Of Smoke and Stardust [[COMPLETE]]]

CHAPTER 26-PARKER

Jayden. Jayden. Jayden. He was there. Alive. Parker couldn't believe it. After all the time he'd been away, it felt like a dream. A tentative wish, as fragile as a bubble.

Jayden was there. Just a few meters away. He almost touched the glass door. His fingers itched to reach out and grab his brother for a tight embrace. His brother, who looked the exactly same, and yet so different at the same time. There was something frightening about him—something murderous and less human. Parker's insides curdled and his throat felt swollen and thick.

Alya nudged his shoulder and motioned with her head to a glass box above the training facility. A man in a white coat stood above everyone, his arms crossed as he surveyed the trainees. Parker couldn't see his face from down below. His arrogance emitted in waves. Parker instantly hated him. He had to be the man in charge of the facility—the man who took Jayden and made him into something else.

Parker's fingers clenched into fists.

"If we can get up there, we could take down the entire system," Alya whispered.

Parker nodded, but Rowan shook his head. "Don't be stupid. Those soldiers would tear us apart if they see us. Even your bro, Parker." He gave Parker a side eyed look, as if he wasn't sure if Parker would jump through the glass at any moment. "We stick to the plan."

He hated it, but Rowan was right. Crashing through that glass wall into a room full of highly trained killers was not smart.

As one, they turned to continue on, but stopped short. Only a few feet away stood a group of guards. They didn't look friendly.

Shit. They should have known something was wrong when the halls were so empty. Or how easily they entered the facility with much obstacles. Had they fallen for a trap? But there was no way for them to know. Parker took a step back, but there was only the glass wall, his heel hit the concrete of it, confirming their entrapment.

Shit, shit, shit. It wasn't supposed to turn out with them getting caught. Not so soon—not at all.

Before he could reach for his gun—which would have been stupid anyways since they were outnumbered—the guards roughly grabbed them. His arms were snagged backwards and his joints screamed. Instinctively, Parker jerked forward, flipping a guard over his head onto the floor. Alya kicked another guard away, as Rowan roared and tossed the guard on his back into the wall with a loud 'CLUNK.'

A gunshot shattered the air and sucked the breath out of Parker's lungs. His body froze with the memories of Mallowmont, the usual pain that followed that sound. He cringed expecting to feel the sting of something piercing his flesh. But no pain came.

"Rowan!" Alya ran to the HAWK soldier as he slumped to the floor, a look of dull surprise on his face.

A pool of blood stretched out from under him. The scene making Parker's limbs numb. So much blood, Rowan was gone within moments, his previously sharp gaze turned sightless.

Alya choked on a sob, her face pale and ashen. She didn't even fight when a guard grabbed her by the back of her collar, removed her weapons and jerked her arms behind her back. Parker didn't notice the same happening to him. His mind kept flashing to Mallowmont. The blood on the concrete. The blood on the walls. The blood on his hands. Rowan's smug face and banter. Rowan's blood on the concrete.

Numbly, Parker knew him and Alya were led into the training room they had been watching. His brain managed to take in the details despite the constant flashes of Rowan's body running through it.

The man in the white coat stood outside the glass box, a set of white metal stairs like in the ship led up to him on the side of the training room. The trainees stood around, no longer fighting on the mat in the center. There were ten of them, and five guards, after Rowan had taken out one.

Where had they gone wrong? Were they recognized? Did Alya's father warn the facility?

"Her." The man in the white coat pointed at Alya. "Bring her up to me."

Parker's head jerked up, his eyes met Alya's shocked ones and all the feeling of numbness washed away. "No!" With more strength than he thought he had, Parker ripped away from the guard holding him back. He made it two steps before two more guards tackled him to the floor. His ribs screamed at the force and weight. The breath knocked out of his lungs, leaving him wheezing as he struggled. He tried to call out, but only a groan escaped his throat.

No, no, no, no, no! He couldn't lose her. Not when he'd come so far, not when he'd finally gotten to Jayden. It was too much. And it was all his fault. If he hadn't made them go on a suicide mission for his brother then Rowan's death wouldn't have happened, and Alya—he didn't even know what they'd do to her. His mind swept through a nightmare of torturous experiments.

She had supported him, had been there for him. And he had destroyed her.

Alya knew better than to fight as the two guards holding her brought her up the staircase. She craned her neck to look back at Parker, but Parker could only jerk his head up just enough to see through his bangs. The metallic tang of blood was on his tongue from biting it when he hit the ground.

He tried to convey with his eyes that he'd fix everything—somehow. He'd get her out at least. And Jayden—not like he deserved it anymore.

He hoped she saw before she disappeared into the glass box with the man in the white coat. The fight in Parker released as soon as he couldn't see her any longer. His body slumped into the ground, allowing the guards to push him further into the unforgiving floor.

Parker expected the hit of a gun, a shot to the back of his head, or maybe they'd pry him off the ground and shoot him on his feet. But instead of any of those things, the weight of the guards lift, allowing air back into his lungs.

Tentatively, Parker lifted his head, a mixture of shock and confusing cascading through his limbs. Carefully, he slid up to his knees and glanced up the staircase. How quick could he bound up to the glass box? Could he outrun their bullets? Their aim? His knees ached with the thought. He would try. He could do it. He could see the exact path he would take.

Just as he was about to sprint, four thick glass walls shot up from the floor around him, locking him in a glass box prison. Parker's fist slammed into the thick glass, but it did nothing but hurt the fleshy part of his hand.

Shit.

The walls must have been bullet proof. Parker slumped against the glass, his gaze set on the glass box above. Another prison. He should have been used to being in one, but he wasn't.

A SNICK sounded behind him, like the sealing of a door on the ship. Then the soft, surefooted padding of boots.

Heart in his guts, Parker slowly turned. He'd expect a soldier sent in to kill him. A show for amusement. It wasn't a surprise. If the people running the facility were a part of Mallowmont, then of course they'd want a show.

But as Parker regarded his opponent, his heart completely stopped.

Jayden stood on the other side of the glass cube, with a smirk on his face that was the opposite of the mischievous one he used to have before, and murder in his eyes.