Martin tried to be persuasive. There was no point in lying to this Elli girl but at the same time, how much could he tell her? All his life he had been running. The fact that he finally got rest on a bed was a change. But, she kept going on about memories and how they weren’t unwinding. Now what could that mean?
Elli didn’t seem like a bad person. At least, not in Martin’s book of living on the streets of New York since twelve but he also knew that not everyone seemed as they appeared. In fact, Elli could be one of those monsters he had run into and ran away from for most of his life. As Martin thought, Elli starred as if trying to read his thoughts, or at least tell if he was lying. Finally, Martin spoke up.
“You keep talking about memories, lying, and what not so why don’t we start with the simple?” He asked knowing that he was taking his chance. “Like. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “My name is Martin.” He said, facing her now. “What’s yours?”
“This is my room.” The girl said, a shimmering mirror in hand and her arms crossed. “Thought you said you knew I wasn’t going to be here.”
“They didn’t tell me your name.” Martin said rolling his eyes. The officer part wasn’t a lie at least.
“Okay.” The girl said, she nodded as if she believed him. “Fine. We’ll start simple.” She smirked, tapping the shimmering mirror against her crossed arm. “The name’s Elli Triad.”
“Justice girl.” Martin said with a laugh. “Who would’ve thought.”
“Justice girl?” She questioned, now looking a slight bit aggravated from the nickname.
“It’s what the people on the streets call you. You’ve saved quite a bit of my kind from falsely accused murders.” Martin smirked. “You also prevented homicides and sometimes petty crimes like accusing the homeless for stealing.”
Elli shrugged. “Yea. It’s what I do.” She said, but Martin could tell her thoughts were somewhere else. “But please, call me Elli.”
Martin nodded. “A lot of people would like to thank you for what you’ve done, Justice Girl.”
This time, Elli shot a glare at Martin. “You make me sound like a superhero and if I’ve learned anything in the past year it’s that I’m not.” Her voice was sharp and slashed out at Martin.
“Whoa there, Justice-”
“Elli.” Elli frowned, hand now tighter on her mirror.
“Okay so you don’t like your nickname we gave you.” Martin shrugged. “But it’s not like we don’t appreciate you. What the matter, Elli. Why don’t you seem as inspirational as I imaged?”
The face that people had imagined her made Elli feel uncomfortable but she knew she had to be strong.
“And what’s with the mirror?” Martin asked. “It’s like shimmering. Mirrors don’t do that unless you have some cool light effects that you’d like to share with me.”
“Wait.” Elli said, now realizing that she still had the mirror in her hand. “You can see the mirror? And the fact that it’s shimmering?”
“Is that not natural?” Martin questioned, figuring that it wasn’t but made the comment anyway.
“Mortals, can’t see through the mist.” Elli replied, looking directly at Martin now. “You’re not a normal mortal, are you?”
Throwing up his hands Martin shook his head. “Whoa, now all I asked you was about your mirror. That doesn’t mean I’m not human. I mean, I thought I was this whole time?” He questioned suddenly sending mirrors Elli’s way.
“You’ve been able to see monsters, that aren’t weather catastrophes. You’ve ran from things that other people can’t see and they found you crazy for it. You lost someone-” Elli started to go off as she had with Nico de Angelo.
“Stop!” Martin said, fear filled in his eyes. “Please don’t mention her.” He said, holding back something in his voice. “I tried to save her.”
Suddenly, Elli snapped back into reality. “Sorry…” She sighed. “It’s hot wired, I can’t control it sometimes.” Giving Martin a moment of silence, Elli added. “It’s not your fault.”
“I couldn’t save her because I wasn’t strong enough.” Martin said, his fist balled. “And if what you say is true then why couldn’t I do something about it?”
Elli shook her head. “I’ve looked at your memory. If you didn’t do what you did neither of you would be alive, or worse, she’d be alive and you wouldn’t. I hate to say this but the truth is the truth. She was meant to die.”
A cold hard look came from Martin, then his fist retracted into loose hands. “I suppose you’re right.” He said, now realizing what Elli had said before. “I thought you couldn’t look at my memories?”
“Something prevented me from doing so.” Elli replied. “But you wanted me to know, deep down inside you wanted to share it with me and that’s how they became clear to me. The truth can hide but not from me.”
“Does it have to do with that mirror of yours?” Martin asked, nodding his head at the mirror.
“Yes.” Elli said, now setting it on the desk as she sat down in the chair. “I am the daughter of Aletheia, the Goddess of truth.”
“And I thought you were the one who said you didn’t want to be a superhero.” Martin said, nodding his head.
“You believe me.” Elli said with a smirk, not bothering to think to herself.
“If what you say is true.” Martin sighed. “Then what am I, can’t you tell?”
Elli shook her head. “Even you do not understand and that is why I cannot tell you. I can’t tell you what you and I do not know.”
“Sounds about right.” Martin said then looked up at Elli. “So is that why you can tell when people are lying or what not?”
A sigh left Elli’s lips then she nodded. “Yea. But there had to be a reason why we crossed paths on my quest.” She said, running her hand down the edge of the mirror. “So would you like to join me in the morning or are we going to leave this place without a trace of existence?”
Martin looked at Elli in confusion. “I’m not exactly good luck.”
“Knowing the truth isn’t good luck.”
Shrugging, Martin smirked. “I don’t suppose I get a cool sidekick name like do I?”
“If we figure out what you are exactly then maybe I’ll come up with something.” Elli smiled.
“I’m holding you to that, Justice Girl.” Martin grinned, making Elli roll her eyes.
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