Realistic or Modern Unity of the Gifted

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I frowned, confused as to why her demeanor had shifted so quickly once again, and why she winked at me. I knocked softly on Daichiro's room door. "May I come in...?" I murmured softly, my head bowed towards the floor as I waited for a response. I started shifting from foot to foot as I waited, chewing on the inside of my cheek again.

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro opened the door, allowing her to come inside.


He didn't look or sound any different since the door hit him in the face.


"Sorry about Saeko. She's kind of bipolar, though nobody has actually diagnosed her scientifically as such," he said as he sat down at his chair, turning it towards her.


Daichiro's room was fairly plain. A bed, a desk, a few bookshelves, and a closet space. On the bed was a single text book, the one for their Classical Japanese class which he had already read. The desk had a few papers and notebooks, as well as the Music Appreciation text book, and that was about it. There was no television or video game system, no landline phone, no stereo set or iPod dock for listening to music. Just him, his bed, his desk, and his books.


"So, why did you come here miss Alexandria," he asked casually leaning back in his chair.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


"She seemed nice..." I offered softly as I slowly stepped into the bare room. "In all honesty, I left my home for a while simply to get away from everything, and I just sort of wandered here. You are my only friend, so I suppose it makes sense, but I do apologize for the intrusion..." I bowed slightly to him, having just said all of that in one breath because I was afraid that if I did not finish, then I would just bolt and then he would think I was weird. This in general was very weird behavior from me, and that's all I could think about, along with, 'he probably thinks I'm stupid or something'.

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro shook his head.


"Seeking the comfort of familiarity is part of human nature. It doesn't make you stupid," he said calmly.


He leaned back in his chair a bit farther, stretching his hands above his head before relaxing and leaning forward again.


"So... Do you want to take a walk or something? I'm not really up for studying right now, but I could do with some fresh air," he said, standing up and going to his closet to take out a jacket.


Then, he seemed to remember something, and he grabbed a second, slightly thinner, though still warm jacket.


"Would you like one? I know you were cold when you came in and it is a bit chilly outside," he offered, holding the jacket out.


It would be a little large for her, but it would keep her warm none the less.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I nodded once when he asked if I would like to walk with him, then stared for a moment when he held out the jacket. "Thank you..." I said, honestly shocked by his kindness as I slowly accepted the jacket, the gold chain around my wrist twisted enough that he could see the medical insignia if he'd been looking at my hand, though I didn't seem to notice. "Where would you like to walk to?"

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro put his jacket on and walked her to the door.


"Just around the neighborhood," he said as he opened the door to the living room.


"I really don't have anywhere I want to go specifically, but I feel like taking a walk."


He walked her to the front door and opened it for her, waiting until she was out before closing it and locking it behind them. He put his keys in his pocket and walked with her down the stairs as the two of them began walking aimlessly around the neighborhood together.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I stayed quiet after wrapping the jacket around my small, slightly shivering body. "Why have you been so kind to me...?" I asked a moment later, honestly confused by why he would want to talk with me or be kind to me. I hugged my small arms to my chest.

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro was silent for a few moments as they walked down the street, contemplating how to put it into words exactly why he chose to be kind to her when he had no other real reason for doing so.


"... Because I know the pain of loneliness," he said quietly.


"You have a good heart, miss Alexandria. I can hear that much about you in the way you think all the time. You even felt sorry for the classmates who were whispering about you behind your back and thinking lewd and crude thoughts about you, whether you knew they were doing so or not," he said.


"People like you are hard to come by, and definitely deserving of more respect and kindness than others such as those I just mentioned. I take no issue with teaching them the mental pain they inflict on others..." He said with a bit more harshness in his voice.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


"You can hear my thoughts?" I asked, confused. I hadn't even thought yet that he was different, like me. "And thank you..." I hugged him gently, not even stopping to think about it.


Tell it to the angels


You're already dead

 

[Kyero]

He blinked.


"... Yes, I can both hear your thoughts and send you mine," he said.


Like so, he projected to her mentally.


"And that's not all," he said as he pointed towards a nearby garbage can.


Daichiro stopped pointing, and slowly the can began to rise into the air. It moved back and forth entirely free of the laws of gravity, until it was set down right where it had been before.


"Telekinesis is my other... gift," he said, the last word coming out somewhat forced.


"So, how about you? I can sense that you too possess a gift, though exactly what it is I do not know," he said.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I blinked, looking down. "What do you most want to see in the world? Anything, real or imaginary, what is it?"


Tell it to the angels


You're already dead

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro was a little uncertain of how to answer.


"... Honestly I've never thought about that," he said quietly.


He looked blankly into space as he thought about why he wanted to see.


At first it was thoughts of the usual things people tend to wish to see. Different areas of the world and the like. But after a moment, his thoughts trailed to something very different... His mind wandered to the image of his father, the image of his face when Daichiro called him out for cheating behind his mother's back, however innocent the call out was at that tender age of 5. His face as he turned and walked out of the house for the last time, leaving him and his mother behind... That face. Suddenly, Daichiro's only thought was how great it would feel to beat the life right out of his father for all the pain he'd caused.


Inwardly, that was his only thought until he finally banished it from his mind.


"I really don't have anything I want to see. At least... Nothing that would matter," he said, rather flatly.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I frowned. I knew he was lying, but I also knew that I would never say anything about it. "Fine, just focus on me and what you see right now..." I told him softly. After a moment, his vision was filled with the scene of a picturesque ocean, with spots of sunlight dancing on the waves, trees moving slightly with a gentle wind. As he looked around, I was still standing in front of him, it just seemed to him as if we had changed locations. A moment later, his vision faded into an all white background, where no matter how hard he strained his eyes, all he would see was white. That seemed scarier than only letting people see black, I had come to realize, but I was simply showing him to demonstrate my abilities, not in an effort to scare him. After a moment, I let his vision return to normal, and I just stood meekly in front of him, slightly drained from using my power. I hadn't done so in almost three years, because it was an easier thing to hide if I just did not use it.

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro was confused as to why she wanted him to focus on her, but it became clear a few seconds later.


Suddenly his vision was overcome by something new. An ocean, and a beautiful one at that. A gentle breeze, trees waving too and fro, sunlight dancing on the waves... It was really beautiful. Then, all at once everything faded to white. Nothing but white in any direction no matter where he looked. It was odd, but it didn't last long. Soon enough his normal vision returned, and he then knew exactly what power she had.


He looked to miss Alexandria, taking notice of the fact that she was obviously drained from using her power... and for such short time. She must not have used it in a long time, as otherwise her body would have learned to accommodate it and her gift would be far less taxing on her body than this.


"I see... So you are the same as I am," he said quietly.


"You are telepathic, though it's different from mine as I can only hear and project thought, but you can see and project images."


He looked away for a second, he began to wonder what kinds of things she'd use this kind of power for. His was easy, and something he was unable to turn off or discard. Try as he might the power of human thought en masse was something even his power could not block out, and thus every day he heard random thoughts from people around him unless he was focusing on one individual in which case his power did oddly cut out other outside noise. Odd the way these powers worked sometimes.


"Well then, I think it's safe to say that you should learn to make more regular use of your gift. If such a small demonstration is enough to make you this tired then we've got some work to do," he said, crossing his arms as he thought about how best to help her get used to her gift again.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I frowned and looked down, hugging my arms. "It is easier to hide when it is not in use..." I said softly, looking at him slowly.


Tell it to the angels


You're already dead

 

[Kyero]

He nodded.


"I can understand that, but now you have a willing partner to practice with. Since we both have something that others don't, it shouldn't be too hard to hide what we can do so long as we keep it between us," he said quietly, checking the surroundings.


A couple walked by, and he remained silent as they did so before speaking again.


"How about this, we meet everyday at lunch on the roof and practice the use of your gift. I'll let you project whatever mental picture you want for as long as you're able to stand it, and when you cannot hold it anymore we'll take a two minute break to let your body adjust to the exertion. After the break, we'll try again. It may only be a few uses for the lunch period at first, but your body should get used to it fairly quickly. When I put my mind to it, I was able to prevent exhaustion from taking place for over three hours before it finally became too much. I don't think it's a stretch to say that you could at least gain the ability to use yours for around twenty to thirty minutes before this school year is over," he said.


He took a moment to check the time, and realized that he'd forgotten about something important at home.


"I apologize our walk was so short, miss Alexandria, but I am afraid I must return to the apartment. Tonight is... special, if you will, and I need to be alone for the rest of the night if you don't mind. I'll see you at lunch tomorrow on the roof if you're interested in practicing the use of your gift with me. If you can learn to harness it and use it for extended periods, you could do some wonderful things for people who deserve it."


With that, he gave her a slight bow of his head and began walking back to the apartment alone.


... Today was the anniversary of the day his father abandoned Daichiro and his mother, and as a sort of personal tradition Daichiro practiced using his telekinesis on a punching bag in the alley behind the complex. It was the only safe way he could vent his frustration and anger at what his father had done without hurting anyone or causing too much of a scene. If anyone came by he could just stop using telekinesis and start punching and kicking the bag as normal. It was his way of pretending that the bag was his father, and his way of practicing just what kind of a beating he'd ever give the man if he saw him again.


If he wanted to call his son a monster as his mother did, then Daichiro was more than happy to show him what a monster he and his wife brought into the world first hand.


As Daichiro made it home, he made his way to the alleyway where the punching bag was hanging from a pipe sticking out of the wall. It was an old broken water pipe, but it served his purposes just fine. He checked to make sure nobody was around, extending his telepathy out to sense the thoughts of anyone in the vicinity. As soon as he was sure nobody was there, he slowly removed the bag from the pipe using his gift and made it float down in front of him.


As it hung there, the image of his father popped into his mind and he began wailing on the bag with all of his might. Using his gift to hold it in place, he punched and kicked it in every way he knew how, aiming in his mind's eye for vital points, joints, and soft tissue zones on the body to cause as much damage as possible. He went at it like this for over five minutes before his physical exhaustion caused him to use his gift instead. He threw the bag around mercilessly, amazed that he had never completely destroyed it yet, but it seemed that today his luck had finally run out.


After about half an hour of this abuse, the bag finally gave in and exploded when he lifted it up over fifty feet to just above the roof line of the complex and slammed it down into the ground. As the bag exploded, Daichiro stood over its remains panting heavily as he fought to catch his breath. In his mind, every single piece of that bag was a piece of his father, and he looked at one piece that was sitting on his shoe. He lifted his foot up and pulled it out from under the piece of fabric, stomping it into the ground once more for good measure.


With his anger vented and his mind cleared after a few minutes of quiet meditation, Daichiro went back around to the front of the complex and went inside to finish his homework and enjoy the solitude of the night alone.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I had walked back and neatly folded the jacket he had lent me, placing it on the doorstep. Before leaving, I wrote in my perfect cursive, 'I'll see you tomorrow'.


I walked home, shivering as I made my way back to my house. I walked to my room and stripped, wrapping a robe around my thin frame before walking to the bathroom, running warm water in the tub. After it was filled, I sank into the hot water and relaxed as my body slowly warmed up. I simply sat in the tub until the water began to cool, then I finally emerged and pulled on flannel pajamas and sat in my room.


I sat in my room for a while before I started trying to reach out with my mind to sense what pictures other people were seeing in their heads. I caught small glimpses, but that was all, and by the end, I felt exhausted. I laid down and curled up in a ball.


Tell it to the angels


You're already dead

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro's eyes opened slowly, and he saw his clock depicting a time of 7:45am.


He groaned as he stretched his arms out above his head and went about his usual morning routine. A shower, breakfast, and then leaving for school. Outside his house, he waited for miss Alexandria to arrive before walking to school with her as promised. School started at 10:00am today as the first class with Mr. Ueda had been cancelled as he was at a doctor's appointment and wouldn't be back until second period.


When they reached the school at around 8:50am, Daichiro said goodbye to miss Alexandria and went to find miss Elena in room 311 at 9:00am as promised.


He was eager to see her gift in action and figure out just how strong it was.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I rose slowly in the morning and quickly got ready for school. I put on my uniform and French braided my hair, the tail of my braid still past my waist. I reviewed my homework as usual before leaving, forgetting about breakfast.


I walked to Daichiro's house and walked to school with him, clutching my books tightly to my chest, shivering as we walked. I went to the library to check out a book while I waited for second period, my eyes quickly devouring the pages.


Tell it to the angels


You're already dead

 

[Imogen Sherbet]

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.





"Ughhhhh...." The sleeping girl stirred slightly, but did not awaken. She lay ignoring the alarm, too deeply asleep to register it.


BEEP. BEEP. BEE-





The blaring and obnoxious sound of Elena's alarm clock was cut short as she slammed her hand down on it violently with enough force to knock it off of her bedside table. Groaning, she opened her bleary eyes and blinked twice before forcing herself to sit up and pick up the offending piece of machinery. Her eyes widened as she realised the time. How had she ignored the alarm for 10 minutes?!


I'm going to be so late! She thought, as she leapt up and into the bathroom which she shared with the family housing her. Missing class would not have been a problem, but she'd agreed to meet Daichiro, and she wasn't prepared to miss that. After a hurried shower, she hurried out of the door and set off running down the road as she pulled a hairbrush through her wet hair. It was 8:52 already, and the walk usually took her a solid 10 minutes. Unfortunately, Elena had never been the sporty type, and after around a minute of running she caved. Panting heavily, she slowed down to a walk, and cursed her lack of athletic ability. Plus her freakishly heavy sleeping.


She could already tell that she was going to be late. Elena strongly doubted that Daichiro's psychic abilities extended this far, but just in case they did....


Sorry, Daichiro. I'm not especially punctual. On the off chance that he could, in fact, detect her weak apology, at least he might not be


too annoyed.


Eventually, she reached the school, and arrived outside room 311 five minutes after their scheduled meeting time. Elena took a deep breath-who knew what would happen once she was inside? It could change everything. Once she was certain that she had composed herself, she slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside.

 

[Kyero]

((I apologize for my absence. School has been kicking my ass of late))


Daichiro was standing inside room 311 with his arms resting comfortably at his sides and his hands on the edge of the dest he was leaning against. When the door opened, he looked up and saw miss Elena walk in and he gave a nod of his head.


"So, how shall we start?" He asked.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I sat in the corner, with my back to the door. A guy stood behind me after a few moments, but with the lack of peripheral vision in one of my eyes, I didn't see him. "Hey..." he said, a hand suddenly on my shoulder. I blinked in shock and tried to pull away. "Where do you think you're going?" I tried harder to pull away, a bit to panicked to try to use my power.


The boys hand tightened on my shoulder and he drew me to my feet. I looked around for someone to help. "Let's get out of here..."


"No..." I whispered, trying to pull away. Despite my efforts, they dragged me outside, using a fire exit and setting if an alarm. I struggled harder to pull away, but they dragged me to an apartment, three houses down from Daichiro's.

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro had been ready to observe miss Elena's gift when suddenly the alarms went off. He couldn't tell where the alarms originated, but something was definitely wrong. He closed his eyes and extended his power, catching a brief glimpse of despair from one mind in particular. It had to be someone who was in trouble, but he was too far away at this point. There'd be no way for him to catch them physically if the speed at which the one in despair was being moved was any indication of the intent of those causing the distress.


There was no option now. Whoever was in trouble was on their own. He could only hope that whoever it was had some method of protecting themselves. Meanwhile, Daichiro elected to guide miss Elena away as the alarms meant that there'd be an evacuation of the school now. If they weren't in their proper places, they'd get in a lot of trouble with the school and Daichiro didn't feel like going through that. No, he was going to grit his teeth and follow the drill, though what he wanted to do was help whomever it was who was in trouble.


Meanwhile, at Daichiro's apartment, his cousin Saeko had just finished pouring a cup of tea when she looked outside and saw miss Alexandria being dragged away. She dropped her tea, the cup shattering on the ground as she reached for her phone and texted Daichiro.


GET YOUR ASS HERE NOW!!!





Daichiro received the text not but a few seconds later, and didn't ask questions. He stole his way out of the school grounds and raced home as fast as he could, but there was not way he'd know if he'd make it in time to help Saeko with whatever she needed him for.

 

[HonestlySurviving]

Alexandria


I tried to make as much noise as possible, needing help, but the boys easily stopped me. A door was locked behind the boys, and I struggled, terrified. "Stop struggling!" I was ordered. "Hold her down!" I whimpered as my arms were roughly forced over my head. "We're going to have a lot of fun today. Hell, you'll probably enjoy even more than we will..." I could feel my side being caressed.


"Stop..." I begged, my voice weaker than usual. Laughs filled the air.


"Not a chance..." I got more and more panicked as the hand on my waist was joined by another, and my uniform started to be removed. I couldn't breathe or think at this point, my vision going fuzzy. Without meaning or wanting to, my power was pushed out towards everyone, filling their vision with only whiteness, including Daichiro and Saeko, as they were both now close enough to be affected. The boys started to get panicked as well. I could hear a dog's collar and claws pattering on hardwood floor, and could see the fuzzy form of a large dog going to the boy who seemed to be the leader. I cried out in pain as the man who had been holding my wrists grip tightened. "Are you doing this, freak?" I heard in my ear as I whimpered. I heard a crack and pain flooded through my mind.


I could feel my heart rate increasing to an extremely high level, and my vision got fuzzier. I started weakly coughing, the cold bracelet digging into my thin wrist. Red stained my lips from the coughing. Because I didn't mean to use my power, I had no idea how to stop it right now, and I felt extremely close to passing out. I distantly heard more shouts from the boys in the room, but I passed out before I could even understand what they were saying.

 

[Kyero]

Daichiro was in the street around a hundred yards from Saeko's apartment when he froze in place, his vision going white. He remained absolutely still, looking left and right but seeing nothing but a blank, white canvass of a world. He remembered this as being Alexandria's gift, having been shown such visions before. It was then that Daichiro realized that she must have been the one who was in trouble.


Daichiro took a few breaths to calm himself, the white world causing mild panic for him for a few seconds, and then once focused he knew what he had to do.


Daichiro began focusing all of his power, channeling it into a mental defense as he forced out Alexandria's own from his mind. She was gifted like he was, but his practice and mastery over what he could do exceeded her own by a fair margin, even in her moment of panic. Slowly, his world repainted itself as normal as he opened his eyes and used the retreating white canvass to trace a line back to where she was. All of the white converged on a single house a few doors down from Daichiro's apartment complex, and he knew that would be where he could find her. Daichiro reached the door, but rather than stop and pound on it he simply braced himself and ran straight through it. The door splintered at the hinges and fell inward, Daichiro falling on top of it before he forced himself to his feet and searched the house. When he found miss Alexandria and the disoriented hooligans messing with her, his blood boiled.


Daichiro's anger rose to new heights, and he regained control just in time to pick all of them up off the ground using telekinesis and throwing them into the walls. Once, twice, three time, Daichiro slammed them all into the wall numerous times before letting them fall like rag dolls, broken and battered with multiple dents and gashes in the walls where their bodies had hit. Daichiro took a moment to examine them, and though they all had several broken bones and one of them likely a concussion, they would live. Daichiro brought out his cell phone and dialed emergency services for an ambulance, but as he hung up he picked up miss Alexandria in his arms and carried her back to Saeko's apartment. Saeko opened the door for him and helped lay miss Alexandria on her bed as Saeko urged Daichiro to return to school. She promised to deal with the medical services and the police while he was away.


They both knew the drill, and they knew the story. He handed her his phone before leaving, and made his way back to school with Saeko sitting at Alexandria's bedside keeping an eye on her temperature and waiting for her to awaken.