Parallels- an MCSM AU [COMPLETED]

THIRTY-ONE- Secrets and Subversion

uhh,, here's another weird third-person chapter oof

you have no idea how long it took me to come up with that title hhhhh

i swear to god i ran through about forty different synonyms for 'secret' and 'betrayal' before finally figuring something out

anyways

-------

The base feels somehow deathly empty without Essa around.

It's not, though, not in the slightest. All of Essa's followers roam the underground base as normal, the tunnels echoing with the usual footsteps and voices. In fact, it's only one person who seems unsettled by her disappearance.

This is the third day that Aiden has spent down in the map room, studying the timelines and looking for an answer to the questions he doesn't know how to ask. His head is full of a strange, disquieted buzzing, all of his thoughts jumbled and nervous.

He combs through the charts, lists, graphs and other technical nonsense, green eyes skimming over lines and lines of Essa's handwriting. Sometimes her notes are accompanied by Giselle's flowing script, or the rushed printing of Ivor.

Surprisingly enough, he can't find anything neatly written by Olivia, though he knows she helped with the research of the timelines in the very beginning, before even Giselle got involved. Perhaps Essa copied everything down that she'd written, throwing out the originals for want of forgetting.

He doesn't know what he's looking for. An answer, of course, but an answer to what?

Essa's plans are so complicated and so wide-stretching that he doesn't know anymore when the answers he finds are truly answers or just more questions in disguise. It's becoming terribly frustrating.

Quiet footsteps gradually draw nearer, and Aiden lifts his head. People have been walking by the map room all day, but this particular person is being too careful about their approach. Aiden has been training himself for years to be aware of things like this, and now he's glad he has.

He waits cautiously as the face of a young teenage boy peers carefully into the room. He notices Aiden glowering in his direction, and startles.

"What do you want?" Aiden snaps. Having been caught, the boy steps fully inside, tucking his hands behind his back.

"Sir, forgive the intrusion, but Giselle wishes to speak with you."

Aiden's upper lip curls, almost without him realizing. He scoffs. "Lovely. Tell her she can keep wishing, then."

He's hoping the dark tone will drive the kid away, but it doesn't. The boy instead squares his shoulders, giving Aiden a cool look. "Sir, she told me not to leave without you. It's urgent."

"And what if I think what I'm doing is more urgent, and I'd rather stay?" Aiden asks bitingly. Although his research isn't really getting him very far, he'd prefer it over being forced to talk to the cryptic and uptight woman.

The boy shuffles his feet slightly, still giving Aiden the same unrelenting look. "Then I'll have to wait for you, I suppose."

Aiden glares at him, knowing he's just been cornered. He doesn't like the idea of this kid standing there staring at him as he continues to search, and he knows that's exactly why Giselle told the messenger to do that. He growls. "Fine. Fine. What does the witch want?"

"She didn't say." the boy informs him crisply, noticeably leaving off the 'sir' that he'd been addressing Aiden as before. "She simply ordered me to fetch you to her office."