Chapter 71: Hidden Colors

Romaine's POV

"Prince, you mind explaining what the heck that was?" I confronted him

"Ahh yes," He responded, "The folks back in my universe refer to it as Zero Energy."

"And what is Zero Energy?"

"Only a theoretical energy source created by combining compatible yet opposing charges. The theory itself is derived from Zero Point Energy."

"Never heard of it." I admitted

"I have heard a thing or two about Zero Point Energy." Cas interjected, "But my knowledge of it isn't extensive."

"Now that's saying a lot now isn't it." spoke my future self, "If there's an existing topic in science that even Cas has no idea about then, we're pretty much screwed in the information department."

"I take it this didn't happen in your timeline either?" I questioned him

"Nope, instead of that big Zero Energy showcase, Dondre was actually the one to defeat him by phasing through his constructs."

"And just like that our timeline is diverging even more."

"Introducing Zero Energy to this timeline could have great repercussions in the grand scheme of things." Cas pointed out

"Well you can't blame him." My future self defended the Prince, "He had no idea that he was actively affecting the timeline like that.

Just then, today's most famous speedsters arrived.

"Was that cool or what?" Donte questioned

"You have no idea." I played along

"Great job you two." Mel congratulated

"That was some stellar work out there my pupils." added the Prince

"Cas, did you figure out what happened to Dondre's mother while we were gone?" Donte questioned

"Yes, though I don't seem to recall any of you asking me to do so in the first place." she answered

"Well don't keep us in the dark," I said, "What was it?"

Turning towards the screen, she brought up footage of the scene from one of the cafe's cameras.

"By integrating a simple Geiger-Mueller detector inspired device, I'm able to display the possible traces of radiation." She explained

After that she applied the filter to the video footage, showing high traces of radiation inside of me, along with lesser traces inside of Dondre.

"As you can see, the two of you are ebbing with radiation, more specifically Romaine; you're oozing in it. And though we'd all come in contact with you two, over the month that we spent searching for you the radiation decayed over time."

"But because he was stuck in dilated time for the duration of that time, he's still a walking time-bomb of radiation." finished the Prince

"Exactly; though it is a bit unusual that Dondre still contains the levels of radiation that he does, given that it's been almost 2 months. But then again, Romaine was in direct contact with the temporal anomaly at Convergence, while Dondre was only hit by its initial wave of energy."

"But it doesn't add up." I said, "If she died because of the radiation then why isn't my mom dead? And Melany, and all the others I've come into contact with."

"Well I accounted for that; it turns out that she had a chronic illness, constantly weakening her immune system, the radiation just happened to get to her first. The symptoms prior to her death all point to radiation poisoning."

"Well damn. I guess it is my fault then."

"Don't beat yourself up about it." encouraged the Prince, "Her death was unavoidable."

"I think we should tell Dondre." Mel suggested

"Cas?" I inquired, seeing if she could help

"I tracked his energy signal down to this location shortly after we came back." She answered, bringing up a map on the screens, "It's a neighboring camp to the one that we set the trap for Zero at. And it looks like he's deactivated his comms."

"Can someone take me there?" I questioned

~~~~~~~

Once Donte had brought me out there, he ran back to the lab to give us privacy. I should also probably mention that having a speedster carry you while being a non-speedster is nauseating.

I slowly approached Dondre, who'd been sitting on a log with his back turned to me.

"Hey," I opened softly, slowly taking a seat beside him, "How you holding up?"

He merely glanced away from me, without even making a sound.

"So um, it turns out that she died because of radiation poisoning; her immune system was already weak from some chronic illness."

"Don't you think I know that?" I stung

"Wait what-"

"I know that dumbass!" He belted, jumping up at me

"Dondre I-...I'm sorry." I stuttered

"I might not be as smart as you all but that doesn't mean I'm dumb. You always think everything revolves around you. Ever since that day the school got attacked you've been constantly putting yourself above others! And now thanks to you my mother's dead!"

His words left me speechless, I wanted to apologize but ultimately couldn't even bring myself to talk.

-"Romaine,"- Cas called, -"The two of you should head back; Kyle wants to talk to everyone."-

"Um, Kyle wants us back at the lab." I mumbled

He simply scoffed at me then sped off, presumably to the lab.

"Uh Cas," I muttered pressing on my ear piece, "You might have to send someone to come get me."