They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

"Lance, " Meira pined. She's wearing nothing except the blanket draped just above her chest.

"Please, stay for the night. Don't leave me alone. It's still twelve at midnight." She point with her slender fingers the old fashioned European clock ticking beside the shelves of books.

I exhaled a shaky breath.

"What about Ava? She's with you right? You're not alone -"

"Ava is leaving." She firmly said. As if on cue, Ava appeared behind her and came down.. Without looking back at me, at Meira, she disappeared out of the house.

I wasn't able to open the doorknob. So why can she... I started to go after her.

"Wait, Ava!" I followed her storm out of the front porch. Into the lawn and out of the front gates.

"Please stay..." Meira, out of nowhere, appeared beside me. Tugging my arm.

"Look," I removed her hands from my arm and put a fair amount of distance between us. "I don't want trouble, okay? What happened tonight... is an accident. I - I don't remember coming here and I surely - I mean, we've done it not thinking things through. And I'm not bent on getting you pregnant. I'm still not ready to become a father. So - so, let's just forget tonight and moved on."

My brain's muddled up. Staring at Meira's eyes made me waver what I decided to do.

"Do you like Ava more than me?" She asked. Tears welled up in her eyes and my knees buckled.

"No..no, it's not a matter of like or any of that sort. I just..have a lot of going on right now. Stuffs to dealt with. And I don't have time for love..." I faltered.

"You think this is love?" She blinked back the liquid in her eyes.

"Why, yes. Don't you?" The grin that spreads on her face neither comforts me nor answered my question.

She hugs me from behind and whispered. "Yes, I love you too."

"No, no, no." This is wrong. I removed her arms embracing me and turn around to face her. 

"You don't understand, I - I can't be with you. I'm different. And this is… this is all wrong. For your own good, I must leave. We must end this before things get serious and start to go wrong." I said, I couldn't mistake the desperation in my voice.

Meira looked down at our linked arms. Then said, "You want to see her, don't you? Ava.. you like her more than me. That's why you're telling me all this because you would pined over her than – "

"No, that's not true." I grabbed her shoulder and made her look at me. "None of that now. I just… she just… Ava is familiar to me. I think we have met before, I want to confirm it. But she's not saying anything."

"Obviously. She's mute." Meira said. Her annoyed face somehow made her look cuter. 

"And if she is, then be it. I'm going after her because I want to meet her brother. And confirm my suspicion. Somehow I have a feeling that –"

"No, you can't meet her brother." She suddenly said. She put her hands on my wrist and looked me in the eye.

"In fact, you must not, under any circumstances be inside in a room alone with her." 

"Why?" 

She stepped back and adjusted the blanket draping her naked body. 

"Wait for me here. I'll show you something. I'll take you where Ava went…" she looked at me sideways. "Please don't hate me for this. I just want you to see the truth behind her innocent meek face." 

After that, she went upstairs. Leaving me all alone. The feeling of dread is still there. Something is nagging at the back of my head. Telling me this house is not normal. I kept running my eyes around the fireplace, the family picture frames, the stack of books in the shelves, the piano, the bright curtains, the blinds on the window. 

I huffed. There's nothing in here that suggest a bad entity is around. It's just another warm home, a happy family living a well fed normal life, no alien Faeries to worry about. No paranoid Dad to bark them orders to move around the state. No weird Auf hauntings. 

Just plain. Ordinary.

Can I live a life like this after I defeat the Faeries? Can I be 'just Lance' if everything turns out well? I always wanted to be in those superhero movies. When the villain is defeated, they moved on to their lives. Blending in with the normal people.

And these people doesn't realize that someone among them has just saved the world from it's eminent destruction. Mostly heroes don't want recognition nor fame. As long as the world is safe and free from threat… That's enough.

I looked down at my hands. At the Mark of Five imprinting itself in my arm. Now I have weird life sucking power to beat the bad guys out. When I find the other Eklektos like me, when we defeat the Faeries and save the Gifted people from their hands, when we rescue the human turned slave…when we put back the soul converted as mana booster and everything ends well..

Then…

Can I go back and finally lived as normal 'Lance Augustus' with my Dad?

Shoes clanking against the steps of stairs interrupted my thoughts. At the base of the stairs, hands sliding against the rail, is Meira in her skimpy yellow hoodie and black pants. She still look hot.

She paced towards me and took hold of my hand. Interlocking her fingers on mine. "Let's go."

And she dragged me out of the house. The cold midnight air whipped right through our clothes when we stepped out of the porch. The lawn is dark, even though the porch has street lamps on either side.

I shivered. Meira squeezed on my hand. We interlock eyes. She smiled. My heart jumped. She took the first step and we pressed through the pebbled road at the center. Heading straight towards the gate. 

I let her drag me. Passing the side street, nearly avoiding the stares from homeless and wasted tough roughies. Navigating through the dark empty alleyways stinking cigarettes, human piss and a year worth of trash.

At the end of the last corner she pulled me, there are three people crumpled together. One was visibly shorter than the two. A woman…I think. Then she sheath a knife from her waist and slice through the neck of her companions. 

I stopped walking. Meira strengthen her grip on my arm and pulled me to their direction. I couldn't find my voice when I came face to face with the woman who severed necks like how you slit the throats of chickens. 

I couldn't believe it. 

The woman…it's Ava.