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storiesbyaya · 1 year

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SOAH 29

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Kat was not the only one to run into a Belladonna sibling.

Unlike Kat, however, Wesley’s walk in the snowy streets of Cassfeld was purposeless and leisurely. There was something about the falling snow around him that felt infinitely more comfortable than any living room or study could ever be. Snow was only second to rainstorms in terms of Wesley comfort, and it was a very close second.

It was a well needed and deserved serenity. His whole existence lately had been a roller coaster, some of it good and some of it bad. A new job, a safe home to come back to… Leaving his mother, the destruction of his school… Wesley let out a content sigh, watching his breath float away until something dark caught his eye. There were legs dangling off the side of a nearby apartment building. Usually this would have instilled panic in him, but he also noticed that they were casually swinging, like someone was simply enjoying the view or something. How they had gotten up there, Wesley didn’t know- At least, not until he took a few more steps and realized the dark figure was unmistakably familiar.

Wesley quickly ducked out of view.

What should he do? What should he do!? The intention behind this walk was to relax and clear his mind, or at least try to make sense of it if letting go wasn’t an option. Yet here, and seemingly all alone, was the mysterious boy who’d been following around, who’d been present at every single nerve-wracking event he was trying to piece together. It dawned on Wesley that this was the first time he’d seen him without something going on- although he wondered if this was some sort of omen for a moment. Hopefully not. Kat was busy and he couldn’t handle something big happening all alone. Well There was really only one way to find out. And if he couldn’t clear his mind, Wesley had wanted to try and figure things out. There was no better way to make sense of everything than to ask outright, was there? The universe had plopped the potential to get answers to the questions plaguing him since he’d first seen those golden eyes right there in front of him. Who was Wesley to look a gift horse in the mouth?

The only issue was… How the hell was he supposed to get up there? With Kat around, that was never a problem. However, she wasn’t around, and thus it became infinitely more difficult. How did normal people get on rooftops?

Trick question. They didn’t. Only maintenance workers went up on occasion, but usually the roof access doors were locked tight, and of course businesses didn’t like it when random people walked in or used their stairs. This wasn’t even official HeroNet work, so he couldn’t claim that. He was stuck with the dilemma of how to get up there as a normal human being- Normal, save for his water and ice powers, which were pretty much useless in this delicate a snowfall. In a torrential downpour, he’d have no trouble gathering up the water to form stairs. But then again, in such a storm, neither of them would be out.

Focus, Rivers! This mental tangent was not helping him one bit. He sighed, and walked around the building, but couldn’t see a way up. Not even a fire escape. Granted, he didn’t remember when the last time he’d seen a fire escape was…

But the apartment building had balconies! There wasn’t enough to build a direct stairway, but summoning enough water to get to one floor from another if he stood on the railings was possible. Not the easiest way to get up, sure, but it was his only option. “I’m… so going to get the police called on me… Or see something I really don’t want to,” he sighed to himself, then peeked around the corner to make sure that the figure was still there. Nothing had changed. Two legs dangled off the side, swinging with leisurely abandon. Alright.

The only really difficult part was gathering enough water to get to the second floor. Before he did this, Wesley looked at each floor and tried to figure out which row had the more closed curtains, so he could lessen his chances of being seen. Or seeing stuff. Mostly, not being seen. He gathered water, froze it, and pushed himself up until he could reach the cement of the balcony, and pulled himself up. It was a lot harder than it looked, and he was grateful that there was no one around to see him huffing and puffing from exertion. Kat made pulling her own weight up look so effortless. Fortunately getting to the next floor wasn’t as bad- there was less ice that needed to be formed for him to reach it. He definitely made a mental note to add more chin ups to his training routine, and continued up.

The next three were uneventful. The sixth floor, however, had a dog.

The dog was inside, looking at him from the other side of the glass, leaving little nose prints. Wesley smiled at the little ball of brown fluff and gave it a wave. Its tail was wagging so hard that Wesley wondered if it might take off then and there and- And he could swear he saw something moving in the background. All at once, Wesley remembered where he was- Standing on someone’s balcony!- And he scrambled onto the railing to continue climbing before…

Before the dog barked. He jumped, startled by the loud noise and lost his footing…

But a hand shot out and grabbed him. It, along with the half-formed ice he’d made, kept him from tumbling to the alley below. Wesley followed the hand upwards with his eyes. The sleeve, its pattern… the hood it led up to. Silver eyes like starlight stared down at him with concern. That curtain of darkness Wesley had always thought to be some kind of mysterious magic was really just long locks of black hair framing the most beautiful face Wesley had ever laid eyes on. “Hi,” Wesley greeted dumbly. “Hello. Please give me your other hand so I may pull you up,” replied the other.

Right. Once again Wesley had gotten distracted by something cute and forgotten his surroundings. This was a really bad habit he’d have to squash before it stuck. He grabbed the other’s hand and let himself be helped up to the roof.

In a flash of black smoke, the boy returned to his spot, as if nothing had ever happened. With embarrassed reluctance, Wesley sat beside him. He’d had so many questions for this guy, but now his mind was pulling a blank. “Thanks,” Wesley wanted to say but, to his surprise, his mouth instead said “You’re really pretty.” Which- fair, he was. But he shouldn’t be saying it, or opening with that! He should be thanking him for saving his life. The other didn’t seem to react more than closing his eyes, so Wesley mumbled an apology and looked down at the ground below them. “My name is Ausra. I know you’ve been wondering,” the other broke the silence after a moment, startling Wesley- although not enough for him to lose his balance or something this time, thankfully. “It’s interesting, you’re the one coming to me this time.” “Y-yeah. Though I kinda botched it,” Wesley said. He’d managed to be quiet the entire way, to climb the whole thing, just for that one dog to ruin it. But his presence didn’t spook Ausra. Wesley knew that he could leave easily whenever he wanted, but he hadn’t yet. That was a good sign.

“Yes, you tend to do that. But don’t worry, I find it endearing,” Ausra replied. Wesley did not know whether or not to be insulted, confused, or happy that the other found his clumsiness endearing. He decided to give Ausra the benefit of doubt and not say anything at all. Luckily, Ausra noticed his silence, opened his eyes, and looked over at him. “Ah, yes. I’ve had this conversation so many times, I forget it’s your first. Let me start at the beginning.” “Wait,” Wesley interrupted. “You’ve had this conversation more than once?” “Well yes,” Ausra said, nodding, “I’m sure you’ve noticed- My powers are time manipulation. This conversation, this day, this entire month- I have repeated many, many times.” “Why?” asked Wesley. Ausra, surprisingly, smiled at him. “Out of love, really. Here, let me tell you a story. A story… about you…”

—--

Halloween-

The Meir was too weak to worry about. It had no special abilities, nothing that their father would be interested in. It had seemed, for all intents and purposes, a waste of time to follow the signs of despair.

And then something different happened.

Instead of the usual team of heroes, five children took up arms against the Meir. A girl who could teleport, two who seemed to have telekinesis, a girl who could control plants… And finally, a boy who grabbed a water hose and sprayed it down, despite having powers of his own.

Peculiar. Why didn’t he use them? Who was he, and why was he with these others? Ausra had always had a good intuition- He knew that these children would be something important to look into.

And so he followed them. Closely, but just out of sight.

One of the boys and the girl were Bayesh’s children. That would be important. She worked at the Cirque Astera. Her teleportation abilities could be great, but there was something else about her- Some kind of flickering in her resonance that Ausra didn’t understand.

She chose to become a hero. No matter what, however, it seemed like she could not become a Meir, no matter how much he tried. Left notes in her things, hid and destroyed important objects, caused chaos wherever he could… Even left hundreds of hateful letters. They frustrated her, they hurt her… But no Meir.

In conclusion- An enemy.

The young boy never left Bayesh’s side long enough for Ausra to do much. He tried leaving notes in his locker calling him all kinds of terrible things, tried to destroy his projects… But he was nearly caught by Bayesh. Father said that telekinesis, while a fascinating ability, was not worth getting that close to Bayesh, and that he was lucky that Bayesh had not sensed his presence. It would get them all killed. Ausra was beaten pretty badly for that.

The other two children, while fascinating, were weak. They would need a lot more training before they could possibly be of any use.

And then there was the boy with the water powers.

“So, I know you’re following me,” he said one day into the nothingness. “I don’t really know why, but… If you need something, I can help.”

A young man so burned and scarred, yet so willing to help someone who was stalking him. It confused the hell out of Ausra. For the first time, he was scared, and fled.

But in between all of that, there was something more important.

The day he’d been beaten for getting too close to the one known as William, gentle hands had patched him up and kissed his wounds better. He was too old to believe kisses had any healing power whatsoever, and he told Skye this, but she just laughed. “You’re not too young. You’ve just grown up too fast,” she told him, and kissed him on the cheek. It was wet when she pulled away, and Ausra remembered thinking it was a stupid thing to cry about.

Snow fell on their heads. An engine rumbled overhead- a plane, coming down for a landing at a far-off strip. Like it was the first time, Skye’s eyes lit up and she jumped up, watching it until it faded into the distance with fascination. “You know… If things weren’t so fucked up, I would have wanted to become an airplane pilot. It was what I wanted to be when I was a kid,” Skye explained. But Ausra stayed quiet. He couldn’t remember what he’d wanted to be when he was a child. When he thought back, the only thing he could remember was building a little lego house when suddenly, the television announced his mother’s death. (He remembered Skye holding him and crying. He remembered crying too. He tried to forget.)

Then came the day when his father struck. Of no use to him any longer, he murdered Skye first- Determined and angry, she stood up against him, she protected Ausra, she refused to let him hurt her little brother. Such love was…

Moving. Skye didn’t deserve the pain. He hadn’t realized he’d done it until he had, until he heard her call out to him and tell him it was time to leave for patrolling again. Ausra had gone back in time. A whole month.

He wandered in a daze, repeating things over and over again, until that one day on the rooftops where she told him her dream. Genuinely, Ausra wanted Skye to fulfill her dream.

This time, he fought back. It wasn't enough. It left him with a gash over his eye, but when Ausra awoke that day a month away, he had the first taste of rebellion, the first taste of ever doing something for himself. A desire- If not to see Skye survive, then to at least spend as much time with her as he could, to at least see her smile more. So he began to experiment, dropping the cruel methods that did not work to try and make Meirs and instead seeing if the answer was somewhere else. Something he was missing. He began intentionally sabotaging his father in ways he could never know- In keeping Meirs from happening in the first place by changing small things, making the man weaker. It didn’t work. But he kept trying, again and again.

For the fourth time, he’d heard Wesley say that he could help. And he wondered if maybe he could. So he paid attention. He found out that Wesley’s mother was insane and believed that his powers were the work of Satan or something. (Ausra scoffed. Evil had nothing to do with it. He knew real evil. Did she want to meet it?)

He set a fire. The first time, Wesley was too afraid to do anything. The fire burned. It harmed people. Ausra rewinded. Actually let himself be seen. He coaxed.

An ice meir formed and his father became more powerful. That wasn’t right. But it felt like it was the right path anyways. He just needed… Oh. The heroes needed to get to the Meir before his father could! And he made sure of that- he made sure Kat’s television was stuck on the news, made sure to hide the remote, so they would hear about it immediately.

And that, in turn, led to the biggest, most pivotal moment in Ausra’s life.

He and Skye often pushed these new recruits to become better, stronger. It was under their father’s orders, as he could only absorb whatever power they had, and the more powerful they were, the more he could become. But for Ausra, it was just… experiments. Something to pass the time, while he spent time with his sister. This battle, this night, had played out the same over and over again, until he made one small, minute mistake. Ausra stood in the light, and he knocked Wesley down, stepped on his chest- all normal. What wasn’t was the face that his opponent made- awe, incredulous, and a little red faced. “Holy fuck, you’re beautiful,” Wesley mumbled, startling Ausra to the point that he actually stepped off of him. Deep red blossomed across his face, heating despite the midwinter air. “I beg your pardon?” “You’re beautiful.”

—--

“You are, past me was right,” Wesley interrupted. It had started to get cold, and he was fidgeting a bit to keep warm, but Ausra didn’t seem to mind. “Well, thank you. You say that I get it from my mother,” Ausra stated, shrugging. Even though he’d heard it a thousand times now, he still felt that reddening heat… Would it ever stop? “Your mother… So if your father is Isaac, that means your mom is Lady Redd, right? You’re half hero.” “And half villain, from my father’s side.” “Which makes you neutral, assuming that we were going to pretend our parents have like… anything to do with who we are as people. I mean, look at Katie!” “I am, she’s sitting in that cafe right there, having a conversation with my sist- do not lean too far forwards,” Ausra interrupted himself, holding a hand in front of Wesley. He was pretty sure he saw Ausra’s eyes flicker golden for a second there, too. Wesley figured it was an effect of using his powers. He sat back, carefully.

“I did that. Intentionally hid all of the newspapers in a different spot so that we would have to come here, letting Skye bump into Kat in the process. I thought it might be nice for her to talk to someone, she looked like she had a lot on her mind, and I am not the best conversationalist. I don’t… Understand what it’s like to be human,” he explained softly. Wesley put a hand on his shoulder- and was about to do so carefully, before remembering that they must have had this entire exchange before and Ausra knew he would do it. He did, in fact, he leaned into the touch and sighed. “That’s… really thoughtful of you. I bet if your sister knew half of the things you do for her, she’d be very grateful.” “Or frustrated with me,” Ausra replied, shaking his head. “She dislikes when people do things for her. Especially me, I think she’d rather I be selfish. But I can not be. One would have to find themselves worthy of such things.” “I know how that feels. I mean, the whole… Not feeling worthy, and just not being selfish. But you know that,” Wesley realized he was about to start rambling, and stopped. Surely Ausra had heard this a million times. “Yes. You felt you owed your mother your presence, and that you deserved the pain she inflicted upon you. Your mother is foolish; if she thinks that moving water is evil, she should meet my father. See what true evil looks like.” “I guess so,” said Wesley. But then again, at least he didn’t have a mother who did such horrible things to him as Ausra’s did.

To his surprise, Ausra punched him gently. “I know what you’re thinking. Do not think to compare your misery to mine, to lessen its importance and impact on your life. Feel free to feel as you feel. Maybe feel it a little for me, too, as I do not have the freedom to do so like you.” “You don’t have the freedom to feel? What’s that mean?” “You recall, while recounting my tale, that my sister and I die at the end of every month. And that time? It is fast approaching.” “But you’ll just go back and do it again, right?” “I’m afraid I can not, this is the last time. I don’t have the resonance to go back another time. This is, in fact, the end. So if, by some miracle, I find a way to save YOU, please… Live doubly for me, will you?” “Absolutely not!” Wesley said, louder than he meant to. It genuinely seemed to surprise Ausra, who’d had this conversation be- No, Wait. He wouldn’t have had this part of the conversation before. You only get one final time.

“I mean- No, we’ll find a way, this time,” Wesley said. “I’m afraid I have tried everything. This is an inevitability.” “No, You can’t have. We’ll find something. Let’s see… Have you tried like… Leaving before he kills you? Convincing your sister to just… Pack up and poof into the night?” “Like run away? And where would we go? We have no family, and I do not legally exist. We would wind up on the streets where he can find us, and we would die.” “Come stay with us?” “Bayesh would sooner kill us than harbor us?”

“What makes you so sure?” asked a voice not previously in the conversation, one belonging to a sky witch. She tossed a bag over to Ausra, then sat on the side opposite Wesley. “Sorry, Icey. Woulda brought you a cookie too if I’d have known you were here,” she said, giving him a small smile. Ausra jumped, but gratefully grabbed the treat he was given, shoving it in his mouth so that he would have time to answer. But the longer he chewed, the longer his sister stared at him. Wesley did as well, although more out of attentive patience than out of annoyed expectation. “I just… I just know. He hates Father.” “Tch, yeah, but Kat says he wouldn’t hate us… And I remember him being kind towards us, too.” “Yeah,” Wesley agreed, putting his hand on Ausra’s shoulder again, “It’s worth a try, if you haven’t already.” Ausra let out a sigh, shoulders dropping. He kicked his feet, watching the people below them wander without a care in the world, and felt envious. He wished he was one of them, instead of up here with all of this on his proverbial shoulders. He wished he could be carefree.

He wished Skye could be carefree. He glanced over to her, with her expression soft but still expectant. “Kat said she would be willing to talk to him if you were more comfortable with that,” Skye offered. “We still wouldn’t be able to defeat him when he comes,” Ausra said, shaking his head. “Maybe. Maybe not. You said it yourself, that stepping just an inch out of line allowed me to see you, and changed everything for you. Maybe there’s just… one small thing that can change the outcome of the battle in our favor. Maybe this is it.” Skye nodded reassuringly.

Ausra sighed, reaching for her hand. “He tries to attack us, and I immediately teleport us out of there. Deal?” “Deal.”

#Story of a hero #Story of a hero 29 #SOAH #SOAH 29

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