Once I finished serving the Marionettes’ breakfast, I walked into the mess hall with my own tray. I sat at an empty table in the corner of the room but was waved over by an agitated-looking Chara(the girl with the red robe and hair) and Katchal.

Unable to resist the temptation of a meal with company, I reluctantly moved to sit beside them, keeping my distance from the knife dude. Yeesh, I could be in some hot shit if I handled this wrong. Katchal seemed certain I had my powers back, so...

“So, be real with me here, girl,” Chara began, tapping the table for emphasis.

“Psychi,” I interjected.

[This punk thinks she’s hot shit, doesn’t she?] “Psychi. You’ve got your powers back, don’t you?”

Oh no...

“Come on, spit it out. Its written all over your face.”

I panicked and activated my psychic barrier just to feel safe. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied.

Wait, what would they even do if they found out? Nothing, right? I could probably blow these people to smithereens if I really wanted to!

“I’m not gonna cause a scene or anything about it, but we’re just curious. How come you weren’t forced to tell us?” [Does she have some ability to resist the collar? I swear I told the old man to be more cautious than to leave it all up to that...]

“I already told you, I don’t-”

“Fat chance, I saw that crater in the-” Katchal began to say, leaning towards me aggressively.

Chara flicked him on the head, causing him to yelp. [You idiot, she’ll spill the beans if we just act like we’re already certain.] “Did Daakyn not give you those restrictions that Vrazel mentioned?”

“Uhh...” I began, “I’m not sure why else you would think I have my powers, but the crater was made by Kalief’s scarf.”

Chara rolled her eyes. [Oh great, now we’re getting into an argument. Good job, man.]

“There was no way her scarf hit that!” Katchal complained. “She’s not that reckless with it.”

“I’m not that reckless with my power either,” I lied. “And I’m not sure how I had any reason to blow a hole in one of your stone counters.”

“But-” [her scarf was nowhere near-]

“Katchal,” Chara said like she was scolding the older man. [Let’s catch her off guard...] She flicked her head towards me. “Stop bickering like a baby and strip and ‘yell ‘I’m a baby who likes breast milk’”

I felt a tingle trail up my neck while I jerked back in revulsion towards the crude, random ‘joke’.

“The fuck was that about?!” Katchal asked, reeling back and tensing his neck in disgust.

I freaking knew they’d do something like this!

But, uhh...no amount of prediction would make me cast aside my dignity like that!

“Ha, I Knew it!” Chara said, pointing at me dramatically as I rolled my eyes. “You aren’t affected by the collar, are you?”

“W-wha-...” I studdered, flustered, and feeling cheated. “Look, Daakyn didn’t put the restrictions on me.” It wouldn’t convince her, but I wasn’t sure what else to say.

Chara clicked her tongue haughtily. “That doesn’t explain how you resisted its effects right now. No need to be shy. I can taste your lies from within my soup.”

“Well, that’s one way to go about scrounging the truth,” Katchal said, shaking his head. “So...since we’ve confirmed she’s immune to the collar, I should probably report this to-”

“No-No, I don’t think we should do that,” Chara said.

“Why?”

“Just hold on. She’s probably hiding it for a reason. Why didn’t you tell us you had your powers back, ‘Psychi’?” she asked, assuming my immunity meant I had my powers...correctly.

“Well, I-” I blinked a few times, trying to think of why I was keeping it a secret. It wasn’t like I had an agenda. In fact, I also wanted to stop the Monster King. “I, uhh, don’t have one.”

Katchal began to stand. “Ok, I’m reporting th-”

“Wait just a second, old man!” Chara said, catching Katchal’s hand and dragging him back into his seat.

“I’m literally just six years older than you!”

“Old enough to see a fourth of humanity’s history!”

“I think you should be calling humanity ‘young’ instead of me old. By that logic, you’re ancient as well!”

Chara crossed her arms, annoyed. “Whatever...” She looked back to me. “Well, anyway, we can talk about your powers in a more private place. I’ll be dragging you to our patrol once we finish eating. You got it?”

“Sure...” I said, a little mesmerized by how trusting they were, given how I had the same abilities as the dude committing genocide.

I shivered as I tried to get a grasp on the sheer devastation he had wreaked.

How many people were dead? Yet here I was, trying and failing to hide petty secrets.

‘Blood dribbled down my psychic barrier. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t think, but I could only stand, mortified.’

I hadn’t thought too hard about the dreams I had before I woke up, mostly because I was focused on what was happening...No. That was an excuse.

I thought it was a pain to think about.

I knew something very, very bad could happen, and here I was sitting idle, too comfortable to do something about it.

There was something about this place...if I concentrated, I could feel the aura of these ruins...As I did, my psychometry activated.

Not long ago, an organization lived here. They believed that magic should be explored and studied more than it already was. Like anyone else in this world, they were benevolent and only wanted to help people; their own desires be damned.

106 years of research led to the recruitment of a man from the past universe. He knew ancient spells from before, including one that could summon people from other worlds. Seeing the potential to defeat the enemy of mankind, ‘monsters’, they called upon another world and summoned the strongest person within.

At first, they tried to control him using a prison collar, which seemed to work. For a week, the child, who seemed grateful to them for saving him from nearly dying, worked to eliminate the monsters, happily going along with what they wanted of him. They taught him about the world, and about magic, and learned about his world and what it was like.

Yet, though he acted a friend, the summoned warrior felt nothing for the people. There was no gratitude, no fear, no happiness, nothing in his heart. All that was there was anticipation, bated breath caught between the child’s teeth, waiting...

to kill them all.

He could not be contained nor reasoned with. He killed every person without remorse. Because he was unused to the magics of the world, the hundreds of people living here were a match for him and managed to push him into a corner. Seeing no other option, he sought out those who could not fight and had hid. The image of that monster’s smile still haunts the halls.

The smile he had when he slaughtered them all, only to shock those fighting.

‘‘...a slaughter.’

I shivered, horror gripping me as I experienced the feelings of the deceased.

I gripped my hands tight, my vision quaking.

I needed to do something about it this time.

I couldn’t act like it was all fine and waste my time.

My heart beat quickly, and I could feel my hot blood flowing from it, fear resounding through my body.

I had never fought for real. I didn’t understand what war meant, and I knew it. I...I pretended it didn’t exist, and acted like I hadn't seen horrors in my dreams. I couldn’t be the one to fucking save the world!

How could anyone expect that of me?! Yeah, I was strong, sure, but I...I was a seventeen-year-old! Why the fuck did I need to go out of my way to do all of this? I wanted to have fun, to not grow up too fast.

Other people my age would be happily spending their time talking to friends, doing homework, walking to and from school, or being themselves. Yet, here I was, dragged to another world to clean up some Iraqi insurrection's mess; a refugee gone mad.

It was so unfair.

I wanted, so badly, to go off the rail, to flip the universe the bird and do whatever I wanted to.

I gripped my hand tighter and tighter, watching as the two in front of me chatted over good food. I gritted my teeth, wishing I could, in good conscience, keep eating like I wasn’t having a fucking breakdown. I stomped on the ground, too frustrated to keep my anger secret.

The two looked at me concernedly, finally noticing how ugly my face’s scowl had gotten.

“Uhh, are you ok?” Chara asked. “Not to pry, but you...”

“It...it’s nothing,” I didn’t say.

I couldn’t muster the spite needed to give up.

I didn’t know for sure if my dreams meant some horror would happen today, but I needed to act like it.

Silently, I buried my face in my hands, salty beads of frustration pooling in my tear ducts.

Then, I raised my hand and slammed it on the table.

I had enough of this. I had enough of acting like I was fine like I wasn’t fucking killing people by being idle. I was a murderer, and a practical god, in my world. That was the fucking truth, and I knew it.

Crack.

The table broke in two, sending hot stew falling to the ground, the two in front of me quickly taking a few steps back in confusion.

I stood from my chair, then uncaringly kicked it to the side, causing it to shoot towards the wall, and break into pieces on impact, a sonicboom echoing through the mess hall.

I stomped again, causing the ground where the table once stood to blow up into shrapnel, which I stopped in midair before they could damage anyone.

I stomped over and over again, the same spot collapsing in on itself further and further until it was a five-foot deep hole, and the air was filled with innumerable shards of shrapnel.

Breathing heavily, I shoved it all back into the hole, looking around the room with a scowl directed at nobody.

At some point, Chara had materialized a ten-foot-tall sword made of flame, while Katchal had unabashedly hidden behind her like a child. Other people in the room were holding their hands out, and others revealed their own strange abilities, such as a giant worm poking its head from beneath a guy’s cloak.

“So,” I yelled, walking onto the plugged-up hole. I sighed, then began. “As you’ve noticed, I have my powers back. I’m a little pissed, but, uhh, not at you all. Sorry, really sorry for the hassle.” I awkwardly scratched my head, rolling it back and forth like I was annoyed, which I was. “I have what we’d call ‘prophetic dreams’ if you’re familiar with the term. I happened to get some really nasty ones last night, so you could say I’m plagued with just a bit of anxiety because it means people could die if I’m not careful.”

“W-wait,” Chara said, looking about confusedly. “Everyone knows you can’t change the future, so if you saw someone die...”

I shook my head. “Don’t be dumb. I’ve done it plenty of times. Anyway, that’s basically all I know, so you all be careful. In the meantime, I’m going to clear my freaking head with a nice morning flight. If you all need my help...Uhh, Chara?’

“Y-yeah?” she asked, still nervous after what I had just done.

“Is there a spell that would let you all communicate with me from a while away?”

“A couple of us could use Message, but you’d need to be less than fifteen miles away for it to work. Someone...I forget who, can use Sending, though...”

“Well, in that case, send me a message if you all need to, and I’ll come flying.” I sighed, exhausted after my little breakdown. “See you all.”

I dashed through the room before anyone could say anything.