Author's note: Boyyyy this is a long chapter. Over 6000 words. I normally aim for 2000/3000 per chapter. Woah. It took me two full days to write so I hope I get a lot of good reviews to show me the effort was worth it ;)
I was going to split this into two chapters because of how long it is, but decided not to. It was already written, so why not post it all together?
This is the chapter where everything really starts to turn around, where the conflict will start building more. Xav and Ireland's future relationship is pretty much competely started because of the events of this chapter.
I really hope you like it. Leave your thoughts and opinions for me xx
23rd November 2013
Uriel drove both Xav and Ireland to the Benedict house that Saturday seeing as neither of them had their own cars. When they arrived, Uriel headed indoors straight away and Ireland moved to follow after him but Xav grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a stop in the doorway.
"What's wrong?" She asked him. She was feeling kind of nervous which was a new feeling for her. She knew that she should be gearing herself up to act like the innocent, scared young woman that Xav's family would feel sorry for so they'd let her into their family. She shouldn't be feeling nervous because she was scared of letting Xav down if his family didn't like her – but she did feel that way.
God she hated this! She didn't even really like Xav all that much, but she couldn't ignore the connection between them because of their soulfinder bond and that connection was making her want this whole thing to be real. Making her want to be a permanent person in his life, a true soulfinder and partner in life.
There were so many conflicting feelings and thoughts rushing through her constantly. It was so tiring and she didn't understand why her mind couldn't just pick one personality and stick with it. She hated Xav and the Benedicts; she wanted to be a proper member of their family. Two sides of one coin. She didn't even know where her sudden urge to be with Xav had come from, maybe it had always been there or maybe it had just happened overnight.
Her eyes met Xav's in confusion. She had a feeling something bad was about to happen.
He ran his free hand through his hair, the other still holding Ireland's wrist, and said in a cautious tone: "You're going to get a surprise in there and I don't think you're going to take it well."
"A surprise? What, other than your family hating me and watching me like a hawk? Yeesh, must be bad," she tried to make a joke out of it all.
The corners of his mouth turned up a little and he let go of her wrist. "I guess you'll find out when we tell you in there. Just bear in mind that all I want is the best for you, okay? Just remember that."
"Okay," she replied slowly, dragging the word out. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Great," he nodded with a smile. She noticed that his body was still quite tense as if he was afraid of something. "Let's head in then."
With that said, Xav moved in front of her and led her further into the house. Ireland could hear quiet conversation coming from a room, which stopped completely when they entered. Tense, awkward silence surrounded her.
They were in the dining room by the looks of it, with two massive tables pushed together to accommodate the whole family and everybody – Ireland had done enough research on the family to know who was who just by looking at them – was staring at Ireland with various expressions on their faces. None of their expressions looked like they were pleased to see her and have her in their home.
Gracie was the first one to break the silence. Surprisingly, she jumped up from her seat and dashed away from her dad's outstretched hand as he tried to grab her, and rushed towards Ireland, throwing her arms around her waist. Ireland's eyes widened and her body froze as she looked down at the little girl clinging to her.
"It's nice to see you again, Ireland!" Gracie exclaimed, a huge grin on her face. "I'm so glad you came here, we need more girls around here." She giggled before letting go and turning back around. "Daddy, look! This is uncle Xav's girlfriend, just like I was telling you!"
Her dad, a man with a buzz cut who was dressed in a dark blue shirt, strictly said, "Gracie, come back here and sit down in your seat."
"It's okay," Ireland spoke up, her voice cautious. "I won't hurt her, I wouldn't do that."
Trace spoke to his daughter again, not even looking at Ireland and acting as if she hadn't said anything. "Gracie. Now."
"Fine," the girl said sulkily, walking back over to her dad and sitting next to him. "You're no fun, daddy."
The room was silent again which gave Ireland mixed emotions about the situation yet again. To focus herself, she thought about what her dad would tell her to do to make herself look more on their side. The answer came quickly to her so she looked around the table until she a woman with dark hair, her chair pulled away from the table a little to make way for her growing belly. She had a hand on her stomach, as if she were comforting it.
Gathering the courage she had always had – the courage that had apparently disappeared up until this point – Ireland walked towards the woman with a purpose. Just as she reached her seat, the man next to her – dressed in black, with his hair pulled into a low ponytail – jumped up from his seat and stood in front of the pregnant woman, blocking Ireland's view of her. Ah yes, so this was Agent Victor Benedict.
"You're not coming anywhere near her," he snarled at Ireland. "Take one step closer and I'll knock you out. And you'll be lucky if that's all I do."
Ireland felt somebody step up very close behind her. "Calm down, Vick," she heard Xav's voice. Strangely, she felt comforted by the fact that he was defending her even against his own brother. His voice was calm but she had no doubt he'd snap at any moment. "I won't let you put a hand on her. She's not going to harm Hazel."
"She held her at fucking gunpoint, Xav!" Victor shouted, his body shaking with anger as he glared at Ireland.
"She didn't want to, her dad was-"
"Xav." Ireland interrupted him. She turned around – feeling uncomfortable turning her back on Victor – and put her hand on his left bicep, waiting patiently for a long moment until he looked away from his brother and down at her. "It's okay," she said to him, her voice strong but quiet. "I can handle this myself, but thank you."
She turned back to face Victor, who crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her in an attempt to intimidate her. It didn't work, of course; she'd dealt with men much tougher than him before. "Look," she said to him, "I know you don't like me, or trust me. I don't blame for you that. In fact, I'd worried if you did like me and made an effort with me. I'm not going to hurt Hazel, I came over so I could apologize to her."
"Victor," a soft voice came from behind him. "Honey it's fine, sit back down."
Victor was silent but Ireland had a feeling he and his soulfinder were now having a telepathic argument about this. Finally, he relented and reluctantly sat back down, sitting sideways on the chair so that he could still watch Ireland intently. She actually thought it was quite sweet how protective he was of Hazel, even if it did make her want to slap him at the same time.
"Okay," Hazel said, looking up at Ireland. She didn't look scared, but she didn't look happy either. "I'm listening."
Ireland cleared her throat, choosing her words carefully. "First off, I'm not expecting to be forgiven; I just really want to get this off my chest because you deserve an apology and I hate how I treated you. The thing is, working for my dad was... Hard. Even though I'm his daughter, he wasn't afraid to threaten me or punish me, and I was constantly terrified of him.
"It's true that a lot of the time I went along with what he said, I didn't argue and I killed whoever he told me to. I didn't like it, but I did it because I was a coward and didn't want to stand up against him.
"So when he told me to kidnap you, I didn't protest. I might not be the best person around but even I have some morals and I know that kidnapping a pregnant woman is a horrible thing to do. Hazel, I'm really sorry. I had a guy who works for my dad keep Victor asleep – that's his power – so that I could kidnap you. I hate that I did that, that I took you from your home.
"I hate even more that I held you at gunpoint and threatened to kill you unless Xav and Uriel told us about Persephone Carter. Honestly, I knew they'd talk straight away and that I wouldn't have to follow through with the threat. I have no idea what I would have done if they'd kept quiet. I'd like to think I wouldn't have shot you but my dad would have killed me if I didn't, and I know that sounds so selfish of me and I despise myself for having those thoughts.
"But if you remember, he told me to kill you even after Xav told us the truth. And I wouldn't do it."
"I remember," Hazel nodded. "He slapped you for speaking back to him. But I also remember you saying that we'd have to go home knowing you were after us for revenge and that you'd kill us off one by one when we were least expecting it."
"Yeah I did say that, didn't I?" Ireland sighed, her face falling into a guilty expression. She wasn't even sure if it was fake or not. "I mostly said that because I knew he'd like that plan and he'd let you go, that I wouldn't have to kill you. Although I will admit that I also said it because at that point I did want revenge on you all for the part you played in my mum and sister being killed, and my brother going to prison. And for how even more twisted my dad became after all that."
"How do we know that's changed?" Victor asked her in an accusing tone. "How do we know you're not still out to have revenge on us?"
"Because I realized something when my dad locked me away for days," she replied to him, looking him straight in the eyes. She would not show him any fear. "I realized that it doesn't matter that you helped the net track us down. It was my parents' fault that it came to that because of the work they did, because of how they treated and hurt people. That day never would have happened if they'd just been normal parents and had normal jobs. You don't deserve to be punished for doing your jobs."
It was only after she'd said those words that she suddenly realized she had a good point: that day really wouldn't have happened if her parents weren't criminals. They'd pretty much brought it on themselves. No, a voice different to her own replied to that thought in the back of her head. They need to be punished; they destroyed your family.
This was the first time she didn't let the voice's opinion overtake her own; she just let it leave her even more confused than she was already.
"Okay, that's enough." Everybody looked towards the person who spoke. Saul Benedict stood at the head of the table, his posture confident and demanding everybody's attention. Ireland gulped as she looked at him, thinking of what her father had ordered her to do to Saul. "I am not condoning or forgiving what Ireland and her father have done to my family, but I am not in the mood to watch a young girl be treated so badly in my own home. You all know that there's only one reason Karla and I let Ireland into our home today and I think we should get that over with before we start any of the celebrations for my birthday, don't you all agree?" The family nodded to Saul and he turned to look at Ireland. "Ireland? Are you ready for this?"
She frowned in confusion. Had she missed something important being mentioned to her without even realizing it? "Ready for what? What's going on?" She looked at Xav, who was stood a few steps behind her now, for an explanation.
"I was going to tell you on the way here but I thought you might chicken out and refuse to come," he started.
"Xav, what's going on?" She repeated.
"Ok just hear me out before you panic on me, okay?" He waited for her to nod before he continued. "Remember back in October when we met up in that bar and you asked me to help you? You told me that you were losing time, having blackouts and not remembering stuff you've done. You had me look at your mind and I couldn't tell what it was, just that there was something dark that didn't feel like a part of you."
"Yeah, I remember that..." She said slowly, nodding her head. "But I still don't understand what's going on here."
"Ireland, do you think I haven't noticed that you have massive mood swings all the time? One minute you'll be unsure of things and really, really nice to me and then the next you'll be ignorant, you'll snap at me and storm out of the room or the apartment. When Gracie was over, you were fine with her until she spilt a bit of juice and you got angry about everything."
"Everybody has mood swings Xav," she shrugged.
"Not as bad as you do," he pointed out. "I don't even know what you're actually like, and I'm pretty sure even you don't know the real you. Didn't you say something like that the other day? Look, maybe you're just like this because you're messed up from the way your dad's manipulated you and mistreated you your whole life." Ireland forced herself not to react badly at his speaking of her father like that. No matter what, she was still loyal to him and she owed everything to him. "Or," Xav continued, "maybe you're like this because there's something wrong with your mind. In the bar, you said that you thought something was wrong with you."
"Well yeah, but I don't get how your family can help me with that."
"We help the net by working together as a group," he explained. "It's how we find people for them, how we tell them where they'll find evidence, how we see the crime and tell them who did it. Stuff like that. I asked my family to help you, to go into your mind and see if that darkness I saw is still there, and they said yes. That's why my parents let you be here today. So we can help you. Please let us do this for you, Ireland."
"I don't know," she shook her head and started slowly walking backwards towards the door. "I don't know if I want people in my mind, I don't like the sound of that. There are things in my mind that I don't want you to see, that I don't want anyone to see. Things even I don't want to relive."
"Not everyone will see it," he said quickly. "I'll see it because I'm your soulfinder, and Zed will see it because he's the one that holds us all together, and Uriel will see it because he's the one who takes us into the past in your mind. The rest of them will get a sense of something, but won't see anything."
"You'll control everything," Zed spoke up from where he was sat next to his soulfinder, Blue. "If there's something you don't want us to see, just don't open that door and we won't see it. It'll all be down to you, Ireland."
"Please," Xav said. He was looking at her desperately, his hand twitching by his side as if he wanted to reach out for her. "I just want to get this sorted out, for my own peace of my mind. The darkness I saw in your mind has been bugging me ever since and I just want to understand it, don't you? I just want to help you, please let me help you. I swear that I won't let anything bad happen."
"And what if the darkness is there just because I'm evil?" She asked him, her voice shaking. It was an insecurity she hadn't even realized she'd had. "What if, no matter how much I want to change, I can't because I'm just pure evil and I was born that way and I can't change that?" She was surprised by how desperate she felt and sounded, and surprised even more by how much she wanted to cry. But she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't let herself; she hadn't cried since her family was torn apart, and she would never cry again.
Xav gave her a pitying look before he shook his head. "I don't believe that. I don't think anyone is born evil, it's just something that happens to them over time. And everybody deserves a second chance. Please let us help you; you don't have to be this way forever."
"Okay," she found herself saying quietly.
"Let's move into the living room then," Georgie said. For a moment there, Ireland had almost forgotten that her and Xav weren't the only ones in the room. "Whilst you lot were having your little confrontation earlier, I moved Gracie and Mark into the study room. Mark's asleep and Gracie's watching a DVD on Saul's laptop. This isn't something the kids need to be a part of, so let's get it started before either of them become restless, shall we?"
Ireland found herself grateful when Xav came over and led her into the living room with a comforting hand on her lower back.
So this is how the Benedict family work their magic, Ireland found herself thinking. I was expecting more fireworks and explosions.
All the furniture in the living room had been pushed to the side, the curtains were closed and the lights were switched off. Red candles decorated the room, their flames being what lit the room up. The whole thing created a calm and quiet environment that relaxed Ireland just a little bit.
The family were sat in a circle cross-legged on the floor, holding hands. The three soulfinders – Georgie, Hazel, and Blue – were sat on their knees behind their respective partners, with their hands on their shoulders to give their partner's power added strength if he needed it. Xav was the only brother not sat with his legs crossed. He had his legs flat in front of him and Ireland was sat between them, leaning back against his chest. Uriel sat to their left, Trace to their right; Ireland's hands were outstretched to hold one of each of theirs and Xav had his palms flat on either side of Ireland's head.
"So what happens now?" She asked nervously.
"You need to relax more cupcake," Xav's voice entered her mind. Somehow, just his voice made her relax even more. "And only speak telepathically now, to keep the connection. Zed's going to link all of our minds now, okay?"
She nodded her head and a moment later she felt a surge of power drift into her mind. It was pulsing and she could just feel the power in the others' minds too. It was then that she realized why the Benedict family had the reputation that they did: they were so much stronger together than she ever would have thought possible.
"For this to work, you need to take down the walls in your mind," another voice came into her mind. Zed's.
She reluctantly started taking her impenetrable walls down, letting the mind reader into her head. She'd learned how to create such strong walls at the age of seven and hadn't taken them down since. Oh, she didn't like this.
"It's okay," Xav tried to reassure her after her body went tense. "Remember, only you, me, Zed and Uri will see this. Let's get to work, guys." His last sentence was directed at his family.
Ireland felt someone delve into her mind and a moment later heard Will's voice in her head: "Dad and I both sense something dangerous in you."
"I can't feel anything that says somebody is using a mind manipulation power like mine to get you to do anything," Victor added. "But I do feel that your mind isn't entirely your own... It's strange, I've never seen anything like it before."
"I'm going to take us into your memories," Uriel said calmly. "How this normally works is that one prominent memory will come forward that we'll see, then you'll decide which ones we see after that, if any."
After he spoke, Ireland felt his power starting to work, faces and short moments from her life flipping into the front of her mind quickly until one finally stood out. Before she knew it, she was being pulled into the memory and couldn't stop it if she'd tried...
Thud! The throwing knife hit the bullseye of the dartboard in her bedroom and Ireland grinned to herself. After the injury to her prominent arm a few weeks ago, she was finally starting to get full motion from her arm and her aim was becoming perfect again. Her dad would be proud when she told him.
She was just about to shout out to him to come and have a look when she heard the front door downstairs being kicked open, followed by shouts of "surrender!"
Ireland rushed out of her bedroom, three throwing knives still in her hand. Evander, her brother who was older by a few years, was just coming out of his bedroom, cursing to himself under his breath. The sound of shouting and gunshots rang out loud from downstairs.
"Evan!" Ireland said in a panic. "What's going on?!"
"The net have found us," he replied grimly. "How the fuck did they find us? We're in the middle of nowhere! Fuck! Ireland, listen to me. Mum and dad are downstairs with some business associates and they'll need our help. Get Quinn, get both of you a gun and come downstairs." He pulled his own gun out from the waistband of his jeans and made sure it was fully loaded.
"But I don't want to fight," Ireland whispered. "Why do we always have to fight, Evan? I'm tired of it."
Evander looked back at her with anger in his eyes and a snarl on his mouth. "We fight because we have to, Land! The net came here today to kill us all when we have done nothing wrong, we've just been doing our jobs. You will get Quinn and a gun and you will fight – do you want me to tell dad that you're letting the family down and not protecting your blood?"
"No, Evan," she shook her head, unable to meet his eyes. "I'll fight."
Less than five minutes later, Ireland found herself joining the others downstairs, throwing knives in one hand and gun in another. Quinn, her fourteen year old sister, was by her side and holding her own gun in a shaky hand. Despite all the training, Quinn had always been more innocent and delicate than Ireland; she was Delia and Oliver's favourite daughter and they were always a lot softer on her. This was just proof to Ireland that they should have been tougher with Quinn, should have made sure she could protect herself better.
A lot of her parents' associates were on the floor, some still standing and helping her parents and brother escape arrest and fight these people from the net. Ireland shot her gun a few times, trying her best to hit somebody but missing – her arm wasn't at its best still and she was struggling.
"NO!" She heard her father's scream over the chaos in the house a few minutes later. She looked over and saw her dad on his knees, cradling somebody in his arms. Dark brown hair touched the floor, the same shade as her own, and Ireland instantly knew who was in her dad's arms.
Ireland, Evander and Quinn all ran towards their parents. They were the only ones still standing against the people from the net. The others all paused, watching the family.
Ireland and her siblings fell to their knees beside their dad, staring at their mum cradled in her soulfinder's arms. Delia's amber eyes were staring upwards; there was no life in them. Blood stained her clothes near her chest, her face frozen.
"She's dead," Evan said flatly. "She's dead." He jumped to his feet. "You bastards!" He screamed before charging at the men without even a weapon still in his hands.
"Evan, no!" Quinn gasped. Quinn, who adored her brother almost as much as she did her dad. And Evan adored her too. Ireland had always been the middle child, the one her parents were toughest on and the one who's siblings didn't pay much attention to. Quinn jumped up and chased after Evan, firing her gun recklessly.
She had no idea what she was doing.
Ireland then jumped up to go after her sister, aware of the guns being turned on her and Quinn. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her dad lower Delia's body and stand to his feet, gun in hand to protect his children.
Ireland grabbed Quinn by her shirt and pulled her backwards as Evan was slammed against the floor and pinned down, handcuffs being strapped around his wrists. "Get off!" Quinn shouted, fighting her sister. "Let go of me!"
"No! I'm not letting you get yourself killed by trying to save Evan when you don't stand a chance!" Ireland replied, her arms wrapped around her sister's waist now to keep a good grip on her.
Quinn started shooting the gun again. Oliver was next to his daughters, shooting his gun too. The men from the net, all dressed in black, were also firing bullets. One of the people in black stepped forward a little and aimed at Oliver, pulling the trigger just as Quinn slipped out of Ireland's arms and stumbled away from her, moving in the direction of her father. The bullet the man had fired had been aimed for Oliver but it -
It hit Quinn. It hit Quinn just above her right eye. Her body fell to the floor. Everybody stopped shooting their guns and there was a tense silence in the room as everyone looked at the girl on the floor. Ireland looked up and met the horrified eyes of the man who had killed her sister. She would remember those eyes for the rest of her life.
Suddenly, Evan cried out in anguish. He started to struggle, trying to get to his feet and kicking out at the men around him. Half of the group was distracted by his thrashing around and Oliver took that opportunity. He grabbed Ireland's wrist tight enough to leave bruises and started dragging her towards the back door, shooting at those that came after them.
They burst outside through the back door and Oliver shouted at her to run. So she did. Their house was in the middle of the countryside, woodlands surrounding them. Oliver and Ireland ran for what felt like hours until they eventually agreed that they'd lost the men that had chased after them.
Ireland dropped to the floor and started crying, body-heaving sobs that she couldn't control. Her family had been torn apart, had been destroyed, and she didn't know what else to do other than cry. Her father knelt in front of her and Ireland hoped and prayed that for the first time ever he would comfort her, would hold her close and promise her that everything would be okay.
But he was Oliver Hawk. And he never comforted his middle child.
"Ireland." When she didn't answer him, he grabbed her head and pulled it up so that she had no choice but to look at him. "Stop crying. Crying is weakness."
"They're dead," she sobbed. "Mum and Quinn... And Evan's been arrested! We just left them behind! Dad, what are we gonna do? They're dead, daddy!"
"You think I don't fucking know that?" He snapped at her. "I know they're dead, Ireland! Stop crying!" He pulled his hand back and slapped her face roughly, shocking the hysterics out of her system. "Here's what we're going to do: we're going to get out of here and lay low for a while. I'm going to talk to my contacts in the net and find out who the hell is responsible for tonight. And then we're going to hunt those people down and kill them. We'll get our revenge, are you with me?"
"Yes daddy," she nodded her head, trying to stop herself from crying. Her dad was right: crying was weakness. She didn't want to look weak in front of him. "We'll get our revenge."
Ireland was lurched back into the present with a painful feeling in her chest. She'd kept that memory locked away for so long, hadn't wanted to see it again no matter how much she needed it to remind herself why working for her dad was the right thing for her to be doing. The only time the memory was ever alive anymore was in her nightmares.
She looked around the circle at the faces of the Benedict family, their faces calm and impassive. Obviously, they hadn't seen the memory with her and the three brothers that had.
Her eyes met Victor Benedict's. Those eyes. His eyes. She remembered them for definite now. He was the one who had murdered her little sister. He'd shot the bullet that killed her instantly. She hated him.
"Ireland," Xav's voice said in her mind. It was gentle and sad. "That was horrible to see. I'm so sorry that-"
"Don't," she interrupted him, closing her eyes to stop herself from looking at Victor. Her sister's killer. "Please, Xav. I don't want to talk about it. Please can we just move on?"
"Of course," his reply was a soft whisper. "Uriel?"
"Ireland, the answers we're looking for are in your mind somewhere. Only you can find them, but use our power to give you the strength to do that. Use my power to look into your mind, into your past, to find whatever darkness has grown there. Xav will help to guide you, using his power to find what's abnormal in there. Once you've found it, Xav will help to identify what it is."
With his instructions, Ireland went back into her own mind and imagined all the moments of her life being put into a room, the door being shut behind them. She pictured a long corridor with all the doors on it and pictured herself and Xav stood on that corridor. Together, they started walking down the corridor in her mind, both looking at the dark wood of each door and waiting for a sense of what they were looking for.
"That's a good visual," Zed praised her. "You're doing really well, a lot better than some of the people we work with. It's good that you know just what to do – it means your mind is working with us, that it wants to help us with the darkness."
It was strange having somebody talk about her mind as if it was a separate person but Ireland found herself completely understanding what he meant.
After a few long minutes of walking down the imagined corridor, Xav and Ireland both stopped outside a door. Instead of having the same dark brown wood as the other doors, this one was made of a black steel.
Trace's telepathic voice reached her. "My power tells me that you're not the only one that's been in the part of your mind behind this door, Ireland."
"I'm sensing danger," Saul added.
Ireland reached out a shaking hand and tried to push the door open. "It's too heavy, I can't open it," she said to the family.
"Somebody obviously doesn't want you to see this part of your mind," Uriel mused. "Guys, help?"
In her imagination, Xav put a hand on her shoulder as he pushed against the door with her and a moment later she felt the strength of the whole family rushing through her, helping them. With all of them working together, Ireland pushed through the 'door' – the block in her mind preventing her from seeing this – and her and Xav fell into the room.
They were surrounded by a dark, menacing mist. It felt like a living thing; it felt like there was more than one of it in the room with them. "What the hell is this?"
She felt Xav's power emanating from him and feeling her mind, could feel Xav relaxing and not thinking, simply letting his healing power give him the knowledge he needed to make her right again. "I don't believe it," he finally said. "Ireland, someone's messed with your mind big time. I've heard of the power of personality before, although it's extremely rare. It's a power that enables a person to change an aspect of someone else's personality, for good or bad, and if it's powerful enough they can change someone's personality entirely or plant a different one in their mind so that they have two, almost like a split personality disorder.
"But with you... Somebody's planted more than one personality in your mind. No wonder you change moods so quickly, you have so many conflicting personalities in your head.
"I'm guessing this is why you have blackouts and forget doing things. The personalities are like living things, probably powerful enough to overtake you completely so you're not in control of your actions. Who the hell would do this to you?! How could anybody do this to another person? It's disgusting. I have no idea how long these personalities have been in your mind; I'd say at least for a year considering how strong they are."
"Can you do anything to help her, Xav?" Karla was the one to ask.
"I think so. If I can use my power to weaken them as if they were an injury wreaking havoc on a body, I think I could then try and eliminate them entirely. If I can't get rid of them properly, I can metaphorically wrap them up as if in a bandage. Hopefully that will restrain them in the recesses of Ireland's mind where they can't touch her anymore, can't control her."
It took Xav over twenty minutes to complete his work. Ireland could feel his body behind her tensing with the effort and she wasn't the only one in the circle that felt him drawing strength from all of them to help his power. Frankly, Ireland didn't care how much strength he took from her as long as it helped him fix her mind.
She was shocked by his revelations of what was in her mind but so glad that she finally had an explanation for the mood swings and memory loss. She was looking forward to having her mind back to herself.
"That's it," Xav finally said to them all. "I don't think I can do much more right now. There were far too many contrasting personalities in your mind for me to count. I weakened them all and managed to destroy some. The rest I've managed to restrain and lock in your mind. Over time, we can do some more one-on-one sessions and I'll slowly start destroying the rest. It's going to take time to get rid of them all, but they can no longer control you."
After Zed unlinked all their minds and the family started stretching and getting to their feet, Ireland and Xav stayed where they were with her in between his legs. He lowered his hands from her head and rested them on her hips. They were both too exhausted to move at the moment.
The family started heading back into the dining room, whispering amongst themselves, no doubt about her.
"Xav?" she whispered quietly.
"Mmm?"
"What does this mean for me now?"
"It means you have your own mind now, cupcake," he was also speaking in a whisper. The effort of healing her mind had obviously taken its toll on him and they were both feeling it. "You're yourself again."
"I don't know who I am now though," she replied, sadness in her heart. "Now that I don't have those personalities controlling me, I don't know what to think. I don't know what parts of my life were them and what parts were me. I don't know what type of person I am without their influence."
He rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms fully around her waist, pulling her back tightly against him. She was too tired to even focus on this intimacy between them and how unexpected it was. She was so confused about how she felt about everything. She no longer had voices in her head telling her how to feel and think.
"Well I guess we'll find out," Xav replied faintly. "You can decide what kind of person you want to be and you'll know that it was your decision, one hundred percent. Don't think too much about it, it's nothing to be scared of."
Despite his words though, she was scared. She had a lot to think about but right now she was far too drained from everything that happened in her head to even start to think about where this left her and how it changed things.
She let herself relax in Xav's arms and before she knew it, she was asleep right there in the Benedicts' living room.
A hint about the next chapter: Xav realizes something.