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Henry takes a deep breath. He’s about to do something he should’ve done a long time ago, or if he listens to his paranoia, something he should never do. Tell Charles about his powers.
Why did he wait so long? Especially since having powers is a well-known thing. It’s simple really. They weren’t normal powers. They were something entirely different, like a power to rule all other powers. It’s the kind of power that people love to have and abuse. Doesn’t help stickfigures with normal powers have already been persecuted, abused, or drained of their powers to the point of their own death. Image what power hungry individuals would love to do to him if word gets out!
Then why would he want to tell Charles this? Simple really. Charles is his best friend, and the first person to convince Henry that the world isn’t every stick for themselves. He’d travel across the multiverse just to see his best friend smile, and has. However, in that mission, Henry soon was forced to confront the idea that Charles could die, without knowing his secret, which… for the first time ever, did not sit well with Henry. Charles deserves to know.
Plus, Henry secretly wants someone to talk to about his powers. Its isolating being the only one who knows about this.
So, with that, Henry splashes cold water onto his face to ease his nerves. Afterwards, he stares at his reflection and feels his heart pounding. He has been on many death defying missions, so he can handle a little talk. He’s got this.
“It’s just Charles,” Henry tells himself, “He wouldn’t turn me in to the CCC or any other origination that’ll want to know about my powers. He’s better than that. He’ll accept me. And if not… I can always reset. Just… rip the bandage off, alright?”
It barely does anything to sooth is nerves, but it’s enough to get him out of the bathroom. He spots Charles relaxing on their couch and watching a superhero movie, and takes deep breath number 53. He grips his hands and begins walking over to the pilot.
“Henry? You alright?” Charles asks as he notices Henry approaching. He pauses the show and sits up, “Is something the matter?”
Henry stares at the pilot and nods. He then sits down on the couch right next to his friend.
“What’s wrong, Henry?”
“…C-Charles,” Here it goes, “I have something to tell you,”
“You do?” Charles asks in worry.
Henry gulps, “I-I… I…I…” Dang it, why am I hesitating!
“Hey! Uh You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I mean, unless you heh angered the mafia and they’re coming to kill you, than I can die without knowing,”
“No! I-I have to! You’re my best friend… Charles,” Alright, now or never, “IHAVEPOWERSTHATCANRESETTIMEANDGIVEITEMS!”
Henry gasps for breath, and takes for a few seconds to recover. He nervously looks up, and sees- Charles not even changing his expression.
“…That’s the thing you were worried about?” Charles asks nonchalantly like it’s no big deal.
Confused and flabbergasted by his response, Henry then specifies, “They aren’t normal powers. I can go back in time, even if I’m dead. I have access to any power or item in existence. I didn’t even get them the normal way! I got them from a package.”
“Oh…” Charles’s expression changes from a smile to a line. Henry tenses up, and prepares himself for Charles’s next words. This is it. He’s going to be really mad at me for keeping this secret. He might even kick me out. This was a bad idea. I should reset-
“Thanks for confirming it, Henry!” Charles says happily, and goes back to what he’s doing.
Henry then stares at his best friend dumbfounded.
“You okay, Hen?” Charles asks with concern, like Henry didn’t reveal a monumental secret.
Henry shakes his head vigorously to snap out of his confusion, “What do you mean by, ‘confirming it’! Did you already know?!?!?!”
Charles blinks. He then scratches the back of his head, “Well, it was kind of obvious. Especially if you know what to look for. I mean, you literally summoned a giant vacuum cleaner out of thin air, back at the airship. Kind of… not hard to miss.”
“Wait you knew since our first mission together?!” Henry yells.
“No, I mean, technically. When I read your report, I kind of figured you were the player. But until now, I wasn’t completely sure.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?!”
“Well, I didn’t want to scare ya, and talking about this kind of stuff brings me some… unwanted… memories back. Besides, I didn’t know completely if you actually had those powers, or you just had a different power, or horde a bunch of items in a pocket dimension bag. To be honest… I kinda felt like I said something, it would be invading your privacy, and I respect ya too much to do that!”
“…” Henry leans back on the couch and sighs, “I spent the entire week trying build up the courage to tell you this, only for you to already know…” Henry turns to Charles, “Does anyone else know?”
“Only the general, somewhat. He doesn’t have confirmation that you’re the player, but he also knows enough to respect your privacy. All he cares about is that you’re on his side. Actually, was the reason why he kidnapped you specifically. Nothing to worry about!” Charles says.
“Okay… another question, why did you call me, ‘player’?” Henry asks.
Charles tenses before saying slower than his usual talking speed, “That’s the name the CCC gives people who have it. Oh yeah, the CCC probably also knows you have those powers.”
“WHAT!” Henry shouts and leans forward.
“Huh? I don’t get why that’s such a big deal?” Charles asks, back to his normal talking speed.
“It’s in their name, Center for Chaos Contentment! They’re probably after me!” Henry shouts, and begins to panic. He knows the CCC have visited the government before, and after the mini-apocalypse, they definitely know who Henry is. How much time does Henry have left? Are they already here?
“Henry, calm down-”
Suddenly, someone knocks on their door to their shared apartment. Henry screams and runs right out of the room.
“HENRY!” Charles shouts.
“There you are,” Charles says as he looks under Henry’s bed. It really isn’t one of Henry’s finer moments.
“A-Are they gone?” Henry asks.
“Yes, and they brought the pizza we ordered!” Charles says, and shows Henry a pizza box, “You should uh get up from under the bed.”
“We should move.” Henry says.
“…Come on, the CCC isn’t after you. You wouldn’t have powers if you they were,” Charles reassures.
“?”
“…Oh uh…. Okay, I’ll explain, but first you got to get up from under the bed. You look like you’re going to tell me, ‘We all float down here’,” Charles awkwardly states.
Henry obliges. The two grab some plates and begin dining on their pizza.
“So, why wouldn’t I have powers?” Henry asks.
“Because they’re the ones who gave you those powers in the first place,” Charles simply states.
Henry almost spits out his pizza, “H-How?!”
“Remember when you said you got your powers from a package. That was them,” Charles explains, there is slight unease in it.
“W-Why?” Henry says flabbergasted.
“…” Charles looks a bit uncomfortable, but explains, “Because that’s how they contain chaos. Long ago, they figured out that it was impossible to get rid of the chaos in our world, but they couldn’t do nothing about it. It was uh ending our world. I’m sure you already know about the Great Chaos Catastrophe where a bunch of worlds collided into one, causing our world to basically end?”
Henry nods.
“Well, uh they decided that someone should be a um… lightning rod for chaos, you know a uh chaos rod! Like that name! Chaos rod! I’m going to call you that instead of ‘player’. Uh. Anyways, they did this so that all the chaos in the world gets anchored in, so it doesn’t fully end the world. So, they assign a new chaos rod every time the old one is unable to support it no more, so that the widespread chaos keeps getting contained!” Charles says, though he is fidgeting with his hands a lot.
“…So, I’m the containment?” Henry asks.
“Yep!” Charles cheers.
“But then why do they keep nuking stuff?” Henry asks slightly accusatory.
“…It’s their form of ‘discipline.’ You’re basically a god, Henry, and um… they really don’t want you to cause to much chaos that it might cause the world to end ya-know. Though, they do go overboard a ton of the time, and uh… are okay with any casualties that might arise. Heh, hopefully I don’t… don’t ever get caught up in one…” Charles says, his eyes betray an uneasy look, “That would suck…”
“Why do you know so much about it?” Henry asks.
This seems to finally break Charles’s happy attitude, as he goes quiet. He grabs his arm, and looks down on the ground. Lost in memories.
“Charles?”
“H-Henry, I don’t want to talk…” Charles sighs, but then straightens up and says, “You know what? You just spent a whole week gathering the courage to have this conversation, so I’ll… I’ll do the same for you. E-except you know… with a shorter time frame. Heh. Just…” He looks at Henry with a pleading expression and grabs Henry’s hand, “Please never make me talk about this again. I really want to bury this in my past forever. Promise?”
Henry feels a chill go down his spine, and then says, “Promise,”
Charles sighs and let’s go off Henry. He then looks up at the celling, as he begins, “My grandfather… he’s a very high ranking member of the CCC, and when I was born, he wanted me to succeed him…”
Henry almost spits out his pizza for a second time.
“So, the CCC discouraged me from doing anything other than training for that role. A-Actually, that’s an… understatement. They burned my comic books right before my eyes one time.”
Charles begins shaking, like he’s reliving bad memories. Henry has never seen Charles so… upset before. He doesn’t like it.
“Charles?” Henry asks with concern.
“The training wasn’t nice either. They were really strict, and I saw… things… so that I can prepare seeing and doing those… t-things… when I become an adult. Fortunately, my parents and the general were opposed to them taking full control over my life, but when my parents died… the training… got worse, as they were no longer there to protect me...Almost thought I was never going to be a pilot like I wanted.” A haunted look appears in Charles’s eyes.
“Charles,”
“Fortunately. That didn’t happen. The general didn’t give up on me, and well… here I am! Only cost is that my grandfather has now disowned me… Though, you know, all that training, it’s still all hard wired in my brain, no matter how much I try to… forget it… It uh messed me up. Messed me up p-pretty really good. Heh. Though I guess in the end, it made me a pretty good p-pilot,” Charles gulps, “Y-You p-probably want to k-know what that t-t-training was, w-well one of the things they did-”
“CHARLES!” Henry shouts, and begins shaking his friend.
Charles snaps out of whatever trance he was in before, and looks at Henry with an emotionless stare.
“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to,” Henry says, “It looks like talking about this is doing more harm to you than good,”
“…”
“…”
“Thanks.”
“Those guys sound like @$$holes.” Henry says.
“…Heh… t-they were.” Charles says as he looks away.
“Like burning your comic books? What’s next destroying your toy helicopters?” Henry half-jokes.
“…” Charles looks away and twiddles with his thumbs.
“…No…” Henry says in disbelief.
“Yep. They did. Anything for me to quit my dreams and become one of them…”
“They sound like a cult.” Henry states.
“…In a way.” Charles quietly says.
Henry grabs Charles’s hand and with conviction says, “I won’t let them hurt you ever again. As long as I can, I won’t let them even near you!”
Charles smiles, “Thanks, but I already know that. The general has said he’ll make sure they stay away from me, and allows me the day off when they come by, but… and I know this going sound stupid, I can’t seem to move on from them. I mean, my first reaction to reading your report was thinking you’re the player! And even getting it right too… So… *Pause*” Charles looks directly at Henry with a somber expression, “Henry. Can I admit to you something?”
“Sure?” Henry says not liking where this is heading.
“I think… there’s a part of me that is a CCC agent, and never left the facility. So… no matter how much I-I want to forget about that place, and move on with my life, I can’t… Maybe because deep down, I’m not a pilot. I’m an agent,” Charles says, “But that’s stupid-eh?”
Henry grabs Charles’s shoulder, and then says, “Charles. You aren’t a CCC agent. A part of you maybe… but that’s entirely who you are! You’re Charles! The youngest veteran in the military! A great pilot, who wants so desperately for the chance to ram his helicopter into an enemy base, because it’d be cool! Someone who is always there for his friends! Someone who convinced a bitter criminal that it wasn’t every stick for themselves, and inspired him to change his ways, enlist to become special ops with him, and to become a better person! There is so much more than you than a potential CCC agent, Charles. And… believe me. I know more than anyone of this fact.”
“…Because you played Slay the Princess?” Charles jokes.
Henry grumbles in slight annoyance, “Not just because I played that game. But because, another part of my powers… is to see into alternate timelines, through the eyes of my alternate selves, and… all of them are different than me, but they’re still me. Even… the horrible ones. So, since I know I’m not a cruel toppat leader, that means I know for a fact you aren’t a CCC agent.” Henry then winks, “Especially since, unlike me, I don’t see a single timeline where you do become one.”
“…” A small smile creeps up on Charles’s face, “Thanks Henry.”
“Don’t mention it. You’d do the same for me,” Henry says and lightly elbows Charles.
“Anyways, our uh pizza’s getting cold…”
“Ah,” Henry says, “Want me to reset so that the pizza’s warm?”
“Nah. I needed to tell you that. Hate for you to never know what happened to me in my past…” Charles says, “And I uh doubt I’d ever loosen up to tell you that again.”
“Fair.”
“And no talking about this after we leave this room okay? I… I don’t like thinking about it,”
“I’ve already promised you that.”
“Thanks, Henry. You’re the best person I could ever have as a friend.”
“Naturally~”
Then the two eat their pizza.