“My relationship with Jayden?” Gary asked, his feet starting to fidget, and he was somewhat twiddling his fingers before he eventually gave an answer.
“It’s strange, you know,” Gary said. “We met through chance, but it seemed like we’ve been connected in more ways than one.”
“First, I had problems controlling myself, my powers when I turned into an Altered. At the time, I was on a street, and Jayden was just there. He saw me and helped me. That was the first time I interacted with him.”
“I was a fan of the AFA. Can you imagine it, someone like me being helped by him? It was only later that we would meet again and again.”
“I was friends with his sister, who went to my school. I had no idea they were related at the time, but something happened to her, and both of us helped her get out of that situation.”
“From then on, me and his sister Xin have continued to be good friends.”
“Hey, hey, you idiot, tell the man the truth,” Kai interrupted. “You two are a lot more than friends, and we know it. You both have feelings for each other.”
Gary’s cheeks were starting to turn a shade redder.
“I mean, yeah, you could say that, but it’s not official between us, so I don’t want to go around putting a label on it.”
“Either way, Jayden pushed me to chase after her, joining the AFA, and after that, I met Jayden again. In an odd way, he was always there for me, and now you’re telling me he helped me out again by asking you for help. It seems like I owe him a lot.”
Kanu was listening intently to the story, and when Xin got brought up, he couldn’t help but smile. Right now, he was staring off into the clouds, thinking back.
“It’s strange how the world works. I can’t believe it,” Kanu said. “I can’t believe how your situation with little Xin is quite similar. I guess things come around in circles.”
——
In the town of Slough, one of the places that hadn’t been targeted in the middle of one of the forests was a large manor.
This was where a certain individual had stayed, and most had forgotten about a certain someone.
Kicking down the double front doors, the hinge had been removed.
Several of the guards, wrapped up in bandages and still recovering, turned to look at who had entered, and they immediately started to cower.
“Come on, Xin!” Ben shouted as he stood there in his hallway. “This is part of your house, your inheritance as well. Every time you come here, do you have to go ahead and destroy it like that?”
“I’m still annoyed at what you did. Do you think it’s going to be something that can just be forgiven like that?” Xin asked.
“Anyway.” Xin then dragged a man over and threw him onto the ground. “That’s another one of the scum from the groups you worked with. It seems to be the last of them.”
“I’ve cleaned up their act, and now you have to promise me that you’re still going to clean up yours.”
It was then that Xin was ready to leave. She had been cleaning up the mess her father had made as Mayor. The gangs that he had hired to protect himself were doing all sorts of misdeeds and were ruining even the Howlers' name because the Howlers had allowed them to operate.
Her father had promised to be a more just mayor, helping out the Howlers, and he seemed to be following that, so Xin took it upon herself to get rid of some of the trash that were involved.
“I don’t understand, why do you hate me, Xin!” Ben shouted. “I only did everything for our family. I did what we could. I didn’t have the power to care about others, but I was a good father who tried to protect you.”
Xin immediately turned around, her upper lip trembling.
“What do you mean? You became what you tried to protect me from!” Xin shouted. “What about other families that had to walk the streets in fear because of the way it was?”
“It was your job to get rid of them, and then someone else had to come along, a student, and clean up your mess and clean up your act! If Jayden was here, he would understand.” Xin said as she turned around again.
That’s when she could hear her father give a little grunt of laughter.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ben replied. “You know I’ve always been protective of you. It’s normal for a father to be protective of his children in a world like this, in towns like this.”
“You look up to your brother because he’s strong, and I didn’t mind that, but you have no idea what happened, what we wanted to protect you from.”
“What do you mean?” Xin asked. “Every time I ask you to tell me, you never tell me what happened about Jayden, and what are you even trying to say now?”
Ben didn’t reply back straight away. It was almost as if something was biting at his tongue, forcing him to keep his words in.
“F*ck it,” Ben said. “Your brother never wanted me to tell you this. I was hoping that he would be the one to tell you himself. But you already hate me, and Jayden, who knows where he is… If he hates me as well, then so be it.”
Ben was tired of his daughter hating him, he was tired of being the villian on the outside and in their family home. So he had decided to tell Xin the truth.
“Your sheltered life wasn’t just because of me, it was Jayden’s idea in the first place.”
****