𝐕𝐈
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𝟏𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕
"Hey, you still in there?" Ben knocked on the door, after I'd been sat in the same position for a while. I was surprised he hadn't already torn the door down to see if I'd escaped.
"Yeah." I answered glumly, stretching my legs, "Haven't gone anywhere."
I unlocked the door and pulled it open, Ben standing before me. His hand, which was half way up as if he was about to knock again, quickly lowered. I glowered at him, earning a mocking grin.
"Come on," He began to walk away and back towards the staircase. I decided I had no other choice than to follow him.
We walked in silence back up to the main entrance and then up to the balcony. He led me through a maze of halls and doors, before eventually stopping at one.
"Everything you need is in there," He gestured towards the door, "Clean up and then meet me in the parlor. Number One will also be there."
"You mean 'Luther'?" I corrected, though he simply turned on his heel and left without another word.
I entered the room, which happened to be a bedroom, with a bathroom off to the side. The bed was made up neatly with an outfit laid on top of the sheets. Upon further inspection, I realized it was a Sparrow uniform. Or a casual version of one.
I took my time in the shower, relishing the warm water against my skin. I scrubbed the areas where Ben's tentacle had touched me until the skin was raw, but I couldn't seem to get the horrible slimy feeling away.
After eventually stepping out of the shower and drying myself off, I sucked in a deep breath and swallowed what little pride and dignity I had left, before changing into the Sparrow outfit. I hated how it actually looked good on me, better than my original clothes.
Eventually I left the room and padded down the empty halls, trying to remember which way Ben had taken me. It took way longer than I thought it would, but I managed to find my way back to the main entrance. As I approached the parlor, I sighed in relief at the sight of Luther already stood there. My stomach twisted again though, after I noticed the entire Sparrow Academy, minus Marcus of course, sat there too.
"Gesture of goodwill." I heard Ben say, as I entered the room.
"What does that mean?" I questioned, stopping beside Luther.
"They're letting us go." Luther answered, his voice skeptical. My eyes widened in surprise.
"Why?"
Ben rolled his eyes at my question and sighed, "As I said, gesture of goodwill. Anyway, I want the pair of you to pass on a very important message to your family."
"Yeah, of course." Luther nodded, as Ben took a step closer.
"Let Marcus go." His voice was low and threatening, "And if any of you hurt one hair on him, we'll come for you. All of you. And I promise, we won't be so hospitable next time."
Luther grinned sarcastically, "Super don't like be threatened, Ben."
"You'll do as we say, or else..." Fei said, standing and releasing a bunch of ravens from her back.
"Birds. In our brains." Luther tapped the side of his head, "Got it."
I swerved to the side as a raven flew between Luther and I. I couldn't figure out why exactly we were still here.
"Don't forget your tote bags." Ben snapped his fingers, and Alphonso brought out two black bags, with red sparrows on them.
He handed them to us, as I almost scoffed. They threaten to kill us, but then give us leaving gifts? People in the future were beyond weird.
"Hope you enjoyed your stay."
We left without another word, slightly confused by our sudden release. I rumaged through my bag as Luther closed the gate behind us. There were toiletries and random snacks, but my eyes caught sight of a small black box, tied with red ribbon. Curious, I pulled it out and untied the ribbon, before opening the box to reveal multiple tiny sandwiches.
"Hey, did you get these too?" I asked Luther, grinning at the small box. He looked through his bag, but instead of a box, he pulled out a jar labelled 'Cashew Butter'. I smiled at the strange thoughtfulness of the individual gifts.
"Psst!" A whisper echoed as Luther and I looked to each other, "Luther! Hey!"
We spotted Sloane leaning out of a window at the same time. Luther looked at me as if to ask what to do. I smiled at his love-struck face.
"I'll meet you back at the hotel." I grinned, leaving Luther alone with Sloane.
The city was dark, safe for the lights of the cars rushing by. I strolled down the sidewalk, unsure of the way back to the hotel. I decided it was best if I found something to occupy me until day, when the threat of being kidnapped again wasn't so high.
There was a slight breeze, which flowed through my hair and sent a shiver down my spine. I suddenly got the feeling I was being watched, and that was enough for me to run.
The wind caught in my throat as my cheeks burned with the cold breeze against my face. I turned into an alleyway, knowing I could find enough twists and turns to get away. I could faintly hear footsteps close behind, but I couldn't be sure that I wasn't hallucinating. My anxiety was only heightened though, when a shout from the person behind me echoed throughout the alleyway.
"Hey! Hey, girlie!" The voice was slurred and deep, "I just wanna talk to you!"
I kept running, not daring to look back, and continued through the maze of back alleys. I came to a fence, similar to the one I was so used to climbing at home. But there was no dumpster for me to climb onto, to haul myself up and over. In a desperate attempt, I tried to hold onto the wood, but it was sharp and my grip didn't last. Helpless, I turned around to face the figure.
"Relax, girlie. I just wanna talk to you." The figure was concealed in a hoodie so I couldn't see their face.
"Stay the hell away from me..." I choked over my words, my voice coming out much less confident than I'd hoped.
"Or what? You gonna hurt me?"
Somehow I managed a laugh, "Watch me."
The same tight feeling formed in my chest as the alleyway began to glow a faint blue, the light from my hands illuminating the area around us. Like at the Sparrow Academy, a wave of energy sprung from me, though this time I landed on the ground gently, instead of falling to a heap. The man laid still on the concrete.
After I was sure he wasn't about to move, I crept over to him. There was zero sign of movement, and another wave of fear washed over me. Instead of fear for my life, it was fear for his. I tried checking his pulse, but there was nothing. He wasn't breathing either. That was when I noticed the dark puddle forming around his head.
I jumped back in shock. I'd just killed a man. I hadn't meant too, but there was now a dead man lying before me, and it was my fault. Despite fearing my life because of this stranger, I felt more than just guilty. Did he deserve to die? Not really, I don't think so. I didn't mean to kill him, just to hurt him enough so that I could get away. But now I forever had this engraved in my conscience; I was a murderer.
A similar wave of energy to the one that I'd just released, swept over me and back again. And that was all I needed to know that I was in fact, hallucinating. There was no body before me, only the puddle remained. But how could I be sure it was blood, and not just mud or dirt. How could I be sure that the man had ever really existed, and my mind hadn't just been fooling me? It'd all felt so real, but it seemed easier to accept that it was just a hallucination, and that I hadn't actually killed someone.
I hurried back out of the alleyway, back into the light of the city. There was a park not too far off, illuminated with fairy lights. I decided that would be my safest bet.
As I entered, I noticed a familiar shaped shadow leaving from another area. I darted over to Luther, to see him beaming from ear to ear.
"Oh, hey Y/n!" He grinned, "I thought you'd be back at the hotel by now."
"Yeah, I uh, got lost." I came up with an only half false excuse. "You look happy."
He nodded in response, and I decided to keep my mouth shut. I didn't want to find out about whatever had happened between him and Sloane.
"Hey, what's that?" Luther suddenly asked, after we'd been walking in silence for a little while. I looked down at where he was pointing, seeing my hands covered in mud. Or blood. Hopefully mud.
"Nothing." I lied, unconvincingly, "I just fell. That's all."
Luther seemed to buy it, as he made a 'hm' sound, and continued to walk in silence. By the time we got to the hotel, he was still grinning, though by now, he was trying to hide it.
"Little late for a meeting, pal!" Diego called, as we reached the top of the stairs. Diego, Klaus, Allison and Vanya were all crowded around a pool table. I noticed Stan was doing karate in a corner. "Hey, Y/n!" Diego smiled, anad I realized his previous sentence was meant for Luther. I returned the smile.
"We were being held captive," Luther began, as I noticed Vanya's cropped hair. "By the Sparrows."
"What?"
"Wait, did none of you notice?"
A chorus of 'yeah's and 'oh my god's followed, everyone expressing fake concern.
"Did they hurt you?" Allison questioned, making me laugh.
"Who? The Sparrows?" I answered, smiling at how it had been the complete opposite.
"God, no." Luther said, "Not at all. Excellent hosts. Really quite charming, actually." I nodded in agreement. "Oh, and you should see their gym. Outstanding! I really think we got these guys all wrong."
"Says the guy they kidnapped," Allison held up a record with the Sparrows' faces on.
Diego whistled, gaining our attention, "What did they want?"
"Oh. Marcus. He's missing." I answered, "They want him back."
"We don't have him." Vanya shrugged.
"Love the hair, by the way," I smiled at her, and she returned it joyfully.
"Well...damn." Luther muttered, in response to Vanya. "I was kinda hoping we'd solve that one quickly and then move onto problem number two. Disappearing people."
My heart dropped just a little at his last words. So I hadn't been hallucinating. I really was responsible for killing a guy. Shit.
The sound of glass shattering made us all turn out heads towards Stan.
"Uh, it was...it was the wind." He stuttered, causing me to chuckle. His guilty expression was made even more obvious at the sound of my laughter.
"Who's the kid?" Luther asked, at the same time that I greeted, "Hey Stan!"
Stan grinned at me, seemingly happy enough to see me, though he still looked mildly guilty.
"You know him?" Diego wondered aloud. I stared at him confused.
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah...he's my alleged son."
"Son?!" I scoffed in surprise as my jaw dropped open, staring between the two. Holy shit, what did we miss?
"Alleged." Diego corrected, before turning to Stan. He began dragging him away by his ear, muttering something about him learning to be more responsible. I suddenly noticed who was missing from the room.
"Hey, anyone seen Five?"
"Uh, he left just before you arrived." Vanya answered, "He was looking for Lila."
"Wait, Lila's here?" I asked, half shocked.
Vanya nodded, "Yeah. If you catch up to Diego, I'm sure you'll find them."
I nodded in appreciation and hurried after Diego and Stan.
"The biggest thing." Diego said, flipping Stan around to face him, as I approached, "I was becoming a real man."
"Right. Is that why you wear those tight pants?" Stan asked, causing a laugh to escape my lips. I clamped a hand to my mouth, trying to hide me grin, as Diego glared at me. A door opened behind Stan, gaining our attention.
"Lila?" Diego called, as Lila stepped out from the room. "You need to take this kid with you."
I felt bad at the look on Stan's face, but was soon distracted by Five leaving after Lila.
"The hell where you doing in there?" Diego asked suggestively, causing a weird feeling to tug at my heart. My chest ached suddenly.
"Bathing."
"Together?" Diego questioned.
"Hey," I grinned at Five, earning a small smile back.
"Where've you been?" He asked, though he didn't give me any time to answer, "You know what? That doesn't matter right now. Lila and I have important shit to do first."
He slipped past me, leaving me stood awkwardly, staring after him. Diego and Stan followed, but I tuned out the rest of their conversation. I tried not to let it bother me too much, but I couldn't help it. I know he didn't know what had happened, but he could've at least waited to find out. I mean, I was kidnapped-sort of-and then cornered, and I killed a man too. And to top it off, Five basically ignored me and all in the last 12 hours. Could this day get any better?
I carried myself off to the room we were staying in, and collapsed onto the couch, before falling into a long awaited sleep. My dreams that night were filled with images of the man from the alleyway, what might've happened had I not used my powers...
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