“Yea, see that? I could’ve been in the big leagues if my leg wasn’t shite. I was a top rated striker in my prime.” When we tried to talk to Dave, the ever familiar subject of football came up. I wasn’t all that familiar with it, but Alex and Dave were, so they talked my ear off about their teams, the star players, and how they could’ve been one of them if it weren’t for one excuse or the other. Right now, all of us were outside on the nearest patch of flat land, kicking about a ball to get away from any serious talk.

“You’re hardly that good if I can steal the ball off of you.” It was either beginner’s luck, or the fact that my movements were unorthodox, but I was actually able to keep up somewhat with both of them. I’d manage to steal the ball, but get it stolen right off me because I couldn’t dribble properly for the life of me. We hardly had an actual goal, so we just stole the ball off of each other. There weren’t enough people around for a proper game anyway.

“I’ll get used to you, pal. Don’t you worry.” He was currently dribbling the ball around Alex, taunting him before Alex just kicked the ball away using his skinny legs when Dave made a slight mistake. The ball hit the wall and bounced away, and since I was the closest one to it, I naturally got to it first before feeling both Samuel and Alex closing in on me. I couldn’t beat them in the conventional way, so I had to get creative. We were all vastly stronger than even the top tier olympians, and could actually use that strength, so normal rules didn’t exactly apply. To get around Dave, I kicked the ball at the wall next to him, ran around him, and when the ball bounced for a second time, I hit it straight into the ground, causing it to fly into the air.

“Since when were we allowed to use our power?!” Said Alex.

“Since now.” Whoever got to it first would decide where it would fly, but the person closest to the ground had a greater influence over who actually got the ball as everyone would be on top of them, or further away from the ground, and thus the ball, in general.

“That’s just unfair pa–” Dave tried to protest, but then concentrated. He was going to get the ball before either of us one way or another. “Fine, have it your way.” He jumped upwards at the ball, throwing all my plans out of the window. Alex activated one of his abilities, and followed in Dave’s footsteps. Alex was likely rationing out his abilities, knowing that I’d dominate both of them in the long term if he didn’t. Alex reached it first, but was sent into the ground after Dave grabbed his leg and threw him down.

“What the fuck?! Since when was that allowed?” Dave smiled.

“Didn’t you hear that cunt last time? Since now.”. Dave held the ball on his head, falling down and creating a small crater as he landed. I reacted before Alex, and as such, he stood back and let me jump up and kick the ball off of Dave’s head before being grabbed and thrown away, where I used my hands to land to not sustain any damage. Alex rushed to get to the ball again, before slipping and sending it flying away from everyone and towards… Oh, it was Liz. What the hell was she doing here? Was she… she was still spying on me. Either that or my mark gave away my location. I mean, it could’ve been both, but that would be a little redundant, wouldn’t it?

“What are you three doing?” She caught the ball with her foot before kicking it away. “Since when did you three start doing this? I thought all of you hated each other too much to actually act like comrades.” Dave laughed… oh no.

“Since now.” He really liked that line, didn’t he? Must’ve made him feel smart, even if it was stupid to provoke Liz in such a way. No, scratch that. It was stupid to provoke Liz in any way.

“...I’m taking Mariel.” She was too tired to be angry, but I had no doubt in my mind that she’d make him pay for it, just not right now. She must’ve viewed him in the same way she viewed Alex. She only let me provoke her because I was an intellectual challenge towards her, unlike Alex or Dave. She teleported once to get to me, and a second time to teleport us into the pocket dimension. She was probably hoping that removing me from the equation would make Dave and Alex drift apart awkwardly, but I was sure that wouldn’t happen. In the best case scenario, that’d push them to find enough people to actually get a proper game going. “Finally! Those two really do distract you from what’s really important.” She was going to make me guess.

“And that’s you?” She smiled.

“Why of course! You’ve finally learned to say what I like to hear.” Did she unironically like yes men– Why was I asking? No shit, she was Liz. I would’ve been surprised if the opposite was true. “How are you anyhow? Keeping those two in check and getting so… hurt must be oh so inconvenient for you.” She was trying to get me to blame things other than her for my current misfortune. I decided by myself that it would be necessary to chat with those two while they played that blasted sport I never had enough time to get into just so we’d be able to get some actual comradery going, and I decided to train myself to beat her. Nobody else made those choices for me.

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“I am fine, and would’ve been better if you hadn’t teleported me away. I wasn’t ‘keeping them in check’, I was just spending them with them. They’re my pals, and it’s better if we like each other.” She chuckled at what must’ve seemed like insane talk to her. Who could’ve guessed the woman who craved companionship wouldn’t understand it.

“They’re distractions, distractions from…” She was waiting for me to fill in the gaps

“You.” If I just sang music to her ear, she’d stay oblivious. Being ignorant was the favourite tool of the lazy narcissist. She didn’t think I could ever beat her, so all my resistance was cute to her.

“Amazing! So keep that in mind and stop trying to distract yourself from me. You know how scared I was when I entered this dimension and didn’t see you in it? You’re mine to protect, mine to treasure, mine to talk to. You don’t need anyone else.” I just let her talk. Present endurance would bring future spoils of silence. “Hey! Pay attention to me.” I guess not. She clasped my face in her hands, not letting me look away.

“I am paying attention to you.” She scoffed.

“What was the last thing I said before you zoned out?” Uh… yea, there wasn’t a good way out of this one.

“That I don’t need anyone else?” That was the last thing I half remember her saying. If there wasn’t a way of getting out of this situation, I might as well be honest.

“...At least you zoned out later than usual.” She was trying to act like she forgave me and didn’t care about me zoning out, but it was clear that she was still angry at me not caring about what she had to say. I already knew she was mentally broken due to crippling loneliness, and could not be repaired because she didn’t want to be repaired. She had the power to just keep me close to her, and as long as that was true, she didn’t need to address the roots of her problems. She had me, so why would she need to improve herself?

“You wouldn’t have forgiven Alex if he did that.” She pulled me closer, running her hands through my hair as she thought about her response to that.

“Yea, but he’s Alex. He’s so needy and demanding while having nothing but loyalty to offer me.” I knew that talking to her was pointless, but the small contrarian in my head would not let me not say anything to her. She would and could never be convinced, and I knew that, but I just couldn’t stop myself.

“You could’ve told him that instead of leading him on.” I could feel her rolling her eyes as she kept running her hands through my hair.

“But then I wouldn’t have someone to help me do all my dastardly deeds. His loyalty is useful to me. I can tell him to do something, and he’ll do it as long as he thinks I’m testing him.” Well, not anymore, but she didn’t know about that. She would’ve if she was still spying on me, but since she wasn’t, she didn’t know about my talk with Alex. I still didn’t understand why she stopped spying on me, as she could do it so secretly that I wouldn’t know about it. My best guess was that she trusted me, but that made quite literally no sense.

“That’s just cruel.”

“So what? Life is cruel. Is it my fault that he is worthless? Should I ruin my own mood just so he’s not hopelessly chasing a dream he’ll never reach? Not everything is my fault. Sometimes, people dig their own holes with the shovels I sell them.” That was certainly one way to minimise her responsibility.

“Yea, because you can do so much more than them, but instead of doing the work they do, you choose to basically torture them just because its mildly more convenient.” She pulled my hair towards her, which pushed my head back and thus made me look at her face.

“Yea? He’s so much lower down than me on the hierarchy that he doesn’t deserve even a sliver of my mercy.” Of course. That damn hierarchy of hers just keeps coming up.

“Do you seriously believe that?” I freed myself from her grasp, and turned around to face her. “That a person, like you and me, who feels the same emotions we do, the same feelings, is less deserving of respect and dignity because they’re lower down on the hierarchy?” She nodded… God, she was just evil. I mean, she was a slaver and everything, and thus probably racist too, but this logic could be used to justify any type of horrific crime as long as the people in the other group are lower down on the hierarchy.

“Bold of you to assume animals feel emotions.” See?