Chapter 79 - Arc 11 - The God/dess and the Mortal - Part 1

Sunday, 13th of June - London, UK:

Laura woke up with a headache around 8 in the morning.

"Ngh," she grained. "Why did I drink so much?"

She frowned as she thought back to late last night.

Laura was lying in her bed wearing black shorts and a sports bra. She was looking at something on her phone.

Near her bed, Ashley and Rebecca were sitting down and playing cards as they were talking about the new superhumans.

“What do you think of those superheroes?” Rebecca asked. “Do you think they will take Ion’s place? Poor guy barely appears these days.”

“I wonder who he is,” Ashley said as she concentrated on her cards. “Ion, I mean. He just came out of nowhere and stopped a meteor.”

Of course, Laura knew who it was but couldn’t say it.

“Whoever he is, he seems like a nice guy.”

Laura wanted to laugh at that but kept quiet.

“What about the Norse God guy? He seems like a total badass.”

“Oh my god, I know, right?”

Laura ignored the excited girls next to her and stared at the ceiling.

“Norse God, huh?” Laura muttered to herself. “So, he has powers here too? ”

In the original timeline, Laura was one of the few people who knew Norse God’s secret identity.

“--ra.”

“Did Nazar gave him his powers?”

She gulped.

“Or was it the demon again?”

“Laura!”

Rebecca was calling Laura but she was too busy thinking about something else.

“Are his parents alive here? Also, what kind of person...”

“Earth to Laura!”

Laura finally noticed and looked at her.

“Hm?”

“Finally,” Rebecca rolled her eyes.

“Sorry,” Laura said half-jokingly.

“Why do you think his face is always blurry? Do you think the media is hiding him?”

Seeing the serious look on Ashley’s face, Laura sighed.

“Not again with your conspiracy theories---”

She trailed off as she noticed something.

“Blurry? What do you mean?”

Ashley and Rebecca exchanged confused glances.

“Um… ”

“His face is always blurry. No one can see it.”

“I read about it somewhere online that even people in real life cannot see him,” Rebecca added.

Laura, not sure, searched for Norse God online.

She could see his pictures perfectly.

“I don’t see a blur,” she said to herself slowly. “I wonder what’s up with that… Hm?”

Laura’s eyes widened slightly.

“Could it be that I remember?”

The other two could not hear her properly.

“Does that mean Nazar has something to do with it?”

“Oi, Laura...”

“Yes?”

“What power would you want?”

“I want flight,” Ashley said.

“I would want super strength,” Rebecca flexed her arm muscles.

Unlike Laura, she didn’t have muscles or six-pack.

“What about you Laura?”

“I would want… I don’t know, healing factor?”

“Oh, that’s a cool one.”

“I know, right? I can heal from anything. That sounds great."

"And you should be able to stay young for a while."

"Didn't they say that it doesn't apply to everyone."

Laura fell off their conversation.

"I think one of them said that not all healing factors can do that. Some increase their life spans while some don't."

"Weird…"

Ashely and Rebecca tried to recall the information they have collected when Nazar, Harry and Chris would talk about comics, manga, and other fictions.

Neither of them was interested in reading them but they did like to hear about some of the stuff happened there from those three.

"I kind of want to be immortal."

"Longevity is better."

"Hm, true. It wouldn't be as boring as living forever. Especially when everyone dies."

"Is Superman immortal?"

"Maybe?"

"He did come back to life in that one movie…"

"Maybe we should ask one of them?"

Rebecca thought about it.

"Don't they seem kind of… weird recently?"

"Hm," Ashley nodded. "I thought I was the only one who noticed it."

"They seem so distant lately. When did it start with Chris?"

"I think it was like 5 days ago."

"Huh, same for Harry."

"I wonder what's going on…"

"Maybe they found themselves other girlfriends?"

Both of them laughed.

"Or one of them cheated so the other one is keeping it a secret."

As they were laughing, the door was opened.

“Woah!”

Two other girls entered the room.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Well, since you are leaving we wanted to talk a little.”

Laura sat up as she threw the phone on her bed.

“It’s over 12--”

“Yeah, we know.”

Those two were known as Sara and Anna - two of Laura’s oldest friends from this place. She has been living in the same dorms as them for three years now.

“Let’s drink,” Anna said as she showed Laura a bottle of vodka she was holding behind her.

“I have work tomorrow.”

"Why do you work so much?" Anna asked.

"Because I have to feed myself."

"Doesn't your parents pay for your expenses?"

Laura shook her head.

"I got here using a scholarship. They also took care of the dorm. My parents wanted to pay for my other expenses but I said I will take care of it by myself."

"Wow. What a great woman you are," Sara said in administration.

"But come on… You will be going soon. So we need to talk a bit and drink."

"I said, I have work tomorrow."

“So?”

“Yeah, at what time?”

“...2.”

Laura sighed.

“Fine.”

Ashley and Rebecca ignored them as they continued to play their cards game.

They were all friends here but Ashley and Rebecca were too focused on their game, so they ignored the new guests.

“I won’t drink too much.”

“What, you meeting with a guy or something?”

Hundreds of question marks can be seen on Laura’s face.

“That doesn’t even make sense… Wait!”

“Yes, they are drunk, Laura,” Ashley said without even looking up. “You are slow sometimes.”

“Oh...”

“Except when it comes to Nazar,” Rebecca said as she smiled thinly.

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Laura muttered under her breath.

"Yep. She only has eyes for Nazar. Poor girl is just too deep in love," Ashley said jokingly as she laughed.

“Play your game!” Laura said in a loud bashful voice.

Suddenly…

"Uwah!?"

Laura was hugged tightly by the drunk Anna.

"I will miss you."

"Yeah, me too," Laura replied with a gentle smile.

"Come here for a group hug," Sara said as she also hugged Laura.

"Now then let's drink☆."

Laura sighed but then said, "Bring it on!"

With determined eyes, age looked at the bottle.

But then suddenly gulped.

"Okay… Maybe not then."

"Oh, shut up. Let's do thissss!"

"Leave some for us," Ashley said as she laughed.

“I have been thinking...” Sara said as she took a sip of the vodka.

“You can think?” Laura asked her with a blank look on her face.

She looked at Laura with a proud smile on her face and nodded.

“Since you will be going back to your country soon and your boyfriend will be staying here… Can I take him?”

“...”

Laura just stared at in a confused state.

“Say what?”

“What I mean is, I should take your boyfriend after you leave him,” she said as she winked. "That's why I brought the vodka. They say a drunk person doesn't tell lies. So, can I take him?"

“Wait, I thought I was going to take him,” Anna said frantically.

“First comes first serve, remember?”

“Sure. Let’s do this!”

(Hm? I thought he manipulated their minds unconsciously? Maybe it has a limited range? Which is why they find him “attractive”...? Well, whatever. Now…)

“You know, I am still dating him, right?”

Hearing Laura’s rhetorical question, they looked at her blankly.

“So?”

Laura frowned as she took the bottle away from Sara.

“Wah?!”

“I have some glasses here. We should use that.”

“Oh, that’s true...”

Laura brought out some single-use glasses and put the vodka in it.

She took a big sip of vodka but suddenly coughed.

“Okay, I still hate how strong this is.”

“You are weak!”

“Okay, I get it Ms strong Anna,” Laura said as she made a silly face.

“Forget that… Are you really leaving back for Italy?”

Hearing Sara’s question, Laura looked down.

“Yes.”

“I guess it makes sense...”

“Well, whatever…”

Anna smiled thinly.

“I can take Nazar from you☆,” she winked.

Laura rolled her eyes.

"I thought we were gonna talk about something else?" Laura said slowly.

She handed Ashley and Rebecca a glass each.

“No, but since you will go he will be lonely. So, can I take him?”

“Why are you guys so obsessed with him?”

Anna unlocked her phone and checked something.

“Because he is pretty hot?” Sara said. “Those red eyes and white hair…”

She was almost drooling.

“I have been meaning to ask… Why are his eyes red?”

Laura shrugged.

“I don’t know. He is probably the child of some supervillain.”

To which Sara frowned.

“And look at this picture!”

Anna showed Laura a picture.

It was a picture of Nazar posted by Chris last year. It was a shirtless picture of Nazar when they went to the beach.

“Oh...”

It seems as if Laura had never seen that picture. However, she didn’t care about it much.

“I mean just look at those muscles.”

“He is ripped.”

“I have seen him shirtless before so...” Laura said as she took a big sip of the vodka.

“Lucky you.”

With a curious and excited look on her face, Anna stared at Laura and said, “How big--”

“Nope.”

Laura cut off her questions.

“Thirst about someone else.”

"Oh come on…"

“Well, anyway, you guys shouldn’t be thirsting over my boyfriend. At least not in front of me.”

“Eh, you will be going away and leaving him alone.”

“So, what?”

“Well, I mean, he would need some excitement in his life, no?”

Laura fell silent.

“After your break up, he would need some healing☆,” Sara said excitedly.

“Would he though?”

Laura looked at Ashley.

“I mean your relationship seems more like it’s about sex than actual love.”

Laura’s eyes widened.

“Do you even know anything about him?”

Ashley was talking in a half-joking manner.

“I don’t know but you guys haven’t spent any time together so there is probably no healing at all.”

Ashley laughed.

“Ash, what are you saying?” Rebecca said. “Stop joking about everything.”

Laura looked down at her glass.

“Haha, okay, okay. I am joking.”

Laura drank the vodka from her glass in one go.

Then she took the bottle from Anna and drank the rest of it slowly as she thought about what Ashley said jokingly.

Many hours later, in the morning, with a terrible headache, Laura walked towards the bathroom.

Washing her face, she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“Just a sexual relationship, huh?”

She felt intense pain in her heart as she thought about what Ashley said last night.

Though she said it as a joke, Laura took it seriously.

“Shit.”

She was not sure how to feel about it. Was Ashley telling the truth? Was there nothing more than just a sexual relationship? Did she not hold any feelings to Nazar?

But she also questioned something else.

(What about him?)

Does he feel anything towards her?

Sighing heavily, she massaged her head as she returned to her bedroom.

(Is this all there is to our relationship?)

She didn’t have to ask these questions in the past. But even since last night, she has had a lot of doubts in her heart.

With a heavy heart and a headache, she sat in the same place thinking about it.

After a few hours, she left for her work.

Her headache was gone now but the pain in her heart was still there.

She was working in a clothing store and was fixing the clothes when a co-worker of hers came up to her.

“So, today is your last day at work, huh?”

Laura nodded at his question.

“I am going to miss you.”

“Me too, Tom.”

“I have been thinking... Do you--”

“You know I have a boyfriend, right?”

“I know. I just wanted to grab a drink. My treat. You helped me a lot since I started.”

“Hm, I will be busy because I need to pack since it’s only three days away… But if I had time, sure.”

“Yes,” Tom said slowly but excitedly.

Happily, he walked away from her.

As she was fixing the clothes, she noticed someone.

A man with white hair and red eyes.

“Nazar?”

Nazar was looking at some clothes.

She noticed that he was smiling as he was talking to someone.

“What is he doin--”

Next to him was another person which made Laura widen her eyes.

She saw slender shoulders and blonde hair. She couldn’t make it out who the other person was.

With her aching heart, she said slowly, “Who is she...?”