Without further ado, here's chapter 15.
Trying to get Ava to sleep was proven to be a bit of a challenging task. Rosie couldn't blame her since the room they were in was so dark and quiet. For a four year old, a room this vacant could make their imaginations go wild.
"Do you want me to tell you a story?" Rosie asked the little girl. She slowly tilt her head and whispered, "What story?"
Rosie smiled and held Ava close in her arms, "It can be anything you want me to tell you."
Ava shrugged slightly and snuggled closer to Rosie. Rosie took a minute to think about what story to tell her. Then Rosie smiled and pulled a blanket over them, "I'll tell you the story about a boy who save the world."
"There are heroes out there?" Ava whispered and felt Rosie stroked her hair tenderly.
They were in her bed and Rosie tried to make Ava feel comfortable for bed time. Rosie looked at Ava and smiled, "Okay, this is the story how a boy with no memories of his past, saved the world."
Rosie woke up to someone shaking her shoulder and she opened her eyes. Lucas grinned and crossed his arms, "Morning sleep beauty. Time to get up."
Not wanting to cause trouble, Rosie sat up with Ava curling up next to her.
"So what's her usual schedule?" Rosie asked Lucas when she got up from the bed. The only response Rosie got from Lucas was a shrug. "That's really helpful." Rosie rolled her eyes while she scratched her neck.
Lucas stood up straight and admitted, "Zane said you could use the kitchen to make Ava some breakfast. I will escort you so you wouldn't try to do anything to hasty."
Rosie started to wake Ava up by patting her back and whispered, "Ava? Come on sweetie, wake up."
Ava stirred in her sleep as she slowly rubbed her eyes tiredly.
Once Rosie held her arms out for her, Ava immediately jumped in her arms and didn't let go of her. Lucas was impressed with how quick Ava was to warm up to Rosie. However, it didn't surprise him since Ava yearns for a kindhearted soul to hold her and make her feel safe.
There were times that Lucas keeps forgetting that Ava is still a child and didn't know anything besides pain, suffering and fear.
"What are we waiting for? Take me to the kitchen." Rosie told Lucas.
He places his hand on Rosie's back and guide her out of the room. Ava lay her head against Rosie's shoulder and didn't say a word. While they were walking down the vacant halls, Rosie glanced at Lucas, "If I'm allowed to ask, how did Ava end up in the care of that jerk?"
"I won't tell you anything unless we're out of the view of the cameras." Lucas whispered in her ear.
'Just how many surveillance cameras are in this facility?' Rosie thought and adjust Ava in her arms.
Eventually, they made it to another room where the kitchen was located at. No one was there, something that Rosie was somewhat grateful for. She placed Ava on a chair and pat her head, "Stay here. I'll go make you something."
Ava whispered, "Okay."
Lucas casually pulled out a Rubik's cube from his pocket and tossed it at Ava, "You get five minutes to play with this."
Without hesitating, Ava began to work on solve the cube with her tiny hands. Once Ava was fully distracted by the cube, Lucas approached Rosie as he leaned against the wall. Without looking at Lucas, Rosie was holding a bowl of eggs while she began to whisk it.
"What do you know about Avalon?" Lucas asked and kept a stern face.
Rosie continued to whisk the eggs and slowly admitted, "The only things I know about Ava is that she's the daughter of Van Kleiss and how old she is. There wasn't much information I could find about her or either you and Zane."
Lucas seem to be in deep thought and seem like he wanted to say something.
"Look...this the only advice I'll give you. So listen up." Lucas muttered and glanced at Ava. She was still trying to solve the Rubik's cube and concentrating only on it. Rosie turned on the stove and grabbed a pan, "I'm listening."
Luca narrowed his eyes at her and then slowly sigh. He warned, "You need to be careful around Zane. He may seem like he might be calm and knows what he might be doing...he's a little...insane."
"Is that the nice way of saying it?" Rosie asked and focused on cooking. Lucas shook his head and mumbled, "I've known Zane for years. We grew up together and I'm the only one that knows so much about him. There's a lot that I can say but there's not much time before someone will walk in."
Almost on cue, Zane stormed in the kitchen and it made Ava visibly flinch in fear.
"What's this? Are you making breakfast for me?" Zane grinned and Rosie simply gave him a glared.
Ava hurried to Rosie and hid behind her as she stared at Zane nervously.
"This is for Ava. I will take great care of her." Rosie muttered and Lucas had to step in between them. He said, "Zane, remember the plan. Go get some paper work done."
Zane glared at him and muttered under his breathe before he left.
Rosie felt relief and looked at Lucas before she quietly whispered, "Thank you."
"I'm doing this for the plan to be in action." Lucas said and crossed his arms.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Rosie asked Ava as they were back in Ava's room.
Ava stared at the three fingers that Rosie held up, she faintly said, "Tree?"
"...Well, yes and no. I know you meant to say three." Rosie smiled.
That confused Ava and she asked, "They're not the same?"
Wanting Ava to understand, Rosie grabbed the notebook that Lucas gave her and wrote down the words, three and tree.
"As you can see, this word three, is the word of the number three. But this word is tree, something you see outside." Rosie explained and Ava looked more confused.
"What's a tree?" Ava asked.
Rosie smiled and turned the page in the notebook. Then she started to draw a tree. From there, Rosie started to explain what the tree is. The rest of the time was spent teaching Ava about colors, numbers and shapes.
"What color is this?" Rosie asked holding up a small flashcard of the color green.
Ava stared at the color and then looked at Rosie's eyes before she whispered, "Green."
Rosie praised the little girl and set the card down. She heard Ava tell her, "Your eyes are green."
"That's correct. I got them from my mother. My dad's eyes are brown." Rosie smiled and gently poked Ava's nose. Ava smiled slightly and she rubbed her nose. She whispered, "What color are my eyes?"
"Let me have a look." Rosie said and looked at Ava's eyes to figure out the eye color.
Deep in Ava's eyes, there was mainly a hue of light brown but around the other edge of her iris was a shade of green. Rosie smiled and pat Ava's head gently, "Your eyes look hazel to me. They look beautiful."
Ava's smiled slowly increase even more but quickly had a blank look when Lucas walked in. He stopped and survey the room, it was a little messy with the flashcards, markers, crayons and scissors scattered on the ground.
"Avalon, clean up this mess. You know how Zane gets with the mess." Lucas ordered and went to help with the clean up. Ava obeyed and whispered, "Yes mister Lucas."
Rosie raised an eyebrow but gather up her flashcards to help with the cleaning. They finished cleaning up the mess and Rosie picked Ava up as she carried her to bed, "Time for your nap."
Lucas glanced at his watch and then stopped when he heard Rosie quietly sing.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." Rosie delicately sing as she pulled the blanket over the now sleeping child. She kissed her forehead and moved some hair behind Ava's cheek.
Lucas kept his stare at Rosie, she was kind and gentle with Ava even if she was in a dangerous situation. There was a hint of loneliness in her eyes, it was hidden away by the happy barrier. "It's not easy being an only child, is it?" Lucas guessed.
Rosie simply said, "That's classified information."
Trying not to chuckle, Lucas approached Rosie and grabbed her arm, "Zane wants to see you for some interrogation. Do you know anything from Providence's secret files?"
"No. My parents made sure not to tell me anything that might get me in trouble later on. I don't know anything." Rosie truthfully answered and Lucas frowned with concerned. He had a feeling that Rosie was clueless but Zane firmly believes she has valuable information that he needs from Providence.
Lucas sigh, "I was afraid you would say that."
Rosie became wary since she had a feeling that something bad would happen to her. She allowed Lucas to drag her to a laboratory that had different contraptions. That wasn't a good sign for Rosie and said, "I thought he didn't want to harm me until he reaches the final part of the plan?"
"He won't but I need to talk to him while you're here." Lucas sigh and strapped Rosie on a chair. Her wrists and ankles were strapped tightly. Rosie grunted in discomfort and Lucas exit the lab. Rosie glanced down at her necklace and whispered, "Its taking so long...is everyone running into some trouble?"
"What's the point in interrogating her? She knows nothing. There's no point in bringing Hades." Lucas warned Zane as they were outside of the base and walking around. Zane approached an arch that was covered with bougainvilleas. He placed his hand out as one of the petals fell on.
Zane caught it effortlessly and remarked, "You've been getting more vocal lately. Has that girl made you a bit soft?"
Lucas looked surprised and sigh, "Dude, you know that's not true. I just feel like your plan won't work that well. You're already have a death wish by taking the daughter of Agent Six and Doctor Holiday. If Ava doesn't bring Van Kleiss out of his coma with the help of Rosie, you'll snap and kill them both."
"Why does it matter if I kill them off? It never bothered you before when I did those experiments on Ava when she was a baby to now." Zane chuckled and walked past him. Until Lucas grabbed his shoulder and glared, "It did bother me. But I had to keep my mouth shut. Look, just take a breather and go relax in your room. Trust me."
Zane glared coldly at Lucas and pushed his hand away. He took a moment to himself but muttered, "Fine. Handle with my upcoming meetings for me for today. I'm going for a drink."
Lucas sigh and rubbed his temples when Zane stormed back inside the base. It annoys him that Zane is ticking time bomb waiting to happen. Van Kleiss was to blame for that, Lucas wonders if bringing him out of the coma would good for Zane. "Man Zane, you're giving me a headache for this."
Everything seems like a blur...the moment he heard yelling from the living room, Zane stayed where he was. The voices were familiar to Zane as one of them belonged to Van Kleiss while the other belonged to-
"Mom?" Zane quietly said and hurried inside the living room. He stopped and saw his mother laying on the floor, completely lifeless.
"Pity we couldn't have worked something out. Not to worry son, I'll have this trash removed." Van Kleiss said as he approached a baby girl that was crying in her playpen. Zane stared his mother's corpse in agony, he twitched his head into the direction of where Van Kleiss was. His hands started to charge up with electricity, Zane dashed over to Van Kleiss as he reached for the back of his head.
ZAP!
The baby's cries echoed around the house while Zane trembled slowly. He stared at the unconscious figure near his feet, he wasn't sure if calling him a monster was the right term for Zane.
"Shut up..." Zane harshly hissed while the baby continued to cry.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Zane hissed and send some lighting to the playpen when he finally snapped out of it.
The sound of glass shattering was the first thing that Zane heard when he woke up. He panted heavily and stared at the now broken bottle of whiskey on the ground. The room seems to be tilting and moving around, Zane clenched his head and groaned loudly.
"I hate you." Zane murmur and grabbed another bottle of whisky.
The burning taste in his throat helped numb Zane in times like this. He reached for a tablet and groggily pressed a few buttons on the screen. The tablet showed Ava's room who Zane placed a camera in.
He watched Rosie from the tablet screen and tried to focus. Rosie was keeping an eye on Ava while she slept peacefully in her bed. Zane rolled his eyes when Rosie was admiring Ava and would move her hair from her face.
"I hate you, you parasite." Zane coldly said and set the tablet down. He tried to get some sleep and slowly closed his eyes.
When I was typing it up on the 13th, something happened. My sister found out that Snowball, our little hamster passed away in his sleep...We were all upset about it. I remember we got him a year ago for Christmas, my sister took it rough the most. May you rest in peace Snowball. It was hard but I know he lived a happy life with us.
Luckily typing up the story did help me cope with the sudden lost.
Thank you for the review for the last chapter YellowAngela. I agree, that wasn't smart of Rosie to get taken, but she wasn't going to leave Ava again. Even though it would be hard to kill Six and Rex, that doesn't stop Rosie from worrying hehe :)
I might post chapter 16 somewhere next Friday, so I'll be working on it tomorrow to get a head start. Until next time, bye everyone! Stay safe out there :)