The Logical Exception

{ Chapter 35 - A Desperate Ploy }

"Ro-Ro." Mother necessity pulled her car up to the curb where Roman was walking. "Are you really ready to go home? Can I take you back with me?"

"I... Maybe, but I need a bit more time to think over everything," Roman said, wrapping his arm around his body as if he were unsure of himself. "What I really need is answers. I feel like I have been kept in the dark for far too long, and I just want to know who I am."

"I'm not sure how satisfying my answers are going to be, but I'm willing to help my little Caesar. Where do you want to have this conversation?"

Logan had talked to him about this. He needed to get her somewhere that there would be fewer civilians. She wasn't above using innocents to further her plans.

"Maybe somewhere where we won't be overheard. I have a lot of questions." He waved his arms dramatically to make a point. "But I am not familiar with this terrain."

"We could return home. You would always be welcome to leave as soon as you wanted." Logan had suggested a specific place, but this would be okay, right? Roman bit his lip, their house was an area far from innocents, wasn't it? And Remus was probably listening in with the mosquito.

"And you can ask me questions while we drive." She suggested, trying to get a yes from him, and maybe if Roman didn't have so many legitimate questions, he might have realized what she was doing.

"Very well, to your dwelling it is." He opened the car door and got in, still clutching the cellphone she had given him.

She smiled sweetly, "Perfect," and she began to drive off back towards Zerena, the city where it all began.

"Let me take that phone from you." She reached out her hand and as he put it in her hand hesitantly it began to turn into the black smoke he had seen once before.

"So what questions did you want to ask me?"

That brought up a lot more questions, but he decided he still needed to play her side. Make her think he really did want to join her. He had asked her a few questions before, this was an opportunity to find out more. "You said that Logan was probably jealous. Why? We were just kids."

"Well of course you were only kids, but you were already so talented. You and Remus both could conjure solid objects before you were 3 and that is fantastic. But what can Logan do? Move small objects?" She asked dismissively. "It's really our fault as parents. We shouldn't have played favorites, but I just couldn't help it. You and Remus had my powers, or something similar, how could I not be excited?"

It was more than moving small objects though? Logan had managed to affect memories? How could it only be moving small objects? He wanted to ask but something in the back of his mind reminded him of the conversation he and Logan had.

'If you get stuck alone with her, keep your guard up. She will say whatever she needs to get what she wants. Keep her talking about herself.'

"I'm not sure. I bet if I had children and they shared my powers I would be excited to see them have something similar. Rather, I'm sure I'd be ecstatic."

"Right?" Her smile grew wider. "And I just wanted to instill in you and Remus all of the proper techniques that will make you stronger. Things I had the chance to learn with age."

"Is that what your parents did?"

Her eyes went a bit downcast. "My parents didn't have powers, and they weren't in my life after I turned 18. That's why it was so hard to lose you and your brother. I had already lost people at much too young an age."

Roman put a hand to his chest. He was a sucker for a sob story and the sadness on her face was so genuine. It was hard to believe that she could be as evil as Logan kept making her out to be. "What about Remus, and Logan?"

She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, focusing on the road intently as she thought carefully about her words. "Of course I want Remus to come home, but that's his choice. I was hoping if you did eventually call me it would be both of you coming back. But that doesn't mean I'm any less happy that you are giving me a chance." She stretched out her hand to take his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"As for Logan," She frowned. "I'll admit that I was a bit harsh with him after we thought you had died. I loved you so much, I couldn't get over the fact that he took you from me. I bred him into being the traitor he became, and I don't believe that anything I do now will fix that."

Roman bit his lip, it was true that Logan harbored a lot of anger towards their mother, and it made sense that he wouldn't be able to forgive her for cruel treatment as a child. Roman found himself second-guessing everything that he and Logan had discussed after their fight. He didn't have long to think about it as he felt a light piercing on his neck and instinctively smacked at it. Green smoke was curled around his fingers as he brought his hand back down. Roman fought back a swear. Remus was right, he couldn't give in just yet, but hopefully, they would still be able to follow him.

"If it could, would you want to fix that relationship?"

"Of course, he's my son!"

"And... what about Remus, if I could convince him, would you accept him even though he's dating Patton."

"Which one is Patton?"

Roman fought back the anger in his heart. She had hurt Patton and didn't even remember him. "The one we rescued."

"Oh..." She fell a bit silent. "I don't think I could accept him dating that boy, and not because he is our enemy, enemies to lovers is such a cute trope, but he is a nullifier. There are so many things I never got to share with you. I am the first in our family line to have powers. The universe decided to gift them to me. You can imagine how confusing that was though, having these strange powers when no one else did. So I did research, probably more than any sane person would do, and I fought to figure out where these powers came from. There are stories from many ancient civilizations where people were given abilities, but they grew overconfident in themselves and thus a balancing force was sent. These were the nullifiers, their purpose is to heal the damage done by these power users and strip them of their abilities. I don't think that is fair, why should one person be the judge of my powers?" She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. "But I was able to convince your father to relinquish his goal, maybe if Remus can convince Patton as well, then I would be happy to have him as a son in law. I just don't want to see him get hurt."

Roman's head was spinning. Did Patton know about this? His own father was a 'nullifier' what did that even mean? Was that something that could be passed down?

"I'm sorry, that was a bit too much wasn't it? Here, let's put some music on and just relax the rest of the drive." She put in a mix of Disney villain songs and Roman couldn't lie, it was helping a bit. 

AN: Hey everyone! If you are following both of my books and waiting for an update on Hear Me Out, I wanted to apologize that it's taking so long. I've been struggling really hard with that book and I just haven't been able to get myself to write on it. I'm hoping to work on a chapter or two and get them posted before tomorrow night. I love you and you all are amazing!