Seydon
"That was one hell of a welcome," I sneered as I kicked the last door open while holding on to my bleeding shoulder. I finally felt the pain that reverberated through my body after having reached my destination. "And you call yourself my father."
He had one elbow on the table, his cheek resting on his palm, a bored expression gracing his face while his other hand turned the pages on a file. His eyes were downcast, not bothering to greet the intruder, as if he had been expecting me. Listlessly, he raised his gaze towards the door, impassiveness evident in those eyes. I could see the unmistakable resemblance then that I had chosen to dismiss all this time. My eyes were my mother's legacy, but everything else on my face I inherited from him, my father.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." That old proverb laced in his unperturbed voice sounded more like a threat than a reassurance.
The man literally launched an army to stop me from confronting him, or perhaps he was just testing my strength, hoping to subdue me rather than face me while I stood on my own two feet. His men did attack and try to stop me, but no one made a fatal attempt on my life, and once I knocked them out, nobody followed after me.
Still clutching my shoulder with my other hand, I raised my gun and pointed it in his direction.
A hint of amusement sparkled in his eyes, and his lips curved up into a smile. "Ten bucks say you won't pull that trigger."
I was guessing he was responsible for my sick playful nature as well.
Just to piss him off, I took the shot, and the bullet hit the wall behind him. To my surprise, he seemed unfazed by the action. His eyes didn't flinch in the slightest when the bullet almost grazed past him.
"Correction. You won't pull that trigger on me."
Now, this was where he had me. As much as I despised this man for targeting the person I loved, the entire narrative changed when I learned he was my father. My loyalties lay nowhere except with myself, and if this person would give me some answers, then he'd have my attention.
"Calling my bluff?" I countered. "Please say yes so I can get the satisfaction of putting this bullet in your head."
He shifted in his chair and then placed his elbows on the table, his arms crossed. He beckoned me to come closer, but I stood motionless at my place.
"Seydon Gilanhall. Here. Now." His voice commanded, and I felt a weird but warm pang in my chest.
Gilanhall.
Not Cross, but Gilanhall.
I wasn't a nobody here, unlike in the Cross family. My mother never married him, and yet he gave me his name. He likely never met anyone after her. He could either never love another or felt too betrayed to trust again. Whatever the case was, he had ended up hurt.
I lowered my hand and cautiously walked towards him. My blood seeped through my sleeve and trickled down, leaving a tiny, crimson trail behind me. I soiled his carpet, but he didn't seem to care. His eyes were fixed on me.
"What can I do for you, son?" He asked, his voice devoid of any emotion but the way he called me 'son' hit at some old, sore spot in my heart.
"I want to know more about my mother," I demanded. "Who killed Sharon Cross?"
His eyes narrowed, and his lips parted. His gaze was on me, but his mind roamed elsewhere. "Suana..." I heard him mumble the alias my mother used when she was with him.
"Would you believe me if I told you it was the Red Phoenix?"
What?
What the hell?
His words made absolutely no sense to me. I was aware of how close my mother and Leander were. He had no reason to kill her. This man was just fucking with my brain and taking pleasure in the fact that I had no one else to turn to.
I raised my hand and pointed the tip of the gun to his head, but my hands started trembling. My breathing hitched, my eyelids became heavier, and my vision faded. The blood loss was taking its toll on my body. Before I knew it, I had lost my balance and was sprawled across the floor in his office.
The memories from five years back came rushing to me. I was miserable that night. All alone, sulking in my solitude. The way Alice and Kaidon celebrated his birthday made me jealous. He had a part of her that I would never have. I didn't want to let her go without a fight. Surprisingly, the bane of my existence called me then. She needed my help a second time, and I didn't hesitate to make my demands. I asked for five years. The exact number of years she had with Kaidon in her childhood. I wanted to even the grounds. It was my idea of a fair fight. I swore to myself I wouldn't lay a hand on her in that time, and if she managed to fall in love with me, I'd never give her back.
All my fantasies had fallen apart the next day. I couldn't remember who called me or told me about it. I was just there when it happened. I was at the bottom of that cliff, and I stared as the car burned to ashes. Someone burned inside, but it wasn't the person I loved with all my heart. She was safe, and she didn't remember a thing. It was like God had given me a clean slate to start everything again.
Someone wanted her dead, and I needed to hide her to keep her safe. I wanted to hunt this someone down to eliminate them so that she could have a happy future. The trail led me to this man. He wanted her dead for some reason but it kind of made sense now. It all fell into place. He wanted revenge. The Red Phoenix killed someone he treasured the most, so he wanted payback. Blood for blood.
Then it's true? He really did kill my mother?
But... why?
My eyes fluttered open to the distinct sound of an engine roaring at a distance. My gaze darted left and right and soaked in my surroundings. I was in a train compartment. I jerked ahead and flinched when my shoulder throbbed with pain. My hand instinctively went to grab it. Another man sat on the opposite seat. His dark hair was hidden under his baseball cap, while a pair of sunglasses hid the colour of his eyes. On closer inspection, I noticed that familiar look. It was Gilaan in disguise.
"About time you woke up."
"Where are we?" I felt the bandage on my shoulder from inside my shirt. A glance at the large window to my left told me we were travelling in the countryside. The large trees swished past us in the blink of an eye as the train sped through the tracks. The mountains and the sun on the horizon seemed to be stationary. People working in the fields appeared tiny in the distance. If my shoulder didn't sear with pain, I would have taken my time to enjoy that scenery while sipping on a cup of coffee.
"In a train."
"Oh, really? I thought we were horseriding." My sarcasm made the man smirk. He reached out to the seat on his left and picked up a pill bottle, and tossed it to me. "It will help you with the pain."
Eyeing the bottle in suspicion, I read the pack's contents before unlocking the seal and throwing two pills into my mouth.
"What are we doing here?"
"Traveling," he spoke without an ounce of hesitation in his voice.
"You never struck me as a vacationing kind."
"I am not." His voice didn't falter. He reached out to pick up his coffee cup from the table and brought it to his mouth to take a sip. His actions were elegant but carefully guarded.
"How is working like for The Order?" Surprisingly he took the lead in interrogating me this time.
Instead of answering him, I shot out a question instead, "Was my mother in love with you?"
I could feel his intense gaze without having to look into his eyes that were hidden behind the goggles. Another minute passed, and none of us threw in the towel.
"What did you study in college?"
I crossed my hands over my torso and rested my ankle over my other knee, sliding back in my seat comfortably. "Did you try to look for us?"
His forearms rested on either armrest of his seat, and the index finger of his right hand tapped against the metal. Finally, he sighed as he took off the sunglasses from his eyes, and I noticed his barely recognisable face hidden under a heavy disguise.
"We can go back and forth all day and still be at a stalemate. So how about we make a trade?"
I stared at him in confusion, and he continued, "I will answer a question of yours for every question you answer."
That indeed was better than nothing. If I were anything like him, we would be dead silent without any answers all day. If anything, I would be the one to cave in first. I was certain I couldn't best him in stubbornness. My mother's kindness would have diluted any traits I inherited from him.
"Psychology. That was the specialisation I pursued besides all the training." The Order made sure all the agents had a decent degree to get a livelihood if they decided to retire early.
He couldn't hide the smirk that lit up his face. "Yes, I looked for the two of you everywhere. Your mother was good at hiding."
A part of me warmed up at the confession. There was someone out there who gave a damn about us.
"Working there is fine. Pays my bills."
"I can't say if she loved me but seeing that she didn't give you up probably meant she didn't hate me. I was planning on proposing before..."
The last piece was unnecessary, but I liked the honesty.
"I know."
"You do?" His eyebrow shot up in confusion, to which I replied. "You left your diary in your old hideout."
A hint of realisation dawned upon his eyes, and he mumbled something under his breath, barely audible. "Oh.. that's where I..."
Silence dropped like a rock between us again. We continued to stare at each other, our stares intent, with numerous questions we had for each other.
He opened his mouth again to ask, "Did you make friends?"
"I did a few, but no one as close as Kaidon." I remembered the first day his father introduced him to the classroom. I hated him instantly, not just because he was better than me at almost everything but also because he had people who cared for him. It took a fistfight and some angry words to get to warm up to each other finally. "Have you killed people?"
The question brought a look of amusement to his eyes. "I have killed a lot more people than you can imagine. I even killed the people who shot Suana- your mother that day."
I wasn't sure what prompted me to ask that. Perhaps I just wanted to confirm where my blood lust rose from.
"Did he hurt you too much?" He asked. When I silently met his gaze for him to elaborate, he continued, "Reiner..."
I couldn't miss the restrained rage in his voice as the name of my old abusive caretaker rolled off his tongue. He knew about me. When everyone else seemed to ignore, he had kept tabs on me.
And then it hit me.
A few months after I killed him, I learned that his family was brutally murdered at their home. I didn't feel the slightest remorse for them, not for someone related to that cruel man. I hoped they suffered as much as I did. I wanted his soul in hell to cry on seeing his loved ones hurting as I did. But a part of me wished nobody ever had to go through what I did.
"I had been watching you from a distance. I didn't know the details, but then I learned he died, and I had to know why."
He killed the people who injured my mother. What was there to stop him from murdering the family of the person who abused his son?
A shiver ran through my spine. The Apple didn't fall too far from the tree. Perhaps I was as twisted as him.
"Next question."
He didn't move his eyes away from me, his gaze as intense as the sight of a predator on its prey. My powers had become such an integral part of my life that I unconsciously used them out of curiosity, wanting to know what thoughts trailed through his mind. It came up empty as expected, but several different thoughts invaded my mind from the people around us. One particular one caught my attention.
"... if I dissolve enough Oreos in milk, would that make for a decent cake batter? I-"
My eyes shot up at the picture that ridiculous recipe painted in my head, and I noticed a familiar face at the far end of the compartment. I had heard it too many times to forget who had such weird tastes in the family.
Alex opened the sliding door to enter, with Rihanna close behind on his tail. Kaidon and Ariel followed them, and the four looked engaged in some ordinary conversation.
A passenger lifted himself from his seat, and Kaidon stepped to the side and pulled Ariel towards him by the waist to protect her from running into the other man. My eyes closed in on the hand he laid possessively on her, and a sharp pang of jealously pinched my heart. He gave her a look of disapproval, probably admonishing her for acting like a klutz, while she shrugged and laughed it off.
If I weren't careful, I'd get caught, and with me, Gilaan would get caught too, and something inside of me was against that.
I lowered the cap I didn't know I was wearing until then to my face as the group passed by our seats, unsuspecting. I noticed Gilaan eye them as they walked out towards the next compartment.
His lips curved up into a grin as he asked his next question, "Do you love her?"
I didn't think I needed to answer that. It was too personal a question. He would be my father, but we weren't close enough to talk about my love life. Regardless, my mouth opened up to answer, "Yes."
He nodded, as if registering my response to every cell in his body. "Then I guess I can't hurt her."
My fingers balled up into fists at his confession. I didn't like wearing my heart on my sleeve. I didn't want him to have a hold on to my weakness. But if my love for her protected her from this man, I was ready to bare myself to him.
It was my turn to ask, "Did the Red Phoenix really kill my mother?"
His lips pursed together, and his eyes narrowed in thought. I hadn't felt more helpless at my inability to read his mind. "She died before my eyes, and he was responsible."
The sound of an explosion rumbled throughout the compartment. I immediately peeked out of the window and noticed the glass windows shatter from the compartment next to the engine, and flames pushed out. The blast sent rippling waves throughout the train, and everyone struggled to keep their seats. The door burst open, and Kaidon and Alex rushed towards the source of the explosion. As soon as they were out, Gilaan jolted upright and walked to the other end of the train.
I followed suit, glimpsing around as the other passengers panicked and held on to their seats. Gilaan burst through door after door, walking all the way towards the end of the train, and I struggled to keep pace, unable to understand what was happening.
We closed in on a locked compartment that held all the luggage. I glanced back and noticed more armed men tailing us, asking all passengers to leave and walk back at gunpoint. A man tossed a gun at Gilaan, who then took two shots at the lock, and the door bolted open.
My eyes first fell on the figure of the woman I loved. Her crimson hair flowed past her knees, but they were folded back into a ponytail then. She pointed a gun at the intruder, her eyes fierce. The bitterness in her gaze notched up another degree when she recognised Gilaan, not having forgotten their previous encounter. Her other hand was raised up in a defensive gesture to hold Rihanna behind her, who looked terrified to be caught in the middle of this.
Instinct took over my senses as I pushed through the narrow pathway to get to her.
"This is just a dream, ladies, believe me." His words echoed behind my back, and I turned around to face him. Then I tilted my neck in the girls' direction to see their eyes growing drowsy as they struggled to stand upright.
"You are both falling into a deep sleep now." He snapped his fingers, and instantly, the two closed their eyes, and their legs gave away. I reached out just in time to grab them both in either of my hands. I laid them down against the large trunks in the compartment. I carried out Rihanna first to the next compartment and rested her head against a seat in the back. While I rushed to get the girls out, his men went inside to check on the trunks, but did not attempt to stop me.
When Ariel was safe on the other side, I finally turned to him and asked, "What the hell is going on here!?"
He shrugged and gestured behind him. I took a peek and noticed the contents of the trunks that his men were carefully examining. They were full of ammunition, guns, bombs, knives, and much other stuff that I was even barely aware of.
"That's some latest stuff being transported from one of The Order's facilities to a distribution centre before it could be sent to all units around the city. We are intercepting it." He explained. "Just consider it something I occasionally do to piss them off."
"And why did you bring me here?" I asked incredulously.
"Because..." I noticed the slight reluctance in his voice before he let out a sigh and pointed his gun at me. Before I could make sense of what was happening, he fired, and a bullet hit me on my left shoulder. I jerked back with the force, the searing pain making my vision hazy.
"I never should have trusted you..." I grunted under my voice. I reached out for Ariel's gun and aimed, but he fired again, this time hitting me in the abdomen.
"I am sorry, son. If only my powers worked on you, this could have been easier."
My knees shook, and strength left my body. My vision blurred, and my mind went blank. I fell back, ready for the impact with the floor, but instead, I hit something softer. I could barely keep my senses awake, but I couldn't have mistaken that voice.
"It's going to be alright, Seydon."
It was Alice's father. He applied pressure to my wounds as he held me upright on the floor against his body. I was livid but slowly losing my consciousness. The fury of the betrayal was the only thing keeping me conscious. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming, but I heard their faint voices.
"We meet again, Red Phoenix. Third time's a charm, ain't it?"
"I can't believe you just-"
"I am returning him to your side. He is not supposed to stand in the darkness. Be grateful he loves your daughter, or she would be dead at my hands."
"Stop deceiving yourself! Sharon died protecting me from you!" Leander's frustrated voice rang a decibel too loud in my ears. My barely open eyes locked on my father, who had blood written all over his face at that moment. He gave a cold stare to him as he yelled back, "You killed her. You and that pathetic Order destroyed my life. Look after my son. That's your debt to me."
The last thing I witnessed was another small explosion as that compartment with all the ammunition disconnected from the train, and it drifted away from sight, and I fell into a slumber.
Author's Notes: Hi! Please do vote and follow me. And I would love to hear some thoughts from everyone. I am honestly not sure how the plot is going. I hope I don't disappoint my readers.