Crumbling Down

Chapter 4

Kert

A couple of days in, we were packing. On the newspaper, Mother is acting now. Not when the rebellion was growing, but when her kids decided to join them. Even with Natasha's blessing, a Megatron TV created by metal showed Mother's deepened age. Her face tired, but her eyes awake and hungry. Her silver hair tied in a tight bun.

"I can assure you, citizens, that my son and daughter will face the same punishment as any citizens would have. We will find those rebels, and restore Soto to its glory". I can feel her steel gaze searching for my soul like how Natasha did. The aristocrats cheered in the background. Her puppets, but it worried me still. I still love Mother genuinely, and I once really cared for Soto, and it's crown. Of course, I knew Mother didn't do anything except push some laws around, but nobody's perfect, right?

"Kert, you're crying. Mother wouldn't care now. Her emotions are going to get us locked up", Natasha warned. Wiping the tears away that I didn't notice I had, I looked down.

"I still love her as much as you do, but we can't stay. The rebellion needs to be alive", she whispered sweetly.

"B-But to where? The rebellion is in place, and we don't need to move anywhere. Hell, they didn't discover the base yet", I argued. We have nowhere to go. Even if we go to other kingdoms, they'll surely execute us for transpassing their land. We are the definition of Soto. Dying and being slowly forgotten.

"For how long? Rallies and attacks are not what we can do anymore. The general of this rebellion wants us to go and meet so that we can form a plan", she added. I couldn't believe it. I care about the people, but Mother's look gives me chills. I betrayed the crown, the legacy.

"Don't think about going back...right?", She tore up and hugged me tightly. I held on, tears flowing, water flooding the ground. As much as I disappointed Mother, Natasha is someone I couldn't lose. She was my only friend in that palace. My short temper drove people away, but not Natasha. The only one who helped me. And Tristian came the back of my mind. Natasha wiped our tears and retracted the water with a palm.

"Enough crying. It was worth it, but I need to know if you're in this? One last chance before we leave and rise". I nodded and hugged her once more.

"Alright baby brother, we leave at sunset," she replied, leaving to the tunnels.

---

With our hoods hiding our identities, Natasha instructed Mika and Avery to lead the groups. We already had some people using illusion as abilities to hid us in plain sight among the streets. We had trucks built by metal welders. And powered by electricity. How in broad daylight did Natasha hire people with abilities? I understand if some nobles and aristocrats joined due to the injustice, but over hundreds of them?

As the trucks went through the bustling parts, to dead-quiet roads, the sun was cascading over the water. The beach? Over the left, boats as frail as it can be rocked gently with the water.

"What's with the boats? It won't support us all. With thousands of us", I hesitantly added. Natasha laughed like how a little kid doesn't understand when the adults do.

"You princes are gullible," Natasha is laughing away.

"Well, you were a princess," I muttered, grateful she didn't hear that. With the beach and the ocean getting bigger, orange and red blinded the sky. The smell of salt hit me home. It instinctively calls out my ability. We parked by the side of the frail boats, and the metal welders got off from the trucks, tearing it to pieces.

"What--," I stopped, the metal welds and bent among the boats. They shaped together, slowly forming a submarine. Dozens of them, and they were gigantic.

"Told you, we're more organized than you thought," she snickered. I playfully pushed her, hiding my amusement. The metals did their final creation, bringing the submarines to life. The wielders, hundreds of them, exhausted and wrinkles formed around their faces.

"Thank you guys so much. Now listen, due to the general's hurried arrangements, we have to sail to Erie", she humbled, but still trembled with fear. My stomach dropped when I heard that name. Soto's worst enemy.