Surprise chapter suddenly is surprising...and sudden!
Also, gonna say right now, I only go to the gym to use the treadmill and to go swimming, so if anything fitness-related I say is wrong, I apologize in advance ^.^
Chapter 2
"Hey, new girl!"
Blinking, Valerie looked over at the voice, spying a pair of girls approaching her. "Seriously? 'Hey, new girl'? That's the best you could come up with?" One of the girls said towards the other, before turning her attention to Valerie. She didn't miss the way both girls were looking toward her left sleeve, which had been rolled back and sewn over. It was painfully obvious that she didn't have a left arm, but leaving her sleeve flapping about wasn't a good idea, so she and Melody had decided that shortening it so it couldn't get caught on anything was the best thing they could do.
"Aaaanyway, I'm Trixie, this is Sarah. You're in our room for attendance, so we were told to find you and make sure you know where it is. Mr Beeton, the teacher, would have come himself but he's busy, so we're all you've got." Shrugging and ignoring the way it again led the attention of the two girls to her arm, Valerie gave them a smile. She already knew her way around the school, Melody had made sure of that, on top of making sure she knew how to get in touch with her if she needed to. But Valerie didn't bother mentioning that, there was no point ostracizing herself on day one by being a know-it-all. Before she could say anything though, the girl piped up again. "So, what happened to your arm?" Said girl got an elbow to the ribs courtesy of the other girl, but the damage had already been done. "Oh, shit, sorry."
Putting her hand over her eyes and breathing deeply, Valerie peeked out from her hand enough to glare at the girl. "Please don't hold it against her, she has a motormouth, she'll question anyone about anything." The girl who did the elbowing intervened, stepping forwards and slightly putting the other girl behind herself. "But, and please don't take this the wrong way, you should probably figure out what you want to tell the others when it comes to that question, because...well, lots of people are going to ask."
The girl spoke softly, placatingly, and Valerie sighed, rubbing her forehead then lowering her arm. "Yeah, I know. It happened really recently and I'm not even nearly close to okay about it. I keep trying to reach for stuff only to remember, and it's like I can feel my arm. Phantom pains, I know-" She said when the girl seemed about to talk again, preempting it. "-but that doesn't mean I don't still feel it. I think when people ask, I'll just tell them it happened in a cape fight." It was true enough after all, Viking had been trying to murder her, and she was a cape at the time.
For all of five minutes, sure, but still, it counted.
By the time lunch rolled around, Valerie was about ready to call it quits on school.
It wasn't the people pointing or staring, though that did make her feel a bit self-conscious. No, it was the constant sensation of bonds forming in her mind. Everyone she spent just a little bit of time around, she formed a weak bond towards. And with so many people around, it was a massive distraction. Once the bonds were fully formed, then it would be fine, but that meant enduring probably a few weeks of bonds forming and solidifying all around her, a constant reminder of the power she held and how she had gotten it.
That was what the major issue was for her. With every bond forming, it was a twisting reminder in her mind of what Viking had done to her, all those memories from her previous self bubbling up and filling her mind. All this, being surrounded by forming bonds constantly, it was hard to escape the depression as horrible memories welled up, drawn forwards as her thoughts repeatedly followed the same chain. It was like...like half of her was in the present, and the other half was back in that hell, feeling everything that had been done to her. She thought she would be okay going to school, it was just school, she'd already graduated once, how hard could it be? But she hadn't considered what her powers would do to make it a living nightmare.
Looking around, Valerie gnawed on her lip as she stared at the corner of the room. Not the bench closest to the corner, but the actual corner. A part of her knew that going and sitting on the floor in the actual corner was a bad idea, her image in the school would be that weird kid who went and sat in the corner of the cafeteria on the floor, not even on an actual seat.
But the other part of her, the part that was in control, didn't want her back to be open to anyone approaching her, out of fear she would genuinely lash out if someone snuck up on her. And so, taking her bag with her, she went and sat down cross-legged, attracting plenty of attention as she did so. She put her bag on her lap and took out her lunch, a lunch she and Melody had made together, and a wisp of happiness at the thought fluttered through her.
Opening the lunchbox, she began to pick through it, occasionally looking around. To her surprise, nobody was actually focusing on her. There were some glances, pointed fingers and the occasional laugh, but mostly, the other kids seemed focused on their lunch or talking to their friends, leaving her be. In the back of her mind, she expected at least someone would come by to pick on her, but as time passed and she ate her lunch, she did so in solace, with the background droning of chatter and food being eaten accompanying her.
When the bell rang and everyone began to depart, Valerie stayed where she was until everyone had left, and only then did she get up to leave. Pushing the door open with her shoulder, Valerie nearly bowled over the person on the other side. When she realized who it was, she reached out and hugged Melody, feeling gentle arms wrap around her. Melody didn't say anything, but Valerie already knew that someone had noticed something was seriously up with her.
But Valerie didn't know what to say to her. If she revealed that she was a cape, she would be put under a microscope and they would find everything out and then Melody would hate her and she'd be thrown in the birdcage and- "Valerie, calm down sweetheart, I'm here." Shaking, Valerie attempted to do just that, cutting her thoughts off and focusing just on Melody. "I'm sorry love, I thought you were ready." Valerie shook her head, tightening her grip on her mother. "I'll take her home now, and call you later when we've decided on what to do."
An arm came down behind her and lifted her up, Melody carrying her as they walked out of the school. Valerie didn't remove her face from Melody's shoulder until she was gently placed in the car, pulling her knees up and hugging them as soon as the seatbelt was on. Melody didn't say anything on the way home, and instead simply brushed her head and cheek every so often, gently humming and calming her down.
In the car, away from all those bonds, she found it easier to think, and to focus without thoughts of Viking slamming into her mind and leading her on dark paths. When they arrived home, Melody got out of the car, and though she felt numb, Valerie got herself out of the car, leaning into Melody's side when she put an arm over her shoulders. Heading up the stairs to the apartment, Melody still didn't say anything, and once they were inside, she let Melody gently guide her over to the sofa and sat her down, grabbing a blanket and putting it on her shoulders, then sitting beside her and sidelong hugging her, her hand rubbing up and down her back gently.
She didn't try to push her to talk, she put sat there, reassuring her and making sure she knew that Melody was right there beside her. Eventually, she felt...good enough to actually start talking. "I...couldn't handle so many people. Ever since...just...it's only ever been 2 or 3 people around at most. But in there...I just lost it." She admitted, squeaking as Melody shifted her onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her and putting her chin on Valerie's shoulder.
"Valerie, sweet baby girl, you've been through something horrible, and you came out the other end. Hurt, but you made it. All that you have left to do now is heal from it. If you think something is too much, then that's fine. If school is just too much for you to handle right now, we can just do homeschooling, you're bright enough for it." Valerie smiled despite herself, pushing back a little and leaning her head to the side against Melody's, taking comfort in Melody holding her close.
After a few minutes of contact, Valerie felt as Melody gently lifted her up and placed her down on the sofa, confused and a bit hurt that Melody had let go of her as she watched her get up and head to the kitchen, leaving her feeling...almost abandoned in a sense. She knew Melody had a reason, and that helped tamp down that feeling, but it still hurt, she didn't feel ready to be alone.
But, she forced herself to sit still, wrapping her blanket, which she realized somewhat numbly was the same one she'd been wrapped in when she first met Entropy, tighter around herself, and watched as Melody pulled open the freezer. The reason for her departure became clear when Melody got a tub of ice cream out of the freezer, and despite herself and the miserable mood she was in, she still had to stifle a laugh as Melody came back, spoons in one hand and ice cream in the other. "Mom, I don't think ice cream therapy is a real thing." She said with a giggle that wasn't even remotely forced, craning her head as Melody put the spoons down on the coffee table and brushed a hand through her hair.
"Oh, I know it works, it's helped me through a few tough times after all. So, baby girl, we're going to sit here, eat ice cream, watch happy movies and you're going to forget all about it. Sound good sweetheart?" Instead of responding with words, Valerie reached a hand out of her blanket and grabbed one of the spoons, holding it before her with a small smile, to which Melody sat beside her and set a movie playing. Leaning in as her mother sat down, Valerie rested against Melody, an arm coming to hold her closer as she tried not to cry. Not from sadness, but from...relief.
She wasn't sure if what Viking had done to her would ever truly leave her, but having someone like Melody in her life certainly helped.
"Three more laps, come on Valerie, you can do it!"
Rolling her eyes even as the encouragement made her cheeks flush a little more than they already were, Valerie put one foot in front of the other, jogging around the hall and ignoring the stitch in her side and the way her chest burned with every breath she took. She definitely didn't have the breath nor the energy for any kind of retort, not that she could think of one even if she did have those to spare. No, her focus was solely on continuing to run another three simple, meager laps, which seemed like trying to run three more marathons.
Maybe not quite that bad, but the instant she finished the third lap, she sprawled, falling, albeit carefully, to the floor in an undignified but vaguely graceful flop. Each breath she tried to force more air into her lungs only to expel it just as quickly, before she forced herself back up to start walking, even as she gulped down air wildly. The first thing that had been hammered into her head by her mother's friend, Cherry, was that after doing exercise, she was not allowed to just stop. After a long run, start walking for a few minutes. After heavy weights, do plenty of stretches. Going from strenuous exercise to nothing was unacceptable in Cherry's eyes, and once she'd explained the actual reasons for it to Valerie, she had to admit that it made sense to her.
That didn't mean both her legs and chest didn't feel practically aflame after running...however the fuck many laps she had just run around the hall, she had completely lost track. She'd already done weight-lifting with her right arm earlier, Cherry having told her as she did it that it was always cardio after weights, never before. Cardio was a consistent burning of energy, weight-lifting was a much more sudden impact and didn't actually burn as much energy, which, again, made sense to her. Not that she'd argue the point, Cherry was pretty obviously experienced, she had that kind of lean physicality that lent itself to someone who worked out regularly and seriously looked after themselves. Plus Melody had used a favor to get Cherry to coach her, so she doubted even more that Cherry didn't know what she was talking about.
Raising her arm and quarter-arm up above her head, Valerie took a few moments to stretch before lowering them, without faltering in her walk around the hall. "Alright, good job Valerie. Take 5, get some water in you, then get on the rope for a bit, yeah?" Nodding and not trusting her breath to let her speak, Valerie froze up for a moment, then shook her head violently, fixating her mind on getting a drink. "Hey, you okay?"
"Bad memories, please don't. Also, rope?" She eked out, waggling her stump-arm and earning a mortified look as she kept walking over to where her bottle sat and grabbing it, resolutely not thinking about anything that even tangentially led to Viking. It...honestly fucking sucked, any time anything reminded her of what he'd done to her, she got trapped in a quagmire of memories that were half hers and half not. Breathing deeply a few times, she gulped down some water, popping the cap back on using her chin as she kept on walking, each step a little easier on her legs as they came down from the burn her endurance run had caused.
She glanced over at Cherry and saw she was on the phone, embarrassment flickering through her for a moment as she thought she was calling Melody, but no, she doubted it. Cherry told her to go on the skipping rope after she was done recovering, so chances were high that Cherry needed to deal with something and wanted her out of her hair for a little bit, forgetting that she only had one arm and couldn't really do skipping. What it was, Valerie had no idea, but judging by Cherry's facial expression, it was serious stuff.
Idly, Valerie wondered whether Cherry was a cape or not. It would kinda fit the description, since her mother knew Cherry, Cherry herself was in very good physical condition, and seemed to know exactly how much she could manage before she would just collapse. Earlier when she was lifting weights, it was like Cherry knew, right from the first rep, how many more she could do before her body wouldn't be able to lift another, and she took her right up to that limit. But...that would be a really weird power. Super-Exercise-Girl!
Snorting, Valerie's action attracted a confused look for a moment, but she waved off the older woman before she could ask if something was wrong. A quick check of the clock and Valerie headed over to the skipping rope, picking it up and trying to figure out if there was a way she could still do skipping even one-armed. After about a minute of consideration, she took the skipping rope over to one of the actual proper weight-lifting machines, and began to tie off one end to about ab-height, yanking it taut. Then, taking the rope in her other hand, she began to whirl it around her, almost tripping on it as her left foot came down on the rope, it hadn't gone far enough.
Learning her lesson, she gave the rope a little more speed to compensate, and the rope went under her feet without issue. Continuing to repeat the action, the rope whirled around her and under her feet again, boosting her confidence. She put on more speed, and then some more, keeping Cherry in the corner of her eye, glancing at her every so often out of curiosity, but put most of her focus on not tripping on the rope, which would be hellishly embarrassing to do. With each hop, she felt the burn in her legs, her right arm, her chest and her abs get stronger, and it was a good burn, it was the kind of burn that told her she was improving herself.
Cherry walked over and inspected her, occasionally encouraging her, occasionally giving her advice, or telling her to speed up a little as she watched her skip. It was easy to fall into a fugue of no focus, lost in just skipping and nothing else, and when it came time to stop, she did so reluctantly, feeling as though she could have kept skipping for hours. She even said as much to Cherry, and in response, she said only a few words. "Give it a few minutes." And, as she again walked around and stretched after her exercise, she began to fully feel the effects of the skipping, a flame burning more intensely than her weight lifting and her run put together that she felt pretty much everywhere but her head. "Okay, I need to get going, so that'll be it for today. Also, good job on finding a way around your problem, I'm sorry about being such an idiot, it genuinely slipped my mind."
Nodding tiredly, wondering if Cherry actually needed to get going or if she recognized that Valerie felt absolutely boneless, Valerie snatched up her bottle and chucked it into her bag, following Cherry out of the hall and hopping into the car after Cherry unlocked it. She watched patiently as Cherry locked up the hall and hopped in herself, driving her back home. She had wondered when Melody dropped her off as to why she told her that Cherry would drive her back, since she figured she'd be walking back, and now, she didn't wonder that, since she would have definitely collapsed at least a few times from how weak her legs felt, even after the cooldown she'd done.
Hopping out of the car, she gave Cherry a smile and a wave as she shut the door, watching the car depart for a few seconds before heading into the apartment block and straight into the elevator, not even daring to look at the staircase out of fear her legs would stage a revolt. On their floor, she slid her key into the lock and entered the apartment. It was empty, she could see Melody's door left open and since the bathroom door was open, that was pretty telling. But Melody was still a hero, a thought that discomforted her more than she cared to admit.
Her power to absorb and even redirect energy was pretty powerful, and it made her afraid that it would attract other capes to fight her. Thanks to her unique perspective, she knew that passengers were attracted to conflict, and if Melody got dragged into a fight she couldn't handle...she would break, Valerie knew that in her heart. If Melody was killed, she would absolutely lose her shit. Right now, the only thing letting her hold on was the love and attention and care that Melody exuded. It was more than her just adopting her to take the place of the child she wanted but couldn't have, Valerie honestly felt as if she were as much Melody's daughter as any other child could ever be, and that mattered to her so much more than anything in the world, and losing it would be soul-destroying.
But she also knew that trying to wrap Melody up in bubble-wrap was stupid considering who was the fragile one in their relationship. No, she just had to hope that her mother wouldn't get into a fight she couldn't win. Fortunately, they were in Canada, and in a city that didn't have that many capes. Amongst them, Entropy was the most powerful overall, followed by the recently-deceased Viking, so Valerie knew, logically, that she really didn't have much to fear. Just like her fear of spiders though, it was an irrational fear, and that still meant that as a few hours went by, she peeked her head out of her room more and more often and checked the peephole, scared that Melody wouldn't come home, that a police officer would arrive to give her the bad news.
And she hated it, she hated being so scared of something so stupid to the point that she couldn't stay focused on her coursework or on anything else. She knew Melody wouldn't judge her for being irrationally scared, but it still pissed her off. Peering at her phone, Valerie picked it up and flipped it over in her hand a few times, turning it on and realizing that she'd missed a text.
Opening her messages, she realized that Melody had sent her a text not long after she'd gotten home, telling her that she'd be home pretty late so she could make her own food or just order some takeaway if she wanted, alongside telling her where in her room she could find some cash, followed with a heart and a kiss emoji. Her cheeks flushed a little as she realized that Melody had obviously thought about the fact that Valerie would get worried and preempted her, but she just hadn't noticed since she was too busy being worried.
Sending off a quick text in response, Valerie flicked her phone shut again and dropped it onto her bed, glaring at the device for a moment as if blaming it for her mistake before rolling out of bed to go find something to eat. A quick foray led her to the discovery that while there were plenty of things she could make even one-handed, she didn't feel like doing it. But she didn't want to just order takeaway either. Humming, Valerie went into her bedroom and grabbed two of her workbooks, taking them into the living room and putting one on the table.
The other she sat down on the couch with, pulling her knees up a little and resting the book there so she could see it and keep an eye on the door, settling in to be productive but also to wait for Melody to come back so they could eat together instead. Even if she came back really late, Valerie was more than experienced in staying up for long periods, and the later it was, the hungrier she would be, so it was a win-win.
Shifting a little, she made herself comfortable and settled in to keep working away at her coursework.
Feeling something grab ahold of her, Valerie twitched, opening her eyes with multiple blinks when she was lifted up.
"Oh, sorry Val, I didn't want to leave you out here." Pulling her lips up a little, Valerie smiled as Melody put her back down on the couch, forcing her sluggish arm to give her mother a brief hug, letting go to rub tiredly at her eyes. "Please tell me you at least ate honey?" Turning to glance at the clock, Valerie was surprised to see it was already past 3 in the morning, way later than she expected it to be. Smelling something odd, Valerie sniffed, freezing up when she realized that it was the smell of blood.
Focusing sharply, Valerie looked at Melody, and though she wouldn't admit it, for a moment a lance of terror stabbed her heart as she realized there were patches of blood on Melody's costume. "What happened?" She said after a moment, grabbing ahold of Melody's arm with her own and forcing her to stay there when she saw the expression on her face. She knew she was...'delicate', when it came to certain things, but there was no way she was letting Melody not tell her what happened and why she was quite liberally splattered with blood.
"Honey, are you sure? I don't...want to insult you but do you want to know, or are you just making sure it's not mine? Because it isn't, I promise." Quirking her lips, Valerie let her mother's arm go, inspecting the blood that was now on her sleeve. "Oh that'll wash out just fine, don't worry." She had briefly been worried about ruining her sleeve, but she figured that there had to be a way for capes to get blood out of the fabric on their costumes, so that was good. "And don't think I have a short memory Val, I don't see a plate or any takeout boxes." Dipping her head, Valerie felt a wisp of amusement as Melody sighed and put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair. "Honestly, you really didn't have to wait for me beautiful."
"I know, but I wanted to." She said in response, earning herself another hair ruffle and a smile before Melody left the living room and headed into her bedroom, shutting the door. A few moments later the shower kicked on, and Valerie hauled herself up, shaking away the sleepiness she felt so she could awkwardly strip off her soiled hoodie, carefully managing the bloodied sleeve so she didn't spread the blood around as she put it into the washing machine, then began picking through cupboards and the freezer to figure out what could be made for dinner. Melody almost certainly hadn't slept a wink since she woke up that morning, so she would probably be much more interested in sleep than food, but that didn't mean food could be neglected.
Feeling arms flop over her shoulders, Valerie smiled as Melody faux-leaned on her and propped her chin on Valerie's head, peering over her into the fridge she was now inspecting. "Alright buttercup, I thiiink...takeaway?" Melody said more than asked, shifting her head off of Valerie's and letting go of her in favor of picking through takeout flyers. "Closed, they got destroyed I think, those guys have a bad habit of forgetting stuff...hmm, how about Chinese? These guys do some good tandoori chicken and brown rice."
"I'm happy with anything, I just didn't want to eat alone." Valerie admitted with a shrug and a lopsided smile, earning herself a one-armed hug and a kiss on her forehead before being released to let Melody order the food. Heading over to the couch, she grabbed the workbooks she'd been going through and started to take them back into her bedroom, but Melody stopped her with a quick shoulder-grab and a gesture, too busy talking over the phone but clearly telling her to settle back down.
Doing so, Valerie watched and listened as Melody ordered food for them both, then came to sit down, tugging her into her lap as she spoke. "Alright, well, we have some time to kill before that arrives, so why don't you show me how far you've gotten through these despicable crimes against all sanity and we can work through any issues you ran into?" Smiling, Valerie grabbed one of the books off the table and opened it, flicking it open to where she'd left her pencil. "You got through all that so far? That's genuinely impressive, good job sweetheart." Her smile widened, and she began to go through what she was currently on with Melody, falling into the simplicity of just spending time with the woman she fully acknowledged as her mother and doing something as mundane as solving science problems together.
Sure, she had the mind of an independent 20-year-old, but that didn't mean she couldn't be happy with what she had.
"Alright, let's wrap it up for now, okay Val?"
Nodding, Valerie jogged about, helping to put things away after the class Cherry had just run. It had long-since passed by the point where a 'favor' could cover Cherry personally tutoring her, but instead of saying so, Cherry just opted to fold Valerie into her own regular training classes for free, and in return, Valerie 'paid' by helping out during the classes. It helped that each fitness class was small, with only ten or less people in each, so she didn't feel overwhelmed by any bonds being formed during the first lesson. Subsequent lessons of course were even less important, since she'd already formed the bond, and a bond didn't need to be formed twice. When new people came for lessons, replacing those who stopped coming, she still had to form a new bond obviously, but it only happened occasionally, so it didn't influence her.
Scooping up the ropes from where they'd been piled after use, she hung them all up, whilst her mind was busy focusing on one specific thing that had admittedly slipped her mind. To be fair, being adopted and having the attention of Melody pretty much constantly was plenty distracting at the start, and as Melody let her find her feet and start recovering from what happened, she had her exercise, her diet and her coursework to focus on, so there was a tiny little issue she'd let slip by the wayside...the fact that Leviathan was about to attack Newfoundland.
She'd realized, waking up from a not-quite-a-nightmare that morning, that Leviathan was coming for Newfoundland. And since then, her mind had been on trying to find some way to stop Entropy from going. That was the problem with having a powerful cape as her mother, she was someone who volunteered for fighting the Endbringers because she had a power that would help her save lives by acting like a brute of sorts, absorbing the energy of attacks and preventing them from hurting those behind her. But that wasn't enough to keep her safe from any one of the Endbringers.
But...what could she say or do to prevent her? She could already hear the argument, of her trying to get Melody to stay, and Melody pointing out that if she didn't go, how many others would die just so she could be selfish? And she hated it, the fact that she couldn't even win that argument in her own head, which meant her chances of getting Melody to stay, to let her be selfish, were zero. The 'victories' of Endbringer battles were those with a less than 25% casualty rate. For every 4 capes that went, one wouldn't return, and that was meant to be a fucking victory.
Her mother had already survived two Endbringer battles, though the details she didn't know, she only knew that much because the participating capes, meaning heroes, rogues and villains together, were recorded and made publicly available. But those were normal Endbringer battles, this was different. Leviathan was going to sink Newfoundland itself, and she seriously doubted that even 25% of participating heroes would ever come back, not when a landmass the size of Iceland was about to be submerged in the Atlantic.
But she couldn't fucking say that, could she? No precognitive cape had ever predicted an Endbringer attack, and she knew from fanfiction she had read that she could try and play it off as a predictive model, but her 'intelligence' was full of bullshit. She knew about the majority of Endbringer attacks, sure, but if the Simurgh decided that her influence was too major, then it was bye-bye Valerie, the winged bitch would just change her plans and attack Valerie directly. It made her desperately want to hunt down Eidolon and use her power on him, force him to either stop the Endbringers or at least lock their targets in place so she could actually claim to be the first precog in history capable of predicting the Endbringers...which would see the Fallen come after her rabidly, and Cauldron would definitely start looking into her intently.
No, predicting them was a terrible idea. But if not that, then what? She needed some kind of leverage to stop Melody from leaving, and as far as she could see, nothing she could do would stop her. Almost unconsciously, Valerie continued tiding up exercise equipment as she racked her brains just as she had been since she woke up, and there was nothing. There was such a lack of things to do it made her want to weep, and she could tell from the way Cherry looked at her as they left the hall that she knew something was up with her. "Just a personal problem I can't figure out, don't worry about it." She said with as much nonchalance as she could force into her voice.
Even if she told Cherry what the problem was, there wasn't anything she could do to help anyway. "Uh huh, and Behemoth decided to smash his way through Lyon not once but twice simply because he thinks uranium tastes like lime ice cream." She didn't mean to, she really didn't, but the mental image of Behemoth pouring nuclear fuel rods into his mouth and having a brain freeze made her crack up harshly, curling up as she tried not to laugh quite so hard. "So, spill, what's on your mind? Is Mels being too nosy or somethin'?"
Valerie, sobered up by the mention, shook her head. "It's...to do with her, but not that. I'm...scared for her. I had a really bad nightmare last night, but when I woke up...just...I feel like something really bad is about to happen to...Newfoundland. The island itself, not the province. And...she's there, and there's nothing I can do. I just...feel like something is coming, something that I can't get a grasp on, and it makes me feel crazy, freaking out over a damn nightmare. But it terrified me, to the point that even here, over a thousand kilometers away from there, I don't feel safe." She knew it was a bad idea, that telling Cherry even that much was a very dangerous prospect, but she had to.
It had been weighing on her all day and she knew sleeping on it would just make her worse until she did something she would regret. She already regretted saying that much, but she couldn't take it back. "Val, if it feels so dangerous, then tell Melody that. Don't try to mislead her, just tell her how you feel. If you want, I'll back you up, and I'll tell her you've been off about it all day, okay babe?" Smiling weakly, Valerie nodded, Cherry offering her a smile. "Alright, I'll come up with you, I need to talk with your mom anyway. But trust me Val, if it ever came between your happiness and doing something you wouldn't like, unless it was something deadly serious, you know she would pick you every time, right?"
Valerie nodded again, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. "Yeah, I know. It's just...I had a really bad nightmare last night and now I want to tell mom not to go there for any reason. It just makes me feel stupid and childish, like I'm trying to hide under the covers to protect myself from a monster that isn't even there." She muttered the final part, shaking her head. In the back of her mind, a part of her she hadn't touched since she gave Viking that final command reminded her that her power would work just as well on Entropy as it had on him.
And she ruthlessly stomped that thought into dust before it could be more than a devil on her shoulder. Doing that, ordering Melody like that, it horrified her, she never wanted to use her power on someone she loved...but it would stop Melody from going to Newfoundland. Even just a nonchalant, barely-even-an-order order, offhandedly slipping something related to not going to Newfoundland into her words while her power was active, would save her from going. It would prevent Valerie from losing her mother. But using her power like that...no, she would not, and could not, possibly do it.
Even if she desperately wanted to.
Arriving back at the apartment, Cherry followed her upstairs, and as they walked, they talked about far less heavy topics.
The fact Cherry seemed quite impressed that she was already preparing for her GED exams was pretty cool, though Valerie knew that she was just cheating massively. It was still her knowledge after all, so she didn't feel too bad about 'sort-of' cheating. After she was done with her GED, Valerie planned to find a job for a while, then move down to Brockton Bay and start to get herself set up there, and if abusing her double knowledge to pass it earlier than she should helped her get to Brockton Bay faster, she'd take it. She wasn't 17 yet, that was still half a year away, but as soon as she was 17, she was getting her high school equivalency and getting a job.
Technically she could have already gotten a job, since in Canada so long as she wasn't required to go to school, and thanks to her unique situation she wasn't, she could be employed at 16. The reason she didn't was that the majority of jobs a 16-year-old could have were public-facing, and handling that many bonds was way too much to ask of her. No, she was going to look for jobs that didn't require her to face the unyielding flow of people that would overwhelm her. Maybe she could handle it, and she would be able to deal with that many bonds without her trauma taking over, but she saw no reason to risk it.
Unlocking the apartment door, she gave Melody a smile as she entered, letting Cherry in and closing the door behind her. "Hi sweetheart, and Cherry, good to see you, I was going to come in tomorrow and say hi so we could catch up." Valerie knew that by 'catch up', they were going to talk about whatever Cherry was going to talk to her mother about, but she pretended as if she wasn't quite so sharp. It was a toss-up as to whether her mother bought her nonchalant act, but the grab of the back of her collar halted her from fleeing to her bedroom to try and work out what she was about to say.
The turn and back support as she was guided to the couch made it clear Cherry wasn't about to let her start getting cold feet and not bringing up what she said. "Okay, okay, I'll sit, I don't need to be guided." She muttered, sitting down in the couch under the close eye of Cherry and the concerned look from Melody. "Before anything, I'll just say...I didn't do it." Cherry bonked the top of her head with the heel of her fist, though that was worth the amusement she felt.
"Okay, mom, this is going to sound ridiculous but, before anything, can you...come here?" Valerie hated how weak her voice sounded as she pushed out those two words, but the speed at which Melody came over and grabbed her didn't let her feel too upset, bundled up in a hug that melted her like ice, settled onto Melody's lap. "I want a promise." She said quietly, burying herself against Melody and feeling a chin come to rest on her head. "Can you promise me something?"
The chin on her head lifted up, presumably her mother looking at Cherry in some way. "I'd promise you almost anything sweetheart." She knew that there was an opening there for her mother to make a joke, but apparently her entire demeanor mixed with whatever look Cherry had given her completely stopped her from making the situation lighter with a joke. "What is it, what's wrong?" Melody's chin came back to rest on her head, her mother gently speaking to her.
"I want you to promise me that...if anything happens to Newfoundland, you won't go?" Valerie forced her head to turn upwards, looking up at her baffled mother, and watching as she glanced behind her at Cherry. "Please?" Her voice was practically a whisper, wrapped up in a hug and peering up as Melody met her gaze again. She didn't respond for a few seconds, and Valerie felt her stomach sinking. Her mother wasn't taking her seriously, she was going to go and get murdered by Leviathan and there was nothing she could-
"I promise." Twitching, Valerie closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against Melody's collar and trying not to cry. She'd done it, Melody had promised her she wouldn't go, she was safe from Leviathan now. "But only if you tell me what's wrong?" Grumbling just a little, Valerie felt as Melody shifted her, delicate lips placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I won't go, but I want to know what's going on first, okay, can you do that for me baby?"
Nodding meekly, Valerie turned a little, laying against Melody's front as she looked up at her concerned gaze. "I...had a nightmare this morning. It was horrible, and you were in it, in Newfoundland. And...something attacked you. Everything got submerged and...I watched it...-" Valerie forced herself to look directly into Melody's widened eyes, tears welling up in her own as the fake event became all too real in her mind, the image of Melody choking on water, and never emerging from the depths. "-...I watched you dr-drown." She said, her voice cracking as she told her mother what she had seen.
Strong, loving arms held her close, rocking her gently as she started to genuinely sob. It just...hurt, imagining that happening and knowing that soon, it could have become all too real, her mother drowning in a forsaken flood of water, her lungs filling with water...she forced the image away, but what she'd already pictured still lingered in her mind, forcing her to remember what she'd pictured and what she'd described as if she were there. "Shh, shhhh Valerie, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, I promise." Relaxing into Melody's grasp, Valerie felt herself being picked up, Melody holding her close and carrying her through the apartment.
She felt herself be laid down on the bed, and for a heart-stopping second, she felt painfully alone, forcing her eyes open to look at her mother. She watched as Melody took off the shoes she was wearing and then her own shoes, before getting into her bed with her and hugging her. "You're alright sweetheart, I promised you, I won't go anywhere." Another kiss on her forehead punctuated that, her breathing, which had begun to get panicked, settling down as she snuggled into that loving embrace.
And she was out like a light before she knew it.
When she woke up, for just a brief moment, she was confused for a moment as her eyes opened to the sleeping face of Melody.
As she remembered exactly what had happened previously, her cheeks flushed a little. It made her feel childish, being so needy, but that didn't change the fact that she was...terrified that one day Melody would go off to an Endbringer fight and she would never come back. Valerie knew that eventually, she would heal, and wouldn't need Melody to constantly remind her that she was safe and loved, but, at least for now, she fully acknowledged that she would not survive on her own, so being selfish and needy for that was perfectly reasonable.
Moving gently, Valerie slipped out of Melody's grasp, getting off the bed and stretching, thirsty and needing to go to the bathroom. Padding out of her room in her socks, Valerie followed the gentle sound of snoring she could hear out of faint curiosity, peeking into her mother's room to see that Cherry was draped over half the bed, forcing her to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter.
She continued on her way, heading into the bathroom and after she was done with that, she set about fixing herself a drink. She debated making herself something a bit harder from the drinks in the cabinet, but getting drunk was probably a bad idea, not only because she had no idea if she had the tolerance for alcohol that she was used to having, but also because she'd never really gotten drunk before. She'd had a drink every now and then but she'd never actually gotten to a point where she could say that she'd been drunk.
No, instead she poured herself out some orange juice and added in a little bit of grenadine, enjoying the colorful look of the drink before sipping at it and looking out the kitchen window, leaning against the kitchen island as she went over what she'd said that afternoon. Nightmare, Newfoundland sinking, her mother drowning, that was the gist of it, and that was as far into those memories as she was willing to delve. Considering what would happen in the future, there was really only one way she could spin it. She hadn't had an MRI or anything, but if she ever did, it'd reveal that she was a parahuman.
If her mother or Cherry got the PRT involved, and there was a damn good chance of it, they would discover that she was a cape. She could then maybe twist it into her getting nightmares when her mother was in mortal danger. But, if Melody was ever attacked and killed or massively wounded, that would come under massive suspicion, since she hadn't seen it coming. Making her power capable of predicting Endbringer attacks was, for aforementioned Simurgh-esque reasons, a fucking terrible idea. But there was one idea she did have.
Her power required her to activate it, it was dormant the rest of the time, otherwise every sentence she said that could be taken as an order would have warped whoever heard it and was bonded to her, and from how Melody acted, that obviously wasn't the case. So in that case, the corona pollentia and gemma in her head would be inactive most of the time. So maybe she could somehow play it off that her power had fixated on her mother and had detected her involvement in an event involving an Endbringer, burning itself to give her a nightmare warning her of what was coming.
It was really the only thing she could think of that would work, and she needed something plausible to feed the PRT, or else she was going to end up birdcaged or hit with a kill order if and when they found out what her actual power was. Taking another sip of her drink, Valerie put it down and one-handedly hopped up onto the counter as quietly as she could, sitting there and peering out into the darkness, lit only by streetlights and stars, and tried to piece together the fucking mess she'd made of her future. "Val?" Hearing her mother's voice, Valerie turned her head and locked eyes with her mother, giving her a weak smile.
As Melody opened her mouth, possibly to ask her what was wrong, she dipped her head. "I don't want to be a cape." She said quietly as Melody came up on her left side and put an arm around her, rubbing her right arm gently, only pausing for a brief moment as she spoke before continuing. "I know that nightmare wasn't normal, and...I'm scared of what that means for me. I don't want to be a cape but I feel like what...what happened made me become one." She felt cold for a moment when Melody let go of her, looking to her side again to see her hopping up onto the counter beside her and pulling her into a gentle hug.
"Valerie, I don't think I never told you how old I am, did I?" A bit confused, Valerie shrugged, blinking at the somewhat uncomfortable look on Melody's face, an expression she had never seen her mother's face hold before. "Twenty-three. That's it. Only 7 years older than you. I became a cape at 15, an accident happened when I was on my own and I was nearly killed, I would have been killed if I didn't trigger with the powers I have now. And it took me three years to come out as a cape, as Entropy. So, here's what we do...nothing. If you have the power to tell when I'm going to be in danger, and gosh if that doesn't make me want to just adopt you all over again, you tell me, and I'll listen to you, I promise. Even if it sounds ridiculous or mundane, even as silly as not eating spaghetti for a month or never exiting the car with my right foot first, I promise you I'll listen to you, okay?"
Smiling at Melody, Valerie gave her a nod, leaning into her. "Thanks mom, for...for listening to me. I was scared you or Cherry would want me to go and get tested, and find out if I actually have a superpower and what it is...but it really scares me. Like...like my power isn't really that at all, like feeling things like that is secondary to what my power does, and whatever it does would make everybody hunt me down and hurt me." She mumbled out, pushing herself into Melody's hug.
That was it, about as close to an admittance of what her power was as she could get without saying exactly what it was. "Then we just don't bring it up to anyone, even Cherry. I trust that woman with my life, but if you don't want to tell her, then don't, I'll hold your secrets until I'm dead and gone, and even then the reaper will have to pry them out of me with a fight." Giggling lightly, Valerie pulled her legs up and turned herself to the side, then wrapped her arm around Melody as far as she could, pressing against her mother and feeling all the pent-up fear and terror she'd been feeling since she woke up that morning evaporate like snow as the sun rose.
"I love you mom." She mumbled quietly, lifting her head up to give Melody a gentle kiss on the cheek. In response, Melody hugged her tighter, turning her head to the side and returning the kiss by planting one on her forehead. before picking her up and carrying her back into the bedroom, settling her down and then laying down beside her. Valerie stared into Melody's eyes and saw the love, the care and the attention Melody felt for her, and she fought not to let her eyes water up as she dipped her head against Melody's neck, losing the battle as she quietly cried.
Melody simply leaned over her and kissed the crown of her head, whispering gentle reassurances to her, reminding her that Melody was right there, and nobody would take her away.
I hate my self-control and the fact I'm such a horny fucking slut with basically no boundaries -.-
I was halfway through turning that final scene into a heated lesbian scene between the two of them, and fortunately, I stopped myself through the power ooooof...well, nothing really stopped me actually, I just orgasmed whilst writing it, and then afterward decided that no, it would ruin the story and there were so many issues with it regardless. But that's the danger of writing when horny, you will write dumb shit to satisfy yourself. Hana Nanashi was basically turned into a giant garbage fire of a fucked up sexual relationship solely because Kaii was horny.
So yeah, rip. What I will more than likely end up doing is setting up a thing on Archive Of Our Own for all the weird lewd shit I write that can't be left canonical without ruining the story. Things like Valerie having sex with Melody, or abusing her power for sex, or whatever other crap my horny brain comes up with, that will all go over there. Sex that actually matters in the story will still be here, for example what she did to Viking, but anything non-canonical will go over there, and I'll mention it when I make a new thing, so keep an eye on the authors notes for that!
Anyways, hope you enjoyed, tomorrow is going to probably be the next chapter of The Symbolic Weight of Sacrifice, then Monday will be likely another chapter of White Lies. However, next Thursday is the anniversary of one particular story of mine, and so it will be the long-awaited yearly chapter of Trials of the Wylfen Corsair, ooooooh!
Yeah, I doubt anyone really cares but hey, it's fun!