A/N: Hey, guys. Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. I have a ton of reasons for that, though. If you'd like to know, keep reading through this next portion of the author's note. If not, skip through it.
In May of last year, I finished my first year of college. I was in a really bad headspace because, as probably none of you know, I'm transgender and I had to go back into the closet while I had a dormmate. It was a good thing I did because she was very transphobic. Being in such a bad headspace caused a lot of writer's block because that's all I could focus on. Once I finished my first year of college, I decided I wanted to take a year off and focus on my transition from female to male. My grandparents, who I was living with at the time, didn't like the idea and I was told to find somewhere else to live. I went from May until the very end of December sleeping on friends couches and my car from time to time. Luckily, I have found a place to live where I know I'll be supported. Now, you may be wondering why I haven't posted if I have been living in this place since January. Well, that's because right after I moved in, I was able to start my transition. I'm currently five and a half weeks on testosterone and I'm finally at a place where I am relaxed enough to sit down and write.
I really want to thank you all for being so patient with me. I know some of you may have been frustrated with me and that's perfectly valid. I'm frustrated with me too. I hope I can continue writing and I hope you all will continue reading.
My favorite review from the last chapter goes to...Rubiksmaniac! Thank you to everyone who leaves a review. They always make me smile.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...here is the latest chapter of Exigent. As always, I love you all! - Fox
Beca woke up next to the sleeping redhead the next morning. They had stayed in Chloe's room for a day and a half and she was starting to get tired of staring at the same walls. She was surprised when Chloe's annoying roommate didn't bother them the past two mornings. As the brunette sat up, Chloe whimpered at the loss of warmth.
"Come back," she sleepily mumbled.
Beca looked down at her and smiled lovingly, "I will in a sec, babe."
Chloe grumbled, pulling Beca's pillow close to her. The Bender chuckled lightly, sliding out of bed. She winced a little, reminding herself of the pain in her back from the burns that were still healing.
"Hey, Chlo. I'm gonna go see my dad about my back. I'll be back soon." she said as she slipped into her regular clothes.
The Mind Reader grumbled, "You said you'd be back in a sec."
"I'll come right back as soon as I get done at my dad's. I promise," Beca walked over and kissed Chloe's forehead.
As she did so, the redhead wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and pulled her back down, "You should stay here for a little while longer. I've got to go to class today."
"I gotta go before my dad has class." Beca chuckled, hugging her.
Chloe pouted, "Fine," she gave her a quick kiss and let her go.
"I love you," Beca said after she kissed her back.
The older woman grinned, "I love you, too."
With that, Beca put her hoodie on and walked out the door. First, she walked back to her dorm, silently praying that Fat Amy wasn't there. Luckily, the blonde wasn't there when she walked in. Beca quickly changed her clothes.
Her dad's house wasn't too far away from the college, so she decided to grab her skateboard and ride over. As she skated down the sidewalk, she thought about what she was going to say to her dad. 'Should I tell him about Mom?'
Eventually, she decided what she was going to say and continued on in silence. It wasn't long before she arrived at her father's house. She stopped her skateboard, grabbed it, and walked up the steps. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
It was the step-monster who answered the door. Beca clenched her jaw with a forced smile, "Hi, is Dad home?"
She nodded and stepped aside to let Beca in, "Yes, he's just upstairs. I'll go get him for you."
The small brunette walked into the dining room and sat at the table. Though it hadn't been long since she moved out, it was a little weird being back in the house. She looked around at pictures on the walls and smiled softly. Now that she knew the true reason she ended up there, she looked at everything in a different light, 'I'm going to have to apologize to Dad again. I know the full story now. Mom didn't even die. I think he has the right to know what really happened.'
Beca was so deep in thought, staring at all the memories around the house, she didn't notice her father had come down the stairs. She jumped when he touched her back, "Jesus, dude! Don't scare me like that!"
Her father let out a deep laugh, "I'm sorry, Becs. I thought you heard me."
"What did you say?" the Bender asked.
"I asked you what you were doing here? You usually aren't awake this early," he said with a smile.
"Oh, well," Beca looked down at the floor, "I just had some things to talk to you about and I was also going to see if you could take a look at my back. I think I reopened one of the wounds."
The Healer nodded, "Of course I can. Let's have a look."
As she turned around, Beca lifted up the back of her shirt, revealing the scars that covered her back now, "How bad is it?"
"It's pretty bad, Beca. I told you not to do anything too strenuous, but it looks like you have anyway. When will you learn to listen?"
"I'm sorry, Dad. There's just a lot that's going on and I had to use my powers for something. It wasn't like I was just like 'Oh, hey, let's just use my powers so I can hurt myself!' I had to use them to-" Beca stopped herself from telling her dad that her mom was still alive.
"To what?" Dr. Mitchell asked.
The petite woman shook her head, "It's nothing. Can you just heal it?"
Her father sighed, "It'll take some time and it might hurt. Because you used your powers, I have to use a different technique."
"And what technique is that?"
"Essentially, I have to reverse the damage done to your back from the loss of energy. Our energy is what fuels our kind. It also helps heal us. Healers use their patient's energy and enhance it with their own to heal the wound. You don't have much, so I have to use what little you have and enhance that even more. It'll hurt because I have to overload your energy circuits."
"Well, that sounds fun," Beca deadpanned, rolling her eyes, "Let's get on with it already."
"Let me analyze how much energy you have," Dr. Mitchell said, rolling up his sleeves. He turned Beca back around, placing his fingers on her temples, "Now, I need you to relax. This works easier that way."
The small brunette took a deep breath and tried to think of something relaxing. Closing her eyes, she imagined being away in an empty field with nothing but miles and miles of grass. Nothing else but Chloe. She imagined running through the field hand-in-hand with the love of her life. She let herself smile softly as she thought, pretending there was not a potential war that she had to worry about. There were no powers, no sides, no nothing but her, Chloe, and the field.
"Okay, Becs. We're good to go," her father's voice snapped her out of her daydream.
The Bender cleared her throat and stood a little straighter, "Alright, so what do I have to do?"
"Are you sure you want to do this? Your levels are dangerously low."
"How low are we talking?"
"Low enough you should probably be in bed for another couple of days. What did you do to use up so much energy?"
"I don't really want to talk about it, Dad. Can we just get this over with?"
Dr. Mitchell sighed, "Alright, but I might have to have you…" he hesitated.
"Have me what?"
"I might have to have you restrained," her father said with discomfort.
Beca looked at him with a puzzled expression, "Why would you have to do that?"
"Well," he crossed his arms, "overloading your energy circuits so much could cause you to unexpectedly have a sudden burst of your powers. It's a very grueling process. We're going to have to use some special restraints. Luckily, I know how to make them."
"We better get it done before your first class today, then."
Dr. Mitchell looked at his daughter for a moment, before going to grab the required materials, "You've grown so much," he said with a sniffle.
"Are you crying?" Beca asked, following him.
"No, no," he gave a small chuckle, "Just tearing up a little bit. I'm so glad you've decided to walk the path you're walking, Beca. I know it isn't the easiest path, you're fighting for what you love, and I can't be prouder of you."
"Thanks, Dad," Beca sheepishly smiled, "You can stop with all the mushy stuff now."
The taller man laughed, "Okay, okay. Let's get started," He grabbed a strange looking necklace out of a drawer and placed it around Beca's neck, "You might want to sit down," he said, pulling up a chair for her. Once she sat, he placed a hand on her head and mumbled a few words to himself that Beca couldn't quite make out. The moment he said them, she couldn't move. She tried to struggle away for a moment, only out of instinct.
"Wow, okay. You weren't kidding when you said I needed to be restrained," she said with a bitter chuckle.
"No, I wasn't. Now, this is your last chance to back out. This will hurt you a lot, Beca."
She looked at him with determination in her eyes, "There's no way in hell I'm backing out now. I've come this far already." With a nod, Dr. Mitchell placed his hands on her back, starting up at the base of her neck and moving down to the small of her back. He continued the motion before Beca laughed, "I think you were overexaggerating when you said it would-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a flood of overwhelming pain coursed through her body. Every inch of her felt like she was on fire. She writhed in pain as well as she could with the restraint, as if she could get away from the pain if she ran far enough. The Bender could feel every single fiber of her being as the enhanced energy ran through her veins. She managed to bite her lip in pain and suppressed a scream. She began to taste blood from biting down too hard. Her father had a look of pain on his own face, knowing just how much his daughter was hurting.
"Almost done, Becs. Almost done," he said with sympathy.
Beca couldn't manage a reply other than to weakly nod. She had never been in more pain in her life. The Guardian process seemed like a cake walk compared to this. Suddenly, all the fire in her veins went cold and she felt herself moving. Dr. Mitchell looked at her incredulously as she stood up with a look of anger on her face.
"Beca, stop!" he yelled, "You have to calm down!"
The tiny Bender began using her powers, lifting her father off the ground. She had absolutely no control over what was going on. Her body was moving on its own. She ripped the necklace off her neck and threw it to the floor.
"B-Becs," the taller man managed to choke out. He was clawing at his neck as if there were actually something there holding him.
Suddenly, he dropped to the floor as Beca realized what she was doing, "Oh my God! Dad, are you okay?" Her father coughed and gasped for air and nodded, unable to speak, "I-I'm so sorry."
After a few moments, Dr. Mitchell stood up, "It's okay, Beca. I knew something like this might happen," he rasped as he went to touch her shoulder.
The brunette backed away from him, "No, it's n-not okay. I could have killed you!"
He sighed, "I was aware the consequences when we started."
Staring at him hesitantly, Beca nodded, "Only if you say so."
Her father smiled, giving her a hug as if nothing had happened, "Of course I say so."
She hugged him back, "There is something else I need."
"And what is that?"
"I just have a few questions."
"Ask away."
"Well, I was wondering if there are any other known Benders out there. I mean, I'm sure there are some out there that haven't been discovered because they're good at hiding, but I need to know if there are any with known locations."
Dr. Mitchell looked at her and lied without skipping a beat, "There's only you. I'm sure you've heard by now what happened to the rest of them."
Beca frowned, gathering her things, "Okay, that's all I need."
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her haste.
"Everything's fine, Dad," she faked a smile, "I'm just worried about Chloe."
"I think she's okay, Beca. You've only been here for an hour. She's not bound to get hurt at school. You probably shouldn't worry so much."
"You don't understand, Dad. It's my job to worry about her. It's a lot more stressing that it looks to be a Guardian. I may not have to worry about where I'm going or what territories I'm on, but I have to watch over my shoulder constantly. If I piss anyone off, they can come after me without consequence."
Dr. Mitchell sighed, "Alright, Becs. You stay safe, okay?"
Beca nodded, wanting to leave her father. She was really upset with him for lying to her, 'Maybe there's a reason he lied. If there was someone listening in, they could learn about the Village of Benders. Maybe he doesn't even know about the Village,' she thought to herself.
He waved her off as she walked out of the door. She decided to just walk, too exhausted to use her skateboard. Before going back to Chloe's, she decided she needed to make one more stop. She headed towards the warehouse that her mother was staying.
"Mom?" she called out as she walked through the door.
"Beca, is that you?" her mother asked, "Oh! It's so good to see you!"
The younger Bender frowned, "Look, I'm not here to have bonding time. I'm here to talk about our powers. That's it."
"Would you like to train, then?" Tiffany asked, not letting any emotion show through her voice.
Beca shook her head, "I can't. I used too much energy the other day and I'm still healing from the Guardian process."
"I still think you made the wrong decision," the taller woman said.
"Well, it's in the past. There's nothing I can do to change that."
"Actually, there is a way you could go to the past."
"I'm not changing my decision."
"Not for that reason."
"For what, then?"
"If you go to the past, you might be able to go to the Village of Benders and train. If you do, then you could train for much longer without the threat of war approaching."
"Okay, but what is it going to be like here when I'm gone? I'll just have vanished."
"Not necessarily. If you take a Time Traveler with you, they can take you both back to a certain point, you can train, and then they can bring you both back to the very moment you both left."
"I'm not going anywhere without Chloe."
"She can come with you. It's just something you should think about."
Beca looked at her mother, thinking about the idea. If she went back in time, she could definitely become a master of her powers, but what if she got stuck? Surely it would mess up the timeline.
But it might be the only option.
