The next morning, Nyx left Nate's room quietly so as to not wake him. A small bit of movement caught her eye down the hall, she looked to see Orion for the first time since they all got back.
"Hey, where have you been?" She asked him, catching his attention. Orion shuffled uncomfortably for a moment and was struggling to look Nyx in the eye.
"I uh...I'm not sure I belong here, that's all." He said quietly as he glanced at her. Nyx narrowed her eyes slightly before she turned her body towards him.
"What makes you think that?" She asked him as she raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it's just...everyone here keeps staring at me. They look at me like I'm a criminal, I mean, they're right but..." Orion trailed off and didn't finish his sentence.
"They are not right, Orion." Nyx said with a calm tone, causing Orion to look up at her with a nervous curl to his lips. "You of all people should know that you aren't to blame for any of this. Kuroi was the one who forced you into this, you didn't have a choice. I probably would've done the same thing if I was in your situation." Nyx spoke calmly to try and alleviate some of Orion's worries. It seemed to work slightly, his shoulders relaxed and he took a deep breath. Nyx approached him slowly and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, bud. It'll get easier, you're still new here. And if anyone ever gives you any trouble, come find one of us and we'll throw them out the nearest window." Nyx said with a small smile, Orion tensed for a moment before a nervous smile spread across his lips.
"Thanks." He said quietly with a nod before he walked down the hall to go outside.
Nyx watched him leave until she couldn't see him anymore, she stared off into space for a moment before she turned and entered her room. Nyx closed her door behind her and lifted her shirt up over her head. She dropped the shirt into the ground as she walked into her bathroom. She needed a shower, even if it meant she was alone with her thoughts. She turned on the water and finished stripping out of her stale clothes. After she had adjusted the water to a comfortable temperature, she stepped inside. The subtle headache she had almost instantly subsided as the hot water pelted her head and ran down her back. Nyx closed her eyes as the warmth started to soothe her troubled mind, but it still started to wander. Mostly, she was worried about Oliver, which confused her. He was such a sarcastic and vindictive ass, but she was still worried. The fear she felt when Oliver was split open from Orion's dragons...the realization she had when he was on the verge of death and only told her to run. He had rushed her back to Sanctuary after Kuroi ran her through, didn't even wash the blood of his hands before he knew she was okay...but now he was avoiding her, even acting rudely towards her.
After Nyx had finished cleaning herself, she stepped out of the shower as she wrapped a thick black towel around herself. Her attention was quickly caught by her phone screen lighting up from an incoming text. She looked at the screen and saw a message from her mother.
Come to my office as soon as possible, I have a new mission for you.
Nyx groaned softly as she shut her eyes, she was irritated that her mother wasn't giving her more time to recover. Then, she thought that it may be possible that this was a mission that was rather important, so she was entrusting it to Nyx and Oliver. Well, it'll give me a chance to talk to him. She thought to herself as she stepped out of her bathroom to get her clothes. After getting dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a black tank top, she opened the top drawer of her nightstand and pulled out a hair tie. She pulled up her long black hair into a ponytail before she picked up her phone and slid it into her back pocket.
As Nyx stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby, she ran into Rhys. "Oh, hey. What have you been up to?" She asked him casually as they stopped in the lobby to chat.
"Eh, I've just been around..." Rhys answered her in a flat tone. Nyx narrowed her eyes, she could immediately tell that Rhys was hiding something.
"Rhys, what's the matter." Nyx almost demanded that he answer her, she was sick of people tip toeing around her and hiding things. Rhys rolled his eyes gently before he looked back at Nyx. He knew that Nyx wasn't stupid.
"I...might have blown up on Soul." Rhys admitted as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Nyx threw her head back with a groan before she crossed her arms.
"What the hell did you do?" Nyx asked him in a scolding tone. Rhys continued to avert his eyes, Rhys wasn't exactly used to feeling this type of embarrassment. Typically, if it were anyone else grilling him he wouldn't mind, but he knew for a fact that Nyx could kick his ass. So he had to be careful about what he said.
"I was pissed, alright? She ran off to her family and it almost got us both killed. Did you forget that?" He asked her rhetorically as he raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I didn't forget, but thanks for the reminder." Nyx responded to him in an irritated sarcastic tone before she walked past him towards her mother's office. Rhys didn't say anything else, he knew that she was done with the conversation anyway.
Nyx approached the door to her mother's office and swiftly stepped inside. To her surprise and slight disappointment, she didn't see Oliver standing there at her desk. It was a guy that she recognized from around campus, but had never really spoken to. He had pink hair in a spiky undercut and his eyes were blue, creating a unique contrast. The boy turned around to look at her and his face gave the impression that he didn't want to be here.
"Uh...where's Oliver?" Nyx asked as she approached her mother's desk.
Elizabeth took a deep breath before she answered. "Oliver has asked me to switch partners for the time being. This is Kyle, he-"
"Wait, Oliver switched partners?" Nyx sounded hurt for a moment before she tried to mask it behind anger.
"Yes. He stated that he wanted some space away from you, but wouldn't specify why." Elizabeth answered with an impatient tone.
"Trust me, I'm not happy about this arrangement either." Kyle said in an irritated tone. "I don't need to be slowed down by some bleeding heart."
"Oh great, so I get paired up with another dickhead?" Nyx gestured to Kyle as she spoke to her mother.
"Enough!" Elizabeth yelled suddenly and the two standing at her desk shut right up before glaring at each other. "You two are going on this mission because it's important and that's that. Now..." Elizabeth paused and typed something on her keyboard before the light screen appeared in front of them both. The screen showed a small abandoned warehouse that wasn't familiar to Nyx. "Two days ago, a child went missing from a shopping mall in the city. The circumstances of the event were highly suspicious and I suspected that a Gifted was behind the abduction. I was correct." The photo changed to a picture of a small boy with black hair, maybe five or six years old. "This is the boy we're searching for, I have Intel that suggests he is being held in the warehouse I showed previously. You will be tasked with rescuing the child and taking in the Gifted individual alive. Is that clear?"
"Yeah, got it." Nyx responded. Elizabeth looked at Kyle and waited for him to speak.
"Fine, yes." Kyle finally said with a groan before he turned around and began walking out of the room. Nyx closed her eyes with a long sigh.
"Nyx, please keep an eye on Kyle. Don't let him get under your skin." Elizabeth said quietly as she looked at her daughter with soft eyes.
"Hey! Let's go!" Kyle yelled impatiently before Nyx glared back at him. She followed him out of the room towards the parking lot to go to the warehouse.
Nerissa walked down the hallway towards the yard, her head slightly hung as her mind wandered. Her mind flashed back to her sitting in her room a few nights prior. She could hear Rhys laying into Soul about what happened in the Erebus Estate. While Nerissa understood Rhys' anger, she didn't really think that Soul deserved to be yelled at like that. Maybe Rhys...wasn't as kind as she thought. When she got outside she walked around the side of the building and tensed when she saw Orion.
"Oh, hello." Nerissa said quietly as he looked at her. He only smiled gently in response, Nerissa walked over and leaned against the wall next to him. "How come you're here all by yourself?"
"Well, I couldn't find Danny. So I thought that it would be better if I could just stay away from the people as much as possible." Orion answered as he looked down.
"Ya know, Danny isn't the only person you should feel safe around." Nerissa said as she leaned her head down to try and catch his eyes. Orion looked up slightly with a small shred of hope in his eyes. Nerissa smiled slightly, understanding the lost child look that Danny had described.
"Orion, you can and should feel safe around all of us. I get that it might not happen overnight but...you're one of us now." Nerissa said happily with a warm smile on her face, shoving down her own bad feelings for the moment in order to make him feel better. "You want to come hang out in my room for a bit? I have a TV."
Orion's eyes lit up for a moment, "A TV? I've never watched TV before...sure." He said with another small warm smile, Nerissa waved him to follow her and the two went inside. Nerissa was determined to help this lost boy feel more at home here at Sanctuary.
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Nyx and Kyle pulled up a few buildings away from the warehouse and Nyx turned off the car. "So, what's the plan?" She turned and asked her new partner.
"Plan? It's some inexperienced Gifted who kidnapped some brat. We'll be in and out in five minutes." Kyle said before he left the car and started walking down the sidewalk. Nyx growled softly in anger before she got out of the car and jogged to catch up with him before she blocked his path with her body.
"Hey! A child's life is in danger here, and I will not let some Gifted dickhead with a God complex endanger that child even more!" Nyx said angrily in his face.
Kyle's face twisted in anger. "A God complex, huh? Let me tell you something, princess-"
"Do NOT call me that." Nyx interrupted him as she gripped his collar and pulled him towards her. Kyle grinned widely before he swiped his hands up and broke the hold she had on his shirt.
"This type of mission is nothing compared to what I've dealt with. What I don't need, is some bleeding heart getting in my way." Kyle growled in her face, Nyx understood immediately that he was trying to psych her out and maybe even scare her. Unfortunately for him, Nyx wasn't scared by a lot of things anymore, especially not some punk.
"If you get that child killed, you're gunna have a lot MORE to deal with, got me?" Nyx spat out in Kyle's face. His lips curled into a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Whatever you say, princess." He said after he raised his hands up slowly. Nyx turned around and walked towards the warehouse and the two got lower as they approached one of the side windows. Nyx peeked inside and immediately spotted the kidnapper and the missing child inside. The child was sitting on the ground and staring off into space with wide eyes. He was tied up in thick ropes, it seemed like this was being used as a sort of holding space for human traffickers. Nyx's eyes drifted to the kidnapper, he was much taller than her so there was a good chance that he was older. His hood was up but she could see long black hair falling from the hood. Her lip curled in disgust.
She watched as the man suddenly looked to the left and stood at a ready position, Nyx followed the man's eyes before she noticed Kyle wasn't behind her anymore. He was standing inside the room as casually as can be, hands stuffed in his pants pockets. Nyx cursed out loud before she ran around the building and inside the same door Kyle entered through. The kidnapper looked at Nyx when she ran inside and Nyx saw that her hunch was correct. He was easily in his late 30s and had a thin, unkept beard. He looked very messy, like he hadn't showered in days.
The stranger stepped back until he was next to the child and he lifted his hand. A small ball of red energy coalesced in his hand before it started growing until it was about the size of a softball. He held his hand towards the child, who stiffened and whimpered in fear. "Stay back!" He yelled at the two.
Nyx stiffened but Kyle didn't shift his casual stance, but his eyes hardened on the man. "Why?" He asked the man with a slightly tilted tone before he started slowly walking towards the man and child. Nyx's eyes widened as she watched the situation. The stranger tightened his posture and brought the red ball closer to the child's head.
"Stop now or I'll kill him!" The man yelled with a slightly shaking tone.
"Ya see, that wouldn't be a good idea, now would it?" Kyle said after he stopped advancing. "Sure, you can kill the kid, but then I'll just kill you." Kyle gestured towards the man as he spoke and Nyx narrowed her eyes. She still had no idea what Kyle's Gift was, but her heart was racing from the tense situation. She shifted her foot to the right to try and slowly move around them, hoping that the stranger was distracted.
"Hey!" Nyx heard the man yell before he shot a red ball to her right, where it exploded next to her. Nyx quickly held up her arms to shield her eyes from the flying concrete. "You stay right there!" She looked back over at the stranger and saw Kyle turned around slightly, looking back at her with eyes that spoke volumes. Stay there. His eyes screamed at her. Nyx gulped and stayed put as she raised her hands slowly.
"You do know that we can't just leave, right?" Kyle said after he turned around to face the man again. "So why don't you fight me instead? Unless you think you're too weak." Kyle said with a confident tone as he lifted his chin. The man's lip curled before he shouted loudly as he brought his hand forward and away from the kid and pointed it right at Kyle. He shot the large red ball at him and it exploded hugely at his feet, causing a huge cloud of dust to obscure Nyx's vision of Kyle.
She brought down her arm after blocking her eyes from cement debris. "Kyle?!" She yelled out in concern. When the dust cleared she saw Kyle still standing there, completely unharmed.
"What the fuck?" The stranger said out loud as Kyle had a cocky grin plastered on his face. He sent another ball at Kyle and it exploded in a huge cloud of smoke and dust. Once again, Kyle stepped out of the dust cloud, unharmed and smiling.
"What the hell is going on?!" The man shouted loudly in frustration. The man gasped when he saw Kyle suddenly fade away and crumble into streams of digitizing energy.
"You know," The man whipped around to look at Kyle who was behind him. He slung the child over his shoulder as his eyes faded from glowing neon pink to their normal shade of blue. "You're really dumb, you know that?" The man quickly sent another bright red ball of raw energy at Kyle and it went straight through him. His body broke apart in digital clumps yet again, before he spoke again from the right of the stranger. "Nyx, must I do EVERYTHING myself?"
Nyx was broken out of her awe filled staring and quickly reacted. She shifted behind the stranger in the blink of an eye, a few feet into the air with her leg pulled back. She quickly grunted in exertion as she kicked the man in the side of his head with incredible force. He flew across the warehouse before slamming into the wall with a thunderous boom. Nyx lowered her body down to the ground and the violet hue around her faded. Silence filled the room as Kyle lowered the child from his shoulder.
"Took you long enough." Kyle said in an irritated tone as he flicked open an old flip phone to call someone to retrieve the kidnapper. Nyx ignored his snide remark as she kneeled down in front of the trembling child and gently gripped a strand of rope that was wrapped around the boy. Her hands glowed violet before she tore the rope like it was made of tissue paper. She looked the child in his eyes as she gripped the edge of the tape that was covering his mouth.
"Hold your breath, okay? This is gunna sting." Nyx said in a soft tone, the boy nodded before Nyx heard him inhale through his nose and hold it as he clamped his eyes shut. Nyx counted down before she ripped the tape off his mouth, he yelped quietly but didn't make another sound. "Well, look at you, you're pretty tough, little man." She said with a small smile.
"Thank you for saving me...you guys are like superheroes!" The boy said excitedly as he looked between the two of them. Kyle had the faint hint of a smile on his face before it faded just as fast.
Nyx glanced up at Kyle before she looked back at the young boy. "Hey, bud. Where do your parents live?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nyx watched as the young boy ran up to his front door and knocked on it quickly. After a few seconds the front door opened and Nyx's eyes misted at the look of pure joy on the mother's face. For the first time in...ever, Nyx felt happy to be Gifted. She felt like she really made a difference, this...felt worth it. Nyx pressed on the gas and pulled away from the curb, it was silent in the car for a while before Nyx got curious and couldn't keep it in anymore. "So, how did you do that?" She asked as she adjusted her grip on the steering wheel.
"Oh, so now you're interested in my Gift?" Kyle responded accusingly as he turned his head slightly to look at her.
Nyx scoffed slightly as she glanced at him, "Forget I asked." She mumbled in an exhausted tone. It was silent for another 30 seconds before Kyle spoke again.
"My Gift is illusions." Kyle spoke quietly, and for the first time since they met, in a normal tone. "In reality, I had the kid away from that freak the moment he took his eyes off him. I can project an illusion anywhere within a certain range of me." Nyx raised an eyebrow, outwardly that didn't seem like a very powerful Gift, but he used it so cleverly.
"And you didn't think to tell me sooner?" Nyx responded quietly with a normal tone, not wanting to set off this guy's temper.
"Well obviously not, I couldn't risk you giving it away and blowing everything." Kyle responded in a cold tone.
Nyx adjusted her grip on the steering wheel again as she took a deep breath. "Kyle, whether we like it or not, we are partners now. That means that we don't really have a choice but to trust each other. I put more faith in you than I put in Oliver on our first mission together, I expect the same from you."
"Ahh, so that's it..." Kyle said like he just had an epiphany. "Someone misses Oli." Nyx quickly slammed on the brakes as she pulled into the parking lot of Sanctuary.
"And what if I do?" She said as she turned her body to face him. "He risked his life for me, more than once, and then saved my life a few days ago. And now he's just...ignoring me." Nyx looked down after her sudden outburst, feeling embarrassed now. Maybe she was a bleeding heart.
"Wait, I heard about Oli bringing back two severely wounded students...that was you?" Kyle asked, suddenly serious.
"Me and my friend Rhys, yes. Go ahead, roast me." Nyx flicked her wrist as she prepared for his insults.
"Why would I roast you?" Nyx looked at Kyle with surprise after he spoke. "I heard that the whole situation was pretty gruesome, and that the Head of the Erebus Mafia did that to you." Kyle said as he looked at her with serious eyes, eyes that locked her in place. "I know we didn't really get off to a great start but, what happened to you..." Kyle coughed quietly, Nyx's eyes widened slightly when she realized that he was trying to show sympathy. "It sucks to go through something like that."
Nyx smiled subtly, "Thanks, Kyle." She said with a slightly warm tone. A smile broke through on Kyle's face as he looked back at her. They both got out of the car and walked back inside to debrief with Elizabeth.
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"Ah, good evening, hermosa." Nyx heard Nate's voice as she walked to her room after seeing her mother. She saw him leaning against the wall, he had been waiting for her. He was already dressed for bed with comfy looking flannel pajama pants and a black muscle tank. She couldn't help but smile at his gorgeous presence. He pushed himself off the wall and pulled her into a loving kiss. "I heard you had another mission today, did it go well?" He asked her after he pulled away from the kiss.
"Kind of, we saved a kid that went missing but...Oliver switched partners, and this guy I was paired with was such an asshole." Nyx explained her experience to Nate as he slung his arm around her and walked next to her towards her room.
"Nyx!" The two jolted and turned around after hearing a voice, it was Oliver. He looked tired as he approached the two of them.
"Oliver? Where the hell have you been?" She asked him accusingly.
"Look, I know that I owe you an explanation and you'll get it..." Oliver said as he brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, it's about time... Considering you ditched me as a partner." Nyx said as she crossed her arms, she felt Nate gently rub her back to make her feel at ease.
Oliver sighed as he looked down, his posture radiating discomfort. "I...Nyx I gotta tell you something..."