A Regrettable Deal

"I'm painfully aware of your strength. The seared fear of your name, let alone your speed, is enough to make me terrified. So, I won't cross paths with you again." Fico said to Avie.

"Sure. Anyway, leave this place, I'm tired of looking at you." Avie said, waving before walking off into a cluster of trees nearby.

I wasn't sure why she left into the cluster of trees instead of moving toward my friends watching in the background... but after she did, she sat on a tree and looked behind her towards Quake.

Fico used her insane speed to move everybody as fast as possible, and as the last person vanished into the sunset, Avie grabbed her chest and panted.

"Damn! Sorry Sky, I accidentally used a lot of your stamina. Do you want to switch back?" She asked me.

"If you need to, then that's fine... can you even hear my voice?" I asked her.

"Yeah, just nobody else can. You're like a voice in my head. Okay, I'm giving you control again. If they come back, I can switch again." Avie said.

It was weird to enter my body again, but as soon as I did, I panted heavily while looking at the ground. She truly did use a lot of my stamina... I guess that's probably why Avie agreed to let them leave.

"Sky?!" I heard people calling out to me. To alert them, I kicked a branch off of a tree to let them know I was up in a tree.

I couldn't help but notice that I regained control of my left arm as well.

"There you are! How did you get up there...?" Dani shouted up to me.

"Sorry... I can't... speak... I'm so... tired..." I panted, slowly sliding down the tree.

My muscles were aching so badly... Avie used all of my stamina with only a few quick movements... I guess they were really fast, but it was still surprising to see.

"What the hell was that?! You were moving faster than I could detect... and you broke all those windows... and that building! Did you still have a trick up your sleeve?" Dani asked me in awe. I shrugged, purposefully exaggerating my left arm to show her that something did change.

"Avie... that was Avie?" She asked again. She seemed to catch on pretty fast.

Everybody else gathered around me and started to ask a million questions. Some of them involved why I moved that fast, how I could move that fast, and what it felt like to move that fast.

"It seems I made you popular," Avie suggested. When she spoke, it was weird to see that nobody else could hear her, considering I could hear her like she was talking right next to me.

"Avie's back! Yay!" Faith yelled out, holding onto her injured body.

"Why didn't you heal yourself?! Come here." I demanded from her. I put my hand on her shoulder and slowly repaired her injuries with my golden strands, looking at the Lifespan Reduction in my eye while everybody was distracted.

[LIFESPAN REDUCTION: 6 HOURS]

Looks like I racked up a ton of time...

"We fended off Quake... now what? What's next?" Lia asked. That was when Illya entered the cluster of trees while panting. She must've been running.

"Avie, it's so good to see you again... did you miss me?" Illya asked.

"Sky, tell that nasty woman to not use my name, it's weird," Avie told me in my mind.

"Sorry, it seems that Avie's not too fond of you. I can't imagine why..." I said, purposefully guilt-tripping Illya.

"I'm sure you know what this means now, Avie. Stupidly Awakening now, of all times?" Illya said.

Her tone, usually a sarcastic-sounding nature, had completely changed to one of complete despair.

"Illya is going to make a good point. I was hesitant on showing off my power to Quake, but I was afraid I couldn't get them to leave if I didn't go all out as soon as possible." Avie said in my head once more.

"News headlines... never ending attention... probably even attention from even more unwanted people. You've created an anomaly within Zealous, and it will be unpredictable. We can only sit and wait to see if it solves itself." Illya flatly said.

"But, you were the one who said we were screwed if Avie didn't Awaken, but now it's a bad thing? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Carl argued.

"I don't blame you, considering nothing is being explained right now. For the last secret I'm holding for everybody, it seems that Avie has been my Wrath all along. The evil nature I've been holding is Avie's Source of power... at least, that's what it seems like. She snapped in the face of a challenge and went all the way with her power out of anger. Is that why this is bad, Illya?" I asked, and she nodded.

"So... all along, that was Avie when Sky was angry?" Lia asked.

"Every time," Illya confirmed Lia's question and turned to Shike, Belle, Alexia, and Boo.

"When Sky's Wrath slipped, I'm sure you could all tell... however, when Sky was in full control, it should've been obvious. Avie's lack of intelligence and true strength is why she's not all that strong, she's just fast." Illya said. I could feel Avie's anger seep through the wall in my mind that separated us... but this time, it was different. I didn't feel any rage.

"Avie was the one who killed those two boys who bullied me... and Sky was the one who fought Providence and Dani. Is that right?" Alexia asked. Illya nodded, and the others were amazed by her perceptive abilities.

"How could you tell?!" Belle asked loudly. She bounced up and down, begging for the answer.

"Well, to me, it seemed obvious. Sky killed two people because they injured Belle, and it was like he was delusional. It was the source of our confusion... but when he fought Providence, his level-head caused her to be outsmarted, and Sky beat her with strategy, rather than raw strength." Alexia said.

I liked the compliments but... I didn't even realize...