Chapter 25 : The longest day of my life (Eponym)

 

The Thompsons’ house backyard, the Thompsons’ house, Forest Hill, Queens, New York, 25th of January, 18:37

 

As I step through the portal that Master Vodoo kindly set up for me so I could get home faster, I turn back to him as the endless chatter of the surrounding minds come back in force.

Goodbye, blessed silence, I’m going to miss you when I try to sleep tonight.

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“Thank you for the lift, Mr. Drumm.” I say with a genuine smile.

 

The conversation the Ancient One and I had after she accepted my proposal went back and forth for a while and she told him to bring me back when we saw the sky being quite dark outside. I thought she meant driving me back home, but magic is apparently the go to answer to many problems when you’re a sorcerer.

 

“Think nothing of it, and be careful where you hide that plate,” He says while pointing toward the sigil covered piece of steel in my hand, “We wouldn’t want anyone apart from your little band knowing about it.”

 

“Do not worry about it, I’m going to put it in the basement and hide it in a secured room as soon as I can.” I answer him with a nod.

 

“Very well.” Master Vodoo acquiesce, “Then, I will see you tomorrow, young Aria.”

 

“Until next time, Mr. Drumm.” I answer genially, not wanting to waste anymore of the New York master’s time.

 

With a final nod, he rapidly closes the portal, and I’m left alone in the backyard of ‘my’ house.

 

I sigh in relief as Iris blooms anew from my back to take back her favorite spot on my right shoulder.

 

“Happy being home ?” She asks with her stars and void filled voice.

 

“You have no idea, sister. I’m positively exhausted.” I answer back, eyes closed.

 

She pecks my cheek as one of her hands starts making little circular motions on the rightmost top half of my torso, above my heart, and I melt a little.

 

I don’t care if anyone finds us awkward to be around, having my personal love-provider and emotional-support being beats any shame I can potentially feel.

 

Feeling the gratitude and love flowing from my side of our mind-link, Iris subconsciously answers in kind while keeping her ministrations.

 

I absentmindedly take notice that Flashy, Jessie and Rosie are already at home. The two children hang out with each other in the living room while the latter keeps busy in the kitchen.

 

My eyes flutter open after a beat, Iris returning to her more classical silent and loving embrace, and I cross the last few steps toward the backdoor of the house, the same we crossed earlier Flashy and I, and politely knock on it.

 

I can feel Flashy’s mind perks up, and he is the one that comes to open us the door.

 

When he finally reaches the door and opens it, his face goes from welcoming to perplexed really quick.

 

“Why are you golden ? And why is Iris out in the open ?” He asks instantly in the guise of a welcome, brows furrowed and his head swiveling around to see if anybody’s looking our way.

 

“May I have the luxury to sit my exhausted ass before launching myself into a rather lengthy explanation or do you absolutely want to do that on the threshold ?” I ask him archingly, a teasing smile on my lips.

 

Flashy instantly rolls his eyes and steps aside to let me in.

 

As he closes the door behind me, I can feel my shoulders unwind just a little.

 

Yet I cannot relax totally because I’m probably going to be subjected to quite a few questions.

 

Jessie, whose head she had risen from her homework when she heard her brother talking earlier, perks up with delight filled eyes when they land on me.

 

“Aria !” She yells and starts to rise herself, before halting her motion, a conflicted expression showing on her face.

 

Iris and I chuckle lightly.

 

“Come here to say hello, munchkin.” I tell her with my caramel-like voice while opening my arms, the metallic plate disappearing into Iris’ pocket space.

 

Jessie’s mood instantly brightens as she flings herself at me after a scampering dash.

 

I lightly laugh as I hug her while Iris gently pats her head.

 

While Flashy complains on the side that he ‘never had a welcome this warm by his own sister, him’, I release my grip on the human-shaped ball of excitement and happiness a fraction.

 

“So, how was your day, munchkin ?” I ask her while booping her nose, which prompts her to try to swat the offending hand away with a mock-scowl.

 

“I told you to stop calling me like that, like, a thousand times !” Jessie whines, “And school was so boooorrrrrriiiinnnnggg ! I couldn’t wait for you to come back home ! I have so many questions left !”

 

I chuckle once more, feeling a lot of little warm feelings welling up in my belly.

 

“So precious…” Iris says with a soft smile toward the younger girl, her hand still patting her.

 

“And I’ll answer them, I promise.” I tell my new official sister, “But I’m going to start by answering those of your brother because he is going to be concerned.”

 

“Fine.” She answers while rolling her eyes and extricating herself from my hold.

 

Putting my hands on my hips and trying my best to channel a severe aura, an act seriously hindered by the huge grin I can already feel blossoming on my face and my symbiotic half cooing on my shoulder, I ask the serious question.

 

“But first, young lady, did you finish your homework ?” I demand achingly.

 

“She did.” Flashy interrupts in a monotone before Jessie can answer, “She barged in earlier, said something like ‘I can’t talk to you right now because if I don’t do my school stuff, Aria won’t answer my questions when she comes back’ to Mom and I, and worked until she finished five minutes ago.”

 

He sighs theatrically while Jessie is preening.

 

“Me, her own brother, not getting the time of day because Miss Shiny and her alien half hog all the attention.” He complains loudly to both of us.

 

Which promptly earns him three eye-rolls as a reward.

 

He snickers before shaking his head lightly.

 

“Come, sit.” Flashy says as he motions toward the couch, “Something to drink ?”

 

“Some juice, or a glass of water if we finished it.” I answer mechanically as I make my way in the living room, Jessie trailing behind.

 

I smooth the back of my skirt out of habit before sitting on the couch, Jessie instantly quite literally slamming herself to my right, eyes shining with excitement darting back and forth between Iris and me.

 

I chuckle lightly as I extend my arm to side-hug her, Iris mimicking the motion, and Jessie’s head suddenly lays on that particular spot between my right collarbone and my chest.

 

She mock-whines at being woman-handled like that, but her delight is betrayed by her sunny smile and expectant eyes.

 

“Fine,” I tell her, booping her nose anew while Iris starts fussing with her hair, “You got one question before Flashy comes back.”

 

Jessie’s eyes widen and she arches her back instantly while raising her head, her eyes looking for those of my blood-sister who is attempting to braid her straight blond locks.

 

“Traveling through space !” She blurts out when she finally finds the object of her attention, “How is it ? Did it take long ? Did you go through hyperspace like in the movies ?”

 

I laugh under my hand as Iris stops her ministrations and adopts a thinking pose.

 

“I wouldn’t really know.” Iris starts hesitantly, “I don’t remember much. It was like a long, never-ending dream to me. Except I wasn’t really dreaming either. I was in between dreaming and not dreaming. I wasn’t cold nor was I hot. I was in a safe space, hidden and comfortable, but something was missing, and I could feel that I needed something to be more.”

 

My blood-sister pauses, her hand doing little scratches on the younger girl’s scalp that Jessie subconsciously leans into.

 

“I had instincts, but no personality. I had knowledge, but no context. It stayed like that for a while, until I could feel my world start to shake and grow hotter around me. Then it stopped with a big boom that made me squish onto myself and vibrate all over and, suddenly, my world was bigger. And I tasted air for the first time.” Iris continues, her braiding restarting, “And I knew, I just knew, that if I suddenly stopped having it, I would cease to be.”

 

Jessie is mute, and so do I because it is the first time that she tells me of our meeting from her perspective and I’m growing emotional.

 

“So, I crawled, I slithered, I oozed through the tiny gap that had made my world bigger, following the draft of air that was coming in.” Iris carries on with her star-filled voice, “But it was hard, because everything around me was hot hot hot, and I couldn’t handle it very well. Then, something softer and colder than the suffocating, harming warmth of my world, reached out to me.”

 

Iris stops her motions, her upward slanted purple eyes turning toward mine and one of her hands reaching to palm my cheek.

 

And I do just the same, a soft smile blossoming on my lips.

 

“That’s when I met her. My host. My other half. My blood-sister.” She says and I feel joyful tears pearl at the corner of my eyes.

 

“She wasn’t afraid. She just stayed still and I knew that she knew that we were meant for one another. So, I left my world and entered hers, preparing myself to assimilate what she was so I knew what I would be.” Her ‘thumb’ is making little circling motions on my cheek as I’m too choked by emotion to say anything.

“But against all odds, against all of my ingrained instinct, amid the peaceful, loving and caring space of her ego, she was the one who reached me first. A simple ‘Hello, you’, and I knew that it wouldn’t be for a passing moment that she would be my world, but until one of us died.”

 

Jessie is watching the both of us, her tilted head and googly eyes darting from one another, face full of wonder, as I’m trying my best not to cry from happiness.

 

She has no idea, but I’m taking the full brunt of all of Iris’ emotions while she retells our meeting, and it is so intoxicating to feel loved this much.

 

“That was how traveling space was to me, but the landing remains my favorite part.” Iris concludes as she finally finishes braiding Jessie’s hair.

 

I’m vaguely conscient of Flashy and his mother’s presence on the threshold of the room when Iris ends her tale.

 

With a flourish of touch-TK, I take my newfound sister under her arms to put her in my lap as she yelps and squirms.

 

Pretending not to pay attention to her outrage, I hid my face in her hair to hide my tears and the huge grin that I’m sporting as Iris retakes her favorite perch to nuzzle and peck the crook of my neck.

 

I stay like that for a while, hugging Jessie and enjoying my blood-sister attention, feeling so alive for a moment that it almost hurts, [Love, care] flowing continuously through our mind-link.

 

Releasing a shuddering breath, I finally straighten up to apologize, still blinking unshed tears.

 

“Sorry Jessie, I think I needed that.” I admit shamelessly, still grinning.

 

She scampers promptly out of my grasp, scowling, to retake her previous position, which definitely tells me that she didn’t care at all.

 

While I was busy having a meltdown, Flashy took a seat on a nearby chair, a soft smile on his face. As for Rosie, she is still on the threshold of the living room, leaning lightly against the door, hands clasped in front of her.

 

Nobody says anything for a while as I finish to gather myself, Jessie’s face alternating look of wonder, puzzlement and curiosity.

 

“Are the two of you in love ?” She finally blurts out when I have finally dampened the last of my tears.

 

I laugh throatily as Iris chuckles good humoredly.

 

“It’s not like that.” I answer kindly, shaking my head lightly, my white curls doing their slow and hypnotizing ballet, “She is me and I am her, we are like the most codependent and fusional twins who ever existed.”

 

“I know how she feels and so does she,” Iris continues with a soft smile, her hug tightening a bit, “When we touch, pamper or hug each other, it’s a bit like doing it to yourself.”

 

“It’s weird, I know, I got sassed about it by the most powerful sorceress on earth about it.” I end up lightly with a theatrical roll of my eyes.

 

“Wait,” Flashy interrupts, eyes widening, “Did you just say sorcerer ?”

 

“Oh, you have no idea how my day went, it wasn’t even the most shocking event.” I drawl annoyingly, a hand raising toward my temple automatically.

 

“Please, do tell.” Flashy answers, brushing an imaginary handle-bar mustache.

 

I snort, shaking my head while smiling.

 

“Well, for starters, I went to the DMC to craft myself some IDs, so congrats to me, I officially exist !” I start while mock-clapping and am rewarded by three smiles.

 

“Then I had to meet Gwennie, since the whole reason I rushed as much as I could was because she got bitten by a radioactive spider yesterday and woke up juiced up on totemic arthropodic magic. Before you ask, yes, she can stick to walls, no, she can’t do it reliably, yet.” I continue as the two of the three smiles instantly freeze and Flashy starts to focus.

 

“When I saw it happen yesterday, I tried to make it so she remained calm until we met this morning. I found her pacing like a trapped lion in a zoo in front of the school’s gate, and, because I’m way stupider than my brain should allow me, I nearly scared her to death.” I continue to rant as Iris makes little ‘there, there’ pats on my shoulder.

 

“You see, I was broadcasting an aura that made me look like Flashy because I thought it would be a better idea to first ease her into her new situation with a familiar face. It went all kind of wrong because the poor thing can sense danger now, so I had to drop on her the ‘surprise, I have boobs and I’m gorgeous’ bomb while explaining to her what happened.”

 

Flashy winces, since he is the only one knowing that Gwendolyn was into ‘him’.

 

It is his hand’s turn to raise toward his temple.

 

“How did she take it ?” He asks under his breath, eyes closed, probably picturing himself having to endure the consequences of the situation.

 

“Surprisingly well, since even after I explained how old I was and that the boobies were definitely staying, she sort of swore to herself that she would make me fall for her.” I deadpan as Iris chuckles, prompting me to direct to her an annoyed glare.

 

Rosie looks kind of conflicted at that while Jessie’s confusion is written all over her face.

 

“But you’re both girls ?” She ponders aloud, interrupting my tale.

 

I look at her kindly, a soft smile on my face.

 

“Yes, sweetheart, but that’s not really the problem here.” I tell her gently.

 

Her confusion did not really get whisked away by my statement, but she chose to wordlessly nod nonetheless.

 

“When you say how old…” Starts Rosie, a little bit uneasy.

 

I look at her, a mix of seriousness and sadness in my eyes.

 

“Old enough we could have been sister, Rosie.” I answer, “My previous life was cut short at forty-two, an incurable illness.”

 

I immediately turn my attention back to Jessie to wink at her, the picture of peppiness.

 

“Which won’t happen again because I can heal from anything now !” I continue with as much cheer as I can before my heart clench itself too hard, “Anyway, that is at that moment that I remembered that Gwennie wasn’t the only one who got bitten yesterday, so I had to play hooky to find another girl, Cindy Moon, because she wasn’t in school.”

 

My expression darkens as the assembly once more listens with rapt attention.

 

“She had been captured by a mercenary team en route toward Oscorp when I found her, drugged to the gills, in an armored van. Her mother had panicked this morning when she lost control and webbed both of her parents during breakfast and immediately called for assistance there. I had to erase all traces of her passage from the minds and electronics of the New York HQ to make sure it would not happen again.” I carry on.

 

“I kind of figured it was your doing, the news call it an ‘ambitious and unprecedented industrial spying attack’.” Flashy drawls with a smirk.

 

I groan, face hidden behind my hands as Rosie blanches.

 

“Why did you expect me to do ? Let them experiment blindly on a scared and lost teenager when I knew exactly what the fuck was going on with her ?” I rant, my hands still slowly massaging my closed eyes.

 

“As far as I’m concerned, you did good. Those morons are, were, specialized in weapon research.” Flashy answers with a one-shoulder shrug.

 

“Exactly !” I exclaim, “I passed out because handling that many minds at the same time with little to no training and with my telepathy still not stabilized was a fool’s gamble. Iris had to extract me and she was the first to meet Cindy, which obviously went as well as you’d imagine.”

 

“I don’t really like her.” Iris mutters with a pout in the crook of my neck, which prompts Jessie, who is a little googly eyed because of my ridiculous adventures, to pat her on the head like she did to her prior.

 

“You gave her a very nice lap pillow and she reacted badly.” I gently coo at my symbiotic half, my hand automatically rushing to do the scratches she likes on her scalp, “I’m sure you’ll get around it in the future, she’s a bit of an airhead but she seems nice.”

 

“We’ll see. But next time she stays on the ground.” Iris grumbles and I chuckle.

 

“So, after that I had to fly the both of us back to school, and I entered myself in the network to give me back my hard-earned grade and create some for Flashy.” The one in question perks up slightly at that until I scowl in his direction, “Samesies grades as before, you’ll have to work better from now on. And no cheating because I’ll know about it !”

 

Flashy crosses his arms with a scowl.

 

“Relax, you’re free to improve your brain as much as you like, it’s going to be a breeze.” I tell him and the grip on his biceps lighten, scowl still firmly in place.

 

“Then it was lunch, and I had to do your commission.” He perks up again, eyes widening slightly, “She’s ‘thinking about it’, which means that she’ll come, don’t press it, ok ?”

 

Flashy wordlessly nods, relief visible on his features.

 

Oh, youthful infatuation, so cute !

 

“Then I introduced Cindy, Gwen and I to Jessica Jones, and we managed to get her on board after a bit of a back and forth.” I retale, “And just after that, I got approached by a shapeshifter who wanted to settle an appointment with the Sorcerer Supreme of earth, who happens to be a sorceress.”

 

“For what reasons ?” Asks a perplexed Flashy.

 

“Because I’m sort of a magical problem and she deals with those.” I explain with a shrug, “I went to see her after school and came back through a portal in our backyard. We came to an agreement : she’ll provide us some help in exchange for intelligence in the mundane world and future dealings.”

 

I calmly sweep under the rug that those dealings may involve us fighting deadly people in front of Rosie and Jessie.

 

“But that means that we have somewhere to train safely !” I exclaim, eyes shining with excitement, “We can go there with the girls tomorrow when they skip by the house !”

 

“Fine with me.” Flashy lighty answers with a shrug, his mind still turned toward Liz’.

 

“Excuse me, Aria,” Rosie starts hesitantly, still not totally over the ‘industrial spying attack’ bit, “But what training ?”

 

I turn my attention back to her while Jessie is still struck in amazement.

 

“We all need some measure of training in our supernatural skills to be able to conceal them while in society.” I explain, “Gwen and Cindy think too fast, like way too fast and have supernatural reflexes, Jessica shatters things when you push her too far by just clenching her hand too much, Flashy needs to learn to control his strength too and I have to find a way to tune out the minds around me or I’m going to go barmy because it is a bit maddening. And, honestly, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Better control equals better safety.”

 

“I have the impression that I’m walking on eggshells every motions I make,” Flashy adds, “It took me two minutes to fill up a glass of juice she still hasn’t drunk.” He ends while throwing me a stink-eye.

 

I chuckle lightly while taking the glass in appreciation because I’m parched.

 

Rosie wordlessly nods at that, apparently tentatively convinced.

 

“Wow,” Mutters Jessie, “You certainly had a day.”

 

“The longest day of my life, by far,” I mock-whine, “and I’m up since way too early.”

 

Iris stops her nuzzling to lightly peck my cheeks a few times and I relax a bit as feelings of [Love] flows anew on our mind-link.

 

The sound of keys unlocking the door makes the three of us turn our attention toward the entrance hall.

 

Harrison steps in promptly after, the door shutting behind him soundly as he shrugs his uniform’s jacket. Seeing all of us gathered in the living room, he asks with a smile.

 

“Good evening, what did I miss ?”

 

I groan audibly while Jessie and Flashy snickers, Rosie’s face contorted into an uneasy smile, to Harrison’s growing confusion.

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