AN: Hello readers! I have returned with the long-awaited chapter of the meeting with Silas Wright in which he finally appears within the present of the timeline.

I honestly thought this chapter was going to be as short as the one before it, but nope. It somehow reached the level of what I normally do and is basically all original content (or as original can be within a fanfic using the source material) since Railgun would have skipped to July 24th at this point (which will happen within the next chapter).

Well I won't hold you all up here for much longer, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! By the word count and trigger warning, you can probably tell that this meeting is definitely going to be an ordeal for all parties involved...

As always, please leave a review on anything you liked, think I should work on, or just any questions in general! I enjoy reading them and I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:)


Disclaimer: I do not own A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index or any of its characters...the only things I own are:

1. My characters and

2. my ideas


Trigger warning:

Due to Silas, a man prominently known by now to be Asher's verbally abusive stepfather, being on full display, this chapter has mentions of child abuse, trauma, and a small bit of *self-harm towards the end

(*it's not to the extent that you may be thinking right now, but I think it's still needed to be addressed just in case. To keep down the worry, though, Asher is alright.)

With all the above listed, please read at your own discretion.


Chapter 29: The Return of Silas Wright

2 years ago…

Asher's consciousness slowly but surely started to come back to her as she was finally able to crack open her eyes.

Silas had pushed her extensively during this last trial. The sound that his device had given off was so intense that it felt like it had reverberated within her entire soul, feeling one of the worst pains she had ever endured thus far from his experiments as intense aches radiated immensely from all of the pain receptors in her body. The last clear memory she had was when she collapsed onto the ground and must have fainted since this is the first time she remembers regaining consciousness.

Usually when this happens, he would use adrenals to forcefully push her back into awakeness and start over the trials for that day as probably a means of both punishment and an incentive to not fail and waste his time.

This time in particular must have been different, however, since she was alone in the testing room as a small amount of light filtered into the window, noticing that the sun had nearly set in the sky. Meaning he must have called it a day and left her there due to her failure for not being able to reach his standards or goals he had set for her each and every day.

It had been midday when she had gotten here, letting her know that several hours had passed since then from seeing the sun at its lowest point with the moon due to arrive at any moment.

Her whole body was covered in a cold sweat as it felt like it was at war with itself, being dragged down into exhaustion while being stimulated with an overwhelming amount of adrenal most likely pumped into her system to stir her out of the unconscious state she was in.

She slowly and shakily rose up to her feet, panting under her breath as everything in front of her was twisting and turning nauseatingly. She began to stagger towards the exit with her form slumped over slightly, pushing herself forward to make it back to her dorm room at least at some point tonight.

"I-I h-have…to do this…I h-have to see this until the e-end no matter…w-what happens. For me….th-this city…a-and for her…..to make sure s-she's safe…." She mumbled to herself, a mantra that she had been saying to herself over and over again whenever she had doubts on continuing with these trials for Project WaveInflux.

She stumbled in one of her steps and fell down to the ground after a massive amount of ringing pierced her skull. She clawed and scratched at it as she rubbed her temples in an effort to relieve the pain, holding herself back from screaming as she bit down on the side of her lip.

Her eyes were growing into a bright crimson that was intensifying each passing moment as a smirk gradually crept upon her face, unknowingly starting to laugh under her breath as her pain increased to newer heights than she was used to.

"Power….hehehahaha…So much power….AHAHAHAH! SO MUCH POWER FLOWING THROUGH ME! I want more and more and more to allow me to still keep actually feeling something for once! To not feel so freaking empty anymore when I'm not around her!" She shouted as her hold on reality began to slip as she began getting lost within the delusions within her head.

"He says it's almost over, meaning this pain and suffering will make sense soon right!? To give me the control I've striving for nearly 2 years now in order for me to not be dangerous! To allow others to make sense of what I want them to see! And to finally be worthy to be Mikoto's friend as there would never be a chance she'll ever fear me like so many have in my entire life! I….I-I….I-W-we..nghrh!"

She slowly snapped herself out of the manic state she was in, clenching the side of her face as her eyes faded into their regular blues as fear came across her features from what had so willingly came from her own lips.

'Wha-What's happening to me?' She thought as she began to feel sick all of the sudden.

'I keep shifting without even meaning to..a-and I'm just flooded with all these intense emotions and thoughts that I nearly get lost in them every single time it happens.'

'So much noise. My mind can't process it all even though that device isn't even on right now.'

'It's getting worse. Why is it still getting worse and worse and worse!?''

Before she could think any further her entire body stiffened when she felt something hot come up her throat as her hands instantly went to cover her mouth. She tried keeping whatever it was down but couldn't keep it from seeing the outside any longer as she went down onto her hands to dispel it.

When she looked down, her eyes widened even further as her skin immediately paled, seeing a whole pool of blood in front of her as dizziness came to her in waves.

"Damn it….anoth…er…over….dose…nngh…" She said under breath as she felt her body beginning to slump to the side without her control.

'Th-This isn't good…I can hardly move…an-and no one's here...' She thought as her breathing began to grow harsher and harsher.

'I n-need….t-to...call someone….I feel like I'm about to pass o-out so I need to do it quickly bef-before that happens….'

She strained and struggled to move her hand to get into her pocket, bringing her phone up to her face as she went down to the M's within her contact list.

'There's a chance she'll ask questions later, but that honestly….d-doesn't matter right now….she's probably the closest one to get here quick enough to….he-help me…or I m-might.' She thought as she landed on the name of 'MK' in her contact list.

Her vision wavered for a few seconds as she closed her eyes, not feeling her thumb slip to go one below as she pressed 'select' to dial the number.

Her eyes cracked open as her grip went slack enough for her phone to fall on the floor, trying her best to keep herself awake as it continuously rung. After a few moments she heard the line pick up, feeling her eyes widen when she heard the voice that came onto the phone.

'Wait isn't that…she usually is….'

"Himari Asher-Wright speaking…oh wait, Zierdan is that you? It has been a while since I've heard from you. How have you been?"

Before she could say anything, her body stiffened once more as she immediately forced herself onto her arms once again as more bile and blood came out of mouth, gagging loud enough for Himari herself to hear as she started to become slightly concerned.

"Zierdan? Are you alright? Aren't you supposed to be at your dorm around this time of day?"

"M-Mom…I….I-I don't…feel right…s-send….send m-me some h-help…please…." Asher rasped as she collapsed hard onto the floor below her, starting to lose consciousness. "It…h-hurts…it hurts so much. I can't get th-the…noise to stop anymore. I-It won't go aw-away."

The usual stoicness in her voice faded into one of desperation as she felt herself falling into the darkness that took over her vision...

Hoping that someone, anyone would come here and find her.

She was sent into an overwhelming heated haze as it felt like her body was on the verge of shutting down on itself from how much stress she had gone through. Multiple images passed through her mind that made no sense to her as she tried fighting some type of force trying to keep her restrained in some way after a while of stirring on whatever she was laying against.

That was until she felt something shot into her like some type of tranquilizer dart as she felt her body that had been on its feet for a time unknowingly began to sag forwards after she was able to see the bleary faces of two people: her mother and the person she thought to most likely be Yoshikawa who had been ready to catch her.

She didn't have much time to think or fully confirm it, though, as she fell into darkness again just moments after they had shouted her name.


July 22nd, 1:00PM

School District 17 Prison Facility

Asher was jarred out of her memory after she was finally able to feel Misaka shake her for the 10th time on the Electromaster's end, feeling a small ache behind her eyes when she did as she gripped the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh.

This had probably been the 4th or 5th time this had happened in the span of time they had been on their way here to this place, leaving Asher strained as she had already been stressed out at this point due to their meeting with Silas nearing as well as from Saten not returning any of her calls or texts since yesterday.

It made her feel a certain way that she didn't have a hard time describing surprisingly, narrowing it down to some type of feeling of sadness and abandonment from being ignored so blatantly from someone that she could say mattered to her.

Misaka had noticed this but since Asher hadn't vocalized that it was due to Saten's radio silence, she pegged it to be due to this meeting that they were about to do with her stepfather which wouldn't be all that far from the truth.

"Zierdan, hey, are you alright? I think you've reached your record today in zoning out on me in just like an hour." Misaka said in a joking manner that didn't hide the underlying concern in her voice from seeing how spooked and distant Asher had seemed to be ever since this morning.

"Yeah I am and s-sorry about that." Asher replied as she closed her eyes. "I held off on taking my anxiety medication until it timed out to where it would be in full effect right now. I guess I'm still dealing with some of the side effects because of it."

Misaka nodded at that as she took a step forward to go into the doors of the prison before she felt someone lay a shaky hand on her shoulder, looking back and seeing some amount of fear trying to be hidden within Asher's stoic gaze.

"Wait a second Mikoto, there's something I need to tell you before we go in there." Asher stated, hearing her friend let out a groan as she sent her a smile.

"We've already talked about this Z. There's nothing you're going to be able to say that's going to change my mind in being in the room with you."

"That isn't what I was going to say due to logically knowing how pointless it is to deter you from something that you already have your mind set on to do. But one thing I'm telling you to do is to keep that short temper of yours under control no matter what he says to me. Something that I want you to make sure I don't fall for as well." Asher said serious enough that Misaka stopped in her tracks, sweating dropping from the blue eyes practically staring right into her soul. "He may not know you all too well, but he knows that you're close to me and will exploit it any way he can to irritate and set off the both of us for his own amusement. Do not allow him to do it or we'll both end up getting thrown out or even possibly arrested due to our or most likely your illogical behavior from falling for his traps. Understood?"

Misaka nodded her head vigorously due to the amount of seriousness focused all towards her to where she wouldn't dare cross the esper due to the underlying potential threat towards her if such a thing were to happen.

"A-And Mikoto…" Asher said after a while as she let go of her shoulder.

When Misaka looked back at her, she was taken aback slightly by how she looked, almost reminding her of how she used to be when they were younger from how tense and anxious she seemed to be as if she wanted to curl into a ball instead being where she was.

"Th-Thanks for being here with me. You could've just done what I asked and stayed at the dorm or helped with whatever Kuroko and Uiharu are doing. But you decided to be here instead, which is something I value greatly. I keep forgetting that even though I went through this directly, you were about as involved, meaning this will probably drag up some memories that aren't the best for you either."

Silence fell between them for a time before Misaka let out a small laugh, walking up to Asher as she pressed her index finger up to her forehead.

"I appreciate hearing that from you, but just know that I am here for you and only you, not for whatever information we'll gain because of the Level Upper. I won't lie and say that you're wrong because you're right in the fact that there are some things that…I even have a hard time thinking about when it comes to this man. Just keep your head up about as much as you have been before today and know that you're going to be okay, alright?"

Asher mutely nodded her head before she felt Misaka grab her hand to pull her inside, not even trying for an instant to relinquish it no matter how much her mind was screaming at her to run away in the other direction.


Asher and Misaka sat in one of the interrogation rooms as they waited for Yomikawa to escort Silas here. It was split with a glass screen through the room, granting them a level of separation as they sat at a table on the other side of it.

Misaka looked over in concern at Asher whose stoic face contrasted with the amount that her nerves seemed to be trying to get the best of her in anticipation for his arrival. She didn't want him to know or find amusement in the anxious state just the thought of him put her in or even show the actual damage he did to her by keeping her Amps out of her ears during how ever long this was going to be.

Even with doing all she could to be somewhat calm, she was rubbing the back of her neck so hard that Misaka honestly thought she would leave a bruise on it at some point, also hearing how fast her heel was wildly taping on the marble floor below them. She couldn't stand to see her like that anymore at some point, automatically grabbing the hand that had most likely nearly worn some of her skin away and put it down on her leg to restrain it from going back up there to do it again.

"Zierdan you need to calm down." She said gently as she heard her let out a shaky sigh. "If need be, you can rest your hand here and keep the other one gripped on your knee just in case you feel inclined to do what you were just doing again."

Asher didn't trust that her voice could work at this moment, only sending her a nod as she closed her eyes to calm the heart that felt like it was racing in her chest.

This was such a reaction that she hadn't expected to come out of her since she had done pretty well most of the time when it came to controlling her anxiety, now sitting here doing some of the breathing and counting exercises her doctor had recommended her to do when she felt like this that she hadn't had to do in such a long while.

It was like her body was to the point of violently rejecting just the thought and probability of Silas being present on the other side of the glass of her, feeling the skin on the back of her neck crawl as she kept herself from rubbing it by gripping so tight on the knees in her grasps that she knew it probably hurt Misaka to some extent from gradually feeling the ache radiate from her own knee due to her white knuckled grip.

At this rate, she was going to reach the limit that she had promised Yomikawa that she would try her best not to exceed or force herself to struggle through, feeling herself shaking at some point as she came close to walking out of this room and wouldn't turn back.

Before she could, however, she felt her body or at least one of her hands begin to relax as she looked over and saw Misaka rubbing comforting circles on top of it.

"Nothing is going to happen to you. Just keep reminding yourself of that and focus on what you're wanting to do, not what you want to run away from. It's time for you to face your past along with your demons so you can finally start looking towards your future." Misaka said warmly as determination burned in her eyes.

It caused Asher's mouth to go agape from not knowing what to say to that before she let out a sigh as she wore a determined look of her own and relaxed the tension in her body as her anxiety went down to a manageable level.

Everything is going to be fine. I'm going to be alright, she thought to herself repeatedly.

The only way he can hurt me is if I allow it to happen.

With Mikoto sitting here beside me and by the fact Miss Yomikawa will be here too….

I'll be able to find the strength so something like that is not even a possibility.


Yomikawa came to a stop by the cell that was located next to her, automatically glaring at the man inside that darkened even further when she heard him laugh on the other side of the bars.

There sitting on the bed sat the 34-year-old man known to be Silas Wright. Even with the limited facilities at his disposal, he was still able to maintain his usually trimmed beard as well as keep his brown hair slicked back with almost upmost perfection.

"About time that girl got here." He stated as he rose up, watching on as Yomikawa unlocked his cell and rolled something into his view. "I was starting to think my prediction would be correct in her not having enough backbone to actually show up."

Yomikawa remained quiet, knowing that he was just trying to get under her skin like he normally did, letting silence ring out around them as she waited for him to get situated and lock the cuffs around his hands that would keep his ability canceled out even outside of his cell.

"Are these really necessary? After two years, do you really peg me to be as foolish enough to try to escape in the current state I'm in?" He asked, layering his voice with sadness that some would believe to actually be genuine.

"Do you see me as foolish enough to allow a psychotic and heartless man like you within 5 feet of Asher without these on?" Yomikawa asked angrily as her eyes met with amused grey ones. "The only reason I'm allowing you to be there even with these on is because Asher had the courage to ask me to. You should give her more credit."

He smirked at that as they began to travel down to the interrogation room that Misaka and Asher were waiting for them in.

"You keep reminding me so much of Kikyou at times. You're just about as naïve she is and about as foolish as that other girl in actually trying to care for that husk of a human being whose worth only comes from the potential that ability of hers has. If you see me as heartless, I'd say she's probably worse when you actually see her true self. Something I've been on the receiving end of in which I've barely scrapped by with my life twice now."

"Ironic from the fool calling another a fool. A failure that was too egotistical to know when he should've stopped but only went to doing the same mistake that led him to where he is today. If only Himari were still here to be able to tell you how disappointed she is in you for what you purposefully did to Asher and her father for some pointless and twisted fantasy to exploit a child."

The smirk that had been on Silas's face completely fell when hearing that, falling silent to hide his expression of irritation that was only seen by the tight grip he had on his arm rests.


Asher jumped slightly as Misaka was able to calm her nerves again with a comforting squeeze, seeing a door on the other side of the glass open up as the form of her stepfather walked in.

Or more specifically to some surprise to Asher and Misaka, that he actually was rolled in within a wheelchair due to the brace located on one of his legs as Yomikawa put him place before she shut the door to go out and into the side of the room that they were currently sitting in.

Misaka felt trembling intensely come from the hand that was resting on her knee, though looked over at her friend who forced her stoic face to not let on any of the fear that she knew had to be coursing thought her from how pale she seemed to get within just a couple of seconds.

"Well well, well, if it isn't my little stepdaughter actually coming to see me after all this time." Silas said with his patented smirk that only grew when silence persisted on, laughing in amusement of the expression located on Asher's face. "What is it? Still can't talk to the man who is responsible for raising you since you were around 5-6 years old to get you to be the person you are today?"

Misaka felt her anger sky rocket from hearing that as a flash of electricity came from her hair. She abruptly rose up as her hands slammed onto the table. "How dare you! What the hell do you even mean by-"

"Mikoto." Asher said serious enough that sent the Electromaster into silence as a massive chill went down her back. "Remember what I said before we got in here."

"But Z-"

She bit back her retort as her anger went on the back burner from seeing how cold Asher's gaze was in her direction, reluctantly finding herself sitting down as Asher immediately placed her hand in the position of where it was before.

"Still as patient as ever I see." Silas said as he sat his head into his hand. "With that stoic voice of yours almost as how I remember it without holding even a semblance of emotion behind it. Guess even someone like you can't change to be close to some type of human or motivate yourself to stand by what I've taught you of foolish desires in trusting others like you do with the girl sitting next to you. What would you even gain from her or that other woman being here when they'll just abandon you when they stop ignoring who you truly are as person?"

Yomikawa and Misaka were trying their best to hold themselves back when they saw Asher between them go deathly still and silent before she let out a sigh. They both stiffened when they saw the intense presence of the gaze that she sent over to Silas.

"And you're still such an illogical psychopath and the definition of the one person in this point in my life that I can genuinely say I actually loathe and hate whenever my energy allows it." Asher retorted darkly. "Even though you hold the title you say you have, I have never once in my life saw you as my stepfather even during the time where I actually allowed your words to twist the perception I had of myself for your own amusement. And with that, I'd suggest not even trying to go for anyone but myself, or you won't like what happens when you continue to try and piss me off as you already have within seconds of you just arriving here."

"Wow, quite a surprise to hear you speak let alone such coarse words towards me without being in your Redshifted state. Something that I say is your true nature that you prevent yourself from rising to due to your own ignorance." Silas remarked with some interest in his voice. "Though, even if you said it in such a rude way towards me, I guess I have it in me to at least do that for my step-daughter."

Misaka felt the grip on her knee tighten enough that she had to bite back a wince before she felt it relax after a while as the air seemed to shift out of the coldness that had encircled all of them previously.

"You've always had such an innate fascination with that part of my ability that you know first-hand shouldn't be messed with due to the current state your leg must be in to prevent you from walking by yourself. But that'll be something we might talk about later. Right now, we're trying to hear your take on a new device being wanted and acquired by many low leveled espers within the city."

"Why should I even be inclined to grant you such knowledge?" Silas asked.

"Because," Asher began to say as her blue eyes met with lightless gray.

"It's most likely based off your research."


A little while later…

After Asher was able to explain everything she knew of the Level Upper, everyone within the room saw Silas's face darken as he grit his teeth before slamming his cuffed hands down on his arm rests.

"Damn you old geezer!" He said under his breath. "Still you somehow find a way to degrade me and probably convinced the board to let me rot in here while you reap the rewards of my brilliance!"

Asher knew from the beginning that something like this would get him talking. She knew him to be the type of person to not want to share any of his knowledge with others if it was for free, only wanting to keep all of it to himself until he could make some type of profit or get some type of grand reaction from his collogues or others around him.

But even with that, she flinched when he had become so angry so suddenly, finding herself remembering all of the times he would do it with her to the point she started to shake. He would get mad like this at times, especially whenever she could never bring herself to talk to him, always shouting and screaming mean things about her that she always gave off the impression it didn't hurt her when they did after so many years later.

It was also those periods of time when he didn't get angry at the things he usually did when it came to her that always seemed to scare her the most, especially during the experiment, always left with the threat of having to do all of the painful trials again just for the fact that she passed out from him pushing her so hard. She would always curl up into a ball whenever she got to her room because of this, always scared that he would come in and do some of the things that he promised to do to her at times from failing him and herself from not having enough drive to find out how to "control" her ability.

"You're always so foolish to think that you'll get better with meaningless effort like that. Fail again and you might not like the consequences if we do this all over again today and tomorrow." She remembered him saying to her sometimes, almost echoing in her mind loud enough to cause her eyes to widen even further in fear as her expression was hidden under the shadows of her hair.

I would beg…plead to him th-that I would do better and that I just couldn't keep myself from fainting o-or throwing up as much as I did at times from the stress of those trials…bu-but he wouldn't believe o-or listen to me and said I should blame myself for what happens next.

And I did…

I-I always did no matter how much i-it….saddened me or how much I th-thought it wasn't my fault…

Bu-But it was….wasn't it? I f-failed him….a-and myself.

These thoughts were enough to nearly bring her anxiety up to the way it had been when she had gotten here. It was also enough for both Yomikawa and Misaka to notice, with the latter confused as to why she had gotten so anxious as she had all of the sudden when she felt her hand shaking so much.

Yomikawa, however, was able to pick up the reason fairly easily, seeing this a lot from children who were abused during their lives during her years working within Anti-Skill. Even if Asher tried to hide it or not act like it at times, she knew that she fell into that department as well, probably being reminded of Silas's anger coming towards her when they had been housed together.

"I-I didn't mean to make you an-angry like that Silas." Asher said in almost a whimper that Misaka and Yomikawa could hardly hear. "I'm s-sorry…"

Silas was too caught up in his own irritation to even hear this but it caught the full attention of the other two within the room with her as Misaka tried to shake her shoulder gently to snap her out of the state she was in from hearing that last phrase repeated over and over again as she began to curl into herself after putting both of her hands on the sides of her head.

"I'm sorry…I'm s-sorry…s-s sorry…I d-didn't me-mean to mess up. I'-I'll be better n-next time. I promise…I-I promise!"

"Zierdan? Hey, Zierdan snap out of it." Misaka whispered to soothe her but to no avail as it only seemed make her tremble even more to her surprise almost as if she was scared of her, but took a few moments to click that it was indirectly because of Silas.

Yomikawa laid a hand on Asher's back and couldn't let this go on for much longer when it seemed like she was on the cusp of crying, looking over at Misaka with a concerned look on her face. "Hey, can you take her out of here for a second so that she can calm down?" She asked. "I'll write down notes just in case he says something while you two are out of the room."

Misaka nodded her head and swiftly scooted Asher's chair back when she rose up to her feet and bent down into her view where it almost seemed like she stared right through her, seeing the light within her blue irises completely dull. She sent a small shock of her electricity to create a familiar numbing sensation, seeing a little light appear in her eyes for a time as her gaze widened from her finally noticing that she was below her.

"M-Mikoto when did you-?"

"I'm going to take you out to the hallway for a second to give you some air to think alright?" Misaka said warmly enough that Asher didn't reject it and allowed her to guide them out of the room.

When she got out there, Asher looked down at her hands when she sat her back on the wall behind her. They were still shaking, trembling so much that it felt like she had no control over her body anymore.

"We ha-have to start again…I failed…I'm a failure….and it's my fault. A-All my fault." she mumbled under her breath almost trance like as the light in her eyes seemed to fade again, finding the scene around her fade into the room she had trained in countless times during the experiment.

Before she could get stuck in it any further, Misaka took up the entirety of her vision as she brought both of her hands to gently clench hers and gently bring them to her sides.

"Zierdan look at me and listen for a moment." Misaka stated. She didn't continue any further until Asher's eyes were able to meet with her own, bringing a hand to wipe the tear threatening to fall form her eye. "'Hey, you're okay. You aren't doing the experiment anymore. You are here with me and Miss Yomikawa in School District 17."

"B-But Mi-Mikoto I did something b-bad. And S-Silas…h-he's angry with m-me." Asher whimpered which caused Misaka's heart to sink from hearing the amount of fear in her voice. "I'm going to have to do an-another tr-trial or re-restart completely eve-even so late in the day. He's g-going to make m-me restart and it's because I f-failed. He's g-gong to punish m-me or yell at me when w-we get home. H-He's going to hu-hurt me by making me h-hear that awful noise ag-again and again no m-matter how many t-times I say it hu-hurts. Be-Because I de-deserve it…Be-Because I'm a w-worthless failure…an-and so foolish…"

Crap it's not working. It might've been too late for me to snap her out of this flashback I think she's having. Misaka thought, getting sadder and sadder from a sight she hadn't seen to this extent in a long while.

It happened so suddenly that I wasn't able to catch it time. It usually takes much longer for her now to get to the point where she thinks she's back there. Did Silas really do this much damage to her that just his anger is enough to trigger such an adverse reaction to it…

She gave her hug after a while, knowing that it wouldn't be reciprocated at this moment as Asher kept talking to herself under her breath almost as if she didn't even know she was there. It took a minute or two before she was able to feel her hands gradually tighten around her form as she felt the tenseness of her body fade when she laid her head into her shoulder and let out a shaky breath.

"Zierdan?"

"S-Sorry about that." Asher sighed. "Those feelings and memories just overwhelmed me so quickly that I wasn't prepared for it. I think I'm calm enough to go back in there now."

Asher didn't even give Misaka time to respond when she walked out of her hold and into the interrogation room, wanting to hide the look of disappointment on her face from the thought of Silas being able to do that to her without even actually trying to do it.

Reminding her that his psychological hold and influence he had over her to make her believe things she wouldn't have otherwise thought before were still deeply ingrained within her already damaged psyche.


The interrogation resumed as they skipped over the part relating to who the "old geezer" was in an effort to prevent from angering the man any further.

He explained that he was the only one who had copies of his research and most likely had distributed it to the unknown creator of the Level Upper who seemed to somehow change the formula to apply sound to multiple brain waves instead of just Asher's specifically.

He agreed (surprisingly) to her analysis of the Level Upper's connection to the waveform device he used to project the sound to connect to her wavelength, with this sound in particular used in the form of a type of song of some sort that is able to connect others for a reason that they still had yet to figure out. Since they didn't have a lot of facts to go off on that as it had been a recent development within this investigation, Asher hadn't come up with how this connection system works to where an esper's brainwaves connected to the Level Upper to increase their level.

Even though he was a specialist in this sort of thing, Silas remained adamant of not providing his thoughts on that part of the topic, wanting them to find out for themselves since he wouldn't get anything out of the exchange anymore.

This is where Misaka and Yomikawa thought it would be best to end this meeting due to how much just sitting in front of him was straining Asher enough to physically react to his presence. But she tried to remain strong in the face of that by surprising them when she muttered her first word after the longest while.

"Silas," She said as she looked down at her lap, not seeing his grey eyes gaze over at her. "Why did you do all this?"

He let out a dismissive sigh. "Do what? You're going to have to be more specific and speak up from that annoying mumbling habit you've always had. That defiance from earlier when you got in here must have been a façade in comparison to the scared and trembling girl before me."

The lights in the room flashed slightly as Misaka for around the 100th time had to hold herself back from exploding at the man in front of her, knowing at this point that it probably was his side objective by tearing down her best friend right in front of her face.

Before Silas was able to say a snide remark about it, Asher let out a sigh of her own as she looked over at him with a new determination shining within her gaze. "Be more specific? That is such an illogical thing to ask the girl who you made it your mission to make her life a living hell for 9 years of her life and left her without both of her parents by killing them and forced her to undergo a stupid experiment that nearly ended in the deaths of everyone within this city."

"Ohhhhh, right." Silas said with some type of groan. "That's a complicated puzzle that I don't think you want to solve Zierdan. But to put it simply, you had everything I wanted that you didn't deserve for someone like you who was completely blind to it. I tried to show you that in any way I could as well as build you to be the person that you should have been versus what you are now."

As Asher's eyes widened in shock, Misaka let out a snarl under her breath as she slammed her hand down on the table, with her electricity sparking high enough to take out one of the bulbs within the room.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!? THAT WAS YOUR REASON YOU DID ALL OF THIS CRAP TO HER!?" Misaka asked angrily. "Who just goes around and decides what someone does or doesn't deserve, especially to someone who was your own stepdaughter!? You were the damn reason why she closed herself off to everyone, just because you made her think there would be no one she could trust and that she wasn't worth anything to be trusted! And then you made her reject herself and others emotionally by appealing to her logic and twisting it to fit your own twisted desires!"

"Exactly, I couldn't have said it better myself Railgun." Silas simply stated that caused Misaka to stop in her tracks. "And you were the final piece of the puzzle that I hadn't considered at first."

"Me?" Misaka questioned in disbelief as she hadn't expected him to say that. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I hadn't expected you to be able to conclude that yourself, so it's not surprising you're shocked to the point you can't think deeper than what you see on the surface. Though as much as it pains me to admit sometimes, I bet Zierdan has connected the dots even before my confirmation of your piece to this puzzle." Silas speculated before he smirked as he looked over to the girl who had a massive shadow on her face. "Am I right in that department, Zierdan?"

"So that's it and has been this entire time. Something I thought on briefly but illogically believed you had more sense than to want something like that." Asher said mostly to herself before she brought up her eyes that burned with intense purple. "You were trying to bend my personal reality on your terms and not my own to get me to where I would always be passively on full redshift versus blueshift which I'm normally at to some extent even without activating my ability. You essentially wanted to be in control of me within that state by making it to where I would only trust your judgment by forcing me in the mindset to always question my own…"

"It was all for your optimal outcome within Project WaveInflux where you wanted to expand my personal reality by making me into a Level 6, using my relationship with Mikoto as a motivation factor and speculated that the Redshift side of my ability was powerful enough to withstand any power increases and obtain a stable Level 6. It worked by getting me to do the experiments but ended up instead making it to where my personal reality split in two by creating two distinct personalities in full redshift and blueshift respectively that couldn't stably allow me to reach level 6 before the power struggle would have imploded into itself or my psyche would have been decimated under the pressure from all of that."

"You've always been one to ruin the fun in everything by knowing more than you should." Silas said amusedly. "Though, all of what you said is right on the money. Go on, is there something else?"

Misaka who was still caught up in her prior shock, felt her body stiffen up from what she was picking up on her radar, feeling sweat falling down the side of her face when she looked back over at Asher. The air had gotten noticeably heavier as red was slowly but surely creeping up at the ends of hair, seeing her lips getting firmer and firmer in what she knew to be restrained anger for whatever she was about to ask.

"Even with all of what I just said, I can't seem to figure out why that involved killing my mother in the way that you did when I had already agreed to do the experiment without her even involved in my decision." Asher stated, feeling her irritation skyrocket when she heard Silas let out a laugh under his breath.

"Another one of my wonderous plans to motivate you even further when you reached a stall in your development during the experiment. The Himari that I loved was already gone at that point anyway from her falling weak about as much as that fool of a husband she had in which she chose irrational feelings of concern of your well-being versus what I could've done to advance science even further with the various applications your particular and basically complete hold over gravity has." He explained casually. "She injected you with something as a foolish attempt at trying to stabilize you and planned to create something to suppress the damage even further. I found out and gave her the choice of her life by telling me where she hid it and her research or to indirectly aid me with my experiment by sacrificing herself for the name of research. A choice that I believe was right no matter how much I miss seeing her."

Silence rang out in the room as the room began to notably shake as Asher unknowingly took hold of the gravity around her as she rose up to her feet and began to walk towards the glass dividing the two rooms.

"Are you basically telling me that you rationalized killing my mother for the fact that you believed she would be okay if you did for your own damn experiment that amounted to nothing in the end?" She asked darkly as red began to sear in both her vision and eyes. "If this…is some type of joke, then I can tell you for a fact that it's not funny whatsoever! And will end in a way you wouldn't want it to if it progresses any further!"

"Aw it seems Ash has come out to play." Silas said in amusement. "And her death did amount to something as it allowed me to see your true potential if you were to actually let yourself go one day. I could have this city…No, the world with that kind of power and all eyes would be towards me and ONLY me for the new world I would create!"

Asher snarled and was about to take an aggressive step forward before she felt Misaka overpower her and wrap her arms from behind in a head lock, finding herself struggling against it as the Electromaster used her magnetism to cement her hold.

"What the hell are you doing, Mikoto!? LET GO OF ME!" Asher shouted as her eyes were pinpointed in complete rage.

"I'm doing what you told me to do along with stopping you from doing something you're going to regret!" Misaka stated as she struggled, wincing under her breath as Asher pushed back with her ability in which caused the floor to crack below them. "You're not thinking straight with how angry you currently are, so you need to calm yourself down! He's not worth it and you're going to end up causing this whole room to collapse!"

"I wouldn't give a damn if I brought this entire prison on top of me as long as I know that he's crushed into oblivion! But that wouldn't even be able to make him pay for forcing me to believe so many illogical things for no logical reason that I can understand! And taking both of my parents just to make me feel even more miserable!" Asher spat back. "My nightmare never ends, while he gets to sit here and play it off like nothing ever happened! He doesn't deserve to live for all he's done, logically meaning I could END THIS! I could end his illogical existence right now and finally be done with the paranoia and pain that I'm inflicted with whenever I think of him and not look back for one single second!"

The smirk on Silas's face gradually began to fade away as he instinctively leaned back in his chair when a crack appeared on the glass window in front of him, seeing that his stepdaughter was on a war path to most likely annihilate him like she nearly did when she got out of her restraints during the end of the experiment.

Other than him who had seen something like this before after she had snapped when he had killed her father, Misaka and Yomikawa were completely surprised of the current transformation Asher was undergoing right in front of them as her anger excelled to even greater heights than any of them ever thought was possible for the laid-back girl.

The purple glow she usually gives off whenever she uses her ability turned into a menacing shade of crimson. The red in her eyes grew to encompass the whites within them entirely, glowing so brightly that hot embers seemed to burn within them as her pupils faded along with letting out animalistic sounds screaming from her mouth.

Asher didn't notice any of this even happening, having tunnel vision on the man in front of her as she couldn't keep herself from being overwhelmed from the intensity of the emotions she was feeling at that moment. She had never felt something like this before, at least she didn't think she did. But even with that, she wasn't trying to keep it restrained at all from knowing that Silas deserved every last bit of what she wanted to do to him and ignored what could happen if her desire were to come to pass.

That was until dark blue hair filled her vision as Yomikawa brought her arms to wrap around her neck, feeling her mind clear up ever so slightly to be able to actually take notice of it.

"Mi-Miss Yo-Yomikawa, M-Move out of my way…."

"I may have not known her as well as Kikyou did, but I know for a fact that Himari wouldn't want you to do this Zierdan. She wouldn't want you to lose your way on her behalf. There are other ways to do this that don't involve crossing the line that I know you want to do out of retaliation." Yomikawa soothed as best as she could as the whites of Asher's eyes began to come back little by little.

"But wh-why?" Asher asked through gritted teeth. "Why why why WHY!? Why does he always get to have a pass and sit there smug like he did nothing wrong, while I suffer for what he did to me without any care for my well-being!? Logically I should feel justified, right!? I should want to take away the same amount things he did from me and put his fate into my own ha-hands! If not, what's the point in feeling how I feel right now where all I want is to let loose for once, with him as target practice for how ever long I allow it!?"

"Because you are a better person than he is. Even if you try to hide that big heart of yours, you care enough about everyone around you to want to understand someone each and every chance you get so you can learn things that don't come easy to you." Yomikawa said in her ear. "I know you may feel like this right now, but I know you genuinely don't want this because you are not a killer like he is. I know it hurts and I know it's probably hard to let this anger go from not usually experiencing it, but please try your hardest to before you end up doing something that I won't be able to look over no matter how much I love and care about you."

It took a while, but Misaka was able to feel Asher start to relax as her shaking began to cease. The massive amounts of gravity that had been radiating off the esper in her hold started to go away as blue began to return in her hair. It wasn't until Asher let out a sigh that she began to let down her guard, seeing her head dip forward slightly.

"You can let go of me now, Mikoto. I promise not to cause you anymore trouble right now." Asher stated almost dejectedly, immediately moving towards the door after Misaka had released her.

She nearly had her hand on the doorknob before a recognizable laugh filled the room, not even turning to look over to see the one who was responsible.

"There she goes. Always trying to run away instead of committing to something." He said amusedly. "You always seem to remind of Ryo in that way. Never being able to fully set out on want you want to do because of that weak will of yours."

Before Misaka was about to tell him to shut up, Asher beat her to it by speaking up first without even turning to look over at him.

"I'm done….I'm so so done trying to understand someone like you." Asher said as one of her hands clenched at her side before it went slack. "I'm done allowing that part deep inside me try to tolerate you just because you're my stepfather when you have been everything but that. It's probably wrong of me to hate and loathe you as much as I do and will most likely continue for the entirety of my life…but I honestly don't care anymore because you don't deserve my forgiveness especially when you're not even looking for it. All I know is that if you killed my mother, someone who I can say I loved to the highest extent that you left on the floor for me to purposefully find by myself, because you loved her as well, then I guess I have a lot of things to learn about strong feelings such as that as it will always prevent me from understanding why she even loved you in the first place."

And with that she left right through the door with Misaka chasing right behind her, leaving Yomikawa and Silas alone within the room together.

They didn't exchange any words even while she rolled him off and dumped him back into his cell. She did pause before she left as she bent down and slid a folded piece of paper under his bars along with a pen, not needing to even open it to know what was inside.

"Just think about it. I honestly think you've caused her enough trouble as it is at her age. Please just consider giving her an opportunity to start fresh somehow." Yomikawa said before he could say anything or curse at her to take it back.

Uncharacteristically, Silas didn't say anything and put the folded piece of paper on the desk beside him, laying his back on his bed as he heard Yomikawa's footsteps walk further and further away.


Several hours later…

Somewhere within the 7th District

Misaka was walking down a path near one of the vending machines she and Asher typically go to at times as night fell in the area around her. Ever since she had left her dorm a few minutes after they got back from their meeting with Silas, Asher had disappeared somewhere to the point that the Electromaster herself hadn't heard a single word from her in hours no matter how much she asked her to respond within her dozens of texts and voicemails.

She had asked Shirai and Uiharu to help her out, being notified by them that this is the place where a lot of Gravitons were being constantly emitted and produced at a high rate of speed most likely due to Asher using her ability.

It didn't take long for her to see evidence of her being here, looking around and seeing that some trees were cut effortlessly in two as if they had been punched repeatedly into submission, feeling concern rise in her chest when she heard a pounding noise not too far off from where she was.

She cut through an area within the trees, not taking long to find her friend standing in front of a tree as she sent slow right and left hooks into the crater created by her continuous hits. It looked like she might have used her ability to shield her hands on some of the trees but right now she could tell that she wasn't from the amount of blood that was tricking down the tree's face and saw it coating her knuckles and fingertips.

She sent a text to Shirai and Uiharu and told them thanks and that she had found Asher. She put up her phone as she walked over to her friend, just feeling the tension in the air from how quiet she was and didn't even try to acknowledge that she was right next to her.

When her left hand proceeded to go into the wood, Misaka quickly grabbed onto her wrist and felt all of the strength within it crumble when she had as her other hand went slack, hiding her expression from her under the bangs of her blonde hair.

Misaka quietly observed her self-inflicted injuries, seeing her knuckles raw and red as multiple cuts and one especially large gash continued to bleed that was probably far from stopping anytime soon if it was just left alone like this.

"You need to get this covered up before it gets some type of infection." Misaka gently suggested, feeling her hand get snatched away from her as Asher continued on with what she was doing previously.

"It's fine. Just leave me alone." Asher mumbled out.

When she tried to hit the tree in front of her again, Misaka grabbed onto her wrist again and then this time began to drag her away, hearing a sigh come from Asher's breath as she yanked her hand out of her grip again.

"Why is it that you never take the time to listen to me when I say I just want to be by myself!?" Asher yelled, growing irritated when she saw Misaka remain relatively unfazed. "Just go and get the hell out of here already! I don't need you right now! I'm fine! So just leave me out here!"

She turned to try to walk away again before feeling Misaka grab her arm in the tightest grip possible.

"I can't do that. I'm not going to leave you out here by yourself."

Asher's body began to shake and she gritted her teeth as she began to turn back around. "And why-"

Before she could finish, she felt Misaka pull her into an embrace, stunning her into a silence as her shakes become greater and greater.

"How many times do I need to remind you that I'll always be there when you need me? Something I know you feel the same about right now no matter what you say. And if you really wanted to be alone, you would've made yourself harder for me to find. You probably sensed me coming and would have left before I even got here. But you stayed here, meaning all that you said before was just you trying to convince yourself of something that you couldn't even get yourself to believe …"

"So please…Zierdan," Misaka continued as she tightened her hold around Asher, hearing her breathing getting shakier. "Stop trying to avoid me so that you can spare me from seeing you like this. I know it's something that you've done since you were younger to protect yourself, but remember that you can loosen the guard of your feelings whenever I'm in front of you. I can take them, everything that is trying to cry out from inside you. Show it to me. I want to take them so that you don't have to do it by yourself anymore."

Asher's lip quivered at that as tears that had been threatening to fall this entire day did as she leaned her head into Misaka's shoulder. She left her arms planted at her sides to avoid getting blood on her uniform, letting out her first sob under her breath as her legs became too weak to hold her up anymore.

Misaka fell down to the ground with her as she cried into her chest, not even speaking a word as she put her entire concentration in being there for her.

After all this time, she finally learned some of the truth behind the darkness of her past. Though, those answers weren't the ones she wanted to hear, Misaka thought as she bit down on her lip.

How…could someone do something like this to someone like her? Basically, tear her down so casually just for their own amusement and twisted desires….

It took me so long to get her away from that mindset. Get her to the point where she could be happy with who she is as a person.

I'm just afraid that after this meeting with that jerk, a meeting that probably reminded her so much of her past…

I may have to start all over again.

Build her back up to where she can see how valuable and significant she is to all of us…

Especially to myself.


Word Count of Chapter: 10008 |Page Count: 16 pages |Reviews: 112 | Followers: 72 |Favorites: 57


Review Replies

Blankow: I surprised myself as well from how little time that chapter took me. It tends to go a little faster for some reason when I add my own original content in (like this chapter), but other than that, I have no idea what to say for my unexplainable writing speed.

Yomikawa and Yoshikawa are a couple of my favorite characters that deserve more screen time together and in general. Due to their relationship with Asher, it's inevitable for some more interactions to be seen in the future.

Yeahhh after this chapter you probably see how right Yoshikawa was when describing Silas's character. He is definitely not the nurturing type and only sees people as someone he can use to manipulate their emotions towards his own benefit. Yomikawa is the total and complete opposite of this and would be a 10000% better parent figure for Asher to have if Silas finally decides to let her go.

Tsuchimikado would get on both of their nerves with that if he were to tease them. Though I wonder if he would like what happens angering/annoying 2 level 5's in such a way.

One day we'll get to a point where Asher goes back into the Magic side. I agree with the fact that she would get along with Kanzaki and Index (at least with the latter I hope so depending on the circumstances). Stiyl has already given her a bad impression that the mage will hopefully be able to remedy on his end at some point, though it may be hard from her already labeling him as an "annoyance."


InsertWeirdUsernameHere: Thanks, and I'm sorry T.T, as you said, this is crucial for Saten's character development for her to use the Level Upper. Other than admitting it to someone, I honestly couldn't think of any way else to go about it that would have them stay in character. If she had told Asher, she knew that she would either convince her not to use it or tell Misaka and Shirai, both ending where it would be taken from her. Meaning, depression is still on horizon because of it, but how much so will it be with Asher now in the mix remains to be seen until the next one or two chapters.


velvetsthetic: Your feeling will be correct depending on if Silas finally decides to give up his last physical hold he has of Asher. He may still have her in some respects mentally, but he knows that with the information that he gave her, he's most likely better off not to spite Asher again without a failsafe as Yomikawa was barely able to talk her down.

I know he deserves a punch, probably in place of the innocent trees she used as her target practice instead. It's just that if she had punched him, it would most likely be the last punch he ever had in the angered state that she was in. Yomikawa and Misaka wouldn't have allowed her to do that no matter how much they understand why she wants to.


Ho4qin: I'm glad to see that you and others like the mother/daughter relationship that Yomikawa and Asher has. Her past is a sad and depressing one, so I thought she deserved to get the best mother type figure around to lighten it up a bit and be her moral compass when Misaka isn't able to stop her. If this meeting had gone right, I'd say that you'd be correct in that his mental conditioning would have decreased. I'd say it did in some respects, but the repercussions of this entire meeting in terms of her mental state will be seen in the next chapter.

I wonder if Last Order's cuteness could be able to contain Accelerator's and Asher's personalities at the same time. All I'm gonna say is that their relationship is going to be a weird one that they're practically forced into since they both have a close relationship with Yoshikawa and Yomikawa.

Ohhhhh, that makes sense when it comes to the "Whole of the Misaka network." I think I remember seeing that and that she surprisingly doesn't talk in the 3rd person like the other Sisters tend to do.


JintoLin: Thanks and welcome back!

You've been rereading my story T.T, that's nice to hear. I almost left it out of the chapter, but Chapter 23 is definitely the chapter that explains Asher's and Shirai's dynamic. Asher didn't see the logic in trying to have a friendship with someone she thought would end up disliking her due to how much they both clash and Shirai was only trying to get her to talk and learn more about her.

We have more ships to fill the ever growing bag, though I wonder if Touma has more survivability with Misaka or Kuroko. Lol, to the callback of how Asher first met Uiharu and Saten, a meeting that left such an impression on her that she actually remembered their faces and names.

The aggressive confrontation Asher had with the Graviton Bomber was basically due to all her pent up stress from the memories she got from the mind scan getting to be too much for her. Since her medicine wasn't working as good as it should of, her brain damage wasn't lessened enough for her to think clearly due to her not having a filter on her thoughts. It sent her spiraling fairly quickly but was fixed due to Heaven Canceller's efforts.

I wanted to spare you all from reading what those guys say to Misaka, in which her acting skills sadly had to be cut out. It's a known thing that Asher doesn't think too highly of perverts, with such things spatted in Misaka's direction sending her into friend protection mode. She didn't want to be the reason that they didn't get any info with whatever she would have done even without the full use of her ability, so she did the logical thing and blocked them out.

I'm glad to hear that you're excited for Asher's own little spin off story. I'm excited to be writing it as it will give me another alley to go more in depth into her character.

All of what you said did make sense to me by the way. I appreciate your dedication to get caught up to this story. You can take all the time you need though as I hope you get better soon with you sinus issues as I can relate 100% with how much it sucks to be dealing with them.


LostNeko120: Thanks and You're welcome!

Yomikawa keeps getting her hands full with her mothering tendencies, now about to add the first under her belt earlier in the story depending on if Silas gives up his hold he has over her.

I decided not to include Kuroko's entire fight as I thought it would be best for Asher to intervene towards the end than the beginning as Trick probably wouldn't have stood a chance if she had been there before.

Even though she still doesn't have full confirmation on what Saten has, Asher is perceptive enough to guess that it may be the Level upper that is in her possession. But due to the radio silence and the potential she could be wrong about that, she sadly hasn't told anyone of her worries in order to not to cause panic in the others if her speculation happened to be off.


Thanks for your reviews!

-PurpleClover99