Dread The Day

Another boring day of sitting at home came and went while I was training my body. The first to come home was Faith. She didn't appear to be exhausted, but she immediately sat on the couch in the lobby and groaned out in boredom.

"It seems much more fun to just sit in here all day." She said, looking at me with an irritable gaze.

"Well I think the complete opposite. Actually doing something outside of this home is a lot more fun than sitting here. I ran around the lobby a few times today." I told her.

"Really? How much?" Faith asked me.

She leaned up her body on the backside of the couch and looked at me with curious eyes. I feel that most of Faith's display of emotion came from different variables of gaze, rather than smiles or frowns.

"About sixty-one times. I don't want to tire Avie out by using her stamina if she's still there." I explained to Faith.

"A few times?! That's a lot more than a few... and don't worry, you won't use her stamina. She can lend it to you, but if she's not there, then you're not using hers. Wait, that's a little more concerning. You already have that much stamina again?" She asked me. Of course, I was surprised, but I nodded.

"What was it like before?" I asked her again, leaning on the couch and looking at the fireplace crackling behind some glass.

"Nobody ever knew your true strength, but one of the last things you did was sprint a full marathon in under an hour. Your stamina reserves staying at maximum usage for that amount of time was probably the top for anybody in the world... hey, Dad, why don't you ask me about the past?" Faith asked me. She sat back on the couch like she was at fault for something.

"I used to want to know. It's not like I never cared... but put yourself into my shoes for a moment. The whole world hates you, wishes you a gruesome death, and avoids you all because of your past. I think it's not that I don't want to know... it's that I'm afraid to know, and I don't want to until I'm ready to hear about what I've done." I told her. She nodded while looking at the fireplace with me.

"You weren't a bad guy. Rather, the wrong people were the ones to tell the history. The Victors, I call them. They were the ones that set you up, that villainized you... and that profited from it. And, the reason nobody likes Mom is because she was the one that killed them all." Faith told me.

"How kind of her. If only that carried over..." I said, absent-mindedly looking out of the windows of the home.

"Yeah... well, what do you want for dinner? Do they even have that out yet?" Faith asked me.

"Whatever everybody else eats. Have you been sleeping properly?" I asked Faith. I noticed bags under her eyes, and she seemed to catch on to what I was implying.

"My mind doesn't need sleep, but my body does. I only sleep for about four hours a night... I don't need anymore." She said. Faith turned her eyes away from me. A very basic lie. Well, I might be her Father, but I won't pry.

"Just don't overdo it," I told her. I redirected the conversation again and we talked about meaningless things, all up until Shike and the others came back.

"There you are. Here, check this out," Shike took something off of his back and opened up the weird thing, pulling out a stick...? I was confused while looking at it.

"It's a device that can read your vitals from far away. I thought we could use it to track Avie's vitals... would that work?" Shike turned to Belle and she nodded silently. It seemed she was being very analytical about this.

"And... well, I see a heart rate of sixty-one, and a ton of other funky numbers, but it doesn't say anything about a second person in there," Shike said with disappointment.

"It's not going to. Avie is directly linked to Dad's vitals, so there won't be any discrepancies that you could see with that thing. How much longer do you have, Dad?" Faith asked me.

Hm...

[25:25:10]

I told them the time and they all nodded, coming to the conclusion that we were getting close enough to figure out what was really going to happen when that timer runs out.

Eventually, everybody arrived home. Dani and the others flooded in as I went to go get my food, and not long after, Ruby came with the last of my friends.

She sat right beside me in her weird coat and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Tomorrow, I'll send you to Umbra. We'll both go down a path that nobody knows about on the outskirts of town to avoid trouble. Do you know if your friends will go with you?" Ruby asked me.

"That's for them to decide, not me. However, I will go wherever you tell me," I said to Ruby. She nodded, looking around the room.

"You guys really haven't attempted anything this entire time. Then, I can only assume you're genuine about staying peaceful?" Ruby asked me.

"Just as I told you before, yes. I'm still not happy I'll be sticking with Umbra, but as long as there's a reason, I'm fine with it. What about you? Will you still watch over this city?" I asked Ruby.

"Where else would I go? This is my place, and I will stay here and defend it if need be until the day I die." Ruby clarified for me. Then, it looked like her resolve was strengthened as well.

"Was there anything else you wanted from me?" I asked, slurping some of my soup off of my spoon.

The conversations around us felt drowned out by the thick atmosphere Ruby carried around everywhere she went. Then, she pushed the map over to me.

I opened it up to read specific lettering around a circled pathway.

"We will be followed no matter where we go." It read.

I sat in silence and turned my eyes over to her, keeping my head straight.

She took the map back, got up, and walked away.

So, it seems that Cole is forming a plan, and Ruby was lucky enough to catch onto it. Cole knows about my status now, he probably knows I'm weak... and he will probably kill me, no matter what happens.

I set my soup aside, looking at everybody talking to each other, laughing, and smiling.

I'm afraid that if I stay here, Cole will kill them, and if I leave, Cole will kill me.

I'm trapped. I must say, I met my match.