They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

The stiff officer with brown overcoat and sleek black hair wazed through the group of onlookers and pat every policemen to move out of the way. The wind is screaming in my ears in this spot. I'm supposed to feel chills and shivers from the midnight cold. 

Strange. I've got nothing of those now. Especially when I stand closely to Seven. 

"Seven?" She didn't answer. She doesn't need to. But I'm feeling lonely. Sometimes I talk and the person I'm talking won't look at me. You all know that super lonely feeling? The more I stood here, the more I'm doubting who's really the mute of us.

"What is your blessing?" She glance at me. I raised my eyebrow for an answer. 

She tentatively open her palm. Three seeds. The same white seed she struck on my forehead earlier. 

I watch her closed her fingers around them. After three seconds, she open her palm and three blue roses blooms. Small bud at first, then it grows and spreads like jellyfish. 

She looked at me. Like what she did answers my question. I don't get it.

"So making flowers bloom is your blessing?" She left her mouth hanging. Then shakes her head. She took a pouch from her pockets and fetch another seed.

A black small one. She dropped it in the floor. Her fingers twirling above the seed. I waited. Tiny branches sprouts, then a leaf, then it grows into a stem, until it towers over us with its stem and leaves.

"What the -" I couldn't say anything else. With a poof, red fruits pop out of existence. Apple. They're apples. She ceased their speeding growth. I stared in amazement. Mouth gaping. My mind can't process the miracle I just witnessed.

The words of Magnus back at the Auf's wooden cabin came flashing to me. "The blessing embedded in the blue rose is directly opposite to mine." So this is what he meant.

I steal life. While Seven, gave life.

She took an apple from it's stem and handed it to me. She get one for herself and sank her teeth. I did the same. I chewed on the freshness. The rich glucose, the subtle taste of it's crisp against my teeth.

"Delicious." I said while munching.

"I can make any plants grow." Seven said in my head.

"I do this by taking control of cells and letting it expands, multiplies, heal and generate by itself. Plants, animals, small organisms...even humans."

I choke at the last word.

"Wait, you can do this at humans too? I mean, letting a human body grow rapidly? The height or length of arms and legs perhaps? Can you make it grow?"

She didn't answer immediately. It took a whole two minutes of scratching arms and tapping toes in anticipation before she gave "Yes it's possible" to me.

I grinned. "Seven, I got a request." She didn't look at me.

"Can you make me taller?" I asked, hopeful. Her eyes gaze to the crowd below. Like she has anticipated I'll ask this. And no matter how much she ponders, she can't understand why would I want something as stupid as this.

"It's every man's dream to be taller and attract ladies just by walking in crowds. Most women are attracted to tall, dark and handsome men, so if I -"

"Sorry to break it up to you but I can't do your request." She said in my head flatly.

"The best I could do to tinker against human body is to heal injuries and relieve pains. If I ever mess around with your hormones and glands, it disrupts the balance in your hormonal growth and give you unimaginable effects. Just think about the effects of plastic surgeries in ten or twenty years. It's twenty times worse than that. You might end up the next human pillar at parties, you don't want that do you?"

I suppose she's warning me. And I'm supposed to feel a bit scared. In fact I did, but the feeling disappeared when she said "human pillar at parties"

"Yeah, you're right." I swallowed the chortle threatening to escape from my throat. It would be rude to laugh right now. Especially when she's wearing that end - of - the - world - face.

"Seven... That means you're blessing is 'life' right? Or somewhere around those line. Magnus said what I have is opposite to yours. Does that mean I have blessings of 'death'?"

I think back at the cornfields I killed. The Auf I stole his life force from...until he's a pile of ashes in the ground. I always feel like there's something missing. It was too strange to have powers that could only absorb life force. 

I was expecting there should be something more. 

"Yes," she said gravely. She looked down at my hand. "Five, did you learn how to bring out that black liquid surging in your veins?" 

I flex my fingers. "I – I think so." 

"Then bring it out." I stared at her. She raised her right palm at me. As if she wants me to interlaced my fingers with hers. We look eye to eye. She nods. I closed my eyes. Feeling the sensations crawling in every part of my skin. 

And then I found it. The weird cold feeling of dread. Mixing with my blood. Flowing together up to my heart. I tensed. The flowing of black liquid stops. I urged for it to come to my wrist.

And it did. The fact that there's a foreign magical thing inside of my body is weird. Then it gets weirder that I was aware of it. I'm not sure if I could exactly control it on my own. Maybe it will burst out of control if I touch Seven. 

I just figure out over the week I trained with the Beasts that this black thing…I didn't get it from Magnus. I touching him was a trigger for this to come out. And I notice the considerable change it did to me.

My body became faster to adapt. My reflex sharper, my eyes more agile, my instinct was never a millisecond too late to react. Before I know it, I'm already charging with a small knife at a beasts two times my size. 

And I always get a clean cut. Instant death. Always. 

The veins throbbed with nothing except the black liquid. And I stretched my fingers, reaching out to touch Seven's palm. Our skin collide. Unknown heat started to singe my fingers. Smoke reeled out from our palms. 

"What's that?"  I begin to panic. But I didn't withdraw my hand. More like I can't. Something in this heat is stopping every nerves of my palm to move. The heat intensified. I winced. I collapsed on my feet. A groan of pain escape from my lips.

"What's…happening?" I manage to croaked. Seven, unlike me, was not in pain. I'm sure she's experiencing the same heat I feel. 

Am I really that lame? A straight proud man like me, couldn't endure an intense heat, which a meek girl like Seven has no problem dealing with. Man… I'm ashamed of myself right now.

Something came out from the heat and I could've sworn it tore my palm. Down from my skin to the depths of my bone. It went inside of my flesh. I put my other hand to my mouth. To prevent screaming.

The pain is so raw I blink back dark spots. When I couldn't take it any longer I blackout. The last thing I saw… is the man I saw in the weapon room standing beside Seven. The first man who gave me the Wayne Rec address.