Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End

Chapter X: Betrayal

Phoenix Drakos

Right after our ship collided with the other ships, I realised that the ship's oxygen had gone low. I didn't stay long enough to find the answers to why it happened as there was clearly no hole on any wall that there would hardly be any oxygen in the ship. Just as I began to think, I collapsed.

When I woke up, everything was back to normal. I had expected a total mess, but certainly not this. Lights were back on and everything was back in place. It looked as though it never happened.

Just then I realised something else. The oxygen levels were right back to normal. It just wasn't right. But then I noticed something else.

Melissa was lying on the floor, but Apollo... well, he was not to be seen anywhere. I searched the whole ship, but he just wasn't there. I reached down to check Melissa's heartbeat and it was all right.

Just then she rolled over and she rubbed her eyes and looked at me.

"Oh hey, Leanix," she said dreamily.

"Where's Apollo?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, still dreamy. "A-pole-oh. Nice place in the woods. We shou-"

I pinched her hard. I guess it was a little too hard. I guess I forgot to tell you that when she woke up from her sleep, she usually acted funny. Like once, as we woke her up on one of our sleepovers, she got up and growled at my face, spitting all over me, and then ran like a maniac all over the house.

"Ow!" she shouted as she raised her fist. "Phoenix, what-"

She stopped and looked around.

"Where," she said. "Where's Apollo?"

"That's what I asked," I said urgently.

"Hey kid," came a voice.

I looked at Mr Aetos, who just got up. Seeing we were heavily injured, there wasn't much we could do. Then he smiled.

"I had been waiting for a chance to do this for a long time," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Ropes sprang out of Mr Aetos's fingers and they adjusted around me, binding me. And he brought Apollo from next to him. He had crumbled his legs. Apollo was just there, looking more helpless than I had ever seen him.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?" I shouted.

Melissa punched Mr Aetos from the back.

"ANSWER!" she cried.

"Well," said Mr Aetos with his evil smile as punched Melissa to the ground on the nose and tied her up too. "I fell into that 'lava' on Earth, and like your father, I fell into fake lava too. Turns out, it was hard underneath the illusion. Yes, there were real ones, but I fell into a fake puddle. It was quite the fall."

"Yeah?" I said, struggling with my breath. "You were Dad's friend! Why are you doing this?"

"Don't worry, young Phoenix, you'll die soon. But well, remember your bedtime stories? Just consider this a parting gift. My body was recovered by the machines."

"So you're not Mr Aetos."

"The more you talk and struggle, the sooner you die. As I was saying, my body was recovered. I wasn't dead, but I was close to dying. Before that, in front of all the Sharpness machines, there was a brainwasher. A Drakos brainwasher, ironically. My damaged body parts were fixed with some functional technology that was much more powerful than the bones of an ordinary human. I saw the truth. With intelligent life forms around, there's always war and pain. And I have orders to bring you to them. The whole Drakos family and their allies."