Immortals

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝑻𝒘𝒐

Papa had his back to the door and her companion was looking around the kitchen.
"So, what's your names?" Papa asked to fill the silence.
He poured the water into two cups and added two tea bags.
"I'm Adryan, and my companion is Aurora." Adryan said without looking at them.
He was staring at an old photo of a woman heavily pregnant.
Aurora studied him.
Adryan.
He looked up and caught her eye but she quickly looked away.
She could still feel him watching her.

"You can call me Papa. That's what everyone else calls me."
Adryan raised his brows.
"Is that your real name?"
Papa laughed and shook his head.
"No, that's not my real name. It's Luke Byrne but nobody uses it."
Aurora lowered her head.
She hadn't heard anyone say that name in a long time. 
"Who's in this picture?" Adryan asked, pointing to the old photograph.

Papa set a cup of tea in front of Aurora and set the other one beside her.
He motioned for Adryan to sit and only after they had sipped from the cup did Papa tell them.
"That is my wife pregnant with our daughter." Aurora froze.
She didn't know much about her mother, only that Aurora looked just like her, she even had the same dark red hair as her mother.
Her sea-green eyes, however, were a mystery.
She wondered how Papa didn't see the connection but it must be part of the deal that she made in the cave, that no one would remember her.

Somehow Adryan had picked up on her movement because as he cocked his head, his green eyes slid towards her.
"Where is she?"
Papa stared at them for a moment before answering. "She died a day after giving birth to our daughter." He turned to me.
"We were going to call her Aurora, you know."
Aurora swallowed.
"You were?" she croaked.
He nodded.
A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Adryan looked between them and then asked him a shade more softly than he did a minute.
"What do you mean you were going to?"
Aurora's smile faded a bit as she looked towards Adryan and found him staring intently at her.
Papa hesitated and Aurora had a feeling she didn't want to hear what he was going to say next.
"My daughter, s–she was stillborn–"
Aurora stopped listening.

Stillborn.
Papa thought she had died when she was born.
He didn't even remember her first step.
She had expected him to think her dead but she thought he would at least remember her growing up.
Maybe she would have 'died' when she five but that might be better than him not remembering her at all.
Papa was still talking but Adryan's attention was pinned on her.
Watching her having a mental breakdown.

She pushed her chair back and stood up suddenly.
Papa stared up at her, worried.
"Excuse me." she said and rushed out the door quickly.
She heard Adryan apologize and then follow her but she ignored him.
She didn't need him to butt his head into her business.

She threw the front door open and rushed into the porch.
She reached the treeline and continued on, taking the familiar path to the river.
Her knees threatened to give out as she stumbled from tree to tree until she reached the river.
She fell down to her knees, staring blankly at the rushing water.
Aurora could see her reflection staring back at her.
Hollow cheeks, chapped lips, dull hair, empty eyes.

Adryan lingered by a tree to give her some sense of privacy.
The silence stretch on.
Adryan spoke first without looking at her, "You should have known this was coming. Riona told you that your family wouldn't remember you." He said softly.
Aurora ignored him.
He continued, "So why did you come back? To torture yourself? For what?"
Aurora sighed.
He was never going to leave her alone until she told him her reason.

"I– I didn't come back her to 'torture' myself. I came back to make sure Papa was healthy again. To make sure the Queen's Council didn't lie to me. That's why I came back."
She stared down at her hands folded on her lap.
"Then why did you run away?"
Aurora huffed.
"I did not run away."
Adryan's lips tugged up at the corner.
"It looked like running to me."
She looked up at the sky.
"Fine. I ran away back there because even though I knew he wouldn't remember me, I didn't realize that I was stillborn to him. I just thought my mom never got pregnant. Or if she did, I would have lived at least until I was five or something like that. I thought I would have 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝..." Aurora trailed off.

There was a rustle and then Adryan was sitting beside her, staring at the water.
She studied him out of the corner of her eye.
Strong jaw, straight nose. Handsome to say the least.
He turned his head and looked at her.
"This could be a good thing, you know." 
Aurora snorted.
"How."
A ghost of a smile graced his lips as he looked around.
"There's no one to hold you back. Your life is yours to live and no one can tell otherwise."

Aurora cocked her head.
"Huh. You're good at this aren't you?"
Adryan raised a brow.
"Good at what?"
Aurora grinned.
"Being annoying."
Adryan hit her on the shoulder.
"I've been annoying people since before you were born. I should hope I'm good at it."
Adryan stood and extended his hand towards me.
"Come on, let's go."