A Second Chance

Part 91 - Some water

So, they want to know about what I went through all this time? Is that it?

I sat there, sinking into the plush cushions of my own couch, surrounded by the people who used to be my entire world. I looked at their expectant faces. Cole leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Kai with that familiar, cocky half-smile, Lloyd looking at me with the heavy gaze of a leader. And Nya... sitting perfectly still, her eyes fixed on the floor rug like it was the most interesting thing in the room.

I don't know what to say, man.

My chest felt tight, like a coiled spring ready to snap. I wanted to yell at them so badly. I wanted to stand up, point my finger at every single one of them, and scream until my lungs gave out. I wanted to demand answers for the trial, for the desert, for the absolute hell I went through while they moved on and replaced me. But this invisible force - this heavy, suffocating wall of numbness - was stopping me from doing so. It clamped my jaw shut. It forced the corners of my mouth up into a shape that felt entirely alien.

"I've been here and there," I laughed. The sound was hollow, bouncing off the high ceilings of the mansion, but none of them seemed to notice the strain in it. "Just bouncing around, trying to keep my head down. But, one day I came across The Vipers and worked hard to stop them. Got pretty far with it, too, but they came here now. Turns out, they've been operating under the radar here for quite a while."

I leaned forward, clasping my hands together to stop them from shaking. I needed to keep this strictly business. If we talked about the mission, we didn't have to talk about us.

"We have four major players to worry about," I continued, ticking them off on my fingers. "First, we have Ripper, the fighter ranked 8th in their syndicate. Then we have Kalmaar, that squid-looking guy, who's ranked 4th. We have Nadakhan, the Djinn, ranked 3rd." I paused, swallowing the dry lump in my throat. "And, of course, the big boss, Deathstroke."

"Are the rankings... representative of their strength?" Lloyd asked, his brow furrowing as he immediately shifted into his tactical mindset.

"Yeah, they are," Synergy replied before I could. He was sitting right next to me, his posture stiff but perfectly composed. "I assume he took care of the other fighters on the ladder."

"It was hard, but I managed it," I said, keeping my eyes fixed on the coffee table. I didn't want to elaborate on how hard it was. I didn't want to talk about the blood, the isolation, or the sheer desperation of fighting those other ranked fighters in the other universe.

"Woah, Jay, have you grown more powerful?!" Cole asked. 

His eyes lit up with that old, excitement, I remember like we were just hanging out on the Bounty after a successful training session, or after our hardest missions. It felt so jarring. How could he just sit there and act like everything was normal? Like he didn't beat me to a pulp during the trial?

"Nah, not really..." I replied, waving a hand dismissively, forcing another light chuckle, burying the truth under a thick layer of self-deprecation. "You know me, fighting my way through things isn't really my style. Just got lucky, improvised a lot. Ran away when I had to."

"Wow, but that's just cool, man!" Kai exclaimed, leaning back and crossing his arms with an impressed grin. "Taking down that much of an interdimensional syndicate solo? Guess you haven't lost your touch."

I stared at Kai for a second, feeling completely detached from my own body. He was praising me. They were all looking at me with this weird mix of awe and relief. But they didn't know the cost. They didn't know that the old Jay - the one who panicked and made terrible jokes and relied on his team - had to die in the desert so this version of me could come forward.