Chapter 3: •02•
Regardless of what he did, Isaiah's mother was always there. After the first time he fell out of a tree and snapped his leg in three places, she was right by his side the entire time. She reassured him, continuously telling him that everything was going to be alright, that she would never leave his side, and she didn't.
When he came home for the first time with all A's on his report card, she held him tightly in her grasp as she praised him for all of his hard work. She had taken him out to eat that night, lifting all stress and worries off of both of their shoulders as the two of them laughed harder than they ever had before.
She was always in the right place at the right time. Always knew what to say and do to make him feel even better than he already did, and that didn't stop now.
He could see her standing on a cement railing, staring at the rippling water that sat bellow her. He walked towards her, calling out her name, but she didn't respond. She didn't react, as if he hadn't said a thing at all. Slowly, she raised her hand, sliding it smoothly in the air as she drew a figure eight over and over again.
"Don't be scared," she said, her eyes now glued to her hand as she watched every movement she made. He wanted to ask what she meant, what she was doing, but something compelled him to keep quiet.
"You're where you finally belong, with people who are just like you," she said, her voice emotionless. "Go to the one with the golden eyes, she'll be able to help you the most, regardless of what everyone else will tell you." His mother fell silent for a moment, her hand not resting.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," she whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't take you their earlier." Her hand stopped as she turned her head to look at him, her hazel eyes emotionless.
"Make us all proud," she said as she stepped off the edge, her body plummeting straight into the water.
~~~
Isaiah's eyes snapped open, desperately trying to adjust to the bright light that filled the room. He wasn't one to dream, usually being greeted with black screen that was his sleeping mind, but he could still tell that whatever he just saw wasn't normal.
'What the hell was that?'
His head started to pound as he laid on his mattress, his hands clasped on his stomach over the smooth covers. He took a deep, refreshing breath, the smell of antiseptics and cleaners filling his body. He froze.
'Mom's house doesn't smell like this... at all.'
Slowly, he sat up, his back, neck and arms tight as he slowly scanned the room. It was a fairly large room, entirely made of stone. There were eight, metal twin-sized beds sitting along the wall across from him, each with their own pure white bedding. Next to him, there were seven more beds - three on his left and four on his right - all identical to the other eight.
To the right of where he sat stood a large, closed, wooden door that was covered in very ancient and intricate designs. To the left, the wall was lined with white cabinets, an island with a black marble countertop in front of those.
Sitting next to the island was a girl, her long, black hair covering her face as she stared at the cut up, and slightly bloody, knuckles on her left hand. He examined her as she meticulously disinfected her injuries, grabbing the white medical wrap and slowly wrapping her knuckles.
She froze as soon as she covered her knuckles — like she felt his eyes on her —slowly raising her head to greet his eyes with a pair of calm, dull, blue ones. A chill ran down his spine as he memorized her eyes, taking in every ounce he could before her head shot back down with visibly tense shoulders.
She quickly finished wrapping her hand, all signs of the care she had before thrown out the window before she packed away the first aid kit that sat on the counter next to her. She shot out of the chair she was sitting on, moving her hair in front of her face as she quickly made her way to the door.
Without hesitation, she flung the door open, only to come face to face with a guy. His skin was a rich brown, his hair long, black and curly. The two of them were silent for a moment as he stared down at her with his emotionless chocolate brown eyes.
"Your sleeping beauty's finally awake," she said coldly, purposefully ramming her shoulder into his as she walked out of the room. His eyes trailed after her, a cold expression etched in his face before he looked over at Isaiah.
"Please don't mind her, she's cold to everyone... with a few exceptions, of course," the guy said, walking over to him as his face relaxed into a content expression.
"Where... where am I?" Isaiah croaked as he watched the guy.
"Somewhere you're safe," the guy said, carefully sitting on the side of the bed next to him.
"Safe?" Isaiah asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah, from everything that may want to kill you so you don't happen to kill them first," the guy said matter-of-factly, as if it was common knowledge that Isaiah already knew.
"I guess tha- wait what?!" Isaiah said, subconsciously inching back on the bed. The guy let out a laugh.
"Don't worry about it. You'll have plenty of time to learn and get used to everything," he said, a friendly smile spreading across his face. "But, right now, I want to know how you're feeling."
"Stiff," Isaiah said, twisting his back as he tried stretching it out.
"I can imagine, you have been asleep for almost four days," the guy said.
"F-f-four days?" Isaiah sputtered. The guy hummed in response.
"How is that even possible?" Isaiah asked, placing a hand on his forehead.
"That's what we're trying to figure out. You had absolutely no physical injuries, internal or external, so it's just as confusing to you as it is to us," the guy said. Isaiah wanted to say something, wanted to ask more, but the door slammed open before he could. There stood a girl about Isaiah's age. She had shoulder-length, curly red hair that made her green eyes stick out against her freckled, pale skin.
"Is it true?!" She shouted, her breathing heavy like she had just finished running a marathon. "Holy shit it is!"
"Abbie, do you know how not to shout? Especially in the infirmary?" The guy asked, unsurprised, as he turned away from her.
"No! We both know this!" The girl, Abbie, shouted as she walked up to the two boys. "But I don't appreciate the fact that I had to learn about this from Ravana's snarky mouth."
"Well, I'm sorry that I got preoccupied with the fact that our presumed coma patient was actually awake. I promised that I will shout for you the next time something like this happens," the guy said sarcastically.
"You better. I really don't like how cocky Ravana is when she learns about something before I do," Abbie said, looking down at the guy from where she stood.
"Ravana's always cocky though," the guy said, not bothering to look up at her.
"Yeah, but this was somehow worse," Abbie said in a slightly warning tone. "She was acting like she was the first person to know."
"That's because she was," the guy said matter-of-factly.
'So that girl's name is Ravana?'
"How could let that happen Jayce?! Now she's never going to let us forget it!" Abbie said, throwing her arms over her head.
"It's not my fault she was in the right place at the right time, but she's always getting hurt, so is it really such a shocker that she was in here?" The guy, Jayce, asked, turning to finally look up at Abbie.
"Fair point," Abbie said, "but that doesn't solve my problem Jayce. What if she decides to overthrow the tier system?"
"First of all, we both know she would never do that. It'll draw 'too much attention'. Second, she's already at the top. If she was going to overthrow the tier system, she would have to overthrow Jamison since he's the only higher up she has," Jayce said, standing up from the bed. He looked down at her, his neck bending as her's craned up to look at him.
"Exactly! And once she overthrows him, she'll have control over the whole organization. She'll drive us straight into the ground, or worse, give us all up to the Sins," Abbie said, her voice hushed.
"Okay, you're officially crazy," Jayce said, walking around her and towards the island.
"You can't tell me it's illogical," Abbie quickly protested, chasing after him. "You've seen her eyes just as much as I have. They may seem blue, but I swear, if the light hits them just right, you can see gold. Even if she's not the child of Satan, she's definitely related to him, and she could easily have the tendencies of a Fallen Angel that wants to overthrow God."
"We aren't talking about Fallen Angels, this is a completely different scenario that isn't nearly as drastic. Also, Ravana is here to fight against Satan, why would she ever give up the organization to him?" Jayce demanded, irritation etching across his face as he turned back to look at her.
"Families are peculiar things, especially the things we do-" The door creaked open as the girl from earlier, Ravana, calmly walked in. She was in a pair of black leggings and a grey t-shirt, her black hair up in a high ponytail as a small streak of sweat trickled down the side of her face.
"If you're going to talk about a person, don't abruptly stop your conversation when they walk into the room. It gives you away every time," she said as she walked past the two.
"Already hurt again Hutchinson?" Jayce asked, a mocking tone lacing his voice. They watched her open one of the far cabinets along the wall, pulling out a few things Isaiah couldn't see quite clearly.
"No, actually," she said sweetly, turning around with four first aid kits sitting in her hands. "I was sent here to fetch some first aid kits for some people training."
"Sure you are," Abbie snickered under her breath. Isaiah could see Ravana's expression harden at the sound of Abbie's words.
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble Walters, but not all of us have a best friend attached to our hips that can heal us whenever, and wherever we need it," Ravana said coldly, "you should feel so lucky."
"Oh, you bet I do," Abbie countered as she watched Ravana walk pass them. "Anything's better than no good, two-timing freak that can't do anything but hurt people."
"Yeah? Well, good thing all the best people are the freakiest," Ravana said. She walked up to the door, placing a hand on the handle before she called over her shoulder, "also, if your sleeping beauty was actually so precious to you then I would stop ignoring him with such a petty conversation." Isaiah could see Abbie and Jayce tense, snapping their necks to look at him with wide, embarrassed eyes. They both rushed up to him, spewing frantic apologies, but Isaiah wasn't listening.
His eyes were glued onto Ravana, watching her as a smug look etched into her face. He could see a small glint of emotion flash through her eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had arrived, leaving no traces of its existence. She filtered her eyes over to his, their gazes locking as her eyes harded.
'I'm starting to think she has something against me.'
Ravana averted her eyes, swinging the door open before walking out of the room, the door slowly shutting behind her.
***
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone