It's short, but it's important! There's HUGE hint in this one, but you really have to squint to see it!


Chapter Sixteen: ShimmerFlame

When I awoke from my feeding-induced slumber, Nadia told me that she'd been keeping something from me. Naturally, I was intrigued and a tad worried, given how nervous she looked. She told me about one of her powers. Not ice or healing or night vision. No, this was a power I'd heard about in passing but had always assumed was a myth.


Ford groggily opened his eyes and yawned into his fist. He found that got his best sleeps after feedings.

"Sleep okay?" asked the gray blob sitting on the edge of the bed.

Ford smiled at his wife and sat up, stretching. "Yeah. Can I, uh…?" She put his glasses on his face, and he reached up and adjusted them, his surroundings coming into focus. "Thanks." Then, he noticed that she seemed nervous. "Hey, is everything alright?"

Nadia bit her lip and turned to face him, suddenly seeming very interested in the bedspread. "There's, um… Do-Do you love me?"

"What?" Where had that come from? "Of course I do. Why would you even feel the need to ask?"

"Do you really love me?"

"Nadia-"

"I mean, no matter what I said or did, would you-"

"Yes!" Now, she was just scaring him. "Nadia, what's going on? You're acting like my mother after too much coffee."

Nadia hugged her knees to her chest, still refusing to look at him. Ford's stomached knotted. Whatever was wrong, it must have been really wrong. "I...I've been...keeping something from you."

Ford hated how fragile she looked and sounded, like she would break if he so much as breathed on her. "Well, what is it? It can't be that bad."

Nadia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and finally looked at him, fear visible on her face. "It's one of my powers. I-I have one I haven't told you about."

She paused, and Ford nodded, encouraging. "Okay."

"Have...you ever heard of the ShimmerFlame?"

He shrugged. "Only in passing. Personally, I don't believe it. An ability that can that can drive its wielders insane? That can level an entire dimension? Sounds like something my pa would have made up to make me and brothers behave." His rambling ceased when he saw how tense his wife was. Suddenly it clicked. "Oh… So...it is real… Fascinating." Excited by this new information, Ford pulled his pen and journal out of his trench coat (he'd slept in his clothes again) and flipped his journal to a new page. "Okay. Now tell me everything you can about-"

"Stanford!" Nadia snapped. "You have to be joking!"

Startled, Ford closed the journal. "Uh, sorry. This…" He reached over sat it and the pen on the nightstand. "This is a bad time." He awkwardly coughed into his fist. "So, ShimmerFlame. You can do that."

Nadia groaned and put her head in hands. "Everything you said is true. It's so dangerous, it eats away at your mind." Stanford's heart lurched when he heard a sob wrench itself from her throat. "I'm losing it, Ford."

"No, you're not." Ford positioned himself on his knees and placed a six-fingered hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You have a powerful ability, but that doesn't make you crazy."

Nadia lifted her head up and wiped the tears from her face. "When I freaked out in the forest? That wasn't a Pokemon, Ford. It was me. I haven't used it in years, and it's eating away at my mind. I'm going crazy."

"Then, the solution is obvious," Ford pointed out. "Just use it."

"I can't! That's the problem! If I use it, I may not be able to stop. It's addictive, Stanford. It's like...like every drug in the multiverse combined! I'll keep using it, and I'll go insane from that!"

Ford wanted to say something, but he was too shocked. Thoughts whirled in his head as he tried to make sense of all this. Based on all she'd told him, there was a strong risk of her going insane either way, and he didn't even want to think about that.

"I can feel my mind growing weaker as the days pass. And, soon, I fear that I may be completely gone."

He'd lost Bill to madness, and that had been hard enough…

"And, Violet…" Nadia covered her mouth, but it did nothing to muffle her sobs. "Violet…"

Oh God, what did she have to do with this? "What? What about Violet?"

Nadia breathed deeply, trying to compose herself. "All mutants develop the ShimmerFlame. What-What are we going to do?"

Ford couldn't help it. He pictured Violet - his sweet, innocent little girl - shrieking and clawing at herself like her mother had that day in the forest. Ice crept up his spine. "Does she know about this?"

Nadia shook her head, wiping away the few tears that escaped. "I...didn't want to scare her… She's s-so young..."

Ford's frown deepened. "I get what you're saying, dear, but look at it this way. What's worse: her being frightened but prepared when it happens, or her being confused and terrified when it happens?"

Nadia sighed. "You're right. We should tell her."

"Right. But, first we should take care of you." He hopped off the bed and held out a hand for her.

Confused, she grabbed and allowed him to pull her up as well. "What are you doing?"

"Nadia, do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then, you'll trust that I know what I'm doing."

GSVIV ZIV LMOB GDL KLDVIH TIVZGVI GSZM GSV HSRNNVIUOZNV.


READ THE CODE! It's important. But, what's more important is you reviewing!