Chapter 188: 183. A Meal Makes Everything Better

I quietly stared at the small girl, resting under the warm covers of the heated Motel room. I slowly closed the door behind me, and checked the closed curtains to see if there were gaps. With a sigh I placed my back against the door, and slowly let my legs give out on me. ‘Oh… What did I do? I totally screwed with the timelines! Ok, ok, calm down… Just… Think of the solution.’ I placed both my hands over my masked face while thinking of the world collapsing around me.
I sighed, wondering what the other me was thinking. ‘Oh please tell me how I’m supposed to deal with this.’ It was then that the rustling of covers caught my attention. I snapped my head up to see the poor girl tossing in her sleep, groaning at the nightmare she was having. Looking at her in pain, I immediately understood why my other self took her before it was time. Watching a small girl begging for help to be freed from the hell she was in, was hell in and of itself. 
I slowly made my way over to her side, and crouched beside her while she still tossed in her sleep. “Stop… No… Please…” She mumbled under her breath, breaking my heart just watching her pain unfold. I unsteadily took her hand, and gripped it as reassuringly as I could. When I did, her eyes immediately popped open. She gasped for air, and quickly sat up, panting while she clutched her chest. “It’s ok… It’s ok… It was just a dream.” I spoke calmly while positioning myself in front of her so she could see me, taking off my mask to distinguish my face.
The moment she did, she instantly hugged me. Her bandaged arms shivering from the panic attack she was having. She gripped onto the jacket I was wearing like it was her only lifeline, maybe it was… She quietly sobbed while muttering pleading expressions, begging me not to leave her. I gulped the lump in my throat back down, and slowly wrapped my arms around her. “You’ll never be hurt again… I promise.” I bit my lip, wondering if it was a promise I really could keep. 
After some time, Eri finally calmed down enough to be consolable. I took some tissues they had on the bed stand and gave them to her. She meekly took them, and blew her nose. “Thank you…” She whimpered before continuing to dry her face from all the tears and snot she accumulated. I just sat silently, not wanting to say much that could set off more trauma. I had to imagine my other self felt the same way, while being slightly distant, it was the best way to stop resurfacing anything.
Eri, after some time in silence, suddenly growled. Or to be more accurate, her stomach did. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” She started to chant, seemingly afraid that her body, asking for food was punishable. I gave a small comforting laugh while gently patting the young girl’s head, making sure to avoid her horn. She froze under the weight of my hand, but my next question took her by surprise. “Do you have a favorite food?” She looked far into the distance, blinked a few times, but soon turned sad and shook her head.
It killed part of me to see this small child, not running and playing with a smile, but abused and beaten without so much as food for an escape. I removed my hand from her head and bent down to lower my face to match where her gaze was. “Then we just have to find it ourselves.” Eri’s eyes widened in surprise, the smallest bit of compassion and love feeling alien to her. “Kids like sweets right?” I asked while standing from the bed.
This mid range Motel had nothing to truly make food. A small fridge, no stove, it didn’t even have metal utensils. However there was something I recognized. An old hotplate, singed in the couple of spots, reminding me of the one I lost control of my voltage for my first few attempts at using my quirk. I placed my hand over the worn metal coil, reminiscing over when I first came here. I had come a long way, and gotten over so many things with the help of the girls. Denki and I would have been long since broken without that tether. Perhaps like the small child behind me.

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On that sour note, I glanced inside the small fridge, seeing a bunch of fruits the other me bought before coming here. “Alright.” I muttered, thinking of how to turn snacks into a heart-warming meal. I glanced back at Eri, still sitting as steadily as she could, refusing to move an inch while staring at me. Her years of training, telling her not to move without consent of her captors. I bit my lip wondering if I was doing her a disservice, wondering if another month of hell to be correctly saved would have been better than my shrewd attempt at helping.
I pushed those thoughts back down, figuring it was better to show her the simple happiness of cooking like my father taught me. I brought over my bundle of ingredients, placing them on the ground in front of her while sitting cross legged behind them. “Can you help me?” I asked, tilting my head and sounding as non-threatening as I could. Eri silently nodded, her body shivering as she sat at attention. “Well, first…” I started, taking a stand and moving beside her. She snapped her eyes shut, and tensed her body, waiting for what I would force her to do.
I silently wrapped the comforter around her, the suddenness of my action causing her to jump, but ease up as she looked at me through the corner of her eye. “I can’t have my little helper be cold now can I?” I asked, creasing the comforter so that it wouldn’t easily drift off her shoulders. I nodded at her body’s shaking slowly subside before sitting back down. “Now I just need you to watch, and ask as many questions as you can.” I said as I got started dumping the sugar I had already measured into my pot already filled with water. Eri was silent, her mind still confused over what I was talking about or doing, and too shy to say a word.
I decided to get the ball rolling myself by explaining what I was doing. I placed the prongs the hotplate was connected to in one hand, and slowly sent power to the plate. It started warming up as I constantly stirred the sugar mixture. “Now, the trick for this sweet is being patient. I’m going to get this warmer and warmer, to boil off the water from the sugar.” Eri kept staring at what I was doing, I noticed her body language slowly releasing her natural guard she always had up. It had gone away when she needed help from her nightmare, but it had been built back up despite her not even noticing.
After a few minutes I saw steam rise up from the mixture, and the color slowly changed. “Here, watch the color change.” I told her a bit excitedly, the feeling of cooking something always bringing out a small bit of energy in me. Eri nodded as she stared in the pot, the color of the liquid changing to a light brown before our eyes. “Now, I’m going to add some milk. Normally it would be cream, but this will still work.” “Why… would you need cream?” She asked, a bit rushed by the end still clammed up about speaking.
However that little bit helped push me further, hoping this was helping in some sort of way for her. “Well cream helps make this… richer?” I tried to explain, but it was like telling someone what salt tastes like. “Makes it more… thicker? Yea, thicker.” I finished with a nod, almost trying to convince myself that I was using the right answer. I stared back down at the pot, but I heard a small outburst of air rush from Eri. I looked up to see her deep and sad frown, a little less so. 
I smiled a bit, before getting back to work in showing her what I was doing. “Now that I added this, I’ll need to let it simmer for a while longer, until the color ends up darker.” “What does simmer mean?” Eri asked after a little silence. “Well… It’s like boiling but slower.” I answered back, and from the questions she was asking, I felt I could try and push her a bit more. “Can I ask you to keep stirring this just like I am?” I asked while showing the slow motions I was making with the large wooden spoon. 
Eri looked at the spoon, and nervously abided, grabbing it, slowly moving it in a circle. I nodded at her, before slipping the cord in my mouth to keep charging the hotplate while still using both my hands. Just as I was getting that ready, I heard a knock at the door.

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