Chapter 546: lt's Mine
"Did you say something, Toms?"
"No, I did not, Hannah."
"Jesu—Stop creeping behind me and show yourself like a normal person! You're not a ninja!"
"My sole purpose is to protect you, Hannah. I do not need to be seen."
"You certainly didn't back me up the other day. And stop it with this 'protect protect' roleplay bullshit you and my brother are playing at. You're my friend, Tomoe."
Hannah and the others were still in front of the large lake. This time, however, a large shadow was being cast all over them; almost covering the entire lake. The light that glowed beneath the waters, now floating above it.
It was a glowing sphere; some sort of sphere the size of the globe one could see at the entrance of a popular theme park. Hannah wanted to approach it at first since she was the only one completely unaffected by the weird temperature it was releasing but chose to just observe it in the end first.
Whatever it is, everyone felt a certain pull coming from it, literally. The sphere was throbbing, and with each pulse, strands of water coming from the lake were slowly, but consistently being sucked into the sphere bit by bit.
Hera and Tsula were currently underwater, checking to see if there was anything else there. Before that, however, the two were in a slight debate. As for Vera, she was just sitting on the ground and not talking to anyone.
Suffice it to say, it was impossible for this group to truly get alone.
"I am starting to think it wasn't Megawoman who sent that message to Hera, she wouldn't send us here," Hannah threw a pebble at the lake before standing beside Tomoe, "All things considered, this has Diana Ross written all over it. I was also told that Megawoman is sort of… technologically inept."
"I agree, Hannah," Tomoe was about to stand behind Hannah again, but Hannah glared at her and gestured to her to stand behind her like a normal person, "How… long do we need to observe the sphere? I heard from Miss Tsula that she was feeling something familiar coming from the sphere."
"Yeah, she's not alone there," Hannah let out a long and deep breath as she looked at the sphere. It had been sucking in the water from the lake for more than a day now, and yet it hasn't grown in size at all.
"All these new alien techs, it's crazy. I miss the days when the craziest tech I can hold was dad's anti-gravity thingy. You know, you attach it to something and it makes that object weightless or something. Fuck, I wonder where that is?"
"That… is not normal technology, Hannah."
"Isn't it?"
"..."
"..."
"May I ask you something, Hannah?"
"Oh my f–Just ask."
"You asked if I said something earlier, were you hearing something?" Tomoe's usually monotonous tone slightly became more high-pitched as she glanced at Hannah.
"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought I heard someone calling for me," Hannah waved her hand and scoffed.
"I see. I also need to check on your mental health, it's important," Tomoe sighed and nodded.
"...Since when did you become a doctor?" Hannah could not help but chuckle at Tomoe's words, "I told you, it's nothing. I'm just… I thought I heard Riley."
"You heard Master?" Tomoe squinted her already small eyes, "Perhaps it's some sort of sibling telepathy."
"That only works in twins," Hannah snickered as she looked at Tomoe, "And Riley and I aren't even related by blood, so… hm."
"..."
"And besides. The last time Riley called for me was back when he was just a tiny little prick."
"Tiny—please do tell me more about Master when he was younger," Tomoe's small eyes widened as she looked Hannah straight in the eyes.
"Oh, he was wild," Hannah shook her head as a chuckle escaped her lips, "Basically, dad took his spoon because he was playing with it."
"...Oh."
"Yup, he truly did not like that," Hannah then sighed as she looked at the sky, "I remember saying all sorts of bad stuff to dad back then, even mom got mad at him and he had to sleep in his mancave… which I think he prefers, honestly."
"What did Riley do?"
"Nothing, really. He just screamed and slightly became violent. You know, Riley is so aware of everything around him that you sometimes forget that there's… just something really wrong with him."
"Hm," Tomoe also sighed and nodded.
"But I wish I could do that. Just be in control of my emotions; but then again, I guess that's why he grew up so fucked in the head," Hannah once again also sighed; the two of them, filling the air with their heavy breaths,
"But I guess even without the whole being in the spectrum thingy, Riley is just… really, really fucked up as a person."
"..."
"It's our fault, really, for not seeing it. Mom was probably aware of it, but well… she's mom. Dad just made it worse… and now I am tolerating it."
"I do not think it's your fault, Hannah."
"Hm," Hannah just shrugged, "He has to be stopped, you know, my brother. But he has to be stopped the right way, or not at all."
"...And what is the right way?"
"It's…"
***
"Sister… I need my sister."
Back in the canteen of Hel's castle, Riley was still calling for Hannah; still rubbing his temples as if to calm himself down.
"Hannah…" Riley's eyes looked everywhere, shaking his head with each turn.
"What's wrong with this guy? And where's Zac?"
Almost all the people in the canteen could really only watch as Riley started to become more erratic by the second. Cyril, who was the closest to Riley, could not help but become irritated by Riley's incessant wails.
"Hey, stop screaming!" Cyril approached Riley, cracking the table beneath his feet even more, "You're making everyone here uncomfortable!"
"..." And as soon as the cracking whisper reached Riley's ears once more, and like a hose suddenly being pinched, any sound that was coming from him abruptly stopped. His eyes, now looking directly at Cyril's face.
"What are you loo–"
And before Cyril could move, the words coming from his mouth became muffled as Riley suddenly grabbed his entire face.
"Hannah… Hannah is here. Hannah is with me."
And as soon as that whisper escaped from Riley's lips, the air inside the canteen instantly became thicker; the space around Riley, very slowly distorting in a sort of wave.
And soon, a sizzle started to whisper in the air.
"Kh!" Cyril quickly grabbed Riley's wrist with both hands as he felt a scorching pain trickling down his face. He tried pushing Riley's hand away, and he did… but Riley's other hand instantly replaced it.
"You!" This time, Cyril slammed the edges of his palm like a scissor around Riley's arm—shattering his bones and almost tearing them off completely. Riley's palm, however, was still locked and gripping his face.
"I told you…" Riley then whispered; with each word, smoke fumed from his lips, "...I told you to take your feet off my table. But no, no, no, no… You don't listen, no one listens. No one, no one fucking listens. You know, it's my table. It's mine."
Riley started shaking his head as vapor started being released from his body,
"If you don't listen…
…then you don't need your ears."