"Darkness.
No parents."
Batman, The Lego Movie
Occasionally Aeron would emerge from the darkness and float somewhere between conscious and unconscious. During those brief moments in time, all sounds and sensations were clouded - he knew there were people around him but he could not process their words.
But mostly there was just blackness. Darkness consumed his consciousness, toying with him and manipulating his dreams until all he wanted was to be able to scream and show his terror. But he felt frozen in place, encased in something lacking sensation but restricting him nonetheless. He was stuck in place; frozen in time, and he couldn't even realize it. Dreams and visions; some of the creatures with blank eyes; some of his parents; some of Amy and Keala, attacked him mercilessly.
"Aeron, what have you done?!"
His mother towered over him, a grim expression on her red face. She glowered as she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him down the stairs, bumping him into the rail all the way down.
Aeron squirmed in her grip, angry and scared at the same time. "I didn't take it!" he screamed. "It's not my fault!" he protested, fighting her hold with everything he had.
She grabbed him by the shoulders as they reached the landing and shoved him against the wall. "We are talking to your father about this, Aeron, and if you took it, I swear-"
"I didn't!" he sobbed, jerking away from Sophie. "I don't know what happened!"
"We'll see," was her only response as she pushed open a door and pulled him into the room after her.
The office was more of a dumping ground for old artifacts and junk than anything else. Trunks of unused decorations and old clothes created a maze of the floor while unanswered mail occupied every spare square foot.
Sophie clambered awkwardly over the furniture, trying to navigate through the sea of Keefe's old journals and other random artifacts, never once letting go of her son. She squeaked as she stepped on the pointy tail of a dusty figurine. "Shuck it!" she yelled, hopping around on one foot.
"Soph?" The disembodied voice came from behind the huge desk in the corner of the room - almost invisible itself due to the stuff piled on and around it. "Why are you in here?"
"Looking for you. Get out here."
His dad's face popped up from behind the desk, looking annoyed as usual. His eyebrows leapt in surprise when he spotted Aeron standing next to his wife. "What's going on?" He climbed out from his hiding spot and came to stand in front of them.
Sophie shook Aeron's hand in the air as she said passionately, "My wallet. It's gone."
"What do you mean, it's gone?"
"I mean that it was in our room two hours ago and now it's not. Aeron was the only one in there."
"Aeron, what did you do?" His dad knelt and looked him in the face, grabbing him by the shoulders. Aeron avoided his searching gaze. "Kid, this is serious. Tell us what you did and I'll lighten the punishment."
"I swear I didn't do a thing!" Aeron said desperately. "I'm your freaking son - believe me for once in your lives!"
Sophie and Keefe's faces hardened immediately. "Do not talk to us that way," Keefe warned. "Tell us what you did right now or I swear-"
"I just told you!" Aeron was close to tears. "Please - I don't know what happened! I just put your stuff in your room like you said; I didn't even touch Mom's wallet! I don't know where it is!" "
"Son, there are severe consequences in this house for lying. This is your last chance-"
"You don't want me to lie? Fine, here's the truth: I hate you," Aeron burst out.
Both parents stared at him for a second. Then, the explosion.
"Then you can just-" Sophie choked on her passionate words, shaking silently. She simply shook her head, unable to speak.
Keefe marched his son out of the room and down the hall, clutching his shoulder so hard it would surely leave a bruise. He opened the door to the bathroom and shoved Aeron in.
"You'll stay in here until I decide you should come out. In the meantime, think about your actions."
He grabbed the light switch in his hand and broke it off before slamming the door and locking it.
Aeron sat up slowly, shrouded in absolute darkness.
He covered his face with his hands and let the tears come.
Tears leaked out of Aeron's unopened eyes, wetting his face and staining the snow-white pillowcase.
The soft bed beneath him soothed his tired body, cushioning the aches and pains that plagued him, but it did nothing for his mental state, which was a shambles.
Bits and pieces of memory surfaced - the sound of a city clock; the searing heat of fire; vivid blue eyes - but he couldn't piece any of them together.
Had the fire been intended to harm or help him?
Was the owner of the blue eyes his friend or his enemy?
How did he get here?
He opened his eyes.
He was lying on a huge four-poster bed in the strangest bedroom he'd ever seen.
The vaulted ceiling was crisscrossed with heavy wooden beams, engraved with strange symbols and runes that Aeron couldn't decipher. The ceiling curved inward and up, tapering to one sharp point, and the diamond patterned windows were shuttered from the outside, casting the room inside into shadowed darkness. Dark ivy and green leaves crawled up the four wood posts of his bed and created a canopy over him, blocking any remaining light from his eyes.
Creepy.
Aeron's gaze was drawn to the door for a second. It was made of the same dark wood as the ceiling beams and his bed, and the same strange runes were scrawled over it like ancient graffiti. But that wasn't what had attracted his gaze. It was the strip of light shining into his face from the previously closed door. It was standing ajar now; three seconds ago it had been closed. Whispers from the hall drifted in through the crack and reached his ears; strangely accented and eerie in the stillness.
Something was going on, and Aeron wanted to get away from it as fast as possible.
He untangled himself from the blankets and slipped out of the bed, wincing when the floor groaned under his weight. He needed to get out of here quick, before anyone came for him, and these floorboards were not helping. "Shut up," he hissed because, let's admit it, his brain wasn't exactly functioning correctly at that moment.
He made it to the window before the whispers stopped.
Aeron backed behind the door, mentally calculating his next movements as footsteps came closer, closer, and closer… finally the door began to swing open slowly…
And he acted.
"Wait, what-"
Aeron swung his right leg in an arc as he turned, using his momentum to bring the stranger crashing to the ground. The next minute he was on top of the struggling body and pressing his forearm hard against what he guessed was their throat (they were tangled in some sort of thick blanket so he couldn't tell).
"Make another sound and I will knock the living daylights out of you," he hissed. "Who are you and why have you brought me here?"
The creature wheezed and thrashed around a bit in the thick cloth.
Keeping a tight hold on the creature's throat, Aeron peeled the blanket away from their face.
And sat back in shock.
His so-called kidnapper was… a teenage boy. With strangely warm blue eyes (currently full of fear) and dark brown hair brushing across his forehead, he looked to be about 15 or 16 years old. Same as him.
Aeron rolled off of him and stumbled away as the boy sat up slowly, coughing and clutching his throat. "What… the heck… was that for?" he choked when he could form the words.
"... I… don't… Can you please tell me where I am?" Aeron whispered, rubbing his temples.
Nothing made sense. His fractured memory threw bits and pieces of shattered information at his mind, shredding itself further. Where was he, how did he get here, was this a dream, who was the old man-who-was-actually-a-woman, where was Keala, could these people find her? Who was the boy in front of him? He groaned and sank to his knees on the carpet.
The teenager had managed by this time to unwind himself from the blanket and adjust it on his shoulders (wait - was that a cape?) and was now staring at Aeron with a strange expression of disbelief, wariness and excitement.
"Either I've been captured by Dr. Strange Jr. or this is a dream and I need counseling," Aeron muttered, covering his face.
"...Aeron?"
The sound of his name from a stranger's mouth brought him out of his stupor. He looked up. The boy was standing over him, offering his hand - apparently unfazed by the fact that Aeron had body-slammed him a second ago.
After brief hesitation, Aeron accepted it and was surprised with his strength when the boy effortlessly brought him to his feet. "How do you know my name?"
The boy laughed. "We've heard stories about your family ever since we were born."
"My… what? Who's we?"
"My sister and I. Our parents used to be best friends. Wait - you've never heard of us?"
"My… parents? You mean Nathanial and Emily Jones, right? Grey hair, brown eyes, kindof old-"
"No - I mean Keefe and Sophie Foster. They are your parents, right?"
The words brought tears to Aeron's eyes. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders. "How do you know those names?"
The boy looked him straight in the eye and repeated his third question slowly and carefully. "Aeron. You've never heard of us?"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Mccoy Dizznee."
Mccoy had to help Aeron walk downstairs - he was weak with exhaustion already, and whatever brief energy brought on by the panic of being "kidnapped" had passed quickly. He made up for his physical weakness, though, by asking a new question every two seconds - "How did you know my parents" - etc.
Mccoy answered every question with "Wait and ask Marella," which Aeron thought was a very obvious way to avoid them.
"Who's Marella?" he finally asked, panting slightly as he descended the huge spiral staircase that wound through the center of what was turning out to be an impressively gigantic manor.
"She's the head of the Black Swan. -That is, the co-head of the Black Swan - she's been Mr. Forkle's apprentice for the last… I think ten years? Anyway, Mr. Forkle has been obsessed with finding your parents - you know, them and the spies that were lost on the same mission-"
Mccoy stopped when he realized what he was saying; Aeron had already heard too much.
Aeron ripped his arm out of Mccoy's grasp and ran.
He didn't know where he was going and he didn't care. He just had to get away - away from this kid, away from the awful things he was saying. His parents - captured - spies - ten years ago, when he was abandoned...
His brain wouldn't turn off.
He ran and ran - out a door into carefully tended grounds; through flowers and around animal pens; past little green creatures that seemed to be tending them; farther and farther until the manor was just a little brown dot on the horizon. Then he collapsed behind an outbuilding and stared at his hands.
Slowly, the sun set and the world grew dark; shadows lengthened and he had all the time in the world to plan how he would run away and yet all he could do was stare, stare until finally he felt something; finally the tears came and he could fling himself into the grass and scream until he grew numb again. More staring. The stars came out. His heart was breaking, and he wasn't even sure why.
Maybe because his entire world was a lie? Maybe because his parents had chosen some mission over him?
Or was it because now he knew that they hadn't abandoned him? They hadn't stayed away on purpose?
Maybe they'd loved him after all?
He cried until the full moon turned his tears into stars and he could stay awake no longer.
When later asked, Aeron always said he didn't remember being brought inside after that one awful night. But there was one little sensation, a private wisp of emotion that connected itself to the memory of the day and wouldn't seem to leave. Aeron never did know if it was a dream or a piece of memory. But it impacted him just the same.
Strong arms lifted him; he was cradled like a child. Gentle words spoken in a deeper voice made their way to his ears, followed by a whisper in a sweet, clear one. Gentle fingers brushed strands of hair away from his forehead and, so light that Aeron was never sure that it wasn't just a brush of a moth's wing, a soft kiss lighted on his cheek.
And when he awoke the next morning, he still felt the peace that simple touch had brought.
Note: I am SO SORRY for how long it took me to get this chapter up here! I had work for almost an entire week; camp for a week; and totally forgot about this XD
iliveinalibrary: That means a lot :) I try super hard to have good cliffhangers XD I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Maybe not for my readers... XD I'm so glad you'll keep reading! It means more than anything else to have people who don't just say that they'll stick with you but actually stick with you, and you've been one of those people. Thank you! Also please tell me if there's anything I can do better! I actually mean that, I'm not just saying that in a manner of principle:)
BookShipper13: Yes you are correct! The girl with red hair is in fact Marella (because SM totally got her hair color wrong XD). I can't tell you who the guy with blue eyes actually is yet... but you are correct in assuming he is bad :) And no - he is not from the Neverseen, the Black Swan or the Council. And I can't say any more:) Thank you for commenting and reading so faithfully! It means more than anything to have readers who keep reading and you have been so amazing :)) Thank you for sincerely brightening my day
Counselor Victoria: THANK YOU SO MUCH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
One of the very most important things to me in my writing is communicating emotion - sad or happy, and so the fact that you felt it means more to me than you will ever know! And you commented THREE TIMES AT ONCE which is in itself a feat :) Writers are lucky to have you reading their things because you are singularly so encouraging :) I'm so glad you like it!
- Rilliam Josephine Cadigan