AN: This chapter of Heroes of Flowers can be pretty intense at the end, word of warning
Explaining Hiro's ankle injury had been a headache to Aunt Cass, but Ari was able to convince her that Hiro got attacked by "a feral and angry otter" before getting checked by Baymax. Though their aunt did stress eat some sweets at the scare of Hiro potentially getting rabies.
It wasn't Ari's best lie, she'd admit. She was honestly terrified telling that fib to their aunt, worried that her aunt would say that she was lying and demand to tell the truth or else, it was what her parents did-
Darnit. Why did she have to think about them? Maybe they are bad…
That's when her head grew fuzzy as a memory came to her mind.
"Were you mad at me when I talked about my par… them?"
"A little, mostly because they weren't nice to you, and you deserve better!" Rowan's green eyes were staring at her with warmth. "But it's okay now, you're out of that situation."
"I guess, I still miss them though."
Rowan frowned, but he didn't say anything rude about that. "Well, I missed you too."
Missed me too…? Ari just felt even more confused, wondering what the strange boy meant.
"Ari?" Cass poked her shoulder. "You were spacing out, is everything okay?"
Ari nodded. "Yeah, just thinking about stuff."
"You wanna talk about it?"
The thought made her chest ache. "Maybe another day, I don't feel well." Cass then extended her hand and felt her forehead. "Not like that!"
"Just checking to be safe."
That's when the door chimed and another customer came in, this one was familiar. "Oh, hi Mrs. Rosemary!" Ari waved to her math teacher.
Sarah smiled and waved back. "Hi Ari, how are you today?"
"Could be better, I'm fine though." She shrugged it off.
Both parents in the room glanced at each other in concern. "So, what can I get you?" Cass asked.
"Just a box of donuts, the chocolate glazed one please."
A small voice behind her cleared her throat.
"And some regular glazed ones." Sarah turned around. "Rachel really loves your glazed donuts."
Cass smiled. "Alright! I'll get that for you."
As her aunt went out to fulfill the order, Rachel approached the sweater girl. "So…?" She trailed off, raising an eyebrow.
Ari knew what she was asking. "Yeah, I talked to my brother, we're cool now."
"That's good." Rachel nodded. "Hey, do you wanna hang at the docks later today? I know that's your favorite place."
The sweater girl hesitated, her brain flashing back to yesterday when… It's not like you'll see them again, it was just bad luck. "Sure! Is Katie coming along too?"
"Yeah, that furball never leaves me alone." Rachel grumbled. "Only reason she's not on my shoulder is because she was taking a catnap when Mom and I left."
Sarah chuckled. "Katie just worries about you, dear."
"I know… but I'm not made of glass!"
I feel your pain Rach. She felt that sometimes… her friends treated her like she was fragile. Maybe they're right.
She had been an emotional wreck since losing her best friend. "Here's your donuts!" Cass returned with the box.
"Thank you." Sarah handed over a ten dollar bill, while Rachel held the box carefully in her arms. "You have a good day."
The math teacher then turned to Ari, and smiled at her. "And you have a good day too, sweetheart, whatever seems to be bringing you down, it'll get better."
As the two left, Cass smiled. "That was nice of them." They even left her with the change!
"Yeah." Ari nodded. Seeing Sarah and Rachel did brighten her mood a little bit…
Maybe things would get better sooner than she thought.
Superhero Squad group chat:
Captain Cutie: if I hear ONE more person ask me about my ankle I am going to scream and commit violence
Chop Chop: please don't
Chem Girl: *concerned*
Flame Jumper: you okay?
Captain Cutie: everyone keeps asking me about it!
Captain Cutie: EVERYONE
Ariel: maybe they're just worried?
Speed Queen: ^
Captain Cutie: yeah fair… just… today is not my day, uch XP
Flame Jumper: I feel your pain
Flame Jumper: My latest order of Wonder Kid comics is being held hostage by Mole! Bc it got delivered to his store and now he won't give it back until I give him the special limited edition merch I got of the series!
Chop Chop: Wow that is cold
Speed Queen: I'll get it back for you
Flame Jumper: I owe you my life 3
Speed Queen: You will
Chem Girl: *even more concerned*
Granville was giving him a curious look as he walked into her office. "Ah, Mr. Hamada, what can I do for you?"
"Hey, Professor, I'm here on uh, business." He sat down in a chair. "Y'know, the heroic kind, not the school kind-"
"I know what you mean." She reassured him. "Is your ankle alright?
Hiro bit back a groan, of course she noticed in class today. "Just an accident." He didn't want to go into details. "I just need to ask you something."
Granville nodded. "Go ahead."
"So, have you noticed that I think Liv is behind the monsters?" Hiro was careful to ask, the CEO and the dean were friends, he didn't want to insult his professor.
"I have."
At least she didn't look offended. "Just wondering if you've seen anything… weird?"
Granville hummed. "To be honest Mr. Hamada, I have not picked up any evidence that convicts her."
Hiro deflated into his chair. Give me a bone universe…
"However, I am concerned about my students who intern at Sycorax, while I haven't picked up evidence, I have been keeping my guard up around her, better to be safe than sorry."
"Don't blame you, she used Karms' invention to turn Ned Ludd into the Hibagon!" He was so angry about that, Karmi wanted to help people, and she used that invention to hurt others instead.
"Karms?"
He blushed, realizing his words slipped. "Karmi! I said Karmi!"
Granville nodded, but there was a smile on her face. "I'm glad you and Ms. Khan are getting along these days."
Hiro chuckled. "Yeah, I'm just worried for her because if Liv is behind the monsters…" He shuddered. "I don't want to finish that sentence."
"Me neither." Granville frowned. "Although, there was one thing I noticed about Liv before she became obsessed with inventors and business."
Hiro stood up. "What happened?"
"Well, a couple months ago, she was telling me about this project she was working on." Granville explained. "Confidential details, but she did say she was having trouble finding investors for her work. We didn't talk for weeks after that, when I did speak to Liv again, she never brought up that project again."
"Is that when she started acting weird?"
Granville nodded. "Yes, I'm not sure if it's connected to her possible involvement in the monsters, but perhaps this information will be useful to you."
"It is!" Hiro nodded. Maybe this project not getting funded is why Liv is so money obsessed, and she's making monsters to draw in more investors as the "only" one able to defeat them. "Thank you so much, Professor Granville!"
"You're welcome, but be careful Mr. Hamada." Granville warned him. "If you're right in Liv being responsible, you're probably on her radar for drawing suspicion towards her."
He sweatdropped, reminded of when Rachel warned him about that. "Yeah, I'll be careful."
"See that you do."
Later…
"Can we not go by this area?" Ari didn't want to be around the area of the docks where she and her brother got attacked.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "That's fair, I'm not a fan of the cargo area either."
Katie, who was on her shoulder, wrinkled her nose. "It's loud, and the workers keep trying to pet me!"
"Why did you come to the docks then?" Ari frowned.
"Because it's also quiet here." The blue argued back.
"Except if there's a star about to explode in the city." Rachel rubbed the back of her head.
Ari winced, then her eyes widened, she remembered that Rachel was at the open house… "Please tell me you-"
"No, not me! But some of my poor peers weren't as lucky, Barry got soaked and caught a cold after Globby deflected the star."
Well a sick cold is better than being not-alive cold. Ari reasoned. "Where were you when it got dunked into the ocean?" Katie asked her.
"At home." It was a scary time, her brother was out there risking his life to stop the star, she was worried sick about the Ferns, and all she could do was hug her aunt for comfort. "I really didn't want to die before getting all my memories back."
"Yeah, me too." She glanced at Rachel in confusion. "That would be the worst! If you couldn't regain all your memories because some jerk thought 'hey I know how to make a star, I'm gonna blow up the city with it!'" The scruffy brunette mimicked an explosion going off, startling Katie off of her shoulder.
"Rach!" Katie complained, hissing as her fur stood up.
Ari snickered, she couldn't help it! "Ari thinks it's funny." Rachel gestured. "Maybe one day we could look back at the monster crisis and laugh about it."
That got her smile to turn into a frown. "I don't know if I can laugh about what happened at Bridgeton, or what happened to Barb and Juniper." It was too cruel to laugh at.
"Nothing to laugh about there." Rachel bit her lip. "Does your scar still bother you?"
"Sometimes." When she looked in the mirror, all she saw was the reminder that she pushed her best friend away, in more ways than one. She also saw weird glances of pity from people that noticed the scar, Ari hated it, she didn't deserve their pity.
Rachel was glancing at the scar, but not with pity, but with empathy. "Sometimes my scars bother me." She rubbed the one on her arm.
"Let's talk about something else." Ari glanced away. "So did you see anything interesting at the docks lately?"
"Oh boy, let me tell you about this one idiot who released a bunch of crabs-!"
As they continued walking down the docks, the pair was unaware of something in the water slithering closer towards them.
Nor were they aware of a grinning figure with glowing yellow eyes and sharp teeth.
"And the guy just stood there! Stood there while the crabs were chasing poor Katie and I couldn't do anything because I was being threatened by those little punks!"
Ari had been giggling the entire time Rachel was narrating, while the feline on her shoulder was scowling at the memory. "So crabs are evil?"
"They are demon crabs!" Katie growled, tail twitching with fury. "Demons I tell you!"
"So you say."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I mean… definitely made me rethink about the next time I enjoy crab."
"Aw c'mon Rach!" Katie complained. "No need to be crabby about it!"
The scruffy brunette glared at the giggling cat. "You do realize that I can toss you into the ocean, right?"
"You wouldn't!"
Ari frowned. "Now I wish I brought a swimsuit, I love swimming in the bay!" It was where she got to practice her waterbending comfortably in peace, just using it to help her explore the bay, not used for any sort of malicious intent. "Except when there's snakes."
"Or eels."
She glared at Rachel. "Dude." Katie snorted. "Really?"
Rachel looked apologetic as she glanced back at Ari. "Sorry." She mumbled.
"It's fine, I just hate that now when I think of eels, I think of what happened." Ari grumbled. "Or when I want to think about my friend!"
"There's something I'm curious about." The scruffy brunette hummed. "What's she like?"
Ari tilted her head. "Who?"
"Juniper, I wanna know what she's like, I mean if she befriended the sweetest cinnamon roll in Bridgeton then she must be not as bad as people made her to be."
Cinnamon roll? "That dance just… I think it just brought out the worst in her." Ari mumbled. "She's amazing, the way she smiles, how she laughs, the gleam in her eyes when she talks about how she made the energy gauntlets she and Barb use or if she's just talking about some cool piece of tech she made once."
Rachel nodded. "Mhmm, keep going."
"And she can be dramatic, almost all of my letters I got from her had 'Ari please visit jail is killing me with boredom' and it just killed me every time. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but she's just so dramatic sometimes." Ari giggled.
It felt nice talking about her. Without thoughts of Bridgeton or eels or that fear of her friend never caring about her at all. Just thinking about the good days of their friendship brought a smile to her face as she continued.
"Also Juniper likes bunnies! But she told me that she never got to own one, it made her day when Katie gave her a visit, she definitely loves animals." Ari patted the feline in question.
Katie was smirking. "Any day is made great when I'm around."
"Don't feed her ego." Rachel groaned. "Maybe after all… this is over, your friend will be able to get a pet bunny."
"Me too, maybe she could send me photos of her bunny, I sometimes send her pictures of Mochi, cat pictures make anyone's day!"
"True that!"
They had now taken a break from walking and were chillin' by a part of the docks they could dip their feet in. Ari was trying her best to ignore the surge of energy in her veins as her feet touched the water, urging her to bend the waves to her will.
Not now, water powers. Ari scolded herself. Not in front of Rachel and Katie.
She hadn't told them about it, and the less people that knew about her supernatural powers, the better. Not that they were untrustworthy, but Ari wasn't in the mood to tell them.
"I'm glad I got to spend time with you." Rachel smiled at her. "I missed you."
The way she said it made Ari think about her memory of the mysterious boy. "Well, I missed you too."
"Missed me?" Ari frowned in confusion. "What do you mean by that? We go to the same school!"
Katie glanced up at her human friend. "Are you sure?" She twitched an ear.
"Mom said I could." Rachel turned back to the sweater girl. "Ari, I know why you're in San Fransokyo, or why you have amnesia."
The sweater girl's eyes widened. "What…?" She didn't believe it. "Why didn't you tell me this until now?!"
"Because I didn't want to overwhelm your memory and give you mental damage or something when you started remembering the wrong things." Rachel explained. "It's because you're my f-"
"Well, well, well, isn't this a cute little moment."
Both girls turned around, Rachel's eyes were wide with terror. "That voice…" Her face paled. "Oh no."
Something came into view, something with dark brown fur, cold yellow eyes, and the shape of a wolf, but had the bulky body of a humanlike creature. "Oh yes." The voice was very deep, but Ari could swear she heard it before. "Your little friend has been getting in our way, but I saw you two together and decided to kill two birds with one stone for my boss."
"Kill?" Ari squeaked, wrapping her arms around her chest in terror.
"Two birds?" Katie growled. "I'm right here!" The two girls deadpanned at the cat. Was now the time for that?
Rachel stood up, standing protectively over the two. "Leave Ari alone!" She hissed. "You can do whatever monster experiments you want with me, but just leave my… leave my friend alone! She's done nothing to you!"
"Oh I beg to differ." The wolf-human creature hummed. "She's been distracting our pets."
That's when Ari realized what the thing in front of her was. "Rach, that's the werewolf." She hissed. "You know how awhile ago there were sightings of a weird wolf creature stealing weird things like medical supplies and technology? That's the guy."
"Charmed." Rachel rolled her eyes. "A potential murderer and a thief? Is there any lows you won't go?"
"Um, the heck you mean by pets?!" Katie exclaimed.
Splash!
The splash made them turn around to see that something scaly had grabbed the feline and dunked her underwater. "Katie!" Rachel tried to dive after her but the werewolf was faster and grabbed the scruffy brunette.
"You're not going to interrupt the show." Rachel was squirming and gasping in terror in his arms. "Don't worry, I'm not going to strangle you this time." The werewolf was grinning at her fear. "You've been a good girl in not getting in our way, your parents must be so proud of a well-behaved kid like you."
Ari growled, attempting to punch the werewolf. "Get off of her!" But before she could try anything else, something knocked her across the docks. She hissed in pain, rubbing her skinned knees and ripped leggings when she looked up and saw what, or rather who had attacked her.
An eel with cerulean scales and yellow eyes, staring at her with a cold lifeless anger. "Oh no…" Ari mumbled, fear in her eyes. "Not June…"
"You are one of the most evil creatures I have encountered." Rachel spat the werewolf. "And that's saying a lot considering what evil things can lurk in the dark."
"Oh, I wouldn't call myself evil, just someone doing business." The werewolf grinned. "You wouldn't understand."
Rachel bit back the scathing comment of "what kind of business hurts kids?!" as her fear of getting strangled again overrode her sense of sarcasm. She glanced at Ari with concern instead. "Run for your life!"
But Ari couldn't, her feet were planted into the ground. If I leave, what happens to Rachel and Katie? The feline was still struggling in the water with the eel that had dragged into the waves. She couldn't leave, she wasn't going to abandon her friends.
As her friend-turned mutant started to crawl towards her, Ari tried to back away. "Juniper… if you're still in there, please don't hurt me."
But unlike the other day, something had changed in the eel, as instead of hesitation, she saw malice as sharp teeth locked around her leg and bit down hard.
Ari screamed and kicked the eel in the head, releasing the harsh grip on her leg. "Ow…" She hissed.
Despite the pain aching through her body, she had to try and reach out to her friend. "June, do you remember me? Your friend Ari?"
This time the sweater girl swore she saw a glimmer of emotion break through the haze of lifelessness. "Remember how we used to send letters all the time and you used to complain about how boring jail was? One time I made a joke about that being the reason why you wanted to stop crime-dancing and you kept laughing for five minutes." She almost chuckled at the memory.
"You have to be in there somewhere, please try and fight whatever thing's got a hold of you." But as Juniper was getting closer, her instincts screamed to run away at the dangerous eel in front of her, teeth stained with blood and electricity cackling around her. But even if I run, I wouldn't get far.
So Ari grabbed that fear by the throat and tossed it aside, she didn't run. Juniper stopped snarling and her eyes widened in recognition.
"Do you remember me?" Her friend slowly nodded and Ari bit back a sob. "June… I missed you so much."
The werewolf snarled at the sight. "No, no no! This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Too bad." Rachel scoffed.
But that's when he started to dig into his fur and pull out a phone. "You're not getting away that easily, brat!"
He pressed a few buttons on his phone, causing Juniper to screech in pain, claws to her head as she tossed and turned.
"June?!" Ari approached her friend in concern.
"Ari get back-!"
Rachel's warning came just in the nick of time.
Crunch.
Sharp fangs that would've dug into her shoulder managed to barely be avoided. "Woah!" Ari yelped.
The werewolf growled. "You have got to be kidding me, how hard is it to get rid of these brats?!" He clicked a few more buttons from his phone.
The other eel, Barb, came back to the shore with a soaking wet and barely conscious Katie in her jaws. "Katie!" Rachel cried out to the feline.
"I don't think she's coming to your rescue." The werewolf taunted, clicking a few more buttons on the phone. "But least she doesn't have to watch your little buddy getting torn apart-"
"Give me the phone!" Rachel lunged, she wasn't going to let that beast hurt the sweater girl!
The werewolf hissed as he tried to keep the squirming brunette away. "Knock it off!"
Ari noticed Rachel struggling against the werewolf. There's gotta be something I can do to help.
Then it hit her. The water! Scrambling away from another lunge, Ari jumped closer to the edge of the docks, where the water was ripe for using.
The energy in her veins burned as she channeled her anger at that werewolf for controlling her friend and sent a wave of boiling hot water his way. "Yow!" He roared, immediately dropping Rachel to try and brush off the scalding water that hit his fur.
"Thanks for the save…" The scruffy brunette crawled to her friend. "How did you-?"
The sweater girl recalled she hadn't told Rachel about her water powers and her face went red. "I'll… tell you later."
The werewolf clicked a few more buttons on the phone, making Barb drop Katie, who had a few chunks of fur missing. "Tch, this complicates things…" He grumbled. "But whatever, got what I came for at least."
With that cryptic message, he hopped onto one of the dock warehouses and started fleeing the scene, the mutated High Voltage gave one final hiss to the girls and disappeared back into the depths of the water. For now…
Who knew when they'd appear again?
Rachel picked up Katie, keeping the soaking wet feline warm in her arms. "C'mon let's get out of here."
Ari nodded, her eyes glanced back at the shores. When that werewolf was clicking the phone, he used it to control my friend. That merely proved once and for all that what happened to her friend at the school dance was no simple accident.
But the mere strings being manipulated by some unknown puppet master her brother would take down.
Later at Sycorax…
Words could not describe the irritation on Diane's face. "The Rosemary brat was there?!"
"Well yes, but I didn't hurt a bone on her body, if that helps." Chris stated, he had just given his report. "So there shouldn't be any excuse for Detective Rosemary to poke around again!"
"Mhmm…" Oh dear, she was using that tone of disbelief again.
Chris bowed his head, knowing he messed up. "Well, at least we got what we wanted."
Diane nodded. "Indeed." She turned her attention to High Voltage, the two eels were glaring daggers at her from a corner in a wall. "Bring them over."
"Both of them?"
"Both of them." She confirmed. "I want the mother to watch."
Chris complied, dragging them over by their tails, hisses of anger and fear bubbled from the duo.
Diane kneeled down so she was at eye level with Juniper. "I know you can understand what's going on now, you and your mother have gotten on my last nerves." Juniper hissed as a response. "It was funny to see your pathetic attempts at escape at first, but I'm done with your little rebellion."
The eel narrowed her eyes as if that'd change anything. "Shame about what happened to your precious little friend, such a terrible, tragic accident."
That got both pairs of eyes to widen. "Don't you two remember?" Diane tilted her head, faking a sorrowful expression. "Poor little Ariel had been found dead on Ryoshi Wharf like she had gotten mauled by an animal, it was all over the news."
"Surprised you weren't aware of how much blood I had to clean off." Chris added in a voice of fake sadness. "There was so much of it…"
Barb screeched, like she was saying "Liar!" and she was right, but they weren't smart enough to figure it out. "Don't be like that Barbara, your precious girl is why sweet little Ariel will never wake up, the blood's still on her fangs after-all."
Juniper's eyes widened in horror, as upon realizing the bloodstains on her teeth weren't from their last meal of fish, but from her friend. She attempted to lunge at Diane, but was held back by Chris. "You can fight all you want, but whenever you do, you'll also remember that your friend is gone forever. It's all because of you, Juniper. You can't ever escape that."
Diane relished in seeing the spark of rebellion fade away in Juniper's eyes, as reality sunk in for her, and the awareness faded in both of High Voltage's eyes.
She had won, broken their spirits so they wouldn't fight her control. Perfect.
Chris threw them back into the tank. "Finally." He grumbled. "Now we can get back to work."
"Indeed." Diane smirked, they still had lots to do. "But first, I think I'll give our pets a little 'upgrade' to cheer them up…"
There was so much to do at Sycorax, and so little time.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: Yeah tbh I don't trust him, sorry
Wasabi: No it's fine, thanks for telling me.
Wasabi: Guess I'll wait until asking him or not
Mikan Ferns: If I see anything weird at work I'll let you know n.n
Hiro Hamada: You be careful tho
Mikan Ferns: When am I not?
David Ferns:
Honey Lemon:
Gogo:
Fredzilla: honestly?
Mikan Ferns: You guys are the worst!
Rachel Rosemary: Hiro Hamada pick up your sister
Hiro Hamada: from?
Rachel Rosemary: We're at my house and in case you ask
Rachel Rosemary: ouch,jpeg this is why
Honey Lemon: OMG WHAT HAPPENED?!
Hiro Hamada: IS SHE OKAY?!
TheLittleMermaid: I am right here -_-
Mikan Ferns: what's the story
TheLittleMermaid: it was an angry otter…
TheLittleMermaid: a very feral and angry otter…
Hiro Hamada: …I'll be there asap
Sara Ferns: wait we have otters being a threat now?
"Ouch that stings!"
Sarah chuckled as she continued to apply the spray to Ari's injuries. "That means it's killing any infection." She told her.
Ari still whined. "It hurts so much!"
"Trust me, any infection would be ten times more painful." After another spray, Sarah went back to the medical kid to stitch up the bite marks. "Good thing you came here as soon as you did, otherwise I think this would've scarred."
The sweater girl bit her lip, a cold feeling of dread going down her stomach. Back at the dance, when she got hit in the eye, Ari didn't really focus on her friend's expression, but now that she wasn't running on fear, she remembered the look on Juniper's face.
It had been a look of pure horror at what happened, and if she had gotten another scar thanks to the being controlling her… I don't think she'd look at me the same way ever again.
Least being deep in thought had made her not focus on the pain that was getting her ankle stitched, she didn't even notice Sarah had started the process until the math teacher was flashing her a big old smile. "Done!" She hummed. "I know that must've been hard to sit through sweetie, would you like something to eat?"
She frowned at the idea of eating, but her stomach had other plans. "Okay…"
Sarah had led her into the kitchen and handed her a fudge pop. "Having your favorite treat should help you feel better soon!"
"How did you know this was my favorite?" Ari frowned.
The math teacher hesitated. "Rach told me."
"I never told her that." Ari took a bite out of the fudge pop, it did make her feel better, but now she was buzzing with curiosity. "At the docks, she was going to tell me something before that happened." She gestured. "Rachel said that she knew me before I got amnesia, is this true?"
Sarah slowly nodded. "Yes."
"Why didn't she mention it before?"
"Well, that's a long story." The math teacher explained. "But I'm sure she didn't want to overwhelm your memory."
What does that mean? Ari narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Did you know me before too?"
There was another beat of hesitation. "Yes…" She could not describe the emotion in Sarah's eyes, but it was definitely a strong one.
"Oh." That must've made meeting the Rosemarys at Fred's bro-tillion really awkward, she didn't even need to ask Elio if he knew her, she could just tell he did. "What was I like then?"
"Before you had amnesia?"
Ari nodded. "Was I different?"
Sarah hummed as she thought about it. "Well, you are definitely more curious than before, don't blame you, if I had amnesia, I'd be trying to answer all the questions I had."
The sweater girl felt that same curiosity bubbling in her chest right now. "Do you happen to know anyone named Rowan?"
That got Sarah's eyes to dart away. "Well-"
She got cut off as the door opened and Hiro sped in to scoop Ari into a big ol' hug. "Ari, I'm so glad you're okay!" Hiro squeezed her tight for a few moments then thankfully released her so she could breathe again. "You are okay, right?"
"I don't know, it was really bad Hiro." Ari sniffled. "But I think I will be, eventually."
He nodded in understanding. "Well, I'll be there for you, are you ready to head home?"
"Yes please." Even if she was curious about what questions the Rosemarys could answer, that could wait for another day. I just want a very long and hopefully peaceful sleep.
Speaking of the scruffy brunette, she had just walked into the kitchen, her dad right next to her. "Oh, you're going?" Her green eyes widened. "Don't you want to know about-?"
Ari shook her head. "Not today."
Rachel looked sad, but she understood. "Okay, how about this? Maybe after the whole monster crisis is over, I'll tell you everything you want to know, deal?"
She could live with that. "Deal."
They exchanged a pinkie promise before the sweater girl was heading out the door with Hiro. "What was that about?" He raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"It's complicated." Ari shrugged, and that was all she was going to say on the matter.
Sure, she was dying to know what connected Rachel to her past, or even if she knew the mysterious boy in her visions, that could always wait until things in the city were more peaceful. Ari already had a lot on her plate, no need to add more to that.
Once the two siblings had left, the blue on Rachel's shoulder gave her a look. "Told you she wasn't going to stick around." Katie flattened her ears.
"Don't rub it in." Rachel pouted.
"That's probably for the better, we're not sure how she'll take the news, considering she doesn't remember us." Elio pointed out.
The scruffy brunette frowned at her dad. "I just thought… she knew they weren't as perfect as they tried to manipulate her to think, so I just thought she could know the truth!"
"I know Rachel." He knew how she felt. "I want her to remember too, but I don't want her to hate you because of it."
"Elio's right, Rach." Katie agreed with him. "If she knew too soon, and got mad at you, I don't want to see you get hurt again, especially considering that jerk pulled whatever stunt he was pulling with High Voltage!"
Elio's eyes darkened at the reminder. He didn't know what Liv was pulling, but if they messed with his kids, it would be the last thing she did.
"I get it!" Rachel exclaimed. "I just want to have my sister back, okay?!"
Silence followed after her outburst. "Rach…" Katie murmured, flattening her ears. But she didn't comment any more than that.
"We know Rach." Sarah kneeled down to give her a hug. "I miss my baby too, we just don't want either of you to get hurt."
"She'll remember us someday… right Mom?" Rachel sniffled.
"She will."
Her dad nodded. "Yeah, don't you worry Rach, once everything settles, it'll be okay, everything will be okay."
But until then, they would make sure the lost member of their family would be safe from a distance.
AN: Man a lot happened this chapter, Ari's real connection to the Rosemarys revealed... Di doing evil schemes... me foreshadowing COM... SO MUCH HAPPENS HERE!
This update is happening on my birthday so my QOTW is what's your hc on birthday dates for some of the bh6 cast?
And also lmk your thoughts on all these juicy plots happening :3, comments from my lovely readers helps motivates me into writing HOF so you don't have to worry about there being any big hiatuses!
See you guys next week for some lighter plots.