Once Upon a Midnight: Wanted

Chapter Fifteen

~~Cover by the wonderful @-nightfalls!~~

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True to Kristianna's words, they only walked for about ten minutes before entering the Neighborhood.

Aeryn couldn't believe how big the houses were. To any Jyn citizen, these houses would have been modest at best, but for someone who'd only lived in a tiny hut for her entire life, they were huge.

"They house is on the next street over." Kristianna said.

They arrived to the house shortly after, and Kristianna took the lead in going up to the front door and ringing the doorbell.

Barely a minute later the door opened to a tall man who looked surprisingly like Raleigh. He had the same brown hair and soft eyes, and the same ears pointing from his head.

"Hey Raphael!" Kristianna quipped brightly.

He looked very confused. "Kristi...what are you doing here?" He asked, stepping out of the house and closing the door behind him. "Rahktar rarely come into the Neighborhoods. And so close to morning."

"Yes. We were wondering if your sister was home."

Raphael rose an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"Raleigh."

The look in his eye went from confused to concerned very quickly. "No, she isn't. She hasn't been home in a few days. We're worried about her."

Aeryn felt her heart skip a beat, and then slam hard in her chest. If Raleigh wasn't here, that meant she was still out there somewhere, hurt and possibly alone. And that just made finding her all the more harder.

"Why are you looking for her? Do you know what could have happened to her?" He started asking.

Kristianna shook her head. "No, I simply heard through the grapevine that a young shifter had been wounded near the Wall, but no-one knows of her whereabouts. She sounded like your sister, so I figured I would come to see if she were here."

"The Wall. That girl has always been fascinated by that thing. Mother caught her trying to go over it one night, but apparently she was still going there in secret. I don't understand what was so important that she would risk being hurt."

Aeryn could feel the guilt clawing it's way inside her. She knew exactly what Raleigh deemed so important that she would risk her life going over the Wall night after night. She couldn't very well say anything to the Shifter in front of her though, and so she chewed on her bottom lip, withdrawing into herself a bit.

"Me and my brother's were going to look for her once morning came." Raphael added, frowning.

"Perhaps that is for the best." Kristianna said gently. "If we hear anything I will let you know immediately."

After saying their goodbyes, the three began walking towards the end of the street.

"She wasn't here." Aeryn said quietly.

"No. She was not." Claudia looked at the younger girl, concern written on her face. "Aeryn? Are you alright?"

"She's still out there, hurt. And it's all my fault."

"Aeryn, no." Claudia stopped walking, placing both hands on Aeryn's shoulders to stop her from walking as well. She bent down so that she was eye level to Aeryn, frowning. "It is not your fault. You could not know this would happen. And you could not stop Raleigh from going over the Wall to meet with you. Even if you told her not to, I suspect she is the type of girl who would not stop seeing you even if you did tell her to stop."

"What are we going to do now?" Kristianna asked.

"Well the plan was to see if Raleigh was here, and then get Aeryn back home." Claudia said, keeping a hand on Aeryn's shoulder but straightening to stand full height.

"I can't go back!" Aeryn gasped, pulling away from Claudia. "Especially not knowing what's happened to Raleigh. We have to find her. We have to--"

"Aeryn." Claudia interrupted. "We have no way of knowing where she could be. And the longer you are in Jyn the more in danger you become. We have to get you back home."

"But--"

"Claudia is right, Aeryn. The longer you are here the more danger you are in. You will be of no help to anyone if you are captured and killed."

Aeryn looked as if she wanted to protest more, and then she let out a sigh, lowering her head and nodding. "So what do we do now?"

"Now? We go back to the Wall. Perhaps if you cannot go back to your old village, you can find a new one where they do not fear you." Claudia said as she began walking.

Aeryn wasn't too sure about that. If the main cause of the humans fear of her in her village were the odd color of her eyes - odd by human standards at any rate - and her heightened senses, it wasn't very likely she would get a warm reception in any village she went to. Especially now that she was older.

Humans had a very negative view of those that lived inside Jyn, and perhaps with good reason, and the tiniest inkling that she wasn't entirely human wouldn't allow Aeryn a safe place anywhere.

She was not wanted, it had been that way her whole life, and it would more than likely remain that way. There wasn't a singular place she belonged, being too human to stay in Jyn and too not-human to live in the settlements.

Maybe she would form her own settlement. A place where others like her, because she couldn't be the only one, would belong.

"Oof."

Aeryn was interrupted from her thoughts when she bumped into Claudia, who had stopped walking abruptly.

"Claudia, what is it?" Kristianna asked, walking to stand next to the other Rakhtar.

"I smell my brother." Claudia said.

Aeryn frowned at the tone of voice Claudia had. She didn't sound too happy about this fact, even though they'd been wondering about the man's whereabouts.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Aeryn asked.

"He is not alone."

"What do you mean--"

"He has members of the Council with him."