Chapter Twenty-Five: The First Risen

Day 65:

"Don't call me Zay." Zayden snaps, his anger seeming to come out of thin air. He and Bliss were laying in bed together in the rented space ODMA used. They had just had sex and were both naked, only half covered by a thin white sheet.

Bliss had been working her tongue against Zayden's neck and playing with his hair in one hand at the same time. Apparently, the spontaneous nickname she decided to give him was a mistake. Upon hearing him snap, she immediately stops and pulls her lips away, laying her head on his chest. Her hand withdraws from his hair. "Sorry…" She mumbles, trying not to seem wounded by the slight aggression she was practically used to now.

But today, Zayden happened to be in a forgiving mood. Instead of ignoring her, like he might have done before, he pushes out a sigh. "My bitch of a mother used to call me Zay…"

Instantly, Bliss' gaze softens and she turns her head to look up at him. "You really hated her, didn't you?" Only on a handful of occasions had Bliss heard anything about his past, but one of the few things she knew was that his mother and father were both human. But he hated his mother with a passion that was stronger than any negativity she had ever witnessed before.

"More than anything." He replies through a clenched jaw, tucking his arm around her shoulders.

"You never told me about her…" Bliss whispers, hoping not to spark his anger by inquiring. She disconnects her eyes from his and lays her head back against his bare chest. "I know she was human, but… what did she do to you?"

Zayden scoffs and a grim smile appears on his face. If this were any other day, he would have told her to drop it, but for some reason, he was in a good enough mood to continue the conversation by saying, "Did you know, the story of why I hate my mom and how I discovered I had powers are the same story?"

"Really?" Bliss' eyes widen, beyond intrigued. She tries not to show it though, still worried that she'll scare him off the topic. Therefore, she doesn't sit up and keeps as still as she can manage.

"Yeah." He laughs a bitter, rotten laugh before going on. Apparently, today Bliss was in for a rare treat for a story. "I used to love my mother. She was my hero. Every birthday, holiday, mother's day, I would go all out to surprise her and gift her the best, most thoughtful thing. I was the golden. Fucking. Boy." He emphasizes, his words full of venom. "Why? Because my dad wasn't around. Someone had to be the man of the house. So me, little fucking me. I was. Until I turned twelve…"

He stops, and for a moment, there is silence. Bliss sits, completely unsure of whether to participate and ask questions or wait for him to go on his own time. Eventually, after enough seconds pass, she builds up the courage to ask, "What happened when you were twelve?"

For a second, he runs his hands through his hair, manically and on repeat, as if it were a nervous tick. He abruptly stops, becoming aware of it. When he opens his mouth, he speaks slowly. "Breast cancer. We found out so late." He pauses, contemplating what to say next. "I was devastated. I knew I was going to lose her. We had months left together. As her death approached, I could feel myself falling apart. Physically and mentally, something was happening to me." His eyes stare up at the ceiling. A blank, emotionless stare, as if he were watching the memory on a screen. "And then, it came...

*****THE FIRST RISEN*****

*****Thirteen years ago*****

["The day of her funeral."]

For the past week now, Zayden had been living with his grandparents.

They had all arrived in a car, driven by a man Zayden didn't know. It felt to him like they were being treated like royalty. People escorting them around, opening doors. It felt wrong. Dirty. He was trying to mourn while all these people who barely knew his mother were bowing their heads and whispering condolences. Can't anyone be sincere for one goddamn second? Can't anyone have a real thought or care about how he is feeling?

["We were seated in the front row. And yeah, the funeral was nice. It was a real fucking show. Yes, "Elvira was the best", "Elvira was the kindest", "Elvira helped us all", blah, blah. And as I listened to those bullshit speeches, I hated them. I hated everyone in the room. I was so fucking angry. I just wanted my mom back.]

Zayden pulls at his black tie. It was almost as black as his hair, which was fitting for the depressing occasion. It was one of the few times he had ever put one on and he wasn't sure if he had even done it correctly. He didn't care though. It was too big for him anyway, he felt ridiculous.

Finally the fucking speeches were over. But this was it. It was time to say goodbye - for good this time. His mother's casket sat open at the front of the grand church. Everyone in the immediate family was to line up and say their farewells, before the men carried her off to be buried.

The only people in front of Zayden were his grandparents.

As they stand to get in line, Zayden suddenly finds his legs are shaking. His vision was beginning to blur but he fought his emotions with everything he could, like a knight, fighting off a dragon.

Elvira's mother kisses her own hand, then gently hovers it above the corpse's forehead, getting as close to touching it as possible. When she moves on, she has tears in her eyes. With the tissue she had been clutching all service, she dabs her eyes and waits for her husband. Zayden's grandfather takes longer, closing his eyes and saying a silent prayer over her dead body. When he's finished, a single tear drops from his eye as he places a bunch of roses on her chest. He walks off to the side somberly. He places his hand in his wife's as he waits for Zayden to say his goodbye.

Unable to manage to stop the trembling, Zayden stumbles up to his mother's casket. Seeing her there, cold and lifeless, broke something inside him. A floodgate of emotion burst open and the young boy erupted into tears. He couldn't contain it any longer.

Instinctively, he reaches into the casket and grabs his mother's hand. I need you. Come back to me. He cries in his head, only wailing out loud.

The entire church breaks out into hushed whispers and muffled "aww"'s. Their eyes burn into him, but no one intervenes.

And yet, despite not being provoked, Zayden hated these people. He wanted them gone. All of them. He wanted to grieve on his own. He wanted his mother to come back to him. For him. And only him. None of these people mattered. He wanted to see his fucking mother again!

Zayden's clutch on his mother's cold hand gets tighter and his eyes screw shut. Something was happening to him. Suddenly he felt his nerves tingling and he could feel the energy in the room. Like sensing everyone's life force around him. It felt like a dream, as he could detect a massive energy field behind him which made the void of energy in front of him so much more apparent. That gap, that lack of energy emanating from his mother… that's what his heart felt like.

Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was bound to happen all along. Maybe this could have never been avoided. But everything in Zayden's mind and body were telling him to pull. With what felt like the force of the universe behind him, Zayden pulled in the energy from around him and consolidated it into his hand. Like the flip of a switch, the void was now all around him, but there was one thing left in the room alive.

In a split second, every single breathing person in the room, besides Zayden, collapsed. A thunderous bashing and clanging sound rang out through the church as every body dropped where they sat or stood. Heads and limbs hit the floor and benches with a crack. They were all dead.

In front of him, Zayden's hand trembled fiercely as he let go of his mother's hand.

Her skin was still pale. Her body was still cold. But gradually, her eyes opened, and she sat up as if she were waking up from a dream.

Zayden stumbles backwards and almost loses his balance but manages to catch himself. He stares at his mother. She's alive.

In his peripheral vision, he could see the dead bodies strewn about the church benches… but he didn't care. His mother was alive. Without even really recognizing what he had done or what this meant about him, he begins to smile, the tears still pouring down his face.

["But my mother… she just… she just fucking sat there. Just, absolutely fucking... fucking mortified. What I didn't realize at the time, was my hair was turning white, as this was happening. Yeah, my hair used to be all black. So just huge chunks of my hair, changing color and my mom is in a casket surrounded by all of her dead loved ones." Zayden laughs that bitter laugh again, but this time, it sounds a little more genuine. He runs his hands through his hair again and yanks at a white stand, as if to demonstrate. "Then… she does something I will never forget…"]

Elvira looks around, horrified, before her eyes finally set on her son. She screams, a sharp, razor-like scream. Her eyes connect with his, "What have you done?!"

[Zayden pauses and sits up, nudging Bliss off of him for a second. He reaches for his water bottle on the nightstand and takes a gulp casually. He lays back down and encourages Bliss to return her head to his chest by putting his arm around her. He continues, "My mother knew what happened. We both now knew I was a mutant. We had a lot of hassle with the police, but it was eventually dubbed as an unexplainable accident. My mother didn't rat me out to the cops. But she stopped loving me after that moment. She became abusive. Calling me mutie and all that bulllshit… Anyway, a week later,]

*****A week later*****

["I was experimenting with my powers on animals. I could kill and resurrect things from as small as worms to birds. I guess squirrels is where my mother drew the line though."]

It had been a hell of a week, so coming out to a lawn full of dead squirrels seemed to push Elvira over the edge.

Zayden was sitting in the middle of the grass, holding the one 'lucky' squirrel he decided to kill and resurrect. There were three other squirrels nearby that had all dropped from trees onto the lawn upon death.

Elvira still looked like death. She felt like it too. Coming back to life didn't solve her cancer. Everyone she loved was dead. All because her son was some freak. A freak who couldn't accept that death is inevitable. That little monster deserved to be the one to die. But it was too late for that now. Either way, she wasn't going to live like this. Not with him. Not with this demon.

With a burst of more energy than she had in months, Elvira runs over to Zayden and grabs him by the arm. "I've had enough of this Zay!" She yells, using all the strength she could muster to drag him.

Caught off guard, Zayden stumbles to catch his footing, dropping the squirrel before they reach the house. As they enter, he clumsily follows behind her. "I was just practicing!" He whimpers in defense, though he doesn't try to stop her from whatever she was planning.

"I hate you, you fucking mutie! I wish you were never born!" Taking him to the basement, she aggressively shoves him down the stairs. The instant she does, she closes the basement door and jams a chair tightly under the door handle.

He tumbles halfway down the steps before managing to catch himself on the banister. After all the abuse he had suffered this week, this seemed to hurt him the most. He whimpers as he crawls on all fours back up the steps. "You don't mean that…" He whispers, to himself, wishing he had the courage to yell it to her. When he tries the door he's startled to find it won't open. "Mom?!"

He couldn't hear much, but she had stomped away somewhere.

Trying the door again, Zayden slams his shoulder against the door but it doesn't budge. "Mom?! Please open the door!" He screams, feeling like a panic attack was arising.

The sound of doors opening and closing can be heard before she returns and stands directly in front of the basement door. She was carrying two things in her hand. "Listen. To me. You little fuck." She snarls, and the sound of sloshing liquid can be heard echoing in a barrel.

"Mom… what's going on?" The panic arises more and more inside Zayden. This time, he gets a small running start before he charges into the door. The chair on the other side inches slightly, but not enough.

Elvira holds the chair with her foot as she takes the nozzle off the bright red gasoline can. She closes her eyes as she dumps the entire can over her head, the liquid soaking into her hair, her clothes and splashing down on the kitchen floor. As she shakes the last few droplets out, she growls, "There's no way you can bring me back from this one. Not this time. I will burn on this Earth, but you Zayden Ezra Price will burn in hell." Her foot slips off the chair, as she takes a deep breath inhaling the smell of the gasoline covering her. Taking the lighter in her right hand, her last words are, "You and your mutant kind."

"Mom?!" Zayden screams, charging at the door again and again. Each time, he was getting the chair to move a little more.

The instant the lighter sparks, Elvira ignites in flames. Her screams are a horrifying pitch that seems more alien than human. They are long and screeching, amplifying the agony it is to be burned alive.

["By the time I opened the door, she was a crisp. It was like seeing… barbequed meat. Except it was my mother." That contempt smirk returns to Zayden's face as he goes on. "When the paramedics arrived, I tried to resurrect her again. That's when I learned, people can't be resurrected twice. Not that it would be worth killing paramedics for that bitch.]

*****THE FIRST RISEN*****

*****Present Day*****

"It was from then on, I learned… humans… they'll never understand us." Zayden proceeds, drawing Bliss closer. "I loved my mother to the end. But to her I was nothing but a freak."

His story sent chills down Bliss' spine. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about hearing this. After she became one of the Risen and found out that Zayden's power was resurrection, she practically worshipped him. That was all before she knew what it cost to resurrect someone was more lives. When she found that out, it felt like her world was melting. Especially after learning that her parents were used as sacrifices to bring her and her sister back in the first place. She too, believed Zayden to be a monster after that. The same sentiment that drove his mother to kill herself by fire.

But now, she had a change of heart? Zayden managed to convince her they were on the right side. Whether it was with words or with sex, she wouldn't admit to herself one way or another.

"That's horrible…" Is all she can manage to say, blinking hard as she thinks. The story was unsettling to her and practically made her stomach churn. She couldn't pin down what exactly it was that was perturbing to her. Or maybe she didn't want to admit it. Either way, instead of saying any more, she draws her naked body closer to him and wraps her leg over his. Simultaneously, she nuzzles her head deeper into the crook of his neck, figuring that physical contact would surely make her feel better.

"You're fucking right it is." Zayden scoffs, as if to spit on his mother's grave. There's a long pause in conversation as he embraces her body and pulls her in, allowing his attention to be diverted for a moment. Out of seemingly nowhere, he ends up saying, "And people wonder why I'm so fucked up." He laughs with disdain.

Bliss lets out a breath she had been unaware of holding as she begins to say, "I… I don't think you're -"

Before she can get her sentence out, he abruptly sits up and rolls her over. With his hands, he pins her arms down and leans in close to growl at her. "This is me, Bliss. The real fucking me." His voice in her ear sends a chill down her spine and a pulse to her vagina. "Take it or leave it." His tone was undeniably angry mixed with possessivity. "So either you're with me...:" He leans in closer to snarl this, "or against me."

Bliss whimpers and her eyes widen. Her voice trembles but she musters all the confidence she has to say, "I'm with you Master Zayden… I love you."

*****THE FIRST RISEN*****

"Sleep tight, Axe." Kilgrave gently pats Axel's arm before standing up to leave. He catches him smiling slightly before he closes the door.

This was the second time this week that Kilgrave was allowed to put Axel to bed on his own. Axel was, of course, emotionally unfazed by the change of routine. Having either Jessica or Kilgrave with him before bed didn't matter, as long as it was one of them.

Jessica would still say goodnight to her son before Kilgrave physically put him to bed because she couldn't fully commit to unattaching herself from him. Either way, Kilgrave was happy with the compromise.

After leaving Axel's room, he gets a fresh bag of ice for Jessica's ribs. She was healing considerably for the extent of her wound, but she still appreciated the relief from the ice. Still, at the rate she heals, she would be back in complete working condition in a week or so.

When he goes to the bedroom, undresses and gets in bed with Jessica, he says to her, "I'm starting to really like that kid."

As she adjusts the bag over her ribs, she rolls her eyes, but a smile creeps into her lips. "He likes you too much."

"Can anyone truly like me too much, Jessica?" He grins, peeking over at her in the dark.

Instead of justifying that with a response, she lets out an exaggerated sigh and says nothing, closing her eyes.

Kilgrave chuckles quietly. A moment passes before, he says something else, knowing she hadn't fallen asleep next. "Let me ask you something…"

"Could I stop you?" Jessica asks rhetorically, knowing she couldn't.

"No." He answers anyway, still grinning, then asks, "Will you let me take Axel shopping?"

Her eyes slowly open and her gaze shifts to him.

"Just me and him…" Kilgrave goes on, the hope in his voice mirroring the look in his eyes.

As if seriously contemplating this request, Jessica slowly responds with one single word. "Why?"

Seeing that now was his opportunity to make his case, he begins. "Because I want to bond with him… and I want to see if you trust me." He answers honestly. "You've trusted me plenty of times to go out and run errands on my own now. And now you've let me out of your sight with him… this feels like the next step and I'm ready…"

The wheels in Jessica's head begin turning. She thinks out a very precise and measurable system to judge his behaviors and actions thus far and calculate how much she could trust him in the future. Very gradually, she makes up her mind. She wouldn't be rushed with this. But she had determined that she could kill two birds with one stone in this situation. "You can take him to get a new winter coat." Immediately after she says this, she can feel the excitement radiating off him. She slices through that palpable emotion with a stern. "Don't fuck it up."

Still, he can't help but smile in her direction. "I won't disappoint you."

Author's note:

Ohhhh, so that's why Zayden is fucked up 0_0 uhhh huh…

I'm genuinely excited to share more about these characters with you! As always, thanks for reading.