Impure: The Protectors of Astromica

11

Kieran Stone sat back on his couch and stared out of his living room window. He furrowed his thick, dark brow and sucked in his cheeks, emerged in thought.
The sky had grown dark, and the night-sky's stars were visible and bright. His living room emitted a soft glow from the dimmed down overhead lights and slow, rock music played in the background.
His large, white wings spread far across the leather couch, like feathered blankets lying at his sides, and his legs were propped up on a matching-colored stool. He pressed the opening to an aged bottle of scotch against his lips and tilted the bottom until he was able to drink it like water.
The liquor burned his throat but he was too far gone to make a face anymore. The burn was nothing compared to what he felt in his heart.
In front of him was a giant painting of him and his late wife with a 3-year old Atticus. Even though the painting took up a large portion of the wall, he couldn't bare to look at it most times. He stared out of the window beside it instead.
He formed constellations in his head from the stars that were visible and thought to himself. It had been 8 hours since he was summoned down to the University to pick up his sons. Atticus had a broken wing and Damien couldn't fly himself home so he had to come. If there was anything he didn't like, it was abandoning his post. Kieran took his job as commander of the Angelic army seriously, and didn't believe in getting caught up in dramatic or romantic affairs. Nevertheless, his eldest son had been blessed with his mother's big heart, but cursed with his father's affliction.
"Dad? Is there food?", asked a raspy voice from the dark hallway to his left. The sound of feet shuffling became louder as a beaten-up Atticus stumbled into the light.
"Yeah, Atty. I ordered you some of those burgers from Earth that you love so much.", Kieran replied, turning to face him, "I can bring them, you don't need to be up."
"I can do it myself, dad.", replied Atticus, limping quickly past his father and into the kitchen. His pale, slim torso was purple and red all over, and his left wing was bandaged up in multiple places. Additionally, his right wing was completely wrapped in a cast. His face had scratches and bruises from his ex's assault, and both his eyes were swollen and purple with dark bags underneath. He looked like a walking corpse, beaten and deprived beyond recognition.
"You don't need to try to prove yourself now, son. It's okay to heal and get your strength back.", declared Lord Stone, standing and drunkenly stumbling towards his son.
"Dad, how are you gonna even help when you can't walk either? What is that? Scotch?", Atticus caught his father as he tripped and fell forward.
"What? I'm barely even buzzed."
Atticus supported his father over his shoulders and threw him back down on the couch. He stood over him and shook his head in disapproval.
"What are you thinking, old man? Queen Persephone is going to call any second to tell you how Lily's doing. I need you to be sober enough to answer-"
"God, here we go.", Kieran said, throwing his hands up and tilting his head back on the couch.
Atticus stared at his father for a few uncomfortable seconds,"Um, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, just a drunk old man rambling."
"No, you're thinking something. Spit it out, come on, say it."
"I'm not thinking anything. I have nothing to disclose, Atticus."
"You know what? Whatever.", Atticus stomped away into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Kieran heard the slamming of cups and ice and then nothing at all. He drowned in the silence for a moment and then sighed loudly.
He knew what he wanted to say, but he was afraid of setting Atticus off. He was finally in a decent spot with him, but he knew the peace-time would be short lived.
He rolled his eyes and bit back his tongue, but his flood gates bursted open and his question flowed out along with it
"Why didn't you fight back?", silence followed and Kieran listened anxiously for any sound from the kitchen. A few moments that felt like an eternity passed and Atticus's voice rang nervously through the living room.
"What? I-I did."
"No...you didn't. Don't you lie to me, boy. I know that she will have godlike power at some point, but with the strength you posses at this age, you could have done a lot more. You've inherited half of my ancestral power already, and I know what I could do at your age even against a god."
Atticus hesitated a moment before answering,"I...I couldn't. I just wanted to talk to her. I never wanted to fight-"
"She attacked you! Atticus, you have to defend when someone attacks you. Do you want to lose your life because a woman comes at you with knives instead of pussy?!"
"Well, she technically didn't use knives, she used her fist-"
"That was rhetorical and you know it."
"She's my girlfriend dad, I can't just fight-"
"Ex-girlfriend. She's your ex now, isn't that right? I heard you crying your eyes out a few nights ago, I'm assuming it's because something happened?", Kieran questioned.
"Dad! Were you listening at my door!? Are you serious?", Atticus exclaimed.
"Yes! What do you expect when you don't tell me anything! I have to spy on my own son in order to just know how your day went."
Atticus bit back his tongue and sighed, "Okay...fine. Yes, we broke up, but it wasn't my choice. She left me...because I kinda...I fucked up. That's what all of this was about. She was going to like, kill someone because of me. I intervened, just to try to calm her down, but then she turned her rage to me. I get her, I totally understand. It felt almost...deserved.", Atticus hesitated for a moment, then continued, "Like, if her killing me was the only way she could feel better then I would let her do what she needed. You don't know her like I do."
Lord Stone let his eyes wander around the calmly-lit room before answering.
"Atty...you can't-I mean, you shouldn't beat yourself up about something like that. Sometimes, when people get lonely, decisions are made that may hurt someone else. It doesn't mean you deserve death or to be pummeled by a powered-up ex-lover. Especially not by her, that family is dangerous! You do know who her father is? Hades! The man who single handedly destroyed supernatural society as a whole!"
Kieran hiccuped and glanced up at his son whose body language seemed unsure of the conversation. He recollected his thoughts, softening his speech and dissolving the distaste from his tone. "Atticus, I know you didn't want to cause her any pain, you're not that type of man. You never intentionally hurt anyone...even as a little boy. You were just wishing for your own pain to stop and your actions had...consequences."
Atticus stood there with posture that almost seemed welcoming to his father. He tilted his head and smirked slightly, "Wow, dad. That was actually, really insightful."
Kieran laid back on the couch and reached for the expensive-looking bottle of scotch once again. He took another big swig and hiccuped, "Yeah, kid. I do have some insight on things like that."
Quickly, Atticus's posture changed. He went from seeming as though he wanted a hug to a full on battle stance in an instant.
"It's still not the same as what you did to mom.", he said, annoyed.
Lord Stone took a sharp breath in and exhaled loudly.
The room was now filled with the aura of teenage despair again, and Kieran couldn't stand the smell of it. He looked up at his son who was clearly already boiling with anger and resentment. The moment of bonding was gone, and cold reality struck again. It didn't take much for Atticus to hate him again, but Kieran couldn't be more careful with his words.
"Atticus...it is. My mistake just had bigger consequences and hurt more people—but I love both of my sons and I wouldn't have it any other way. Your mother was the best thing that happened to me and I let one drunken mistake fuck that up for me. For all of us, really-"
Suddenly, Kieran was interrupted by a piercing ringing of a black phone on the wall next to him.
He looked in the direction of the sound, then back to Atticus whose eyes mirrored his own.
Atticus limped across the room, as quickly as he could, and grabbed the phone before his father could blink.
"Lord Stone speaking. Hello? Hello?"
"Atticus, give your father the phone.", said a feminine and powerful voice on the other end.
"This is Lord-"
"This is not."
"...haha, just kidding. I'll just go-I will grab him now, your majesty—I mean, your grace."
Atticus presented the phone to his father quickly and eagerly, "She wants to talk to you. You're lucky I didn't tell her you're drunk off your ass."
Kieran snatched the phone from him and furrowed his brow. He cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and fixed his posture before speaking.
"Yes, this is Lord Stone...yes, I can but-oh...Okay. I see."
Atticus stuck his ear close to the speaker and attempted to listen in as his father actively pulled away from him.
"How may I be of service, my goddess?...I would have to get it cleared with the king-oh, you already did. Noted...I can be there in an hour.", Kieran grabbed Atticus's face with his giant hand and pushed him away from him while he struggled to speak in peace.
"Yes that's perfect...anything you and the king require. Thirty minutes it is. Thank you, your grace."
Kieran reached over and hung the phone back up on the wall and relaxed back into the cushion. He closed his eyes for a split second and opened them to Atticus's curious, hazel eyes only inches away from his own.
"Dammit, Atticus!"
"What did she say?!"
"It's none of your business. Who's Lord Stone? I'm Lord Stone. I get to know these things, not you."
"Come on! Tell me! I have to know!"
"Okay! Okay.", Kieran sighed loudly and continued, "Persephone has summoned me down to the Underworld. I have thirty minutes to freshen up because she demands an audience...immediately."
"Immediately? Why? Is it about Lily?", questioned Atticus, avidly.
"I don't know any more than to be ready when she summons me. King Xavier commands it. Nevertheless, I do fear what may happen when I go there. I haven't been summoned to the demon realm in a long time. The last time, I...well I ended the rebellion."
"What do you mean you "ended the rebellion"?"
"I...nothing. I'm talking too damn much. Go in there and eat your eat your food. I have to go put on my armor-"
"Dad! What do you mean you ended the fucking rebellion?!"
"Don't raise your voice at me. I'm too-incapacitated to argue with you."
"Then don't argue. Let's talk—Man to man. You want me to take my job seriously? Okay, so tell me about a mission of the Commander of the Angelic Army. Tell me how you ended the rebellion, and I'll be nothing but wiser, right? Right?!"
"Well, it wasn't exactly a mission. It was the first and only time I went against Xavier's wishes. It was 100 years ago when hades was still free. Even though he terrorized all six realms without discrimination for 500 years straight, after the Great War he was still walking around freely for some curious reason. The other realms didn't push for harsher punishments for his crimes but us...the Angelic Kingdom lost so much because of his endorsed violence. Our way of life was destroyed—our children taken or killed. I watched my men get shot down from the sky by teenage demons granted enough power to blow up a star. I infiltrated the Underworld, with the help of a friend, and snuck into Castle Heart when Hades was away...I was twenty two years old and still boiling with young and vengeful anger. I put a golden, prideful sword up to Persephone's neck, and demanded that she make a coffin for her king in the name of the Angelic Kingdom."
Kieran chuckled lightly to himself and continued, "I really thought a sword would work...it didn't. She beat me within an inch of my life. I thought she was going to kill me...Instead she made the prison that I asked for and had me spill blood to ensure the strongest layer of protection once it was sealed. I went home that night wondering when she'd come for me...but she never did. Exactly a day later, I received a letter from her informing me that she was successful in locking him away. She explained how the cage could not be opened without a Stone present, since my blood was used to hold the spell. It requires our blood to unlock."
"Are you serious? We're the...the reason why Lily can't see her dad?"
"Something tells me Persephone preferred it that way. She held all the cards, I just gave her the plan. On the other hand, King Xavier disagreed with my plan from the beginning, stressing that locking him away for crimes for things not directly done by his hand wasn't lawful. He threatened me with imprisonment if I attempted anything. Fortunately, Queen Persephone was able to plead my case for me, claiming that the punishment was fair and there was no reason for reprocussions. So I kept my position and served them both, loyaly, ever since."
"Do you think Persephone will ever need you to open it?"
"Persephone is a wise woman. She never wanted any bloodshed, her love for hades was just too strong to lock him away herself. I think she knows what would happen if she ever let him out, she doesn't want any more blood on her hands."
"Oh...dang.
"Yeah, dang...fucking hell, boy! I have to get ready!", Kieran said, readying himself to stand.
"Are you sure you can go...like that?", asked Atticus, looking at him with judgement.
"I don't really have a choice, son. She's dragging me down there in my boxers if I'm not ready. She's not a patient woman."
"Well, I see where Lily gets it from."
Kieran gave his son a nasty side-eye and peeled himself from the couch. "Go eat, get your strength back. I'll be home tomorrow most likely."
"Hey dad..."
"Yeah?"
"Be careful."
Kieran smiled to himself before responding, "Love you too, son."