The blonde could do nothing but scratch the back of his head as he looked at the unconscious fairy wrapped in the picnic blanket. Sighing irritably, he jotted down a small set of instructions for Senshi to follow when she woke up. Looking over the request to bring the discovered items to this spot by noon tomorrow, he then instructed two Level Two Umbra to watch over the woman from the shadows in the meantime.
Standing at the ledge to gain a sense of direction, a thunderous roar grabbed the man’s attention. Tilting his head as another roar split the otherwise quiet atmosphere, Cordis flexed his fingers before the black staff of his scythe appeared in hand. Stepping off the end of the building, he stabbed the larger blade into the side of the structure to slow him down before landing on one of the lower rooftops below. He then bounded off across the buildings and towards the sound of the disturbance.
He came to a halt soon after as he watched the horde of monstrosities closing in on a woman. Resting his weapon over his shoulder as he crouched down to get a better look, Cordis noted that he hadn’t come across the individual but he had remembered the newly named Gideon mentioning something about a person in red while he was removing a pair of bolts. He went on to say that she seemingly had some sort of relationship with the marksman of his counterpart’s group. The Level Five then proceeded to call the woman quite unpleasant, much to Cordis’ amusement as the Umbra was much too uptight to actually swear.
The squealing sound of a low-tiered Umbra then pulled the blonde from his musings.
Peering back over the edge once more to see the remnants of an Umbra being stepped on prior to the woman scraping her boot against concrete, Cordis watched on intrigued as the woman pulled out a crossbow to fire at one of the dog-sized spiders. A knife launched itself into one of the winged creatures, taking it down before that one was replaced by two more swarming the woman. Watching as one pulled her hair, another clawing and nipping at her, Cordis weighed his options before shrugging his shoulders as he twirled the scythe in hand. Seeing how the other creatures were closing in, the blonde took a deep breath before jumping off the edge.
The blade slamming into the ground splintered the concrete around him, drawing the monsters’ attention. As one the spiders turned to leap at him, Cordis hit one of the chunks at it to take it off its feet. Bounding forward, he swung his scythe as he ran past it to get to the next spider. Zigzagging through the rest, he jumped off one to deliver a downward strike to the bull-headed giant. Swinging to his left to hit the other giant in its shin, he pivoted to swing upwards, bisecting the beast with an almost manic grin as blood splattered against his face.
Smearing some of the blood when he combed his hair back, Cordis broke into a fit of laughter before he turned his attention to the lower ranking Umbra that were slithering away upon his arrival. As green eyes transitioned to that of gold, the man turned slowly towards the woman to see that she had her crossbow aimed at him. Seeing her eyes narrow as he took a step back, Cordis grinned once more before angling his blade to deflect a bolt. Deflecting another, he darted around the woman in red before tilting his scythe as the second blade rested just beneath her chin.
“You catch a lot more flies with honey mind you,” he teased as he tilted the blade a bit higher, “but you do have some nerve attacking me after I went out of my way to help a damsel in distress.”
“What makes you think I’m the damsel in distress?”
Cordis chuckled more so to himself before replying with, “Right, right. The way you swing your weapon, you’re anything but.” He then glanced over his shoulder, grin still in place. “However, a lady wouldn’t just go firing bolts into my dear Gideon.” His head tilted slightly. “He was definitely not pleased when he had to remove them. They were quite deep after all.” He snickered at the recollection before laughing hysterically. “You won’t keep you hooks in a man long enough yet alone get married if you keep that behavior. It truly is unbecoming,” he added as he removed the blade. “At any rate, why don’t you come with me apologize to Gideon? It would put him in a better mood.”
“I have nothing to apologize for,” she replied as she headed off in the opposite direction.
Twirling the scythe in hand as he turned to face her, Cordis stabbed the blade into the head of one of the giants before strolling up behind the woman. When she whirled around to point her weapon, she was met with no one there.
“Let’s not be so uptight, shall we?” Cordis whispered in her ear as he lowered her weapon. “If you want, we can start over.” He stepped around her before extending a bloodied hand in greeting. “I’m Cordis and I would love it if you took a walk with me.”
“And if I refuse?” she questioned, staring at the hand then back at the blonde.
The smile on the other’s face simply broadened. “I’d advise against that.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Oh, I don’t generally make threats,” he replied as he retreated to grab his scythe. “I make promises.” Gold eyes flickered back to green as he turned to smile at the woman in red. “And I promise that we may be able to help each other out if you come with me.”
No matter how many times I rubbed at my eyes, I couldn’t believe it. Despite the time that had past, Aidan looked almost as how I remember seeing him last.
He had aged a few years but I one would expect as much, right? He was still tall, almost 6’ 2’’ if I remembered correctly and I could tell he had at least been taking care of himself from his physique. The once messy head of red hair that was kept in a small ponytail had been sheared but I liked how mature the shorter strands made him seem. I still remembered the first time he looked at me with those sharp, silver eyes of his before they would soften when he smiled.
The thought of that made my chest felt like it would burst from happiness as I looked at the man walking at my side. As happy as I was, another thought filled my mind with dread.
He was here.
“Jaybird?” My breath hitched at the nickname. “Hey, are you alright?” he questioned before he started wiping my eye. “You’re worrying me.”
“Aidan.” I held his hand before rubbing it against my cheek as I frowned. “Did… did you die?” I asked.
I wasn't sure if I really wanted him to answer that.
“Does that matter?” he questioned with a small smile. “If I did, isn’t it fine since I get to see you?”
That should’ve made me happy that he would just want to see me after death but that just made my chest ache. He was here with me. I should’ve been ecstatic. I should’ve been trying to covet this man to keep him from Cordis. I mean, he found me after all. He was here.
I looked at Aidan again to receive that same gentle smile before my face turned red. He found me after all this time.
‘He found me,’ I mused before pressing a kiss to his hand. ‘But he died…’
“Jay, you’re going to give yourself wrinkles if you keep frowning like that.”
I chuckled as I remember him saying that when I was stressed about something but the memories of being alive made this more painful.
“Aidan…” He hummed in question. “When… w-when did you d-die?”
“Is that important?” I frowned, making him pull me into a hug and comb his fingers through my hair. “If you must know, it was eight years after you died.”
“Eight years,” I repeated quietly before burying my face against his chest.
“Let’s not think about that though, ok?”
“Ok.”
“In the meantime, let’s go somewhere.” I glanced up at him. “It'll be just the two of us and it’ll be somewhere nice.
“Ok.” He simply smiled, taking my hand and leading the way. ‘Eight years...’
I lowered my gaze at the idea of having eight years without Aidan. As selfish as it was to think that I couldn’t be replaced, I did hope he had at least managed to find someone to love him the way I did. He had waited three just for me to wake up after all but to only die eight years after me…
“If you must know, it was eight years after you died.”
Eight years.
As much as I wanted to see him again, this wasn’t right.
That time span didn't sit well with me.
‘Eight years…’ I mused bitterly as I let his hand go.
“Jaybird?” I balled my hands up at my sides as I stared down at the ground. “Jayden?”
“You died eight years ago, right?”
“What’s this about?”
I took a step back. “You said you died eight years ago. Have you been in this place ever since?”
“I…I got here almost a week ago.”
“But you died eight years ago, right?”
I wanted him to lie to me.
I wanted him to assure me that everything was going to be fine.
“I died eight years after you, Jaybird.” He took a step towards me. “Why are you so worried about when?”
“That’s impossible,” I muttered as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
He laughed lightly. “How?”
I wanted this to be a lie.
“Time flows differently in Central.” I gave his hand a squeeze as I felt the corners of my eyes water. “A month there is the equivalent to a year back in the world of the living.”
“I… I don’t understand.”
I knocked the hand aside. “I’ve been in Central for nearly seven years,” I seethed as I tried to keep from shaking. “Who are you?”
“Jayb–”
“Stop calling me that! You don’t have the right to call me that!” I wanted all of this to be a lie as I looked at the redhead in front of me. “Who are you?!”
I took a step back as he just stared at me. It made my chest ache to have him looking at me in that appearance. That was just so cruel.
“The name’s Caecius.”
“C…Caecius?” I took another step back as I recalled some of the information I received on this guy. But I wasn’t Nuallis. Why was he here? “What do you want?” I retreated several more steps as he proceeded forward, shattering the illusion of Aidan altogether. I clutched at my chest almost instantly before glaring at him. “Did Cordis put you up to this?”
“Your strange twin, yes.” He then paused in thought before proceeding forward again. “He said he can get me what I want if I get him what he wants. So, why don’t we make this easy and you come with me.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “After what you just pulled, fuck you.”
He tilted his head as he took a large step forward to close the growing gap as he withdrew a knife. “You’re not very threatening when you’re close to tears,” he countered. “Cordis says you shouldn’t be too hard to bring back since you don’t have that scythe he’s been toting around. You’re more like a damsel in distress like this so I would suggest you come willingly as he asked me not to kill you.”
“Fuck. You.”
I sidestepped a swing before elbowing the man between the shoulders. When it didn’t connect properly, I hopped back a few paces to avoid being cut before knocking his hand upwards to grab his face then aiming a jab at his throat. I had to throw him aside when it didn’t connect like before.
“You’re starting to become annoying,” he chided as he swung.
I sidestepped it before wincing as something cut into my side. Avoiding another swing from the knife, I stumbled as something else sliced my leg. Glancing at the wounds, I shifted to avoid a swing to the face before feeling what felt like a blade slice my cheek making it bleed. Wiping it off as I dodged again, I shoved my bloodied hand into his face prior to having my hand grabbed. Trying to knee him in the stomach, I sucked my teeth as nothing connected then choked back a cry as something sharp stabbed into the upper side of my leg before it dragged itself up my hip.
Stumbling back as I was let go, I looked down at the bleeding wound before looking to see the masked man shaking the bit of blood off his hand. As his gaze landed on me, I limped backwards until I tripped due to the uneven concrete. A chuckle was all I received as he came to crouch in front of me with a knife resting under my chin.
“Shall we get going?”
“Fuck you,” I spat. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
My chest tightened as he then resumed his previous guise. “How about now?”
I felt my eyes water though I wasn't sure if it was because of my wounded leg or the fact he could smile so cruelly with my beloved's face.
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