"Had to lose my way
To know which road to take…
All I looked for was
Washed away by a wave…
I know it's gotta go like this, I know
Hell will always come before you grow."
Roots, Imagine Dragons
Aeron woke to the soft touch of a hand on his forehead, stroking the sweaty strands of hair away from his closed eyes.
"Mom?" He mumbled.
"No, Aeron."
He opened his eyes.
Next to him stood a woman with long dark curls and beautiful blue eyes - almost turquoise. No - they were teal. A clear, light teal. They were the singular most breathtaking pair of eyes Aeron had ever had the pleasure of seeing. And they were vaguely familiar.
One of her hands gently stroked his face while the other rested on her big belly. She was at least seven months pregnant.
She smiled at him. "Good morning," she said, withdrawing her hand.
Aeron almost wished she hadn't. The one motherly touch had ignited a fresh desire for his own mother and her love.
But maybe he shouldn't want her. Not if the dreams he'd been having were actually memories. Maybe he was lucky to have escaped from his mom.
He couldn't stop wanting her, nonetheless.
He was drawn from his thoughts as the woman slowly lowered herself into a chair next to him, still smiling.
She looked at him for a long minute, and it seemed to Aeron that her eyes were welling with tears even as her smile grew more broad.
The silence was long.
Finally Aeron piped up.
"... Ma'am? I'm sorry - what's your name?"
She sniffed and wiped her eyes, chuckling at the same time. "I'm sorry - I completely forgot to tell you," she laughed. "My name is Biana - Biana Dizznee."
Aeron's mind was officially blown.
He gaped at Biana. "Bi-Biana?"
She frowned. Yes… is there a problem with that?"
"I… No! That's not what I meant!" Aeron reached for the back pocket of his jeans, only to realize that he was dressed in some weird patterned pyjamas that weren't his. "Why-"
Then he realized that he'd left his real jeans in the hospital. You know, before he ran away wearing that stupid paper dress?
"Augh!" He buried his face in his hands, mentally cursing his stupidity.
"What?" Biana leaned forward, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"
"I left the picture in the back pocket of my jeans, which I left at the hospital when I ran away in that stupid paper dress!"
"What picture?" She was unfazed by the mention of the paper dress.
"There was a picture my parents left me when I was little-" Aeron started to explain but suddenly stopped as he mentally connected the dots. His eyes grew round and he turned to Biana, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eye. "Did - did you know my parents?" he gasped.
Biana's expression changed from alarm to sadness, and Aeron could see tears filling her eyes again. She nodded slowly, taking his hands in her own. "Aeron, Sophie and Keefe were… my best friends."
Aeron could not believe it.
It was stupid beyond reason.
How - how - could these people have neglected to mention that they were friends with his parents? They'd had every opportunity! At the museum; at the park; all the times the old man-who-was-actually-a-woman had contacted him. And yet they'd failed to mention that pivotal fact.
Sure, that boy yesterday had mentioned that they knew them, but knowing somebody and being best friends with them are two completely different things.
"Why?" was all he could ask.
Biana touched his shoulder reassuringly; he jerked away. "Why?" he repeated. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"
She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Aeron, we… we didn't want to give you false hopes."
"What does that mean?"
"Aeron, I'm not the best person to explain this to you-"
Aeron snorted disbelievingly. "Yeah. Great excuse."
Biana's eyes flashed with a strength Aeron hadn't seen before as she took him gently but firmly by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Aeron. I promise that if we are withholding information, it is for your protection. You will get an explanation, I promise."
"Now. Right now."
Biana shrugged, stood up and walked to the door. Aeron slid out of the huge bed, ready to follow; she gestured to his clothes.
"You sure you want to go down in those?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.
Aeron looked down at his pyjamas. They were baby blue and fluffy, covered with images of what looked like a mix between a cat and a seal. "Um…"
Biana laughed, and a little bit of the anxiety marring her face cleared. "There are clothes on the mirror," she said, gesturing to the other side of the room. "I'll be outside." She slipped out the door and shut it behind her.
Aeron dressed as quickly as possible in the queer clothes provided for him, which consisted of pants with five pockets on each leg, soft leather boots with buckles, and a tunic of a despicable doggie-doo green color. He felt like somebody from Robin Hood. Biana was waiting for him in the hallway when he was done, ready to lead him to who-knows-where. As Aeron followed her through the twists and turns of what she called "Sylvaglass Manor", he couldn't help but marvel at the graceful arches of the vaulted glass ceiling, the unblemished cherrywood panels that lined the walls, and the delicate woodwork that accented every surface. Diamond-patterned crystal windows peeked out at mountains in the distance and a deciduous forest in full autumn hues on all sides. Biana rounded a corner and Aeron suddenly found himself standing next to a set of double doors reaching almost to the ceiling, engraved with images of earth and fire, wind and rain and inlaid with precious jewels.
Before him stretched a passage of such magnitude and splendor that he knew it had to be the Great Hall. Mahogany staircases spiraled to dizzying heights, reaching to balconies on the roof and on all sides. Crystal fountains filled the room with the sound of falling water and bedewed the many flowers and plants. Mist rose off of the two dripping waterfalls, reflecting the light to create rainbows. A huge woven tapestry hung on the left wall depicted a fanged hart with glass antlers. But most breathtaking of all was the gargantuan Dawn Redwood growing on the dais at the far end of the hall, its rippling roots covering the agate floor and kneading the cracks where the slabs of white stone came together. Its huge limbs stretched out in full flowery bloom, balancing snow-white cushions on their lowest limbs for the oddest seating Aeron had ever witnessed. The finishing touch was clematis trailing over every balcony railing and up into the tree, stars of purple decorating the dark wood.
"What is this?" Aeron whispered, staring up at the splendor surrounding him.
The answer was abrupt, and in a very different voice than Aeron was expecting. "It's a house, dodo. Haven't you ever seen one before?"
Aeron looked at Biana, whose stern look was belied by the amused curl of her mouth. She pointed up, and Aeron met the searching sapphire-blue gaze of a girl of approximately fourteen. She was hanging over the edge of a balcony directly above them, her strawberry-blond curls in a state of dishevelment and a creased book clasped in her hand. Her wide grin revealed that her two front teeth were bigger than the others; the mischievous glint in her eye was vaguely familiar, like something that used to be normal. Aeron realized that he recognized it from the way Keala used to look, and his smile dropped from his lips. He turned to Biana, who was beckoning for the girl to come down.
"Biana, my cousin-"
"Wait a minute," she interrupted as a musical chime suddenly began to sound. She fumbled around in her pockets for a moment. The chime continued, and Biana switched to checking the hemline of her dress, then up her sleeves, and finally in a small bag hung around her neck. But the chime still chimed on. "Where is that imparter!" Biana cried, checking a pair of concealed pockets near her ankles.
"Right here, Mom." The red-head had clambered down from her perch and now stood next to Biana, holding up a rectangular crystal that was emitting both a red glow and the chime that was taunting Biana.
"Thank you, Reese," Biana said, taking the imparter and checking the name on the display. She frowned. "It's that doofus Callaway again," she grumbled, pressing DECLINE. "I've told him multiple times that I have a perfectly capable maternity doctor already! Some people just will not give up."
Biana looked shrewdly at her daughter, who looked guilty all of a sudden. "And I thought I told you not to take my imparter again," she said pointedly.
"Mom, I need it," her daughter insisted. "Nobody else is going to stand up for what's good in this world-"
"Prank-calling your brother's crush is not in that category," Biana said firmly, a glint of laughter in her eyes.
The girl grimaced and pretended to throw up, clutching her throat and rolling her eyes back in her head.
"Enough," Biana scolded, lightly rapping her on the head. "Make yourself useful and show Aeron to the meeting room - there's something I forgot to grab. And please keep Cyrus away from the pegasi. He gave Altair fleas last time." Biana jogged slowly away from them and disappeared behind the plant life.
The girl grinned at Aeron and pulled her hair back, revealing a small dust-colored ball of fur sitting on her right shoulder. At closer inspection, Aeron could see little legs clinging to Reese's tunic. The creature was asleep at the moment, shaking with the force of its snores.
"This is Cyrus," the girl said proudly. "And I'm Reese Aubade Dizznee."
"I'm Aeron - ah, Aeron Jacob Wilde-Foster." He extended his hand to shake; Reese just looked at him, confused.
"Why are you pointing at me?" she said defensively.
"Uh… I was going to shake your hand?"
Reese recoiled, a horrified expression on her face. "Gross! No, I absolutely will not hold your hand! Eww."
Aeron shook his head, confused. "Yeah, I wasn't…" he began weakly.
"Then what were you doing, hmmm?" She crossed her arms and stared him down.
"Umm," Aeron began awkwardly, discreetly slipping his hand into his pocket. "It's uh, um, a greeting, kind of. It's just a thing people do…" He pushed his hair out of his eyes, avoiding her gaze. "When they meet someone new," he finished, wincing at the unintended rhyme.
"Ohhh," Reese said, understanding dawning on her face. She turned her head and looked at him sideways, moving her eyebrows up and down. "It's one of those human things, isn't it," she said, conspiratorial.
Reese refused to say any more as they headed for the so-called "meeting room." No manner of wheedling or coaxing would tear information from her lips. Aeron was discovering quickly just how stubborn this girl could be.
"No, no, no and stop asking me," Reese said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Not even a tribe of wild Councillors could pull the answer from me." She obviously enjoyed withholding secrets, and the pleasure was multiplied by Aeron's visible frustration.
"What do you mean, 'human'?" he repeated almost angrily as he followed her through the maze of plant-life shrouding the main hall.
"I mean, I am not allowed to tell," Reese said, as she walked backward in front of him.
"Who said you couldn't?" he asked slyly.
"That's a secret, too," she countered, grinning widely.
In a minute they were climbing over the low-hanging branches of the Dawn Redwood in the front of the room.
"Where are you taking me?" Aeron said suspiciously as she wove through the branches, heading for the massive trunk.
"You will just have to find out," she said mysteriously as she began to climb a rope ladder that, as Aeron looked up, he could see rise all the way to the top of the tree.
He grabbed the rungs eagerly and began to climb nimbly after Reese. Heights had always been relaxing to him, and he felt a part of him settle in the familiarity of being in the air.
"Here we are," Reese declared about halfway up the tree. She reached out to one of the branches and took a white crystal from underneath a large leaf.
When she looked back, she didn't quite meet his eyes. Her eyes were focused on his shoulder as she said awkwardly, "Um, you'll have to take my hand for this next part."
Aeron took her offered hand uncertainly, wondering what activity would require this awkward contact.
"Concentrate on my hand and don't let go. Let's just say it would be really bad if you did, like really really bad," came her instructions.
"Noted," Aeron said drily. He shut his eyes, anticipating pain of some sort. Instead, a bright light landed on his face, and he had the uncanny sensation of being pulled gently a thousand different directions at once, as if the very atoms of his body were drifting apart. The only definite feeling was that of Reese's hand in his, and even that was slipping…
The light was warm, and comforting, and Aeron didn't want to leave it. Not yet. So when he felt Reese pulling him away from it, he released his grasp on her hand.
And the light turned cold. Suddenly the beams of light were like daggers cutting through his body, forcefully separating one part from another, until he had become a scattered puzzle, unable to put himself back together.
In one desperate attempt to move, he reached out with the bits of sanity he had left and grabbed ahold of the parts of himself that were floating away on the beam of light. And by some miracle, they came back together.
The next second, Aeron was lying on cold ground. He moaned weakly and peeled open his eyes.
He was lying in the middle of a small, almost egg-shaped room. It was completely white and so cold that Aeron could almost see his breath.
Reese knelt over him, openmouthed. Next to her stood a kind-faced man with his hand on her shoulder. His periwinkle blue eyes carried a look of astonishment as he studied Aeron's face, and his strawberry-blonde beard and hair were the exact shade of Reese's curls. Behind both of them stood the fire-angel from the battle, her thick red hair pulled back into an elaborate braid and a serious expression on her face.
"Aeron, you - you faded," Reese stammered, looking as if she'd seen a ghost.
Aeron sat up slowly, feeling unreasonably sore. "I… what?"
"You faded," she whispered, "and… now you're not. What did you do?"
The man on her left knelt down to Aeron's level and looked him in the eyes, concern replacing his original astonishment. "How do you feel, son?" he asked.
"Like a giant chewed me up and spit me out," he groaned.
The man and the fiery woman behind him shared a laugh. "That's normal, for fading," the man said. "But you seem to be in one piece."
Aeron looked at Reese, who still looked heavily concerned. "What just happened?" he asked helplessly.
"We went through a beam of light that separated us into teeny-tiny particles and you let go of my hand like I told you not to," she said accusingly.
"...What does that mean?" Aeron asked, shaken.
"It means that you should've never been able to come back together," the man finished, staring wonderingly at Aeron. "And yet you did." Almost as an afterthought, he whispered, "That's Sophie's blood, there."
The man offered his hand to Aeron; Aeron stared in shock. The man's hand was… copper. Each joint was layered and visible, and little cogs sat on the ends of his fingers. A cyborg hand.
Aeron swallowed and accepted the cold help the man had offered him.
"I'm Dex Dizznee, Head Technopath here. And may I just say, it is so good to finally meet you," he said, his dimples showing as he pulled Aeron to his feet.
"Dex"… that was another name on my picture. Aeron nodded, wondering what he meant by "finally."
Dex grinned widely at Aeron, and a grin broke out on Reese's face as well. "It's been a really long time," Dex whispered, wetness shining in his eyes.
The fire angel cleared her throat, as if she could sense Aeron's embarrassment.
"Sorry, forgot," the man said, and he looked as if he were resisting giving Aeron a hug as he said, "I'm sure I'll see you soon." He settled for an enthusiastic clap on the shoulder, then left, drawing Reese away with him.
Then it was just Aeron and the fire angel, as he had dubbed her.
She looked down at him with a kind expression in her blue eyes, and he felt more at ease. He'd only known this girl for about three days, excluding the meeting outside the museum, and she'd been in disguise almost the whole time, but he trusted her more instinctively than anyone he'd ever met.
"Aeron, I am so sorry," she began sorrowfully.
At first Aeron thought she meant she was sorry for everything that had happened leading to this point, but as she drew him over to a pair of chairs in a corner and began to elaborate, he realized she was being more specific.
"I was supposed to be there yesterday, so I could explain everything when you woke up, but I was called away on emergency, and Biana had to fill in for me. Little did I know that she would have Mccoy fill in for her - he is the most scatterbrained creature I have ever met. He wasn't supposed to say anything to you; just inform me that you were awake and wait for me to explain things, in order to prevent confusion. Of course, we didn't take karate into account." A glint of amusement shone in her eyes. "I'm afraid you scared him into talking."
Aeron snorted. "What'd you expect?" he demanded. "You shut a guy in a dark room with no explanation of where he is and expect him to not attack the first person who enters?"
The fire angel laughed, then groaned. "Apparently. I'm afraid we don't have much practice transplanting humans into our world. It's only happened once before, after all." Her face grew serious. "Aeron, do you truly know nothing about us?" She looked like she thought that was a real question - like they weren't supposed to be strangers.
"Is that a serious question?" Aeron began, incredulous. "I don't even know your name - let alone your 'connection' to me or my family."
"I'm Marella Redek, and I'd just assumed that Keefe at least would've said something..." Marella sighed, looking frustrated. "I was worried about this. Your parents were good people, Aeron, but they were so afraid-"
Aeron stood, suddenly angry. These people had brought him to a strange place, dumped him in a place with completely different rules than his - what the heck was that thing with fading, and the cyborg hand? - and now they were acting like it was his parents' fault. "None of this is their fault, so you can quit acting like-"
But then he remembered that if his parents hadn't left him in the first place, he would not be in this position, and fell silent.
Marella sat watching him with steady, empathetic eyes. "Aeron," she began quietly as he slumped back into his chair, "have you ever light leaped before?"
He shook his head wordlessly.
"Have you ever heard of the Black Swan, the Council, or the Neverseen?"
He denied it, bewildered.
"Have you ever heard the names Forkle, Ruewen, Sencen, Vacker, Dizzee, or-"
Aeron was already shaking his head.
She rested her head in her hands for a brief moment. "So you know nothing," she concluded, despair creeping into her voice.
Aeron sat silent, stung by her words but determined not to show it.
Behind Marella, a bright light flashed and Biana appeared abruptly, holding a crystal in one hand and a large picture in the other.
Breathless, she hoisted the painting into Aeron's line of sight. "Aeron, is this the picture you were talking about?"
"Yes! Where did you get that?!" Aeron took it from her, knocking his chair over in his rush to examine it. It was the exact replica of the one his parents had left for him so many years ago - just bigger.
Biana frowned. "Keefe… did it…"
Aeron's eyes grew round. "My dad… did that?" he asked disbelievingly, running his fingers gently over his father's small likeness.
"Yeah," she said softly. Her eyes grew wet and glassy as she watched Aeron study the picture. "Didn't they… didn't they tell you?" Her gaze flickered to Marella, who shook her head soberly.
Biana seemed ready to cry; Dex, who had been listening the entire time, appeared and wrapped a strong arm around his wife.
He turned to Aeron and met his gaze, empathy and earnestness shining in his blue eyes. He rested one hand gently on his shoulder and began to speak.
"Aeron, many years ago, before you or Reese or Mccoy were born, we knew your parents. We were all best friends: Me, Biana, Sophie, Keefe, Biana's brother Fitz, Marella's boyfriend Tam and his sister Linh, and her husband Wylie."
"All the names on the picture," Aeron murmured.
Dex nodded. "Keefe drew that picture a long time ago for your mom, as a gift for the midterms party at school. She must've left it for you so you could find us."
"How could she expect me to?" Aeron whispered, his mouth trembling against his will. "They never talked about you. I… still don't know who you are. And why didn't you come for me before?"
Dex hesitated; he glanced at Marella, an anxious look in his eyes. She inclined her head, directing him to continue.
"Aeron, they had to have a good reason for not telling you about their old lives, or about us. They most likely wanted to protect you from the danger and panic that had consumed our world at the time. You see, your parents left us right after the end of the first war in our history. It destroyed much of our world, and left us scrambling to pick up the pieces.." Dex shuddered, briefly reliving those awful days in his mind.
"Wait - the first war?" Aeron hadn't paid much attention in history, but he knew for a fact that there were definitely more than one. More like a million.
Dex nodded. "Aeron… you're not in the human world anymore."
Aeron nodded. He'd expected this. The way Reese and Marella had spoken had keyed him into that fact, unbelievable as it was. But he was definitely not prepared for Dex to say, knocking him almost off his feet -
"You're an elf."
iliveinalibrary: I know - who knew Sophie had a dark side? I'm super excited as well for part two - I've been waiting for these new characters ever since I came up with this idea! I'm so thankful that you helped me get here - encouragement is an instrumental part of writing, and you have been the best at doing it :) Thanks again! and more thanks lol. Also thanks for the adoption I think Aeron will need it :I
BookShipper13: I am impressed with your thought processes here - remarkably similar to mine in writing this XD. Don't reveal too much of my plot ahead of time XD! Not washers, but something else... and yes they left him, but for a distinct purpose. Don't worry, I definitely plan on continuing to write :) Thanks so much for your constant support!
Guest: XD XD XD yaasss that was a problem with that chapter :I... I hope this one cleared some things up. It was supposed to be confusing, but I intend to clarify as I go along. Please tell me if I confuse you with my explanations or not XD