Chapter Thirteen

The Manufacturer Labs

Tests tubes filled with incomplete and failed projects, half human in appearance, while others were piles of fleshy objects soon to turn into stones. Whether the failed test subjects would one day become a stone was something beyond Charlotte Rothschild’s concept of reality. She was terrified, stooped down on both her knees as she watched in horror the floating organisms. 

From outside the room, footfalls pounding the cement alerted their group of their new arrivals. Aden shifted into a fighting stance. Damien reached down to grasp onto the girl’s shoulders to steady her, while Xavier dropped the pieces of papers in his hand. He was desperately looking for something. 

“Weapons, a gun, something.” Xavier muttered aloud, and Aden clenched his fists. They had no time and the chances of escaping became slimmer as their enemies drew in. 

“Make do with what we have. Grab something, shove desks together for cover.” Aden ordered. 

Damien pulled Charlotte up with him. “Come on.” Cesium curled protectively around the auburn, keeping close to her side. His tail curled downward. 

She couldn’t help but stare at each of the test cases they past. Her feet heavily hitting the linoleum as they started pushing the desks over to where Aden was. Xavier had also begun pushing things, only to find himself a pistol. 

“Ammo?” Xavier lifted up the gun so Aden could see. 

“Here.” Pulling out a reserve magazine he had in his utility pocket, Aden tossed it over. 

Xavier caught the magazine and started to load. The ammo seemed like it would work with the gun. Damien directed Charlotte to crouch down beneath the desk, and looked to his brothers. 

“Don’t suppose you have another one?” 

“Unlikely.” Aden replied. He was darting his eyes across all of the exits and entrances to the room. They were in a bad position. 

“Get ready.” Xavier noticed the guards approaching the threshold. 

Behind cover, the four of them looked to see the facility warden himself flanked by four of his guards enter the space.  Jonas looked over to their makeshift huddle spot and smirked.

“To think I underestimated you. I will have to get rid of those foolish guards.” Jonas sneered.

Charlotte snapped her attention from the test subjects and glared at Jonas Werslithe. He purposely tortured and killed people in this facility. She felt the anger boil under her skin deep in her blood as she clenched the desk. He disregarded life, liberty, and the state’s mission to keep its citizenry safe. 

Aden gave a look to his brothers. 

“Count of three.” He pulled the safety back on the gun he picked up. 

“Yeah.” Xavier approved, but before they could count, Jonas exclaimed with both arms in the air. 

“How do you like the facility’s experiment, brilliant jewels are they not?” Overjoyed to gloat at them, he waited for their response. When none came, he openly walked to one of the many testing capsules to stare at a disintegrated human. 

“I believe her name was Martha. She was quite the stupid lady. She crossed a statesmen official by suggesting we vote for our next Fleet admiral. How silly is that? People voting, much less a woman leading it.” He gave a curt laugh. “It’s no wonder she disappeared.” 

Aden clenched his jaw. 

The stout man admired the next test tubes which made Charlotte cringe. The three men stood quietly ready, as if they were used to Jonas Werslithe’s sick hobby. “This one was Gregor. He was a young aspiring artist. He was traveling when the pirates acquired him. They thought his talents unique and wanted to try enlisting him. Needless to say that didn’t work out.” 

“Well,” The man started with beady eyes. “Most have turned into failures due to their missing components, but luckily we have a never ending supply of humans to test on.” He snapped his fingers and the three men lifted their muskets. “Come over girl. I’ll begin with you first.” 

“Three.” Aden said immediately after and both the boys started to shoot. The guards opened fire as the four of them scrambled back under their cover. This tactic repeated until Jonas stopped his two remaining men. “Didn’t you hear me? What’s the use of test subjects if they’re dead! I want the alive!” 

Xavier interjected, breaking the silence ringing in Charlotte’s ears. “The no way in hell we’d openly welcome your stupid tests!” 

Jonas hollered, a bit of spittle spewed from his curved lip as he snarled. 

“What are you paid for? Go get them!” There was a vein popping near his left temple. “They’re merely children!”

Aden darkened his glare before he rose up from his spot. Damien and Charlotte both went to pull him down, but he stood there with his arm at the ready.  

“You’re nothing but a maggot.” Aden glowered, feeling his own anger rise. 

“You force others to do your dirty work. What’s a fat lard like you going to do?” Aden took aim and instantly shot one of his guards. The man dropped while the last guard lifted his musket. 

Aden turned his attention to the last guard. “Do you want to die? I’ll oblige you.” He raised his pistol, and before he could pull the trigger, the guard dropped his gun. He looked back and forth between the raven haired male and his employer. 

“I don’t want to die.” The guard stuttered before turning to run. 

Aden fired at the running man. Charlotte gasped in horror while Damien pulled her back under cover. He stared at his brother in shock. Something felt odd. 

Involuntarily, Jonas took a step back and felt a chill run down his spine. The sickening and strange wave of realization washed through him because he showed a moment of weakness. He coughed into his hand to save face. It would be no lie to say that he was terrified of this boy and what he could potentially do.  

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

  Jonas Werslithe thought back to when he barely turned thirty-two. He had first been hired by the underground movement within the State to manufacture stones from the original. Of course, a couple weeks prior to his promotion, Lessye Shannon had blown up his superior’s facility that forever scarred his memories. 

It had been around this time that a tall, dark, white masked man came in with two students; a boy and a girl. Both had green eyes and unkempt raven hair.

“Zaine, always a pleasure to see you.” Jonas started with pleasantries but the man cut him off.

“We need this stone’s power granted to one of them. Do your tests and make it happen. I expect great results.” He directed his last comment to the boy who glared. 

“If this one gives you trouble, press this button.” Zaine pressed the button on the remote in his hand and the boy collapsed on the ground gripping his head.

The girl dropped to her knees crying. She was begging them to stop hurting her brother.

“He has limiters on his ears that send electrical shocks through his body if he misbehaves.” He handed the remote over to Werslithe.

“Understood.”

When Zaine left the room, Jonas looked down at the two children. The boy had to have been ten at most. The girl was probably closer to six to seven. 

“We shall start with you.” Jonas replied and grabbed the boy’s arm.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Jonas reached down to one of the muskets from his dead guards. “You’re a monster.”

Aden started to shoot at Jonas who decided to ditch the gun and head for his own cover. The man slipped past a pillar as the bullets shot through the room.  As he escaped from the room to the next, Aden gave chase. 

“Guards, I changed my mind! Kill them!” He yelled out into the space. Xavier would have mentioned his guards had been taken out, but from three of the entrances did more guards start to arrive. They started to shoot at them. 

Damien lunged forward with the girl in his arms. They collided onto the ground as they kept low. Xavier exchanged fire with several, but knew he would be overtaken shortly. He decided to escape to a better vantage point where Cesium chased after. He hardly had enough time to register that bullets were flying at him, before skidding into a tray of tools.  It ricocheted loudly off of the floor as he clattered to a halt. One skilled shot from the guard found access to the older male as he toppled down behind a set of large test capsules. The accompanying bullets continued to fly, riddling the thick glass with bullets. Blood oozed from his left thigh, and he winced, “That better not be a valuable artery!” 

“Xavier!” Charlotte screamed. Damien had merely pulled the shocked auburn behind the wall of plaster and shoved her behind a large cart filled with fake stones. 

Damien managed to sneak past his barricade of crates to their location. He patted his vest to see if he had any types of tools that would serve as a weapon. The blonde pulled out a hammer and chucked it at the first soldier he could see, and attracted their attention. Bullets began to rain upon their cover and the walls shook upon impact. Charlotte covered her ears, screaming.

As the soldiers moved away from Xavier, Cesium curled into him. He barked with concern, hoping it would heal the pain away. The male paid the Great Dane no concern as he crawled through the glass pieces to a better covered location. Cesium followed, making sure his retreat back was safe. When Xavier felt he was in a safe location, he waved off the dog’s concern. He also made it a note to thank his brother for drawing that soldier’s attention away. 

Dirt and bits of cement decorated Damien’s hair as bullets hit the wall. 

“We won’t be alive much longer unless I can get something to use as protection.” Damien gritted his teeth looking. Charlotte drew her attention to the ground, and found about ten paces to her right was a dead guard and a pistol. 

“There!” Charlotte yelled over the roaring of bullets.

He was taking fire but Damien was not perturbed. He pulled out a small whistle and blew into it hard. “Here’s hoping we’re not underground.”

More cover fire emerged, and before Damien could set up a defense, Xavier started firing back. “You leave them alone you pieces of—”

Cesium growled low, charging at the remaining guards near him. The bullets hit the Great Dane around his ear, hind leg, and front torso, but the mechanical beast kept drawing attention. When the dog brought away the guards from Damien and Charlotte, the girl took a chance and ran for the gun. She footsteps alerted one of the guards to her presence, and open fired. She froze, like a deer in headlights, before she witnessed Cesium leaping to tackle him. The bullet grazed the ground by her foot, but she didn’t stay out in the open for long. She scrambled to another hiding spot, and looked over to Damien. 

“Take it.” She slid the pistol over. 

“You alright?” Damien probed, he also made sure the pistol had a few left in the chamber. He had about four shots before he would need to reload. 

Xavier hunkered back, he fired his last shot. He had hoped he had given his brother and Charlotte enough time to either move or take cover elsewhere. He could hear the thrashing of the giant dog taking down one of the guards, but the whine of the machine made it seem to Xavier like it was hurting.  The bad feeling in his stomach rose as he tried to gain control of the situation. 

He took a deep breath.  “Calm down. Remember protocol.” 

He started from the basics, taking count of his men. And that was when he noticed it. 

Jonas Werslithe wasn’t there anymore. Neither was Aden.

A terrible after taste filled his mouth as he looked for any way to get an upper hand. He was concerned about Jonas getting away, and Aden’s strange behavior left him unsettled. 

Damien understood their situation just from looking at Charlotte’s tensed shoulders.  It wouldn’t be long before they would get caught. In that lab everything was basically open with no place for good coverage. It was then the blonde stepped out from cover. He saw three guards remaining, distracted by Cesium. Damien aimed three to four shots. 

“I don’t have time for this.” He yelled, and waited for the gun battle to continue. He expected a return of fire, but instead watched as all of them crumpled to the ground. Birds of different tropical hues and tones set upon them in a ferocious wave. In the onslaught of chaotic colors, the guards ran. Cesium still had one subdued, but he went limp from the birds attacking his face. 

“Xavier, you alright?” Damien rushed over to his brother when the coast was clear.  

“Yeah, where’s Lottie?” 

Charlotte had run over to Cesium. She inspected him before looking back at the two. Bullet holes riddled his frame. She inspected each injury to make sure he could be operational. “I’m fine, but Livvy is going to kill someone. Are you?”

“Bullet graze. Should be fine in a week.” Xavier replied. Damien paid no heed to his brother’s comment, as he yanked out from his pocket a small first aid kit. It was small and had that basics inside. 

“We should get back to our camp to get it cleaned. I’m afraid Andy is going to kill us instead.” Damien poured a clear antiseptic liquid upon Xavier’s wound. 

“We botched up reconnaissance. Yeah, we might get our asses chewed out for that.” Xavier winced as the final preparations of wrapping clean gauze around the wound. “We don’t have the necessary tools to take bullets out. We need to find Aden and get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately this facility is going to be on full alert now because of it.” 

A ringing of gunshots snapped the trio’s attention to the next room over. Xavier gritted his teeth. 

“Damien stock up on ammo for you and I. Lottie, can you help me up?” The oldest of their group raised his arm up. The auburn assisted him the best she could, until he was standing up on his own. He was heavily relying on his other leg to walk, but with Cesium beside him, he was able to move slowly forward. It wasn’t until they reached the exit did Xavier look to Cesium. He bent over the dog, giving his ears a rubdown. 

“Buddy, I have a mission just for you. You need to get back to camp. Can you do that?” The great dane gave an affirmative bark. “Good boy, now go. Find an exit.” Cesium dashed away, leaving the three to finding Aden. 

Their blonde companion joined them with restocked magazines and ammo clippings, before they agreed to move into the next room. 

Hanging close to the sidewall, they emerged into what looked to be a hangar. Land vehicles of different sizes and variations were parked. Beyond the four wheeled contraptions, their group found Jonas and Aden engaging battle. Jonas seemed nervous, stammering in his movements. 

Aden, on the other hand, was calm. He calmly restocked his ammo. He took his time to cover and remain hidden when his adversary fired haphazardly. Several more shots rang into this space, and the trio ducked behind one of the closest safe spots. They could still survey the battle, but had cover from Jonas in case he noticed them. 

“Did you honestly think killing me would redeem you from your sins?” Jonas’ voice echoed. He sounded unnerved but callous. “Zaine must have known what a monster you’d become. You can’t escape your past!”

The young male in question slammed a new magazine into his gun and fired shot after shot into Jonas’ cover. Everyone hiding could see the cold-hardened mask of Aden firing. 

“Why are you hellbent to kill me Aden? We worked well together in the past. Zaine never missed an opportunity to supply me with material. You were there!”

Aden ignored him, firing more of his round into the wall. 

“I daresay you enjoyed it! Don’t you remember Argentine? That was your best haul yet! That blasted Rothschild from the Academy was the best present I could receive from one of my own!”

Charlotte paled as soon as the name Rothschild was dropped. “What was that? Is he talking about my father?” Both the boys next to her also tensed. 

“Did he say Aden had a hand in piracy?”

“Aden couldn’t have been with Zaine. He hates his guts. I saw them duking it out back in Chiariotti.” Xavier whispered back. 

Charlotte motioned for them to stop talking so she could hear more. 

“Isn’t it time you returned to your roots? Your master is nearby, and he wants you by his side! Aden, with your powers we could rule the seas—nay the entire world! I can see the steel of your resolve, your strength to remove your inhibitors show how much stronger you’ve become!” Jonas continued to talk about how the State infrastructure was doomed from the start, and finally stood up from his spot. He dropped his gun with a heavy handed smirk. “It’s time we took control over the State and give the people what they want! Power!”

Aden had his gun ready, and while the boys were silently urging him to end this stupid, bigoted man, Aden didn’t. They watched as he relaxed his muscles and lowered his weapon. His eyes fiercely trained on Jonas. 

“What I’ve done in the past is not correctable. Many lives were lost in the search for this power you claim, but I know what it truly is. You want the Stone. You’re striving for something that won’t ever exist. Instead of chancing a genuine, real deal stone to grant your wish, you strive to create your own.” Aden paused, he directed his attention to his hand. He could see the dried blood from his own injuries crusting his skin. The scars that remained for countless years from his past life. “Zaine wants to see the world burn, and true, my power would give him exactly that.”

Damien and Xavier couldn’t believe what they were hearing. And Charlotte? She couldn’t stay still anymore as she silently moved. Damien noticed to late, as he tried to grab her, but Xavier had been in his way. She slipped by and as quietly as she could, positioned herself closer to Jonas. 

“But I won’t stand by and watch more innocents die in this pursuit of a legend. I’m tired of seeing people die for the greater good. I’m done with that life.”

Aden lifted his gun back up. “I don’t want to see anymore Rothschild’s die in pursuit of your delusion.”

Jonas smirked. “A shame that’s your answer.” He brought his own gun up. “Now die with your stupid idealisms.” 

A surprising action stopped everyone in their tracks before Jonas could pull the trigger. Xavier and Damien watched in horror as Charlotte emerged from her hidden location. She had eased herself in the shadow, quietly awaiting. Aden hesitated, his hand shifted the pistol away as she shoulder-checked Jonas in his side. Everyone watched with mild shock, confusion, and disbelief as Jonas had been knocked off his feet, and down on the ground. His gun slid away from him as he stumbled to fall. 

Charlotte stood above him, her hand clenched in a tight ball and in a furious rage, went to punch him square in the jaw. The family clan ring proudly displayed on one of her fingers. 

“That was for my father!” She swung once more, but this time her attack was not a surprise. Jonas defensively grabbed ahold of her wrist, only to stare in abject horror to the ring. His beady eyes darted between the ring, Charlotte’s face, and then to Aden. He could see the confliction and tension in Aden’s frame.

Jonas looked intently back at the ring, deftly standing to tower over the girl he had restrained. She attempted to pull back, but she shortly realized that she might have overestimated herself. 

He could feel a mark on his jawline forming, the crest of a lion lay upon a shield and sword. Jewelry would not attract his attention, especially in his line of work, but this one held merit.  His hatred for their clan spanned through the years. If it hadn’t been for the Rothschild’s, his work wouldn’t have been detained or classified “unethical” and “inhumane”.

He pieced it altogether. She was Charlotte Rothschild—The one reported dead.

“A Rothschild.” Jonas guffawed, a strange noise escaping from his curling lips. Damien and Xavier both revealed themselves from their own hiding spots to lift their weapons. They aimed them at Jonas, but couldn’t do anything as Charlotte was positioned in front. He restrained her as a hostage and laughed. 

“Are all Rothschild’s stubborn to die? Maybe I need to test this hypothesis.” Jonas used his beefy arm, and pulled it up against her windpipe. Charlotte had her one arm crossed against her torso, so she resorted to using her lower body. She kicked and struggled to escape, but he flexed to stop her resistance. 

Damien swallowed the thick knot in his throat, feeling a bead of sweat slide down his cheek. 

Aden stepped forward. “That’s enough.”

Xavier trained his gun to Jonas. His usually cheerful blue eyes were hardened. “Release her. Under State regulations 2.4 Article XVII, you are under arrest for illegal activities involving human testing.”

Jonas laughed, “Do you honestly think the State will follow through with that boy? Arresting me will get you nowhere. All they’re going to do is release me the next day to a brand new facility. Your actions are meaningless.” Charlotte began reddening, the pressure on her throat made it hard to breathe. Her actions on fighting back became weaker in response. 

“That’s enough!” Aden yelled louder than before. He caught Jonas’s attention. 

“I’ll do what you want. Just release her and my family.” Damien and Xavier sputtered in shock. 

“What the hell?”

“Mate, what?”

Jonas lessened his hold on the girl. Charlotte gave a gurgle of coughs as she was gifted with air. He could see Aden raise both his hands up, a sign of giving up. 

“Drop your weapons.” Jonas ordered, and Aden gave a look to both his brothers. “Kick them away from you when you’ve done it.”

“Just do what he says.” The three dropped their guns and waited. 

The stout man pulled the auburn back with him. He didn’t relinquish his hold on her, as he took several steps back. She was forced to follow. She looked between her friends now with a horror stricken expression. “Did you honestly think I care what Zaine wants now? This—” He shook Charlotte. “This is too good to pass up. A Rothschild within my grasp, I can take my time taking my revenge against that cur.” He guffawed loudly. Now that they were weaponless, he would take the girl and run. 

Aden’s emotion flared. When Werslithe’s laughter ceased, the raven-hair glowered. 

“Bastard!” Damien shouted, he went to step forward, only to freeze when Jonas went to squeeze upon Charlotte’s neck again. Her squeak of pain stopped the three in their tracks.

Aden sprinted forward, Jonas had not anticipated him to rush him with her in his arms. He eyed his disregarded gun on the ground, and the young raven haired fellow getting closer. Jonas tossed Charlotte to the side, her front impacting a nearby vehicle. From the force, she buckled over, slipping down in a curled position.

Xavier and Damien had also rushed into action, tailing their brother in their pursuit. Jonas snagged the gun up, firing shots over his shoulder. Charlotte could feel a hand on her back, rubbing it to comfort her. She looked up to see Damien helping her while Xavier yelled over to Aden.

“Maneuver 1.7—Are you with me?” 

Aden charged to the left. Xavier bolted to the right. The codes Xavier issued were things he crafted for battle combat. The best part about his command was that it made no sense to anyone else save for his select few he taught it. Aden flanked their adversary was quick precision, while Xavier pinned Jonas from moving by unleashing a few shadows from the ground. They were small faceless creatures that swarmed in front. 

“A Relic user!?” Jonas pulled back, and with his step back, Aden dropkicked the gun out from his hold. Before he reacted to losing his gun, another well-timed kick swung up into his abdomen, knocking Jonas forward into the mosspit of shadows. He squirmed as the blobs surrounded him, and Xavier wiped his hands. 

“Damien, do you have any cuffs or restraining tools?” Xavier called out to his younger brother. He glared at the warden on the ground. 

“Gh…” The uncertainty in his voice wavered in the air and both Aden and Xavier looked back to see Damien’s hair pulled back, his neck exposed with an icy dagger against his jugular. Charlotte clutched her side as if she’d been kicked back. Standing behind the blonde, a familiar young lady with wavy hair and bright blue eyes, watched. She pulled onto Damien’s hair to get him to get up on one knee. 

“Step away from the warden.” She commanded. Charlotte wheezed as she struggled to her side. 

Xavier narrowed his eyes, “I should have known this would be too easy.” 

He raised both his hands and flicked them. The shadows that surrounded Jonas disappeared instantly. Aden moved cautiously around, keeping their new guest in his sight. 

“Claire—so Zaine was here after all.” Jonas laughed despite the lack of breath in his lungs. 

She ignored the man’s comment, and looked to the rest of the group. When they satisfied her request, she released Damien from her grasp and kicked him out of her way. He slid off, grasping his side and head. 

“Damien!” Xavier rushed over to his brother, and Claire moved silently forward. She trained her eyes on Aden, her boots clicked against the paved stone. 

“Master will be quite pleased to have you back. Come with me.” She extended a hand forward to Aden, her eyes not showing the briefest of emotion as she talked. The male shook his head and snarled. 

“I highly doubt that. You’ll have to subdue me first.” 

He dropped into a stance that was uncommon to most individuals. His martial arts background had been intensive growing up, but his opponent also went through the same regime. 

Claire smiled, her teeth bared white as she brought forth two curved ice daggers from thin air. “It will be my pleasure!” She lunged similarly into Aden, and the two started fighting. They easily maneuvered around, almost dancing. Each swing of her blades were dodged with deft swiftness of Aden. During their fight, Xavier had gotten Damien up and moving over to Charlotte. She was winded, but definitely trying to keep up with the turn of events.

“She came out of nowhere,” Charlotte sputtered, her voice cracked as she rubbed her throat. “One moment Damien was there, and next thing I know she’s behind him and kicking me.” 

Xavier winced, he could foresee the bruises the two of them would carry tomorrow. He’d been kicked by her one to many times before in Chiariotti, and they were quite strong.

“Let’s be thankful she didn’t kill you. We need to retreat. If Zaine is here, we’re really in trouble.” 

Damien nodded, but he couldn’t just leave his brother. 

“We need to get Aden.” 

Xavier gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to abandon him brother, but letting Jonas get away would definitely keep him up at night for quite some time. He watched the stout man pull himself away from the fighting couple, and retreat further into his facility. “I’m really regretting not killing the man.” 

Aden pulled back, his strikes had not quite hit her, but he was sweating profusely. Claire had cut the space between them and before Aden could dodge, she slammed down onto his hurt shoulder. 

He fell back, gripping his shoulder. 

“Little protégé, give me more. Weren’t you taught better?” The taunts echoed in the space, but Aden ignored it. He spat to the side, and stubbornly rose. 

“Indulge me. I’ve got all day.” He charged at her once more.

Xavier yelled over their fight, “No we don’t! Let’s get the hell out of dodge!” He snapped his fingers, as shadows from before came up from the ground. They were about to converge when ice daggers were thrown in his direction. Damien tackled his brother down as they whizzed past, shattering into the ground. With his concentration broken, Xavier lost hold of the shadows and shook his head. 

Aden and Claire exchanged several blows, knocking each other back. Aden grasped at his shoulder once again, and Claire spat a bit of blood from the corner of her lip. What remained of her smile turned into an icy tundra, and the air dropped around her. She reached into her side pocket, and charged. 

“Look out!” Charlotte hollered, but it didn’t stop what would happen next. Aden continued to fight, easing away from her strikes, and felt a syringe-tube pierce into his neck. Claire pushed down on the button, releasing whatever was inside into his system. 

He kicked her back, and as she jumped back he went to yank the object away. He tossed it aside and the cannister clattered on the ground. “What the hell was that?” 

Claire summoned two more ice daggers into her hands. “A present from the master.” She threw the daggers at him, and everyone watched as Aden seized. The ice daggers plunged into his thigh and arm, and he dropped to his knees. He gripped his head, screaming and scratching at his neck. “It’ll be hard to keep your emotions in check, little protégé.” 

“Aden?!” The three of them cried out, Charlotte struggling to stand. Damien got up, attempting to attack, but Claire retreated further away. She jumped up on top of a canopied four-wheel vehicle. 

“It’s time your dream came to an end. Become the monster you are. Our master is waiting.” She gave one look over to his flailing form, and then over to the trio agape in horror. Her piercing eyes stopped to hover over Charlotte’s wavering gaze and smirked. She didn’t dally any further, instead jumping up through an open window. Leaving them, she escaped into the tundra outside. 

“Aden!” Xavier was the first to get up. He, shortly followed by Damien and Charlotte, rushed out to him and didn’t know how to help. He was scratching at his neck in agony. Charlotte felt beads of sweat beginning to form on her face, as the temperature fluxed. Steam rose off the ice daggers, before becoming smaller and smaller. Xavier went to inspect his wound, and upon touch winced back. His skin felt like it was boiling. 

“What the hell did she do?” Damien looked to Xavier’s now burning hand to Aden. 

“Aden!”

“Shut up.” Aden growled, he opened his eyes for them to see his green irises shifting colors. That was before he was raked in pain and crumpled into himself. “Get away from me.” He tried to stay in control, but whatever was injected into him was making it harder to do so. 

“The boy with red eyes.” Charlotte gasped, remembering what Zeke had told her several nights before. 

“What happened to his eyes?” Damien exclaimed glancing back at Xavier. 

“Not sure, his skin feels like it’s boiling.” He lifted his hands up to show. 

Charlotte ignored the warning screeching to stop and went to touch his cheek. She winced at the heat emanating from the skin but kept her hands firmly in place. “No, we’re not leaving you!” He jerked his head away from her touch, as he screamed in pain once more. His hands went to claw at his injured neck and shoulder, causing it to bleed. 

Xavier shook his hands hoping the air would alleviate the burning. 

“Aden, you’re hurting yourself.” She grabbed at both his hands, to stop him from digging his own nails into himself. 

“Get away. I can’t control it.” He gritted his teeth. “You’re going to get hurt.” 

“Control what?” Damien asked, unsure of what Aden was talking about. 

The hangar  became an inferno, as heat engulfed the entire space. The tires from the vehicles nearby expanded from the heat so much that they started to burst one after the other. Little fires began to emerge around them. 

Charlotte took an involuntary step back as a sudden blast of heat burst from Aden.  He had grabbed his head, pulling it away from them, but she steadied him to look directly at her. His arms dropped, almost as if he lost the strength in them, and he looked up at Charlotte’s eyes. Emerald eyes, which she had grown accustomed to for over a year melted into a crimson red. The color dyed his eyes with the ceremonial color of fire and death.  

 The smell of burnt rubber filled the air, the smoke starting to rise from the encroaching fires around them. Charlotte covered her mouth with both of her hands trying her best not to take in the smoke. 

Aden mutely looked up, his face upward, and eyes dilated to small slivers. An erupting power surge pushed Xavier, Damien, and Charlotte away as the firewall swirled around. It roared and sparked, the speed it flickered caused more fires to erupt in the hangar. 

“Aden, stop this!” Damien shouted over the flames to his brother unmoving. If Aden had heard him, he made no movement to do so. 

Charlotte attempted to rush up to the inferno once more, gathering her courage, but Xavier prevented her from it. He gripped onto her rolled up sleeve as he stared in similar horror. “What the hell…what did she do to him?” He remembered Jonas saying that Aden had been a monster. Claire also mentioned something similar, and his past? Xavier only knew him from the Academy. They only knew of his existence five years ago, and anything beyond that was secretly kept. 

 “Find a fire extinguisher!” Xavier shouted to his brother Damien. “We need to contain this as much as we can.” The two scrambled around, but were effectively stopped by more fires filling the space. 

“Aden!” She desperately cried out, watching the ring of fire grow more intense. She couldn’t stand his lack of response. It reminded her of the dream she had of him. He was alone, hurt, exhausted, and broken. 

They were running out of time. Gathering her wits, she wiped her face of the sweat and stared at the firestorm in front of her. It may be her worst trait, but it was something she endeavored herself for. Impulsively she jumped right into the fray, feeling the scorching heat envelop her. In her mind she knew that if something like this would have happened to Damien or Xavier, or even herself, Aden wouldn’t think twice about saving them. She rose her arms up to protect her face from the surge of fire, feeling the heat blistering her calves and arms as she pushed forward. The hem of her shorts started to fray and burn, but surprisingly it didn’t hurt. 

She muttered to herself, “two more seconds” and broke through. She collapsed on the ground on the inside of the firestorm. She felt as if she were in the middle of a tornado, in the eye of the storm, so to speak. 

In her mind she was deathly terrified. How had she done such a feat without catching on fire, much less burning alive? While she felt the pain of the heat, there weren’t any other indications signaling that she got burnt. Aden blankly stared at her. His arms slumped, his knees crumpled beneath him.

Charlotte didn’t have time to assess the how’s and the why’s. The weakness in her knees prevented her from walking over, but she crawled as best she could. With shaky hands, she wrapped her hands around both his cheeks, ignoring the heat pulsing from his skin. His red eyes smoldered. 

“Aden, can you hear me?” She asked. He didn’t respond. Charlotte pulled his face down closer to hers. Now she was staring straight at him. “Aden please!”

The heat off his skin and body were beginning to hurt her hands, but she didn’t relent. She dug her nails into his cheeks.

“Snap out of it Aden!”

He growled. “Let. Go.” 

“No! This isn’t like you!” She yelled over the fire.

“You don’t know me at all.”

His arms by his side moved to place them on her arms, but she lunged forward to pull him into a hug instead. He didn’t know what to do with his arms tucked between her chest and his as she shoved her face into his shoulder.

Charlotte endured, yelling back. “I know that you’re a jerk, a perv, a moron, but someone who cares for your friends! You’re smart, you love to read. You enjoy eating strawberries despite your incessant need to tell everyone otherwise. I know you can dance well, you went to school with your brothers.” She pulled herself back from Aden’s body, the heat getting to her head. She stared into his eyes, seeing his scar on his left eyebrow. “Your scars tell me of your experiences and heartaches, the pain you have endured, and yet through that pain you learned to be kind. You are not a monster Aden Summerfeld. You are you.”  

The fire storm shuttered, as if the fire lost some of it’s fuel. Xavier and Damien noticed it as well, yelling over to him about how they care for him. 

“You’re the best Captain around, you keep me on my toes!” Xavier shouted.

Damien, who held an extinguisher, started to add more. “You explain things upfront, you don’t lie!”

Charlotte persisted in her own boisterous voice until her vocal chords cried in agony.

“You love sleeping in the Crow’s nest to avoid extra work or when you can’t sleep. You have two amazing brothers that loves you unconditionally despite not being fully related. You like to watch the sunset as it falls into the ocean, your wanderlust for adventure keeps you going for hours on end, and you know what? You always keep your promises! What else do I need to say to prove that I know you!”

She felt the surge of power explode even before Aden could react. But it was strange, the surge never came from him. It flowed from her. Aden flew from Charlotte’s grasp, as he slid ten to fifteen feet away. The fire storm all but vanished in a flash of light, and the remaining flames crackled out of existence. 

Aden shook his head, as the world felt like it had stopped. Damien and Xavier stared at Charlotte, her body levitated as she lifted a hand. Her eyes glowed, as her lips mumbled words beyond their hearing.

“What?” He coughed, and that was when he noticed the walls, the ground, the space around them shattered. For a split moment, the world was blank and dark, until reality snapped. The ground glitched, causing Aden, Damien, and Xavier to lose their balance and tumble back. Charlotte’s form was nothing but a light that filled the space until they were once again back in the hangar. 

Aden found himself lying on the ground. The pain that raked his entire body rippled in waves, but the heat died down at last. He didn’t know for how long he had been laying there, but something began to bug him. Something deep within his psyche screamed at him to be doing something but the thought was like a passing flame. Whatever had happened, it was something that went and gone. It felt confusing and oddly weird. 

Xavier groaned, he too had been flung back. “Owww.”

The world that he thought broke was as it was prior to the explosion of light.

“Did she—” Damien struggled to pull himself off the ground. The fire extinguisher now gone from his hands. “Did she stop the fires?” 

Aden pulled himself up from the ground, staggering as vertigo embraced his mind. He shook the feeling and focused on the girl in question. She looked fazed, and exhausted. Her feet, hovered slightly off the floor, and a dim light encircled her. 

“How did she—” Xavier tried to piece together what had just happened. Only he couldn’t. There was something that prevented him to making sense of it. 

“She nullified the fire.” 

Aden walked closer to her, and when he was within reach, he touched her hand. The light faded upon contact, and she dropped. Not expecting the sudden drop, he went to catch her, and both fell. 

Xavier rushed over, he brushed a hand through Charlotte’s face, and then he examined Aden’s eyes before sighing. “We don’t have time. Gather what we can—reports, information, pictures, anything. We need to escape before Zaine arrives.” 

Aden pulled Charlotte closer in his embrace, her unconscious form limp within his arms. Damien couldn’t do anything more except dash into the previous room to find something to fulfill Xavier’s request. 

There was much to discuss when they were safe at camp.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Henry Hobbs watched with an intrigued face. He gazed over to the islands that they were told to supervise, and inquired to his captain with the white mask.  “Werslithe and his Facility seem to be under siege, should we send in reinforcements?” There was a momentary silence that accompanied the question before Zaine saw a fast moving boat sailing away from the island with two individuals through his binoculars.

“No. Prepare for Claire’s report.” Zaine moved away from the rail. It wouldn’t be long before his crew would be complete. There were pieces that needed to be filled in, but he was content on waiting. No more than twenty minutes had gone by, and standing before him was Claire and the stout man she undoubtedly saved. 

She gave a bow.  “Master, I did as you ordered. Your Little protégé was injected with the serum Werslithe concocted.” She straightened her posture, giving a look to the island. “The girl is alive. The one who was flung from Cliffside.” 

Zaine did not seem fazed by the news. “She’s been lucky.” He looked to their facility warden who grumbled in his spot. Jonas gritted his teeth as he watched the island from afar. “Did the serum work?” 

Jonas nodded, and pulled out a small mobile video feed. Zaine plucked the tool from his hands, and watched from start to finish. He paused the video, and looked to Jonas. “Is there a way to back up the track?” Jonas obliged, grabbing it and rewinding it until Zaine stopped him. 

“There.” Jonas grimaced. The feed showed Aden midflight, and Charlotte levitating. 

“Very lucky indeed.” Zaine took the mobile feed from Jonas and narrowed his onyx eyes. There was a slight light variation around the girl, but what intrigued him the most was his little protégé’s expression. 

“Get ahold of our insider. Tell them that we’ll use her as the bait this time. He will come to terms on whose side he should really be on.” The Pirate King smirked as he started to devise a plan in his head.  Henry Hobbs shot Werslithe a glare. 

“Well, I don’t have all day. Get a move on down to the galley. I need to show you your quarters.” As the two walked away, Zaine called out to Hobbs. “Any word from your cousin Rieker?”

Henry shrugged unceremoniously. “He disappeared.”

“Or died.” Zaine put it mildly and shook his head. What he wouldn’t give for intelligent subordinates. 

“Prepare to sail South east.” Zaine remarked to Robert Petersons holding the compass. He was assigned to Zaine’s ship by order of his Fleet Admiral, but he didn’t really enjoy being on that man’s ship.

“Aye aye Captain.”

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Finding shelter in a rain forest was hard to acquire, but luckily the camp they had set up on the beach had not been trifled with while they were away. The Drifter had been safe despite the extra sand it was buried under. It would take a couple hours to unearth it, but it looked relatively unharmed.

While they were in the Facility they had done several things. They found cabinets filled with reports labelled as failures. After glancing through the materials, they had come to terms with the truth of the stones and what the State was capable of. Not to mention, of course, the admittance of Jonas Werslithe about the experimentations done. It appeared the State was not as squeaky clean as they would have liked, and with Claire’s arrival made it obvious that the pirates had been heavily involved. 

Before they left, the three had decided it was in everyone’s best interest to destroy what was left. This was to prevent the pirates or statesmen from further horrendous experiments. Aden set up the explosives silently, as Damien prepared their getaway. Xavier sat with Charlotte, musing over the past twenty four hours. His thigh ached, and his head hurt. 

Their trip back to the beach had been quiet. No one made any attempt to discuss what they saw or discovered. The only thing that lifted their spirits was the sound of lapping waves finally winning over the bursts of explosions deep within the island. A worried Cesium circled needlessly in the sand, waiting for them to come to a complete stop before bounding over to each and everyone one. He licked Charlotte’s cheek, and whined when she didn’t respond. Xavier patted his metallic head, and looked to their makeshift home for the night. They were banged up, bloody, bruised, and in for a long way back home tomorrow. 

Aden picked Charlotte up from her spot, despite the pain his shoulder gave him. He trudged through the sand until he stooped into their tent. Xavier followed shortly after, hobbling with the help Damien provided. The four of them hunkered down inside the tent, exhaustion evident in all their eyes. 

“Is your neck alright?” Xavier probed, pointing to the wound mark on Aden’s neck.

He pressed a hand to the tender spot as he nodded, “Yeah. Is your leg alright? You got hit by a bullet.” Aden gave a concerned look to his brother in return. 

“Damien poured antiseptic on it. Hurts like a bitch.” 

Damien pulled out the first aid kit from the large bag. “And it’s getting another cleaning before you fall asleep,” the blonde pulled out the bottle in question. “Same goes for your wounds Aden.” 

“Shit.” 

“Not again.”

They both looked to each other, a small grin forming. 

“Um—can we discuss the elephant in the room?” Xavier said at last, trying to not beat around the bush. “Aden, what happened to you? I know you had a past, I mean we all do—but is it true?”

Damien frowned. “Were you involved in piracy?”

Aden seemed at a loss for words. He clenched his fists, and then released them. “I was around seven or eight when I first started being a pirate.” 

Xavier widened his eyes. The blue hue in them evident beyond his dark lashes. “That young? But how?”

Aden frowned. “It’s a long story. And something I won’t be able to escape. I—I don’t want to involve you in that darkness.” He struggled to get the words out, but finally was able to.

“Aden, we’re not mad at you—let’s make this clear.” Damien replied, reaching a hand out to his brother. He clapped him on the back lightly. “Things happen, and as a family we do what we can for each other. Isn’t that right Xavier?”

The senior brother nodded. He was seven years older than them, so he was prepared to help his half-brother out. “Always. We have your back. But I do want to know what happened to you. I’m still trying to wrap my head around a seven year old killing people.” 

Aden sighed. He looked at the auburn still unconscious on top of his sleeping bag. “I killed a lot of people. People who were innocent. I—I killed her father.” He reached a hand to hold hers, but when he got close enough to touch, he reeled back. “I can’t change the past. I promised to be better, and I was protected. The Protectors wound up cleaning the messes I made. All the facilities I supplied with people made into slaves were destroyed. They were able to stop the distribution of the stones by preventing the pirate rings from kidnapping people. I helped them with whatever they needed.” Aden paused, looking to his brothers with remorse. 

“I knew about the stones, even before Cheric had. I was involved from the beginning, but I couldn’t tell you any of it. It was a deal I had with Fleet Admiral Rothschild.” 

Xavier absorbed the information delivered to him. What hit him the hardest was Aden admitting to killing Charlotte’s father.

“I’m going to secure our camp, make sure we can’t be found by sailing ships.” Damien suddenly exclaimed, standing up from his seat. He pushed himself out from the tent and away from the thick atmosphere of tension. 

Xavier fiddled with his thumbs looking between Aden and Charlotte. “When you found out she was a Rothschild, were you in pain?”

The raven haired lad held a harrowed emotion. “It hurt to be near her. Knowing that I had a hand in her father’s death. But I made a promise to him that I’d protect his remaining family.” Aden tapered off as he stared down. “I think I fear her hating me for it. But I deserve it.”

“What she needs is time. And training.” Xavier rolled his shoulders. “I about lost my goddamned mind when she went to tackle Werslithe. And her diving into that firestorm. Lost it.” He shuddered. 

“Yeah, I was thinking of morning routines every day from now on. She likes to stick her head into danger.” Aden muttered darkly, shaking his head. “We literally just talked about this damsel.” He knew she couldn’t hear him, but it was all the same to him. 

“Make sure that routine is jam packed with different things—she needs cardio work outs too. I’ll help as well.” Xavier proposed, and Aden nodded. 

After ten to fifteen minutes of proposing what the schedule would look like, Damien came back inside the tent. He shook off some water as he nestled back down into his sitting arrangement. 

“It started to rain cats and dogs.” Cesium curled closer to Xavier’s side when the rain started to get louder. 

“If it’s storming this bad, we should be safe for now. Let’s get some rest while we can.” Xavier stretched out, staring at the tent’s ceiling. 

The other two laid out, Aden lying by Charlotte, his hand holding hers now as he slept on his side. Damien curled into a ball around his makeshift pillow to rest. Xavier pondered to himself the day’s events, and still couldn’t fathom the mystery behind Charlotte.

“How did she do that?” He muttered, shaking his head before exhaustion took him. 

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

The wind played on the tendrils of messy hair of the boy who was lying down on the green grass. His hand was resting evenly on his rising and falling chest as he allowed his breath to come and go. The book he had been reading was placed perfectly on top of his face so that the sun wouldn’t sunburn his skin and cheeks. Last time he slept outside with the sun at high noon, he had the reddest cheeks of all time.

“Aden! Adeeeeeen!” A three-year-old girl with a black bob cut ran gleefully over to her older brother with the same hair and eye color as her. “Papa got us strawberries to eat! Come on!”

It was midafternoon and his little sister had the energy of a Spartan. Why couldn’t she take a nap every once in a while, he would never know.

“Tch.” The book was removed henceforth from his face and he was partially blind by the light from the sun and a girl’s dark face hovering over. 

“Papa’s waiting for us!” She gave him a toothy grin before he offered his own half-smile/half-smirk.

“Bonehead. Let’s get going then.”

The wind was making his hair dance through the soft sand he was laying in. He was staring up at the starry sky remembering the years long ago.

“Take Rebecca and run Aden!” He heard his father’s voice rise in panic as the door he had been barricading had been spliced through by a pirate’s axe. “Use the window in the basement!”

Rebecca was grabbing hold of her brother’s arm, tugging him toward their father. She didn’t want to leave her father behind to those nightmarish and faceless villains. “Not without you dad!” Aden yelled in vain but his father urged him to go.

“Now! Find your mother, she’ll keep you safe!”

Aden, age seven, grabbed his sister and dragged her kicking and screaming away to the basement. The door leading down the stairs swung open and he shoved his sister in. He went down himself to then quickly shut the door behind him.

“Aden…” his sister called him from the darkness of the basement. “I’m scared.”

He adjusted to the darkness to see his sister holding her arms to her chest. “Don’t worry.” He said walking over to her. The younger sibling was directed to the window by his firm hands. “I’ll protect you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Aden jolted up from his dream, his face paled from the pain in his shoulder. His head burned from the serum within his system, and it took everything in him not to lose control once more. He hadn’t had a dream like that in a while now, and that only made him anxious of the future. 

His past would catch up, his sins revealed. He should have known this would happen.

“Aden?”

Xavier was a light sleeper as it was, so when he felt someone jolt up, he was already awake. He pulled himself away from his covers to look over at him. “Bad dream?” 

“I couldn’t save her.” Aden muttered in the dark of the tent. The sound of Damien lightly snoring filled the quiet. 

“Save who?”

“My sister.” Aden went to scratch his head, and stopped short of his ear. It had been extra tender from him ripping his inhibitors out. “She and I were taken from our father when we were just kids.”

Xavier nodded his head, his sleepiness not registering the sister part until just a few moments later. He forgot about their two sleeping companions as he almost yelled aloud, “Wait did you say sister!?”

Damien jostled awake, “huh, what—what—who’s a sister!”

Aden glared at his family. “Good job Xav. Yes, I have a younger sister. She’s four years younger than I am.” He checked to make sure Xavier’s yelp didn’t wake up Charlotte, and was assured to her even breathing. She didn’t seem awake from her initial collapse in the facility. 

“So you’re telling me we have a younger sister too? That’s awesome! Where is she?”

Aden rolled up into a sitting position. His side had begun to fall asleep from laying on it too long. The darkness and lack of rain indicated it was deep into the night when they woke up. “Fleet Admiral Rothschild said she was taken to a safe place. He—he was supposed to tell me where she was. Actually that was the main reason why we were in Cliffside in the first place. I received a telegram after we finished our task to meet with him to discuss Rebecca.”

Xavier frowned. “So now you don’t know where she is.”

Aden nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not too worried about it. I can tell she’s okay. It’s a feeling I have.” 

They sat in the silence of night, the ocean sounds calmed to a roaring tumble. 

Damien struggled to keep his eyes open, but managed out a garbled, “Rebecca’s a cute name.”

Aden nodded. “The best brat around. But I feel bad for dragging you all into this.” 

The older sibling sighed,  “Hey, I know you said earlier that you’re worried about dragging us into your so-called darkness—but I got to thinking: Your past, my past, her past; they are there, but it doesn’t dictate who you are today. I don’t believe for a minute that you’re a monster. You are you, and that’s all there is to it. Isn’t that right Damien?” 

Their blonde sibling smiled sleepily. “Definitely not my enemy.” 

Aden surmised a chuckle. “Thanks. Then together we’ll figure this out.”

“Damn straight we will—now since we’re up.” Xavier cracked his fingers. “Get talking, I want to know the privy’s. It’s been annoying me since yesterday that my little brother’s been sailing longer than I have.” Aden groaned, he knew this day would come.

“Don’t make me burn you.” Aden glowered, but his tone was teasing. 

“Oh goodie, we can finally hear your secrets and hidden wenches!” Xavier chuckled obnoxiously watching his little sibling squirm. It wasn’t everyday he could get him like this, so he was taking full advantage. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Damien asked, he finally roused from his sleep to acknowledge the story. 

“Yeah, everything heals in time.” 

“I’m interested in the hidden wenches myself.” The blonde teased, causing Aden to sigh. 

“You’re both perv’s.” Aden shook his head at how vulgar they were being. Luckily Charlotte was out. 

“Takes one to know one.” Xavier pointed out with bright enthusiasm. 

Aden relinquished at last. “That’s true.”

 “Ah ha! He finally admits it!” Damien snapped his fingers in triumph. 

“Settle down, I’m only going to say this once.” Aden had his back leaned up against the box of supplies while he stared casually down at the slumbering girl right next to him. 

“I was seven, almost eight when I was captured by Zaine.” Aden started, drawing everyone’s attention to him. 

 “The pirates attacked the countryside home that my family resided in. Although as kids, I didn’t know this had occurred because we had relocated to our summer villa. I had heard small transactions between father and our mother that raised my suspicions about what was happening. November eighteenth was the day when my father was captured. They tortured him before killing him, and then proceeded to track us down. My only clue was to find our mother with my sister in tow.”

Damien paled while Aden continued. “It wasn’t long before we got caught. Rebecca had gotten really ill. The snow from winter had started to come down ferociously. I was forced to carry her to the nearest clinic where the doctors and nurses turned us over to the pirates. Had I known the pirates had razed the countryside looking for clues of our whereabouts and paying people to turn us in, I wouldn’t have trusted in anyone. But they were scared of facing their wrath. I don’t blame them for sacrificing two kids to save their own skins. That was when Zaine came and took us in.”

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Everything hurt. His body riddled with bruises, chafe marks from the ropes that bound him, and hand marks from the strangulation sessions he’d had with the man with the porcelain mask. The only thing that remained intact was his pride as he silently glared at the pirate who destroyed his family.

“Tell me where your mother is.”

The seven--no, now eight-year-old glared at his attacker with resentment. Zaine snapped his fingers and the door leading into his cell creaked open. A gruff adult with gnarly hair walked in carrying his three-year-old sister. She was unconscious, though she did not carry the bruises or marks that he had.

Aden struggled in his ropes to get to his sister, but Zaine’s foot slammed down onto his frame. Choking between a cough and a wheeze, the raven-haired boy with the green eyes glanced between his sister and this evil man.

“Tell me the location of your mother or I will torture her.” Aden bit his bottom lip. If only he had more strength. More something. More anything!

“Hit her.” He instructed the brute and Aden snapped.

“Stop! I don’t know where my mother is! Rebecca has nothing to do with this!”

The brute started to chain his sister to the wall. 

“If I knew anything of my mother’s whereabouts I would tell you but I don’t!” Aden yelled out.

Zaine silently stared before turning to the man with Rebecca. “Continue.”

“I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt her!” Aden screamed in anguish and the brute whacked his hand across his sister’s cheek.

Zaine drove his boot further into Aden’s side and the boy beneath him cried. “If you do not want another episode of your sister being tortured, you will do as I say. If I say you talk, talk. If I say you crawl, crawl. If I say to kill someone, you better kill that person. You belong to the Pirate King.” He smirked before turning to the man with the girl.

“Treat her for her illness. She’ll become his checks and balances.” The man removed the small girl from her chains, and followed his kings order. Aden gave a shaky breath, knowing what had to be done to keep his sister protected.  

Zaine knelt down in front of the bruised boy. He yanked his head up by his hair so he could look into his eyes. They had a brief moment of contact before Zaine clenched the boy’s cheek. 

“Every day you train with me and you will become my apprentice. Do well and your sister will be safe from harm. Everything you do will affect how that girl lives. That is the price you pay for protecting someone.”

Aden was scared of the hand that held his face. The man could easily crush his skull into the wall behind him, and kill him. He could do multiple things that would be worse than death, and Rebecca would suffer shortly after. Swallowing the hard knot in his throat, the child nodded. “I’ll do whatever. Just don’t— hurt Rebecca.”

The hand on his face tightened. Zaine glared. “Is that an order boy?”

“Please let Rebecca be safe.” Aden corrected, the terror evident in his tone. Zaine studied his new student with intrigue before he released the pressure.  

Zaine rose, he towered over Aden with ease. 

“We begin at dawn.” 

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

He gained a few more scars on his arm the other day, having been struck by some patriots sword. He’d been with the crew for over two years now, and settled in as best he could. He had done menial tasks on the ships, and even when they had battles, he wasn’t allowed to participate yet. Sometimes the enemy invaded the ship, and Aden happened to be in the way at the time.

Zaine had been nearby when it happened, he dealt with the statesmen and shoved Aden over to the cannoneer below deck. Having a nine year old in the way made fighting difficult that was for sure. 

Examining himself in the mirror, he covered the wounds with more cloth and at last rolled his sleeves down. After all, he didn’t want to alarm his sister on their visitation day. They had arrived back in Clemdœgde to restock, and the first mate Darren Renfyre had snuck the young kid out from his demarcated prison. 

“Quickly, before the Captain changes his mind.” 

Darren looked out for him, gave him tips and how not to piss off Zaine. Aden preferred him over most of the pirates on the Autumn Lily. 

He smelled the salt in the air and the cool breeze from the ocean moving around him. He stared out to the horizon. The sun close to setting, and for the first time in his ten years of living, he finally appreciated something that he had took for granted. Darren directed him down the docks, shoving a hat onto his head. 

“Hurry up. Isn’t that her?” Darren pointed, and Aden could see the tattoos stretching all across his arm to his wrist. 

“Aden!” He looked over his shoulder slowly to see his sister running full sprint toward him. He easily wrapped his arms around his sister’s tiny frame and made sure there was not a single hair harmed on her. With a passing glance, he discerned her health must have been well enough to run around. He gave her a small smile. 

“Hey squirt, keeping out of trouble?” 

She nodded, her bobbed raven hair dancing in the wind. “Yes, and are you okay? No one would tell me anything.” She nervously tucked some of her shortened hair behind her ear. 

“It’s hard to send word to Clemdœgde when we’re out at sea. Everything is fine though. Come here.” He pulled her into a tight hug. She welcomed his hug with a bright smile of her own. 

Darren happened to be pretty good with kids, as he knelt down to Rebecca’s side with a makeshift doll. He crafted the thing from rucksack strings. The hair was stringy and it even had a dress on it. Aden released his little sister so she could examine her new doll. The smile in her green eyes was all he needed to get him through this nightmare. 

“And this is for the little princess. Here ya go.” Darren gave the girl a grin. 

“Thank you Mr. Darren!” She seemed pleased with her new toy as she danced it around. 

“Port days are my favorite because I see you two happy as a clam. Oh, look here comes the Captain.” Darren straightened up, and all the joy in both the children instantly melted away. Rebecca nervously tried to hid the doll behind her back, shifting her feet. Aden tensed like a driftwood in water. 

Zaine approached them, his attire more casual than his sea faring days. His hair that usually were tied back in dreadlocks had been combed, and pulled into a single messy bun. He looked down at the two children standing alert on the port and then to Darren. 

“Prepare the crew to leave in two days. Until then the time is yours to do as you see fit.” Darren gave him a nod. He left the two kids with Zaine still staring down at them. Rebecca nervously shuffled her feet once more. 

Zaine could see the girl becoming more anxious the longer he stood there. He knelt down to her eye level and watched her freeze in place. He could see Aden tensing up right beside her. 

“What is that you’re hiding.” Almost immediately after the demand, Rebecca pulled the doll out from behind her. 

“Mr. Darren gave me a doll.” Her voice stammered in horror. 

Aden held back every single word he wanted to muster as the breath clung hard in his throat. He found it extremely difficult to breathe let alone swallow. 

“Did you thank him?” Zaine asked at last, he looked at the doll with intrigue. 

“Y-yes I did.” 

Zaine stood up, his hand ruffled the top of her hair in a quick shake. “Good. Go play, I need to speak with your brother.” She glanced up to look at Aden, she could see some of the bruises around his exposed neck starting to heal. She wasn’t sure how he got those wounds, but she didn’t want to be the reason of them. 

“Now.” Rebecca jolted down the port and away from the two. She ran over to a woman with dark brown hair woven into a fishtail braid. The woman doted on the little girl, and proceeded to bring her away from the dock area. 

Zaine reached into his back pocket, pulling out a velvet box. He opened it to reveal several cuff earrings. All of them had a jewel or sword design of some kind designed on them. Aden stood at attention as he watched his Captain show the contents.

“Freedoms are granted for those who listen to orders. You, however, are just a child. This will let me know where you are.” Zaine plucked an earring out of its case. “If you attempt to escape the earrings will let me know.” The Captain did not wait for permission as he snapped one of the cuffs on the cartilage of Aden’s left ear. Some blood seeped from the wound, but the earring remained intact. 

Zaine grabbed another set from the box. It was a red gem dangling from a gold rod. Aden awaited him to pierce his lobe with it. 

A surge of electrical energy passed through his body. Zaine snapped the box shut, and showed Aden a small remote control. With a single press Aden felt a sharp electrical circuit course from the earrings into him. His nervous system freaked out, and he had to resist falling backward from vertigo. 

“These were designed for you.” He then grabbed the boy’s chin to inspect both sides of his ears. The ear cuff on his left cartilage had a sword stabbing a skull. “Good. You have two days. Get going.” 

Aden swallowed the lump in his throat. “Thank you Captain.”

He turned abruptly and briskly walked in the same direction his sister went. 

Two days he enjoyed his sister’s company. They played with other kids their age and ate delicious meals. He read her all of her favorite books, and napped under the thick trees. 

Aden soured upon the realization his two days would end quicker than he imagined. The morning of their departure Aden pulled himself out from the fort they built. His sister wrapped in pillows and blankets, her doll lay beside her head. How long would their voyage be this time? Their longest stretch on sea had been five-six months. 

“Sleep well Becca. I’ll be back before you know it.” He promised earnestly and left before the sun had begun to rise. 

He was one of the first back on the ship, the Autumn Lily calm in the lapping waters. Aden settled himself in a nook by the port side, he practiced his knot tying until a pair of boots entered his line of vision. Back in his sea-faring gear, his hair done in dreadlocks and strands of jewelry decorated a few lines in the front, Zaine stared down at the ten year old working on his rope skills. 

“These belong to you.” Zaine said suddenly and dropped a sword, gun, and half crescent mask into his lap. Aden stared at the items given, and then back up at his Captain.

“We train tomorrow.” 

Zaine kept to his promise. 

His training continued, and as their days at sea grew longer, so did Aden’s participation in piracy. He helped pillage, terrorize, steal, and run people out of their homes. Zaine led him in their first raid, he overpowered his adversary, knocking him unconscious on the ground. Aden watched in horror as his Captain stood above him, gun at the ready. 

“Kill him.” 

His morals strongly urged him not to kill. It was one thing to run people around, but the line would be crossed if he committed such a heinous act. But Rebecca’s smiling face was more important. He shakily raised his blade to kill the man before him. His first kill designated plenty for Aden, and signaled an end to childhood.

All of this was for the sake of his sister. 

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Aden had earned many new nicknames while on his missions. His white skull mask was almost identical to the mask Zaine wore, and many dubbed him the young protégé of Zaine. Other names included white skull, ghost, or his least favorite: little monster. From the time he started his training, he was advised not to show his face. Any persons who saw his face were instantly ordered to be killed. Zaine had future plans for him, one involving infiltration and subterfuge in the State. His chances of getting into the Academy were high as well, but Aden didn’t think he’d be cut out for school. 

Time and time again the young male apprentice would find himself nothing more than a masked murderer. Like a pathetic pirate who seemed to only live for his next kill, Aden fell into this dark dismal pit of destruction. His wrath sustained him for six months from just his own sword and strength. Some State officials had come to help prevent the onslaught Zaine brought with him, but no one had been able to succeed in stopping him officially.

In fact, as Aden found out, most of the State had turned coat against its own policy of protecting civilians and supported Zaine in the dark. The young boy became outraged at the hypocrisy of the government. How could the State condone piracy? How could they allow these villains to slay innocents and capture kids his age to train them and make them do things they did not want to do.

He was stained. Nothing could save him from the chains that bound him down. He was a toy. He was a killing machine. 

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

One day, Aden happened to be hiding in the top of the trees when Zaine stepped out from the shadows. He thought at first that he had been discovered and he felt his breath hitch. Being the rebellious age of ten Aden had started to rebel in his own way. Not showing up for his morning or afternoon trainings, skipping meals, sleeping in different locations on the Autumn Lily. He straightened his back against the tree as a bead of sweat slid down his chin. He anticipated being discovered, but Zaine did not seem to see him up in the trees.

A State official rushed over to the Captain. He was holding a black folder containing what looked like pages of detailed reports. They talked in hushed voices; Aden barely caught words of stones and powers beyond comprehension. The State needed the pirates to create more of an uproar so that the State could use it as a social scare. Aden heard tale of someone taking a stand against both the state and the pirates, attacking facilities around the world from Demeuillieu to Brachten.

“Shannon caused uproar. We thought using just two subjects would help in our research for creating more power stones but she stormed in, stole the original, and rescued the two subjects.”

Zaine opened the black folder to look at the sheets from inside. From his hiding spot Aden tried his best to get a look at the papers but did not have a clear line of sight. 

“The two subjects were handed over to their teacher Bryan Rothschild.” Zaine murmured before shaking his head. “The Rothschild clan seems to be rising in power.”

“They are.” The messenger replied and pulled out his own notes. “Gerald Rothschild is brother to Bryan and he is already third in command of the State. After the death of Trenton Schurk, Gerald became heavily supported in his pursuit for Fleet Admiral. His accomplishments from arresting pirates, stopping towns from being attacked prior to it happening has definitely helped his case. He is a brilliant taciturn. His competition, your employer, isn’t doing very well.”

Zaine took this into account. “We need eliminate the source before it gets out of hand.”

The messenger nodded. “Indeed. I will give you a warning before I head back. The Rothschild’s are onto you. The State will need to keep you safe, but we also cannot be found tied with the pirates either. You continue providing the means to make the stones, and we will continue distributing the stones throughout the lands. After that you’ll be given the information you require.”

Zaine dropped the remaining papers back into the folder and shut it without a second glance. “Has Werslithe been given a new facility yet?” Aden listened quietly, evening his breathing as the two adults talked.

“He was given the facility in Seriate one week ago. Gerald and Bryan Rothschild both wrote articles and gave circumstantial evidence stating that his research was unethical. It caused us some trouble because now he needed to find a place that was remote and away from prying eyes.”

Zaine nodded at the information. “He needs test subjects with strong wills correct?”

The messenger nodded. “Yes, the younger the better Werslithe says. Somehow the younger ones adapt better to something foreign entering into them.”

“Good.” Zaine started and without any warning, the man with the white mask kicked the trunk of the tree Aden was hiding in. Shocked that his hiding place had been revealed, Aden tried to catch himself with a branch nearby but it snapped under his grasp.

He flipped out from his fall and landed unevenly on the ground a few feet from Zaine. He surmised his best glare before attempting his escape in the opposite direction. Somehow he had hoped he could run from Zaine. The stones, these raids, the State— He was smack dab in the middle of a conspiracy.

Only he could not escape. Zaine had easily caught him and knocked him down with a swift punch and kick. Then when the boy had fallen, he merely grabbed his collar and gave the messenger a parting message.

“Tell Werslithe I’m coming with two perfect subjects.”

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

Weeks of agony.

The process of accepting a stone that refused to cooperate with anyone’s life essence was pure and utter agony.

His sister pounded on the window of his medical room while Aden wheezed into his air mask. If he didn’t survive this, what would happen to Rebecca? Would she suffer the same fate like he had?

No.

He refused to accept that.

Jonas Werslithe clapped his hands in success as Aden finally produced symmetry with the stone.

“Someone with a dark past like you could only get accepted by this stone.” Jonas continued boasting aloud, and all Aden could do was focus on his little sister calling his name behind the sound proof glass.

“Get him up and into the testing facility. He needs to train.”

The men in the State uniforms unhooked the machinery around him and dragged his exhausted body out of the room. His sister cringed when she got a glimpse of his eyes beginning to change from the calm green to a sickening red.

“Aden! What did they do to you?!”

He had hope that maybe this power would give him the strength to get out and protect Rebecca, but that was a falsity.

It only brought him closer to the darkness.

۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞

He needed five years of training in order to fully control it. It was hard to ignite a single flame in the beginning, but with Zaine’s constant vigilance he was able to produce a fire big enough to ruin a whole country. Every time he wore his mask, he found himself one step closer to hell. Any point of salvation was gone and his morals as a human became nonexistent.

“Today we board the Argentine to look for compatible hosts. Some of us here have powers that have been bestowed upon us by Zaine to increase our powers. We know there are people chosen out there that must undergo their transformation. The legend of the Relic stones will bring a reign of terror on those fools bought in by the State! Who is with me?”

A huge roar from the band of pirates raged while Aden, age fifteen, quietly stood with Zaine next to him. He wore a different black mask that gleamed in the light of the sun as they waited for the fools to settle down.

“Aden.”

“What.” The boy replied coldly, not even bothering for civility.

“Your mission is to capture Bryan Rothschild. Am I understood?”

The boy nodded once.

“If we succeed, you can see your sister once more. How long has it been?” This question seemed to be nothing more than goading. Of course Zaine knew the answer; he was just seeing how much he could wrap Aden up in boiling emotions.

Four and a half years.

It had been four and a half long years.

“Don’t care.” Aden mechanically replied before turning his attention to the sea. On sea he felt comfortable. Maybe it was his mother’s blood singing within him for adventure. Maybe it was feeling the rush of air on his face when he climbed his way up the crow’s nest to find some peace. Maybe it was his thrill to go out and slaughter innocents that made him feel secure.

Zaine merely stepped forward and gained control over the simpletons while Aden watched in ennui. If he could only escape—

If only.