V
Now that he had a closer look, Ayden couldn't help but think there was something oddly familiar about the eyes staring back at him, and not just his encounter with them earlier in the night. Something about the way they looked back at him reminded him of a distant memory. And from the look upon the dark skinned boy's face, he wasn't the only one facing deja vu.
Both stood there in silence, seemingly waiting for the other to break first. It was Marcus who spoke first.
"What did you do to piss off the U.C.T.I. that bad?" he nodded his head in the direction Ayden's pursuers what disappeared.
"Broke in," Ayden replied, his voice almost a whisper.
"Broke in where? Like someone's place, or?"
"Alexandria," Ayden answered.
"How the fuck? You can't just break into Alexandria. The scanners would…" Before Marcus can finish his words, Ayden raises his arm, and removes the band around it. Marcus' eyes widen and he lets out a snort of a laugh.
"You're a clever little shit, aren't you?" Marcus laughed.
Ayden shrugged in reply.
"Okay, so you broke into the city, but why?"
Once again Ayden shrugs, and Marcus knows he's not gonna get anything out of him for now.
"Why did you help me?" Ayden asks suddenly.
"Looked like you needed help." Marcus replied, his own lie hidden with his own words. "Plus when most people knock you around, they don't stop and apologize. Especially if they were running for their life like you were. Most people don't give a shit, ya know. So maybe the took me by surprise. A shred of decency found in a huge pile of shit." This much of what Marcus said, was true.
"Yeah, sorry about that again. I really didn't mean to…" Ayden replied, his voice sincere, s nervous smirk spreading across his face.
It was Marcus who shrugged this time. "Meh, shit happens. Anyways, you got a place to go? Any family around here?"
"An uncle, well godfather actually, but uncle all the same. But I'm not sure he's even alive. Plus now that the U.C.T.I. is looking for me, I'm not sure he's the best person to be going to. So no, I don't. Was just gonna wing it."
"Not anymore you aren't kid. You can come stay with me. Plenty of room. Too much actually, considering its just me. If you don't mind a bit of late night yelling every once in a while?" Marcus said.
He laughed when you noticed one of Ayden's eye brows raise slightly. "My work can be irritating to say the least. And I'll be the first to admit I have a tenancy to lose my shit from time to time. Don't worry, it's only against the metal."
Ayden stood there for a moment, silent. That familiar feeling was growing stronger. No not just familiar, but a drawing feeling. The feeling you get when you finally find the answer to a question that has been evading your mind for too long. Finally he nodded.
"Sounds good to me."
"Sweet. By the way, name's Marcus."
"Ayden."
They both walked in silence, minus the few times that Marcus told Ayden where the next turn was coming up at, among the seemingly endless streets and back alleys they made their way down.
Surprisingly they didn't notice anymore Coalition officers as they went, although it would have been damn near impossible for either to notice the other side, as they made their way deeper into the actual city. Ayden couldn't help by stare in wonder at neon lined skyscrapers and buildings that spanned as far the eye could see. What surprised him even more, was the sea of people that covered the sidewalks and streets when the lights would allow them to pass. In a world on the brink of death, Alexandria was more then alive. It was flourishing.
The plaza he had first entered near was a joke compared to the many markets they passed. Each one seeming to hold a different taste from around the world. Tastes kept alive and passed on by those who dared to hold onto their old ways, and bring them into a world that could easily forget them, given half a chance. As he passed by it all, Ayden came to realize that Alexandria wasn't just a city, but a melting pot of human history. Of all of human culture. Tucked away behind those vast walls. Either to die off orrecover enough to spread out across the world once again.
"I had no idea there was still so many people this close." Ayden broke the silence, mostly to himself.
"Really?" Marcus snickered, "What have you been living under a rock?"
"More like hidden under one, it would seem,"
"I hear that…" Marcus mouthed under his breath. "By the way if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
"Fifteen, for a couple more months at least," Ayden replied. "You?"
"Seventeen, for a couple more days at least," Marcus said with a half smile.
"Well, happy early birthday I guess," Ayden nodded. "So you said earlier that you lived alone. Don't you have any family?"
"Not anymore. Mom died a couple years back, killed in the last big attack by Eden. And no idea about my old man. Never met him. It was always just me and my mom. Until it was just me." Marcus replied somberly.
"Sorry to hear that."
"Shit happens," Marcus replied. And it did, a lot in the world these days. "Sorry to be a downer, man.
You said you had a godfather, maybe, here in Alex. Any parents?"
"Both dead," Ayden lied to both Marcus and himself. "Dad died when I was five. He was part of Gen One. Died on the battlefield. Stray bullet to the head." His eyes drifted towards his feet at this. "And I don't really wanna talk about my mother."
"Damn."
"Shit happens, right?" Ayden repeated.
"That it does my friend, that it does." Marcus laughed. "So your dad was part of Gen One, huh? His name wasn't August Alexander by chance?"
Ayden stopped dead in his tracks at Marcus' words; who didn't notice at first until the smaller boy was several feet behind him. He stopped and looked back to see Ayden staring at him with a sense of disbelief.
"How did you know?" Ayden asked, still staring at Marcus.
"Not really hard, if you pay attention. They were quite famous, weren't they. The first to pilot the H.A.R.M. Units. The first to bring the fight back to Eden. And if the stories are true, August Alexander was one damn good pilot. A natural some might say. His death was well known. Which matches your story quite well. Plus you do look a shit load like him. Just saying." Marcus shrugged, as if it all should have been obvious to Ayden. "Don't worry, Mr. Ayden Alexander. As far as anyone else knows, you are still a ghost."
Ayden felt his body relax, and he nodded in thanks. Silence returned between them the rest of the way to their destination.
After a while, the buildings around them grew smaller, until they were replaced by houses and what appeared to be apartments. They had crossed a river to get there, a watery divider between the chaos of the heart of Alexander, and whatever this place was known as. Here the noise and lights were almost non existent compared to where they had left. It was peaceful, even though many of the homes were run down. Some abandoned and destroyed. Their owners gone in one way or another. Ayden guessed this must have been one of the parts of the city that had been directly hit by the hands of the Paradise War at one point or another. Much of it looked rebuilt, although you could see the scars through the half ass job that had been done to accomplish the reconstruction.
The adrenaline from the last twenty four hours was beginning to fade now. Even with the couple hours of sleep he had found within the abandoned car alone the highway, Ayden was finding himself becoming more and more exhausted with each new step they took. Once again, the sound of one foot in front of the other pushed kept his mind and body in sync. Still he knew his pace was slowing, a fact Marcus must have noticed himself.
"Don't worry, we're almost there." Marcus assured him, as if his words would magically take away the urge to collapse that was creeping further and further over Ayden's entire being.
They turned once again, passing under the flickering street lights that lit the otherwise abandoned street. The asphalt was badly damaged, collateral damage of both war and the passage of time; almost causing Ayden to trip in the scattered potholes one more then one occasion. He kept his eyes at his feet, to make sure he didn't find his footing in anymore of the traps after the third time he almost went down.
A few more minutes passed with this motion at work, with Ayden lost in sound of his footsteps and the searching of holes that aimed to take him down, when he suddenly collided into the back of Marcus.
"Damn, you okay back there?" Marcus turned, otherwise unaffected by the collision.
"Yeah, sorry. Wasn't paying attention. Been a long day, ya know?" Ayden replied. His eyes widened at the sight behind Marcus. They know stood at the bottom of a rather steep incline, the road fading into nothing but dirt as it went. Near the top, Ayden could see a rather large building. He thought it looked like a house, but that was wrong. It put houses to shame. This was more than just that. And the smile on Marcus' face told him that was where they were headed.
"There she is, home sweet home." Marcus said, his voice coming out in a matter of fact kinda way. As if to him, there was nothing impressive about the giant that overlooked the run down peasant houses below.
"Jesus, you really live here?" Ayden stared on in wonder. His house, no, his old house had been a decent size. But what he was looking at now, was ridiculous.
"Yeah, small inheritance, you could say," Marcus rolled his eyes and shrugged in dismissal. "You gonna make it? Cause you look like you're bout ready drop where you stand."
"Yeah, just need to rest a moment before the climb," Ayden replied as he began to crouch down onto his hunches. Just as he was about to get comfortable, he looked up to see Marcus kneeling in front of him, back towards him.
"Hop on, we're almost there," Marcus pointed over his shoulder at his back.
"You sure? I'll be okay."
"Listen man, it's late, and I'm really not in the mood to argue niceties with you. Just jump on, so we can both call it a night. Deal?"
Ayden nodded and climbed onto the older boy's back. He was a bit surprised at how easily Marcus was able to stand and begin making his way up the hill towards the house.
Marcus bent down and let Ayden slide down onto the beat up asphalt of what was once a circle drive in front of the chipped white painted mansion. Now standing in front of the structure, Ayden knew his view at a distance had been more than deceiving. This wasn't just a mansion, but a fortress in its own right. The front door was made of solid steel, with a smaller version of the scanners that had lined the entrance he had come through, placed atop it's frame. Each of the windows looked to be occupied with the same metal as the door. And Ayden had a feeling that if he was to actually touch the side of the house, he would find the cold feel of steel there as well.
He watched as Marcus stepped in front of the scanner, and placed his right hand on the door itself. A red light scanned his entire body, and after a moment, turned green. The came the sound of metal releasing, as the locks holding the door shut released. Once the sequence was done, Marcus pushed the front door open, and turned back to Ayden, waving a hand forward to let him know it was okay to enter.
Ayden stood there a moment, trying to make sense of what he had just seen. Trying to make sense of the dark skinned young man who had saved his ass. The young man who was now inviting him into a home bigger than any he could have ever imagined. Just who was he exactly? A simple orphan wasn't the answer, that much Ayden knew for sure.
"You just gonna stand out in the cold all night or what?" Marcus broke his trance.
Ayden shook his head and followed Marcus through the metal door and into the place he would come to call home over the years to come.
The entrance way was dimly lit, the only light coming from the a distant room. Ayden's eyes struggled against the dark, trying to make any sort of sense of what was around him.
"Lights on," Marcus said at once, his voice echoing off the metal walls. The darkness was swept away from the sudden overflow of light, which made Ayden throw his arm over his eyes to stop from going blind.
As he slowly lowered his arm and let his eyes focus, he felt his breath catch in his throat. His eyes scanned in wonder at the room he found himself in. Black marble floors, with white veins flowing through in every direction, lay beneath his feet. The walls stood white, meeting with the ceiling twenty feet above their heads. Roughly thirty feet in front of where they stood, stood twin wooden staircases, that spiraling in opposite directions up to a wooden balcony that overlooked the entry way. A set of double doors, crystal glass within wooden frames, sat below the overlook, and lead into what appeared to be some sort of dinning room. To the left, was another metal door, which Ayden assumed lead into the garage that dwarfed his own house by itself.
"You hungry at all?" Marcus asked, bringing Ayden back to reality once again.
"Uh…what?"
"You hungry?" Marcus repeated. Should have some food in the kitchen. Haven't been out to restock in a while. But there should be something edible around here." He began making his way towards the double doors ahead of them.
"Yeah, I could eat," Ayden said and followed.
As they made their way across the marble and between the twin stairs, Ayden couldn't help but notice how unlived in the place felt. The walls were all bare, minus the silver colored light fixtures that stood in perfect symmetry on either side of the room. Staring at the back of Marcus, he felt a sadden for the boy.
How long had been left alone in this over sized place?
Pushing the thought aside, he made his way through the double doors and into the dinning room, slash, kitchen. The floor here was tiled white, with the same marble that had made up the entry rising up into an island that stood in the middle of the room. In laid into the surface on one side was four glass circles,
each with a silver knob to control the head of the eyes. The middle was taken up by a sink of the same color as the knobs. And finally the rest was taken up by empty space, which Ayden assumed was used as a table, if one should chose to eat in here, given the few wooden stools at sat a few feet away from the island itself.
"Pull up a seat, I'll see what I got in the fridge," Marcus said, making his way toward the large metal fridge placed against a nearby wall.
Ayden pulled the nearest stool to him out, placed his bag to the side, and climbed up to rest. He sat there, watching in silence as Marcus rummaged for food, muttering to himself every once in while.
After a few moments, he turned around with what appeared to be some sort of pasta, with pieces of tomato and chicken mixed in. He set it on the island, bent down, and a moment later came up with a pan from below. Dumping the pasta into the pan, he set it upon one of the eyes of the stove, and turned on a low heat.
After a quick stir, Marcus pulled up the other stool and sat down, still within arms reach of the stove.
"Shouldn't take to long to warm that up," Marcus said. "In the mean time, mind explaining to me exactly why you broke into Alex, as you so called it? And what the hell were you doing outside the walls in the first place?"
"My dad had built our home in the woods, past the wastelands," Ayden answered the latter of Marcus' questions, ignoring the first completely.
"Understandable. Bet its beautiful out there. A piece of untouched paradise if I had to guess. Still doesn't explain why you would make the trip to this shit hole. And I'm still not even sure how one breaks in. Unless you don't have a chip, you would have been picked up immediately by the scanners.
You do have a chip don't you?"
Ayden nodded, and said nothing more.
"Look kid, I can see you aren't exactly used to talking to other people, hell I wouldn't either if I lived in the woods like that. Especially alone as it sounds. And you don't seem to be some sort of psycho oranything like that. Just trying figure out what the son of August Alexander is doing running from the very group his father is legend amongst."
"I don't…" Ayden began, then fell silent again. As he sat there looking at the young man who had taken him in, he truly wanted to tell him everything. There was a feeling deep inside him that said it was okay.
That he could trust this man. That odd pull of fate in the back of his mind. But still, he said nothing.
"You broke and needed supplies, or
something?" Marcus pressed on. "Or running from something else besides the U.C.T.I.?" He watched as Ayden's eye drifted slightly down at this last statement, and he was sure he had his answer. The look that came over Ayden's face next told him not to press the issue any farther. A look of disgust mixed with a deep sadness. A feeling he himself knew all too well. Everyone has their secrets.
Marcus let out a long sigh. "Well whatever your reasons, I understand. I know a thing or two about running, believe me. So unless you want to tell me yourself, I won't nag you about it again. You're still welcome to stay here of course. Looks like you could use a little company. And if you don't, well this place is big enough for both of us to stay the hell out of each other's hair," he laughed.
"Thanks," Ayden said with a nod. "I'd like that."
"Well then, it's settled. Mi casa and all that. We'll get some food in you, then you can take one of the spare bedrooms."
Ayden didn't take notice to the fact that Marcus was staring at him, eyes wide, with his untouched bowl of pasta in front of him, until Ayden had finished scarfing his down.
"Goddamn, did you even taste that?" Marcus asked with a chuckle after a moment.
"Mhm," Ayden answered, his mouth still full with the final remains of his own bowl. Swallowing quickly he said, "It was delicious, thank you."
"No problem," Marcus shrugged and returned his attention back to his own bowl.
It was Ayden's turn to ask the questions, as Marcus finished his food. "So you said you got all of this," he gestured around him with an open hand, "from a small inheritance. Guessing your mom must have been some sort of big shot? Old money from before the war, or what? Because honestly you really don't seem like the rich asshole type you seen in the movies."
Marcus choked as both pasta and the urge to laugh caught in his throat. Hitting his chest with side of his fist, he said, "Yeah, something like that. And thanks I guess. Don't get it wrong, I'm a different type of asshole," he finished with smile.
"I see," Ayden chuckled, unsure in that moment what exactly Marcus meant by that. Although in the years to come, Ayden himself would come to use the phrase himself to describe Marcus to others.
Finishing the rest of his portion, Marcus stood and grabbed the dirty dishes, placing them in the empty sink. After a quick rinse, not enough to make sure they were clean, he gestured for Ayden to follow him once again.
They made their way back the way they had come, through the double doors, under the staircase, and finally up the stairs themselves. Once they reached the top, Ayden could see that on either side of the balcony, heading back towards the way of the kitchen, ran two long hallways. Marcus lead Ayden down the one on the left. They past two closed doors, which Marcus said was just random store spaces, the largest bathroom Ayden had ever seen in his life, and finally came to the room that would become his.
The first thing he noticed was the glass wall that overlooked that garage side of the house, well would have, if the metal shuttered that covered them, had been opened. Next was the fact that the room must have been untouched even before Marcus' mom had passed. The large, beyond comfortable looking bed, was still made up neatly. Unslept in for years, per the small layer of dust that had settled on the black and white comforter that lay on top. Even though he noticed it, Ayden was must to tired to even begin to think about complaining about a little dust. Plus he figured he had no right to even if he had wanted to. He had pretty much accepted the fact that he was most likely gonna be sleeping on the streets when all this began, so this was heaven in comparison.
"This used to be one of the rooms mom's coworkers would use if they ended up working late," Marcus said nonchalantly. "I haven't been in here in forever, so sorry its not exactly the cleanest. But it's all yours. Doesn't look like you have a lot of stuff, so for now, the dresser should suffice. Need anything before I go crash myself?"
"Nah, think I'm good," Ayden yawned.
As Marcus began to make his way back out the door, he stopped. "I'm just down the other hall, if you need anything. Or feel free to just raid the kitchen should you get too hungry."
Ayden nodded. Just as Marcus was almost out of sight, he called after him. "Hey, thanks again man. You have no idea how much of a life saver you are."
Marcus smiled, and waved a hand of dismissal, before disappearing from the room, closing the door behind him.
Ayden stood there a moment, taking in his new surrounding. It was nothing like where he expected to have ended up when he stepped out the door to the house that once belonged to his now long broken family. Yet, deep down he knew this is where he was meant to be. The tug of destiny had brought him to his new home.
As a brief second wind hit him, most likely from the bit of energy from actually eating real food, he decided to put away at least some of the contents within his duffel bag.
Making his way across the room to the large, finish stained oak dresser, he dropped down his bag at his feet, and began to sort what little clothes he had grabbed into the drawers. But as he opened up the bottom drawer, he came upon something that made him stop. A small leather binder.
Picking it up, he realized it was an old photo album. He opened it to see what appeared to be a very young Marcus, in a highchair, with a mess of cake on his face. Another picture next to it, showed a little older Marcus playing with what looked to a toy robot of some sort.
As Ayden paged through the binder, he found more and more pictures of Marcus and his childhood. A happy one it would appear. Yet within all of them, only Marcus was shown. Until he came upon the last picture in the album.
A young, with blonde woman, stood there with an infant Marcus in her arms, pulling at the name tag connected to white coat she wore. Her emerald green eyes shined with a happiness that only a loving mother could know. Behind the two of them, stood what appeared to be a large metal leg.
As he stood there looking at this final imagine, Ayden came to realize exactly what Marcus had been so nonchalant at the mention of his mom. Ayden the woman in the picture all too well. Even though he had only met her once, that he could remember, at his own father's funeral; he knew her connection to his own parents had once been a strong one. But even if that hadn't been the case, Ayden would have recognized her. Hell anyone on Terra would have for that matter.
Behind those emerald green eyes; she shared with the son she held in her arms; was the mind behind the turning point in the Paradise War. This was the engineer of the Humanized Assault and Response Machinas, Dr. Raychel Young.
Ayden sat there a moment, still staring at the photo. Trying to make sense of what he was truly seeing.
There was never record of Dr. Young having a son. Yet there was no denying the fact, by looking at the picture, that her and Marcus were mother and son. He just didn't understand why not even his own parents ever mentioned the fact that Marcus existed over the years. Especially since once upon a time, before the death of his father, before there was a Dr. Raychel Young even, there was Gwen and Raychel.
Best friends, or so the stories were told, once upon a time.
His eyes began to lose their focus, as their lids began to grow heavier. A yawn suddenly attacked Ayden, telling him it was far past his time to rest. Standing up, he set the album on the top of the dresser, and striped down to nothing but his boxers.
Crawling under the comforter and sheets of the bed that was more like a cloud than a mattress, he lay his head on the pillow, pulling the blank up over his head, he closed his eyes.
"Lights out," he barely said, before he was out himself.