Chapter 205: 206 | Population: Complicated
"I’m serious. A drain-type boosting another drain-type to the point of achieving multi-ability integration. There’s no precedent. No documentation. The theoretical models don’t even account for that level of Essentia transfer between compatible ability types."
"What are you saying?"
"I’m saying that your ability. ESSENCE DRAIN. It’s not just SS-rank." She paused. I could hear her processing even without seeing her face. "It might not have a rank at all. It might be something else entirely."
Mera’s head came up. Her eyes were still wet but her expression had shifted to something I recognized.
"We need to move. Now. Before the NEA gets here and starts asking questions we can’t answer."
"Agreed."
"Can you walk?"
I tried to push myself up. Got about three inches off the ground before my arms gave out.
"Define ’walk.’"
"Define ’Rome gets carried through a portal like a sack of extremely attractive potatoes.’"
"I resent that comparison."
"You’ll resent it more when I tell Cheon to take pictures for documentation purposes."
Mera hauled me upright. Cheon appeared on my other side, taking my arm over her shoulders. Between them I managed something approximating vertical.
Noel was awake.
I hadn’t noticed her rejoining us but there she was, standing five feet away with one shoe and no glasses and an expression I couldn’t read. Her astral form must have returned the moment Liam stabilized.
"You." She pointed at me. "You are the most infuriating person I have ever met."
"That’s what they tell me."
"You just drained yourself to near unconsciousness to save a complete stranger."
"Yep."
"After spending an hour in my dorm room explaining that your entire existence revolves around using people for their abilities."
"Also yep."
"Make it make sense."
I grinned at her. Probably looked insane given the circumstances. Sweat-soaked. Barely conscious. Glowing eyes starting to fade as my reserves bottomed out.
"It’s complicated."
"Everything with you is complicated."
"Welcome to my life. Population: way more people than I can reasonably keep track of."
Noel stared at me for another long moment. Then she did something I didn’t expect.
She laughed.
Not the bitter laugh I’d heard before. Not the angry laugh or the sarcastic laugh or the I’m-going-to-kill-you laugh.
A real laugh. Surprised and genuine and completely at odds with the chaos surrounding us.
"You’re ridiculous."
"Adorably ridiculous?"
"Dangerously ridiculous." She stepped forward and pulled my face down to hers. Kissed me once. Quick and hard and tasting like adrenaline. "Don’t die before I figure out what to do with you."
"Wouldn’t dream of it."
Mera opened a portal. Amber light and dark space.
"Everyone through. Now. Before the sirens get any closer."
Cheon went first, pulling me with her. Noel followed. Mera came last, the portal snapping shut behind her with a sound like reality closing a drawer.
We emerged in my penthouse.
The lights were on. Someone had been here recently enough to leave the coffee maker running.
I collapsed on the couch and stared at the ceiling and tried to process everything that had just happened.
My father had built a weapon using my stolen blood. A kid named Liam had been tortured into a living bomb. I’d somehow fixed him by draining myself to dangerous levels. The system had reappeared after three days of silence just in time to tell me I was going to die. And somewhere out there, Vivian was manipulating lab results to buy me time I didn’t have.
Also I was pretty sure I’d just kissed four different women in the span of twelve hours.
Life as Rome D’Angelo remained extremely complicated.
"Drink this."
Cheon pressed a glass of water into my hand. I drained it without thinking. She immediately refilled it from a pitcher on the coffee table.
"Your body is attempting to metabolize reserves it doesn’t have. Hydration will help stabilize the process."
"Thanks mom."
"Don’t call me that."
"Yes ma’am."
Mera dropped onto the couch beside me. Her head found my shoulder. Her tail wrapped around my wrist. The familiar warm pressure of her body against mine was the most grounding thing I’d felt all night.
"So." Her voice was muffled against my shirt. "That was a thing."
"That was definitely a thing."
"We’re going to have to talk about it."
"Probably."
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow works."
Noel stood by the window, looking out at the city lights. Her silhouette was backlit by the glow. She still only had one shoe.
"Someone’s going to come looking for answers." She didn’t turn around. "Campus security. The NEA. Your father’s people. What happened tonight can’t be hidden."
"I know."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Working on it."
"That’s not reassuring."
"I’ve been told reassurance isn’t my specialty."
She turned then. Met my eyes across the room. In the low light of the penthouse her face was softer than I’d ever seen it. Younger. Less like the untouchable Stark heiress and more like the girl who’d worn round glasses and fallen asleep on tactical diagrams.
"Then what IS your specialty?"
I thought about it. About Mera pressed against my side. About Cheon refilling my water glass. About Noel standing in my living room with one shoe and a question. About Aurora asking for time and Laurana surrounded by research notes and Vivian offering to burn down our father’s empire from the inside.
About Liam, a kid I’d never met, sitting on a plaza somewhere finally free of the prison someone had built around his soul.
"Collecting people who deserve better than what the world gave them."
Noel’s expression shifted. Something complicated moved behind her eyes.
"That’s not a specialty. That’s a diagnosis."
"Potato, potahto."
She laughed again. Shorter this time. More controlled. But still real.
"Get some sleep, Rome. Tomorrow’s going to be hell."
"Tomorrow’s always hell. That’s what tomorrows are for."
Mera’s breathing had slowed against my shoulder. Already halfway to unconscious. Burned through her reserves getting here. Burned through more pulling me out of that connection. She’d hate herself in the morning for showing this much vulnerability in front of Noel.
I’d deal with that then.
For now I let my eyes close. Let the exhaustion finally catch up to me. Let the darkness take over.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, the system flickered to life one last time.
QUEST COMPLETE: THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
REWARD: RELATIONSHIP UNLOCKED — LIAM CHEN
NOTE: THE SYSTEM HAS CONCERNS ABOUT YOUR DECISION-MAKING PROCESS.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: THE SYSTEM IS IMPRESSED DESPITE THOSE CONCERNS.
SLEEP WELL, ROME D’ANGELO.
TOMORROW WILL BE COMPLICATED.
