Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 339: Twisted Memory

Sheila stared at her mother’s face, distraught with fear and panic.

She remembered this dream. She had seen it so many times before.

No... it wasn’t a dream, was it? It was a memory she had pushed into the back of her mind. She did not want to remember this, but she did.

This was one of the things she had always tried to get rid of but never could. But then again, this was the clearest of all her memories of her mother, so she wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

Sheila was only a child back then, woken in the middle of her sleep by her mother. She pulled her out of the bed and carried her away while her father remained behind.

She could remember the back of her father’s head. He had begun graying around the temples by that point. She tried to remember more of him but somehow failed to each time.

Was she that bad of a daughter?

"It will be alright, Sheila. Everything will be fine. Daddy will come back to us soon." Those were her mother’s words. At the time, she hadn’t realized that those words were less for Sheila and more for herself.

Her mother took her to a large room, one that was not used for anything else. All the cult members who could not fight were put there, gathered in one spot.

They huddled at the corner, trying to make sure they did not die. There was the sound of fighting outside and people screaming. Each scream shook them to the core once again.

People inside the room began whimpering and crying. They all feared for their life from what was outside of that room.

Sheila felt odd remembering this.

She looked around the room, confused. She remembered being full of fear back then, just like everyone here. She was scared when she had this memory the latter times too. Why was she not so scared this time around?

More than that, why was she so aware that this was a dream?

"Sheila," her mother called out simply, no panic or fear in her voice anymore.

The door blasted open to the side, fragments of wood flying through the air, hitting a group on the other side. But her mother looked straight toward her.

"Why didn’t you save me?"

Sheila looked at her mother. "What?" she spoke for the first time.

"You could have saved me. You could have saved me with your powers," she said. "But you didn’t. Why didn’t you save me?"

"No," Sheila said quickly, ignoring the figure that had entered the room, surrounded by flowing blood all around him.

"No, I couldn’t, mama," Sheila said. "I... I couldn’t."

Why was she panicking all of a sudden? Why was the memory so different?

The figure in blood began killing everyone. The Blood Nova, the leader of their cult. The one who gave everything had turned against them for some reason and had begun killing everyone.

Corpses piled all around, some upon her as well. The room was soon filled with blood pooling knee-high.

"You were already dead, mama," Sheila said, ignoring the Blood Nova. She felt no threat from that monster who would die very soon. It was her own mother that scared her right now.

"You chose to not save me," her mother said.

"No, that is not true," Sheila said quickly. "I only got my powers after you died, Mother. I did not abandon you."

Her mother was decapitated at that exact moment, but even then, her eyes stared straight at her. "You chose to leave me to die, daughter. You should die along with me."

"I... I should die?" Sheila felt that was the right choice to make. She had to pay for leaving her mother like that, didn’t she?

Her powers saved her, but only after her mother was dead. If she had done something before that...

"I should die," Sheila said, looking toward the Blood Nova. "Kill me."

She closed her eyes and let herself open to be attacked. Death was all she deserved, wasn’t it?

"No," she suddenly said, opening her eyes toward the Blood Nova.

She stood up, looking directly at him. "This is not where I die," she said. "I will not die here."

She knew how the rest of the memory went.

Gray burst into the room and fought Blood Nova, killing him rather easily. Their powers were a bad match after all.

It was then Gray had noticed her hiding among the corpses, her 12-year-old self half submerged in the blood, completely hidden from others’ senses of sight, smell, and sound.

Gray turned toward her next. "You let your mother and father die," he said. "You should really die along with them."

"That is not what he told me," Sheila said. "You are not Gray." Her head turned, looking at a short bald man that sat in the distance.

"Who are you?"

* * * * * *

Skimmy woke up at the bottom of the mountain where he had gone to sleep to make use of his powers..

"Aaah!" he screamed as he woke up.

"What happened?" a few people beside him quickly asked him.

"She saw me," he said. "That bitch saw me. How? How did she see me?"

* * * * * *

Sheila opened her eyes and awoke in her room. She slowly got up and heard whispers all around her. She turned around and saw people by the door, whispering among each other.

"Who are you?" she asked with a confused look.

"Huh?" someone shouted and turned around, looking around the room. "Who was that?"

The others turned around, not noticing her as well.

Sheila was a little confused. Why were people in her room? In the first place, why was she in her room? What had happened back on that ship?

Suddenly, something slammed on the door and ripped it off its hinges. Bright light and hot air poured into the room at that exact moment and so did a man she was happy to see.

"Stanley!" Sheila called out loud.

Stanley paused, looking around the room in confusion. "Sheila?"