Hell Upside Down

Chapter 27

Chapter 27- Separation 

Point of view Ashton Rex

I had fallen asleep on the cold metal bench of the prison cell, watching the new girl who had completely changed my life. Her expression was much different than from the earlier incident. She seemed so peaceful when she was sleeping. It surprised me to see her lose her temper like that. Alena reminded me of myself, which was the scary part. Her long blond hair was falling beside her body as I continued to watch her chest lift with every breath.

If anyone had watched from an outside perspective, it would have looked absurd, almost. But I couldn't help it. I needed to make sure she was okay. I was almost tempted to get inside her head like I had when we first met, but I no longer wanted to lose my powers to gain control over her. As funny as it sounded, I wanted to take the usual route in our relationship and not force things with my powers.

A few hours passed by without any noise or movement. I took my eyes off Alena for a few seconds to gain back awareness of my surroundings. I was watching the small confinement zone that I knew so well. I used to hate being down in the cells but being close to her appeased me as I felt I was her protector.

After an eternity, I was able to fall asleep for a bit. When I woke up again, I was no longer in the cells but the waiting room of Lilith's office. Guards were positioned in front of every door with weapons in their hands. One of my wrists was contained and tied against the chair. I wasn't able to move much. Although I could have burned the chair, I decided not to make things worse.

"Let me fucking see Alena!" I scream as upperclassmen are holding onto my arms.

They seemed annoyed. As if being awake in the middle of the night and having to deal with powerful university students wasn't ideal.

- "Lilith needs to see you." One replied in an attempt to calm me down. 

It wasn't long before the doors to the President's office swung open. Over the past two years, I had spent countless hours with Lilith's company. I had learned many of her behaviors and knew her well enough to know that she didn't sleep much. She was always awake, working on Hellia's University matters to allow for keeping up with the outside world.

The President invited me in with a hand movement. The guards unleashed me from the chains as I walked into her vast office. I immediately noticed the two reptiles who were asleep in a corner of the room. As I turned towards Lilith who took place in the office chair behind the big wooden desk, I could tell that something was wrong.

I could see her eyes had fixed against my chest, at the exact same spot where I was marked. Although I never commented on Alena's mark, I admire it when she isn't looking. Sometimes, it is barely visible. When our skin meets, it seems to come alive. She resembles long streaks of white ink while mine is a bit smaller and is marked above my heart.

Lilith held her hands together. As she was about to speak, the phone on the desk started to ring. She stared at it for a few seconds, before her personal phone started ringing as well. She let out a long breath before hanging up both of them.

"The world is calling. People are getting sick by the day." She starts with a sad tone. The University was cut off from the rest of the world in a sort of protective bubble. I wasn't aware of how bad things were getting outside but by the sound of her voice, I could tell that things were going badly.

Our president was rustling with her fingers. I noticed the number of rings that decorated her fingers. None of them indicated that she was married. The President of this University was usually so drawn out that their personal life slowly disappeared. The only thing that resembled her old life before this position was the relationship she had built with her students and faculty. Lilith wasn't used to breaking relationships and putting others in a difficult situations. It tormented her more than she let on. I could feel her fears from where I was standing. It entered every inch of my pores and awoke my side that craved to act on others' nightmares.

"I know this isn't ideal, but you give me no choice. I cannot protect you any longer." Lilith walked across the room to grab one of her serpents which evaporated a bit of the tension that she was feeling.

My thoughts went back towards Alena again. I rarely could feel her feelings, and she always calmed my demons. I craved her.

My attention steered back towards Lilith who delicately placed her strange pet's tail on the table, too close to my face for me to be comfortable. I had to control myself to not light that stupid animal on fire which stunk like crazy to me.

Lilith and I had a discussion at the very start of the fall. I had never hidden the mark of the moon because I had no shame in my body. After the prophecy came out, it was clear that my desires and dreams no longer mattered. My life no longer belongs to mine. My destiny had been written before I was even born when I came out with this symbol on my body, and powers that I rarely could control. I could anticipate what was going to come next.

I wasn't good enough to keep my secret to myself, and I was foolish to have trusted it with Dysnomia. She had already spread the information to the campus, well enough for Lilith to know and force us to complete the bond.

"I don't want you to force you anything, but I have no choice. You and Alena have to complete the bond." Her voice was shaking, and she seemed genuinely concerned by the words that came out of her mouth. This ceremony wasn't rare at Hellia, but our people usually respect us enough to not force anything.

"I know," I responded while looking at my hands. Some things were inevitable, some things were written in the star. We were meant to be together; we needed our souls to be linked. We needed to accept this fact.

However, something that I wasn't going to tell Lilith was that I was not going to let the school dictate the timeline. I wanted to make sure that Alena was comfortable with making this decision with me.

The phone rang again before Lilith's eyes. She stared at me for some time before I took the initiative to hang up the phone. She thanked me with a silent nod. I stood up, thinking the meeting was ended. I was preparing myself to go back to the cell. I stood in front of the door, my back to the President, and waited for the guards to come to get me.

"Before you go, you need to do something for me..." She whispers.

I turned back at her waiting for her to speak. Lilith opened one of her draws before taking a stack of paper and throwing them on the desk. It was photographs of someone in a hospital. I came closer to notice it was Dysnomia.

"She's in the hospital again. She doesn't remember anything. Sounds like a child when you speak to her." She explains with anger in her tone. I couldn't face her, as I knew who the author of her wounds was. "Bring Alena and fix this mess." She paused. "I can't lose another member of the Shadow Cast."

There it was. My solution to our problem. I would take Alena to the hospital, then... we will vanish for some time. Enough time to make sure that Alena is ready for the commitment to come.