Year 2033, October
5:00 P.M
Stockholm, Sweden
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KNOCK KNOCK!
"Elle, can I come in?" I said.
Eugene and I were outside of my only daughter's room. We wanted to check on Aya, who Eugene had saved and carried to my place a few weeks ago. She was unconscious and remained that way until my ten-year-old daughter, Elle, informed me that she had woke up just a few minutes ago.
At first, Elle was worried that I didn't take Aya to the hospital, but I insisted that she was fine. Revealing Aya's Aegis would make her confused, and it would be a dumb thing to do. Eugene, on the other hand, was unaware of Aegis whatsoever.
It was indeed a secret weapon produced by the C.U, even though a bunch of outsiders had gotten their hands on it.
I glanced at Eugene standing next to me as we waited for Elle to answer.
His expression was blank, devoid of emotions. One could tell just from looking at his dead fish eyes. I hadn't gotten the chance to ask him yet if my assumption was correct. He had been keeping himself at a distance from everyone else for the past month; and only after I mentioned Aya's name that he was there with me right then.
'Maltyie must be on his mind right now,' I thought.
There was no indication as to where Maltyie disappeared to. To make matter worse, Amathelia's reign actually made it harder to look for her, and also the Aegis Users in particular.
We had kept Aya well hidden from Amathelia so far. However, the A.V.A plan that Amathelia had executed prevented me from doing anything. The regular civilians were being forced to undergo an intensive background check for the past week, and it was not going well.
The people who had a bad stain in their profiles and personal records were likely to get killed by the Anciles Ama had mobilized. It was horrid, as us soldiers couldn't do anything. Even then, some of us were executed too by Ama's command.
But I was lucky.
She let me and my daughter go, and so did Eugene. As long as she and her Pillars didn't found out about Aya's whereabouts, I was to keep myself away from their prying eyes at all cost.
"Dad! She's awake!" repeated Elle for the fourth time when we entered her room. She jumped up high for a few seconds before her delicate hands grabbed my shirt. "Daddy!"
I smiled. My right hand brushed over her short jet-black hair. The pale blue dress she wore was her favorite, albeit it was years ago I bought it. "I heard you Elle."
Her brown eyes gleamed at my response. "Come and see her quick!"
She pointed at her bed, where Aya had been staring at us. The loose, pale green clothing she wore was hidden under the white blanket. She fixated her eyes on me and smiled. "Thank you, Derrick. For saving me."
I waved a hand at her. "You've been sleeping for about a month though."
Her eyes widened. "Huh?!"
"You didn't tell her, Elle?" I said to my daughter.
"I thought she knew, Daddy. She's a heavy sleeper."
"Oh." My eyes trailed off to Aya. "Anyway, I was not the one who saved you. Eugene did."
"Eh?" She looked at Eugene.
He just smiled at her, no life in his eyes whatsoever.
"If it was not for him who carried you all the way here, perhaps Ama has found you by now," I continued.
Aya looked at Eugene for a while, somewhat confused at Eugene's stoic expression. She breathed a sigh after that and thanked him. "Thank you, Eugene. You saved me, again."
He shook his head, no words uttered.
Aya then stared at me, searching for an answer to a question she had in mind.
"I'll fill you in on the details tonight," I said.
And so, I visited Aya that had been resting in Elle's room that night. Both of us were the only ones there, as Elle was with Eugene downstairs.
"What happened?" were the first words that Aya said as soon as I stepped inside the room.
I proceeded to sit on a wooden chair next to her bed. "It's because of Maltyie. She's missing."
Her mouth gaped and she darted her eyes away from me. "I remembered something."
"Hmm?"
"Mommy is with Ama, right? Or, whatever happened to her," she said, refusing to look at me directly.
I took a deep breath and she finally looked at me. "I don't know anything that happened to the Aegis Users, except for you here in front of me. No one is allowed to be in the Military HQ's vicinity aside from the construction workers."
Aya's eyes drooped and she lied down on the bed. "It was . . . Bad. Really Bad. That guy, Ivar, was unreachable. Even when I decided to cast away my very body for my Aegis to go all-out, it was futile." She turned to face the wall. "I'm useless, Derrick. There's no guarantee that Mommy is still alive."
After that, there was only silence in the next few minutes.
"Ama has complete control of the C.U after she threatened the government officials and higher-ups," I finally said. "It was still in the beginning phase, but the A.V.A plan she executed has started to involve Germany, Sweden, and Italy. It has not been implemented throughout the whole C.U yet."
"Huh?" Aya's body jerked upwards and she clasped my shoulders. "What are you talking about? Ava? Ava's with her?"
"No, that's not what I meant. A-V-A. As in, the three letters. It's an abbreviation for the plan."
She let go of me and her mouth formed an 'o' shape. "Ah, I see . . ."
"I'm not sure about Ava. I have not seen her for a few months now," I said.
Aya nodded. "Same. The last time I saw her was in Neo Africa." She then sighed loudly. "Deep inside me, I want Ava to stay there forever. At least, in that place, she is safe."
"Yeah . . . Anyway, get some sleep."
She giggled. "After sleeping for weeks on, I don't think I want to sleep any time soon."
"Hah. I know that feeling. Call me or Elle if you need anything, and Eugene too. He's staying here for now."
She nodded slowly. "Alright."
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The next few days went by within a blink of an eye.
I sat on a dark blue sofa in my living room, staring at the blank OLED television. The reflection of my face stared back at me as I pondered.
'Where's Miranda and Klaus right now?' I thought.
Aya mentioned that Miranda disappeared in the middle of their battle against a Pillar called Ivar. As for Klaus, he managed to get away along with Maltyie, though, their whereabouts were unknown.
"There's so much I don't know right now," I mumbled.
A moment later, my eyes trailed off to the kitchen at my left side.
"Drink this please, Sis Aya! You need to stay hydrated," said Elle as she approached Aya with a jug full of plain water.
"I-I don't need it." She took a few steps away and bumped into Eugene right behind her.
"But you didn't drink anything yesterday, I'm sure!"
"Elle, I already drank a glass the night before."
"Hmm?" Eugene put his hand on Aya's shoulder, and she smiled at him awkwardly. "Now now. I'm quite certain you didn't come out of Elle's room yesterday. I was here the whole time yesterday, remember?"
"Ugh." Aya pouted. "I hate you Eugene."
"Haha. I'm just telling the truth."
"Ahahahaha." Elle wrapped her arms around her stomach as she laughed.
Eugene burst into laughter a second later, and Aya couldn't help but smile sheepishly at them.
I looked at those three for a while, and a thought wandered into my mind.
'Only time would tell when we will stop laughing ever again.'
In fact, a part of me clung onto that thought. In the face of Amathelia's ruthless reign, our proud Sweden, Germany, and Italy would succumb to an age of desolation sooner or later.
"I will make sure that those happy faces will never disappear. These hands of mine will make it happen," I mumbled, my fists clenched tightly at my sides.