{ Mia }
****
" Alright lil sis you should count to ten!" Young Ace exclaimed his eyes beaming with excitement.
" Haha okay... One... Two... Three —" I slowly opened my eyes trying to figure out where Ace- Hunter went when his voice rang again. " No peaking!" He warned.
I chuckled warmly. " Okayy!! Four... Five—" Before I could continue a loud bang echoed through the house.
I froze, my heart pounded in my chest and my palms started to sweat." Hunter are you okay?" I screamed as tears streamed down my face, I could feel his pain, bit it wasn't physical but it was emotional.
" Hunter? Hunter!!" I ran towards the house my little legs trembling.
Busting through the door I rushed inside only to stop sensing some dangerous me ahead. I quickly hid behind the couch only to hear more piercing screams. " Mom..." I whispered reaching out, but my tiny hands just flailed out in mid air. Another scream echoed through the house just as another image of my parents being killed flashed through my eyes.
" Hunter close you eyes !!" I muttered." I don't want to see this !!"
Just as those words left my mouth, a powerful swirl of energy wrapped around me, like a gust of wind that seemed to pull me inside.
A sharp, electric hum filled the air, vibrating through me. It was like the world around me started to stretch, bend, and unravel. The walls of the room blurred, the shapes and colors mixing into one continuous swirl of light.
The air thickened, and I felt a sudden pressure, like gravity itself was changing, pulling me in every direction.
The ground under me vanished, replaced by the feeling of falling into nothingness. My stomach churned, as though I was caught in the middle of a storm, spinning and falling with no way to control it.
I tried to breathe, but the air around me felt thick and unreal.
It was like trying to breathe underwater, each breath coming out uneven and shallow. I reached out trying to feel-touch something, but my hands passed through empty space, as though there was nothing solid to hold onto.
Then, in an instant, everything changed.
The pull of energy snapped me back to reality, and the world around me came back,
~snap, snap, snap,~
My legs trembled, my breath ragged and uneven. My heart raced in my chest, still caught in the aftershock of the journey. The air around me was different, colder, sharper, and the weight of the world felt entirely new.
I blinked, my surroundings now completely unfamiliar. I looked around, dizzy and disoriented, realizing I was somewhere else. " Where are you Hunter ? " I cried.
" I'll find you cupcake, wait for me alright?" Hunters reassuring voice cut through the silence like a knife.
" I'll be waiting..." I whispered sobbing collapsing on the ground.
****
I shot up in bed, gasping for air, peices of the dream still clinging to me like cobwebs. My heart hammered in my chest, my skin sweaty as if the dream had been real.
I sat there, trembling, my thoughts spinning. It was just a dream, wasn't it? But it felt so real, like I had lived through it all over again.
Hunter…
I stood, moving toward the window, the moonlight outside casting long shadows across the room. My reflection stared back at me, eyes wide, lips trembling, but there was something else there, too.
" You saw it too... Didn't you ?" Hunter's calm but tense voice cut through the silence.
I turned around my face pale and my hands trembling.
Feigning innocence I calmly spoke . " I don't know what you're talking about..."
Hunter's jaw tightened and his fists clenched. " Don't joke with me about stuff like this cupcake..." His voice was light but there was a hint of threat in it.
I gulped nervously intertwining my fingers together.
" I-I mean I did experience a weird dream—" Before I could continue Ace quickly pulled me into a tight hug.
" I'm sorry cupcake... You know... For not telling you sooner."
I stiffened at first, the sudden closeness of Hunter catching me off guard. His arms were tight around me, as if he was afraid I might slip away, like I was something precious he was holding onto for dear life.
I stood there, frozen in the hug, my mind racing. His apology, his warmth, the way his heartbeat thudded against mine, it was overwhelming.
But I couldn't ignore the pain, the confusion, the way the dream felt so real. His words
"I'll find you, cupcake. "were still echoing in my head, like a distant promise. Did he really say that? Or was it part of the dream?
"Why… Why didn't you tell me all this before?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper against his chest.
"I was so confused. I felt so alone, Hunter. All these years, I thought I had no one. You—" I pulled away slightly, looking up at him, my eyes searching his. "You were there, but you weren't."
His expression softened, and for a brief moment, I saw the vulnerability in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to carry the weight of all of this… everything that happened." He took a deep breath, stepping back a little, his hands still holding mine. "I was afraid if I told you the truth too soon, you'd hate me. Or worse, I'd lose you before I even had the chance to have you."
I blinked, trying to hold back the wave of tears that were threatening to escape, but the knot in my chest tightened with every word he spoke. I wanted to be angry, to yell at him for all the years I had lost, but at the same time, something in me softened.
I had longed for a brother, longed for someone who could understand me, who could be there for me. And here he was, standing in front of me, offering me the truth. But it didn't feel like enough. Not yet.
"I don't know how to feel about this, Ace, I-I mean Hunter," I confessed, my voice trembling. "I want to believe you, I really do. But everything is just... too much. The dreams, the connection, the truth about what happened to our families…" My words trailed off as I stepped back, my hands shaking. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to handle this."
Hunter stepped forward, his gaze soft but firm. "I know it's a lot to take in. But you're stronger than you think, Mia. You always have been." His hand gently cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing away the tear I didn't realize had fallen. "I'll be here, no matter what. You don't have to do this alone."
For a moment, I just stood there, looking up at him, torn between the desire to trust him and the fear that letting him in would only bring more pain.
But in the end, I knew one thing for sure, no matter how much I wanted to push him away, there was a part of me that was already tied to him. And I couldn't ignore it.
"I'm not going anywhere," I said quietly, the words sounding like both a promise and a plea.
His lips curved into a small, tender smile, but there was something sad in his eyes. "Neither am I, cupcake. I'm not going anywhere."
And even though the storm inside me hadn't fully settled, I felt a small flicker of hope, a hope that maybe, just maybe, we could find a way to heal the wounds of the past together.