“Where else?! If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a damn duck! You look the same, and you left a giant fucking crater in the middle of campus!”
“Why would I do that though?!”
“I don’t know, because of Merc?! Because we were having a fight? Because you can’t control your dark side?!”
“Is that what you really think? Yes Merc is my friend, but why would I try to kill you over them? Also, who said I couldn’t control my darkness? The best way I can explain it is like being under the influence. I may do things I wouldn’t normally do, but I am quite aware of the choices I am making, and I have never just blacked out and not remembered.”
“Never?”
“Never. I would be lying if I said I completely understood it, but I can assure you that has never happened.”
“Then you didn’t betray me and attack me because you were mad about Merc?”
“No! Why would you even think that?! I wasn’t even mad, or even upset about Merc. I just want you two to play nice… Not that nice, with one another. I’m not giving either one of you up, so I was just giving you some time to think things over.”
“I thought you were mad at me so that is why you didn’t call or come over.”
“I just wanted to give you some space. I know how… irrational you become when Merc is involved.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“It’s honest.”
“Well if you weren’t mad, why did you go on a mission instead of staying with me?”
“Did you miss the part where I almost had to raze the building just to see you in the first place? Also, this mission wasn’t some normal mission. I didn’t even get paid for it, well, that is if you aren’t counting the untraceable black card Ixnes gave me with seemingly infinite funds.”
“That sounds like payment.”
“Not if she plans to send me on more of these little excursions.”
“What was so important that she had to send you away immediately while I was dying?!”
“Well, after I woke up, I made sure to infuse your blood with extreme regeneration and she made the point that I could do nothing else for you at the time. Then she sent me to basically kidnap some little girl from France.”
“Did you?!”
“Technically yes, but do I get points for her coming with me willingly?”
“No! What about her parents!?”
“That’s the thing, she killed them.”
“What?!”
“Are we like… done fighting? Can we stop standing here and maybe get on the bed?”
“I mean I’m a little tired, but I think I can-”
“Keep it in your pants, I mean just lie down. Plus, why do you look like you have been living in the wilderness?”
“I don’t know! I woke up like this!”
“Ah… Must be a side effect of my healing you. Everything rapidly regenerated, even your hair. I’m going to need you to take care of that.”
“You don’t like me looking like a homeless person?”
“Homeless people don’t necessarily look bad. Some people just have a shit run of luck. You just look like you gave up on life.”
“It almost gave up on me.”
“Touché. So are you coming or what?”
Climbing onto the bed, they both lie down, Phavian spooning Anaar as he feels the radiant warmth from Phavian he had grown accustomed to. They both take a moment to simply revel in the comfort of one another’s embrace which felt like it had been long overdue. After a time, Phavian finally nuzzles Anaar’s neck, speaking in a low tone by his ear.
“You want to tell me why you are kidnapping murderous children?”
“She’s not a murderer. At worst she is a manslaughterer. She is just a little girl whose powers manifested at a shitty time, in an even shittier way, causing her to kill her parents.”
“How’d she do it?”
“She blew up their house?”
“Oh shit, so there is another one of you running around here?”
“That isn’t funny. It isn’t easy manifesting as a Demolitionist, even though she isn’t really a Demolitionist.”
“Oh great, am I going to get an attunement lesson?”
“You shouldn’t have asked. Her ability is like I have never encountered before. Not only does she have a synesthetic compass for what can be relatively called a person’s morality, she also converts gases in the atmosphere into antimatter.”
Jumping from his position staring intently at Anaar, “Did you say antimatter? Like the antimatter?”
“Yes Mr. Physics major. That is why she isn’t technically a Demolitionist. As you are well aware, antimatter in a vacuum literally and figuratively isn’t a problem-”
“It is only when it comes in contact with it’s opposite and annihilates that things go awry. So if she could turn all the matter in the area into antimatter-”
“There would be no annihilation, or ‘bang’ as she calls it.”
“Do you know how insane this is? She could singlehandedly be the key to clean energy sources, or space travel…”
“Or she could be a little girl who lives her life. It is my conjecture they wanted her for just being a Demolitionist. I fucked that up by accidentally disclosing that she was actually creating or at least converting things into antimatter. If I didn’t kill all the people with this information, I have definitely made her life much more dangerous.”
“Why did she want to come with you then?”
“I wasn’t the only one pursuing her. Her powers seemed to identify the others as ‘bad’, so she had enough sense to try to stay away from them. She is actually quite smart, even if her trauma has left her a little infantile. She killed another guy trying to get to her and I got her away from the orphanage she was in and protected her, even though I am the one who put her in even more danger. For whatever reason I register as ‘good’ on her radar, which makes me curious what exactly she is sensing because I damn sure am not good. I think she only knows how to articulate it that way.”
“Where is she now?”
“With Ixnes, which worries me.”
“Why?”
“Because Ixnes terrifies her, and seems to register as ‘bad.’ Don’t get me wrong, I had no disillusions about Ixnes, especially with how old she is, but I know all too well sometimes shit happens. That is why I find it odd she is so attached to me and thinks I’m a good guy.”
“But you are a good guy.”
“Sure, whatever you say. Need I remind you of my body count? Or the fact that killing people doesn’t bother me anymore? Well, some people, but that tends to be when I lose control or something.”
“You think the Headmistress sent you because of your ability to relate to the girl?”
“Seles is her name, and I think that may have been part of the reason, at least initially. Now it is like I have a little sister. One who could inadvertently wipe out who knows how much of an area. I wonder if this is how my mom felt growing up with me. I guess it is going to fall to me to teach her how to control her powers. I’m debating if I should even tell Gramps about her. He might just kick the bucket right there.”
“Good call. I don’t care much for the old guy, but you seem to like him. I would hate to see you do him in. At least he would die happy. Not to bring things back to darker times, but what are we going to do about my attack? If you didn’t do it, something or someone out there has the ability to mimic you and your powers to a high level.”
“I don’t know. You were the biggest source of information I had, so if you can’t give me any leads, I don’t know what to do. For now, I guess we wait and gather whatever information we can.”
“Damn, it has been a crazy week. Oh, thanks for you know, saving my life, again.”
“Sorry for almost ending your life, again. It is the very least I can do. I keep creating the messes.”
“You are all about being fair, if we are being fair, we don’t know if it even was your fault.
”
“Phavian, you said they looked like me, and used powers similar to mine. Pretty sure that has ‘my fault’ written all over it.”
“I feel pretty shitty. I really thought you tried to kill me. I have been stewing for days.”
“If you weren’t stewing, something would be wrong with you.”
“Well at least we finally get to resolve the situation. I suppose I should address the thing that brought it up in the first place. I’m sorry I overreacted about the Merc thing. I just wish you would have told me.”
“Let’s play this out. I tell you I’m friends with the person you absolutely abhor. You go into a tailspin. Possibly same thing happens. Seems like it was two paths to the same destination. I want you to know Merc isn’t a bad person. They just have a fucked up past. That doesn’t excuse their actions, and I am working with them on that, but I refuse to give up on them. Not only because they have no one else, but also because if others weren’t so quick to judge, maybe they wouldn’t be the person they are now.”
Sighing, “I guess I can agree to deal with it. I don’t have to like them, but I won’t flip out in the future.”
“Good, that is a compromise I can accept. Since we are dealing with problems, I think you should look into doing your schoolwork. You have been out for a week. You have tons of shit to do.”
“Why would you mess up a good moment?!”
“Because it wasn’t a good moment, it was simply a less shitty moment than we have been dealing with lately. Get to work.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to practice. I have a concert and I don’t want to piss off Stefani. She is becoming scarier by the day.”
While Phavian logs into his classes to check out the studies he has missed, Anaar takes up his violin and begins to play. As he transitions from piece to piece, Phavian finds the music a soothing balm for his spirit, especially since he still had the wound that every now and then caused him to get flashes of Anaar standing over him, sneering with pure malice.
9
The time had finally come, and Stefani found herself worked into a frenzy. When she looked back at all the things she had done to bring her event to fruition, it seemed even more amazing that it was happening. When Sophia had left campus, she found herself with a void that afforded her much more time to obsess over her passion.
Though she often complained about how hard Sophia was on her, there was no denying just how much the small fiery woman believed she could be successful. Even though it seemingly came at the cost of grueling training sessions, Sophia was always supportive of her music, attending even the smallest of performances she put on. Sophia had never let her give up on her passion, which seemed contradictory to her push to make Stefani into a hardened fighter.
Even though she was sure Sophia would have found the time to attend her concert, Stefani had purposely kept it from her. She was not exactly sure what her motivation was for doing such, but she was certain Sophia would have more important matters to attend. With one less important figure in her life in attendance, Stefani felt less pressure to push for its success. Though she did not want this venture to be a failure, she had enough experience from her previous attempts to be lacking confidence.
Her first opportunity to change the outcome of her event was to offer a different type of experience. Before, she had only put on events featuring herself, hoping her celebrity would be enough to draw in a crowd. She quickly came to realize her normal audience was not made up of her peers. Individuals in their late teens and early twenties were not particularly interested in her sound, even if she did have talent.
Stefani found herself more dejected by the lack of interest from those on campus than she did when she found out her powers could have potentially been the cause of her success. Her parents always complained about the expense of managers and producers, but going about the process on her own made Stefani much more painfully aware how valuable they were, and the ease they brought to her life. Now she had to think about her brand, and how to reach audiences, and then how to secure venues while making enough to cover the expenses.
Though Sophangence was extremely generous in their offerings, there was simply no way to get around the need of funds for some of the event. Instead of needing to pay for her venue, she only required a bevy of permissions to utilize one of the auditoriums. Even then, the auditoriums were still lacking in some items specific to her performance’s needs. Anything that could reasonably be considered an enhancement for the overall greater good of the campus was funded, but items that were solely for her quality of life would need to be funded in other manners. In the end, she found herself footing much of the bill for these types of items.
Another major task for her was evolving her sound. At some point it dawned on her how profoundly foolish it was to work on her growth as a fighter and Sophangence student, but not be willing to incorporate that same diligence into her music. When she had first held tryouts for her potential music group, she found herself surprised by some, but mostly disappointed in the offerings of the school. It was not until she enlisted the support of her dear friend Anaar that her luck drastically changed on all fronts.
Anaar was known by most to be the embodiment of perfection. Having grown closer to him in the past year, she understood he had faults and struggled just like everyone else. Thankfully for her, the number of people he allowed close enough to see those faults were very few, so his overwhelming popularity brought an enormous amount of social capital with it. The moment the news spread that he was not only a founding member of the group, but also a close friend of Stefani’s, she no longer even needed to hold auditions, as people were approaching her for a chance to join the group. It only helped that this news spread after he became the number 2 ranked student in the school.
Even though he tried his best to avoid responsibility, Anaar was integral in helping the group become a success. With his innate talent for music, and specifically the violin, there was no need to feel pressured to take any lackluster violinist she could find. Also, he was always helpful when she needed to talk things out, even if he were busy on missions or some other task. Stefani was positive she would not have been able to garner the talent she did without his influence. He was also quite exemplary when it came to logistics, though that came as no surprise when she thought of how well he handled himself in combat situations. Just thinking about the assistance he gave her when working through the actual event brought a smile to her face.
“I’m freaking out! I can’t believe so many people were hiding on campus with such musical aptitude! I had already settled on a small band of maybe six at best, but now there are all these new talents! My initial projections for the event are ruined!”
“Stef, calm down. Take a moment to breathe. I’m sure not everything is a bust right?”
“Of course it is a bust Maggie! I had planned for a small stage in the middle of campus for our first event! Now there are more people who are interested in being part of the group, and apparently people are looking forward to our first concert! No one has ever looked forward to my concerts before!”
Grumbling to herself, “I looked forward to them…”
“Oh honey, that is sweet, but as much as I love you, I can’t include you! You are my friends! Of course you are going to support me! I am getting messages every day now asking about tickets, and dates! I don’t even have a set! I don’t even have a proper group!”
“You could always use the auditorium. The acoustics were obviously made for this type of event, and if you are expecting more people, you could even get The Rack, or the Cafeteria to do some kind of food stands.”
Standing up, hugging him tightly and kissing him on the forehead, “Anaar you are a genius! That is why you are my second in command!”
“Wait, when did I become-”
“That makes perfect sense! No one wants to go to a concert without snacks! This is a college campus, not some grand operahouse! I wonder if I need a liqu
or permit…”
“I don’t think you want alcohol at the event. At least at the first one. Maybe you should see how it goes and then build on it?”
“You are right. Drunk people like anything. There is no point in them enjoying it only because they are inebriated.”
“Stefani, that isn’t exactly where I was going with that, but whatever you say…”
“Now I need to figure out who I am letting into the group and what we will play.”
“Not trying to step on your excitement Stef, but shouldn’t you just stick with the people who you thought were good before you put Anaar’s name out there? If you want a group that is truly dedicated and in it for the craft, it seems like the bandwagon participants wouldn’t do you much good.”
“But some of them are really good!”
“I have to agree with Maggie. I don’t know what kind of weird people would jump on board just because they hear my name, but I can’t see them being conducive to what you wish to achieve in the long term.”
“Maybe I can get them to sign a contract!”
“Are you paying them?”
“Well, no… But they get paid in satisfaction!”
“I don’t think that is going to fly Stef.”
Shaking his head in agreeance, “Not at all. You said yourself that you were willing to go with a little less talent for those with a lot more heart. Nothing says dedication like those who were interested long before hearing I was in the group, which might I add is creepy.”
“You might have a point…”
“It’s up to you at the end of the day. I’m leaving you to figure that out. Last time I availed myself I ended up watching audition videos with you. See you guys later.”
Snapping back from her memory, she found it so hard to believe it had been months since that conversation occurred. Now it was the big day, and after weeks of practice and preparation, she was finally going to put on her first big concert. As overwhelming as it felt, despite having performed many times in the past, it was also extremely gratifying to know she was the reason it was all happening.
Apotheosis (Song of Sophangence Book 3) Page 12