A/N: Hey, guys. Thank you so much for staying with me through all this laptop crashing/writer's block crap. It means so much. I think I'm back, though! Yay!
The favorite review for chapter four goes to RJRMovieFan. I'm glad you've got some questions! This chapter should answer those!
Do you guys actually listen to the song suggestions that I give you? If not, I'm probably going to stop giving them because sometimes the music I listen to while writing doesn't go with the chapter, so I go out of my way to find a song that fits with it.
Song suggestion: To Me - Chet Faker
As always, I love you all! - Fox
"H-how?" Beca stared at the woman, tears starting to form in her eyes. She really didn't want to cry in front of everyone, so she was holding it in as best she could.
"I had to fake my death," she said, reaching for Beca's hand.
"Don't touch me!" Beca lashed out, ripping her hand away. She took a few steps backward, "You let me believe all this time that you were dead."
"Becs, I had to," she said, a tear running down her cheek.
"Beca...is this...?" Chloe looked at her.
The Bender glared in the woman's direction, "Chloe, this is my mother."
The redhead stared at Beca's mom, Tiffany, "How could you do that to her?" Chloe was suddenly filled with rage. How anyone could abandon someone as sweet as Beca, no matter what the reason, blew her mind. From the stories Beca told her about playing the piano for her mom and trying to take care of the both of them, she couldn't see why Tiffany would leave her.
Beca's mom sighed, "It's going to take a while to explain."
"Well, it seems like we've got all the time in the world now. That's a lot more than I begged for when I was sitting in the cold by your grave," Beca said angrily.
Tiffany sighed, "Beca, that's not fair."
"No! What's not fair is I've spent the past eight years thinking you were dead! I spent all that time resenting my father because I thought it was his fault! And now come to find out you're not even dead? Don't you dare say that I'm not treating you fairly!" the small brunette screamed. By this time tears were betraying her, falling down her cheeks.
Chloe embraced Beca, glaring at Tiffany, "You'd better start talking."
"When I was a little younger than you, I'd met your father. For some reason, my powers didn't manifest until I was a little older than you," Beca's mom started.
"That's hard to believe. Eighteen is the oldest that anyone has ever waited for their powers to manifest," Chloe said.
"Well, like I said, mine didn't emerge until I was about twenty-two. By that time, your father and I were married and I was pregnant with you. He was already leader of the Darks. I knew how much of a toll it was on him when he even had to choose a side. He thought I didn't know anything about it, but I overheard him talking quite a few times late at night on the phone with someone," Tiffany said.
"That doesn't tell her why you left," the Mind Reader said, beginning to speak for Beca. She knew the younger woman couldn't handle talking. Not without crying more at least, so she read her mind and said what Beca was thinking.
"I kept my powers a secret from him. I didn't want to have to choose a side, because naturally I'd want to choose Light instead of Dark. Since he was the leader of the Dark, I couldn't do that. It wasn't long after that he found Sheila. That was my opening. I knew he would leave and I had to portray myself as a drunk to get Beca into his custody because I couldn't control my powers very easily and I didn't want to hurt her. It didn't work for a while, though, because Beca was too stubborn to ask to leave, or let anyone notice. Once she had to leave, I had to fake my death so I could go out to the Village of the Benders and learn how to control my powers," she sighed.
Chloe looked at her, "There's a Village of the Benders?"
"Yes, they taught me to control my powers, but it took all these years to master them. I came here as soon as I learned Beca had the same powers as I do. She needs to learn to use them just as I did," Tiffany told her.
"But why did you want her to go Dark?" the ginger asked.
"I think Beca can speak for herself, Ms. Beale," Tiffany said.
"Beca doesn't feel like speaking. I'm doing it for her," Chloe spat, "You have no right to say what Beca can or can't do. First off, she's an adult now and can make her own decisions. Secondly, you left her when she was ten years old. You left when she needed you and you didn't watch her grow up or help her through the hardest years of a girl's life. She doesn't need you now."
Tiffany looked hurt, but she nodded, "I understand."
"Now, why did you want Beca to go Dark?" she asked.
"Because the Dark is going to go looking for the Village of the Benders and try killing them all," Beca's mom sighed, "And I needed her to stop that from happening."
"So the war wasn't even real?" Chloe was getting angrier by the second.
"Unfortunately, it is. It's just not entirely the same as I told you before," Tiffany replied.
"How could you know if you're not really from the future?" Chloe asked.
"We got word that the Dark was going to attack all the Benders known right now. If you don't think that's not going to cause a war, then you're foolish," Tiffany said.
"Well, we're probably still going to have to do something about it," Chloe said bitterly, "For now, we're going to go home. Beca needs her rest and she needs to process all of this. Don't even think about coming to talk to her or anything."
"I can't leave here. Her father thinks I'm still dead. He can't know I'm alive," Beca's mom said, "It's important that he never knows."
They all stood there in silence for a moment. Chloe finally broke it, "Fine."
"Are you still going to train with me? You're both going to need to be strong if this happens. Chloe could very well still die in this war," Tiffany said, trying to use something to continue seeing her daughter.
"We'll come, but we're only training. No mother-daughter bonding," Beca finally spoke up. She turned on her heel and headed for the door.
"Wait, Beca...I'm-" Tiffany started.
"COULD YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP?!" Beca screamed, punching a wall. Instead of breaking her own hand, the concrete wall cracked, leaving a dent. Beca stared at it in awe. Chloe was honestly terrified to see someone as small as Beca to basically punch a hole in a concrete wall.
Beca's mother grinned, "You just used psionic strength!"
"I don't give a shit what I just did. Let's go, Chlo," Beca said, walking out the door. Chloe followed with Benji close behind.
"No wonder it didn't cause any shifts in time. You didn't even meet yourself. What a relief!" Benji said, "And the way you used those powers in there? Remind me not to make you mad!"
"You're not helping," Chloe glared.
"Right...I'll just go. See you guys later," Benji said as he left.
The two women walked in silence for a while. Chloe wanted to say something to try to help Beca, but she didn't know what. It's not every day that you figure out your girlfriend's mother faked her own death and lied about everything. How is someone supposed to even begin helping another person with something like that?
"Thank you for speaking for me in there," Beca sighed, grabbing Chloe's hand.
"You don't need to thank me," Chloe gave her a smile as their fingers tangled together. She brought their hands up and kissed the back of Beca's, "I love you. No matter what."
Beca gave her a soft smile, "I love you too."
"This has been a crazy day. You're probably exhausted, huh?" the taller woman asked.
Beca nodded, "Yeah, it has been."
"I'm sorry, Beca," Chloe said.
"For what? You didn't do anything wrong," the DJ replied.
"I know, but this has got to be the hardest thing for you. I know you spent years wishing you had her back and it turns out she was never really gone in the first place," the ginger began to cry.
"No, no. Don't cry," Beca reached up and wiped the tears away.
"I'm sorry. I know it's you who should be crying, but I can't help but feel sad for you," Chloe apologized again.
"Don't apologize," Beca smiled slightly, "It just shows me how much you care."
"Sorry...wait, I mean-" Chloe gave a light chuckle, "See? I can't help it."
The Bender laughed, "It's okay. Let's just get home."
Chloe nodded, leading the way. It didn't take them long to get there. Chloe's apartment was much closer than the dorms were. As soon as they walked in the door, they met a disappointed Aubrey.
"Are you serious? You know she has a dorm, right?" Aubrey groaned.
"Now is not the time, Bree," Chloe said sternly.
Aubrey looked at her confused for a moment while Chloe told Beca to go ahead to the room.
"What's the deal?" the Igniter asked.
"Beca's mom isn't dead," Chloe sighed.
"What? Isn't that good news?" Aubrey asked.
"Well, turns out Future Beca was actually her mom so she'd been lying this entire time. Beca was pretty upset," the redhead looked at the door to her room, "Just try not to upset her. She's pretty emotional. She punched through a concrete wall."
"Holy shit," Aubrey looked at the door too, "Make sure she doesn't do that to any of these walls. We cannot afford that."
"She won't. She was just mad at her mom," Chloe sighed.
"So, I was right about this the entire time. The Future Beca was a Mimicker."
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"She's a Bender too, but she's had years to master her abilities. Apparently, she was able to manipulate the structure of her face and made herself look like a slightly older version of Beca by using her telekinesis powers."
"That's crazy. Just how much power do Benders have?"
"A lot more than any other person with powers. They're the most powerful in our world. I heard that a select few thousands of years ago could manipulate the fundamental forces of the universe and had to be killed because they were too powerful."
"Oh, that's just a myth, Chlo."
"I believe it," Chloe said as she started to walk to her bedroom door, "I meant what I said, though. Try to cut Beca some slack right now."
The blonde nodded, "Yeah, sure."
By the time Chloe walked into the bedroom, Beca had already changed into pajamas and was laying on the bed, looking at her phone, "You know," the brunette said, "I punched a crack in that wall, I didn't punch through it."
"You know," Chloe mimicked her, "you shouldn't listen to other people's conversations.
"You're one to talk, Ms. Mind Reader," Beca retorted.
"Well, I can't help that and you know it. It's my power," Chloe crossed her arms.
"I know," Beca smiled, "Now, come here."
The redhead grinned, climbing into bed with the DJ, "How's your back?" she asked, referring to the burns on her back from becoming a Guardian.
"It's okay, I think. It hurt a little bit after I punched that wall, though," the brunette sighed.
"Let's have a look at them. If you opened one of the wounds from using your powers, we'll have to clean and dress it," Chloe said, lifting Beca's shirt off her.
"You just wanted an excuse to take my shirt off," Beca chuckled.
"I don't need one, you're my girlfriend," Chloe smirked as she looked at her back. Sure enough, part of it had been split open, "Stay here a minute." She got up and went to get the proper supplies.
Beca sighed, thinking about what had gone on that day. She wondered what would happen if she told her father that her mother was still alive. Would he make her choose a side? Would they try to kill her because she was a Bender that was too powerful? She then started to think about the Village of Benders. Could this really be a place or was her mother lying again? If it was, why was the Dark trying to attack them? They weren't doing anything wrong. They weren't even interferring with the system. Was it because there were some of them that could change the fundamentals of the universe like Chloe said? Could someone even have that much power?
"Stop thinking so loud," Chloe said as she came back with peroxide and bandages.
"Stop listening," Beca retorted.
"I can't when you're practically screaming in your thoughts. It's really distracting," the Mind Reader said.
"Sorry," Beca looked down.
"You don't have to apologize, love," Chloe smiled, "Now come with me to the bathroom so we can get this done without making a mess."
The smaller woman followed Chloe into the bathroom. She sat in the bathtub so the peroxide wouldn't get on the floor or anything.
"This is going to hurt," the ginger said.
"Wha-" Beca started, but before she could even finish the word, Chloe was pouring the peroxide on the wound, "Jesus Christ, Chlo!" she screeched, trying to pull out of the way of the liquid from hell.
"Don't jerk around. You're just going to make your burns worse and I'll have to use more of this on you," Chloe told her. Beca sat still then but bit her lip from the pain. Eventually, though, it started to feel better and Chloe began to put bandages on it, "There...all better now."
"That felt like you were pouring fire on my back," Beca griped, walking back into the bedroom.
"You little baby," Chloe teased.
"I'm not a baby," Beca pouted.
Chloe giggled, "Whatever you say."
The shorter woman rolled her eyes.
Whatever.