Chimera

Chapter Four

The next six years seemed to go by in a blink, and for the most part, Eddie’s life was happy and blissful. She was doing well in school, received a music scholarship for college, and her relationship with Dustin had blossomed beyond her imagination. Part of this, she was sure, was because of the weekly exercises they performed to help Dustin control his powers better. The flip side of that coin was the sum of Eddie’s disappointments: Victor Kurt.

Eddie had expressed a mixed reaction of shock and hurt feelings when she learned that instead of working out his differences with Dustin, Victor had angrily swatted the other boy’s hand away and left the dance altogether. This had effectively ended his and Eddie’s fourteen-year-long friendship, though Dustin had tried to convince her to give Victor another chance. He had expressed great remorse, blaming himself for the rift that had formed between the long-time friends, but Eddie stood firm. She reminded Dustin that Victor chose to walk away. Nobody forced him, and she was not going to sacrifice her happiness for his insecurities.

“A true friend,” she had explained, “would have been supportive and tried to get along with you even if his only motivation was to ‘protect’ me. At least that way, if he had been right about you, he could have been there for me. Instead, he decided his jealousy was more important than our friendship. He even proved that by not responding to my texts. His choice, Dustin; not your fault.”

That had been the end of that. Dustin had accepted it, and neither of them interacted with Victor afterward. In fact, Victor did not return to school following the Homecoming Dance, sending Eddie one last text message informing her that his family was moving out of state and to not bother calling or texting again. He said that if their friendship was over, then it was over, and there was no point talking about it anymore. This crushed Eddie, her hurt in turn angering Dustin at Victor’s selfish behavior so much that he had to restrain himself from speaking ill about the younger boy around his girlfriend. Instead, he did his best to comfort her, telling her that he was certain Victor was just venting and would come around once he realized he made a mistake. He succeeded in lifting her spirits, but internally, she did not hold such optimism.

Life went on as usual, and Eddie continued to excel in her studies while still making time for fun. However, she slowly began to distance herself from other friends as it became apparent that they were always trying to get her to talk about what happened between her and Victor. The old wounds kept reopening with each outing to the point that she stopped accepting invites to hang out and ended any text conversations that rerouted to the topic of Victor. Both she and Victor had accepted that they weren’t friends anymore, why couldn’t they? It became so toxic to her life that she went from declining invites to outright blocking texts and calls just for the sake of peace. Once again, Dustin tried to convince her to reconsider, but soon accepted and supported her decision after seeing several of the messages himself. Many of these pointed fingers at Dustin for ruining when Victor and Eddie had. Neither of them needed that kind of negativity in their lives.

This also granted Eddie a lot more free-time outside of school hours, which she mostly spent with Dustin. Every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon, the two would go to Eddie’s house to train. Her parents still refused to believe she was meta, so she did not bother to tell them her boyfriend was, too. Because of this, they opted to do their training in her father’s workshop in the backyard. The man was an aeronautical engineer by trade, and his off-duty hobbies reflected that with scale-model planes and spacecraft he built with functioning engines and remote-control capabilities. There were a lot of accidents waiting to happen in there. However, they did not immediately jump into the heavy work. Their first exercise consisted of something very simple and more or less innocent: ice-cream-induced headaches.

Eddie had explained that the best way to trigger the “brain freeze” was for Dustin to press the frozen confection against the roof of his mouth each time he took a bite. They both regretted this plan rather quickly.

After several bites of an ice cream sandwich, Dustin began crying out in pain, his voice getting progressively louder as he pressed his hand against his forehead. Eddie attempted to calm him while failing to hold in her laughter and encourage him to grab her hand. Dustin then reached blindly for Eddie’s outstretched hand and locked his fingers with hers as she braced herself for the inevitable pain. Nothing happened. For a moment, Eddie thought that maybe Dustin could only transfer physical injuries, not necessarily share pain. Then, it hit her, and it was way worse than she had been prepared for. It felt as though she had been impaled through the brain with a sharpened icicle. The two of them fell to the ground, too in shock to release their hold on one another until the pain finally subsided.

“That,” Dustin had wheezed, “was our…worst plan…ever.”

“Don’t,” Eddie chuckled, equally breathless, “don’t sell us…so short. It was…our only plan…so far. I’m sure we’ll…come up…with much worse.”

They shared a weak laugh over that before deciding any head injury, severe or mild, should be avoided as much as possible. They would not be completely inescapable, but they would be sure to not actively seek them out on purpose. Eddie would, however, secretly enlist her kid-brother Trenton to set up minor traps around the yard and workshop from time to time so they would not see it coming and back down.

These exercises continued until Dustin graduated high school one year ahead of Eddie and entered college. He would still come down and visit on the weekends, but it was never long enough to maintain the routines. Even so, Dustin seemed to have more or less gotten the emotional aspect of his power under control, so Eddie was not worried about any potential accidents.

Eddie graduated in the top five of her class. She had tried for Salutatorian, but it was difficult competing with students whose electoral classes did not include band and study hall. She was still proud of how close she got and could not complain when she got her scholarship and acceptance into Valencia College’s Arts and Entertainment Program. It would be a new place for her, and that meant new people. Because of this, Eddie felt more comfortable opening up to meeting and making new friends. Well, that and because the first person she officially met did not exactly give her much of a choice.

* * *

The typical September morning started like every other typical morning for the past three years. Eddie’s alarm went off at five-thirty in the morning. She snoozed it. It went off again nine minutes later, and she snoozed again. This happened three more times before she was forced to get out of bed at the sound of banging on her door. Like clockwork, Eddie thought as she lazily rolled out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans and white tank top before walking to her door. As se expected, Leyna was there waiting for her. What she did not expect was the Dane pushing her way past Eddie and slumping onto the small couch in the living area of the room.

“Please, won’t you come in?” Eddie said sarcastically, “Make yourself at home.”

Leyna Oscar was a young woman on a student visa from Denmark and enrolled in Valencia’s Criminal Justice Program. As far as Eddie knew, they did not share any classes, but they did reside in the same dormitory. Sometime in their first semester of Freshman Year, Eddie and Leyna had shared an early morning elevator ride during which the young Dane deemed it necessary to strike up a conversation about the Gibson Les Paul strapped to Eddie’s back. Eddie politely and patiently chatted with Leyna, and when the elevator let them off, they went their separate ways. Eddie assumed that was the end of it, but she was sorely mistaken as Leyna found her during lunch hour and again when they returned to the dorm building.

After several weeks of Leyna’s persistence, Eddie eventually accepted her new shadow, and the two became close friends throughout their time at university. Leyna became Eddie’s daily wake-up call, even on days when she did not have any classes. Any deviation in this pattern, inevitable as change was, would be heavily scrutinized by anyone who was privy to the routine. This proved a real fiasco when Eddie and Leyna were on the outs halfway through their sophomore year. Leyna had opened up to Eddie about liking girls and confessed a crush on her. Eddie was flattered, but told Leyna she could not return her affections as she preferred guys and was already in a committed relationship. Leyna had been mortified and did everything in her power to avoid Eddie for several weeks before Eddie forced the Dane to sit and talk about the situation and reconcile as friends. Now, in their senior year, it was near impossible to see one without the other.

Eddie came back to the present as Leyna’s voice reached her ears.

“Sorry, Eddie,” she apologized, “I know you don’t have any classes today—”

“That has literally never stopped you, ever,” Eddie mumbled as she prepared some coffee.

If Leyna had heard the remark, she made no indication and continued as though Eddie had said nothing. “—but I just heard the news and needed to vent about it and see how you were holding up.”

Eddie c****d an eyebrow as she handed her friend a cup of coffee and sat down. “Well,” she sighed, “seeing as I’m just waking up, you can assume that I have no idea what you’re talking about and therefore am holding up pretty well despite wanting to go back to bed. What’s got you all twisted?”

Leyna looked at Eddie incredulously. Eddie just gave her an “I’m waiting” look and gestured for her to continue.

“Okay…” Leyna sighed heavily, “They officially codified the MAARS Initiative into Law this morning.”

She looked up at Eddie expectantly, but when no response or reaction were given, she repeated herself a little louder.

“Yeah, I heard you,” Eddie acknowledged, casually sipping her coffee, “So what?”

Leyna blinked in confusion. “Aren’t you meta?” she asked cautiously.

“Mhmm,” Eddie confirmed, “and I’ve been registered since I was fifteen—”

“You registered?!” the Dane shouted, making Eddie jump.

“Y-yeah…it’s not that big of a deal, Lane. All I can do is regenerate my own injuries. I figured it was best it be known I can’t use my ability to harm anyone, and I’d be useless in a combat role.”

Leyna’s jaw hung open. She was beyond flabbergasted by this information. She set her coffee down, stood up, paced around, picked up the coffee, did not drink any before setting it down again, and went back to pacing. Eddie just waited patiently for her friend to process all her emotions. Finally, Leyna took a deep breath and sat back down.

“Okay,” she said, more with her hands than her voice, “first of all, that entire sentence was completely incorrect. It is a big deal, it’s no one’s business what you are or what you can doo—least of all, the government’s—and seriously? Someone that can regenerate indefinitely would make a perfect soldier! Are you stupid?”

“Wow, rude,” Eddie chuckled, not sounding the least bit offended, “Listen, Lane, I get that you feel some kind of way about this, but MAARS only affects Americans. You’re going back to Denmark after school, right? Why are you upset about this?”

“A couple of reasons! One, because I’m not going back to Denmark…that was never my plan. I’m working to get my Green Card and eventually becoming a citizen. That’s why I’m studying American criminal justice and forensic science. That’s kind of useless back home. Two, MAARS is a beta test law. The UN is actually observing its effectiveness in monitoring a country’s metahuman population, and if it goes ‘well,’ for the lack of a better term, they will try to globalize it.”

“I personally don’t see a problem with that.”

“How can you not see an issue?” Leyna was on her feet once more, gesturing wildly with her arms, “This is an invasion of privacy! It would be like if they made a law that bans all s*x positions except missionary…how do you think they’d monitor that?”

“I believe that’s what the ‘cool kids’ call a false equivalency,” Eddie chuckled, “Look, it’s done; I couldn’t take it back even if I wanted to, so let’s talk about something else, yeah? You getting worked up over this stresses me out. C’mon…sit…drink your coffee…chat like a normal person? Hmm?”

Leyna gave Eddie an annoyed look before sighing and falling into the seat. “Fine,” she huffed, “what would you like to talk about?”

“Have you talked to the coffee girl yet?” Eddie grinned teasingly, then grimaced when Leyna’s frown deepened, “Well, s**t…right out the front gate.”

Leyna waved her hand dismissively as she sipped her coffee. “Not your fault,” she said, “She was flattered, but it turns out she—Kiki—already has a girlfriend, so…yeah.”

“Sorry, hun,” Eddie sympathized.

“It’s alright. She was cool about it.”

The room fell into an awkward silence. Eddie swirled her coffee a bit while Leyna just stared blankly into hers. Several minutes passed before Eddie cleared her throat to end the stillness.

“So,” she began, “we’re going to change up our schedule a little…”

“Great,” Leyna mumbled, “more bad news.”

“It’s just the lunch hour, Lane. Nothing drastic…”

“Mhmm.”

Leyna had clearly checked out at that point, and Eddie knew it had nothing to do with Kiki the Coffee Girl. No, her mind was obviously still on the MAARS legislature. It had gotten to her in such a way Eddie had never seen before, and it seemed to have been compounded by Eddie’s admission. Usually, Leyna brushed such trivial s**t off her shoulder, never letting anything faze her so strongly. Eddie felt bad about it, but nothing could be done about it now. She chose to move past it and continue her line of thought.

“Anyway…my boyfriend graduated FSU back in May, and he wants to spend some of his newfound free time with me. We both agreed the lunch hour was the best time as it’s the longest free period and the least intrusive to my schedule. Going to start having lunch with him beginning Monday and probably visit on a couple days when I don’t have any classes. We can work out the full details later. Sound cool?”

Leyna made a show of checking her phone before standing up, her coffee still untouched. “I have a class to get to,” she said absently, “I’ll catch up with you later, Eds.”

“Lane…” Eddie protested as her friend headed for the door, “C’mon, don’t be like that. Lane? Lay-nah!”

But Leyna was already out the door and slamming it behind her. Eddie stopped short of getting smacked in the nose. She sighed, took Leyna’s untouched coffee, and downed it herself, forgetting the Dane liked her coffee so black she could be sued by Anish Kapoor’s estate. She grimaced, spit it back in the cup, then poured it into the sink before cleaning up the rest of the room. She could not do anything about Leyna until the other woman processed everything and chose to talk it out, so, Eddie decided to put that on the back burner and prep her dorm room for Dustin’s first visit. She still had a few days before their scheduled date, but Eddie knew if she did not clean up now, the hurricane disaster that was essentially her home would only get worse. She had nothing better to do today anyway.

As she worked, Eddie thought about what she and Dustin would do, seeing each other for the first time since he graduated FSU. Hell, they had barely seen each other at all since he got out of high school, much less since they both entered college. She knew what she wanted to do, but she was not certain it would ever be physically possible after their first attempt.

Despite having been together coming up on six years, Dustin had never tried to pressure Eddie into bed. On the one hand, she appreciated his restraint. On the other hand, she began to question the seriousness of their relationship. They had entered their twenties without ever once discussing the potential for s*x. Eddie was not looking to fully settle down or entrap Dustin with the old ball and chain, but she had hoped the two of them would become more intimate in their adulthood. She had been willing, but he always seemed so hesitant. It was during one of his rare visits about two years ago that she understood why.

Dustin had surprised her on their fifth anniversary, took her out on a date that lasted all afternoon and into the late evening. He had booked a hotel in town for the two of them, and as they enjoyed each other’s company, they were overtaken with an overwhelming sense of lust. The hunger and desire were so intense that Eddie did not notice the danger until it was almost too late. It was imperceptible at first; for the first several minutes that their bare skin was in contact with one another, it was bliss. Then there was the familiar tingling sensation Eddie had felt at their first kiss, but it was amplified from Dustin’s rising adrenaline. Eddie’s breathing became labored to the point of asphyxiation as Dustin involuntarily siphoned her very life from her. He had lost control of his power in the moment, and it was literally killing her. Her own regeneration seemed useless against the unintentional attack. It took every ounce of strength she had to push him off of her before he even realized what he had been doing.

They had not tried again since then. Dustin had been terrified to even kiss her on the cheek for fear of losing control again. Eddie was, too, but she was more hurt by the possibility that intimacy may not ever be possible for them. In fact, she hated the prospect. She also understood Dustin’s fear, but his consideration for her wellbeing just made her want him more, her health be damned.

She shook herself back to the here-and-now and continued cleaning. She barely made it ten minutes before there was a knock at her door.

“Well, that was quick, Lane,” she muttered under her breath as she pulled the door open.

But it was not Leyna on the other side.

There, standing across her threshold, was a tall, slender, well-toned man with a loose, red-orange mohawk curtaining the right half of his face. His smile made her heart leap, and she nearly melted at the sound of his voice.

“I’ve missed you, Edeline,” Dustin said, “Does your heart still beat for me?”