fulmination (Mei x Reader)

Chapter 14~

As the girls rush into battle, you stand there feeling stupid. All of them have such cool powers and then there's just...me.

You want to be of use somehow...but without special powers, what could you do against an extra powerful Herrscher like Mei's mom? The organization's training had never taught you how to fight a full-grown, supercharged Herrscher. Worthless. What's the point of training if you don't learn how to defend yourself?!

And then you remember the sword.

The white-haired girl with those two different colored eyes.

The white-haired girl looking up at you and the sword with shock.

The white-haired girl falling to the ground. Staining the snow red.

Kiana. Dead.

You don't want to use the sword, not after that, not after you've met Mei, not after everything. You've never been able to even touch it since. Even if you've committed murder, you aren't heartless. I've used it once and that was enough.

But was it really enough?

You focus back at the scene in front of you; everyone is fighting and putting in their all and yet that still doesn't seem to help.

You can help too, you realize. And there's only one way to do it, regardless of whether you want to go that way or not.

...'Aight. Time to go get that sword.

-Mei's POV-

Time to get used to my powers again. I haven't used them in quite a while—I've never had to in normal circumstances—but today definitely doesn't fall under normal circumstances. I conjure up my sword; the blade glows a bright purple and I grip the handle tightly. This has to work, I think.

I run towards my mother and slash at her, bright red light streaking behind where I had struck. She dodges easily and grins. "It'll take more than that to hurt me, Mei."

I grit my teeth in frustration. Why did I ever think I could defeat her so easily? She's got years and years of experience that I just...don't. I strike desperately over and over and over again but she dodges each of them.

Suddenly, everything slows down for me. All I can see is purple and my brain doesn't work and I can't think about what she's going to do next. The only thing in my brain is Time fracture.

Mother smiles and shoots a blast of...something at me. It collides with my stomach; I stumble backwards, and I nearly fall off the edge into the roaring water. Fortunately, I catch myself before I do. She's too powerful...

"You're not alone, Mei," whispers Fu Hua's voice. "You've got friends to help you, too."

I nod weakly. "Thanks."

Fu Hua smiles. "I thought it was high time you stood up to your mom anyway. I never liked her in the first place. Bad mother."

"Yeah..." I pause. "Actually, I don't think I would have been able to stand up to Mother without..." I trail off. I don't want to say the name.

"...(Y/N)?"

I nod, not daring to say more.

Fu Hua is about to say something when she looks up, alert. "Okay, uh...it was nice talking to you, Mei. But maybe we shouldn't just stand around while the others are actually doing something? I mean, you can stay if you want—like, that attack looked pretty painful, but I'm just gonna—"

"It's fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine," I interrupt. "You're right. Let's go."

Fu Hua gives me a small smile, then jumps on her sword and glides away. I start to follow her, but then I realize someone in our party is missing. Looking around, they are nowhere in sight. I'm confused; didn't they say they wanted to fight or something?