A Tale from the Dark Dimension

Chapter 18: Justin

He went to Ace's workshop, having an issue that he needed to discuss with him.

"Hey. What can I do for you?" Ace asked .

"Do you think you'd be able to make me some kind of suit that could help with the heat? I don't want to burn all my clothes while running," Justin asked.

"Yeah sure. I think I've got something in mind. It shouldn't take me long," Ace told him. And he definitely meant it, because within about 15 to 20 he had a full white leather-looking suit on a mannequin. The gloves and part of the forearms were gold, and the boots and the little lightning bolts on the ears and the eyes were gold as well.

"Wow. That..that looks sick," Justin said, excitement welling up in his chest.

"Go test it out," Ace told him. Justin wasted no time taking the suit off the mannequin, running off and changing into the suit to begin his training.

As night began to fall, Justin tried to sleep the rest of the night away. He was exhausted from speed training all day. He was trying to get faster while working on his stamina and he may have over done it today. His legs ached and his lungs burned, but they felt worse than they did whenever he had to fend off the attack at the lakefront. He thought he may have to go to the doctor to see what the issue was, but right as he was about to go to sleep, he could hear a yell. He immediately woke up, recognizing where the yell came from. Justin ran to Xavier's room, praying to God that she was okay but from the sound of her yelling she sounded like she was in pain.

He opened the door to her room, finding her thrashing around in her bed. It was another nightmare. She shot up in her bed, unable to catch her breath. That was when she remembered her broken ribs and pain immediately shot through her core.

"Hey it's okay. You're okay," a familiar voice told her. It was Justin.

"When did you get here?" She asked, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

"I heard you from my room and I didn't think you wanted to stay locked in that nightmare for awhile"

"Oh god I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you up," she paused. She was about to tell him that he could go back to his room, to leave her by herself but from the look on his face it didn't look like he would leave that easily. He was there. She could talk to him. He wouldn't judge her for anything. And in that moment, she felt like she was about to break, and her mouth moved before she let her brain come up with an excuse.

"Can I talk to you? About what happened to me? I need to. It's playing on repeat and I can't get it out of my head," she asked

"Of course. I'm always here for you," he replied back. He should've been mad at her for waking him up. Hell he shouldn't even be in her room. But he chose to be there. He wanted to be. He was too kind to her. She took a deep breath and began her story, "I won't go into too much detail, but at first it was small hits. Slaps to the face, punches, stuff like that. When I didn't say anything they started to get more aggressive. That's when they brought out their knives and cut my face. They kept slicing at my stomach, saying they were gonna rip it out of my body and force me to stay awake. I tried to kick out at one of them and he almost broke my ankle. Then they started to go with more...brutal methods. That was when I gave them my name. They kept mocking me, made me look weak for not being able to handle the pain. And when I finally started to beg for my life, Zhabiv laughed and told me 'I wondered what would break first, your spirit or your body' and in all honesty I was wondering what would break first too. They got what they wanted. They had their fun with me," she explained.

Justin felt sick to his stomach, accompanied by a rage he never thought he could be capable of.

"You don't mean..." was all he could get out.