Mind Boggled

Chapter 45

Third person pov

Sero stared silently at Harper for a long time as he processed what she'd just said, his expression slack and far from readable. Were Harper not a mind reader, she would have no idea what he was thinking in the least. The brunette internally braced herself for a total freak out. He was painfully close to the very lamp she was afraid of being attacked with. She tried to have some faith in Sero and in his mental integrity, but she knew he was unstable right now. Not that this fact was his fault in the least. Damn villains and their tampering. Sero could've led a normal and happy life had they not seen something in him and his quirk.

Sero's situation was fragile right now. The Chief did not want him here. It wasn't as secure as a prison would be. The villains could, in theory, very easily get to him if they knew he was being held in such a low-security place. Sero's compliance was the only reason he was being allowed to stay, but with every tantrum thrown at the guards, patience was thinning. Harper didn't want him taken to some high-security prison to be ripped apart. She had faith that Stain could handle it, but Sero was a teenager just like she was. She's come to know him, and she knew he wouldn't last in a place like that. Harper was convinced he was more innocent than he appeared. He was a victim. He didn't need to be locked away like a rabid animal.

Sero's mind was racing a mile a minute as he stared at Harper. These days, he could very easily say that Harper was his best friend. She was just about his only friend in this accursed place, and she made it bearable. He trusted her, and she hadn't let him down yet. She was honest with him when she could be and had pulled an amazing number of strings to keep him here and not in some max-security facility that would eat him alive. He knew the tired teen had been searching for any and every loophole to try and get him out of here and to try and get him help. At first he'd been somewhat faking it, but along the way, he'd come to desire a normal life. He wanted to be better, both mentally and as a person in general.

The days when he would go to class at UA were well missed. Sero knew his friendships hadn't been real, but he still found himself yearning for them. To laugh and let loose! Even though he'd been there to get information, most of the time he was supposed to be a student. He got info where and when he could, but that hadn't been very often. Most days consisted of him being a normal teenager just like everyone else. Sero missed the simplicity of it all. He could remember training with his quirk and pretending, even if it was just for a moment, that he really was a student there for real. That he was going to become a hero that saved people. 

Now, Harper was here telling him that his past memories were a lie and that all of that could've been possible. That Aimi was a lie, and the past he recalled having wasn't even a part of who he was. That he hadn't committed that crime and that his family's death was possibly not his fault. She was gazing at him in that steely, no-nonsense way. She wasn't about to snort and say 'sike' and make this out to be some dark joke they could both laugh at. Their humor worked like that. If any of his old friends from 1-A could see him now, they wouldn't recognize him. Even if that admittedly saddened him quite a bit, he was glad he could be himself with someone.

"I...I didn't kill them?" Sero breathed out, gaze meeting Harper's head on. Some of her tension seemed to melt off, her arms uncrossing as her posture went from semi-defensive to somewhat open. He watched her brow furrow, and her lips twitch down. Her eyes shifted to the left just briefly before connecting with his again, and her shoulders hitched a tad. She didn't know the sure answer to his question, but he could tell she had a hunch. And Harper's hunches were usually right. "I-I can't believe it. Aimi is--"

"I don't think you killed your family, Sero. I... I found the box you always freak out over. At your old house. I think it was used as a way to brainwash and traumatize you. It was in the cabinet-- which is where you hid with your sister when it happened. I don't... I don't think you did it, Sero. I think you're innocent." Harper's words were sort of everywhere. Normally, she was more collected than this. She felt out of her depth. Wasn't she too young for this? "And Aimi is alive. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I've spoken to her on a few occasions, and it was decided that we shouldn't tell you until we had more information. I should've been straight forward with you from the get-go."