell. Carol was hovering around him, basically just trying to goad him forward.
Once they caught up, everyone exchanged greetings and some minor smalltalk, then headed into the church as a group.
Missy sat down at the frontmost bench and waited for the visitation speech to begin. Eventually, a man walked to the front and began talking. Although she had no idea who the person giving the speech was, and she found it hard to care.
The man's words didn't help in the slightest, either. A lot of the things he said were about her mother's good deeds, the positive aspects of her, most of which… Missy honestly couldn't even remember anymore at this point. Whoever they were talking about, it certainly wasn't the mother she remembered. While she was quite aware that one shouldn't speak ill of the dead, she nevertheless found herself feeling let down as her own suffering once again went unnoticed by the world.
A one-handed hug from her side reminded her that no, someone had finally noticed, after all this time.
Missy gave Nearl a teary smile, leaning against her shoulder as the ceremony continued in a blur she could scarcely recall.
An indeterminate amount of time later, Missy found herself watching with blank eyes as her mother's coffin was lowered into its final resting place in the churchyard, leaving her feeling… nothing.
What was wrong with her?
Before she could understand what was happening, someone came up to her and tried to say something. Missy blankly looked up into the stranger's face and found that she couldn't register their words nor remember their appearance. After a while, they went away, before being replaced with a different person. Again and again. A lot of people came to say words to her, actually, but she couldn't… remember any of it. Just blurs passing by and making meaningless noises at her.
Some distant part of her reasoned that they must've been colleagues of her parents that she had never heard of, supposed friends she'd never met, but the rest of her simply couldn't muster the will to care.
She felt… weightless, like her head was full of cotton. Overwhelmed by strange sensations that had nothing to do with her power. She felt as if she was standing at the edge of a precipice and looking down, her head spinning from dizziness. Her eyes stared into nothing, her expression as empty as she currently felt.
Time lost meaning. Location became an indistinct blur to her senses. She knew things were happening, but she couldn't process them. She knew she was moving or gently being guided around by Nearl, but she couldn't do anything about it.
She tried to think of anything, and the only thing her mind could conjure were memories of her mother screaming at her father, of her throwing things, stomping around the house like a bull as she broke anything she could get her hands on, as she all but kicked her father out of the house and threatened him with never letting him see his own daughter again, and all the while never sparing a single look towards said daughter, nor a single thought for her feelings.
Then she saw the crash, the hole in the windshield, the scattered bloodstains and the broken glass. She saw her father, limply hanging upside down, brain damaged and slowly bleeding out, already dead for all intents and purposes, just seemingly in denial about it. She saw her mother's body, lying utterly still at her feet as the abandoned store filled with smoke and flames, her neck bent at an unnatural angle and most of her face simply just gone, left behind as a bloody smear across the asphalt.
Her ears were ringing, drowning out all noise. Her vision tunneled, the edges going dark as her breath caught in her throat, like smoke filling her lungs. And through it all, a single feeling remained: emptiness. A sense of loss that she couldn't understand, leaving a gaping hole in her chest.
Why couldn't she feel anything? Why, why, why?
Suddenly, a hand squeezed upon her shoulder, jolting her back into awareness. Kneeling at eye level before her stood Nearl, looking at her with a very concerned expression.
Blinking in confusion, Missy looked around them and realized the funeral was already over. The attendants were slowly streaming out of the church's cemetery, leaving only her and Nearl as the last occupants. Off in the distance, standing by the exit gate, Mr. Hawthorne and most of New Wave were talking quietly amongst themselves. But she did spot Vicky and Crystal looking at her with sad, worried expressions.
When… How…?
"I– What… happened?" Missy muttered to herself, feeling lost and disoriented.
Nearl looked at her with an expression as if someone had ripped her heart out. Without saying anything, her mentor simply drew her into a hug, whispering reassuringly as she held her gently.
The two of them stood silently before her mother's grave for some time, the distant chirping of birds and swaying of branches in the wind as the only sound on what would've normally been a nice, sunny day.
Eventually, Missy began feeling like a person once again. Slowly pulling away, she realized there were no tears in her eyes this time, just an empty, hollow feeling. Nevertheless, she felt the need to speak. "...Thanks. Let's just… get out here."
Nearl replied with a solemn nod, opting to remain silent, before standing up and taking ahold of her hand.
The two of them slowly walked to the exit gate of the cemetery by the church and met with the rest of New Wave, which went quiet once they saw her.
"How are you holding up, Missy?" Sarah asked first, causing the girl in question to turn towards her. "You've been really quiet."
Missy shook her head, unsure of how to respond. "I'm… I don't know, Ms. Pelham. I just… just… ugh."
She remained silent for a moment, during which the group waited, just for her.
"I… wish things hadn't gone this way, I guess. At least before this all happened, I had the hope that I'd somehow be able to talk some sense into my parents, but now that hope is gone. I don't know how to feel, and that makes me feel bad in its own right," she answered dejectedly.
The woman unexpectedly moved in, kneeling down and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"That's normal, Missy. Sometimes people can end up in a state of emotional shock like that. You just need time to process it," Sarah said with a warm, motherly smile. "In the meantime, we're all here for you, okay?"
Missy nodded slowly. It was probably good advice. At that moment, she thought of how people sometimes called Ms. Pelham 'Photon Mom'.
It seemed well deserved.
For a moment, Missy felt…not good, but a little better. She was still feeling lightheaded, her emotions were still a jumbled mess, and there was an emptiness within her that refused to leave. But she felt a little more at ease.
Then, all of a sudden, Sarah stiffened, which jolted Missy due to the close contact.
The heroine let go of her and quickly stood up, her eyes widening in horror. Following her gaze, Missy froze in terror as she spotted a very familiar shooting star in the sky, approaching their location.
A yawning pit opened up within her stomach as she stared at the descending figure, the remaining attendants that were still in the process of leaving now desperately running for their lives as her teammates scrambled to respond.
She felt like someone had poured ice in her veins. It was as if the ground was collapsing under her feet and leaving her nowhere to run as the weight of a cruel, uncaring world pressed down on her shoulders, all but demanding for her to fall, because she wasn't allowed to escape. Because she wasn't allowed to feel safe. Because she wasn't allowed any reprieve, any hope, any sanctuary, any shred of happiness.
Only pain.
Only smoke and ash to fill her lungs.
Her body shivered against her will, her knees trembled, her breath quickened until she was all but hyperventilating, and yet she felt as if she couldn't breathe at all. The familiar scent of acrid smoke filled her nostrils as she felt the crunched metal walls of the car closing in around her, the phantom pain of a broken foot and a split knee sealing her fate.
Only for her mentor to once again intervene, placing a hand upon her shoulder, like a beacon lighting up the dark.
"Missy, breathe. Everything's gonna be alright, but I need you to listen to me, okay? Focus. Can you summon my armor?" Despite being completely disarmed, Nearl stood in front of her without hesitation, shielding her but not turning away from the approaching threat before them. Her tone was gentle, yet filled with an urgency that Missy had rarely heard.
"I– N–no. I can't. It'll t-take too long," Missy barely managed to choke out a response.
Nearl cursed under her breath before switching tracks. "What about Pulsar? Can you recall it like you did this morning?"
Not trusting herself to speak, she screwed her eyes shut and desperately searched for that familiar sensation within her, that bundle of feelings, memories and ideas. Somehow, it came to her much easier now than it did this morning. Without hesitation, she pulled it closer to her and then outwards, into the world.
In the span of a second, a dark blur appeared in front of her before Nearl's hand quickly snatched it out of the air as it solidified into the original Pulsar. With a twirl, she extended it to its full size, making Ms. Pelham do a double take before focusing back on the enemy.
The rest of New Wave was quick to assume fighting positions around them. Well, except for Amy, who had wordlessly bolted back inside the church at… surprising speeds.
Only the fact that the woman approached slowly and didn't attack stopped the group from immediately engaging her. Slowly, she raised her hands in surrender.
"I'm not here to fight!" Purity exclaimed.
"What the hell are you here for, then?! Haven't you done enough?!" Carol demanded, furious. There was a snarl present on her face that made Missy think she was two seconds away from lunging and ripping out the woman's throat with her bare teeth.
"I… I came here to apologize," Purity said, quietly enough that Missy wasn't sure if she heard it right. "I never intended for what happened to happen. I've left the Empire, I'm a hero now."
The woman's declaration was met with deafening silence.
For a stunned moment, the world seemed to hold its breath and stand utterly still as Missy tried to process the words that had just been spoken.
…W-what? What… thefuck?
"You gotta be kidding me…" Eric muttered under his breath off to the side.
Was… Was she serious? Actually serious?
Was this supposed to be a fucking joke?
An incredulous laugh bubbled past her lips against her will.
Her? A hero?! In what world did that make any sense?! Who the hell did she think–
"According to our information in the PRT, you've primarily acted in the docks area, picking fights with the ABB. You've also not stayed to give a single statement to the police, even when requested," Mr. Hawthorne spoke up, surprising everyone.
Missy blinked, her anger momentarily forgotten. He was still here? She turned to face the man. He was standing behind Eric, but still…
"Additionally, we have photographic evidence of you talking to Rune as recently as last week. Therefore, your claim is somewhat hard to believe, given that your actions barely differ from the norm," he continued, pushing his glasses up with a frown, staring unflinchingly at the human flying artillery that could level entire city blocks.
A tense silence followed the man's words. It was impossible to be sure due to the brightness, but Purity's pose implied that she was staring at the lawyer, incredulous. Seems that she didn't appreciate being called out like that.
Nearl was the one to break the silence.
"If you truly wish to make amends for your actions, then you should turn yourself in," she stated, fury barely concealed behind her stormy expression, spear shining brightly in a white-knuckled grip. "If what Mr. Hawthorne said is true, then you have barely changed your behavior from when you were associated with known murderers. In fact, only targeting the ABB does nothing but help the people you supposedly left. Of course nobody is going to believe you."
Missy found herself surprised when the woman flinched as if struck. Her mentor's way with words shone through once again, it seemed.
Fidgeting in place, Purity responded. "I– I'm sorry, I can't turn myself in. I have… circumstances that are preventing me from doing that."
For Missy, it felt as if time had simply stopped, leaving the woman's words echoing in her mind, over and over.
She… She couldn't believe it. The woman in front of her, who had killed, maimed, and made so many others suffer in the same way Missy had suffered, who had apparently come all the way here to apologize and claimed to regret her actions…
…Couldn't even muster the basic courtesy of turning herself in.
For a moment, she felt almost dizzy, her mind overwhelmed by sheer anger in a way she had never experienced before. But then, the fury that was quickly consuming her mind gave way to something colder, something worse, like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her. It was dreadfully unfamiliar to her, the way it coursed through her entire body and made her hairs stand on end, the way it made her pounding headache even worse, and the way it threatened to linger, should it not be quelled.
Instinctively, she stumbled forward, almost drunkenly, only one single goal in her mind.
"W–What did you just say?" Her voice came out faint and disbelieving.
Nearl was in front of her in an instant, pushing her back. "Missy, stay back!"
But the girl just wasn't having it.
She struggled against Nearl, intent on approaching the fucking nazi and wringing her goddamn neck with her bare hands.
When escape proved futile due to Nearl's efforts, she spoke again. "...So that's it? THAT'S IT?!" Her voice escalated from a whisper to an enraged scream.
Breathing heavily, her heart hammered madly within her chest. With a snarl, she glared hatefully into Purity's eyes. "You… You think saying sorry and then just walking away without doing anything is enough?! You expect an empty apology to fix anything?! You think feeling bad about what you've done is going to bring my parents back?!"
She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. But most of all, she wanted to just hurtthis fucking bitch.
And when her attempts at violence didn't work? Just like Nearl had taught her, when one approach didn't work, she simply resorted to a different tactic, a different tool in her arsenal.
Enraged and maddened beyond belief, the words came to her almost unbidden, spilling from her lips in a caustic, hateful torrent that no normal girl her age could ever hope to match. In that moment, she twisted years of inherited memories and experience in understanding and communicating with others into something Nearl had never used it for. Something ugly.
"And you claim to be a hero now, too! Do you even know what that word means, you self-absorbed imbecile?! Tell me, what kind of goddamn hero blows up the road on a busy street and runs away?! What kind of hero is friends with racist murderers?! You dare call yourself a hero when you cause the death of innocent people and refuse to accept any consequence, and then have the fucking gall to act sorry in front of the victims whose lives you've ruined?! You killed my parents, you fucking bitch! I'll never get to talk to them again because of you!" Missy screamed, kicking and punching and scratching even as she yelled, doing anything to break out of Nearl's hold just so she could rush the goddamn nazi and hit her. Stab her. Burn her. Anything.
"Missy! Missy, calm down!" Nearl harshly whispered, struggling to hold her in place even as the rest of New Wave looked at her with stunned expressions, not expecting such words coming from her.
Purity flinched, her body language displaying clear shame and uncertainty, which only served to make Missy all the more livid.
"I– I don't–" Purity tried to say.
But Missy didn't care.
She didn't want to hear another word coming from this goddamn coward. Ever.
So she screamed right over the woman, cutting her off. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'll tell you what you are! A deluded murderer living in denial! A half-assed piece of shit without the balls to face the consequences of her own actions! You just give excuses and run away the moment anyone actually asks you to be accountable, like the pathetic coward that you are! I bet you don't even want to actually make amends! You're just here because you want to feel better about yourself, you sanctimonious bitch! Why don't you just do the whole world a big favor and fucking DIE!"
Before anyone could react, she managed to finally slip one arm free from Nearl's grip, and then all bets were off.
Channeling pure, undiluted power through her thundering heart, a radiant sun manifested within her palm, far more powerful and unstable than any normal construct she had ever made. Her own hand burned in the process, flesh hissing and popping as her skin blackened and peeled away, but she didn't care. All she cared about was Purity. She reared back and threw the attack so damn hard that she felt something inside her arm crack.
In an instant, the projectile exploded right in the woman's face, blowing her away a dozen feet. However, she stabilized herself mid-air, looking shell-shocked and disoriented. Unfortunately mostly unharmed as her own light absorbed part of the attack, flaring up in response.
Not one to waste a chance, Victoria shot forth from their side like a missile, aiming straight towards the Empire cape with a roar, the stone path beneath her feet cracking from the sheer strength of her launch.
In a panic, Purity fired a single blinding beam of light to push her off, before taking off into the sky and fleeing as fast as she could, prompting the rest of New Wave's fliers to give chase.
As soon as the woman was out of sight, Nearl rounded on her, panic clear in her eyes. "Missy! You're severely injured, hold still!"
But she couldn't hear her, she couldn't hear anything, but the roaring flames of the car closing in on her. Trapped, alone and condemned, her fight or flight instincts kicked into overdrive as she continued to thrash and flail erratically, screaming incoherently as she burned and punched and kicked at the broken car seat trapping her leg, her Arts going out of control along with her and turning a panic attack into something far more dangerous.
Neil, who had stayed behind, looked alarmed as he quickly tried to approach Missy and intervene, only to back off with yell as golden flames flared up around the girl and threatened to burn them all. Nearl had no choice but to let go and quickly jump back as well.
"Missy! Listen to me! You need to calm down! You're going to hurt yourself!" Nearl tried yelling over her screams, but to no avail. The girl was having a full-blown panic attack, and no amount of words would snap her out of it.
"Oh, to hell with it," Nearl muttered, knowing full well that Shining would yell at her for this. She dived into the golden flames, tackling her student out of the ring of fire she had created, rolling and landing on her back as she held Missy tightly to her chest. Uncaring of the searing burns her own family's Arts inflicted against her, Nearl held onto Missy even as the girl's Arts continued to rage all around them.
"Shhhh… It's okay, little knight. It's okay now, she's gone. I'm here with you. You're safe. Please, please calm down," Nearl pleaded and gently spoke to her even as she struggled in her arms and continued to burn her. Through it all, her mentor held onto her and refused to let go despite the pain, whispering reassuring words in her ear and doing everything she could to make her relax, all to stop her student from harming herself.
At some point, Missy's screams turned into broken wails as the golden flames died down. Sobbing uncontrollably, her tears ran freely as she held onto Nearl for dear life. Brokenly calling out to her parents, her pained voice repeated the same question, over and over.
Also, since no one has done it yet, I have decided to create a TV Tropes page for this story. Feel free to edit it with your heart's content. I'm going to post it here since I want to avoid the SB mods' wrath.
Also, since no one has done it yet, I have decided to create a TV Tropes page for this story. Feel free to edit it with your heart's content. I'm going to post it here since I want to avoid the BB mods' wrath.
Bro, I just started reading and I can't believe that was the chapter I had the bad luck to finish on. Thanks for the story, I guess. Now I'm depressed.
It isn't dead, but it is on hiatus currently, as my co-writer has gotten really busy IRL.
I did start another Quest on SB to pass the time between chapters for this story (Dream Companion Quest is based on a quest there as well). You can find the currently active quest here.
It isn't dead, but it is on hiatus currently, as my co-writer has gotten really busy IRL.
I did start another Quest on SB to pass the time between chapters for this story (Dream Companion Quest is based on a quest there as well). You can find the currently active quest here.
