After the Darkness

First Meeting

Silas POV

As we pulled up to the home base of the Phantom team, I couldn't help but wonder if we were going to see Aggele or not. I know that the chances of seeing her were low, but I had to keep the hope alive or else I was going to lose myself to guilt. The guilt of not being able to protect her when she needed it the most. Stepping out of the passenger seat, I saw the rest of the team grabbing their bags and heading to the front door. The front door opened revealing another guy about my height and almost the same build except for the hair that reminded me of Sang's hair. I was shaken out of it when he said "Hair". "Flower" Nathan answered the new guy. The strange man standing before us replied "Good, you guys must be the Blackbourne team then?". "Yes we are, and who are you?", I heard Blackbourne answer him. "I'm Elias Pheonix, and who are all of you gentlemen?" was answered with questioning looks to the rest of us. Blackbourne stepped forward saying" I'm Owen Blackbourne". As the introductions continued to get to be the last person to answer his question, "I'm Silas Korba". Elias looked at all of us with a tight smile that was full of worry, but for whom I wondered. "Come inside, not all of us are here yet. My sister, Stella,  has yet get home. The Toma team is waiting inside." he said leading the way to the front door. North and I connected eyes and we both were wondering who was Stella and why did Elias remind us so much of Sang. Following Elias inside, we find the Toma team sitting in the living room when another Elias poked his head through the door frame into the dining room. "Hello, my name is Luka. Yes, I'm an identical twin to Elias and part of a triplet that includes Stella" Luka said to the room. Elias shook his head at Luka then give us directions to the bedrooms where we will be sleeping for the next couple nights. After heading upstairs, North and I find that we are sharing a room. North set his bag down and looked at me asking "Is just me or are we looking at Sang's male counterpart?" I thought of what I was going to say before responding "I do believe so, but then who is Stella? Are we going to see Aggele, I don't know but Luka and Elias look to muck alike to Aggele to be a coincidence." North sighed and looked down at the ground for a second. Then he said, "Let's go eat dinner, I'm hungry." I nodded and followed him down to the dining room.

Grayson POV

Stopping the engine, I leaned back in my seat looking up at Stella's house. I noted that the black SUV was not in the driveway but was multiple different vehicles that I didn't recognize. Then I realize that it was for the Academy-Military mission that was finally happening. I knew that Stella and the rest of the gang are heading here. Stella had let me know when they were done being debrief about 30 minutes ago. Opening my door, I thought it would be best if I told Luka or Elias that they would be home in about 15 minutes. Walking to the front door, I noticed something that reminded me of the things that Stella told me about the Blackbourne team that stole her heart before she lost her sight and her lovely voice. I wondered if the Blackbourne team was one of the Academy teams that being asked to help out. Worried about both parties' reactions, I hurried to open the door and talk to one of her siblings as soon as possible. Closing the door behind me, I heard lots of voices in the dining room, but could clearly hear Luka and Elias within the mass of the voices. Entering the doorway of the dining room, Luka recognize me and stood up to greet me, "Hey man." "Hey, I need to talk both Elias and you before Stella comes home in fifteen minutes" I greeted him and nodded towards the kitchen to let them know where I was going. Once I was in the kitchen, I waited for one minute, Elias and Luka entered looking very worried and I didn't blame them one bit. Elias started us out "What's up?" "The Blackbourne team was the team that Stella was with before she knew that her name was Stella. She went by Sang." Sweet but to the point, but I didn't have time on my side. " She and rest of the gang will be here in 10 minutes" I added on to my earlier point. Luka responded first "Holy shit, they are going to be asking a shit ton of questions. This is unexpected but we have to roll with it." Elias started swearing in a foreign tongue to me but was grabbing what was needed for them to sit down to eat with the rest of the group. Elias finally looked at me and said "Go sit down, serve yourself. We will greet her when they pull into the driveway." I nodded and headed to eat the meal that I knew for a fact that Elias and Luka prepared for tonight. 

Owen POV

After setting my bag down in the room that I will be sharing with Sean. Sean and I headed down to eat dinner that smelled delicious coming into the house. I was creating a plan to ask Elias and Luka about Stella. I had a suspicion that Stella was Sang, but I needed proof before saying anything to my best friend. Finding Elias and Luka in the dining room, I said my hellos to the Toma team as I entered. I was greeted by the Kuznetsov triplets who give their names to us. Luka whistled for the room to quiet down before he said "Tonight due to the numbers we are hosting, it is a self-serving meal. Dig in, the food is on the table." After gathering my food onto my plate, I headed to sit down. Doing a quick glance down at the table, I counted 28 seats but there was only 19 here and we were waiting on one person. Who is also joining us for dinner? I found a seat between Mr. Lee and Sean and starting eating. I waited five minutes to start asking my questions to Misters Pheonix and Misters Kuznetsov. I heard the front door open before I was going to ask my first question. I was silently cursing whoever it was and wondering who has keys to this giant place. When the stranger entered the doorframe, I noticed North and Silas tenses up and was ready to yell and fight the stranger. Thankfully saved by Luka standing up to talk to the stranger. They were having a quiet conversation that was short. I noticed that the stranger was heading into the kitchen, but what was strange to me was the fact that both Luka and Elias were standing up to go into the kitchen too. Whatever Luka said to his brother, had Elias put on an emotionless mask very quickly and left his food alone. Within five minutes, the stranger was coming back into the room with a plate that was similar to the one in front of me. After he sat down, he started to place food on his plate and sat down within the group of empty chairs. At that moment, the Pheonix brothers returned but headed to the front door. I guessed that they were going to greet who wasn't sitting at this table yet. The stranger introduces himself as Grayson Novak who was going to help with the mission by being the balancer between the two groups. At this news, I was greatly confused but Axel said: "We are going to be working with a military team on this mission". At that moment, I was wondering what was the big fish that the military wanted and why did the Academy allow this to happen? I realized that until we briefed everyone, there were going to be too many questions to answer that are connected to the mission for me to ask about my Darling. Shortly after everyone got back to eating, the front door opened again. I turned in my seat only to see a group of ten people including Luka and Elias. There was one person who I couldn't see clearly due to her short height. She turned to the group sitting at the table revealing her face. I couldn't hide my questioning glance from Sean who also realized that there was one person that was way to close to my Darling's height and hair for my liking. The female in question I realized with my mouth open was my Darling. Sang was turned to Elias and Luka was silently laughing at them but for what I didn't know. I caught Luka saying to my Darling "Stella, so good to have you home without a limb missing" in a teasing voice. Sang, who was Stella turned and realized that we were here. She signed to us with a sad and teary smile: Hey guys, long time no see.