4.04

“Gauzelle, what seems to be the problem?” Michael was still a little rattled from his meeting with Flamiche and Jinsell.

“I need help. I need to know who I was, who I am. You know something.”

“I believe I do, yes. I’ve been in contact with a lot of people, and we believe we know what happened in your past. Are you sure you want to know? It may…hurt.”

“I need to know.”

“Very well. I will contact the people I need to be here. Do you want me to bring your team here too?”

“I…I don’t know.” Gauzelle started to pace the room. Agitation laced her voice.

“I think it would be good if they were. You are all a team, and being in this together, learning and understanding, can only be a good thing.”

“Okay. Contact everyone you need, even my team. Let’s get this over with.”

Within an hour, everyone Michael had needed had arrived. A mountain of a man and a woman with a scroll on her back. Justice Punch, the nurse Gauzelle had run into at the hospital.

“Gauzelle huh?” The large man wore denim overalls and looked at Gauzelle in amusement.

“She’s different, but there are many traces of her.” The woman with the scroll joined and looked Gauzelle over.

“You better start making sense, or I’ll knock you out,” Gauzelle threatened.

“That is nothing like Delphine.” The large man broke into an uproar and the others in the room winced at the noise.

“Michael, can we get on with it?” said Hunter.

“Gauzelle, these two with me are your friends. Were, your friends. You knew them in your previous life. They are Byeol,” Michael pointed at the woman with the scroll on her back. “And this is Quany,” Michael pointed at the man.

“Pleased to meetcha,” Quany offered his hand out to Gauzelle. Gauzelle didn’t move.

“That’s not very nice.” Quany folded his arms and chuckled.

“What happened?” Gauzelle asked.

“We were a mighty trio, heck we were legends. Saved the world heaps,” said Quany.

“However, we had one adversary that was too powerful, even for us. We trapped him deep within the earth, unable to kill him. Your name was Delphine, and you were a powerful psychic.” Byeol looked at her friend with a sense of pride and pain.

“That’s right, his name was Cadmael, nasty fella. Been around for a long time,” said Quany.

“What happened?” Silas asked.

“After imprisoning Cadmael, Delphine took it upon herself to keep him at bay with her psychic might. It was a heavy toll neither of us wanted you to take, but there was nobody else capable of such feats.” Byeol looked to the rest of the room, being sure to include them in the story.

“Okay. But why am I like this now?” asked Gauzelle.

“You held up a powerful wall and we all thought you were gonna be okay,” said Byeol.

“But the bastard was relentless. He pushed and he pushed, and he got through to you.” Quany punched his open hand, a tremendous clap bounced through the room.

“One day, you snapped. Cadmael had warped you, both your mind and your body. You were unrecognisable to anyone. You were taken to the hospital and monitored.” Byeol looked to the nurse.

“That’s where I come in. The name’s James, James Dunn. I’m the nurse that was in charge of Delphine’s…of your care. You were in immense pain, all the time, and we had to keep you heavily sedated. You were wrapped, head to toe, in bandages.” James’s voice was calm and soothing, perfect bedside manner.

“We visited you as often as we could, but it wasn’t as much as we would’ve liked. We were too busy saving the world. We, we missed seeing you when you passed away.” Quany started to tear up. He wiped his eyes with his giant, meaty hands.

“I died?” Gauzelle’s earlier irritation had turned to curiosity.

“Yes. There was one final scream, and you were gone. Your body had completely disappeared. We informed who we could, and we cleaned out the room,” said James.

“Michael?” asked Gauzelle.

“Delphine had such strong psychic powers, and those bandages were wrapped around her. When she passed away, she left a psychic imprint of herself on those bandages. Who you are now.” Michael looked at the young team of teens, they were all completely focused on Gauzelle.

“So, I’m this Delphine person, trapped in some bandages?” Gauzelle started to pace the room.

“You are both Delphine and not. An essence of her power, her being, was left on her bandages, but Delphine is dead. You have come to life, because of her, but you are your own being.” Byeol’s voice wavered, her demanding presence faltered.

“So, who am I?” Gauzelle asked. She had stopped pacing the room and was looking at the small crowd gathered there in the room.

“You’re Gauzelle,” said Silas.

“A member of Justice Punch,” said Jimena.

“A bloody great friend,” said Hunter.

“A fine hero,” said Michael.

“Someone with your own destiny,” said Byeol.

“A legend,” said Quany.

“This Cadmael. Is he going to get out? Because I died? Because Delphine died?”

“He may, but that’s our problem to deal with. That’s not on you,” said Byeol.

“But it is on me. I failed, I died. I couldn’t handle the pressure.”

“Delphine took on too much for one person to handle.”

“And because of that, Cadmael will escape. We need to get to him and kill him.”

“We’ve tried, many times. Asshole keeps coming back.” Quany punched his hand again.

“Michael. I think this Cadmael has found me and been in contact with me in a mindscape. There was this sinister voice, a presence, and he mocked me.” Gauzelle started to pace the room again.

“So you can enter the place Delphine made,” pondered Byeol.

“What do we do? Can we go there and kill him?” Silas asked.

“I don’t know. There’s still a lot we need to learn,” said Byeol.

“Michael, do you know anyone I can go and see and learn this shit? There’s a lot to process right now and I barely understand any of it.”

“Are you leaving the team?” Silas asked.

“I think I need to, for a while anyway. I’ve got some stuff I’ve gotta figure out. Michael?” Gauzelle looked at Michael and the old man nodded. He teleported Gauzelle to someone he believed he could help. One by one, the others left. All that remained were Michael and the trio of Justice Punch.

“We’ve dealt with a lot, and we haven’t even gone to The Academy yet. We’ll be pros before we’re even students. Is there any point in going?” asked Silas.