Tate sat on the couch timidly, staring at Ben, his new adoptive father. "Where's your family?" Tate asked timidly, and Ben sighed, removing his glasses and looking at Tate.
"They don't live with me anymore. My daughter, Violet, well she's all grown and moved away. My wife… well… we're divorced. I did have one other son, but he… he had to be put in a center for little boys that don't have the Mark and can't do things on their own."
"Oh. So you're all alone?" Tate questioned curiously, having the curiousity of a two year old.
"Yes, I lost everything to the war, you see. There was this war between human and Delanian, and the humans lost. They gradually became rare, and now they're extinct. They had no powers, unlike us, and had a thing about one skin color ruling over all the rest. I think they were… Americans, way back then they were called that. Now, us Delanians can live in peace without fear of being caught and burned at the stake."
"Did you go to war?"
"No, never. It goes against everything I believe in, and personally, I don't enjoy holding the cold body of a gun. I was a psychiatrist for veterans though, as well as for others that didn't go to war. I talked to them about the things they saw, the seemingly endless days they endured as a soldier… and I healed their broken minds. It's part of my power, you see, I can heal or destroy people's minds. I can make them insane, or I can make them perfect. I can do whatever I want, but it's a power that had it's cons."
"Wow, I wish I had that power," Tate said in awe, fiddling with his shirt as he spoke. Ben noticed and squinted his eyes for a moment.
"What's wrong?" He asked, feeling the stubble on his face, before moving his hand to his hair, smooth and silky. "You're afraid of something."
"Well, it's just that… you're very powerful, what if I make you mad?"
"I would never, and I mean never, willingly use my powers to hurt you," Ben promised, a solemn look in his brown eyes. He crossed his legs, looking up at the ceiling, in thought. "Hmm… what do you think of me training you to become stronger and be able to control your power better?"
"I wouldn't mind at all."
They spoke for a little bit more, but then fell apart awkwardly, with Tate going to his room and Ben staying in his office, staring at the flames of the fireplace, an old Human CD playing, called Beethoven. Ben sat in thought about the Ivan boy, Tate Ivan, and about his own lost family.
Elizabeth was his wife, a woman with blonde wavy hair, with the power to create illusions and read other's minds, alter their memories, similar to his powers. He thought that they were perfect for eachother, but she wasn't the same type of person as he was. He wanted to help others that had seen too much or had gone through too much, but she used her powers to work for the Humans, and control other Delanians. She used her power against her own kind, leaving Delanians in the throes of the darkest thoughts they ever had, could have, until they went insane.
Ben sighed, rubbing his forehead with his thumb, before retiring to his own bed. Meanwhile, Tate was tossing and turning on his bed, sweat pouring in drops down his forehead and back. Screaming, he woke up, tears running down both cheeks, and he ran to find Ben. Making sure that Ben hadn't left him yet, no he wouldn't let Ben.