Brandon came back after a few minutes.
"Where did you leave them?" She asked.
"Threw them to the sea," he said.
She turned her head around and wiped her eyes for the umpteenth time this night. He'd killed them and threw them away like garbage, but the worst part was that this time she couldn't even tell herself that it wasn't her fault. Yes, he was the one who killed them, but they were dead because of her, Brandon had warned her and even though the warning shouldn't have applied anymore by any reasonable standard, she should've known better.
"Stop crying," he said.
"I can't," she said, and added a sob for good measure.
"Fuck's sake," he said. "So what? Are you gonna cry for the rest of your life?"
"This is my life, so maybe," she answered with a glare.
He glared back, but said nothing. That really didn't help. In her eyes, he should apologize, or at least give a hint that he regretted anything he did, however little. But that was a lost cause, it had been since the beginning.
"I wish..." she started.
"What?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
"I don't know... Sometimes I wish that things could be normal..." she said, looking down.
"This again?" He asked, turning around. "We already talked about this, you had the option of rejecting me, you didn't. Are you having second thoughts?"
Something told her that he'd turned around so she wouldn't see his expression, or maybe so that he wouldn't see hers. Or maybe he just didn't want her kissing him to shut him up like the first time they talked after he killed someone in front of her.
"I can still leave..." He offered again, and something in his tone told her that he actually was considering it this time.
She hugged him from behind, noticing now that he was getting broad at the shoulders, and rested her face on the back of his neck. She whispered, "no, I don't want you to leave."
"Then why are you saying that you wish something else?" He asked.
"Because I do," she stated. He didn't want her to lie to him, so he should get used to blunt honesty. "But if I have to choose between not having you in my life and having you in it, even if that means people dying, then..."
"Then what?" He asked, even despite how close they were she barely heard his whisper.
"Then I'd rather be beside you," she concluded.
He turned around to face her, and there was a small smile in his lips, but what caught her was his eyes. They were the usual green, but there was something in his expression that almost overwhelmed her. He looked at her as if... She couldn't even describe it. It was more than possessive, but it wasn't lust either, and not tenderness. It was like a mix of all three, but at the same time different. Nobody had ever looked at her like that.
"You are," he said slowly. "And you will be, forever. I'm not leaving again, and I'm not letting you go."
He didn't even need to kiss her to show that he meant it, and he just put his forehead on hers, clearly content with her closeness. Neither of them spoke for a moment, but she finally broke the silence, "I do want to ask a favor, though..."
"What?" He asked, his eyes closed.
"Could you try not to kill anyone in front of me again?" She said and couldn't help the nervous laugh that followed.
He smiled, and chuckled, before saying, "alright, I'll see what I can do."
Then he kissed her, but not a heavy kiss like the one they shared before. This one was slow and tender, and he broke it himself after just a moment.
"We should probably get going," he said.
"Where?" She asked.
"I don't know, somewhere else. Don't feel like spending any more time in the house of the guy you cheated on me with," he said.
She huffed. "We were broken up."
"I think we established that no, we weren't. You were supposed to wait," he said, and his mocking smile was back.
"I hate you," she said, but couldn't help smiling back. Yup, something was seriously wrong with her; they were talking about the guy he'd killed because of her and somehow she was smiling. She blamed Brandon, he'd broken her.
"I know," he admitted, putting on a sad face before smiling again. "Let's go!"
And he lifted her bridal style, making her aware, once more, of how their proportions to each other were changing. Now she was feeling as if she was supposed to be in his arms, while before it was awkward given that she used to be the taller one.
Still, she protested, "please, can I fly on your back? It's less scary that way."
"You're really weird," he said, but allowed her to climb piggyback anyway. "I'd never let you fall."
"Don't care, I prefer flying this way," she said just before all the lights in the street turned off. A second later, they took off and the familiar fear came back.
"Why'd you turn off the lights?" She asked as they were flying away from Carlos's street.
"Don't want to risk anyone recording me near there, I'm not wearing my costume," he explained.
"I see... Hey, speaking of which, I could help you make a better one. The ones you've used are very creepy."
"I like them, and how do you know it's been more than one?" He asked. She could hear the smile in his voice.
"I saw the video with the jet," she explained. "And the others after that. The one you started wearing after the first got destroyed is a single piece instead of a hood and a cape separate."
"Correct. I'm glad you've done your homework, I almost feel like you're obsessed with me," he mocked.
"Shut up!" She said. "Why did you allow that missile to hit you? You could have made it explode with your lasers."
"Wanted to see if it would do anything," he said.
"That was a stupid risk, don't do it again," she demanded.
"Are you giving me orders?" He asked, his voice suddenly a monotone.
"No!" She exclaimed. "Not at all, I just don't want you to... well, to get hurt!"
He laughed. "Relax, I like that you worry about me."
She huffed before noticing that they were not just getting away from Carlos's house, they were leaving Kingman altogether.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Brightburn."
"Why?" She asked.
"Less chance of being bothered," he explained.
They fell silent until she remembered her mother, who might have been wondering where she was. She grabbed her phone and was thankful that it still had signal, if a weak one. She quickly dialed her mother's number.
"Hello?" Erica answered.
"Hi, mom? Just wanted to let you know that... Carlos's parents invited me to spend the night and was hoping if I could," she lied, and ignored Brandon's soft laughter.
"Cait... can't hear... something about Carlos's... rents?" The signal was really weak, she barely understood her mother.
"Sorry, mom, my phone seems to have terrible signal lately. Can I stay?" She asked.
"Sure... heart. See... tomorrow," Erica said.
"Thanks so much, mom. Love you," she said, and hung up right when her phone's signal died completely. They were now flying above the middle of nowhere.
"She bought that?" Brandon asked. "Damn, you really are a good liar."
"Well, I had to be. Remember all the time I kept you hidden?" She said, but that did remind her of something. "Speaking of that, you are living with your aunt and uncle..."
"Yeah," he said, his tone of voice suddenly somber.
"Have they... Have they figured something out?" She asked.
"I don't know," Brandon said. "My aunt kept trying to get me to talk for the longest time, but I knew you were right, I wouldn't let anything out if I just didn't talk about it. After a while she stopped, probably because I still do well in school and whenever I get out of the house, I do it without their noticing. I think she assumed that I just had to deal with it on my own."
She chose her next words very carefully, "so you didn't talk about it with her... Do you want to talk about it?"
"You asked me that, that time," he pointed out.
"Yes, and you didn't answer."
"What's there to say? My parents tried to kill me so I killed them first," he said, almost too fast for her to understand.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?" He asked, his voice strained.
"For everything, I'm sorry that they did that, I'm sorry that they talked me into it. You shouldn't have gone through that, I wish they hadn't," she said.
"It doesn't matter anymore," he said, but so low she almost couldn't hear him over the wind blowing around them.
"But..." she started.
"I said that it doesn't matter!" He exclaimed.
No, this time he wouldn't get his way. It was obvious that he wasn't ok with it. "No, you have to talk about that!"
"I didn't with my aunt, why would I do with you?" He asked.
"So you care more about your aunt than about me?" She asked.
"Fuck!" He exclaimed and then she felt a rush of adrenaline. For a split second it seemed like he'd dropped her, but he had just tossed her before catching her with his arms.
"What the...?" She choked out.
"Look at me," he said, and she did. His eyes were red, unsurprisingly. "I said that it doesn't matter."
"No," she repeated, arching an eyebrow. "You will talk about that! What's the worst that you can do to stop me? Kill me?"
Maybe she shouldn't insist and let him be, but she couldn't let it go. He needed to let it out, it was obvious from the way he spoke about it. And who knows, maybe he'd be calmer afterwards and more willing to spare people.
They were suspended in the middle of the air, but he just kept looking at her with no intention of moving. When it seemed like he wasn't going to talk, she opened her mouth, but he interrupted her, his eyes quickly filling with tears. "I miss them alright?! When they did that, when my dad came into the room... I kind of didn't want to feel anything, I just wanted to be done with this fucking world, with these... these humans, I wanted them all to die. I almost couldn't believe it, but I was so angry, I wanted them to pay, so I killed them! And it just made it worse, I just wanted to go straight into the ground and did with the entire world what I did with the house..."
He was crying openly now, but she wasn't deterred. "Why didn't you?"
"What?" He asked, tears continuing to fall from his eyes.
"Why didn't you destroy the world?" She knew why, but wanted him to say it out loud. Admitting it to himself might ensure that such a horrible idea would never cross his mind again. Hopefully.
"Because you were there!" He exclaimed. "I couldn't kill you, I can't, I won't. That's another thing I didn't want to feel."
"And that's why you left..." She hugged him as she said it. He merely nodded.
"How could they have done that? Why did they do it?" He asked.
"I think they were desperate," she whispered, still hugging him. "They didn't want to see their son killing people, but didn't know how to stop you."
"They couldn't," he said, finally lifting his head.
"Yes," she conceded. "So, like I said, desperate."
"And that's why you tried it too. To stop me," he said.
"Yes," she admitted. She almost averted her eyes, but resisted the urge. Still looking at him closely, she added, "but like I told you, I couldn't go through with it. I can't. I won't."
He looked at her with an inscrutable expression before asking, "do you think they would have stopped themselves too? If I hadn't... you know... killed them?"
It was obvious that this question had been plaguing him since that day, but it caught her completely off guard. She truly had no answer, she couldn't possibly know that, but that also was clearly not what he wanted to hear. Then again, maybe telling him what he wanted to hear was probably not the best choice, but it's not like she had any other. Slowly, she answered, "no, they seemed pretty convinced about it..."
He just looked at her for a moment longer with the same inescrutable expression, making it impossible to tell if he believed her or not. Finally, he let her climb on his back again before continuing the flight. Neither of them said anything until they arrived at his destination, which turned out to be her old house. Her old room, in fact, which they entered through the window.
"Have you been living here?" She asked, bewildered.
"Not all the time," he answered.
There was a bed and a desk in there, and it was clear that both had been used recently. There was a book on top of the desk and the bed was unmade. She looked around for a moment and back to him.
"You were watching me, like last time we didn't talk, right?" She asked.
"I tried not to," he said, looking at her with a blank face. "Like I said, I really didn't want to feel anything, but I couldn't stay away for long. I went every now and then, to check on how you were doing."
"I never noticed you," she said.
"I usually went for only a few minutes, in the middle of the night. I didn't come near unless I was sure you were asleep," he explained.
"And why did you come back now?" She asked, hoping that this time he'd answer even if she already had a pretty good idea.
"I went tonight, to your house... And saw you leaving with him," he said, his eyes flashing red for a second.
"How did you know where he lived?" She asked.
"As soon as I saw you with him, I went into your room and looked through your stuff," he said, not even caring about blatantly invading her privacy. " There was nothing, though, so I just followed you. When he finally stopped in front of a house I went through the back."
After that explanation, she couldn't bring herself to keep talking about Carlos; it was far too morbid. She was tired anyway so she sat on the bed and removed her shoes. Afterwards she lifted her eyes, which went wide at seeing that he had removed his shirt, confirming that, like she felt earlier, his arms were becoming thicker, his belly was flat and there was now an outline of abs there, and his chest was somewhat more defined.
"What are you doing?!" She asked.
"I'm not sleeping with a shirt, it's too hot, specially if you're sleeping next to me... Why? Like what you see?" And there was a teasing smile on his face. The nerve!
"It's... It's..." she couldn't even explain how it was inappropriate.
"Relax, I keep my pants on. Unless you want me to take them off..." He said, moving his hands to his belt.
"No!" She all but screamed, "keep them on!"
He simply laughed before grabbing the book on the desk and joining her on the bed. The lamp in the small table next to the bed turned on by itself, allowing her to look at his book and notice that it was a book on world religions.
It didn't take a genius to know that that's how he was picking targets, and she took her opportunity to ask the question that the entire world was wondering about. "Why religious places?"
He looked at her then and back at the book before answering. "Ever since those cops and later with the national guard I noticed something: whenever they get really scared, they start praying. So what best way to scare everyone than to show them than not even their holy places are safe?"
"So you don't believe in God?" She asked.
"I used to," he admitted. "Until I found out about... Well, about me. Seems like all I was taught about religion ended up being bullshit," he then looked at her and asked. "What about you?"
"I... I'm not sure anymore, but I've read about people saying that this... that you, could be actually a sign of the Apocalypse," she said.
He laughed at that before saying, "that's kind of cool. I can cause the end of the world, so they might be onto something,"
Damn it, he was still considering that. "I thought that you wanted to... take it."
"I do, and I'm working on that. Relax," he said with a smirk. "I said 'I can', not 'I will'."
She couldn't answer for a while, his idea of 'working on it' was just so strange. Finally, she asked, "are these attacks part of the plan?"
"I don't think I need 'plans', I can just keep going however I want," he answered. "But these attacks should help them realize that the only power they should believe in is mine so yes, I guess I could consider them a step towards the goal."
"I see," she lied. Maybe she'd truly understand some day.
It wasn't until they were ready to sleep when what was probably a silly question came to her. "Wait, how come there's power in this place?"
He didn't answer for a moment, "huh... I never actually wondered about that, I just came in soon after you left and there was. There's also water still. Maybe they just never bothered to cut the services."
Afterwards, they fell asleep in their usual spooning arrangement, with his hand on her belly. It was as if they had never been separated at all, the only change being that she was now very aware of his hot skin on her back, even if she had her shirt on. Still, she fell asleep more comfortable than she had in a long time.