It was morning. Nick had been asleep for the segundo time since the issue with the dreams. Neither he, nor Kal, nor Jesse wanted to sleep but they could not stop themselves from being tired. The dreams that Nick had were not bad ones, it was when he awoke that the terror sank in. Every time he awoke he would have to make sure that he was truly awake.
Even now Nick could not be certain. The only way that any of them knew was if Rin confirmed their memories, and could still morph and use Chaos Energy, something none of them remember her doing in the dreams. Jesse was going to meet up with Talon before school. All Nick knew about this was that Jesse had something important to tlak to him about.
It was Six. School was in one hour. The walk to school was a short one, and preparing for it took a brief amount of time for the grey hedgehog. Nick needed half an oras for his conversation with Jesse however, so he got up a bit earlier.
It took a mere twelve minutos to eat two bowls of flavored-cereal, and prepare his school-belongings. Nick had nothing better to do in the meantime so he drained out his black energy in the backyard so that it would not build up and cause him to ditch school. It made noise, in fact it made a strange ringing sound. Nick always shot it upward so that it did not make a crashing noise on the ground. He could control how far it went, making keeping the energy out of sight very easy.
Once finished, and sure that no one noticed, Nick went to the front porch to wait for Jesse. The brisk air kept the grey hedgehog from dozing off. Nick spent his waiting time waving to neighbors as they walked about, and moving a small chipped piece of cement back and forth with his feet.
Nick tried to keep patient and thus became too patient. When he finally decided to check his phone for the time the time read 6:49 A.M. He was going to be late for school.
Shoving aside any care for waiting till Jesse arrived, Nick made a lighting dash to his High School. He was half of a minuto late, which he could tell sa pamamagitan ng the kampanilya ringing as he was only a block from the school and thoroughly tired-out. As soon as Nick entered the front doors he grasped tightly the metal bar-handles, using them to brace himself as he regained his strength.
Few students paid him attention. This was far from the first time a student appeared tired-out from running to school. Nick inched pasulong towards a drinking fountain, increasing his speed every five steps. Once his energy had returned to half-way full it was too late to find Jesse, it was time for class.
The class ended and Nick left to find Jesse. The dark-slate hedgehog would be looking for Nick just as Nick searched for him. He first saw Rin however. At least she could say if she saw him… then again perhaps Kal could have also if Nick had waited for her to leave the classroom.
The identity was sitting against a hallway-wall, Pagsulat in a notebook it seemed. Nick never saw Rin write before, then again she never needed too it seemed. Maybe she was drawing. It seemed madami likely. “What are ya writing?” He asked in front of her, forgetting that he was meaning to ask about what she was drawing.
Rin looked straight up to him. “I’m practicing being normal.” She replied in her fake Irish accent.
Nick was taken aback sa pamamagitan ng the accent for a split-second. He would not get used to her using it for quite a while. He noticed her evasion though, which prompted him to attempt grabbing the notebook. Talon controlled his urge. “But what are you writing?”
Rin held up her notebook. It read “words” repeatedly, each in a different style font. “I’m taking art disensyo and that involves me having variety in what I can draw… or write I guess. I even remembered to flail my hands when they’re supposed to get sore from Pagsulat so much.”
“How many pages have you written?” Nick questioned with partial intrigue.
“Um…” Rin flipped through the pages of her notebook, mumbling numbers to herself. “Six.” She concluded while handing Nick the notebook to look through himself.. “Are you going to take art? Why do they have us draw bowls of fruit?”
The hedgehog was skimming through the designs. They were rather nice, and varied. But then again it was very easy for someone like Rin to make up things like this on the fly. When her tanong processed Nick had no answer to either tanong and he had to ilipat on to asking about Jesse anyway. “Dunno, uh do you know where Jesse is—he wanted to talk to m-“ Nick glanced down for a moment to see that Rin’s eyes were darker. She was frowning and looking away. “Rin what’s wrong?”
“Ask him…” The identity grumbled. What did Jesse do? Talon noticed Rin jerk suddenly, her entire self glowing dark-blue for a quick moment. She was going to draw attention if she kept like this. Talon didn’t want to seem insensitive, but he didn’t want Rin to be found out either.
“R-Rin… I don’t know what happened but you’re,” he turned his voice to a whisper “glowing.”
Rin looked back up at Nick, then at her hands. She faded back to her normal colors, sighing long to herself. With her eyes still glowing a very dark blue she looked back to Nick asking in her normal accent now “Where’s the bathroom?”
Nick walked Rin to the girls’ restroom where she wouldn’t be seen while… handling her emotions. “Do you want me to wait?” He asked as the girl entered the doors.
Rin held the door open and looked down in front of Nick. “Do you… have you ever thought about me as a… forget it.” The door swung closed. Nick was a tad stunned. ‘Think of her as in a.... person? Girlfriend?’ Was this what happened with Jesse? Did Rin try to ask him out and he rejected her? That did not seem like Jesse. Nick already had the impression that he liked her very much… but what else could she be meaning?”
The hedgehog waited for a few minutes. It was his free-period now which allowed him this time. Often during Free-Periods Talon would normally marvel at how he had yet to be overcome with College applications, or High School finals. Right now he was trying to piece together what was going on, and he was not going to get anywhere without Jesse’s side of things.
“Hey, sorry I wasn’t at your hou-“ Nick almost performed a mid-air twirl when Jesse arrived, facing his Slate-colored friend when he landed. “Nice… move.” Jesse rose a brow with a pity-grin.
“You wanted to talk to me about something.” Nick wanted to get right to it.
“Right…” Jesse rubbed the back of his head, going through the words he wanted to use. “You wanna sit down?”
Talon was reluctant to relax but perhaps it was for the best. If this was going to be a long story he did not want foot-cramps. He sat against the wall, and Jesse joined him at his side. Jesse’s hands were cuffed between his legs, and his knees bent high. His head almost sagged to the ground before the Slate-colored hedgehog pulled it back up as he began talking. “What was Rin… or Kal for that matter like in your dream?”
This went back to the dreams? It made sense, strange things did happen in them. But Rin wasn’t under the dreams she was trying to get everyone out. So how would… Talon decided not to think too far into it and went over the fake-Rin in his head, reciting his paglalarawan accordingly. “She was like how she always was only madami hostile I guess.”
“Was she… clingy? Or, overly friendly?” Jesse continued.
“No…” Nick was about to ask what this was about but Jesse asked another question.
“How did she ilipat around you? Or dress?”
This was becoming uncomfortable. “Jesse what got-, why are you asking-,” Nick tried to think of the appropriate way to approach this but nothing was coming to mind.
“The Rin in my dream was… really friendly…” The unsurprised lowered-eyelid stare from Talon showed how strange this seemed to him. “REALLY friendly…” Jesse emphasized. “And when the real Rin saw what we… “ Jesse was cringing, “If only that was all.” Nick slowly began to form a picture of what he imagined happened… and promptly removed it after realizing what his friend was talking about.
“You’re blaming yourself for something that happened in a dream? You can’t bl-“
“She SAW my thoughts, Nick!” Jesse interrupted, snapping urgently at his friend. “ALL of them… Things I thought about before the dream… things I thought about doing, with her.” Talon was silent. He did not know what to say to this, but he knew that anything he did say would not help. Accordingly, Jesse continued. “After that I’m surprised she even tried to help me out of the dream. The look… she just…” At this point Jesse had his face in his hand, practically giving himself a blister with how hard he was squeezing himself. “I’m not going to forget that look. She saw everything that someone like her should not have to. No doubt she thinks I’m just a perv now… and I can’t blame her.”
Talon was going through his own emotionally confrontation with this news. He was angry at Jesse himself but he wasn’t about to say so. Right now his friend was opening up, and it was his job to help, not yell at him. “You… apologized right?”
“Over, and over, and over… For all the GOOD IT DID!” Jesse slammed his fist to the ground, breaking the board at his side. His expression went to one of shock, then to one of irritation as he sank his head back in a long sad sigh. “I liked her… I really-.. I thought I did… I guess I just liked what I wanted to think about doing with her.”
This was what Rin was asking—Not if they thought of her as a girlfriend, but as a lover. Guilt set in Nick’s puso now as well. Granted he actually did not think of Rin in a sexual way… much, but he had not always fought away thoughts of Kal, or occasionally other girls he knew. Even if he had not done them with any of them he was now thinking of what Rin might of thought if she had found thoughts of Kal in his head. What would Kal say if she found those thoughts?
“We keep that stuff in our heads and hope no one finds out but no one’s ever found out before.” Jesse spoke. “I actually tried not to think about it before… we were shooting a skit and it was hard not to think about it but I kept myself from doing it then… I don’t know if she saw that memory but I don’t know if it even matters. I blew it.”
“She hasn’t spoken to you since has she?” Nick quickly asked.
“Of course not.” Jesse sighed again. “I don’t know if she ever will again.”
A creak sounded. Both boys looked to their top-lefts to see Rin begin to walk out from the restroom. She looked over and noticed Jesse being susunod to Talon and froze. Nick sinabi nothing. He was afraid the identity might blow up if he did. Jesse however… “Rin I’m sor-“
They barely got a chance to notice the identity lighting up dark blue again before she teleported out of sight. Jesse practically vibrated, clinging to the ground with his arms before forcing himself up in a long yell. He stormed off furious with himself. Nick remained sitting.
Nick did not want to blame Jesse, he tried to think of some way to make it seem like it was neither Rin nor Jesse’s fault. Arma-9 did this… but Jesse went along with it. It was thoughts he never acted on… but Rin still saw it. He cared about her… but now all he thinks is that he wants to sleep with her… and even if that were not all he wanted to do there was no doubt in Nick’s mind that despite Jesse’s guilt, that would still be something he thought about.
He needed to talk to Rin now that he knew. ‘Rin?’ He called in his head. She did not reply. ‘Rin I know your upset, but please tell me where you are. I just want to talk, are you okay?’ Still no reply. Talon was not surprised. Rin was sad. She wanted to be alone probably… maybe she didn’t. Rin always loved company so maybe she went to talk with Kal?
Nick had nearly a half-hour till his susunod class. He would not be able to talk the whole thing over with Kal then, but at least if he found her he could arrange a meeting. If he found Rin with Kal all the better.
The hedgehog called his feline friend, and asked if Rin was with her. They were not together. He asked if Kal had seen her. She did not. Kal asked what was going on, and sa pamamagitan ng that time it was fifteen minutos till class. Nick quickly told her that she should simply be cautious around Rin, and that he would talk to her after school before hanging up. Nick got his supplies for the susunod class, and walked, waiting impatiently for the school-hours to end.
Kal got to Nick as she exited the schoolyard. There were too many people around, so they walked a ways until they reached an area few students walked past. “Rin and Jesse have had some… problems.” Nick began.
“Is this something you, or they, should be telling me?” Kal bluntly questioned, freezing ten prepared ang sumagot from the grey hedgehog in mid-thought.
“Well, no I guess it IS something they should tell you,” He shrugged rolling his head around in conflicting thoughts “but even so you should know eventually. It’s best you ask Jesse… Rin is probably not in a stable mood.”
“I’ll talk to her when I get home.” Kal nodded. She put a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “You okay?”
Nick shook his head “After the dream-problems… no, I’m not going to be for a while.”
Kal let go, hurt sa pamamagitan ng the memory of what they told her had happened. She remembered her own dream, but nothing of attacking Nick, or forcing him into it. Knowing that she was under someone else’s control terrified the cat. She felt like a monster attacking her loyal allies. And would she get revenge for having that done to her? Kal did not even know if she wanted revenge. She just wanted it to not of happened.
“Yeah…” She finally replied, looking downward. “Not too fun when you’re the weapon.”
“That wasn’t your fault.” Nick protested.
“Doesn’t matter.” She calmly half-mumbled. “You were all put under that dream, and so was I. But at least you weren’t being controlled sa pamamagitan ng them to do it.”
“It’s going to take a lot of getting used to but I think we’ll all get through this.”
“Get through it?” Kal raised her voice slightly, looking back up. “There is no ‘get through it’. We’ve got supernatural abilities, abilities THEY almost made me forget about, if not everything else. Arma-9 isn’t going to stop there. We stopped them from taking over our memories, but that just made them mad. They’re going to strike back, Nick, and soon. I’m not going to be able to relax knowing that, not today, and not ever… even if we do beat them at one point…” Her tone lowered again as she turned herself to the side, brushing some hair away from tickling her nose, “What if there are others?”
The she-cat crossed her arms, peering downward at the ground again. Kal had always been the defensive protective type, but everyone had emotional tipping points. “I, guess I just wanted to sound supportive.” Nick sighed, feeling as though he did madami harm than healing. “And hey, if they do try to do something huge, we’ve got the Guardian for that.”
“If he cared why wasn’t he there from the beginning?” Kal retorted. “An alien crash-landing would be right up his alley.”
“The government probably saw to that. Arma-9 IS the Government after all, right?”
“Then who is the Guardian going to believe? Teenagers? Or the Government?”
Nick had no answer. Kal knew he had no answer. She opened her mouth, with a half-sound emitting from her, but continued not. She did not blame Nick, and she did not want him to feel worse. She sinabi goodbye, and left.
When the feline closed her front door she possibly expected Rin to run up to her spouting out walang tiyak na layunin facts, or hugging her. She remembered though that Rin was in a bad mood currently, and while relieved sa pamamagitan ng the peace, it would not be a long peace. Now she had to comfort the identity.
She began to paghahanap the house. Rin might have morphed into a lamp or something to be alone. This would take a while. Kal hoped that Rin would speak with her, but her calls received no reply. Rin did not have the best relationship with her “cousin”. Kal never blamed Rin for everything bad that had happened, but she definitely took it out on the identity.
Kal’s last place to look was the roof. She scolded herself for not checking there first. Rin usually stayed up there, and just as expected the identity was there, hugging her knees above the neighborhood.
“Rin?” The feline called out as she approached the identity. Rin turned to face Kal. She was in her normal appearance, ipinapakita nothing of her feline form. Kal was a bit stunned that Rin was openly ipinapakita her normal self, but she did not scold her for it.
“Talon told you?” Rin asked.
Kal nodded. “He sinabi that I should ask you what happened, but he told me something was up… do you want to talk about it?” She sat susunod to Rin, both looking over the city.
The identity was silent at first, but then she asked “When you see me at school, do I flaunt around with boys? Do I act like that?”
“You mean… flirty?” Kal guessed. “Well… no not really. I guess some people might think you act ditsy, but…” Kal had momentarily forgotten that Jesse was involved in this problem, and thus did not consider what that may suggest. “Did someone call you a dirty name or something?”
“No…” Rin seemed to curl up more. “Do I dress badly?”
“As in morals bad?”
“Yeah.”
“Rin,” Kal began in a teasing tone, trying to cheer up the identity, “you wear a fully zipped-up hoodie, and long bell-bottom jeans.”
“Then why did he think so?” Rin turned her head back to Kal, still frowning.
“He-,” now she remembered, “Jesse? He sinabi you dressed and acted like that?”
“No… but he thought it.”
“You read his mind?” Kal was faintly hostile in her tone. Whatever happened she did not approve of mind-reading.
“No!” Rin defended. “I just saw him having… when…” She groaned loudly.
“You want to wait to-“
“No, no, I… I have to say it.” Rin took a deep breath. Kal knew Rin needed no breath to prepare for saying something. Perhaps this was simply Rin learned over the time of being around other mobians, and subconsciously did to ipakita that she was “normal”. Regardless the identity continued speaking. “In the dreams… you know which dreams, after I got you and Talon out, I went to help Jesse… when I found him he was… he was having… fornica-“ The identity was shaking her head violently. She couldn’t say the word. It was hurting too much to say it… so Kal had to guess.
“With who?” Kal’s tone was dark and angry, not at Rin, but at Jesse.
“With ME!” Rin yelled back in a squeal. “In his thoughts of ME! And I saw it happen.”
Kal gaped a tad, trying to think of a reply that wouldn’t come across as indifferent, but she eventually asked “Wait, Nick sinabi that there was a fake you. The fake must have done that to his thought-“
Rin shook her head again. Her eyes kept changing from dark blue to red. Kal was beginning to get nervous around the identity, not for her own safety, but for the safety of the roof that Rin might blow up. “I SAW memories of things he thought about. Staring at ME, thinking about doing that with me… and… and even worse when I found out I… I didn’t even feel bad. He… I guess I liked the idea that someone would like me somewhat like that, but… that wasn’t liking that was just-“
“It was the you he made up, Rin, not you.”
“Is that what everyone thinks of?” The identity sidetracked. “Of their friends?”
Kal did not answer. She was in the middle of shock and fury, and trying to hide both emotions for Rin’s sake. She knew that Jesse enjoyed admiring ladies, but even when the hint of him checking her out appeared, Kal did little madami than scoff it off and leave it alone. She never really thought of what she would think if she saw him and her in his thoughts pagganap like that. The feline was tempted to ask Rin if she had seen those thoughts but something stopped her. Guilt stopped her.
Despite being angry at Jesse, Kal, Talon, probably Rin too, were all guilty of thinking impure thoughts about others. Rin did not need to, or want to, see what she saw, she did not want to know it was something Jesse was capable of. Kal knew what Jesse was capable of, but it would hurt her emotionally, and morally, if she saw it happen. This topic was best left alone.
The feline rose and pulled Rin, who seemed very perplexed sa pamamagitan ng the gesture, up with her. “Do you want to mope all araw or forget about it?”
“I can’t forget about it.” Rin narrowed her eyes but kept her tone level.
“No one can.” Kal replied. “But if you keep yourself down too much longer what’ll happen if someone reaches out back to you, right?”
The identity considered this statement. At that moment she did not care at all if someone showed romantic interest in her, and was quite alright with ripping out their spinal cord if they did attempt to do so after this experience… but she did not want to stay upset. If she distracted herself she could forget… for the time being at least. “Okay.” She nodded finally, very slowly but surely perking up.
Kal smiled to the identity and made her way back into the house with Rin following. “We could put on an action movie or something. Or mess around on the internet.”
“Okay.” Rin repeated in a now pleasant tone. “Hey, Kal…” The feline stopped and turned to face Rin awaiting her to continue. “do you think you could… um…”
“Name it.” Kal abruptly stated.
Rin was still cautious about this particular tanong but since ibingiay permission she asked away in a finger-twiddling mess. “Could you pray for me?”
Not all Kal’s balahibo stood on end, but enough to friz her tail. Her facial expression was simply a closed-eyed blank stare, but Rin could tell she hit a nerve. “Rin…” This time Kal’s tone sounded much less friendly. “I’m not religious.”
“I- I know but you’re close and I just thought that would mean something.” The identity stammered nervously.
“That’s not really how it works.” Kal informed, neither hostile nor friendly, as she continued walking with Rin in tail. “You’ve asked me a million times already.”
“I- I- I h-have? I didn’t know- I’m sorry-“
“I’m glad you’re sorry but it’s been happening so often. Only a couple days nakaraan you were talking about me going to church.”
“Kal I did-“
“Before that it was nativity scenes, and I had to explain that it wasn’t the season,”
“but that wasn-“ This new hostility in the ginto feline baffled Rin as much as it hurt her. It seemed Kal did not even hear Rin’s interruptions and attempts at corrections. She continued listing off times when something religion-related was mentioned sa pamamagitan ng Rin, but there was one problem with almost all of these listed moments, and after hearing now four of them the identity could not stand it anymore, yelling loudly and furiously “THAT WASN’T ME!!”
Kal stopped instantly. She barely brought up the courage to turn around and face Rin, who had gone back to her dark blue shade again. “That wasn’t me…” The identity repeated in a weak tone. “That was the fake… again. You can’t tell the difference can you…”
It hit the ginto feline all too quickly. Rin was in a fragile state at the moment, and Kal let her emotions about her parents and the Church get to her. The identity just wanted a form of comfort, but it brought back memories, in this case very fake one. Kal wanted to say something to reassure Rin but the identity walked off after receiving a good twenty segundos of silence.
Even if she did not want to, Kal had to admit, during the dream, and even now… she could not distinguish the person pretending to be Rin, and the actual Rin.
Talon and Jesse sat on the living-room sopa of the Falon residence. Jesse wanted anything that did not involve a large amount of talking and prying eyes. He also wanted to talk to someone alone. He could not do that with any of his cousins because they had barely any relationship with his friends. They would not be able to relate, to sympathize in the specific way his mga kaibigan could—not to mention that he was not about to explain how Rin saw what happened in his thoughts. He needed to talk to someone who was as close to Rin and Kal as he was. He could not talk to Kal, she would just tear into him, and he had enough of that from his own conscience. Nick was a boy, and had the same mind as Jesse did. He was attracted to the same gender as Jesse was, and felt the same feelings towards people. He was not the best at payo but maybe Jesse did not want advice. Perhaps all that was needed was a listener.
They had been in silence now for seven minutes. The only words spoken were “Can I come in?” followed sa pamamagitan ng “Yeah, okay”. The slate-colored hedgehog was a wreck, his fingers tangling around each other, and a look of total grief tattooed to his face. Nick looked barely madami positive. He was not frowning but he did not ilipat from his position of laying back on the couch, his hands at his side, and his eyes fixed at the ceiling, almost unblinking.
Neither of them knew what to say to the other. Nick had nothing but accusations to give, and with the great amount of silence, his thoughts began to build up. One specific tanong continued to push itself towards Nick’s Adam’s apple, and finally escaped his lips. “What were you thinking?”
Jesse’s fingers curled and his head dipped further downward. Nick could not see the expression on his friend’s face but the tone of his voice made his emotions quite apparent. A growl of words shot back “The same thing you think about, and they think about, at least once a day.”
“I…” Nick had no defense. He knew as soon as the words escaped him that his statement was completely unproductive. His reply remained a blank “I”, and this did not heal Jesse’s mood.
“Don’t tell me that you don’t think about the same things about her.” Talon truly had not thought about Rin in a sexual way since he met the identity, but he highly doubted saying that would change anything. “It’s normal for us to have those thoughts, it’s not something I can just control.” The slate-hedgehog was practically squeezing his forehead. “It’s not like I want to remember it. I wish I never had those thoughts, I wish that I could erase the memories, but I can’t. Did I do something wrong sa pamamagitan ng no-“
Jesse was notably stronger than Nick was, physically at least. Talon was fairly fit himself, but his slate-colored friend was far madami well-built. He could look intimidating if he wanted to very easily. This time however, no amount of glaring, or growling, standing, snarling, or fist-grinding from Jesse would be able to stop the blast of rage that those words fumed inside Talon.
“YES… you did…” Like a scream, but a low-tone scream, Nick rose from the couch, his hands curled into clawing form. He did not notice himself but his claws were currently reminding Jesse of why he was nicknamed “Talon”. The slate-colored hedgehog was briefly shocked, even scared, of what the blue-colored hedgehog might do, but this was instantly replaced sa pamamagitan ng madami rage, as he stood as well, fists clenched.
“You think that you can just tell me that? Like you’re some high-mighty-“
“I’m saying this because I’m right!” Nick snapped. “JESSE… His eyes scrunched so much that five layers of skin overlapped. He took a deep breath, his talons retracting. “I know you didn’t mean to do anything… I know you didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but it happened regardless, and you still did something wrong. I’m not saying I’m better, I’m not saying anyone is, but that doesn’t change it.”
Jesse slowly began to settle… then he tensed up again, raising a fist to his head and pounding his head repeatedly. He turned from Nick’s gaze, and knocked his hand to a nearby wall, growling to himself. “I just… it ruined everything! I just want it to be over! I just want to know that she doesn’t… hate me…”
“It’s not going to be soon, we just have to wait.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know. It’ll be hard but the only way you’ll find out is if you talk to her about it. You won’t fix it if you don’t.”
Jesse considered those words. He agreed, talking to Rin about the issue would be hard… but it had to happen. One way or another she had to hear what he had to say, and he would not be able to live without being forgiven. “Do you know where she is?”
Reluctantly Nick suggested that Rin was probably at her house. He considered talking to Rin through their connection but figured that it would be madami constructive for the two to handle things and not run away. After a minuto or two of thinking it over Nick had almost decided to go with Jesse to help even things out if Kal was not there to do so herself. Unfortunately he got a phone-call.
The name read “Rin” but… Rin didn’t have a cell-phone, and her name certainly wasn’t in Nick’s directory. He was suspicious. The phone did not stop ringing. It continued for minutos on end until Nick finally decided to find out who was calling him.
With a stern tone and a hostile greeting Talon answered “Rin doesn’t have a Cell-phone, and she’s not in my directory, so who is this really?”
A hurt voice replied “I added it on to your phone a while back. I was using my Nanites so you knew it was me.” Rin’s voice. Nick did not buy it. Still though, at the same time if this was really Rin he did not want to add to any of the drama already crashing down on her and Jesse, so he asked calmly. “What was the latest big problem we’ve had since Kal and Jesse broke up?”
“I…” A sigh, now in a different voice, shoved aside the actress and it’s male owner greeted “Nick Falon. You remember me from the base I’m assuming. Commander Rovor?”
Nick remembered enough, “The wolf…” He murmured. “Here to complain that your brainwashing failed?”
“I’m here to offer a trade. You will be very wise to listen carefully to this.” Nick remained silent as the lobo went on. “We do not have any interest in you three. We are willing to leave you completely alone. You can even keep your abilities. Our organization is not one who takes pride in mass destruction or murder, we simply wish to remain anonymous, and you have information that we want removed.” ‘The file’ Nick thought to himself.
“You will turn over all of your information about us, and you will turn over the Identity to our custody. If you do not her—well, identity—will not only be made known to the public, but we will be forced to level your entire city.”
The phone cracked in Talon’s hand. His teeth grinded against each other. Millions of problems blasted into his head at once but he was only going to be able to bring up a short few. “What makes you think I can even convince her to give herself over to you people?”
“She trusts you obviously. I believe you will find that she is much madami concerned for your well-being then you are for hers. Regardless it’s either her life or millions more.”
“And what happens if I can’t convince her? You can’t expect that-“
“There are many many reasons why she needs to be put away, Mr. Falon, a great number of which benefit you, and this entire planet. Regardless of our motives capturing her will be a great service, and failure to do so will mean that the planet will in fact be at the mercy of a highly destructive force. We will not have to do anything. The Guardian will probably see that himself, if he can destroy her that is.”
“What makes you think she will hurt anyone, or betray us for that matter?”
“Identities are not naturally-created beings, and thus their emotions are not natural. No matter how complete they may seem, the emotion of an identity is extremely unstable. If they don’t kill themselves over the smallest issue they will probably go on a frenzy-driven rampage. And if Rin, as you have called her, is revealed to be a type called ‘Third-mood’ there will be a catastrophe greater than anything this planet has seen, or will see again. You will have four hours to make your decision.”
“Why are you even asking me to help? Can’t you just do your own dirty work?”
“You have her trust and we do not. Convince her and perhaps the world will not explode. Four hours. If we become skeptical of your actions there will be action, so I suggest that you spend your first oras thinking of what you plan to do, and how many lives are now in your hands and your hands alone.” The call ended.
The cellphone crashed against the ground. Nick had no strength to pick it up, and barely any to stay standing. What was a Third-mood? Was Rovor telling the truth? What would Rin say? Nick had to sit down or he would pass out. Arma-9 knew a lot of about Identities, that much he understood. Perhaps because of that Rovor could concoct a lie that would seem to match up with how Rin would act. Nick did not know.
If Rovor was telling the truth about Rin’s emotions then they were already in huge danger. At the moment Rin was sad, but what would happen if she became angry at one point, specifically to Jesse? What if something was happening to them right now? Talon rose instantly from the couch. If something was going to happen he at least needed to confirm it. Rin would know about her own species. Would she lie though? He doubted she would for the sake of lying, but out of shame she might. Regardless he at least needed to ask.
The door flung open and he was dashing across the sidewalk. Rovor talked about her as if Rin could destroy the planet. If that were true perhaps… maybe Rin could simply fight back. If Nick told her then she could destroy Arma-9 instantly… but… Rin was sloppy. She was not coordinated, at least not normally. Nick remembered the fight with the croc-mutant (and partially wondered where that mutant was at the moment). Even in that fight the identity showed much madami blind violence then quick-movements and training.
The door knocked three hard times before Kal opened it. Nick was confused sa pamamagitan ng her distraught expression. “It didn’t go well I take it?” He asked.
“Said some things I shouldn’t have, and now she’s gone.” The feline sighed with a roll of her head. “I did a bang-up job trying to comfort her. Then again it’s hard not to offend the drama-queen most of the time.”
“What did you say?”
“It’s not important, the point is she’s not here… anymore.”
Nick’s left hand raised to his eye-level, grasping the air in a claw, as if trying to tighten his grip on something. His eyes dulled in tire and irritation as they looked to the floor. “I need to talk to her, badly.”
“More boy stu-“
“Rovor called me.”
Kal raised an eyebrow, though her eyes were not focused on Talon but madami so above him, attempting to paghahanap her mind for where that name was from.
Nick became very impatient waiting for her to acknowledge the name and continued with “Arma-9”.
Kal gave a pointed finger to Nick saying “Got it…” her hand dropped once she realized what that meant. “W’wait why?”
“A trade.” He grumbled. “We hand over Rin, no one dies, and he means the whole city.”
“The whole city!?” Kal refused to believe this. “He’s not going to blow up the whole city! Isn’t Arma-9 part of the government?! There’s no way he’d be allowed to kill a million people like that!”
“So you think he’s bluffing then?” Nick was actually hoping that she would say yes. At least then he would have hope for himself to doubt Rovor’s sincerity. Unfortunately Kal’s face told him. “… Why does he want Rin?” She asked, avoiding the question.
“He thinks she’s not safe, or says she isn’t at least; that she’ll lose control and blow up the planet if she gets overly emotional.”
“Well then I guess we’ll see what happens when she loses control pretty soon.” It was a maasim and scornful joke, but a joke none the less.
“Which is why I need to find her.”
“To what—capture her?”
“WARN her… talk to her… SOMETHING; I don’t know!” Nick turned aside to the sky yelling in continance “Isn’t there someone we can go to!?”
The feline yanked her flustered hedgehog back, facing him towards herself. “There isn’t.” Talon’s scrunched face slowly settled as his eyes drooped. Kal let him go as he began to sink in a hunch in front of her. “Not even our-…” He jolted a bit and slowly rose back up.
“Our…?” Kal echoed for him to continue. When his expression changed to a half-smirk she quickly was able to guess who. “Our parents?! I thought we went over that!”
“So did I.” Nick retorted. “Kal this is getting too big. I don’t think it will become worse if our parents are told now. Arma-9 is going to blow up the city if WE don’t something, and we have four- wait-“ He quickly checked his phone then put it back away “Two hours and fifty-seven minutos before that happens. You’ve got the techy science parents, so let’s just get this over with.”
Kal almost snarled at the statement, making the same hand-curl-and-raise gesture that Nick did previously, but she did relax as he did. “Fine.” She muttered. “But they’re not home.” Nick quickly began to dial on his phone. “I’m sure I know how to get them home.”
“But what about Rin?”
The phone began to ring. “I don’t know. You can go look for her or I can, or we both stay her and let Jesse do it. I’m sure nothing bad will come from that.” He whispered sarcastically in case of the phone being answered abruptly.
“You’re the only one she’ll trust right now, you go.”
“Okay, but only if you ta- ha-hey Mr. Siets! This is Nick… yes.” Kal turned her head sideways, biting at her top-lip with a dull-glare of impatience awaiting the conversation’s end. It was a short exchange, mainly with Nick mentioning Arma-9, then trying to calm down Kal’s parents. As soon as he clicked off the phone Nick revved his vocals in first gear to cut Kal off from any excuse to leave. “They’re coming here and I told them that you need to talk to them. I’ve gotta go so call me when it’s over.”
Kal sighed, “Thanks, Nick, really.” She was about to walk back inside but then remembered “Hold on, what about that connection thing with you and Rin?!”
“I can’t get it to work!... that or she’s not answering.” He sinabi from a few sidewalk-squares away.
“But-“
“Bye, Kal.”
“Ugh!”
Of all the places Rin did not want to be in, the Principal’s office simply seemed like an odd choice. She did not know why she was there, she did not want to be there, and she did not understand why they had to bother her then. She had gone to the school to see if Talon was still there. Granted the school hours had been over for a good oras and a half, but at least it could act as a distraction.
It took a bit of effort to maintain her cat-mobian appearance. With her emotional state she felt like melting into sludge and slinking away but she dared not ipakita that in public. The Principal was late now, and this made it even harder—having to wait for ten minutos to be scolded for something you aren’t familiar about.
When the Principal did walk in he looked quite stern. This did not help the already drooping state of the cat-form identity. She barely noticed. When he sat down she spoke first. “What did I do?”
“Rin, I have reason to believe that you falsified your nationality, and have been spreading lies of your home-country.”
“W-wha- why?!” Her eyes are almost a completely faded white now. Rin knew she was found out but there had to be a way to escape this. It shocked her that this was re-opened. Rin had thought that Kal’s parents had convinced the school, but it seemed that the Principal remained unconvinced.
“You mentioned that you were Irish.” In truth Rin had not mentioned that she was Irish, but only that she was from Mercia. However she did not realize this and nodded accordingly. “That’s right.” She barely kept any speech at all. Her tone almost passed ranks of whispers.”
The Principal, with his tall human stature, easily towering over the identity with her four-foot tall height, seemed all the madami tower-like when he mentioned “Ireland hasn’t been a country for over five-hundred years.”
“I was only talking about the accent.”
“Do you really want to keep playing that game?”
“What made you think I wasn’t who I said?” These words hit Rin hard, especially since they were her own. This wasn’t who she was, she was lying… but she wanted to stay… she thought. Sure things weren’t very well so far, but they would get better right? It wasn’t… too bad…
“We researched your papers.” The principal informed. “The ones that claimed where you were from and who your parents are. There are no records of your parents, or even the land described in the forms you filled out.”
“We li-lived off-grid-“
“Did you really?”
The identity kept silent. She dared not look at the human, he would surely notice her eyes, if her form in general was not already turning white. She was just thankful that she kept her hood on in cat form for once, at least that would cover some.
She heard him clasp his hands. “Rin, I don’t know where you’re actually from, or who you’re actual parents are, but we have madami information than just that to prove the falsification. If you confess now we can arrange it so that you, and the Sietses can have a talk without this going public. We’ll avoid the press regardless but I don’t think you want to spend time in juvenile hall, do you?”
‘But I can’t tell them the truth!’ She had thought the words were in her mind only, but in fact Rin was so nervous that she actually spoke her thoughts aloud. She did not realize it until the Principal replied “They deserve to know, Rin. So does Kal.”
M-maybe she could still salvage this. Kal knew, so all Rin needed was for Kal to vouch for her and-… and then… she didn’t know. “Can, I, please, go… home…?” She forced out.
“I’m afraid not yet. I’ve left a message with the Sietses for now. They’ll most-likely arrive here within the hour. Until then you need to stay here. A hall-monitor will keep an eye on you if you want to walk about the school, but no running.”
Every part of her was white, except the hood. The hood was meant to be a surprise. Rin had bought it to ipakita the others that she could adapt to normal mobian-life, wearing normal clothing included. Right now it was being used to hide that she was not normal. Rin did not want to be normal, or like a normal mobian, she was fine with her own abilities… but pretending was fun… originally, and now she was pretending just to keep from the government storming in after her.
“Can I use the bathroom?”
Even now Nick could not be certain. The only way that any of them knew was if Rin confirmed their memories, and could still morph and use Chaos Energy, something none of them remember her doing in the dreams. Jesse was going to meet up with Talon before school. All Nick knew about this was that Jesse had something important to tlak to him about.
It was Six. School was in one hour. The walk to school was a short one, and preparing for it took a brief amount of time for the grey hedgehog. Nick needed half an oras for his conversation with Jesse however, so he got up a bit earlier.
It took a mere twelve minutos to eat two bowls of flavored-cereal, and prepare his school-belongings. Nick had nothing better to do in the meantime so he drained out his black energy in the backyard so that it would not build up and cause him to ditch school. It made noise, in fact it made a strange ringing sound. Nick always shot it upward so that it did not make a crashing noise on the ground. He could control how far it went, making keeping the energy out of sight very easy.
Once finished, and sure that no one noticed, Nick went to the front porch to wait for Jesse. The brisk air kept the grey hedgehog from dozing off. Nick spent his waiting time waving to neighbors as they walked about, and moving a small chipped piece of cement back and forth with his feet.
Nick tried to keep patient and thus became too patient. When he finally decided to check his phone for the time the time read 6:49 A.M. He was going to be late for school.
Shoving aside any care for waiting till Jesse arrived, Nick made a lighting dash to his High School. He was half of a minuto late, which he could tell sa pamamagitan ng the kampanilya ringing as he was only a block from the school and thoroughly tired-out. As soon as Nick entered the front doors he grasped tightly the metal bar-handles, using them to brace himself as he regained his strength.
Few students paid him attention. This was far from the first time a student appeared tired-out from running to school. Nick inched pasulong towards a drinking fountain, increasing his speed every five steps. Once his energy had returned to half-way full it was too late to find Jesse, it was time for class.
The class ended and Nick left to find Jesse. The dark-slate hedgehog would be looking for Nick just as Nick searched for him. He first saw Rin however. At least she could say if she saw him… then again perhaps Kal could have also if Nick had waited for her to leave the classroom.
The identity was sitting against a hallway-wall, Pagsulat in a notebook it seemed. Nick never saw Rin write before, then again she never needed too it seemed. Maybe she was drawing. It seemed madami likely. “What are ya writing?” He asked in front of her, forgetting that he was meaning to ask about what she was drawing.
Rin looked straight up to him. “I’m practicing being normal.” She replied in her fake Irish accent.
Nick was taken aback sa pamamagitan ng the accent for a split-second. He would not get used to her using it for quite a while. He noticed her evasion though, which prompted him to attempt grabbing the notebook. Talon controlled his urge. “But what are you writing?”
Rin held up her notebook. It read “words” repeatedly, each in a different style font. “I’m taking art disensyo and that involves me having variety in what I can draw… or write I guess. I even remembered to flail my hands when they’re supposed to get sore from Pagsulat so much.”
“How many pages have you written?” Nick questioned with partial intrigue.
“Um…” Rin flipped through the pages of her notebook, mumbling numbers to herself. “Six.” She concluded while handing Nick the notebook to look through himself.. “Are you going to take art? Why do they have us draw bowls of fruit?”
The hedgehog was skimming through the designs. They were rather nice, and varied. But then again it was very easy for someone like Rin to make up things like this on the fly. When her tanong processed Nick had no answer to either tanong and he had to ilipat on to asking about Jesse anyway. “Dunno, uh do you know where Jesse is—he wanted to talk to m-“ Nick glanced down for a moment to see that Rin’s eyes were darker. She was frowning and looking away. “Rin what’s wrong?”
“Ask him…” The identity grumbled. What did Jesse do? Talon noticed Rin jerk suddenly, her entire self glowing dark-blue for a quick moment. She was going to draw attention if she kept like this. Talon didn’t want to seem insensitive, but he didn’t want Rin to be found out either.
“R-Rin… I don’t know what happened but you’re,” he turned his voice to a whisper “glowing.”
Rin looked back up at Nick, then at her hands. She faded back to her normal colors, sighing long to herself. With her eyes still glowing a very dark blue she looked back to Nick asking in her normal accent now “Where’s the bathroom?”
Nick walked Rin to the girls’ restroom where she wouldn’t be seen while… handling her emotions. “Do you want me to wait?” He asked as the girl entered the doors.
Rin held the door open and looked down in front of Nick. “Do you… have you ever thought about me as a… forget it.” The door swung closed. Nick was a tad stunned. ‘Think of her as in a.... person? Girlfriend?’ Was this what happened with Jesse? Did Rin try to ask him out and he rejected her? That did not seem like Jesse. Nick already had the impression that he liked her very much… but what else could she be meaning?”
The hedgehog waited for a few minutes. It was his free-period now which allowed him this time. Often during Free-Periods Talon would normally marvel at how he had yet to be overcome with College applications, or High School finals. Right now he was trying to piece together what was going on, and he was not going to get anywhere without Jesse’s side of things.
“Hey, sorry I wasn’t at your hou-“ Nick almost performed a mid-air twirl when Jesse arrived, facing his Slate-colored friend when he landed. “Nice… move.” Jesse rose a brow with a pity-grin.
“You wanted to talk to me about something.” Nick wanted to get right to it.
“Right…” Jesse rubbed the back of his head, going through the words he wanted to use. “You wanna sit down?”
Talon was reluctant to relax but perhaps it was for the best. If this was going to be a long story he did not want foot-cramps. He sat against the wall, and Jesse joined him at his side. Jesse’s hands were cuffed between his legs, and his knees bent high. His head almost sagged to the ground before the Slate-colored hedgehog pulled it back up as he began talking. “What was Rin… or Kal for that matter like in your dream?”
This went back to the dreams? It made sense, strange things did happen in them. But Rin wasn’t under the dreams she was trying to get everyone out. So how would… Talon decided not to think too far into it and went over the fake-Rin in his head, reciting his paglalarawan accordingly. “She was like how she always was only madami hostile I guess.”
“Was she… clingy? Or, overly friendly?” Jesse continued.
“No…” Nick was about to ask what this was about but Jesse asked another question.
“How did she ilipat around you? Or dress?”
This was becoming uncomfortable. “Jesse what got-, why are you asking-,” Nick tried to think of the appropriate way to approach this but nothing was coming to mind.
“The Rin in my dream was… really friendly…” The unsurprised lowered-eyelid stare from Talon showed how strange this seemed to him. “REALLY friendly…” Jesse emphasized. “And when the real Rin saw what we… “ Jesse was cringing, “If only that was all.” Nick slowly began to form a picture of what he imagined happened… and promptly removed it after realizing what his friend was talking about.
“You’re blaming yourself for something that happened in a dream? You can’t bl-“
“She SAW my thoughts, Nick!” Jesse interrupted, snapping urgently at his friend. “ALL of them… Things I thought about before the dream… things I thought about doing, with her.” Talon was silent. He did not know what to say to this, but he knew that anything he did say would not help. Accordingly, Jesse continued. “After that I’m surprised she even tried to help me out of the dream. The look… she just…” At this point Jesse had his face in his hand, practically giving himself a blister with how hard he was squeezing himself. “I’m not going to forget that look. She saw everything that someone like her should not have to. No doubt she thinks I’m just a perv now… and I can’t blame her.”
Talon was going through his own emotionally confrontation with this news. He was angry at Jesse himself but he wasn’t about to say so. Right now his friend was opening up, and it was his job to help, not yell at him. “You… apologized right?”
“Over, and over, and over… For all the GOOD IT DID!” Jesse slammed his fist to the ground, breaking the board at his side. His expression went to one of shock, then to one of irritation as he sank his head back in a long sad sigh. “I liked her… I really-.. I thought I did… I guess I just liked what I wanted to think about doing with her.”
This was what Rin was asking—Not if they thought of her as a girlfriend, but as a lover. Guilt set in Nick’s puso now as well. Granted he actually did not think of Rin in a sexual way… much, but he had not always fought away thoughts of Kal, or occasionally other girls he knew. Even if he had not done them with any of them he was now thinking of what Rin might of thought if she had found thoughts of Kal in his head. What would Kal say if she found those thoughts?
“We keep that stuff in our heads and hope no one finds out but no one’s ever found out before.” Jesse spoke. “I actually tried not to think about it before… we were shooting a skit and it was hard not to think about it but I kept myself from doing it then… I don’t know if she saw that memory but I don’t know if it even matters. I blew it.”
“She hasn’t spoken to you since has she?” Nick quickly asked.
“Of course not.” Jesse sighed again. “I don’t know if she ever will again.”
A creak sounded. Both boys looked to their top-lefts to see Rin begin to walk out from the restroom. She looked over and noticed Jesse being susunod to Talon and froze. Nick sinabi nothing. He was afraid the identity might blow up if he did. Jesse however… “Rin I’m sor-“
They barely got a chance to notice the identity lighting up dark blue again before she teleported out of sight. Jesse practically vibrated, clinging to the ground with his arms before forcing himself up in a long yell. He stormed off furious with himself. Nick remained sitting.
Nick did not want to blame Jesse, he tried to think of some way to make it seem like it was neither Rin nor Jesse’s fault. Arma-9 did this… but Jesse went along with it. It was thoughts he never acted on… but Rin still saw it. He cared about her… but now all he thinks is that he wants to sleep with her… and even if that were not all he wanted to do there was no doubt in Nick’s mind that despite Jesse’s guilt, that would still be something he thought about.
He needed to talk to Rin now that he knew. ‘Rin?’ He called in his head. She did not reply. ‘Rin I know your upset, but please tell me where you are. I just want to talk, are you okay?’ Still no reply. Talon was not surprised. Rin was sad. She wanted to be alone probably… maybe she didn’t. Rin always loved company so maybe she went to talk with Kal?
Nick had nearly a half-hour till his susunod class. He would not be able to talk the whole thing over with Kal then, but at least if he found her he could arrange a meeting. If he found Rin with Kal all the better.
The hedgehog called his feline friend, and asked if Rin was with her. They were not together. He asked if Kal had seen her. She did not. Kal asked what was going on, and sa pamamagitan ng that time it was fifteen minutos till class. Nick quickly told her that she should simply be cautious around Rin, and that he would talk to her after school before hanging up. Nick got his supplies for the susunod class, and walked, waiting impatiently for the school-hours to end.
Kal got to Nick as she exited the schoolyard. There were too many people around, so they walked a ways until they reached an area few students walked past. “Rin and Jesse have had some… problems.” Nick began.
“Is this something you, or they, should be telling me?” Kal bluntly questioned, freezing ten prepared ang sumagot from the grey hedgehog in mid-thought.
“Well, no I guess it IS something they should tell you,” He shrugged rolling his head around in conflicting thoughts “but even so you should know eventually. It’s best you ask Jesse… Rin is probably not in a stable mood.”
“I’ll talk to her when I get home.” Kal nodded. She put a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “You okay?”
Nick shook his head “After the dream-problems… no, I’m not going to be for a while.”
Kal let go, hurt sa pamamagitan ng the memory of what they told her had happened. She remembered her own dream, but nothing of attacking Nick, or forcing him into it. Knowing that she was under someone else’s control terrified the cat. She felt like a monster attacking her loyal allies. And would she get revenge for having that done to her? Kal did not even know if she wanted revenge. She just wanted it to not of happened.
“Yeah…” She finally replied, looking downward. “Not too fun when you’re the weapon.”
“That wasn’t your fault.” Nick protested.
“Doesn’t matter.” She calmly half-mumbled. “You were all put under that dream, and so was I. But at least you weren’t being controlled sa pamamagitan ng them to do it.”
“It’s going to take a lot of getting used to but I think we’ll all get through this.”
“Get through it?” Kal raised her voice slightly, looking back up. “There is no ‘get through it’. We’ve got supernatural abilities, abilities THEY almost made me forget about, if not everything else. Arma-9 isn’t going to stop there. We stopped them from taking over our memories, but that just made them mad. They’re going to strike back, Nick, and soon. I’m not going to be able to relax knowing that, not today, and not ever… even if we do beat them at one point…” Her tone lowered again as she turned herself to the side, brushing some hair away from tickling her nose, “What if there are others?”
The she-cat crossed her arms, peering downward at the ground again. Kal had always been the defensive protective type, but everyone had emotional tipping points. “I, guess I just wanted to sound supportive.” Nick sighed, feeling as though he did madami harm than healing. “And hey, if they do try to do something huge, we’ve got the Guardian for that.”
“If he cared why wasn’t he there from the beginning?” Kal retorted. “An alien crash-landing would be right up his alley.”
“The government probably saw to that. Arma-9 IS the Government after all, right?”
“Then who is the Guardian going to believe? Teenagers? Or the Government?”
Nick had no answer. Kal knew he had no answer. She opened her mouth, with a half-sound emitting from her, but continued not. She did not blame Nick, and she did not want him to feel worse. She sinabi goodbye, and left.
When the feline closed her front door she possibly expected Rin to run up to her spouting out walang tiyak na layunin facts, or hugging her. She remembered though that Rin was in a bad mood currently, and while relieved sa pamamagitan ng the peace, it would not be a long peace. Now she had to comfort the identity.
She began to paghahanap the house. Rin might have morphed into a lamp or something to be alone. This would take a while. Kal hoped that Rin would speak with her, but her calls received no reply. Rin did not have the best relationship with her “cousin”. Kal never blamed Rin for everything bad that had happened, but she definitely took it out on the identity.
Kal’s last place to look was the roof. She scolded herself for not checking there first. Rin usually stayed up there, and just as expected the identity was there, hugging her knees above the neighborhood.
“Rin?” The feline called out as she approached the identity. Rin turned to face Kal. She was in her normal appearance, ipinapakita nothing of her feline form. Kal was a bit stunned that Rin was openly ipinapakita her normal self, but she did not scold her for it.
“Talon told you?” Rin asked.
Kal nodded. “He sinabi that I should ask you what happened, but he told me something was up… do you want to talk about it?” She sat susunod to Rin, both looking over the city.
The identity was silent at first, but then she asked “When you see me at school, do I flaunt around with boys? Do I act like that?”
“You mean… flirty?” Kal guessed. “Well… no not really. I guess some people might think you act ditsy, but…” Kal had momentarily forgotten that Jesse was involved in this problem, and thus did not consider what that may suggest. “Did someone call you a dirty name or something?”
“No…” Rin seemed to curl up more. “Do I dress badly?”
“As in morals bad?”
“Yeah.”
“Rin,” Kal began in a teasing tone, trying to cheer up the identity, “you wear a fully zipped-up hoodie, and long bell-bottom jeans.”
“Then why did he think so?” Rin turned her head back to Kal, still frowning.
“He-,” now she remembered, “Jesse? He sinabi you dressed and acted like that?”
“No… but he thought it.”
“You read his mind?” Kal was faintly hostile in her tone. Whatever happened she did not approve of mind-reading.
“No!” Rin defended. “I just saw him having… when…” She groaned loudly.
“You want to wait to-“
“No, no, I… I have to say it.” Rin took a deep breath. Kal knew Rin needed no breath to prepare for saying something. Perhaps this was simply Rin learned over the time of being around other mobians, and subconsciously did to ipakita that she was “normal”. Regardless the identity continued speaking. “In the dreams… you know which dreams, after I got you and Talon out, I went to help Jesse… when I found him he was… he was having… fornica-“ The identity was shaking her head violently. She couldn’t say the word. It was hurting too much to say it… so Kal had to guess.
“With who?” Kal’s tone was dark and angry, not at Rin, but at Jesse.
“With ME!” Rin yelled back in a squeal. “In his thoughts of ME! And I saw it happen.”
Kal gaped a tad, trying to think of a reply that wouldn’t come across as indifferent, but she eventually asked “Wait, Nick sinabi that there was a fake you. The fake must have done that to his thought-“
Rin shook her head again. Her eyes kept changing from dark blue to red. Kal was beginning to get nervous around the identity, not for her own safety, but for the safety of the roof that Rin might blow up. “I SAW memories of things he thought about. Staring at ME, thinking about doing that with me… and… and even worse when I found out I… I didn’t even feel bad. He… I guess I liked the idea that someone would like me somewhat like that, but… that wasn’t liking that was just-“
“It was the you he made up, Rin, not you.”
“Is that what everyone thinks of?” The identity sidetracked. “Of their friends?”
Kal did not answer. She was in the middle of shock and fury, and trying to hide both emotions for Rin’s sake. She knew that Jesse enjoyed admiring ladies, but even when the hint of him checking her out appeared, Kal did little madami than scoff it off and leave it alone. She never really thought of what she would think if she saw him and her in his thoughts pagganap like that. The feline was tempted to ask Rin if she had seen those thoughts but something stopped her. Guilt stopped her.
Despite being angry at Jesse, Kal, Talon, probably Rin too, were all guilty of thinking impure thoughts about others. Rin did not need to, or want to, see what she saw, she did not want to know it was something Jesse was capable of. Kal knew what Jesse was capable of, but it would hurt her emotionally, and morally, if she saw it happen. This topic was best left alone.
The feline rose and pulled Rin, who seemed very perplexed sa pamamagitan ng the gesture, up with her. “Do you want to mope all araw or forget about it?”
“I can’t forget about it.” Rin narrowed her eyes but kept her tone level.
“No one can.” Kal replied. “But if you keep yourself down too much longer what’ll happen if someone reaches out back to you, right?”
The identity considered this statement. At that moment she did not care at all if someone showed romantic interest in her, and was quite alright with ripping out their spinal cord if they did attempt to do so after this experience… but she did not want to stay upset. If she distracted herself she could forget… for the time being at least. “Okay.” She nodded finally, very slowly but surely perking up.
Kal smiled to the identity and made her way back into the house with Rin following. “We could put on an action movie or something. Or mess around on the internet.”
“Okay.” Rin repeated in a now pleasant tone. “Hey, Kal…” The feline stopped and turned to face Rin awaiting her to continue. “do you think you could… um…”
“Name it.” Kal abruptly stated.
Rin was still cautious about this particular tanong but since ibingiay permission she asked away in a finger-twiddling mess. “Could you pray for me?”
Not all Kal’s balahibo stood on end, but enough to friz her tail. Her facial expression was simply a closed-eyed blank stare, but Rin could tell she hit a nerve. “Rin…” This time Kal’s tone sounded much less friendly. “I’m not religious.”
“I- I know but you’re close and I just thought that would mean something.” The identity stammered nervously.
“That’s not really how it works.” Kal informed, neither hostile nor friendly, as she continued walking with Rin in tail. “You’ve asked me a million times already.”
“I- I- I h-have? I didn’t know- I’m sorry-“
“I’m glad you’re sorry but it’s been happening so often. Only a couple days nakaraan you were talking about me going to church.”
“Kal I did-“
“Before that it was nativity scenes, and I had to explain that it wasn’t the season,”
“but that wasn-“ This new hostility in the ginto feline baffled Rin as much as it hurt her. It seemed Kal did not even hear Rin’s interruptions and attempts at corrections. She continued listing off times when something religion-related was mentioned sa pamamagitan ng Rin, but there was one problem with almost all of these listed moments, and after hearing now four of them the identity could not stand it anymore, yelling loudly and furiously “THAT WASN’T ME!!”
Kal stopped instantly. She barely brought up the courage to turn around and face Rin, who had gone back to her dark blue shade again. “That wasn’t me…” The identity repeated in a weak tone. “That was the fake… again. You can’t tell the difference can you…”
It hit the ginto feline all too quickly. Rin was in a fragile state at the moment, and Kal let her emotions about her parents and the Church get to her. The identity just wanted a form of comfort, but it brought back memories, in this case very fake one. Kal wanted to say something to reassure Rin but the identity walked off after receiving a good twenty segundos of silence.
Even if she did not want to, Kal had to admit, during the dream, and even now… she could not distinguish the person pretending to be Rin, and the actual Rin.
Talon and Jesse sat on the living-room sopa of the Falon residence. Jesse wanted anything that did not involve a large amount of talking and prying eyes. He also wanted to talk to someone alone. He could not do that with any of his cousins because they had barely any relationship with his friends. They would not be able to relate, to sympathize in the specific way his mga kaibigan could—not to mention that he was not about to explain how Rin saw what happened in his thoughts. He needed to talk to someone who was as close to Rin and Kal as he was. He could not talk to Kal, she would just tear into him, and he had enough of that from his own conscience. Nick was a boy, and had the same mind as Jesse did. He was attracted to the same gender as Jesse was, and felt the same feelings towards people. He was not the best at payo but maybe Jesse did not want advice. Perhaps all that was needed was a listener.
They had been in silence now for seven minutes. The only words spoken were “Can I come in?” followed sa pamamagitan ng “Yeah, okay”. The slate-colored hedgehog was a wreck, his fingers tangling around each other, and a look of total grief tattooed to his face. Nick looked barely madami positive. He was not frowning but he did not ilipat from his position of laying back on the couch, his hands at his side, and his eyes fixed at the ceiling, almost unblinking.
Neither of them knew what to say to the other. Nick had nothing but accusations to give, and with the great amount of silence, his thoughts began to build up. One specific tanong continued to push itself towards Nick’s Adam’s apple, and finally escaped his lips. “What were you thinking?”
Jesse’s fingers curled and his head dipped further downward. Nick could not see the expression on his friend’s face but the tone of his voice made his emotions quite apparent. A growl of words shot back “The same thing you think about, and they think about, at least once a day.”
“I…” Nick had no defense. He knew as soon as the words escaped him that his statement was completely unproductive. His reply remained a blank “I”, and this did not heal Jesse’s mood.
“Don’t tell me that you don’t think about the same things about her.” Talon truly had not thought about Rin in a sexual way since he met the identity, but he highly doubted saying that would change anything. “It’s normal for us to have those thoughts, it’s not something I can just control.” The slate-hedgehog was practically squeezing his forehead. “It’s not like I want to remember it. I wish I never had those thoughts, I wish that I could erase the memories, but I can’t. Did I do something wrong sa pamamagitan ng no-“
Jesse was notably stronger than Nick was, physically at least. Talon was fairly fit himself, but his slate-colored friend was far madami well-built. He could look intimidating if he wanted to very easily. This time however, no amount of glaring, or growling, standing, snarling, or fist-grinding from Jesse would be able to stop the blast of rage that those words fumed inside Talon.
“YES… you did…” Like a scream, but a low-tone scream, Nick rose from the couch, his hands curled into clawing form. He did not notice himself but his claws were currently reminding Jesse of why he was nicknamed “Talon”. The slate-colored hedgehog was briefly shocked, even scared, of what the blue-colored hedgehog might do, but this was instantly replaced sa pamamagitan ng madami rage, as he stood as well, fists clenched.
“You think that you can just tell me that? Like you’re some high-mighty-“
“I’m saying this because I’m right!” Nick snapped. “JESSE… His eyes scrunched so much that five layers of skin overlapped. He took a deep breath, his talons retracting. “I know you didn’t mean to do anything… I know you didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but it happened regardless, and you still did something wrong. I’m not saying I’m better, I’m not saying anyone is, but that doesn’t change it.”
Jesse slowly began to settle… then he tensed up again, raising a fist to his head and pounding his head repeatedly. He turned from Nick’s gaze, and knocked his hand to a nearby wall, growling to himself. “I just… it ruined everything! I just want it to be over! I just want to know that she doesn’t… hate me…”
“It’s not going to be soon, we just have to wait.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know. It’ll be hard but the only way you’ll find out is if you talk to her about it. You won’t fix it if you don’t.”
Jesse considered those words. He agreed, talking to Rin about the issue would be hard… but it had to happen. One way or another she had to hear what he had to say, and he would not be able to live without being forgiven. “Do you know where she is?”
Reluctantly Nick suggested that Rin was probably at her house. He considered talking to Rin through their connection but figured that it would be madami constructive for the two to handle things and not run away. After a minuto or two of thinking it over Nick had almost decided to go with Jesse to help even things out if Kal was not there to do so herself. Unfortunately he got a phone-call.
The name read “Rin” but… Rin didn’t have a cell-phone, and her name certainly wasn’t in Nick’s directory. He was suspicious. The phone did not stop ringing. It continued for minutos on end until Nick finally decided to find out who was calling him.
With a stern tone and a hostile greeting Talon answered “Rin doesn’t have a Cell-phone, and she’s not in my directory, so who is this really?”
A hurt voice replied “I added it on to your phone a while back. I was using my Nanites so you knew it was me.” Rin’s voice. Nick did not buy it. Still though, at the same time if this was really Rin he did not want to add to any of the drama already crashing down on her and Jesse, so he asked calmly. “What was the latest big problem we’ve had since Kal and Jesse broke up?”
“I…” A sigh, now in a different voice, shoved aside the actress and it’s male owner greeted “Nick Falon. You remember me from the base I’m assuming. Commander Rovor?”
Nick remembered enough, “The wolf…” He murmured. “Here to complain that your brainwashing failed?”
“I’m here to offer a trade. You will be very wise to listen carefully to this.” Nick remained silent as the lobo went on. “We do not have any interest in you three. We are willing to leave you completely alone. You can even keep your abilities. Our organization is not one who takes pride in mass destruction or murder, we simply wish to remain anonymous, and you have information that we want removed.” ‘The file’ Nick thought to himself.
“You will turn over all of your information about us, and you will turn over the Identity to our custody. If you do not her—well, identity—will not only be made known to the public, but we will be forced to level your entire city.”
The phone cracked in Talon’s hand. His teeth grinded against each other. Millions of problems blasted into his head at once but he was only going to be able to bring up a short few. “What makes you think I can even convince her to give herself over to you people?”
“She trusts you obviously. I believe you will find that she is much madami concerned for your well-being then you are for hers. Regardless it’s either her life or millions more.”
“And what happens if I can’t convince her? You can’t expect that-“
“There are many many reasons why she needs to be put away, Mr. Falon, a great number of which benefit you, and this entire planet. Regardless of our motives capturing her will be a great service, and failure to do so will mean that the planet will in fact be at the mercy of a highly destructive force. We will not have to do anything. The Guardian will probably see that himself, if he can destroy her that is.”
“What makes you think she will hurt anyone, or betray us for that matter?”
“Identities are not naturally-created beings, and thus their emotions are not natural. No matter how complete they may seem, the emotion of an identity is extremely unstable. If they don’t kill themselves over the smallest issue they will probably go on a frenzy-driven rampage. And if Rin, as you have called her, is revealed to be a type called ‘Third-mood’ there will be a catastrophe greater than anything this planet has seen, or will see again. You will have four hours to make your decision.”
“Why are you even asking me to help? Can’t you just do your own dirty work?”
“You have her trust and we do not. Convince her and perhaps the world will not explode. Four hours. If we become skeptical of your actions there will be action, so I suggest that you spend your first oras thinking of what you plan to do, and how many lives are now in your hands and your hands alone.” The call ended.
The cellphone crashed against the ground. Nick had no strength to pick it up, and barely any to stay standing. What was a Third-mood? Was Rovor telling the truth? What would Rin say? Nick had to sit down or he would pass out. Arma-9 knew a lot of about Identities, that much he understood. Perhaps because of that Rovor could concoct a lie that would seem to match up with how Rin would act. Nick did not know.
If Rovor was telling the truth about Rin’s emotions then they were already in huge danger. At the moment Rin was sad, but what would happen if she became angry at one point, specifically to Jesse? What if something was happening to them right now? Talon rose instantly from the couch. If something was going to happen he at least needed to confirm it. Rin would know about her own species. Would she lie though? He doubted she would for the sake of lying, but out of shame she might. Regardless he at least needed to ask.
The door flung open and he was dashing across the sidewalk. Rovor talked about her as if Rin could destroy the planet. If that were true perhaps… maybe Rin could simply fight back. If Nick told her then she could destroy Arma-9 instantly… but… Rin was sloppy. She was not coordinated, at least not normally. Nick remembered the fight with the croc-mutant (and partially wondered where that mutant was at the moment). Even in that fight the identity showed much madami blind violence then quick-movements and training.
The door knocked three hard times before Kal opened it. Nick was confused sa pamamagitan ng her distraught expression. “It didn’t go well I take it?” He asked.
“Said some things I shouldn’t have, and now she’s gone.” The feline sighed with a roll of her head. “I did a bang-up job trying to comfort her. Then again it’s hard not to offend the drama-queen most of the time.”
“What did you say?”
“It’s not important, the point is she’s not here… anymore.”
Nick’s left hand raised to his eye-level, grasping the air in a claw, as if trying to tighten his grip on something. His eyes dulled in tire and irritation as they looked to the floor. “I need to talk to her, badly.”
“More boy stu-“
“Rovor called me.”
Kal raised an eyebrow, though her eyes were not focused on Talon but madami so above him, attempting to paghahanap her mind for where that name was from.
Nick became very impatient waiting for her to acknowledge the name and continued with “Arma-9”.
Kal gave a pointed finger to Nick saying “Got it…” her hand dropped once she realized what that meant. “W’wait why?”
“A trade.” He grumbled. “We hand over Rin, no one dies, and he means the whole city.”
“The whole city!?” Kal refused to believe this. “He’s not going to blow up the whole city! Isn’t Arma-9 part of the government?! There’s no way he’d be allowed to kill a million people like that!”
“So you think he’s bluffing then?” Nick was actually hoping that she would say yes. At least then he would have hope for himself to doubt Rovor’s sincerity. Unfortunately Kal’s face told him. “… Why does he want Rin?” She asked, avoiding the question.
“He thinks she’s not safe, or says she isn’t at least; that she’ll lose control and blow up the planet if she gets overly emotional.”
“Well then I guess we’ll see what happens when she loses control pretty soon.” It was a maasim and scornful joke, but a joke none the less.
“Which is why I need to find her.”
“To what—capture her?”
“WARN her… talk to her… SOMETHING; I don’t know!” Nick turned aside to the sky yelling in continance “Isn’t there someone we can go to!?”
The feline yanked her flustered hedgehog back, facing him towards herself. “There isn’t.” Talon’s scrunched face slowly settled as his eyes drooped. Kal let him go as he began to sink in a hunch in front of her. “Not even our-…” He jolted a bit and slowly rose back up.
“Our…?” Kal echoed for him to continue. When his expression changed to a half-smirk she quickly was able to guess who. “Our parents?! I thought we went over that!”
“So did I.” Nick retorted. “Kal this is getting too big. I don’t think it will become worse if our parents are told now. Arma-9 is going to blow up the city if WE don’t something, and we have four- wait-“ He quickly checked his phone then put it back away “Two hours and fifty-seven minutos before that happens. You’ve got the techy science parents, so let’s just get this over with.”
Kal almost snarled at the statement, making the same hand-curl-and-raise gesture that Nick did previously, but she did relax as he did. “Fine.” She muttered. “But they’re not home.” Nick quickly began to dial on his phone. “I’m sure I know how to get them home.”
“But what about Rin?”
The phone began to ring. “I don’t know. You can go look for her or I can, or we both stay her and let Jesse do it. I’m sure nothing bad will come from that.” He whispered sarcastically in case of the phone being answered abruptly.
“You’re the only one she’ll trust right now, you go.”
“Okay, but only if you ta- ha-hey Mr. Siets! This is Nick… yes.” Kal turned her head sideways, biting at her top-lip with a dull-glare of impatience awaiting the conversation’s end. It was a short exchange, mainly with Nick mentioning Arma-9, then trying to calm down Kal’s parents. As soon as he clicked off the phone Nick revved his vocals in first gear to cut Kal off from any excuse to leave. “They’re coming here and I told them that you need to talk to them. I’ve gotta go so call me when it’s over.”
Kal sighed, “Thanks, Nick, really.” She was about to walk back inside but then remembered “Hold on, what about that connection thing with you and Rin?!”
“I can’t get it to work!... that or she’s not answering.” He sinabi from a few sidewalk-squares away.
“But-“
“Bye, Kal.”
“Ugh!”
Of all the places Rin did not want to be in, the Principal’s office simply seemed like an odd choice. She did not know why she was there, she did not want to be there, and she did not understand why they had to bother her then. She had gone to the school to see if Talon was still there. Granted the school hours had been over for a good oras and a half, but at least it could act as a distraction.
It took a bit of effort to maintain her cat-mobian appearance. With her emotional state she felt like melting into sludge and slinking away but she dared not ipakita that in public. The Principal was late now, and this made it even harder—having to wait for ten minutos to be scolded for something you aren’t familiar about.
When the Principal did walk in he looked quite stern. This did not help the already drooping state of the cat-form identity. She barely noticed. When he sat down she spoke first. “What did I do?”
“Rin, I have reason to believe that you falsified your nationality, and have been spreading lies of your home-country.”
“W-wha- why?!” Her eyes are almost a completely faded white now. Rin knew she was found out but there had to be a way to escape this. It shocked her that this was re-opened. Rin had thought that Kal’s parents had convinced the school, but it seemed that the Principal remained unconvinced.
“You mentioned that you were Irish.” In truth Rin had not mentioned that she was Irish, but only that she was from Mercia. However she did not realize this and nodded accordingly. “That’s right.” She barely kept any speech at all. Her tone almost passed ranks of whispers.”
The Principal, with his tall human stature, easily towering over the identity with her four-foot tall height, seemed all the madami tower-like when he mentioned “Ireland hasn’t been a country for over five-hundred years.”
“I was only talking about the accent.”
“Do you really want to keep playing that game?”
“What made you think I wasn’t who I said?” These words hit Rin hard, especially since they were her own. This wasn’t who she was, she was lying… but she wanted to stay… she thought. Sure things weren’t very well so far, but they would get better right? It wasn’t… too bad…
“We researched your papers.” The principal informed. “The ones that claimed where you were from and who your parents are. There are no records of your parents, or even the land described in the forms you filled out.”
“We li-lived off-grid-“
“Did you really?”
The identity kept silent. She dared not look at the human, he would surely notice her eyes, if her form in general was not already turning white. She was just thankful that she kept her hood on in cat form for once, at least that would cover some.
She heard him clasp his hands. “Rin, I don’t know where you’re actually from, or who you’re actual parents are, but we have madami information than just that to prove the falsification. If you confess now we can arrange it so that you, and the Sietses can have a talk without this going public. We’ll avoid the press regardless but I don’t think you want to spend time in juvenile hall, do you?”
‘But I can’t tell them the truth!’ She had thought the words were in her mind only, but in fact Rin was so nervous that she actually spoke her thoughts aloud. She did not realize it until the Principal replied “They deserve to know, Rin. So does Kal.”
M-maybe she could still salvage this. Kal knew, so all Rin needed was for Kal to vouch for her and-… and then… she didn’t know. “Can, I, please, go… home…?” She forced out.
“I’m afraid not yet. I’ve left a message with the Sietses for now. They’ll most-likely arrive here within the hour. Until then you need to stay here. A hall-monitor will keep an eye on you if you want to walk about the school, but no running.”
Every part of her was white, except the hood. The hood was meant to be a surprise. Rin had bought it to ipakita the others that she could adapt to normal mobian-life, wearing normal clothing included. Right now it was being used to hide that she was not normal. Rin did not want to be normal, or like a normal mobian, she was fine with her own abilities… but pretending was fun… originally, and now she was pretending just to keep from the government storming in after her.
“Can I use the bathroom?”
Ivory the hedgecat
Castiel And Luana-Neko (c) Zero-Aka
A kitsune mask, similar to the one she wears.
Just a recap I'm sonic I went too shadow academy but I died a terrifying death my mga kaibigan were sad but we'll stay tuned.
I was looking for my mga kaibigan then I saw tails he sinabi SONIC YOUR ALIVE!!I replied yes?Tails showed my other friends.they were excited.I went to school and tails got a A+ and a 300/10 for engineering.I went tahanan this time without getting killed.I went to bed.When I woke up a terrifying creature was standing in my room I told it to get out it sinabi in a scary and deep voice YOU'VE MADE A BIG MISTAKE!!! I was blasted away and a pagong with a button on his shell sinabi hello!!when I went to school a guy sinabi EVERYBODY DO THE FLOP! A muffin a madala and a can of marmite fell on there face.I ran tahanan and sinabi I gotta stop this then a taco sinabi WHERE'S MY MONEY!!!!and well this is a cliffhanger so I can't tell you what happened until the susunod one. The end?
I was looking for my mga kaibigan then I saw tails he sinabi SONIC YOUR ALIVE!!I replied yes?Tails showed my other friends.they were excited.I went to school and tails got a A+ and a 300/10 for engineering.I went tahanan this time without getting killed.I went to bed.When I woke up a terrifying creature was standing in my room I told it to get out it sinabi in a scary and deep voice YOU'VE MADE A BIG MISTAKE!!! I was blasted away and a pagong with a button on his shell sinabi hello!!when I went to school a guy sinabi EVERYBODY DO THE FLOP! A muffin a madala and a can of marmite fell on there face.I ran tahanan and sinabi I gotta stop this then a taco sinabi WHERE'S MY MONEY!!!!and well this is a cliffhanger so I can't tell you what happened until the susunod one. The end?
Hi I'm sonic and I'm telling you the story how I caused a rip in the ASDF movie universe.
One araw when I was 16 I when to shadow acadmy™.I met tails What's your name?I asked he whispered miles. and I knew we would be friends.A guy named knuckles asked if I knew da wae (I think he was ugandan)I sinabi no then the kampanilya rang.I rushed to class when I bumped into somebody.he sinabi in a mean voice uy YOU MADE ME TRIP!!!! Tails stood up to him.Pick on someone your on size CREEP!The teacher sinabi I was late.tails told the teacher it all.The worst part about today was swimming class I can not swim but my friend I met in kindergarten Kirby was a pro!I got a F- for swimming a A+ for running class a B+ for Pagsulat and a A+ for basketball.I went tahanan and clicked on the TV villager news was on then a black figure came in my house and killed me my mga kaibigan were sad.I know what your thinking how the heck are telling me this well this the beginning goodbye for now.The end?
One araw when I was 16 I when to shadow acadmy™.I met tails What's your name?I asked he whispered miles. and I knew we would be friends.A guy named knuckles asked if I knew da wae (I think he was ugandan)I sinabi no then the kampanilya rang.I rushed to class when I bumped into somebody.he sinabi in a mean voice uy YOU MADE ME TRIP!!!! Tails stood up to him.Pick on someone your on size CREEP!The teacher sinabi I was late.tails told the teacher it all.The worst part about today was swimming class I can not swim but my friend I met in kindergarten Kirby was a pro!I got a F- for swimming a A+ for running class a B+ for Pagsulat and a A+ for basketball.I went tahanan and clicked on the TV villager news was on then a black figure came in my house and killed me my mga kaibigan were sad.I know what your thinking how the heck are telling me this well this the beginning goodbye for now.The end?
