DON'T BE MAD THAT YOU DID IT
CAUGHT YOUR RED HANDS IN IT
YOU'RE SO BAD, YEAH I GET IT
YOU MADE YOUR BED NOW REST IN IT
SO RUN AND CRY WOLF
The gentle sound of a harmonic symphony fills the room, bouncing off the metal walls and reverberating through her body as Elena Eroxin listens to her four year old son playing the piano, under the dutiful tutelage of his father – her husband – Dimitri.
Of Russian, Chinese and American descent, the quiet, cold-looking yet unquestionably caring man is well respected on the Ark as a history teacher, and one of very few currently alive on the massive space station to with the knowledge of how to play various musical instruments, and as such he is fortunate enough to be allowed unrestricted access to instruments such as the piano that resides in their room.
Elena and Dimitri had met in their classes, when their professor had paired them together for an engineering project. Dimitri's razor sharp mind and Elena's unrivalled mechanical capability proved to be a fearsome combination, as they aced their project, and as the years passed they grew to be inseparable, marrying very young and after the tragic death of their first child just moments after being born, they eventually welcomed young Aerrow to the world.
Thinking about her son, Elena's cheerful, relaxed expression morphs into one of concern as she shifts her gaze to the child, so engrossed in the task of dancing his fingers across the keys to notice her worry.
In many ways, he is a perfect embodiment of his parents. He has his father's angular looks and lean build, with his mother's complexion, height and uniquely purple eyes. He has also inherited the best of his parents' attributes: Dimitri's tactical mind, resistance to pain and strength – of both body and character, and Elena's physical abilities, co-ordination and aptitude of learning.
In many ways, he is the perfect child, except for one thing:
He is mute.
Despite his premature birth, Aerrow has not only survived as Abby said he would, he has flourished. He has learned to walk in record time, his reflexes, even at such a young age, are unrivalled and the way his eyes dance across the pages of story books – or sheet music – indicates an accute intelligence very rarely seen in many people, let alone those of his age.
But in his four short years of existence, he is yet to say a word.
She hopes, prays, that one day, he will find his voice and share it with the world, but as each day passes where he answers her questions with a simple nod of his head, that hope diminishes a little further.
Elena is interrupted from her thoughts by a sudden and harsh knocking on her door.
Aerrow's fingers instantly still on the piano as his father calmly gets to his feet and opens the door-
-to be met with a solid strike to his head.
Elena gasps in shock and horror, before racing over and grabbing her son as an imposing man in a guard uniform steps through the door and over Dimitri's unconscious form to stand opposite the two, where he then levels a pistol at them.
Despite the pure terror shooting through her every nerve, Elena glares fiercely at the attacker, while simultaneously pushing Aerrow behind her. "Whoever you are, you do not want to hurt my son." She growls slowly and fiercely, Aerrow's safety her only focus despite the barrel pointed directly at her.
The man is unfazed by her threat, his cold eyes unchanging as a smirk forms on his face. "You're right. I don't." He says lowly in a gravelly voice. "I want to hurt you."
Elena swallows fearfully at the man's chilling words. She looks past him, to see her husband is still motionless. She knows he will shoot her if she tries to scream for help, and Aerrow wouldn't be able to even if he wanted to. Tears begin to form in her eyes as she starts to accept her fate "Why?" She demands in a shaky voice.
"Because they told me to." Is all he says as his finger tightens on the trigger.
"NO!" A new voice – a very young and shrill voice – sounds out, and both Elena's and the attacker's eyes widen as its' owner pushes his way past his mother to stand between them, glaring daggers at the man, who falls motionless under the intensity of the child's glare. It should be impossible coming from one so young, but those hate filled purple eyes send shivers along his spine, and he is reminded of why this child is so important to the organisation he serves.
Elena instantly moves forward to get him out of harm's way, but he is still as a rock, and she is unable to move him, his strength surprising her but not nearly as much as hearing him speak for the first time.
Not taking his eyes off the attacker, Aerrow begins circling around the room slowly, keeping his mother behind him until eventually they are with Dimitri, just inside the entrance.
"Believe it or not kid, this is to help you." The man sneers, swinging the gun around to point it at them once more.
"Not today." Aerrow grins coldly, before he taps the communications channel on the control panel beside the door and says three words none of the others could have ever imagined would come out of his mouth.
"Alpha. Sierra. X-Ray."
For a moment, nothing happens, but when it does, it happens in the blink of an eye.
The lights in the room go out, replaced by a dim red glow and the blaring of a klaxon.
"No..." The man whispers, realising in horror what is about to happen, "NO!" He begins moving toward the door, but it is too late.
As a re-inforced steel door begins to close from above, Aerrow and Elena swiftly step out of the room, the latter reaching in and dragging her husband out just in time as the door slams shut, trapping the attacker inside.
Elena stares at his petrified face as he bangs frantically at the small porthole in the door for just a moment before suddenly, savagely, the outer doors of the room open and in an instant, the man is sucked out into space... the last thing he ever sees being the narrowed purple eyes of his four year old defeater...
…
Later, much later, Elena sits numbly with her husband, and with her son cradled in her lap as she attempts to process what had happened.
Because the Ark was created from multiple space stations, there were many airlocks that were of no use to the combined structure of the Ark, but were unable to be repurposed for anything else. Usually these rooms were turned into scrap holders, but some were just too inconvenient for such storage, and were instead made into living quarters for a select few individuals who could be trusted enough to live in them safely.
As the chief engineer, Elena was one of those people, and each airlock was keyed to a safety system to prevent them from opening in anything other than an emergency, in which case the airlock could only be triggered by a keyphrase: the station the airlock was on, followed by the corridor, and finally the room itself. Each of these was identified by a matching word from the phonetic alphabet. The Eroxin's lived on Alpha station, in corridor Sierra, room X-Ray, so in saying those words in order, Aerrow had activated the airlock and saved his family.
Elena looks down at her son. She has so many questions she wishes to ask him. How could he stand in front of a loaded gun like that? How did he know to activate the airlock? How could he possibly know the correct activation code? For now though, she only has one:
"All this time... you could talk all this time?" She questions him softly, stroking his hair.
As he looks up at her, his emotions are unreadable. His eyes are wide and fearful, but there is a distinct edge in his gaze that wasn't there before, a darkened glint betraying the emotions suppressed within. He doesn't say a word in response, he simply nods.
Worrying that he may go back to not speaking at all, Elena tightens her grip on him and presses for more information. "How long?" She prods
Aerrow is silent for a moment, before answering in a quiet voice. "I always could. I just chose not to."
Elena frows, confused. "Why not?"
Aerrow shrugs, "The voice told me not to." He replies hesitantly, as if he is unsure whether to share this information or not.
His father leans forwards, both intrigued and concerned by his reply. "What voice?"
Aerrow looks between his parents, and again pauses.
"The one inside my head."
…
Thunder cracked overhead to signal the approach of the storm, it's rough and raw sound a total contrast to the soft melodies he once played on the piano. The violent booms echoed off the rocky walls surrounding him, penetrating his very skin and vibrating his entire body with their ferocity.
But Aerrow Eroxin remained unmoved.
He remained calmly kneeling in the centre of the hollowed outcrop, while around him leaves, vines and clothes rustled in the building wind, insects scurried into caves in anticipation, and distant lightning reflected off the shiny steel of unused weaponry.
This place had once been an impenetrable fortress, known only to a select few and undiscovered by the outside world. Once, it had been home to only the most skilled and most mysterious warriors of the current age.
Once, it had been the Qinta fortress.
No more.
Now, robes, armor and weapons lay discarded and untouched, pools of water had gone stagnant and training facilities were falling apart and being taken back by nature. Where once the legendary Panther Cult had made their living, now there was only Aerrow.
After running away from Arkadia, he had not stopped moving. He just let his legs carry him in whichever direction fate chose, and once his head was clear of the poisonous residue of alcohol, he had ended up here.
Miserable. Celibate. Alone.
It was better this way.
He couldn't take another second of it, of the way the others looked at him, expected him to be something he just wasn't anymore, who didn't understand what had happened to turn him into this, and how they plain did not deserve to be poisoned by his presence any longer. When he had returned with Octavia the first time, he had allowed the smallest part of him to hope for redemption, that things would get better and maybe, just maybe he could have a life worth living again.
Oh how wrong he was. Images flashed through his mind, Bellamy trying to get him to fight... The Oblivion room... losing to the assassin... The explosion...
Everything else was just a haze thanks to his binge drinking, but for once he was thankful for that. He didn't need any more memories to be ashamed of.
Instead he kept his thoughts on the here and now, bringing himself back to where his life had taken him, back to the isolation, back to the place he had once called home.
He stifled tears as he let out a choked sob in mourning for the warriors he had called his family. Warriors he had killed. He missed them. God how he missed them. They had given him purpose, showed him how to live the life he wanted, given him a home and a place he could finally belong where he could be happy with the person he was just for once in his goddamned life!
But not anymore.
Because of him.
And it was because of him that he had locked himself away again. Never again was he going back to Arkadia. Never again was he going to let Octavia, or anyone else in, a fact he consolidated himself for when he heard soft footsteps approaching, footsteps that could only belong to one person...
"How did you find me?" His soft voice whispered, the cracked tone carrying even through the wind, stopping the person in their tracks.
After a moment's silence he turned around to find, of course, Octavia standing at the entrance to the fortress.
The girl was silent, she gave no answer. Instead, she simply tilted her head to look at her shoulder, where Cleo's head appeared, the reptile's sharp, intelligent eyes taking everything in, staring a hole through him.
"Why did you find me?" He rephrased monotonously.
"Because I need your help." Octavia stated bluntly.
"What makes you think you'll get it?" He scoffed as he turned back around.
Octavia bristled at the comment, but she refrained from replying just yet, choosing instead just to take in the sight before her.
Aerrow was much more... together... compared to the last time she had seen him. His skin was clean and his hair had been washed, and re-tied in its ponytail. His eyes were sharper and un-dulled – just like his mind – and his hands no longer shook. All in all he was in much better shape now that he had no moonshine to keep him company, but that didn't mean he was in a better place mentally
He seemed detached, resigned, as if he had cut off all ties – both physical and emotional – with the real world and was content with living here, on his own and separate from reality. It tugged at her heart that he was punishing himself in this way, but it also incensed her, made her angry. It reminded her of why she needed to get through to him.
"You don't understand." She began, "There was a coup. Kane lost the election. Pike is the chancellor." Her voice was segmented and solemn.
"With the help of my brother, he, Bellamy and ten farm station survivors are going to wipe out an army of grounders sent to protect us, TONIGHT!"
She paused, and inhaled deeply, preparing to take the plunge. "Only that's not going to happen. Because we're going to stop them." She declared firmly.
"So go stop them, Octavia." Aerrow spat, uninterested. "You and Lincoln should be-"
"I'm not talking about me and Lincoln." She interrupted, her voice fiery and rock solid. "I'm talking about me and you." She declared firmly.
"Me and you..." Aerrow drawled sarcastically, "Me and you..."
He got to his feet and turned to face her. "You want my help to fight Bellamy and the others?" The accusation was not hidden in his calm voice.
Octavia shook her head. "I want your help to stop them-"
"And what makes you think you'll get it?" He snapped, "What makes you think he'll listen to me. He's like that because of me... Because I failed..." He trailed off sadly, turning away and returning to his knees.
"So what?" Octavia shouted at him, finally snapping herself, "You're just going to let all those people die?"
"Yes." He whispered, so quietly that Octavia almost didn't catch it.
She froze, shocked by his proclamation. "What?"
"Yes." He repeated just as quietly, "This is happening because I couldn't stop an attack. Whatever happens, happens, but I won't have any part of it. Never again." He bowed his head in resignation as he finished, perfectly content with staying right where he was.
Octavia clenched her jaw and tightened her fists as a new emotion flooded her veins, something she'd never felt for him before: hatred
It coursed through her body, reddening her vision and sharpening her thoughts. All thoughts of care and affection were banished. She had given him every opportunity, tried so many times to get through to him by caring for him, showing him that he wasn't as alone as he was convinced, but clearly it wasn't working, and it was never going to. Time for a change of tactics. Instead of suppressing the frustration as she had done in the past, she finally let it out.
"What happened to you?" She snarled in a rough, gravelly voice.
She saw his muscles visibly tense. "You know damn well what happened to me Octavia!" He shouted back, back on his feet and storming up to her. He took several, ragged breaths in an unsuccessful attempt to calm himself. "I am a poison. Everything I do, everyone I care about dies! Because. Of. Me!"
The next thing he registered was her fist slamming into the side of his face. Pain exploded from the impact, and he staggered back both from the force of the blow and pure shock at what she had done. Clutching his cheek, he lifted his head to find she had drawn her swords.
"Prove it!" She growled at him, rendering him motionless with the tone of her voice. The tension between the two could have been sliced with the coandite swords in her hands as the two locked eyes in a silent glare, before Octavia lowered her tone and growled dangerously. "Hit me."
Aerrow was frozen for a moment as the insanity of her demand sunk in. "What?" He breathed.
"I said 'hit me'!" Octavia hissed through clenched teeth.
Aerrow snuffed a fake laugh. "I'm not fighting you again." He declared.
"I didn't ask you to fight me." Octavia said bluntly as she tossed the swords to the ground, laying her arms bare by her sides as a clear invitation.
Aerrow said nothing. He had no idea why she had made such a ridiculous request, much less how she could expect him to actually do it. Even if she wasn't the person he cared the most about, he wouldn't do it. He was done. He simply shook his head and turned around for the last time, only for her to attack him again, this time with a kick to the backs of his knees that sent him to the ground.
Growling, and clenching his fist to suppress the anger that built quickly inside him, Aerrow pushed himself off the ground to find her standing over him.
"She would be so proud of you..." Octavia snarled, kicking him again. "Sienna. She'd be so proud..."
Pain and anger rose as one, and It was all Aerrow could do to hold himself back, instead letting Octavia keep raining blows down on him, but she wasn't finished yet.
"Maybe it's best she died when she did." She taunted, pausing her assault to deliver the final dose of venom. "That way she wouldn't have to see the kind of person her lover has become-"
She was cut off as, with an animalistic and utterly enraged howl, Aerrow finally snapped. In an instant, he was back on his feet and charged at her.
He ploughed into her, driving her into the ground where he sat straddled on her torso and began pummelinghis fists into her face. She managed to knock him off her, and they both got to their feet but Aerrow was immediately back on her.
He delivered a fast and brutal series of strikes to her torso. She gasped in pain when his foot smashed into her still-tender stab wound, but she did not fight back. He needed this, needed to do this to her.
Aerrow did not relent as a flat palm to her spine brought her to her knees, before he launched himself into the air and delivered a brutal spin-kick directly to her temple.
Blood exploded from her nose as she collapsed to the ground but still Aerrow was not done. Holding her collar with one hand, he slammed his other fist into her face over and over. Tears were streaming down his cheeks in an ugly parallel to the blood covering Octavia's face as his strikes became slower and less controlled.
He screamed in rage and mental agony as he let loose one, final, savage punch to her beaten and broken form, before he let go of her shirt and let her fall limply back to the ground, before sitting back on his haunches as he came back to his senses.
Panting heavily, tears still in his eyes and the occasion shaky whimper escaping from his mouth, he surveyed the extent of the damage he had inflicted.
Octavia was nearly unrecogniseable. Her face was covered in blood, she had a black eye and the rest of her skin wasn't much better. Her nose was broken, and her lips split. She was lucky to avoid losing any teeth. She was lucky not to have been killed.
He turned away, unable to look at the devastation he had caused to the one person left who he actually cared about any longer. He couldn't fathom why she had made him do that, knowing full well what he was capable of. It was the mention of Sienna that did it, that finally made him snap. In that moment, he lost himself to the grief and rage inside of him, mixing together until they ignited in a volatile explosion.
Strangely though, the outburst seemed to have centred him. He no longer felt those emotions warring inside of him. Now they were stable, calm. It was as if he needed that release. He felt much more in control of his thoughts now, and he quickly regained control of his breathing as he tried not to think any more about what he had just done.
Octavia, meanwhile, coughed and splutted as she picked herself up off the ground. Her entire body burned in agony courtesy of the beating Aerrow had just dished out on her. The last time she had felt this broken was after Fio had beaten her to a pulp.
This time though she was filled with perhaps a sadistic sense of accomplishment, for she had achieved what she had set out to do: taunt him into snapping and taking out his despair on her, rather than continuing to do it to himself, a plan seeded by what Lincoln had told her.
Groaning, she got to her feet and looked over at him. He was back in the same position she had originally found him in, back resolutely turned towards her. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened.
She kicked the swords on the ground over to him. "If you're going to come back, you're going to need those." She grunted at him, clutching her side. "Otherwise I don't want to see you again."
Aerrow gave no reply, so she turned and moved towards the exit. .
"Why?" His quiet voice broke the silence. Octavia stopped and turned, to find him staring at her, eyes wide and filled not with regret, but with concern, and something along the lines of gratitude. "Why would you let me do that to you?"
Octavia paused and took in his form. He seemed so much more relaxed. She had no idea if her plan had worked or not, only time would tell, so she simply gave him a sad smile before she walked out of the fortress for the final time, her departing words echoing in his ears.
"We punish each other, so we don't have to punish ourselves."
…
The rifle in his hands was heavy with the weight of what he was about to do as Bellamy Blake walked out of Arkadia, heading directly for the grounder camp, which housed the army that was supposedly there to protect them from any attacks by the Ice Nation, but after what happened at the bunker, Bellamy knew better than to believe Kane's lies.
Beside him marched the newly elected Chancellor, Pike, along with several other farm station survivors. Each and every one of them knew the truth: The grounders couldn't care less about protecting the Sky People, they only cared about themselves. They were here to wipe Arkadia out.
Bellamy clenched his jaw in preparation.
Not if he could help it.
…
Octavia stared sadly from behind the locked gate of the outer wall, clutching the bars desperately as she watched her brother march off to massacre an army of innocent people.
She closed her bruised eyes and winced, despite her injuries. The physical pain she felt was nothing compared to the mental agony of having to accept that Aerrow hadn't shown up, and nor was he going to.
She hoped and prayed with everything she had that he would, and she would continue to do so, right up until the bullets started flying but deep down in her heart of hearts, she knew the battle was already lost. Lincoln had been shut inside the station so he couldn't interfere, and any chance she had of stopping the attack was extinguished the moment she left her swords at the fortress.
And now hundreds of people were going to die.
As much as she didn't want to give up, she knew she had to. So, angrily cutting the last mental tie she had with Aerrow Eroxin, she turned away in disgust, unable to watch was about to come and made to walk back inside when suddenly a loud voice came echoing through the trees.
"BELLAMY!"
…
Bellamy and the others froze when he heard his name being shouted.
Lightning crackled overhead as the storm drew closer, illuminating the clearing as a lone figure dressed in wolfskin furs ran out of the forest and stood in front of the group, blocking their way. Lightning flashed again and Bellamy saw who was standing opposite him, two swords in hand and a Lace Monitor at their feet.
Aerrow Eroxin.
For a moment, Bellamy was stunned silent. Last he had known, Aerrow had been a drunken mess, incapable of speech let alone opposing him on a battle field.
"I can't let you do it brother!" Aerrow shouted over the howling wind.
Bellamy winced at the comment. Not from remorse, but from disgust. Ever since the bunker, he had been filled with a steadily growing hatred of how he was related to the person whom he deemed responsible for the death of the woman he loved. Sure, the grounders had activated the self-destruct mechanism, but only after Aerrow had failed to stop them in the first place, and Bellamy was too blinded by grief to hold any room for the younger man in his heart.
"Get out of the way Aerrow!" He growled fiercely, aiming his rifle at him.
"Don't do this, Bellamy." Aerrow said firmly as he began walking slowly towards the group. "I was exactly like you. When Sienna died... I lost control... killed everyone..."
Bellamy looked down, remembering the massacre Aerrow had committed on the guards.
"I know how you feel, Bellamy!" Aerrow continued, dropping his voice and softening his tone, trying to reach the man with his words. "I know you loved her, and I know it hurts, but this isn't the way."
"We don't have time for this..." Pike growled in his ear, incensing him once more.
"You know nothing Aerrow!" He snarled suddenly. "Gina's dead because of you!"
Aerrow looked down guiltily, before he stiffened his resolve and locked eyes with Bellamy again. "And I have to live with that." He said quietly, "But you do this, and you start a war... everyone will die! And that guilt, that guilt will be far worse than mine. There's some things you can't go back from."
"I don't care!" Bellamy shouted suddenly, taking Aerrow aback with the ferocity of his outburst. Light rain had started falling, dousing them in a light sheen of water but doing nothing to alleviate the tension. "That army isn't here for protection. They are here to attack, and like hell am I going to let them, now step aside!"
Aerrow remained unmoved. Like a rock, his every feature hardened and his grip tightened on his swords as Bellamy's threat pushed him closer to the inevitable.
"I'm not going anywhere, Bellamy." He told him, "And I can't let you do this either. Please, don't be like I was. Be better" he paused, lowering his swords in a final, desperate attempt to reach him, "Don't do something both of us will regret. You can live, or you can die. It's your choice." He finished.
Bellamy squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he tried to force his emotions down. His love for Gina, his pain at losing her, the anger, the fiery hot rage he felt for the grounders and for what they had done, what they had taken from him. As hard as he tried, they wouldn't go away, instead building and building until eventually they reached a crescendo.
He lowered his rifle.
Aerrow was still as he saw Bellamy stand down, before and immense feeling of relief washed over him, and he too, lowered his weapons.
"Chosen." Bellamy said suddenly.
In the blink of an eye, before Aerrow could do anything, he brought his gun back up...
And then he fired...
…
Watching from the camp, Octavia gasped, and clamped her hand over her mouth when she heard the gunshot...
Saw Aerrow's head snap backwards from the point blank hit...
Saw him collapse to the ground...
She let out an agonised whimper as reality set in. Aerrow had just been shot, and killed, by her own brother.
She was frozen in disbelief, unable to move as the group remorselessly moved past the body and onwards to the sleeping army.
And as the heavens opened and rain began to pour, all that could be heard throughout the night, was the heart wrenching sizzle of shots being fired...
Loved writing this chapter so much. When I'm planning out a story, there are always a couple of scenes that I instantly have in mind and am so motivated to write and this was one of them, so I really hope I did a good job!
Hopefully I won't make you guys wait too long for this cliffhanger to be resolved. Whether Aerrow is still alive and what happens next will be explained in good time, so until then as always, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter – oh, and you might have noticed the subtle name change from 'Sara' to 'Sienna'. This is because I've reached the part of my redux of the original 'closer to the edge' where I introduce her, and I've decided to completely re-invent the character, starting with her name, so keep an eye out for that going up soon as well.
If you have any feedback, feel free to drop a review, I know this story and character pairing is quite unique and not everyone's cup of tea, so I really do appreciate all the support.