Danger Zone

Crystal has been waiting for a news to come about Daime's safe arrival in Moscow but it has been days now and nothing has arrived. She even made a phone call to the Matautia house to confirm that the plane indeed arrived. 

But even them didn't know if it did. Crystal was devastated when she heard about it. She often opened the news if there was some article about a plane crash around the area but none has ever come back. 

Now, Crystal is sitting by the front porch of their house, smoking a cigarette to calm her nerves. His son Archie is at the Matautia house being cared by Cassie and the other watch dogs while their house is being used as a head quarters for the search.

Miko goes to where Crystal is and sits beside her, grabbing the half cigar from her lips and stomping it to the ground.

"Hey! What are you doing?! You, stupid ass mother fucker!"

Miko only looks at her with a sad smile and hugs her from the side to comfort her pain. He hasn't been able to see this side of Crystal before so comforting her is a bit awkward for Miko. 

Crystal puts her head on Miko's chest and cries her heart out. Her husband tries to comfort her just like how he comforts Archie when he is crying. 

Caressing her back and rubbing circles as he whispers sweet nothings on her ear. 

"It's okay, my love. We are going to find Daime."

Crystal wipes her tears away and looks at her husband. She opens her mouth but words failed to come out, leaving her gaping like a dying fish washed on the shore. 

"Don't worry. I believe that Daime is still alive and well. We will soon find him."

Crystal can only nod to her husband, listening to his soft whispers of encouragement. Hoping to find Daime as soon as possible or he will be assumed as dead. 

She goes inside their home and walks up to their room to sleep. She hasn't been sleeping for four days after Daime left the country. 

She doesn't even know how to tell Jasmine or the others about Daime. No one actually knows that he left the country, especially Aiden. 

She has been hearing about the Santoros looking for their missing Prince but no one knows where he is. They have been looking all over Switzerland but they still can't find him. 

Crystal sighs on her sleep as she dreams of Daime smiling and having fun with Archie, his nephew. 

If only it is not just a dream and Daime is alive. 

If only.

***

Primo tasks everyone to get ready and search for Daime as fast as possible before Aiden goes crazy looking for him. Someone tipped him earlier that Daime is somewhere out of Switzerland but the country is still unknown.

That is until Aaron informed him and Drax that Daime is in Russia, or at least his last coordinates before going off the grid. 

Primo thinks of a certain someone so they will have a constant connection to a Russian server so they can enter without any casualties. 

Unfortunately, that person is already dead, as far as Primo is concern. He sighs as he continues to stare at the computer's monitor to see any sign of movement from Daime. 

It has been a week since he is gone and none of them has better sleep than the other. Aiden hasn't been eating well and he hasn't been sleeping well. 

His nightmares are constantly keep on coming back while Grandmama keeps on pressuing him to marry Aiden as soon as possible.

The pressure is too much that he ends up saying something that Grandmama never wanted to hear. He sighs for the nth time before slouching down to his desk. 

Drax walks over to him and pats him on the back. Primo looks behind him and sees Drax smiling sadly at him. 

"What happened? Why is your face like that?"

Drax sits down beside Primo as he sighs loudly. He clicks his tongue before looking away from Primo. He can't tell him. Drax can't tell Primo what he had found over the last hours of searching for Daime.

"What is it? Please tell me. Drax, I want to know." 

Drax looks back at Primo and inhales a heavy sigh. Primo has been having a bad feeling about Daime's condition ever since he heard Cassie and Aiden's conversation over the speaker phone. 

Even though it doesn't have any confirmation, Cassie's theory is still plausible. It has been weeks without finding anything about Daime. 

No reports of him going out of the country except when Aaron got a lead but that person had eventually disappear after 3 hours of reporting to Aaron. 

No information of him landing in Moscow, even after Drax and the other Santoros track down any potential plane that Daime had rode to Russia. 

Nothing. Nothing comes back to them except for the information that he is in Russia. Drax sighs for the nth time as he straightens his back and deliver the heavy news to Primo. 

"We found Daime's plane, the one that he rode to Russia, La Luna Airlines Flight PT 2103."

Primo's eyes slowly lights up but then it eventually goes dull again when he hears the silent but at the end of Drax's statement. 

"But?" 

He wants to know now. Primo wants to know where is his cousin. He wants to know if he is alive and well. If he is safe and sound? Or when he will be back?

"But… we received news that the plane crashed before it reached Moscow. If I can remember, according to the news, the crash is at the far eastern border of Russia. We are still looking at the remains or any information that Daime is still alive.

Although the possibilities are still low, since according to the news, there are only three survivors. We still hope Daime is alive and well." 

That's it. That statement takes a toll in Primo's mind and his eyes start to water. Drax's eyes widen in surprise, seeing Primo cry is not an easy feat to see. 

It is not normal for an Alpha male like him to cry. Drax cannot even remember when he first see him cry before. Primo has always been the toughest member of their clan. 

Next to him is Daime and lastly, it will be Kieffer. Drax immediately grabs some tissues from the other tables and offers them to Primo as he looks for another word to say but nothing comes up to his mind. 

"Whe-Where is he? Lie-Like his last location?" 

Primo's words are coherent but he sounds like he is out of breath. Like an athlete who runs the marathon non-stop for twenty four hours. 

Drax sighs because he knows that Primo will not let this go until he has the full information about Daime's whereabouts.

"Fine. The last location he is in was Khabarovsk. That is the last plane signal that we got from the tower and from the servers. 

The information also aligns to what is being said on the news about an airplane crashing down the icy mountains of Khabarovsk. 

We also found an information about, get this, your name in one of the hospitals there. We are kind of shock because how come you are admitted there when you are here with us all throughout the investigation." 

That's when it clicks to Primo. He takes out a picture of Daime that Aiden keeps under his pillow and a picture of him, putting them side by side and observes the similarities and the differences.

As expected, Primo doesn't see much differences in their facial structures except for the eyes. Daime is looks definitely like Primo. 

He opens his tablet and uses his graphic art materials to combine Daime's face with his face and see if his hunch is correct. 

And there he is. Looking straight into his eyes is Daime's profile that exactly looks like him. Drax sees this as well and raises his eyebrow to the sky. 

"Well, would you look at that? Daime does looks like you. I thought it was just Aiden's painful cries." 

Primo looks at Drax and frowns. He doesn't know what he is saying but since it involves Aiden, he wants to know.

"What? What do you mean about Aiden's painful cries?" 

Drax looks at Primo and sighs. Of course, Primo doesn't know. He was not there when it happened. He clears his throat and sits far away from Primo before saying anything.

But before he can do it, Aiden comes down Primo's room with a disheveled hair and swollen eyes. He has been crying until dawn again.

"Did you guys found him?" 

Primo looks at Drax as if asking him to lie at Aiden just this once until they found Daime whether he is alive or dead. 

Drax sighs and looks at Aiden. The latter with hopeful eyes stare at him as if pleading to tell him anything that involves Daime.

"We found his plane but not him, according to some reports, he might be in Khabarovsk, Russia and not his Moscow." 

Aiden just continues to stare at Drax, assuring that he is telling the truth and not just any blatant lies coming from Cassie that keep on telling him that Daime might be dead because his plane had crashed down a snowy mountain.

He also shows a sign of smile and a sigh of relief as he sits down next to Primo before saying anything.

"That is way better than what Cassie told me." 

Drax looks at him before looking at Primo. Primo sighs and asks Aiden about what Cassie had said. They might get any information from her through Aiden.

"Well she said that Daime might be dead because his plane crashes at some snowy mountains!" 

His statement meets a deadly silence, making him look at the two men in front of him and asks them what is wrong. 

"Well…"