"The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don't need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever." ― Laurie Halse Anderson, The Impossible Knife of Memory

Running with the Boys

Chapter XXXVI: The Consequences

The fact that Camille was so calm, so collected and unfazed by her arrest, unsettled Jak.

He watched her through the glass. She still wore her wedding dress, but she'd kicked off her heels and left them by the door. She stared at him, right through the glass as if she could sneer him to death. He never liked Camille, even when she was a toddler. He'd always see her pushing or grabbing his girls. In the beginning, he'd pull Ashelin to the side and talk to her about it, but other times he'd let it play out. Wren normally shoved her back whenever she pushed her sister. He wanted to keep Rider as far from Camille when he was born -even though Kaster was obsessed with him and kept asking for the little baby.

He should've worked harder to write the accords, he should've considered how Camille treated his girls in the beginning. Now he drove a wedge so large into his family, he stood on an island by himself.

He glanced at Ashelin, she stared at her own daughter with the same painfully confused look she had years ago. She keeps her eyes on Camille when the doors open, Keira stepped in with Sig. He loved her, and still did, so much. He watched her dress that morning, remembering all her scars and how they got there. She asked about Rider and if he was okay. She prayed that her daughters would come back to her.

Now, she glared at him with as much hatred as she could manage. Some said Wren got her temper from him, and while part of that was true, she also got it from her mother. Keira ran across the room to him, ready to tear him apart. He didn't move, he deserved it. Every awful and hateful word she was going to hurl at him.

Sig pulled her back, she didn't fight him like Wren did. She only collapsed into a chair and put her head down. She didn't cry but started to bounce her leg, trying to burn off the nervous energy that coursed through her body.

"Alright," Torn began looking to him. "I think it's time for us to talk about the elephant in the room."

"He's not in the room." Keira muttered. "He's gone to Kras with my daughter."

"So," Torn started. "How did Jace become to be?"

Ashelin turned. "How all our children and our grandchildren will be made." She answered, she glanced at him. Jak leaned against the glass, crossing his arms.

"It was a drunken night." Jak added. "One drunken night. It was after we came back from the Brink. We all raced in the city, it was," He looked to Ashelin. "A stupid act."

"I was three months when I suspected I was pregnant," Ashelin looked to Torn. "I thought it was yours, but then, I had symptoms. My Eco level spiked and I knew-"

"We both knew." Jak corrected.

"-that it wasn't Torn's." Ashelin finished.

"How did he end up in Rayn's care?" Sig asked.

"By accident," Jak grumbled. "She was snooping. She promised to take care of him and claim that he was hers." He looked to Ashelin. "She didn't tell us that she was shoving him in that prison of hers."

"Wait," Keira stood. "That trip you took to Kras City, where you went into labour, you had him there?"

Ashelin nodded. "He wasn't due for another month but, he showed up."

"That's how Kleiver and Veger knew!" She shouted. "They were there, weren't they?!"

Jak nodded. "I'm sure not by accident, Rayn's very clever."

Torn rubbed his face. "Okay, so Jace is the heir to Haven City? He's the firstborn, not Kaster?"

Ashelin nodded. "Yes."

"Not Spargus," Sig added. "I am King."

"You're a figurehead." Ashelin snapped. "Damas was King, it passed on to his son."

"Which passed on to Jak," Keira whispered. "And then onto Jace… oh my God, he was right. He is the Baron Commander King of this world."

"What about Vidia Krew?" Torn asked.

"What about her?" Ashelin responded. "Evil doesn't disappear in three generations. She's as rotten as her grandfather. She divided my twins, she's an arms dealer to the rebellion, she sent the city into a spiraling civil war, she destroyed the Palace, she ruined the accords, she built and destroyed a giant wall that divided the city, oh and I can't forget her mother let Jace's army in."

"Think of all the good she's done," Jak snapped back. "She helped Kaster without any demands, she cared for the people Camille cast aside, she brought supplies in, she tried to help the Mizo Family, she loves my son-" He stopped and looked to Keira.

"Which son Jak?" Keira asked.

"Rider." Jak answered. "She has some kind of pact with him."

"WHAT?!" She screeched. "And you didn't think to tell me!"

"What's to tell you?" He snapped. "Rider thinks he's broken, a piece of our family that doesn't belong. Of course, he'd run to Vidia. We did that to him. Who do you think he'd run to? Not me or you," He motioned to Camille. "Hell, when she locked him in a hallway, and do you know who he ran to? Vidia Krew."

"ALERT. ALERT. Unauthorized use of a Hellcat." An alert screamed overhead.

"If it's not one thing," Ashelin grumbled as she took her tablet off the desk. She typed something and glared at the screen. "My access code isn't working." She walked across the room and connected with the larger television. "Vin," She called out to the computer assistant. "Connect me to the hanger's cameras."

ACCESS DENIED.

"Great Jace hacked our system." Torn snapped.

"Vin, show me the last person to log in."

The computer blinked for a second before a name popped up: KASTER PRAXIS. It was accompanied by a picture. Kaster glared at Wren, who was front and centre, flipping off the camera. She had her arm around Rider's neck, he looked surprised as if she just yanked him off his feet. He could see Bash's foot in front of Rider, as if he just fell off.

"Jace didn't hack the system." Sig laughed. "Your kids did."

"Stop laughing," Torn snapped.

"And this is why I didn't have kids."

"Where are they going?" Keira asked.

A tap on the glass made all the heroes jump, Camille stood at the window with an overconfident smirk on her face. "I'm assuming my twin has escaped with the Mar siblings?"

The group looked between each other.

"If you're curious about where they're going isn't obvious? They're all going to Kras for love. Sisterly love, sibling love, and that mushy love." She rolled her eyes. "Oh, and maybe to kill Jace, but who am I to judge?"

"Oh my god," Daxter called from the doorway. Everyone turned to him. "Our kids are like us. Seeking out danger for the Hell of it." He hugged Tess. "And Bash went with them, our little meek baby is growing up!"

Keira dropped back into her seat, groaning as the alert kept ringing. Jak chuckled and shock his head, he looked at the screen with a smirk. Maybe the Precursors were right.

Rider could save the world.

TBC…