The words practically rang through Kaedan's head.
Val's been shot. Val's been shot. Val's been shot.
Val's been shot.
"Kaedan," Hyunwoo's voice was rough and trying to be monotone, but not entirely able to keep the emotion out, "According to Nia, the one who gave the order to shoot Nia was your father."
At that, Kaedan completely froze. Faintly, he could hear Owen softly ask, "What?" but it felt so much further away, even though his younger brother was speaking through the earpiece. Everything felt like it was static noise, and Kaedan felt like he'd been in that place before. No, he had been in that place before, when he found out his mother was the one who killed his brother.
This was the second time one of his parents killed someone who meant the world to them. And he was not going to sit back and let them get away with it. Not again. This time, he would do what he should have done six years ago.
"—Kaedan!" He was shaken out of his trance by Elliot, who had gripped him by the shoulders, his eyes filled with panic and concern, "We have to go, Kaedan, Xander found Lumina but I need to get to Leon, now—"
"Go," Kaedan said, his tone completely emotionless, "I'll catch up with you later. Chaewon is looking for Leon as well, if you find her, you'll probably find him."
"Kaedan, I can't just leave you here—"
He turned to the older man, "I'm not letting this happen again. I'm not going to sit by while another one of my parents murders someone I care about, Elliot! I'm going to kill him, and I'm going to do it by myself."
Elliot shook his head, "What about the plan? If you go on and kill him, then you're going to be the king of Sector 1, but Julian has control over most of the army. They could immediately turn on you and hand you over to him!"
"I don't care, Elliot. I'll deal with him after if it means I get to kill the bastard who was once my father," Kaedan growled, "You can't stop me," He spoke into the earpiece, "All of you, listen to me. I'm going to kill my father. No one is going to convince me to change my mind."
"Kaedan, I don't think that's a good—" Xander began to say, but he was cut off by Owen, "I'm coming with you."
This made Kaedan hesitate, "Owen…"
There was determination in the younger boy's voice as he spoke, "No, I know what you're going to say, Kaedan, but I don't care. Sure, he might not know who I am since he abandoned me so easily, but he's my father as well. I deserve to be there to see him die for hurting my best friend."
Kaedan knew better than anyone else that he wouldn't be able to stop Owen. He supposed that people were right when they told him that Hernandezs were too stubborn for their own good, "Alright. Alright, where are you right now?"
"Base Camp. Where are you?"
Hyunwoo cut in, groaning a bit, "He's…On the hill. To the left of the cliff drop-off. He's hiding in the trees."
Elliot spoke into the earpiece, "Hyunwoo, are you okay? What's going on?"
"Got stabbed in the leg. It doesn't matter, we're halfway through the battlefield, I think I can see base camp—Nia!"
Faintly, Kaedan could hear someone else's voice, "I've got her, keep going!" Elliot seemed to sigh in relief as he heard Chaewon's voice, "She's just exhausted, I'll carry her and clear the way for you!"
"I'm heading towards the hill now," Kaedan said, "I'll meet you there, Owen."
"On my way."
Cutting through the crowd was a bit of a blur, the only thing pushing Kaedan through was the rage he felt towards his father. How dare he? How dare he? That man watched as Kaedan's mother chose to kill their son and did nothing. He even went as far as to lie and make the only person who took revenge for Wyran seem guilty for his death. And now? Now, he has chosen to seal his fate by hurting someone Kaedan cared about. There was no one left to hide behind now. No one can protect him from Kaedan now.
He wasn't sure how many people he killed to get to the tree line. He didn't have time to think about it then.
Owen was waiting for him at the bottom of the hill, and he didn't seem surprised to see the amount of blood on Kaedan's skin, "He's up there," He said quietly, and Kaedan nodded, his whip in one hand and a sword in the other. Owen had his battle scythe in his hands, and it was speckled with blood on the edges.
In the end, King Ian Hernandez hadn't even seen his death coming. He seemed to have heard the rustling of the grass as two people made their way up the hill. The first, he recognized to be his disowned…Son. The man was no child of his anymore, although he wasn't sure if he ever saw him as a child. He wasn't sure he ever saw any of his children as his. His late wife had a clear preference for their oldest but Ian never felt anything for his children, no fatherly affection at all. However, seeing Kaedan Hernandez making his way over to him, covered in blood, weapons at the ready, and with a dark look on his face that showed no doubt about what his plan was, Ian did start to feel something in relation to his son.
He felt fear.
There was another person beside him, shorter in stature but Ian didn't recognize him, not immediately. His hair fell in his face, obscuring his eyes, and he carried a large battle scythe, much larger than himself. He seemed to have no problem holding the weight of the weapon. The man—Boy, Ian realized—Looked up, and the moment their eyes, Ian recognized him.
This was the cyborg he'd heard about. He didn't know the details but Julian had mentioned that Kaedan had befriended a cyborg with one green eye and one silver eye that glowed like moonlight. Both were fixed on him with an expression that Ian couldn't quite understand.
Standing next to each other, though, Ian had a thought. Just for a moment, he thought that the two of them seemed to resemble each other. Maybe it was the determination and anger in their eyes, although not as obvious in the younger, it was clear he was just as angry as Kaedan was. And Kaedan, well, he'd always had a bit of a temper issue, even when he was a child.
Faintly, he felt the sniper who was on the ground a few moments ago move in front of him as if to shield him from their sight.
Kaedan's voice had a carefully controlled anger that seemed to be on the verge of breaking, "Hello, Father. It's been too long since we've seen each other again."
"Kaedan," Ian responded, before turning his gaze to the boy next to him, "And a friend of yours, I assume?"
The boy snorted, "Figures you wouldn't remember me," He put a hand on Kaedan's shoulder, "Don't tell him immediately. Let's see how long it takes him to put the pieces together."
"We'll be waiting here forever," Kaedan replied, rolling his eyes, "Mom might have been crazy but at least she used her brain. I don't know what this one has rattling around in his skull but it certainly isn't a brain," He looked at Ian, "Did you really think that partnering up with Julian was a good idea? I mean, you know that boy was going to have you assassinated the moment you handed the Wings over to him?"
"...What?" Ian asked, suddenly feeling out of his depth. This was part of the reason he had always resented his wife. She always talked in circles around him and somehow, his children could always keep up with her.
Kaedan laughed sharply, "You really don't know Julian at all, do you? What, you thought that if you handed the Wings over to him, he'd just automatically protect you? Let me ask you, do you even know what happened to his parents?"
Ian frowned, "That girl Minakshi murdered them—He said that he had tried to get to them but he was too late. She brutalized both of them—"
The boy sighed, "Of course, he decided to blame it on Mina."
"Because when does he not," Kaedan groaned, "Anything goes wrong, it's always Mina's fault according to him," He turned to Ian, "Julian murdered his parent. First, he killed his mother and stabbed her fifteen times. Then he brutalized his father right in front of Mina. Does that sound like the kind of person who gives even a single fuck about what happens to you?"
"Obviously, he didn't care," The boy replied to Kaedan, not giving Ian a chance to speak, "If he did, he would have warned him to take more guards if he wanted to attack one of us. Julian knows what the price is to pay when it comes to us."
Kaedan flicked his hand, and his whip fizzled a bit with an electric charge, "You didn't think you could get away with it, did you? You hurt one of our friends. You should have known that I wouldn't let you get away with it a second time. You let Mom kill Wyran and then blamed my husband—Yes, I married Xander, despite your attempts to make me hate him—For his death. Did you think you could kill another person I love and just walk away? Especially now that I know the truth?"
"Are you…Threatening me?" Ian asked, his mouth feeling like it was filled with sand. He'd spent most of his life avoiding confrontations like this by being quiet and doing what people told him to do. Julian told him to get rid of The Rebellion's Arrow, and Ian had asked him if he should take any extra backup.
Julian had told him he wouldn't need it.
"Look at that," Kaedan softly, a complete contrast to the situation they were in, "He's only just realized. How does it feel, Father? Knowing that you can't lie your way out of this one? You can't throw someone else in the way and run away?"
Ian was panicking now, "You, attack them. Now! He commanded the sniper, who immediately obeyed his order, pulling out a smaller gun than the sniper rifle he'd used to shoot the girl.
"You got that one?" Kaedan asked the younger boy, and the boy grinned. Ian blinked. He hadn't imagined it, the boy looked awfully similar to not only Kaedan but also Wyran.
"I thought you'd never ask," He replied, rushing forward to the sniper and immediately using his scythe to swipe at the sniper's knees. The man jumped, but it tilted him off balance, causing the boy to get a good punch in. Ian thought he might have heard a crack.
The sniper regained his balance, moving fast towards the boy, who started moving back. Ian realized that the boy was luring the sniper away. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, he felt the tight squeeze of a whip restraining him.
Kaedan looked at him with a nearly feral grin and put a finger to his own lips, warning him to keep quiet, "Shh. If you try to scream, dear father, I promise you that we can test what voltage level it will take to stop your heart. We can start from 30 volts and increase from there. So, what do you say? Will you be quiet?"
Fearing for his safety, Ian simply nodded.
"Good, good, you're learning!" Kaedan said cheerfully, "Now, the person that you had that sniper shoot? That was Val, and she is like a younger sibling to me. She's nineteen years old, and she should not be struggling to survive because of a bullet wound in her abdomen. Now, as her older brother figure, it's my job to protect her and to get revenge for her. So, when I find out the person who did was also an active bystander in my own older brother's death, what do you think I should do to them?"
"I—I was just following orders," Ian stammered out quietly, "Julian told me to get rid of The Rebellion's Arrow and I—"
Kaedan clicked his tongue, "You're useless. You weren't forced to carry out that order. Besides, who's the king, you or Julian? It's pathetic, really. No wonder Mom had to run the Sector, look at what's happened to it since you took over. You really can't do a damn thing, can you?"
"Shut up, shut up, you brat. I'm still the King—" Ian began to say through gritted teeth, but it was immediately pushed into a pained scream as he felt an electric charge run through his body.
"Do you know what the voltage of a lightning strike is, Father?" Kaedan asked softly, "Answer me," His tone hardened at that, and Ian quickly shook his head, "Approximately 300 million volts. It would be nearly impossible to recreate that in a whip, though. But, you know, the pain from a thousand-volt shock is so strong that people can't even tell the difference between that and a higher-voltage shock. My whip might not have the voltage of a lightning strike, but do you know what it has?"
Ian didn't need Kaedan to tell him.
Suddenly, there were footsteps approaching them, and Ian saw the boy reappear from the trees, blood splattered on his clothing.
"You're back sooner than I thought you'd be," Kaedan acknowledges the boy without even turning to look at him.
The boy hummed, "Yeah, well, the guy heard him scream and started trying to get back here, so I thought I should probably deal with him sooner rather than later. I would have liked to take my time but, oh well, I suppose."
Kaedan smirked, "Speaking of timing, you came back at the perfect one," He turned to Ian, "Do you recognize him?" He asked.
"H—He's a cyborg," Ian responded, looking between the two of them frantically, trying to judge whether he was saying the right thing, "I don't—Why would I know him?"
The boy snorted, almost as if he were getting enjoyment out of Ian's confusion, "This probably will only confuse you more. Ever heard the name 'Owen Hernandez'?" He asked, crossing his arms.
Hernandez?
"You're…A relative?" He croaked out, "But…But almost all of the Hernandez family was wiped out six years ago when…" He looked at Kaedan.
Kaedan laughed sharply, "You know, he's so clueless that it's almost pathetic. Okay, let's try another name. Do you recognize the name 'Carlos Hernandez'?"
Ian did recognize that name. And he felt blood drain from his face.
Carlos Hernandez. His youngest son. He had turned a blind eye to his wife giving the boy over to the White Lotus for experimentation and had simply continued to pretend that the boy never existed. He was told that the boy died during experimentation, and that was that. He never thought about that boy ever again.
And somehow, that boy was standing in front of him.
"Surprise," The boy smiled sadistically and waved, "Hello, Father. It really has been too long, hasn't it? Oh, and please, do call me Owen. I gave up the name Carlos a long time ago and I have intention of taking it back."
Ian had no idea what to say, and this seemed to amuse his—His sons, he supposed. Kaedan seemed to be slightly distracted, though, and he spoke, "We need to hurry up, Bella's officially calling for the retreat."
"Alright, I'll make it quick, then," The boy—Owen said, looking directly at Ian, "Did you ever regret letting my mother give me away?"
"I—Yes, of course, I did, I—" He screamed as he felt a sharp cut on the back of his knees. Kaedan had moved so fast that he hadn't even noticed the man's sword slashing him.
Kaedan stared at him, "Every time you lie, I'll cut you again. Tell the truth."
Ian didn't know what else to do, "No, I never regretted it!" He admitted, "I never really cared, I forgot about your existence after the White Lotus took you."
Owen sighed, "Not like it bothers me, but you really were a shitty dad, huh?"
"Okay, my turn," Kaedan stepped in front of him, "You never cared about any of us, did you? Whether it was Owen, me, or even Wyran. You never actually cared, did you? Mom might have been a bit more inclined towards Wyran but you? You didn't want anything to do with us, did you?"
"I…" Ian decided it would be better to tell the truth, "No, I…I didn't. I just had kids because that was what your mother said we had to do. I didn't see the point in kids but if she said we needed to have them, then, why not? No one ever said I had to actually care about them—" He screamed again as he felt two more cuts, each near his elbow. He realized that's specifically cut a vein, "I didn't lie! I told the truth!"
Owen shrugged, "Yeah, you did. But I didn't like your answer, so," He grinned.
Kaedan stepped closer, his hand curled around the hilt of his sword, "Final question," He asked softly, "Do you regret letting Mom kill Wyran and shooting Val?"
Ian didn't know what the right answer was here. If he told a lie, he was cut. If he told the truth and they didn't like it, he got cut. They had trapped him in a paradox with only one way out.
"No," He spat, "I don't regret any of it. If she hadn't killed that spoiled little brat then, he would have become king. He would have taken my power from me,"
"What power?" Kaedan returned fiercely, "You had no power at all, you dumbfuck. You were a figurehead, you just said whatever Mom told you to."
"You know what?" Ian said, scoffing, "I hope that little purple-eyed brat of yours dies as well. If not, we can always send someone to finish the job. I hope that it fucking hurts when the light fades from her eyes. I want you to suffer and if she has to die for that to happen, so be it—"
Kaedan's arm moved so fast that Ian didn't even process what was actually happening. He felt an extraordinary pain but for some reason, he couldn't even scream. Perhaps it was because the blood filled his lungs and airway too fast. Everything was disorientating and Ian had the faintest sensation feeling of hitting the ground.
As his consciousness began fading, the last realization that Ian had was that he could see his full body crashing to the ground, almost as if in slow motion.
It had been cleanly severed at the neck.