January 6th, 2011
The sun had begun to dip below the horizon by the time I'd finally fallen silent. Being able to recount the day's events with Mom always seemed to help. Even though I knew she couldn't hear me, at least I knew she was out there, somewhere. That small bit of knowledge was an enormous comfort. There was an afterlife, there was more to our wretched existences than the suffering that is life on Earth Bet. I smiled as I had people in my life again. Ones that actually gave a shit about me, that stood up for and respected me. For the first time in years I felt something that resembled hope.
Hope.
It was such a loaded word. It could mean so much to so many, or be a mockery to people who had long since lost it, people like me. How long had it truly been since I felt hopeful for the future? Was it since Emma's betrayal, or since Mom's death? I couldn't even remember when hope had been an option. For so long my life has been about keeping my head down and trying to be as small as possible. Every part of me that had been beaten down by the trio screamed at me that the Dallon's would just betray me too. Logically, I knew that this feeling was wrong and perverse but it just kept sneaking into the back of my mind.
I'd most definitely overreacted to Koenma's little 'you're our only hope' speech, but seriously, who the hell drops that kinda shit on a teen girl who had just been
literally bullied to death? I wasn't a fighter and yet he expected me to become one just like that!
Running off however had been truly idiotic. . I felt horrible that I just up and left dad and the Dallons to wonder where I went. I didn't think about how it'd look and now I couldn't even contact them as the phone I was given has no contacts in it. I didn't even know how to get back to the house and I doubted mine would be safe. They were probably worried sick but I really didn't feel like talking to Genkai to ask for help just yet.
The crunch of boots on snow snapped me out of my musings. I looked up to see a girl approaching me and felt my blood run cold. I could see blonde hair spilling out from under her red and black hoodie. She wore reflective sunglasses as well as a scarf to cover her face. In a tastelessly brazen move, the scarf had a stylized eighty eight stitched into the fabric.
I drew on my Spirit Energy and I cursed at my own stupidity for coming alone. I stood to greet the girl but she instead simply walked slowly past me. She ran her hand along the surface of graves in the isle and it took everything I had to not turn her face into a ruin with my Spirit Gun. I only had one shot and I couldn't afford to waste it just yet. These Empire types always had backup. Finally she came to a stop, leaning against a nearby headstone, and crossed her arms.
"Rough day?" She asked casually.
I considered her confidence and relaxed posture before replying. She was definitely a cape, no question. That level of calm came from experience and she wouldn't be here if she didn't know exactly who I was. You would think that having an entire gang looking for me would have been enough motivation to familiarise myself with the Empire's capes. That would at least have let me know who I was dealing with, but no, I had to hand myself over on a silver platter. Good job Taylor, you've just make the Nazi's job easier!
"I imagine you would be intimately familiar with how my day has been." I answered while trying to keep an eye on my surroundings, but all I could see was white snow and the same parked cars that had been there since I arrived. I locked eyes with Genkai who was hovering in the distance with concern in her eyes and she didn't need to wait for confirmation after seeing the panic in my own. I suppressed the urge to show relief as she flew off and continued. "This explains how the Empire maintains such an impressive Cape roster, if your recruitment efforts are always this proactive."
The girl laughed. "I'm a bit higher up than a recruiter, but I see your point. I'll be blunt, I was chosen to approach you since I'm close to your age and you would be more likely to relate to me."
I did my best to stifle a snort, but only mostly succeeded. "So, you're meant to represent the Empire's idea of a soft sell?"
"Something like that." The girl said with a shrug. "I could spin you tales about the power and authority that being a Cape in the Empire brings with it. Kaiser pays me an absurd amount of money, and I don't have to take shit from anyone. I could go on for hours about the benefits, but I have a feeling that won't be enough to sway you on it's own. Instead, I came bearing an offer from Kaiser himself."
"Well, let's hear it, mystery girl."
"Call me Rune." She said, I cursed at myself for having no clue who she was. Knowing what she could do would be helpful right now. "Kaiser's offer is simple. Join us and the full might of the Empire will be brought to bear against the Shadow that loomed over your life these past two years."
I couldn't help but stiffen. Shit, they were offering me Sophia
fucking Hess, and they were even making it no secret they knew she was a Cape.
"In addition, when we capture the bitch and after we've made an example of why vermin like her should know their place, you'll be given the honors of ending her sad life."
I couldn't help the laugh that escaped. This was well beyond brazen. "That's a damn good offer. Far better than what the PRT managed, I'll give you that."
She inclined her head with a small smile. "We do try unlike some groups in this city."
"There's just one problem." I said, letting all my emotion bleed away from my face.
Rune straightened, her hand falling to rest upon the headstone beneath her. "What would that be?"
"Your information gathering was good, but it seems you missed something important." I said, shaking my head. "Did you think to ask why a black girl was allowed to bully me at Winslow of all places? Your Empire controls half the school, yet did nothing."
"We know she played muscle for a white girl. Most assumed she knew her place in the social order." Rune said. "Our recruiters at the school reported they were targeting a dyke so they were told to not get involved."
Fuck, of course she knew about that, but why hadn't she just attacked me outright? "Hess outed me to the whole school at the first sign of your Empire getting curious. Nobody even questioned if it was true, they just shrugged and continued to ignore the problem, just like the rest of the fucking school."
"Was it true?" Rune asked.
I sighed. "That's really none of your business."
"The Empire has access to resources that could help you overcome that lifestyle." Rune said with a disturbingly empathetic look in her eyes. "Tempting as it can be, nothing good comes from that type of perversion, you can trust me on that."
Did she seriously just offer me conversion therapy? "Winslow tried to beat it out of me, yet here I am."
Rune sat upon the headstone in silence for several moments, her finger tracing gentle circles upon the surface as she considered my response. Finally, she hopped to her feet and dusted the snow from her pants. "Well, shit. I'm sorry for wasting both of our time with all of this. I should have just opened with Plan B."
Even knowing it was bait, I couldn't help myself. "Plan B?"
She didn't answer with words, instead she gestured and a sudden, nauseating impact sent me hurtling through the air. My world spun as I tumbled through the freshly fallen snow and crashed into a small mausoleum. I attempted to force myself upright but another object struck my shoulder from the side with a sharp crack of pain spinning me onto my back. I lay there groaning in pain.
A pair of arms paid no heed to my injuries and firmly held me upright against the mausoleum. I tried to force my eyes open but the world was still spinning around me. I managed to catch a glimpse and recognized the Cape in front of me. His black breastplate over a blood red shirt and black pants was well known to residents of the bay. Victor.
He reached out and gripped me by the chin, inspecting my face from side to side with sharp motions. I couldn't help the creeping sensation that ran through me from being examined like that.
"Restrain the dyke and load her into the van." He ordered some grunts. Even as they began to pull me away and twist my arms behind me, he continued his instructions. "Rune, go pickup Othala so we can bring the girl to Kaiser. He should be pleased that we come bearing a gift for the Gesellschaft, if nothing else."
My entire body locked up in panic. There were plenty of rumors about the overseas branch of Neo Nazis and Kaiser made no secret he was allied with them. The worst of the rumors was that they took kidnapped capes and bred them so they could produce second generation capes that were indoctrinated from birth. I was beginning to believe those weren't simply rumors as I was dragged towards the van. My breathing had turned ragged and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. I knew without any doubt they fully intended that fate for me. Here I was, the victim again as if nothing had changed. The only difference was that I'd upgraded from the Trio to literal Nazis. Lucky me.
My ears were buzzing and I knew there were tears on my face but all I could think of was how I was going to be shoved back into another pit. I couldn't go back to another horrific dark hole to be forgotten.
Rune and Victor were shouting something but it was just background noise to me. My fear mixed with my anger at the sheer audacity of these nazi bastards. I knew, at that moment, I wasn't going to just roll over for these assholes. I had power and it was about time I used it. My Spirit Energy boiled over and I took no effort to restrain it as it burst forth, flinging the grunts away from me.
I stumbled but caught myself. I planted my feet as my Spirit Energy roiled in anticipation of the fight to come. I turned, prepared to face down the veteran Cape, and took a right hook to my jaw. I didn't even have time to fully register that as another punch landed in my exposed stomach.
Fuck.
I tried to bring my hands up but Victor easily swatted them aside. He landed a kick that took me to the ground and he wasted no time pinning me, twisting my left arm behind me. I heard the bones snap as I cried out in scarlet agony. He shifted around to pin my leg into a joint lock and with a sharp motion he snapped my knee as well. My vision turned red and unfocused as I continued to scream only for him to stuff a balled up cloth into my mouth, muffling me. Then he stuck something to my neck and I felt a sudden pressure. The effects hit me almost instantly, my pain began to dull, but my thoughts were growing jumbled, my eyes heavy.
As my mind quickly clouded, I struggled to think of anything but my growing panic. They were going to kidnap me, sell me as breeding stock and I couldn't do anything to stop them. My limbs were growing heavy, even breathing was proving to be a challenge. Even with my powers I hadn't even been able to touch an actual Cape.
I was fading and knew that soon I wouldn't be able to do anything, I was down to my last option. As Victor stood up and started to walk back towards Rune, I gathered the last of my strength to raise my good arm and pointed at his center of mass. He stopped as I willed my Spirit Energy along my trembling arm and into my fingertip. My focus was fading and I could tell my Spirit Energy wasn't as dense as it should have been but I didn't have a choice. Victor began to turn back towards me as I squeezed the mental trigger. My arm recoiled from the shot and my energy sped off like a bullet.
Victor's eyes widened but the bastard managed to twist around the shot with a move that was ripped straight from an Aleph movie. My Spirit Gun barely grazed his armor as it soared past him. Rune, however, didn't even see it coming. The headstone she had selected for her platform exploded into dust and she was sent tumbling through the snow with a string of curses. Oh well, at least I got one good hit in.
"Well I'll be damned, that wasn't a power.
That was a skill." Victor said with a vicious grin. "I think I'll take that as my own."
Oh fucking hell, he was the skill vampire. He was going to take what little I knew of using my Spirit Energy. I was going to be powerless, again. Not that the power I did possess had done any good. Goddamn, I couldn't help but keep fucking up. He was going to know how to use Spirit Energy on top of selling me off like livestock.
I felt his power creep into my mind, filtering through my memories. The sensation was almost slimy. As though dozens of tendrils were worming their way into my head. Then they found what they were looking for and wrapped around it. I could feel the memories in perfect clarity as his power examined them, then felt them slipping away…
<NO>
The impression of a thought reverberated through my mind like a gong. It hadn't been a spoken word but a pure idea. The flat rejection of the very notion of someone taking something that belonged to them with all the implicit finality of a slammed door.
I was vaguely aware of Victor gripping his head and falling to the ground screaming, but it was another cry that drew my full attention. I looked up into the sky and saw Victoria rocketing towards us with Amy in her arms, Genkai on her oar following closely behind. Relief flushed through me.
I noticed Rune had loaded Victor onto a fresh headstone and was moving away. She fired off her remaining headstones at the approaching Dallons to cover their retreat. Vicky easily dodged each shot but had to take care to keep Amy from being struck.
As Rune cleared the graveyard the girls set their feet on the snowy ground. Amy immediately crouched down next to me, pulling the rag from my mouth and laying a hand on my cheek.
"Fuck, they've drugged her. I need a minute to flush her system before I can heal her other injuries."
"Got it. I'll mop up the normals still conscious and secure the scene." Vicky said and took off.
"You with me Taylor?" Amy asked as I felt the fog begin to lift.
"Pretty lady." I muttered.
Amy chuckled under her breath, she sounded like an angel. "Wow, they got you good. Taylor, you were dosed with an opioid. I'll have it purged in a minute so try to avoid saying anything too embarrassing."
"I could kiss you to prove it."
"Yeah, I'm not dealing with this after the day I've just had. Goodnight Taylor." Amy muttered.
"G'night." I said as darkness took me.
~~~
Consciousness crept back to me with a gentle touch and the wail of sirens. With a groan I attempted to sit up only to be pushed back down.
"No you don't." Amy's voice said as my eyes struggled to focus. "You were drugged and nearly OD'd. I cleaned up your system but your brain chemistry is still off. Expect some lingering effects until everything settles down."
"The last thing I remember was blowing up Rune and Victor clutching his head." I pinched my nose as a lingering dull ache pulsed through my own head when I tired to recall the details. "Vicky yelled something but I don't remember anything else."
"Good." She muttered, so quietly I almost missed it. "You may have memory issues from the drugs. I can't help with that but otherwise you're back to perfect health. Unfortunately, the PRT wants me to check on those thugs you blasted, you really did a number on them."
"I'm not apologizing. They were going to sell me to the Gesellschaft." I said with renewed anger.
"You don't have to apologize for defending yourself. I won't be healing them unless they have mortal injuries." Amy said as she stood and dusted her jeans off. She departed without further words and I couldn't help but think I'd forgotten something important. What the hell had happened to Victor. Even trying to focus on the gaps in my memory gave me the beginnings of a headache.
In the distance I could see Police and PRT vehicles creating a perimeter around the cemetery. As Amy walked off I felt something shift behind me and I spun, my finger coming up on instinct with a faint glow. Gallant stood there, his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Easy Taylor, I'm just here to apologize." He said carefully. I didn't lower my finger.
I was about to give him a piece of my mind for sneaking up on me when Vicky came to a dead stop between us, the snow kicking up in a storm of powder at her arrival. Something that wasn't Spirit Energy radiated off of Vicky in a torrent of emotion, it was the same feeling I'd experienced the first time we met.
"I
just finished telling you to give her space and what do you do? You rope Vista into helping you with your bullshit." Vicky said with a forced calm. "Why do you insist on living up to your Cape name when nobody asks for your help, but just stand aside when someone could actually use it?"
"What are you talking about? I'm just trying to-" Gallant said before he was cut off.
"Amy." Vicky growled, the aura growing thicker in the air. "How the fuck could you have not noticed my sister was on the verge of suicide, for
years? It should have been obvious to you, yet you said nothing even when we-" Vicky stopped and took a very deliberate breath. When she spoke again it was barely a whisper. "We're done, Dean. If I have to keep looking at you right now I'll do something I regret. Just leave."
"Vicky please." Gallant said. "I didn't want to spill her secrets. Let's take a step back so we don't announce everything to the world."
Vicky let out a very loud snort. "What, afraid of being outed like you outed Taylor?"
"We didn't-" He was cut off as space twisted, just in time for Vicky's fist to pass through air rather than his helmet. Gallant was suddenly a football field away.
"Holy shit, Vicky." I muttered.
"He's an ass." She said as she shook her fist loose. "If he tries anything else, feel free to blast him." Vicky sat down beside me with a loud huff and I watched the tension bleed from her. "How do you feel Tay?"
"Like shit." I said honestly. "Still better than the alternative though."
Vicky winced. "Yeah, Rune and Victor just moved up on my 'hold nothing back' list."
After a moment of silence I had to ask. "How did you even know to come?"
"Amy." She said with a sigh. "She insisted that some ghost was telling her you were in danger. I almost didn't listen to her, but she had this look in her eyes that I just couldn't ignore."
I eyed the pink haired woman floating off to the side. "Thank you for trusting her."
"They're real, aren't they?" Vicky asked.
All I could muster was a nod.
Vicky glanced around, her eyes moving about. "How many are around us right now? This is a cemetery after all."
"Just Genkai." I said while gesturing at the nearby Reaper. "Most ghosts don't linger from what she told me."
"Oh. God, I've been such a shitty sister."
"You had no way to know she was telling the truth and she had no way to prove it." I said, trying to console the distraught girl.
"Still doesn't change the past." Vicky muttered.
"No, but it does mean you can move forward." I said.
"I suppose." She grumbled.
Glancing around I saw a bit of a familiar epitaph carved into broken stone and grimaced. I stood up and grabbed the first chunk of stone with a grunt. Vicky was back in the air without properly sitting up.
"Geeze Tay, you have a Brute right here, let me help."
I shook my head. "Thanks for the offer, but I need to do this by myself."
She could see what I was holding and nodded in understanding. "Sure thing, Tay." she said, patting my shoulder as she stood to leave me. "Mom's keeping Miss Militia busy, I'll go check on Ames."
I looked back towards the flashing lights and spotted the capes in question. "Is Dad safe? I wouldn't put it past those Nazi fucks to try something with him to get at me."
"Danny's in the van with my Dad." She said while pointing towards the car park. "They went to your place to pick up some clothes and see if they could find your journals."
I slumped a bit in relief. "Thanks Vic, I mean it. Thank you for coming for me, for trusting Amy, for…" Tears started to flow and I broke down into quiet sobs. I found myself wrapped in familiar strong arms once again.
"It's okay, Tay. This is what friends do for each other." Vicky said, her hand patting my back. "You do what you need to, I'll stay within earshot, so yell if someone tries anything."
I gave a nod as I choked back another sob. Vicky released me from the hug with a smile. I watched her fly off towards the flashing lights and I turned back to focus on the task at hand. I placed the first piece before me and with a cursory glance around I spotted another. The stones were heavy and they weren't going to stand upright, but I managed to haul them back to their original resting place all the same. I searched for the remaining pieces of shattered headstone while I once again replayed everything that had happened through my mind.
It had been stupid of me to just run off alone like that. I knew the Empire was looking for me and I ran to one of the first places they would look. Worse, I'd chosen to antagonize them rather than play along and look for an opportunity to get away. I could have played it up, asked for a bit of time to think it over, but no. I had to open my damn mouth and start talking shit.
I found another cracked piece of the stone and carried it over to where I'd gathered the rest. Genkai was staying close, but hadn't said a word to me since I started working. I fit what was thankfully the final piece back into place and flopped to the ground, resting my chin on my knees which promptly grew damp from my still streaming tears. The engraving was cracked in three places but the words were legible.
Annette Rose Hebert
1969-2008
She taught something precious to each of us.
The bitch had chosen Mom's headstone for her opening salvo, broken it just as she intended to break me. She'd failed. Victor had tried to rob me of what little I had left, he too had failed, though I couldn't quite remember how that had happened. Amy did say that I should expect memory issues considering I was close to overdosing when she'd gotten to me.
This was all because I'd been a dimwitted moron. I'd almost thrown away everything the Dallon's had done for me over the past day. I'd not only risked myself, I'd risked others. Vicky and Amy had to come and save me because I'd been too weak to stand on my own.
No. More.
I could feel my Spirit Energy responding to the rage I was turning upon my own weakness. My aura sprung to life around me. This Spirit World wanted me to become some sort of bad ass savior? Fine, I'd take all the help they'd give me. Would I ever be as strong as this Yusuke person they kept talking about? Probably not, but I would fucking try. I never wanted to feel powerless again, I'd had enough of that!
My Spirit Energy answered me as I stood and screamed at the world itself. A plume of energy and snow around me kicked up dozens of feet into the air. The spiralling uproar blasted up into the sky yet left Mom's fragile grave untouched.
As my scream faded I found myself gasping for breath. I wasn't alone anymore, though we had known each other for less than a day I had friends again. Vicky was definitely a friend, even Amy was a friend too dammit! I was done being the Taylor that had faded into the background just trying to get by. I wouldn't let my past shackle me any more.
"Once upon a time I'd had a friend, she had been like a sister to me" I said to Genkai who was still hovering nearby, untouched by the energy flowing around me. "One day she'd turned against me for reasons she never explained. I've let that betrayal keep me isolated for so long that I never noticed how profoundly alone I'd let myself become." Genkai listened but kept silent. She hadn't said anything since my outburst with Koenma and for that I was grateful. I think she knew I needed to work things through on my own.
This could be, no, this
would be a new start for me. I wasn't going to let myself get beat down again. I had people that I wanted to protect, that had protected me, and I had no intention of letting them down again. I might never be someone who could save the multiverse, but dammit if I couldn't become someone who could at the very least save my friends if it came down to it.
"Genkai." I said, meeting her eyes. "Teach me everything you know." The Grim Reaper gave me a kind smile in return, but I couldn't help the chill that ran down my spine.
