About ten minutes pass, and finally I hear the training room door creak open. "Zoe? You in here?" Beast's voice echoes in the training room. "I mean I know you are, but are you going to talk to me?"
"Do I have to?" I respond.
He sighs and makes his way to my voice and eventually finds me. He smiles sadly and sits beside me. "How's your ankle?"
"Fine," I say softly. "And before you say sorry, just hear me out. I don't want you to apologize. It's not your fault and I know that's the common response to someone when they tell you about a sad moment in their life. I don't want to hear it. I just want it to be the past, okay?"
"Zoe, let me tell you something," he looks down. "My father wasn't all that loving. He was born from a shifting family and he didn't get to express the gene. He learned to deal with it, but he was never accepted into his family. To them, he was the freak. They kicked him out when he turned sixteen, and he met my mom a few years later while delivering pizza to her house once a week."
"That's a cute love story," I comment.
Beast smiles thinly, "Well he never bothered to mention to my mom that he had an ability gene. When I was born, I soon started to show my abilities by accidentally changing. He finally came out with it and it broke my mother." I feel his emotion, weak and solemn. "The thought of having a monster for a son..." he shakes his head. "My mom left pretty soon after that, and my dad pretty much blamed me too. He kept me for a little while after that, and when I was about two my mom called. She gave him a choice. Me or her."
"He chose her, didn't he?"
"I was sent to this compound that night and he went off to be with her. I haven't seen them since."
"That sucks."
He sighs, "I've learned to put it in my past. Besides, living here for most of my life, I learned how to use my abilities sooner than a lot of the kids. But my main point is that my father didn't like me either. He blamed me for his troubles because I was the problem." Beast turns his eyes to me, "Zoe, I just want to tell you that you weren't the problem. My parents were much happier once I was out of the picture. Your stepfather is still the man he was. Your brother leaving didn't make a difference. Your mother dying was not your fault. He's the problem, not you."
"You don't know the whole context of those situations," I shake my head.
"Want to help me then?"
"My mom worked here, as you probably figured out. She didn't see me much and she felt like she should come home as often as possible. Mr. X couldn't give her the amount of days she wanted, so her visits slowly started to dwindle. Back then my abilities weren't really showing, but she had a hunch." I take in a shaky breath, "One afternoon I was home with Phillip, my brother, when suddenly everything became so much more...sharper. I noticed the stains hidden in the cracks of the floor and I noticed the dust in the air. The light outside felt like it was burning my eyes even though the dark curtains where closed. We didn't know what was happening, so he called the only person we trusted to talk to."
"Your mom."
"She left the compound right away, telling Mr. X she had an emergency. She came home and helped me calm my eyes down. She showed me all her research and told me about the gene that ran through her line of family. She gave my all her notebooks so I could read up on all the Omega stuff and tricks with the ability we shared."
"How old were you?"
"I was only four then."
"Wow, and you understood it all?"
"Not all of it, I just figured out the basics of my eyes. I didn't really start to understand it until almost a year later. On my birthday, my mom came home to surprise us. Only, Phillip and John were gone to get my present. Raven somehow found out about her coming back to civilians and somehow...somehow they knew about me and what I could do as well." I feel a lump in my throat as I continue, "They barged in, wanting to kill me before I ever had the chance to learn my abilities."
"Why'd they want you so bad?"
"Apparently with every generation, our eyesight keeps getting better. I know I'm only the fourth generation, but what I can do compared to my great grandma, it's developed ten fold."
"So Raven came to kill you that night, not your mom?"
I nod, "She took the bullet for me just as Phillip and John came home. The Raven men vanished through the back door, leaving my mom dead on the floor."
"I'm..." Beast stops, "That sucks."
I scoff a little, "John broke much like your mother. He always knew my mom had an ability, that's the original reason why my real father left. John didn't think Phillip or I had the gene. He soon started to beat me. Seven years later my brother was done with it. He snapped at me and just started to yell at me why I would never fight back. I told him that I felt I deserved it. Then he left."
Beast is silent. I understand, it's hard to comment on something as pathetic as my past. It's always a constant downer, that's why I never share it.
"John burned my mother's notebooks that night. He lit his cigarette and threw the lighter into the trash can with them all. When I saw I ran outside, begging him to stop," I wipe away a stupid tear, "He grabbed my wrist and did this." I pull up my right sleeve and show Beast a cigarette burn scar. "I'm lucky I memorized those books like the back of my hand."
"Zoe," he grazes it softly with his hand. "You didn't deserve that."
I pull away gently and push my sleeve down, "I acted out."
"You expressed emotion and sentiment to the only things that you kept from your mother."
"He figured my freak eyes were enough of a reminder."
"What a jerk."
I scoff and it turns into a laugh. The simplicity of his comment contrasts the situation completely, and I love it.
Beast turns his voice to a semi-serious tone, "You mention your eyes so casually to me, like I already knew about your ability."
"I knew you did," I rest my head on the wall behind me. "At least, had a general sense of what I could do."
"How?"
"The last practice I just saw the light bulb click on for you. I knew you would figure it out eventually."
"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for," he smirks.
"I'm just lucky."
"No Zoe, you aren't. You figure things out too consistently to just pin it on luck." Beast turns to me, "You're special Zoe. It's time you see that."
I smile and look at him, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, shoot."
"Remember that day we made the deal? I would tell you my ability, you would tell me your real name?"
He brings his knees loosely into his chest and says, "To be honest, you didn't tell me your ability, I figured it out."
I nod my head saying, "True, but I still don't know your name."
"You really want to know?"
"Yes please," I say.
He sighs, "They call me Beast because of my ability, but my real name is Blake."
"Blake," I say, letting his real name roll off my tongue. "I like it."
"Really?"
"It suits you," I respond.
"Thanks," he pauses to get up. "Since you clearly want to forget whatever happened in the infirmary, would you like to practice with me?"
He holds out a hand and I grab it and he helps me up. "I'd love to."
He walks me to the center and I stop. He continues to the other side and turns to me, "You ready?"
"Waiting for you," I say smirking. "What do you want to try first?"
"Show me how fast you can take me down," he turns into a beautiful gray wolf and growls, his eyes glowing bright in the dim light.
He goes into a pounce position and I turn my eyes to slow motion. I see him pounce slowly and I run to him. He jumps and once again something in me shifts and I feel lighter on my feet. I zig zag to him and duck under him. Instinctively, I squat and use my momentum and jump straight up, tackling his chest from underneath. We swing to the left and I land right beside him. Now in human form he laughs.
"Sorry, I don't know what came over me there. I just—"
"That was awesome," he pumps his fists into the air. "I didn't even know someone could do that Zoe," he turns his head to me and I blush. "Amazing job, I was no match for you."
"You pulled back," I say.
"Not a lot," he remarks. He sits up and coughs a little.
I sit up as well and say, "You okay?"
"Yeah, just landed a little hard, not a big deal," he smiles. "Shawn and Trish must be worried where we went."
"I don't want to talk to them, after I ran out like that..."
"They'll understand," he nods, "I'm sure of it."
"Thanks Beast."
"Thank you," he smiles again.