𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔪𝔬𝔫'𝔰 𝔇𝔬𝔩𝔩

Part 8

It was late in the night when Kate had finally begun to regain consciousness. It was slow, but Fyodor noticed the smallest changes in her breathing. She opened her eyes in a way that showed she was in pain. It pained Fyodor to see this in her, but he could do nothing to ease her suffering.

"Fyodor?" She croaked out. Her voice was scratchy and breathy. He instantly was grasping her hand once more.

"Kate, you're alright. You had us worried there." Fyodor spoke lightheartedly.

"What's the date?" She asked.

"It's Thursday." He answered.

"I'm sorry. Negotiations were my responsibility and I ruined that." She apologised, closing her eyes once more.

"Stop apologising so much, this was nothing you could help. Look, you can have whatever you want. I don't care anymore, just take what you will from me; I know you're fair." He shook his head. Kate breathed a sigh of relief. Her ability had worked; negotiations with Fyodor were complete.

"Please, write them up for me so I can report it to mister Fitzgerald." She pleased. He nodded and instantly fulfilled her request. He signed the paper and Kate held it in her hands. Her paper victory was signed and ready to unite the two organisations.

"Thank you so much." She closed her eyes and held the paper tight to her chest.

"I assume you know what an ability user is?" Fyodor's next words surprised her.

"Of course." She nodded.

"You are being targeted by an ability. Why or whose I'm not quite sure. I promise you that I will find them though. You will receive justice." Fyodor looked at her with determined eyes. Now that they were allies, Kate was free to reveal her ability.

"I'll share with you whose it is-- it's mine." She coughed.

"What?" He asked, brows furrowed together.

"My ability is called The Awakening. It allows me to control probability, however, in return it makes me very sick." She explained.

"Controlling probability..." Fyodor repeated. He had heard of this ability before, it was almost legendary. In fact, it was the power of a God if it wasn't so unreliable because of its downside. This God-like ability belonged to Kate Chopin? The most frail, weak person he's ever come across. It was ironic.

"What did you ask?" He questioned, turning away from her.

"Only that negotiations were finished soon. Fitzgerald ordered me to use it so that you two could begin working together as soon as possible." She explained.

"What was the percentage?" He gave her a follow-up question.

"88%." She answered.

"What happens if the number were higher?" He asked, his mind swirling with the possibility of getting her to use this ability for his cause.

"The closer to death I'll be. The highest number I've ever produced is 92. I had to be kept alive by machines for weeks. If I were to produce a 100, I would surely die." She revealed a lot more information than even Fitzgerald knew. She felt as though she could tell Fyodor these things without consequence. She trusted him for whatever odd reason.

When Fyodor heard this from Kate, his plans were instantly extinguished. He could never ask anything of her if this was the result. According to her, this wasn't as bad as that other time, but to Fyodor, this was the most frightening he had seen. He told himself that he would never ask for her to use this ability on his behalf ever. He hated what it did to her and he hated how it made him feel.

"Kate, I wish you would never use this curse again." His words were laced with a sad truth; her ability was a curse. The thing with curses is that they never go away, not even after death. Kate was a victim of her ability, and she would die from it someday.

She only fueled his hatred for special abilities. They harmed innocent people for no reason. Kate was going to be a casualty of her ability no matter what she did. That's why he needed the book. He would erase all ability users from the world and save Kate from her certain demise.

"As do I." She nodded with tears in her eyes. When Fyodor turned back around to face her, he was finally able to see the victim within her. She was broken and she had been used over and over again by those she trusted.

He was infuriated by this look on her face. If he could kill everyone that had ever made her use her ability, he would have done it in a heartbeat. Her face held such an unmistakable sadness that lay deeper than she would ever admit.

As she blinked, tears ran down her cheeks. Fyodor brushed them away with his index finger.

"You are so beautiful, even when you cry, but I wish you wouldn't do so." He whispered. Kate choked on her silent sobs, gasping out. She was unable to hold back the tears.

"You are with me now, I promise you'll never have to use this again... I won't let anyone tell you to use it." He scooped her head up and cradled it. She wrapped her arms around his back and clung onto him, wetting his shirt with her sweat and tears. He cooed into her ear and whispered reassurances as she clung to him.

Fyodor had done it, he had broken through to her. He might not have realised it just yet, but with these words, he had gained her loyalty. From this point forward, he had promised to protect her and she had made her own promise within herself. She promised she would give him anything he asked for. Fyodor was the man to break the conditioning pounded into her by her parents. She had no loyalty to them in her heart, only her head. The head is easily overpowered by the heart though.