One Year Later
"We can no longer place our trust blindly! We can no longer turn away with the hope that the right thing will be done. It is our job as the people of this country to make sure that those in power are not corrupt, and to do that we must keep our eyes open. Dominant or recessive... it shouldn't matter. We are living beings, and our worth cannot be measured on any scale, or by something we have no control over. Recessives matter, and no dominant would be here without them. We deserve our own rights, and now we know that we can fight for them," I cried out into the microphone, thrusting my own fist in the air as a call to battle. Cries of agreement met me as I looked out at the thousands in the arena, recessives and dominants alike.
I collected all the followers I could from The Sarama, including my brother. We took our plan with us, and took to the masses. We gave them all the proof, and told recessives the truth: We had adapted. If we so wished, we could become our own shields and no dominant could harm us. We needed no one's protection, we could stand on our own. The Exotasi tried to silence us, but it was too late. It didn't matter how strong a dominant was, if a recessive knew how to protect themselves.
"This government has forsaken it's people for it's own greedy ideas of a twisted perfection, and now, they will fall," My call for justice was met, and I ripped off the mask that hid the face of Jacob Shepard himself.
The people called for his blood, but I looked at him, his blindfold still in place, sweat dripping down his face. My eyes flashed to Atticus as he bore down on the man responsible for ordering the death of hundreds, if they didn't join his own little personal army. Attie's family being only a couple of his victims. We had already hunted down their personal murderer months ago. I could still remember how that demented man died with a twisted smile on his face. Atticus looked at me, and I could see the cold determination on his face. I nodded, and then he was lifted, high above us where all the crowd could see him, and with one loud, solid crack, his neck was broken.
"The death of this tyrant ends the corruption, and now this dictatorship. The people make this nation, so the people should have the most power. We will vote for our leaders, and no one person will have all the power. There will be a council of seven, that will represent the great people of this land. Each will represent a house in which they will be charged, Justice, Community, Currency, Foreign Affairs, Economy, Health Care and Criminal Affairs. Each of the leaders of these houses will be responsible to take care of each of these areas, and will have workers under them as well. No more corruption, no more lies, and no more inequality."
I turned away as I finished my speech, going back inside of the house that once belonged to the capital. It would be torn down, destroyed, along with every other official building. The worst of the worst, like Jacob Shepard were killed, others were imprisoned, and surprisingly, some were wanted in other countries for crimes that they had committed. We surrendered them of course, and gained allies with a few nations because of it. Atticus followed me inside, and I immediately went to find Casey and Blake. Casey was six months pregnant, and I felt like I had to keep a close eye on her. After all, I would be an aunt soon.
"I'm glad it's almost over," Atticus sighed. I looked at him. He looked exhausted, we all did. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was a bit longer than it should be, and his usually easy smile wasn't as bright as it once was. I paused and gave him a quick kiss, than smiled.
"Me too."
"Ivory!" My brother called, approaching us quickly,his boots echoing across the marble floors.
"Is everything ok? Casey?" I asked, meeting him with worry.
"She's fine, everything is ok," He smiled, handing me a piece of paper.
"Here are the plans for the voting, we finally got the website up. It allows a vote by scanning your personal ID, and only one vote is allowed for that ID. The computer confirms the ID by scanning the person's face. They are allowed their allotted vote, and it's automatically counted by the site itself. We also built an anti-corruption software, which means no tampering with votes, the counting or anything. If anything even the slightest bit fishy is detected,an alarm will sound and the site will temporarily shut down."
"Perfect," I smiled at him, happy we were one step closer. I wasn't naive enough to believe that everything would be fixed immediately, but I had hope. There were plenty of options for each house, but Atticus was in the top for the Criminal Affairs house, and I for Justice. Blake was tied at the moment for Foreign Affairs since he had a lot of experience with politics working for Shepard before. We were doing the votes in waves, starting with these three and then moving to the next in a few months.
Carmen's Pair seemed pretty interested in the roll in Health Care, and I felt he would be perfect for the job, but we'll see what the people think. We wouldn't keep these roles forever either, we could be voted out bi yearly,or we could stay, depending on what the people wanted. Every candidate was given a detailed, very thorough background check. If anything even remotely odd showed up, they wouldn't be allowed to run. No more death, no more fear, and no more inequality.
"You look like you're about to pass out," Blake remarked, looking over me with concern.
"It's been a long year," I confessed. Atticus chuckled.
"Overthrowing a corrupt government isn't an easy gig," He teased. I grinned at him, bumping him playfully with my hip.
"You should get some sleep while you can, tomorrow will be another busy day. The Sarama are still active, after all," Blake reminded us, then left with a tired smile.
I felt a small pang at that, looking down at my worn boots. Doctor Brown didn't take our leaving very kindly after all. He had dedicated his life to his cause, and we had taken it all away. I had been right to question their end game. They had no intention to cast a vote, or even to make any preventative measures to end the corruption. They were simply going to take control, change a few laws and enjoy the power they had. Maybe at one point, the rebellion was for the people, but in the end, their solutions weren't for the nation, but for themselves. I'm sure that was why mom and dad left, and I'm sure that the Exotasi didn't find them on their own. I can still remember the look on Phinneus Brown's face when he realized what we did.
I had never seen much emotion on the man's face. He was beaten down, tired, but for the first time, I had seen a terrible fire behind his eyes, and his mouth had twisted into a snarl of sorts,like an animal preparing to tear out flesh from it's prey. He was too late though, we were pulling out of the facility, a helicopter carrying us and allofour evidence and proof with us.
"You will pay for your betrayal. I won't rest, neither in grave or in sleep before your betrayal has been given back to you in full."
His words rang in my ears even now. We had gotten rid of one enemy, but gained another.
"It'll be ok," Atticus whispered to me, putting a comfortable hand on my shoulder, and rubbing gently.
"We are safe here now, and our numbers greatly exceed theirs."
I nodded, letting out a stressed breath, and following him to our room. Our work was still not done, but we were heading in the right direction. We undressed,getting ready for bed. It felt like it had been years since we had gotten any real sleep,but tonight would be different.
"Y'know, maybe we should give your brother's plan some thought,kitten," Atticus said,giving me that familiar, devious smile.
"And which plan would you be talking about,my love?" I asked him, returning his cheeky grin.
"A family sounds nice, doesn't it? Maybe a little girl with your nose, and my eyes."
I looked at him, surprised. A kid? Up till now, the idea would have sounded crazy. Our lives were too dangerous, our ambitions for this world no where near complete, but now... the idea of a child of my own brought a weird warmness to my heart. We had a family, Carmen, Tristen, Blake and Casey, but the idea of little, chubby hands reaching for me sent a spark of happiness through me.
"Or a little boy with your dimples, and my brains," I offered, curling up closer to him in the bed.
"That might be one of the best ideas you've had yet, kitten."
I laughed, letting him kiss me softly, enjoying the moment with him.
"Knowing you, anything you put your mind to, is completely possible," He continued,letting his eyes scan my face with a look of love I couldn't help but share. When I was younger, I had desired the perfect love story. I wanted a protector, a prince to make all my wishes come true, but I quickly realized that princesses stayed locked in their ivory towers, they didn't fight dragons, and they didn't pick up swords.
I wasn't a princesses, and this wasn't the love story I had dreamed for, but it was so so so much better.
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Oh my gosh, we're here! The final chapter of Pairs.... I'm kind of sad that it's over, the story of Ivory and Atticus has to be one of my favorites. I just wanted to thank all of you so so much for sticking it out, and for supporting this story. I love you all, and I know this story is different, so for all of you who have loved it, I appreciate it so much.
I'll be posting a new story soon, and the updates will be a lot more frequent than this one. I know I was very irregular and I am sorry, but as promised, the story I will be publishing next is Poisonous!!! If you want a sneak peak, just let me know, and I'll post a teaser. I love you all so much,and thank you for reading my story.