* Played “Nothing in the Story – My first Story” while writing this *

AN: Yes, same song as last time. And yes, still no warnings here! Enjoy!

————————————

*six months after the escape*

Lady Luck still remembers that incident like it’s happened yesterday.

The change of scenery back then when Black Silver’s ability activated had brought Lady Luck out of her sudden trance.

They’ve both had experienced powered fights, and neither one of them was ignorant to the concept of killing intent.

A powered person would release their energy to the outside word sometimes, in a hostile manner to mark themselves as predators rather than preys.

Just like a beast with a loud roar is considered more threatening.

Yet, the moment she’d felt the killing intent that came out of that boy’s body, she’d already given up.

To this day, she’s still surprised she had survived that.

Albeit, thanks to Black Silver’s quick thinking.

He had transported them to their safe haven, that no one, other than them two, knows about.

And until this day, she’d been in hiding.

Facing that person, whatever he actually is, again was akin to suicide, and she hadn’t given up on her life yet.

————————————

Draven and Maya had become best friends, there weren’t many people who had shared what they had between them.

So, it came rather naturally.

Even Maria seemed to accept her new role as their guardian.

At their escape, newspapers didn’t seem to care about the kidnapped kids, or even how the mayor’s husband has been killed during daytime. They had much more pressing news to worry about.

Officially, the mayor’s husband seemed to have have been killed either randomly, by a street gangster, or by someone who has a grudge on the mayor.

Her son’s kidnapping seemed to prove the latter.

Maria Bawlden was named hero after finding the two kids and taking them in, although she hadn’t been to the party made in her honour since she was supposed to be sick.

According to her story, she was talking one of her usual walks, to relieve the stress of her disease, when she had found the abandoned kids.

The mayor and police chief refused to question them about what had actually happened and how they’ve managed to escape, to avoid a serious trauma to their already exhausted minds.

Although, on paper Draven was the mayor’s son, he only stayed at her house very rarely, since he couldn’t bring himself to trust her in any way.

He’d even eat the lunch Maria makes for him, rather than whatever his mom prepares.

He could trust her blindly since he had developed a feeling for the curse he’d inflicted on her.

She can’t think of anything bad about him without knowing that something’s not right.

Maya was so happy with the growth she’s achieved so far.

Although she was now ten years old, three years younger than Draven, meaning she’d only be in fourth grade, her level was way beyond her peers.

Maria had taught her so much that she was so surprised with her development.

It almost creeped her out.

‘No kid is supposed to be this smart!’

Even though school wise she was happy, Maya didn’t know what to do about Draven.

Now that they both had their own thing to do, they’ve been getting further apart by the day.

A development she wasn’t going to keep unchecked.

Not her schooling nor her work with Maria shall prevent her from having Draven by her side.

Unlike the mixed feelings she’s had for Draven in the past, now it was clear, like the sun on a sunny summer day, that he values her like a little sister.

He treats her like a princess, buying her everything she’d ever hoped for, providing compassion and guidance as needed, and whenever needed.

Her life was so perfect, to the point where sometimes she would be expecting herself to wake up any moment, to find herself back at Lady Luck’s place.

But her uneasiness and anxiety would all disappear with an embrace from her beloved new older brother.

After seeing their relationship and living with them for months, Maria regretted not having children.

But at the same time she was so happy she always found Draven by her side, supporting her whenever she was struck by nightmarish memories of her illness or even bad mood.

Her surprise about how forgiving he was, had never left her.

Yet, she doesn’t question it.

She’s finally found the place where she belongs, and the people she could trust with her life.

She left her underground identity. Black Wing was no more.

But she didn’t miss a chance to teach Maya whatever tricks she could use to torture her enemies, or the secrets she’s gathered throughout her career, along with some martial arts to defend herself.

The girls were so happy with every passing day, both loved Draven and eachother like family.

Although the start wasn’t the best one out there, they didn’t complain, since in the end they still have eachother and that’s all that matters.

Draven on the other hand, wasn’t fairing so good.

After his parents’ betrayal, he had a hard time placing his trust in a stranger’s care, so he simply didn’t.

The only two people he trusted were the two girls, Maya and Maria.

Outside, he’d already ditched his old friends.

He’d lived with his father for almost all he could remember, yet he hadn’t been able to tell the difference between his acting and his real face.

What prevents him from misjudging others actions too?

As a result, he has become cold and distant from other people.

Almost treating everyone as his enemy.

Yet, the moment he would meet Maya or Maria, his behaviour would take a 180, becoming the most loving and caring brother one could ever ask for.

Some of his neighbours had already given up on trying to understand his sudden change.

Most people despised his way of looking at them, as if they were lower than trash.

But others admired him even more, after surviving what he’d been through.

Others just labeled him as an overprotective older brother.

————————————

Although it’s been months after the incident had happened in Torinto city, not a single house has been fixed yet.

The pressure emitted by the runes prevented most people, even powered soldiers, from setting a foot near the place.

The Earth Defensive Alliance, or EDA, experts were left flabbergasted at the strange design and effect of the runes.

The search teams couldn’t find anything of special importance there, except for the runes themselves.

They were filled with energy that was seeping out of them like a river finding its way back to the ocean through a cracked dam.

There were some rumours about it being a sign from aliens’ invasion that’ll commence soon.

Others believed it’s the creation of a beast that lives in that small room at the eye of the crater.

Still, they were mostly contained rumours within the EDA.

Since only rank A and higher EDA agents could have access to the area, everyone else started their own rumours about a weird kind of government experiment gone wild.

*In the newly build EDA branch in Torinto city*

“What do you think of this, Yaski?” asked a young man, his silvery eyes shining with bright brilliance.

“I don’t have any reasonable explanation, if that’s what you’re asking, Will “, replied Yaski, the annoyance in her voice was enough to make her brown eyes spark under the lamp’s bright light.

“No, I’m asking about your personal opinion of the runes, not whatever the officials feed you”, Will was unfazed.

“If you insist, they look great…”

“Yaski…”

“Ugh fine, what I’ve gathered so far is that whoever or whatever has done that is still on this planet, since no one with considerable power has left Earth ever since. Mind you it’s just my educated guess.”

“Did you consider the possibility of it being an artifact?”

“No way”, Yaski shook her head, “with such destructive power, it would’ve needed months to charge and be ready for use. Here, look at this”, she pointed at the monitor in front of them, projecting an image from an “Energy Detecting Satellite”.

Will took a look at it, yet he didn’t understand.

All he saw was a map of the affected area, but before the incident had happened.

Blue dots scattered across the map indicating slightly powerful energy flows that powered people usually emit.

“I can’t see anything special-”

“Exactly”, chimed in Yaski.

“Now look at this.”

Now, Will was staring at their location inside the EDA building, through the monitor he could see some blue dots scattered across the map, and a big one at their place.

“Ah I see your point. So the more powerful the energy signature, or the more small dots (powered people) are gathered around, the small dots appear as a big one instead. Which means you’re implying that before the incident, there wasn’t anything weird in the place, charging an artifact this big would’ve meant energy flow would be massive in that area.”

Yaski kept nodding, happy that someone has understood her without her needing to repeat herself seven times at least.

“Don’t you spot the flaw in your explanation though?” Will raised his brows and asked.

“Huh?”

“Even if not an artifact, the culprit would need to either gather or have a huge amount of energy, considering the amount of damage. Yet, the image only shows the energy popping like popcorn”

Yaski hadn’t thought of that, ‘Damn it, he’s right’, she kept staring at the picture trying to make heads of tails.

After a while her brown eyes were beaming with joy, “It had just awakened!”

“What?” Will was already tired of playing riddles.

“Whoever’s done that, just got awakened at that time! Don’t you see it? It’s exactly like you said, they popped like popcorn!”

“Are you saying that someone was that strong upon awakening?” The alone thought sent a shiver down his spine.

Awakening powers wasn’t such a big deal in his eyes, being born with it himself and all.

But what gave him goosebumps was that usually the awakening state would be the weakest state of a powered person, since they still can’t control their powers properly.

Yaski noticed his nervousness, “Yes” she said with an audible gulp.

Only now did she realise the graveness of their situation.

“But look at the bright side”, she continued, “whoever was that, they’ve probably died because of the explosion, since their energy had dissipated after the explosion “, she said pointing at the image in front of her.

Although the runes were pulsing with energy, it was clear they weren’t alive, or so she hoped.

“Or they used the runes to cover their escape? Maybe they’re an S ranker? You know S rankers can control their energy flow, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to walk in the streets like normal people.”

The idea of having an S ranker as an enemy made them both shiver with cold sweat.

“Or he just died…” Yaski didn’t want to deal with an S ranker.

She’d rather have children and die of old age, duty and loyalty weren’t her dreams, nor strongest suit.

The only incident with a rough S ranker the EDA had to deal with was more than ten years ago, when powered people were still studied like some form of harmful bacteria.

A rough S ranker had lost his daughter to the cruel experiments the army and experts were conducting.

He went on rampage, destroying over twenty skyscrapers, killing over thousands of people.

At the end of the massacre, he was put down by his fellow S rankers.

But it’s left a deep scar on everyone, especially S rankers.

That very incident was the reason powered people are treated with respect nowadays.

And why the EDA is doing its best to avoid causing conflicts between powered individuals.

But even after all of that, S rankers were viewed differently than others.

Some worships them to avoid troubles, others out of respect and love.

Some despises them deeply, spitting on every mention of them.

Yaski was still doing the math in her head, reviewing news about that old incident and the one at hand.

“Will”, she swallowed loudly, “according to the EDA’s files, the death count of this rune incident is almost the same if not higher than the rough S ranker case. The affected area wasn’t a residential one, but rather a shopping district.”

“Almost as if planned….” Will could already feel the knot forming in his stomach, aching like a wild mole.