Someday (A 3Below Fanfic) [Editing]

XIV

Continuation of Chapter XIII
Arcadia Oaks, Earth

Elara's POV

I find Iris helping herself to a burrito at Stuart's taco truck across from Mr. Benoit's. I pull her aside.

"El! What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost—"

"Is it true?" I demand.

"That Stuart's burritos are disgustingly overpriced? Yes—"

"No, not that." My voice is cold. "I'm talking about Cyber. My planet. My home. My people."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," she yelps, paling up and looking away.

"And yet you do." I stare at her defiantly.

"Uhh ... should I give you two some privacy?—" Stuart starts to squeak.

"Just go!" I snap. He immediately starts the engine and takes off down the road.

Iris stares after him, jaw slack. "Hey, what about my guacamole?" She screeches. "I paid EXTRA!"

"Oh, cut the crap, Iris," I snap, and my tone is enough to draw her wide-eyed attention back to me. "I need to know the truth. Tell me ..." my voice cracks, the image in the article flashing before my eyes "... What really happened on Cyber?"

She sighs heavily. "I think you should sit down for this." Iris guides me to a park bench.

"What I told you all those years ago, it was only half of what really happened. Yes, Cyber got wiped off of the solar system ... by Akiridions."

My heart lurches in my throat as soon as she says those words. So Aja's my enemy all along. And Krel ...

"Your parents sent you away with me before the final detonator went off. It took us 200 years to reach Earth, but you were still an infant when we landed."

"And my parents?" I stare at her through glistening eyes hopefully.

"... They felled, along with billions of innocent lives. No one survived, except for you."

"What??" I whisper hoarsely.

"You are the last of your kind."

I sit with her in silence, taking time to register what she just told me. All of these years here has been for nothing. They're gone. My parents. And they died saving me from the same fate. Iris lied to me!

"And you didn't even think to tell me all of this?!" I fume, getting angrier the more I think of it. "A hopeful little girl waiting blindly for her family to come and rescue her for 12 years! Only to find out they've been dead this whole time?!!"

"I was trying to protect you—"

"From what?!!! Them?!! Blue-bloods?!!" I barrel on. "That's not the point! The point is you lied to me, made me believe I still had a family and a home! But no. I have you and those Akiridions, painful reminders of how wrong I was."

She doesn't say anything.

I hate Iris for lying to me my whole life, but I hate the Tarrons even more. This is their doing. This is their fault. And I'm not going to let them get away with it.

I get up from the bench.

"Where are you going?!"

"They don't have everything they need to power their ship. They won't be able to stop me."

"Just what do you think you're doing?!"

"Something I should've done a long time ago. Our space shuttle can be powered by one person. It's time we put it to better use." I speed-walk to the woods.