Shudders: Reclamation Day

Chapter 20 - The Forest

    (E/c) eyes and deep brown eyes stared at each other intensely. Neither making an attempt to move.

     While (Y/N) focused intensely on her friend's eyes, Axel laid back on the chair he was sitting on and propped his head up with his arm. Not taking his eyes off of the woman. "Anything happen yet?"

"If anything did, you would feel it too..." She sighed and closed her eyes, falling back onto her bunk.

"I don't even know how I did that. It happened so randomly."

    Axel blinked from keeping his eyes open and I tried to think it over. "Maybe it was something new? You sure it wasn't your usual mind reading ooga booga business and the old fart just saw your eyes glow and freaked out?"

     She shook her head. "He saw everything I was seeing. Then when I came to, we both were completely still. That's never happened before..."

     She's been trying to figure out what that mysterious ability was for almost an hour with Axel as a test subject. He volunteered himself. But so far nothing. After the whole incident with Reginald, (Y/N) had been hiding inside the carrier until the next day came to which both Zones had to start moving to continue their routes. She didn't want to potentially see any more people look at her like a demon...

    Jules did have a talk with the old Chief and tried to explain to him that it was just an accident and that his wife wasn't trying to hurt him. But no matter what, Reginald continued to believe that the woman wasn't human and even threatened to have her captured if she ever came near him again. Jules tried to be civil, but that threat set him off.

     Capturers had to pull the two men apart before an actual altercation took place.

     Eventually, though, Bali did come to check on (Y/N) after things had settled. She was worried that what happened with their Chief made (Y/N) resent Zone 11 and being called a 'demon' was probably too much for her. (Y/N) knew that not everyone from 11 saw her as such but almost half their team looked at her weirdly and their Chief on top of that. But she did appreciate Bali coming to check up on her. It made her feel relieved in a way.

     Bali promised that she'll go have a talk with Reginald. She didn't agree with the man. Even though the two women only knew each other for almost a day, (Y/N) didn't come off as a demon at all. Just a normal woman who has to deal with bigots like Reginald. It didn't help that Zone 11 has a reputation of being filled with pompous discriminatory people. They were one of the more richer Zones in their local area and even had a record of the most advances in demonology.

    Until (Y/N) broke that of course.

    Her single-handedly discovering the truth behind demons, old world government secrets, and being the first human to survive a demon possession while inheriting demonic abilities gave Zone 12's Castor Labs a major boost in their reputation. While putting Zone 11's Regoris Labs' reputation to shame. It's no surprise those from Regoris Labs feel a type of way about the woman while the rest look up to her. There were two different viewpoints when it came to (Y/N) and it's very apparent in their team as well.

     When it came time for both Zones to leave, (Y/N) felt both relieved and a bit sad for Zone 11 to leave so soon. She was glad that Reginald would be gone but she did want to get to know Bali more. Maybe when they finished their missions and returned home she can go pay a visit to the woman.

     Her eyes slowly opened to see the fabric of the bunk above hers and rested her arm on her head. She can't keep worrying about what other people think of her. There are way more important things to focus on than being called a 'demon'.