Chap 26

Anya POV

Feeling a bit better after some more rest I was well enough to get dressed for dinner and squeezed in some much needed time on the project. Although after a while of fine tuning the model we made for school. I ended up tweaking the first prototype we made, that was a failure. It always applied way too much pressure to the actions we needed it to perform. But after much thought on it, it just didn't work for the purpose of the project. But outside of that, I think I can work on the settings to make the glove work offensively.

Oddly there is peace, I feel that I can only hear my own thoughts right now. They aren't muddled with those that are around me. Although not being able to hear the thoughts of others right now, I'm trying not to panic. Since this is the longest I've gone without my powers. I'm seriously trying to take into consideration using them only when needed. It's the only edge I have for the mission and I can't lose it. I need to be more careful.

Feeling a bit forlorn about the entire situation I walk out of my room, and see if my family can cheer me up. I walk into the main area where I see papa working away at dinner, he looks up at me and for a brief moment I catch myself wondering what he's thinking when he sees me. I shouldn't feel that way, maybe I've become too reliant on my powers.

"Anya, why don't you come over and give me a hand with dinner." Papa says with a warm smile on his face. I sulkingly walked over, but once I was in the kitchen. The smell immediately made me smile, it filled my heart with this warmth of the love that filled it. Maybe I never really paid attention when I tried helping Papa in the kitchen when I was younger. Even though those days I mostly was just getting in the way.

I put an apron on and tied my hair up loosely since I worked so hard on it, I didn't want to move it around too much and make it frizzy. "Where do you need me, Chef Papa." I say with a playful salute of reporting for duty.

"Why don't you thinly slice those up" he motions to the cutting board with scallions and jalapeno. "What did you decide to make?" I asked while I picked up the knife carefully and began slicing slowly and unevenly.

Papa stirs the large pot of the rich looking broth "Ramen since I figured you've been under the weather soup might help." I realize the pot is the source of the delicious smell. He looks over at me and shakes his head "Hold your hand like this, protect your fingers. Firmly chop as you go along like this." he holds his hands up curled and does the motion in the air for me to mimic.

I positioned my hand similar to his and chopped hesitantly and it was straight on one side but it got wider the slower I went. I went to press down again when I moved the hand holding the knife placing my thumb on the back of it trying to push it down. Papa said "No!" and went to reach out it was too late, I felt the prick of the metal away a couple layers of skin easily. Mama comes in after hearing our alarm and I walk over to the sink cupping under my hand as a small stream of blood goes down. Quickly mama has the water on motioning me to clean it off. She grabs a clean cloth from the cabinet and starts putting pressure on it.

"Ms. Anya you need to be careful!" worry is clear on her face. Her usual fascination with blood is not here, as her concern for me is at the forefront of her mind. "I'm sorry, I should wash my hands." I bow my head and feel silly, that I still can't help my father in the kitchen without doing something to him or myself.

"Once you stop bleeding then we can clean it up in the bathroom with the first aid kit." Mama says expertly. She holds pressure on my hand, yet it feels like it's holding so much more of me together. Knowing I have her and Papa's support. Although they make me feel grounded, I have this nagging overwhelming fear of failing, not only the world but those in my world.

Papa continues expertly chopping what he needed, and sighs saying "It's my fault I shouldn't have given her the task without properly showing her."

"No Papa, it's fine, it's a small cut. It's already not bleeding much." I hold up my hand trying to convince him. Mama ushers me over to the kitchen insisting we let him finish up making dinner. I sit on the toilet while mama mills around the bathroom a bit and I just look at her, and really wonder about where she came from. Even though I can read her mind at times, and know secrets she doesn't know that I know. She's still a mystery to me.

"How do you know how to clean a wound so well?" I try to press to see if I can get information organically since I can't use my powers still. For a moment she stiffens but then she quickly says "Yuri got hurt on occasion so I had to take care of his wounds." It wasn't what I was expecting, but since I didn't respond she must've taken that as a sign to continue.

"Sometimes I have to treat myself, like when I used to do my self defense classes and those types of injury prone activities." she says quietly.

"So…teach me the basics of how to treat a wound." I hold my hand up to her "I'll likely have more accidents in the future." she giggled at my self mockery. But it worked, she grabbed the first aid kit. She told me that before pouring any cleaning solutions that the bleeding needs to be stabilized. Then to clean it of debris and put some ointment on it and wrap it to keep it clean and from reopening.

"An easy way to remember it is to think of a cow." I tilt my head as she wipes the jelly mixture on my finger as she preps the bandage. "A cow? Why a cow?"

"The letters of cow can mean to control clean ointment and wound." she says with her finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"But Mama that's two Cs…" I am a bit confused but I understand the overall sentiment. Before she responds the doorbell rings, "it must be Damian." mama says clasping her hands together. We hear Papa call out that he'll get him. Suddenly I feel really nervous about tonight, now that all the players are meeting together and are all aware of the circumstances.

Mama must sense something amiss with me since she clasps my hands together and asks if I want to talk.

I pause for a moment reflecting on how I miss my best friend. "My mind…constantly drifts to Becky. I'm just worried that's all." She tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and says "We'll get her back, no matter what." and the look in her eyes I know that if it's within her power it's true.

We walk out into the main area and see Papa and Damian setting the table, which makes me smile. Who would've thought Damian Desmond would be setting a table at a commoner household. He's changed so much in such a short amount of time, or maybe I never gave him enough credit before.

He shoots me a smirk from across the room but quickly turns to greet my mother. My heart swells and even without reading his thoughts I just feel…almost full. That although I have a family I love and a man that I deeply care for, it all feels like someone is missing. I need my best friend back…sooner rather than later.

Damian POV

Throughout dinner, although the discussion was light and full of laughter and banter, not once did Anya's smile reach her eyes. I knew that something was holding her back, or something nagging her in the back of her head. I originally wanted to discuss what I discovered earlier with her only, but as dessert it seems Anya had other plans.

"I would actually like to discuss the matter about Becky, if we could." Anya says determination in her tone.

I don't pick up the fork to the cake in front of me, although I know Loid made it from scratch and it looks delicious. But I decided to focus on the topic fully, since there was a lot of information I got today. Loid and Yor glance over at me and back to Anya nodding in acceptance, the faces becoming serious.

"I just want everyone here to know that we're all going to be working on this together to make sure we're all protected. Keeping the people I love safe is a priority I don't want anyone else put in jeopardy." She exhales as if she needed to get that off her chest. Her mother nods agreeing with her "of course."

My heart skips a beat at the fact she includes me in the group of people she loves. I avoid physically shaking the thoughts out of my head since now is not the time to be pondering on how she or I feel about each other.

Loid leans forward with his elbows on the table as if he's deep in thought, but his gaze lingers on me. I try to avoid making any sudden movements, that would indicate I'm nervous but I must've failed miserably. "Is there something you want to add, Damian?" he asked me.

Anya looks at her father curiously but turns her gaze to me and her shining emerald eyes almost as if she could pull my thoughts straight from my head.

"I spent the day with my brother instead of going to school…" I pause, not really sure what to tell them that is relevant to what we need. Being put on the spot has my nerves rattled a bit.

"Did he say anything about Becky?" Anya asked with hopefulness oozing from her words.

"When we were at the manor earlier, he got a call from father and he requested he run an errand having to do with Becky…he didn't name her specifically, but I knew." I say lowering my head a bit as the memories come back.

"I know we have to get her out soon…that…he plans to dispose of her." I say almost through gritted teeth. I've never willingly told anyone information on my family or father. It feels wrong and an old buried part of me wants to get up and walk out.

But before I could do or say anything further, I felt a warm hand on my. I didn't realize it was shaking, and Anya had noticed it and clasped it in hers in encouragement. I threaded our fingers together and she gave me a reaffirming squeeze. "I know this isn't easy Damian, especially for you. I understand if you don't-"

I can't let her finish that sentence and think that I would allow my father to continue this ugly agenda of his.

"-No I need to do this." I look at her and look over at her parents. "I saw Becky earlier today…I know where she is and know the way to get to her. But we need to make a solid plan before we could make a move."

Loid takes out a notebook and pen that I didn't even know he had on him, and as soon as he put his pen at the top he looked at me and simply said "Tell me everything don't leave the smallest detail out."

I took a deep breath and realized that this is going to feel like an interrogation. But it needs to be done, for us to save Becky, and we need to do it soon.