Chapter 274 - Distractions And-

I was in a room.

It was in the furthest corner of the house.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to feel. 

On one side, I had to worry about the invasion, my wedding, and how to stop those bloody aliens. On the other, I had to worry about Elsa. 

All this time I thought of her, my little sister: Even when I found out about how she wasn't. But still, she was my sister. 

And now I just randomly find out that she has feelings for me?

How?

Why?

And this hard wooden bed was bad for my back.

It hurt!

Sirgh!

I guess it was my fault for just lying on a bare bed with no cushioning at all. 

Elsa was my sister- I always treated her like that. We lost our father at a young age. I still got some fatherly love despite everything but she never got any. So- I sometimes spoiled her. But I never went any deeper than just being a brother. I treated her with kindness, sometimes I acted a bit too strict, sometimes I pranked her too much, but in the end, she was my sister. 

We were brothers and sisters.

'Then why did it come to this?'

Where had I gone wrong?

Beep!

My Holo buzzed. My eyes darted around, unable to focus. 

It took a minute to register. 

It was the headmaster. He wanted to see me.

Well, it was better than nothing. 

Might as well go see him, I guess. This was a good distraction. 

I picked myself up and headed for the exit. On my way, I saw Elsa and Marg talking just outside their room. I couldn't make out what they were saying. Seeing me, both stopped talking and just stood there. I went past them, not quite looking at either of them. 

I kind of had enough of the worries. 'I'll just deal with them later.' Yeah, I was running away but I didn't have any way to cope with all this. 

I didn't want to think about these.

Not yet. 

***

The academy was a mess. 

The city was full of debris but the academy was worse. It sufficed to say, this place took the full brunt of the attack. 

There were broken buildings everywhere and still traces of blood left here and there. 

Of course, students and teachers alike were cleaning up and doing their best, yet, everything felt so mundane, so pointless. 

There were banners, stalls on the ground; crushed, destroyed. 'It was the festival week…'

They worked so hard for this…

I grit my teeth. 

'Unforgivable.'

It really was. Those things had hurt my family, ruined my school, and killed so many. 

They'd done all that and they were doing it for fun, to kill time. And most of them weren't even them! They were just a mindless bunch being controlled by others!

It was unforgivable. 

***

"You wanted to see me?"

With a knock, I came inside the headmaster's office. 

He was standing, facing the window, looking out. "Have a seat." We both sat down. 

The room was oddly empty.

It was awkward. 

Though we were looking at each other, neither of us was talking. 

I didn't know what to say. He probably didn't either. 

What was there to talk about?

The destruction had already happened and even if we tore our heads apart, it wasn't going to get us anywhere.

And I was kind of lost in thought. Even though I tried to distract myself from that, even though I tried to not think about it, I still did. 

"I was too conceited, I apologize." He sighed. "I guess I better apologize to the rest of the student body and everyone else too." He looked distantly at the window. 

And yet, the headmaster found a way to surprise me. 

Why the hell was he apologizing?

"You?"

"Yeah, this was my fault. When we came back from the future and changed the world, the aliens didn't know about us. And, so we used the chance and made sure they thought of us as superior beings. In that way, they'd never attack. But I guess that was a stupid plan as there were rats among men." He chuckled in frustration. "And for that, we had to pay."

But that was a long time ago and it did work till now. There were certain things people could never change no matter what. 

"But that doesn't explain-"

"They were here for me. Back in the day, it was me who killed their last commander. Well, barely. But still, they thought if they got rid of me, then they'd be able to win rather easily. I mean no one can beat old age… And-" He paused, looked at me. "Now they have their eyes on you." Even if it was his fault, he was still beating himself over it a bit too much. 

Which meant- now they'd come for me? "That's why you tried to stop me?"

There was much noise in the background. People were yelling in the distant fields and even from the comfort of the third floor all the way up here, I could hear all that. The sound of hammers.

I definitely couldn't focus though. 

"To be honest, no, I didn't try to stop you. I was losing badly and my school was being destroyed. If I wanted to stop you, I would have just done that. Honestly, I was glad you showed up at the time." He laughed but his eyes weren't laughing. "Call me selfish-"

"Don't bother. I did what I wanted to. It was my choice, and I wouldn't have stopped even if you tried to. And what happened, happened. Even if it was your fault, it doesn't matter now. Anyway, back to business." I stared a bit too intently. "Explain to me what they are, where they are coming from, and your plans on stopping them."

I didn't know much about the aliens. I knew they were doing this for fun, but that was it. 

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" He smiled. "I was born in the future. When I was born, we were already under attack. But it wasn't like they were actually attacking us, rather they'd set the virus loose and most of us just died. The remaining ones started to become Kin."

POOT! 

The headmaster cleared his throat. "By becoming Kin you gain vast powers but- but the powers were uncontrollable. So with the help of Neil, we made a vaccine. Though we call it a vaccine, it was basically a modified version of the same virus but just enough to let us have powers while also letting us keep our minds intact. The process had a lot of trial and error and took roughly four centuries…"

Though he tried to play it off as nothing was a miss, it certainly wasn't the case. 

For starters, it smelled in here. 

"That's different from what I read." I still tried to pretend like nothing was wrong though. 

It was awkward for both of us.