A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.
Before she could even utter a word, her father shouted, "He's gone with her!" Panicked mutterings followed, and she heard her father pacing roughly around what she presumed was the funeral home. If he was raking his free fingers through his hair. "Your mother! ... I ... I ..." Her father fell silent, and the quiet made her all the sicker. (F/n) couldn't speak either, and Ether didn't move since he had heard every word too.
Her entire hand shook, and she barely held onto the phone. "... Dad," she finally muttered, "... how?" It was all she could manage, and she was thankful that she was sitting at the time. Otherwise, she might've collapsed.
"What?!" he asked in a worried state as if his mind had processed her words into something horrible given the situation he was in.
"How?" she repeated, trying to be calm for him, but she nearly stuttered the single word out.
"... I ..." She heard something slide back roughly. He must've collapsed onto a chair. "We were just sitting down for breakfast after your call and planning your arrival here with everyone. We had locked all of the doors and windows..." Her father took a sharp inhale before he exhaled. Silence greeted her for a moment before his voice returned. "We even had lights on even though you mentioned how those might not really work. We placed furniture in front of the main doors until we were ready to open."
She heard him sob momentarily before he swallowed another one. It sounded like the phone collided with the tabletop, and she heard more of his heavy breathing, which only was making her tremble more. It was hard trying to act somewhat calm when her father was breaking down before her, and she just had learned that her past tormentor had her mother.
"... I lost him, (f/n). I lost him. I have no idea where he took ..." Instantly, the phone went quiet again. She heard a chair being scooted back harshly and hurried footsteps.
"Dad?! Dad?!" she cried out into the phone, now immensely concerned herself. She couldn't help but stand up from her chair. "What is it?! Dad?!" No answer. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," she couldn't stop repeating the word as her mind began to melt down. They were going to head to her parents today, TODAY! Why? Why? Why? That ... that ... that male couldn't have taken her mother and now her fa ...
"I found something!" Instantly, she stopped her muttering just as Ether was about to reach out and try and wake her up from her panic. She pressed the phone to her right ear like it was the last thing keeping her alive. Given how much she had sacrificed to make sure that her parents wouldn't be harmed, that probably wasn't too far from the truth. "A note!" His tone wasn't excited. Rather, her father's voice was filled with dread, terror and wrath. "... Check Nick's front door?" Confusion lived in his tone, but it clicked only a second later. "... (F/n)."
Eyes widened but also demanding, she snapped her optics to Ether. No verbal communication was exchanged. Instantly, Ether went to the room's door and threw it open. Almost, he tore it from the hinges. "Deidre!" he shouted. Only a few seconds later, he heard rushed footsteps.
Moments later, Deidre came bolting to the door. The urgency in Ether's voice was enough to alert the whole household. Ren and Chris opened their bedroom door, and Nick was waiting on the other side of his bedroom door to listen in on the situation without upsetting Ether. "What?!" she asked, seeming almost out of breath; her own worry causing her to be more exhausted than normal from going from the kitchen to the (f/n) and Ether's room.
"The front door. None of you have opened it for a few days since there have been no deliveries, right?" Deidre nodded slowly. "There should be a note from ... him." She froze completely. A grim expression coated Ether's lips. "He must've of followed us that night when we left the subway. I don't know. We can figure that out later. We just need to check the door. It's an emergency." His tone was demanding and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Slightly, Deidre saw (f/n)'s look of horror and the phone. She couldn't piece everything together, but her mind definitely didn't come up with positive conclusions. "Deidre." Ether's voice was again ordering and firm. His left nails twitched, and she nodded. "Be careful. Open it as quick as you can. I can't leave (f/n), and she's in no state to move right now. Take Nick if you need to." Deidre didn't wait another moment, and she hurried off down the hall. Nick finally opened his room door and didn't spare a glance at Ether as he went after Deidre.
Not even averting his eyes over to Chris and Ren, he closed the bedroom door. If Callest planned to attack them now with her mother, he would stay right beside (f/n). The others ... They knew the risks of living after the subway. Thankfully, Callest, even with their species' abilities, couldn't reach Nick's home in Teller's Den that quickly, but it all depended on how long ago he had taken (f/n)'s mother. From her father's information, it sounded like it just had happened recently.
"(F/n), what's going on?" her father finally asked as a thud hit her ears. He must've hit something in his worried state. Maybe, he was leaning against a nearby wall.
"Deidre's checking the front door. She should be back any minute." Her father released a drawn-out sigh, and she heard something slide. Was he slipping down a wall? "Dad, I'm staying on the line with you, okay?" She tried to hold back her own tears at the horrible news. Maybe, it was all a nightmare? Some foolish dream? Unfortunately, she pinched herself several times, and she never woke up. It was all too real, and she didn't know how much longer she could keep her mind together.
"(F/n), he knew. I don't know how. Maybe, it's some crazy scent thing of his, but he knew." Furrowing her brows, she remained silent. Her mind didn't know what her father was talking about. Knew about what? "Sh*t! (F/n)! We only found out this morning." Everything inside of her tightened. Why was such a horrible feeling consuming all of her?
Charging back to the room and throwing open the door, Deidre distracted her momentarily from her father's words. "Dad, h-h-hold on," she shakily replied. "... Deidre's back." Ether and (f/n) expectantly waited for Deidre to say something.
"An abandoned factory. It's a little ways away from ..." She trailed off, and Ether snatched paper from her out of impatience.
"That f*cker," Ether instantly muttered. His hands nearly shredded the paper, and a growing rage developed in his very pale blue eyes. "Leave." The command was simple, yet terrifying. Ether's tone had sounded like something dragged out of the darkest reaches of the abyss, ready for a bloodbath. Deidre closed the door, and Ether released a series of dark chuckles. (F/n) froze to her seat, and she wished that she wasn't stuck in a room with Ether in that moment.
Peering over his left shoulder, he grinned. No amusement was in eyes. No, he wanted to murder every fiber of Callest's existence. "It's outside of f*cking Dunnuuna." (F/n) didn't move a muscle. Of all places ... Her past and now present tormentor knew the impact that place had on Ether. It was his birthplace, where he lost his parents, where he was tortured until he was nine and where he killed his grandfather for freedom.
"What is it?" her father asked, his breath near shaking again.
"Dunnuuna, Dad. He took her to an abandoned factory outside of it." (F/n) leaned forward on the table, and her right hand covered her face. It also helped to hide her view of Ether, who was crumpling up the piece of paper and giggling to himself. Admittedly, it was a terrifying sight, and hearing it was enough for her, if not more so. As she dwelled on the location, her mind also went to what her father was about to say beforehand, and she felt her stomach knot and twist. "... Dad ... about before ..."
"... I'm so sorry, (f/n). I wish that I was stronger, that I could've kept your mother safe from him, that I ..."
"Dad," her voice grew firmer, but it was from her own panic rising, "what is it?"
"We celebrated." She remained silent from puzzlement. "When we found out that you were safe. We had been so worried before. Well, we decided to take a night to ourselves ..." No, that couldn't be it; her mind just was making assumptions. He was going to say something else. Please, something else. "Earlier this morning, after the call and before breakfast, we had found out. We were going to tell you later."
Finally, Ether calmed down a little. His attention turned towards her. "Your mother is ..." No, not that. Not right now. Please. "... pregnant." Her fingers lost their grip. The phone dropped to the floor. Widened, terrified (e/c) eyes met very pale blues. (F/n)'s entire body trembled as the gravity of the situation became all the more suffocating. It wasn't just her mother, but her future ... sibling. A baby, her sibling, was in ... his hands.
Nausea consumed her, and sweat formed on her brow. Her body slid off of the chair and fell to her right. Instantly, Ether rushed forward and caught her. All she could mutter out was, "Help. Please."