Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm, and for your awesome reviews! I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story, even though there is so much pain right now
I said this would be a short chapter, but whoops my hand slipped
.
.
.
.
.
.
It was a gunshot.
Just that thought made Becky sweat, never mind the fact that she was also running full-pelt down the Imperial Scholar's Corridor with Alice by her side, and two peanut bombs in her hands - not a situation she had ever envisioned being in.
"We're here," Alice managed, panting, but Becky didn't need Alice to tell her what she already knew, what she could already tell from the crowd of panicked students.
Students had run out of the rear door of the Eastern Auditorium, the one that led to the balcony overseeing the crowd and the stage, but they filled the corridors at an alarming rate, grouping together as much as they could against the walls.
Becky pushed her way against the throng, single–mindedly motivated to just get inside, but even she was not immune to the cries of panic from the students of Eden College all around her:
"Did you see that? It all happened so fast!"
"I hope the ambulance gets here soon, it's just… oh my god I'm going to be sick…"
"What do we do now?! If there's an assassin or something, any one of us could be next! Don't you know my father is the -"
"Please tell me this is just another gas leak," pleaded one student, a girl that Becky recognised from that day that Anya's powers went haywire. "Please, I can't take this…"
Becky sent her a silent apology as she passed the crying girl, and Alice stuck close behind to Becky, wary of the unusual chaos happening outside of the auditorium.
"What happened…" Alice breathed, just as Becky heard a familiar voice booming over the wails of the fire alarms.
"All students evacuating from the Eastern Auditorium," shouted Bill, with one hand raised in the air to command attention. "Leave your belongings behind, and please make your way calmly down the stairs and to the rear part of the building! Given the change in situation, we are now following emergency lockdown procedure, which is that no one is to leave this building. We will meet Professor Henderson in the -"
And then he saw her. "Rebecca? What are you doing here?"
He had just exited the door, which gave Becky the room she needed to dart past him, getting into the Auditorium herself -
"Rebecca - wait - don't go in there!"
Bill shouted after her, but it was too late, and almost as soon as Becky made her way onto the balcony seats of the Auditorium, did she realise why Bill was desperately trying to prevent her from going inside.
The sunlight streamed through the shattered window, its rays glittering onto the stage, almost a perfect spotlight, and the two bodies contained within it made Becky's heart stop beating.
Alice stayed close behind Becky and hurried after her into the Eastern Auditorium, where her eyes were immediately ripped apart by a blood curdling scream.
Becky brought her hands to her mouth, huge tears spilling over her fingers at an alarming rate.
"It's Anya! Oh my god, Anya, no, this can't be happening, this can't be, it isn't, it's not, oh no no no-"
Becky could barely gasped in between her wet sobs, and goosebumps tingled all along Alice's arms as she took in the horrifying scene before her, almost disbelieving, wishing that none of it was real: the shattered window, which must have been from the gunshot, and the body splayed in the middle of the stage, surrounded by a halo of pink hair, with Damian kneeling beside her, his hands covered in her blood.
It was obvious what had happened. The slowly-expanding pool of blood on the stage was visible even from where Alice was standing, and her breathing started to pick up, her heart loud in her ears despite the ongoing wails of the fire alarms.
Alice couldn't breathe. This was… This was insane…
A huge presence rushed in behind them.
"Rebecca!" Bill grabbed her from behind, pulling her away from the balcony bannister, and at his touch Becky crumpled, allowing herself to be pulled toward him. "Rebecca, sweetheart, look at me, keep your eyes on me, okay? We've got to get you out of here, come on-"
"Not - without - Anya -"
It was then that Alice noticed the crowd of journalists hadn't moved at all, and instead had started taking pictures of Damian and Anya onstage, ignoring the fire alarms and the calls to evacuate.
"What the hell do they think they're doing?" Alice seethed out loud, the rage filling up within her.
There was a fire alarm, for god's sake! A student had been shot! The school was under lockdown! The press conference was over! There were students in distress! There were literal calls to evacuate and all the press could think about was getting a picture for their next article?
Well if they weren't going to evacuate by themselves, Alice was going to make them.
But how?
Alice wanted to turn to ask her fellow Imperial Scholars for help, but she knew even without looking that Becky was out of commission, and Bill had his hands full just trying to comfort her. So it was up to Alice.
She closed her eyes. I can't do this! She screamed inside her own head. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to help?
And then she opened her eyes, and her gaze landed on the peanut bombs in Becky's hands. Only, as her shoulders continued to shake with sobs, it appeared as though her grip on the containers was slowly loosening.
That's it!
An idea struck Alice's mind, but - no, she couldn't do that! It was crazy - she would get into so much trouble - it was totally insane - no sane person would ever think of -
What can we do? Alice had worried, and Becky already gave her answer:
Whatever we can.
Maybe, if she could block the reporter's sight, maybe if she could force them to move…
Becky's grip was weak through her sobbing, and it was easy for Alice to grab one of the containers, slipping it from Becky's hold.
I really hope this works, she thought desperately, before pulling her arm back as far as it could go, and throwing the container off the balcony with all her strength.
It soared through the air, spinning downwards, and then -
BOOM!
Alice put her hands up against the incoming rush of smoke, and she couldn't help noticing the taste of burnt peanuts.
"Alice!" Bill exclaimed, turning his body to shield Becky from the smoke. "Did you just - where did you get that from - wait, Rebecca, did you just have a - was that a smoke bomb?!"
"Uh…"
Below them, the journalists dispersed in a panic, rushing towards the exits, and Bill made an executive decision.
"We'll talk later!" he decided, picked up both Becky and Alice under each arm, and charged them out of the Auditorium in a whoosh.
"ALL STUDENTS DOWNSTAIRS, NOW!" he roared immediately upon entering the corridor, shocking every student into action.
He set Alice on her feet first, and she struggled to catch her breath, having just had Bill's muscled arm squeezed across her diaphragm half a second before.
"I'll lead them from the front, you take up the rear and ensure no-one is left behind. Got it?"
"Got it," she wheezed.
Loid burst through the doors of the Eastern Auditorium, immediately scanning the crowd of journalists, but when his eyes adjusted to the flashing white lights and reached the stage, he paled, and his entire body went cold.
"Anya!"
He leapt onto the stage, seeing Bond standing behind Damian, as if protecting him from the horde of journalists, and then he saw what Damian was looking at, and he froze.
No.
The gunshot. The sound of the body falling to the floor.
The bullet that he dodged.
Bond growled at the first row of reporters, but they barely flinched, intent only on trying to get as close a picture as possible.
Loid joined Bond, and kept his back to the flashing lights, doing what he could to block their interest, when another explosion sounded behind him.
BOOM!
The smoke arrived, bringing with it the smell of burnt peanuts, which he recognised right away as one of Anya's bombs. And of course the other consequence: that the explosion scared the reporters enough to put their cameras away, and start to flee the building.
Even though Damian was doing the only thing that he could do - try to staunch the bleeding - the knowledge that it was a bullet wound made Loid feel sick. Even worse, it was Damian that had witnessed it all, and Loid almost didn't know how he would be able to face him ever again, because if he hadn't dodged out of the way, Anya wouldn't be…
And if he hadn't dodged it, if he hadn't leapt out of the way to save his own skin, Anya wouldn't be… she wouldn't be like this…
Damian, who had faced adversity time and time again, and didn't deserve any of it. Who stood up to Loid, and his parents, and anyone he had to, just to keep Anya safe, because despite their age, it was obvious just how deep their feelings ran for each other. Loid couldn't blame Damian for shutting down, for his wide, vacant eyes, and for doing the only thing he could.
All over again, Loid watched the bombs fall behind his eyes, watched his parents' house burn to the ground, choked on the plumes of ash that rose from the charred remains -
- and then he blinked and he was back in the eastern Auditorium, with Anya fading right before his eyes.
"Dr Forger," Professor Henderson approached him urgently. "An ambulance has been called and is on the way-"
"Yes, yes, of course," said Loid, almost unable to hear himself over the sound of the fire alarms. His voice sounded so detached from him, like it didn't even belong to him anymore. Loid tuned out the noise from the reporters, from the fire alarms, from the cries and shouts of panic all around him, and he focused only on the three in front of him.
He felt, rather than saw, the calming and authoritative presence of Professor Henderson retreat - possibly to meet the medics and guide them in - but Loid couldn't tear his eyes away.
How… could this have happened?
Loid saw the original assailant - Soldier - saw the weapons collection he had amassed and was trying to store within the grounds of Eden College, then the explosion went off and his position was compromised, and then the Protector showed up, somehow more skilled than any ordinary criminal that Loid had encountered before as 'Twilight'.
He faced off against the Protector, and somehow he ended up right in front of those giant windows of the Eastern Auditorium, and he jumped out of the way just as the Protector fired -
It would have hit Damian. There was no doubt about it. But it didn't because Anya had jumped in the way, because she knew it was going to happen, she had seen it, because of…
Bond. Because I asked him to stay with her…
With the reporters and the flashing lights gone, Bond was much calmer, although his withdrawn tail indicated his worry for Anya, and he started to whimper.
Loid gave him a short pat on the head. "This isn't your fault," he said quietly to the dog, and he meant it. It wasn't his fault that he had a vision, or that Anya managed to interpret it, and reacted the way that she did.
But then he looked at Damian, and he saw himself, as he was just under four decades ago, when the first war turned his life to chaos. When he was only a child, crying for his family, wishing that he hadn't just watched them disappear before his very eyes, wishing that he could be saved, wishing that it was all just a nightmare.
"It's all right," said Loid softly to that child, and to the boy in front of him. "It's all going to be alright…"
He didn't know if it was true, but that wasn't what mattered at that moment.
"I just - I don't understand," came Damian's voice, weak and small, almost inaudible as tears streamed down his face. "I don't understand… how this happened…"
Loid opened and closed his mouth, but no words came to him at that moment.
Even so, he felt that he owed it to him to try.
"Everything's going to be alright," Loid repeated, and repeated until the ambulance came, until the medics arrived, until they took Anya away.
Bond tried to follow Loid as he turned to follow the medics into the ambulance, but Loid patted his head again.
"Stay with Damian," he ordered.
He followed the medics into the courtyard, into the ambulance, and he took his daughter's hand as they closed the doors shut behind him.
"Where is she?"
A door slammed open, and Yor burst through it.
"Where is my daughter?"
The medical receptionist cowered behind her desk, but it was Loid who rose from his seat first, and before the ordinary eyes of the staff could process it, he had already crossed the distance to her and crushed her in his arms. He couldn't help but turn his face into her neck, seeking her warmth and her comfort.
"I tried to reach you," he said, his voice low and close to breaking.
"I'm sorry I took so long," Yor sighed into him, apologising with her whole self. "I wanted to see if I could find that man, the one who did this, but, I… I couldn't sense anything… I feel so useless… I'm sorry…"
The mastermind spy, and the strongest assassin of the garden embraced each other tightly, because otherwise, they feared they would fall apart then and there, because while they always won every battle, physical prowess did nothing in the face of situations like this. This was a battle that could not be won with force, but with patience, and Loid honestly didn't know how much he had left before he would lose it entirely.
"Dr and Mrs Forger?"
"Yes?" they both said as they broke apart, both with fragments of hope in their eyes, and when Loid set eyes on the doctor in front of him, he recognised her immediately.
"Dr Hahn?"
Dr Greta Hahn held her clipboard to her chest as usual, and beckoned them forward to the consultation room, where she indicated for them both to sit, and closed the door behind them.
"Truthfully, I hadn't imagined that I would be seeing you all again like this," Dr Hahn sighed, and took a seat on the soft chair opposite them.
"You remember us then?" said Loid, and Dr Hahn nodded.
"A case like Anya's is hard to forget," she said, her eyes darkening in remembrance. "I'm glad that she recovered well from the previous incident, but the severity of today's incident cannot be ignored."
"Just tell us if she's okay," said Yor quietly, tears brimming on her waterline. "Please."
"She's…" Dr Hahn sighed. Looked at her clipboard. "Very resilient."
Loid couldn't stop the hope from rising in his chest. "Does that mean…?"
"Your daughter lost a significant amount of blood. The bullet unfortunately passed by the subclavian artery at the base of her neck, but you will be glad to know that the blood transfusions were successful, and she is at least stable for now."
"So… she'll be okay?" Yor wondered. "The subclavian artery… that's such a vulnerable part…"
She clutched Loid's hand tightly in hers, tensing when Dr Hahn hesitated.
"I'll be honest, Mrs Forger. It was close. Subclavian artery injuries typically have a high mortality rate, and the wound required immediate surgery, partly to remove the debris of the firearm, but also because we needed to operate on her blood vessels, nerve tissue, and muscles that endured tearing as a result of the bullet. Any wound of that calibre would be difficult to recover from, but because this wound is at the base of her neck, it is an incredibly delicate area to restore. Frankly, we're surprised that she was able to hold on with such tenacity before reaching the hospital."
As before, Dr Hahn's analysis and delivery was very matter-of-fact, but reading between the lines, Loid couldn't help but identify the messages beneath her delivery: that Anya was really close to death, and by all means, shouldn't have survived.
"Why are you telling us this?" Loid wondered
A long time ago, it had occurred to him that Anya was more resilient than an ordinary child. He had never known about her early life, and yet Anya did not seem to experience significant difficulties or trauma, apart from her fear of needles. And he remembered when the bus hijacking happened, and not only did Anya show incredible bravery for a child, but she also did not seem to show any of the expected effects of acute psychological trauma afterwards.
And after the lab… didn't she recover quite quickly from that, too?
The more years went past, the more that Loid had put it to the back of his mind, and wondered if Anya was just a naturally resilient child. But thinking back, he had no idea if Anya had been injured before, and he wondered if this was the first time that Anya had experienced any kind of physical trauma.
"As I said, your daughter is very resilient, which will stand her in good stead for her recovery. Although the wound itself will heal quite well, there is a high chance that there will be some residual nerve damage at the site, which would limit her arm and shoulder movements on that side."
"How long will her recovery take?" asked Yor.
"We anticipate it would take a minimum of about six months to a year, with physiotherapy. However, there is also a fifty percent chance that the nerve damage is permanent."
Loid clenched his fist, and a sweat broke out on his forehead. Up to a year, as a minimum. Or it could be permanent. In that time, anything could happen, and if Anya was injured for it…
He couldn't forgive himself for letting that bullet hit her. For failing to protect her, as he promised he would.
As if knowing what he was thinking, Yor put her hand over his, and gave it a squeeze. She may not have even known just how comforting that gesture was to him, how much he needed her support at that moment.
"I will accelerate the referral process to give her the best chance," said Dr Hahn, and she picked up her clipboard once again. "Would you like to see her now?"
When Yor and Loid entered Room 207, Anya was already awake, and Yor had to resist from crushing her out of sheer relief.
"My darling, I thought we'd lost you," she choked out, tears of relief streaming from her eyes and onto the white hospital bed sheets below.
"Mama, I'm fine," Anya rasped, possibly in an effort to alleviate her mother's worry, but the strain it took for her to speak gave her away.
Loid gritted his teeth, remembering just how close to death she looked, with pale skin, and faraway eyes, and her steadily slowing breathing. It was no wonder that Damian was so paralysed to see her like that, when Loid himself felt like he wanted to disappear into the ground.
It was his fault… If he hadn't… If only…
"It's not your fault, Papa," came Anya's soft whisper, and Loid wanted to fight it, felt the overwhelming urge to argue with her, but he resolved to revisit it later.
While he felt grateful for Anya's words, he was all too aware that he didn't deserve them, but he didn't want to fight her. It would be a waste of their precious time together.
"Keep your strength, Anya," he said instead, and sat down on the other side of her, leaving plenty of room for Yor to hold on to Anya's other hand.
In Loid's opinion, Anya was still far too pale. She may have received a blood transfusion, but it was clear that the process had taken its toll on her, evidenced by the dark circles under her eyes. He also noticed that she had not yet tried to sit up, and he wondered just how much pain she was in, and trying to hide.
The cannula that had been set into her hand was connected to an IV drip, and Loid was relieved to see from the label that it also contained a medium-grade painkiller. At least she wouldn't be in too much pain as they sat with her.
"I'm sorry, Papa," said Anya quietly, and Loid snapped his head towards her.
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
She let her gaze fall to the side, and it was then that Loid noticed the tears that had gathered in her eyes.
"I disobeyed your orders."
Loid closed his eyes, and ran his hand over his face, too tired to even think of the mountain of implications from just those words alone.
He thought of their exchange at the school gates, before he vaulted over the school fence and scaled the buildings, looking for the assailant. When he asked Bond to look after her. When he asked her to stay, and to think of herself, for once.
Loid smiled to himself. He should have known that Anya wouldn't stand back, wouldn't let others take up the fight without being able to do something about it herself.
"My brave girl," he reached out and patted her hair, and he couldn't help it. Tears gathered in his eyes as he beheld his daughter, thinking of the fact that he could reach out and touch her like this, when the alternative was that she could have been taken from him forever. "I'm just happy you're alive."
But Anya's words had also given him some food for thought: I disobeyed your orders.
Those were words from a subordinate to their superior - not the words of a child to their parent.
Loid sighed, feeling the heavy responsibility pressing down on his shoulders once again. That was a talk for another time, when the days of the hospital were behind them.
Yor squeezed her daughter's hand. "We'll save the 'keep yourself safe' talk for when you get home, shall we?"
"Ha," Anya gave a tired smile, and wiped at her eyes. "I'll try to listen this time."
"Speaking of keeping you safe," Yor continued. "The doctor said she wants you to stay here for a few more days, but in the meantime, your father and I have agreed to come and take turns to stay with you, at least while you're still recovering. We don't know if there's something else out there or…"
Yor trailed off and cocked her ear, listening, and after another few seconds, Loid could hear him too.
It was hard not to, honestly.
"Here it comes," he sighed, knowing already that he didn't have the energy to face this.
Something that sounded like a stampede of a thousand soldiers thundered through the corridor.
"WHERE IS MY CHIHUAHUA GIRL?"
"Sir, please, lower your voice, this is a hospital!"
Yor facepalmed.
The door burst open with the force of a hurricane, and Yuri burst exuberantly into the room.
"ANYA! OH MY GOD ANYA ARE YOU ALIVEEEE-"
Yor got up swiftly from her seat - but before she could charge over and reach him, another figure dashed behind him, and smacked him to the ground.
"Conduct yourself, Mr Briar!" Adrian scolded Yuri with his hands on his hips. "You can't just barge into people's rooms like that!"
And then he cleared his throat, turning to face the perplexed faces of the Forgers, including Anya, and bowed.
"I am so sorry for Mr Briar's behaviour!" he exclaimed earnestly. "Please forgive him!"
Yor, Loid, and Anya stared blankly, not entirely sure how to respond to this new dynamic.
"Uncle Yuri," said Anya, and was Loid imagining it, or was there a smirk on her face? "Is Adrian your handler now?"
"How DARE you!" Yuri leapt to his feet, and dusted himself off. "I am a superior officer! A MAJOR in the-"
Adrian slapped his hand over Yuri's mouth.
"MM-MM-MMF!"
"You're being careless," Adrian gave a long and tired sigh. "Please, sir."
Yuri crossed his arms in a huff. "Fine." And then he remained simmering in the corner, shrouded in some kind of vile energy.
"Yuri," said Yor, her eye twitching. "Didn't you want to ask Anya how she is?"
It was like flicking a switch, and immediately, Yuri leapt to his niece's bedside.
"ANYA! I can't believe you're hurt! I promise we'll find whoever it was that did this to you and put them in the ground!"
"Thanks Uncle Yuri," Anya breathed out a quiet laugh. "I'm surprised you got here so quickly. Did work let you leave?"
"Ah-" Yuri stopped, and cleared his throat. "I'm a superior. So of course I can take a moment to visit my family!"
Loid evaluated the two carefully: both remained in their 'civilian' uniforms, where instead of wearing the typical State Secret Service uniforms, both Adrian and Yuri were dressed in professional attire. Yuri wore a tan coat over his suit (sans suit jacket, given the hot sunshine outside), while Adrian had preferred to keep his shirt sleeves rolled up, although he still kept the tie to look professional.
If they were in their 'civilian' uniform, Loid wondered…
"Yuri, by any chance, are you investigating the incident at Eden?"
"So what if I was?" he pouted, and yelped when Adrian elbowed him in the ribs.
"Actually, about that," Adrian cleared his throat. "You were at the scene almost right away, so you must have seen something right? Can we ask you a few questions?"
"You can ask me," Loid nodded to Adrian, and then stared pointedly at Yuri. "I don't know about him though."
"Why, you–!" Yuri growled, and then, remembering that his darling sister was also in the room, held his tongue so forcefully that his face turned a violent shade of purple.
"Just kidding," Loid smiled and got to his feet.
He gave Anya's hand a squeeze. "I'll be right back."
He followed Yuri and Adrian out of the room, closing the door carefully behind him. In the second before he closed the door fully, he saw Yor start to fuss over Anya again, and his heart warmed.
Then he regarded the SSS agent before him, and his assistant.
"What do you need to know?"
Adrian glanced nervously at Yuri, who appeared to be actively restraining himself from launching an attack at his oldest enemy, vibrating with trapped energy.
"What can you tell us?"
"Well…"
He described the situation from the start, when he was walking Bond, and relayed how Anya had detected a possible threat and called him ("Why not me?" Yuri said tearfully, Loid ignored him), and that he had engaged the assailant on one of the roofs of Eden College.
"So you got caught," Yuri said gleefully. "Looks like the great Twilight isn't so great after all."
"Ignore him," said Adrian, as he brought out his notebook. "Could you visualise what the perpetrator looked like?"
"Visualise?" Loid blinked, before he remembered that the adolescent boy in front of him was also a telepath, just like Anya. "Of course."
He closed his eyes, trying to picture the face and build of the man as clearly as he could, and with his eyes closed he could hear the scratching of Adrian's pencil on his notebook.
When he was finished, Loid opened his eyes again. He couldn't help but glance at the drawing that Adrian had created, and he found himself decently impressed.
"I've been told I'm pretty good at drawing," Adrian said, casually responding to Loid's thoughts. "Is there anything else you can give us?"
"I had a few theories on the attack. I wondered if it was an arranged attack on Damian's press conference, in which case it could have been anything. It could have been in retaliation for something Donovan Desmond had done, or a protest of Damian's appointment to CEO, or it could have been some form of vengeance."
"But?"
"I would have believed any of those theories if it weren't for two things: first, the perpetrator was originally storing the weapons, he wasn't preparing them."
"Storing them?" said Yuri, momentarily forgetting to be angry, and instead it appeared as though his investigator's instincts kicked in. "Storing them how?"
"In the chimney, and it might not be the only place. He was storing them in the very buildings of Eden College."
Yuri quietened, drawing his brows together in thought. "So he's saving them for later?"
Adrian made another note in his notebook.
"What about the second thing?"
"There was a second perpetrator," Loid said carefully. "A man called the 'Protector'."
Skrrk.
Adrian froze, and his pencil almost ripped through the paper of his notebook.
He looked up at Loid with wide, panicked eyes.
"What did you say?"
His action so surprised Loid that all he could for a long moment was stare at the boy in front of him.
Loid and Yuri made concerned eye contact - probably the only time in their lives that they would - before carefully facing Adrian once again.
"I take it you know of him?" Loid wondered aloud, but immediately regretted speaking when Adrian dropped both his pen and his notebook, and they clattered to the ground.
"No…" Adrian breathed, bringing both of his hands to cover his eyes. His entire body trembled, and he leaned his weight against the wall behind him. "This isn't possible…"
Adrian's change in demeanour was already surprising enough, but then Yuri stepped forward, putting both of his hands on Adrian's shoulders and meeting him at eye level.
"Take it easy, kid. Remember you're safe here."
Loid's eyes widened at Yuri's uncharacteristically calm voice. He didn't even know Yuri was capable of any emotional intelligence.
"Who is the Protector?" said Loid, unable to contain his curiosity.
"He's…" Adrian shuddered as he inhaled another breath. "He's a myth. Something the care managers made up to scare us enough into behaving."
Okay… Loid tried to steady himself. This was not where he imagined this conversation was going to go.
Adrian continued: "After Subject 007… After Anya escaped, there was a total lockdown. I don't remember it very well. I don't know how old I must have been. We used to be able to go out with our care managers, to the field or the forest, but after that, we weren't allowed to leave the building anymore. They told us that the Protector would come after us, and take us back, and that he would make us suffer if we ever tried to leave."
Loid tried to stay very, very still, so as not to betray the horror that had trickled through him hearing Adrian's story, but he also couldn't help but think the obvious: if such a man was created to scare the children, then why on earth was he called the 'Protector'? Surely it was counterintuitive to the title?
"Because," Adrian started once, again answering Loid's unasked questions. "He was never meant to protect us."
Adrian had managed to steady himself enough that he pushed himself from the wall, and Yuri took a step back, not noticing that he had unintentionally aligned with Loid to both face Adrian, like he was the one being questioned instead of Loid.
Adrian spoke quietly, keeping his gaze fixed to the hospital's laminate floor.
"He's the Director's right hand man. He acts on her will. He lives in her shadow. He is her eyes and ears. The only thing that he protects is her way of life."
Loid closed his eyes thinking back to his fight with the Protector. He had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and vanished just as fast. He had kept pace with Twilight leaping over the rooftops of Eden College, in fact moving faster, and at times looking as though he was flying. In fact, if he thought even further back, the trajectory of the Soldier's gun shouldn't have landed in the Protector's palm at all.
As he suspected, the Protector was no ordinary human. He never would have imagined it - the only psychic power that he or any of them had ever been aware of was telepathy, but this…
This changed things.
And after that, Loid only had one more question:
"What is the Protector?"
He could see the answer in Adrian's eyes, before he said it out loud.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
But nobody ever asks how is the Protector :(
Bet you didn't think you would get any answers this soon lmao
Thank you all as always for your support, enthusiasm, encouragement, and above all your patience! I swear all I want to do is write and deliver this story to you, but writing while also working full-time and wedding planning and trying to keep up with hobbies and friends is exhausting! I appreciate your patience so much xxxx
Thank you xxx