“Look who came to play! Since you banished my ass back here, I figured I would have to keep poking until I found a weak spot again.”
Standing before him was without a doubt Yefferson. Anaar found himself somewhat stupefied that his conjecture was actually correct. Catching himself, he was quick to remember that it would be far too hasty to accept this entity as truly being Yefferson, as it instead could simply be the embodiment of what Anaar thought was Yefferson. A tenseness washed over him as he prepared to speak to the specter. If it was as he had become accustomed to, it would not be long before it devolved into aggression.
“What do you mean I banished you? You are dead.”
Yefferson leans back, placing his hands behind his head. “You know what? I thought so too! When I awoke here, I knew for sure I was in hell. Just my fucking luck it was much worse. I have to be trapped in your pussy ass head for eternity. I may not have a body anymore, but now that I know I can use yours, this might not be so bad!”
“How long have you been hijacking my body?!”
“Shit, for months now! I was finally getting strong enough to make you do shit you were really against. Even though I can influence a lot, you still refused to leave school, or hurt your friends, or act too far out of your bullshit goody two shoes character. The best opening was when you needed to use my powers. Since you are fuck all with ‘em you practically begged me to take over! Soon I was in so much control I just knew it wouldn’t be long before you were the one here. Way to ruin it. Shithead.”
Anaar was doing his best to digest the information he was receiving, still unsure if it was nothing more than a wild fantasy his mind was constructing. With a jerk, he looked toward Yefferson. “Wait, why haven’t you tried killing me?”
Yefferson walks to Anaar, pulls back, and slaps him as hard as he can. His hand passes harmlessly through, the somewhat hopeful look on his face quickly evaporating. “Damn. I hoped it would work since you came here on your own. Seems like as much as I would like to, I can’t hurt you in your own body. You have no idea how many times I wanted to when you made me have sex with that dude over and over again. Why the fuck did I have to end up in the head of a gay guy?”
Something about this gave Anaar a pang of pleasure, seeing the dissatisfaction on Yefferson’s face. “Get over it. He isn’t going anywhere any time soon. I don’t think at least. Back to more important matters. Why is it that I can barely remember events when you take over?”
“Figured you didn’t want to. I ain’t got shit to do with that.”
“I remember how to use your powers though. I don’t break things all the time anymore.”
“I would hope so! How much of a fucking idiot do you have to be to still suck after getting a full fucking tutorial?!”
“Is that why I haven’t been using my own powers as much?”
“Yeah… You got way too many of those fuckers. I mean you just kinda go on autopilot with them, but it is still a pain.”
Anaar wanted to continue the conversation since he still did not have anything conclusive that this was Yefferson’s true psyche, but he felt something was much more pressing. Figuring if it was his body, and his mindspace, he should be capable of manipulating it how he chose, he decided to do some remodeling. The void contorted, a small box with only a small slit in it appearing around Yefferson and imprisoning him.
“Hey! What the fuck is this shit?!”
Anaar watched as Yefferson struggled, but it was all in vain. “I have so much more I would like to talk to you about, but right now, at best you are an unknown, hostile agent in my head. History has proven that given the opportunity you will do things I do not approve of. This way I can keep you from misbehaving. I assume that was you whispering, or more like shouting in my head all those times, right?”
“Only because you keep being a little bitch about everything and stopping me!”
“See… yeah… I find I like being in control of my faculties at all times. You are detrimental to that.”
“What am I supposed to do in here?! What if I have to piss? Or shit?! I’m just going to take a dump right in your head!”
“You don’t have a body, so you don’t require excretion of waste. Even if you did, you must have been doing it already, so what is the difference now?”
“Fuck you! You think you are so smart!”
“Whatever. You are the one who keeps saying that. I’ll be sure to visit again when I have time, but for now, I need to go figure out what messes you have made.”
Ignoring any further objections from Yefferson, Anaar pulled himself from the meditative state to find himself still sitting at Master Shin’s table. The moment he awoke, he was flooded with notifications. Looking at the time in his overlay he was shocked to see how much had passed.
“I’ve been out for nine hours?! It felt like twenty minutes!”
Master Shin did not appear to be taken aback by Anaar sudden return, nor his claim. “It seems you were successful then. Did you find anything of use?”
“Possibly. I think I was right about Yefferson, but for now he could just be something I made up, possibly out of guilt. I sealed him away to prevent interference just in case. I would rather not have more mishaps to clean up.”
“Do you believe this course prudent?”
Anaar shrugs as he stands and stretches. “I haven’t the faintest idea. We will see. As long as I can remain me, I think that is a win.”
Anaar thanks Master Shin for his guidance and his patience, with Master Shin offering him dinner. Conflicted, he is not sure whether to accept or not, since he had already taken up such a large quantity of the man’s time on his day off. It also occurred to him that this might be a rare occurrence that Master Shin was excited for. With Master Shin giving no tells, he decided to respectfully decline, citing that he did not want to impose upon him further. Making his way out and back toward his room, though he might have been imagining it, Anaar felt certain that his mind felt clearer than it had in months.
18
Placing her tray gently on the table, Stefani did her best to feign ignorance to all the stares and whispers she was receiving. Something similar had occurred when her band became popular on campus, but since it was a group effort, it felt like the attention was spread amongst all of them. Now her name was on everyone’s tongues as the person who utterly shattered the record for the single largest leap in rankings from year to year.
If she was being honest with herself, even she still struggled to believe she had gone from 69th of 70 students, to 5th. Combined with her already blossoming popularity thank to her musical exploits, even when she was not being directly approached, it was clear people regarded her differently and treated her with respect. She had experience with fame and popularity, but something felt completely novel to her when it came from her peers, rather than those older than her.
Extricating a small mirror from her purse, she checked her makeup and hair, finding it particularly flawless that day, which reflected her additional effort. She made a note to reapply her gloss once she finished eating. She quickly stuffed it back into her bag, straightened her posture, and smiled wide as a tray was placed opposite of hers and a spindly man sat down.
“Wow! You are an even bigger deal now than you already were! So many people are whispering about you!”
Stefani slightly blushes, glancing up with a coy smile as she tucks an errant curl behind her ear. “That’s right! You are an auditory and visual Synestate, right? Does it ever bother you to hear people talking about you behind your back?”
“I can assure you that no one is talking about me. I might as well be a ghost. Plus, I’m not anything special, so it isn’t as if I’m picking up that much. I’m no Efren Chang. Despite how generally hated he is by everyone, I am not ashamed to admit I look up to him for how strong he is. To be capable of piercing Tempest’s protections is a feat I don’t think I’d ever achieve in my entire lifetime, yet here he is already doing it as a college student.”
Stefani had little exposure to the man in question, but she had heard enough about him from others to know she would rather remain in the dark. For a moment the two sat silently, taking small bites of their food, until with very pronounced difficulty, Deakin begins to stammer.
“I… You look really pretty today… Not that you don’t always look pretty! Oh geez… I… I’m just really happy you invited me to lunch. I expected to never hear from you again. Now to be sitting here with you… I’m sorry… I’m really nervous.”
Stefani wanted to admit that she too was nervous, but she decided to attempt living up to her current hype. “There’s no need to be nervous! Honestly, I am no one special. You already seem to know a lot about me, so how about you tell me all about you? Who is Deakin Chambers?”
The look on his face was all the evidence anyone would need to arrive at the conclusion it was the first time anyone had shown much interest in him. “Well… Like I told you before, I’m your biggest fan. I love the new things you have done here on campus, but I really enjoy your classical style more. I have been to all the events you have put-”
Stefani held up her hand to stop him before he said any more that could swing her mood to uncomfortable. “Deakin, I asked who you are. As much as I adore the support, I want to only know things about you. Where did you grow up? What other things are you interested in? That kind of stuff.”
“I’m not very interesting. I’d rather talk about cool people like you, but if you insist… I’m from Boise, born and raised. Nothing exciting there. I like comics and superheroes. I do tabletop RPGs and video games. I’m the best rated gamemaster in my city! I once got the chance to shake the president’s hand!”
Stefani listened as Deakin rambled on and on about things she could not begin to comprehend. Even though it all seemed to be completely uninteresting to her, there was something about his zeal and the glimmer in his eyes as he talked about it that made her want to continue listening. She was thankful he was capable of talking without the need for responses, because she would have been incapable of positing anything intelligible. They had been talking for a while when Stefani heard a voice call out her name.
“Stef! Hey girl!”
Maggie excitedly hurried to the table, placing her tray down next to Stefani’s, and giving her a tight hug from behind before sitting down. Before Stefani could respond, Anaar took a seat directly next to Deakin, while Dan sat next to Maggie. They greeted Stefani, with Anaar and Dan wasting no time before they began shoveling food from their plates into their mouths. No one had even paid attention to Deakin, who had been stunned, frozen like a statue as his mouth hung open.
“Oh my god. I’m freaking out. I can’t believe I’m having lunch with the top ranked students in our class, the Golden Quartet themselves! You are like the perfect superhero team! The stalwart Defender that surprises everyone with his equally capable offensive capabilities. The everlasting goddess of succor, who soothes away weariness and powers everyone up so they can be unstoppable. Even better, in the latest twist, it has been revealed that she can also smite you if her charges are threatened. The small but mighty Valkyrie that rains punishment on her opponents from any distance, making her a threat that is difficult to counter. And of course there is the secret weapon of the team, the brains of the operation that when pressed, can singlehandedly erase any resistance they come up against. Even better better, it has just been revealed that he is a True Fire Quintessence! How can you be that awesome and still find ways to completely outdo yourself?!”
Anaar looked at Dan, who was staring confused at Deakin, strings of noodles still hanging from his mouth where he had been too stunned to continue chewing. He then looked to Maggie as she too had stopped eating, and was squinting at Deakin who had taken on a glazed over expression of bliss.
“Was he just referring to us as if we were not present, and he was writing a blurb for the latest summer blockbuster? Also, what is ‘better better?’”
Rather than Maggie responding, it was Dan who was quicker at the draw. “Stef, who da fuck is dis?!”
Stefani herself had not quite recovered from Deakin’s monologue to seemingly no one, but took her cue to begin introductions. “Everyone… This is Deakin…”
Dan continued leading the charge in the interrogation. “How y’all meet?”
Before Stefani could respond, Deakin spoke up with exuberance. “She shot me! Twice!”
Blanching, Stefani’s head snapped in Deakin’s direction, horror written on her face. “Don’t tell people that!”
“But it is true! It was the best day of my life! A couple bullets is a small price to pay to be held by the one and only Stefani Lamar…”
Stefani and Anaar looked on in disbelief as Deakin dreamily seemed to be reliving what most would consider an unpleasant event. Meanwhile Maggie and Dan were whispering furiously to themselves. After some reprimanding swats to his head, their hushed chatter died down. Deakin took note of the exchange and immediately stood from his seat.
“Oh no! I am so dense! I’m clearly infringing upon the secret conclave! I know a mere mortal like me could never be privy to such things! I sincerely beg your pardon for the intrusion! I’ll leave so you can discuss things like saving the world!”
Deakin grabs up his tray and skips away, the excitement rolling off him like waves as he departed. Everyone’s eyes followed him until he had disappeared from sight and left the room. Once he was gone, there was a hanging silence until Maggie took the initiative to speak.
“He seemed… nice…!”
Dan and Anaar both looked dryly at Maggie as she continued the most affected smile to have ever existed. Stefani herself was still lost for words, so she mindlessly picked at something on her plate. Dan was particularly emboldened that day as he once again was the one to break the silence.
“Stef, you shoot his ass in da head? Cause that boy ain’t right.”
Stefani gasps, her cheeks puffing as she begins to pout. “No! I shot him in the stomach! What do you mean he isn’t right?! He is a perfectly sweet guy!”
“Stefani, I don’t doubt that. Unique… though he may be, he appeared harmless enough. It is a little odd the way he sees us though. It is almost as if he has trouble differentiating reality from fantasy.”
“I don’t think that-”
Maggie could no longer maintain the veneer she had constructed. “Anaar is right! He is a crazed fanboy! We are to him, what attunement theory is to Anaar!”
“Hey! Why am I being dragged into this?!”
“Because Stef needs to understand just how crazy he is!”
Anaar looks to Maggie with a flat expression. “That in no way made it any better.”
“No one cares about your feelings right now! Stef, why are you hanging out with this weirdo?!”
Stefani found herself in an awkward position, her feelings warring with one another. She was not used to being openly scrutinized by her friends. Quite the contrary, she felt as if she was the only one who was never placed under the spotlight and her flaws laid bare. Now that she had even the slightest taste of it, she found she wanted nothing more than to make it go away forever. There was something much stronger however that refused to be ignored, which framed her response.
“I… I think he is really sweet. I like the way he looks at me, and how quirky he is. I think I really like him, even though I don’t know him well yet.”
Anaar could see Maggie rearing back to respond, but put out a hand to stop her. It had never occurred to him before, but Stefani was the only one of their core group who was single. Even the ever rebellious Codi had Pryshka. He never imagined how difficult it must be to always be a third wheel, or be forced to smile as her friends had their happy couple moments.
“I fully support this if it makes you happy Stefani. After all, you are the second strongest woman in our class. Not to mention a budding popstar and in the top of the ACR. Shouldn’t you have someone to celebrate your efforts?”
Stefani’s eyes teared
up as she was overwhelmed by Anaar’s words. She had started to normalize his strange behavior, and had forgotten his true nature. She never realized just how much of a difference it made to her, but she decided to make sure to call him out immediately if it started to change again in the future.
“Guess Anaar got a point. What’s all dis ‘bout you shootin’ him and shit?”
“That was totally by accident! Actually, it was not. It was intentional. What was I supposed to do?! The Melee is so scary and puts you on edge! I’m just lucky I met you all in the manner I did, or I would have probably shot you too!”
“Oh, no one is judging you for shooting him. If you didn’t shoot him, I’d be concerned.”
Anaar looks to Maggie, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, you don’t really have the luxury of investigation. You have no choice but be a shoot first, ask questions later kind of person. Thankfully, you had the best person to teach you that at your disposal.”
“Dats right! You ain’t never knowin’ when a bitch really tryna fuck up yo whole life so fuck ‘em up on sight, no questions asked!”
Stefani had not anticipated such responses from everyone. She was so embarrassed because in her mind they were all perfectly competent when it came to controlling the situation. Now that she knew they would have likely done the same, it put her at ease.
“So Stef, do you really see yourself getting serious with this guy?”
Stefani turned to Maggie, her face a jumble of expressions. “I don’t know! I’ve never really dated anyone like that! I was always so busy with work before! I know I would like to…”
“Oddities aside, I reiterate my statement about your happiness. That is the most important thing. I’m sure we can get to know him and adapt.
“But if he ends up hurting you, we are totally breaking his legs.”
Revelations (Song of Sophangence Book 4) Page 34
