Debra shoulders trembled slightly as she lowered her head.
West sighed tiredly. "Leave."
The single word felt cold.
"I handled your situation. Dragon Fang won’t co after you. Frankincense is too busy fighting for survival to chase you anymore."
He stepped backward toward the apartnt again.
"Your life is no longer in danger. There’s no reason for you to still be here."
But as soon as he moved to enter again, Debra grabbed his hand once more.
This ti West’s irritation visibly surfaced. "You’re really starting to get on my nerves."
Debra looked up at him with watery eyes. "...Did you ever stop to think about how I knew you could help ?"
West paused with a slightly thoughtful expression.
The question piqued his interest because truly those texts asking for protection felt like she already knew he was awakened.
But how could she when she hadn’t been in his life for years.
West frowned slightly while Debra slowly wiped her tears.
"I knew because even though I stayed away..." her voice softened painfully, "...I still kept tabs on you."
West imdiately rolled his eyes.
"Oh wow," he muttered dryly. "Am I supposed to be touched by that?"
"No."
Debra shook her head weakly.
"I’m not asking for pity."
West turned again, clearly done with the conversation but Debra stepped forward hurriedly.
"Please."
Her voice cracked badly this ti.
"Please just hear out. Just this once."
West stopped for a mont while Debra continued before he could interrupt.
"If after hearing everything... you still decide you never want anything to do with again..." tears stread down her face again, "...then I’ll leave and never bother you again."
West exhaled slowly with a look of fatigue... he was tired and needed rest but she clearly wasn’t going anywhere.
And maybe... a part of him wanted answers too... even if he hated himself for it.
He finally stepped aside from the doorway with a hesitant expression.
"...Fine."
Debra looked up slightly.
"But after this," West said coldly, "we’re done."
She nodded imdiately. "Okay."
West let her inside the luxurious apartnt and the beautiful city skyline imdiately ca into view beyond the massive windows while early sunlight illuminated the living room in soft gold.
Debra stepped inside slowly like she didn’t belong there while West tossed his jacket aside before sitting heavily on the couch.
"...Talk."
Debra sat opposite him with her fingers intertwined nervously.
For several long seconds, she couldn’t speak.
But finally, she summoned up the courage.
"...You weren’t an only child."
West eyebrows instantly furrowed in confusion and disbelief. "...What?"
Debra looked down at her hands.
"My first child... was a girl."
"She was four years old... almost five... when you were born."
"I had a sister?" West eyes widened slightly, completely confounded.
Debra nodded weakly. "You were still a baby then. That’s why you don’t rember her."
West leaned forward slightly now as the irritation on his face had been completely replaced by confusion.
"...Then where is she?"
The mont he asked, Debra broke... fresh tears poured down her cheeks instantly.
West’s chest tightened slightly without understanding why.
"She died."
West stared at her blankly. "...What?"
"She was killed."
Debra’s voice shattered.
"...By an awakener."
The apartnt suddenly felt unbearably quiet as West sat completely frozen.
Because for the first ti since this entire conversation began, his face was starting to display a look of anger.
"...No."
Debra nodded while crying openly now as West slowly stood to his feet.
"How?" he asked quietly.
"How did I never know this?"
Debra hugged herself tightly. "Because I made Mark promise never to tell you."
West mind spun violently as he stared at her.
He had a sister... and his father never said a word. ’How could he have hidden this from ?’
Debra continued shakily. "She died because of an awakener incident... a blunder during a territorial conflict."
Her breathing beca uneven. "They were fighting in the city."
West remained completely still, listening to Debra recall the incident.
"She was just... there."
Debra covered her mouth while sobbing now.
"They said it wasn’t intentional. They said collateral damage happens during awakened battles..."
Her voice turned bitter. "But how do you tell a mother her daughter was collateral damage?"
West looked away slightly as sothing twisted uncomfortably inside him.
Debra continued crying softly. "She died in my arms."
"I still rember how cold she was becoming..."
The room fell silent again except for Debra’s quiet sobs while West slowly sat back down.
His expression had beco distant now as various thoughts surfaced in his head.
"She had your eyes," Debra whispered.
"She used to hold your tiny hands after you were born. She adored you."
West swallowed slightly. "...Stop."
Debra shook her head weakly. "I need you to understand."
She wiped her face again. "After she died... I completely broke."
West remained silent as Debra continued.
"We mourned her for months... Years, honestly."
Her voice sounded hollow now. "I couldn’t function anymore."
She laughed weakly through tears.
"I’d hear her voice sotis. I’d think I saw her running through the house."
West lowered his gaze slightly.
"We had pictures of her everywhere at first..." Debra whispered. "But eventually I couldn’t handle seeing them anymore."
Her breathing trembled again.
"So I made Mark throw everything away."
"Every picture..."
"Every video..."
"Every toy..."
"Every trace..."
West suddenly understood why there had always been a strange emptiness in old family albums growing up.
He never questioned it before but it made sense now.
Debra continued quietly. "I made him promise never to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to protect you from that grief."
West laughed bitterly.
"So instead I just grow up not knowing I had a sister."
Debra lowered her head again.
"I know... and it was also the only way I could leave her completely buried because I needed to be a mother to you."
Silence reigned for a while before Debra spoke again.
"For a while... things got better."
Her expression softened faintly. "You were little. Funny. Loud. Always running around the house."
"You made life feel normal again."
A painful smile appeared on her face."But eventually..."
The smile disappeared. "The fear ca back."
West noticed how haunted Debra’s eyes looked.
"I beca terrified every single day."
Her voice lowered. "Terrified that awakeners would take you from too."
"I started having episodes again," she admitted quietly. "Panic attacks. Hallucinations. Depression."
Her hands trembled visibly now. "I stopped sleeping properly."
She laughed weakly.
"I’d check your room five tis every night just to make sure you were still breathing."
West’s expression changed slightly.
"The marriage started falling apart because of it."
Debra closed her eyes. "I wasn’t anymore."
The room felt painfully heavy now.
"And then..."
She looked back at him.
"The assimilation research project appeared."
West’s gaze sharpened slightly while Debra nodded slowly.
"They wanted to create sothing that could allow ordinary humans to stand against awakeners."
Her eyes hardened slightly for the first ti.
"And to ..." She smiled bitterly. "It sounded perfect."
"Sowhere to channel my grief."
"...And sowhere to create sothing strong enough to protect my son."
Silence swallowed the room whole afterward... and for the first ti since she arrived... West truly didn’t know what to say anymore.
...
...
~ Hours Later ~
The apartnt had beco painfully quiet after Debra left.
West still sat on the sa couch in the sa position with the sa expression.
The untouched breakfast she brought rested on the table nearby, probably cold now just like the coffee sitting beside it.
The city lights outside the massive windows had slowly transitioned from warm sunrise colors into deep blue evening tones, but West barely noticed.
His thoughts were elsewhere...
’I had a sister...’ the realization kept replaying in his head over and over again like an endless loop.
A sister who died because of an awakener...
West leaned back deeper into the couch while rubbing both hands down his face slowly.
"...What the hell..."
For years he thought the story was simple... that his mother abandoned them and his father stayed... end of story.
That was easier to process... it made it easier to hate her... But now, everything felt complicated.
Because as much as he hated what Debra did... he couldn’t completely ignore what drove her there anymore.
The image of her crying while talking about her daughter lingered stubbornly inside his head.
~ "She died in my arms..." ~
West shut his eyes tightly... annoyed... because part of him didn’t want to empathize.
It was easier being angry... it was easier to bla her but now he knew things he was never supposed to know.
And sohow... this made it difficult to feel the earlier resentnt.
Brrtzz~
His phone suddenly buzzed.
West glanced toward it lazily, as the illuminated screen displayed a na.
~ Dad ~
Normally, West always answered imdiately but this ti, he stared at the phone silently while it rang before declining the call.
The apartnt turned quiet again afterward.
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