Shadow-Dancer: Return of an Old Foe | #Wattys2019 Nomination

A Better Explanation

*time skip to the next morning*
*April 25, 2019*
(Y/n) POV
Anti, Henrik, Jameson, Chase, Jackie, and Marvin had all gone back into Jack's head to regain their strength. Ob is different, though. While it is safer for her to be in my head when we're in public, she doesn't have a set time limit for how long she can manifest a physical form. Right now, she's messaging someone on her phone.

"Who are you messaging?" I ask her.

"I'm messaging the only person from the outside world who can help us get out of here," she replies. "I'm also sending him one of Dark's teleporters."

"Is it Alan?"

"Yes. Besides, he did say to contact him if we needed anything."

Ob and I turn to Ella and realize that if we're going to help her, we're going to need the full story.

"So, Ella, would you like to share with us exactly what happened?" I ask.

"Of course I would," she replies. "It all started when I was born. My parents knew there was something different about me. When I was about four years old, they found out about Brianne and they were not happy. They started acting very overprotective."

"That's funny. When our parents found out about me, they treated me as if I was their own," Ob says. Okay, quick explanation. Yes, Jack is the first person I told about Ob. I didn't have to tell my parents because they had stumbled upon one of our dancing sessions.

"Well, not everyone is accepting of people who are different," says Ella. "Anyway, that was when we started using people to our advantage. Manipulating them, if you will. Aside from each other, we didn't have any real friends. We also started to be a lot more observant. And my doctors and therapists didn't help, either. They all came to the same conclusion and branded me a sociopath. This was also when I started cutting. Brianne noticed about a month later and persuaded me to stop doing it. She was right, though. Had I continued, it would've gotten out of control and I would've been hospitalized, or worse, dead. My parents found out about what had happened and thanked Brianne for helping me stop. A few years ago, my parents saw an advertisement for this place and decided to arrange for me to be sent here. It was a huge wakeup call for both Brianne and I. We tried to go back and apologize to those we had manipulated. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't let me out of the house. It was as if they were under some sort of trance."

"So what happened when you got here?" Ob asks.

"Well, when I got here, I found out that Antimatter is running the place. Brianne took over and prepared to attack him. However, she was separated from me by the very same machine that separated you and Y/N. And the therapist that I was assigned to is just the worst. I only recently discovered that my therapist is in fact Natemare," Ella explains.

"You're kidding?" I question.

"No, I'm not. Brianne's got it worse, though. She's been tortured ever since we started 'therapy'. They're taking her powers from her very slowly, so as to increase the pain."

"Can't she just get her powers back?" I ask.

"No."

"Why not?" Ob asks.

"It's because they're injecting her with something that prevents her from recovering. I honestly don't know how much more she can take." She buries her head in her hands and begins to sob.

"Oh my..." I can't even finish my thought.

"Hey, it's not like I haven't experienced that much pain," Ob reminds me. She pulls Ella into a hug and affectionately strokes her hair. Ob uses her wings to hold Ella close to her.