Zander kept a cautious glare at the witch across from him, not moving a muscle or blinking an eye. His older brother stared back with confusion, brows furrowed and head slightly tilted. Though, Florencia put a hand on his shoulder for a second, causing the older Farvale to raise his head up, puff his chest out and put on a small grin.
"I see that this is an unexpected family reunion."
Yeah, no shit. We can all see that.
Zander didn't spare Florencia his attention, keeping all of it towards his brother.
"Alexander, Orion, and Astoria. Let me introduce to you the newest member of Aquila: Samuel Farvale of Ignis coven."
The confirmation of his name had the other people in the dining hall whispering to each other. Most of them looked shocked, some were quite angry, and there were a few who didn't exactly know or care about him. After a few seconds of dead silence, Zander finally spoke, shaking his head with disapproval.
"Can't say I'm surprised." No matter how intense his glare was earlier, his tone didn't sound aggressive at all. It was more casual yet cold. "I don't know whether to be more disappointed at the fact that you're somehow alive, or that you've joined the witch that ruined Queen's Garden and killed our mother."
Samuel let out a laugh, throwing his hands in his pockets. "As if you cared about Queen's Garden, or our mother." Zander said nothing, though I sensed that he wanted to. "I am quite surprised that you are still alive, however. But to end up as a powerless idiot prisoner? That, I could definitely have seen coming."
I could feel my own blood boiling as I watched Samuel mock his brother in front of all these people. One would think that the normal reaction to miraculously seeing your brother alive is to be happy and appreciate that they have another chance of reconnecting with a family member. Apologize, make up for everything they've done wrongly, and grow stronger together. I guess neither Zaner or Samuel felt that way.
Before anyone else could say a word, Florencia stepped forward and immediately stole everyone's attention. She kept her hands on her sides, head raised high, displaying perfect royalty posture. Once again, I am reminded, just with her appearance, how much power she really holds. Just the sight of her alone could have people bowing and surrendering. Add the intelligence and magic, and they have the perfect leader.
"People of Queen's Garden." She began, lilac eyes scanning the reaction of the room. Some looked as if they are ready to jump on her at any second and if not for their cuffs and the guards, they would have done so already. Several are glaring and clenching their jaws and fists with anger, while there are also a good group that are cowering with fear. One thing for sure is that absolutely not one of the prisoners would submit to her at any point. "Soon to be people of Queen's Den."
The name got heads turning with confusion.
This is the first time she's sharing her plan to the prisoners.
"You will not have to wait long until you all come to your new home. A place where you truly belong. I have been working hard to make sure that every one of you end up in your rightful places. I was chosen for it. To be the savior. Soon, I will fulfill my duty and will assure that the future is bright and safe." There she goes again with her Chosen One bullshit. Just say you want to be Queen Cersei and go. "I only advice you all to cherish what you have now, as your lives will never be the same once you are in Queen's Den."
After a second she finished her speech, the crowd erupted with cries, questions, and curses. Some of the ones with more confidence stood up and tried to walk up to Florencia herself, though the guards were fast enough to catch him and push him back to the tables. The other guards stood by the aisles, creating a clear path for Florencia as she strutted towards the doors of the dining hall, which is right where we're standing.
Before the three of us could start to move, a guard pushed us aside, causing Orion to stumble down to the ground. Florencia paused as she reached us. She shot me a look before putting her hand on Orion's arms and helping him stand up. "I apologize for my guard's actions. Werewolves are rather aggressive, all the time, aren't they? But you won't be dealing with that for long." And with that, she continued to march forward, exiting the scene. She was immediately followed by Zetta, who made sure to wink at Orion as she sauntered right after her leader. Ingrid followed afterwards, who genuinely did not care about us at all. Roman walked a few feet behind Ingrid, keeping his eyes on the ground. Then, one of the werewolf guards, trying to prevent a prisoner from jumping in between Ingrid and Roman, had accidentally bumped into Roman, sending him stumbling to the left side, right in front of me.
I held out my hands to make sure he didn't fall completely, though Roman quickly took my hands tightly with his cold ones with a sneer. "Don't touch me."
I quickly shoved my hands in my jacket's pockets, stepping back as Roman left the room. Samuel Farvale was the last one of Aquila to make an exit. I was wondering what was taking him so long, so I looked at the front, where they were previously standing for the spot light, and saw the witch waving at the crowd, smirking and bowing as if they aren't flipping him off and dropping some colorful curse bombs and a whole lot of "traitor!"
Must be a Farvale thing to make such dramatic entrance and exits.
When he finally made his way to the exit, he stopped right in front of Zander. He put a hand on his shoulder before giving him a light slap on the cheek. "This is going to be fun." As soon as Zander pushed his brother away from him, Scooby put a hand on both of their chests and separated the two of them, standing in the middle of two brothers. The fifteen year old glared at Samuel before the witch chuckled and walked away.
Orion put a hand on Zander's arm. "Are you okay?"
Without a reply, Zander quietly went to our usual table and put his head down, hiding his face with his arms. My heart broke at the sight. Orion and I gave each other a worried look before joining him, saying nothing as we watched the guards prepare dinner for everyone.
***
It took a while for the guards to calm the crowd down after the mess that Aquila left with. Though, once they got people to quiet down, it became too quiet. Not only that, but almost all attention was on Zander. Some people tried to pretend they weren't looking at Zander and failed terribly. Some would look at him and look away quickly if caught by either me or Orion. Some straight out stared at him as if he is an artwork. I mean, he kind of is, but still.
Zander hasn't touched his food at all. I could barely eat mine, and Orion was consuming a smaller portion than usual. At some point, all the attention became too much for Zander. He mumbled an excuse to go to the bathroom and rushed out of the dining hall. I wanted to follow him, but decided to give him some time for himself. I'm sure he's overwhelmed with emotions right now. This whole thing is just crazy.
It wasn't long for people to start talking to each other once Zander left. Most of the conversations are about Florencia's plan for them, trying to analyze what she meant by her words and what the hell Queen's Den is. Of course, some were discussing about the Farvale brothers. As for me and Orion, we have something else to talk about.
I made sure that none of the guards were watching us.
I then took out a small object from my jacket's pocket and set it in front of Orion.
He picked up the black and silver flash drive and looked at me with wide eyes. "Where did you get this?"
"Roman."
Earlier, when I tried to help him from stumbling down to the floor, which was a very stupid move because we were supposed to act like enemies, he pretended to push my hands away while also passing me the USB flash drive. I was not expecting it at all. I didn't think he would actually do what I asked him for, thinking that he was too devoted to his sister and Florencia. Looks like our friendship did mean something to him, after all.
"Information to whatever things Florencia has. Well, the things she stole at Virgo, at least. Virgo's archive of all their projects and equipment, including all classified ones."
"Wow. This is really helpful." Orion hides the flash drive in his pocket. "I'll look at it tonight and get all the information we need. Tomorrow, we'll be at the library. I think with enough information, we can really start planning for everything." I nodded, feeling my heart racing with hope. "It's time to start planning to end this mess."
***
After dinner, I roamed around the castle and found who I'm looking for at the rooftop. A black cat rests by the railing of the area, admiring the view of Queen's Garden from above. I began to walk towards the cat but then froze halfway.
"Wait. I need to know you're my Zander and not the normal stray cat." I then watched as the feline's cat switched from dark brown to violet, confirming that he is indeed my favorite witch and allowing me to continue walking and joining him. The two violet eyes reflected the bright stars of the night sky, making me want to melt at how beautiful they look. As I've always thought, his eyes are just galaxies. Sometimes, they hold black holes, and sometimes, they are stars, full of life and endless possibilities.
I stood by the railing while Zander sits on it in front of me. I ran my fingers over his face for a moment before hiding my hands in my pockets, protecting them from the cold breeze and strong wind circling around the castle. As a few minutes go by, Zander shifts closer towards me and hides his body inside my jacket. If only he was a little smaller, the inside pocket of my black denim jacket could have carried him.
The thought made me crack a small smile.
"If you're getting cold, why don't you call out your other side for some heat, Todoroki?" The cat stuck his head out of the jacket just to shoot me a puzzled look. Reference not understood then. "Never mind, Prince Zuko." Still nothing. "Alright. Come here, cat." Still keeping him hidden in my jacket, I began to pet him gently. In return, he nuzzles his face against my chest and lets out a low purr, making me suppress a grin.
After about ten minutes, I grew tired of standing up, so I picked up the big baby and carried him with me as I sat down on the floor of the rooftop, resting him on my lap. By now, the wind had calmed down, but it is still a bit cold. Hugging Zander actually keeps me warm. As I was brushing a finger against his chin, I saw a red rose pop out from the small field of plants and other flowers decorating the perimeter of the rooftop. Zander never told me what the red roses meant and I'm not quite familiar with the meanings of colors of roses, though I told myself to look it up soon.
As I got distracted by the red rose, I was surprised to see that the cat had now shifted to his human form, sitting on my right side, back against the wall and legs stretched forward, copying my exact position. He nudged my foot before scooting closer to me.
"Your Zander, huh?"
"What?"
"Earlier. You asked if I was your Zander or the stray cat."
I sighed, hiding my face against my knees. "My mind was choosing whether to say My Cat and Zander and ended up getting mixed up."
"It's okay. I liked it." I smiled ans shook my head, lifting my head up to face him. "I can't believe my brother is alive." He breathes out. "I really thought I was the only one left."
"How are you feeling?"
"I don't know." He sighed, moving his head up to look at the night sky. "I just know that I don't want to be stuck in a world with him. Not anymore." I held his hand tightly, brushing my thumbs over his hand as I listened. "Seeing him again brought back everything that I thought I escaped. But that's no even the worse part. He's working with Florencia. Like I said before. I'm not surprised. I just thought he would have some common sense."
"Looks like he isn't the hero that everyone expected him to be." I recalled at the beginning when everyone was quick to compare Zander with his brother, saying that if Samuel was alive, he'd already made a plan to save everyone. They couldn't be more wrong. If Zander really wanted to, he could have left Queen's Garden by now. He's had a few chances to run, and yet he stays every time. When he was telling me to leave, he said nothing about himself. He was going to stay with the others, even though he could leave at any moment. When he got his full powers back after taking Solution 15 again, he could have easily escaped and left everyone. But he's still here.
I know in the beginning, Zander didn't want to come to Queen's Garden and help Ivy.
But now, I know that he wants to help.
"Yeah. Guess he really does only care about power, after all. Now that our mother is gone, he makes his own decisions. And he's not doing a very good job." He said quietly, resting his head on my shoulder. "On the bright side, at least my mom stayed dead." There's a moment of silence before he laughed, replaying his own words. "That makes me sound like a heartless monster."
I shook my head, holding his hand tighter. "You have every right to feel the way you do. Just because someone is family does not mean they can't be assholes to you. That does not excuse them from mistreating you the way they did." I faced him. "You're not heartless or a monster. If you say that again, I'm going to hit you with my shoe."
He let out a chuckle. "Oh, I'm so terrified." He then tilts his head. "I'll just levitate myself and you'll never reach me."
"I'll lure you down to the ground with bacon."
"Damn it. That will work."
I rolled my eyes. "Seriously though." I put a hand on his cheek. "Listen to me. You are amazing, smart, strong, and powerful. And so, so so so very special. Don't let your brother or anyone tell you otherwise." Zander stared at me, violet eyes suddenly sparkling with tears. Shit. Wrong words? Before I could apologize, he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly.