*Adrik*
While Andrei and Stephen were watching Sephie and Misha show Viktor what we had all just seen, Ivan caught my eye. *“What do you want to bet she’s about to unlock his gift for him?”* he thought.
*“You might be right. She just unlocked a new level for us. Might as well unlock Viktor while she’s at it,”* I replied, unable to hide my smirk.
*”What now?”*
*“She just showed me everything everyone else saw from across the kitchen. She didn’t need to touch me to make it happen. That’s been happening with thoughts and emotions, but never images.”*
*”Can you see what she sees now?”*
*“I really want to look, but I also don’t want to fuck it up. She’ll show me later.”*
*“Coward.”*
*“Asshole.”*
We saw Misha look down at Sephie. He was clearly stunned with whatever they just saw. She looked at him, her eyes wide. Then she looked at Viktor. “Did you know that man?” she asked him.
“That’s…that’s…my brother,” Viktor said. He was completely stunned at what he’d just seen.
Clearly they had just seen something new.
“What happened?” Ivan asked.
*“Viktor just saw his gift in action, but I think we broke him,”* Sephie said silently to me and Ivan. *“I don’t know what to say to him. He’s completely numb.”*
Ivan walked to Viktor, standing in front of him, trying to get Viktor to focus on him. “Sephie and Misha just showed you your gift, Viktor. I don’t know what it looked like. She can show me, if you want her to, but I can tell you that you’re the one that makes sure we don’t need Stephen very often,” he said. Viktor just stood there for a moment, not moving, not saying anything.
*“Did he see his child?”* Ivan asked Sephie.
*”No and yes. It looked like a ball of light to me and Misha. It might’ve looked different to Viktor though, but he saw that he got help from something else besides us.”*
Ivan reached out and put his hand on Viktor’s shoulder. Viktor looked down at Ivan’s hand, then back at Ivan’s face. “This is going to be hard to hear, Viktor, but the help you’re going to get isn’t from any of us. It’s from a soul you weren’t able to meet, but one that is forever linked to you now. You’ve spent so much time focusing on the tragedy that you’ve missed the happy ending.”
We could see Viktor look down for a moment, then back up to Ivan. “How is this possible?” he asked quietly.
I walked over to Viktor, hoping to help Ivan out. “Your unborn child cleared so much of its karma by signing up for that ending to its almost life. That soul is so grateful to you that it’s willing to help you with your gift. Your gift wouldn’t be possible without it. You’re what can help fix people to prevent demons from getting in. You’re the other end of the spectrum from Stephen. When it’s too late for you to be of any good, then Stephen can still save the soul. But you’re the first line of defense for people who haven’t yet let the demon all the way in. You’re doing what you always do, Viktor. You’re making sure people are safe and taken care of.”
I felt Sephie walk up half beside me, half behind me, holding onto my arm. “You had to go through all of that to make it here, Papa Bear. It was horrific, but you wouldn’t be here without it and you wouldn’t have a sweet angelic gift without it.”
“And apparently you’re going to save your brother, which is also the complete other end of the spectrum from Stephen,” Misha said. We heard Stephen laughing quietly behind us.
Viktor finally started to get a handle on himself. He turned to look at Misha. “How did you know that my brother was coming here in a couple weeks?”
“I didn’t. I don’t always control the movie. This was one of those times where I was not at all in control,” Misha said, shrugging his shoulders.
“You saw what you needed to see, Viktor. You’ve been avoiding this, but Bubba and Misha created a scenario where you couldn’t avoid it any longer. They likely didn’t know they were doing that, but their souls knew. It’s become obvious to all of us that you’ve been avoiding me for quite some time,” Sephie said quietly.
“Totally didn’t know I was doing that,” Andrei said.
“Me either. I stand by my earlier statement that I am not in control of the movie at all times,” Misha said.
We could see that Viktor was still struggling with accepting everything. *“Ivan, why don’t you two go downstairs. Or go to the gym. Just get him away from everyone for the day. He deals with things better when he’s not in front of everyone,”* I thought. Ivan nodded his head. Without a word, he just slid his arm around Viktor’s shoulders and walked him out of the penthouse.
“Did we break him?” Misha asked. He was obviously worried about showing Viktor something he shouldn’t have seen.
“I don’t think so. We knew this was going to be hard on him. I think he’s doing better than I expected him to, honestly,” Sephie said.
“Okay, so explain his gift since I didn’t get to see it,” Andrei said.
“Viktor is the opposite to Stephen, much like you’re the opposite to Ivan,” I said. “You can see where people are weak in their auras. Viktor’s able to fill those holes in, basically. But no human can do that so quickly without some kind of angelic help. So Viktor’s unborn child is helping him.”
Andrei looked to Stephen. “And I thought your gift was heavy, man.”
Stephen laughed. “Same, Andrei. Same.”
“Viktor is like the first line of defense against demons. Stephen is the last,” Sephie said.
“So Andrei and Ivan are like visual detection systems, you and Boss are the touchy-feely detection systems, Viktor fixes those who are still able to be fixed, and Stephen is everyone’s last hope? And I’m just here for entertainment? I feel like that sums it up nicely,” Misha said, trying to keep a straight face.
“I’m not sure I could have said it as succinctly as you, Misha,” I said, laughing at him.
“Somehow, I feel like it’s slightly more nuanced than that, Misha,” Andrei said.
“He did leave out a few details, but he got the broad overview. He’s a big picture guy,” Sephie said, shaking her head, laughing.
“You’re right. We also have Sephie’s demon warning system,” Misha said. “I did forget that one. Good lookin’ out, bro.”
“You know, Vlad’s been talking about hiring a new chronicler. His last one met with an unfortunate end. Misha might be perfect for the job,” Stephen said, in his normal, completely serious manner.