Chapter 2

After being convinced to go back, Pascal was now sitting on one of the couches inside the house.

He liked to think that he wasn't exactly convinced, but the rain started pouring again so he had to.

He looked towards the woman and saw that she was busy talking with the people around her.

Most likely recounting their memories with his dead father.

They shed tears and wore the usual solemn faces.

It seems that alot of them did care about his father and they didn't just come here half-heartedly.

Pascal re-arranged his legs and rested his arm on the frame of the couch.

"I didn't expect this. How did he get these much friends?", He said in disbelief.

He was stunned.

Just earlier, before he went outside, Everyone present consisted only of relatives and close friends.

As he was contemplating about things, The man from before approached him.

"Hey, kid.", he said

The man beside him again.

"It looks like you met Odette already."

"Yeah. I met her a few times before, but I didn't know her name. Thanks for telling me.", Pascal said.

The man looked slightly shocked at what he heard.

"You don't know her name? She's visited you a few times, Didn't you have enough time to ask for her name?", The man asked.

Pascal responded by shaking his head.

The man sighed deeply.

"Her full name is Odette Weiber. Well, How about me? Do you know who I am?"

Pascal mind immediately went into panick.

"Uncle Drusus, correct?", He answered.

"Something tells me you don't know my full name, but sure. Drusus is fine.", The man sighed.

The two of them sat quietly, and did nothing else.

For awkward moments like these, Pascal would usually be the one to think of something to talk about.

Something to ask, something to talk about.

"Hey, Uncle Dru. I want something to ask about my father."

'I hope I don't regret this.', He thought.

"Yeah, I can tell you about him.", The man said.

The air suddenly went cold.

Pascal readied himself and hoped that it wouldn't disturb Uncle Dru more than necessary.

"How exactly did he die? We usually don't hold funerals in our homes. Where did you really bury him?", He asked.

Dru's face quickly turned solemn.

"You are aware of it, aren't you? He was a hero.", He said.

Pascal listened quietly.

"He was a part of a secret operati-"

Pascal cut his words off and said, "Uncle Dru, I already know where and why he died. That top secret operation isn't even close to secret- it's all over every news platfrom already."

For the news part, After hearing what happened to his father, He tried to find out what he could.

"Fine. You see, After the operation, A villain that he thought was defeated woke up.", He said.

Pascal's research told him of this event, but it was unable to tell him anything specific.

"I was a part of it too, and we were exhausted. It's hard to admit, but my ability wasn't able to compensate for the energy I used."

Dru raised his hands and several lines of fleshy fibers came out.

"My hands, You see it? I couldn't even protect your father with it. It couldn't heal a single one of his wounds."

His father's wounds...

"Your father had his entire arm cut off. I could easily heal it even though it would risk the chances of his arm being reconnected, but that injury soon ate away the rest of his skin.", He said.

Pascal had heard something out of place and asked something about it.

"What do you mean 'ate away his skin'?", He asked Dru.

Dru rubbed his hand along his face and breathed deeply.

"You heard it right. For some reason, His skin began to melt and slide off. All that was left of him was his other organs and his bones",

He was left speechless. An ability that ate away his father's skin and practically overpowered Uncle Dru's regenerative ability.

"A lot of our allies also got affected by this, Not just your father. I could only speak of this lightly because I already cried enough. Don't speak of this conversation to anyone, not even your father's friends or yours. I'm sorry I couldn't save him, Pat.", Dru said as he stood up, turned his back and wiped his face.

Pascal guessed that perhaps the reason that a few of their allies suffered the same fate, was because they tried to save his father. In other words, They touched him and got affected by it.

There was truth in Dru's words because, In a city Kilometers away from Oval city, A large portion of its territory was placed in quarantine for no clear reason.

He assumed that they spent all that time in disinfecting the entire area.

Pascal's mind immediately went into a chaotic spiral because that same quarantine started two months ago. His father didn't stop by their home since over two months ago as well.

He was told that his father died six days ago. Pascal immediately found out they lied.

They probably announced that the operaton his father died in to be top-secret and kept it from the media until two months later. That's why Dru said that it was a top-secret operation.

His research also didn't tell him anything about how the people involved died. Just how many of them did.

They hid a lot of things and released information that was supposed to be minor, but exaggerated them to give the illusion that they weren't hiding anything.

Pascal removed his shoes and curled down into the couch.

"What a mess...", He muttered.

It was a conjecture that was full of holes, but it gave him what he needed to know nonetheless.