May 2017

Three months had gone by since Amy died.

Ever since the fatal flaw that Rachel would sometimes not feel like herself. Her skin isn't hers. Everything around her seems foreign and weird. Nothing feels real anymore.

Matthew keeps trying to convince Rachel to just kill someone, anyone, or not even kill, just torture a bit, whatever she feels like. Every day she and Alex are properly trained, as Matthew calls it. He believes that if they can endure everything that he puts them through, then they'll be unstoppable. Amanda promises her daughter that if she commits the fatal flaw, they wouldn't be anymore.

Day after day, Amanda, and Matthew keep blaming Alex for Amy's death.

"It wasn't his fault!" Rachel stands in front of him.

"It was, Alex. It was your fault and no one else's," Matthew says.

"They killed Amy because of the massacre. Because they think we did it, that I am the Angel of Death! Because you told them so!"

"The government blamed us, Rachel. Do you honestly believe that denying it would've done anything? What? You think the people would've believed us instead? I did what I had to. Admit it to show other deviants that they shouldn't cross us like the Ariston community did. Everyone believes that you are the Angel of Death. So you are, my dear. In a war, the illusion of power is power."

"We're not at war anymore!"

"We'll always be at war!" Matthew closes his fists. "We are evolution's next step and even animals have more rights than we do. We are the ones who should be ruling!"

Matthew takes a few steps forward and looks directly in her eyes.

"This is why, Rachel, you will never be a leader. You wouldn't be strong enough to make the necessary decisions. If you were, you would've committed the fatal flaw already. You would've done that for your people."

Rachel starts to form a fireball in her hand, but immediately puts it out.

"Thanks, dear, for proving my point."

Matthew and Amanda decide to punish her for her insolence. They put her in a locked box for two days. In there, it's the first time she truly feels lonely. Not because of the box itself, a place she'd grown up in, but because for three months, she hasn't felt the sensations that she used to anymore. The other person's feelings. Was it just a dream?

After locking her up, Matthew enters his bedroom, Amanda is already lying wide awake in tears.

"Rachel's old enough. Alex is talented... ish. Why are you against it, darling?"

"When we regain the confidence of our people. There will be plenty of other suitable partners."

"True, but she could always have another then."

"They'd be a third generation on my side and a fourth on yours. That's rare. If we're lucky, one baby would be a deviant. But two?"

"You're right, perhaps it's better to wait a little longer and find a more talented match for her. I'm lucky to have you by my side, Amanda. I'm sorry that I don't say it enough." He kisses her.

***

Amanda releases her daughter from the box. She runs to the garden where Alex is being trained. One thing pops out immediately, his clothes. Alex is wearing Matthew's suits. Which made no sense, they were too big for him, and they had other clothes for him to wear. For Alex to be wearing this, it was given by her father, he would be upset to say the least if the boy used those.

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"Why are you doing this to him?!"

"Not this again... one second, Alex." Matthew turns around and walks toward her.

"Leave him alone!"

"Rachel, darling. My dearest. Look at our situation, will you? We've lost Amy, you don't have a second power and being quite honest now, honey, your first is a disappointment. I mean, you are our daughter. We expected a level close to Ariston, not this..." He takes a deep breath. "The humans have a powerful daughter. Why don't we?"

Matthew tries to shed a tear and Rachel's blood boils.

"I must train Alex like you were, and hopefully he'll turn out better." He smiles and approaches her. "Of course, that, and I told you this countless times already, if you just killed or hurt someone, we wouldn't have to continue his training. You see, your weakness is why he keeps suffering."

"I'm strong enough to kill you," Rachel mumbles under her breath.

"Rachel!" he laughs hysterically, "these are the moments that I recognize you as my daughter. That confidence. Definitely didn't come from her." He points to Amanda. "But you know that it's a delusion. I know your power makes you feel things that aren't real. But this level of disconnection seriously concerns me."

"I'm the most powerful deviant in the world," her voice gets louder, but still shakes.

"Yes, keep practicing that line. When you get interviewed is important that you say it like you mean it. But you aren't. You aren't the most powerful in the world, not even in here. I mean, you are the fourth more powerful here. Get it?" His laugh echoes. "And your place is in the bottom. You could never kill me, daughter. And I'm starting to believe that your second power will be just as useless as your first."

He turns around and begins walking toward Alex.

"Leave him alone!" She sends a fireball against his back.

As expected, she only burned his shirt.

"Rachel, Rachel." A smile shows, petrifying Alex. "Did you really think that I'd turn my back without it?"

You can do it.

"So, Alex, in Amy's memory, let's do this. God, I wish you had died instead of her. Did I say this out loud? I'm sorry. I do appreciate you, son."

He puts his hands on Alex's shoulder and the boy smiles.

You can do it.

Rachel forms a blade made of ice. Absorbing Alex's teleport, she jumps right behind her father's back. Accesses his mind with Alex's ability, and disconnects him from his invincibility. And there it is, her opening, she slices his knees. Matthew screams in pain.

"What was that?!" Amanda runs to Matthew's body. "Take a step back, Rachel!" She closes her fist, using her other hand to hold one of his wounds.

Nothing is real anymore. Her mother shouting, Alex crying, her body is there, but she isn't. She's seeing it all play out without her.

"Why?" Rachel tries to focus on Amanda.

"W-h-y?" she bites her lips.

"Yes, why didn't you protect us? How are you the weakest person I've ever met?"

"You look at us and see us as villains, because of how we trained you. We did it to make you stronger. Rachel, the world will be more cruel to you than we've ever been. You wouldn't have handled everything me and your father went through! You are too weak... the only strong thing you've ever done is our ruin. You killed our last hope... they won."

Tears pour out of Rachel's eyes, her hands form ice spikes, and she shoots them at her mother. Ten against her heart. If she had one. Rachel takes the silver A necklace from her mother's neck and gives it back to Alex.

"How could you do it?"

"I had to."

"They loved me..."

"They controlled you. That's not love."

"It's what I had. That was enough for me, and you took it."

Later that day, they carry the bodies through the night, and put them on full display, next to the remains of the Ariston community. Hoping it brings peace to everyone who lost someone on that day.

On the evening news, the president of the United States of America exalts the work of the intelligence agency. They were forced to kill them after Matthew and Amanda refused to surrender. Fireworks ruptured through the sky.

Days went by and Alex and Rachel rarely spoke with one another. They would eat each on their own, and leave the table whenever the other showed up. Alex spent most of his time reading, and Rachel out on the streets.

She developed the habit of people watching, seeing who's deviant and who isn't. Focusing on their abilities and absorbing them. She takes notes: how many mind controllers; how many element controllers. Those were the more frequent. Whenever she feels an ability that she hasn't before, her face lights up.

It's late in the evening, she's walking back home, and a young adult woman walks ahead of her. A black hoodie hides her face.

Rachel can tell right away that she's a deviant and is going to pick up her notebook when she finishes her analysis.

It's impossible.

Her hands shake while she absorbs it. Her right hand turns blue. She has no idea how those abilities manifest. It's the first time that she found anyone else with it. Perhaps it's the common manifestation of it. Or maybe, just maybe, the woman walking in front of her is the Angel of Death.

The woman takes a right turn. With no thinking, Rachel does the same, and Megan Grant grabs her.