Inciting Events

Chapter 16

Brynleigh Pasternack

Brynleigh leaned over the corner of the wall, checking to make sure no one was there. Or, at least, that one of the people she was thinking of wasn’t there. The plan had been going great for the most part, except for one thing. That one thing was two people. Dorinna Singh and Lily Pad. Both of them appeared to be suspecting something when it came to what she was up to nowadays.

So, she had to make absolutely sure that she ran into neither of them so that she could keep everything happening a secret. Of course, she would tell them at some point how else they were going to arrange the heroes into battle mode to attack Tempest’s headquarters. But they still had to wait until they would reach that point in the plan for anyone, absolutely anyone, to know anything.

Brynleigh did feel a bit guilty keeping something so huge away from Lily Pad, scratching that, a lot of huge things away from her. The older woman had always been there for her and had been the closest she had ever gotten to a mother figure. Maybe it wasn’t just guilt that she felt. She also wanted her guidance. Throughout anything happening in her life, she had always been there for her.

When she had a crush or when she cried or even when she was bleeding after a fight, Lily Pad had always been there for her through thick and thin. Although she knew she was getting old enough that she didn’t need her to help pick her up and solve the problems, she still felt like she could use it.

Sure, it was childish to still wish that Lily Pad would still be there for her when she was going through these dark times. But that knowledge didn’t stop her from hoping that once this was all over, she could still curl up on her bed with the older woman whilst she sang to her and comforted her.

Brynleigh shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts. She needed to be focusing on the tasks at hand. Everything was moving along steadily, and they were slowly, very slowly, gearing up for the next phase or portion of the plan. Which was when Byrnleigh herself would actually become useful.

The next phase would entail the heroes being informed of everything that they had been doing and when they would start to get ready to attack Tempest’s headquarters. It would be a big operation and require almost all of the heroes that were working at Helt, so she was really hoping that once they moved forward, she could get everyone on board. Or at least, mostly everyone, because if she didn’t, they were seriously doomed. That definitely wasn’t any pressure on her shoulders.

Brynleigh pulled open her door once she reached her room and went to her desk. She sighed, just now realizing that she was quite a bit tired. She wasn’t even sure when she had gotten this exhausted. Maybe she should take a nap. But she knew she wouldn’t, not when she still had to stress about everything.

She looked up as she heard the door opening and was curious to see who would just walk into her room without knocking. When she turned around, the perpetrator was just closing the door quietly, and when the other person turned around, she saw the person she was just thinking about.

Lily Pad wasn’t wearing her suit, so she was probably on a break. She instead had on a stylish sweater that went up on her neck, not high enough to be a turtleneck but still an elegant neckline. Which was paired with black leggings that hugged her tight. She had two cups of hot cocoa in her hands and smiled widely when she saw Brynleigh looking over at her from her seat at the desk.

She walked over to the desk quickly, the cups clinking together in her head a bit loudly. She sat down next to her and set one of the cups in front of her. Although Brynleigh enjoyed the gesture and was happy to know she cared, she also knew what two cups of hot chocolate meant. Interrogation.

Whenever Lily Pad wanted information out of her, she made the comforting warm drink. Brynleigh wished she could say that she had learned over the years how to resist the motherly love and warm sweetness, but alas, she was still as vulnerable to it as she had been the first she had done it when she was just a mere seven year old. Ah, back in the good old days when she was young.

Still, she happily smiled over at the other woman and moved to take a drink from the cup set out in front of her. Dark brown is just barely seen through the, probably thousands, of marshmallows carefully laid out on top. She winced as the hot liquid burned her tongue but still continued to smile fondly as all the old memories began to wash over her. They were some of the good times at Helt.

Knowing that she had to approach the elephant in the room at some point, she decided to just rip the bandage off and get it over with.

“What do you want to know?” She asked in an uncaring tone of voice, or she attempted to at least. Lily Pad lightly sighed at the question. She wasn’t quite sure how to approach the subject, though she knew that she had to. No matter how much she delayed it, she responded similarly.

“I just want to know what’s been bothering you so much lately, kiddo. You’ve been worrying me sick lately.” The two looked over at each other, but there wasn’t the usual kinda agreement waving between them as there usually was. They were both concerned for the other, and there was nothing they could do. Brynleigh couldn’t tell what was happening until the next phase of the plan started, and Lily Pad couldn’t help her until she knew about what was happening.

An argument, very expectedly, broke out between them as they both tried to understand the other but failed miserably due to the communication barrier between them. That made everything so hard, and both of them were quickly riled up and yelling at each other, which they almost never did.

Brynleigh trying to explain that it wasn’t safe for her to know yet and Lily Pad trying to explain that if it wasn’t safe for her to know it wasn’t safe for the younger girl to be engaging in it.

Words flew back and forth, some intended, and some that were simply spilled out of the mouth in the spur of the moment. Nonetheless, no matter what kind of word it was, they both still continued to feed the fire by throwing more and more of their emotions into their stances on the fight.

“Because I have to do things that everyone here seems too scared to do themselves! What because of some stupid rules that we can’t leave or actually help someone!” Brynleigh wasn’t sure where this had come from or why she was saying it, but she wasn’t about to back down on it. Helt’s rules were bullshit anyway.

“Maybe Helt isn’t perfect. Maybe I watched the love of my life breathe his last breath while I stood by because of a dumb rule. Maybe you left behind your life and everything you knew when you were seven because of a dumb rule. Well, guess what! It doesn’t matter how dumb these rules are. They keep people safe! And Brynleigh, I care about you so much, and I need you to be safe, so please. Please, just stop.” Lily Pad yelled every word at Brynleigh without hesitation.

And it was within that moment that she realized that Lily Pad was the closest person she had really ever gotten to a good, strong mother figure. And with that, she was the closest Lily Pad had ever gotten to a good, strong daughter.

Lily Pad had tried to have children with her past husband, but she had never been able to actually conceive any. When Brynleigh came to Helt six months after that and was assigned to her and her husband to be shown around and such, it was like she had a second chance at what she had lost.

Then, when she was eleven, Lily Pad’s husband died while the two of them were on a mission. Lily Pad had been told to stay behind while he did the dangerous part. He hadn’t come back from that. Brynleigh still remembered how torn apart both of them were after it happened, but now she realized how much it had meant to the other woman. She had always considered her need for the other as a mother figure but not how the other needed her as a daughter figure and a person to lean on.

Brynleigh wasn’t sure how to respond to the declaration, so she just stood there. Crying with her arms wrapped around herself while Lily Pad told her to get her when she was ready to tell her what was wrong. For once, in all her time at Helt, Lily Pad truly wasn’t there for her whatsoever.

The girl turned around and crashed onto her bed, only realizing how late it was when she looked over at her alarm clock. She had missed both the nightly news and Magnus’s message. Though, she couldn’t seem to bring herself to care.

She continued to wail and bawl her eyes out until she heard her phone ring out the special little sound that she had put on for Cyrus. She wanted to throw the phone right then, but she knew that wouldn’t help. So she picked it up and readied herself to hear his voice. What he said was not what she was expecting.

“We’re moving into the next phase.”

(I'll try to post the next chapter soon! Bye!)