It might get a bit complicated in this chapter, with everyone having more children during the five year period between Priya's Pain and now XD most new characters are accounted for in this chapter, though.
…
Hermes's POV
After training is over, Anke and I decide to go visit the trainees. Not the BTs, the Basic Trainees (agents who are doing their basic training); the younger ones. The kids who aren't quite old enough to do their basic training, but who want to get a head start on training, like my cousins: Felise and Hughie.
As soon as we leave the gym, Agent Calvin the Cat walks by. I give him a smile but he narrows his eyes at us as if we're going to attack him. I sigh as he disappears round the corner. "People are never going to trust us."
"Give them time," Anke says. "We've only just started our training here. Sure, we've been around for almost three years now, but this is the first time we're actually using our powers around other agents. It's all really new to them."
"I guess…"
We head to the special training gym for agents who are before or in the middle of their basic training. There are only about ten kids, all of them between two and four years old. I spot my cousins, Felise and Hughie, sparring in the ring. Well, it isn't quite sparring. They're not using any kind of proper moves: they're mostly wrestling each other viciously.
Felise and Hughie are the twin children of my aunt, Sora, and her mate, Jolyon. Yes, my sister Hazel's former love interest Jolyon. Turns out they're only two years apart in age. It seems weird to some people but Hazel is the one who has the most reason to be weirded out, and she is absolutely fine with it, so that means I'm fine with it. They have two children together: Felise and Hughie. Twins. Very rare.
(Let me explain egg-laying mammals' twins. If the twins come from two different eggs laid at the same time, then they won't be identical. If the twins are born from the same egg—which will be an egg about one and a half times the size of a normal egg—then the twins will be identical).
Anyway, they're not identical because they didn't come from the same egg. Felise has Jolyon's black fur colour and Hughie has Perry's teal fur, though I'm sure he really inherited it from his grandfather Patrick, who's also my grandfather. That makes me feel weird: my older brother Teddy is fourteen years older than his cousins, whereas I'm only three years older than Felise and Hughie.
Anyway, Anke and I stand at a safe distance away and watch their fight.
After a minute, Hughie yelps and scuttles backwards, looking extremely offended. "Did you just bite me?" he demands.
Felise puts on an innocent face that may or may not be genuine. "No…?"
Hughie glares at his sister. "You did!"
Felise sticks her tongue out at Hughie. "You shouldn't have pulled my tail. You know I don't like my tail being pulled."
"That's no excuse!" snaps Hughie.
Felise is about to retort when she catches sight of me. "Hermes!"
She scrambles out of the ring and wraps her arms around my waist. I chuckle and hug her back, when Hughie runs at me and does the same thing. I hug my cousins tightly.
"Hermes, Felise bit me!" Hughie complains, the second he pulls away.
Felise wraps her arms around my waist again, protectively this time, and sticks her tongue out again at Hughie. "Let it go, already."
Hughie pouts. "I'm going to play with Austin."
Austin is the third child of Teddy and Piper. His older sisters are Paige and Athena, who are both doing their basic training, along with Lokie, Luke and Kimi's eldest, Adrian's older sister; and Cody, Hazel and Parker's eldest. In fact, Paige and Lokie are halfway through their basic training, whereas Cody and Athena only started last year.
Felise scoffs. "Good luck with that. Austin's gonna kick your butt."
"I didn't say I was going to fight him," Hughie snaps. "You're mean."
He storms off in the direction of the platypus. Felise takes my hand and pulls me towards the trampoline. Anke follows.
"Wanna see the trick I learnt?"
"Okay," I smile.
The two-year-old platypus climbs up onto the trampoline and begins bouncing softly. After about ten bounces, she does a seat drop, a half twist, and another seat drop, AKA the move known as swivel hips. Even I could do that, and I've had about three lessons on the trampoline. However, considering she's only two years old, it's pretty impressive.
Anke and I clap as the proud platypus takes a bow.
And promptly tumbles right off the trampoline.
I instinctively reach out, and Felise stops in mid-air. I realise that I have automatically used my powers. Felise begins to thrash around, so I gently lower her to the ground.
There is silence in the gym. I look awkwardly round and see that everyone is staring at me, from the two adult agents overseeing the training session, to the trainees themselves. Their facial expressions range from suspicion to shock.
The only two people looking at me in a positive way are Hughie and Austin, who both look like their favourite ever person has just given them candy.
Anke's POV
I protectively link arms with Hermes and shoot the room a glare, daring anybody to speak badly of my future mate (okay, I know it's a bit early for that, but Lateysha and Noah realised their love at age two, so I'm being optimistic).
Nobody speaks.
Hermes's niece, Felise, is giving Hermes a sympathetic look. "Don't worry," she says, filling the silence. "They're just jealous because you're cool and you're a superhero."
I almost laugh at this two-year-old's logic. However, it does break the mood. The buzz of conversation returns, and within ten seconds, the incident has been all but forgotten.
Felise leaps up and rushes over to her twin brother, Hughie, who immediately begins telling Austin the story of how Felise bit him. I chuckle and turn back to Hermes, who looks a little spooked.
"Let's get some air," I suggest.
I gently lead him towards the door. When we get out the gym, we rest in the corridor. I feel less stuffy, but I can tell he won't relax until I talk sense into him.
"It's okay, Hermes," I say. "Like I said, they have to get used to us using our powers around them."
"They were looking at me like I just used my powers to hurt someone," Hermes says quietly. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."
"You don't have to," I promise. "They'll get used to us and our powers, I promise."
"But you can't promise that," Hermes sighs. "That's our dilemma. Even if they do acclimatise to our powers, who's to say they will ever wholly trust us?" He pauses. "What?"
I realise I'm staring at him. I blush and look away. "Sorry, it's just that you used a smart-sounding word."
"What, "acclimatise"? It means the same as "get used to"."
"I know. I meant dilemma," I joke. "Does that mean "problem" or have I been using that word wrong my whole life?"
Hermes grins and nudges me. "That was a pretty pathetic attempt at humour."
"I know," I say again. "But I got you to smile."
Hermes chuckles and looks down at the ground. There's a pause, before he looks sideways at me and says, "I'm not sure I'll be able to get through this without you, Anke. You've been amazing so far: reassuring me when I'm in doubt, and helping me feel better when I'm down. You've been doing that since we were three years old."
I nod and also stare down at the ground. "Yeah, well, you do everything you can for the person you love."
I can feel Hermes's eyes on me, and I can tell I made the wrong decision to tell him that. I don't want to ruin our friendship because of it, so I quickly add, "I don't want you to comment on that now. It's way too early for love and mates and stuff. Pretend it never happened."
Hermes pauses. I sneak a glance at him and find him staring at the ceiling. I watch him as he then looks back at me. "Maybe it's too early for a mate, but how about for a boyfriend?"
My heart stands still. "Is this your weird way of asking me out?"
A lopsided, boyish grin appears on Hermes's face. "Maybe." Then his face grows serious. "But seriously, we're going to stick with each other until we finish our training anyway. Why not make it official?"
My smile slowly grows into a beam. "I…"
"Will you be my girlfriend?" Hermes decides to put it into words.
I can't quite form the words so I simply say, "Y-yes. I will."
This is the happiest I have ever been in my entire life, far surpassing the joy I had felt when I successfully made a forcefield for the first time earlier today, which used to be in first place.
First stop: couple.
Second stop: mates?
I've always wanted to be a mother.
…
As said by a good friend of mine on several occasions: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!
XD you know who you are XD
But seriously, those of you who read Army Of One and saw that Perry and Anke were together, obviously you know that that can't happen in this story ;P but here's the next best thing :)
