In her fourteen years, Melody had been in her share of scary or tense situations. Most recently, the incidents with the laser-mouthed businessman and the large Villain from Yonkers, not to mention seeing one of her closest friends lose control of his Quirk and attempt to maul her classmate. Even meeting her aunt and grandma for the first time had been daunting. However… none of those could even come close to replicating the dread she felt sitting at the dining room table in her grandparent's house. While the place had seemed welcoming earlier, the arrival of her grandfather had replaced that feeling with a large amount of tension.
The man's arrival had been punctuated with him barging into her mother's old room and giving her such a hate-filled glower, it made Clara's best glare look friendly. He hadn't even spoken to her, just stood in the doorway looking balefully at her for a brief minute until Kate came to her rescue and set Sawyer on the old man. While her son dragged his grandfather away, Kate had given Melody an apologetic look and lead her downstairs to help set the table for supper.
Melody breathed a sigh of relief once dinner was served, and it became painfully obvious that Frank had decided to pretend she didn't exist while simultaneously making her feel as unwelcome as possible. Of course, this only served to strengthen the awkward silence that fell over the group. Kate and Linda kept sending worried looks at one another, while her father watched Frank with an unreadable expression. The only one seemingly oblivious of the atmosphere was little Sawyer, who was currently ignoring his food in favor of smashing two action figures together. Melody actually flinched when the boy turned his attention to her and grinned. "Wanna play?"
"No toys at the table, Sawyer," Kate answered for her, smiling lightly. Melody quickly promised her cousin she'd play after dinner, and the room fell back into silence. 'At least someone isn't repulsed by my presence,' she thought, sneaking a furtive glance at her grandfather. She did feel a pang of regret, though. Linda had welcomed her and her father into their house with open arms, and Kate had done everything in her power to make her feel comfortable, which made it all the more confusing as to why her grandfather, who still hadn't spoken a single word to her, seemed disgusted by the sight of her.
Then, there was the mystery of her father. Carlyle said he'd been keeping her from the rest of the family for her own safety but had offered no explanation in the past few hours since they'd arrived. It was starting to grate on her nerves a little. She knew her father had always kept secrets, yet she could have never imagined it was something like this. It was starting to make her wonder what else he was hiding.
Before she could pursue that line of thought, however, the sound of a vehicle's tires on the gravel driveway split through the silence. In an instant, all the tension and worry in her aunt's face evaporated, and she stood from her seat as the front door opened. "Miles!"
"Hey, Kate. What's with that SUV in the drive–" the newcomer, a dark-skinned man, dressed in a police officer's uniform, stopped as he spotted Melody and Carlyle sitting at the table. His red eyes narrowed briefly in suspicion, but after a short, non-verbal conversation with her aunt, he shrugged and kicked off his shoes. "Not often you have guests, Frank. What's the occasion?"
"Unwanted visitors. They'll be gone in the morning." It took Melody a moment to realize that it was her grandfather who'd spoken. His voice was deep and gruff, though there was a faint hint of fondness. As Kate went to greet the man, Miles, Melody snuck a look at Frank. His posture had relaxed ever so slightly, but there was still a fury in his eyes. To his credit, Miles just laughed at the harsh words and kissed Kate on the cheek.
"Papa!" Sawyer cried, apparently noticing the commotion for the first time (Melody assumed it had something to do with the action figures he was poorly hiding under the table), and jumped from his seat to hug the man.
"Hey, brat. How much trouble did you cause today, eh?" Miles asked, lifting the boy up and sitting him on his hip. At this point, it had become obvious to Melody who this man was, yet even after everything that had happened already, the thought of her family expanding by even merely one more made her throat clench up. The sight of her uncle embracing his family only further struck her, and she felt a hint of envy welling up in the back of her mind. "So… are you gonna re-introduce me to our 'unwanted guests' or am I gonna have to go another ten years without talking to my niece and brother in law?"
"Sit down and talk to them then. It'll be better than the awkward silence," Kate said, ushering Miles into her former seat beside Melody and Sawyer. In the span of just a few minutes, the atmosphere in the dining room had done a one-eighty, and Melody quickly came to like her uncle. Miles reminded her quite a bit of Nathan, with his easy-going sense of humor and the mischievous grin he wore. Even Carlyle, who'd been hesitant to speak at all to his in-laws, was pulled into the conversation.
"By the way, Mel. Congrats on the top-four finish in the festival. The boys down at the Portland station and I were cheering for you," Miles remarked, though for an instant Melody could swear there was a bit of apprehension in his expression. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father tense up. 'He was pretty evasive earlier when it came to me blacking out. What's going on? It's not like him to act like this.'
"Wait, I thought you said you lived in Queens? What are you guys doing in Maine?" Melody questioned.
"We tend to travel a lot. I might look like a typical beat cop, but the higher-ups tend to send me all over the country, thanks to my Quirk. Kate and I figured Frank could use a little softening up with Sawyer, so they tagged along," Miles explained, and, for a second, his eyes flashed an even brighter shade of crimson.
Miles Braddock
Quirk: Follow
Whenever he sets his sights on someone, he can follow their trail for up to seven miles. It even works to a lesser extent with pictures or video, but he needs to see them with the naked eye for the best results.
"There isn't a state in America or province in Canada that I haven't been to. I even helped locate a few escaped prisoners from the Citadel in Alaska, though that turned more into body recovery than a manhunt," Miles explained, his expression turning grim. He swiftly reverted to his cheerful demeanor and gave Melody a toothy grin. "You ever get arrested, just give me a name-drop. Might just save your rep."
"Miles!" Kate scolded, smacking her husband in the back. Miles laughed it off and scarfed down half his dinner in less than a minute, making Melody realize she still hadn't touched her own. Once she took her first bite, she immediately regretted letting it get cold. Her grandmother's cooking was divine. Within a few moments, every plate at the table (except for Sawyer, who Melody came to find out was a very slow eater) was clear, and Linda had retreated to the kitchen with the promise of her special apple pie for dessert.
Around this time, Carlyle cleared his throat and captured the attention of those still at the table. Melody was slightly saddened to see her aunt's thinly veiled distaste and her grandfather's… not so thinly veiled hatred. To her surprise, Miles winked at her before turning in his seat to look at her father. As soon as Carlyle looked up from his plate and met Frank's eyes, he seemed to deflate. Never in her life had Melody seen her living mountain of a father look so small. "You know why we're here, Frank. I've tried to put it off as long as I could, but any longer, and Melody could get hurt. She needs your training."
"Tch, you think after all you've done, you deserve to ask me for help with anything? No, you two can stay the night, but at first light, you're gone." Melody stared at her father in bemusement. 'How much are you not telling me?'
"Dad, it's what Harmony would have wanted," Kate agreed, though it looked like it physically pained her to. Frank scowled at her briefly before glaring back at Carlyle, who was giving him his best "you've had one too many, get out of my restaurant" look.
"Guess we'll never know for sure." Melody… didn't like the way her grandfather said that. The venom and hurt behind his voice almost made it sound like he blamed her dad for her mom's death. That really made her temper flare, and she shot up out of her seat.
"I don't know what's going on, but maybe he's right. It'd probably be better for everyone if we left. Whatever 'training' you think I need from him, I'm sure we could find someone else," she growled. While she absolutely hated the idea of losing her family again after just finding them, something about her grandfather just put her temper into overdrive. Carlyle gave her a sad look as Frank huffed.
"There is no one else," her father stated, his gaze still focused on the older man. This did nothing to quell Melody's rapidly growing fury. Subconsciously, she knew this wasn't normal. Even at her worst, reaching that degree of anger that quickly was beyond strange. Her fists were clenched so tightly at her sides that the knuckles were beginning to turn white. In the face of her anger, her grandfather simply sat back in his chair and grinned maliciously at her, which didn't help matters.
"He hasn't told you, has he?" Her grandfather asked. His tone was casual, but there was an odd undertone of spite. Before she had a chance to reply, Frank rose to his feet and leaned over the table to get right in her face. "This scum is responsible for your mom's death."
"Liar," Melody spat back, though her grandfather looked unimpressed. She was vaguely aware of her father sinking back in his chair and Miles' tense posture. However, neither tried to intervene as she and Frank glared at each other.
"The only liar here is him. Why do you think he never told you about us? Never returned your grandmother's calls? He knows what he's done, and he's spent the past eleven years hiding from it," Frank growled, pointing at her father accusingly. By this point, Melody could hear the blood roaring in her ears. She slammed her hands on the table, making the sturdy mahogany quiver, and opened her mouth to scream at the man.
That's when the sound of crying reached her ears, and she spared a glance to the side. Sawyer had abandoned his seat beside her and now sat in his father's lap, hiding his face in the man's shoulder. The ringing in her ears began to die down, and, thankfully, her temper started to as well. Standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Kate and Linda watched the scene with worried expressions, the latter holding what appeared to be a, still steaming, pie. Sat with his back against the wall, Carlyle's eyes were focused on the table in front of him. He refused to even look at her.
Feeling her face go red with shame, Melody tried to relax her posture a bit. However, the moment she tried to apologize, her vision blurred, and her body pitched forward as if she had no control over it. She would have face-planted into a mostly empty bowl of mashed potatoes, but Kate managed to catch her before that could happen, grunting at the effort it took to support her dead weight. As she settled the redhead back into her seat, Kate shot her father a glare. "What were you thinking? You know how dangerous your Quirk is, dad."
"Melly," Carlyle said softly, and for a brief second, it looked like he was going to rush to her aide himself, but stopped and looked forlornly out the nearby window. Not far away, Frank sat back down as well and resumed glaring at the girl. Linda sent him a sad look as she set the pie down on the table.
"You okay, Moose?" Kate asked apprehensively. It took Melody a while to register that someone was speaking to her, and she nodded slowly. Still unconvinced, she sent a death glare at Frank, who seemed to be contemplating something.
"Leave it to you to wait until it was almost too late. Left unchecked, the poor girl will die in a few weeks with all that foreign energy inside her. That, or she'll go out with a bang and take a few dozen of her classmates with her," Frank said indifferently. Even in her slightly muddled state of mind, Melody could feel her temper flaring again. 'What the heck is this guy's problem?' she thought. She attempted to stand back up, but her body didn't seem to want to cooperate. 'What did he do to me? It feels like I put on a hundred pounds.'
"Dad!" Kate scolded, placing a hand on Melody's shoulder. The old man glowered and rolled his eyes, but it seemed as soon as he looked away from her, Melody felt the added weight lessen slightly and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Frank. If you're telling the truth, you can't turn them away," Miles interjected calmly. Frank's head snapped around, but there certainly wasn't as much resentment in his eyes as there had been before. His son-in-law met his gaze, seemingly unperturbed, and motioned at the, now calm, Sawyer still sitting in his lap. "You're always saying it's your duty to teach Sawyer. Now, that extends to Melody, too. She's family."
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Melody's face went red as every head in the room turned towards her, but she stayed resolute. The haze in her mind was finally starting to clear, and she wanted answers. Much to her chagrin, her father still wouldn't look at her, while Miles and Kate both looked towards Frank, which she really didn't like. She didn't think she could stomach it if her grandfather was the one explaining things. From the sour grimace on his withered face, he wasn't much happier about the prospect. "You all seem to know a lot more about me than I do, so I'd very much like to be enlightened. Please."
"Your dad's been lying to you, not that that's anything new for him. Whole career was based on lies, wasn't it?" Frank began, but a stern look from his wife stopped him from going off on a tangent. The old man snarled, and, for the first time that evening, his age truly showed on his face. "Fine, you want the truth? You're a danger to yourself and everyone that comes into close proximity to you."
"Frank!"
"During the tournament, you began playing with powers you have no control over, and it nearly killed you, your classmate, and your teacher," Frank said, ignoring the admonishment from Linda. The man leaned forward in his seat and steepled his fingers, his brow creasing in concentration. Across the table, the small pool of dread that had been growing in Melody ever since she sat down at the table reached its peak. Her head began to throb in pain, and a wave of nausea rolled over her.
"Dad, what happened during my match with Damien?" She asked slowly, not fully knowing whether or not she wanted to know the answer. Before her father could answer, her growing migraine throbbed again, and she saw Ms. Whittaker running towards her before collapsing. Damien's shocked and expression as he melted into shadow. Then, she saw Narruk, his face screwed up in worry and pain, shouting at her before everything went black, and she snapped back to the present. Her body jerked so violently she nearly threw herself out of her chair.
"Moose?" Kate sounded worried, but her voice was dampened, almost as if she were talking underwater. She barely even noticed when her aunt put a steadying arm around her shoulders, nor when Miles set Sawyer down and moved closer to her, ready in case she fell.
"What did I do? What happened?" She demanded shakily. She felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees, but that didn't stop the cold sweat that began to break out all over her body. Then, she felt something warm and wet on her upper lip. She quickly wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and, to her surprise, it came away stained red. 'This doesn't make sense. I only ever get nosebleeds if I overuse my Quirk.'
"Your Quirk's true nature has awoken. If you don't learn to control it soon, you'll leave a trail of death and misery in your wake."
"That's impossible. Wraith doesn't have any real combat functionality besides Partial Phasing. It's meant to save lives," Melody protested hotly, though something about this definitely wasn't sitting right with her. Instead of matching her agitated tone, however, Frank snorted and gave a sidelong look at Carlyle. The two men's eyes met, and, for a brief moment, her grandfather's face fell in understanding.
"Another lie, then. I suppose that should've been obvious, in hindsight. Regardless, what you call 'Wraith' is only a part of our Quirk. In reality, the name given to our Quirk by our ancestors… is Life Drain," Frank explained, standing up out of his chair. As if sensing her confusion, he scowled, and his image began to waver. Before her eyes, Melody saw a near mirror image of her Wraith form. For the first time in her life, she could understand why people found her power scary. Her grandfather looked about as far away from being human as possible. As she stared into the spiteful, pupil-less eyes of her grandfather, her chest began to ache, and the thumping in her head reached a fever pitch.
"L-Life Drain? What… that can't be right." Even as she said it, doubt had begun to sneak into Melody's mind. There was no other explanation for what she'd seen. The Wraith she'd known all her life couldn't have taken down a full-fledged Pro, or Damien for that matter, from any sort of distance.
"Your body is trying to reject Life Drain's awakening, which is why you can't activate your Quirk. The foreign energy you've absorbed is slowly eating away at you, and if it continues, you'll either die or lose your mind. Both are equally as common in our family, sad to say," Frank continued, never looking away from her. The room was dead silent. Even Sawyer seemed to sense the tension and wrapped his arms tighter around his father's neck.
Melody… didn't know what to do. She just stared down at her fists, clenched in her lap, and tried, in vain, to keep her breathing under control. 'Foreign energy. That's the second time he's said that. Am I… have I been taking people's life force? Is that even possible?' As much as she wanted to rebuke her grandfather, there was a nagging sensation in the back of her mind, telling her he wasn't lying. What he'd said would explain a few odd situations.
There was that strange surge of energy she'd gotten during the relay race last month, not ten seconds after she'd nearly collapsed in agony from overusing her Quirk. Then, during the tournament, the way Benji stumbled just before Nathan knocked him out, despite seemingly still being able to launch large-scale attacks right before. Even the way Nathan had passed out after their fight gave her pause. The way his face had contorted and the way the light had just drained from his eyes wasn't exactly normal.
Melody suddenly felt bile creeping its way up her throat and pressed one of her palms against her mouth, trying to breathe through her nose. 'That… that can't be right. He's lying. He has to be. My Quirk is supposed to help people, not hurt them! Dad. Speak up. Please tell me this isn't true,' she thought frantically, quickly looking over to Carlyle. For a brief moment, he met her gaze, and the pained look in his eyes told her all she needed to know.
She had to get out. She couldn't breathe anymore in the cramped dining room. Melody shot to her feet and almost instantly regretted it due to the flash of pain that made her vision blur. She heard someone say her name, but she couldn't tell who. No one tried to stop her as she practically sprinted from the room and out the front door of the house.
The slam of the door behind her sounded impossibly loud in the complete silence that had fallen over the house's occupants. While he looked absolutely heartbroken, Carlyle made no move to chase after his daughter, nor did any of the others. Miles and Kate exchanged worried looks, while Sawyer stared curiously at the door. Linda, on the other hand, looked sharply at her husband and marched over to him. "Frank Kristenson!"
"What? Did you want me to sugarcoat it for her? Think that would have made it any easier to hear?" Frank scoffed, though he did look slightly apprehensive at the fury that was radiating off his wife. "She's too much like her mother. There wasn't any other way of breaking the news to her."
"Could've used a bit more tact, dad. Even you have to admit that," Kate added. However, Linda held up a hand to her daughter, signaling her to be quiet, before rounding on Frank.
"She might look like Harmony and even act like her in some ways, but Melody is not Harmony. For that matter, she's not Carlyle either, so whatever ill feelings you have about either of them, do not project them on that poor girl," Linda growled uncharacteristically, matching Frank's glare with her own. For a moment, it seemed like the two were about to descend into a shouting match, but then Frank signed and ran a hand through his thinning hair.
"Should probably go look for her. Forest isn't exactly safe at night."
Purpose of a Hero
Melody, after losing her dinner and stumbling aimlessly in the woods until the sun went down, was hopelessly lost. She'd thought the streets and alleyways of Manhattan that she'd grown up with was a maze, but at least with those, there was some kind of landmarks. In the thick forest, she'd quickly realized, every tree looked pretty identical. She groaned in frustration and hung her head. 'Great. Nice work, Melody. Wonderful situation you've gotten yourself into. First, you can't keep it together and make a fool of yourself in front of your new family, and then you get lost in the woods like a child.'
Another thing she was quickly coming to realize was that at night, the woods were much more frightening. She couldn't even see more than ten feet in front of her with how dark it was. She'd also left her cellphone back in her mother's room, not that she would have good reception out here anyway, but at least if she had it, she would have had a flashlight. Instead, she was helplessly groping about in the dark, nearly running into a tree every other step.
After nearly fifteen minutes of this, she finally came across her first sign of civilization: a treehouse. Well… calling it a treehouse was generous. The structure stood just five feet off the ground, and whatever walls it might've once had were gone. Still, she felt drawn to it. The molding wood creaked under her weight, and several of the boards actually cracked. Trying to disperse her weight, she lied down on her back and sighed.
'This day certainly has been a rollercoaster. Just my luck, though, right when I find my family, we're getting sent away because they hate my dad. Plus all that crap about my Quirk… why did no one tell me? From what dad said, even Mr. Holl knew about it, and he still said nothing. What else are they keeping from me?' she wondered, folding her arms across her stomach as she stared through the treetops at the sky. 'Huh, I've never seen the stars this bright before. There are so many more here away from New York. They're beautiful.'
The sound of a twig snapping brought her swiftly back to reality, and Melody shot into a sitting position. Her eyes strained to see in the dark, but she could faintly make out a person's silhouette striding towards the treehouse. As they drew closer, she sat frozen to the spot. "Of course, you'd find your way here. Always was your mother's hideaway when we'd fight."
"Frank?" The old man, his face just barely visible thanks to the starlight, frowned as he took a seat on the trunk of a fallen tree. Melody felt her muscles tense as she prepared for whatever horrible thing her grandfather was about to say, but Frank seemed quite content to just sit in silence. She squinted, trying to see if she could make out his facial expression, and was surprised to see that his eyes were closed.
"Sawyer has Life Drain too. Even before it manifested, we knew. Always skips a generation, which is why your mom and aunt got variations of your grandmother's Quirk," Frank explained, much to Melody's confusion. She'd already put together the fact that she and her cousin shared the same Quirk, but why her grandfather was explaining it to her, and in a fairly non-confrontational tone to boot, was beyond her. "Life Drain has been the hallmark of the Kristenson family since the first generation of Quirk users, and every time it's awoken throughout the years, its previous wielder… stepped forward to teach their grandkid. I've already told Kate I intend to teach Sawyer when he's old enough, but it seems like you're the more pressing issue. If you trip up, I will not hesitate to dump you as my student. We begin tomorrow."
"W-What?" Melody asked. She didn't receive an answer, though, or at least the answer she wanted. Instead, Frank got to his feet and began walking back the way he came. When he was just about out of her line of sight, he stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"If you don't hurry up, you're spending the night out here."
"H-Hey, wait!"
Purpose of a Hero
Sorry for the wait. Real-life and all that. Anyways, happy early Christmas to those who celebrate it, happy holidays to everyone else, and all that jazz.
Be honest, did anyone actually string together the number of times Melody's opponents just sorta... lost their energy in fights? I know a few people in the discord had suspicions about it but I can't remember if anyone nailed it 100%. Yeah, Melody's Quirk is not actually Wraith, but Wraith is a large part of her actual Quirk which will be fully explained in this arc.
Also, this chapter has not been beta'd and was written over the course of three weeks so if you notice any inconsistencies or grammar issues, let me know. Grammarly is great until it isn't.
With this, the training arc has officially begun!
Next Time on the Purpose of a Hero:
Chapter 52: Life Drain