The PulseTeam, Book One: Origins

Chapter Seventeen: Akuma Of Xextra

Part One: Why Didn't You Tell Me?

A few days after our encounter with Lian, Alitia walks up to me and looks like she just lost someone close to her. With a gigaton of concern, I ask, "Alitia, why do you look like someone just died? What's wrong?"

"There's something I've been keeping from you ever since I met you," she replies. "If I don't tell you, I'll die just from the guilt of not telling you alone."

Then I really get serious. She's been hiding something from me? What? And why? I streak two chairs to our location and say, "Okay, I'm listening."

"Where do I start?"

"Try the very beginning, Tia."

"Alright, um, it all started a year before I met you, on Xextra, when my father started training my brother, Prince Akuma, XVI to be as wicked as he is right now. Then, I met you and I wanted to start seeing you, because you were and still are of a much higher caliber of man than my suitors on Xextra. And even though I had my pick of them, it still wasn't much of a choice because they were all practically the same."

"Okay...?"

"When we were eleven, my father accused my mother, Queen Myura, of treason against the crown and sentenced her to exile. We wouldn't have been worried, except for one tiny detail: He would always sentence somebody one way, and always end up giving them an even harsher punishment. So when it came time for Mother to go away, she took Akuma, XVI and I, hugged us both, and in the few minutes before she went with the guards, she quickly said to both me and my brother, 'I know that your father is getting ready to execute me. But I still plan on winning against him. Listen carefully: Take care of each other. Akuma, remember what I taught you about being king. Always try to be fair and just. Alluna, don't be like me and marry someone like your father. Be better. Look for better in a man, like that alien friend of yours.' She was talking about you. And the last thing she said to us both was, 'I love you both with all my heart. Never forget that. Goodbye, my loves.' And the guards dragged her out like a common criminal."

"I'm so sorry, Tia," I say in sympathy.

"But that's not even close to the worst part yet. Shortly after Mother's execution, Akuma, XVI came running in my room and bolted the door behind him. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, 'Father's gone mad! He ordered me to stay and watch Mother's execution. He made me watch every gruesome part of it. I watched all I could before I threw up what little I had eaten right where I stood. Then, he ordered me to bring you down to where Mother was, and when I asked him why, he said that it was so you could suffer the same fate! So I ran away, he sent the guards after me, and I gave them the slip using one of our secret passage ways and made my way here. Alluna, I don't know how much time we've got left, but they're on the way, and at the rate Father's going, we're both as good as dead. Gather up only what you need and call your alien boyfriend so he can help us escape the planet. Now, Alluna!' So I obeyed him, and you know the rest."

"So," I say, trying to process it all, "your father tried to corrupt your big brother, ordered the execution/murder of your mom, and then he tried to kill you and your brother, too?"

"Yes," she replies.

"And you never told me about this?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it was a shameful act that my father committed. I guess, that deep down inside of me, somewhere, there is still some part of me that wants to believe that there is still some good left in my father."

"I really hate to say this, but if your father had his own wife killed just to try to corrupt his own son, I don't think that there's any good left in him at all. To tell you the truth, I think that if you, or anyone else, for that matter tried to talk him out of being so cruel, he'd just laugh in your face. If he tried to rob you of your life, well, I'm sorry to say this, but what makes you think he'll ever change?"