The Legends Live On

Roots

[June POV]

The morning dawns, chilly even inside the apartment. Daniel had slipped out earlier, whispering against my ear that he was going to go see Eden. They regularly take morning walks along the edge of the Lake sector to see the sunrise over the river.

Now, an hour after sunrise, I slide out of bed and slither to the bathroom. I revel in the heat of the shower, scrubbing a night's worth of grub from my scalp. I dress quickly and pad across the floor, heading towards the kitchen, hungry. On the way there, I can't resist stopping and peaking into John's room, savoring the strange giddiness that rises in my chest at the sight of him. John. My son. My baby. My heart sings an unending tune of "He's back!" I cannot wait for him to meet the twins, though I'm still unsure how he will respond.

It's my day off from the field, a national holiday for all commanders and even most agents. Daniel has the day off too and he'll be back any moment. He and Eden will have already gotten breakfast together, but I'm starving and I presume John will be too. I pull eggs from the fridge and the various ingredients for pancake batter from the pantry. My thoughts slip away to my work and the Coalition's recent successes. In the past week we have found two more missing children and reunited them with their families. One of them was only gone a month before we found him. I am still a commander, but I'm passionate about the Coalition and the work we're doing.

I hear footsteps approaching from the hallway and look up to see John. His hair, the color of cornsilk, is pulled into a demure tail at the base of his neck. For an instant, I see Day at the age of fifteen, when we met. With the morning sun slanting in from the window and setting the edges of his body alight, John is the spitting image of Daniel. The only difference is the structure of his face, which is thinner than Day's, more angular like mine. Luminous blue eyes meet my own, though John's hands remain in the pockets of the loose trousers he wears.

"Good morning," I say, at a loss for words as I so rarely am. "I'm making eggs and pancakes. You want some?"

"Sure," John mumbles. I turn around, cracking three more eggs into the pan on the stove. My mouth half open, a question poised on the edge of my tongue, I turn around.

I freeze, shocked by what I see. John stands before me, his arm raised and his first curled around a silver knife. The light hits the knife so that it looks like a mirror.

"John?" I ask incredulously, my voice strong though I feel weak and feeble inside. For the first time, the logical side of my mind- usually dominant -is silent. I do not calculate the distance between me and the knife, nor the possible maneuvers John could use to attack me. Only now do I notice the cords of muscle that twist across John's arm, a symbol of manhood at odds with the child I believed him to be.

A war of emotion flickers across John's face, so many colors merge and become black. He's frozen there, knuckles white. HIs eyes- Daniel's eyes -flit around the room, settling anywhere but on me. The edge of John's mouth twitches, the the one movement in his whole body.

"What I was sent to do," he chokes out, voice strained. For an instant, I forget the knife entirely, horrified by what I see. I rush forward without thinking, my hands instinctually lunging towards John's wrist. I pull them back, twisting my fingers around one another and pressing them against my chest instead.

"John!" I exclaim, my words waverings slightly. "What did they do to you?" I stare in dismay at John's wrist, focused on the raised pink and brown slashes of skin that circle it. I'm standing so close to his arm now that I can see each individual hair standing on end, set alight and turned into a golden ghost by the rays of sunlight streaming through the window. 

"They taught me what is right," John insists in a child's voice, a parrot repeating what he has heard, "and what is wrong."

"No, John, no." My voice is pleading, a tear rolling unbidden down my face. "They hurt you."

-=+=-

*Picture from WallpaperMaiden.com

Author's Note:

Hi guys! I'm so sorry I haven't posted a chapter in forever. I have some exciting news though: I'm writing a book! My manuscript is currently over 100,000 words, but I have yet to edit it. I'm not sure it will ever get published, but I'm really loving writing it. It's a fantasy tale of revenge and insanity, with a touch of romance as well. I know that's no excuse for abandoning this fanfiction, but it's why I haven't been very active as of late. Don't forget to check my blog (, the link is in my bio) and my Instagram (@bookkace) for recent updates and book reviews. I'm planning to have another chapter of this up very soon. Thanks so much for reading!

XOXO,

BookKace