Broken hero

Chapter 37

   "So, you never explained about the queen stuff." Anna laid on her stomach watching Eclipse.

"True." Eclipse sits on the edge of the bed. "So where do you want me to start?"

"Well.... you said something about your dad taking you in because of a prophesy?"

"Mmhmm. The prophesy seemed to point towards me becoming a ruler. So, my dad took me in, though to be honest, I think he would have done so anyway. That's the kind of person he is. Unfortunately, the Soothsayer didn't tell him the whole thing." Anna tilts her head. "There's a part that said had I died before turning 25 then darkness would overtake the kingdom. The Soothsayer believed that meant she'd become queen so she set it up so my ship would encounter the meteors. Gabriel told me about it when I was 17 so that I wouldn't go after my family before the time limit expired."

"That makes sense." Anna looks thoughtful for a moment. "But you said Zala was going to be queen."

"The way my world works. There's supposed to be two set of rulers. One rules during times of peace, AKA the Queen of Peace, and one during times of war, AKA the Queen of War. Zala is set up to take the role of Queen of Peace while I'm supposed to take the Queen of War's place. The line of succession always follows the Ruler of peace however so Zala's children would inherit the throne. That's why it doesn't matter who I date or marry, because it's not expected for me to keep the line pure."

"Oh, I see... but who's the Ruler of War now?"

"We actually don't have one. My father's brother died when he was teen and never succeeded the throne, and he didn't have any other siblings. The previous Ruler of War had no children and died not long after dad took over. So, dad's been handling both responsibilities."

"Oh... are you sure it won't matter that you're dating me? I mean... I'm just a human..."

"You're way more than that to me." Eclipse tilts her head up to look at her eyes. "Even if it was a problem, I would rather give up my position than give you up."

Anna blushes bright red as Eclipse kisses her forehead and stands up. "Do you ever not know what to say?"

"You often have me speechless love. I just don't show it like you do." Eclipse smirks as she winks at her.

Anna groans in frustration as Eclipse opens the door.

"Hey, Eclipse!" Warfalcon is walking down the hallway towards her. "Your dad is here to see you. He said he wanted to talk privately."

Eclipse frowns slightly, "Gate?"

Warfalcon nods and she kisses Anna goodbye before heading outside.

"Hey dad, what's up?" She tilts her head in confusion as she meets him at the gate.

"Hey, sweetheart."

Eclipse raises an eyebrow, "You only call me that when I've done something wrong."

He laughs softly, "not exactly but let's go for a walk."

Eclipse shrugs as she follows him out the gate and down the footpath. She already had the day off, so it was ok to leave the academy grounds. They walk in silence till they found a clearing with nobody around and sit on a bench.

"So, what's going on?" Eclipse crosses her legs.

"Are you ok? When you dropped your sisters off, you seemed off and your sisters said something happened." He studies her as she shrugs.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Eclipse tries to smile and make him feel better.

"Eclipse, I'm not as easy to shrug off as your sisters. I've worked with soldiers and been in enough wars to recognize when someone is coming off a panic attack." Her face falls as she looks away. "Hit the nail on the head, didn't I?"

Eclipse sighs as she nods her head.

"What happened that you're not telling us?"

Eclipse thinks for a minute before responding. "In order to tell you what happened, I'd have to tell you some things that I'm not sure you're ready for."

"I think that's up to me to decide. You're still my daughter and I want to help. What happens the next time if you can't get somewhere private? Or if Anna isn't around to help you? We need to know how to help and what to expect so we don't trigger another one by mistake."

Eclipse frowns, he had a point. She looks at her hands as she puts her feet down and leans on her knees.

"Phoenix is gone." Her voice seems small even to her.

Her dad leans forward, listening intently so she continues. She tells him about the stones, what they do, and how Phoenix's was corrupted. She grips her hands tightly together as she tells him about how Phoenix had cornered her and while she was defending herself, she had accidentally killed him. She falls quiet as she struggles to reel in her emotions. This subject was always hard to talk about.

"So, you felt your life was in danger and while trying to get away, you accidentally killed him instead?" Her dad clarifies as she continues to stay quiet.

She nods her head, and an arm slips around her shoulder, pulling her into his strong chest.

"It wasn't your fault." The words surprised her, and she trembled lightly.

"It feels like it is. If I had saved Jesse, or noticed the stone's aura, or even worked harder to find a way to remove it... " Her voice cracks as tears pool in her eyes.

She tries to pull away, but he holds her tighter. "None of those things were your fault. You didn't force him to pick up the stone and you didn't cause Jesse's death."

She gives up fighting it and lets the tears fall down her cheek. Her body shook gently as she let out the grief and anger. She slowly calms down and only then does he let her go to wipe the tears from her face.

"Stop holding this stuff in. It won't help you in the long run kiddo." He rubs her shoulder. "Is that what causes the attacks?"

She shakes her head no and tells him about her immortality. He looks surprised but doesn't comment just yet.

She gulps, "6 months ago I was ambushed by a woman and her small group of followers. One of the students was a traitor and they had leaked the information about me to my attacker. I was overpowered and taken to a bunker on the mainland...." Her hands trembled as she closes her eyes, her father placed his hand on her's.

"They... experimented by using different methods to kill me in order to test how I regenerated." She felt him tense up. "They also sold kills to people who wanted to kill others without the consequences that came from it. That's what happened to my eye. It was wounded and didn't regenerate. The traitor prevented the academy from being able to find me... so I was stuck there for the last 6 months. It wasn't until an archangel finally found me two weeks ago that I was able to escape. Her powers combined with mine and it ended up changing my eye color while taking away my ability to control its color."

She takes a breath. "Ever since coming home, I've struggled with what happened. Anna's been helping me, but if I get overwhelmed then sometimes it get triggered. Fighting isn't a trigger, usually it's certain loud noises. Yesterday it was a door slamming shut while I was tiring out."

He slowly nods as she falls quiet. "I think I understand a bit. Do you think it will cause a problem later?"

She shakes her head, "it's only this bad cause it's still fresh. The Doc gave me some meds to help, and Anna's been helping me work through it."

The bench squeaks as he stands up, patting her shoulder, "As long as you're ok then I trust your judgment. I'll have a talk with your sisters and mother to explain the situation. I have a feeling it's hard enough telling me."

She gives him a grateful smile as he turns to walk away.

"I hope you'll trust us enough to tell the rest." She tenses up as he laughs. "It's ok not to tell me now. I can tell from your expression that more has happened than you've let on, but I'm sure you have your reasons."

She gives him an apologetic smile. "Thanks dad."