Shadows of our end - KDA x Male Reader (Original)

Act 1 - 035

The little reunion didn't last long, I barely had time to say hi but I can tell you right now if I hear the words, how are you, and, are you okay, a couple more times I think I might go insane from that alone.

Getting tired of hearing it but then again they were all worried. It's not hard to just repeat the same answer. It is early in the day and everyone other than me has gone to classes because right now my classes are replaced by something a bit more important.

Walking up to her, "Good morning."

"Morning," she then undresses her jacket tossing it aside. "I imagine you are of the same opinion of starting to get a hang of it as quickly as possible?"

I nod, "Whatever it takes."

Mom nods, "The thing about our power is that there isn't a middle ground with it - nothing about it is heroic and it is far more useful in the hands of a monster."

"Meaning..."

She nods, "Exactly the way you imagine it to be, for us to learn about the power we need to understand that the possibility of appearing to be a monster is going to be crucial because with that in mind is where we make sacrifices."

"Sacrifices?" I furrow my brow.

"It's mostly figurative," she states, "Your emotions, you need to have a firm control over them because moving forward we are going to use emotion to drive us forward because it heavily relies on emotions."

"But-"

"It doesn't mean you need emotion to power it, it is just an easy way to break through it. If it weren't for how he disabled you... there exists a large chance that you would have been able to manifest power you didn't think you were capable of."

I then shake my head, "He knew how to keep me from ever using it."

"Because of me," she states, "I need you to keep in mind by going through this path that if you ever lose your cool you can hurt someone with your abilities if you have yet to master it."

"Which I have yet to do," I nod.

She then states, "You already know the basics so I won't run through it again - the next stages are creating objects, using it as an extension of your body, using familiars or clones, and finally manifesting a shadow form."

I can just tell this is going to take a long time, "Where do we start?"

"By forcing you into a situation that feels like death," she cracks her neck and fingers, "I will not be going easy on you."

I see the shadows start to crawl up her face almost covering most of it as I get a glimpse of what it can be - I don't know how to explain it other than having an aura around her that just feels like it is reaching me even though I standing so far from her.

But I understand one thing - there is no way you can look at this and think that someone like this is a hero.

***   ***   *** 

I wish there was a clear indication that she intended to use her powers to spar with me when the only thing I can do is use them to move around faster. Then my tired state forced me to try and manifest it despite my energy being at an all-time low.

Breathing heavily she drops down next to me, "Good job today."

"Felt like I didn't do anything," I groan.

"I already had to spend years to understand it - maybe you will find something that I never could find but a lot of it depends on understanding it. It isn't as simple as tricking your mind to imagine it to happen. But when you have it, it is as simple as imagining it."

The rest of the training area starts to fill with students getting their after-class practice going.

Then lifting herself, "Get some rest and spend some time with your friends," she then rubs the back of her neck, "I'll be going home early for a chance to spend some time with Sam."

"She'll freak out," I remark.

"She might," then looking over at me, "Rely on your friends - because there might come a time where they can't distinguish the very thin line we walk of being humane or monstrous."

I ask her, "Are we to become that?"

She counters, "In a world full of savages we must respond in kind - they won't argue about the results but will question the methods. They don't look at you and see the thousands you saved but argue that there is very little that separates us from them."

"I'm fine if I am to become a monster to kill that fucker."

She cracks a smile, "That's if I don't get to kill him first," then leaving, "See you two days for the next session."

I take a moment to catch my breath before I leave the training area to see who I can find - there is quite a few people I still need to see and express that I am fine. I even read through the report while I was waiting for Lauren.

The names of the people who... tried to help save Akane. A few names but only two stood out to me - Erica and Juno.

Juno, I don't know why he'd do it because from the explanations alone they made it sound he is incredibly self-centred. But I don't care nearly as much as seeing Erica getting in the middle of it, I don't even need to pretend but at this point, it would just be best to hear what she has to say.

Move on from there.

I don't get far until I see a glimpse of something in my peripheral, I turn to meet it to see Evelynn standing right beside me with a slight smile, "You seriously need to stop doing that."

She shakes her head, "Glad to see you are up and about."

"Didn't even need to come to find you."

She shakes her head, "Admittedly I was worried," then letting her smile fade, "Sorry about Akane, sorry that you had to go through all of that," she slings her arm around my waist hugging me.

"I'll survive."

"I know you will," then looking up at me. "I did want to come to see you, figured maybe leave it till you are feeling better. I don't... do that well with anyone that even looks a little bit upset."

I shake my head, "I told you I am fine."

"Yeah but-"

"Yeah but?"

"Shut up. Might want to hold off on going to meet everyone for just a bit, a lot of drama happened while you were gone and it is just everyone against everyone."

"What happened?"

"Troy did," she states. "Think he finally lost his nerve and started lashing out at Erica for going to try and save you. A few idiots are siding with him and a lot of the others are friends and are trying to defuse the situation and it just dragged everyone into it."

"Lovely," I remark.

"It is, I kinda miss the days when the only problem they had was you."

"Thanks, Eve."

"Hey, I didn't have a problem with you and honestly I think that is pretty much all that matters," she winks at me, "But we can go meet up with Akali and go from there."