Chapter 09

She said it as if there were lots of superheroes, but I've only ever heard of Fran having powers.

"Uhhh, that's nice I guess... but we've already got a superhero."

Logically, it didn't really make sense to have two superheroes in the same place right now since Fran could take care of all of the shade monsters.

"Oh, you mean the blondie who just barely dropped you? Where is she, by the way?"

She had a devilish smile on her face as she looked at Fran. Fran frowned, and her eyebrows twitched. She grabbed me by the arm and said,

"Come on, Steven, let's get back home."

Fran started pulling me away from Thorne almost aggressively.

"Ow, Fran, too hard!"

She must have forgotten her own strength. She listened a bit but didn't look back. I picked up my pace a bit so she didn't have to drag me so hard. I looked back, and Thorne was waving as a giant rose bloomed from underneath her and closed around her, then disappeared.

"Fran, you can slow down now. She isn't following us."

Fran turned on me, a slight red glow appeared in her eyes as she yelled,

"I had the whole situation under control! How dare she come in like that, acting all tough and... ugh!"

She turned around, picking up the pace once more, but she let go of me this time.

"Fran... what's going on?"

I reached out and grabbed her hand. Suddenly, she slowed down and grabbed her head like she was in pain. She calmed down suddenly and looked at me with tearful eyes.

"Steven, I'm so sorry."

She hugged me and wept a little.

"I should have kept you safe! I've never struggled with the shadow monsters like that before..."

It's true, either she would obliterate them in one punch or sometimes two, but none of them were ever this strong.

"Fran, I'm okay, you kept me safe. I'm really worried about you though."

She pulled away and wiped her tears.

"I'm okay, see?"

She smiled her big toothy grin that she usually does. The red mist had left her eyes. Strangely, it was similar to the mist from those monsters.

"Fran, did anything happen to you after we fell?"

She looked at me puzzled, she thought for a minute.

"When the monster hit me, it hurt a bit, but I came flying to you as soon as it let me go. I noticed the redhead and that you were safe, so I stopped using my powers. But nothing really happened outside of that..."

I checked to see if she was hurt anywhere, but she didn't have any injuries.

"Did you hear what she said? The monsters can smell me..."

Fran blushed a bit and scratched her head.

"Well, who can blame them? You smell pretty good."

It came out a little creepier than I'm sure she intended. She blushed even harder and tried to change the subject,

"Why did the monsters run away from her though? It's not like she was anything special... well, in comparison to me anyway."

She sounded a little cocky, but it was still true and strange. They just suddenly dispersed... We walked to our houses, keeping our eyes out for more shadow monsters. We got home, and Fran went inside her house.

"If anything happens, just shout, I'll be right there!"

She waved and smiled brightly. I went inside and up to my room.

What a weird day.