You Light Up My Heart

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts (Arc 2)

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adventure, Fantasy

Word Count: 2.7K

Trigger Warning: Character death.

<- Previous || Next ->

Matthew crossed his arms as he cocked his head and frowned. He let out a sigh just as Jude entered the hallway. "What's with the troubled face?" Matthew exhaled, "I'm not sure." "Well, why are you staring at that door?" Matthew turned to Jude, "Whose room is this?" Jude raised his brows, "it used to be Julian's. We kept it empty for him in case he ever shows up again." Matthew sighed again before shaking his head and turning away from the door. "Okay, thanks." was all he said before exiting the hallway and walking down the stairs to the living room. Upon entering the living room, he got greeted with a smile from Clover. "Good morning, you're up early," she said as she handed him a cup of hot coffee. "Did you sleep well?" He nodded, "yeah, the beds here are surprisingly comfortable." "Alright, well, in that case," she said as she took the cup of coffee back from him, "I'll be taking this back. I didn't sleep at all last night." Matthew stared at her for a moment before chuckling, "why, did you think about me all night?" He had meant it as a joke, but his smile faded when Clover nodded. "Exactly. My mind keeps wandering back to you. I've never taken anyone with me to another timeline, so I'm constantly worried about you." Matthew didn't reply and instead averted his attention to the others in the room. "Who here knows what happened to Julian when he disappeared and is ready to talk about it?" Alec raised his hand, "he often discussed his last project with me. I specialize in teleportation magic, so he often came to ask me for help." "Great, Let's go somewhere more private so we can talk." He turned to leave the room but got stopped when Clover grabbed his arm and gave him a confused look. She whispered, "what's up with you? Why do you suddenly want to find out more about Julian's disappearance? He disappeared four years ago. Remember, we're not here to solve his case. We have more important things to worry about." He put his hand on hers, "Don't worry. I haven't lost sight of our goal. I think the two cases may be very related."

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adventure, Fantasy

Word Count: 3.4K

<- Previous || Next ->

Jude heard a loud crash from the room next to the living room. For a second his heart leaped, but he soon heard Anthony's voice.

"Why the hell is she still unconscious!"

He sounded enraged. Desperate, almost. Jude sighed, returning his focus to the money on the table in front of him. It had been two days since Cecilia and Anthony were attacked by people from the Ministry, and Cecilia still hadn't woken up.

Another crash sounded in the other room, causing the doors and windows to shake.

"I'm telling you, Eden, you have to erase her memories. She HAS TO WAKE UP!"

The door opened and an absolutely furious Anthony appeared. His entire face was red and he was panting. He didn't pay attention to Jude as he walked straight out of the front door and slammed it shut behind him.

Jude stood up, looking into the other room. Inside, Eden was staring frustratedly at a broken chair on the ground before hitting his fist on the wall. Jude entered the room, "it's not your fault," he said.

Eden shook his head, looking frustrated, "I want to erase her memories. I want her to wake up as well, but I can't. I've done it before without her consent, and it changed her. She felt it, too. I'm not doing that again. I'll trust her to tell me when it gets too much to handle."

Jude examined his face before looking at Cecilia, "do you know why she hasn't woken up yet?"

Eden shook his head, "all I can think of is fatigue. An outburst like that takes a lot. I'm sure she'll wake up soon."

He sat back down on his chair and grabbed her arm, a soft light emitting from his hand as he did. 

Silence filled the room for a while as they both fell deep in thought before a soft knock pulled them back into reality.

"I'll get that," Jude said as he left the room, feeling somewhat relieved to be freed of his thoughts. He looked through the peephole to see who was standing outside and quickly opened the door to let Emma in.

"Emma, great timing," Jude said as he closed the door behind her and entered the living room, closely followed by Emma.

She looked curiously at him, "oh? Did you need me?"

He nodded and sat her down on the couch, in front of the small coffee table covered with money.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about renting a market stall. This is all the money we've collected so far. Do you think that's enough to get approval?" He gave her the note with the total amount of money written on it, and she smiled as she glanced at it and returned it.

"That's definitely enough. You guys sure worked hard to get so much money in such a short time. Well done. I'll make sure to get the approval. You can pay me afterward."

Jude let out a relieved sigh and smiled before standing up, "oh yeah, that's right, Anna and Anthony made dried fruit, do you want to try it? We plan on selling it to the locals." She nodded with a smile, and Jude hurried to the kitchen to get a bowl filled with various dried fruits. He placed it in front of her and watched her pick up a piece of dried mango, and eat it. "Well, how is it?" She smiled, "it tastes great. It's not too sweet either, so I'm sure the elders will like it." He let out a relieved sigh, "that's great. Food is one of the few things we can sell without raising too much suspicion, so I really hope the people will like it." "I'm sure they will," she said before looking up to the door of the room Cecilia is in. "How is she doing?" she asked. Jude shook his head, "still unconscious. Anthony is feeling tense because of it, and Eden is pushing his limits. All we can do is hope she wakes up soon." Emma sighed, "I wonder if she'll be okay when she wakes up. Didn't Eden also have the power to remove harmful memories? Why doesn't he just do that?" "Honestly, I'm not even sure myself. He said it would change her, that he'd done it without her permission before, and regretted it. Or something like that."

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts (Arc 2)

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adventure, Fantasy

Word Count: 3.2K

<- Previous || Next ->

Clover felt her heart sink when she turned around and didn't see Matthew.

"Matthew?" she called, trying to look past the crowd of people around her. No one answered.

"Matthew!" she called again, walking back in the direction she'd just come from with Matthew. She turned a few corners, retracing all her steps, but she couldn't see him. Her pace quickened, and she felt fear blossom in her heart. He wasn't from this timeline. He could be in danger every moment she's not with him.

"Matthew, where are you?!" she called out, running around another corner before bumping into a sturdy figure, almost falling on the ground.

She looked up once she'd regained her footing and let out a relieved sigh as she saw Matthew's concerned face. She softly hit his arm, "idiot, I thought I'd lost you. You need to stay with me. What am I going to tell the others if I return without you?"

Matthew chuckled, "I'm sure they'd believe you if you just tell them you got annoyed with me."

Clover also smiled before grabbing his wrist, "nice try, but you're staying with me. I'm not losing you here."

Matthew held his free hand to his heart and looked touched as he said, "aw, your concern touches my heart."

"Shut up I'm not doing this for fun. You nearly gave me a heart attack back there, and I'm not risking that again."

She leads him back to one of the main streets they were walking on previously and comes to a halt in the middle of a crowd.

"What now?" Matthew asked as he turned to Clover.

"I need you to look at all these people and familiarize yourself with what their frequency should look like in this timeline. The more you familiarize yourself with how everything should be, the sooner you'll be able to notice when something is out of the ordinary."

Matthew looked a bit disappointed, "I can multitask, you know. I can look at people and do something fun."

Clover looked puzzled, and Matthew sighed again as he wriggled his wrist out of her grip and instead grabbed her wrist.

"What I'm saying is, why don't we do something fun? I know we're on this very serious mission, but this task you just gave me doesn't require my full attention. We can take a break while working."

He smiled brightly at her before turning away and walking straight ahead, pulling her with him.

"Hey- wait," she said as she tried to wriggle her wrist out of his grip, but he didn't let go.

"Where are we even going? You don't know this place."

Matthew shrugged, "I don't know where we're going. I'm discovering everything while searching for a destination."

Clover halted her struggles as she looked up, trying to catch a glimpse of his face.

"That sounded very deep, especially for you."

He chuckled, "you don't know me well enough to make such a statement. But, that's okay, you'll get to know me soon enough."

They walked alongside each other in silence, until they reached a park in what seemed to be the heart of the city. All around the park were crowds of people, living their lives. But inside the park, everything looked serene. It was nearly empty aside for a few couples enjoying a walk.

Clover let out a soft gasp as she came to a halt, staring at the park in front of her, "no matter how many times I see it, it still takes my breath away. It's as if the park is in an entirely different space."

"That's because it is," Matthew said as he squinted his eyes.

"The park is surrounded by... something. I'm not sure what it does, though."

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adventure, Fantasy

Word Count: 3.3K

<- Previous || Next ->

The happy chatter in the room came to an abrupt halt when two figures suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. Anthony looked up from the floor, holding tightly onto a bloodied Cecilia as he spoke in a hoarse voice, “I think she fainted.”

Annabelle was the first to snap out of her shock, looking frantic as she shot up from the couch, “why is she so bloodied? Whose blood is that? What happened?”

Anthony shook his head, “we got attacked, I thought it was one guy so I convinced Cecilia to go to a quiet place and take him out, but then another man appeared,” he looked down at Cecilia in his arms, her entire face covered in blood, “the man grabbed me, said something about taking us back to the ministry and Cecilia just….. she just snapped. Ran at the guy and stabbed him… a lot.”

An audible gasp went through the room and Eden approached Anthony. He gave him a sad look before picking Cecilia up and carrying her into another room, closing the door behind him.

Felicia was next to speak, “are you sure they were from the ministry?”

Anthony nodded, “they had the ministry’s emblem on their sleeves. They were also carrying around guns, which, last time I checked, is illegal here in Japan,” he turned to Francis, “by the way, why does Cecilia have a gun?”

Francis looked a bit surprised, “I…” realization dawned on his face, “I gave her one a week or two back. It was just for testing, but I guess I never asked her to return it. I didn’t expect her to carry it around, though. She was the one who said she’d hoped we’d never have to use them.”

Anthony sighed, “she startled me by suddenly revealing a gun when one of those guys starting shooting at us. She said you made her carry that around.”

Francis shook his head, “I didn’t. Weird she said that.”

“But there’s one thing I don’t get,” Jude said, turning the attention to the corner he was standing in, his arms folded together and a frown on his face, “Cecilia isn’t the type to ‘stab someone a lot’. Did anything weird happen?”

Anthony frowned, “We….. we were busy fending off the guy with the gun. We both thought he was alone, so I tried to take him on on my own but then Cecilia suddenly took that gun out. I guess I was so worried about her I didn’t notice the other guy creeping up on us until he ran up on Cecilia. I pushed her away and got caught and I don’t know,” he paused, trying hard to make sense of what happened. 

“The man held me in a chokehold and said the Ministry would be very happy if he delivered us to him…. Especially Cecilia. That’s when she suddenly got up from the ground and stabbed the guy in his arm with one of the daggers. I thought it was to help me get out of his grip, but I’m not so sure anymore. When that didn’t work she lunged at him again, stabbing him in the throat repeatedly while screaming at him to let me go….” He paused again, taking a shaky breath as his frown deepened, “I got out and by the time I had caught my breath, I turned around and saw Cecilia basically on top of that man, still stabbing at him even though he was already dead. She was screaming, and- and crying, telling him to leave us alone.”

“Holy shit,” Felicia said, as she stared wide-eyed at Anthony, who just nodded.

“I pulled her away and she tried to get out of my grip but eventually she seemed to snap out of her rage and just started sobbing loudly, pleading not to be taken back there. It was…. heartbreaking. We were talking about going back just a few minutes before that happening……. I didn’t know she was so scared.”

Everyone looked grim and Annabelle sighed, “of course she’d be. I thought it was weird how fast she started acting normal again after what happened to her when the Ministry took her.. it seems she was just pushing it away and now seeing these Ministry guys again, being told she’s being brought back… it must’ve triggered it all. Poor thing.”

She stared at the door with sympathy, before letting out another sigh and turning to Anthony, “I’m sorry all this happened. Wait here, I’ll get a wet cloth to get all that blood off you.”

Jack also spoke up, “you should get your arm checked out as well. It seems to be bleeding.”

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adenture, Fantasy

Word Count: 2.9K

Warnings: don’t read if you can’t handle people being killed

<- Previous || Next ->

A door slammed shut, making Cecilia look up from the kanji book in front of her. “Who’s there?” she called.

“I’m back from work, look what the old couple gave me!”

She recognized the voice as Francis’ and stood up from her chair with a smile before making her way downstairs, where Francis had just taken place on a couch in the living room. He grinned upon seeing Cecilia, and held up some cash, “they gave me extra money for fixing their lock so well.”

Cecilia’s eyes lit up, “really? How much did they give you?”

“Four thousand Yen,” he said with a proud expression. He handed the money to Cecilia, who took it from him with a smile before calling Felicia down.

She entered the room with a grumpy expression, “what is it? I was busy.”

“You were staring out of the window, Felicia,” Cecilia said with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s being busy. Thinking about stuff, my brain was working overtime, you know?”

Cecilia shook her head, “well in that case, I think this would cheer you up,” she showed the money Francis had given her, “the old couple Francis helped out gave him four thousand Yen for a job well done.”

Felicia’s face lit up, “that sure is something,” she said as a box appeared in her hands. She opened the box to let Cecilia put the money in it, along with all the other money they had acquired over the past week. She picked a piece of paper and a pen out of the box and crossed out a number before writing a new one down.

“Well, that brings us to twenty-three thousand and six hundred Yen. It’s something, at least,” she turned to Francis as she put the pen and paper back in the box before closing it and making it disappear, “you sure are a lifesaver, Francis. Without the money you bring in, we wouldn’t have had this much after just one week.”

Francis shook his head, “it’s nothing. The others are doing all the hard work, cleaning houses and carrying heavy things, just because their powers aren’t as easy to use. I can use my powers discreetly and do the more crafty work. It just so happens to be that the crafty work is apparently worth more.”

Felicia nodded before turning to Cecilia, “if that’s all, I’m going back before any more people return. If Elias sees me he’s gonna hang around me again. I have to find something to busy myself with to avoid that from happening.”

Cecilia chuckled, “admit it, you like his company.”

Felicia huffed, “as if. He’s constantly working his powers on me to make me smile. It makes my cheeks hurt.”

After Felicia left, Francis cleared his throat, catching Cecilia’s attention.

“Where’s Anthony?”

Cecilia’s smile faltered a little, “he’s in the basement, drying Anna’s leftover fruit.”

Francis squinted his eyes at her expression, “why did your smile falter just now?”

Cecilia smiled again, but her eyes looked sad, “Anthony is still angry at me for forbidding him to use his heat powers.”

Francis raised an eyebrow, “so it was you who forbade him to work?”

Cecilia shook her head, “no, I didn’t forbid him to work, I just told him he’s absolutely not allowed to use his powers. It would be hard to explain why the room becomes hotter or colder whenever Anthony enters the room to the normal people here.”

Francis smiled, “okay, I get that. What’s the real reason you won’t let him use those powers specifically?”

Cecilia gave him a searching look before smiling wryly, “you sure know how to read people.”

Francis chuckled, “well, you’ve seen my friends. They tend to hide things they shouldn’t hide.”

Cecilia sighed and sat down next to Francis on the couch, “I can’t let Anthony use his powers to make money for us. It would be too much like what the Ministry wanted from him, and I know he isn’t ready.”

“What makes you think he’s not ready?”

“Just a hunch. I feel like he’ll push himself too much if we ask him to use his heat power for us.”

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts (Arc 2)

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adenture, Fantasy

Word Count: 3.4K

<- Previous || Next ->

As the light faded, Clover's vision returned and revealed a breathtaking scene which resembled a dark sky, lit with a million little stars. She heard a gasp beside her and turned her head to smile at Matthew, who she had convinced to come with her.

"What is this place?" he asked, turning to face Clover. His eyes were big, sparkling with excitement.

"This, my dear friend, is the place that overlooks what I believe to be all possible timelines. All those shining dots are different timelines," she stretched out her arm and motioned for the sparkling dots, stopping to point at the only red one, "and that red dot over there, that's our timeline."

Matthew stared intensely at the red dot, looking a bit sad, "you think our friends are alright?"

Clover shrugged, "I'm sure they are, for now. But I fear they won't be if we don't do our jobs right."

"And what exactly is our job? I know you said something about irregularities in timelines, but I'm honestly not sure what to make of that."

Clover let out a small sigh and her expression turned grave, "these timelines, most of them are very related. It's the slight differences that have a big impact, what caused all these different timelines to be made, and develop more changes from their original timeline. Sometimes, irregularities occur. A change that wasn't supposed to happen in that timeline. As far as I know, there's only two ways to make that happen; put something, or someone that doesn't belong in that timeline, in there, or," and she hesitated, "or two timelines collide."

Matthew gave her a puzzled look, "how can two timelines collide? Do these dots move?"

She shook her head, "no, they don't. In fact, they aren't even dots. They are actual lines, we just see them at dots because we're looking at the current events. It's like we're looking 'through' the timelines from the bottom, which is the present. It's to prevent the past from being altered."

Matthew frowned, "okay, so, if they're all lines and don't move, how do they collide?"

Clover also frowned, trying to think of a way to explain everything, before her face lit up, "ah! You know how I can see the future?"

"Yeah?"

"The future I see, is the one that follows the main course of the timeline, which will inevitably happen if nothing out of the ordinary happens to interrupt it. I, however, sometimes change the future, by making slight changes, warning people, changing plans. When I do that, we enter a new branch of our timeline. It's still the same base timeline, but with a slight change. Not big enough to give us an entirely new timeline, just an alternative version of what was supposed to happen."

Matthew nodded hesitantly, "o...kay...?"

Clover excitedly continued talking, "these branches grow parallel to the base timeline, which means that, if many changes are made, our timeline will grow in width as more and more timelines are branched."

She pointed at the dots in front of them, "now, if you look closely, all dots appear to be at a set distance from eachother. If each timeline grows more in its width, they'll eventually collide. Normally, that wouldn't happen, unless something is out of the ordinary. If two timelines collide, they basically burn holes in eachother, causing countless paradoxes until something like a black hole forms and all affected timelines just cease to exist."

Matthew swallowed hard, "but, if these timelines only branch if something out of the ordinary happens, how can they even get to the point of.... That."

"I'm not the only one who can travel between timelines. There's so many timelines, so there's also a whole lot of people who have a similar power to mine. Sadly, not everyone is set on using it leisurely, and when that happens, things go wrong. People like me aren't seen as 'alien' to any timeline, so we can just blend in and wreak havoc if we want, causing the timeline to branch more than it usually would."

Matthew interrupted, " wait, you said people like you aren't alien to the timelines so, what does that make me?"

"Alien."

"Which means...?"

Clover put a hand to her chin, "that probably means the timeline will try to get rid of you."

"And you thought it was a good idea to bring someone like me into these timelines that will try to get rid of me? I thought our relationship was better than this, Clover."

He spoke in a joking manner but Clover could see the concern all over his face, so she hit his shoulder. Hard.

"Don't worry! I can see the future, remember? I'll be sure to protect you."

He put a hand on the shoulder he hit and frowned at her before sighing in defeat, "fine, what do you want me to do?"

A glint appeared in Clover's eyes, "we'll be going through various timelines near ours to check out what's going on. Since we're looking for irregularities, and you can sense all frequencies, I'm betting that spotting the irregularity won't be too hard for you. They should be somehow different from everything else in that timeline. They may not be recognized as alien, but that doesn't mean they aren't."

"Speaking of spotting irregularities, am I supposed to spot an entire irregular timeline as well? Cause I think I did just that the moment we got here."

Clover's mouth slightly dropped open and she hesitantly asked, "you're seeing which timelines are irregular?"

Matthew nodded, "yeah, most of them seem to have a similar frequency, and then there's a few.... out of control ones."

Clover huffed, a smile forming on her lips, "well, that sure makes things a lot easier. Well then, how about you tell me which irregular timeline is closest to our own."

Matthew frowned, "does our own timeline count?"

Clover's expression darkened slightly for a split second, but returned to normal just as fast, and she chuckled slightly, "no, it doesn't."

Matthew, not having seen Clover's expressions, shift his gaze from the red timeline to a white one left to it, "well then, The one directly on the left side."

"Left, huh? I guess I should've seen that coming."

"What are you talking about? Is there something special about that timeline?"

"Maybe. You'll see."

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adenture, Fantasy

Word Count: 3.1K

<- Previous || Next ->

Emma carefully lift her finger and faintly pointed in Anthony's direction, still thinking hard as she spoke, "so, you're telling me this man here controls heat....... And since he's the only one with such a power, the government uses him to heat up the entire city?"

Cecilia nodded, and Emma furrowed her brows as she crossed her arms and focused her gaze on the old wooden floor she was sitting on inside the house, "and this is a problem because...?"

Cecilia opened her mouth to explain but Anthony beat her to it as he started talking, "since my power is heat, I can control the temperature of things, but to do that, I need to be constantly focused and pour my energy into it. The moment I stop pouring my energy into it, whatever I was heating up starts cooling down. The government in our city has made me heat up air and water to supply our buildings with warmth ever since I was old enough to properly control my power."

Emma interrupted, "but wait, you told me there's only one person who controls a power, so you're the only one who controls heat, but what did they do before you could control your powers?"

"They used the woman who controlled fire. They made her burn whatever they could lose and used that to heat up the city. The only downside to that was that it released a lot of carbondioxide into the air."

"Then why won't they alternate between you and this fire lady?"

Anthony sighed sadly, "I was nine when the Ministry first asked for my services, but since I was young I didn't have a whole lot of energy I could put into my power, so they did alternate between the two of us. When I turned nineteen, the woman died, so I had to do the job on my own."

Emma's frown deepened, "why didn't they just use something to set fire to a big pile of wood?"

Anthony shrugged, "probably because my power is more nature-friendly. I'm only one person who suffers from the work, but if they use fire, everyone will suffer in some way."

Emma gave Anthony a sad look, "how were things for you after that fire woman died? I mean, they must've had some solution ready in case you ran out of energy."

Anthony gave her a bitter smile before slightly turning his body so he could look at Elias, "when I claimed to be out of energy, they would get one of my best friends into the room. Elias." Anthony paused and smiled sadly as he looked his friend in the eye before turning back to Emma. "they would threaten to hurt him, and if I didn't- or couldn't give in after such a threat, they'd actually do it. I never let them go far; the anger and fear were enough of an adrenaline boost for me to continue working until they said it was enough. They made Eden erase Elias' memories of it afterwards."

Everyone fell silent, and for a few seconds the only sound they could hear was the ticking of the old clock on one of the walls of the house Emma provided them with.

After a while, Emma finally let out a baffled sigh, staring at Anthony with pity, "that's..... horrible. So that's why you fled?"

Anthony glanced at Cecilia for a moment before fixing his gaze back on Emma, "actually, no. We had plans to start a rebellion, but then they abducted Cecilia and they..." Anthony stopped talking as he balled his fists. Cecilia stared at him for a few moments before putting on an indifferent expression and continued where Anthony left off, "they put me in their torture room for three days, until all my friends here came to my rescue. We left that same night, as the danger of staying was too great. We were all wanted for breaking into the Ministry, so all we could do was leave, and hope to find help."

Emma stared at her in shock before weakly lifting her hand and asking, "are you okay?"

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adenture, Fantasy

Word Count: 3.5K

<- Previous || Next ->

Jack's excitement faltered when he recognized Emma, staring at them with a baffled face. He backed away from the door with his hands raised slightly as he saw Emma's eyes follow his every move.

"Look, Emma, we can explain."

"I know, that's why I asked about it before jumping to conclusions."

Jack sighed, his expression a bit saddened, "your face tells me you've already drawn your conclusion."

Emma stared at him firmly for a few seconds before nodding slightly, "I probably have, so why don't you try to prove me otherwise?"

Jack bit his lip, turning slightly to look at Francis who was standing behind him and slightly shook his head. Jack looked down at the ground before drawing a deep breath, "I can't. Not now, at least. Our friends are joining us soon. We have to talk to them first."

Emma continued staring wordlessly at him, before letting out a soft, shaky breath and nodding lightly, "okay."

Jack ran a hand through his hair as he fully turned around and took a step closer to Francis so he could whisper, "Cecilia isn't going to like this."

Francis shook is head, "she isn't the only one you should be worried about. None of our friends are going to like this, and I don't blame them. We should've paid more attention to our surroundings before opening that door."

Jack touched his earpiece and said, "guys, please come. We've opened the door."

As he finished speaking, he started impatiently tapping his feet on the floor with his hands in his sides, waiting for his friends to arrive.

Francis watched his friend's impatience and whispered, "Jack, calm down."

"I am calm."

"No, you're not."

"I am."

"No, your neck is red, your sweating, and tapping your foot like a madman. Stop it, you're not making it seem any better."

Francis glanced up behind Jack and smiled a little before grabbing his friend by both shoulders and turning him around, "look at that, the first ones are coming already."

Eden, Jude and Alec were walking towards them and Alec already had his hand raised in a wave when he noticed Emma and stopped in his tracks. He looked at Emma, turned to Jude and Eden and then finally gave Jack and Francis a confused look. Jack just gave a hopeless look in return and Francis shrugged, making Alec roll is eyes before putting on a friendly smile and approaching Emma.

"Hey, can I help you with anything?"

Emma gave him a friendly smile in returned and replied, "these two kind men were going to explain to me how they opened the door to a house that isn't theirs."

Alec's smile instantly disappeared and he gave Francis and Jack a bewildered look before quickly walking past Emma towards them, Eden and Jude closely following behind.

He stopped close to Jack and whispered furiously, "what did you do?"

Jack whispered back, "we opened the door and then she suddenly appeared behind us asking us how we opened that door!"

Alec put two fingers between his eyebrows as he put his other hand in his side and turned to Eden and Jude, "Cecilia isn't going to like this."

The two men nodded wordlessly, both looking agitated. Meanwhile Emma continued to watch the men from a small distance, making sure not to lose sight of them.

Jude sighed and touched his earpiece before speaking, "Cecilia, I think you should come now, we've got a bit of a situation."

Cecilia replied almost immediately, "what did you guys do?"

Jack bit his lip upon hearing Cecilia speak through his earpiece before replying, "I think we messed up."

He flinched as he heard Cecilia curse and yell for the others to gather before everything turned silent and he turned to Francis with an exasperated look.

Emma finally approached the men and asked, "are you done consulting? I need to know whether I should be calling the police or not."

Eden quickly stepped in with a smile, "would you please give us a few more minutes? We're not complete yet and would like to wait for our other friends to consult with them.

Emma squinted her eyes as she folded her arms, "if you have to consult this much, how can I be sure you're not just working hard on fabricating a story?"

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adenture, Fantasy

Word Count: 2.8K

<- Previous || Next ->

".... Your chest...."

Cecilia opened her eyes, hearing people whisper elsewhere in the factory building.

"Show me your chest, Anthony."

She sat up, her interest piqued upon hearing Anthony's name. She hadn't seen him before going to sleep, but it seemed he got back.

"I'm fine, Eden, you healed my chest ages ago, all traces of that acid are long gone."

She stood up, carefully walking to the other side of the room and opening the door to locate the two. She saw them sitting at an old, rusty table at the other side of the main hall.

She saw Eden's back, looking tense as he crossed his arms, "I know the acid is gone, but I need to take a look at your chest. Just take off your shirt already."

She saw a grin appear on Anthony's face, "oh? And here I was thinking you had your eyes on Cecilia. I see how it is."

She heard Eden scoff, "you know what I mean, Anthony. And besides, who says I can't like both men and women?"

"Do you?"

"No. Now take off your shirt."

Anthony dropped his smile and sighed as he took off his shirt and Cecilia gasped softly. His chest was covered in scar tissue and she could hear Eden curse under his breath before gently putting two fingers on the scar.

"Do you feel this?"

Anthony hesitated for a moment before answering, "no."

Eden applied pressure, "now?"

"No."

He placed his fingers right above the scar, touching his unaffected skin, "do you feel this?"

"Yeah, and your fingers are super cold. Need me to warm them up for you?"

Eden sighed and took his hand off Anthony, ignoring his question.

"Your nerves have been damaged by that acid. I'm pretty sure the same goes for your leg. You should've immediately come to me the moment you got out of that place, knowing that they splashed you with something."

"I couldn't. They would've taken both Cecilia and Elias. I can't lose both of them. Cecilia may have chosen to rebel and she was ready to get taken in, but Elias didn't do anything to have to go through this stuff. You know how weak his heart is."

Eden threw Anthony his shirt, "says you."

Anthony looked baffled as he put his shirt back on, "what are you trying to say with that?"

"That your heart is just as weak as Elias', you just managed to build a strong wall around it."

Anthony fell silent for a moment as he looked down at the ground, "Cecilia also has a wall around her heart."

Eden scoffed, "oh yes she does, and a very strong one at that."

"Why?"

Eden stopped moving and instead turned his head to look at Anthony, "it's to protect her own heart from other people's thoughts."

Anthony shook his head, "that can't be all. Jude told me Cecilia has had a rough life even before this, and I doubt it was just because of a few thoughts."

Eden's shoulders tensed, "honestly, Anthony, I get you're trying to play the protective boyfriend role, but Cecilia's past really doesn't concern you."

Anthony frowned, "I'm not just trying to play a role, I'm genuinely concerned for her, especially after what happened when the Council took her."

Eden sighed, "Anthony, for your own sake, just drop this topic. You won't hear anything from me, or Jude, in case you'll try to approach him next. If you want to know about her past, you'll have to ask her yourself, but I won't be saying a word about it."

Anthony got off the table he was sitting on and sighed as he dusted his pants before turning around, looking in Cecilia's general direction, "not sure who's standing there, but I'm sure you know eavesdropping isn't nice."

[here’s the full link in case it doesn’t work: https://my.w.tt/VITxmlc63U ]

Story: A Heart’s Thoughts

Synopsis: Everyone has their own two powers, but it’s up to luck whether you’ll end up being tortured for it or not.

Welcome to our little Empowered village, the place where you’ll learn to use your powers for good- or, that’s what we were told.

Genres: Angst, Action, Romance, Superpowers, College, Adenture, Fantasy

Word Count: 2.7K

<- Previous || Next ->

Julian spoke up the moment Cecilia finished giving orders, "wait, it's going to be 6 p.m. soon and if this place is anything like Eriline, that means the people will get off work and start crowding the streets. If they see us snooping around and breaking into those houses, I'm pretty sure they won't just let it slide. Let's rest up, make plans, and go take a look at those houses tomorrow."

Jack also joined the conversation, "he's right, if we get into trouble this early on, it will be hard for us to get help from anyone."

Cecilia looked at the two and sighed, "alright, you guys are right. We'll go check those houses out tomorrow. If they end up useable, we'll be able to immediately make them livable as well. Jack, Francis, I suggest you two walk around this place, try to see where most people come out from, those are likely the most influential companies, and may be of help to us in the future."

"You got it."

Jack gave a little wave before motioning for Francis to follow him outside. As the two left, Cecilia motioned for the remaining people to follow her to the center of the room, where she sat on the ground and encouraged the others to do the same.

"As Julian said, we need to make plans. I hate to admit it but this has become more difficult than I'd expected, mostly because I assumed we'd be fleeing to an English-speaking country, not Japan."

Felicia, who was drawing circles in the dust on the floor softly said, "don't rub it in like that."

Cecilia glanced at her friend before looking down at the ground, "guys, we need to find people who speak sufficient English to be able to help us, and we need money. We need to find places to work, where we can both earn money and get an idea of what this place is like."

Annabelle cleared her throat as she raised her hand with a smile, "if we could find a marketplace of some sort, we could build a stall to sell fruits and vegetables at. I can make plenty of food for us to eat, and extras to sell and get some money. They'll be fresh and as natural as can be, so they're bound to bring in some money."

Julian also joined the discussion, "if we manage to find out what we need to set up a stall here, that could be a start. We might even be able to move to a shop at some point."

Alec spoke, "I'm sure Francis could also give us some valuable minerals and products. If we manage to sell those to people and their companies, I'm sure it'll bring in money."

"We need to be careful with that one, though," Jude said, "companies might want to know where we get those minerals, and we can't possibly tell them we have a friend who can make it appear out of thin air. It might make us look suspicious so that one really needs some investigation before we can consider it."

Cecilia interrupted them before anyone else could speak, "guys, these plans are great, but they won't work unless we find people who can speak both English and Japanese, to help us get the information and resources we need to survive and ask for help."

Anthony clapped his hands together, "alright, we know the plan, so how about we all go rest. Francis and Jack will return on their own. I think we're all a bit disheartened after our findings today, so we need some good sleep to start with a fresh mind again tomorrow."

Julian raised his brows, "you want to go to sleep at 6?"

Anthony laughed, "of course not, first we have to eat. But nothing beats sleep after eating your full, so I'll be doing just that. I'm exhausted after walking around and having to deal with the fact that we're in Japan."

After having spoken his mind, Anthony stood up, dusted his pants and walked over to Elias before bending over and firmly grabbing his shoulders to shake him back and forth, "and you, my dear friend, need a good laugh. You've been so silent, which is very unlike you. I wish I could've dragged you and Cecilia back to that theme park, just to show you her face."

"Anthony, I heard that," Cecilia said with a sigh as she lightly shook her head.

Anthony gave her a cheeky smile, "I know, that's part of the reason why I said it." He turned his attention back to Elias, "come on, fellow mood maker, let's see what can cheer you up."

Anthony squeezed Elias' shoulders before straightening his back and taking a step back, waiting for Elias to get up.

Elias looked at the ground for a moment before sighing softly and getting up, "alright, what do you have in mind?"

Anthony smiled brightly as he threw his arm over Elias' shoulder and dragged him with him to the door, where he briefly stopped to announce that they were leaving, before stepping out of the building and onto the streets, closing the door behind them."

Cecilia stared at the closed door for a few more moments before sighing and getting up as well, "alright, let's find ourselves something to do as well. Anna, could you please grow us some food? I'll help you prepare them once they're done."