Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one's not necessarily 'fun', but hopefully it tugs at your heartstrings a little.
Enjoy!
"Attention all cadets. Please report to the main lecture hall immediately for an important announcement."
"We'll pick this lesson up where we left off tomorrow," the Communications instructor says to the small class in front of him. "Please log off your stations and head straight to the lecture hall. No wandering."
Ava and Lacey share a confused look before quickly saving their work, logging off of their stations, and gathering up their belongings to head out of the classroom.
The two girls stick close together as they follow their fellow classmates out of the building and across the Quad toward the largest lecture hall on campus, where they had Orientation on the first day, joining up with the Cadets from the two other Academy sections as they go.
Reaching the lecture hall, Ava pulls the large door open and allows Lacey to step inside before following behind her, the brunette teen's eyes immediately searching the massive room for her brother.
"I see Adian," she speaks up after a minute to Lacey, having spotted her brother sitting as close to the center of the room as he could possibly get. She immediately moves forward, Lacey not far behind her.
"How on earth did you find him so fast in a crowd like this?" Lacey asks her roommate as they move through the rows of cadets milling about trying to find seats to where Adian is sitting with Tyler, the two boys talking quietly to each other.
Ava shrugs in response to her roommate's question. "Must be a twin thing. Growing up it was never hard for one of us to find the other, even in a large crowd. These seats for us?" she asks when she reaches her brother, pointing to the two empty seats next to him.
Adian looks up at her and nods. "Yeah. Figured you'd find us sooner or later."
"So do you know what's going on?" Ava asks as she sits down right next to her brother with Lacey on her other side. She drops her backpack to the floor and pushes it under her seat so it's not in anyone's way.
"I don't know," Adian replies with a small shake of his head. "Tyler and I just got here from class a few minutes ago. I think it's pretty serious, though, because it's more than just the instructors that are here. Papa Phil and Nana May are here too. They don't usually come to lectures for cadets so everyone's pretty confused about why they want us here."
Ava looks around the room. "Something tells me this isn't just another lecture." Her brows furrow together as an uncomfortable chill runs through her spine. "Something's off. I can't explain it, but something just feels off."
"If everyone could please quiet down."
Adian and Ava look down toward the front to see their Papa Phil standing at the front of the room behind the wooden podium, a solemn look on his face.
"Unfortunately," he begins speaking, "this job that we have here, protecting the world and keeping it safe, is not a risk-free job. It comes with many risks that we can't always foresee going into a mission."
Ava sucks in a quick breath, her heart beat increasing.
"Occasionally, agents will lose their lives. As much as we wish it would not happen, the fact of the reality is that it does happen. And some of the time, there's nothing we can do to stop it."
"I don't like where this is going," Ava tells her brother.
He shakes his head. "Neither do I."
"Such was the case earlier today," Coulson continues. He takes a deep breath and stands a little taller, squaring his shoulders as he looks over the group of cadets gathered together. "A small group of highly skilled agents went into a classified area of the world to investigate a series of bombings happening overseas that took a number of innocent lives. It's unclear as of now whether it was a direct attack on our agents, or just unfortunate timing, but the agents who went in…never came home."
Ava's heart beat speeds up. "Didn't mom and dad go overseas for something?" she asks her brother. "Please tell me they didn't go overseas."
"I think they went for something else."
"Please let that be true."
"At this time, I'm going to read off the names of those agents whose lives were lost." He takes a deep breath before glancing down at the sheet of paper in front of him and reading the names aloud. "Toby Carlin. Paul Anderson. Charlie Richardson."
Ava's heart sinks down low into her stomach as she blindly reaches out for her brother's hand, gripping it tightly as she zones out for the rest of the name reading. This can't be happening. Not now.
"It's unfortunate that we lost these great agents today."
She pulls herself out of her thoughts and focuses her attention back on Phil, watching and listening as he continues to address the cadets.
"They were all amazing men and incredible agents who were willing to do what needed to be done to keep this planet safe. As you go about the rest of your time here at the Academy, whether it's three years or just a few months, even though you may not have known these men, think about their names and let it be a reminder to you about how—"
"About how we're all basically being led to our deaths?"
It's out before she can register that it is, standing up in the middle of the lecture hall, staring down the man who used to tell her bedtime stories of Captain America's adventures in the 40's with his Howling Commandos.
"Cadet Ward, please have a seat."
Her jaw hardens and she narrows her eyes at him. "No, I won't. Those men are not a teaching tool, Director. They're sons and brothers, some of them even husbands and fathers. Charlie Richardson." She swallows thickly. "Charlie was supposed to finally become a dad. Do you remember how broken he was whenever it turned out that Nancy wasn't pregnant? Because I do, clear as day. And now they're finally going to have a family and he won't even be here to see it. I know you remember all of that, Phil, so don't stand down there and act like you don't."
Before anyone can say anything else, Ava's turning on her heel and marching out of the lecture hall, leaving everyone in a stunned silence.
A few of the agents down at the front of the room move to go after her but May holds an arm out to stop them from moving any further.
"Let her cool off," she instructs.
Adian slowly stands from his seat and looks at Phil and May. "I'm uh, I'm just gonna go and check on my sister." He carefully makes way out of the row of cadets, being sure to grab his and Ava's bags, and then jogs up the remaining stairs to push out through the lecture hall doors and into the hallway.
"Ava?" he calls out once he's in the empty hallway. "Ava, where are you?"
Hearing quiet sniffling coming from around the corner, Adian follows the noise to find his sister curled up in a corner, her knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried between them, her small body shaking as she cries.
He slowly approaches and sits down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her back as he sets their bags down next to him. "It's gonna be okay, Ava," he says quietly.
Ava's head shoots up toward him, fire in her teary eyes. "How the hell is it going to be okay? Charlie's dead, Adian. He's dead and he's never coming back. He was supposed to be a dad. Now his child isn't going to know him. You remember how excited he was about finally getting to be a dad. Now he'll never get to meet him or her."
Adian nods. "I know. And it sucks. But we can't let it keep us from living our lives, okay?"
"Why shouldn't we?" Ava asks. "Aren't we allowed to mourn a friend?"
"Of course you are."
Adian and Ava look up to see their Nana May standing in front of them, neither of them having heard her approach. They're both still amazed to this day at her ability to move so silently no matter where she is.
The older woman kneels down in front of the teens, her eyes focusing on Ava. "I think what your brother meant is that you can't let mourning Charlie keep you from living your life. And I think you know that he'd want you to keep working hard and become the best agents you can be. He's always been one of your biggest supporters."
Ava looks at her grandmother with sad eyes. "I'm gonna miss him so much."
May pulls the young girl into her arms and gently rubs at her back, holding her tightly and rocking her gently, like she's done so many times when the girl was younger.
A soft trilling fills the area as Ava's cell phone goes off in her pocket. She pulls away from May and reaches into her pocket to pull the device out. She doesn't even bother looking at the caller ID when she answers the call.
"Hello?" she says into the receiver.
"Hello? Ava? Sweetheart, is that you?"
Ava's entire body perks up at the sound of the voice. "Daddy?"
Adian's attention is piqued at Ava's words. "Dad?"
Ava simply nods her head at her brother before pulling the phone down and hitting the speaker button. "Dad, I've put you on speaker. Adian's here. And Nana May."
"Are you kids okay?"
"Of course we are, dad. What about you and mom? Are you guys okay? Papa Phil just told everyone about the bombing that happened overseas."
"We're fine, Ava. Your mom and I were nowhere near the bombing when it went off."
"You weren't?"
"No, we weren't. We're perfectly fine. I promise you."
Ava lets out a relieved breath. "Okay, good. I don't know what Adian and I would do if something happened to you and mom."
"Well let's hope none of us ever have to find that out."
"Yeah, let's hope so," Adian says.
"When are you and mom coming home?" Ava asks him.
"Tomorrow. Your Papa Phil wants us out as soon as possible but we still have a few things to finish up here before we can leave."
"Okay. Hey dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you. A lot."
"I love you a lot too."
"And dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't think we've ever said it, but Adian and I are really glad you and mom didn't go on really dangerous missions when we were little."
"So are we, Ava. Your mom and I didn't want to risk missing a single second of you and your brother growing up."
"I'm glad to hear that." She breathes in deeply. "So, uh, I should probably let you go now."
"Yes, I suppose so. I love you so much, Ava-loo."
"I love you too, daddy. Tell mom that me and Adian say hi and that we love her."
"I'll make sure she gets the message."
"Good. See you when you get home."
"Bye, sweetheart."
"Bye."
Pulling the phone away from her ear, Ava ends the call and holds the device in her hand as she slumps back against the wall.
"Why didn't you tell him about Charlie?" Adian asks his sister curiously.
She sighs. "He shouldn't hear it from me. Mom and dad will hear it from Papa Phil once they get back. I really don't want to be the one to tell them that one of their closest friends is dead."
"Yeah, I guess I can't really blame you there. Now come on," he says, gesturing with his head to the entrance door. "Let's get out of here and go do something."
"Like what?" she asks.
"Anything to take your mind off what's going on. Come on, Ava, you know you want to."
Ava sighs and she nods. "Fine, let's go do something."
Adian smiles. "Good." He stands up from the floor and holds his hand out to her, helping her up from the floor. He grabs their bags off the floor and then loosely wraps an arm around her shoulders while she wraps one around his waist, leaning her head comfortably on his shoulder.
"You're a great brother, you know that?"
Adian smiles. "I have my moments."
"And if you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it and punch you in the face."
"I don't doubt you. Now let's get out of here. Nana May," he says, looking over at the older woman.
May gives the twins a small smile and nods her head. "Don't stay out too long. I'll make sure your Papa knows that you're leaving campus for a little while."
"Thanks, Nana May," Ava says.
"It's no problem, sweetheart. Go be together and start healing."
Adian and Ava both give her a smile before making their way down the rest of the hallway and out the front doors.
"I just thought of something," Adian speaks up.
"What?"
"How are we getting off campus to go into town? Neither of us have a car here."
"There's school sanctioned vehicles in the garage."
"We don't have access to the garage yet," he reminds his sister.
"Maybe so. But I think I can work my way around the system."
"Pretty sure they keep all the keys in a locked box that not just anyone can access."
"Stop trying to ruin all my fun."
"Sorry. Just trying to keep you from committing a crime."
Ava scoffs. "Please. We both know you'd tag right along so I wouldn't be arrested alone."
Adian opens his mouth to deny the claim but just sighs and looks down. "Yeah, you're right, I probably would."
"And now's the perfect time to test that theory," she says, grinning when she sees the Academy's garage coming into view, picking up her pace.
Adian sighs again and shakes his head, quickly following behind his sister, hiking their bags up higher on his shoulder. He really hopes he doesn't regret going along with this.
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!
