Seek {Superhero AU} - Ending 1

31: My Mother Told Me

NPOV

Track: Twisted, MISSIO

I take the three of them to my house because it's within walking distance. We move quickly, winding down the streets at record speed. When we finally make it to my front door, I don't waste a second throwing it open and shoving my friends through.

My mother is pacing in the living room, still wearing her clothes from work. She turns when the door opens, and she sobs a little when she sees me. "Niccolò! Figlio mio, ero così preoccupato!" She glances at my friends and switches to English. I am very careful to keep the burnt side of my face turned away from her, hoping not to worry her. "The school sent out a message about a superhero attack at homecoming, and—"

"I'm alright," I say softly as I lock the door behind me. "We're going to catch our breaths here, though. Is that alright? I know you weren't expecting guests, but—"

"Guests are great," she says, waving me off. "I'm just glad you're alive, Niccolò." She approaches me, so I turn my head another few degrees to the left to keep the burns out of her sight. She notices and frowns at me. "Niccolò...are you injured?"

"No," I say. "Just, uh. Well."

My mother's hands turn my face toward her, and I inhale sharply when her fingers touch the burns. As soon as she sees the damage, her hand flies off of me, and she takes a step back, her face horrified.

"These are burns," she says, shocked. "Did—?" She glances at Will, her expression quickly turning to fury. "Did Sunburst do this?"

"No!" Will says quickly, putting his hands in the air. "I swear I didn't hurt him. We were attacked—"

"Those are burns," my mother repeats, raising her finger to point at Will, "and the school was claiming they saw you attack some teenagers at the dance!"

"Sunburst did attack Nico," Cecil says, his voice defensive, "but Will was helping us fight Sunburst. So why does it seem like you're accusing Will of this?"

My mother's pointing finger drops about a foot. "What? How were you fighting Sunburst? I thought... Am I missing something?"

"We're all missing something," Lou Ellen agrees tiredly. "Why don't Nico and Will start explaining?"

I glance at Will, and he looks a little bit sick. I'm sure I do, too. We ran here, so we're all still a little out of breath, and the fact that my identity was put on the line already once tonight makes me want to keep it a secret from everyone for the rest of eternity. The last thing I want to do is tell more people who I am.

"Why don't I heal all of us first," Will murmurs. "Then, Nico and I will explain everything—start to finish. No more secrets."

Cecil purses his lips a little—he's upset that Will was keeping secrets in the first place, but at least he doesn't seem exceedingly angry. Just a little sad. With luck, he'll understand. I don't want Will to lose his friends because of this. Because of me.

Will starts with my face. He makes me sit on the couch while he works. His light is so soothing; I close my eyes and relax, letting his light flutter over and through me. I don't dare look at Lou Ellen and Cecil yet—I'm sure they're more than a little shocked by this new development.

When he's finished with my face, he heals the bruises along my arms and on my stomach from Luke's punches. After that, I'm good as new, so he moves on to helping Lou Ellen and Cecil. I open my eyes once Will is no longer touching and healing me. Cecil currently looks a little bit like Flynn Ryder from Tangled in the scene where Flynn's hand gets healed.