Claiming Innocence [#wattys2015]

Fifteen

I went through the rest of the day without seeing Axel. I was confused with his behaviour this morning at the meeting. 

I had no idea why he reacted the way he did, and I intended to find out.

I glanced at to clock and waiting until midnight, before slipping my feet into a pair of shoes and sneaking out the door.

By the time that I reached the tree, Axel was already here, watching me silently as I sat cross-legged in front of him. We sat there for a while, just observing each other. I looked at his skin, which was slightly tanned, and how his toned muscles could be seen through his black long sleeved shirt. 

Does he ever try colour? Or is that word unknown to him?

I looked back up to him to see how he was watching me back. His light brown eyes carefully watching my movement, as if at any second I could disappear. I noticed how perfect his face was, from the blemish free skin he adjourned to the bow shaped lips that was meshing with mine only a few days ago.

"What happened with you and Sparrow during training?" I surprised myself at how loud I sounded, I was getting used to the soft sound of the wind blowing the trees around, and the sound of grasshoppers making music with their legs.

He sat in silence for a few minutes; I could see the conflict he was battling himself with, almost as if he was scared to tell me.

"We were in the middle of a practice fight, I got paired with him. He just got under my skin that's all." He didn't want to tell me, I know he didn't, but I didn't care. All I want is answers, and that's what I'm going to get.

"What did he say to you?"

"Stop pushing it Natasha!"

"Just tell me and I'll stop asking" I spat back, getting worked up.

"Fine! You really want to know?" he shouted and stood up from his spot. "He told me that he is going to claim you. That you are going to be with him for the rest of your damn life. Dakota is his fucking mum. He's her favorite child, so whatever he wants, he gets. I got fucking pissed off and we broke out into a brawl. He is going to fucking ruin you Tash and if we don't get out of here, you're going to get seriously hurt and I wont be able to watch that happen."

I sat there taking in what he was saying, I thought about when Sparrow cornered me in the kitchen and told me I would be his.

I stood up, trying to match Axels intimidating height, but being 5'5 I obviously didn't pull it off as well as I hoped.

He was her favorite child. He always gets what he wants. The new information I was giving was circling around in my mind.

Sparrow was the favorite child, which must mean Dakota must have other children.

I looked up to him, "who else is she a parent to?"

A look of guilt washed over Axels face as looked anywhere but in my direction and kept quiet. When his eyes finally met mine, sudden realization hit me.

Oh my god.

Axel is the other child. Dakota is Axels mother. Sparrow is Dakota's son. Sparrow and Axel are brothers.

Shock took over my body, my mouth dropped open. I probably looked like a goldfish out of water right now. My eyes met his, I watched as he took a step towards me. I took a step back straight away and looked up to his face. "Stop."

"Tasha" he spoke softly, taking another step towards me "just let me explain." I didn't take another step back from him allowing his hands to wrap around my waist and pull me towards him. I wrapped my arms around his torso and started sobbing into his chest.

He comforted me for a few minutes until I calmed down enough.

He sat down against the tree trunk, with me between his legs like the other day. I leaned back against him, waiting for him to start explaining things to me.

"Dakota isn't my real mother, she's my Aunt, and Sparrow is my cousin . . ." he started. "Growing up, I didn't have a great life. We were poor, didn't socialize very often and stayed within the confinements of the forests in a small cottage most of the time.

Up until I was 10, I lived with both of my parents, they loved each other, and they loved me. 

We were out in the forest, dad was hunting, mum was pilling up what he caught and I sat by a small river playing with rocks."

I turned around so I was straddling him, feeling him getting tenser as spoke.

"It got really quiet, too quiet almost, and I couldn't hear my parents playful banter anymore. As I got up to go and find them, I heard screaming in the distance, screaming that I recognized to be my mothers. I panicked and ran as fast as I could, until I reached a small clearing where I saw a group of people standing around in a circle. I thought that maybe it was other hunters, but I found out a short while later, they were all members of the government. Even Dakota, who stood near."

Tears were forming in his eyes, one slipping down his cheek. I wiped it away with my hand, before giving him a kiss where the tear once was. He gave me a sad smile, one that didn't quite reach far enough to be considered a sincere smile.

"That day I found out that they were here to kill off the rebels. My parents. I didn't understand what was happening, I was so cooped up and sheltered from the real world. My parents taught me to love, to be fair and how to live life freely. I didn't know about all of the rules that were created or anything to do with the Claiming. 

I pushed my way into the circle where I watched my parents get shot in the head. It was torture. I screamed, grabbing the attention of everyone around me. My Aunt stepped forward with that evil smile on her face, before she took custody of me.  I hate that women for letting her sister get killed the way she did. She didn't care, no one there did. I've despised her ever since and she despises me.

When she took me to the house, I met Brax, and we instantly clicked. He came from the same background as me, his parents were dead too. He didn't have anyone until he met me, from then on we had each other."

I watched as tears poured down his face, I wrapped my arms around him and we sat like this for a while. When he finally stopped crying he pulled back before giving me a sad expression.

"Tash please don't cry" I frowned at him before touching my face to feel my cheeks were wet. I wiped the tears away with the palm of my hands before apologizing.

"Don't apologise, I cant stand seeing you cry Tasha" I looked up to him before we both made the silent decision to head back.

Tonight we have both had enough, planning would have to wait until tomorrow.

As we walked back to the house hand in hand, I now had a better understanding of why Axel was the way he was.

His childhood was full of love and freedom, until he got ripped away from that and got shoved into this new life full of restriction. He lost the only people he truly loved. 

He didn't deserve this.

No one did.

As we reached my room, Axel gave me another kiss on the cheek before wandering off back to his room. I hope that now we have a closer bond, we will be able to escape this prison and create a better life for ourselves.

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A/N sorry for not updating sooner

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