I practically kicked the door open to the DAU, making my way down the familiar hallway to the meeting room, Dex and Kristie following behind me. I must have been going really fast because they had trouble keeping up with me.
I placed my palm against the glass beside the door and it slid open just like it always did. And unsurprisingly, the rest of my teammates and my mentors were there waiting for us.
When we had called them in the warehouse, Hank and Nay both couldn't make it because they were dealing with what had been going on at the school, so they had other members of the DAU come and pick us up. But now, they were here. And I had a lot of questions for them.
I was determined as I made a beeline right for them. They seemed surprised by my sudden entrance.
"What's wrong with me?" I demanded immediately.
Aiden blinked from the chair he was sitting in. "That's a pretty long list."
But Hank and Nay seemed to understand what I was saying. They looked at each other and seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes. This just pissed me off even more.
"Tell me what's wrong with me!" I ordered, my hands balling into fists at my side. "Why did my eyes turn black? Why did my birthmark glow red? Why are these things happening to me."
Nay shook her head. "Violet, right now really isn't the time-"
"I think right now is the perfect time," I interrupted, fed up with not knowing this information about myself.
Both Aiden and Anthony seemed confused, since they had not been in the warehouse when everything had happened to me. But what they thought wasn't what mattered to me right then. I wanted to know what Hank and Nay had been keeping from me.
"Violet..." Nay let out a deep breath as she thought of what to say to me. "We'll tell you everything you need to know in a moment. We have other things we need to take care of right now."
I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until I finally let out a huge gust of breath. I wasn't going to argue with them and tell them they needed to tell me right at that moment. They were going to give me what I wanted and I just had to be patient.
"Fine," I gave in. "Go ahead."
"First, I want the three of you to change," Nay told us, referring to the three of us that had just arrived. "Your clothes are ruined."
Even though I really didn't want to, I did as I was told. It was true that our clothes were ruined from the fights we had had, and I could only imagine how Anthony and Aiden's clothes looked before they came back and changed.
Kristie and I went to our room and Dex went to his. Kristie changed a lot quicker than I did, much to my surprise, and she went back to the meeting room without me. I pulled on a tank top and jeans, turning to look at myself in the mirror once I was done.
I couldn't help but feel disgusted with what I saw in the mirror, and not because of my appearance like I usually was. I was disgusted with my actions. Disgusted with whatever I was. I didn't feel insecure or inadequate any longer. I felt like a monster.
My hair was messy and my makeup was running. I wiped away at it but it did no good. I tried to soothe out my hair with my hands, but that didn't do much either. I needed to take a shower. But I had no time for that right then.
I was the last one of my three teammates to arrive back inside the meeting room, and I was glad that I was so I wouldn't have to wait. I took a seat beside Kristie and waited for Hank and Nay to speak.
Dex leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. He was staring at me. I didn't really know how to react to that.
"We have Lynx in custody," Hank informed us, and I didn't really know how to feel about this information. "Anthony and I stayed behind after we were able to detain her and erased everyone's memory of the event. Everyone now thinks that the gym was destroyed by a fire caused by faulty wiring."
"But what about Vanessa?" I couldn't help but ask. "She had a video of me... uh... kind of using my powers."
Before Hank or Nay could even react to that information, Anthony rose his hand. "I took care of that," he answered, and I could have hugged him. "I took her phone and deleted the video. I also erased her memory of what happened in the store so she won't go looking for it again."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
Nay turned toward me now, her hands on her hips. "That may be out of the way, but your friend is still on the loose."
I knew exactly who she was talking about, and it made my skin crawl. I was disgusted with myself for ever liking Tom. I hated him for tricking me.
"He's not my friend," I scowled.
Dex seemed to pout just a little bit. "He almost was."
"Dex, please." Nay covered her eyes with her hand as if she was getting a headache. "This is no time for your jealous comments."
"Point for Nay," Aiden muttered to Anthony, who snickered.
"Aiden," Nay began, and Dex smirked before Nay even said her comment. "Must we discuss your behavior when Kristie was asked to the dance by several different boys before the dance was even announced?"
Aiden sunk down in his seat. "And another point for Nay..."
"We have no idea where Tom may be," Hank said, and I couldn't help but feel kind of bad that I let him get away. "But we're guaranteeing that you five will see him again so it's not something we're really worrying about."
"What we're really worried about, however, is the fact that Malicius is dead," Nay continued for him, her demeanor suddenly changing at the mention of Malicius. She turned toward me. "We know you didn't mean to do it, Violet, but you still have to be punished for your actions."
I nodded. "I know."
"Personally, I'm glad the bastard's dead," Dex shrugged, clearly not caring at all that Malicius had died.
"Well, right now isn't a time where your personal feelings matter, Dex!" Nay almost shouted at him, surprising everyone around her with her outburst.
"Really?" Aiden spoke up, a flat look on his face as he stared at Nay. "Because you sure seem to be having some personal feelings right now."
"I thought you hated Malicius, Nay," Kristie frowned.
"I could never hate Eric-" she began, but then cut herself off when she realized her mistake. "I... I mean... Malicius."
Hank shook his head. "It's understandable that you're upset, Nay," he told her, seeming a little down himself. "He was our friend. A friend we weren't able to save in the end."
Nay's eyes were red and watery. I never thought I would see her in such a vulnerable state. When Lena had been in danger with her stalker, Nay hadn't cried. She'd been angry and protective. But now, she was sad...
I could tell she didn't want to cry in front of us. Nay was probably one of the strongest women I had ever met, and she knew that. She didn't want to show any emotions she found to be weak.
She covered her eyes with her hands and grinded her teeth. She didn't want to cry. Especially not in front of all of us. She thought she was supposed to be strong for the rest of us, but she was breaking down right before our eyes.
"I just thought... that maybe some day... we could have saved him," she whispered, and this was only making me feel worse, even though I knew that wasn't her intention. "But now... Now we'll never get that chance."
"Nay..." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I'd cried enough that night already. "I'm sorry..."
She looked up at me and shook head head, blowing her nose into a handkerchief that Hank handed her. "No, Violet," she sniffed. "I know you didn't mean to do it."
I was really thankful that she and Hank weren't angry with me. They knew that I hadn't killed Malicius on purpose. And they clearly didn't blame me for what I'd done.
"I think we need a moment to think about what exactly we're going to do," Nay sighed, still trying her best to compose herself. I was about to speak before she cut me off. "Violet, we're still going to tell you what you want to know. I just... I need a moment."
I didn't blame her. Even though I was annoyed with the fact that I had to wait even longer, I respected her decision. She was obviously having an emotional reaction to the fact that her old friend was dead.
Suddenly, Hank's phone began to ring in his pocket. He pulled it out, looked at the caller ID, and blinked in confusion.
"Who's calling you?" Nay asked him.
"Alice," he answered, and when he saw how confused my teammates and I were since we didn't know who Alice was, he explained. "She's the head of the criminals in custody unit of the DAU."
He answered the phone and said hello to her. No doubt this had something to do with Lynx, though I knew she wasn't the only criminal we had locked up at that moment. I hadn't even known we had members of Redrum and other villains locked up on this property as well. Our team was on such a small part of the land and I always forgot that there was so much more.
I waited as Alice said something to him on the other line and Hank took a step away from us so we could no longer hear his conversation. I had absolutely no idea what Alice could have been calling for and it bothered me slightly.
Hank finished the call with Alice and turned toward me. "She's on her way to come get you now, Violet," he told me, and I only grew even more confused. "Lynx would like to speak with you."
I gulped. To be honest, I really wanted to talk to Lynx as well, which was something I never expected to want to do in my life. She probably hated me more than ever. But I wanted her to know that I hadn't meant to kill Malicius.
Yeah, it probably was crazy, but that didn't matter to me right then. I killed her teammate and now she was in custody. She most likely was the angriest she had ever been, so I probably seemed like a complete idiot for wanting to see her right then. But I just... had to tell her the truth. It wouldn't feel right if I didn't.
Not that any of this felt right at all anyway... I still killed a person, even if it was Malicius.
A few minutes later, the door slid open and a women with short brown hair made her way inside. She was dressed in a pantsuit that was similar to Nay's and pumps that made her tower over almost everyone in the room.
She beckoned me over to her, and I glanced at Hank and Nay as if to make sure that it was okay for me to go with her. They nodded so I turned back around and followed after Alice out of the room and down the hall toward the front door.
I was surprised when I saw a black car sitting before us, and Alice opened the door and gestured for me to get in the back. I did as I was told and got inside, Alice following behind me.
I didn't know the DAU was big enough that we had to drive to her buildings inside of it. I knew that it was big, but not that big. How many other teams were training along with us? Who else was there with us? Was the Director somewhere as well?
"Violet, I need you to know that we don't blame you for what happened with Malicius," Alice informed me as the car began to move. "We understand completely that it was an accident and you hadn't meant to kill him."
I only nodded, not saying anything to this. Even though I hadn't meant to kill him, I had definitely wanted to. I had gotten so angry and I couldn't even control what I was doing until it was too late.
We said nothing else to each other during the drive, which lasted about five minutes. She could tell I wasn't really in the mood to talk. I still didn't know what was wrong with me and I'd soon find out after I talked to Lynx.
"I want you to know you'll be completely safe while in the room with Lynx," Alice informed me as she gestured for me to get out of the car. She followed right after me. "She's wearing handcuffs that disable her powers so she is practically as harmless as a human."
For some reason, that made me think of Tom. He wasn't so harmless. But he also wasn't a human.
I followed her into another building of the DAU. It was strange, because I'd never been in any other part of the DAU. It was such a large place with so many people that I didn't even realize existed.
I walked behind Alice down the hallway, passing so many other people as they walked down the hallway the other way. I kept my eyes on the ground so I wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. I couldn't help but feel out of place and uncomfortable. Everyone else around me was more experienced and older.
We stopped at a door and I looked inside the window on it and there she was. Lynx. She sat at a table, her cuffed hands on the table in front of her. She looked very annoyed.
I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. I didn't know how she'd react to seeing me. I'd killed her partner...
"No need to be nervous," Alice smiled, as if reading my mind. "Everything's going to be okay."
I knew she was right. But I still felt nervous. I just couldn't help it. Alice opened the door and I followed her inside.
"Well, look who it is," Lynx sneered as I walked through the door. "A murderer!"
I knew she was trying to get to me, and I didn't blame her. I knew what she was saying was one hundred percent correct. I hadn't meant to kill Malicius, but I still did.
Alice gestured to the seat across from the table Lynx was sitting at. I slowly sat down, feeling uneasy and unsure. Lynx didn't look as angry as I thought she'd be.
"We'll be monitoring you from outside," Alice informed me as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "You can leave whatever you'd like."
I nodded at her and she left the room, leaving me all alone with Lynx, even though technically I wasn't alone since they were monitoring us in the other room. But it still felt weird to be all alone in a room with Lynx in such a calm setting.
Her eyes were narrowed as she stared at me across the table. I felt more uncomfortable than I ever had around her before.
"I don't really know what to say," I informed her honestly.
Lynx rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
Silence engulfed us again. I felt awkward and stared down at my shaking fingers in my lap. I still didn't know what to say to her. I hated it, but I felt ashamed.
"The people who work here are pretty stupid," Lynx smirked, saving me from having to say something myself. She then leaned in to whisper, "They don't seem to realize I can easily pick the lock with my nails."
I couldn't help but push my chair back just a little bit.
She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm not going to attack you. They'd bust in here and stop me before I could do any real damage anyway."
She was right; I shouldn't have been scared. I also had my powers to protect me, so I knew she was unable to hurt me. It still made me feel a little uneasy, however.
"I want you to know I didn't mean to kill Malicius," I mumbled, my voice quiet as I spoke to her. "I didn't want to... I just... I couldn't..."
"Look, I'm not mad at you," Lynx drawled, leaning back in her chair uncaringly. "Malicius was an idiot for getting himself killed."
I swallowed. "You're... not mad?"
She shook her head. "Nope. Not at all."
I couldn't believe it. If one of my teammates had been killed, I would have been furious. I would have hated whoever was the one who killed them. Even if it was Aiden, who I couldn't stand most of the time.
"That's all I wanted to tell you," she shrugged, waving me away as she continued to lean back in her chair. "You can go now. Maybe I'll see you around."
I still had no idea what I was supposed to say, but it didn't even matter anymore because neither of us had anything else to say to each other. So I stood up, nodded at her, and turned to leave.
"Hey, Violet," she called out, stopping me in my tracks. I turned toward her and was surprised to see her smiling. "Be careful of who you trust."
And there she went, leaving me speechless once again. What was I supposed to even say to that? What did she even mean? I knew she wouldn't answer if I asked her. So I only nodded at her once again and finally left the room, security guards shutting the door behind me once I was out.
I looked down the hall to see Alice was waiting by the front door for me. When she saw me, she waved me over. It was time to go back to the one part of the DAU I knew. It was finally time for me to know what was wrong with me.
I made my way down the hallway, dodging everyone who got in my way. I couldn't stop thinking about the girl I had just left behind. I wondered what they'd do to Lynx now that she was in custody. Would they ever let her go, or would she be locked up forever? And what did that mean, exactly?
Suddenly, people began to run by me to the direction I had just came from. I turned to see where all these people were running to, and I was shocked when I saw that they were running to the room Lynx was in, the room I'd just came out of.
I grabbed onto the arm of one of the people that were running by me, no longer feeling scared of all the older people around me. "Hey, what just happened?" I questioned.
The guy I grabbed wriggled his arm from my grasp so he could continue on his way. "That cat girl in custody just took her own life," he told me.
I grabbed onto him again. "What?"
"She used her nails to slit her own throat," he explained, removing himself from my grasp once again and continuing on his way to Lynx's room.
I stood there, completely in shock over what that man had just told me. Now... Now Lynx was dead? Why would she kill herself? Why would she do something like that?
Alice hurried me out of the building, practically pushing me into the car. Neither of us had anything to say to each other on the way back. I was in complete and total shock. Lynx was dead. Malicius and Lynx were both dead.
We stopped in front of the front door of the building kept specifically for my teammates and me. It seemed so much smaller than the rest of the large buildings around us. I just sat there for a moment, unable to believe that any of this was true. The two people my teammates and I had been fighting since nearly the beginning were dead.
I quietly said goodbye to Alice before getting out of the car and making my way back inside. I needed to go to the meeting room. I needed answers from Hank and Nay.
When I got inside the meeting room, I saw that all of my teammates and my mentors were still there. They looked just as shocked as I felt. They must have heard what had happened.
"What are we going to do now?" Aiden asked, and I wasn't sure if it was a rhetorical question or not. None of us answered him.
Silence surrounded us and none of us said a thing. It wasn't our job to kill the members of Redrum we were fighting. They didn't have that rule, but that was why we were the good guys and they were the bad guys. But now two members of Redrum were dead, one by my hand and one by her own.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong with me?" I finally spoke up after what felt like hours of silence.
"As long as you stop saying that something's wrong with you," Nay frowned, her eyebrows furrowing at me. "There's nothing wrong with you, Violet, you're just... different."
"Then what am I?" I demanded, completely fed up with being left in the dark when I was the one person that should have known the most. "How am I different?"
Hank and Nay said nothing, only looking at each other. They seemed to be having another silent conversation with their eyes, and it drove me crazy. Why weren't they talking?
"You guys promised that you would tell me!" I exclaimed.
My friends were completely silent as they sat there watching this unfold. They were all sitting now, with my mentors and me being the only ones standing in the room. It totally felt like a standoff.
"Violet, you're..." Nay started, letting out a long breath as if to brace herself for what she was about to say. "You're something that we call... an Ender."
I had absolutely no idea what this was. "I'm an... Ender?"
"It's a rare type of superhuman," Hank explained. "And the most powerful kind."
"Well, that's not fair." Aiden sunk down in his seat and pouted. "Why does Violet get to be the most powerful in our group? I wish I was an Ender!"
"Say that to your father and see how he reacts to that," Nay snapped, clearly annoyed by Aiden's comment. "No one wants to be an Ender. It can be incredibly dangerous. Since Redrum has been founded, it's become even more dangerous than it was before."
"Why's that?" Kristie asked for me.
"They want all the Enders to themselves so that they're the most powerful," Hank sighed, and I was still taking the whole Ender thing in. "Malicius and Lynx clearly knew that Violet was an Ender so I'm sure other members of Redrum do as well."
I felt a twang of nervousness flash through me. "Are they going to come after me or something?"
Hank frowned. "We can't entirely be sure."
I didn't know what I was even supposed to say. I was powerful; one of the most powerful superhumans in the world... But what did that even mean? What would I even do with that?
"That's why it's so difficult for you to control your powers sometimes," Nay continued to explain. "They're too powerful for you to control. When you get angry, it gets even more difficult."
I found all of this too hard to believe. Why was I an Ender, of all people?
"How do you know that that's what I am?" I questioned.
"Well, other than being unable to control your powers, the black eyes, and the glowing birthmark, you have a few other signs as well," Hank informed me. "You have bullet proof skin and you heal quicker than a normal superhuman does."
Nay held her finger up to get my attention. "You can tell how people feel toward each other also, can't you?"
I felt very annoyed with the fact that she was correct. "I... I... Maybe."
I didn't pay attention to that power of mine much considering it was useless for seeing how people felt toward me and that was honestly was I actually cared about. I felt like it was completely useless.
"So, what? Am I some sort of monster?"
"No, you're not a monster," Hank assured with a shake of his head. "You're just more powerful than regular superhumans."
"Why are they called Enders?" Aiden inquired before I could even think about asking that question.
"Because it's believed that they are so powerful that they can end the world," Nay explained with a shrug, as if it was no big deal at all. This only terrified me even more. "I don't know who came up with the name."
"Does that mean one of my parents were Enders?" I asked.
Nay shook her head. "No, it happens completely at random," she informed me. "No one knows how it happens or why it happens to certain people. It doesn't matter if you never had an Ender in your family, you could still be an Ender. It isn't hereditary so if you're one, it doesn't mean your kids will be one."
Silence filled the room once again and we all said nothing. I was still trying to take it all in. My friends were trying to make sense of it all. Hank and Nay just didn't have anything else to say on the matter.
I was an Ender... That was what was wrong with me. I couldn't control my powers, and when I got angry, it was even more difficult to control. I didn't even really know how to react to any of this information.
Hank and Nay seemed to have something else they wanted to discuss with us, and I didn't really mind changing the subject from all this Ender business. I'd had enough to deal with in one day.
"Hank and I decided what we're going to do with you all," Nay began, turning away from me and toward the rest of my teammates. "We've decided it's about time you five had a break from each other."
Aiden's eyes went wide. "What?"
"A break," she repeated. "It's about summer time and school is ending. For the next three months, you five are going to be separated from each other."
"Aiden, you're going to go home and see your family," Hank told our team's leader, and he actually seemed kind of happy about that, until he then realized that meant he wasn't going to see Kristie for three months.
"As will you, Anthony," Nay declared to our nerdier teammate.
He shrugged. "That's fine. I'll probably end up taking some summer classes as well."
Dex rolled his eyes. "Of course you will."
Before Hank or Nay could tell Kristie what she was doing, she spoke up. "I want to try to find out some stuff about my past," she told them.
Nay nodded. "That's what we had planned for you. We'll have other mentors of the DAU join you."
"Do you even know where to start?" Hank asked her.
"I'm going to go back to the hospital Aiden and Anthony found me at and work back from there," she shrugged, and she didn't really seem to realize how difficult this quest most likely was. "They had to have found me somewhere, and once I find out where, that's where I'll go next."
It made sense, and I hoped she'd be able to find things out about her past. It must have really sucked to not know anything about your past or your family. Even though my parents were dead, at least I knew them. Kristie had absolutely no memory of anyone at all.
Nay turned toward Dex, but before she could even speak, he cut her off.
"I want to go search for my mom," he said, and I could tell that this wasn't something he was willing to negotiate about. "I'm sure my aunt will help me. There's no way in hell I'm going back to my adoptive family."
Nay let out a sigh. "If that's what you want to do..."
My two mentors now turned toward me. I couldn't help but feel incredibly small under their gaze, even after finding out I was one of the most powerful superhumans in the world. Hank and Nay could still make me feel little.
I didn't have anywhere to go. The last place I wanted to go was to my last foster home. I never wanted to be locked up in a tiny room ever again.
And I didn't want to be away from superhumans now that I knew that I wasn't a... regular superhuman. As weird as that sounded.
"Violet, you don't have a choice on where you're going," Nay informed me before I could even speak, and this confused me greatly. "Even though you didn't mean to, you still killed a member of Redrum which is against the biggest rule of the DAU. You're going to be under probation and you must stay here for the next three months."
Probation had such a negative connotation that I probably should have been upset about this, but I wasn't. As long as I was here, even though I'd be away from my friends, I'd get answers. And answers were what I truly needed.
"Also, during that time, we're going to train you as much as we can to control your powers more now that you know you're an Ender," she continued, and Aiden seemed really disappointed by the fact that he was going to miss out on training. Hank stuck his tongue out at him.
I was going to be separated from my teammates, my friends, for three months. And I was going to be stuck in the DAU all alone for that entire time. I wasn't so sure how I felt about that. It was so much better than being locked in my own room, but being here without my friends would just be... weird.
"You four go pack your bags," Nay ordered to my teammates. "You'll be leaving tonight."
My friends filed out of the room and I followed after them, even though I didn't have to pack and I wasn't going anywhere. I just didn't want to be in the meeting room alone with Hank and Nay. They still seemed like they needed time to deal with Malicius's death.
I watched my friends' backs as they made their way down the hall. I wasn't going to see them for three months. That felt like such a long time, even though in the long run, it really wasn't. But we'd been together for so long, almost a year... How would it be like to not see them every single day?
"Hey, Dex," I called out after him once our other teammates had gone into their rooms. He stopped and turned toward me, and I suddenly became tongue-tied. I didn't even know what I wanted to say to him.
"Looks like we're going to be away from each other for awhile," he frowned, and I could tell he was just as upset about it as I was. "Really sucks considering we just... you know..."
I nodded. "Yeah," I stammered, practically choking on my own words. "It really sucks..."
Dex's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you okay, Violet?"
"I just really hope you don't find some other girl while you're gone," I blurted, feeling ridiculously embarrassed for even saying that out loud.
Dex flicked me in the forehead. "Hey, the only girl I'll be finding is my mother," he smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back slightly. "And at the end of those three months, I'll be coming back to you."
I'd seen how Dex acted around girls he found attractive, but I wasn't nervous in the slightest. I knew he truly cared about me and I had nothing to worry about. He would definitely be coming back to me.
"I'll see you," he smirked, ruffling my hair. I made a face at him. "Stay beautiful."
I couldn't help but smile. "Did you really just say that?"
"You know, I tried not to make it cheesy, but it kind of just came out," he replied, seeming a little embarrassed by what he'd just said, but he didn't regret it.
I stretched up on my toes and kissed him. "I'll see you in three months."
He nodded. "I'll see you in three months."
And then we parted and he made his way into his room to pack, leaving me in the hallway all by myself. I'd be all by myself for quite a while. I didn't want to go into my room and disturb Kristie while she packed, and I didn't want to go back into the meeting room and disturb Hank and Nay.
So I went into the exercise room and began to train. Something told me I was going to need it.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
The end.
Wait, whaaaaat? But how? We just found out what was wrong with Violet! The team's been split up! Violet and Dex haven't admitted their love for each other yet!
Yes, that's because the story isn't over just yet. There's one last and final book. The trailer has been attached to the chapter.
The story is predictably called Enders.
And I could really, really, really use a cover for it so if you're up for making one, please private message me! I'll make a shoutout in an author's note mentioning everyone who makes me one because I'm in desperate need of one. The book can't go up without a cover lol.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck with these stories. I hope you continue to read on through the rest of Violet's adventure. <3