Papercut

I was back where I needed to be and eventually, everyone saw the state I was in, but I didn't tell them what happened. Olivia performed a teleportation ritual and we went back to our "home" where I was to recover for a few days before we actually made a real plan to stop the consortium and I figured, maybe I'll keep Wildcard in mind.

[11 Days later...]

"Ooah!"

I had just woken up, smacking my lips as the bright sunlight from outside once again shone through my window, it was a beautiful day.

"Maybe I should take a break from all of the Consortium stuff, I kind of deserve it for stopping Wildcard."

I got out of bed and stretched before opening my room door to walk into what most would call a living room. I saw Aaron sitting reading his novel over by the sofa and Noah, removing his headphones, turned around only to notice me."

"Oh Amelia, I'm glad you're awake. I'm assuming you feel better now?"

I nodded in agreement, but that fight with wildcard had drained me even though I honestly was feeling better, I obviously couldn't tell him that

"Yeah, it seems the sparring match between me and Olivia really took a toll on me."

"Glad you're feeling good. Olivia and I had planned to take you out, to enjoy yourself and relax since we know it's not easy to just live with some strangers and feel at ease. Olivia is sleeping and its best we don't wake her, she isn't the happiest person when she's woken up from her sleep. So, I decided to take you instead."

"Oh, so like a date then?"

Noah's face turned an intense red before he stood, fl.u.s.tered trying to explain himself.

"Not like that, I mean I guess it counts as a date, so you could call it a date, but this isn't like a Date Date, its more like a non-date! I mean u-"

I giggled and hushed him

"It's okay, I was just messing around with you. Where did you plan on taking me, London's a big place after all?"

"I just figured we would take a nice walk around, ya know, enjoy the scenery."

"Hmm, yea I think that actually would be nice."

I gave Noah a smile before messing with his hair a bit.

"I guess it's settled then."

[15 minutes Later...]

The two of us were walking down a beautiful stone road, next to large fountains that shot water meters in the sky, it was marvelous. We intended to have a normal hangout, but I decided we needed to have some fun and he went along with it. It wasn't a date, but it sure felt like one. Noah and I had gone to many places that day and had loads of fun, we went to skating ring, off to a golf course to play a few rounds, and even to Pizza Palace where we both pigged out on double stuffed cheese pizza. The time was about 7 pm and it was beginning to get dark outside. We both casually strolled down the same sidewalk we had once before, but this time enjoying ourselves as our the entirety of England bathed in the Moonlight. While we were walking I wanted to ask him a question, since I'd never actually gotten the answer,

"Noah?"

"Hm?"

"You never told me. What exactly is your hybrid ability and how'd you end up at the Foster Home? I'm sorry if it's too personal, but you don't have to answer if you're not up to it."

"No, it's okay. To be honest, like most kids I as well had a normal childhood until the consortium came. The memory is still pretty vague...

[10 Years ago]

"Honey?"

"Yes, dear?"

"You know it's that time. What are we going to do about Noah, and what will they do with him. They know someone in this house is to possess great power and I don't want to give them my pride and joy, my only son"

[Noah's mother burst into tears crying as his father comforted her. She could barely talk but it was obvious that they both cared deeply for their child]

"If they take Noah, they'll conduct multiple experiment's which could be fatal and if we refuse we'll be imprisoned for treason. The Consortium is heavily linked with government, so there's nothing we can do."

[Noah's father balled up his fist in frustration and then he had an idea]

"We lie."

"What?"

[Noah's mother looked at her husband with a confused look on her face]

"I'll do it, I'll tell them that I'm the one with such power so you and Noah can live in peace. I'll do it for my family."

"No, I won't t stand by while my husband gives his life, if you're going then we'll go together"

[Noah's father gave his wife a smile]

"You always were the courageous type, it's why I married you"

[The wife hugged her husband and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek]

"But what about Noah, where will he go and what if the Consortium begins to get suspicious of us"

'We'll-""

CAH! CAH! CAH! [There was knock at the front door.]

[Noah's father walked to the door before slowly opening it and peeking out]

"Who is it?"

[The Present..]

"That's basically it. After that my memory is a bit blurred, but I never understood why they wanted me. I mean, after all, I was born with an abnormal stamina variable which made it difficult for my body to even contain the abilities of a hybrid. I didn't have an ability, but one day I met a very nice man who called himself a god. He said my future was bright and to become a follower of him and if I did so, I'd never be in the darkness again. His name was Apollo."

I looked at Noah at it seemed a little awkward, but I could tell he wasn't lying.

"So, what power did Apollo give you exactly."

As I asked the question, Noah just scratched the back of his head and nervously laughed as if he was unsure about his answer.

"Honestly, I have a few. All followers of Apollo possess the same abilities unless they obtained more from an outside source, but they all have the basic ones nonetheless."

He was holding out on me, I could tell. I wanted to know eagerly and he was acting insecure about his abilities.

"Hey! You can at least name one! There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I can co..."

He mumbled the rest of the sentence so it was difficult to understand what he was saying, his words were trailing off.

"Noah!"

"Okay, Okay. I can control and manipulate photon particles, I don't like bringing it up because it's not as cool as you guys and Olivia calls me a nerd for giving my attacks different names and titles. I know it's all in good nature though, so she doesn't mean any harm, but I still don't like talking about it."

"I think that's kind of cool. It's okay, just look at the bright side, at least you're not some type of Icebox like me."

"Yeah, I'm a flashlight"

"The Light-bulb and Refrigerator, partners in crime!"

We both laughed and I could honestly say I was having fun with the guy, Noah wasn't as bad as he'd make himself out to be. He was a pretty nice friend, I kind of warm around him considering he was one of the first people to accept me into the group although this is the first time we genuinely hung out together and I could tell the feeling was mutual. I even started to blush a bit and looked down before looking up again only to see him staring as if he saw a diamond.

"Noah?"

"Err oh, I'm sorry. I like wasn't intentionally trying to stare at you, I mean I wouldn't want to, not like you're ugly or anything, it's just I think your sort of cute, but no cute cute, like cute like a puppy, not cute as if I wanted to date you or anything."

He sighed.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I er-"

[Amelia giggled and shushed him once again]

"It's okay I understand."

That was the moment. Everything went silent, I leaned forward, as did he. Both of our eyes closed, our lips only centimeters away, three centimeters, two, half...

"And what do we have here?"

[Aaron seemingly appeared out of nowhere, startling both Amelia and Noah, causing both to fall]

I quickly hopped up, fl.u.s.tered with a face full of red.

"Dammit Aaron!! Why the hell would you do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

[Noah nodded in agreement while Aaron rolled his eyes]

He just looked at us starting to speak in his normal monotonous tone.

"Sorry to crash your 'date', but I just came to let you know Olivia is upset you didn't wake her. I left, she's rather dangerous when she's not happy and I want to avoid any unnecessary hospital trips. Moving on to other matters, we should make our way back to Olivia before she torches the entire City."

Noah and I both embarrassingly looked at one another, each with faces full of red before I helped him up and so the blushes faded.

[Noah started to dust off his jacket which had gotten a little dirty from the ground]

"You and Amelia should go on ahead, I'll catch up in about ten minutes."

"Wait I think I should st-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Aaron had performed a different kind of teleportation ritual and grabbed my hand before I could react, pulling me.

[Noah stared up at the starry sky, thinking about everything that had happened that day]

"Amelia has been staying with us for at least a month and a half."

[He sighed.]

"Damn Aaron, he knew what he was doing. He couldn't let me have this. Ah oh well, I probably should've learned the teleportation ritual before trying to learn other useless ones so I guess I'm walking tonight."

[Noah began to walk down the stone road that leads back to where the others were before stopping]

"I see you, ya know."

[A mysterious, cloaked figure leaped from behind Noah, somersaulting over his head and landing short of nine meters away from him]

"Impressive, is that why you sent the girl away?"

"Tch, as if."

[Noah shrugged his shoulders and gave away a smirk]

"As long as your body reflects light I can sense the photonic disruptions within the medium. Like, as you just traveled through, the air. Simply put, I just wanted to be a show-off."

[The cloaked figure grabbed that same cloak, gripping it, preparing to remove the cloth]

"So I assume you know why I'm following you?"

"I can't give a solid answer, but I do know you started following us for about a month and a half. Heh, you were just waiting for the perfect moment to take her weren't you?

"You're not as dumb as you look, boy. I assume you're the strongest of the four, am I wrong?"

[Noah began doing warm-up stretches as if he were about to begin an exercise]

"You couldn't be further from the truth."

[Noah threw off a nonchalant grin]

"Olivia's the strongest, Aaron is the smartest and Amelia is the most strong-willed, but as for me.."

[Noah's body became enveloped in bright light before he seemingly disappeared. In actuality he'd reduced his body to photonic particles, shooting towards the cloaked figure, reforming his body, he swung a punch that this figure swiftly caught in his hand.]

"I'm the fastest."