Supernova

Chapter One Hundred and Ten - One Down

When I woke up, Elias was already awake.

He was sitting up in bed, looking off into space in front of him, pondering and considering a whole plethora of ideas and concepts I couldn't see, let alone fathom. He must have been deep in thought, because he didn't notice me right away. I had to shift a lot to get him to turn his head to me.

And then, he answered before I could ask.

"She's here," he said.

I nodded. There was nothing much to say.

I was a little preoccupied, regardless. A bucket had become a permanent fixture to the side of my bed, and I found myself reaching for it now. The nausea was upon me quick, and the puking came just a second later. It was red tinged, but most of what came out was food and stomach acid. Another unfortunate side effect of my suddenly wonky quirk. I must say, I much preferred both the look and taste of blood.

I just hoped I could get it together enough so that I wouldn't behave this way and show any kind of weakness in front of Insanity's lackey, or worse yet, the asshole formerly known as Heir Stronghold.

Aizawa wanted to see me before negotiations, so after recovering and making myself presentable, I set out to find him. He was in his office, looking a lot worse for wear. The mug and coffee stains had told me he'd been here for a while and the bags under his eyes told me sleep had been of the lowest possible priority.

Even though the door was already open, I knocked before stepping in. "Hi, sir."

He looked up, kind of almost smiled, and motioned towards my scolding chair.

"Today's the day, huh?" he asked. I nodded, hoping I didn't look too solemn. "Are you ready?"

"No," I said honestly. "I mean, yes. I was born ready. I've been training to make negotiations since I got out of the bed. But, you know."

He nodded like he did indeed know, which I appreciated, because despite all the changes, I still didn't much like the idea of actually saying the words I'm scared out loud.

"It's going to go fine," he said, and it did sound assuring. "The worst is over. You have all the power. It's just a matter or hashing out details."

"Yeah," I said.

Which was true. We knew what we wanted. We knew what we were willing to give up in return. Neither of our parents were in any position to refuse us. But still.

"Just so you know, we've checked into the staff member that Insanity sent. She brought no weapons, has a clean background check, from what we can find anyways, and quirk analysis has proved she has but one fairly harmless quirk," he said.

I found myself suspicious for no reason at all, like of course there was something he'd missed or some snag that was sure to come up, but I tried to bury it down. After all, this was the man who'd stuck the bullet in my father's neck.

"And I'll be there to make sure nothing happens," he said. I looked up, some kind of wide eyed expression coming over my face that strained my eyes. "I'll be there the whole time."

"You will?" I choked.

He nodded. "Considering my ability and my involvement in the issue, I have been asked to sit in and act as supervisor of the ordeal."

"Makes sense," I said.

"And I don't have any academic or national jurisdiction over Claeson," he then said, his tone shifting. "But I am, for the time being, your temporary guardian."

Your temporary guardian. That phrase filled me with such hope, until I played it back and reminded myself of the meaning of that word in the middle. Temporary.