The In-Laws||MHAxOCS||

28. Ferantur

"Ah! Go to bed!" Simon scolded as she walked into the living room, drying her hair.
"But you didn't finish telling me what happened!" Luna pouted. "I just have to know."
Simon suspiciously squinted and looked to the TV. "Really? Cause it looks like you actually 'just have' to stay up and watch.. are you watching Megamind??" Simon asked.
Luna sank further into the couch.
And this little shit has the audacity to make fun of me for having daddy issues...
"Off and in bed!" She shooed.
"No wait! I'll turn it off but can you please tell me what happened after you and Parker met in the alleyway?"
Luna was genuinely interested, making Simon's reluctancy take the back burner.
"Alright.. so,"
***
After that I went back to the church, and caught up with some friends.
"Hey, Tina! You've grown so much!"
"Jane!" The teen girl cried out, hugging me.
"I'm taller than you already~!" She teased.
"Yeah, you and everyone else here.." I rolled my eyes. "Where's Sister Janice? I want to catch up with her and show her how cool I am now."
Tina hesitated. "Um, Jane?"
"Yeah?"

I stood in the room with still air, watching the woman who raised me from a baby staring at a wall.
"Sister?"
The woman's head lifted and she turned in my general direction, eyes a glossy white.
"Oh, dear!" She exclaimed, tearing up. "Is that my baby Janie..??" She held her arms out, unable to see where I was. I fell to the floor at her feet, placing my head against her lap as I cried softly.
Her cold hands shook as she placed them on my head.
"My little troublemaker's here to do good for us, I assume?"
I nodded, sniffling.
"I'd tell you that it's not your responsibility, but I know I can't stop you."
"I'm a Taurus, Sister. I'm just like that." I joked, and she flicked my ear.
I whined and played with the fabric on her leg.
"Is Parker helping you?" She asked.
I flinched. "..no. He's.. busy."
"Oh, stop! I know the boy's with those thugs! Is he helping you?" She asked again.
I cried again.
"Bring that boy to me! I'll make sure he comes to his senses!"
"Sister-"
"Nope. Go. Hurry!" She commanded.
So I did.
I found Parker walking from the store, found a way to Simon Says' him, and brought him to Sister Janice, leaving the room once they were there.
Once he opened the door, his eyes were intense as he looked at me.
He took a step forward and pulled me into him, finally giving me that hug.
He told me that he needed to be able to walk out of this without his rep being hurt, and I just hugged him closer.
I had my best friend back on my side and in my arms.
And for the next few weeks, he was on the inside of the operation as I slowly brought them down. Cutting off their trading partners, giving information to the local police.
It was smooth, until I told Parker to go do something he wasn't comfortable with.
I had him lie to his boss.
***
Simon looked to Luna, her eyes wide and interested. She couldn't tell her what actually happened. It was different because he had to know for the case, but she wouldn't say it to her. Not Luna.
***
I lost communications with him that day.
I tried looking for him, I did, but the children were still starving.
So I finished the mission.
I stopped the gang.
And the morning after the biggest dinner in months, I was.. packed.
I was going to go back here. I assumed he died or ran or something. I didn't want to think about it so I ran.
As I hugged Tina goodbye, the bells rang.
"Fire! Fire!" One of the children yelled from a balcony.
I grabbed the overhang and pulled myself up, grabbing the kid's arm and lowering him to Tina.
"Jane! Let me help!"
"No! Help everyone who comes out!"
I entered through that door, and the fire roared its hot breath at me.
My stomach sank.
This was set by someone.
Maybe a kid discovering their quirk?
Two small girls banged on the door, and I ran in, kicking it down and covering them with my cape as they went down the stairs that hadn't been set on fire yet.
I turned to the nursery as fast as I could, clenching my gut when the door opened and all that was visible through the flames was a burning bassinet.
Someone was doing this intentionally.
And they killed a three month old in a fire.
I ran through all of the rooms, helping everyone out.
"Sister Janice!" Sister Sandra coughed to me as she carried a young boy in her arms.
My body moved fast, and when I got in the room, my body froze.
"PARKER!" I screamed, lunging for the two figures standing above Sister Janice, on the floor.
"Auggie.." Parker commanded, and the short boy rushed from his silhouette in the flames.
It was August. He was one of the first kids that I got to help take care of at the church while growing up.
His quirk is Combustion, he can set any object he touches on fire from it's inside.
He was with Parker, who was making him cause this fire.
"Jane! Where've you been big sissy??" He giggled as he stumbled at me.
"What did you do to him??" I yelled.
"I'm not the one who can control people, Janie." Parker said.
"He's a child!"
"We all were." He said snarkily.
I kicked August to the ground, and pushed Parker against Sister Janice's bed frame.
As fast as I could, I grabbed her and started dragging her limp body away.
I didn't know if she was alive.
Parker stabbed me in the back.
Literally, as I was running. He stabbed my shoulder.
I swept his feet from under him and ran into the hall. Flames rose in front of the stairs.
I tightened my grasp and ran, getting past the wall of flames. I let a breath as I took a step down the stairs, and they broke under me.

I remember waking up to the sound of water. I was on the ground.
Someone dragged me out once I broke the stairs.
Police cars lit up the street as the sun shone directly into my eyes.
I remember looking over and seeing one of the Sisters with her cross so tight in her damaged hands that it looked like her grief punctured the skin of divinity.

Tina was dead. She ran in after me and Parker... he killed her.
Four other children were IDed at the scene, six more and one baby's deaths had to be found in a headcount because the bodies were so charred.
Parker and August had gotten away.
***
Luna was gripping the pillow around her chest harshly. She cried silently, tears hitting the pillowcase the only sound she made.
***
So I stayed in America. As you may know, I basically sold myself for any money I could. Let it be advertising, politics... For my mom, to rebuild the church. I had nothing to myself. I fell into drinking problems, bad habits..
Point is, I escaped my mind and my past.
But it did start getting a bit better after a few years, and that's when Mar had her engagement announcement.
So I pulled my shit together and came here with her and Mama to Japan.
***
Luna sniffled and nodded, her nose stuffy.
"But, the thing is..." Simon leaned closer. "Parker Vanderwall. He's the big brain behind the Greenhouse Case. He's still after me and my life, and he's not going to stop until either him or me is dead."
Luna kept looking down, crying silently until she finished. And when she did, Luna looked up, right into Simon's eyes with her big bright blue ones, and let out a broken sob.
"Luna.." She just watched the girl cry, not knowing what to do. She'd never gotten this reaction out of someone with it. "Are you ok?"
And in half a second the child pounced on her, the wailing now muffled in her shirt. Her arms wrapped themselves tightly around her neck, almost choking her.
And when she backed up, she gave a hiccup before quietly asking. "Are you??"
Simon couldn't answer her.
"That's horrible, Si. It's traumatic and terrible." Luna grabbed her shoulders. "You know that, right? You have to. That... that's too much."
Simon watched the trails of tears running off Luna's face, her eyes watering a bit.
"God, I hate the people who did that..." She stuffed her face into Simon's neck, but her words rang too clear. "And I hate the people who made you feel like you have to ask if I'm ok. That's supposed to be my line."
Simon didn't know what was so special about the response.
What made her throw her arms around Luna and let out silent tears that made her shake.
It was validity again. Someone telling her that she'd gone through something traumatic, that it was as bad as it was in her head.
She needed to feel like she wasn't exaggerating, like she wasn't lying to herself.
The girl she was holding, the girl who was getting snot all over her shirt?
She made her feel so valid.
And for that, she hugged her tighter.