Chapter 25 - Oxton's Family

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<Japan Shizuoka 15:11>

Lena walked tiredly home, she couldn't wait to lie down on her bed and sleep like a log all day.

This day has been as bad as if I filled your house with shit for April Fool's Day. That is, horrible in every sense of the word.

On top of that she still had her head spinning a bit, when she woke up in the UA med wing she seriously wondered how she had ended up there, until she remembered that a fucking shotgun had blown half her head off. In retrospect, it was definitely one of the stupidest decisions she'd ever made.

In her defense...no defense.

Lena frowned as she was lost in thought. She still remembered the feeling of Recoil in her body, it felt different than all the other Recoils she had done, possibly because the Slipstream was damaged and she overdid it a bit to stay in her Acceleration state longer.

It's in that part where her head is a blur, she remembers pushing away a girl who looked just like Kyoka.

But for some reason she doesn't feel it was Kyoka but someone else... but it's just too blurry, like it's on the tip of her tongue but she just can't tell....

Anyway, then she got shot in the head and... then she's talking to a carbon copy of her. Well not carbon copy, more like stone copy because of the few differences they had.

That part was strangely fresh in her memory, as if he had had that conversation over and over and over again. It was a strange feeling, like deja vu but constant.

Weird.

After that he only remembers waking up in the hospital without any explanation.

When Lena asked Kyoka what happened why there is a part of her memory blurred, Kyoka just avoided the topic leaving Lena suspicious but from the grimace Kyoka made she knew it was nothing good.

Lena let out an exhausted sigh as she leaned her head back, she looked down to look at Slipstream remorsefully.

For the first time in her life she felt the Slipstream as a tool for her freedom and more like a chain. Sure technically it was a chain that allowed her to live in freedom.

But she had finally reached the end of that chain, Lena realized that the Slipstream was not a fantastic device that magically cured her of her problem.

It was a device that offered an alternative to her problem, but not a definitive cure.

If she wanted a cure...she had to make it herself.

Lena stood still for a moment as she stared at the Slipstream contemplatively. Oddly enough, even though the Slipstream was still damaged Lena didn't feel like she was unanchored from the present, her energy was still connected to the device but the bond between the two felt... weaker.

"Agh! I'm not going to break my head thinking about things I don't understand..." Lena shouted before letting out a big sigh thinking about everything that happened in a single day, she can only hope this is the last time something like this happens to her while she is a student....

Finally seeing her house she walked to the door with a weak smile thinking about how comfortable her bed will be, although she doesn't think she can easily fall asleep after everything that happened today.

She entered the house with relief only to be greeted by her father who was looking at her with serious and worried eyes, the part of his body was now covered with hair, his mouth showed big fangs and she had gained quite a bit of height.

Lena had to admit that she was quite intimidated at this moment.

"Hello father..." Lena spoke weakly as she carefully closed the door. "How...have you been?"

Winston simply closed his eyes as he took a deep breath before opening them again, this time with a tired look on his face. "We have a lot to talk about but first let's eat..."

Winston moved towards the kitchen bending down a bit due to the height.

"..." Lena simply froze for a moment at the solemn tone in her father's voice before following him as quietly as possible.

Lena found her father sitting at the table the latter motioned for Lena to sit across from him. She vaguely noticed that the kitchen was in automatic mode.

Lena unconsciously swallowed saliva as she sat at the table and avoided her father's eyes.

Silence reigned in the house and the tense air was slowly choking Lena, she felt like she was in front of the police after robbing a bank or something.

***

<PoV - Lena>

We stood staring at each other, well more like he was staring at me and I was trying not to look guilty for some reason. 'Why do I feel so...bad?...I haven't done anything wrong!'

"A few hours ago I got a report about the Slipstream, it said it had been..." Winston took a deep breath before speaking shakily. "Deactivated... not long after that I got an overload alarm..."

I tried to speak but quickly closed my mouth as I realized the words would not come out of my mouth, my heart sank a little as a strange feeling came over me.

"Not long after that I got a report about reactivation and... and an overload..." Winston folded his arms and averted his gaze for the first time, he looked strangely small despite his big change due to his Quirk. "I called UA to find out what was going on but... they didn't answer, the lines were jammed..."

"That..." I tried to speak but simply couldn't, I averted my gaze as a sense of sadness slowly washed over me "I-"

"Not long ago I received a message from the UA director informing us about the situation" Papa took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before putting them back on. "I... I don't know what to think honestly."

"W- what do you mean?"

"TO EVERYTHING!" The sudden shout made me jump a little in my chair, turning to look at dad he looked at me with exhaustion in his voice. "I mean everything... this..."

"D-Dad... are you okay?"

"NO! I'M NOT OKAY!" Winston exclaimed as he collapsed in his chair, his voice becoming brittle in a moment. "I-I don't know."

Before I knew it I had risen from my chair and moved to his side to hug him in an attempt to comfort him...or perhaps to comfort myself. He hugged me back as I felt small tears well up in his eyes and fall on my shoulder.

"When I read the message that it was about...about the deactivation...it was like the world stopped" Winston spoke between sobs as he quickly wiped the small tears that fell down his face. "I...I thought I had lost you...that you had died...and that I- I couldn't do anything, I felt useless..."

My vision slowly began to blur as tears began to flood my vision.

Finally everything that had happened all day came rushing back into my head, making me realize how close I came to dying and losing everything.

My family, my new friends, my home...everything.

"I-Im sorry..." I burst into tears at the realization, in a moment my father sat me back in the chair as he hugged me and comforted me like I was a little girl. "Im... sorry"

All of us may have died or we may have been kidnapped so the villains could do who knows what to us.

I realized that behind the fights and the jokes, I was terrified by the fear of what might happen to us.

I was terrified of the possibility of death.

In fact, I died.

Even my head can't quite process that fact, the fact that, I, Lena Oxton, died.

I don't think I'll ever be able to process that.

No, it's not that I can't process it.

It's that I don't want to process it.

I don't want to think about it.

I want to forget about it.

I realized that my death affected not only me, but everyone around me.

A fact that only made me feel worse...

"I'm here dear, I'm here..." Winston whispered as he stroked my head, finally my tears had calmed down a bit but they were still coming in droves. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Unable to speak sympathetically I simply nodded slightly as my father hugged me without a care in the world.

At this point I was no longer Lena Oxton the Aspiring Hero.

I was just, me, Lena Oxton, a 15 year old teenager who spent part of her life locked in a capsule because of her own guilt, now a teenager who just wanted her father's warm embrace to comfort her.

A teenager who faced death to save others.

Because that's what Heroes do.

Even if it terrifies us inside.

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