Enigmatic: Sapphire City Supers

Chapter 25: The Literal Nightmare

Lexa had obviously been waiting anxiously for our return. Seb came through the door first and for once Lex didn't hesitate, throwing herself onto him for a fierce hug. He looked taken aback but soon enough wrapped his arms around her while she spilled obscenities in the name of Morgan, especially after seeing the angry dark patch growing around his eye.

"She knows about us," I informed him in the middle of her stream of rage consciousness.

He took it in his stride. "This has been an above-average day on the crazy scales. Sorry, Lexa."

"All my rage is committed to this Villain creep, so you're safe," she half-laughed, finally releasing him.

When she turned her sights on me, I threw my hands up in self-defence. "As much as I love you, please don't squeeze me. I'm a little tender."

"Kenna got KO'd by some poison Villain breath and dragged god knows how far across the city before being dumped unconscious in the basement of the museum," Seb explained. "Though, not before she raised some hell in the Lair. It's going to take them awhile to clean that place up." He said the last part with no small satisfaction.

"Oh, is that all? I'm so proud," Lexa sniffled, wrapping her arms carefully around me in a feather-light embrace. I let myself sink into her, despite the fact that she was a head shorter than me. "My poor Super girl," she patted me on the back sympathetically.

"I couldn't stop them from doing their Evil things though," I grumbled into her shoulder.

"Getting Seb was all that really matters," Lexa assured.

"Awe, Lexa." I could tell Seb was grinning from the sound of his voice.

I decided to make myself scarce. "Well kids, it's awfully late and I'm knackered, even though I just woke up from a poisoned sleep. I'm going to head to bed. Seb, stay safe between here and your room, okay? Lex, if you want to stay over, just come in whenever you're ready." Lexa and I had continued our teenaged tradition of sleepovers well into our adulthood, so she knew the drill.

Despite my fatigue and the tumult of emotions running through me from the peaks and valleys of the night, I felt a wicked little grin creep onto my face as I abandoned them together without me as their lifeline.

I was too exhausted to deal with the tempest in my brain tonight. Shuffling into my room, I barely managed to brush my teeth and pull on an old shirt before I was crawling thankfully into bed. If I was going to fight Villains regularly I'd need more practice to keep my mind from getting so tapped out. Before I could drift off, I thought to check my phone, which I'd totally forgotten about in all the earlier action. I had a message from Ewan waiting for me.

Hey, did you track down Seb okay? Hope everything's alright.

Thinking it was sweet of him to check in and feeling a little guilty for inadvertently making him wait so long, I typed back a quick response.

Yeah, all okay now. His phone died and he lost track of time. Thanks for checking in. It was hard to lie to him, but I couldn't see how I could do anything else at this point. He messaged me back right away with a link to a funny cat video, which gave me the gift of falling asleep laughing.

I awoke to the weight of someone snuggled up next to me. After a flash of confusion, I realised it was only Lexa, who must have slipped in sometime after I'd fallen asleep. Fumbling for my phone to check the time, I found that it was the advanced hour of 10 am.

Nudging her, I whispered, "Lexa, don't you have to go to work?"

"It's a long weekend," she grumbled back. "No work, only sleep."