ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀꜱ : ᴛʜᴇ ᴜᴘʀɪꜱɪɴɢ

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• ＷＩＬＬＯＷ •

The school halls were unnervingly silent as we crept inside, the air thick with an ominous tension. Every shadow seemed to twist and loom larger than before, threatening to swallow us whole. My mind raced, thoughts tangled with dread and a relentless resolve. I had to find Alicia. I couldn't let her get caught in this nightmare—couldn't lose her too.

When we spotted the guards prowling through the halls, the dread in my chest tightened. They moved with a predatory grace, rifles at the ready, eyes sharp and cruel. I felt a surge of anger, hot and consuming. They had come to our school, terrorizing innocent kids, looking for people like us—monsters, they'd call us.

The word echoed in my mind as we ducked into a classroom, our breaths shallow, the walls closing in around us. Monsters. That's what they'd say, but they didn't know us. They didn't understand what it was like—to have this power, this curse, and to be hunted for it. I didn't even grasped the extent of all of this myself.

But I knew these people weren't monsters, the only monsters I saw at that moment were the ones pointing guns at innocent people.

As they got closer, I felt the familiar tremor in my fingers, the itch beneath my skin. I could hear Nara whispering beside me, her voice strained. "We do this now," I said, and my voice didn't tremble. I couldn't afford to be afraid—not now.

The courtyard was a mess of confusion and fear when we stepped outside. Rows of terrified students knelt on the ground, their eyes wide, tears streaking their faces. I spotted Alicia near the front, her face pale with fear. My heart clenched painfully, but I kept moving, slipping through the crowd until I was beside her. I grabbed her hand, holding it tight.

"Stay with me," I whispered, more to myself than to her.

I barely noticed the words passing between Ember and the guards, but when the first flames flared to life in her hands, I felt the shift—the collective intake of breath, the fear twisting into something sharper, more dangerous. The guards saw us then, really saw us, and their expressions darkened with recognition.

No more hiding, I thought as I felt the power surge inside me. The time for that was over.

When the fight broke out, everything happened in a blur. Powers crackled in the air—fire, force, raw energy unleashed with a fury that shook the very ground beneath our feet. I didn't care about anything except Alicia. I couldn't let her get hurt, couldn't let these monsters take her away.

But then the leader, that cold-eyed woman, aimed her gun at me, and the world narrowed to a single point. For a heartbeat, fear gripped me. The shot rang out, and I reacted on instinct, catching the bullet mid-air, holding it inches from my chest. I could see the shock in the woman's eyes, the fear that mirrored my own.

I felt something break inside me then, a dam I'd been holding back for too long. With a flick of my wrist, I sent the bullet flying harmlessly away, my voice cold and steady as I ordered them to leave. But they didn't stop.

I was acting on impulse, but someway in control too. I felt like I could use my power, it was strange and also thrilling apart from the fact that I had every guns turned to me. I then controlled them, every single one of them. And for once, they listened as I made them drop their weapons.

But it didn't feel like a victory. Not with what came next.

Ramiel and Maya moved through the courtyard, their powers reaching out, blanketing the memories of everyone who had seen the fight. One by one, the students and teachers would forget what had happened, what they'd seen us do. Even Alicia.