Ember sat within the confines of Leech's office, his boss still talking to the detective that had been questioning Ember about the events of his inauguration. Now, the officer was finishing up his investigation for the evening, Leech and him both engaging in friendly banter to ease the tension.
Ember was too lost in his own head to even notice, the shooting as well as the mistreatment of Alec still running through his head over and over. More than anything, the shooter's words were replaying in his head, over and over again. Of course, the immediate consensus was that this was just some crazy conspiracist, or a rebel. But why Ember? Its not like anybody knew who he was, not before today's news report. What would make some lunatic sneak his way through layers of security in a military base, just to tell Ember his father was alive?
Ember couldn't stop thinking about that. A crazy person wouldn't be capable of such a well thought out plan. But then again, maybe he was a rebel? But why would the rebels bring this to his attention? Maybe they were lying... but then again, things felt different during the inauguration. The pilot had never seen Leech so cold, let alone towards his own son. And Alec... He still didn't know where the pilot was, nor if he was okay. He really hoped Alec was okay.
"Thank you for your time, Captain Leech, as to you, Ember." The detective spoke, suddenly turning to Ember and holding out a hand to shake.
Ember blinked, only hearing his name from that sentence. It broke his trance, but his deer in the headlights expression remained.
"Huh?" Ember mumbled.
The detective raised his brows before sharing a puzzled look with Leech. This caused Ember to look away timidly, it not taking long for his mind to drift off again.
"I'll talk to him. The kid is just in shock, but I'm sure he will be better to talk to at a later time. Thank you again for your patience, detective." Leech whispered to the investigator, the officer nodding in response before he took his exit, leaving Ember alone with his leader.
Leech made sure to guide the cop out the door, taking a deep breath as he shut said door once the officer was out of sight. He turned to look at Ember from behind, seeing that the pilot still appeared to be lost in his trance. Eventually, Leech made his way to his desk, taking his seat in front of the inducted pilot.
"I imagine this is a lot to take in, Ember. It is not my wish to see any of my pilots in unnecessary danger, so I want to offer my deepest apol-"
"Why didn't you help your son?" Ember suddenly asked, raising his head to meet his captain's gaze.
An abrupt silence filled the room, Leech taken aback by hearing something so unrelated yet so personal. The elder stared back at Ember, trying to maintain himself during these dire circumstances.
"I don't believe I understand, pilot."
"Your son. You knew he had that ink covering his face, right? I mean, you still live with him. You both go to work together. Why didn't you do anything to help him?"
Leech sighed, standing from his seat and turning to his bookshelf. The man approached it, examining it's contents as he deliberated on what he should say next. Ember's gaze followed these motions, watching as his boss eventually fixed his eyes onto the ground below.
"Pride is an important thing to me, Ember. And my authority is important to my pilots as well as my son. He's an adult now and he's serving our nation. If my son can't come to the most important day of his life dressed like it, he can learn the hard way and see what happens when making those poor choices. Just like that shooter did."
Ember didn't respond, an unexplainable heat of rage causing his hand to tremble. He couldn't imagine his father ever doing something so unnecessarily cruel.
"You know, Alec could learn a thing or two from you. I wish you were more like him." Leech mused, turning to face Ember with a warm smile.
"I know you have a lot going on right now. If you need to, take tomorrow off. It'll be paid for." The elder added.
"Thats funny, I think you could learn a thing or two from my dad. Maybe start by disappearing from your son's life, for his sake." Ember spat, standing abruptly and turning on his heel.
Leech's eyes widened, brows raising with shock as he watched Ember walk towards the door.
"I'll be here tomorrow, don't worry about it." Ember muttered flatly as he opened the door, exiting and making sure to slam it behind him for emphasis.
Leech was left in shock, this expression being contorted by a scowl as the door slammed. The man digested Ember's words, his body growing tense. He urgently made his way back to his chair and raised his wrist. It revealed a watch of his own, which Leech turned on manually before he methodically dialed a number, making sure not to speak in hopes of maintaining his privacy on this matter. The watch then began connecting to a caller, Leech waiting with anticipation until he finally got an answer.
"Yes, this is Leech. I wish to inform you that due to extreme measures of the rebellion, I will be keeping extra eyes on Ember Chain. I encourage you to do the same. Please inform me if you find anything abnormal..."
Ember meanwhile had already made it to the loading deck of the base, planes either being loaded or flying off the edge of the city to begin todays work. It was clear that the pilots working today were more on edge than usual due to the insurrection of their base, but work had to continue on for the sakes of the nation regardless. Ember's mind wasn't focused on that though. He needed to find Alec.
The ashy haired man could spot Theodore in the distance, carrying a box of resources from today's work of collecting from the dangerous planet below. Ember wasted no time walking right up to the man who nearly tried to kill him just a night before.
"Where's Alec?" Ember asked abruptly.
Theodore stopped in his tracks, brows knitting as he turned his head to see his rival.
"Why would I tell you?" Theodore barked.
"Cause it's important. For his sake."
"Oh yeah, I'm sure you are exactly who he wants to see right now."
"Screw you!" Ember growled, his resentment already bubbling back up.
"No, screw you! You are the reason he's an absolute wreck right now, you know that right? He doesn't even want to leave his garage after what happened. You completely humiliated him!"
Ember frowned, guilt overtaking him once more. He looked down, digesting that undeniable truth. But suddenly, his eyes darted back up to Theodore, a perplexed look on his face.
"Garage?"
Theodore's eyes widened at this one worded response, this reaction being all Ember needed to walk right past his snow white rival.
"Ember! Don't you dare, you post birth bastard!" Theodore screamed as Ember walked away from him and towards the direction of Alec's garage.
Ember was determined at this point to make things right with his colleague, the pilot walking past the seemingly endless line of garages before finally reaching the one adorned with the label of Alec Leech's name, which rested just above the garage door. Ember knocked, a determined look on his face.
"Alec! Alec please answer!" Ember yelled, but to no avail.
This went on for a couple of minutes with no progress, the pilot eventually pausing his pleas with an exasperated sigh, resting his forehead against the door as he shut his eyes. He thought a moment, trying to conjure up some kind of way to gain the blonde's trust.
"You know, when I was a kid... I always got made fun of for looking like a girl," Ember suddenly began.
"One time, in middle school, I went to the school's playground cause I thought a boy I liked wanted to hang out with me. I was really excited, cause I never really thought another boy would. Well, when I got there, it turned out I was wrong. My bullies had been waiting for me... You wanna know what they did?" He asked, glancing ahead at the door as he allowed a beat of silence before continuing.
"They held me down, stripped me... they beat me up a bit too for good measure, then they made me put on a dress. After it was all said and done, I had to go back into school and tell a teacher. But lets just say the other student's didn't get to miss their chance in seeing me beforehand." Ember finished, cringing at the memory as he leaned back from the door.
"But I did learn one thing, there's nothing wrong with looking like a girl, cause that implies being one is wrong. And why would I care about what a bunch of sexist little creeps thought of me anyways, right? So you shouldn't care what a bunch of immature pricks think of you either. They weren't laughing cause you are weak or dumb, it was cause they were happy to see someone stronger and smarter than them get beaten down. So stop beating yourself down and open the door!"