The Fall - Book 1

162. Do you find this amusing?

NOVEMBER 11, 2019  — AVENGERS COMPOUND — RÉA

"I apologise for our tardiness," a deep, canorous voice says.

I continue holding Bucky's gaze as I reply to the speaker.

"Let me guess: the annual meeting with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny ran long? Your alarm clocks didn't go off? Or, wait, no...the place had to be fumigated?" I reply, my tone heavily sarcastic.

"Do you find this amusing?"

"Not at all..."

I turn and meet the speaker's eyes.

"...Adamen." I move my gaze from his as I address the others beside him. "Garash. Enkara. Aurelius. Sagar."

As one, they begin to kneel.

"We offer our deepest apologies...we—" Sagar begins.

"There is no need for kneeling," I say.

They rise, and Adamen speaks again.

"I again apologise for our tardiness. We were...misinformed. This one," he gestures to Olc, "has sown many seeds of discord amongst our ranks. Determining whose loyalties do—did—not lie with him proved to be quite the undertaking. It took us far too long to discern the truth and realise where we were needed."

He pauses. "Although it seems as if you have already taken care of the...situation."

I nod. "I did. You're not needed here."

"We're under orders to bring him back," Adamen gestures to Enkara, and she moves toward Olc, hoisting him roughly to his feet and beginning to frog-march him away from the compound; Garash, Sagar, and Aurelius follow.

"No," I say, my tone hard and icy. "He is now a human. He stays here."

The five Host freeze, with the other four looking to Adamen for direction. He, however, simply stares at me, his head cocked slightly to the side in question.

"What, do you want to stay and see the sights? Get out of here," I tell him.

"I will wait for you to say your farewel—"

"'Farewells'? Oh, hell no!"

Adamen looks taken aback by my outburst.

"You are the second-in-command, now. Only The Divine is above you. You are meant to lead us. As such, you should return with us. I—we—assumed you would."

I shake my head, letting out a wry, mirthless chuckle.

"Of course," I mutter.

"Wh—"

"Once again, someone else is assuming they know what I want or what I need; someone else is trying to dictate how my life should go. Once again, no one bothers to just ask me anything." I turn my face to the sky and shout. "If you had just asked me, I'd have told you that I don't want this! I don't want it!"

There's a quiet rumble—a warning—but I don't care. All of the sadness, doubt, hurt, and anger I feel has reached a boiling point, and I unleash it.

"I don't want this! All I ever wanted was to just be me...to just be Réa...and to live my life! But you made decisions and let things happen...for what? Because they were 'meant to'?" I make air quotes around those words. "And that's something I don't understand...how was any of this meant to happen? Huh?"

Another, louder rumble sounds, and I see the trepidation on the faces of the five Host and Olc, but again, everything within me has reached a boiling point, and I'm determined to say my piece.

"You told me I am destined for far more than I know...well, again, I'm telling you that I don't want it! I just wan—"

I fall silent as another figure appears on the compound lawn.

"Hello, Réalta," the figure speaks, and I immediately recognise the melodious voice. "Let us talk."

In my peripheral vision, I see the Host and Olc drop to their knees and bow, and my family slowly follow suit.

"You would reject this gift?" the Divine asks me.

"'Gift'?!" I practically screech. "This is not a gift...this is a burden."

"A burden?"

"Yes." I pause. "I don't want to be 'second-in-command'. I don't want to rule anything. I—"

"What do you want, Réalta, if it is not this?"

"I already said that I just want to be able to live my life—this life—and just be me. I..." I hesitate briefly, looking toward Bucky before turning back to the Divine, "I want to stay with my family. I want to stay with Bucky. I want the whole 'house-with-a-picket-fence' future with him. I want to have children with him, and I want to watch them grow, and have children of their own. I want us to grow old together. I want to be with him, for as long as I can."

I clear my throat against the tears that have begun to clog it, then draw in a deep breath.

"I want to be allowed a choice...and that choice will always—always—be him."

It's silent for several long moments; I swear, not even the wind blows. The longer the silence lasts, the more a feeling of disquiet settles over me. Finally, the Divine speaks again.

"Yet again, you would give up all of this power, just to remain here? With them...with him?"

"Yes," I reply without hesitation, my voice clear and steady.

My response is met with another stretch of silence.

"Goodbye, Réalta."

With that, the Divine disappears. One by one, the five Host and Olc raise their heads, and then rise; once again, the others follow suit.

"Wanda," I call out. "You can take that wall down now."

I've barely finished my sentence when the translucent, red barrier disappears. As soon as it's gone, Bucky is sprinting toward me.

I barely have time to take a step toward him when his arms are around me and he's holding me tightly to him. My arms wrap around him, and I breathe in his comforting scent of cedar, vanilla, and cinnamon. He releases me, only to move his hands to my face, pushing my hair back and cupping my cheeks as his eyes rove over my face.

"God, I missed you. I..."

His words cut off as he crushes his mouth to mine, before breaking the kiss. His eyes again rove over my face, then he once more wraps his arms around me and just holds me to him. Eventually, he lifts me into his arms and settles onto the ground, placing me in his lap and continuing to hold me. I don't know how long we stay like this; honestly, it doesn't matter...I could stay here forever and it wouldn't be long enough.

"I'm so sorry, Bucky. So, so sorry," I murmur.

"Shhh, Réa. Later."

I nod, and we continue to hold each other.

At some point, I'm aware of the others going inside, and I realise that the Host have left. I don't know if they took Olc or if he's with the team, but I put that aside for later; it's nothing that won't keep.

Everything I want and need is right here.