Chapter 06. Start
Su's POV
Stupid Andrew. He knows he can tell me things. Why does he always bottle them up? Always creating walls when things get tough…
Tiredly, I rest my head on my arm, looking across my dark brown coffee table towards Aeolus.
He was sleeping like he finally got the chance to rest.
Looking at him carefully, he was less pale than he was before. That was good, especially with all the blood he lost earlier, meant he was getting better. I noticed his choppy hair clustered around him, It was long in some parts, shorter in others, it was very uneven. Definitely needed to be cut.
I felt my phone buzzing so I went outside the room to answer and not disturb Aeolus. Looking at the caller ID, it was Andrew. I answered and before I could get even a single word out he went straight to the point.
"I need you to get Aeolus ready for a fancy classic dinner."
His voice was serious and cold, it was something you would rarely hear as a friend coming from him. Knowing him for a long time, it meant that something happened; but now was not the time to ask.
"With what clothes and what money? Sure I'll cut his hair the best I can, but I don't have any fancy clothes right now that would be considered classic to say."
The way she said classic brought funny memories to Andrew finally making him relaxe from his serious manner, he then replied with a smile in his voice.
"I have someone bringing him an outfit right now, they should be arriving at this time. I'll be there in like 15 minutes to pick him up. Please help him be ready before then… Oh yea soo because of family matters, could you take care of my cabin till i'm back? It'll probably be till next year-ish… sorry."
I sighed, grateful that he told me now this time instead of going MIA and telling me later.
"Thank you for telling me this now, and it's alright. I'll look after your cabin…
You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but.. Did you fight with your dad?"
I heard Andrew sigh over the phone before complaining
"I didn't fight really, I made a deal" He sighed again, then continuing " A plus one and a private dinner meeting in exchange for staying in the main house, Which I can say is him being merciful because he knows how much I DISpIZE me Half-sister. Although he doesn't know why, if he did he would hate both her and her mother."
I continued to listen to his rambling. It's the few moments like these where he can vent out his feelings and thoughts without being judged and I can actually help him. Though I know all I'm doing is listening, I'm happy just knowing he trusts me enough to rant to me about the things he keeps bottled up.
"I'm VeRy glad that I don't have to be near her or her mother and their antics uhg"
Andrew finally stopped ranting before saying "Oh sorry I've taken too much of your time now, I'll leave you to help Aeolus now, bye!"
I said a quick bye before he could end the call. I then proceeded to move downstairs to the front desk/receptionist to ask for any packages for me. I quickly say thank you, proceeding to then take the parcel and grab some normal scissors before heading up.
Aeolus's POV
Drifting… I felt like I was drifting, between reality and my dreams, I was a breeze, dazing.
Many moments passed before I heard the room door to my right open. I wondered who was entering, was it Su? That weird nurse or maybe Andrew!
I do not really care, I just want to go back where I was before, with him. Whoever he was, he felt nice, especially his soul.
Aeolus cuddled deeper into the dark blue bed sheets, steading his breathing to hopefully, completely fall asleep, But it would prove to be ineffective; as Su was going to wake him up.
"Aeolus, come on! You need to get up!" Su said softly as she shook him. He grumbled and whined before yawning and complaining "hmm, why?" In a morning voice.
It took a while for Su to respond as she collected her thoughts, " I'm sorry kiddo, I know you're tired, But aren't you hungry? Andrew reserved a dinner spot at a restaurant and would like for you to accompany him."
Now that I was thinking about it, I am pretty hungry. And as if on cue my tummy grumble. I felt my face flush as I said "I think I'll take that offer and go… I am pretty hungry. Haha.."
Su only smiled in response as she rose from the hospital bed's side. "Do you want to take a shower?" I nodded eagerly, I felt grimy and dirty… not clean at all. I got the feeling I hadn't taken a 'shower' in a long time and that really bothered me.
Getting the idea, Su opened the door to the bathroom which was located north of the bed.
Looking at the bathroom and its weird contraptions I was confused, not only by how it looked, but by how this could be a 'shower'. I looked to Su and asked embarrassed
"How does this shower work?" Su then went on to explain how this shower functioned and said if it was too confusing we could do a bath instead.
I agreed to that because I was more familiar with the term 'bath' than 'shower'.
Slowly Aeolus sunk into the bath, Su had already left to go take care of other things.
Aeolus was left alone to his thoughts as the scalding warm water hugged him. His mind traveled back, back to when he felt the world shift, back when he was with him.
Who was he? And what was he?
Now that Aeolus was recalling the wonderful memory, he could have sworn he saw small horns the color a light ivory or light blue? The small horns faced upright and curved along the head, backwards. Dipping ever so slightly onto his hair.
Ooh his hair, it was just as beautiful, it looked fluffy, soft, and warm. As his dark, brown, bluish, reddish hair that blended splendidly seemed to suck up all the warmth and radiate it back.
His soul was… different… Besides feeling a feeling that he's never felt before, he could tell that this boy he met earlier was… special.
A knock on the door shook Aeolus from his thoughts
"Are you alright there Aeolus? You need to get out and be dry in three minutes so you can put on these clothes and to cut your hair! Alright?"
Quickly I rubbed myself clean and rinsed my soapy hair, I rose from the tub to dry myself on a very soft yellow towel, before putting on underwear that was left for me and wrapping the towel around my body; I then proceeded to quietly leave the bathroom.
Seeing me finally walk out, Su guided me over to a pair of clothes that looked casual, but fancy. She told me "Before you can put these on, we need to take care of your hair!" I agreed, although I prefer my hair straight, currently it does not look good. It was randomly cut in places, some sides were shorter, others were longer, it was a pig stye and needed to be trimmed.
Su cut my hair to the best of her ability. It was messy, a bit choppy, but so much better than it was before. We dusted off my hair and the loose hair on my body before helping me with the clothes to wear.
They were beautiful. The pants were an airy, high waisted, dark, slightly desaturated viridian green, styled with a coffee colored, brown button up long-sleeve shirt. I tucked them in the pants before grabbing the ivory fisherman sweater to put on, but Su stopped me.
"You can wear this if you want, although it's not entirely cold, it's still slightly hot outside."
I nodded and decided to bring the sweater with me because who knew if the restaurant was going to be cold or not.
When I finally managed to get my head and arms through the long-sleeve shirt, Andrew had called Su to tell her that he was downstairs at the lobby. Su led the way down. The clinic itself wasn't that big in my observations, but it had a calming atmosphere to it. It was nice, I liked it. When we reached the lobby, I was sorta surprised to see Andrew in weird clothes, they looked like really formal clothes. Su was more surprised to see him dressed like that from the gasp that escaped her mouth.
Su walked up to him and her huge eyes reminded me of bugs. She started talking or reprimanding him… I think.
"As far as I know you don't have the money to buy this clothing, I was suspicious when you said you had a pair of clothes for Aeolus to wear. But damn… you're looking nice, for once."
He chuckled in response and said "As far as I know, I do have the money for this, I just didn't tell you" Andrew let out a breath before looking at me and asking "You ready? Do you have everything you want to or need to bring?"
I shook my head, I had nothing to bring besides my Toga that I was wearing before, but it was practically shredded. I brought it along anyway because it gave me a feeling of familiarity in an unfamiliar new environment I know nothing about.
I hugged Su goodbye before following Andrew to a "car" (whatever that was), Su told me what a car was but I didn't really understand until I saw it in person. It looked really cool! It had a nice slick black color with an undertone of red and when Andrew opened the rear door and motioned me to get in, I saw the inside. He entered after me and closed the door. I looked around as Andrew told the driver to head to South Point Restaurant. The inside was made of cool tones and black, the seats were a leather black while the rims were a dark, dark, dark, sparkly red.
And the things called a seat belt that Andrew made me put on were black and what looked like gold accents on it. The seats felt nice, which was better than the restricting seatbelts.
I rested my arm and head on the window, looking outwards to the passing landscape as my eyes moved quickly from one thing to the next, trying to see everything.
We seemed to be downtown where most shops were, maybe around the commercial district or area (there was a lot of business here). Looking at the position of the sun, it was around noon, the sun was just starting to set as we moved along with the sea of cars. Since this was the commercial district/area it was really busy. There were people dressed fancy in old styled clothes, some were in togas, others were in more modern clothing, they were all dressed up so fancily.
We passed by tall buildings (I think they were called skyscrapers) and what Andrew called some buildings "Apartment complexes" as well as small restaurants.
There were screens on buildings and on the sidewalks, there were small plants and big plants, hanging from both balconies and the trees.
The trees were spread around the place, not in the roads but also not in the way of walking, they were blooming in both light pink, blue, and white. The winds carried their petals as they fluttered all about. It was a really pretty sight.
At a stop light, I saw some people who looked to have horns(not as pretty as the boy from before), animal ears, tails and wings. Some looked slightly see through, and others looked completely like mythological beasts. One thing I noticed that they all had in common was they were either chained or were trying to not be noticed. When they were noticed by people without any characteristics, they were treated horribly.
I was maddened by this sight, Andrew seemed to catch my eyes as the car began to move again. He sighed, saddened as well by what I saw. "Those are shifters, nature spirits, and halfbreeds. Not many parts in this world treat them like this, but sadly this place is one of the few small places that do. Even if they gather enough spiritual energy to hide their characteristics, every single shifter, nature spirit, and halfbreed that is born here is documented and branded with an X on our necks from birth. They do this for the descimination and to tell the difference so even if you can hide your characteristics you could still be identified."
I looked over to Andrew with wide eyes, before inspecting his neck for an X; seeing as how he said 'our' I assumed that he was a shifter/nature spirit/mythological beasts of some kind. I was left confused, there was no X on his neck from what I could see.
Andrew continued what he was saying as he understood the reason for Aeolus's confusion.
"Those of a higher status both born in or not in species and wealth wise can effect and change this. For example if you were born wealthy wise you would only have to pay to not be marked every year and if not you would pay to later in your life remove the mark and pay the fee, while if you born high ranking blood/species wise you would not be marked at all and will have a much easier time gathering spiritual energy to hide your characteristics, expect you will be under constant watch."
"Which category do I belong in? Well first of all I wasn't born here or in any of the discriminant places so I wouldn't be under any of these circumstances. I also came here under the guise of being completely human, but I do belong to both sides."
Aeolus looked to Andrew for him to continue explaining. Seeing his gaze Andrew let a breath go before continuing.
"You see, for me, my father is both really wealthy and belongs to the higher, fancier blood of Lycan shifters. My mother on the other hand was a human, to other humans her status was that of a commoner. Even though her status was low and the majority of my father's family rejected her, he loved her. I don't understand why he remarried if he said he would never, no matter what would happen…"
"Anyways my father was a Lycan shifter which can also be classified as a mythological beast, my mother was human. So that would put me in a half breeds category. I am neither full Lycan shifter nor human, I don't have enough of my Lycan blood to be considered a mythological beast; but I am stronger than a werewolf"
There was a small silence in the car before I thought of another question to ask. "You said there are few places that discriminate, were there more in the past?"
Andrew looked at me with a confused face before saying "oh right you don't know, well it wasn't all that long ago we were In a civil war. It ended like 40 years ago? I do know that the equalists won, which is why there are so few cities and even fewer nations that discriminate. If they do the rest of the global economy kinda shuns them, this nation in particular doesn't discriminate, but this city does."
I hummed in response to that… there was a civil war just 40 years ago… wow… I stared outside the window again and realized we were talking for a long time because now the sun had almost completely set.
I looked around and noticed the car had slowed down a lot considerably. We were in a line of cars near the front because people were getting out.
It looked to be very fancy as the restaurant building was tall and the people looked very professional.
A young woman in a dark red and black vest with black pants walked up to us and knocked on Andrew's side of the window. He then somehow proceeded to lower the window!( I don't know how cars work, but that seems like magic)
The lady proceeded to bow and speak.
"Welcome Young Sir to South Point Restaurant, may I have the pleasure of knowing your last name."
Andrew responded calmly. "Montihue"
Those words froze the young miss before she responded, still calm and collected.
"Good evening Eldest Young Master, your reserved table is on the 73rd floor. Please follow me."
The moment she finished another coworker wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt, no vest this time. Came over, bowed, then opened the backdoor on Andrew's side.
Andrew helped me unbuckle my seatbelt before we started following the young miss. As we entered the lobby we were greeted by tall Greek pillars, tall ceilings, tall windows, and marble flooring.
There were plants growing on and in the Greek pillars as well as in pots on the floor creating a very green and happy atmosphere. The colors green ivory/white and gold were present in this lobby and it was beautiful.
There were workers walking around and leading people to their tables in the room to your right just as you walked in. There were also workers leading people to Golden rimmed glass boxes that would float upwards until they couldn't be seen.
I asked Andrew what that was. He said it was an elevator using magnetic force to lift itself. I was still confused but amazed.
The lady led us to one of those boxes, which were on the left side of the room in the wall with some, no backing, black leather couches for people to sit on.
We went into the the see-through golden box and the lady pressed some buttons on the wall. I asked Andrew what she was doing, he said to not mind it because it would take us to the 73rd floor.
It wasn't to long later that we reached the 73rd floor, this floor was very different from the lobby as it was less open but still decorated with plants, only this time there were many classic paintings in the wall. The elevator opened up to a hallway we walked through as I observed this.
The aroma of food was very fragrant, it made by tummy rubble again.
The short hallway opened up to a larger room with more spaced out tables, a few people were sitting in these tables by the windows on the right side of the room. Either by them selves or together; conversing silently together.
Andrew's father was seated by the fireplace on the left, most northwest side of the room.
They arrived at the table and sat down across from each other. Aeolus and Andrew with their backs to the fireplace while Andrew's father was facing them, his back to the windows.
He was sitting in the chair with his legs crossed to make a 4 or L shape, the warm glow from the fireplace and the dusky light from the room illuminated his face, giving him an eerie feeling.
The three were silent, the tension was so thick between Andrew and Druex(Andrew's dad's name) you could feel it and quite possible to cut it with knife. Aeolus was confused and uncomfortable with the situation at hand.
His stomach rumbled again, reminding him of his hunger. Timidly he spoke breaking the thick tension. "Uhm I have a question," he figured a bit before continuing, "when will the food come?" The space was quiet before Druex said, "I haven't ordered anything yet, go ahead."
Andrew then proceeded to call over a waiter to oder food. Because Aeolus hadn't eaten in years, he has to eat small portions so as to not upset his stomach. But Andrew didn't know that exactly, he only had a similar thought In mind. Andrew ordered a 6 ounce sirloin steak, with apple sauce and mashed potatoes, incase Aeolus was allergic to apples. He then ordered a rotisserie chicken seasoned with Hispanic spices, Sided with yuca and sweat potato fries and a salad of cherry tomatoes, squeezed lemons, chopped lettuce, and nuts. As well as chicha morada as a drink for him and his father.
A short while later the food arrived, while eating the food Andrew served for himself and his father. Druex asked "So what was it you wanted to show me?" With an expression that read 'let's quickly get this over with.'
"I wanted to show you this." Andrew said before motioning Lucy to hand him the vanilla envelope folder surprising Aeolus who hadn't noticed Lucy before.
"And what's this?" My father asked.
"Open it and you'll see." I responded "But please finish reading and looking at everything before saying anything."
I quickly added infear he might leave or refuse to completely read any further.
I looked at his face as he read, both hoping and not hoping to see it change. It didn't, and that only made me more nervous, but I couldn't let it show, I couldn't let my fear show because then he would know. His face only stiffened when he finished.
He looked to me, his face still cold but filled with a confused and understanding expression before saying. "I had many doubts on both you and my second wife Angaleen, but to think you had the proof to prove them right… how did you get this?" My father said as he lifted up the vanilla envelope folder before emptying it's contents on the table after clearing a space.
The documents were visible to everyone. The crime scene pictures and sketch, the autopsy reports, the initial reports from the police and forensic department, the bribes, the cover ups, black market reciets, the mail addresses and IP addresses, the multiple bank accounts and who owned what, the transactions between a poison curator and Angaleen, text messages between an anonymous person, Angaleen and her daughter, more bribes, and receipts from buying poison from a black market auction as well as many many burner phones.
Everything. Everything about the truth of my mother's murder and my expecting wife's murder was laid out on the table for everyone to see.
Responding to my father, I looked at him with a cold expression. "I called on a few favors… Does it matter?" I asked in return.
He looked at me frustrated "Of course it matters!! Calling on a few favors means first, you did something for those people to be indebted to you! people who have connections and the ability to do this!!! You could be in danger for all I know!!!!!!" He said exasperated. I noticed his eyes had a sheen of red on them now.
I stared dead straight at him with no expression and I stated coldly."Now why would you care? You kicked me out when I was 16, just because t h a t women framed ME as the one to kill my own mother. You kicked me out then, so why would you care now?"
My father sighed, looking away frustrated before looking back at me with a serious expression. "Look, I can't take back what I've done because it's already been done and in the past. I'm sorry, I really truly am,, and I hope you can give me a chance to make it up to you."
" I regret many things I did back then. I had acted mainly on my emotions and didn't listen to my reasonable self, I didn't question the suspicious events happening around me. I want to tell you more about what was happening behind the veil, but I can't. She will always be listening, so it's not safe at all to disclose this information to you until YOU are secured safe."
I was stunned and quiet for a moment, I then continued to eat my food silently while I processed what was just said when Aeolus cut in with applesauce, surprising me who forgot he was here.
"By she do you mean an Elder Lycan shifter?"
I was confused as to how Aeolus would've found this out and know the position this person held, my father also seemed shocked.
He stared at Aeolus his eyes glinting red and with a dark tone asked."how did you know?"
Aeokus was confused, he tilted his head abit to the side like a dog before saying with full confidence. "The wind told me!!" He then proceeded to smile with his mouth still messy from the applesauce he ate.
The room was silent besides the background sound coming from the clinking of utensils and chatter from the other few people enjoying their meal.
Uncomfortable with the silence he created, Aeolus added "The wind told me! It's true!! They told me you were forced to make a promise of unequivalent exchange!"
"The seal on your soul, marking the promise has the mark of an Elder Lycan shifter dominating your mark!" Turning to Andrew, he pleaded "You belive me!? Right dad??"
Immediately after Aeolus finished talking, Druex stared at Aeolus in a daze before looking to Andrew and saying "You have an awful lot to explain on the plain." Looking to his watch, he then continued "we need to go now or we will miss our flight." Druex then proceeded to pay the bill while standing up, grabbing his coat and scarf from his seat before looking to Aeolus again whispering.
"I can't believe their still alive."
Chapter 06. End.