Revelation - Chapter 19 (Patreon)

I’m caught off guard, completely. Remus’ smile widens as he studies me. He looks so calm. Eerily so. Almost like he’s afraid to let his true feelings show. He’s hiding. I don’t understand why he suddenly has an interest in me, and as I look up at him, I see something else behind that purple gaze. My eyes widen as everything Sky has told me comes back, clicking into place.

My body moves on its own as curiosity washes over me. I reach up placing my hand over his cheek, the warmth from his skin seeps into me. His smile slowly drops until he’s watching me with a blank expression. It’s strange how everything suddenly clicks into place for me. How my earlier mood and emotion toward Remus has completely shifted. I understand.

“What happened?” I ask. He doesn’t respond to me for a moment. He only stares. His brow furrows and he reaches up with his hand placing it over mine. He closes his eyes, and finally lets his emotions shine through. His brow furrows as his façade falls away. He’s… hurting.

Remus is hurting.

“Remus…” I try again. I keep my tone soft and gentle.

“Please…”

He opens his eyes and all the pain he’s feeling is shining through.

“I think… I’ve lost the only family I had left.” He says. My eyes widen. Remus scoffs lightly, sitting up. He takes a deep breath looking around the room. I can’t help but study his form. His back is slightly curved as he sits up in the bed, his hair falls down his back pooling on the bed behind him.

He finally turns to look at me.

“Ezra is terrified of me... Xion hates me.” He says. With each of his words, I feel my heart breaking. When we were still on Earth, I remember Remus telling me about his siblings. He would smile when he spoke of them. And he always regarded them in a positive light. They were everything to him.

“If anything happens to them, I will end everyone on this planet.”

I recall how worried he was when Ezra had been captured, and how angry Xion was in behind the safety of her brother. They were everything to each other. And if what Remus says is true… he really has lost everything. I feel pity for him, but I remember what he did the last time I voiced that pity.

He shut me down immediately and shut himself off from me. I finally understand exactly what Sky was saying about Remus and his siblings. They don’t understand. Which is why Remus is here trying to figure out his emotions. And it’s my job to explain them to him. I smile softly, taking in a deep breath before I decide to respond with my human advice.

Advice that Remus has always hated and become angry with me for because he is aware of the past of humans. Each time I would scold him on his ways he would turn around and tell me of all the horrible things we as a race have done, so I have no idea how he will react to me telling him something that comes from humans.

“I think… you should give them some time.” I say. I pause due to my heart beating out of my chest. Fear coils deep in my gut. I have no idea how Remus will respond to my advice. But to my shock, he isn’t mad. He contemplates what it is I just said and looks up at the ceiling.

“Time?”

“When I was younger, my father and brother never got along. They would always fight, and my brother would leave. It’s a little fuzzy, but I remember my mother always used to say to ‘give him time’.” I raise my gaze looking Remus in the eyes.

“You’ve changed since… Leviathar. They just need to see the old you still lives.” I say. Remus keeps his gaze locked on mine. He doesn’t move a muscle. I assume he’s contemplating what I said, but I can’t be sure.

“When we first got here you were angry at them for hiding what had happened from us. Why the sudden change?” I ask. At this point, I’m testing the waters. All this time I’ve never once asked Remus about his personal feelings. Even when I was testing Sky’s theories, it was all just questions I thought I should know and even then I was still trying to figure out his reasoning behind some of the horrible things he’s done. But I never put aside my feelings and tried to get to know Remus personally.

I never tried to know… who this being is behind that terrifying façade.

Remus looks up at the ceiling, and strands of his hair fall from his shoulder. He takes a deep breath.

“I don’t know.” He says. A moment of silence passes over us.

“Tell me about your parents.” He says. I look around the room in confusion.

“Why?” I ask. I expect him to get angry or threaten me, but he only shrugs.

“I’m curious.”

I wrack my brain for memories of my family, of my life before they invaded. I may have shut this conversation down in the past, and it would have ended in Remus putting me in excruciating pain for shooting my mouth off about the right and wrongs of him invading Earth.

But things are different now. And Remus for some reason seems… vulnerable.

“My father was a consultant. He would come in and out of town a lot for work. My mother stayed home to take care of my brother and me…”

Memories of the days my mother would cook for us flash through my brain.

“Andrew wasn’t around much because he was older, and he and my father never got along. But my mother always had a way of… bringing the family together.” I say.

“Your mother… She was kind?” He asks.

“Yes…” I can’t help but smile as I remember the day I skinned my knee in a bike accident. I was being so dramatic but she didn’t mind at all. She treated my bloody knee like it was the most important thing in the world.

“Very kind,” I add. My smile drops.

“My parents fought as well. I don’t remember much of it really, but I do remember my mother would cry a lot when he came home and would leave.” I say. It bothers me I can’t remember what their argument was about.

“What happened to your parents?” He asks.

“I don’t know… We were celebrating my birthday… my father would be out of town the next day…” My heart begins to accelerate as memories of that day come back to me.

“I was at the park… my Dad had bought me ice cream. And out of nowhere the sky went dark.” My eyes sting as fat tears come rolling down my cheeks. But I don’t stop.

“People were screaming… buildings were crashing down, and my mother got caught in the crossfire. She was dead before we knew what had happened.”

I hastily wipe my tears looking up at Remus. His back is to me. He finally turns around and looks at me. But he’s not looking at me in sympathy, but confusion.

Suddenly, he moves. He gets out of bed and walks to his closet pulling out something to wear before walking out of the room.

~

Remus

“Remus?” I open my eyes when I hear my name. Irritation immediately spikes up within me. Nira is standing in the doorway of my office looking at me with a tentative smile. I exhale and make sure to remove all the balls of energy that are floating in the air before looking at her.

“Yes?” I ask. She smiles stepping in the room. I watch her closely as she comes towards me. My mind is running a mile a minute ever since my discussion with Iris. Her parents, her life before me, her pain, even her advice. All things that never interested me before, but suddenly I’m curious.

It doesn’t bother me, the result of her life coming from my appearance. That’s just a part of life. If we didn’t take over someone else would have. Earth is a fertile planet with great resources that the humans didn’t even realize they were sitting on.

“I haven’t seen you all day, what have you been doing?” She asks. I uncross my legs standing up and walking to my desk.

“I’ve been busy preparing for the conversion,” I say. Which is a complete lie. I’m ready for the conversion. I spent the day with Iris, trying to figure out her life. And why mine is a mess. Xion’s words really hit me hard. Neither of my parents loves me, and I have managed to push my siblings away.

I’ve never cared for Iris’ opinion of me or her personal feelings towards me. But now that everything with my family has become so construed, and my feelings towards Iris are becoming harder to ignore, it’s bothering me.

“I spoke with Braith about your daily schedule, he said you didn’t have one.” She says. I don’t turn around.

“No. I do things of my own accord. If something important comes up, Braith lets me know and I tend to it.” I say. I feel her hands on my back, and I immediately tense turning around and snatching her hands.

“Don’t,” I growl the words before I realize what I’m doing. Her eyes widen and I can see the fear make its way across her face.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t think-“ She goes on apologizing but I don’t pay attention. I have to reign in my anger at her touching me. My grip on her hand tightens and I take a deep breath releasing it and letting her go.

“I’m sorry.” I murmur. I turn away from her moving back to my desk and taking a seat. I try and wipe all emotion from my face before facing her again. She’s looking at the ground.

“We will be husband and wife one day, Remus. I should be allowed to touch my husband.” She says. I don’t respond. She looks up at me meeting my gaze head on.

“You never touch me, and you don’t find interest in me when I try and speak to you.” I know where she’s going with this, and I don’t like it.

“Nira.” I stand with my words, letting my irritation finally shine through. “I hope you understand that while we will be husband and wife one day, this marriage was arranged. I have no obligation to you and for the life of me, I have been patient with you and tried to honor your wishes. If you can’t be patient in my wishes to let you touch me then you will have a difficult road ahead of you.”

She looks flustered for a moment.

“I know about the woman you brought from the outside world. Is it too much of me to ask for your loyalty to me, and only me?” She snaps. If looks could kill, she would be dead. And she knows it. I move from around my desk and keep her gaze as I make my way to her. I move closer and closer until I am directly in front of her. I reach out, touching her cheek lightly, and pulling some of her energy along with it. Not too much, just enough for her to feel the threat.

“Yes.”

I let go of her cheek, and she stumbles slightly. She’s probably never had her energy drained. I walk around her leaving the room. She would have been better of feigning naivete instead of coming clean. I don’t know what her angle is but at this point I don’t care.

“Remus!” I pause in the doorway when I hear her call my name. I turn around facing her and she’s watching me with desperate eyes.

“Don’t tread down the same path as your mother. You have just returned to us, and have done more than you could ever know to help your people… This girl won’t do anything but cause more pain.” She says.

I laugh softly and walk back towards her. I take in her features. Beautiful features. That’s a fact to anyone that looks at her. But it does nothing for me. Because she isn’t Iris. I place my hand on her cheek looking deep into her eyes letting my smile shine through.

My hand travels down her face to her neck where I lightly clasp a hold. It’s light. But if I chose I could cut off her air supply.

“Never mention my mother again. Not if you wish to keep your tongue.” I say calmly. And I mean it. Her eyes widen, and she tries to step away from me but I tighten my hold around her throat.

“Don’t overstep your boundaries. You have no power here, Nira.” I add. I let my irritation and anger shine through, letting the calm façade I’ve had fall away. Nira shakes under me.

I sense someone behind me and let go of Nira. Her footsteps falter as she stumbles back and I turn to Braith.

“Your father has requested your presence, my prince.” He says. I nod my head.

“Thank you, Braith.” I begin to leave but pause remembering something. I turn back to Braith.

“See that my fiancé gets some fresh air on her way back to her quarters. It would seem the castle has clouded her better judgment.”

~