by L. C. Mawson
“How long have you been Empathy?”
“Since I was eight.”
Claire was surprised at that, though quickly realised that she shouldn’t have been, given that Hate had told her earlier that day that Empathy had been recruited as a child. Had that really just been that afternoon? It felt like a lifetime ago.
“That’s young, isn’t it?” Claire eventually asked, not wanting to reveal how much she knew when she shouldn’t.
Empathy shrugged. “We can be any age when we’re chosen, but it tends to be around our teenage years. There have been younger Aspects, but not many.”
“But... You had to give up your family, right? When you become an Aspect, you can’t see your family any more. It’s like with the names, where you have to take your new one and leave your old one behind, right?”
“Right,” Empathy repeated quietly. “I didn’t really have a family to leave.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “What about you?”
“I didn’t have any family to leave, either. My mother died when I was ten and I don’t think there was ever anyone else.”
“You don’t think?”
“I... She was killed in a monster attack and I was there with her. The doctors think I had some trauma or something but... I can’t remember anything before that.”
“So where were you when Mademoiselle Bennett found you?”
“At boarding school. My mother had apparently made sure there were arrangements in place, just in case anything happened to her.”
Empathy didn’t say anything as they approached the cafe. It was too late for it to be open properly, but the window machine was still working. Empathy keyed in two tulsi teas and Claire found herself disquieted once more by Empathy seemingly reading her mind.
“You’re asking me all of these questions... Aren’t you in my head?” Claire asked as she picked up her tea.
“Kind of,” Empathy said, taking a sip of her tea before flinching, stopping Claire’s own cup a moment from her lips. She had a bad habit of drinking too fast and burning her mouth.
“Kind of?” Claire asked, leaning against the wall. Empathy moved over to where the side of the cafe met the park and sat down on the low wall there.
“Yeah, it’s... I absorb more, the longer I’m tuned into you, but it just starts with your appearance and skills. Some base personality traits. Things as complex as memories take days for me to absorb and I never stay tuned into one person long enough to do that.”
“So, what do you usually use it for? I mean, I’ve never seen you on the TV before or anything.”
“How would you know?” Empathy asked simply.
The conversation was cut short by a familiar screech as Empathy turned pale.
“Oh, for the love of...” she muttered and Claire wondered if she sounded that flippant all of the time.
As Claire turned to the park, she saw a large, winged beast flying down, clipping the trees as it went. The branches snapped, not leaving a single mark on the creature’s blue scales.
“What do we do?” Claire asked, a little frantically.
Empathy frowned in a way that Claire supposed she must when she concentrated. “Hold out your arm.”
Claire did as she was asked and Empathy grabbed a hold for a few moments. Her touch felt odd, almost like it gave the skin beneath it pins and needles.
“Sorry,” Empathy said as she let go of Claire’s arm, which Claire immediately began to rub. “I needed your combat skills.”
“And my power?”
“No, I can’t absorb the powers of other Aspects.”
“Then how are you meant to fight?”
They were cut off by the creature letting out an icy blast from its mouth, directed right at them. Claire grabbed Empathy, knocking them both out of the way.
“Technically I’m supposed to absorb its power,” Empathy admitted as they jumped to their feet.
“Technically?”
“Have you ever tried to empathise with a genetically engineered killing machine?” Empathy bit back. “Just get everyone you can to safety. Our Aspect Bands will have picked up the spike in our vitals and alerted Mademoiselle Bennett. The other Aspects will be here soon.”
Claire nodded, heading off towards the left of the park as Empathy ran to the right.
She kept watching the monster and saw that it was keeping its eyes on her, so she ran around to the area with the least people. There were only a few in the park this late, and pretty much all of them seemed to be making it away from the monster without issue.
She was fairly quick in a fight. She usually focused on dodging her opponent, and only struck when she knew that she had a good shot. This was different, though. She wasn’t a sprinter. She'd spent years working around her unusual gait in ballet and in her fighting stance. When it came to running, she was tripping over herself, and her shins quickly started to feel as if someone had struck them with a cricket bat. A side effect of her being too heavy on her feet.
None of that mattered, she decided as she pushed the pain away. The important thing was that the monster was keeping its eyes on her, and not on the escaping civilians.
When did I stop thinking of myself as a civilian? Claire wondered as she ducked into a roll, narrowly avoiding the blast of ice which caused a little frost to form over the sweat patches forming on her dress as her breath came in a sharp mist.
In the few moments Claire had been scrambling from the ice patch, checking herself for more serious injury, the monster took to the air once more, redirecting its attention to where Empathy was helping an elderly man out of the park.
“Empathy!” Claire yelled in warning as she sprinted over, so fast that she was sure she was going to throw up as she finally arrived in front of the other Aspect.
“Love!” she yelled back, clearly at a loss for what they were supposed to do. Neither of them had control of the powers that were supposed to help them.
Claire just turned to the monster. She wasn’t letting it get Empathy, she resolved. She didn’t know exactly why, but she felt protective of the other Aspect. Despite her absorbing the features and traits of anyone around her, something in Claire recognised that she was younger. That she had to be protected.
The monster met her gaze, though it didn’t seem to attack. It cocked its head slightly as if trying to figure her out. Claire was determined not to look away, not to lose the challenge, glad that eye contact with monsters was easier than with people.
As soon as she resolved not to break eye contact with the beast, however, it broke it itself, throwing its head back to roar, exactly as Claire had just seen it do before an attack.
But, before an attack could be made, black lightning jumped across it, frying the monster to a crisp.
“What the hell?” Claire heard the familiar voice of Hate yell as she stormed over from the other side of the park. “I had just gotten to sleep!”
Claire didn’t miss the way that, while she was addressing both of them, Hate seemed to avoid looking directly at her. Empathy already had Hate’s short bob, differentiating them.
“We didn’t know it was going to attack!” Empathy shouted back, her voice still Claire’s, though the accent was Hate’s.
“Neither of you have powers you can use in a fight,” Hate said, her voice still retaining its bite despite her lowering the volume. “Of course you would be prime targets for monsters. Defenceless Aspects? You’re practically offering yourselves up on a silver platter.”
“Hey, go easy on them,” Justice said as she arrived, yawning a little. Her white-blonde hair was in a messy bun on her head and she was wearing a grey hoodie with blue pyjama bottoms. “Love just got here, and Em’s just a kid.”
Empathy seemed to bristle at the comment, once more reminding Claire of just how young she was, though she was quickly distracted by the realisation that Justice wasn’t the only one in her pyjamas. Hate was in her usual military boots, coupled with her leather jacket, though that wa
s over a short black satin nightie, which didn’t exactly cover much. Claire tried to focus on something else, turning back to see that while Empathy still had Hate’s bob, it was now white-blonde and her skin had lightened a few shades. Her eyes were still the same lilac as Claire’s, though.
“Whatever,” Hate muttered. “But I’m not pulling their arses out of the fire if it happens again...” She stalked off, drawing her jacket tight around her chest.
Justice gave an amiable smile and a shrug. “She’s just tired.”
“I know,” Em said, a hint of irony in her voice as her hair grew back to Claire’s length.
Justice’s smile widened as she shook her head. “Of course you do. Come on, you two need to get back.” She turned to Claire. “You need your rest. My brother and I won’t go easy on you tomorrow. No matter how many monsters you’ve faced so far.”
“Yeah, doesn’t this make three?” Empathy asked before quickly covering her mouth. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
Claire shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“Three?” Justice asked.
Claire sighed. “I was caught in an attack five years ago.”
“I’m not sure if it’s ill fortune to face the monsters three times without powers, or good fortune to have survived each of those times,” Justice said.
“All I know is that I’m not exactly thrilled about the idea of throwing myself in front of them again,” Claire admitted, a little sheepishly. “I mean... I don’t have the first clue of how the hell I’m supposed to tap into this power. How did the other Love do it?”
“Serenity,” Empathy answered simply. “They were together.”
Justice shifted her weight and Claire thought she looked uncomfortable. She supposed that she was probably in two minds about whether Empathy should be telling Claire about Serenity’s personal matters.
“You guys don’t have to tell me if Serenity wouldn’t want you to,” Claire figured, though she was anxious to know if it would help her in any way.
“You should know if it will help,” Justice said after a moment of thought. “Your power will be invaluable once you access it. Serenity will understand.”
“No, she’ll be angry at first,” Empathy said. “But I think that’s because she gets angry whenever anyone mentions Lo- the last Love. She’ll eventually calm down, though.”
“Well, I meant eventually,” Justice reasoned.
“So, they were really together?” Claire asked. “Serenity seemed... cheery, when I met her before. If she'd just lost her girlfriend...”
“She’s covering,” Empathy explained. “I mean, of course she is. Her power is based on her ability to stay calm no matter what and now she’s grieving and feels broken inside and that’s making her scared that she’s losing control of her power, which is only making matters worse. She’s our shield essentially, neutralising attacks before they hit us. If she fails...”
“I can see why that would bother her...” Claire said, trailing off with a frown. “So, wait, Aspects are allowed to date each other?”
Empathy nodded.
Justice chipped in. “It’s a little complicated. It’s not encouraged, because it might compromise us in battle, but no one does much to stop it when it happens. Especially not when it helps the Aspects in question to better control their powers, like it did for Love and Serenity.”
“But Hate’s not allowed?” The words were out of Claire’s mouth before she remembered that there was no way she was meant to know that.
Empathy sighed, apparently feeling her worry. “I know about you and Hate,” she admitted. “And Justice is cool. She’s not going to tell anyone. I kind of can’t not know with you two constantly broadcasting your angst.”
“Sorry,” Claire said sheepishly.
“It’s fine,” Empathy told her. “In all honesty, I’ve known since Hate first met you. She was all gooey over you and all angst-y about it messing with her powers. It was getting on my nerves so I told her to go see you. She levelled out when she came back. She was a little cheery but still capable of accessing her powers.”
“Wait, wouldn’t it be better for her power if she was all angst-y?”
“You would think, wouldn’t you? But she’s only been able to access her powers by hating something or someone specifically. She couldn’t bring herself to hate you, and it’s a bad idea for her to start hating herself. It was just distracting.”
“But now she can’t be around me because I’m Love?”
“What started out as a sort of not great idea has now turned into the worst idea ever,” Empathy confirmed. “I mean, you two should get over this because you need to be able to work together, but it’s probably not a good idea to be closer than colleagues.”
Justice nodded in agreement. “My brother and I are the only ones at this Tower who have been able to make opposites work, but we’re not quite as opposite as Hate and Love. We’re more like different sides of the same coin.”
Claire sighed, shaking her head. “Yeah, I figured as much. But that still doesn’t help me to access my powers. I don’t have any family or close friends...”
“Love’s kind of foreign to you, huh?” Empathy asked.
“Yup. I won’t be surprised if I’m dead within a week.”
“That’s a little pessimistic,” Justice chided. “You won’t be expected to be out in the field in your first week. We’ll make sure your training’s up to scratch and we’ll get you able to use your powers before expecting you to take on monsters.”
That helped to relieve Claire’s anxiety as she folded her arms around her chest, the temperature dropping as the overcast sky broke a little.
“No one’s really told me what to expect,” Claire told them. “Sometimes I forget when I get anxious that not knowing exactly what to expect makes it much worse.”
“Mademoiselle Bennett should have realised,” Empathy said. “I mean, she should have got details on your accommodations from your school.”
“Yeah, why didn’t she? My teacher was going on about it when she came to get me.”
Justice shrugged. “Mademoiselle Bennett is just here to direct us at the enemy. We’re supposed to take care of everything else amongst ourselves. We have our own apartments and we train each other. But she should have thought to tell you how long it would be before you would be in the field.”
Claire just gave a half-hearted hum of agreement. She was used to it, in all honesty. St Cecilia’s had been good but they tended to forget to keep new teachers in the loop. Claire had been given a little plastic card to show them if they started to tell her off for using her accommodations after one particularly embarrassing incident where she’d gone into hyperfocus during a few hours of free time and had come out desperately needing to pee just as the teacher entered. As she’d tried to leave, the teacher had told her that it was her fault for not going before the lesson started, refusing to let her go. At least, not until after she’d wet herself in front of everyone. Claire had never quite lived down that incident.
The sun was starting to come up as they approached the Tower. Claire wondered if the wastelands could be seen from the higher levels. It would be nice, she thought, to see a sunrise without the city walls in the way.
“You should probably go and get ready, Love,” Justice told her as she headed inside. “Or take a nap if you can. We won’t go easy on you during training.”
Claire nodded, though it was hesitant.
“You’re not used to your new name yet, are you?” Empathy asked as soon as Justice was inside.
Claire shook her head. Giving up her name felt too much like giving up her identity.
“Trust me, I know how you feel,” Empathy said and Claire figured that she did. If anyone had given up their identity when they became an Aspect, it was her.
“What was your name, before all this?”
Empathy frowned a little, looking away. “It was Emily. My name was Emily.”
CHAPTER SIX
Claire managed
a short nap before her alarm sounded at half eight. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure how she managed to get to sleep. She was sure that nightmares would plague her as soon as she was left alone, but as soon as Empathy left her at the door to her apartment, she'd felt her eyelids begin to droop. She'd collapsed onto her bed and fallen asleep in her dress.
She shut off her alarm with a groan, not wanting to move. Somehow, she mustered herself, ignoring the aching of the newly-formed bruises as she headed to the bathroom. On the one hand, she knew that training while bruised and sore wasn’t a good idea. On the other, she didn’t want to give a bad first impression to the others. She doubted that she would be able to easily get the hang of Love’s powers, so she at least wanted to prove that she could handle herself in combat without them. Not that she felt as if she should have much proving to do. She'd managed to survive two attacks in as many days. Though, she supposed that survival wasn’t good enough any more. Now she had to be able to kill the monsters, to protect everyone else.
The scorching hot water of the shower was a relief, pushing away the pain of the bruises. She found her scentless shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, all lined up neatly on the shower tray.
She was careful and methodical with her shower routine, making sure that she didn’t miss any steps or repeat any. The problem was that, by the time she left the shower, she only had eight minutes to get dressed and head down to the training room. She yanked on her workout gear, made up of her black sports bra and lycra leggings, with neon pink stripes.
The lift arrived on the training room floor just as the clock struck nine, with Claire still plaiting her hair as she went.
“Good timing,” Vengeance said with a smile as she arrived.
Claire couldn’t help but shift her weight awkwardly between her feet as she put her bobble in place at the end of the plait. “I was afraid I’d run late,” she admitted.