Chronicles of the Underworld - Soul Eater

9 - Mother

"My mother.", Alexandria said slowly whilst moving towards the house. It had a giant 6 painted above the entrance door.

"Do you hate her?", Salem asked.

"I don't know."

For the first time Alexandria couldn't think about her mother. Usually it was always there, always present, somewhere in the back of her mind. A speck, a nasty insect digging its teeth into her soul and gnawing a heart-shaped hole in her brains. The fact that she might not hate her mother, but that her mother definitely hated her. Usually she couldn't repress the thought, now she was unable to think it.

"You're torn."

"From the inside out and upside down." She smiled without joy.

"That's not what I meant, but I'll take it into consideration."

"I just wish that she would look at me one time the way she looks at her general. Loving. All I get is hate and contempt."

"I see."

They entered the house and Salem pressed the elevator button.

"Are you serious?", she asked.

"Yeah. Thirteenth floor. I'm not taking the stairs, potentially bumping into someone residing here and asking what on earth were going to take away to sell now. Take a look around, this place reeks of misery."

"I know. I've been here before."

"Why would you have done such thing?"

Alexandria smiled. "I'm actually on a mission."

"Of course you are. With me."

"No, that's not it. Mortimer commanded me back, now I know why. But I'm actually following a girl around. She lives in this building."

"Poor creature. Why does he spy on her?"

"I don't know. She has potential. She's... Uh... Kind of in a rough place right now, so I'm taking care that nothing too bad happens."

"She's human?"

"She's... different. Otherly. She's one of us."

"Sweet Night. Good luck when Mortimer has his eyes on her. You sure it's better to keep her alive instead of just letting her do what she wants to do?"

"Absolutely."

"That answer came quick."

"I'm convinced she deserves to live. I can sense destiny on her."

"Not so fast to judge about destiny now, are you..."

"That thing with my mother is a whole different thing."

"Maybe you'll reconcile.", Salem said.

"Sure.", Alexandria replied. "And we'll go off to colonize Mars or something..."

"Miracles happen."

"That's not a miracle. That's a disaster, from the beginning to the end."

"Have you tried understanding her position?"

"Of course I have. And by the way: I'm pro-choice. What bothers me is that after all of this..."

She described a movement with her hand.

"This meaning her having tried to murder you."

"Not even that. She's tried. Okay. I don't remember it. But when it didn't work, she brought me in the forest and laid me on a rock. You know what lives in the Dark Forest. She left me there and... Well. My father found me. She hates both of us. Even if I think that she has loved my father once. Only when it became clear that she would be successor to the throne she started to worry about it. Disaster struck when she discovered that she was expecting a child. I'm sure that if servants had helped her to bear me, she would have murdered them."

The door of the elevator opened with a screeching sound. She didn't feel like making jokes about wanting to get in there.

Salem looked at her, his two different coloured eyes scanning her face. She knew that he knew. She had been indiscreet, shared too much.

Not that it would matter a great deal to Luminé.

They entered the elevator ,and he released his breath standing in front of her.

"You didn't tell me you're a royal.", he said. "You are, right?"

She nodded shortly. "Would've made this entire story even more hard to explain than it already is."

"You're a princess."

She froze. Decided to counterattack. "You're in love with Columbia."

"Yes. Answer my statement."

"Have you seen me?" She pointed shadow-wrath in his direction. "I'm the definition of a princess."

"The Elven Queen... Luminé... Your protégée... is your mother."

"I like to say that Darkness bore me.", she said with a smile. "Or Death. Whichever you prefer. Makes no difference."

-

"I am."

The witch seemed absent, her hand laying on her abdomen and her eyes staring at things he couldn't see.

Aurel looked around them. "I won't tell anyone."

"See?" She tried to smile. "That's why I offered you to come along. I feel like I can trust you."

"You can. But now..."

"I know."

For the love of God, don't trust her, Alexandria said. There's something suspicious about all of this.

I know. But you... Don't give me shit. I heard what you just told him.

He has a way of pulling the words right out of me.

You're tense. Don't worry. It's normal.

And not like it's going to bother me...

Now is not the time to think about it.

Aurel returned to Columbia, who had not moved an inch. She kept staring into the distance.

"That's weird.", she mumbled. "I can feel magic... Can you...?"

She stretched out her hand, her palm swaying through the air.

He wrinkled his brows. "There's nothing magical about all of this."

"I know. I shouldn't be able to feel that. It shouldn't be here..."

"Great."

Shit, that meant. Things had already started to take a wrong turn.

"You know what, let's get up the scaffolding now. I'm starting to have a feeling about all of this."

"You're right."

They moved up fast and overlooked the empty hall. The light was dim, cold January air streaming in through the broken windows. It was silent. Too silent.

Something was definitely off.

Alexandria?, he said. She was with him, felt the same.

"Shit.", he muttered when he heard noise from the roof.

"Here they come.", Columbia said.