A Trip Into The Past; For Better Or Worse [Invite Only][NR]

Niala sighed as she stared down at the letter in her hand. She really had been putting this off long enough – the letter from her Father claimed that he had wanted to see her at three o'clock. That is, three o'clock five or so days ago. She hadn't gone; in fact she had given in to fear that this was some sort of trap and had pushed it from her mind by busying herself with other things. But honestly, she should go. If this was the real deal then maybe she would find out things about herself that she didn't know; and if her Father was as apologetic as he claimed then maybe for once in her life Niala would get a chance to actually get to know the man: that is until he died since the letter also claimed that he was deathly ill.


Still.. she didn't want to go alone. But, at the same time she didn't want to drag anyone with her – not if this was likely to get emotional. No, she would rather no one see her have a breakdown: they didn't happen often but when they did they were ugly. She was the kind of girl that when she cried it was all out; nothing nice and dainty about it, but an all out bawl-fest.


So, having decided to go Niala dressed with care: she wanted to be as presentable and nice looking as possible. She decided to choose a knee length short sleeved sweater dress with a baggy decorative collar that was light blue in color and that had pockets, with a black belt around it, along with a pair of black leggings, and black leather boots that were heel-less but that had three straps going up them with silver buckles attached. She decided against make-up and decided to pull her long pinkish-blond colored hair into a ponytail while keeping her bangs down over her forehead and hanging down the sides of her face to frame it. The only jewelry she chose to wear was her Company pendant – something she never dared take off, but that was tucked safely down the front of her dress so that it was out of sight.


With a deep sigh Niala stood in front of the full length bathroom mirror. She turned to the left and to the right, checking out her outfit from every angle. When she found nothing wrong with what she had chosen she sprayed herself with a sweet-pea scented light spray and squared her shoulders. She slipped her keycard for her suite into her pocket and grabbed her small clasp that held her credit card and cash and slipped that into her pocket too – perhaps her and her father could go out for dinner or something if he wasn't all that sick? Sure that she wasn't forgetting anything she walked out of her suite and shut the door behind herself.


When she was in the hallway she paused, thinking that perhaps it was best she tell someone where she was going – just in case her fears were realized. She pulled her Company cellphone out of her other pocket and pulled up her contacts. She scrolled down to Junior and clicked on him. She typed out a quick text of “Got a letter from my dad a few days ago; he claims he wants to see me. I'm going to head over there. I didn't want to disappear without telling anyone though, just in case.” before hitting send. She stared down at the message a moment with a slight smile; she always typed properly, even when it came to something as simple as a text message.


She slipped her cellphone back into her pocket and then headed down the hallway of the 999^th floor and to the elevator; she pressed the button and waited for the elevator to arrive...

The elevator arrived too quickly in Niala's opinion and she stepped onto it and pressed the one key. The doors closed and she turned, facing them. Another sigh escaped her as she felt her heart already beginning to race. She was truly terrified to go through with this: she would rather face a hundred enemies then her Father. But, she was going to do it just in case; or so she kept telling herself.


The elevator doors opened less than a minute later and she stepped off and turned to enter into the main lobby of Darkman Tower. She walked through it and out the doors; then across the courtyard and out of the gates. In truth she could have simply imagined herself to the address her Father had given her in the letter but she was feeling a little too anxious to pull it off and so she simply walked to the corner and hailed a cab. The cab driver who saw her pulled up to the curb and she opened the door to the backseat; sliding quickly inside. She gave the cab driver the address of the place she was going and watched as he entered it into the GPS that was stuck to his dashboard before he pulled off.


While the cab driver – who was an elderly man – drove her towards her Father's house Niala couldn't help but stare out the window. It seemed like they were driving far too fast as everything seemed to blur past them, but after a quick glance towards the speedometer which Niala could clearly see from her spot in the back seat she realized that that wasn't the case; the cab driver was actually going about five miles per hour beneath the speed limit. No, it was simply Niala's imagination, and her cowardice, that was causing her to feel like she was getting there far too quickly.


In what seemed like no time at all, but truly took nearly fifteen minutes, the cab driver came to a stop in front of a large and old looking house. The neighborhood they were in was a richer one; with a large gate that seemed surrounded the community and blocked the rest of Edge out – almost like a minature city within the city itself (only this one seemed to look like it belonged to a bunch of stuck up snobs). Each one of the houses had a bit of distance between them, adding to privacy, or so she figured. The cab driver cleared his throat and it caused Niala to realize that she was just sitting there. “I'm sorry.”, she muttered as she pulled out her little clasp, pulled a twenty dollar bill out, and handed it to the driver. “Keep the change, please.” She closed her clasp and tucked it safely back into her pocket before she opened the cab door and stepped out. After closing the cab door the cab sped of, leaving Niala standing there on the sidewalk and staring up at the ancient looking home.


Niala squared her shoulders and walked forward up the walkway. Every few feet there were two to three steps and she took them carefully and slowly, once again drawing out the inevitable while a feeling of dread began to seep through her chest and fill her up from top to bottom. The pathway seemed to stretch on for forever but soon enough Niala was in front of the door. She raised her hand to knock and then saw the doorbell; figuring that would be more 'professional' or 'proper' she pressed the doorbell and took a step back. She clasped her hands in front of her to keep her from fidgeting too much and waited for the door to be opened.


Word Count: 625 + 644 = 1,269

Niala waited for what felt like several minutes, standing there with her hands clasped in front of her, while waiting for the door to open. She refrained from tapping her foot in impatience. Just as she was reaching forward to press the doorbell button again she heard shuffling on the outside of the door. Clasping her hands together in front of her quickly, like a child who had been about to be caught doing something naughty, she put a polite smile on her face and stared forward.


She heard the click of a lock and then the door was opened to reveal an older man who easily was in his fifties. Even though it had been several years since she had last seen her Father she recognized him immediately. His skin was the same tan as hers, at least what she could see of it due to the nice white colored suit that he was wearing with the red handkerchief sticking out of the left breast pocket. His hair was black but with streaks of white going through it and it was slicked back where it was cut in a straight line at the very base of his neck. He had a goatee that was likewise beginning to gray. Despite being 'older' her father still held himself like he did when he was younger; in an intimidating fashion that clearly said that he would knock your block off if you stepped out of line. The man stared at her for several heartbeats with emerald green eyes before he opened the screen door and stepped back. He held it open for her to step inside, which she did.


The inside of the house was just as she had remembered her home as a child: antique furniture, paintings that were worth a fortune, expensive vases that any collector would sell their soul to the Devil in an instant for. Expensive rugs covered the old, polished, oak wooden floors. The large bay windows were covered in draperies, casting the inside of the house in shadows. Fireplaces were lit as were scone wall hangings that lined the walls. Niala would have once called the house beautiful but now it seemed like some posh dungeon and caused her to feel frightened: though she was determined not to show it.


Her Father closed the thick wooden door behind her with a click and slid the lock into place; the sound causing her to jump but thankfully his back was to her and he missed the action. When her Father was finished locking the place up tighter than a fort he turned to face her and took in her appearance in an obvious manner. He started from her feet and worked his way up keeping a neutral expression on his face – at least until he got to her hair which was when he frowned. Her Father hated wild hair, and her having naturally pink tinted hair was something that had always been cause for issue. Clearly that hadn't changed about him.



“It's good to see you again, Niala. Please, come into the sitting room.”, he spoke as he gestured to the room off to her immediate right.


“It's good to see you again, too, Father.”, Niala responded before giving a polite nod and entering into the room he had pointed out. She sat on one of the dainty looking antique chairs, seated so that she was at the edge. She crossed her legs in a lady-like position and ensured that her sweater dress remained down by her knees as to keep her 'proper' looking. Her Father took the seat across from her and sat down with his legs crossed: shoes were well polished just like she figured they would be.


“I'm sure you know you are five days later then what my letter requested of you.”, her Father spoke with a frown of disapproval clearly on his face.


Niala could only stare at her Father: she didn't know how to respond to that without being outright truthful: and the truth was she was terrified of the man just as she had been when she was a child. There had always been something about her Father that felt off, something that never felt right. It was a vibe that even now she was picking up on clearly.


“However, I suppose given the way things have been in the past I can clearly understand why so I'll let it be.”, her Father continued on after realizing that she had obviously no comment to make on his previous statement. “I do appreciate you coming. I wanted to give you a chance to know about your past before the chance disappears, and I feel I owe you some explanations.” Her Father hesitated after that, seeming momentarily uncomfortable with what he was about to do – which was a shock to Niala as she had never seen her Father looking uncomfortable about anything. Still, she remained silent and waited for her Father to continue on, he just wasn't the type of man you interrupted.


Wordcount: 841 + 1,269 = 2,110

Niala's Father's moment of uncomfortableness passed and he plowed right into the topic at hand: he had never been the sort of person to beat around the bush when it came to anything and he surely wasn't going to break form here and now. “I wanted to speak with you about your Mother. I wanted to tell you some things about her that I haven't bothered with in the past for obvious reasons.”

Niala resisted the urge to squirm in her chair like a child that was in trouble: they were dangerously close to the topic of how her Father blamed her for her mother's death. It was, after all, why she knew nothing at all about her mother to begin with.

Her Father stared at her for a fraction of a second and had he been anyone else Niala would have thought that he was trying to go for some sort of dramatic effect but with her Father it was more along the lines of trying to gauge her reaction. Niala had a theory that her Father just liked to scare her. “Your mother's name was Dawn. She was a very wonderful woman; thoughtful, kind, the sort of person you could go to with your troubles and never worry that she would judge you for them. She donated to charities, and would give someone the shirt off of her own back if she thought they needed it. She was, all in all, the perfect woman. She was gorgeous; she looked in fact a lot like you do now. Her hair was a few shades redder than yours but she had the same tan skin, the same red eyes. She even held herself the same way you do and walked like you do. I think that is why, in the beginning, I hated you. You reminded me so much of her.”

Niala gasped; her mouth parting slightly as her Father said the one thing that she had known all along. He hated her. But did he still hate her? Or had he forgiven her?

“I realize that I have placed some undue blame on you that wasn't yours to shoulder. I blamed you for her death which is why I sent you away a lot as a child – off to boarding schools and then camps when you were home for summer vacation. However, I feel the need to confess that her death was not in fact your fault. It was mine.”

“... But... how?”, Niala managed to get out, adding her first few words to the conversation since she had sat down. How was her mother's death his fault anymore than it was hers?

“You see, Niala, your mother was a phoenix. I'm not entirely sure if you know all that much about phoenix's but allow me to explain something: a normal phoenix burns every thousand years. It's like a death for them, but they always are reborn from their ashes. It makes them one of the only creatures who can truly call themselves immortal in this world but that's besides the point. When your mother became pregnant with you we realized that she was getting closer and closer to her burning day; something that would likely kill you if it occurred and which had a high probability of killing her too for good. I wanted her to have an abortion, I told her we could have another baby if she wanted one that badly. Your mother was a good soul, but she was easily emotional, and my words upset her. I thought that she would get over it in time, as she neared her burning day, and that she would reconsider my suggestion. The fear of death is a great motivator for most people, but your mother wasn't one of them. She was stubborn in her insistence to keep you. I believe she felt that if she delivered you safely into this world I would change my mind about the way I felt about a child. You see, I didn't want children but she did. I loved her, and therefore I was willing to give her whatever she wanted – so long as it didn't endanger her life, which you were doing from her womb.” Her Father paused to glare at her, his emerald eyes feeling as if they were piercing through her very soul.

“Still, I could do nothing to stop her from wanting you, I could not change her mind. So, eventually, she went into labor. The labor was long and hard on her, it weakened her greatly. After you were born she held you and smiled up at me. She tried to hand you to me, but I refused you. I was still so angry about how much you had endangered her life. When I refused you that's when your mother began to cry. Just like that she burst into flames. The nurse with her snatched you out of her hands and got you cleaned up while I watched your mother burn to ash before me. I expected her to come back; to be reborn from the ashes just as she described and age to the physical age of eighteen once again in a fraction of a few minutes. It didn't happen. She remained ash. Dead. I probably would have killed you that night had it not been for that nurse; she bargained with me. She said that she would live in the house free of pay, keep you out of my sight and take care of you for me, if only I would allow you to live. I knew the woman had lost her own child, and so in a moment of weakness I gave in to the woman and allowed it. She raised you until the age of six; and I'm sure you remember what happened then.”

Niala was blown away by the story: able to see it all happening in her minds eye as if she were there – but this was no vision of the past, this was simply her imagination working up some not-so-nifty images.

“You got into my office and drew over some important papers. Ruined paperwork I had spent hours on. You had slipped away from her when she thought you were napping – when she was in the middle of handling some chores. I beat her that night within an inch of her life and the woman fled; you were then shipped off to a boarding school. You were too old to kill, too many people knew about you. Murdering a child wasn't something the neighbors could easily forget, and explaining your disappearance would have taken too much work. So, I simply chose to keep you away from me as much as possible; keeping you away at boarding schools and summer camps until you were old enough to leave. Which you did the first chance you got. You took off and never looked back... until today.”

Wordcount: 1,154 + 2,110 = 3,264

Niala couldn't believe all that she had just heard from her Father. She had always suspected he hated her, but she had never known the full story until this point in time. She had blocked from her mind much of her childhood, and her ability to see the past, the present, and the future never worked when it came to her own destiny and fate. It was, all in all, the biggest downfall of her ability. But now she knew. She knew the entire story. All of the unspoken questions that had gone unanswered for years now were and yet she felt as empty as always. The tone from her Father, all throughout his story, was telling her that he truly hadn't forgiven her. In fact, it sounded like he hated her more than she had originally thought he had. But, if that was the case then why did he invite her here?

Niala opened her mouth to speak since her Father had finally gone quiet and at first nothing came out. She cleared her throat and decided to try again, “Why now? Why seek me out now and tell me all of this? What's changed?”

Her Father didn't answer at first, and instead he reached forward into the end table with the single draw that she hadn't bothered to notice was next to him until that very point in time. Her Father opened the drawer and removed a gun. “Well, you see Niala. It has come to my attention that you work for the Company; and recently my friends and I have had some issues, particularly issues with a certain purple haired female who was taken from us by a suited man who killed many of our numbers...” The gun was pointed at Niala while he spoke, his finger resting on the trigger and ready to pull it if she even so much as twitched. With his left hand, his free hand, he reached inside of the neckline of his suit and pulled on a chain that hung from his neck until what hung from it popped free: an equal armed cross that was silver in color with a red gem in the center of it that was cut in a circle – the Templar cross. “Now, I happen to remember that you can't use your abilities when you're upset; which was the point of telling you that story to begin with - even if it is all truthful. You also were stupid enough to come alone; I didn't think you would to be honest considering how much of a prize you must be within the Company due to all those abilities of yours. By killing you not only will I finally have the peace I need over your mother's death, but I will also even up the odds for all of the losses the Company took from me. So, before you die, do you have any last questions?”

Wordcount: 482 + 3,264 = 3,746

"Yeah, I have one," asked Jr, a completely enraged look upon his face. "Do you have medical insurance?"

...Rewind to about 10 minutes ago. Jr was on the roof, in the 3 story house, lying in his father's old bed, dozing. He'd only sat and laid back to rest a moment, but in doing so he'd dozed off. Jr couldn't remember the last time he'd actually relaxed and went to sleep. With aliens and secret cults working in the shadows, Edge demanded his full attention. With things quiet for the moment, and with Niala gone to meet her father, Jr decided to take a small moment to relax...

...Until a conversation began to reach his ears. His grandfather Darkman and his father told him about an ability to hear things through the Company Pendants if he concentrated hard enough. It probably had to do with the fact that he was thinking about Niala before he dozed off that he could hear her father talking. He was telling a story of her childhood; of her mother. Of how she was a good woman, and he was in love with her. How she was a Phoenix, and a Phoenix getting pregnant put their lives at risk, much like his own mother Sunaro when she gave birth to he and his twin sister. How he didn't really want kids, and with the tone of voice he used, and of how he was describing things, came to hate Niala.

Jr's eyes opened at this point, and the words kept on coming. He sat up, listening with a frown forming on his face. He described how when she was born, she smiled and tried to hand her to him, and he refused; this lead to Niala's mother becoming emotional and undergoing the burn that full blooded Phoenixes had to experience every 1,000 years. Except her mother was dead, and her father blamed her. He sent her away every chance she got. He kept her distanced from him until she was old enough to take care of herself... and soon after this is when his father accepted her into The Company. The rest was history from there.

But, what made Jr began to lose himself to the rage boiling beneath the surface is when the man pulled a gun, and revealed himself to be one of them... the cult. The people who kidnapped and tortured Cala. He knew that Niala couldn't use her imagination powers when she was upset and emotional. He said she was a prize to them, The Company, because of her powers, and by killing her it would make up for all of the losses they'd suffered because of Vigilante's rampage through that building that day.

Jr was out of the window, across town and in that living room in 1 second. He was so angry that his form was surrounded with red. His eyes were glowing a red color. He was frowning; the definition of the wrinkles of skin between his eyes and his forehead thick.

Jr send a punch towards the man. The impact on his face would be enough to knock teeth from his mouth. His skull would be rattled, and seeing as he was just a human, he would probably receive a fracture that would need immediate medical attention. He would be launched from where he was sitting, and slam up against the corner and ceiling of the left side of the room before flopping to the floor. it would happen so quickly that he probably wouldn't realize what was going on until he woke up sometime later in the hospital... if he woke up in the hospital.

Niala jumped a mile, startled, when Junior's voice filled the air; she hadn't even had a chance to fully process a question in her mind to respond to her father with when suddenly Junior was just there. Junior looked pissed off; there was a red glow around him, and the look on his face easily showed his rage. Her father was given no chance to respond to his question before he was punched across the room and hit the ceiling in the corner to then flop on the floor, unconscious. If her father didn't die within the next few minutes Niala would consider it a miracle – not that she cared right now if he did die or not.


Niala felt her hands shaking; in fact she was pretty sure that if she tried to stand up at that moment in time her entire body would shake – so she remained seated. She was in shock; complete and utter shock. It wasn't just because of Junior's sudden appearance or the fact that she had no idea how he knew to arrive with such perfect timing, but also because of all she had just learned. Her mind formed a mental list at a rapid rate she wasn't sure it could still work at.


The mental list went something like this:
One: her mother was a phoenix.
Two: her father had wanted her dead even before she was born.
Three: her father was the reason why her mother was dead, no her, as she had been led to believe.
Four: the only reason she was still alive was because of the good graces of a female who was beat within an inch of her life when Niala was six years old because she had made a mistake of drawing on her father's papers.
Five: her father was a member of that cult and by killing her he felt he was getting back at the Company.


She didn't know which of these points that crossed her mind were the most shocking and she didn't want to know. Niala shook her head as if attempting to shake away the shock she was feeling. “I... I just...”, she couldn't finish her sentence, she truly didn't know what to say. No tears came from her eyes, she was too numbed out by the shock to really process any emotions.


At least... at first.


Then, slowly but surely, rage began to set in. Rage at her father. Rage at the situation of her birth and how her father had clearly blamed her for it, treated her like shit, and neglected her every chance he got. As her rage set in something seemed to snap within her: powers she hadn't known she had, but that were surely at her disposal now began to reveal themselves in a manner of speaking: the air began to shimmer around her as her rage caused her body temperature to rise far past normal means. The cushion of the chair she sat on began to smolder and blacken due to the heat, and if she didn't calm down soon she would likely catch completely on fire – though none of this caused Niala any harm at all, nor her clothing. Nor was any of this in her control; her normal powers had been locked down, but these phoenix powers were just beginning to manifest, and apparently were tied to her emotions.


“He made me believe it was all my fault, my entire life...”


Wordcount: 577 + 3,746 = 4,323

"And now you know that it wasn't..." Jr said to her, still frowning, still looking in the direction that her father flopped. Red eyes then turn to the cross on the table. it was the same cross that those men in that building wore; the men who kidnapped Cala and turned her back human with their machines and drugs. He knew they were going to turn up again, it was just a matter of when. More of them were lurking around somewhere, in the shadows. His hands tightened into fists, the knuckles and joints popping. Would it ever end with these cross people? Kill some, others pop up like cockroaches.

"Growing up might have been pretty shitty, but look where you ended up. My dad took you in off the street and made you his right hand. That's pretty much free control over this whole city... not just anyone could have made it that far. Don't waste your time and energy stewing over that piece of shit over there on the floor. I'm pretty sure your mom is somewhere watching, proud of how you turned out..."

Jr began to calm down, the red glow disappearing from around him. He straightened out his Armani jacket and adjusted his tie again. More of these cross guys... if they wanted to shuffle about in hiding, they could... sooner or later, all of their times would come. They'd be sorry for picking Edge to act out their little schemes...

Junior was right; it wasn't her fault and now she did know it. She had gone very far in her young life and had accomplished more than most people could do in an entire life-time. Her father might not have given a care in the world about her but she spent every day now surrounded by people who did; people who would clearly kill for her if it came down to it. "You're right." Yet... why was she finding it so hard to calm down then? Before her emotions were quite easy to control, it took almost nothing at all to do so; especially with her empathy ability. Yet, it was a lot harder now to get rid of her anger.

The smell of the burned and charred chair reached her nostrils. With a frown on her face she shifted on the chair and looked down at the ruined seat. She jumped up in shock and stared at it; the shock pushing the rest of her anger away.

“You're right, I am proud of her.”, came a delicate and feminine sounding voice as a female manifested in the center of the room, bringing with her the light scent of burning wood. She was nothing more than a spirit that was granted passage back to this world for the briefest of time; transparent with a gentle glow coming from her that easily resembled colorless flames with the way it danced around her form. She would look to be about twenty or so, and outside of having reddish colored hair she would look like an older duplicate of Niala – including her choice of clothing. The woman would turn towards Junior slowly, a smile upon her face. “Thank you for saving my daughter.”

Niala could only stare; if her shock was bad before it was nothing to how she felt now. She knew who she was looking at: her mother in the form of a spirit. But how? Why? “... Mama?”

The woman turned towards Niala next and floated slowly over to her, as if afraid she might startle the younger female. “Yes, it's me. I don't have long to stay; I was granted passage back to this world due to good behavior. I wanted to visit you, to see you with my own eyes and let you know how very proud I am of you. You grew into quite the young lady. You might not have seen me but I've been watching you your entire life. I love you more than words can say and I always have and always will.” When her mother finished speaking she reached forward and laid her hand against Niala's cheek; her hand becoming solid enough to allow her daughter to feel the gesture. A ghostly tear rolled down the female's cheek but she smiled happily. A white light appeared then, filtering downward from the ceiling and the female looked up with a sigh.

“You have to go now, don't you?”, Niala asked softly.

The woman sighed again in response and nodded sadly. “It would seem so...” She would then turn her attention back to Junior. “Take care of my little girl for me.” The light from above would then begun to tug on the woman and slowly she would begin to float upwards...

Wordcount: 544 + 4,323 = 4,867

A spirit was in the room. Jr recognized it clearly, being part Angel. As she looked just like Niala did, or rather, Niala looked like her, Jr was easily able to recognize that this was her mother. He didn't actually know if she was somewhere watching, looking down at her daughter, but this confirmed it. Jr nodded his head in response to her thanking him for saving Niala from being shot.

She said she'd always been watching, and she was proud of her daughter. It made Jr look grim. He had no idea what happened with his own mother, or even if she was still alive. She and his twin just up and left one day with no word, and that was years ago. Was his own mother watching him too? From where ever it was she went? Perhaps he'd never really know...

"Trying..." said Jr in response to when her mother asked him to take care of her. In all honesty, he didn't think she needed anyone to take care of her, with abilities like hers. Her time was limited, and soon she was being recalled... "Come on, this place seems like just a bad memory. Let's bail.."

Niala watched her mother disappear into the white light and then the white light disappear as well. She stared at the spot for a moment before looking over towards Junior when he spoke. She thought about his words, gave the place a quick glance, and then nodded – she didn't want to spend anymore time here then she had too. She wondered if anyone was going to come along and find her father; or if he would just lay there and die from whatever injuries he had sustained when Junior had punched him – either way she figured he was going to be out of the 'game' that these cult people were playing.


These thoughts caused another to creep back up in her mind. “How did you know to come when you did?”, she asked curiously. She walked out of the sitting room, figuring that Junior would follow after her, and to the front door. She unlatched it and slid the deadbolt back before opening the heavy wooden door and stepping out onto the porch.


The neighborhood they were in seemed quiet: as if the neighbors had no idea what had just almost happened within the walls of the house. Niala reminded herself quietly that they likely didn't: they were probably about as clueless as everyone else had been when it came to the going-on's of her father.


Niala felt the wind blow at that point and goosebumps break out across her arms: it felt colder than it had when she arrived. Or, was it perhaps that she was hotter? Her skin had a slight red tint to it and she figured it was likely the latter. Would her body temperature now run this hot all of the time? Or would it perhaps cool back to normal once she no longer felt the cluster of emotions that were running through her mind.


Wordcount: 310 + 4,867 = 5,177

Jr walked outside as well. He'd never been to this part of town. It seemed like just an ordinary neighborhood, compared to the other crime-ridden areas of Edge.

"Your pendant," Jr said, looking at the houses around them. "My Grand dad made to where Kanes can sometimes hear things through them if we concentrate hard enough. I heard everything your dad said... Wouldn't have been right of me to just keep sitting there knowing what I knew."

She'd have probably died if he didn't make his move when he did. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself, and his father wouldn't have let him hear the end of it either, whenever he got back from his little survival adventure. He looked towards the tower while causing his white wings to appear, and lifted himself airborne after a couple of big flaps, causing gusts of wind and the surrounding trees to bend.

"I'll meet you back at the tower..." Then he was off, a black speck disappearing into the distance...

[Exit]

Niala listened carefully as Junior explained that the Kane's had the ability if they concentrated hard enough to hear things through the pendants all of the Company members wore and that this was how he had found her in time. He had heard everything that her father had said to her and it wouldn't have been right of him to ignore it. Out of everything she had learned and had been told today that was the easy bit of information out of all of it absorb.


She gave a nod to Junior when he said he would meet her back at the tower and watched as he took off. Before she allowed herself to disappear from the location as well she turned once more back toward the house with a frown. There was something she wanted before she left, but she wasn't going to risk going back into that house – not if her father happened to still be alive inside of it. So, instead she focused tightly on the house, knowing that what she sought was buried deep within there somewhere. For several seconds nothing happened, but then a window shattered and a book came soaring out of it to land in Niala's out-stretched hand: a diary. Her mother's diary.


With the precious book in her hand she held it close to her chest and closed her eyes. She focused on the destination she wanted to go – which was near the tower, as close as she could technically teleport – and willed herself there. She disappeared only to reappear where she had imagined herself. With the book still clutched to her chest she walked through the gates, across the courtyard, and into the tower. An elevator ride up later and she headed towards her suite – she needed some time to decompress before she headed up to the office and she also wanted a chance to take a peak at her mother's life and learn more about the woman who she had never had a chance to really know.


[Thread Exit]


Wordcount: 339 + 5,177 = 5,516