Delsin didn't like bars. At all. He sighed. He could smell the alcohol and stupidity already. He gathered his wits and walked into the bar. And almost left again. A wave of fouls air washed over him, almost making him faint.
"Ugh." I'll just get in and get out. This stench alone could knock me unconscious.
He walked towards the back of the bar, gagging all the while. Finally, he saw who he was looking for.
"Reg, let's get out of here, man. This stench is killing me."
"Jus' un' mo' dwink, 'ay?"
"Ugh, you're already plastered. Come on. Let's go. You know I hate these places."
"Yeah, man. Jus' un' mo'."
Delsin pushed his brother sideways, who toppled over.
"Ay!"
"Let's go home. Please."
"Kay, sure," Reggie grumbled.
Reggie then tried to stand up. He only managed to flail around on the floor. Delsin sighed and bent down and picked his brother up.
They walked outside after giving the bartend a large tip and was promptly stopped by the police. Delsin sighed again.
"Put your hands up!"
"Oh come on, I can't! I'm holding my brother upright."
"Then let him stand up on his own."
"He can't; he's drunk. That's why we just came out of a bar. And before you ask, no, I'm not drunk."
"Very well. Put your brother down and put your hands up."
Delsin did put his brother down, but he didn't put his hands up. Instead, he sent out a pulse of orange energy that he made sure didn't touch anyone. The pulse did what it was supposed to and startled everyone, creating a chance for Delsin to pick his brother back up and run away, leaving a trail of black smoke in his wake.
Delsin didn't like to use his power to hurt people. It felt…wrong, somehow. He couldn't explain it. Even when he was angry, he couldn't bring himself to kill someone. Delsin snorted as he thought; I wouldn't even kill Augustine if I got the chance. Probably.
This thought reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing. He wasn't meant to be running around picking up his brother's sorry, drunk ass. He was meant to be getting the powers to heal his friends and family. He was trying to be the hero, but his brother was stealing the spotlight, just like he always used to when they were kids. Delsin became suddenly very angry and looked around for some way to vent his anger. There was nothing.
Delsin sighed yet again. I'll have to lock him up at this rate. And to think that he's the police officer!
'Home' loomed in the distance. The place the brothers currently called 'Home' was a burnt-out office block about fifty metres from the pub, just like every other 'Home' prior. Delsin groaned at the thought of him having to do this again. They were meant to be lying low, for God's sake!
Can my own brother not even take his own advice?
Since going on their little adventure, Reggie had been in six bar fights, had passed out drunk twelve times and had been almost robbed seventeen times. Delsin was afraid that there would be several more occasions that would resemble those in the past, with his brother at the centre.
Just then, the brothers passed by a couple kissing. Delsin hated it when people publicly showcased their togetherness. It made him sick to his stomach and so, Delsin, still bristling, yelled at them. "Get a room!" The pair paid him no mind, but almost instantly, Desin regretted his decision and felt ashamed at his anger. He also felt very stupid. His behaviour could have drawn attention to himself. He looked around him cautiously; just to make sure no one was following them and to see if he really had drawn attention to himself.
Seeing that the way was clear, he opened the door to 'Home' and flopped his brother down onto the floor.
"God, man; you're heavy."
A snore was his only response. Delsin slid to the floor and fell into a troubled sleep.
In Delsin's dreams, he was watching his friends and family die. They then turned into concrete-ridden zombies and moaned out phrases such as 'save us' and 'why did you abandon us, Delsin?'
The moans were far too much for him and so he woke up, sweating. He hated that dream. He'd had it every night since they'd gone away. He had to find a cure for this, and fast.
Delsin barely registered that his brother was with him until he moaned something unintelligible.
"Morning, Reg. You feeling alright?"
"Can you not yell? It's too early for that."
"I'm not yelling, Reg; you're hung over. You should get help for your drinking problem. I think a pair of handcuffs would suffice."
"I met a pretty girl last night, Del."
"Congratulations. Did she flirt with you before or after you were unconscious?"
"Before, obviously. I mean, who could resist me? By the way, could you get me a glass of water?"
"I'm just teasing. Sure." There was a pause in the conversation while Delsin rummaged around in his bag for a drink bottle. "Here you go. But seriously, what were you thinking, Reg? Do you not care about Betty?"
"Of course I do. I'm just overwhelmed by your whole 'superpower' thing. It's a bit freaky, man."
"Then let me find Augustine and the other conduits and get their powers. Then, I promise I'll never use these 'superpowers' again, okay?"
"Yeah, sure, I'm on it. It's just… maybe you're not ready."
"Not ready? Reg, I've been ready for this for a long time. It's you who isn't ready. You can't bear the thought of me growing up. But you can't expect me to stay inside forever, Reg. I'm a living human being and I need to… I don't know… live! You spoke to a pretty girl last night? Well, so did I. Yeah, and then you happened. You drunk called me and said 'Hey Del, I'm drunk.". And so I had to ditch her. To go and help you, Reg. Stop drinking or I'll chain you to a chair."
"What was her name?"
"What?"
"The girl?"
"Why does that even matter, Reg? Just tell me you'll stop drinking! Please! So that I don't ever have to drag you out of one again. Tell me that you'll stop drinking so that I don't ever have to listen to you complaining in the morning about your newly acquired hangover. Tell me that you'll stop drinking so that I don't ever have to enter one of those awful places ever again."
"Okay, I'll stop drinking. Just calm down, Del."
The make shift monitor started to beep, startling both boys.
"I'll get it, Del. Hey, it might even be Augustine."
Delsin sighed. Reggie got up and looked at the screen.
"Hey, Del! You might wanna see this."
Delsin walked over and saw a map of the city with flashing red dots everywhere. Reggie pointed to one.
"This isn't very far from here. Guess who it is."
"Fetch. I'm going."
"And I'm not going to stop you. You're right. About everything. I am turning into a hopeless drunk."
Delsin hugged his brother tight.
"Well, wish me luck."
"Good luck, Del."
"You too. I'll be back."
"I know."
Delsin left, and then Reggie whispered into the empty space. "I love you, Del. Please don't die in there." A single tear rolled down his cheek. This is what he was afraid of.
Standing out the front of the building was giving Delsin a rush of emotions. Both relief and dread filled his heart simultaneously.
Taking a deep breath, Delsin whisked through the wall of the building. He instantly stopped after that.
The interior of the building was impressive. There were high-tech cameras and monitors everywhere. It looked as though all of the workers in the office had exited the building without packing anything away. The intercom crackled.
"Hello, Delsin."
"Hi."
"I see that your brother's equipment found the trap that I laid for you."
"Are you even here?"
The voice laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know? Oh, by the way, that girl you met last night… she was very pretty, wasn't she?"
"So you saw that, huh?"
"Oh, no. It was me. You really have to be more careful, Delsin. I could have killed you then. Weren't you wondering how I knew your name?"
"I didn't really notice that you'd used it."
A movement to Damien's left drew his attention. Fetch walked out into the middle of the room.
"I believe that you don't have my name, though. My name's Abigail Walker. But you know me as Fetch, don't you?"
"Yeah. I do. But I really couldn't care less about that at the moment. All I want is your power."
"Then why don't you kill me for it?"
"If that's what it takes."
"Can you really bring yourself to do it, Delsin? You told me that you hated killing people."
"I do. But if I have to kill you to save them, then I will. I won't like it, but I will kill you if I need to. I'd rather not, though."
"Well, I'm not giving you that choice."
"Very well, then."
Delsin flicked his wrist and his chain whipped out into the air where Abigail had just been standing. The lights flickered and then went out. After a few minutes of flashing light, the electric lights flickered back into life. Both Abigail and Delsin were blinded.
When Delsin could see again, he saw Abigail cowering beneath him. He was very confused, but then he saw that she was slowly backing against that wall, trying but failing to find more space than what there really was. Delsin saw a broken animal, but Abigail saw something else entirely.
As the belt slashed the air, she tried to sink further into the wall, to become it. She wouldn't dare cry out against the pain because then mother would be by her side, telling her that she should have obeyed her father in the first place, even though it was wrong to do all those things he wanted. She wanted him to never touch her again, but every time she tried to get away, this happened. So instead, she took it silently, cowering against the wall. This shadow haunted her in both the waking and the dreaming worlds and she had many times cowered before men. She was angry at herself for doing it, but as the memory swept through her like a flow of water, she whimpered and cried "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Delsin heard the whimpers and the cries and was too shocked to do anything but stand there.
Abigail was shivering as Delsin stood over her, remembering. But Delsin wasn't her father. He thoughts were frantic. She could overpower him. She could…
"Abigail, I don't want to hurt you." He then bent down and knelt on the floor. He reached out to her, but she shrank away from him. He heard her whimper again.
He would then kneel down and grab her wrists, pin them down on the floor and rip off all her clothing, until she was naked before him. He would then rape her. When he was finished, he'd just leave her there, cold and sore.
"Abigail, I don't know what happened in your past, but I'm not that person. I'm me, Abigail."
She pressed herself more firmly against the wall, but she was sitting up now. It was then that Delsin noticed that Abigail's eyes were closed tight. Seeing this, Delsin leaned in, bringing himself closer and closer to her. When their bodies were almost touching, he reached around her waist and pulled him into his chest.
"It's okay now, Abigail."
She buried her face into his neck and, their skin finally finding contact, their powers fused together. Delsin then got bombarded with images and emotions. Tears slipped down his cheeks freely as he saw what had happened to her as a child. When the images stopped, he was in complete shock. How could her father do that to her? He was snapped back to reality by Abigail's voice.
"So you saw that, huh? I guess you're disgusted. It's okay, I understand. I'll just go."
"No! Don't go. Please. I feel awful for what you've been through. I would never have guessed."
Abigail waited, ready to leave as she studied him. Is he telling the truth? Should I trust him? What should I do? I guess I'll stay. I'll see what happens next.
"Okay, I'll stay."
Delsin breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's get back to my brother. He'll be worried."
When they arrived back at 'Home', Reggie was almost crying, he was so worried. His eyes shone with both shed and unshed tears. He went completely rigid when he saw Abigail.
"Oh my god! Delsin! I was so – wait. Why is she here?"
"Just wait. I'll talk to you outside."
"Okay." Reggie was sulking. What if she was faking it?
"Abigail, just wait here, okay? I'll be back soon." He lightly kissed her forehead.
Outside, Reggie was bristling.
When Delsin got outside, Reggie was ready to explode, but Delsin got there first.
"How dare you talk to her like that! She is our guest in our Home! Show her some respect! You will say sorry!"
"Well, how dare you bring her here! And without telling me first! How was I supposed to react?"
"What did you want me to so? I couldn't just leave her there! She was whimpering in a corner, Reg!"
"Did you touch her? Did you get her powers?"
"Yes but –"
"Good, then let's leave! I don't want to be anywhere near her."
"No. I'm staying."
"Oh, for – why are you so stubborn? Del, she's been evading us for the past month and you're willing to just forgive her because she was crying?"
"Reg, she wasn't just crying, she was whimpering and yelling 'I'm sorry'. When I touched her, I saw her memories of when she was a kid, no older than seven. He would beat her and rape her, Reg. Her own father. You know how soft-hearted I am. That broke it." Tears were streaming down his cheeks again.
"I'm sorry, Del, but I don't trust her."
"You can go if you like. I'll get home in my own time."
"No! They're dying, Del. Would you abandon them just because of this?"
"No. Would you?"
"Of course not."
"Then what's the problem? We can continue together. Just see this as a good thing. Please? For me?"
"Okay."
"Thank you."
It wasn't long after that that they found Augustine. The showdown was spectacular. Delsin now had concrete powers and was going home. The feeling was absolute bliss.
The journey home was a long one. Later that evening, Delsin and Abigail were sitting on the roof, looking out at the sunset. Delsin felt kindly towards Abigail, and he wanted to help her out. He just didn't know how to start. So he started with the thing they both shared in common right now.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes. It is."
There was a long but comfortable silence.
"I should leave soon, Delsin. I don't belong here."
"Where would you go?"
"I don't know. Away. Somewhere safe. I need to sort out my shit, Delsin. I'm just…so scared. There is no way that I can just go out into the real world again."
"Then stay here. You'll be safe here. You will fit in. You might not now, but you will soon. I promise."
"I'm not anywhere near the stage of living near people yet. I cower every time I see someone's shadow pass over me. I can't function like this."
"How badly do you want to overcome this fear, Abigail?"
"I'd do anything to get rid of it. It rules me and I keep remembering. I want to forget, Delsin. Help me forget. Please."
"I will." He stood up. Since he was closer to the setting sun than Abigail, his shadow fell over her, cloaking her in darkness. Immediately, Abigail shuddered and closed her eyes, starting to tremble. Delsin knelt down next to her and talked in a soft, calm voice.
"Abigail, open your eyes." Nothing happened. Delsin reached forward and cupped her cheek in his hand. "Abigail, look at me." Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at Delsin. He leaned forward and tentatively brushed his lips against hers. "Whenever you see a shadow fall over you, think of me. Think of it as a protective blanket, keeping you out of view from your enemies. Because I will never let anyone hurt you ever again." With that, he scooped Abigail up into his arms and gently floated down to the ground. He walked inside and put her down on his bed. He kissed her forehead. He then sat down and fell into a deep sleep.
When Delsin woke, Abigail was still asleep. With a start, he noticed that he and Abigail were holding hands. He untangled his fingers from hers and stood up. Abigail stirred.
"Morning, sunshine."
"Good morning."
"You feeling okay? Ready to banish your fears?"
"Yes, and hell yeah. Let's get to it right away. I want to be rid of this thing as soon as possible."
"Now, I want to just try this once and then we'll move onto bigger things, okay?"
"Try what?"
"You'll see."
Delsin led Abigail to the beach.
"Sit here a minute."
"Okay. Where are you going?"
"You'll see."
Delsin came back about five minutes later, but this time with a stick in his hand. He held it exactly like her father had held the belt. As Delsin's shadow passed over her, she forgot what Delsin had told her. She started to freak out. The stance and the stick had unnerved her and she cried out. Upon hearing this, Delsin quickly moved to the side and dropped the stick. He ran to Abigail's side.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" She was under a huge amount of mental stress and she wasn't handling it very well. Delsin touched her shoulder and she suddenly became very angry at him. She knew he was only trying to help, but the pain of her memories turned her against him. She struck out at his chest several times before he caught her wrists.
"Sh, sh it's okay. I just wanted to see where we were at with this whole thing. It turns out this is worse than I thought."
"But you'll be able to make it go away, yes?"
"Yes. It just looks like we'll have to put fighting against scary things further down on the list of things to do. Nothing too serious."
"Okay. I'm sorry I hit you. I just…"
"It's okay, Abigail. Come here." He hugged her tight for a second. "Okay. Are you ready for stage two?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Now come back into the building with me."
She followed him inside, but as soon as they were inside, Delsin pushed her up against a wall.
"Delsin! What are you doing?" She was panicking a lot. Her breath was coming in short gasps.
"I saw what your father did to you Abigail. In order for that never to happen again, you need to break free. Come on. Do it."
With that, Abigail struggled against him with all her might, but it wasn't enough. He was just too strong.
"I can't. You're too strong. Delsin, please let me go. I'm scared."
"Are you…giving up?"
"Yes."
He undid the first four buttons of her blouse. "Then you know what happens. Daddy wins." A big, sloppy kiss on her neck. "And gets his way."
"No." She slid down the wall in fear. This wasn't the Delsin she knew. He was turning into her father. Through her fear, she couldn't see the pain in Delsin's eyes as he did this. He hated to do these things to her. He'd hoped he wouldn't have had to. Abigail slid down further, all the way to the floor when Delsin let go of her. She couldn't believe it. Delsin had turned out to be another sex-thirsty beast. She was angry with herself. She would never trust anyone else ever again. Well then let him have me. I don't care anymore. She was surprised when she saw him walk away. Delsin turned the corner so that Abigail couldn't see and cried. He couldn't let this façade down, not until she had broken free of the bonds of her fear and self-defeat.
The next day, he did the same thing. He cornered her and pinned her against a wall. This time, she didn't even put up a fight. She hung there, limp and lifeless. Delsin almost cried from the pain of seeing her broken body just hanging from his hands.
"What, no fight this time? Just giving up?"
"I know you're too strong, so what's the point? I won't win anyway."
Delsin then curled his lip into what he half-hoped was a convincing snarl, pushed her back against the wall and just let her go. She slumped to the floor in a heap. This time, she called out to him as he was leaving.
"Why don't you just do it already? I'm beyond caring."
"Then start caring again." He didn't turn back to face her as he was already crying. My God. I really am a monster. She'll never forgive me for this.
For the next five days, he did the same thing, each with the same result. She never struggled, never fought for her freedom. If she had even thrown one punch his way, even a weak one, he would have stopped. If she'd even said 'stop it' he would have. But there was nothing, no resistance at all. But on the fifth day, he just couldn't take it anymore.
"Why do you never resist me? If you'd done anything to resist me, I would have stopped. Anything at all."
"Well, how could I know that?"
"You weren't meant to know that. You were meant to have the courage to stand up for yourself. You were meant to be independent and figure that out for yourself. You were so absorbed in your fear that you didn't remember anything I'd told you. You were so absorbed in your fear that you didn't even think about what it might be doing to me."
"Well, did you know what it was doing to me?"
"Of course I did! I knew because I watched you. I heard you in your sleep, calling out my name, panicked and afraid. I saw you run into Reggie's arms instead of mine every time you felt frightened or threatened. I saw him hold you, even though he didn't want to. I heard your silence about this. Why did you never tell anyone? This isn't shameful, Abigail. It's wrong. But this wrong can be righted. All you had to do was call for help, punch me, tell somebody. You let this be done to yourself. Why?"
"Because I am ashamed."
There was a long silence as Delsin weighed up his chances on the answer to the question he wanted answered most. He figured it'd be worth a shot.
"Abigail, will you ever forgive me?"
"I don't know." Delsin bowed his head to that answer. That was what he was afraid he would hear. He was expecting a no, but it was comforting to know that there may be some way to redeem her trust. He wanted to let her know how he'd felt, but it was hard to find the right words. He soon found them. Then he took a deep breath and said something that changed everything.
"Every day. Every day, I cried after I'd done that to you. I hated myself for doing it, but I told myself that I was doing it for you, I was doing what you'd asked, but for each day that went by, it was harder and harder for me to convince myself that what I was doing was right. It was so hard to convince myself because inside, I knew it was wrong. Abigail, I'm the one who should be ashamed, not you. I did those awful things to you and I'm sorry. Please, forgive me."
Abigail squeezed tears out of her eyes. How could she have ever thought of Delsin like that? Delsin wasn't like her father at all. He was kind and wanted nothing more than peace for him and his tribe. "Of course I forgive you Delsin. Just never do that again."
"I promise."
"Come here." Delsin sat down next to Abigail. He was surprised when she leant over and gave him a nice, big, long kiss, straight on the lips. The kiss was soon broken. "Delsin, I love you. I'm sorry for going to your brother, but I was so scared that you'd turned into my father. I see now how stupid it was to think that, but fear dulled my perception of truth."
"It's okay. It's over now and with luck, you'll never have to go through anything like that ever again."
"You can say that again."
"Sleep now. When you get up, I'll have something for you."
"Okay." And for the first time in weeks, she fell into a deep sleep.
"Hey, Reg."
"Hi, Del. What is it?"
"I was wondering… and I'm being serious here, Reg… I was wondering whether I should marry Abigail."
"No."
"Oh, but – "
"No. You're too young to marry. And even if you weren't, I still wouldn't trust her."
"Well, I do. And I love her, man. More than I've loved any other girl."
"Congratulations. Did you figure that out before or after you learned about her past?"
"After. But it's not pity, Reg. I really love her. I might…want to marry her. And besides, she might not even say yes. I'm just asking you to give her one more chance. Please."
"No. My answer is final, Del. I'm not going to change my mind. You're twenty-three, Del. Do you even know how old she is?"
"That shouldn't matter. Reg, please. I…she needs me."
"Does she need to marry you?"
"Well…no, but that's just an added bonus."
"Listen, Del. Don't lock yourself into a situation you don't want to be in. Look, if you had known her for…at least two months, sure. But two weeks? No way."
"So you're saying that you'll give her a chance?"
"…Yes."
"Thanks man."
"Just don't propose to her yet. Please."
"Okay. I wasn't planning on it anyway."
"What, you said that you were serious!"
"And I am, but I'm not that silly that I'll just ask her straight away."
"But…I thought you meant straight away."
"When did I ever say that? I only asked you if I should marry her. I never said when."
"I…fine. I heard you tell her that you'd have something for her tomorrow. I thought…I thought that you meant this."
"Marry Abigail Walker tomorrow? Wow. You must really think I rush into things."
"Fine, just go. Ask her whenever you like."
"Thanks man."
Delsin walked to the jewellery store. Man, this is gonna be great! When she sees this, she is gonna freak!
A few minutes later, Delsin stepped back to admire his handiwork. It was kind of crude, but hey, it got the message across. Smiling, he moved to the next shop.
By the end of the evening, the whole street was covered in red and white graffiti. The overall effect was quite beautiful. Feeling quite pleased with himself, he went back home.
The next morning, Abigail awoke to the smiling face of Delsin. They kissed their good mornings, then Delsin pulled her to her feet.
"Oh, you are gonna love this."
Once they reached the jewellery store, Abigail gasped. The graffiti on the wall depicted a wondrous scene where she had just broken out of a crystal cage. Then, flecks of what she supposed to be neon light grew bigger and bigger, ending in a scene where she was standing over her father, neon gathering in her hand. The implication was spectacular and Abigail felt very special.
"So, what do you think? You've earned it."
"Oh, Del, it's beautiful! How did you manage to do this in one night?"
"Trade secret, I'm afraid."
"Oh, man. This is awesome. Thank you." She launched herself at him and gripped his neck as she pulled him down for a kiss.
Later on in the day, Reggie asked what he'd given Abigail. Delsin led his brother to the jewellery store. As his brother knew the area, he grew more and more suspicious as they drew closer. His suspicions were swept to the side when he saw what Delsin had done.
"Wow. So, this is Abigail, right?"
"Yep."
"And that's her father?"
"Uh huh."
"Wow. You really do like her, don't you?"
"Yeah. I do."
"This is really great, what you've done for her."
They were nearly home when they heard Abigail cry out. Both brothers ran for different reasons. Delsin ran because he loved her, and Reggie ran because it was his instinct as a cop. When they reached the area in front of their house, they stopped abruptly. The man Abigail and Delsin knew to be Abigail's father stood over her, holding his belt.
"Just you wait until you get what you deserve for crying out, you bitch! Did you really think you could run away from me? All this time, I knew I would find you. You were so open in your use of your powers and didn't notice that I had them too."
"No. I killed you."
"Shut up!" He whipped his belt in front of him and Abigail shrank further into the wall.
Abigail hadn't seen Delsin yet, as her eyes were closed, but she heard what he'd said. But she had called out, and no one was helping her. What else did he say? Ah, yes. That was it. 'Protect yourself'. I'll wait until he gets close. Then I'll get him.
Delsin was starting to worry as Abigail's father's hand went to unzip his jeans. It was then that Reggie moved to help her. Delsin caught his arm and shook his head. He understood what she was doing and he understood that this is what it would take for her to overcome her fear.
Abigail was lying on the ground, arms extended. She looked like a fallen angel. Her father moved to stand over her but that was the opportunity she had been waiting for. She leapt up and launched herself at him. She threw him to the ground and stood over him, just like in the graffiti Delsin had painted for her. She drew power into her hand and smashed it down onto his chest. It happened so fast, he couldn't do anything to stop himself being killed. Abigail then sank to her knees. Delsin ran to her and held her.
"You did well, Abigail. I'm so proud of you. It's okay. He can never hurt you again. It's okay. It's okay. Are you hurt?"
"No. I'm fine. Really. Thanks." She tried to stand up, but her legs were like jelly. She fell heavily on Delsin who, not expecting the sudden weight, fell to the ground with Abigail on top of him. "Oof."
They then kissed passionately.
Their wedding was held five weeks after that incident. On their wedding night, they went crazy. Their sex was the best Abigail had ever had before.
End
Sorry I'm so bad at endings, guys. I wasn't sure about what rating to put it at, so I chose M to be safe. Sorry if I've disappointed anyone!