This Can't Be Real (A Superhero Story)

8

Exhausted, but healed, Sabrina lugged herself back to her bedroom with Kolton and Noah trailing behind. She opened the door and immediately got to work destroying the entire room, hoping that the Rubik's cube her father took from her was hidden there. The three searched through the closet, under the bed, behind the TV- along with emptying every drawer, dresser, backpack, and trash can. Nothing lead to the discovery of the small 3x3. 

"I don't get it- it has to be here." Sabrina groaned, flipping her mattress up and glaring at the empty box springs. She dropped the mattress, letting it clatter and bounce as it found its place again on the frame. 

"You never knew with dad- he wasn't exactly sane," Kolton attempted to explain, standing behind her as she huffed. She spun around, looking for another place to search. "Maybe he didn't want you to find it."

"He had to of wanted me to have it eventually. It was mine," Sabrina tried to explain. "Did you get a good look at it?" Kolton asked as Noah raised an eyebrow. "It was transparent, with only nine squares colored in. It was a specific shade of gray- it was cool, a little blue-toned- look familiar?" She asked, gesturing to her decorated room. It was saturated in grays of different tones, along with black and some shades of green/teal. "I got my powers the same second I got that cube. It was like it just appeared in my hand the second I got my abilities. It has to mean something, right?"

"It was only a legend that those cubes existed. Some people would prank each other by buying them and painting them different colors." Noah explained. "I just read one of the old fables."

"Right now? In your head?" Kolton asked as Noah ignored him.

"The legend explained that the cube would symbolize power and enhance it when solved, but the power would be uncontrollable. Strength came with losing yourself. No one's actually seen one in real life that actually functioned past a fidget toy." Noah explained. "If you only solve one side, you might get closer to getting your powers back fully, but- that's a stretch, and it's dangerous."

"It's the only lead we have." Sabrina argued.

"Then what? What if it's not what unlocks your powers? We need to sit down and think about this- enough with the impulse ideas!"

"The impulse idea is what got my Ninja abilities back! Besides- what do you know? Do you have any memory of the day I got mom and dad's powers?" She spat, aggravated as she stepped in his face.

"Don't blame me for your impulsive decision to throw yourself over a goddamn wall."

"You're right. I blame myself. And I blame myself for saving our entire population by sacrificing my memory and my powers. I'm sorry." She sarcastically replied as Noah sighed, uncomfortable. 

"I should-"

"Where's Jackson?" Sabrina interrupted, turning towards Noah as his eyes went wide. Noah coughed harshly from surprise, struggling to keep himself together as his eyes flashed from the normal brown to a neon red, and back to the original state.

"Uh, I, uh-" His factory settings began to buffer and his entire cybernetic, cold, sociopathic default responses were gone. "Bathroom. The oven's on. My mom needs me for dinner." He stumbled over his words, mumbling various outrageous excused as he quickly made a way for the door. He escaped quickly, leaving the siblings to stew in a room with tension so thick, you couldn't cut it with a knife.