Chosen One Gone Wrong (Villains & Monsters #1)

Chapter Sixty-Five

Double updateeeee. You guys ready for the feels? Lmao of course you are. Love you. -Rae

A brother.

Simon had lost his little brother.

Completely devastated and silent from shock, all Daija could do was reach out to hold his hand. Eventually, he turned to face her. "You didn't know?"

"About that asshole killing a child? Yes. About the child being your brother? No," she breathed out.

"I thought you did," he said quietly. "It was the one thing you didn't ask about."

Her heart stung, and she told him about the video. "Jamie showed me some footage that he hid. It was of him and you arguing in his office. The video was short, and it ended with you promising to kill him. I didn't ask because it seemed so personal, and I didn't want to cross any lines."

She then finally admitted to him, "Finding out who he killed, getting the solid proof and exposing it was how I planned to destroy the heroes."

"Really?" he smiled softly.

"Yes. Children are our future, and anyone who hurts them are pieces of shit."

He was quiet for a moment, then started talking. "You know, at twenty-two years-old and looking back on everything, it's so easy to tell that the whole, "Chosen One" thing is so fucking stupid," he then looked towards the playground where his other siblings were playing. "But when you're sixteen, and you have no idea what you want to do with your life, it sounds like magic. I thought I could actually change this world, dumb as it was."

She watched as he smiled at their clasped hands and intertwined their fingers together. "Listening to Mom explain everything about Oliver made me think about how Ian and Aniya found me, and it made sense. They find you through the files and documents when your powers manifest and drill the dream of being a hero into you. Anyway, I started training. Since Mom was always so busy being a CEO, I told a lot of my problems to Dad. He knew about me training as a hero and didn't mind it as long as I was happy."

Daija imagined a younger Simon, bursting with power and actually hopeful to change things in Kunross, and it hurt her more. The world is awful to nice people when they're young.

"Like I told you before, I was seventeen when I first killed someone," he said, "It was a terrifying accident, but as time went on, I stopped feeling guilty, because I knew that he wouldn't be able to hurt anymore people. I knew that I would have to work harder to keep secrets from the rest of the heroes, but I made it work. They believe that arresting them will do the trick. Some people just can't be forgiven. Ian and I argued about what should be done with terrible people quite often."

That sad look filled his eyes again. "Sean was such a light in this world. Always helpful, always caring, looking at things from a brighter point of view. He was everything I was trying to be. Everything that I wanted to be. When he found out that I was a part of the heroes, he was so happy, and he told me that all he wanted was to be just like me."

Daija bit the inside of her mouth to hold in tears. She wished there was a happy ending to this story even though she knew how it was going to end.

"When I was nineteen, I was playing different roles. One as a hero, and one as a monster that killed monsters. I had been building my team, gaining supporters, truly making a change in the city. Sean had just turned fourteen, and his powers manifested. Sierra was also fourteen when hers manifested. Like Mom said, the firstborn gets the biggest of that formula, which is why I'm multi-powered and they're singular powered."

"What was his power?" she asked softly. "Did you know?"

"It took a while for him and Mom to figure it out, but he was able to resurrect people. Bring them back to life. I thought it was the most incredible power to have. Only true heroes could use it. I picked him up from school one day, and we were downtown doing some shopping. There was a guy that had an awful heart attack, and it left him dead. Sean didn't hesitate to save him. I had never been more proud."