Impeccable (Zayn Malik AU)

xxviii. Preparations

♞ Ivy's POV ♞

I'm sure the Elites were having a fun time trying to figure out a way to help my failing memories return the next day, which just so happened to be October 22nd. It was Odette's seventeenth birthday.

I was sat in a chair in the middle of the training center, my face still bruised and aching and my ribs still making it hurt to breathe. I was dressed in not much more than my pajamas and my favorite maroon coat since it was getting colder, my fluffy socks becoming a subject of teasing once I had stepped foot in the training center. Early morning light creeped in through the high windows, illuminating all of the training machines and weapons.

All of the Elites had gathered around me, some looking genuinely worried while others seemed to laugh and poke fun at me.

"What if," Fuse, one of the more sarcastic Elites began, "we hit her really hard on the head? I saw it work in a TV show..." His eyes sparkled with the idea, which I immediately shot down. Several Elites tried stifling their laughter, others, like Isla, had only glared at him.

"You hit me, I will personally attach all of your homemade bombs to you and blow them up in your sleep." I threatened, my cold small little figure huddled in on itself not making much of a threatening image. Fuse rolled his dark eyes and smiled before getting back to work organizing some multicolored wires for his explosive projects.

He had been found shivering and suffering from severe frostbite in winter just outside of the city when I was seven, and when he had been taken in by us, we had asked him what his name was. He seemed thoughtful about it, like he could create a new identity for himself and was settling on a good name for this new person.

'Call me Fuse.' He had told us. We never understood why he decided to be called that until we had found him not more than two months later building firecrackers in the back of the Manor gardens, and the name had stuck. He was Doniya's Elite.

"What if we try retracing your steps? Go back to the place you were attacked? His Majesty did say he dropped you off at a bar in the city and found you in an alley." Astra, Waliyha's Elite, suggested. She had been brought here after running away from an abusive Chooser when she was sixteen, and sadly she still had some scars from that terrifying experience. She was a beauty with her long dark hair and matching eyes, but her emotional burdens had taken their toll on her.

I shivered involuntarily, my poor head getting a headache as I tried remembering what had exactly happened that frightful night at the bar. "I don't know if that would work."

I sighed as I ran my hands through my hair, as if that would somehow fix my jumbled memories.

And, in a way, I suppose it did.

Suddenly something was triggered in my brain, a flood of memories from that night rushing back to me.

"They're going to take away the country's most powerful person. They believe that if they can get rid of that one sole royal, they can control the Empire. The Maliks will be left in a frenzy, it will only be a matter of time before they break."

My eyes shot open, a gasp escaping me as I processed everything coming back to me. The Elites seemed a little startled, watching as their commander remembered everything.

The atmosphere grew thick with tension as Aaron casually sucked in on his cigarette again. "As for you, Ivy Salvatore, I can't say you'll be able to even make your report back to the King after tonight."

My eyes shut again as more painful memories resurfaced.

I moved to attack, go on the offensive, when a hard fist knocked into my forehead. I immediately saw stars, my legs feeling like jelly as I crumpled to the hard concrete. God, that hurt.