End of the Summer Festival (Pt. 7)

--- Maya ---

“Are you guys alright?” She asked once everyone had calmed down a bit. “I mean, you’re in one piece, but… this whole thing is…” She trailed off with a shrug.

“Heh, I know what you mean.” Her dad agreed with a wry chuckled, before letting out a tired sigh. “And yeah it’s like you said, we’re in one piece and that’s more than enough to be grateful for. Especially since if it wasn’t for the local Arcane being so close to the kids’ fair, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Her mamá scolded. “We made it out, and none of us were hurt, let’s just count our blessings on that much.”

She nodded as her eyes glanced to the place where Tommy and her younger siblings were watching as an Arcane or something put on a show to keep the kids calm. “How was Seamus holding up on the way here?”

“I’m honestly surprised by how well he was keeping it together…” Her dad admitted, looking in the same direction as her. “He was scared at first, but once a couple of Deviants started escorting everyone, he just sort of… calmed down? I don’t really know how, given all the confusion.”

“Maybe he thought they were heroes saving the day?” She offered with a wry grin.

“Given how they saved us, I’m willing to call them that.” Her mamá agreed, before wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Almost as much as that detective who brought you girls back safe.”

“Hmm…” Maya nodded, losing herself to thought as a specific part of that statement hit her. (We should’ve done more. We had the power to help people, but we didn’t.)

(That’s not entirely true.) Her inner reason interjected. (We protected our sisters, and that’s more than a sufficient use of our power.)

(But we didn’t actually use out power, ex because if we’d actually cut loose from the get go we could’ve wiped these monsters out hours ago.) Her inner guilt argued.

(Perhaps, though if we’d done that then Izzy would’ve been left by herself through this whole.) Her inner logic pointed out. (And let’s not forget Vi either, with how shaky she was this entire time she might’ve broken down if we weren’t with her.)

She couldn’t help but frown as she heard that. (That’s not true, she’d have made it to the staging area with or without us.)

(Perhaps, but would she really give up the search for the sister she was separated from?)

(No…) She admitted to herself. (She didn’t quit looking for Izzy, and she wouldn’t have quit looking for me either.)

(At the very least we would’ve been there if something did happen.)

(I guess…) She sighed, before letting her eyes drift around in a passive search for her elder sibling, only to frown once more when she couldn’t spot her.

“Hey, um, do you know where Vi disappeared to?” She asked, turning to her mamá.

“Um, no, I don’t, mija.” Her mother admitted gaining a concerned frown of her own as she began to look around herself. “I mean, she was just here a moment ago…”

“Maybe she needed a minute to get her head together?” Her dad pointed out. “She did spend the last couple of hours taking care of you and Izzy, with everything else going on that couldn’t have been easy.”

“Maybe…” She agreed, not liking the answer. “Um, I’m going to go look for her. Is that alright?”

“Of course, sweetie.” Her dad nodded, looking around the crowd. “Honestly, even if she needs it, I don’t like the idea of her being alone right now.”

---

“And of course, you’re going to be taking credit for cleaning this mess up, even though you got here an hour fucking late.” Detective Whitaker spat.

“It’s our job to deal with this kind of thing Whitaker, if it gets out that we didn’t get here in time to deal with it ourselves, there’d be a panic.” A Sanctuary officer argued calmly.

She hadn’t meant to start eavesdropping, but in her search for Vi, she’d caught the beginning of a rant on Detective Whitaker’s part. One that she felt a mild investment in, given both her status as a Deviant and how it was Sanctuary’s job to deal with this kind of incident.

(One they aren’t doing.) Her inner passion pointed out bitterly.

“Oh, that’s bullshit, and you know it!” Whitaker growled. “The only panic would be in who your bosses will be throwing to the wolves. And we both know that’d be some newly promoted shmuck rather than whoever’s actually responsible.”

“Whitaker,” Sanctuary officer began in a tone Maya couldn’t help but find condescending. “what we both know is that you have an immense disdain for the entirety of Sanctuary, despite the fact that a number of our practices are the same as the police.”

“Yeah, well at least we had people here to deal with this shit!”

“Really?” The officer laughed. “And how exactly would a number of armed guards make people feel safe at a family festival, intended to raise city morale?”

“A lot safer than when shit like this happens and everyone is left to fend for themselves!”

“It takes time to gather enough people to deal with an incident on this scale, without risking serious casualties.” The officer defended. “Especially given the number of incidents we have across a city with a Deviant population this high.”

Whitaker made a scoffing sound. “A good third of the city’s Deviant population was here, and it’s your job to risk casualties so that we don’t risk civilian casualties.”

“You know there weren’t any true civilian casualties, and as bad as this mess may look, it wasn’t too much for a handful of cops to take care of.” The Sanctuary officer argued, his voice losing some of its calm at Whitaker’s constant pressing. “We both know the only reason it looks this bad is because everything instinctively fears anything with a whiff of malice to it.”

Whitaker made a scoffing sound. “If that was the case we wouldn’t have these market pricks pushing a drugged-out version of the shit on the streets. Something we know your lot are responsible for.”

(Wait, what?)

“Sanctuary is not Asylum.” The officer hissed losing all composure. “And I’d thank you to not connect us to those genocidal monsters, because while we may’ve dropped the ball today, the people working this branch are the only reason the Deviant situation in this city isn't as bad as those days.”

Whitaker was quiet for a moment before letting out a reluctant sigh. “Right… Some of you lot are trying to be better. Blaming you for your entire organization is unprofessional.”

“Hmm, I’ll take that as the best apology you’re capable of.” The Sanctuary officer

Deciding she’d heard enough, she moved away from her hiding spot and continued her search for Vi, while processing what she’d overheard.

(Sanctuary created the drug those market guys are using?) She wondered, asking the voices their opinions,

(The military tries to create superpowers; it makes sense in a cliché kind of way.) Her inner madness admitted.

(True, but do remember, the officer blamed that on Asylum, and Whitaker was willing to take the comparison back.) Her inner logic pointed out.

(Mm, weren’t those the guys who were around before Sanctuary?) She thought to herself. (I remember they were shut down because of the Tall Man, but not much else…)

(It was around a decade ago, so whatever happened was just a bit before our time.) Her inner reason reminded her.

(I guess, but…) She shook her head with a sigh. (That’s just another thing we’re going to have to look into.)

---

Having pushed her latest discoveries to the back of her mind, she continued on with her search for her wayward sibling. One that was quickly resolved as she found Vi sitting in the shadow of the main stage with her head between her knees.

She frowned as she caught sight of her sister, wanting to help her but not really knowing how. “Is… is everything alright?”

Vi jumped, having not expected her as Maya began to berate herself since (obviously she’s not okay…)

“Sorry.”

“No, no, My, it’s, it’s okay!” Vi scrambled to assure her, despite the fact that her own eyes were puffy and watery.

“You’re crying…”

Vi winced. “That’s… yeah…”

“Do you… do you want to talk about it?” She offered, not yet sitting just in case Vi wanted to be left alone.

“That’s…” Vi’s face scrunched up before she let out a pained sigh. “That’s probably a good idea…”

Nodding, she took a seat next to Vi, and just sat there, waiting for Vi to open up when she was ready.

“This whole day has been a mess.” Vi eventually told her.

“Yeah… Everyone’s been saying that.” She agreed.

“I know.” Vi chuckled weakly, shaking her head. “It’s just… today was supposed to be a good day. No tests, no college drama with my friends, no boys bugging me for a date. Just me, my family, and some fun. You know.”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded, not really knowing what to say.

“Then those bleeds opened, and everything went to shit.” Vi groaned, rubbing at her eyes.

“Well… at least we made it through in one piece?” She tried, putting a comforting hand on her sister’s back.

“Through dumb luck more than anything.” Vi spat, with a surprising amount of aggression. “I mean I had no idea what I was doing out there! Hell, more than anything I was taking your lead on everything, and even letting you make plans in the middle of a, a pinche demon invasion!”

She kept quiet, wishing one of the voices had anything resembling advice as the dam on her sister’s emotions shattered.

“Everyone thinks I have all of my shit together, just because I’m the first one in the family to go to college, but they don’t…” Vi shook her head. “But no, the moment I’m really needed, I just bumble along, listening to the first person to offer an idea, and hoping I don’t fuck it up!”

“Vi, you, you did the best you could, you couldn’t ‘ve-”

“No, I didn’t, because that’s all I do!” Vi cut her off with a cry “I go through the motions, do what people tell me, and hope for the best! When push came to shove, you were the responsible one, and I was the one following you! I, I, I’m fucking pathetic…”

“What?!” Her eyes shot wide. “No! No, Vi, you’re not pathetic, you’re not!”

“Really?” Vi laughed with tears in her eyes. “The entire time we were out there you were practically calm and in control! You’re the one who started us looking for Izzy. You’re the one who realized those things were blind and dumb. And you’re the one who decided how we were going to look for Izzy!”

She opened her mouth to try and argue but no sound came out.

“See you can’t even argue it anymore!” Vi smiled despite the fact she was crying. “After all what does it say about me that my baby sister has it that together in a crisis, while I’m one step from panicking and running?! I mean really?! I should be the one taking care of you, and yet look at us right now, I’m having a mental breakdown, and you’re the one comforting me when it should be the other way around! I mean, am I really this pathetic?!”

“Vi that’s, that’s…” She swallowed and shook her head. “No…”

“Then what is it?!” Vi cried.

"It's..." She swallowed. "It's because... I'm an M.A.D..."