Seydon
When people talked about love and how it was the strongest emotion out there, it made me laugh hysterically. No, love is just an attachment you develop for people you spend enough time with. You say you love your family, but did you choose them? You didn't. Yet you end up with those emotions because you spend enough time with them to get attached. And you can always fall out of love, because love is just a fickle emotion.
Fear. That is what truly is a faithful and committed emotion, which I had the fortune of learning very early in my life. You don't let go of your fears. You just learn to live with them. It occupies a space in your heart and body for the rest of your life. Fear is your biggest weakness and it will always be.
For me, this weakness of other's was in turn a strength. My power always allowed me to scroll through people's minds, to take a glimpse at their deepest and darkest fears and then word it out to them, and then watch their expression twist into an ugly, frightened one. It was the greatest joy of my life.
And I guess this was my punishment. Not just one, but both the terrifying emotions mixed up for me, to create my greatest weakness ever. For the first time in my life I learned how torturing, the two can be when they get entangled. Love, for a certain someone, and the fear of losing her.
"Ariel!" I growled at the top of my voice as I let out a long breath because I ran to her as soon as I was done.
My men had captured Lombardi and were preparing to transport him back to our headquarters. But I had other priorities, what I really came here for was something different, for her. I ran out of the underground immediately and came across Ariel and Kaidon, facing off each other with their guns in their hands.
From my end of the hall, I could see Kaidon's reactions clearly. His eyes were wide, probably bulging out of their sockets. His body began to tremble visibly, and he dropped the gun he held. While Ariel lowered her hand too, straightening herself, he took a step back, and his hand rose to cover his eye. He took another step back, stumbled and sat down on the floor.
"Wha-wh-who are you?" He yelled.
Just what I was fearing. I didn't want him to see her like that. I didn't want it to come to him as a horrible surprise. The resemblance must have been terrifying. I took quick strides towards them, turned her around and hid her face into my chest. He scrambled up to his feet and reached out a hand towards us but I slapped it away.
"Get a hold of yourself. She is not Alice."
"Are you kidding me Seydon? She looks-"
"She's her cousin. Alice died, you have checked that yourself countless times." I growled. I had too done that, check the results he got. In fact even I got my own tests done with different samples. I just couldn't believe how it was possible.
"Sey-"
"She is mine Kaidon!" I snapped.
"Sey- what is going on?" Ariel asked turning her head up to look at me. "I thought we never used names on the field?"
I pat her on the head, stalling her questioning. "Kaidon, we need to move. We can discuss this later."
Normally we tended to use the public air transport to avoid raising any suspicions however since I was in a hurry this time, I brought the private jet along. While I and Kaidon were seated opposite each other, Ariel was seated on the other end, her ear plugs on, as she took a nap on the flight. Kaidon's eyes were fixated on her, studying her features, while mine on Kaidon.
"What was she doing over there?" Kaidon finally broke the silence.
"She was on a mission."
"Why didn't anyone tell me about it?"
"Because her mission was at Vitelli's. She got captured along when you attacked." She was hired as a maid around two months back to investigate the family. The attack by Lombardi was not part of the plan. She apparently was trying to help Vitelli's two young daughters escape and got caught. When I heard she got captured, I dropped everything to bring her back. I knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and yet I wanted to be the one to do that.
"And what were you doing there? I think I told you I'd contact you when I needed you to move in. I was only an inch away from learning about the man who ordered that accident!" He snapped.
"I had to save her!"
He rose an eyebrow as he stared intently at me. "You? You are saying that? I thought you were the type who completely approved of collateral damages."
Yes. Yes I was that type. I wouldn't hesitate to abandon a person if that meant the success of a mission. I would improvise on the go, take the toughest of all decisions, that other leaders were too weak and frightened to take. And I hadn't changed in the slightest, I would still do the same. However, Ariel Ford was one exception to this rule.
"You couldn't save your girl Kaidon! But I had to do everything in my power. She is my fiancée, I am engaged to her!" I bit out.
His mouth opened slightly before he closed it and slouched back on his seat, his eyes now filled with a mournful look. I was already feeling guilty.
He sighed, probably trying to recover and change the topic. "When-when did that happen?"
"A year back, you wouldn't know because you were out here." I mumbled.
"And when did you meet her?"
"About five years back, after the Red Phoenix told us about his wife being the Ford daughter."
Kaidon pinched the bridge between his eyes, keeping them closed. This must have been too hard for him to accept. To suddenly come across a person that has such stark resemblance to the woman he loved so much. It must have been a nightmare.
"Seydon, why didn't I get to know about her?" He bit out.
"Because.." I was frozen and trailed off. I didn't know exactly how to answer that. I always told myself that I was being considerate and didn't want to poke at his heartache by telling him about Ariel. But I think, what I really feared was this, his rekindled feelings for her. I was just being selfish, I didn't want him to see Ariel and fall in love with her. I wanted to be the first one this time, I wanted no competition with my brother again. I knew I would never win against his devotion towards Alice so I backed out, but I was not going to do it again this time. He will have to be the one to back off. "Because...you were so closed off, after her death, we never had the chance to tell you."
As if he knew the truth, what I was fearing, his words were a relief when he spoke, "She, she is not my Alice, perhaps because they are related, they look a lot alike. But she is kind of different. Her features are sharper, more defined, she is slimmer, her hair are different. And she is skilled, very skilled. She's so very different from her." A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "So, you can't read her thoughts either?"
I shook my head and my lips curled up into a humourless smile. My powers never worked on her since day one. And it was such a let down because her powers worked perfectly fine on me, till this date. Never once did they falter in the last five years. Nothing could be worse.
"Is she gifted?" He asked and I nodded. "I thought that would be the case.." he continued. "It's strong, whatever it is, she was able to knock me out with it."
"You never used your powers on her?" I was curious. Would his work on her? Would the knowledge that she looks exactly like Alice affect his gifts as well?
"No, I thought that would give away my identity. But she did, blinded me with some kind of a vision..."
"She controls your emotions." I interrupted. "She can make you love her, hate her, hate me, bring forth and accentuate your worst fears. That is what she can do."
"Impressive."
"She can't really make you do something for her, but overwhelming your emotions is good enough. If you believe that you love her, you would be willing to do anything for her."
He nodded, trying to understand my words and sinking in that knowledge about her. He kept staring at a distance, lost in his thoughts.
"So she joined the order?"
"Kind of, she didn't really attend the academy, she was home trained. Once she was ready, her father made her join the ranks. I was kind of against it, but then if she were really going to join, I wanted to be the one taking care of her."
We got distracted by a sudden gasp that escaped her and we swivelled our heads in her direction. She just woke up from her nap and probably had a bad dream. She yawned and stretched her hands and legs ahead and readjusted her earphones. Then she started humming softly and a moment later, began singing the lyrics to one of her favourite Korean songs, 'Forgetting You'.
She had a beautiful voice, a calm and soothing one. I loved to hear her sing every time. It was the one thing we had in common, music. I could spend hours playing the guitar for her while she sang her favourite songs.
I glanced at Kaidon from the corner of my eye and watched him as he chuckled slightly and then shook his head.
Ariel turned her head to us and her expression changed as she watched him chuckle. She then pulled the earphones out, her eyebrows joined together, "What?" She growled at him.
"Nothing." He muttered.
"Then why were you laughing?"
"Life is unfair." He mumbled, not really looking at her or answering her.
We landed back into our city within the next hour. I climbed down the jet, followed by Ariel and Kaidon. I waited at the foot of the metallic stairs and as she took the final step, she stumbled. Kaidon reached out a hand to help her but I was faster and caught her in my arms and watched him curl his fingers and pull back his hand.
My heart hurt a little at that moment for my brother. He didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve it either. Maybe I was playing dirty, but I did warn him, that the next time she comes to me for help, I would never give her back to him.