Prism Academy 5- Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Appropriately titled chapter. Sorry, I meant to have this done a couple days ago but it just didn't come together. I think I'll be able to finish the next chapter tonight since it's half written, but then I'm gonna just get some sleep and hope for a good day tomorrow.

If all goes well I'll get 2 chapters of Prism and 2 of DS tomorrow.


Chapter 2- Frustration

It was hard to decide who to go to first, but I tried to prioritize. “Take me to Kenna first.”

Jill said, “Oh, the newest bond is the shiny toy. What’s gonna happen to the rest of us? Will we just become old hat to you?”

I growled at that. She leaned forward and kissed the side of my head as she pushed me down the hall. “Okay, too soon. I was just playing.”

“You’ll have to forgive, Demis…” Sybilla began, but I cut her off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s her way of coping. But we all have to grow up a bit more and a bit faster than I’d like right now. The fact that one of the thirteen remaining cities could be practically wiped off the map without any comment from the government has me concerned. The only thing more worrisome is Krig, himself.

“I don’t know what he was. He was stuffed full of shadow energy but also some of that new type of energy I felt within the monsters that attacked the Soros compound. It didn’t react to Light’s Judgment at all. And as if those things aren’t bad enough, I can’t even worry about either issue at the moment. I need to find a way to patch my team up first.”

Neither said anything, but I could feel their understanding. After a few seconds, I added, “And for the record, we’re going to Kenna first because I get the sense that I can help her the most easily.”

A minute later, I was pushed in my stupid wheelchair into the room where Kenna was in some type of tank. She had a breathing tube down her throat while her entire body was submerged in a rather viscous fluid. I’d heard about these tanks, heck I’d seen things like them in this old movie that had given me one of the ideas for my own energy rods.

Before I had to, Sybilla called out, “Who’s in charge? We need a report on Twinkle’s condition.” She likely knew who was in charge, but it was just good manners not to use psychically obtained information when a simple question would suffice.

A doctor stepped up. “Greetings, Sybilla, Demis, Prism. I’m glad you're up and about, our hope would have fallen if you’d died, Prism. As for your bond, she is healing up. The regeneration tank should have her up on her feet within two days.”

“So long?”

She replied, “It wouldn’t be even from any injury like that, but she was also low on capacity. The shadow infection ate away at that. We weren’t sure she was going to make it, but maybe you’ve already been told what happened.”

I nodded.

“So as it stands, two days is pretty quick. Her rate of regeneration will accelerate as her capacity refills, and she will be almost at full strength by the time she leaves the tank.”

I held up my hand and reached for Light’s Judgment. It was just as powerful for healing as it was for destroying the shadow. But before I could gather any of the dregs of my power to attempt a healing, my hand was slapped down.

This would have been something I’d have expected from Demis, but not from Sybilla. Her reaction was far more violent than anything I’d seen before. “Don’t you dare. You’re at what, one percent capacity? You’re lucky to even be able to sit up.”

Her words prompted me to look inward at my status sheet. I smiled at her. “Actually, I’m already at two percent capacity.”

Demis shook her head. “You and your ridiculous recovery rate.”

Sybilla wasn’t distracted, though. “Great, so two percent away from possible death. You are not to use your powers at all. Even the telepathy should be limited to emergencies. Tell him doctor.”

The doctor took a step back, clearly not wanting to get stuck in the middle of a family emergency.

I protested, “Two percent for me is like fifty percent for a week, Ray.”

Sybilla trembled with frustration. I could feel it, but I was equally upset. I wanted to be able to do something proactive. Before my psychic bond could reply, Demis said, “Remember that the fuller your capacity the faster your regenerate it. That rule applies even to you. So the faster you’re back at full power, the safer we’ll all be. Kenna wouldn’t want you to endanger the rest of the world simply to save her a couple days in the tank.”

I wanted to argue that point, but she was right. My bonds weren’t China dolls and no matter how much I wanted to shelter them from everything, they were warriors in the battle too, some of them for much longer than I had been.

“Fine, let’s go check on Molly then.”

“You promise not to do anything stupid? If you don’t, I’m taking you back to bed and letting Demis hold you down.”

I chuckled at the expressions on the faces of some of the med-techs. They must not be used to seeing the presumably most powerful man in the world talked to like he was an errant toddler. It was just par for the course with strong women in my life. Their strength had more to do with how they helped improve me than in their actual powers, not that those were lacking either.

“I promise that I won’t do anything for which the risk outweighs the potential reward and that I’ll take your reminder about recharging my capacity seriously.” When I finished speaking, I stared at Sybilla as though challenging her to contest my words.

Demis said, “You know we aren’t going to get any better out of him.”

“It isn’t like I want him to stop being himself. I just want him to take care of himself sometimes. He can rely on us.”

“I do, more than you seem to realize, now on to Molly, please’” When Sybilla looked like she was going to say something else, I reached out and grabbed her. I might not have much capacity, but the advantage of high stats was that they didn’t depend upon capacity. Sure, I felt like I had the worst hang-over of my life combined with a migraine and the flu, but I wasn’t gonna fail to go see my bonds.

Once I’d pulled her into my lap, I demonstrated a very public display of affection and felt her slowly relax against me. The kiss drug on long enough that it would have been intensely embarrassing for some of my bonds, but Sybilla seemed to revel in it. When our lips broke apart , I whispered into her ear, “If you keep being a bad girl, I may have to spank you right in in this wheelchair.”

She shuddered and looked at me with her eyes wide. “As much as I wanna make you back that up, like you said, we all have to grow up now.”

With that, we were moving again, although I insisted on holding Sybilla on my lap as Demis pushed us through the hallway. About halfway to where Molly was recovering, we ran into Priska, quite literally. Rather, she materialized in after walking right through the wall and us.

I could feel the other half of my orange bond and the deep depression she was feeling about not having been able to help. Because of the way my orange bond had been crafted, I suspected that Kenna and Priska were going to feel closer than just two of my bonds. In my mind, it was almost like they were two halves of one person.

“Priska, I know you aren’t okay, so I won’t even go through the motions of asking that. Hell, none of us are okay, but we’re stronger together. You shouldn’t be wandering the halls like your namesake. I want you with me.”

She barely looked at me. “I know. I know what you’re saying is true. I know this wasn’t my fault, but I can’t help how I feel.”

Without any prompting from me, Sybilla slid to just one of my legs to make room for Priska on the other side. “No, but you can let me feel it with you. This love is real, no matter how portion of it formed the old-fashioned way and what came from the bond. I feel it just as strongly either way. Now, come share your pain with me.”

I empowered few words with just a tiny bit of psychic energy. It wasn’t exactly a compulsion, but Priska needed a push and provided it. She bit her lip but slowly walked over till she sat on my other leg. I was truly glad for the oversized wheelchair. Demis stared, pushing again while I extended my mind out to Priska.

I couldn’t take away her pain or grief and even if I could, would only serve to cheapen them. I couldn’t even truly force her to share hers with me, although in reality the bond already did that. What I could do though was share my own.

I pushed my feelings of having let down the women I loved. The horror I’d felt when even rolling back time hadn’t been enough to save Kenna from a horrible injury. She felt those dark emotions and instead of crying or sealing herself off; she soaked it up. I felt better, but just as miraculously, she seemed to feel better too.

It would have been great if I could have said that there were some magic words I said. Being able to recreate this on demand would have been fabulous, but it wasn’t that easy. We were two people who cared about each other and in silence we shared our burdens and were made better for it.

Before I knew it, she had opened her arms and was hugging me. As she pressed her face up against me, I now felt the tears. They were warm and when I brushed my lips up to her check, I could taste their saltiness. She whispered in my ear. “Thanks for being as strong in silence as you are on the battlefield.”

There was nothing I could really say to that, so we finished our trip to where Molly was just holding each other. When we got there, Willow hopped up. Demis gave her a look of shared pain, and I appreciated just how amazing my family was. There were some who were closer than others, but they all cared about each other. This was more than just a team.

Before I could even ask, Willow started to give a report with her usual efficiency listed everything that had been tried up to this point and then ending with,  “The doctors say they don’t want to try anything further until she wakes up. They had to radically increase the level of sedative they were giving her to try to get her to stop having nightmares.”

I looked at Sybilla. She knew what I was going to say before I even opened my mouth. “I know it’s hard to see Molly like this. It’s hard for me. I did try to reach out earlier and maybe if I wanted to risk injuring her I could force my way into her dreams, but she is very deeply invested in whatever nightmare she’s having.”

“I know what it is,” I said solemnly.

“And that’s why you may have to go into her mind, but not yet. Not till you hit at least fifty percent capacity.”

“Ten percent.”

She scoffed. “Maybe forty percent.”

“She’s literally being tortured by her nightmares. “Twenty-five percent and then I’m going whether you approve or not.”

Sybilla pursed her lips before shaking her head in surrender. “Fine, but I’ll need to give you some more instructions. Not till tomorrow, though.”

We talked about it a bit more and Willow offered to come with us, but I asked her to stay with Molly. I already had three of my bonded with me. If there was even the smallest chance that the physical proximity of another part of our team was going to help Molly, then I was going to insist. She did get Sybilla to give up her spot and sat down to cuddle for a while as we talked.

Willow went through a rundown of the battle, but I only half listened. It wasn’t that it didn’t matter. I knew we’d have to deal with this sooner or later. But right now wasn’t that time. Willow’s heart wasn’t in it either. It was like the wandering the halls phased out for Priska or the inappropriate humor for Jill. They all had their way of dealing with the stress and this was Willows. So, I listened.

Eventually, she ran out of words, and we just sat in silence. Seeing my beautiful green-haired bond laying on a medical table maimed was brutally hard for me. I wanted justice… no, if I was honest with myself, I wanted revenge.