V2Ch147 New Combination

Ruby's reach only got so far before she collapsed on the stage. Her uncontrollable sobbing getting louder as time went on. Durt tried to get the survivors to calm down. Rue seemed to be lost in thought as he sat on the floor. My face looking down at the floor in front of my legs, unable to look in any other direction.

"The trees."

Rue blurted out.

"What?"

Durt asked as he sat up.

"The trees. The effect shifted. Can you see the edge of the effect? The dead trees further back?"

Durt looked back and confirmed.

"Yeah?"

"The ones on the far right were not affected at first. Whatever caused this had moved. It was still it first, then it moved. It started when that idiot walked out there. People just... started collapsing. Then..."

Rue looked at me. I only saw his head shift through my peripherals. His deductions were spot on. He already figured it out.

I felt as drained as the people in front of me looked. I wanted to lie down. I didn't have the energy to look up, let alone stand.

"You... You went out on the stage to help her. That's when it shifted. You cause this. Didn't you?"

"D-don't be absurd! Lake wouldn't do this. He can't. Right? Right, Lake?"

Durt attempted to object. Ruby's sobbing slowed as Rue's observations were said out loud. Even she turned to me.

"Lake... Did you?"

I struggled to get any sounds out of my mouth.

"I..."

I felt her gaze intensify on me. She was coming to the realization that Rue was right. She slowly started pushing herself away from me.

"Monster..."

That word would normally never bother me. Coming from her, after what had just happened... She was right.

"Lake... Why?"

Durt asked. I let his words hang in the air. I had no answer that could satisfy him. I never would. I lowered a hand to the ground. Everyone around me had a knee-jerk reaction to back away.

Rue went to Durt's side and whispered something to him. They gathered up the other survivors and flew away, carrying the few that survived.

I was alone with Ruby. I almost expected her to come at me and attack me. I wanted her to. She didn't though. She simply stood up and took a few steps away. She stumbled but got airborne before she could hit the stage floor again. She flew into the air without another word spoken.

I felt a gentle breeze. I looked up again. I started to feel sick to my stomach.

...

I honestly don't remember the last time I ate. There happened to be enough in my stomach to wonder what I was looking at on the floor in front of me.

'Lake...'

Mother's voice.

'I know how you feel. I can feel everything you can. I know you didn't do it on purpose. Right now, I think the best thing you can do is get away from here. If authorities come and capture you, you will only be putting more people at risk. Get away from people. That's what I think you should do right now. At least until you are more stable.'

She was right. I need to leave this place. There is nothing I can do here.

'Actually, you may be able to do something.'

Rage chimed in this time.

'If you can combine your powers you may be able to give back the energy that you stole from these people.'

"I stole from them? I feel weaker than ever. Shouldn't I feel more energy if I stole life from living beings?"

'That's not quite how it works. My potion basically created a reservoir inside of your soul. This reservoir is near, if not infinite. When your body first revived that reservoir was filled to the brim. Your immortality draws from this reservoir.

Your individual powers have their own reservoirs. They are filled with your emotions and drained when you use the powers. If you are in a rage while using your fire salamander form, your anger reservoir would essentially be getting filled as fast as it is getting drained, making it endless.'

"How does Anger's reservoir help me here?"

'It doesn't. Shame has its own reservoir. You may not be able to draw from your personal reservoir for the purpose I have in mind, but you can use the energy you took and stored in the reservoir of Shame.'

"What can I do?"

'Shame steals energy unconsciously. If you use the power of Frustration, which imbues things with energy, instead of putting the energy from Frustration into these bodies you could potentially imbue these people with their life force by using Frustration as a conduit.'

"So, you want me to try and combine two separate effects from two very different powers. Something I have never done before."

'Something you have done before.'

"WHEN?"

'When you were fighting the body thief in the Anuran homeland. You used the void sleeve over your shadow Kraken's tentacle. If that isn't combining powers, then I don't know what is.'

True enough. I did do that. I don't know why I didn't consider that a combination.

"What if I fail? What if these bodies blow up?"

'Forgive me if this sounds cold. They are already dead. You can't do much worse to them than you already have.'

I know he wasn't trying to but, that felt like a low blow. Again, he was right.

I found the energy to stand. Maybe it was the hope that I could do something more than mope.

I walked to the edge of the stage and lowered myself down. I walked out into the crowd. Rage said to get as close to the center as possible. Maybe I could fan out the energy and revive all of them.

My face curled in horror. In the center of the mass of bodies were the parents of Durt and Ruby. I held back more tears. If I damage them now, maybe they can't come back.

I followed Rage's instructions to the best of my abilities.

Just like activating my other powers, I have to remember what the feeling is and forget the image. Anger, Fear and Sorrow's powers were almost natural to me at this point. It didn't take long for me to achieve the state I needed for Frustration and Shame's powers to manifest.

I felt the upsetting feeling as though I was being held back on purpose.

I recalled the uncontrollable feeling of wanting to hide my face from reality.

With my eyes closed, I fitted my right hand with a strange power that felt as if I could imbue things with my very essence. My left hand felt like the exact opposite. It felt like I could take anything in the world for myself.

I placed my left hand on top of my right. The opposite powers had an almost negative magnetic effect. They wanted nothing to do with each other.

Without realizing it, I had even used Anger's power to force the two hands together. Once I began to feel the life force going into my lower hand, the sensation of giving was almost natural. Comfortable and forgiving. I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I had the sensation that I could truly start to make up for all of the horrible things I've done in the past.

I know that I could never manage that to completion but, maybe I could be more of a hero than a villain in the eyes of the world.

I pushed the essence through one hand and into the other. I felt the reservoir draining. It wasn't like I was getting weak or losing energy. The feeling was more freeing. As if I had a burden and it was lifting.

When I felt the last bits of life force leave my right hand, I separated my hands and opened my eyes.

Looking out in front of me... Nothing had changed. They were all still dead.

I failed.

'I'm sorry, Lake. I truly thought...'

"Uh... What happened? Nirina? Are you there?"

"Ow... My head hurts."

A hand grabbed my ankle. One that was filled with the natural color of the living. The hand that belonged to Durt and Ruby's father. Their mother, just as filled with color as their father, was also moving around and breathing.

I felt sorry for the situation they will have to come to understand. Right now though, I think it's best to disappear.

Looking around, I saved two parents. There were children in this crowd. Why couldn't they wake up? I'm happy that Ruby and Durt can have them back but, I'm still a monster. I don't want to have to explain it to them too.

I stepped back dislodging the fae's hand from my ankle.

"Who's there?"

"Is something the matter?"

Still rubbing their eyes, their eyesight seems to be slowly coming back.

I turned and ran.

My heart was in a state of flux.

I was horrified that I had killed so many.

I was happy to see someone alive.

I was upset that I couldn't save more people.

I couldn't tell if my cheek-eating tears were happy or sad...