Chapter 2. The Unwanted Reunion.

  When Kael finally came back home he saw his father's shoes, he understood his father finished early and was already cooking or was done cooking dinner for them. But then he noticed something extra. There were two extra pairs or shoes next to his father's, one was similar to the size of his father's shoes and the other was smaller, even smaller than his own size. He figured out immediately that they had guests, he didn't mind or care about it. He wondered who those guests may be, maybe some work friends? Or the highschool friends he met sometime ago? Or maybe someone entirely different that him and his father knew... All he prayed for was that the guests weren't with "her". As he took off his shoes he quickly sneaked his way into his room, starting to change clothes and putting his school stuff next to his desk to do it later, for now he wondered who the guests were and what was for dinner. As if his thoughts has been answered he heard a knock on his door followed by his father opening it.

  -"Hey there kid... We have guests as you probably noticed... So please come down in like 10-15 minutes after you get ready,okay? We'll be waiting for you."

  His father's behavior was strange, overly cautious, which caused Kael to wonder what has happened or who the guests might be for his father to act this way. The idea suddenly struck him like a punch, he knew who the guests were. He started shaking and cold sweat poured down his back... It was her, she was the guest they had... He... He knew that it wouldn't end well for him. The girl he was afraid of was called Katrine Morge. She was his and his late sister's childhood friend, since their mothers got along extremely well, but after his mother and sister died in an accident. Something about Katrine changed, she was an only child too, only living with her father since her mother died in the accident... For some reason she chose Kael as her target for taking her anger out, always blaming him, forcing Kael to be "ordinary" to avoid such situations further in life. His heart started beating faster and faster, he could barely breathe. He did everything he could to calm down, he knew that he's gonna have a panic attack in a span of seconds, in an act of desperation he grabbed the injector with calming medication and stabbed himself in the thigh. Seconds passed and Kael thought he was too late, but suddenly his heart slowed its beat, his breathing stabilised and shaking along with the feeling of cold sweat stopped as well. He was mere seconds from having a panic attack, he would lose his "ordinary" self, he didn't want that, he knew it would ruin his image in the face of his father and Katrine along with her father. He stood there, sweat on his forehead, the injector still in his grip stabbed into his thigh. He won this time with himself, the only battle and confrontation he fears, himself, the true self that Kael Riggs is. Not the one who he created, the calm, collected and ordinary one... His true self... As he finally collected himself he threw away the injector and changed clothes to new, clean ones, taking his final breaths of calm and collected air, as he decided to confront his past and Katrine, he was ready for all the blame she had to tell him. It was always like this and their fathers always had to separate them. Even though the fathers did get along after both of their wives' tragic passing in an accident along with Kael's younger sister, they hoped their kids would get along over shared loss and tragedy, but it was only it, "hope, the mother of foolish"... Kael finally decided to step out of his room and walk over to the living room where he saw his father chatting quite lively with Katrine's father, his "uncle"... But he noticed something strange about Katrine, even though she noticed him walking in, she remained quiet. She was always the first one to speak up whenever Kael was around, blaming him and sometimes even getting down to physical altercation. But today was different, she was quiet and collected, which was unnerving for Kael. Somewhat unnatural, he hoped that he'll finally relieve himself and speak his mind, breaking his "ordinary" self this once to get the weight off his shoulders. However he couldn't do that, it'd ruin his ordinary image. He quietly walked over to the couch sitting down next to his father, who was still lively chatting with his uncle about everyday ordinary life and work related stuff that he himself barely understood anything off since he was still too young to work, after all he was only 16, same as Katrine. He finally turned to his father and whispered into his ear.

  -"Hey old man... Why's Katrine all quiet...? She would usually be flaming me by now... What has happened? I don't understand this dad, and uncle Mark never was this lively either...?”

  His father upon hearing his son's words had his smile fade by a slight bit, he knew he should reveal the truth about why is Katrine acting this way but he couldn't push himself to do so for now. He either had to lie to his son or tell the truth, but he knew both would hurt him vastly on an emotional level. So he chose. And he chose to lie to his own son to spare him the nasty and unwanted details. Before starting to speak he took a calm breath and finally turned to his son.

  -"You see Kael... Katrine isn't in the best mood right now, you know? And Mark recently nailed a promotion at his job that's why they came here to talk about this, you know how Mark is right? Can't let the world be quiet when something big happens, he just has to say it to everyone hah... You should see when he found out Milica was pregnant with Katrine..."

  Katrine upon hearing her late mother's name turned her head down pretending to not be there, for her, the passing of her mother in the accident that Kael's own mother and sister passed away in, was the worst memory she could recall... She wasn't as unfortunate as Kael who developed severe PTSD along with other disorders and coped by forgetting what had happened and telling himself it was an unknown accident, she knew the truth behind it. Everyone knew Mark, Xavier and Katrine and everyone else who was close to them, but not Kael, not the boy who tried his best to stay ordinary to cope with the loss of his family. That's why she hated him, barraged him with blame and insults whenever she got the chance, she was mad, mad that her own childhood friend had forgotten what truly happened that faithful day... Mark sensing that the situation was not heading in the right direction and the subtle hint about changing the topic from Xavier turned to Kael and asked him.

  -"So Kael my boy, i heard that they recently discovered 'The Dual Cursed Swords of Darkness' in mag-tech and your school got the privilege of being one of the first outside people to see them with their own two eyes, gotta say you are a bunch of lucky bastards in that Eden Academy... Katrine recently wanted to change schools to attend there too but the paperwork would be too long to finish before the end of semester so we decided to wait for it until summer to change schools you know?"

  Kael, hearing his name being said, snapped out of his thoughts and nodded understandingly to his uncle's words. Xavier and Mark sensing that they successfully defused the situation took a deep breath of relief knowing that for now, the situation will be calm. As the talk between fathers continued both Kael and Katrine stayed quiet lost in their own worlds completely ignoring what was happening around them, suddenly Mark nudged his daughter's shoulder nodding towards Kael, signalling to her that she should talk to him about something to keep the atmosphere light and preferably calm for as long as the time allows it. Katrine, understanding her father's sign, turned towards Kael.

  -"Uhmmmm Hey Kael... Yours still fixated on the mag-tech stuff? Especially since your school got accepted into its programme... So I thought you would be overjoyed about it, since for as long as I remember you were never able to talk about anything else but Mag-Tech..."

  Kael, hearing Katrine's words turned to her with slight shock etched on his face, he never expected her to keep her tone down towards him, or even be as polite to say such things to him. When he saw her turning her face to him he was ready for everything, he already was quickly thinking about how to have a comeback with her. You could say he was like a predator getting ready to defend his own territory from an intruder, but such action shocked him so much he didn't even know how to respond. He stared at her dumbfounded not knowing how to take these words... As an insult? Praise? Threat? Warning? All his nerves screamed about close danger but he knew this time was different, maybe he'll finally be able to talk with her like a normal person for the first time in year's. Xavier seeing his son's sudden shock and lack of reaction decided to take the matter into his own hands, slapping his son in the template to get some sense into him pointing with his head to Katrine letting his son know that it'd be nice if he actually responded to her question. After Kael took a deep breath to calm down and collect his thoughts he finally responded to Katrine.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  -"Well yea I'm quite happy that we'll be the first people outside the mag-tech associated people to see such a ground breaking discovery. Considering what the discovery of Mag-Tech has done so far I can only imagine what those swords are capable of. Especially considering they're thousands of years old... I even honestly think they may predate the Mag-Tech technology itself, since they're supposed to be thousands of years old and their name, 'The Dual Cursed Swords of Darkness' may give some hints as to what they truly are... Adam and Yuuto share the enthusiasm with me as well.”

  Katrine hearing Kael's opinion about the topic got shocked as well, she expected him to fire the first "bullets" to annoy and play with her... However it was different, he genuinely seemed happy about the topic and spoke about it with such enthusiasm that there was no way he was lying to her about his honest opinion on the topic. Seeing their children interact, Xavier and Mark chuckled to each other. They finally figured out how to make Kael and Katrine speak to each other like they did years ago. The atmosphere was light and quite joyful, topics slipped by, chats got lively and quiet, and there was absolutely no hostile or uncertain atmosphere that was at the beginning of the talk. But Kael suddenly felt something strange, that same feeling that he had when he talked to Artyom at the exit to the school... He suddenly felt like he was drowning, he couldn't do anything. Chills ran down his spine and cold sweat appeared all over his body, he expected the same female voice to appear again as it did before when speaking with Artyom... However this time it was awfully quiet, but then Kael finally noticed what was happening, he had a panic attack. He was so suspicious of Katrine he pushed his anxiety onto the side and didn't pay attention to it. And now nobody paid attention to Kael as they were busy chatting to each other, but then suddenly Katrine noticed what was happening and rushed to Kael's room... She returned seconds later with the calming medication and injected it into Kael's thigh immediately stopping his panic attack, then suddenly Xavier and Mark snapped out of their talk to witness Katrine holding an injector in her hand which was stabbed into Kael's thigh and the boy's red face and cold sweat all over his body. When they finally realised what had happened Xavier quickly grabbed Kael's shoulders with panic in his eyes knowing that even a single attack can lead to his own son's unfortunate passing... Mark didn't know how to react to the whole situation, he just stared at the sight before his own eyes dumbfounded. He remembered that his own daughter said that she wished that Kael could die as well, the more suffering the better, so the swift potentially life saving action of his daughter to her sworn "enemy" shocked him to the core, after a while of eerie silence Xavier was the first to speak up, he turned his head towards Katrine.

  -"Thank you... It's my fault that I didn't notice earlier... I was just... I was just so entranced with talking to your father... I didn't notice... I failed... Agh... I failed as a father..."

  Kael, Katrine and Mark hearing Xavier's honest confession made them stare at him with wide eyes... It wasn't his fault, he just wasn't paying attention this once, and besides the attack was quickly taken care of by Katrine, so any big issue was avoided due to her quick way of thinking even if it was for someone she wished death upon many times before. After a while Katrine made a serious face and stared at Xavier, she wanted to scold her "uncle" for being so weak and foolish, for blaming himself for nothing. But before she could even utter a word, Kael placed his hand on his father's shoulder shaking his head to the side.

  -"It's not your fault old man, and I should be the one thanking Katrine... Even though we may not have the best relationship with eachother... I have to pay her my respect this once... So Katrine Morge... Thank you for potentially saving my life..."

  These words from Kael's mouth made everyone freeze in their tracks, such words from him to Katrine was something only their fathers joked about when they were alone. They could never expect that their "joke" would come to reality, especially thanks to such a serious situation. Katrine was the most shocked, she expected Kael to say something snarky to her, to even insult her for being too slow or anything of that sort. But not a genuine feeling of being grateful from him, it was something she could wish about or recall the times from the past, back when they were childhood friends. Then an image flashed in her mind, it was her putting a band aid on Kael's knee while his sister was scolding him for running too fast. It was the first time Kael thanked her with all his will. She nearly shed a tear, but before she could, her father clapped her on her back showing a thumbs up. He was genuinely happy seeing that his own daughter despite her severe hate for Kael pushed herself to save his life, he nodded to Xavier who looked shocked at his sudden behaviour but then grinned slightly and nodded his head approvingly getting the sign immediately. After an hour or two more Mark and Katrine started getting ready to leave, when they were in the door Kael once again called out to Katrine.

  -"So we're classmates next year huh? Unc said you plan on moving to the Eden Academy after summer since the paper work right now is too much to handle, well i hope you're ready for shit ton of work on mag-tech since this school got accepted into it.”

  Katrine, hearing the sudden confession from Kael blushed slightly but nodded approvingly nevertheless, she didn't know what she felt suddenly... Why did she help him? Why was she blushing now? Did Kael truly change? Those were the thoughts that swirled through her mind, but with a quick nod to her shoulder by her father she said her last good-byes before quickly heading off. Kael and his father stood there a bit longer staring at the exit to their house, they both felt genuine gratitude towards Katrine for her quick way of thinking and potentially saving Kael's life. But suddenly Kael collapsed onto his knee breathing deeply, he suddenly felt extremely tired and sleepy, then he remembered. Two panic attacks in one day and taking two high doses of calming medication were taking a toll on him, his body was basically shutting down for sleep because of the two huge doses he took in a short span of time. His father, seeing his son's sudden condition, quickly leaned down to support him, looping an arm around his chest and helping him stand up. He himself was feeling tired, all the anxiety he experienced today was taking its toll on him as well. Xavier helped his son by carrying him to his room, laying him down gently, before he could even say goodnight, Kael had already fallen asleep. Seeing this Xavier smiled gently, it reminded him of the days when everything was peaceful, Kael was just a normal kid, not the person that tried his hardest to not stand out and be "ordinary". After a couple long moments of him staring at his son sleeping, he decided to leave the room, he needed rest too. He was also extremely tired from all the anxiety and possible outcomes that he experienced that day, especially during the meeting with Mark and Katrine. As he walked to his room and laid down in his own bed, he pulled out his phone and picked Mark's number. He was curious what his friend had to say between his daughter's and Kael's interaction that shocked both of them. When he picked the number after a couple seconds of dialling he heard Mark's voice.

  -"Why are you calling Xavier? You know what time it is...? Ahhhhhhh fuck sorry for that... I'm just extremely tired, haha I couldn't believe Katrine has done such a thing, quite strange ain't it...?"

  Xavier hearing his friend's tired voice chuckled a bit, he knew that what Mark was saying was true. He also was prepared to restrain his son if it had come down to such necessity, for the first time in years he felt genuinely happy that the meeting between them went so smoothly. After taking a deep breath and yawning he replied to Mark.

  -"Yea it was quite strange... Like she felt she needed to do that, like something pushed her to potentially save Kael's life. She's sleeping now isn't she? When she wakes up, tell her that I'm extremely grateful for what she has done to Kael..."

  After hearing this Mark went quiet for a bit, Xavier imagined that Mark was currently nodding his head understanding his friend's gratefulness towards his daughter. After a couple more minutes of lazy talk they said goodnight to each other and both fell into deep slumber. Such peaceful night, such peaceful day. It was something only both of them could only wish for. Xavier smiled before the sleep finally took him into its warm and deep embrace. He fell asleep peacefully knowing that today was probably the best day he experienced in year's... He only had to worry about Kael not waking up for some time due to the doses of calming medication he took, but that was the worries he could leave behind as he slept…