29. Angels With Dirty Faces
Angels With Dirty Faces
Ever since he was a kid, Christmas had been Dustin’s favorite time of year. The colder weather, the beautiful lights and decorations all around town, the way it felt like everyone was just a little nicer as the holiday approached. It was almost magical.
But now Dustin knew magic was real. And that reality completely dissolved his nostalgia.
Two weeks had passed since Dustin took on the Fire Ring, and Sima Yao was still working to secure the Palace of Radiant Clouds before the group could launch their attempted rescue mission…
Which meant that Dustin had to look his parents in the eye, and tell them Chris was “missing”.
Him and Chloe concocted a story about how her and Chris’s fictitiously rekindled relationship ended in a blowout argument, and Chris had run off into the woods in anger, only to never come back.
Of course his dad raged at him, like it was somehow his fault.
But strangely, his mom didn’t say a single word to him.
She still hadn’t after two weeks. She simply called the police to report him missing, organized search efforts, stayed out every night until the early morning hours in a vain attempt to find her son.
The same son that Dustin knew full well wasn’t missing. At least, not in the way she thought.
He’d tried to keep himself as busy as possible; blowing off school as much as he could, with the excuse that he was joining the search parties. Meanwhile, his parents believed that he and Chloe, along with Bailey and James were forming a group of their own to find Chris.
Truthfully, he’d been trying his best to get a handle on wielding fire and water at once.
That was the only thing that would truly bring Chris home; not a militia of their neighbors wandering aimlessly through the woods.
And so, he found himself on the rocky beach past the outskirts of town, about a half a mile away from the Wayfair Ridge Reservation. The kind of place no one would find him and the others.
“Alright, let’s try it one more time,” Bailey said as a pillar of rock rose from beneath the sand behind her, “remember, focus on hitting it with both elements at once, with equal intensity. You got this Dusty!”
“Yeah, you’re gonna crush it! And as a reward, I’ll suck…” James winced as Chloe shoved him, “… all the doubts out of you!”
“Along with other things, I’m sure,” Chloe rolled her eyes, “ignore your loser boyfriend and focus! Distraction can’t be good,”
Dustin closed his eyes, reflexively activating his water power and feeling the cool rush through his blood as he did so.
He focused on holding it steady, while shifting another part of his mind to reach for the fire energy within him.
The creative spark of writing song lyrics or improvising a bass riff.
The adoring cheers of the crowd after he hit a killer high note.
The unshakable love he had for Chris that was fueling him to do all of this in the first place.
Heat sizzled on the inside of his skin, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that the veins on his left arm were burning neon red, while the ones on the right were as black as the night sky.
With another breath, he coaxed the ocean a few feet away to blast the stone pillar with a consistent stream of water. Simple enough.
Now was the hard part.
He stretched out his left hand and tried to force a fire blast with the same consistency… only for his palm to spark and for the “flame” to dissipate into a pitiful puff of smoke.
Dustin groaned and let the water collapse back into the ocean.
“Damn it. No matter how hard I push it, it just isn’t working,”
“Maybe the push is the problem.” James said, bounding off the large rock that him and Chloe were sitting on and awkwardly pulling Dustin’s much taller frame into a back hug, “you really have to feel the element, just like you do with water,”
“That’s the thing though, I don’t feel like fire. I never have,”
“Maybe we just need to take a break and try again tomorrow. The frustration probably isn’t helping,” Bailey suggested, sinking the pillar back into the ground as if it never existed.
“We can’t keep putting it off forever. Sima could contact us at any time,”
“It won’t be forever. It’ll just be until tomorrow,” Bailey assured him, “you need a break and you’re taking one. Come on, I’ll swing by Burger Belle before I drop you. Spicy Double Bacon Burger, my treat,”
Dustin wanted to protest, but the rumbling in his stomach wouldn’t let him.
“Ugh, fine,”
“James and I are gonna swing by the school and make sure everything’s all set up for the Winter Formal this Saturday. But I’ll see you guys here same time tomorrow?” Chloe said, twirling her keys around her index finger as the group walked to their cars.
“Wait, why do I gotta go with you?” James whined, prompting Chloe to pinch his ear.
“I know you love trying on new hats for shits and giggles, but joining the dance committee comes with actual responsibilities,”
James sighed and kissed Dustin’s cheek before joining Chloe in her Mercedes.
As they went their separate ways for the night, Dustin refused to let his mind rest.
He was going to conquer this power somehow. He didn’t have another option.
…
The moment Dustin walked into the house, he wanted to leave again.
His mom was still trying to mimic some form of normalcy by putting up the Christmas Tree (though notably she hadn’t put the star on top yet.
That had been Chris’s job since they were three years old) and that forced festive atmosphere clashed horribly with the muffled argument he could hear from the dining room.
“Oh, so what you’re saying this is MY fault?” Charlotte’s voice was… frazzled. That was the only way Dustin could describe it. This wasn’t the controlled anger she showed to her kids. This was borderline feral.
“Is it not a mother’s job to raise good sons? Ones that don’t go off and probably get themselves killed in the woods over a bad breakup? Christian was supposed to be different! He wasn’t supposed to be like…”
Dustin felt the dagger in his chest before Charlotte even had a chance to cut Elliot off.
Because he already knew what his father was implying.
“Like what Elliot? Like Dustin? Dustin is a good boy. He’s smart, diligent, and responsible. If anyone’s at fault here it’s you! Christian’s hotheaded streak damn sure didn’t come from nowhere!”
“Smart and responsible… and never going to bring us grandchildren. Christian was the only hope for that and you know it,”
“DON’T,” Charlotte exhaled sharply, trying her best to regulate her tone, “don’t talk about him like he’s gone. And Dustin… there’s nothing wrong with him Elliot,”
Dustin didn’t even realize he was moving until he was throwing the wooden panel doors of the dining room open and glaring at his parents. Both of them stopped cold, their eyes blown wide with the realization that he’d heard every word they said.
“The fuck is your problem?” Dustin practically spat the words at his father, his low voice rumbling in his chest like crackling embers, “Chris is missing, could be fucking dead for all you know, and all you’re worried about is being left with the gay son who can’t continue your bloodline?”
“Ying Zixuan!” Charlotte gasped, but it was like she couldn’t find the words to continue. She was always prepared to scold Chris for his language or lack of respect for authority, but she’d clearly never foreseen this scenario.
“Y-you little shit. Who do you think you’re talking to?!” Elliot shook off his surprise and marched over to Dustin, his massive bulk looming over his son like an anvil, “I could give a fuck what you’re going through. You will NOT speak to me that way in my house!”
Dustin had to bite back the most bitter laugh of his 18 years.
“The house mom pays for?”
He couldn’t even finish his insolence before Elliot’s fist was colliding with his mouth. The taste of blood on his tongue was immediate as he stumbled backwards, falling into the China cabinet and shattering the glass.
“DO NOT PUT ANOTHER HAND ON MY SON!” Charlotte shrieked, throwing herself between Dustin and Elliot with her arms wide, creating a physical barrier the best she could with her much smaller body, “just get the fuck out of here! Now!”
Elliot lingered for a moment longer, his eyes going back and forth between Charlotte, Dustin, and the mess of broken glass… and then he stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him with enough force to rattle the frame.
The second he was gone, Charlotte broke down, sobbing and weeping ugly tears. Dustin’s upper lip was throbbing, rapidly swelling… but there wasn’t enough pain in the world to stop him from grabbing his mother and holding her tight.
“What on earth has gotten into you?” she said, forcing her voice through choked breaths as she let herself collapse in his arms, “I expected this to affect you deeply. It’s why I’ve given you space to process but I… I never expected this,”
“Okaasan, I didn’t need space. I needed support. That’s all I’ve ever needed from you,” tears were streaming down Dustin’s face now too, “I can’t believe you defended me like that,”
Charlotte was clearly taken aback.
“Why wouldn’t I? I love you, my Haruki,”
Dustin’s walls absolutely crumbled. She hadn’t called him or Chris by the Japanese names their grandpa gave them since they were children.
“It doesn’t always feel like that,” he admitted, his body quivering against his will, “it just feels like I’m always disappointing you, no matter what I do. It’s never good enough. I’m always wrong. Why am I always wrong?”
Now it was Charlotte’s turn to hold Dustin as the tears racked his body.
“Did I ever tell you how my parents reacted when they found out I was pregnant?”
Dustin’s tears slowed as he cocked an eyebrow, wondering where this was coming from all of a sudden.
“It was my senior year, and I’d just met your father.
We went to the bonfire out on Tripoint and had a few too many…
you don’t need the gory details. But when I finally couldn’t hide it from my parents anymore, I expected the worst. For them to yell or scream or force me to leave home before I was ready.
But instead, I got… nothing. Silence. They just looked at me like I was the most disappointing thing in their lives.
And I think that might’ve broken something in me,”
As she spoke, her grip on Dustin’s shirt tightened, like the words were physically harmful for her to speak aloud.
“I needed to prove to them that I was still worthy of their love. Of their pride. I threw myself into my studies. Got into a good school, became the successful daughter that they wanted. You know I threw away decades worth of comics I’d collected?
I wanted to keep them all and give them to you and Christian as gifts but…
” she chuckled, but there was no humor in it, “it was a part of the past I needed to drown if I wanted to become someone they could respect again,”
“Okaasan… I had no idea,”
She shook her head before he could finish.
“I don’t want your pity, Haruki. I just…
I’m sorry. All this time and I never realized that I’ve been forcing you into the same mold that defined me.
Your band, your fashion… who you love. All of that is what makes you, you.
And I should’ve never made you feel like that wasn’t enough for me.
No matter who you are, you will always be enough for me,”
The two of them hugged each other tightly once more, before Charlotte stood, brushed off her skirt and pulled Dustin up after her.
“Thank you mom, seriously,” Dustin said, his swollen lip starting to make it difficult to speak, “I gotta say, I never thought I’d ever hear you apologize,”
“Don’t get too used to it,” she teased, sniffling, “though I must say… I hope that Christian and I have a chance to clear the air as well. That it’s not too late,”
“It’s not,” Dustin immediately assured her, placing his hand on her shoulder, “we’re going to find him, I promise. He’ll be home soon, making bad jokes and blasting 2PAC way too loud,”
Charlotte laughed.
“I can hear him now. ‘Present and accounted for, babe’,” she replied, in her best impression of Chris’s voice, “thank you for helping your old mother keep her head on straight through all this,”
“What are ‘responsible sons’ for?” Dustin replied, already moving for the broom to sweep up the broken glass, but Charlotte stopped him.
“Let me take care of that. I could use some busy work. You take some time to relax. I’ll bring you an ice pack in a bit,”
Dustin nodded and took her advice, heading to his room and silently wishing he had some of James’s homegrown weed to ease the insane tension in his body.
He had no idea if or when his dad would come back, and he honestly didn’t care if he ever saw that asshole again. What mattered was that his relationship with his mom was headed in the right direction for what felt like the first time ever, and soon this ordeal would finally be at an end.