I have to say, eating near to one of the most intimidating people I have ever met, it something I never want to do again. I don't want to say that I am an insecure little imp, but I felt really judged when I saw the Queen watching me eat. The food on the table was like nothing I have ever seen before. It consisted of many different colors and different shapes that made me scared to eat any of it. I loaded my plate with a tan food that didn't really have a shape. It kinda looked like mashed potatoes, but from what I saw, it was the safest looking thing there. I bit into the food that was piled on my fork and saw the queen looking at me. I tried not to make faces at the food, even though it was dry and gross, knowing that I was being observed. But it was hard.
"I missed you" she finally said.
"I could say the same thing." I told her. She welcomed this statement with a broad smile that communicated gratitude. With this, she piled her plate high with many different colors of food and began to eat, at the same time, talking to the person seated next to her.
I took this time to look down the table and do some more observations. There were many people seated at the table. Each one of them looked the same and I was definitely the youngest person there. The person across from me would probably have been in his late 40's when we were back home, but with the time running differently I didn't have any idea as to how old he was. Lyric was no where to be seen which made me fear for him a little bit.
"So you're Julienne's daughter huh?" I started and looked to my left to see an older elf looking at me.
"I....Julienne?" I stuttered nervously. The elf just friendly laughed.
"I guess I didn't mean to say her name allowed, but your mom is the queen and her name is Julienne."
"Ohhh, yes I am her daughter." I smiled. I kinda liked this elf. Already, he reminded me of the grandpa I never had. I chatted with this elf for the majority of the meal and found out a couple things about him. His name was Hagen and he had been loyal to the queen for as long as he could remember. He lost his wife when they moved here and has 5 kids, two of which decided to leave the colony and go out to experience the world for themselves. I was a little bit sad that I couldn't tell this friendly elf the truth about my life, since he told me so much about himself, but I kept strongly to my lies. From the lies, I was Asta, who lost her mother and hopelessly wandered the old planet, getting scraps of food from other people, before being captured and brought to a strange planet that I was then disguised as a human. As I spoke, the old man would shake his head in pity and sympathy, and said comments like; "You must have been so scared." or "I'm certainly glad that you escaped and came back home." I felt more than awful, lying to this friendly elf, but I decided that it was for the better good. I was going to say something else to him, when the queen interrupted me.
"Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining me again at the table of dining. I would just like you all to meet my long-lost daughter, Asta." She gestured for me to stand up and I was greeted with polite applause. I waved, in a careless way, and then sat down again. The queen continued. "I don't want to ever lose her again, so just make sure to keep an eye on her for me." She smiled at the crowd and winked at me. I had to say, this made me a little bit nervous. How am I supposed to escape when I am called back to the Avengers if everyone always knows where I am? Despite my worries, I smiled back.
She then kept talking about quite irrelevant things that had to do with the government and military of this place. I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept wandering. Where was Lyric? Did they take him away? Did he get in touch with Nick? This reminded me, I still had the earpiece in my ear. Once, I remembered that it was there, I was desperate to leave the table so I could get it out.
After what seemed an eternity, the queen finally closed with the words: "Now, I think we could all do with a bit of sleep. You are all dismissed." I got up faster than I should have and decided to linger for a couple moments more to make it seem like I hadn't wanted to leave really badly. I had let quite a couple people pass in the race to get to the door, when I felt soft hands on my shoulder. I took a step, turned around and looked up. What do you know? It was the queen.
"I'm so glad I found you."
"Me too.." I felt so awkward around her. What should I call her? It's like she read my mind.
"Since we have been reunited, I want you to call me mother, since we both know I am your true mother, and not those evil people who made you almost fully human." I smiled at her.
"Ok."
Later in my room that night, I couldn't sleep. I was starting to feel even more homesick, but again, for what I didn't know. I got out of my comfortable bed and when and sat in a nook by the window. From my perch, I could see daily life going about the people down in the streets. They all seemed so oblivious to everything. I suddenly flashed back to a time at the Avengers facility.
"Now, June, the world doesn't revolve around you, so stop thinking it does." Natasha had any annoyed tone of voice. She was sitting on a couch with Bruce and Wanda. Amy had just gone complaining to them that I wouldn't let her have the TV remote, because I wanted to watch this interesting show about these two people who went around to different houses and made them beautiful.
"Sorry" I mumbled at the ground.
"No you're not. Just....just go away, you're giving me a headache." She rubbed her temples as the flashback faded. "
As I watched the people on the street, I noticed two people in particular. They must have been mother and daughter. They were hugging and smiling as they made their way up the street. The girl must have been my age, and from what I could tell, she was exactly like them in appearance. No surprise there huh?
The mom all of the sudden, grabbed her daughters bag and ran with it, playing around of course, the daughter ran after her laughing as they went. As I watched them round the corner from my perch, I felt a wave of loneliness and hugged my knees tight to my chest. Now that I thought about it, I didn't have anyone. Amy didn't like me, and nobody else on Earth liked me either, I guess the only person who could care about me, was......no. It couldn't be... Julienne? The queen? Mother? But wait. Doesn't she think I'm actually Asta, and not plain old June? I gave a deep sigh and hugged my knees tighter. Even my powers had seemed to abandon me. They hadn't occurred in quite a couple months now, and I was beginning to worry if they were still even there. Suddenly I heard a voice at my shoulder.
"Still awake?" While I was jumping out of my skin, I recognized the voice of Julienne, my mother. She was standing right behind me looking at the people on the street like I was doing.
"Y-yeah I-i'm still awake. Couldn't sleep I guess." I was slowly starting to regain my composure. She came over and sat next to me,on the same nook that I sat on. She sat very close to me, and then did a thing that I didn't think she had in her. She wrapped her arms around my small frame and held me close like I was her actual daughter. She smelled like vanilla, but it was a very comforting vanilla smell. I, in response leaned up against her. This felt so strange to just be sitting like this, but maybe it is normal..? I wouldn't really know. I never really have anyone been this way with me. Mistress at the orphanage was a freak about never getting attached to any of her orphans and I think that was one of the reasons why she was so cruel to everybody. She broke that rule with Amy.
It was finally mother that broke the spell.
"Alright, you have a big day tomorrow, so you should get some rest."
"Ok, I will try to fall asleep." We both stood up and I went and got into my bed. She went to the door and slightly opened it.
"Good night, and Asta?" she whispered
"Mmhmm?" I was getting tired. It was probably 1:00am back at home.
"I'm so glad you returned. I don't know what I could do without you."
The sun from the new day gave me a rude awakening. Ugh, I was surprised Amy hadn't come to wake me up yet. After all, it was very late in the day. I was about to go to sleep again when I bolted upright remembering where I actually was. I rubbed my head and eyes and got out of bed. Someone, probably Runa, had set out a pair of clothes. They were black and plain. I quickly put them on, promising myself that I would take a shower later that night, but I always fail when it comes to promises to myself.
I walked into the bathroom and was scared to see how different I looked. From just one night, my whole skin color had changed. I had pale skin. I even dared to think I was prettier. How could so much change in one night?! I was so confused, but I didn't really have time to stew on it, because I heard a knock at my door.
I rushed to hide the earpieces that I had carelessly left on my bed, and went to open the door. It was a boy about my age, another elf. My guess was that he was... a guard? I couldn't really tell because he was so young, but he also looked very official.
"Hello, miss. I was instructed to come and get you." When he spoke, he had a funny accent and his voice was fairly deep which I found a little bit amusing.
"Right... of course. I'll just grab my jacket and then we can go." I gave him a smile as he nodded, and pranced back into my room, grabbing the jacket that I had been wearing the previous day. Inside it I had hidden the earpieces. I just hoped that nobody found them. Because that would be bad. Very. Bad.
I quickly returned to the boy and closed my door behind me. He led me down a series of hallways and we ended up at a small door. It was very discrete and I almost didn't notice that it was there.
"What are we doing here?" I asked the boy while he struggled with the keys.
"Just doing an interview of sorts.."
"Okay?" I was a little bit suspicious of this dude. I didn't even know him and here he was leading me to one of the littlest rooms in the whole of the palace to give me an interview?? I didn't think that they even knew what an interview was. Not that I didn't think that these people were dumb, I just thought they had different terms for everything.
The boy had finished unlocking the door. He, opened it and let me in first with a kind gesture that eased my suspicion just a little bit. However, I couldn't help but notice how he looked both ways before closing the door. Making it seem like we were not supposed to be in there.
The room was dark. I had to wait for my eyes to adjust before I could walk anywhere for fear of falling. The boy led me to a chair and helped me to sit.
"Are you going to turn any lights on?" I tried to control my voice so it didn't sound scared. The boy didn't answer. I started to get up, but found my hands handcuffed to the chair. Not in an uncomfortable way, but in a way that made so I couldn't get them out.
"Are you going to untie me?" When I got no answer I went off on a rant.
"Why aren't you talking you piece of trash, you ugly loathsome little snipe." I started yelling at nothing. I couldn't even see him anymore. "You deserve to be put in the depths of Hell" I groaned in frustration. "Ughhhhhh. Like my awful Mistress used to always say: 'Thank god I don't have a face like yours because I would sue my parents.' "
All of a sudden, the lights went on. Blinded, I closed my eyes. After I opened my eyes, I took in all the details of the room. It was definitely larger than I had thought, and it was circular, with the center piece being me. Naturally because I really am amazing. As my eyes kept adjusting, I noticed that the scariest detail about the room, was that there were so many people in black just looking at me. I couldn't see my mom, or anyone that I had met last night. Even the boy was gone. I started to panic.
"What do you want?"
All of a sudden, one of the men came forward, and in a robotic kind of voice said:
"Hello, Y/N."
"Yes, we know who we are so don't try to lie to us. We are just trying to find a little information about your friends: The Avengers. If you don't try to tell us anything, we will make your life mi-se-ra-ble. So just please, don't struggle." I was so shocked I couldn't say anything. The person who had spoken then took a chair that was in the corner and came and sat down in front of me.
"First question. Where are the Avengers?"
"Who even are you guys, and why are you so creepy?" I was so freaked out I couldn't even breathe properly.
"We ask the questions, not you. Don't make it hard. Please." I was horrified. These horrific men are actually gross I couldn't believe them.
"No! Tell me where I am and what you want with me" I struggled against my bonds and I saw the leader give a nod to another person standing close to him. This person came towards with me while drawing a large stick type thing out of their back pocket. He struck me with it, however it was not like any other whipping that I have ever had, because it stung and I keeled over since the pain was so great. This man kept at it until I had blood dripping down my nose, and was mentally and physically exhausted.
"I will ask you again. Where are the Avengers?" Their leader, who once pleaded me to tell with no protest was now looking very dangerous.
"I don't even know, now can you just let me go?"
"I think you do know where they are. The really question though, is Why. Won't. You. Tell. Us?" He put real emphasis on these words while seeming to look down my soul through my eyes.
"No I don't know, so Stop. Asking. Me." I saw him motion for the other guy to get his stick of horror out and use it on me so I tried kick but to my surprise and also not to my surprise, I found my feet chained as well.
So. I did the only thing left I had to do. I screamed. But it was not an ordinary scream. No no no. For the first time my powers were working for me. When I screamed it was like a dog whistle sound but way louder. The men in the room covered their ears, grimacing in pain. Good thing there wasn't glass in the room, because otherwise I might have broken it. As I screamed I heard a commotion going on outside the room, so I switched from screaming to yelling.
"Is anyone there? Its me, Asta. I'm in the room with the little black door. Someone help me!"
"Just this one time, Y/N. Next time its game over." The leader of the pack snarled at me.
"Mmmm yeah try me." I gave him a extremely sarcastic smirk, if that is a thing, and went back to yelling. The guy stuck up the middle finger and then all of them disappeared at the same time. I had to do triple double takes. That doesn't happen. How were they able to disappear at the same time. I know that I do weird things sometimes, but how can a whole bunch of people do something like that planned, and at once? I was so confused. However, I didn't have a lot of time to stew on the subject because the guards burst into the room.
Hey Guys,
Hope ya'll are doing well. I was finally able to update. Struggling with a bit of writer's block. :/ hope you guys are enjoying this and are not thinking that it is trash. I will keep trying to update.
Thanks for reading!