Mercy

This is fan fiction of the Whateley Academy universe. I hope you like it.

No one noticed the smaller boy with the thick glasses as he navigated the hallways of his high school.

Which was exactly how he wanted it.

Being invisible beat the alternative.

His name was Matthew Marshall, and he had dealt with enough pain already, so he had no desire to add to it by getting attention.

His first encounter with grief had been five years ago, when his mother died. The second encounter came when he realized that his father had killed her ...

He fought back tears and tried to focus on getting to the next class.

But he couldn't stop remembering what happened next. Objects in his room began to move on their own, and he suddenly could feel the thoughts and feelings of others.

He eventually realized he was a mutant, but managed to hide that fact from his caregivers at the orphanage where he had been sent after his father's arrest.

For a while, he wanted to use his powers to hurt those who had hurt him, to strike back at the world for all the pain he had suffered.

But every time he got close to doing that, he felt like he could hear his mother telling him to refrain.

To show mercy instead of vengeance.

So now he mostly just used his ability to be unnoticed.

That was getting harder, because he had recently began to feel ... strange.

Pain in his hips, itching on his chest, and worse, a feeling in his stomach like someone was rearranging his internal organs.

“You need to go see the nurse” his mother's voice told him.

He resisted that, fearing the response he might receive.

But today the pain was getting too much.

Sweating, he fought to keep upright long enough to make it to the nurse's office before passing out ...

When he awoke, he found himself in a hospital bed, with a woman standing near him. When she saw him open his eyes, she said, “Welcome back to the land of the living, dear.”

“What ... what happened to me?” he managed.

“You nearly had a burnout. It sometimes happens to a mutant when they are adjusting to their powers.”

“Then ... you know what I am? What I can do?”

“Not all of it. We did some tests, but there are some that are better done when the subject is awake.”

“Are you gonna ... experiment on me?”

“No, dear. With your permission, we will help you learn what you can do, so you can control it. What you do after that will be your choice.”

“Who ... are you?”

“You can call me Lady Astarte, or Mrs. Carson. I run a school that helps young mutants learn how to control their abilities. And I would like you to come there.”

The woman sighed, and then added, “But before you do that, you ... need to see what you look like now. You've ... changed. “

“Do it, hon.”

“Mom?”

“Sort of, hon. you made a copy of my mind with your abilities. But the important thing is I am here, and I will help you. But you need to see what has changed.”

He shakingly stood, and looked in the mirror that the woman had brought with her.

The girl in the mirror was definitely cute. Not staggeringly beautiful, but very cute. An image came into his mind, of his mother as a teen.

“Yes, dear. You look a lot like I did at your age.”

The only really odd thing (other than the fact she was his reflection) was she had wings. They did not appear to be made of feathers, but of energy.

Fortunately, Mrs. Carson was fast enough that he didnt hit the ground when he collapsed ...

The beginning (I hope ...)

Mercy Chapter 2

Matthew sipped at the water the nurse had brought her, blushing as she did so.

“I can't believe I fainted.”

“Well, you had a big enough shock.”

A nurse came into the room at that moment, and began to check Mathew for her vital signs.

Once the nurse was done, a doctor came in, and said, “It looks like you are good to go, from a physical standpoint. But I want you to be careful for the next few weeks at least, and come in if you have any troubles. I am also concerned about your ability to handle the change you just went through. You are going to need to talk to someone, to help you ... adjust.”

Mrs. Carson said, “I will arrange that when we get to Whately. But for now, I would like to introduce you to my assistant, Talia Allan.”

She waved at the door, and in came a young woman dressed like a secretary, with a business skirt, blouse, and jacket in a light grey color.

She was holding a bag of popcorn, and held it out to Matthew.

“Want some? It's fresh from downstairs.”

Matthew shrugged, and took a handful.

Mrs. Carson said, “Talia, I have to go back to the school. Will you help our new student get some clothes and something to eat before she has to go for powers training.”

“My pleasure. Umm ... what do I call you?”

“I ... my name is Matthew.”

“You might wanna consider changing that, now that you are a girl. But for now, how about I call you Mattie.”

“I ... okay, I guess.”

“Well, Mattie. I brought with me a few things, just so you can go to the caf without having to do so in your hospital gown. You wanna try them on?”

Matthew blushed as she realized how much of her was exposed in the hospital gown.

“Not ... not girly stuff, I hope.”

“No way. You just changed, you need time to adjust before you try dresses and stuff. Here. I got a pair of jogging pants, a sweat top, and the most non frilly undies I could find. Your top presents a bit of a problem, though ...”

“Why is that?”

“Your wings. I brought some things, but it would help to know how much your wings fold up.”

Matthew concentrated, and her wings vanished.

“Whoa, cool! They ... turned into a tattoo on your back!”

“I ... just wanted them out of the way. I guess that means they aren't energy, like I thought.”

“I would guess they are magic. But they will find out when they test you.”

“I am kinda scared of being tested.”

“Don't blame you. But its needed, and it's not that bad.”

“I guess ...”

“Come on. Get dressed. You need some real food, and for a hospital, this place has a pretty good cafeteria.”

Talia handed Matthew the clothes, and then left the room. Matthew struggled into the underwear, then the jeans and the socks. He then looked at the bra.

“It won't bite you, dear.” He heard his mom in his head say.

“Do I have to wear one?”

“Trust me, dear. Its for the best.”

Matthew sighed, and then struggled into the bra. Once it was in place she slipped the sweattop on, pushed her feet into the shoes, and went to the door.

Talia was waiting for her, and took her by the arm down to the elevator, and down to the cafeteria.

Once they both had ordered and sat down, Talia began talking. Very soon, Matthew was talking too, and within a few minutes she felt like she and Talia had been friends forever.

Then as Talia was telling her a funny story about a fairy girl who caused all kinds of trouble at the school, Matthew giggled.

“Nice Giggle.” Talia said.

“I didn't ... I did, didn't I?”

Talia nodded.

“But ... boys don't giggle!”

“And you are a girl, now, so you are allowed.”

“But I have only been a girl for less than a day, I shouldn't be girly, should I?”

Talia shrugged. “Maybe your change changed your brain to be more feminine as it changed your body. Or maybe you always had a bit of a girl in you, waiting to come out.”

Matthew*s mother said “She might have a point, hon. You ... were not the most manly of boys. I caught you in my makeup or clothes more than once when you were little.”

“I ... don't remember that. I really did that?”

“Yes, dear. you really did.”

“Hey, you okay?” Talia asked.

“I was ... talking to my mom, in my head. She was saying I dressed up in her clothes as a little kid.”

“You have your mom in your head? Like an spirit?”

“Not quite. Somehow I made a copy of her mind with my telepathy.”

“That has gotta be a little awkward.”

“I guess so. But at least she's helping me cope with all this stuff.”

At that moment, Mrs. Carson came into the cafeteria, and went up to Matthew.

“Dear, I'm sorry, but I have bad news for you. Your father has been taken to the hospital. It’s ... he is dying. And he wants to see you before he dies.”

******

Mercy, Chapter 3

Matt asked her mother, “Should I go, mom? I mean, he killed you!”

“Yes. hon. You remember what I always told you about mercy?”

“Show mercy so you will be shown mercy. Carrying a grudge only means you carry a weight.”

“Good girl.”

Matt said to Mrs. Carson, “Okay, I’ll go see him.”

Mrs. Carson said “One thing before we go. I would like to avoid any issues with the MCO. Will you do the honors?”

Talia nodded, and she shimmered. A moment later she was dressed as an MCO officer.

“Cool power.” Matt said.

“Well, its not like magic wings, but it comes in handy.”

“Let’s go.” Mrs. Carson said.

“Yeah, come on, Mattie” Talia said.

“Actually ... would you mind calling me ... Faith?”

“Sure, but why that name?”

“It was my mom’s middle name.”

“I’m honored, hon.” her mother said in her head.

“Okay. We better go, Faith.” Mrs. Carson said.

The three of them left the hospital, and got into a cab.

“It’s a pity they didnt send him to the hospital I was in.” Faith said.

“Yours has a pediatric wing. Plus, they have a reputation of being very decent to mutant patients.”

“Did you arrange me going there? How did you know about me?”

“Sort of. A student with the ability to dream of the future saw you. and some disaster that would happen if you weren’t found and protected. That’s why I want this visit to be as short as you can make it, so we can get you to Whately, where you will be safe.”

“Wow. What kind of disaster?”

“That part wasn’t clear, other than we should avoid it.”

“I wonder ... I had so many questions about what happened that day. My dad wasn’t like the person who the police said he was.”

Talia asked, “You wanna talk about it. It might help you understand.”

“Well ... I got detention, so I was late coming home. When I got there, the place looked like a tornado hit it, and mom ... I held her as she died, which must have been when my abilities kicked in to save a copy of mom’s mind.”

“Speaking of your mom, why don’t you ask her what she remembers?”

“What about it, mom. Can you shed any light on this?”

“Your father was on medication to control his temper. I cant imagine why he would have stopped taking it, but what happened that day was what he had been like before the meds.”

“Mom said dad was on some kind of medication.” Faith said to Talia and Mrs. Carson.

Mrs. Carson said, “That fits with the police report I saw. They said he was a mutant, what they call a rager, on medication to keep him from getting dangerous.”

“Maybe dad can tell me why he stopped taking the meds.’

“It's worth asking him.” Talia said.

The three of them fell silent.

Once at the hospital, the three of them went to Faith’s father’s room, where a bored looking prison guard was at the door.

Mrs. Carson said to the guard, “We have a visitor for your prisoner. here is the authorization.”

The guard looked at the paper Mrs. Carson handed him, and then stood aside. “Don’t be long.” He said.

Mrs. Carson said, “Talia and I will wait out here.’

Faith entered the room. The lights had been dimmed, and she heard her father’s raspy breathing over the soft hum of machines.

She carefully touched her father’s arm, and said, “Dad?”

“M ... Matt? is that you?” Her father whispered.

“K.. kind of, Dad. I ... changed. I ... turned into a girl.”

Faith’s father managed to open up his eyes, and looked.

“You ... you look like your mother.”

“I do.”

“What ... what do you call yourself now.”

“I chose the name Faith.”

“Good choice. Listen, I ... dont have a lot of time, I just wanted you to know I’m sorry.”

Faith found herself crying, and said, “Why dad? Why did you stop taking your meds?’

“I ... I didn’t. They said I did, but I always took my pills. I dont understand why they didn’t work. Please believe me.”

Faith gently touched his mind with her power, and saw he was sincere.

“I believe you dad.”

“Good. I didn’t want to go with you hating me.”

“Dad ... I can save you, kinda. I did it with mom. I have a copy of her mind in my head.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering. Let me save you.”

She reached to touch her father, but before she could, the door burst open, and Mrs. Carson came in. “Faith, I’m sorry, but we have to go, now.”

“Just a moment, please!”

“I’m sorry, but something really bad is gonna happen if we don’t get you safe. I’ve got a teleport set up in the hallway.”

She grabbed Faith by the arm, and pulled her out of the room. Talia was waiting by the teleport, waving. “Hurry!” she said.

The three of them stepped into the port “window” and vanished.

No sooner had the teleport vanished a shadow appeared in the hallway. It pooled like liquid, growing and taking shape.

Finally the shadow looked like a large dog, with three heads. It sniffed the spot where the teleport had been, and growled in frustration ....

To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 4

On the other side of the teleport, Faith looked back, and said, “I was so close. One more minute and I would have saved Dad’s memories, like I did with Mom.”

“Actually, that might not have been smart, dear.” Mrs. Carson said.

“What do you mean?”

“Having another person’s mind and memories in your head could hurt you. And you already have your mother’s memories, which means the risk would be even greater if you added your father’s memories too. “

“But he wasn’t responsible! He’d been taking his meds, it wasn’t his fault!”

“I believe you. And I promise I will do all I can to clear his name. But I cant put your life in danger.”

Faith sighed. She could feel that Mrs. Carson was sincere, so she reluctantly let it go for now.

Talia shimmered, and the next moment, she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “Come on,” she said, taking Faith’s hand, “I’ll give you the tour while Mrs. C. gets your power testing set up.”

The tour staggered Faith. Not just the campus, or the powers displayed by the students, but because of the emotional pain some of the students had been through. There was a boy who had been a girl a few months ago, and was still struggling to adjust. There was a girl whose introduction to girlhood involved being raped by members of her own family. And perhaps most painful of all, there was a girl who had been held prisoner and forced to use her talents for a madman who succeeded in making the girl feel responsible for all of his crimes.

Tears leaked out of Faith’s eyes, and Talia noticed.

“What’s wrong?” Talia asked.

“So much pain, so much sorrow ...” Faith managed.

“Let’s try something that might help. I want you to think about a brick wall.” Talia said.

“A ... brick wall?”

“Just try. Picture it. A plain, red, brick wall.”

Faith tried, and the emotions flooding in from around her dimmed.

“Oh!” she exclaimed.

“Did it work?” Talia asked.

“Yeah, thanks. Where did you get that idea?’

“An old movie I watched last week. But the important thing is that it worked.”

They continued the tour, but Faith was also busy thinking. She decided to not feel sorry for herself, as so many others had sorrow and pain as bad if not worse than hers. She silently vowed to be a force for healing, for comforting those with loss.

“Good for you, honey.” Her mother whispered.

The two girls finished the tour, and went to where Faith would have her powers tested.

“Listen, Faith. I need to get to class. Will you be okay for a bit?”

“Class? But I thought you were Mrs. Carson’s assistant?”

“That was just temporary. I’m a teenager, although I look a little older.”

“Will I see you again?”

“Absolutely. I will be here after your tests are done, and you’ll be rooming with me in Poe.”

“Cool!” Faith exclaimed.

“Anyway, take care. I’ll be back when you’re done.” Talia said, and took off.

Faith sighed, and then entered the testing lab.

*****

The next couple of hours were painful, embarrassing, and frustrating for Faith. They tested her and tested her, in ways she had never even dreamed existed, before finally signing off on her card.

The worst frustrations had been about her mother’s mind in her head, and her wings. They insisted that no matter how strong her telepathy, she couldn’t have made a “back-up” of her mother’s mind, and so insisted she was an Avatar. She wasn’t sure they were right, but ultimately she let the argument go.

The wings were even more frustrating. They did believe them to be magic, but of a kind they had never seen outside of obscure and ancient texts. They finally decided to just sign Faith up for some basic magic classes, just to be sure they covered the situation.

But there had been one moment of satisfaction for her. She had finally come up with a code name, and she smiled as she looked at the card which had the name on one side.

“Mercy”.

Meanwhile, just outside the campus, a shadow growled at a barrier only it could see ...

To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 5

Once Faith got outside the testing building, she found Talia waiting for her.

“All taken care of?” Talia asked.

“Yeah, for now. I ... have a lot to learn, though.”

“Well, you are at a school. Come on, you must be hungry. Let’s go eat.”

When they got to the cafeteria, Talia noticed a white-haired girl waving at them.

“Oh, look!” She said to Faith, “I wanted you to introduce you to Arwen anyway.”

The two girls came over to the table, and Talia said, “Faith, this is Arwen. She was the one who had the vision of you being in trouble.”

Faith tentatively took the girl’s hand. “I’m really glad to meet you. Forgive me for asking, but can you maybe tell me what it was you saw?”

“Well, I saw you, and your change, and I saw two shadows coming for you. One was the slave of the other, but if they had found you, they would have ... absorbed you. Turned you into something like them. And everybody else would suffer.”

“Whoa. It must hard, having that kind of power.”

“Sometimes. But sometimes, I’m able to use my power to help, like I did for you. That makes it worthwhile.”

“Well, thank you for helping me.”

“I’m glad I could.”

Faith had other questions, but before she could ask, a student came up to her and said, “Excuse me, are you Faith?” You’re wanted in the magic department.”

“I’ll come with you.” Talia said, and the two girls went to the magic building.

They were met by a young woman who introduced herself as Erica-Jane.

“What’s this about?” Faith asked.

“Come on in, I found some information you might want to hear.” Erica-Jane said.

The two girls followed her, and they made their way to a medium-sized office.

“This is Mrs. Chulkris’ office. She’s dealing with some other students, but since I was the one to discover the info, she said I could share it with you.”

“How did you know about me?” Faith asked.

“When you had your powers tested, a question was raised about your wings, and the kind of magic they are. So they asked me to look into it, since obscure stuff like that is my hobby.”

“So what did you find out?”

“Well, apparently, a long time ago, there was this warrior race with wings, who fought against everybody, even the Old Gods. They managed to make a small kingdom, but soon started fighting each other. Their kingdom vanished, and they disappeared. And according to this old text I found, some came to Earth, disguised themselves as humans, took human spouses, and then they were gone.”

“And you think that’s related to me why?”

“Well, take a look at this picture next to the text.”

Faith looked at the picture. She could certainly see the resemblance, because even though the woman was both scary and beautiful, her wings looked exactly like Faith’s own.

“Whoa.” Faith exclaimed.

“Yeah. I thought you’d want to know.”

“Thanks. If you find anything else out, I’d appreciate hearing it.”

“No problem.” Erica-Jane said.

“Come on, Faith,” Talia said, “We should go get to our beds. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

“Okay.” Faith said, and the two girls made their way back to Poe.

Once in the dorm room they shared, Talia gave Faith a set of PJ’s to wear.

“I thought these might be easier for you than a nightie, at least till you get a chance to get used to the girl thing.”

“Thank you so much. Do you mind if I ask, why have you done so much for me? I mean, I’m grateful, but you didn’t even know me.”

“Don’t you know? I thought you were the mind reader.”

“I’ve been trying to keep out of people’s heads. Everybody should have some privacy.”

“Good philosophy. As to why I wanted to help, let’s just say that when I needed it, people helped me, so I wanted to pay it forward. Then I got to know you, and I like you.”

“Thank you. I like you too.”

“Glad to hear that. Now, you should wash up, change, and get some sleep.”

Faith made her way to the bathroom, and stopped to examine her reflection.

“Was it only this morning that I saw that face in the mirror for the first time?” She wondered, “So much has happened today, I haven’t had any chance to really think about being a girl.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetie” Her mother whispered.

“It’s okay, mom. I just hope things slow down a little so I can get used to it.”

“I hope so too, hon. But at least you’ve already made some friends here. That will help.”

Faith sighed, finished her business in the bathroom, and crawled into her new bed.

The Nest was in flames, but the old woman ignored most of the screams as she flew toward her daughter’s home. Smashing through the door, she grabbed the small girl who has crying beside the broken form of the old woman’s daughter. “It’s too late for us. But it’s not too late for you.” She said to the sobbing girl. “You must hide, survive, and never forget what brought us down. We forgot mercy.”

“Mercy is for the weak. Vengeance is what makes you strong.” A shadow at the door said.

The shadow reached for the little girl. “No matter where you hide I will find you. Then we will see if you’re strong enough to be worthy to survive.”

Faith woke from the nightmare, and tried to calm her heart down. She finally managed to relax, and fell back asleep ...

*****

Meanwhile ...

A growling shadow outside the campus was joined by another shadow, this one shaped like a man with wings.

“Soon, my pet. We will draw her out, and then she will be yours.” He said.

To be continued ....

Mercy Chapter 6

The next day was as busy as Talia told her it would be.

She spent the morning taking tests in mundane subjects like Math and English so they could place her in the proper classes. Then they sent her to the campus store to pick up textbooks and other supplies with a line of credit given to her by Mrs. Carson.

She was somewhat embarrassed by this, especially when she found out she was to be given a small laptop computer as well, but the woman at the campus store assured her that she wasn’t the only student who had come to the school with very little, and donations from successful former students more than covered the costs involved in helping her get started.

Once she returned the supplies to her room, she went to what turned out to be a flying class. She soon discovered that although it was telekinesis that allowed her to fly, her wings seemed to help a lot, especially when she wanted to do tricks in the air.

After the class was over, she had a quick shower and was getting dressed when a small flying girl flew over the top of her dressing stall door, landed on the small bench beside Faith, and said “You were amazing out there!”

Faith squeaked, covered her breasts, and asked “Who are you?”

“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Tink.”

Faith looked at the small girl, and realized that she was stark naked.

“Can we maybe have this discussion after we’re both dressed?” she asked.

Tink looked down at herself, and went “Whoops. I was about to have my shower and saw you and wanted to meet you and I guess I got a little over-excited. I’ll talk to you later!”

With that, she zoomed over the top of the stall door and was gone.

Faith suddenly realized she had been covering her breasts the whole time, and sighed to her mother, “Another girl habit I seem to have picked up without knowing it. A guy wouldn’t worry about covering his top half.”

“At least it’s a useful habit, hon.” Her mother whispered.

“Yeah, but am I losing who I was before I became a girl?”

“I don’t think so, You may have some new habits that will help you ... blend in as a girl, but that’s probably not a bad thing. And boy or girl, you’re still my child, and I’m proud of you.”

Faith sniffled. "Thanks, mom.”

Faith finished getting dressed, and Tink was waiting for her.

“I just wanted to say sorry for barging in on you.” Tink said.

“It’s okay. But I do have to go to my next class.”

“Okay. By the way, you’re a pretty girl. If you ever want to consider modeling, I run a little club for girls with extraordinary features, like your wings. You’d be a great subject.”

“I’ll think about it” Faith stammered, and fled in the direction of her next class.

Faith’s next class was self-defence.

She went to the teacher, and said, “I’m the new student, although I’m not sure why I’m here.”

“Well, young lady, the information discovered by the young woman at the magic department, that your powers seem to be drawn from a very aggressive and violent people caused Mrs. Carson to want you to take self-defence.”

“I’m not sure I understand. Isn’t self-defence kinda ... well .. violent?”

“But its first and foremost about control. Controlling your emotions, controlling your mind, controlling your body, and then taking control of a situation. Those are the things I’d like to focus on teaching you.”

“Okay. What do I do first?”

“Today, let’s focus on learning how to stretch and loosen your muscles. I’ll also get you to focus on your breathing.”

For the next half-hour Faith learned to stretch properly while breathing deeply and regularly. She was pleased to discover that her still-new-to-her body was very flexible, and that she seemed to pick up the training very fast.

After a half hour, her instructor called her over to a large area where a young woman was going to give a demonstration with what looked to Faith to be a Native American tomahawk.

She watched the girl create what looked like a dance, full of grace and speed, and alternated between feeling amazed and feeling somewhat jealous.

Once the girl had finished, and the applause died down, the instructor went and pulled out a large number of weapons, and asked if anybody else wanted to do a demonstration.

Suddenly, Faith felt a need for a weapon. She walked toward the pile of weapons, and considered them. Her hands reached for a short sword, but then she heard a voice in her head say “No! Not a blade. The staff, girl. The staff!”

Faith managed to move her hands past the sword and grasped a wooden staff. The staff was about three feet long, and the ends were covered by hard plastic caps.

Even though she had no idea how she was doing it, Faith found herself being able to thrust, perry, spin, block, sweep, to use two hands or switch from hand to hand like an expert.

“Faith. You can stop now, Faith.” Her instructor said calmly but forcefully.

Faith blinked, and realized that she had unleashed her wings and was currently floating about a foot above the ground. She landed, pulled in her wings, and said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“That’s okay, Faith. But I want you to put away the staff now.” The instructor said.

Faith looked at the staff in her hand. The idea of putting the staff away felt like asking her to take off her arm and leaving it behind.

“I ... can’t ...”

A voice in her head said, “You can. Where do your wings go?”

The staff vanished, and Faith clutched her right arm in pain. Then she looked at the arm, and saw a tattoo of the staff on her forearm going from her wrist almost to her elbow.

“Remarkable. Are you alright, Faith?” her instructor asked.

The pain eased in her arm, and she replied, “I think so. I don’t have a clue what I just did, though. And I think I heard a voice in my head.”

“Perhaps one of the students should take you to the infirmary.”

One of the students stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

“Excellent, Saphira.”

The young woman took Faith’s arm. “Come on, hon. It’ll be okay.”

While on their way to the infirmary, the girl said, “That was a cool demonstration.”

“It would have been cooler if I had actually known what I was doing.” Faith said.

“I know how that feels. When I manifested, I turned into a dragon. I thought I was gonna be stuck like that for weeks.”

“A dragon?”

“Yeah. I’d show you, but I don’t want to wreck my clothes. Anyway, here is the infirmary. I hope you feel better.”

“Thanks.”

The nurses checked Faith out, and told her to come back the next day when someone would be in who was an expert in avatars to find out the source of the voice Faith had heard.

Faith was leaving when Talia ran up, and said, “I heard you had something happen, are you okay?”

“Yeah. I have a new tattoo, and I seem to be a natural at stick fighting, though. And what are you wearing?”

Talia twirled, showing off the bikini she was wearing. “It’s a replica of the bikini Lea wore in Star Wars. I was going to wear it to the showing of the new movie tonight.”

“Where is it showing?”

“At theater in the little town just down the road from here. But I can go another time if you need me.”

“No, go. I’m going to go eat, then try and make it an early night.”

“Okay” Talia said, and took off.

Faith made her way to cafeteria, and grabbed a salad, a drink, and a bowl of soup. She sat down on the table, but before she could take more than a bite she was interrupted by Arwen.

“Faith, you have to go after Talia.”

“What? Why, Arwen?”

“I just had a vision. She’s going to be attacked at the movie theater in town. You have to save her.”

“But I’m not supposed to leave the campus. That shadow-creature you saw cant get me here. Cant we find someone else to go?”

“No, its got to be you. But I believe you can win, as long as you remember your codename.”

“I ... don’t understand.”

“You will. But go. Hurry.”

Faith ran ...

To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 7

As soon as Faith left the building, she launched herself into the air, trying to get as much height as she could as fast as she could.

Once she was high enough to see the town, she raced toward it, using gravity to help her go faster.

It didn’t take her long to spot the theater. It was the place where people were running away from screaming ...

Then one of the walls exploded, and out of the wreckage came a three-headed dog.

The creature was the size of a small car, and clearly very strong as it tossed bits of the broken wall away, sending them flying.

Faith circled above the monster, trying to find Talia. Then the creature attacked someone in a storm trooper outfit, knocking off the helmet, revealing Talia underneath.

Faith divebombed the creature, managing to distract it away from Talia. The creature turned and faced her, and suddenly Faith remembered her staff, summoning it from the tatoo on her arm.

And she had been just in time, using the staff to block a bite from one of the heads of the creature.

Faith thought her ability to fly would give her an edge, but she soon found out otherwise, as the creature could leap into the air to meet her.

Within minutes of the fight starting, Faith realized she was going to lose. Even though the creature had not scored a direct hit yet, she was starting to get scratches and bruises everywhere, while she had done no damage to her opponent at all.

Then Faith had an idea. She landed, spread her wings, and challenged the beast to “come get some”. When it leaped, however, Faith dropped to the floor, and swung her staff with all her might at the belly of the creature as it went over her head.

The resulting “crack” was so loud at first Faith assumed she had broken the staff ...

The creature crashed into a car, and for a moment, all was still.

Faith shakingly got to her feet, and went over to the creature. It whined, tried to rise, and collapsed.

“I could kill it. Now, before it can recover.” Faith thought.

“I was gonna ask if anybody got the number of the bus that ran over me, but I see it wasnt a bus, but a dog.”

Faith turned, and saw Talia limping towards her.

“You okay?” Faith asked.

“I’ll live. Stormtrooper armor is tougher than you’d think.”

“Good. I’m thinking of finishing this ... thing now. I dont want to have to be scared of leaving the campus, scared for any of my friends who want to leave the campus.”

“But?” Talia asked.

“But I keep thinking of what Arwen said to me when she told me you were in danger. She said I needed to remember my codename. - Mercy.”

“What do you think she meant?”

“I ... I think ...”

Faith looked into the mind of the creature. And was surprised by what she saw. She saw not a monster, but a feircely loyal protector, who had been ripped from its home, and enslaved to be used as a weapon.

Faith broke the chains around the creature’s will.

“You’re free.” She whispered to it.

“I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” A voice said.

Faith looked up, and saw a man with wings hovering over her. His bare chest was covered in strange markings that seemed to glow with menace, and in one hand he had a wicked looking sword.

“Oh boy.” Talia said ....

To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 8

Faith said, “Talia, please go get help.”

“On it.” Talia said, and started inching away.

Trying to keep the man from noticing Talia, Faith launched herself into the air, and confronted him.

“Are you the one responsible for this chaos? Did you send that poor creature to kill me?”

“That poor creature is a hell hound. And he wasn’t going to kill you, just hurt you - a lot.”

“Why?”

“Because you have something that belongs to me, and I want it.”

“What do you think I have? I’ve just manifested a couple of days ago.”

Then their two minds met ...

Faith saw this boy had started as a girl, until she had been beaten and raped, triggering her mutation, her sex change, and her desire for vengeance.

Making her an easy target for a creature that fed on darkness, who was looking for a weapon of chaos and pain ... who went by the name of The Bastard.

The new boy had taken the name Brand, and the code name ...

Vendetta.

And he had been responsible for nullifying her father’s medication, in an attempt to trigger her change under the same kind of circumstances as his own.

For a moment she was angry, but the more she looked into his mind, the harder it was to hate him.

She also saw this “book” he was looking for - both a history of the people they drew their power from, and a powerful magical resource he believed he could use in his quest for vengeance.

Then the contact between them was broken.

“You ... don’t have the book. Or at least not yet.” Brand said.

“No, I don’t. But I can help you. Come back to the school with me. We can look together, you would be safe there.”

“You ... would want to help me? After what I did to your father?”

“Yes. Because I believe in Mercy.”

For a moment, he wavered, then the anger came back.

“Mercy is for the weak! I have to be strong!”

“Believe me, it takes strength to show mercy. I could hate you for what you did to my father. But it wouldn’t change it. Mercy is ... harder than vengeance, but at least it's not a dead end.”

“You want mercy? I’ll give you some. I wont kill you right now. I’ll give you a year to find that book and give it to me. If you don’t, you, your friends, your school, everyone will suffer.”

Then he pushed her away, and roared into the sky.

In a moment, he was out of sight.

Faith allowed herself to sink to the ground, and shook.

To her surprise, the three-headed dog limped over to her, and leaned against her.

Faith put her arms around the hell-hound, and let herself grieve. Crying for her mother, her father, and surprisingly for the boy responsible for what had happened to them.

Then she heard a voice.

“It seems like you’ve acquired a friend.”

Faith looked up.

“Mrs. Carson?”

To Be Continued ...

Mercy Chapter 9

“Yes, dear. Now, what are you going to do about your new friend, here?”

Faith turned to the animal, and said, “You could go home, now.”

“Home is with you.” She heard from the hellhound.

Faith concentrated, and first her wings turned back into their tattoo form, then the staff did the same forming on her right forearm, and finally a glow surrounded the hellhound and a moment later Faith had a new tattoo, this one on her left forearm.

Then she noticed something else, and she said, “Look, Mrs. Carson. There’s writing below the tattoo of the hellhound. But I cant read it.”

Mrs. Carson had a look and said, “I can, dear. It says ‘fidelis’. That means ‘loyal’.. People have often used a translation of that word as the name of their pet - ‘Fido’.”

“Fido, huh. I hope he likes the name. In the meantime, am I in trouble for leaving the school grounds?”

“Not this time, dear. Arwen came to me after you left, and explained why you had to go. And I had your friend Erica put a scrying spell on you, so we saw everything. I’m ... very proud of how you handled yourself. Showing forgiveness to that young man was ... well done.”

“Thanks. It just seemed ... right.”

“It was. Are you ready to come back to the school now? Talia will be anxious for your return, since she met me as I was arriving. It was all I could do to keep her from coming back blasting.”

“Yea. I’m ... really tired.”

“Well, lean on me.”

The two of them made it back to the school grounds, and headed for the medical building so Faith could be checked out.

Then Faith stumbled, and blacked out ...

Faith found herself in a large, warm house, and after a moment, recognised it from the dream she had the other day. But unlike that dream, the place wasn’t on fire, and she could smell something like bread being baked.

She went towards the smell, and entering a kitchen found the older woman she had seen in the previous dream.

“Just give me a moment, dear.” The woman said, and pulled out of the oven a pan filled with what looked to Faith like miniature loaves.

“There” The old woman said. “The panis can cool, while we talk.”

“Who are you? What am I doing here?” Faith asked.

“You can call me Ava, if you like dear. As for what you’re doing here, I have a gift to give you.”

“Gift?” Faith asked.

“Yes. Come, I’ll show you.”

The two of them walked to a room, and Ava opened the door.

Inside the room, Faith saw a young woman who seemed chained to a large book.

“Hello. I’ve been waiting for you.” the young woman said.

Faith recognized her voice, and said, “You were the one who told me to pick the staff, weren't you?”

“Yes. The guardians of the Book of the People have always preferred the staff.”

“This is book Brand was looking for?”

“Yes. But he never would have been able to have it. The Book only recognizes one who acts with mercy, as you did. That’s why you’re here now.”

“So I am supposed to guard this book?”

“Yes, but much more. The time has come at last where one of our people can come out of the shadows and act as beacon of hope, a defender of the innocent. To in part make up for what our people became - warriors without virtue”

“How can I do any of that? I’ve been like this for a couple of days!”

“Don’t worry. You have time to learn.”

“A year, if Brand holds to his word.”

“You can accomplish a lot in a year. Look how far you’ve come already.”

“So what do I do.”

“Take my hand.”

Faith took the girl’s hand.

Then the girl asked, “Will you take the book of the People? It has great power, but it is a great responsibility as well.”

“I will.” Faith replied.

Then the chain connecting the girl to the book vanished, and the girl sighed.

“Thank you. I can rest, now.” she said.

The girl began to fade, and Faith yelled, “Wait! I have so many questions!”

“The Book will have the answers you need” the girl whispered, and then she vanished.

Faith turned to the older woman and asked, “What do I do now?’

“Return to your world. I will be able to hold this space for you until your own power is strong enough to take over.”

Then Faith woke up, and realized she was laying in a bed in the medical building.

She groaned, and Talia came over.

“Back with us?” Talia asked.

“How ... how long was I out?”

“Just under an hour. But long enough to worry us silly.”

Then Arwen came into the room, and said, “You have two new tattoos since I saw you last.”

“Two?” I have Fido on my arm here, but ...”

“You have one on the small of your back as well. Wanna see?”

Faith nodded.

Arwen helped Faith up, and then produced a small mirror while Faith looked in the room’s large mirror. On the small of her back was a tattoo of a book being read by two fairy-size women with wings like Faith’s.

Faith smiled, and said, “Cool.”

Arwen said, “I’ve been studying about your tattoos, and I think they operate like a summoning spell. The items in the tattoos are stored until you call on them, and when you want them to, they will return to tattoo form. But this ... book, and your wings are a little different. See, the power for spells is called essence. As a magic-user, you have what’s called a well of essence to draw from to use for spells. But I think your wings are like an extra well - they store essence, and they also pull in essence to replenish what’s used.”

“So it’s kinda like having an extra fuel tank on a car?” Faith asked.

“Yes, but if you let them, they will also act like having your own gas station to refuel your tank whenever you need it.”

“And the book?”

“That I’m less sure of, but I think it is a real spell book -with spells you could learn to use, and reuse. But it might be capable of a lot more than that. You’re going to have to figure a lot of this out for yourself.”

“I guess I got a lot to learn, then.”

“Yeah. We’ll be seeing a lot of you at the magic building.”

“Well, thanks, Arwen.”

“Anytime.”

Talia said, “You look beat, Faith. Maybe you should stay here overnight?”

“No. I think I want my own bed, given the choice.”

“I’ll check with the doctor for you.”

“Thank you so much, Talia. You’ve been a fantastic friend to me.”

“Well, you saved my life today, don’t forget.’

“But you wouldn’t have been in danger in the first place if you hadn’t been my friend.”

“True. But I think you’re worth it.”

Faith smiled.

The doctor came in, gave her a quick check and cleared her to go back to her dorm, so she and Talia walked home together.

That night, Faith dreamed. In her dream, she was facing Brand again, but he was totally different. No longer consumed by hate and vengeance, he seemed free, and happy. He took her by the hand, and they flew into the sky together, as their people must have done for centuries before disaster struck.

They danced in the sky together, and then landed beside a bed.

At that moment, Faith realized they were both naked, and very much aroused. She reached out for him, and he for her, and a slow exploration of each other began. Faith was by now quite wet down below, and he was about to enter her ...

Faith woke up crying ...

To Be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 10

Talia rushed into Faith’s room and held her tight.

“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay.” she said.

“Ta...Ta ... Talia?”

“I got you, hon. It’s okay.”

“Talia I ... had this dream ...”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Huh? How?”

“Hon, because of our friendship, you ... broadcasted to me. That’s how I knew you were in trouble.”

“Why would I dream of ... that?”

“Well, if I were to make a guess, I’d say it’s because you’re about to start your period. Same thing happens to me just before my period starts.”

“P ... period? Oh God I’m not ready for that ...”

“Sorry, hon. Listen, maybe you want to do something for a bit to take your mind off things? Some of the students have organized a little flying tournament.”

Just then Faith felt a wave a comfort from within. She took a deep breath, and said to Talia, “Yeah.. I think that’s a good idea.”

Faith quickly got dressed, and the two girls went to a building where training simulations were held.

“We aren’t using the building where I took my flying evaluation?” Faith asked.

“No, because this exercise will include some ... obstacles.” Talia said.

“Obstacles?”

“You’ll see.”

The two girls went inside, and found a group of flyers being separated into teams of two. Faith got partnered with a girl named Ivy who went by the codename “Flygirl”.

Then the flying instructor said, “Okay. Saphira here is going to use her dragon form and start flying. After ten minutes, the first team will take off, and then every five minutes after a new team will be allowed to fly. There will be obstacles that you can fly over, under, around, or even through, and you will get points for being successful, and lose points if you fail. As well, Talia here will be firing paintballs, and if you get hit, that will cost you points as well. Finally, if anybody can tag Saphira, they will get bonus points. Any questions?”

There were no questions, and then Saphira took off, changing into a nine-foot long dragon as she flew.

After a few teams had taken off, it was Faith and her partner’s turn, and Faith leapt into the sky, forgetting in her joy about the dream she had experienced the night before.

She swooped, dove, and spun, going up, down, and through rings that would suddenly appear in front of her. She dodged the paintballs being fired by Talia, and giggled whenever one of the other flyers took a hit, getting splattered with pink paint.

Her partner, Ivy (or Flygirl) seemed to turn into a kind of rocket, capable of great speed and pretty darn good maneuvering skills.

Finally, the instructor called the game, and everyone flew back down. Faith and her partner Ivy ended up finishing fourth overall, and Ivy thanked Faith for being such a good player.

Faith thanked Ivy, and promised to go flying with her again when she could.

Once Faith had taken a shower, she felt a “pull” inside of her, and excused herself to go back to her room to figure out what was going on.

Once there, she sat on the bed, took a breath, and closed her eyes ...

Faith found herself outside the dwelling she had seen in her dreams, and she entered, and saw ...

“Mom?”

Faith’s mother rushed over, and gave Faith a hug.

“Goodness, it feels good to be able to do that.”

“But how are you here?”

“This place is at an intersection point, between the spiritual realm and the Dreamspace. So with the help of Ava here, I was able to cross over, so to speak, and now I can be here for you.”

“That’s fantastic, mom. I take it you were the one who calmed me down when I started freaking out over my dream and the fact I might be starting a period?”

“Yes, dear. And there is no ‘might’ about it. Your cycle is about to start.”

“Oh God ...”

“It will be okay, hon. But you should let me show you a few things about how to take care of yourself when it’s your time of the month.”

Faith cringed, but realized she needed to know how to handle her period, so she allowed her mother to show her some tricks. After her mother finished, Ava said, “I have some other things to teach you. Do you understand why you have two fairy-like women alongside the tattoo of the book on your back?”

“No, actually. Tell me.”

“They are us. Your mother and I. If you wish, you can now summon us into the physical plane in the form of a fairy. It will cost you essence, so I wouldn’t do it casually, but should you need us beyond our ability to give you advice in this place, we will be there for you.”

“I ... cant even begin to thank you for what you’ve done for me, especially for bringing my mom here. And now you’re offering to help me in the real world to? I ...”

“I am the one who owes you, dear. Without you, the Book would have no guardian, and all we sacrificed would have been for nothing.”

Faith started to cry, and both her mother and Ava hugged her until she felt better.

“Oh, I have one other thing to show you.” Eva said, and whistled.

From another room came Fido, who bounded over to Faith and gave her a triple-lick.

“You’re here too?” Faith said with a laugh.

“Yes, mistress.” The three-headed dog mentally replied.

Faith’s mother said, “We’ll take care of ... Fido for you until you need him.”

“Thank ... thank you.” Faith said, and then the three of them hugged again, joined by Fido.

After a while, Ava said, “You should return to the physical plane. Next time you come, we can begin your lessons on the Book.”

“Okay.” Faith said, and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she was back in her room on her bed, but before she could process all she had learned there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” She said.

Mrs. Carson came in, and said, “So, Faith, how are you doing?”

“Good, Mrs. Carson. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for me.”

“You’re welcome, dear. But I have some news for you. It seems that you and Brand may not be the last of your kind. I am going to interview a young woman who seems to be very much like you, except perhaps more ... aggressive, from what I have heard.”

Faith looked at Mrs. Carson in shock ...

To be continued ...

Chapter 11

Author's note: Sorry this chapter is so short.

“Do you think she’s ... like Brand?” Faith asked.

“It doesn’t appear to be the case. She’s described as a warrior, but not out of control. I’ll know more when I meet her.”

“Well, if she decides to come, I’d like to meet her.”

“We’ll have to see. Her name is Vantier, by the way.”

Faith’s stomach rumbled, and Mrs. Carson smiled.

“Sounds like you need to get some food.”

“Yeah,”

“Well, go eat, and dont worry. If this girl comes here, we’ll make sure you can meet.”

“Okay. Thanks ... for everything.”

Faith left, and went to the dining hall to get some food.

She found Talia there, and told her about Mrs. Carson finding another girl like her.

Then, she heard a voice calling for Talia. She looked, and saw a girl coming towards them. Faith did a double take. The girl looked like a classic cat-girl. She had red hair, red fur, a long tail, and was wearing a short skirt, a tight top, and high heels.

Talia jumped up, and squealed, “Lisa!”

She then went to the girl, and kissed her on the lips.

Once the two of them came up for air, Talia said to Faith, “This is Lisa, my girlfriend. Lisa, This is Faith. I emailed you about her.”

The girl shook Faith’s hand, and said, “Talia said you saved her life the other day. I ... don’t know how to thank you for that.”

Faith blushed, and said, “Least I could do for a friend.”

Faith emphasized the word “friend”, and Lisa relaxed slightly.

“So how was the archaeological dig?” Talia asked Lisa.

“Fascinating.”

“You were on an archaeological dig?” Faith asked.

“Yeah. Archaeology is what I want to study when I graduate.”

Faith looked sceptical, and Lisa added, “I know, looking like this, and I want to to be an archaeologist. But I an image inducer that allows me to look like a regular person.”

“Cool.” Faith said.

The three girls ate, and Lisa and Faith shared some of their histories with each other, and then Faith said, “I have to go over to the magic building. I’ll see you later, Talia. Nice meeting you, Lisa.”

“Nice meeting you too, Faith.” Lisa said.

Faith went over to the magic building, and met up with Arwen. Then Arwen said, “I wanted to go over some basics about magic with you.”

Faith practiced for an hour, and then she felt something.

“Arwen, I think I need to contact my dream space, do you mind if I stop practicing?”

“No, go ahead. “ Arwen said.

Faith took a breath, and then dived in ...

The first thing Faith noticed was the sense of sadness in the room. Even her mother and Fido looked down.

“What’s wrong?” Faith asked.

Ava said, “I ... need to tell you something before you meet Vantier.”

Faith sat down on a chair, and said, “I take it it’s not good news?”

“It is the truth about what happened to our people.”

Ava sighed, and said, “A very long time ago, my clan separated themselves from the rest of our people. We built the Book, and we spent our lives trying to spread healing and increase our understanding of all life. Then the call came to go to your world, to help fight the GOO. We ... refused. We went, but only as what you would think of as medics - to heal those who would be wounded.

Then the GOO found our home, and again we were offered the chance to fight - and refused. We focused instead on trying to secure a hiding place, and we succeeded. Then, we emerged, and saw the devastation. It ... broke us. One of our clan changed his name to Vendetta, and began wiping out the rest of us. Most of us ... didn’t even resist. But I sent my granddaughter into the dreamscape with the Book, and that’s the story.”

Faith felt the guilt Ava was feeling. “You think it would have been different if you had fought?”

“I don’t know.”

“I need to think about this.” Faith said, and left the dreamscape.

Waking up in the magic building, she excused herself, and went to Mrs. Carson’s office.

When she was admitted in, she said, “Mrs. Carson, I need you to do me a favor.”

“What dear?”

“I need you to not tell Vantier I’m here, just yet. I ... need time to figure out how to approach her.”

“All right dear. I’m sure it will take her a couple days to settle in anyway, but that’s probably as much time as you will have.”

“Thank you. I ... am going back to the magic building to meditate.”

Faith then left, and had Arwen set up a room for her in the magic building where she would be undisturbed.

She sighed, and said to herself, “I ... don’t know what to do ...”

To be continued ...

As it feels like I say every chapter, sorry this took so long, and sorry its so short. My thanks to Shadowblade for letting me borrow Vantier.

Chapter 12

Faith spent the next two days in a state of magical meditation, with her friends taking turns keeping an eye on her.

While in that state, she communed with her mother’s spirit, with Ava, and read from the Book of the People.

After two days, Faith felt ready to face what would come, and came out of her dreamstate.

Talia was there, and helped Faith to her feet.

“You okay, hon?” she asked.

“Yes ... I think so. I’m hungry though.”

“Well, you’re in luck. It’s just about suppertime.” Talia said with a smile.

They went over to Crystal hall, and got something to eat. It turned out the arrival of Vantier was the favorite topic of conversation with the other residents of Poe.

And those conversations gave Faith a very different view of Vantier than the one she had in her mind. The girl they were talking about struggled with English but took corrections with grace, was kind, patient, and caring, and overall, the kind of girl Faith would very much like to have as a friend.

After she ate, Faith was feeling too restless to sleep, so she went to the flying pavilion to get a workout.

As soon as Faith entered the flying pavilion, she could hear voices from one corner. She got closer, and saw ... Her.

Vantier.

She was hovering beside another girl, who had almost blindingly white wings, and they were both shouting encouragements to a very young girl standing on a platform whose wings reminded Faith of a butterfly.

Faith smiled, as the scene reminded her of when she was learning to swim, and a patient lifeguard had to encourage her to jump into the water.

Deciding not to distract the trio, Faith went to another corner of the pavilion and took to the air.

“Time to stretch my wings ... literally” She said to herself as she began to fly.

Faith soared, she swooped, she spun and twisted and turned, dancing in the air,

Suddenly, Faith felt she was being watched.

She turned, and saw Vantier hovering nearby .

“Hello” Vantier said.

“Hello” Faith replied, and drifted closer.

For a moment, they just hovered there together, and then Faith said, “Forgive me if I’m being forward, but I think I might be from the same people as you.”

“I believe you might be right. I sense a feeling of ... kinship with you.”

“Well, if I am not mistaken, I might have some information about our ... kin that you might want to know.”

Vantier looked at Faith, as if peering into her soul, and then said, “Let’s go to my dorm-room. We can talk there. And did you know you were speaking ancient hawk lord back there? As only two others speak it on the whole planet and one of those is a GOO!”

"I did?"
"Yes and very fine I might add, like your were born to it!"

Once the two girls made it to Vantier’s room, Faith sighed, and began to talk about all she had learned, about how some had hidden from the GOO, but perished at the hands of Vendetta.

At that point, Vantier asked, “All of them, gone?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Faith replied, “Some may have fled and survived, and there is at least one other person who is a descendant, like me, who has access to a spirit from that time.”

“And what about him?” Vantier asked.

“He ... he has been twisted by the Bastard, and is possessed by Vendetta.”

Faith paused for a moment, and then recounted her encounter with Brand, and how she discovered he had killed her mother and framed her father. How he had enslaved a hellhound to track her and then to attack her friend Talia to draw her out. And how she had offered forgiveness to Brand, only to have him flee, vowing to return in a year’s time.

Once she had finished, Faith sighed again and looked down at the floor, afraid that Vantier would be disappointed in her.

Instead, the older girl stood up, took Faith into her arms, and hugged her.

Faith clung to Vantier like a shipwrecked survivor to a piece of driftwood, shaking, finally letting out all the emotions she had held in check since her transformation. Then, out of nowhere, she hiccupped, which made both girls giggle.

Faith sat back down on the bed, and the conversation turned to lighter matters, talking about the school and the friends she had made.

Finally, Faith looked at her watch, and said, “I better go. I have real classes for the first time tomorrow, and I need my rest.”

“All right. We’ll talk more another time.” Vantier replied.

Faith got up to leave, but just as she got to the door, Vantier said, “Faith?”

Faith looked back.

“I’m proud of you.” Vantier said.

Faith blushed, and left, practically floating all the way to her own room.

She changed into a nightgown, and thought to herself, “Well, that went better than I hoped. I’m gonna have to ask Ava about how come I could speak the language, though. But for now, I better get some sleep.”

******

Mercy Chapter 13

The next few days were as close to “normal” as Faith had gotten since her transformation. She attended classes, she hung with her friends, and she spent time on her computer.

And she had her first period.

Fortunately, her body seemed to protect her from the worst of the symptoms, and so while it wasn’t an easy time, afterward she felt like she’d be okay, even during “that time of the month”.`

She even reached a kind of peace with the fact that she saw boys in a sexual way, realizing that just because she did a double-look at a boy didn’t mean she had to act on the impulse, and if she found someone special she wanted to share herself with that was okay too.

Of course, not everything was “normal”.

More than half her classes were related to her powers - two classes in Magic, a class in power theory, a class in self defense, and a flight class. But she understood the importance of learning how to control her power, especially with Brand still out there.

Despite her course load, she did find time for her friends, becoming closer to Talia, Arwen, Ivy (Flygirl), and others. She also spent time in her dreamstate with Ava, Fido, and her mother, learning all she could about her people. Along the way, she learned that when she accepted the position of protector of the Book, she got the Hawk-lord language at the same time, and in fact English was now like a second language to her.

Near the end of her first week, she got a treat - her magic class was given a tour of the magic library, and Vantier acted as a tour guide, and Vantier offered to dreamwalk with Faith if she wanted her to.

After a couple of days, Faith was feeling like a human being again.

Which was ironic because she found herself becoming less human, and more hawk-lord in some ways.

Like as the week went on, she found she needed less and less sleep, until by the end of the week she could get by with a couple of hours at the most. Uncertain what to do with herself with the extra time, Faith wandered around and discovered by accident a group calling itself the Night Owls. She was surprised to discover how many students either didn’t sleep at all or slept only in the daytime, but they seemed like a nice group, so she promised to come whenever she could to their meetings.

Unfortunately, things were about to change ....

Author’s warning. The following part gets inside the head of a person who I would consider a sick puppy. Please be careful reading this section. You might feel the need for a brain-bleach afterward., but don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you ...

Donavan:

Donavan Ryder couldn’t keep the smile from showing. Today was the day, the day when his plans would be set in motion.

Donavan was one of those people who everybody noticed, but everybody underestimated. He had two sets of powers - one that was flashy and obvious, and one that was subtle and hidden.

The flashy power was a TK field he could generate, and then channel into strength, durability, or speed. It was the source of his code name - Golden - because when the field was active it glowed a bright yellow color.

But it was the subtle power he was going to rely on to accomplish his goal - to win the girl of his dreams - Faith. That power was the ability to make a person feel good, while at the same time fogging their judgement.

In other words, he could make people high.

For some reason, girls and women were more susceptible to his power than guys were, and even before he had realized he was doing anything, Donavan was using that gift to get girls.

Unfortunately, one of those girls had moved away, and once free of his influence, she saw her time with him in a different light.

He had been lucky to not be charged with a crime, but his parents had sent him to Whately and gave the girl a large sum of money to keep the whole thing quiet.

Since he had arrived at the school, he had been very careful. There were too many magic users or psychics who might detect his power if he “pushed” anybody too hard.

But Faith had changed that.

Because Donavan had become obsessed with her.

In his eyes, she was the ideal girl. She had a mix of confidence and fear, innocence and wisdom, strength and gentleness.

And he knew he simply had to have her.

So he had nudged a teacher to make Faith his partner in one of their classes, doing an assignment that would make sure they would have time together alone.

He planned to start slowly, gently giving her a small amount of his gift. But over time, he would increase the “dose” until she would be so lost in pleasure she would agree to almost anything.

And then he would use the down side of the gift.

Because just like a drug, the pleasure he gave, if given in a large enough dose, would be addictive.

She’d be “hooked’ on him, forever.

Once that happened .... well, he had fantasies he would have her act out for him ...

And it all started today ...

To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 14.

Faith walked into her class feeling rather nervous.

The teacher had told the class yesterday they would have to partner up for the next assignment, and she had found herself being partnered with a boy named Donavan.

A lot of her nervousness was just new-kid jitters, or at least that’s what she told herself.

When the class ended, Faith’s nervousness had gone away. Donavan seemed like a nice boy, and the topic they were looking at was pretty interesting, so she found herself looking forward to the next class.

Talia noticed Faith’s mood when she came back to their room, and it didn’t take long for her to find out the cause was this new boy she shared a class with.

Faith blushed, giggled, and accepted her roommate and friend’s teasing.

Eventually, the two of them went to sleep.

*****

The next day, Faith practically ran to her class, so she could spend more time with Donavan.

As they worked on their project together, Faith found herself deferring to Donavan, letting him do most of the talking while she sat there and admired him.

Once the class was over, Faith reluctantly left Donavan so she could go to her next class, which was in the magic building.

Faith started feeling strange once she entered the magic building.

She thought about Donavan, but now, he didn’t seem as attractive as before. His features and body weren’t ugly, but he wasn’t the Adonis she had felt he was. Not only that, he came across as arrogant, talking down to Faith during their work together. And Faith found herself confused by her reaction to that behavior, how she had just sat there and took it, even deferring to him and encouraging him to be in charge.

By the time she got to the class, she could no longer fight back her tears, and her teacher, whose name was Bailey, gave the class over to an assistant so he could talk to Faith privately.

Once they were alone, Faith recounted her time with Donavan, how he had made her feel, and how once she entered the magic building everything had changed.

Bailey frowned, and said, “Faith, do you know what an incubus is?”

Faith shook her head as she wiped away her tears.

“An incubus is a male succubus. A creature designed to gain power from sex with women. This young man must be using something like what an incubus can do. That’s why the effect was disrupted when you entered the magic building. Since our mages are always casting spells here, the building is heavily shielded from any magic.”

“But what do I do now?” Faith asked.

“Well, for starters, I’ll give you something to protect yourself from any more exposure. Then we need to find a way to get this young man under control, so he doesn’t try this with some other girl.”

Faith frowned, and then she smiled.

“I ... have an idea ...” She said.

****

The next morning, Faith marched into the class she shared with Donavan, trying to keep her real feelings as hidden as possible. Around one ankle, she wore a gem anklet that she hoped would go unnoticed.

Once the class started, and she was in a corner with Donavan, she did her best to put on a look of devotion, but she couldn’t help but hope he would be too busy talking about himself to really notice.

Seeing him without the haze of his power, she found herself finding him almost pathetic. He was over privileged, spoiled, and full of himself.

Once the class was coming to a close, Faith told Donavan that Talia was going to be away this weekend, and she wanted him to come over to do some private studying.

Donavan

Donavan couldn’t believe how well his “seduction” of Faith was going. He thought it would take longer to get her to a point where she wanted to spend time with him outside of class, and by mentioning her roommate being gone seemed to hint Faith was thinking of doing things other than just studying.

He told Faith yes, and the two of them separated.

Time flew, and soon it was the weekend. Donavan spent extra time getting ready, a casual top and pants, but not grubby stuff.

Just in case he snuck a condom into one of his pockets, and went over to Faith’s dorm.

He knocked on the door and it opened ...

Donavan entered the room, and was shocked. Faith was wearing armor, with her wings fully spread, and had a staff in her hand. Beside her was a three-headed dog, and behind her were two women who looked very much like Faith, with the older of the two having wings as well.

The oldest woman said to Donavan, “You have really stepped into it, young man.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Anna,” Faith said, “If he had done this trick on Vantier he would have been lucky if there was enough left of him to bury in a matchbox.”

“Now, Donavan, you ever see one of those movies where someone is offered the easy way or the hard way? That’s what you’re facing. The easy way is this: You make a binding oath by your name. You vow to go directly to Mrs. Carson and confess what you were doing, and what you planned to do. You will also vow to wear this little bracelet. It disrupts your ability to charm anybody. You will vow to wear it until Mrs. Carson tells you to take it off, and you will tell all this to Mrs. Carson.”

Faith took a breath, and then continued, “The alternative is I feed you to Fido here. In case you think your abilities will give you a sporting chance, when you stepped through the doorway you entered a different dimension. One where Fido’s abilities are increased, and yours are diminished. If that wasn’t enough, Ava here has access to an entire race’s magic spells, and I’m sure she would love to show you how upset she is.”

“Then there is me, and my mother here, and if I really need to, I’ll summon Vantier, and then you can kiss your butt goodbye. Because unlike me, Vantier doesn’t always do mercy. So, what’s your choice?”

Donavan glanced behind him to see if he could make a sprint to the door, but the door seemed to have vanished. He looked in the eyes of the people facing him, and into the eyes of the three-headed dog, and saw no hope there.

“I’ll ... take the easy way.”

****

Once Donavan had made the vows, Faith released him and ported him right to Mrs. Carson’s office. Then she and her family stepped out of the dimension they had “borrowed” and found a crowd waiting for them. Talia, Arwen, Bailey, and many of the girls from Poe were there, and Faith found herself in the middle of a mass group hug.

Eventually, the girls began to disperse, and Faith excused herself and went to the flying building, where she was to meet Vantier.

“I ... hope she approves ...” Faith thought, worriedly.

To be Continued ...

Mercy Chapter 15.

Faith arrived at the flying building, and nervously went in. Once inside, she saw Vantier practicing her flying. After watching for a while, she approached Vantier, and took her back outside to where there was a couch that had been turned into a swing, and the two of them sat and looked at the stars for a while.

Then Faith began talking about Donavan, how he had made her feel, and then the discovery he was manipulating her. Somehow in the re-telling, the image of her confrontation with him with Fido at her side became funny, and she giggled while describing the fear in Donavan’s eyes when he realized the door back out was gone.

Vantier smiled, and then asked, “What do you think Mrs. Carson will do to him?”

“I don’t know,” Faith replied, “But I hope it’s enough to teach him a lesson.”

Vantier smiled, and said, “Once more, you make me proud, Faith. I believe you handled the situation correctly.”

Faith blushed, but said nothing.

The two girls bathed in the starlight a while longer, and then Faith said, “I better go rest a bit. Back to class tomorrow.”

The next day, Faith entered the class she had shared with Donovan with some nervousness.

That nervousness only got worse when she saw Donovan standing by the teacher’s desk.

But a moment later, she relaxed a bit, when she realized two things. First, he was still wearing the bracelet that nullified his charm power, and the guilt and shame he was feeling radiated off him, reassuring her that whatever punishment he had received, it had been effective.

Once everyone else had gotten to their seats, the teacher said, “Class, Mr. Ryder has a special presentation to give.”

Donovan stepped forward, and began to speak.

“As you all know, this class is about more than just learning how to control our powers, but also learning to use those powers ethically and responsibly. That is something that I have failed to do. None of you knew, but besides my obvious physical gifts, I am actually part incubus - a creature of magic designed to have sex with women. Now, I didn’t know the source of my charm with girls, but I knew the effect - that I could make myself all but irresistible to any girl I wanted. Now, you girls don’t have to worry. This bracelet blocks that ability so I will never again take advantage of anybody. I also want to say to anyone who I hurt with this gift that I will do anything I can to make up for my behavior. One of the reasons why I wanted to make this a public statement was as a warning to anyone else. Use your abilities responsibly, and consider the ethics of what you’re doing before you do it. If you don’t, you may end up like me, and one day look at yourself and hate the person you’ve turned into. Thank you.”

After Donovan finished, he sat down beside Faith, and the teacher got the class working on their projects.

“I’m glad you’ve seen the error of your ways.” Faith said to Donovan.

Mrs. Carson showed me what I had done - from the point of view of the girls I took advantage of. I ... don’t want to be that person anymore.”

“As long as that is your goal, I believe you can do it. I’ll help, if I can.”

“You ... you’d help me?”

“My code name is Mercy. If I refused to help ... I’d have to change the name.”

Faith smiled, and the two of them went to work on their assignment.

Once the class was over, Faith left and went to her next class, feeling very optimistic about things. In fact her good mood became contagious, and students and teachers began feeling better just by being near her.

Faith’s last class of the day was her self-defence class, so she went over to the dojo, only to be met by her Sensi. He asked, “I’d like you to show some staff sparring with one of the seniors, a girl named Jane Knox, who is using the code name Tarzanna. Are you up to it?”

She replied, “I’m fine.”

The Sensi said, “All right, when you’re both ready, take your places on the center mat.”

Faith nodded, and went and changed into her Gi. Once ready, she came out, manifested her staff, and took her place on the mat.

A minute later, her opponent appeared, and Faith was momentarily taken aback. The girl was almost seven feet high, very muscular, and carried a quarter-staff that looked like she had ripped out a tree trunk.

Faith steadied herself, bowed, and the Sensi said “Begin!”

At first, the fight was pretty even. The other girl was stronger, but Faith was quicker and thus able to avoid or block Jane’s attacks.

But then, something changed.

Suddenly, Jane said, “Kill you!” and began attacking with even more ferocity, causing Faith to have to retreat and spend all her energy just dodging blows, since each one would probably have crippled her if they had landed.

The Sensi called out for Jane to stop, but the girl ignored him, and lunged after Faith swinging her staff.

When one of her blows hit the floor and caused massive damage, the impact alone knocked Faith off her feet, and she rolled desperately away from another strike. Jane kicked Faith’s staff out of her hand, and readied a killing blow, but just before she could deliver it, the Sensi kicked Jane in the head with enough force to cause her to miss. Not pausing for a second, the Sensi came forward and delivered a couple of blinding punches that knocked the wind out of Jane and caused her to sink to her knees.

Suddenly, the rage was gone from Jane’s face, and she looked in shock at the damage she had caused.

“What did I do? Did I kill her?” she wailed, and then collapsed.

“All right. Let’s take these two to the infirmary.” Sensi said.

“I’m fine, just shaken up.” Faith said.

“Look at your arm, Faith.” Sensi said.

Faith looked, and realized her arm was broken. Then she fainted.

When Faith woke up, she was in the infirmary, and her arm was encased in a cast. In the bed next to her, Jane was curled up into a fetal position crying.

Something about Jane’s attitude tweaked a memory in Faith, and she used her telepathy to look into the girl’s mind.

“Oh, dear God ...” She said.

The healer on duty ran over to Faith, and asked, “What is it?”

“Please get Mrs. Carson down here right away. That girl isn’t responsible for the attack on me. Someone took control of her. And I know who.”

“Who?” Asked the healer.

“Mrs. Carson will understand. It’s Brand. Brand is back.”

To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 16

Faith found herself dozing while waiting for Mrs. Carson to come down to the infirmary.

When she woke, everybody had left, and she was alone with her thoughts.

She buzzed for the nurse, and when she came, she asked about Mrs. Carson, and was told that an emergency had come up, and she’d be back as soon as she could.

Faith tried to piece together what she had learned from her quick scan of Jane’s mind. The girl had gone home for a visit a week ago, and somehow, Brand had been close enough to learn that Jane was in the self-defence class with Faith, and planted a set of instructions that would take her over if they ever sparred together.

Which meant that Faith wasn’t safe at the school anymore, because he wasn’t apparently going to wait for a year, and if he could take over another student once, he could do it as many times as he needed until one of his victims killed her, or forced her to kill them causing her to be expelled.

Which meant none of the other students were safe as long as Brand was out there, and it wasn’t like she could ask Mrs. Carson to tell every student they couldn’t leave the campus.

So Faith would have to leave the school. She wasn’t going to risk the other students being violated the way Jane had been. And since she expected that Mrs. Carson wouldn’t understand, she would have to leave right away, before Mrs. Carson came back.

Faith carefully got up, and got her clothes out of the small closet beside the bed. Wincing in pain whenever she moved her right arm too much, she managed to get dressed, and slipped out of the room as quietly as she could.

Once out of the medical building, Faith snuck towards Poe cottage. She slipped into the building, went to her room and listened outside the door trying to hear if her roommate Talia was there.

It was quiet, so she risked opening the door, and confirmed Talia was clearly not there.

Faith sighed with relief. She hadn’t wanted to have to argue with Talia about what she needed to do. She had come to care greatly for Talia, and for Arwen, and she couldn’t bear the thought of them getting hurt by Brand.

So even though she’d miss them terribly, she had to go before he struck again.

Faith pulled out a rather cute suitcase Talia had got for her as a joke on her first day on campus “to hold all the dresses I’m sure you’ll buy.” she had said, giggling.

Faith smiled as she remembered that moment. Then she sighed, and started filling the suitcase with a few essentials.

Once the suitcase was full, Faith took it, and slipped out of Poe, and headed for the school gates.

Once there, she wondered about how to get through. There would be security there, and if she just busted through, everyone would be after her in no time. Then she summoned her wings, thinking she could just fly over the gate and be gone, but before she could launch herself into the sky, a voice said, “That’s not gonna work, kid.”

She span around, making herself wince in the process as her broken arm flared in pain.

A few feet away was a woman who had recently come to the school as a teacher.

She was caucasian, with dark brown hair that went down to about her shoulder blades. She had tiny black scales that cover the top part of her face around the forehead, eyes, and cheek bone areas, so that it almost looked like she might be wearing a mask. Her eyes were yellow and slitted, her ears were pointed like an elf or vulcan, and she had 2 inch long black horns and a black devils tail. She was wearing black slacks and a long sleeve red shirt.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” she said. “I was just out for a walk and happened to hear about some girl who skipped out of the medical unit and thought maybe they would head this way. You are the girl they’re looking for, right?”

Faith said, “Yes. You gonna turn me in?”

“Me? No. But why are you trying to leave the campus instead of healing that arm?”

Faith told the teacher about Brand, and how he had hurt another girl trying to get to Faith, and thus why she had to leave the campus.

“I think I see a small flaw, kid. If he could get to one student, what would stop him from getting to anybody in any place you go? You might make the kids here safer, but by your own logic you’d be trading their safety for that of basically everyone else everywhere.” the teacher said.

Faith looked at the teacher in shock, and realized she was right. Then, finally everything she had been through that day, being attacked by Jane, discovering Brand had been behind it, the pain in her arm and the hopelessness of her situation crashed into her all at once, and she started to cry.

The teacher approached, and gently hugged Faith, and Faith said, “What do I do? Maybe I should just ... give up.”

“And miss out on beating him?”

“How can I beat him?”

“You said you had faced him before. How did you beat him then?”

“I ... didn’t. I just forgave him. And he flew away.”

“So he couldnt take being forgiven? Then that’s your secret power, kid. Make it work for you.”

“I ... I’ll try.”

“Good girl. Now let’s get you back to the medical building. We’ll tell the nurses you just went out for some fresh air, and forgot to check in with them.”

“Okay.” Faith said, and then giggled.

“What is it?”

“Well, it just hit me. The way I look, the way you look. I bet this is the first time a devil has given good advice to an angel.”

“I”m no devil. I’m the Amazing Imp!”

Then arm in arm, the two walked back to the medical building, and settled Faith back into her room.

Then Imp said, “Good night, kid. Oh. By the way, do you like Art? That’s what I teach here.”

“I ... before my transformation, I would have been lucky to do stick figures. Now ... I don’t know. But a friend of mine once suggested I could make a good model.”

“They would be right. Once your arm heals, maybe you could pose for my class.”

“I ... wouldn’t have to be naked, would I?”

“I’m pretty sure Mrs. Carson would have my tail in a sling if I had a student posing nude. But we could get you into something backless, and really show off your wings, if you were up to it.”

“I’ll think about it. And thank you.”

“Glad I could help, kid.”

“Faith. My name is Faith. And my codename is Mercy.”

“Well, I bet both suit you well. I better go, though.”

“Thanks again.” Faith said, but Imp was already gone.

To be continued ..

Mercy Chapter 17

Author's note. As I must for each chapter, it seems, I must apologize for the delay, and how short it is. Comments and kudos appreciated.

As difficult as it was to get comfortable with a cast, eventually Faith fell asleep. When she woke, Mrs. Carson was there.

“Hey sweetie, how you feeling?” Mrs. Carson said, smiling.

“Okay, I guess.” Faith answered.

“Good. Now, how much should I chew you out for peeking into another student’s mind, especially without their permission?”

“What? Oh ... “

“Yes. Oh. Those rules exist for a reason, Faith. You are not a trained therapist. You could have damaged Jane while trying to help her. You understand that, right?”

Faith fought back tears, and said, “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good. Now, try and describe what you found out.”

Faith swallowed her tears, and said, “It was like a trap in her head. Unless the right circumstances happened, she would go on as normal, not even knowing anything was wrong. But if the conditions of the trap were met ...”

“Like her being asked to spar with you?” Mrs. Carson asked.

“Yeah. Then it would be activated, and overwhelm her with hate and a need to kill me if she could. So ... is she gonna be okay?”

“We have very good councilors here. She’ll get all the help she needs to get past this.”

“Good. So ... what do I do now? I ... considered leaving the school, to protect the other students from this kind of thing. But ... someone reminded me that out in the world, there would be even more people Brand could use, once he realized I was no longer here at the school.”

“They were right. I’ll be conferring with our chief of security, and our magic staff. Now that we know what to look for, we’ll make sure it doesn’t work twice.”

“So what do I do now?”

“Rest and heal up your arm. Then back to classes. And you’re going to owe me an essay on the ethics and responsibility of being a telepath. Understand?”

Faith replied, “Yes, ma’am” in a quiet voice.

“Good girl. Don’t worry. And to be honest, i don’t think this was an attempt to kill you. To test you, to shake you up, maybe, not not kill.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because there is no way Sensi would have let the two of you spar without his supervision, and no way he wouldn’t have stepped in, as he did, to stop it before anything fatal could have happened. And Brand must have known that, so this was ... a message, maybe.”

“And what do you think the message was?”

“Study hard, learn all you can, get as strong as you can. Because he’s waiting for the rematch.”

“I was going to do that anyway. Speaking of learning, that’s going to be a little easier now that Donovan has learned his lesson. Thank you for taking care of that.”

“You’re welcome, dear. Donovan needed the lesson, and I’m glad he’s learned it.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not a bad kid. Just got a little arrogant, entitled, and lazy.”

“The fact that you can see the good in him is one of your best qualities, Faith. That’s why I believe when the time comes, you’ll handle Brand too.”

Faith blushed.

“Anyway, you need to rest again, so I’ll let you get to that.” Mrs. Carson said, and then she left.

****

The next week saw Faith slowly return to her regular routines. The cast came off, and soon she could do range of motion exercises without pain. She returned to her classes, caught up on her homework, and did her essay for Mrs. Carson, who praised it.

Along the way she discovered that her ability to absorb manna didn’t just apply to the raw stuff, but she could in fact take manna from spells, especially if they were cast on her or if she touched an object with a spell cast on it.

She was warned that this draining could only occur if she had less than full manna stored. Once full, she could take no more until she cast a spell to use some. They recommended that if she was fighting a mage, she could cast some small spells to drain enough manna to absorb most or all of any spells placed on her.

She was also warned that this only applied to spells placed directly on her. “Area of effect” spells cast near her would not be absorbed as quickly, even if she was low on manna.

Another week passed, and Faith and Donovan finished their project and got an “A” each for their presentation. When Faith told Talia, she said, “Good. There are a few girls with some good grades to celebrate. Come around to the back of Poe on Friday after your last class.”

Friday afternoon finally came, and Faith went around to the back of Poe cottage, and found an amazing sight.

Someone had erected a giant tent, painted it pink and purple, and decorated it with flowers. Faith went in, and found it fully stocked for a massive sleepover, with a giant TV in one corner with comfy looking chairs and pillows near it, a portable kitchen from which she could smell something sweet cooking, and in the back a large “bedroom” with several sleeping bags and pillows.

Talia’s girlfriend Lisa came up to Faith, and gave her a quick hug. “Come on in, Talia’s just about done making snacks, and the rest of the girls should be arriving soon.”

“How did you guys make this place so fast?’

“It’s a prototype that one of the devisors has been working on. I don’t understand the science, but the whole structure is held in a pocket dimension until you summon it. When the weekend is over, we just push a button, and the whole place will go back inside the pocket dimension.”

“Way cool.” Faith said, and went to the kitchen to help out Talia.

Soon, other girls started to arrive. Arwen came, and Ivy, and Seph, and a few more from Poe as well.

But just when Faith thought everybody had arrived who was coming, there was a knock at the door. She went to answer it, and saw Jane standing there looking shy, and beside her was Vantier.

Despite her size, Jane seemed to be slightly shrunk into herself, and she said in a soft voice, “Vantier here suggested I come. Unless that’s a problem ...”

Faith responded by giving her a hug, and saying, “No, please come in. How are YOU doing?”

“Me? But I broke your wrist, almost ..”

“It wasn’t you, Jane. And my wrist is fine. See?” Faith said, wiggling her fingers.

“You sure you want me here?” Jane asked softly.

“Yes!. And it sounds like you need some fun! Come on in, they’re getting a movie started!”

Jane and Vantier came in, and Jane seemed shocked when all the other girls came over and hugged her and asked how she was holding up.

As they settled in to watch the movie and eat pizza and snacks, Jane whispered to Faith, “I ... I thought everybody would hate me.”

Vantier, who was on the other side of Jane, said, “How could we hate you for something that wasn’t your fault?”

Faith nodded, and said, “Exactly, Jane. Now, let’s watch this movie. I’ve heard it’s pretty silly!”

****

Eventually, the movies were over, and girls started to head toward the “bedroom” to slip into pj’s and get ready for bed. Faith saw Vantier holding back, so she went over to her, and said, “Thank you for bringing Jane. Hopefully, this helps her recover.”

“I just figured that while you could tell her she wasn’t at fault, and that you didn’t hold it against her, it might be more effective to show her.”

“Actions speak louder than words.” Faith agreed, “So thanks again.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s join the others. I’m rather curious as how this ‘slumber party’ thing goes.”

“Me too,.” Faith admitted. “Let’s go find out together?”

“Let’s.” Vantier agreed, and the two girls went hand in hand into the bedroom.

****
To be continued ...

Mercy Chapter 18

As I keep having to say, sorry this is so short. It was just too good a spot to put a cliffhanger

Sunday afternoon, the girls began leaving the slumber party tent, heading back to Poe with giggles and hugs being shared by all. Faith stayed behind with Jane, and she learned why Jane had been so freaked out about hurting her. Apparently, Jane’s mutation had been triggered by a mastermind trying to create super soldier followers, and Jane had been one of the lucky ones - many of his subjects had ended up as mindless brutes who had to be put down when the government caught up to the mastermind. Jane had been allowed to go to Whately, but she had often wondered if she might yet turn into a monster, so Brand’s manipulation of her had cut her confidence in her ability to control herself.

“Well, obviously the school has confidence in you, or you’d be wearing a UV band.” Faith pointed out.

The two girls hugged, and Jane left to go back to Poe.

Once everybody was gone, and the tent had been returned to its pocket dimension, Talia took the cube containing the tent back to the divisor lab with a note of thanks from all the girls who had taken part in the weekend.

Then Talia asked Faith if she minded being scarce for a bit so she could get some cuddle time with her girlfriend, and Faith agreed.

Faith decided to walk around a bit before heading for some flying exercises.

Walking around Poe, she found herself in a new area, and then she heard voices from a room just ahead.

She opened the door, and saw two young girls sitting on beds opposite from each other. One was blonde, and wearing what looked like a princess dress, and she was using a screwdriver on what looked like a mechanical ladybug only in pink. The other girl was a brunette, and was lecturing the blonde non-stop.

“Dottie, you got to stop with those hugglebugs! They’re dangerous! Dont remember at our birthday party when one attacked one of the guests for wearing pants?”

“It was supposed to girlify the yard, not the people. But I think I’ve fixed that. Besides, he had great legs for a boy.”

Faith stood in the doorway for a while, unnoticed by the two girls. She could feel the sisterly love the two shared, despite their argument, and just being near it lifted her spirits. Still unnoticed, she crept away leaving the two girls to their ongoing discussion, and made her way to the flying building.

As she hoped, Vantier was there, and the two of them flew together, mostly in silence.

Finally, they stopped to rest, and Faith talked about the bond she had felt between the two girl, saying, “I dont want to put down my friendships. I’ve been really lucky. But the love those two share? Wow.”

Vantier smiled, and said, “It’s a rare thing to bond with a person on that kind of level. But I wouldn’t at all be surprised if it happens to you.”

“M...me? Why would you think it would happen to me?”

“You are an ... amazing girl, Faith. You draw people to you with your kindness and gentle nature. So yes, I can see you having as many brothers and sisters as you can handle.”

Faith blushed, and decided to head back to Poe. But before she could get there, Arwen came running up to her, and said, “Faith! I think we’ve found a way to flush Brand out!”

To be continued ...

Chapter 19

Previously ...

“Faith! I think we’ve found a way to flush Brand out!”

And now ...

“What? Really?” Faith exclaimed.

“Yeah, come on, our magic teachers will help explain.” Arwen said.

The two girls went to the magic building, and came into a room where several teachers were waiting for them.

“Arwen said you guys might have found a way to track Brand?” Faith asked once they were seated.

“Yes, dear, but to confirm our suspicions, we would like to to examine your memory of your encounter with him.” One of the teachers said.

“How can we do that?” asked Faith.

“Just focus on that moment, and we’ll recreate the image of him.”

Faith took a deep breath, and tried to recall her encounter with Brand. Soon, hovering just above the table was an image of Brand as she had seen him.

Arwen pointed at the markings on Brand’s body and asked, “Was I right?”

“Yes.” One of the teachers said.

“Right about what?” Faith asked.

“These markings. From the way you described them, we assumed they were glyphs, or summoning tattoos, like what you have. But they are much less ... complete than that. They are like ... crib notes for spells.” Arwen said, excitedly.

“Crib notes?” Faith asked.

“A way of cheating, my dear. A dishonest student would write probable answers to an upcoming test on their body, hoping to not be noticed.”

“So what does this mean for tracking Brand?”

“Such ... messy spellcasting leaves a trace, dear. A magic trace we can search for, and soon be able to find him, wherever he may be.”

“And it means one other thing. We believe it means Brand is not cooperating with Vendetta. He’s ... resisting, at least to some degree.”

“How can you tell that?” Faith asked.

“Because unless Brand is a fool, which I don’t think he is, he has to know those marks can be traced. Maybe not by you, but he has to know this school has magic experts who could do so.”

Faith asked, “Does this mean I should prepare to face him again soon? Like much sooner than his one year deadline?”

“Perhaps, Faith. But before you face him, we want you to be as prepared as possible.”

“So back to studying.” Faith said, with a sigh.

“You’re doing fine, hon. You’ll be ready before you know it.”

“Thanks” Faith said, blushing.

Shortly after Faith left the magic building and went towards Poe. As she walked, she set off a magical alarm she had left in her room to let Talia know she was on her way, in case Talia and her girlfriend were still ... “busy”.

By the time she got to the room, Talia was alone.

“Did you two have fun?” Faith teased.

“I don’t kiss ... or do other things ... and tell” Talia responded, and stuck out her tongue.

Faith giggled, and got ready for bed. She planned to spend some time in her dreamscape letting her family know what she learned about Brand, and while she could do that almost anywhere, her bed was the safest place.

Once in her dreamscape she spent time with Ava, her mother, and of course Fido. She updated them on what had been found out about Brand, and the renewed hope she felt that he could be saved if only Vendetta could be expelled from him.

Then she spent some time studying the Book of the People, hoping to learn more about how to expel an unwanted spirit.

After an hour of reading, she said her goodbyes to Fido, Ava, and her mother, and returned to her bed to get some sleep.

The next day, Faith tried to keep her focus on the here-and-now, and not think too much about Brand and how she could possibly help him.

Fortunately, she found her classes challenging enough to keep her focus, and the day passed without any real trouble.

That night, Faith decided to check on the Night Owls, the small group of students whose biology or powers meant they were up for part or all of the night.

She had just left Poe when she heard a voice call her name from behind her. She turned, and saw a young man in the uniform of campus security. She stopped, and waited for him to catch up.

He stopped a couple of feet away, and his mouth moved, but no sound came out.

Sensing his anxiety, Faith joked “Aren’t you a little short for a security guard?”

He blinked, and then said “Er .. no. I’m Richard. Student auxiliary security.”

There was silence for a moment, and finally Faith asked “Was there something you needed?”

“Oh! Er ... it’s just ... well, perhaps you needed an escort. You know, for safety.”

Faith looked at the young man, and even without touching his mind she could read him like a book. He was attracted to her, but intimated to the point he could hardly put two words together. “I Can look after myself.” she said, with a little mock anger.

“Of course you can! I ... “ He paused, and looked down at his feet. “Of course you can” he repeated softly.

Faith decided to take pity on him, and said, “On the other hand, company is always pleasant. Shall we go?”

The boy looked stunned, and finally stammered “Go? Er, ... I can come with you?”

“Well, only if you hurry up. I do want to meet with the Night Owls before the sun comes up.” Faith replied, while trying to desperately hide a giggle.

For a while, they walked in silence. Faith snuck a look at him once in a while as they walked, and realized he had a dazed expression on his face, like he was afraid he was dreaming and desperately wanted to not do or say anything that would end the dream.

When they got to the small building where the Night Owls held their meetings, Faith paused at the door, and said, “Thank you for your company, Richard.”

Then, impulsively, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and slipped inside the building, leaving the boy standing there with a hand touching his cheek as if he could capture the kiss and keep it forever.

Faith managed to get partway down the hall before she broke out into giggles.

“I guess being a pretty girl does occasionally have perks.” She thought, and then still giggling, she went into the room where the Night Owls were playing games.

The next morning, Faith told Talia about Richard, and both girls giggled.

“I think he would have done anything I asked, poor boy., It was ... a heady feeling, knowing I could do that to him.”

Then Talia sobered, and said, “Now you know a bit of the power a pretty girl can weld over a guy. Make sure it doesn’t go to your head. Abuse that power, and one day you might make a guy angry enough to lash back. Or worse, get addicted to that power, and become a truly awful person.”

“I ... dont want either to happen.” Faith said. “I’ll be careful.”

“Good girl.” Talia said, and the two girls hugged.

“Let’s get dressed and get some breakfast before classes.” Faith said, and the two girl went to do just that.

To be concluded ...

****

Mercy Chapter 20.

A couple of days later, Faith’s magic teacher asked her to come back after her last class of the day.

When she got to the magic building, she was shocked to see Richard standing beside her teacher.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I believe Richard here will be very useful when you face Brand.” Faith’s teacher said.

“Richard? How can you help?”

“Well, er .. Faith, my power - I can contact Brand and help him expel Vendetta.”

“That’s fantastic!”

“Yes, but there is a couple of limitations. The first is, I have to make physical contact. And Brand will have to want Vendetta gone.”

Faith’s shoulders sagged.

“Dont give up hope, dear.” Faith’s teacher said, “We’re not giving up, so neither should you.”

“Thanks,” Faith answered, and then added, “And thank you, Richard, for being willing to do this.”

Richard blushed, and said, “My granddad was an actual hero. He died saving over a hundred people. There is a small memorial to him in my town, and I grew up on the story of his sacrifice. I always hoped one day I could do something like that. This is my chance.”

Faith smiled, and said, “Well, thanks. Now we just need a plan on how to get you close enough to Brand to be effective.”

****

For the next two weeks Faith spent every moment she could trying to come up with a plan to save Brand. With Mrs. Carson’s permission, she borrowed a small room and set up her “operational headquarters” there. Her friends, classmates, and teachers would stop by and give suggestions and listen to her ideas, and even Vantier had checked in on her, but at the end of the two weeks she felt no closer to a solid plan than at the start.

On the last day she had booked the room, Mrs. Carson came to see her.

“Not going well, Faith?” she asked, as she looked around the room, which had crumpled bits of paper everywhere.

“No ma’am.” Faith replied.

“Well, I have something that might help. The government is going to be holding hearings on the issue of mutants, and has asked the school about sending a delegation. I had planned to ask for some students to be part of the group anyway, so if you wanted to, you could go.”

“That sounds great, but how does that help me get Brand?”

“Those hearings will be both televised and available online. No matter where Brand is, he is going to at least have the opportunity to see them, and spot you in our group.”

“So we put a target on my back, and hope he takes the bait?”

“In a word, yes. It’s not ideal - I am not thrilled about putting you in danger, but it might be the best chance to have your confrontation with Brand on your terms, not his.”

“Assuming he takes the bait, what do I do when he shows up?”

“Try and get him to take the fight to an unpopulated area. He might even cooperate so he can have a one-on-one confrontation instead of having to face a whole group of mutants, not to mention all the conventional forces that would be in play at the hearings. If that works, try and keep him busy long enough for us to send you Richard so he can try and expel Vendetta. As for how that goes, well, we’d just have to see.”

“You think I can do this?” Faith asked.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have suggested it.” Mrs. Carson said firmly.

“Okay, I’m in.” Faith said, “When does this committee meeting happen?”

“One month from today. So keep up your studies. There will be no failing classes, you hear me young lady?” Mrs. Carson said while smiling.

“I wont let you down.” Faith replied.

*****

The next month seemed to both fly by and pass with agonizing slowness.

Finally, the day came, and a group from the school took a plane to Washington D.C.

Once they got to the hotel, Mrs. Carson said, “Arwen, stay here and keep watching for Brand. If he shows, cast that ‘tag’ spell we taught you, and we can track him wherever he goes. Julia is our teleporter, and when the time is right, she’ll send Richard in to help Faith. As for the rest of us, we’ll go to the hearings, and I’ll make sure I introduce Faith, and have her extend her wings so the cameras will be sure to get a good look at her. But after that, I’ll do most of the talking to the committee until and unless Brand actually shows up. Everybody clear?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Everyone replied in almost unison.

So the group went to the capitol building, were cleared as invited guests, and entered the committee room. Mrs. Carson was called, and she brought the group of students up with her, introducing Faith last, and allowing Faith to rise up enough to show her wings off before settling back down. Once the introductions were finished, Mrs. Carson began to talk about the school’s history, current status, and goals for the future.

She had been speaking for about a half-hour (including answering questions from the committee) when the image of Brand appeared in the room.

“Faith,” his image said, “I gave you a year to prepare for me. You have apparently decided you didn’t need all of it, so fine. Come outside and face me one on one, or everyone in this room will suffer.”

The girl with the wings stood forward, but the image said, “No. The real Faith. Your attempt to fool me failed.”

Talia, who had been disguised as Faith and sporting artificial wings sighed, and said, “Was worth a shot.”

Faith, who was dressed as campus security, stepped forward, and said, “Okay, Brand. I’m coming out.”

Faith left the committee room and exited the building, she walked until she was on the green grass of the National Mall.

Then, she heard Brand’s voice saying “That’s far enough.”

She looked up, and saw Brand swooping down towards her, landing a few feet in front of her.

He said, “You still had time left before your year is out. You sure you want to do this now?”

“I could say the same to you. You dont have to fight me, Brand. I have learned a lot about our ancestors and I’d be willing to share with you, if you would be willing to come to the school with me.”

Brand manifested his sword, and said, “I think you’ll be telling me everything regardless.”

Brand lunged, and Faith barely was able to leap out of the way, manifesting her staff at the same time. Brand continued to attack wildly, and Faith was able to dodge or parry but couldn’t do any attacking of her own.

Then Faith stumbled backing up, and Brand knocked her staff out of her hand. He loomed over Faith, and said, “I can’t kill you yet. But I can hurt you. A lot.”

He raised his sword, and swung towards her right arm, but before he could finish the strike, a hand grabbed his arm as Richard arrived via teleport.

Richard put his other arm around Brand’s neck, and shouted, “Faith! Grab ahold of us! I’ll need your help!”

Faith leaped up and grabbed both boys ...

And found herself in a wasteland.

She saw Richard crouching behind a bush, and approached him.

Richard pointed at a small valley, and then Faith heard the sound of sobbing, followed by the crack of a whip. She and Richard started approaching the valley, and then she saw Brand, and Vendetta.

Brand was chained, and covered in cuts and bruises. Vendetta was holding a whip, and yelling at the boy.

“I’ll keep Vendetta busy, you get Brand to help us.” Richard said, and launched himself at the much larger Vendetta.

Faith went to the chained boy, and kneeled beside him. “Brand,” she said softly, “Richard and I can do a lot, but we cant get Vendetta out without your help. Will you help us?”

“I can’t! Just look at what he’s done to me!” Brand shouted back.

“Brand, this is YOUR mindscape. YOU set the rules here, not him. You can see now he isn’t helping you. So stand up!”

“How ... how can you want to help me, after what I did to your mom and dad? You should leave me to suffer.”

“I forgave you, Brand. Please make that forgiveness mean something.”

Just then, Faith heard a scream of pain, and turned to see that Richard had been hurt badly. Then Vendetta tossed the young man away and he landed on the ground groaning.

Faith stood up, and said, “I’m going to fight Vendetta now, Brand. If you dont help, I’ll probably lose. So it’s up to you.”

With that said, she turned and attacked the creature with her staff.

Faith got some solid hits in with her staff, and then used her wings to help her dodge Vendetta’s counter-attack. But soon, she realized her premonition was right - she couldn’t beat him. He was simply too strong, to resistant to her attacks.

Eventually, he knocked her staff out of her hand, and grabbed her throat.

He leered at her, and said, “You do have fire, despite your ancestor's cowardice. In fact, you would make a better host than that weakling, Brand. Once I strip you of all your knowledge, I will be able to use your body to gain access to that school, and all the power that is there. With that at my disposal, nothing will challenge me, not even the Bastard himself. And you will be there to witness all of it. No, more than a witness. A part of all I do. I will make you experience joy at betraying your friends, and orgasms when I use your body to kill innocents. I will ..”

Just then the hand holding Faith by the neck was severed off.

Holding his bleeding limb, Vendetta turned, and saw Brand with a sword in his hand.

“You wont hurt her. You wont hurt anybody ever again.” Brand said firmly.

“I own you, you cant do anything!” Vendetta shouted.

“This is my mind. I can do whatever I want. Now, get out!” Brand replied.

Vendetta swung his sword, but Brand knocked it away, and grabbed the creature, who started to shrink.

“Let’s finish this, grab ahold of him!” Richard said, rising from where Vendetta had thrown him.

Both Richard and Faith put a hand on Brand’s shoulder. He looked at one of them, then the other, and they nodded.

There was a bright light, and suddenly, Vendetta was gone.

*****

Epilog: Two weeks later:

Faith was studying in Crystal Hall when Mrs. Carson came up to her.

“How are you doing, Faith? Everyone has noticed you’ve been very quiet since your encounter with Brand.”

“Just been doing a lot of thinking, ma’am.” Faith replied.

“Well, I have some news for you. The U.S. government has agreed with the school’s assessment of Brand. That possession by Vendetta amounts to diminished capacity, and as a result he should be paroled to a place where he can make up for what he did and possibly become a positive force in the world. A place like a certain school where he might find some people willing to help him in that process?”

“You mean he’s ... coming here?”

“Yes, dear. He should be here very soon. In fact, if you come with me to the gates, we should be in time to meet him.”

Faith got up, and went with Mrs. Carson to the gate. Soon, a small bus arrived, and an armed soldier stepped off, followed by Brand who was in handcuffs.

Mrs. Carson went to the guard, signed some paperwork, and the guard unlocked Brand’s handcuffs.

He remained silent for a while, and then said, “They said I need a code name. I ... dont want to be known as Vendetta.”

“What about Remittetur - it’s Latin for ‘forgiven’” Mrs. Carson said.

“I don’t feel very worthy of being forgiven.” Brand replied sadly.

“Good thing your feelings about your lack of worth doesn’t count.” Faith said, and held out her hand to Brand.

Brand took her hand. “Okay, what’s first?”

Mrs. Carson said, “I think Faith should give you a tour. Then we’ll get you some homework. You have a lot to catch up on.”

“Let’s get you started.” Faith said, with a smile, and led Brand by the hand toward the campus.

The End ... for now ...

Branded

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