Ari never gets enough love.
Chapter One- "Tell", aka "Life on the Dark Side"
Footsteps echoed down the lonely hallway. It was an eerie place, with dull lights and almost obsessively clean floors, but Ari ignored it. He had a job to do and papers to deliver.
He was two, turning three in a week, but was mature enough to be trusted with important documents from his father. Growing up in a lab where pained cries were heard often did that to you.
However, Ari was the most normal of the people there. There were stupid mutants, freaks he would sometimes say, and the scientists, or whitecoats. Ari's dad was one of these. And then there was little Ari.
As he padded closer to his destination, he heard the new recruit, Reilly, talking to the older Dr. Harrison. "I don't get it," Reilly was saying, "why won't the Institute of Higher Living let us borrow that cat-bird-human hybrid? I really want to test her intelligence levels."
Dr. Harrison sighed as Ari poked his head in the room. "For the last time, they were going to, but there was an incident where she nearly drowned. It was very traumatic on her, so they're keeping a close eye on her." He looked down at Ari, who was pulling on his lab coat to get the doctor's attention, "Yes?"
"Daddy told me to give these to you," Ari stated calmly, holding up a clipboard with many papers attached. Dr. Harrison accepted the clipboard and flipped through the papers quickly.
"Yes, this is the information I needed, perfect." Dr. Harrison cast a kindly look down at Ari. "Good work, little man." At the last sentence, Ari puffed up proudly.
Ari looked up at Dr. Harrison and said in a serious voice, "I'll bet the cat-girl doesn't like water. After all, cats don't like it. I bet that she hated it enough that she refused to swim."
Reilly chuckled. "We'll go with that, Ari."
At that moment the walkie-talkie that Dr. Harrison kept with him said, "Dr. Harrison, if Ari is with you, can you please send him downstairs to the hallway outside Holding Area Two?"
Dr. Harrison picked it up and spoke into it, "Of course. Ari's with me right now, and he's being very helpful."
A different voice than the first laughed softly. "That's my boy."
Ari brightened up. Dad!
Dr. Harrison set down the walkie-talkie and said to Ari, "You'd better get going, little one. I think your dad has something to show you."
Ari smiled broadly. "Okay, Doc!" With that said he dashed out of the room like his feet were on fire.
The light-haired Reilly shook his head in amusement after seeing Ari leave. "Dr. Batchelder's lucky. He has a cute kid running around to do errands for him."
Harrison nodded. "Yes, he is. Ari's very attached to his daddy."
Outside, in the hall, Ari ran quickly, sneakers occasionally squeaking on the tile floor. A scientist with a couple cages on a cart was barely avoided by the little almost-three-year-old. "Sorry Dr. Grant! Didn't see you there!" Ari shouted cheerfully. He barreled past, before his curiosity got the better of him. Backtracking, he went back to Grant and peered in the cages, asking, "What've you got today?"
Grant gestured to the larger of the two. "Well, we have one of the successful bird-kids, dubbed "Nudge" by your odd father." When Ari gave him a glare, Grant laughed and reassured with, "He's strange and names the experiments, but he's a genius just the same."
The small boy seemed satisfied. "Then what's in the other cage?"
"That," started Grant, "is a reptile and mammal cross-breed."
"Cool!" exclaimed Ari before he ran away to see his dad. Dr. Grant just watched him with delight. The little son of Jeb could be so entertaining sometimes… Much more mature than others of his age and very smart, Ari could easily become a great scientist. Shaking his head, Dr. Grant pushed the cart towards a testing room.
Skidding down the stairs, Ari barely managed to avoid hitting a wall in his enthusiasm. His dad was so cool, he often would bring prime experiments for Ari to look at. Heck, once he had let Ari meet the powerful and scary Erasers!
Finally Ari found his dad, Jeb Batchelder, sitting with another scientist. In Jeb's arms was a little girl, who was maybe two years old. She was asleep.
"Hi dad," whispered Ari, keeping his voice down so he wouldn't wake up the mutant.
The other whitecoat nodded his head in a friendly way at Ari. "Hi Dr. Hopkins," Ari greeted. He turned his attention back to the little kid in Jeb's arms. "Who's this?"
"This is another of the successful bird-human hybrids," Jeb murmured, adjusting his arms so Ari could see the little white wings.
"She's so cute…" Ari said softly, bending down to look at the small girl. "She reminds me of momma." Ari's mom had died giving birth to him almost three years ago. Even though he had never met her, Jeb told enough stories about her to give Ari a good idea of what she was like. Jeb also had a picture of the woman that he kept in their apartment.
Jeb looked at the tiny girl curiously. "Hm, she does."
"Momma's hair was more white than this one's," Ari said, stroking the golden blond curls. Ari's hair was a dark blonde, more like Jeb's than his momma's.
Jeb nodded calmly and let Ari continue looking at the bird-girl. "She reminds me of momma," Ari repeated from before, "And Momma's an angel now, right?" He looked at his father with big blue-gray eyes.
"Yes, Ari," Jeb answered quietly, sadly, "Your momma's an angel now."
"Do you think she has wings?"
"Yes Ari. I think she would if she's an angel."
Ari looked back at the little girl. "I'll bet Momma's wings are prettier than this girl's wings. I think she should be named Angel, for Momma."
Jeb's mouth turned up in a smile. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Ari."
"We're home!" Ari yelled to no one in particular. He skipped into the apartment happily. Jeb followed behind, slower.
Their house was in an upper portion of the School's facility. It was a small place, but it suited the pair of them well. Ari went over to a shelf and picked up a picture frame. In it was a picture of a woman that resembled Ari in the eye shape and planes of the face. "Momma, I named a girl Angel today," Ari said to the picture, "She had wings, white wings. Do you have wings, Momma?"
Jeb laughed quietly, picked Ari up, sat in one of the old kitchen chairs, and put him on his lap. "Like I said, I think Arianna has wings now, Ari. She's an angel, in heaven where she can fly."
Ari gazed at the picture intently. After a moment of silence, Ari spoke again, "Did Momma want to leave us?"
"She said she'd never leave her baby boy, or me. She may not be here physically, but her spirit resides in us all the time," Jeb said sorrowfully.
"But she left us," Ari said wistfully, "I never met her."
Jed chuckled sadly, shaking his head. After his son gave him a curious look, Jeb explained, "You remind me of Arianna so much. She was always curious, shy around strangers, but very friendly and open around those she trusted. I wish she'd never left."
"Me too… Dad?"
"Yes, Ari?"
Ari turned around and looked at Jeb very seriously. "Promise me you'll never leave me."
Jeb's eyes softened. "I promise."
Little Ari is too cute…