Aster sat next to the wooden window in the empty kitchen, watching the vile storm fly over Marylebone. The heavy raindrops pelted the roof, creating a somber rhythm.
"I don't even have the will to fight, I wanted a legacy—but I didn't want to earn it," Aster thought, his fingers rubbing the palm.
"I won't deny that," a tiny voice agreed.
Unresponsive, Aster stated, "I'm a fawn in the wolf's den."
"Maybe, but I believe—that you have potential," the voice informed, "you know what happens to the kinetic energy when a ball stops rolling?"
"What?" Aster deliriously asked the voice.
The voice explained, "It becomes potential energy—just waiting to become kinetic."
"I don't want to hear it," Aster frowned, turning to stare at the cloth wrapped blade that always seemed to sit on the kitchen table. He watched it for a few seconds, waiting for it to say something again.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" The voice asked, as if the blade had eyes and were staring back at Aster.
"You can talk?" Aster asked, snapping out of his depressive attitude.
"—Yep, weren't we just talking, why does it seem like a surprise to you?" Conduit questioned.
Rolling towards Conduit, Aster interrogated, "so that wasn't me just talking to a voice in my head?"
"Nope—that was me," Conduit stated, "don't you recognize my voice?"
"Hmm? Not particularly," Aster said.
Conduit let out a huff of air and told, "I was the voice you heard, before you finally connected with me, try to remember it from now on."
"That was you?" Aster asked wide-eyed, he took the cloth off of Conduit and placed his hand on the handle. A sharp zap shocked Aster's hand and he jerked it away.
"Keep your hands off the merchandise—at least take me to dinner first," Conduit crudely joked, letting out a loud chuckle. "That joke has never failed! Not on Frieda—or—Joann." Conduit's childish cheekiness dropped as he mentioned those two names.
Rubbing his stung hand, Aster informed, "Frieda was my mother, and Joann was my grandmother—I think—or maybe my aunt? I've never met her."
"Grandmother," Conduit cleared.
Aster froze for a second before interrogating, "wait? What the hell is happening here? Midnight weapons are known to whisper to their user every once in a while—but we're having a whole conversation! Does this have something to do with—"
"—that liquid that your mom injected into you before she died, yes—I was there and saw the whole thing."
"Wait—I," Aster stuttered.
"Just ask me anything you want to know—trust me, your mom was just as confused when she first heard me talk."
"Okay okay—when I transformed into electricity, was that part of your ability?"
"Yes and no—for some reason, everyone in your family I connected with had similar abilities, but with individual quirks and differences. I have no idea know why, maybe you just have an extra chromosome that made you extra special," Conduit sneered, he would've had a confident smirk on his face if he had one.
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you, Asshat, after all—I'm not just some sword, I actually can walk and do stuff with my life," Aster returned.
"Yeah but unlike you, I can control electricity—can you do that? Didn't think so. Get back to the questions."
Aster huffed and hesitantly asked, "When I was turned into electricity, I regained the ability to use my legs, why?"
"I—um—actually don't know that," Conduit said.
"Do you actually know what you're talking about?" Aster questioned, staring down at Conduit.
Conduit growled, "I do! But you keep on asking hard questions—I swear, at least Frieda kept the questions simple."
"I just wanted to know if I could ever walk again!" Aster yelped, steam almost pressed out of his nose.
"Well you won't find that with me, but it would make sense if there were a midnight weapon to heal your spine."
"I guess the doctor wasn't talking from experience," Aster considered, "he implied that there wasn't a way to heal me."
"Is that all your questions?" Conduit asked, impatiently waiting for an answer.
Aster winced and said, "I guess, for now." Aster looked down at the kitchen floor, which was a black and white grid, like a chess board. "Oh, actually, I have one more," Conduit said, "why are you only talking to me now, what took so long?"
"Well when you have to manage fifty thousand volts of lightning to make sure your emotional teenager user's body doesn't deform and eventually dissipate into nonexistence, it can be a little drained, so I took a couple of days to nap nap."
Aster let out a nervous laugh and stated, "I don't really get it, but I guess I don't really how or why we're having a whole conversation like you're human or something."
"I get it, it's very confusing—to primal apes," Conduit insulted.
Aster brushed it off and asked, "so—what now?"
"Now—we get you ready for combat."