Destiny (1)

We bent over his shaking body, yelling at him to wake up. Ok, I was yelling.

Dean was loftily gazing at him.

“I’m fine!” Ash shouted suddenly. His eyes snapped open, and he threw his hands up. Scrambling up, he was still pale, but looked hard and straight at Dean. “I don’t believe you. Prove it,”

Dean held his withering gaze. “I met you four years ago. We were friends, until I revealed that I was your half brother. See, your father, before he met your mother, created me, after meeting Feria, another Destin. I was born a Destin, cursed a Destin, for eternity. You were taken aback. We drifted apart, and I was going to explain to you, when you ran away two years later.”

I glanced from left to right, to each of them. “What!?”

Ash glared at him, ignoring me. “You lied for a year! And my brother is a sixty-year-old man!”

Dean looked offended. “I’m not sixty. This is just the form I choose to appear in.”

“Why?”

“It makes me look wise.”

“Nuh uh.”

He grumbled, and a gust of wind blew him. I covered my eyes with my hand to block it, and the next thing I knew, a sixteen year old guy was standing in front of me, blinking dust out of his eyes.

“Hello,” he mumbled to me.

“Muhmuhhh…” was all I could get out, frozen in amazement. I mean, I guess it answered a lot of questions. But woah.

“Ok, fine, I believe you.” Ash confessed, still looking mad and blanched. “But-”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “your brother controls your life?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Humans never get it,”

“So is that a yes or a no?”

“Yes,”

“Oh.”

“Lemme show you to your rooms,”

“We have rooms?” This time it was Ash to speak.

“I mean, you can sleep on the floor if you want…”

“No! Rooms are fine,” I interjected quickly.

“Right. Come with me,” Dean turned around and began to stride briskly towards a staircase, which I hadn’t previously noticed.

As I took the first step, a shock went through my leg. The fatigue hit me all at once, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as I pictured Thalia.

We reached the top of the stairs, and three rooms greeted us, their doors flapping in welcome.

Dean gestured for me to enter the one on the left. I began to shuffle over there, and as I did, I heard,

“Come Ash, to the common room, I’ll catch you up on what I’ve told Fay so far…”

When the yelling came, I knew they'd finished. Screams of “How could you?!” And “Why?!” Reverberated from the room next door.

Previously, I had been enjoying myself. I took a warm shower, releasing my aching muscles, and combed my hair. I’d lied on the bed, and watched some TV, though all the stuff they had was fictional. There was no news, no non-fiction.

I slinked out of bed and slowly walked into the common room. Ash was purple in the face.

“Why would you do that to her?!” He screamed.

“She’s better living in no knowledge of any of this. Free.”

“No, she’s not. She was so depressed when I met her, and was so much happier after I helped her. Why couldn’t you let her be happy?”

“I had to. Without it, well, the future would not have been the way it has to be. It was never her fate to be involved in this.”

“She was doing fine!”

“Nevertheless, it had to have been done. She left a message for you, when I told her she had to say goodbye.”

He waved his hand, and a video tape began to be projected onto a white screen.

“Come, Fay,” he gestured to me. I blushed and walked over. Ash looked surprised. He hadn’t seen me.

The tape began to roll, and the familiar figure of Thalia filled the screen.

“Hello, guys! I have had the best time with you. I have to say goodbye now, so I thought I’d give you a gift.” She extended her arm towards the screen. “Ash, take this. It’s a picture I drew when I met you as a squirrel. Fay,” and she presented a beautiful flower, “here’s a rose I found. I want you to have it.”

I may have been lame, but Thalia’s send-off was tear-inducing.

Dean pulled a rose out of a bag. It was the same one Thalia had given to me, only it was drooping slightly.

“Here. It may be reaching the end of its life, but I think we both know you can extend it, Fay.”

I smiled and took it. Instantly, it sprung with new life. Pulling my damp hair back, I placed it behind my ear.

Dean offered a piece of paper to Ash, and he took it gratefully. I pretended not to notice the tear slide down his cheek. He glanced at it, and ran out the room.

Dean turned to me. “Well, I guess we’d better get started then.”

“On what?” I blinked dubiously.

“Oh, you poor, oblivious thing…” Dean smiled wickedly.