ASHES ↠ b. barnes [II]

thirty three

        WHEN ALLURA WAS YOUNGER, HER family and her would go on a lot of road trips or family trips; if you could call them that. It was usually because, since they were the main royal family in the entire planet, they had to control the north, west, east and south parts of the planet— which meant a lot of unnecessary traveling.

       To entertain themselves in the flying vehicle, Allura and Ezekyel would usually point to the houses below, try to memorize their location and their features so that, when they went back home, they would be able to point it and win points. Allura always lost, somehow, and Ezekyel managed to find it with ease— which is probably why his career was to look over plans, operations, and information with the sole purpose of finding a connection between them and being able to remember that connection when in trials or events.

       But now, as the the two siblings observed the German roads and thought about their home, they had different and bigger concerns in mind than playing silly games.

       Ezekyel was scared for what was to come. He had never seen his team, his family so split up and so troubled. Maybe, back in 2012 when they got together they had some arguments and misunderstandings; mostly his godson and Steve, naturally. But back then, they were just small bumps along the way, necessary discussions to find a middle ground and a solution.

       But now, there seemed to be no fair solution in sight; there was the option of signing the accords and becoming the government's lap dogs, but Ezekyel was never one to follow orders and his lack of "authority fear" made him rebel even more.

       So, in his eyes, every side was just pointless. Nobody agreed on something specific, only on two different things that would lead to two different paths. Ezekyel spotted the problem easily, as his career demanded, but he wasn't like his sister, he didn't think of everything he could do to solve it.

       So, he stood up for what he believed in, no matter what the consequences were. Following his sister's example back in Jupiter, speaking his mind and facing those who desire to fight back.

        As for said strawberry blonde, she was absolutely terrified. She had been through this chain of events before. Not the same plot, but the same order.

       A bit of happiness, James, peace, sudden action, big surprise, happiness, confusion, sadness, unexpected events and then, to top it off, disaster.

        Right now, Allura could tell that she was at unexpected events. So, her hand couldn't help but shake as she thought about what the disaster would be, what would come that would put the cherry on her chaotic life, that would ensure it changed with a bang. It was a sad thing, really, to fear what was to come instead of living in the present and trying to figure it out.

       But it was Allura's nature by now, to expect the unexpected, to think a tense ahead and to overthink things that no one would ever see come.

       The two siblings, so tormented by the past, so hurt by loss, invaded by grief had similar thoughts in their minds; perhaps worded differently or based on different points of views, experiences and careers, maybe ranging between different measures of hurt and heartbreak, but so painfully alike.

        They were painfully alike. And even though as children, they had shared experiences, memories and moments they were proud of, as they became older and realized their situations at hand, they couldn't help but want to be different. Not for themselves, but so that the other wouldn't go through the hell that they have.

        Allura wanted Ezekyel to be different from her so that he wouldn't have lost their planet at such a young age, so that he wouldn't be forced to be a soldier in an adult battlefield. She wanted him to be different so that he wouldn't have lost Peggy, so that he and Natalia could have an easy life, so that he and his godson were fighting side by side.