Awakening

Chapter 18 - Edited

The Closest Ones Surprises Us Most

Caliope was taking a walk in the garden as everyone else was in the living room discussing new courses of action. While she walked, she lifted her hands and stared at them wondering what kind of powers she could have, how she was never aware of any of it, and who her father was. He was someone she never met or heard about and now she found out he was someone of great importance for the dark Angels, who apparently hated her, feared her, and were confused by her sole existence.

'It was nothing personal, he felt during a fight that was very important for both sides'

She smiled and answered to him 'I thought you were in an important meeting...'

'I am becoming addicted to you... that is the honest truth.'

Caliope turned her head towards the house, blushing and with her heart pounding fast. Through the windows she could see them all sitting in the living room while Heptanius walked nervous from one side to the other. Amra was looking at them listening. 'Is everything ok there?'

'Come with me, you have nothing to be afraid of...'

She hesitated for a second but her feet were already heading towards the house. She was drawn to him in such way it was so simple for her to decide. Once she came in, Heptanius frowned slightly but then smiled politely. Howard offered her his chair that was next to Amra, and in return she smiled and whispered a 'thank you'.

"It is your choice Heptanius, Elaine has said she will support what you decide to do." Pronab was finishing.

"Either you or her are both of great influence but in the end we all depend on someone who is not playing by the same rules..."

"I guess you refer to me again." Amra said while pulling Caliope's chair closer.

Heptanius nodded nervously "I am not disrespecting you, please do not think that. I want you to understand what worries me the most is how your priorities are set quite differently than the ones of the rest of us."

"My priorities start with her and end with her."

Everyone in the room became tense and slightly disappointed. Caliope was feeling horrible and sad, guilty and honored at the same time.

"I don't think you all understand how I see things. She is alive, and keeping her alive is all I want. In order to keep her alive we have to make sure everything comes back to order. I will not rest until it does, no matter what it takes, we will recover the Archangel and make sure peace is settled."

They nodded, in silence. Amra had a way of seen things that might have not been conventional but ended in what they all wanted in the first place.

"I am satisfied with your explanation, and I can speak for my own people when I say we will all fight this together."

"Now that we got that solved, before we leave to our next destination, we need to make sure of what you are going to do."

"I will regroup with my soldiers and spread the news, we will keep things calm and report to you what happens, but if there is any new attack I will have to take measures. I do not want another 'Black Sun' arise."

"That is what we all want to avoid."

"When are you all leaving to your next destination?"

"We have a couple of days, there are rumors, not strong ones, about certain places that might have some of the fallen ones hiding... we want to take a look just to be sure, then we are parting. If we get suspicious about anything we will need your presence Heptanius."

Heptanius nodded "I will certainly be happy to help."

'...and this is why I like having Pronab around, he is a wonderful politician'

Caliope heard Amra speak in her mind, she turned her head towards him just to make sure as she replied 'I don't understand... what do you mean?' as he kept his gaze on them.

'Pronab is giving an excuse for us to stay longer, those places we are supposed to investigate are really the places we will visit and where we will rest... he is even making Heptanius believe he will be consulted in case of danger... we are all going to be researching for the cause...'

She nodded as she returned to look at them, smiling softly at Heptanius in return as his gaze crossed hers momentary.

As everyone was exchanging last comments, Caliope excused herself to her room, she said goodbye to all and finally closed the doors enjoying some privacy. She went to her bathroom and turned up the water, giving it time to warm up as she started to get undressed. She was thinking about the last events and tried to push them aside, working hard on relaxing now, as that part of their trip was over. She wrapped herself in a towel and went close to the shower to test the temperature of the water, finding it warm and welcoming, she was about to let the towel fall when a figure started to appear in between the soft vapor. Her heart jumped. It was Heptanius and he made her a silent gesture.

"I am sorry, my dear... I did not mean to scare you... I have said goodbye to you but I feel that we both have yet much to talk about... At some moment we stopped being friendly with each other, and I don't want you to leave with that bad impression of me..."

"...instead, you want me to leave with an impression of you showing up to me in my bathroom?"

Heptanius frowned "of course not. I want you to know... that I don't mind your origin. I want you to know that I think you will do great things for our people... I hope you can understand that whatever 'he' does, it will be because of what he was created for, he was made for war... he will want to fight when the moment comes..."

Caliope started to feel annoyed by his words; she felt he was trying to disguise his good intentions with some darker ones. In his words she saw something different, she started to see lies, and this scared her.

"You should leave before they notice your absence..."

Heptanius grinned "they won't... I am still there..."

She frowned, upset by his pedantry. And watching him proudly smile at his apparent winning move, she continued speaking at the same time she tried to open a mental door to Amra. It was not easy, but his earlier words reminded her that all she had to do was wish for him to hear her. And so she did.

"You might be fooling them with your illusion, but Amra is connected to me, he will notice something is wrong. If you try to harm me..."

"I am not trying to harm you child! Of course not! I am just telling you that you have a hard road to walk through and I empathize with you... You will be..."

The image of him got quiet, and suddenly banished. She started to breath relieved, yet grew worried about what she might have caused. Quickly she rushed to turn the water off and get clothes back on, running out to the living room. A hand covered her mouth preventing her from screaming.

"What is stopping me to vanish you right now is only her presence. I don't want her to be clouded watching you die..."

Pronab was holding her gently, as she watched with horror Amra glowing and his hand lifted Heptanius from his neck; all his people trying in vain to reach to them, as an invisible wall kept them at distance. Her heart pounded fast, she started to cry, and tried to set herself free from Pronab's arms. She cried, and then closed her eyes. In her mind she screamed at him 'No! Stop!'. Amra turned his head and looked at Caliope fight the impossible locked in Pronab's arms, and he closed his eyes, angry and confused. Her eyes opened again, and she could see him having second thoughts. That was the time, now or never, she rushed to continue her only way of communicating with him 'Let him go... please... don't hurt him more... he did something stupid, but nothing to deserve this... let him go... Amra please!... I... I need you... I need you to hold me... I can't stand this... please... come and hold me...' she pleaded at last. He opened his eyes and walked towards her, letting Heptanius fall to the floor where his men rushed to help him.

"Let her go..."

He spoke to Pronab and he opened his arms letting Caliope run to him. As Amra wrapped his arms around her, she squeezed him tight sobbing and kissing him. She could feel him tense, filled with anger.

"What kind of treason is this?! Our own savior tries to kill one of his Generals?! This is unimaginable!" Heraclius screamed as he kneeled next to his brother.

Howard's words reflected the same surprise "What the hell is going on here Pronab?!"

Pronab was serious "is he ok? Can he breathe?"

"Barely! He almost killed him!"

"He will be ok, first things first, Howard call our medic."

He nodded and pulled out his cell phone to quickly dial a number. After a few words he put the phone down and looked back at Amra and Caliope, then at Pronab.

"The Doctor will be here shortly, but you still have things to clear here... what is going on?"

"When was the last time you saw Heptanius use his powers?" Pronab asked directly and Howard.

"What do you mean? What powers? Hmmm... I don't understand..."

"One of his powers is astral projection... I don't know why, you might ask him that later, but he projected himself to Caliope in her room.. In her bathroom to be more specific... while she was about to take a shower, Amra saw it and, you are aware of what happened."

"My brother wouldn't do such thing! He has always respected everyone!"

"It is true... he did..." Caliope said almost as a whisper.

"I think we all are a bit altered right now so let's avoid giving any kind of bad names or insults ok?"

"I think you are right brother... both of our leaders need some time and space... I am sorry Miss Caliope, this was wrong in so many ways..."

Caliope nodded as she held Amra who kept his eyes closed and slowly started to calm down. In her mind she tried to reach to him again 'Are you ok?' she whispered and he did not replied. She held him tighter and continued 'I love you...' and he opened his eyes searching for her face.

"I love you..."

Caliope smiled "I love you... thank you..."

Amra did not looked at anyone but her "When the medic comes, and makes sure he is ok, I hope you all leave with him. I have had it with these kinds of incidents."

He was not expecting any reply from them as he walked towards his room and closed the door behind him. Caliope turned her head towards them and lowered her gaze.

"I am sorry, please forgive him... and above all, forgive me for causing this..."

"You have nothing to be sorry for..." Pronab shook his head as he spoke.

Howard agreed "Miss, I am sorry, I don't understand why he did that, but I know he shouldn't have."

"Thank you both, I am very sorry for your brother to get hurt Heraclius... please all be well..."