(Hey, y'all. I left loose ends in that last fic, but I ended it because more than one main plot in a story is unorganized. It wouldn't flow properly. I'm still a developing writer, so I miss a few things. But anyway, I'll hopefully be addressing those loose ends, so here's the sequel! Once again, I own nothing in the series.)
Boredom.
Rex reclined in a library chair, a pile of books sitting on the table next to him. Van Kleiss had suggested reading them for education, but that was the last thing he planned to do. Instead, he scrolled through his phone- due to incessant nagging, he'd gotten a new one- and browsed random articles. After all, he had the freedom to do so.
He was healthy again.
It had been three weeks since the rabies cure, and the farther that remained in his past, the better. He'd had no hallucinations since then, which was a very good sign. The virus had been eradicated due to the machine's efforts, and Rex had successfully resumed his new life. It wasn't completely satisfactory by any means, but it was better than being beaten to death on the streets. Abysus wasn't a home- he preferred to think of it as a temporary lodging, no matter what the king said.
Sighing at the blandness of the newsfeed, he tugged at his collar.
His enemy had forced him to wear the contraption around his neck, claiming that it was perfectly safe. It served to cancel his powers whenever the older EVO saw fit- usually in circumstances where Rex was purposefully lashing out in rage. Currently, the device was turned off, and the boy had full range of all his abilities. It seemed strange to live in a reality where his own powers were controlled by someone else, but it was preferable to being robbed of them completely.
But while he was physically alright, the same could not be said for his mentality.
He'd spent weeks crying his heart out over Holiday, Six, and Bobo's collective deaths, having finally accepted that they were gone forever. Van Kleiss, thankfully, merely left him in his room to sob, unwilling to disturb him. In fact, after one particularly actually dreadful fit, the man had told him that it was actually quite satisfying to hear his misery. Rex, furious and tearful, had been ready to kick him in the jaw, but less so when it was explained to him that it was regarding his acceptance of reality. According to the king, even if Rex was wailing for nights on end, it was a good sign that he was finally letting go.
Whether that was a strange attempt to make him feel better or simply depress him even more, Rex didn't quite know. But for that anxious moment, it had calmed him down somewhat.
He really did need to move on.
Cats, car crashes, and corrupt politicians. The news seemed to be the same these days, always complaining or overdramatizing world events. Yet however nonsensical he found the titles, they served to distract him and make him feel better. For the past couple days, he'd been starting to cry a little bit less, and distracting himself proved to be helpful. Instead of drowning in his misery all hours of the day, by now, it had been reduced to only indulging in it at night.
Oddly enough, no one was being cruel about it. Van Kleiss, Biowulf, and Breach kept their distance when he launched into his agonizing episodes, letting him tire himself out without interruption.
Though he tried to forget his family's deaths, pesky memories still lingered in his mind. Once, he'd even went back into the room with the giant screen and played the footage of the explosion, morbidly curious about the details. The scene had been just as gut wrenching, especially now that he knew it was truly real.
That night had ended with Biowulf finding him sobbing wretchedly over the keyboard.
But no matter what Van Kleiss told him about the necessity of letting his emotions heal, Rex had a nagging feeling it wasn't the solution. He wasn't satisfied without knowing how they died. True, it was an explosion he'd seen with his very eyes, but the cause of it was something he craved to understand.
Was it the king?
The teen had kept that thought in the back of his mind whenever he buried himself under his sheets and cried himself to sleep, but lately, the idea was becoming more and more prominent. For fear of being correct, he hadn't had the guts to ask the older EVO if he'd destroyed his home. The teen had simply been too afraid to insinuate the idea for fear of being thrown into a dungeon.
But no matter what the answer was, today was the day he'd finally bring the topic up.
He deserved to know the truth.
Standing up and stretching, he placed his phone in his pocket and made his way out of the library. A sense of dread filled his mind as he walked down the halls to take the appropriate twists and turns to reach the throne room. Rex wondered if even asking permitted any sort of punishment, but shooed the notion away- after all, everyone was especially careful not to tread on his emotions until he fully recovered.
Van Kleiss sat upon the stone throne in the far back of the giant room, immediately visible once Rex entered. Biowulf stood by the side as his Master typed various things into a laptop, seemingly bored. The two of them glanced up at the young EVO, surprised to see him.
"Do I get beat up for asking questions?" Rex asked, standing a safe distance from them. "I really need to know."
"That's an odd way of starting a conversation," the king remarked. "Frankly, I thought you were asleep. No, you won't get hurt for asking anything. Pain only comes from you abusing your abilities."
Rex winced. "Even if it sounds like I'm accusing you of something?"
"Yes. I'm quite used to being accused of things, especially by you, Rex. Is this a particularly bothersome question?"
"Uh... yeah."
Biowulf snorted. "Hurry up, then."
Rex frowned, and took a few steps back. "Okay, here goes. Van Kleiss. Did you... blow up Providence?"
The two stared at him quietly, making the boy shudder. He hoped to high heaven they weren't extremely offended. Was this the end? Had he overstepped the line? After all these weeks of being relatively undamaged, was he finally going to be murdered in cold blood? Was-
"No, I didn't," the gauntlet clad EVO finally responded. "You can open your eyes now."
Rex blinked, not even realizing he'd squeezed his eyelids shut in fear. He shifted his gaze towards the man on the throne, his heart beating faster than before. The king was smirking at him, thoroughly entertained by the boy's terror.
"If you're going to have another episode, I suggest you do it in private," the man informed him. "But no, I didn't kill your coworkers. And yes, I'm sure. I have no reason to lie about it. Whether I did it or not, I still have full control over you."
"I guess I'll believe you... for now," Rex muttered. "It's just been... bothering me for a long time."
"I see," Van Kleiss responded. "You feel you're going to keep continuing your depressive fits until you receive full closure, I assume. How unfortunate."
Rex's eyes widened. "Why is it unfortunate? I just want to know what happened."
"Because not everyone has the luxury to know the whole story sparking their grief. I don't know what happened to Providence, and I have no interest in finding out. My enemies are destroyed, and that's all that matters to me."
"But what about me?" Rex complained. "I'm here too! I can't go to sleep crying every night!"
The king shook his head. "You're not going to. It hurts for now, but eventually, you're going to get over it."
"I have feelings, you bastard! Just because you're perfectly fine doesn't mean I am! You-"
His angry rant was interrupted by a loud growl from Biowulf. The blue EVO glared at him, sick of his attitude.
"All you do is whine, and I'm tired of it," he snarled. "Go drown yourself in tears somewhere else."
"Biowulf, be quiet," Van Kleiss commanded him. "He's mentally unstable."
The mechanical EVO immediately apologized, lowering his head in embarrassment.
"Rex, I understand you're in distress over this," the king began after turning back to the boy, "But I have no incentive to find out the cause of their deaths. Why not watch the news? They'll tell you more than I care to."
The teen frowned deeply, hoping his cracked mind wouldn't break down from pressure. "They're keeping things undercover! It's not for the public yet. Top secret investigation."
"That is quite the predicament for you, then."
"That's not fair!"
Rex sighed in anguish. He knew it would be difficult to reason with a sociopath, but should it really have been this difficult? At least he hadn't burst out crying yet- the very idea humiliated him.
"Hmm... although I personally couldn't care less about how your coworkers, I do have a way to make this work," Van Kleiss said, ignoring the child's outburst. "But you have to want it badly enough."
The teen, though feeling slightly better, became confused. "Wait... really? How?"
"Quid pro quo, Rex. If you want me to allow and assist you in uncovering your little mystery, you'll have to offer your services to me as well. To make it easier for you, I have a particular objective in mind at the moment."
"You do?" the younger EVO asked. "So if I agree to it, you'll help me?"
"I'll agree to help you start, though I might need further sacrifice on your part to keep me interested," the king corrected him. "The question is, would you be ready to partake in a biology experiment?"
Rex's blood ran cold.