The Unwanted Gift

Whether it be one year, ten years or twenty years, time held very little meaning to the Slums of the Capital. It was the same in any year, for the most part. Coming off the post-years of the rebellion certainly left a stronger sense of fear among the populace. However, life continued the same as it always had. Nothing changed in the end. Before the rebellion still felt the same as after it.

It was always the same. Thievery ran out of control in the streets. Death was just as common. If something happened, no one cared. They had their own life to live and wanted nothing to do with others' problems.

That was the general case for people in the underworld, the shadows of the glorious civilization of Atlantis. A few sparks of weak light could still be found, one just had to look hard enough. One such faint sign of hope had adopted an abandoned child. A girl no one wanted.

Still only a baby, barely two years alive in the world, she already saw too much of the ugliness of the world. But she was too young to understand any of it. She could just play and live. It was simple.

Reality forced her to grow up fast. Fate had other plans in store.

“Now wait a minute!” interrupted Yuki. He shifted his position around from Ayumi’s side to stand in front of her. They had a place to be, so he kept walking backwards to keep their pace. “You’re telling me that you remember in detail your life from the age of two? Bullshit!”

Hardly affected by him anymore, Ayumi stopped her story. It wasn’t the first time he interrupted her to deal with some inconsistency in her story. She couldn’t even get annoyed at it anymore. He was so picky. “No, I don’t remember the details of my life that far back. My first memory is leaving the Slums.”

“Then how are you claiming to know what happened then?”

“I never said I didn’t return back here at any time. My power’s simple enough to extract the information I need.”

Yuki saw the cold expression in Ayumi’s eyes. “Scary.” The thought of her forcibly hunting down the people with her memories just to know what happened hardly seemed out of character, but still the lengths to go still came off a little shocking. “The way you talk about your life here, it doesn’t seem like something you’d want to remember. Why do you know so much?”

“Because I was looking for something.”

Now she had Yuki’s attention. She couldn’t say something so mysterious and enticing without expecting to get some curiosity. “What were you looking for?”

“It’s personal.” Ayumi walked around Yuki, making her stance on the matter clear.

“What!?” Yuki turned to rush after her. “You can’t just dump something like that and expect me to just let you drop it. It was important enough to you to dredge up your past. What was it?”

She stopped abruptly. Her head turned just enough to meet his gaze. “It’s a private matter.” The finality in her stare said everything else.

Sweating a little and turning a bit blue in the face, Yuki cut his losses and accepted things, for now anyway. “Fine.”

Chapter 240 – The Unwanted Gift

Aella was the woman that took her in off the street. She just found the baby crawling around an alley with no direction. No one seemed to be giving her any notice. They just ignored her. Most had no interest in complicating their life further with an unknown child. However, Aella couldn’t let her just roam.

It wasn’t something that went unnoticed by the others. “What were you thinking, Aella?”

“A child? She’s going to die anyway.”

“She needs someone to watch over her. It’s because she is a child that I’ll give her protection.”

“But she was abandoned.”

“There must be a reason for it.”

“All the more reason to keep her safe. It’s too harsh for a child alone.”

“What if it was because of that.”

“You’re right. She might be one of them, Aella.”

“Does that change the fact she needs help?”

“You’ll regret it.”

Despite the warnings from her neighbors, she continued to watch over the child. They kept talking about her. They tried to convince her to get rid of the baby. It would be only trouble. No one wanted the baby. She wasn’t even the first person to take her in. Everyone that took her in threw her out just as quickly. There was never a welcome home. Yet Aella kept her.

It was nearly a year. Persistent fear mongering wasn’t enough. Aella resolved herself to the task. Nothing she could imagine would be enough to change her mind. She felt it impossible to break.

However, it was a simple act that revealed the greatest crack to shatter everything. It wasn’t even anything dramatic or threatening. Just an everyday wish.

Everything changed. A frozen time.

Complaining, the baby wanted something. Aella was busy working on dinner for them. She had just enough to keep them from not having growling stomachs. Any more was too much to ask for. “I’m making dinner, dear! Just wait a little bit longer! I know you’re hungry!”

The baby whined again. She seemed to be getting more impatient with Aella. Calming and reassuring words meant nothing. They cried more. “Just a little bit longer.”

Longer was too long for the baby.

Suddenly, the air felt cold and Aella could see her breath. “Why’d it get so cold so suddenly?” Everything in the room was covered in snow an instant later. She stared down at her hands holding what used to be a knife, but now looked like a toy a kid made out of snow. It was impossible. The impossibility quickly turned into a single thought in her mind. She knew, just not who. Fear rattled her bones. “The baby!”

Aella turned around to the table to see her cheerfully playing with the snow. She didn’t seem to understand. Rushing over to her, Aella pushed her up quickly. “It’s alright. We just have to hide and they’ll pass by.” The baby whined wanting something, they stretched out their tiny hands to something no longer in their reach. Aella realized quickly they wanted their cup. However, when she picked it up she realized it wasn’t one of her cups. It was made from pure crystal so clear it acted like a prism. “This isn’t yours…” She still wanted it and Aella gave into the request since she went quiet.

Taking cover in the furthest part of their snow-filled house was all she could do. The temperatures kept dropping as she tried to keep the baby warm, even though it didn’t seem to notice even the cold. Aella shivered in the corner praying for it all to end soon. The water in the cup emptied with the baby happily. All of the snow disappeared a moment later with the room warming back up.

It was over.

She sighed with relief. Yet something nagged at her. Aella looked at the baby seeing the cup went missing. It was nowhere to be seen. “You were thirsty huh?” She looked happy and completely oblivious. Aella could only stare at the baby. The missing cup. The snow. The crystal cup. The baby. Each piece suddenly fell into place.

Aella set the baby down on the floor. It paralyzed her knowing it. She understood. It made sense. She stared down at the content child, unaware. Aella’s hands shook. The cold she felt still chilled her body, only more unnerving than before. She walked to the other corner of the room sliding down as small as possible.

More than an hour passed before she was startled awake to the world. It was a touch from it. The baby’s hand poked her. She tried to grab her finger. It wanted attention. She stared at Aella. It didn’t understand.

The shaking wouldn’t stop. It only seemed to get worse the more it stared at her. She could do only one thing. Aella rubbed her arms trying to warm up. The lingering chill still gripped her tightly.

The baby was alone again. However, everyone knew. Fear fell in quickly. Aella disappeared. Alone she quickly started to understand certain things. Her power responded to her desires. Even alone, she only needed it to survive. It came to be surprisingly useful. She even managed to evade the military searches.

Another year passed.

A stranger in worn clothes stepped into the Slums. They looked like they fit in, but still stood out. Something about them made people naturally want to avoid them. He looked aged from years of hard living. “I must be getting close,” he commented. It became very apparent to him passing another block. ‘There’s no one living in any of these homes. Normally, these would all be filled. I’m not even seeing beggars.’

It was a sign.

He knew it all too well. They all gave a silent message. ‘Leave and don’t look back.’ The message didn’t bother him. He kept walking forward deeper into the ghost town. A paper came out from under his tattered robes. Several notes were carefully written out along with a map. It matched the area he was in.

The stranger stopped in front of the house. He glanced down at the stone steps. Something seemed to have caught his eye. “It’s here.” He walked into the house. It looked abandoned, but with careful signs of life. He walked around the single room searching around before coming to a stop in the middle. Placing a hand on the floor, it suddenly opened with a tunnel.

Descent through the tunnel brought him to the no man zone of the Slums. The area between one layer of the Underground and the next. The area collapsed and built upon. Old never used tunnels formed from the crushing weight of the above on top of leftovers from a dead period. It was too dangerous to go inside with no chance for exits and high chance of cave-ins. Yet a perfect place to hide. It was something the military knew well, yet they still managed to miss it.

He found a wall that stopped him from progressing. “A strong one.” The wall disappeared like it was nothing and he continued. Traps and detours couldn’t stop him.

“Here you are,” he said, finally reaching the end of the line. He found a child held up in a corner so far removed it was just as easy to have missed her. The difficulty of reaching made him understand why the Academy had such trouble looking for her. They would have eventually found her, even the best at hiding didn’t last forever. He was fortunate to have found her first.

Ice spread out everywhere. Cornered, she wasn’t ready to go without a fight. He knelt down holding out his hand. “I’m not from the military. I was looking for you, but I wanted to help you.”

Shards of ice appeared around her looking ready to fire. “No you don’t.” The shards flew at the stranger without any warning.

The ice disappeared before even touching him. He smiled a little. “You’ve got a fire in you. That’s good.”

She immediately understood what he was. The signs were clear. She tried to back away even further. “Go away!”

“I don’t want to frighten you any further. I’m only here to help.”

“You’re lying!”

“It’s the truth.” He tried a warm grin for her as a sign of safety. Though his rough appearance made it look more forced than natural. “I want to offer you a new home.”

She shook her head. “No! You’re just saying whatever you want! You want to take me away!”

“I’m not with the military. You already saw before I’m stronger, but I want you to have the choice. They wouldn’t give you one.” He sat down trying to give every sign possible that he meant no threat to her. “You’ve been on the run. No one wants you. You’re afraid of everyone. You can’t trust. I’m sorry you had to learn the cruelty of this world at such a young age. But I’m like you. I know how everything changes and those close to you no longer look at you the same. When they know you can see it in their eyes. You can see their fear. Even when they try to hide it, you can still see it.”

The girl looked at him a little strangely. He realized that he was talking a little too complex for someone barely even a child. She was too young to understand everything he said. He had to rewind his steps. “Would you like a home? A place where you’re among those that love you and aren’t afraid? Where you can be yourself?” He offered his hand out to her across the long distance. “Would you come with me?”

She stared at him for a long time. Everyone was always afraid of her. They all knew her and left immediately. The moment they learned nothing was the same again. He was like her. He wasn’t afraid. She felt like he might be telling the truth. She just wanted to be warm again. “I-I’ll…I’ll come.”

He lit up quickly with a wide smile on his face. Jumping over to her and picking her up, he looked even happier than before. “I’ve always wanted a daughter!” He realized that it was a little too fast for her. She already started to look like she regretted the decision. The man set her back down. “Right! Let’s get you out of here. I’ll keep you hidden, so you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you. You’ll be safe with me!”

It was all a whirlwind and daze for her. She didn’t know when the Slums changed, but eventually she stood in a gigantic room. It seemed larger than the whole Slums, but it was simply the scale that threw her off. She wandered around the place seeing a bed and toys, anything she might have wanted.

The stranger threw off his robes, suddenly changing back to his original appearance. His Field dropped the disguise. He had an aged appearance, but a much kinder look in his face. Hidden behind it seemed to be something deeper, a darkness. The change startled the girl a little. “Sorry, I can’t use this face around the town, everyone would recognize me.”

“Who are you?” She didn’t know. Her head tilted a little curious, but seeing the real him actually made her feel more comfortable. The rough appearance gone, he seemed like the warmth she wanted.

“You don’t know?” He was actually surprised, but he was so used to being so well recognized that it only made sense a child would not know. “I’m the King of Atlantis.”

“King? What’s that?”

He laughed a little embarrassed and amused by her innocence. “Just a title with a heavy burden. But more importantly, what’s your name? I sort of forgot to ask earlier.”

“Name? I don’t have one.”

“What?! That’s terrible! How could no one have given you a name?” He raised his hand up to his face to think for a moment. “Your name is Eudokia! You’re my daughter starting today!”