Serenity

Demands

|Oren|

These last few days have been a living nightmare. Every moment of every hour, me and my family are watched in our own home by these... fiends. I've been trying to keep everyone safe by just... emphasizing that we should obey what they want, but still. It seems like every day, somebody is killed for uprising against them.

A churning feeling fills my stomach as I try to make dinner for Kitrino and Verde who were both upstairs in the same room; my husband taking care of Verde's wounds and his own. A woman stood behind me, in the doorway, watching my every movement like a hawk. As I reach for the kitchen knife I had been using to cut the vegetables, a sharp memory of a sword digging into the chest of one of my people fills my vision.

*CLANK*

The clatter of the knife onto the floor breaks me from my fear and I finally take notice of my visibly trembling hand. I try to steady myself by taking a breath and reach down to pick up the knife. The press of something cold against my neck stops me mid reach for it and I try to not breathe too deeply.

"I'll grab that." Her cold voice fills my right ear and I slowly stand up at the urging of her blade. Stony eyes meet mine for a split second before they glance down at the knife on the ground and she picks it up. Setting it on the counter, we both glance at it before meeting each other's eyes. Hers were a cold grey that could be compared to frost on hard and cold stone. Forcing myself to get the lump out of my throat, I swallow, then whisper a small, "Thank you," before I turned to continue making my family dinner.

Minutes passed by and as I finish putting the casserole into the furnace, a knock on the front door makes my body tense up. The woman crosses the hall and then opens the door as I turn my head to watch her. Fear digs its claws into my chest as I see the cruel, dark haired man in the doorway. His boots thunk on the wooden flooring as he walks into my house, looking around at  the family photos hung up on the walls of my husband and my sons, before his gaze settles on me.

"So. I see you have a comfortable home, here." His deep voice drawls and he picks up a photo from our cabinet, then stares at it. A terrified nod is what I can give before I muster my courage up enough to talk. "Y-Yes. I built it with my husband when this city was a small village." My heart pounded in my ears, filling the silence of my house. I watch as his face upturns a scowl while staring at the photo he picked up and his eyes flit to me. "Where's your daughter." He demands.

Confusion suddenly replaces my fear at his words. I didn't have a daughter- Oh.

Playing with his misconception, I stutter and then clear my throat. "Sh-She doesn't live with us anymore. She moved out years ago." My words cause him to roll his eyes and huff. Part of me took a partial humor to his misconception. I guess he's not been around more feminine looking men enough. My son would have a laugh at that. "I see." He pauses for a moment before he raises an eyebrow at me.

"So. About finding him: Why have I not heard anything yet?" His growled voice echoes his question with the fear I felt in my heart. I swallow nervously, then stammer an answer as quickly as I could. "I-I've been having my people inquiring about. I-It's going to take a while still. M-Most of us h-haven't seen the G-Great Hero since he d-disappeared..." A dark look of anger flashes through his expression before a scraping metal accompanied the sudden metal at my neck. I back up against the wall, the glowing golden sword tinged with red, following my motion as he stalked forward, his arm in the same position as the glowing sword.

A glow emanated from his eyes as his words were hissed with an unbridled fury. "Then Get. On. It. I don't have all year to wait for you and your pathetic people to waste my time and give him any more time to let him run free. So..." A sickening feeling set in my stomach at his next words. "If you don't want your husband and son to die, I'd suggest you get your people in check and working more coordinately." The golden sword drops from my neck, then hovers over my heart before he turns his heel and exits my house, slamming the door behind him and dissipating the golden blade. A bead of sweat and chills run down my back as my body feels warm from the fear and adrenaline.

How... How could I win this seemingly impossible war against non-steve beings who had abilities that could incapacitate us in mere seconds? If anything, I was just adding to my own people's suffering by being a coward. With a shaky hand, I gently shift to touch the right side of my neck where an arrowhead mark lay. No... I wasn't being a coward. I was trying to keep Kitrino and Verde safe. I was trying to comply so that nobody was being mass murdered. It... It was going to be hard, but I had to be a leader. I had to make this decision so that I could keep my city and my family safe.

I was...

Acacia City's last hope.