Chapter 207: 208 | The Support Network
"Conveniently vague?"
"One student reported seeing quote a bunch of people standing around while the monster stopped working unquote. Another mentioned quote some guy with glowing eyes who might have been fighting or might have been having a seizure unquote."
"A seizure."
"Essentia manifestation can present similarly to neurological episodes in low-light conditions."
Mera snorted. "So what you’re saying is that Rome looked like he was having a medical emergency while he was busy saving everyone’s lives."
"I’m saying that eyewitness testimony is remarkably unreliable and we should be grateful for that fact."
My phone buzzed again. Another message from Aurora.
AURORA: I’m coming over. I don’t care if you need time or space or whatever. I need to see that you’re okay with my own eyes.
AURORA: Don’t try to stop me.
I showed the message to Mera and Cheon.
"Well." Mera’s tail tightened around my wrist. "This should be interesting."
"Should I leave?" Cheon’s voice was carefully neutral. "I don’t want to complicate the situation."
"Stay." The word came out before I could think about it. "You’re part of this. Both of you. Whatever’s happening with Aurora... she needs to see that. Needs to understand what she’s walking into."
"And what is she walking into?"
I thought about it. About the system’s quest. About the seven heroines. About the fact that I’d already claimed six of them in various states of complication and Aurora was the last piece of whatever puzzle the universe was forcing me to assemble.
"Honestly? I have no idea. But I’m done pretending it’s something it’s not."
The doorbell rang twenty minutes later.
I’d managed to shower and change by then. Still looked like garbage but at least I was clean garbage. Mera had retreated to the couch with a book she wasn’t reading. Cheon had positioned herself at the dining table with her tablet and a very convincing impression of someone doing homework.
Neither of them had left.
Neither of them was going to leave.
I opened the door.
Aurora stood in the hallway wearing civilian clothes. Jeans. A white t-shirt. A light jacket that she probably didn’t need given the weather. Her dark hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. No makeup. No hero uniform. No carefully constructed image.
Just Aurora.
She looked tired. The kind of tired that comes from spending all night worrying about someone you care about even though you’re not sure you’re allowed to care about them yet.
"You’re alive."
"Last time I checked."
"You look terrible."
"Thanks. I worked hard on this aesthetic."
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. Just like that. No hesitation. No careful calculation of what the gesture might mean or how it might be interpreted.
Her head pressed against my chest. Her fingers dug into my back. Her whole body trembled with something between relief and anger.
"I thought you were dead." Her voice was muffled against my shirt. "The reports said there was an attack. Said someone matching your description was at the center of it. Said there were casualties."
"There weren’t any casualties."
"I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anything. You didn’t respond to any of my messages."
"I was unconscious for fourteen hours."
"That’s not better. That’s worse. That’s so much worse."
I held her. Let her shake against me. Let her process whatever she was processing in whatever way she needed to process it.
Over her shoulder I could see Mera watching from the couch. Her expression was complicated. Not jealous exactly. More like curious. Like she was observing a phenomenon she’d heard about but never witnessed firsthand.
Cheon had stopped pretending to do homework. Her grey eyes tracked the interaction with the same analytical focus she applied to everything else.
Aurora pulled back. Wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Noticed for the first time that we weren’t alone.
"Oh." She blinked. "I didn’t realize you had..."
"Company." Mera stood from the couch. Stretched in a way that made my shirt ride up slightly higher than strictly necessary. "He always has company these days. It’s part of his charm."
"Mera. You’re the girl with the portals."
"And the horns. And the tail. And the sparkling personality." Mera walked over. Stopped about three feet away. Her green eyes met Aurora’s green eyes. Two very different shades. Two very different expressions. "You must be Aurora. Rome’s mentioned you."
"Has he?"
"Constantly. It’s a little annoying actually. But in a cute way."
Aurora looked at me. Then at Mera. Then at Cheon, who had risen from the table and was approaching with the careful precision of someone navigating a minefield.
"Cheon Hae-Won." Aurora’s voice carried recognition. "The class representative."
"And Rome’s girlfriend." Cheon stopped beside Mera. "One of them."
The silence that followed lasted approximately three seconds. It felt significantly longer.
"One of them." Aurora repeated the words slowly. Like she was testing how they felt in her mouth. "So when you said things were complicated..."
"I said that." I closed the front door behind her. "I also said I’d tell you everything when you were ready."
"Is this everything?"
"This is part of everything. The rest is significantly weirder."
Aurora laughed. It was a strange sound. Somewhere between genuine amusement and mild hysteria.
"Weirder than finding out the guy I’ve been thinking about nonstop has multiple girlfriends?"
"Significantly weirder." Mera grinned. "But we should probably do this sitting down. With coffee. And maybe snacks. It’s going to be a long conversation."
We ended up on the couch. All four of us. Aurora at one end. Me in the middle. Mera pressed against my side with her tail draped over my leg. Cheon perched on the arm of the couch with her tablet balanced on her knee.
It looked like the setup for a very strange group project.
"Where do I even start?" Aurora’s voice was quiet. Contemplative. "I asked for time. You gave me time. And now I find out that while I was taking time you were..."
"Building a support network." Cheon supplied the phrase with clinical detachment. "Rome’s abilities require compatible partners for optimal development. We’ve been assisting with that process."
"Compatible partners."
"Willing participants who understand the nature of his Essentia and have chosen to engage with it anyway."
Aurora looked at me. "Your abilities require compatible partners?"
"My ability is complicated."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it keeps being true."
Mera shifted against my side. Her warmth was distracting in the way it always was. Comforting and grounding and making it hard to focus on anything except the places where her body touched mine.
"Rome has a drain-type Essentia." Mera’s voice was matter-of-fact. "SS-rank. Unregistered. Technically classified as extinct by the NEA because the last documented case died seventy years ago."
Aurora’s eyebrows climbed. "Extinct?"
"His ability absorbs Essentia from others through physical contact. The more intimate the contact the more effective the absorption. And before you ask yes it’s exactly as complicated as it sounds."
"He absorbs..."
"Everything. Energy. Affinity. Knowledge. Experience." Mera ticked the items off on her fingers. "It’s why he has my portals. It’s why he has Cheon’s Interface. It’s why he can do things that should be impossible for someone who spent eighteen years registered as a Null."
