Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Fifty-Four 🌑

On the dawn of the new day, I awoke beside Accalia. Let me get something straight, well, a little less than straight, we just fell asleep. We had become so tired after helping Fenn sort out ingredients for the antidote that we had fallen to sleep, as soon as we had arrived in Accalia's room. Her room was painted purple and it was as could be expected- perfectly clean and tidy, with revision guides and notebooks stacked onto bookshelves. 

I was about to nudge Accalia awake, but I soon found that her eyes were already open. Her face was pressed into the pillow, leaving a gentle indentation. 

"Good morning, gorgeous," she said, with a sweet smile. 

"Morning, Accalia," I replied. 

There was a knock on the door before either one of us could say anything else, and Accalia swiftly jumped out of bed, stretched, and went to answer it. 

"Dad?" she asked. 

"Alia, it's Fenn...he's sick. He spent most of the evening with Naomi and I don't know, I suppose he contracted the virus then," he said. 

"But I'm fine and I was with Naomi four hours, yesterday," I argued. 

Luka sighed. 

"This is just the thing- it doesn't pass onto everyone," he explained. 

Accalia's jaw tightened, then. I could tell this was distressing news for her, so I reached out to take her hand in mine. She gave it a gentle squeeze in response. 

"If I'm honest, I had a feeling this was going to happen," she said. 

I turned to her with an expression of concern. 

"We're going to need to use his research to work this one out," she continued, thoughtfully, "I care too much about Fenn to let him slip through my fingers. I think we all do." 

She wasn't wrong about that one. 

Even though I had only known him for a short amount of time, Fenn had become very important to me. 

"We can sort this out," Luka said, his voice quiet and refined, "I'll make sure of it." 

Accalia and I headed out into the hall and she began to bite on her lip. 

"Alia, calm down," I told her, as I gently pressed my hands on her shoulders. 

She sighed. 

"I'm trying. I just...I bite my lip when I'm nervous, or when I'm thinking about you and- you did not need to know that," she said. 

I chuckled. 

She pinched the bridge of her nose. 

"I'm so upset it got Fenn," she said. 

"Hey, don't say that! We're going to help him," I told her with positivity in my voice. I really did believe every word that I said. "I pinky promise!" I said, extending my finger then. 

Accalia chuckled, as she reached out to wrap her pinky finger around my own. She then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, taking me by surprise. 

"I care so much about all of you. I just want for us to get through this. This is going to be my tribe one day and I- I feel as though I need to do everything that I can to protect it," she said. Her expression grew more determined, as she pulled back from the hug. She spoke with more decisiveness, "I will do everything that I can to protect it." 

I met her with warmth in my gaze. 

"Alia, I know you will," I said. 

"I have a headache, now," she told me, as she glanced down at the ground, "I get a headache when I'm stressed. I don't want to be seen as this worried, frightened ruler. I want people to see me as someone who is strong." 

"Hey, look at me," I said. 

She looked up at me with some worry behind her eyes. 

"You are strong. You're the strongest person I know," I told her, my voice emphatic. 

"I think you should look in a mirror, Ophelia, because you're the strongest person I know," she said, with a sincere smile that warmed my heart all over again.

 "You're the greatest alpha here," I told her. 

Her eyes widened a little, in her surprise. 

"I feel like talking about alphas is controversial right now, given how Zachariah and Uziel were acting last night. I understand that my uncle sometimes gets annoyed with Uziel because, well..." she paused, for a moment. 

"Because?" I asked. 

"Because he has the role that my uncle wanted. He's the alpha. My uncle is the beta. My uncle hates that. I think he would honestly rather not have a title at all than be the 'beta'." 

"At least he's not the beta in Uma's eyes," I joked. 

Accalia's expression became more serious, then. 

"You can't tease her about that," she told me. "I think she truly does like him. At first, I honestly thought it was just a joke...but I care about them both and they frustrate me sometimes." 

"Why?" I asked. 

Accalia shrugged. 

"I don't know. It's not as though they could ever be together, it's just...something that crosses my mind from time to time," she admitted. "Anyway, let's talk about something else. We need to go and find the ingredients-" 

"Did Fenn ever test the swab?" I asked Accalia. There was more that I needed to say, but she quickly spoke again. 

She nodded. 

"Yeah, he did. It's what we thought it was- the wolf virus. We really need to find a new name for it," she said the last part quietly to herself. "Anyway, I'm sorry for talking over you. I talk faster, when I'm anxious." 

I could understand that much. 

We walked down the hall and past a few paintings on the walls, until we reached Fenn's room. 

We found him fast asleep. 

Accalia walked over to his scientific resources cupboard and began to look over some of the ingredients we had collected for the antidote so far. 

"We'll start mixing these with the synthetics and chemicals that uncle Z has made, alright?" she asked me. 

"Of course. Let's do this," I said to her, with a supportive smile.