It pained her to see him upset, it metaphorically stabbed her several times over in her gut. And oh that's new, she felt hopeless at what to even do in this situation. Adam not knowing anything about his powers just made this more of a harrowing situation. She and Rhea didn't know how long it'll take before Adam connected the dots. Soon right? It wouldn't do them any good to lose all hope of a rescue. Adam will come shortly, rescue them and fix reality.
Yeah, perhaps this isn't as dire as that Cupun guy implied it to be. Everything will be back to normal before they knew it.
Meanwhile, Rhea covered her right ear and scrunched her eyes for a second while rapid footsteps fade off from the left behind her.
"Oww geez…." She muttered with fleeting annoyance to herself.
She didn't bother to look at the screen, instead opted to send ice cold daggers Cupun's way with her narrowed glare. He took as an invitation to keep going.
"You know what else I've done? Do you ever wonder why your brother can never find anything about his powers? Why he had to discover them on his own? This is all rhetorical by the way..." He quickly added before he got to the point, "Well you have me to thank for that too. You see there would be an older person, an elder Guardian that would be in charge of finding the next. Said latest version would then be put through rigorous training before they are set off into the world. This was how it was done for thousands and thousands of years! For both the Harmony and Chaos Guardians."
Rhea wasn't sure what the hell to think. All she knew right now, is that her blood started to boil with righteous anger. All she can think right now is the years of searching that went nowhere. The years of complete helplessness they felt about how to help her younger brother deal with them. She never told Adam, but she always got the feeling their parents wished he didn't have them. Less stress on them she always reckoned. And they had good intentions. Looking out for his benefit and wanting him to be successful in life, but ultimately, subconscious or not, they were also driven by how he would be looked upon as in public.
After all the message he gotten repeatedly told in life was to forget the magic for society's sake.
She was surprised at how much resolve she had to not immediately lash out at the man before her. That is for the time being. She wanted to throw him out the window behind him.
"And what exactly does this Guardian thing mean exactly?"
"Do you know the concept of yin and yang? Good vs evil?"
Rhea crossed her arms and didn't say anything. A brief awkward silence for Cupun followed. Meanwhile, on the screen, Adam drove into the driveway of what Emily recognized as her house. He still looked just as shaken up as earlier, probably even more by now. She could yell at the screen all she wanted, had the greatest urge too. But she knew it'll be proved to be dumb and silly. As if Adam would be able to hear her through the screen. She hated this helpless feeling.
"I'll take that as a yes. The Guardian of Harmony is the embodiment of all that is good in the world. Every generation has one person chosen to be the vessel. Therefore they are supposed to protect humankind from the likes of what I embodied. Adam was chosen to be the next responsible to keep everything balanced. Move the world towards a better future and all that crap."
Rhea strived to keep her voice even despite the anger and exasperation she felt, "So why hasn't my brother been told about this in the first place?"
"Because I got to the old previous Guardian just in time to repressed his memory and skills. He passed away without regaining the memories in time, therefore, the next one is out of the loop. Thus I am free to sow the seeds of chaos as freely as I want."
"You fucking bastard!"
It was absolutely infuriating how Cupun can stand there in 'professor giving a lecture' mode and be condescending at the same time.
He smiled and didn't show an ounce of emotion to her reply, "Thank you. You know my primary motivation was revenge. Still is, but this makes it so much easier for my secondary motive to be put into motion. See I wish to the rule the world in an era of chaos and discord for all eternity!"
Rhea rolled her eyes and quipped, "That's original."
"Shut up."
"Wait hold on a minute, did you say your main motivation was revenge? What do you got against Adam? He doesn't know you exist."
"Nothing against him specifically but oh I very much got something against a previous Guardian. Would you like me to tell you about it?"
Oh god Rhea thought, she started to feel her temples throb with a dull ache, but she didn't even move a hand to rub her temple. Why does she feel like they are in a bad adventure movie? Or something from Disney. If this Coupon guy hoped to be so damn impressive and completely shower with fear well she didn't budge. He'll have to do better than recite some diatribe he has obviously been practicing in front of the mirror.
"So this takes place back in oh...around 1027 AD in ancient Alaska-"
"You're….immortal?"
"Yeah. That's one of the many perks of being able to bend reality to your whim Ms. Conover. Anyways I'll keep this succinct as to not bore you with the gritty details. See there was this ancient Guardian of Harmony named Desna. He and I were from the same tribe, in fact, we were cousins. Well, he didn't like the idea of our tribe becoming a vast Empire. However, during that process, he decided to twist the knife in further by stealing the girl of my dreams! Me and Eska were supposed to be married but instead, she ran off with him!"
Rhea was about to make her retort when something from the screen caught her eye. It was Adam on the couch of what should've been Emily and Murph's house. But because of the erasure of their existence, Murph appeared to be married to Melinda, Adam's ex Internet girlfriend. Adam appeared to have had hyperventilated and fainted on the couch. He still breathed into that paper bag of his.
This really didn't help to remind both her and Emily that the life that they had were really gone in a sensed back. Plus for Emily, in a strange sort of way, she felt a pang of mild jealousy and a sort of pain that he seemed to be so happy with someone other her. She also wished she was there physically so bad so she can help him too. Tell him that she was alright, she and his sister were just kidnapped by some wackjob.
But then those lovely feelings she had for Adam came back at full force. She realized this way she didn't have to worry about divorce and all the messy parts. Murph didn't deserve that at all, he was a nice enough and sweet. And definitely wasn't his fault that she developed feelings for Adam unexpectedly. They were both really sweet, kind-hearted guys, but there was something about Adam that made her start to seriously wonder if she had gone after the wrong guy.
Definitely wasn't the powers aspect, that'll be stupid to go after him just because he can do whatever the hell he wanted with them. It was just a bonus really, that trip to 2070's Las Vegas, for one thing, was very fun and interesting to say the lease. Maybe it was the fact that despite having them, he hadn't become corrupted by them. If anything it just ended up being more of a burden for him. She still wasn't sure she believed him wholly when he'd said he was fine not knowing why he had them in the first place all those years ago.
She always had a feeling somewhere in her that Adam wasn't fine about it. That he just told himself that he was and eventually he believed his own lie.
It was very admirable that someone like him resisted the urge to overuse them just cause it would make things easier and more convenient. If anything, the only time he might "overused" them was during his show, and even then it wasn't in a malicious way. It was to simply aid him in his mission of ruining everything. Powers or no powers, there was something to the nerdy and gentlemanly charm that is Adam Conover.
Not that Murph wasn't a gentleman by any means, he was and can be just as sweet as Adam. But lately looking back her life had ended up stuck in a rut. Not career-wise, she still liked being a high school teacher. Plus compared to Adam, Murph just seemed to be too content with following the grain of society. Never looking beyond face value from the media and society in general. Never looking into the nitty and gritty detailed truth like Adam has. All too happy to follow tradition and do things simply cause society told him to do.
Put simply Adam was more of a rebel to society compared to him. Albeit a nerdy one, but one nonetheless. Not afraid to buck the trends and do his own thing in his own way.
And they had been a rut for a while too. Not career wise by any means, she still liked being a high school teacher. It was more social wise, they just both seemed to be living in their worlds. Doing stuff with their own friends and focused on their own things as if they were merely roommates who happened to share one bed.
Oh, they were still very much cordial and friendly to each other, they would never hurt each other intentionally. It just felt like the love part of it had faded down since their wedding somewhat. To the point where they both weren't sure what their relationship status is even though it was clear they still cared for each other.
She was also aware that all those excursions with Adam probably spoiled her to some degree. Can't deny that. And even Adam admitted the same for him. He just preferred not to use them for anything but educational purposes (and anything minor and harmless in the privacy of his home).
A burst of hearty laughter rang through the air and Emily broke her off the screen and turned around to see Cupun rife with a kind of cruel joy. Rhea looked close to plummeting him to next year. But still stayed amazingly calm, though Emily knew her well enough that right now, she seethed with rage underneath her cool demeanor.
"Oh, I still can't believe I hit a gold mind here hahaha! This was not my doing at all, I can't obviously influence who'll be the next Guardian and vice versa. So the latest version being a sniveling overgrown baby is just icing on the cake!" He explained joyously in between bouts of laughter.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he still wets his bed and cries for his mommy to make his boo-boo feel all better," He put on a childlike voice to further mock Adam which just further Rhea's ire for him. Nobody fucking makes fun of Adam except for her.
Cupun erupted in more laughter a split second before Rhea full tackled him at full charge down to the ground. They rolled over and Rhea managed to get on top of him before she started to punch him.
"Only I'm allowed to make fun of my brother like that you asshole!" Rhea shouted.
A split second later as Rhea began her next punch, Cupun snapped his fingers and they dematerialized into thin air.
"Rhea!" Emily shouted as she ran over to the spot being the living room area.
Emily stared at the empty area where Rhea was a second ago. That was the hay that broke the camel's back for Rhea, she didn't blame her. It's different when family members poke fun at each other like that as oppose to complete strangers. The screen was still going on in the background and now nothing more than background noise. Where did that bastard could've taken Rhea to?! She didn't know what to do. The quiet in the mansion aside from the tv was deafening. She was at a loss as to what's the next action to take.
"Ok keep calm Emily, take a deep breath and don't freak out. You may be alone in some creepy guy's mansion and don't exist anymore on Earth, but you got this," Emily told herself.