Chapter 13 - The Offer.
"Okay. Kara, Hazel, I need to talk with Mana. Alone." The two of them glanced at each other, but they took the elevator to go somewhere. Meanwhile, I walked towards the model of my house, and unlocked the door, flopping down on the recliner, gesturing to the office chair across the room. "Sit. I need to talk about this with you." I say blankly, still registering the information that I'm not alone.
Mana takes a seat, dragging the office chair across from me. "You have powers. Are they like mine? Like a game?" I demand. She shakes her head. "They're more psychic than anything else. I can read most people's minds, the only exception seeming to be Empowered people. There's something blocking mental intrusion against most Empowered, apparently. Not saying I've been trying to pry, but I noticed you narrowing your eyes earlier. People's thoughts usually show up on a screen automatically, and yours were garbled, while it doesn't show up at all for the others, I looked a little critically. That's all." She explains.
I honestly believe her when she says she can't read me. She had little reason to lie, to what I know. Someone who could read thoughts would have to be considerably good at acting, and there's not even a whiff of any lies or truth-stretching from her. No whisper of a smile, no triumph in her eyes, when I decided that I believed her. The System even backed me up. Mental intrusion hasn't once worked on me, unless I asked the System to let my mental barriers down for a time, to help Kara practice a bit with some of her powers.
"I believe you. It's good to know I'm not the only Empowered alive. I figured most of us were in the hands of America. It's just good to know I'm not truly alone in this crazy world, you know?" I express. A smile appears on her face, and she stands up. "I'm glad we could find and meet you and your friends, Cyrus. Now, I'll leave you to settle in, and be sure to check in with Calo about that lens you need." She says, stepping towards the door to leave.
"One last thing, actually, Mana." I say, realizing something I was missing. "What's up?" She asks. I decided to take a gambit. I had reason enough to trust her, so why not? "System? Lower my mental guards for Mana until further notice." I mentally command, and it responds with a small "Ping!"
She raises her brows in surprise, and a "Ding!" rings out as her influence meter flies up a bit, and I start to talk. "With this Game System power I've got, there's this Party function," I begin, transmitting images of the screens through my mind to her, "and I figured that it may benefit us if you joined the party with the three of us? I've got a lot to explain, too, so I think it's best if you sit back down for a bit." She looks even more surprised with each word, and when I ask her to take a seat again, she complies.
I take a few hours, explaining everything that's happened, cutting out some unnecessary details, and finishing rather simply. "So, with the whole influence thing in mind, as well as everything else, what do you think? Do you want to join us? You don't have to by any means, but the option's there. You don't even have to choose now." She sits there for a few minutes, reading over everything that just got explained to her again.
"I'll think about it for a bit, and get back to you on that. But you really should settle in, and talk with Calo before the day's done. Thank you for trusting me enough with this. It means a lot." She says, finally getting up, and she walks out the door. "Well, that was a good use of time." I think aloud. So I get to work with 'reorganizing' my new home (read: making my new? Old? I'm not sure. Whatever the case, making my home a mess.)
I smiled when I saw my old room, cluttered as ever. I find myself reminiscing back to my childhood, when everything was simpler. Back when I was a half-decent student, and was friendly with a decent chunk of the kids, despite having all sorts of social issues, and coming back to this cluttered old room, to read, sleep, and just escape, and that remained consistent through high school, until I got the System.
I kept reminiscing, sorting through my memories, to where I was zoned out enough that I didn't notice Hazel coming in behind me. "You know, I never thought you were the type to be this disorganized." Her words jolted me out of my thoughts, and I brought my attention to her. "I didn't notice you coming in. Sorry. I'm just reminiscing." I explained briefly.
She nods, and asks the obvious question. "What's the deal with Mana? Is she Empowered? You'd said she was like you." I smile slightly. "Yeah, she is. I'm not sure if she's okay with talking about her power, though, so I can't share specifics. And she's chill. She has an influence meter, and I trust her regardless of that fact." I answer.
"Anyways, where's Kara gone off to?" I ask. "Last I saw her, she was fiddling with the lock on her door, trying to open it. I think she intends to reminisce a bit, too." Hazel explains. I nod. I could understand that. Despite all her pain that came from her home, she wants to see it again. Whether to come to terms with everything or what, I'm not sure. But it makes sense.
"Well, that's enough lingering in the past for me, hm? I'm gonna go find Kara. Feel free to look around a bit." I say suddenly, standing up. Hazel nods, and sits on my bed, just taking in all the small details of what was in there as I left.
As I came up to Kara's home, the door swung open. "Sorry. I'm used to opening it with a certain amount of strength, and I guess I haven't adjusted to it yet." Kara apologizes, a little absentmindedly. "Are you okay?" I ask gently. She takes a shaky breath. "I'm not sure. It's just a lot to take in. Imagine associating your home with pain, then you come back after what feels like years, to see all of what made it painful just... gone. It's weird, and I'm not sure I like it." She tries to explain.
I give her a small smile before responding. "You know... I get where you're coming from, though not to the extent you know, certainly. I've had moments, I've had doubts, on if my blood family ever really cared. If I was just there to be used. None of them were really perfect, and I haven't seen a hint of them since we left, and it's not a great feeling to know they probably didn't care." I ramble.
"I think, in the end, what I'm trying to say, is that regardless of where our families may be, it doesn't matter. We all have a new family now, right? The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and all that. We've found and chosen a family of our own. Our past doesn't have to define us here, but if any of us ever need to unload about it, we're all here to support each other. I'm always going to be here for you, and so will Hazel." I finish, wrapping my arms around her gently in a hug.
"Honestly, if you don't feel comfortable or safe in this house, I've got plenty of beds in my home, and Hazel has another two, as you know. You're welcome to stay with either of us." I offer. We stay like that for a minute, Kara just leaning into the hug, before I hear her crying. I start internally panicking. How do I handle someone crying into my shoulder like this? "Everything's just been so much. How did we get here? How did this happen? I was just running away, and now I'm here, with some of the most wonderful people I've met. It's a miracle, almost." She sobs.
I just sat there in shocked silence, rubbing her back as she rambled on. After a while, she quieted down, just dissolving into the occasional hiccup and shaky breathing. "Kara, I know it's been a lot. I'm here for you every step of the way though, alright? Don't worry about it. We're all here for each other. We're family." I said, echoing my sentiments from earlier.
She remained silent for a minute, until she looked up to glance at a clock I didn't even notice was there. 5:30 PM. "You should go look for that merchant Mana mentioned. I'm alright now. I needed that." She tried. There was a noise to signal my internal lie detector. Thanks, System. That wasn't an obvious lie at all about her wellbeing.
"Do you need time alone to cope?" I clarified. Her guarded expression immediately crumbled. "Yeah." She replies weakly. "I'm gonna let Hazel know that you need time to yourself, but I'm gonna have her come here in 20 minutes to check in, and make sure you're okay. Alright?" Can you blame me for being concerned? I know she needs her time, but I don't want to risk her doing anything rash. Kara nods, and I step away, breaking the hug to go find Calo the merchant.
