Everyone seemed to be talking at once, all Alice could focus on was the awful wretching sounds Dyn was making. "She is dead. She," Alice paused and tried to remember what had happened. "She told me not to. And, and then, I didn't listen." Alice closed her eyes. "I never listen." She whispered. "And now she's gone."
"Start from the beginning. How did you kill her? What happened?" Jessi asked.
"No."
Camilla's voice sounded fake and faraway, lost in deep thoughts. Mom's alive. Mom's alive. Dad needs her. Alice needs her. I need her. Her mental pleading was all the kept her from breaking down into a crying heap.
A sudden picture popped into her mind, one of her mother smiling, and very much alive.
Then another. One of her mother laying on the floor, her body broken and... Useless. Dead.
She shivered, her mind clawing for the picture of Tayn alive, not deceased.
"No, no, no. You're lying."
Camilla stared into Alice's blank eyes that looked as though they were dead too. "Mom's alive." She whispered, before something broke deep within her and tears burst like an avalanche from her eyes.
'I killed my mom.' The same words kept coming back, filling her head like an annoying fly. Alice... Killed Mom. Accident? Purpose? Her thoughts seemed to freeze for a few moments. Doesn't matter. "You killed my mom. You just said you killed my mom. You killed my mom!"
My. Not our. My. For the second, it was as if Camilla had forgotten their shared parents.
Her hand balled into a fist at her side, before her arm slung up and back, before slashing forward with such force as it connected with Alice's nose that it sent the girl flying back.
Alice frowned down at the shards of glass scattered across the floor, her stomach was hurting. "I went home to get the van, and, Mom...."
Alice stopped mid-sentence and looked up at Camilla her emotions were gone, she'd cried all she could.
Alice crashed into the counter top and slumped down to the floor clutching her face, there was blood in her hands. She sat there and accepted everything Camilla had said. She was right. It was her fault. It was all her fault their family was broken.
She started talking again, even though she knew no one was going to listen. "He said he'd let her go. I, I trusted him. I should have known better. I, I should have stopped him. I could have stopped him."
Camilla readied her arm for another shattering punch, when a weight crashed into her. No. No, no, Alice needs to feel my pain. I can't take those dull eyes.
"Camilla-" She hadn't even realized her punch had gone through, but it had. But it hadn't hit Alice. No, a boy was standing before her, clutching a bloodied nose.
Lachlan.
He grabbed her arms again, dragging her back, having must've decided to keep her from attacking Alice once again then nurse his nose. "Camilla, stop! She's your sister! I'm sure she didn't kill Aunt Tayn. Alice wouldn't kill her, okay? Alice didn't do it."
"No. She said she did!" Camilla snarled, a whimper escaping her throat. She needed someone to blame.
River squatted down, putting her hand on Alice's shoulder gently. "Hey, who? Come on Alice, I need you to tell me who killed Tayn. Who is he? Who dared kill my brother's wife?" The last part hadn't meant to slip out, for it was dripping with a poisonous tone. Yet it did.
She looked up into Rivers eyes a sad desperation in her own. "I don't know." She shook her head the memory of him gently wiping blood off her face resurfacing. "He, seemed.... " She didn't finish the sentence, how could she think he was nice? "I don't know. He, he wanted the key. He said, he said he'd let her go." She looked away ashamed. "But he didn't."
Indigo hesitantly stepped forward. All that information just within reach. She could take it.
Shame reddened her cheeks, and she took a larger step back.
She hadn't noticed until now how dirty her fingernails were.
She found it a good time to play around with them.
Wolfram stared.
At no one in particular. But he stared. At Camilla. At Bleddyn. At Alice. Guilt worked its way into his chest as he noticed Bleddyn coughing dark crimson blood. He stiffened, fear replacing guilt when he realized he probably did that to her.
Fear that Alice killed her own mother.
Fear of Camilla's brute strength behind a single punch.
He was afraid, and faltered to hide it at that.
"You....you...." His words failed to leave his lips, his throat dry as he stared at Alice crumbled next to the counter.
He couldn't speak, his throat to dry and closed.
How? How could someone kill their own mother?
He felt dizzy and very nauseous at the thought.
".....Killed your own mother?"
He finally choked out, his voice low and hoarse, like something was clawing at his throat when he tried to speak.
He gaze drifted back to Bleddyn, unable to speak to her. He felt guilty and scared. He shouldn't have punched her. He should've known better. But he still did it. He punched her.
And Alice killed her own mother.
"The Pure are the ones who want the key. The Pure must have killed Tayn." River's voice sounded distant as she thought, her head still dipped towards Alice. "Alice, you didn't kill Tayn. A Pure terrorist did. Okay?" She soothed, honestly surprised at how kind her words sounded.
Her eyes flickered around, meeting each person's pained gaze. Bleddyn was on the floor, blood exploding out of her mouth each time she coughed. Jessi looked sick, and had gone silent since Camilla had punched Alice. Indigo looked simply awkward, having not knew Tayn, and had just met the people in the room. Wolfram was standing beside Bleddyn, bumbling at the thought that Alice had murdered her own mother. The words probably had shook the boy just as much as the others who knew Tayn, seeing as he had just lost a mother he loved. Lachlan and Finlay were both attached to one of Camilla's arms each, holding her back. And Camilla had suddenly stopped fighting, tears streaming down her sheet pale face, her silver eyes sparkling with pain.
Her eyes slid back to Alice, tears finally filling her eyes, yet not allowed to drop. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you lost her."
Wolfram froze, his muscles stiffening even more then they where before. 'The Pure killed Tayn.'
Pure. The Pure. They killed another person. Another person for Mapleshade to scratch off her list. Another person she can say her men brutally murdered. Another person broken on the inside.
He clenched his hands into fists tightly, hissing. "I've had enough of the The Pure and their damn games! What the hell do they want from us?! What the hell does the key even do?! I have never even heard of the murderous morons until now! What do they want from us?!"
Indigo raised her head. "The Pure is killing innocent people. It isn't your fault, Alice. And that is why we must fight back!"
"I saw someone at the Multitude base... Who explained some things. While you and Lachlan were outside." River whispered, her body shuddering. "Pure have been around longer than us, in a way." She suddenly shot up, whirling around to face Wolfram.
"The Pure are a group of terrorist, formerly Firestein Soldiers. Firestein was a man who thought inhumans were a danger to everyone, crazy super-powered people with the ability to be the best murderers. When he was thirty, he started a group. Their purpose was to either kill or imprison inhumans in a prison made of... Something, I didn't see it. But he killed, a lot. When I was eighteen, I was sucked into a group that wanted to do good, help older ladies across the street and stuff like that. We got a commission or something, Gage was the one who received it. We ended up going to someone's apartment, and finding a girl, who was scared and hidden in an upstairs closet. One thing led to another and by the end we got in a fight with Firestein, and one of his own men killed him. His army dispersed with their leader dead, but the old friend I saw, Leona, said that some stuck together, idolizing his beliefs, and starting the Pure. The have the same goal as Firestein, but not to imprison. To kill. They... Made something, a poison. It is the key. It will destroy inhuman cells, and depending on what they are, they will live or die. Your mother, Silver, was sent to take it, apparently she did and she hide it." She said, her hand hand picking at her other hand in nervous fidgeting. "It adds up."
"I'm so sorry Alice. It wasn't your fault." Jessi said. "I agree with Indigo, we have to do something."
Wolfram stared at River, his eyes narrowed as if in deep thought. "It makes sense!" He yelped suddenly. "Now I know why Mapleshade wants the key so bad!" He started pacing frantically, adding everything up. "You said the key is a poison. It destroys Inhuman cells, and that's what Mapleshade wants!" He looked up from the ground and looked at River. "She doesn't want to be inhuman. That's why she wants the key. If she gets it, she'll rid of her ears, and tail and claws and cat eyes, or, eye by now. And if I'm adding it up correctly...." He looked around the room for a minute. "Mapleshade will try and do anything to make sure the key kills us. Why, I don't know. But if I'm adding it up correctly, that's the Pure's plain. At least, I think it is."
"Yes," Indigo said. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. The Multitude's goal is the same as that old group of heroes', the goal to help all people. It's just more personal for some than others."
River nodded, relieved that Wolfram hadn't argued with any of her words. "It will kill all centaurs, mer-people, and shapeshifters, and others like them." She threw a glance to where Lachlan and Finlay were calming a crying Camilla, before she turned back to Wolfram. "She's a fool. It'll kill her before it rids her of what she wants gone." She paused. "They way the poison works, it doesn't make it just disappear... It melts it off. It's an acid, anyone who has inhuman features, those features will melt off in a black slush, I've seen it on a smaller scale once before. The inhuman cells will die, depending on what kind of inhuman, may it may take the inhuman with it." She murmured, cocking her head and lashing her tail.
Jessi froze. So many people are going to die. We can't let that happen. "What's the plan? We have a key that leads to a safety deposit box at the bank, but I don't think their open on Sunday."
Wolfram sighed softly, frowning. "We'll have to destroy the key then, no? Then Mapleshade will never get to it." He let out a frustrated snarl. "I wish mom told me about this! Then we wouldn't be in this position!"
River froze, her mind whirling, calculating. "I..." Her voice drifted off as Wolfram began growling, and thankful for the distraction, she turn to him. "Your mother could have never foreseen this. But destroy the key... That'll be hard. We run the risk of setting it off, we would need some crazy technology. Or... It may not be destroyed without a key, when I last saw it, it latched onto one person. Once it finished... Once it finished it dissipated. It may the kind of poison that... Needs set with something to make it dissipate." She winced at her words, before whirling to Jessi. "You have a key? Good. Not open on Sunday? Argh... Pure are terrorists, they won't care if they catch wind of it. Plan? Get the key, figure out what to do from there. Find a way to destroy it, I suppose. And stay out of the Pure's wind no matter what."
Wolfram was silent, his mind whirling wildly in a hundred directions. "How do we stay out of the Pure's way?! They're everywhere, and Mapleshade will be tearing apart my moms apartment in no time looking for a key that isn't there!" He yelped anxiously. He heard a creature whimpering, and he looked down, seeing Peterson nuzzling him. Don't get upset! The dog's eyes seemed to say as they looked up at him. He took a deep breath, sighing softly.
"We don't stay out of their way. We fight them," Indigo said.
Wolfram swallowed hard, staring at the mess that was before him. Guilt and fear forced its way into his chest as he glanced at Bleddyn. Why did I attack her? I wouldn't have caused this. GOD WHY?! Why do I always cause something like this? Why can't I just...walk away and shut up?!
Because it's in your blood.
He froze as another voice worked its way into his head, answering his silent thoughts.
What?
It's in your blood.
What's in my blood?
Arrogance. Violence. Cruelty. Hate. It's all in your blood.
No! I'm nothing like my father! I will not be like him!
It's unescapable, Wolfram! He is half of you. Just like your mother is also half of you. But which half you choose to feed is up to you.
What is that supposed to mean?
It means what I just said. You can choose to feed the violent part of you. The evil. You can remain so cold, so hateful, so broken. Or, you can choose to feed the peaceful part of you. The good. You can become kinder, safer. Yes, broken still, but kinder. Isn't that what your mother would want?
I...I think so....
Wolfram you are two wolves in one. Good and Evil. But you, and only you alone can choose which one takes over. In order for that you have to become vulnerable. More vulnerable then you already are. You can push everyone away, or choose to stay and let yourself become open. It's the only way you can heal.
I'll never heal. You know that.
Yet he got no answer back. His brows furrowed, his face contouring into a frown as the words haunted in the back of his head. You are two wolves in one. Good and Evil. But you, and only you alone can choose which one takes over.
He turned around to look at Bleddyn. Instead of freezing and running away like a coward, he slowly came closer to her, kneeling down in front of her.
"I'm so sorry." He whispered ever so softly.
Bleddyn wasn't seeing anyone- to her, she wasn't even existing in this plane. A dark mass approached her from within the heart of the numbing mists and spoke in foreign, threatening tones. She shied away, stumbling toward where she remembered the door to be.
When she came to it, she frantically grabbed at the handle until the door yielded and she was freed. She pitched down the ornate stone stairs, simply getting back up and surging forward every time she fell.
Get away, get away, get away, get away, get away, get away.
And so she ran. Her feet followed a path only visible to her mind's eye. She was finding that everything she knew now seemed to locked away through transparent glass, still usable but not accessible. Though a part of her knew where she was going, she didn't really know at all.
When she came to her yard, she finally let herself fall. She crumpled into a shivering heap and shrank away into the turtleneck, her only cloak her from the world.
She was unaware of how much time had elapsed before strong arms unfurled her.
Connor pulled his daughter into his lap, his own arms shaky with fear at having seen her motionless at the edge of their lawn. He propped her head against his shoulder, cradling her like the breakable doll she'd become in the past- the fragile, terribly mortal little girl that he'd hoped would stay exclusive to his nightmares.
He swallowed hard when her eyes locked onto his; they were so horrifically devoid of recognition that they might've been mere holes in her head without a function. "Dyn. Dyn. What's wrong? Why are you out here?"
Ash came up alongside her husband and squatted beside her daughter. Her narrowed eyes probed her daughter's, but unlike her husband, she didn't flinch at the hollows that greeted her. Her hand came forward to gently trace the spreading purple that marred Bleddyn's chin, but she said nothing.
Bleddyn stared up at them both blankly, mouth soundlessly gaping and closing again like a fish deprived of its breath. She turned her face away into her father's chest, away from her mother's prying fingers. Her whole body shook soundlessly, as if Connor's hands were made of a substance so jarringly cold that one couldn't resist submitting to it.
She couldn't expose anyone else to the reality that was turning her own veins to ice and ripping tears in her lungs.
She couldn't possibly be the one to do this to her mother.
Ash stood up and exchanged a long glance with Connor. He slowly got to his feet, lifting his tortured daughter up with him into an involuntary bridal carry.
By silent agreement, they walked to his truck with urgency. Connor carefully climbed into the passenger's seat and handed his wife the keys. He pulled Bleddyn's legs in and arranged her on his lap, then shut the door. Seatbelts were completely insignificant to both adults.
Ash plunged the key in and turned over the ignition. After the electric blue Ram had roared to life, her fingers searched for her phone in the pockets of her sweater. When she found it, her hands were a blur of motion until a dialtone began playing.
She didn't give her hapless quarry the courtesy of a preparatory greeting.
“River, I think we need to talk,
and not conveniently over the phone,” Ash growled in a dark monotone that had Connor shivering. Her foot threateningly danced over the gas pedal despite the fact that the truck was still facing the garage. “
Where are you?”
)
Need a new, improved run. Pics please!
Need a new, improved run. Pics please!
Introducing TUDYBOOK - The Tudy Coloring Book Generator
Ended BYC Pets & Livestock Caption Contest 12-12-25 Pic by Gill-b