(A/N: Not really much to say except I hope you guys like this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last one. This chapter will probably be longer than the first one, maybe not by much, but who knows. I'm known to go a little overboard when it comes to writing chapters.)
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Their Highbreed friend picked up the cup Ben had placed in front of him and took a drink out of it using the tentacles in his torso, much to the disgust of Gwen and Kevin. "Hydrating. What is it?" he asked.
"A smoothie," Ben answered, "a drink made of blended fruits and vegetables. Don't worry, I made sure to get you an extra smooth one."
Kevin gagged at the sight, "Ugh, sick. Is that really how you guys eat?"
"Just liquid," he replied with a slight shrug.
"Anyway, what about your engagement to the Seraph?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah, do you even know who you're marrying?" her boyfriend asked playfully.
"Or is it," Ben spun his cup around, trying to think of the right word, "like, an arranged thing? Like, you don't know who they are?"
"I know her well, quite well in fact," he replied.
"Yeah, yeah, you can tell us all about her, while I watch TV," Kevin interjected rudely, picking up the remote and turning on the TV.
"Don't mind him, what's her name?" she asked.
"Agape," his voice was low and it almost sounded something like a growl, but it was more like an affectionate sigh.
"How did you meet?" she asked again. She bore a bright smile on her face that reminded him so dearly of his betrothed.
In the vacuum of space, in a cruiser several light years away from the Highbreed home planet of Augstaka was a family of noble Highbreed. The family consisted of a single parent and seven shorter Highbreed that were most definitely their children.
The parent was quite tall, well into the ten to fifteen foot range, the average height for their race, and muscular, indicative of a warrior, but was also a little round in the torso. The tallest of the children was nearly the height of his parent's shoulder, though he was nowhere near as muscular. The shortest of the children only went to the knees of the tallest and was quite lanky with disproportionate limbs yet he was somehow able to stand quite easily.
The cruiser landed and the parent walked out first, followed by their children. They landed on some kind of platform that was connected to a cluster of buildings ranging in size with the tallest at the center.
The planet they landed on looked like a perfect combination of depression and beatitude. The skies were gray with clouds ready to sob at any moment and a glance below the platform at the city below revealed a tightly knit area of filth and darkness. On the other hand, the grass was a lush green with rolling hills that went on for miles and the cluster buildings were clean and in excellent shape, despite looking quite old. The air was quite cool, this was good because they overheat easily otherwise.
As mandatory for whenever they went to another planet, the parent briefed their children, "My sons, remember this, these people are scum, mongrels, hideous abominations of nature, in spite of their charms. We are Highbreed, the one true species, the only kind, they are nothing."
They were greeted by a Seraph male wearing red and blue robes with numerous pieces of jewelry to show his high status. Around his neck was a winged cross with a circle at the center. It appeared to be made of marble and it was connected to his neck by a silver chain that was so sleek and shiny that it almost looked new.
Behind him were warriors all wearing identical armor and carrying swords, no doubt ready to strike at any given moment. They all had wings, some varied in size, but they were all the same shape, they intrigued the youngest child since he was so young and had never been off Augstaka before, unlike his brothers who had been off-planet many times.
"Welcome to Malak, I am Ambassador Gabriel. I trust you will be comfortable," he greeted politely, his face was straight and it was clear that he didn't want them there.
"Cut the formalities, mongrel," the parent spat harshly. "I am here to educate my sons on the affairs of state, not to acquaint myself with you, vermin."
"Fine," he replied flatly, turning around. His guards separated to the sides to allow him to pass through. He walked towards the cluster of buildings, followed by the family of Highbreed.
He led them down extravagant yet sparsely decorated halls that were predominately bedecked with portraits of important figures and events. One of these events being a representation of the infamous Great Flood, which many, especially Highbreed, consider to be a failure because it only destroyed the fallen ones and their offspring, not the primitive abominations known as humans.
The youngest was quite amazed by the new sights he was taking in, this was the first time he had ever seen anything remotely lively. Augstaka was a very gloomy, gritty, polluted planet with run down, destroyed buildings everywhere; a truly depressing place to live. While he was caught up in taking in all the new sights, he failed to notice his family leave him behind.
When he finally realized they were gone, he frantically looked around for them, but had no idea where they could have gone. In his panic he ran down a dark hallway that was not meant for visitors to venture down.
He wasn't watching where he was going and fell to the floor after accidentally running into a table and knocking it over. On top of it was an egg-shaped stone statue with intricate carvings incised into it. The statue fell to the carpeted floor with a muffled 'thump!' and broke in half.
"Oh, dear, father will be upset," a young girl's voice spoke.
He stood up from the floor and spread his small wings, exposing the orange membrane, "W-Who is there?"
A young girl with platinum blond hair and beautiful blue eyes walked out the shadows. She was around the same height he was and wore robes similar to the ones worn by Ambassador Gabriel. Her wings were similar to his as well, but much smaller and had thin golden strands on some of the feathers.
She also had a necklace similar to his as well, although her pendant was made of a smooth, shiny metal, possibly silver, not marble. It was held around her neck by wooden beads instead of a silver chain.
He backed away timidly, "S-Stay away from me, insect!"
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I will ask the questions, you will answer me," he declared.
"But this isn't your home, it's mine," she tilted her head to side, obviously not understanding his claims.
He didn't have the slightest idea on how to argue against that. His parent had never taught him how to argue against such things and she had a valid case that was quite difficult to argue.
"Who are you?" she asked again.
"I am Reinrassig III, seventh son of the Noble Highbreed House of Deralla, direct descendant of the Pure Blooded High Order of Rarsect," he proclaimed proudly.
She looked at him oddly and doubtfully with a hand on her hip, it gave her a high air of maturity, something he was very familiar with having six elder brothers, "My name is Agape. The daughter of Ambassador Gabriel and niece of the High Lord of Malak."
If this was a competition of who had the higher status, she would have been the winner. She knew of her father's position as ambassador and had a family relation to the ruler of her home world. He was not related to the Highbreed Supreme nor anyone on the High Council, he knew he was the son of a noble, but had no idea if his ancestors - or parent for that matter - had any blood relation to any member of the High Council.
There was a long pause before she finally asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I am here on an educational visit," he paused, most likely out of embarrassment, before he continued, "and I got lost."
"Father would be upset with me if I walk into his office without permission," she uttered, mostly to herself. She then perked up when an idea formed in her head, "Follow me."
"What? Why would I want to follow someone I'd just met?" he questioned with clear hostility.
She didn't answer and walked back into the shadows she came out of. Curiosity told him to follow, but the teachings of his parent and elder siblings told him not to trust anyone other than fellow Highbreed. Against his better judgement, he followed her into the darkness.
If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he had just walked into a cave and was experiencing absolute darkness. It was like this for a little while until he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It was actually just her opening a window at the end of the hallway.
The window was facing the series of platforms that was connected to the buildings, but he could not see the cruiser he and his family arrived on. From this viewpoint, the planet looked less gloomy and more lively.
"How good are you at flying?" she asked suddenly.
"I fly quite well for my age," he replied.
She cracked a smile that showed a boldness and a need for thrills, "Good."
She climbed out the window and stood on the sill, her back was up against the glass of the window to keep her balance. Then, she did something unexpected, she jumped off the sill!
Worriness overwhelmed him and quickly went over and looked out. He was surprised to see that she was fine, she was just soaring around in circles a hundred or so feet below.
He sighed and climbed out himself, standing on the sill the same way she did. From the inside, it didn't look so stomach-turning, but now that he was outside, he was immediately regretting following her.
She soared up when she realized that he was taking a long time, her wings fluttered slightly. "You're not afraid, are you?"
"No!" he spat.
"Then jump," she hovered there expectantly with her arms crossed.
He took in a deep breath and exhaled sharply. He lifted one foot and soon he was falling. He tried to fly as she did but couldn't! Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. And it needed to be solved quickly.
She saw him struggling and quickly flew down to help him. He could see that he was nearing the city below and knew that he had to figure this out quickly.
Finally, as a last ditch effort, he extended his wings out to their full extent. It worked, he flew upwards and flew past her. She blinked in surprise, but shook it off and joined him.
"You did it!" she sounded quite elated.
"Was there ever any doubt?" he asked smugly, his arms crossed.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" she claimed, now beginning to sound angry. "I thought you were going to fall to your death!"
"But I didn't, did I?" he still sounded smug and prideful.
She groaned in frustration and flew down and soared around the buildings. He soared after her to know where she was going, after all, this was all her idea.
He circled around the circumference of many buildings, but she kept evading him. They continued to gracefully glide across the air surrounding the buildings. The chase finally stopped when she flew to the top of her home and waited patiently for him.
He finally made it up there and was clearly out of breath. "I finally caught up to you!" he uttered in between deep breaths. "You cannot escape me, insect! I will always catch up."
"I wasn't trying to escape you," she replied in a childish and epigrammatic manner. "I was simply attempting to inspirit you."
"Inspirit me? Why?" he demanded.
He took her remark to be an insult, rather than what it really meant. It was quite amusing to her because she had only seen someone so serious in the adults of her immediate family, never in someone who appeared to be her own age.
"You're just a little too serious," replied playfully with a smile that mirrored her tone of voice.
She flew up into the gloomy sky with the smile still plastered on her face. He stretched out his wings to full length again and went after her.
To say he was getting tired of her games was an understatement, he was furious at the thought of her toying with him, a Highbreed, for the fun of it. Though, perhaps she had a point, he was a little too serious for his young age, but then again, what could be expected from the child of a noble?
She eventually stopped in mid-air and he caught up to her again. He idly noted that they were now hovering in the gray clouds. They were very high up in the sky now.
Her facial expression changed from a playful smile to a bright grin like he had never seen. It had such an impact on him that he was certain it would be something that would remember for a long time.
She closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled calmly. Suddenly, her wings started to glow faintly and it intensified as she focused her concentration on her wings. Soon, the soft, faint glow shined as bright as the sun, almost blinding him. The shine illuminated her fair skin like porcelain and her hair glowed as if it were threads of sun itself.
The light did much more than give her skin and hair a glow, it shined over the gray clouds and made the dreary sky bright with exuberance. It was absolutely breathtaking.
She eventually lost her concentration and the glow slowly died out. She opened her beautiful eyes and placed a hand on her now-pounding head. She apparently had no idea just how far up they were because when she looked down, her heart stopped.
She started to panic and was hyperventilating so severely that she was starting to become light-headed. Her wings fluttered uncontrollably which caused her to lose her aerial balance and fall out of the sky.
He watched as this was happening, he could the fear in her eyes when she lost her concentration. She attempted to grab onto one of his long legs as she fell, but failed and he made no attempt to stop her from grabbing onto him nor stop her from falling to her death.
He debated on whether or not to save her from a certain death. On one hand, allowing her fall would make his family proud because it would be, in their words, 'one last vermin in an otherwise grateful universe.' On the other hand, she risked her life when he was struggling to fly earlier, she could have let him fall, but she chose to help him instead.
'She must be scared,' he thought. Of course she was scared, she would have to be insane not to be. He remembered how scared he was when he was falling too.
He could just let her continue her fall and say it was an accident. It wouldn't be considered murder and he was a mere child. How could he be considered a murderer?
Or he could save her out of interest. She was quite intriguing and he did feel like he was finally enjoying his short childhood for the first and possibly only time. Surely saving one life wouldn't ruin his chances of becoming a part of those who would expunge all life in the future, would it?
He made his decision and prayed it wouldn't be something he would regret. He flew down as fast he could after her.
Unfortunately, she was falling faster than he was descending. He remembered how he was able to fly after her earlier and decided to do the same thing, just a little differently.
He retracted his wings slightly and dove down in a position similar to a nosedive. It allowed him to fly down faster and get to her quicker. He retracted them a little more, which allowed him to be parallel to her. He tried to grab her, but the pressure due to the descension wouldn't allow it.
Then, he got an idea, it was risky, but it was better than nothing at all. He retracted his wings completely to allow himself to fall faster than her. Once he passed her, he extended them out as much as he could, then he soared up and grabbed her in his long arms.
She looked up at him with a thankful and slightly surprised look on her face, "You saved me?"
"It was in my own interest to save you," he responded.
"I think I can fly on my own now," she told him.
She pulled away from him and flew back towards the buildings, he followed closely behind. She went back to the open window and climbed back inside. She helped him get back inside and closed the window.
"Agape!/Reinrassig III!" two voices shouted in unison. Two very familiar voices.
They saw their respective families rushing down the hallway. And they looked beyond furious.
"Where have you been, young lady?!" her father questioned harshly and loudly.
"She was obviously infecting my son!" his parent spat.
"No! I was just trying to teach him to be less serious!" she insisted.
"I know you mean well, but you can't change how a person is," her father told her, kneeling down so that he was eye-level with his daughter.
"I- I enjoyed the experience," Reinrassig timidly uttered.
"Reinrassig, come here!" his parent demanded.
He did as he was told and was immediately lifted into their arms. They sent a glare to her father and walked away with their six elder sons walking upfront.
"You are to be thoroughly disinfected the second we return to Augstaka," they stated.
Ambassador Gabriel picked up his daughter and carried her down an adjacent hallway, "Your mother will be displeased to hear of this."
As their parents carried them away, the two watched helplessly as they drifted further apart from each other. They looked over their parent's shoulders and reached a small hand out as they lost sight of one another.
"Woah," Gwen gasped when the story was finished.
"I guess this means I wasn't the first person to get through to you, huh?" Ben remarked.
"You were the first to show me the error of the Highbreed way," he replied.
"If storytime is over," Kevin started, "there's something you need to see."
The three of them looked at the TV to see what he was talking about. The channel it was on was one of the news channels, the "Harangue Nation" was on.
It showed blurry footage of three men surrounding a woman. Small red lights appeared in the footage and the three men suddenly collapse to the ground.
"That's right, America, if one menace in this world wasn't bad enough, it looks like we have two," Harangue said.
Ben immediately looked over at his friend, "Reiny, is that-?"
"Yes," he answered, his voice low and steely sounding yet also relieved and hopeful.
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(A/N: 3,000 words ain't bad. Sure, I could've done a little more, but I'm happy with what I've done.
I hope you guys enjoyed the flashback sequence in this chapter and the switch in writing style. For the flashback part, I really wanted it to give people the feeling that it was from the point of view of a Highbreed. And I think I achieved that effect, but let me know what you guys think.
The next chapter of "Against All Odds" is in the works and should be done within the next week or two. So keep your eyes peeled and stay tuned!)