London Side

Hi there!

It's been a very long time since I posted something on here. Like... A year? Well, things went a bit wild for a while but I did not forget about you (I totally did).

So. I'm back. Again. No pressure.

And I'm back in english because this time it felt like the story needed to be in english for some reasons.

I'm glad though, it is out of my comfort zone and it is something I was dreaming to do! Take that, Anxiety! >8D

So here it is. A short story with Elie, a character that I love dearly, Kaelig which is not a Character of mine, it belongs to Nephyla (go check here amazing, amazing drawings, such a talented and kind spirit) and the fantastic Enzo belongs to Ours, he has the most fun characters to play with when it comes to roleplaying games.

I love you both!

Enjoy the ride and please, tell me what you think in the comments below!

It was night and had been for a long time, now. A deep cold night just like any other winter nights in Ireland, it was drizzling and turned every spot of lights into ghastly forms like the whole place was haunted.

There was something unsettling for her, tonight.

She was in a small restaurant, packed up with people as if it was raining acid. For once, she wasn’t near Kaelig. He was facing her and he looked shut down ; that little sparkle burning in his eyes when he was with her, gone. It broke her heart but she knew he was right. Enzo had taken his place, sitting next to her, face down the counter. For once he was not his usual eccentric self. It seemed like he was lost somewhere in his mind. He gloomily looked out the window, twisting his mustache and making sure it was perfect. Not a word going out of his usually chatting mouth.

Elie knew he did not want to be there, she understood his reasons and, she thought, he understood hers for calling this strange meeting in a crowded restaurant, facing a man that was scary to both of them at this moment.

She felt so small between those to gigantic people, both more or less angry with her. She felt egoistic. For wanting to tell everything and for trying not to say anything. It was like she was split into two equal pieces of ever wanting the exact opposite of the other part and the two perfectly knew and understood why the other had to do it the way they did. It was innerving.

She ordered a bottle of wine out of despair, debating whether or not the other two were going to tell her to fuck off. She did not know how to start the conversation, nor how to run away as far as she could. She felt trapped like an animal and Kaelig’s eyes were scalding her skin like acid.

It felt weird, he had never been crossed with her like that. She got that he felt betrayed in some ways. The wine came, she ignored the waiter who put three glasses and a bottle of red wine on their table. Enzo was already serving the drinks in an numbing silence, attempting not to disturb it.

She felt so bad : it was not that she had lied, it felt so much worse.

Kaelig did not move, she could feel his leg near hers and it made her crave for his contact. She was missing him more than she could reckon. His discreet laughs and the way he would cuddle her, like she was somehow precious. She shrunk on her chair, missing the flinch in Kaelig’s look. Enzo took her hand, pressed it softly. She looked at him and realised that he was also scared about telling this. They were not allowed to talk about this and nor him nor she could tell if they were listening. Whoever “they” might be, she knew they were powerful.

-...Cariño… muttered Enzo, his voice trembling just enough for her to notice. She knew him by heart and she was sure no one else had noticed. Surely not Kaelig, he was too busy being jealous and being pissed. She smiled an hurtful smile to Enzo. Kaelig made his presence known by coughing.

The silence again, heavy, full of things that were not quite said and words that were still forming. Elie felt she should have already started to talk but failed to do so. Kaelig was sick of it and it was easy to see.

-How about I let you two cuddle each other alone, now that you both made it clear neither of you wants to talk. He said, starting to rise from his chair.

It was cruel but Elie felt he was entitled as much.

-You don’t get it… It- she tried, beseeching.

-Right. I don’t. He cut her with this cold anger he had for his ex wife flowing down his throat like venom.

She looked away, shameful, terrified and going back to memories she did not want to think about. He was glaring at her and ready to leave and she was searching for a way to get this done. Enzo stepped up as she stressfully played with her short blue hair unable to articulate anything.

-Are you always that angry? You get it’s going to make your wrinkles worse, right?

Enzo was upset and was upsetting Kaelig even more. She could feel the tension building up between them. Kaelig would lose his temper soon and she wanted to avoid that at all costs. He was up and ready to go. All of this could not be for nothing. She put a hand on his arm.

-Please. Just… It’s not that simple.

-Never is with you two.

Now, that was unfair. She glanced at him, hurt. She took a sip of wine, found it disgusting and finally noticing Enzo had already finished his while Kaelig had not touch the glass in front of him.

She sighed and felt so very tired of all of this. She had gone through cancer and Hell and she was exhausted of fighting it all. The idea of letting the events unroll without trying anything crossed her mind but she was not built like that.

It had all began a few weeks ago, Elie and him were preparing a hunt. For once, it was the kind of monster they both agreed on. The target was Jim, Elie’s former pimp who was the head of a criminal empire in London. He was smart, cruel and paranoïd. While going through some leads about where the man was and what should be expected, Kaelig had found something strange on the internet. Not a weird creepy pasta or a meme, something that had made his hunter sense tingle. It was about her and about Jim and the life she had had in London. There was mentions of Enzo. At that time, she was a famous klub kid and she was partying a lot to forget about her sad and violent life with Enzo who was doing exactly the same thing without her knowing so. The tabloïds were in love with them being a couple which they never had been.

Kaelig had known that for a very long time so it was not what puzzled him. They had both disappeared from London exactly at the same time. No more covers of magasins, no more posts, no photos from paparazzis, nothing. They had just vanished into thin air.

Both.

At the exact same time.

This was not what Elie had told him. She had told him that she had left London with Even, leaving Enzo and all of her life behind her. This was because she had been scared of being found as neuro-atypical at the time and sent back to a mental hospital.

He knew Elie was sick. He knew that, sometimes, time and memory recollection was a problem for her. She did not lie. She had told him that much and had proven it.

So he went on and asked her about that strange occurrence. After all, they were onto a very cruel and bad guy and he wanted them both to be as prepared as the could be. This is how planning a murder looked like, usually.

He had not made a big deal about it. He had just ask and Elie had blacked out and shut down.

This shutdown had been going on for weeks now. And he was done with trying to be understanding. What was just a simple question became a problem he could not turn his head over and something that Enzo threw a spectacular tantrum over when he tried and talked about it with him.

Not that Enzo was ever menacing to him, Kaelig was twice as muscular and twice as tall as Enzo anyway but it hurted him.

Elie and Enzo, the two inseparable friends - who had done it all together so much so they looked like a couple - shared a thing so big, so intimate and profound that none of them wanted to talk about it.

It was more than Kaelig’s pride could bear. He had a hard time feeling confortable being Elie’s elder boyfriend and now this. This was too much so he wanted answer and he wanted them now. There was something and it was so bad that she did not want to talk about it when she had told him about being in a mental hospital, being a prostitute, being raped, harassed, in abusive relationships and you name it... It made him uneasy, what was so horrible to her that she did not want to tell him, ever? Why did she think that he was not going to find out that something was on? What else had she lied about?

No, he was not uneased, he was pissed off. He put his trust in her. And she had lied.

And she said she could not lied.

-I know how it looks, love. I really do. It's…. What happened…

-You are really going to tell the old man, aren't you? Even with those warnings, Cariño? You sure ab-

-Shut up, Enzo. Just stand there and be pretty. Cut harshly Kaelig. He had sat down again. He was still staring at Elie with his arctic blue eyes. She shivered, was she a prey to him now? This is how he made her feel anyway. She straightened and stared at him for a while. For some unknown reason Enzo did not go and answered back. His hands were clenched to hers. She stayed that way for what seemed to her like a long time before realising that she had been scratching Enzo's hand pretty bad for all this time. She turned her head and kissed him on the cheek.

-I need to tell him. Baby, I need to tell someone… It's killing me. You’ve seen it like me. We can’t keep it a secret forever.

Enzo was searching something in her eyes. She was terrified, he could see that. She was also, as always, ready to put up a fight if need be. She was tensed and shivering and contracted every bit of her being in an attempt not to. He put her close to her, kissed her forehead. He loved her dearly. This was true in all situations. And she was collapsing because of all this starting again here. It was as if this was sniffing them and tracking them here. He nodded slowly and let her go of his embrace.

-Ok… I still think you shouldn't and it is going to piss off my agent. AND probably get us killed.

-Yeah… Sorry…

-bah… He's seen worse and me too, don’t worry, Cariño.

Saying this much, he filled his glass up and bottomed it down like it was water. Elie took a deep breath. Kaelig was there, listening, not hearing anything helpful and losing patience.

-This was New year's Eve. We were to Enzo's place, preparing for Lux's party, we were programmed on stage that night.

-AND I wanted to make the perfect entrance.

-Yes. Rehearsals for weeks, it was crazy. And I was not as well medicated as I am know.

-You were?

-Yup, have been for a long time. Anyways, I go to the window and there's this strange mechanical thing that roam slightly above the roofs. It was spinning, full of colors, but strangely dark. It seemed huge.

-I didn't see that.

- I figured, maybe you weren't paying attention, I don’t know. But at the time I thought I was hallucinating. It happened a lot so I kept it to myself. Plus it was silent.

- Deadly.

Enzo and Elie laughed that special kind of laughter your body does when it does not know how to react. Kaelig was not amused at all. Elie drifted in the memories like a raft on a troubled sea. The cloudy night filled with fairy lights and songs and some drinks made by Enzo as he was dancing, she was putting her lashes on and laughing at Enzo's dance. It was going to be a beautiful night filled with joy and music and booze and dance. She remembered staring at the metallic round shape above the roof with a horrified bewilderment trying to get the hallucination to go away, to contain it.

Kaelig leaned over the table, he was not amused but he was worried for her. He knew this look by heart. He could see her shrivel and spiraling inside herself. She was losing her grip on reality.

-Elehiel, he softly said trying to catch her eyes. She raised a head a little, and smile a bit confused and she felt empty like she was outside of her body. Enzo was still pressing her hands and she could not made herself to let go.

-What… what I want to tell you is… London… It’s….

Enzo looked like he was waiting for something to hit him. She was breahting faster, her chest racing and racing like she had been running for a while. Maybe she had been…

-It's gone. It doesn't exist anymore. It’s...just… gone.

It was a lot to take in and she was not thinking about how Kaelig was reacting. She was just looking at the table with tearfull eyes trying to contain the flood. Everytime she thought of it, it struck her. The whole city, to dust. Nothing left but skyscrapers and empty streets.

Enzo moved again, hugging her tightly, he too was on the verge of crying. She stayed in his arm not feeling safer but she tried to keep the trauma away : the images and flashes. The crawling sensation of dust and sorrow coming back at her with the power of a tsunami. She could feel the sweat trickling down her spine as if she was still captive there and trying to find a way to keep them both alive. She detached from Enzo, put back her hand in his. Kaelig was observing them, deeply puzzled.

-What do you mean «London is gone»? It's not. We landed there.

-Really? You were IN London? Not Heathrow? Asked Enzo with a blank voice. He looked intensely serious.

Kaelig narrowed his eyes and flinched as he realised he never real stepped one foot into London. Heathrow the airport, yes. But…

-Lemme guess, they told you that the buses and tube stations were off due to some protest then they escorted you to a car that took you to the nearest train station which was not in London but an hour from there, probably in Readings. Muttered Elie, white with fear.

Kaelig nodded silently. He was a hunter and a Clan's chief to the Bloodrunners, he had seen some shits but London, wiped out, was a little big, even for him. Elie was scared, he had never seen her that scared before. She was utterly terrified. The only occasion he actually had seen her like this was when she had episodes. He was not convinced but he was still ready to listen because he trusted her reaction to be genuine. No, he knew it was.

Elie mirrored him without knowing she was. The two ex londoners exchanged a quick glance.

-I… I don't know how they hide it that well, this is insane. She paused for a moment. It's crazy, right. And I know you think it's impossible but… We saw it. Enzo and I… She mumbled while fumbling with Enzo’s fingers. We nearly died that night. We made it out alive on sheer luck, you know. And… And I don't know how, Jim knew. He knew it was coming.

-Cariño… You're shouting. We need to keep it down. Enzo warned while looking out to see if someone was eavesdropping.

-y-yeah sorry… I…

She took a long breath. She didn't want to talk anymore, she just wanted Kaelig to hug her and tell her that he believed her and that she would make it as she did before. She was containing tears and choking as she did. Enzo was no good either, they were both looking like they had seen indescribable warzone.

-It was… horrible…

-Like a genocide, but… Worse.

-Yeah.

-They arrived on the Thames. We… we were… I.

-It looked like a show. Directly on the Thames.

-We were walking on Tower bridge to get to the Lux and we stopped to watch, Enzo was doing a little show on the edge, it was hilarious. This is when I saw them. Lots and lots of strange armed guys… They were coming off… off those things…

-What things, stea mea?

Elie loved that nickname with all her heart. It made her feel so much better. She stared at him, visibly shook but she also felt an unconditional love. He was going to listen, he was still there, trying to understand all of this.

-At first, it was like bubbles of lights flying over the river. She recalled nervously. There was a lot of them. It looked like drones and then they got closer and they looked bigger and… I don't know mechanical, straight out of Doctor Who, except it felt like it was magical. I can't explain it just… It gave me the creeps… It made no noises, none. They were hovering over water and there was not a splatch, nothing. And…

-I started shouting at them because I thought they were some sort of visual trick. A show put on by the city. They had done something like that the year before.

-Then you made your show like it was part of our routine. People started to crowd to cheer you and the flying thing spread open. And these guys came out of it fully armoured and armed. They were shouting. The same thing happened all around us. I heard screaming.

-This is when you pushed me to the Lux. I went. And…

A shiver went through Enzo's spine. He had realised right away that something was not right : Elie, his dear and perfect Elie had lost her smile, she had a face that he had seen before in memories he tried everyday to forget. So he had complied and realised as they were running that he had been really close to death on that bridge.. Elie pressed his hands and got closer. They looked like little rodents, terrified of a big bad cat.

-They started shooting. It wasn’t bullets… I don’t know what it was but it made people crazy with pain and then bloated and then dead and limp and… And somehow squishy. It was like the people that were shot turned into big balloons of blood howling in agony…. We started to run.

She remembered taking Enzo's hand and shouting him to run, just fucking run. And the two of them running and finding out that they - who ever «they» were - were everywhere. It was a blood shed of squishy corpses.

Next thing she knew they were both searching for weapons to defend themselves and tried to retreat back to her place because it was far into the industrial district where no one was. It had felt appropriate at the time : no human activities, plenty of places to hide and she knew the place like the back of her hand.

Kaelig sighed heavily and stood up, Elie's heart crushed. He was leaving, wasn't he? Of course, he was. But he just went around the table and kneel and put a hand on her cheek. She looked at him, puzzled.

-Why didn't you tell me all that? He asked softly, his voice tainted with a tender blame.

-Because… Because Jim and some secret army looking soldiers got us out and made us promised and sign papers to keep our mouths shut. They even threatened us to kill us or worse if we didn’t comply.

She stayed silent for a moment, reflecting on why she had listened to Jim’s threats when she hadn’t listened to anybody else’s threats. She was making excuses...

-Because I don't… Like talking about it. So many people died. Do you know how much people died? Do you know what it did to us to survive this? I went on my way with Even partly because Enzo had nearly found out but also because I couldn't stand all of this. I needed to run from this more than anything in my life.

She pressed her cheek in his hands. Enzo kissed her head. He was not competing with Kaelig. He needed contact as much as she did.

-They were very clear not to talk about this to anybody. They said they would know but I'm fine here and my princess thought you might think of something.

Kaelig stayed there, his hand on her face. He was thinking and thinking fast. They were not traumatised, they were ready to run. It clicked suddenly. He got up and stated.

-It's happening here.

Elie and Enzo nodded as one. Kaelig drank his wine like a true Romanian and blaming it not to be tiuça. Not strong enough for what was to come.

-How did it start?

-London fog came back. Whispered Elie.

Kaelig felt his heart racing for a bit. This phrase changed everything they were working on for months. They had supposed Unseelie was a new entity, they thought it was targeting Tir Na nOg for especially. The strange events that had almost become parts of everyday life for the citizens were not isolated. This was important beyond measure.

-You mean…

-I don't know… but I really don't like it, love. I… It can't happen again. Right, Enzo?

She turned to him and she saw he did not know how to answer that. He was the kind of guy who ran when he could but he also was the kind of guy who flew all the way from New York to come leave near her when she was sick, he was paradoxically selfish and selfless. It only depended on the person in front of him. Kaelig stood up again, it was clear they needed guidance.

-Okay. Follow me. Both of you. Stea mea, don't worry, we sort this out, somehow.

Elie nodded. She heard Enzo sighed but he started to move. He did not like Kaelig being the help they needed. Elie did not know how Kaelig was going to help but she had faith in him and she trusted him with her life. She was not even sure Kaelig was mad or believed her, even.

-Are you still mad?

-Doesn't matter.

Now she knew. She kept Enzo's hand in hers and leaving the restaurant, she also took Kaelig's hand and he did not let her go. She smiled a little bit.

-Don't do that.

-Do what?

-Smile like you're happy to hold my hand.

-I am.

-I'm angry.

-I know.

-Can you stop flirting, for the love of all the truly beautiful things out there, please?

Elie laughed. She was with the two people that made her whole life worthwhile, everything was fine. Not all was dark, they could make it. They could save this bloody town or at least, they would survive it.