King shrugs small, curled up on the plush bed in the room Caius gave her; Volterra is a loooot bigger than she ever realised, let's say that. This bedroom looks so outdated but incredible - minus the windows, which it has none of. "Thinking." She mumbles. She feels the bed dip as Caius sits by her, stroking her hair back. She closes her eyes with a small smile. "You always did this..."
"I did. I could always get you to sleep when you didn't want to." He smiles. "What's on your mind?"
She sighs and sits up, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment as Caius lights several candles, lighting the dark room a bit. "A lot of things... Mainly Eli. And what he may be going through right now." She whispers and swallows hard at the thought.
"He is fine, I bet. He's your mate, he'd have to be tough to handle you."
She smiles small at her brother. "You always sucked at pep talks."
"Yes, yes, I remember." He chuckles. "What else is on your mind?"
King stays silent for a moment. "Ajax - is he really in that urn thing Clio had? Where is that?"
Caius is silent for a moment. "I don't know. But it's in a vault below us right now - why?"
"Can I see it?" She asks, looking at him.
His red eyes look torn as he frowns. "I don't know... What's the point? He's been in there so long now, if he is in there, what good would it be to release him?"
"He's still our father, Cai. He deserves freedom, doesn't he? We got it - sorta. Let me see it."
Caius is silent again for a moment before he sighs. "Fine, give me a minute to go get it. Can you find your way to the main room?"
She nods and smiles a little, watching him leave. She jumps out of the bed and runs down the hall, banging on Jakes door. "Jaaake."
He opens it, half asleep. "Mm?"
"Wanna come see me do magic?" She grins.
"I think I've seen enough of your magic." He cringes at the memory of the little event just a few days ago.
She rolls her eyes. "Come on. I'm gonna see if I can free Ajax."
Jacob raises an eyebrow. "Why? He's been there 3000 years, leave him be. Man's probably in a pretty good nap."
She rolls her eyes. "Your call, whatever." She shrugs, heading down the hall towards the big throne room. She heads up some stairs, takes 2 lefts and a right before she recognises the hallway, pushing the doors open slowly.
Caius is just setting the metal pot in the centre of the room. "Perfect timing. You've got an audience." He nods.
King looks in the direction he nodded and blushes as she sees a small gathering of the guard behind where Marcus and Aro sit. "Great... No pressure then."
Caius smiles as he steps aside, just as Jake comes in; he stands right beside Caius before sitting against the marble wall. "So what exactly are you gonna do?" He yawns.
King bites her lip. "I don't... Know... Exactly." She says, tilting her head as she eyes the object. She takes a few steps closer and kneels down, gently laying a hand over the lid. She gasps and instantly pulls it away, Caius rushing over. "Ow!! FUCKER!" She cusses, shaking her hand.
"King!?" Caius grabs her hand to check it.
"I'm okay, it's fine. She put a protection spell on it, I should have realised." She says, shaking her head - a little mad at herself in that moment.
Caius reluctantly steps back as King kneels down again, taking a more cautious approach to the object. Using both hands, she grabs ahold of the pot. "Motherf-" she growls, gripping it. She closes her eyes, taking deep breaths as she focuses. In her head, she imagines a bunch of locks; all she has to do is figure out how they open.
Jacob and Caius watch her closely as the others watch her curiously. "Fascinating." Aro whispers as he watches, eyeing the slight glow around her hands.
"Shut. Up." King growls as she focuses; it sounds like a simple task to unlock the locks, but it isn't so. They're old, rusted. Some don't have keys, some need a combination. It's all of course a metaphor, a method of using your magic in an unknown circumstance, that she learned during her training those years ago.
Jane tuts at the girls rudeness towards her master as Aro chuckles coldly; fiesty, like her brother. Caius rolls his eyes as does Jacob, both cringing at how alike they seem to be becoming at times. All eyes snap back to King as they hear a squeak, Kings eyes flying open to see the lid slowly turning.
"Come on..." She whispers, squinting a little. The lid squeaks a little more before it flies open, nothing else happening. King sulks. "Well that was-"
She flies back from the force of something flying out of the open pot. Jacob scrambles to her side but she seems okay, quickly standing up and looking for whatever flew out. On the floor, half hidden by one of the pillars, lays a man; he seems unmoving. "Is that..." Jake asks.
King nods small, taking a few steps closer. Its her dad; long messy blonde hair and all. Caius stops her from going closer. "No no, wait." He says cautiously as the man moves.
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He suddenly leaps up, his wide brown eyes looking around. "WHERE AM I!!" he yells, the guard leaping to action in a split second to surround him. This is a bad idea as he lashes out, running at them.
"Stop stop!" King says, pushing her way through. "Ajax! It's okay!" She tries to get past. "Stop!" She cried as she hears his yells of anger, pain and fear. She makes it through the group to find Demetri and Felix pinning him on his knees, his face pushes to the marble. "Off!!!"
They share a look, looking behind her at Caius, before slowly letting go and backing up. King falls to her knees. "Ajax?" She asks frantically, stroking some of his messy hair back.
He pants for a moment and slowly backs up, sitting on his legs. "Who are..." he gasps, his eyes widening as they meet hers. "It cannot be..."
She smiles a little. "Hi papa..." She whispers, tucking his hair back as she cups his dirty face.
His dirty fingers reach up and touch her cheek ever so lightly, as if testing she's there. "Athena... My little Ena." He whispers, pulling her into a hug.
She smiled a little as she hugs back. "Easy now." Caius says sternly.
Ajax looks up at the voice, pulling away from King. "Caius... It can't be." He whispers, frowning in confusion. He looks between both of his children as Caius leans beside King. "You both... You both died." He whispers, looking between them both.
Caius smiles small and shakes his head, placing a hand over his father's, King doing the same. "We're right here, papa. Always have been."
The guards all leave, Jacob too, to give the family a moment to reunite as Ajax pulls his children close. They deserve this moment after all this time.
