Viking's Mate (Twilight OC X OC)

Chapter 68: Peace

The rest of the summer passed by in a rush. The boys aged rapidly, and with that their gifts also developed further. Robin's Charm gift we finally got to see when he used it on Paul. We watched as Robin just locked eyes on Paul and got him to give him a piggy back ride. At first we thought nothing of it, until Paul set him down and told us he wasn't going to give him one, but then suddenly it sounded like the best idea. 

We had to train carefully with Robin so he understood when he was using it, and then from there teach him the right and wrong of controlling people, because that's essentially what he's doing. He has grown into such a sweet boy though, he rarely uses his gift at all. Now, at six months old, he only uses it when he is pranking his brother or godfather Paul, or just when he wants cookies. He developed quite the sweet tooth. 

Thankfully, Robin's gift doesn't work at all on me thanks to my shadows that I've learned to keep wrapped around my mind, and it also doesn't work on Ivar at all, because he's just too stubborn. He can however use it effectively enough on Alice and Emmett, but not on Rose or Jay, nor Bella, likely because of her own shield. He never uses his gift on Grandpa Charlie when he comes over, so we're always proud of him for that.

As for Caldor, he learned his own trigger on when and how to use his gift. At first, the skin contact helped him focus on seeing one person's thoughts at a time. Then, as he got better at projecting their current thoughts, he could do it without touch. When he really concentrates hard, we found he can delve into our minds and pull out memories we weren't actively thinking of. Like we did for his twin, we taught Calder the right and wrong way to use his gift. Since his is an invasion of privacy, he must always ask permission before using his gift. 

We were curious once to see if he could project our old dreams from when we were humans, and not just memories, and that caused a horrible event. At first, Cal projected one of my dreams where all my lives' friends and families were there, and it was really sweet and everyone got to see all those that I love the most. But then he tried it on Jay and unfortunately, Jay usually had nightmares. 

Calder ended up accidentally projecting the Joker murdering Jason and laughing, which in turn triggered both myself and Jay to lock up and react. Calder, on accident, brought to life the nightmare that has haunted me for 3 lifetimes, and the effects on us all were disastrous. Jay ended up blasting half the living room with his gift when he tried to shoot the Joker. I had a split second in my mind where I registered that Calder was safe in Ivar's arms, and I ended up grabbing Robin and teleporting so far away from home, from the Joker, I was almost at Charlie's house. Poor Robin was terrified and screaming for me to snap out of it for hours, but I just kept a secure iron grip on him and lost myself in my own terror. 

Ivar found me nearly three hours later just sitting in a fetal position in the forest with Robin consoling me in my arms. I had hid both of us in the shadows, but when the sun came out and exposed us both, Ivar could finally find us. I was so disappointed in myself for how I reacted, for endangering my youngest son, and for still being so weak to my fears. Jay was ashamed he had lost control so much and destroyed a part of our home, and since his blast had almost hit Calder as well if Ivar hadn't gotten him out of the way in time, Jay shut himself away from everyone for days in fear of hurting our family again.

Calder spent weeks refusing to ever use his gift again. He blamed himself and his lack of control on his gift for causing all the damage and terror. Jay and I, once we each were back in our coherent minds, both assured him it was an accident. It finally took his dad to encourage him not to be sad or afraid of his gift, and that mommy and Uncle Jay were strong enough to handle a bad dream. Since then, Cal learned that different memories have a different flavor almost, like good ones versus bad ones, and he can now avoid the 'bad tasting' memories. He's still working on that skill, but I'm proud of him for not giving up on it.