EPOCH: Expiration Date Series Fanfic

Colton 2.0

(Not based off any specific chapter)
Takes place future timeline

Colton~~

I tie my plum colored tie while watching myself in the mirror. I look sleepless. I am sleepless. Hell, work—helping to rule a country— has been busy recently. Rebel attacks have been on decline ever since Jonas made marks optional, but remaining rebels (like Iris's uncle) have been stupidly persistent. While his alien theories are true, there's no longer a point in trying to prove it in our otherwise peaceful country.

There was an attempt recently. Emphasis on attempt. We have eyes on the inside of their operations, also known as: Iris's cousin. In the dungeon, we have four rebels awaiting our interrogation. Whether that involves torture is really up to them.

Outside the bathroom, Vienna tells one of our five year olds that it's not okay to hurt people.

     "But papa hurts people all the time!!" Vian argues.

     "Well-" she's briefly at a loss for words, "That's his job."

      "...What job has people hurt other people?" Vyom asks rather innocently.

      "His job."

      "I want papa's job!" Vian cries. I laugh to myself. Sadly, my triplets won't be part of their order for having been born later and out of the three year gap from the preeminence heir. My oldest, Wynn who is currently 16, will be Delta. He's very kind, so not at all like me.

      There's a knock on the bedroom door, followed by it opening, "Colton! Josiah's here." That's someone very like me. I finish my outfit by putting my gray blazer on, and exit into the bedroom. Vienna holds Vian in her lap while Vyom sits contently near her feet, playing with some plastic food toys. Valo, the youngest of the triplets, lays sleeping on the bed.

      "There's my favorite nephew," I say, gesturing to Josiah who leans on the doorframe.

       He looks up for a bit from his tablet, smiles, then looks back at it continuously tapping the screen, "Hello Uncle. I have most of the work done, we have some meetings, an hour of paperwork, and lastly, the interrogation."

I'm proud of him. He's responsible and possibly already better at being Beta than I am—and I'm pretty good at being Beta. Josiah is calmer than I am, more concise, and more efficient. He took all my work then improved it. He's only 15. I don't even know why I spend three days a week training him for my role when maybe he should be training me. But Jonas told me he likes spending time with me.

I leave, giving Vienna and the triplets kisses on their foreheads before. Josiah clears useless files on my account and cleans up my inbox. At the moment he acts more like a secretary, but it's helpful for me. I hope his successor is just as great as him.

******

      The meetings are boring, the paperwork more so. It's the same type of stuff I normally work on; have been working on for the last 17 years. I look at the boy, who helps filter the work. He got most Blackwood features. Black hair, his nose, lip shape, and the signature eyebrow raise trick. Apart from being a Jonas photocopy, he has Iris's green eyes. To think I used to want to kill his mom, especially now when I consider her my baby sister. Josiah looks up and catches me staring, "Do you need something, Uncle?"

I just examine his face more. He has a birthmark slightly to the left of his nose, and right under his eye. My gaze shifts down to his wrist. He wears a bandage to cover it. Jonas and Iris never had him marked. It happened when an Amorian kid was messing around with the marking devices and he happened to be hit. For some odd reason, no date was given to him. Instead there are splotches separated by dashes where numbers should be.