A/N: Guess who had a double snowday and spent all day working on this extremely long, extremely important chapter? XD I'm starting to like all of the snow, now… But with the sun out, it's blinding! Anyways, the first part is kinda fangirl-filler-stuff, but the second part is SO FREAKING IMPORTANT! …And then the third part just helps explain things that will happen later. But, this is getting really close to the end! Not that much farther to go now! (Probably… Like, 98.6% sure.) Anyways, my last Driver's Ed class is today, and that means WAY more typing time! YAY! Ok, enjoy your very important chapter!
Special thanks to Halloween Witch for answering my question!
Ch 11 So Many Answers I Don't Know Where To Start…
Sive's POV
Lexi and I were just about to get off of the train at a stop in an area known as the Tourist District. It was riddled with attractions, stores, and one of the biggest shopping malls in the world. Lexi and I took the train because anyone who had been to the area before knew that trying to get anywhere by car was like waiting for snow in Brazil; it was an impossible law of nature. We did have to drive out of the Navy District to get to a train station, but that's as far as we went by car. We got off and started walking in the direction the mall was in.
"I'm glad you convinced me to wear a jacket; it's cold out here!" Lexi said, pulling her jacket closer around herself. She decided to wear something other than her uniform today; she had a light blue windbreaker with a pink shirt and white jeans on, and her fur had changed from pink to tan. She said mine could change, too, if I wasn't on-edge, but I couldn't remember a time when I was relaxed. I figured that I would never see my original white coloring again.
"I'm just glad you brought an extra," I replied, zipping up my borrowed jacket. I was still wearing my too-big shoes, but I borrowed a not so ripped up pair of light blue jeans, a lavender shirt, and a black jacket. She didn't bring anything that I would really wear, but I didn't say anything about it. The only real problem was we weren't the same size; she was one size down from me, so everything was slightly too small and a little uncomfortable, but I didn't say anything.
"Is it normal for it to be this cold here in August?" Lexi asked over a huge gust of wind.
"Around here, it's always cold. Because there aren't any skyscrapers in this area, a wind trap is formed, and that makes the area a never-ending wind spiral. And before you ask, I hang out in TV stores a lot, so a lot of what I know comes from there."
"Got it."
After a brisk walk, we got to the mall, and Lexi started running the show. I just followed as she led me into store after store, trying many things on, and buying them. I was having a harder time finding stuff I liked; apparently I really wasn't into what was popular, which at the time was really bright colors. Eventually we found a store that had some darker stuff, and I chose a pair of black jeans, a crème shirt with a dark green rose sketch on the front, a dark blue jacket, and a pair of purple and black high top shoes. And the best part was, since stores finally found a way to sell stuff in a way that it was alright to wear what you bought right away, I was able to change out of Lexi's uncomfortable borrowed clothes and into the new ones immediately.
We stopped for lunch at the food court in the mall after I changed. While we ate, I started absentmindedly playing with the necklace I usually kept tucked under my shirt.
Lexi noticed it and asked, "What's that?"
"Huh? Oh, this?" I didn't even realize I was playing with it until then. "It's my mom's necklace. Well, it was my mom's necklace..."
"Sive, are you okay?" Lexi asked, showing concern.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm just getting lost in the past."
"...So that's your mom's necklace?" Lexi asked after a moment of silence. "That's cool. See this ribbon I have in my hair? My mom gave it to me for good luck years ago. I used to wear it only for big occasions, but now I never take it off."
"Cool. My mom gave this to me... Well, actually, I don't know why she gave it to me…" I stopped talking. I almost gave away something. Again. I was really losing my edge that week.
"Can I see it?" I took off the necklace and let Lexi examine it. It looked like a typical locket type necklace, but I had tried many times to open it, and after the 4,000th try, I gave up. It looked like a book with an 'X' on the front, an intricate vine pattern around the X, and a clip on the side, which gave the impression that it opened. It was on a really long chain, and made entirely of silver.
"Is there something written on the back here?" Lexi asked, feeling the markings on the back with her finger.
"Oh, yeah, but you can only read it under a magnifying glass or something. Here, try this." I grabbed one of the water bottles on the table and held it over the back of the necklace. It magnified it enough to be able to read the inscription. In tiny, calligraphic print, it read:
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour
William Blake, 1803
"That was her favorite poem. I used to know the whole thing by heart from hearing her say it, but now that's all I can remember."
"1803? Is that when this was written?" I nodded my head. "It's so old... Wow. The only old stuff my parents are interested in is a TV show that ran in the 1900's featuring my ancestor, Lola Bunny. I swear, if you give my dad the remote, it's either that or something about cars."
"Actually, I think I've seen that. Isn't that the cartoon where the characters essentially kill each other multiple times per episode?"
"Pretty much," Lexi said with a straight face. We started laughing two seconds later after thinking about that old show, though.
"What's your dad like?" Lexi asked through the laughter, which made me fall silent immediately. She just had to ask about him, didn't she?
Lexi was surprised by my sudden silence. She looked worried; probably because of my expression. Rio told me that I always looked really depressed, angry and/or stoic after someone mentioned him, and based on Lexi's expression, I figured I looked depressed.
"Sive, are you alright?"
I really wanted to tell her, but I never, ever, told anyone about it. If I did, then I would have to tell them my entire back story. It was enough to cause another internal argument.
You should tell her. It would be good to get it off your chest. But you don't want anyone to know. You don't want to talk about it, either. Why Because it's not something other people need to know. It's not something anyone But you trust her. You should tell her about it. But can you trust her with
"...Alright, I'll tell you, just not here," I said after a moment.
Lexi smiled and asked, "Understandable, but where then? My hotel?"
"No, I have someplace in mind..."
xoxoxoxoxSive's POV
A few hours later, after getting back to the Navy District and dropping off Lexi's stuff at her hotel, we arrived in front of the half-building I called home. I had only taken Rio there once, and that was it. I didn't take anyone over there because of Dumb and Dumber; they didn't know where to find me, and as far as I was concerned, they didn't need to.
I took Lexi up the back staircase, which was solid enough to use. I made a quick stop on the sixth floor to drop off my stuff, and we continued up to the roof. I sat down on the ledge, swung my feet around so they were dangling 80 feet over the ground, and looked up at the night sky. Lexi sat down next to me, but stayed a couple of feet away from the edge.
"My mom used to take me stargazing all the time when I was little. I know the names of lots of constellations." I got lost in thought for a moment, thinking about what could have been.
"Sive? What happened to you? What could be so bad, you don't tell anyone about it?" Lexi asked, looking worried again. She pulled me out of my thoughts, and I figured I had better warn her before starting.
"You realize that in order to tell you, I'm going to have to give you my whole back story, right? And it is not your average run-of-the-mill story; it will probably the sorriest, saddest thing you've ever heard."
"I'm all ears," Lexi responded. We both giggled a little at the pun.
"Well, all of this revolves around my parents. My mom was great. She was super nice to everyone, and she was pretty. Like, super pretty. I remember she had cropped red hair, and orange fur which I didn't know was possible for a... Actually, she was only half coyote; she never told us what her other half was. Whatever it was, it was where I get my short muzzle from. And my eyes. People used to say I looked just like her, other than the fact that I have black hair, and I used to have all white fur. My dad, however... He and my mom were polar opposites. My brother looks almost exactly like him... Except his features are softer like my mom's, and he has her eyes and ears.
"Anyways, this story goes all the way back to when I was born. Mom was like all other moms; ecstatic and overjoyed with their new child. My dad felt... Awkward, I guess. He wasn't happy that I was a girl, but I was his kid, so he didn't know how to react. He also wasn't happy that I was very small for my age, which isn't the case now, but definitely was then."
"How do you know this?" Lexi asked, confused.
"My brother, Aaron, told me this when I got older. He apparently likes eavesdropping. Anyways, because of that, my dad was always really distant from me. He would do the usual father-son stuff with Aaron, and those two were really close, but he avoided me. I kinda latched onto Mom, and that's why I did all this stuff with her.
"When I was four, my grandfather on my dad's side died. He left my dad his company. Under Dad, it took off, and it's even bigger now than it was before. We got rich off of it, but it didn't really matter. Dad started getting even more distant, even to Aaron, and Mom was getting worried.
"Two years later, when I was six, Dad was abusive towards us. Thankfully, he was the workaholic type, and so was never around, but even so, Aaron, Mom and I cleared the area as fast as possible when he was around.
"One day, before I left for my first day of school, Mom came up to me and hugged me. It's not that she never hugged me or anything, but I got the feeling that she was nervous, or anxious maybe. Even though I was only six, I still remember it clearly...
Begin Flashback
I was just about to leave the house with Aaron, so we wouldn't be late for the bus. It was my first day of Kindergarten, and I was in a purple polka dotted dress with matching Mary Janes. My hair was short and curly then. Mom walked up to me, kneeled down, and wrapped me in a tight hug. She was nervous, I could feel it. "Mommy, you're squishing me!" I choked out. "Sorry, Baby," she said, releasing me. She noticed that she had screwed up my hair, so she took out my headband, smoothed out my hair, and put it back in. She was the only one who could get my hair to stay out of my eyes. "Aaron, come here." She wrapped him in a huge hug, and kissed him on the head. " "Aaron, you go ahead to the bus stop. Sive will meet you there in a minute." "'Kay, Mom!" he yelled behind his shoulder, running to the door. "Wait!" Mom yelled, making him stop short. He walked back over and stood in front of Mom. "Promise me that you'll always take care of Sive?" "Mom, I-" "Aaron. Promise me you'll do it. "Alright, Mom." He was the typical bored-with-the-parents-and-their-ridiculous-requests kind of kid. He figured that she was just telling him this because it was my first day of school, and that's what I always thought, too. "Good. I love you." "Love you too, Mom," he yelled behind his shoulder, running out the door. "Is something wrong, Mommy?" I asked. She had started crying, and I had never seen her cry before. "No, everything's alright, Sive. I just wanted to give you something before you go." She wiped off her eyes, and took off her necklace. I had always loved that necklace. She would let me try it on for a while, but she never let me wear it for any length of time, and she never took it off. But that day, she tripled up the chain so it wouldn't be too big, put it around my neck, and tucked it under my dress. "Your necklace?" I asked in excitement. I had always wanted to wear it, and because it was my first day of school, it made it even more special. "Yes. You just need to promise me something. Now, listen closely: You need to keep that safe. You can't take it off, you can't show it to anyone, you can't tell anyone you have it. Got it?" "I got it, Mommy. I promise." "Good." She had started crying again. "Now, be good at school, and always remember: I love you, Baby." "I love you, too, Mommy!" I replied, wrapping her in a hug. "C'mon, Sive!" Aaron yelled from the bus stop. "I can't be late!" "Is everyone that cranky when they turn eleven?" I asked my mom. She laughed. "Quick kiss," she ordered. I gave her a kiss on the cheek, and ran out to the bus stop. "What was that about?" Aaron asked as we got on the bus. "She wanted to-" I stopped and remembered the promise I made. "Nothing." The day went totally normally for a first day of Kindergarten; I started learning to read, write, and count, we played games, and I made a couple of friends. Close to the end of the day, during nap-time, I wasn't sleeping. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, that something bad was happening, and it made me anxious to get home, to hear my mom say that everything was alright. She never would. Aaron and I got home, and Aaron was about to knock on the door, when we noticed that it was already open. I didn't think anything of it, but Aaron seemed worried, and that made me worried. "Mom?" Aaron yelled as we walked in. There was no answer. "Sive, stay here. I'm going to go look around." He walked away, and I stayed put. I was starting to get bored, when I heard something right above me. It was someone walking around in the room above me, the library, and Aaron didn't go upstairs to look yet. I thought it was Mom, so I ran up the stairs and down the hall to the big double-doors that led to the library. I was never strong enough to open them myself, but they were cracked open when I got there. I used all of my strength, and pushed one door wide enough for me to squeeze through. What I saw inside would haunt me for forever. There was blood everywhere; on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything. The once white walls were now stained red; we had to repaint them later. The books on the shelves were ruined, and had to be thrown away. The green armchairs looked black, and were ripped up in places. We had to pitch those, too. But I didn't notice any of that. I suppose I screamed, because Aaron came running, yelling for me. He froze when he saw what had traumatized me. There, lying on the long table in the middle of the room, was Mom. She was unrecognizable, and we only knew it was her because she was wearing her favorite scarf that day. She had been beaten, and eventually stabbed multiple times in the chest. I lost consciousness after that.
"I had gone into shock, and I woke up a few hours later in the hospital. Aaron would have gone into shock, too, but he kept himself together to stay with me. The doctors said that he never left me." I sighed. This story was emotionally exhausting to tell, and I was getting tired. "The police ruled it as a suicide, can you believe that?"
"A suicide?" Lexi repeated in disbelief. "How could they ever have reached that conclusion?"
"My dad told them to. He has so much influence... He still does, actually. He can get away with anything. They tried to make Aaron and I believe that she killed herself, but we knew better: She had been tortured and killed. I just wish I knew why, but I suppose I never will. I know Dad was somehow involved, but I never figured anything out."
"What happened after that?" Lexi asked after a moment of silence.
"We lived with just Dad, and one of my mom's old friends, Naomi. We called her Aunt Nae. He was still almost never around, but at least he wasn't abusive to us anymore, so Naomi came over whenever he wasn't around and was kind of our stand-in Mom after that. She left as soon as Dad got back., though.
"After that, Dad started being… Manipulative. Well, even more so than before, anyways. He can get anyone to believe almost anything, or get them to do almost anything, he just has to use the right words. He began to teach Aaron how to manipulate people; he intended for him to take over for him when he eventually died. Aaron was good at it, too. He was such a smart kid; I can't believe he started doing Dad's bidding! Dad gave him a job in the company because he was so good with computers… Anyways, about two years later, Dad decided he had had enough of me, I guess. So, he kicked me out."
"He what? Isn't that illegal to do to anyone under 18?" Lexi asked in disbelief.
"He had the police in his pocket, remember? He could get away with almost anything. Well, anything local, anyways. I have a feeling that if the feds heard about some of the stuff he was doing, he wouldn't be able to sweet-talk his way out of it. Not that anyone would be able to find proof…"
"So, you came here right away?" Lexi asked.
"An eight year old would never survive here. I started out by staying in the same town I used to live in, laying low to hide from my dad. Aaron was helping me as much as he could right under Dad's nose. He did things like sneaking me food and water, new clothes when I needed them, money, stuff like that."
"He's a really good brother," Lexi commented.
"Not exactly," I corrected. "This went on for a year and a half. We had been meeting each other in a park not too far from our house for all of this time. But then, one day, when Aaron was supposed to meet me at a certain time, he didn't show up. I waited for hours, and I was starting to get worried, when two guys in suits that I have so lovingly nicknamed 'Dumb and Dumber' showed up in his place. They knew who I was, and if that didn't scare me enough, they said they were there to take me back to my dad. They said that Aaron had been working with him all along, and I had played along perfectly. I was crushed. I couldn't believe that Aaron was working with him the entire time. He played me!"
"Oh, Sive, I'm so sorry," Lexi said sympathetically.
"Thanks. So, after that, I left that part of the country. It took a few months, but eventually I ended up here. I had been staying in different abandoned buildings, avoiding Dumb and Dumber who somehow managed to track me down. Then, I found this place after the meteor. I've been here ever since, but that's the reason why I don't trust anyone anymore."
"…But, since you're telling me this, you trust me, don't you?"
I looked over at Lexi and had to ponder my answer for a moment.
"…You know what? I think I do."
We gave each other a friendly hug. I was totally exhausted; it had been a long day, and even thinking about my past, much less talking about it, left me wanting to sleep.
But, I thought, it feels good to finally let it all out.
xoxoxoxox
Mastermind's POV
At this point, I was wondering how I could use what I was seeing on my monitor to my advantage: Sive, the girl I was tracking, was apparently friends with Lexi, one of the Loonatics.
I had made several dozen small robots that I named 'Spy Flys.' They were tiny robots that looked just like flies from a distance, but had video cameras where their eyes were supposed to be. I had sent a package with a small hole in it containing a few of them to a random address in New Chicago so I could send them out to find this girl, and once I finally did find her, she was with one of the Loonatics.
I was outraged at first; I thought that I had been played by Marovic. But as time went on, I could tell that the girl wasn't actually a Loonatic, but had in fact just met them. I figured that since the girl had phasing powers that I had seen her use multiple times, she was the rumored seventh Loonatic that I heard about on the news. But, by the looks of it, she technically hadn't joined yet.
I was hoping to get something from the Loonatics to use against her, but I was having a bit of trouble getting my Spy Flys into their building; that dog knew how to make his security systems. I had even been convincing some of the villains they had had trouble with in the past, or, the ones not in jail, anyway, to come out of hiding. I told them to do it for revenge, but in reality, it was so they could distract them while I went around my daily business unnoticed. Unfortunately, Massive, who I had sent out the day before, had been a somewhat easy target for them, and even when they were down one member and he injured their leader. Electro J. Fudd, whom I had sent out today, also proved to be an easy job for them. He didn't even injure any of them, and he only had four of them to deal with!
Hopefully, tomorrow would go better; I had convinced Pinkster to come out of hiding, and I had come up with another possible way to get my Flys in their building, which would hopefully go better than the last attempt. I hated working with animals, but trying to get rid of them was no easy task, either.
A/N: OH MY GOSH! I did it. I gave you Sive's past. XD What do you think? Tell me in a review! …Please?