The next morning, Onyx was already at the library early, buried in books. Surprisingly, she was developing at a rapid pace; she could read much more fluently now. Though she still stumbled occasionally, she was finally able to pronounce words relatively quickly.
Onyx waited there for Maximus.
Suddenly, Ranny and her girl friends entered the library. Spotting them, Onyx instinctively tried to hide.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, have you seen a dark blue boy? He's a student here," Ranny asked the librarian who was busy shelving books.
Onyx peeked from the corner of a bookshelf, whispering to herself, "It looks like they're looking for Maximus. What do they want from him now?"
Ranny and her friends eventually left, looking visibly disappointed.
Onyx returned to her reading table, and a few minutes later, Maximus finally arrived. He was late because he had overslept, and he was startled to see how seriously Onyx—who was older than him—was taking her studies.
As soon as she saw Maximus, Onyx was eager to show off her progress. In just a single day, she had started reading almost every word in the books fluently. Coincidentally, the book she had chosen was about Hypno Energy.
"Hey, sorry I'm late! I crashed hard last night," Maximus said.
"...You're in for a surprise today!" Onyx replied.
"...Oh yeah? What is it?" Maximus asked.
Maximus was blown away by Onyx's rapid improvement. It turned out Onyx had stayed up all night just to master reading and show Maximus her best effort.
"Wow... not bad. Even better than yesterday. You seriously spent the whole night learning to read?" Maximus asked, impressed.
"I did!" Onyx chirped.
"Man, that's cool. It took me months just to stop stuttering through letters," Maximus admitted.
After a while, Maximus asked something a bit more personal.
"Actually, I've been thinking about what you told me yesterday," Maximus started. "I'm a little curious..."
"About what?" Onyx asked.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but I want to know," Maximus said hesitantly.
"What is it?"
Maximus hesitated, but his curiosity pushed him forward. "...What actually happened to your parents?"
Onyx froze instantly, refusing to meet the younger boy's eyes.
"It's bad," Onyx finally said. "So, you really want to know about this, huh?"
Onyx clenched her fists, her jaw tight. Anger flared within her like a burning fire as she remembered her own fate.
So that's how it is, Maximus thought to himself.
Onyx continued, "Tonight, my father is staying at the house. My mother told me not to come home until tomorrow morning. So... I'll probably be sleeping outside tonight!"
"...But why?" Maximus asked.
"...Sigh... My parents, they fight every single day. It's always like that whenever my father comes home. He yells at me all the time, and... he often hits me," Onyx said quietly.
"...Onyx! This is serious. We should report this to the police and get him locked up. He's a monster, Onyx!" Maximus exclaimed, looking at Onyx, who remained silent out of fear.
"...You don't understand, Max. You should know why I could never tell the police!" Onyx gripped her hands tight.
"I'm sorry..." Maximus muttered. "...I just wanted to help."
"..."
"...Hey, don't get all sad on me." Onyx forced a smile at him.
"...How about you stay at my place tonight?" Maximus suggested.
Maximus looked away, his cheeks flushing pink, thinking for a second, 'What did I just say?'
"I forgot, I live alone. It's actually kind of dangerous without parents around, and I'm worried it might make my neighbors suspicious," Maximus added.
Onyx's eyes lit up as she stared at Maximus. "Are you serious?"
After thinking it over deeply and scratching his head, Maximus finally decided. "...Alright. You can stay over tonight!"
"...Wah, you're so kind, Max! Thank you so much!" Onyx cried out, pulling Maximus into a tight, sisterly hug.
"O—gh... Your hug is too strong!" Maximus gasped.
"I promise I'll repay your kindness someday!" Onyx vowed.
"...Just let go of me first!" Maximus wheezed, nearly dizzy from the embrace.
They eventually left the library and wandered toward the city park, enjoying a walk together. Maximus happened to find a fallen tree branch that was perfectly straight.
"Hey, look!" Maximus brandished the branch. "I shall turn you into a lady in a white dress! Alacadabra!"
"...Ouch! Oh no, I've become a frog!" Onyx joked, crawling and hopping around to play along.
"...I think I used the wrong spell, or maybe this wand is just too flimsy?" Maximus joked back.
It was a simple moment of two kids playing together.
However, from behind the bushes, Maximus caught a glimpse of someone spying on them—just like back at the library. It was Alpha Trion, looking for another chance to take Maximus down with his water pistol again.
Before taking action, Alpha Trion paused to offer a prayer. "For you, Nexus. May you find peace in the afterlife, and leave the rest to me. I will avenge everyone who oppressed you! I will never forgive them!"
GROWL!! A loud sound erupted.
"...Don't tell me that was your stomach!" Maximus said.
Onyx rubbed her belly. "I'm hungry!"
They stopped at a local eatery and ordered some food.
"Wow, I haven't had a meal this good in ages," Onyx said happily, savoring the food. "Sorry for being a burden. You've been treating me to meals lately, and not just small ones. I'm curious—do you have that much allowance? Are your parents rich?"
Maximus smiled, but his eyes darted around, unsure how to answer. He had to come up with a story because Onyx was staring at him expectantly.
Onyx added another question, "Oh, and one more thing—how can you live alone in this city?"
Maximus finally replied, "My parents are obsessed with work; they don't even care about me. I stole my father's bank card and ran away."
"Whoa, that means your father is looking for you, or maybe you're a fugitive... Man, I'm jealous. I want to run away too," Onyx said.
"Nah, they won't. They're filthy rich. They won't even notice I'm gone," Maximus countered.
"What kind of business are they in?" Onyx pressed.
"I don't know, and I don't care. My mother is always off having affairs, and my father doesn't care about her either," Maximus replied bluntly.
Onyx sighed. "It seems like everyone has it rough."
Maximus then asked, "Um... can I ask? What was your family like before... all this?"
Onyx paused, her food suddenly feeling heavy. "We used to be a happy family. We were well-off, with businesses everywhere. We even had a mansion," Onyx reminisced. "But it turns out it was all built on corruption, and Nova Prime eventually found out."
"In less than a year, our lives flipped 360
∘
. We were drowned in debt and hatred. My father lost his job. My mother and I never knew he was corrupt... It feels so unfair. I lost my dreams, everything. I took my pain out on Nexus. It took me a long time to understand, but luckily my mom showed me I was wrong. Yeah... every day is just full of pain."
Maximus sipped his drink and muttered, "...Wow."
"I'm actually a bit confused about how to spend the rest of the day," Maximus admitted. "I want to go home, but... it's boring there."
Onyx teased, "To be honest, I feel like we're on a date."
Maximus snapped back instantly, "Gah! No, we're just friends, get that straight. I just don't want to be bored."
"I'm going to get fat if you keep feeding me like this," Onyx joked.
"By the way," Maximus said, "I'm curious how your Hypno Energy works."
"I haven't really studied it yet. I just know by chance that my Hypno Energy is a healer type," Onyx explained. She picked up a spoon. "Watch this."
Onyx snapped the spoon in half with both hands. Using her Hypno Energy, she joined the two pieces together and rubbed them. The spoon fused back into its original state.
"Wow..." Maximus was genuinely impressed.
"I can even make this spoon grow or shrink," Onyx added. She manipulated the size of the spoon until it was as big as her fist, then as small as her finger, before returning it to normal.
"But it makes me a bit dizzy," Onyx admitted.
"That must be the side effect; you really need to train, Onyx," Maximus said. "I wonder... can you enlarge parts of your body too?"
"Yeah, I can, but the duration is short and the scale is limited," Onyx replied.
"I wonder when my Hypno Energy will activate," Maximus mused as they walked out of the shop.
The afternoon sun was scorching, enough to make a Cybertronian's chassis smoke and cause their paint to fade. "It's too hot for a walk!" Onyx complained.
They eventually made their way to a park and went fishing at a nearby lake. Maximus grew increasingly annoyed as Onyx's hook kept getting bites, catching fish after fish. However, soon after, Maximus's line tugged hard, and he reeled in a massive fish. He immediately flaunted it in front of Onyx, making her the grumpy one.
Evening arrived, and it was time to head home. Onyx was going to stay at Maximus's place.
"You're carrying that thing like a backpack, haha!" Onyx laughed at the boy and his fish.
"I didn't expect to catch one this big," Maximus replied.
THUD!
Maximus's fish hit the ground.
"Ouch, sorry sir! I wasn't looking where I was going," Maximus apologized. He had accidentally bumped into a man wearing a black cloak.
Maximus picked up the fish and brushed off the sand. As he prepared to leave, the cloaked man grabbed Maximus by the shoulder, stopping him.
"...Uh... sorry about that, Sir. Do you want a fish to make up for it? We have some medium-sized ones!" Maximus offered with a friendly smile.
The man in the black cloak had glowing orange eyes that burned with a cold intensity.
CRACK!!
"Hey! Argh!!" The man grabbed Maximus by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Max!! Hey, let him go!" Onyx screamed.
"This is your fault!! I will kill you! I swear I will kill you!!" the cloaked man snarled.
Nearby police spotted the commotion. "HEY!! HEY YOU!!"
The man threw Maximus aside and bolted.
"Wasn't that a Taken?" one of the officers shouted.
Bystanders rushed to help Maximus. "Are you alright, kid?"
"Yeah... I'm fine!"
Maximus stared in the direction the man had fled. Something felt wrong. He really was a Taken.
Maximus was left dazed, rubbing his bruised neck. "What did he want?..."
"That's the first time I've actually seen a Taken."
Onyx helped Maximus to his feet, though the boy couldn't take his eyes off the spot where the Taken had vanished.
To be continued...