Leon

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This was starting to become tradition whenever we came home from a tour overseas.  We slowed our pace as we reached the end of the pier and looked out onto New Jersey.

The silence was broken by the sound of incoming NADF cadets running behind us. They were so young, so new and fresh. Most had joined the NADF from the United States, a few were New Aeterna street kids.  They wanted to be a part of something new and glamorous. I hope they find what they are looking for.

Seraphina ran both hands through her cropped hair, her loose gray NADF t-shirt and long black jogging pants were soaked through with sweat. We’d run up and down every pier in Ft. Chelsea Piers but saved number 25 for last. This one had a perfect view of New Jersey. 

“Let me walk you home”, I said when I finally caught my breath, “I can have a cadet send over your bag.”

She flashed me a smile that’d put her husband’s a shame.  She never smiled in public, not even in our resistance days. She had to much baggage to smile. Now she was known for not smiling. When the public saw her cold eyes and expression they saw the years of torture and abuse the Helion Regime had put on her. On all of us.

“That’s ten miles.” She said checking her watch.

“I’m game if you are. Might as well enjoy it before court starts. You’ll be to busy playing Disney princess.”

She frowned, not amused by my teasing. The dark capillaries around her eyes  were suddenly more pronounced, along with the stress lines that made her look ragged and bone tired.

“It’s all bullshit. A fucking 30 day party”

“It will make people feel safe. Let foreigners in and show them a good time, Show them not all Supernaturals are like Helios.”

“First Helion now Supernatural ? I miss being an Angel.” She said.

“You will always be an Angel to me.”

She shot me another sly smile with her hands on the top of head, watching the Jersey skyline.

“Humans have no reverence.  In ten years this court tradition will be a commercialized tourist trap and as dignified as Mardi Gras.”

“Don’t let anyone else hear you say that, Your Highness.”

“Is that an order, Captain ?”, she asked playing with the tiny gold key necklace she always wore.

“Sure is, First Lieutenant.”

She shook her head and started running  again, I warmed up in place and quickly caught up to her.

The city was busy today. Cars were in gridlock  and people on the sidewalk took their time with coffee cups in hand. Nannies pushed strollers and gaggles of teens huddled near street corners. Every now and then a thick cluster of tourist would take up half the sidewalk with maps in hand, but we jogged around them.

We were able to make it through midtown pretty undistributed, but she was a tall and some people noticed but didn’t think twice. In public she was always in heels towering at almost 6’8 infront of crowds and cameras. She was always flawless and dressed to dazzle and distract. There was nothing dazzling or distracting about her now; cropped hair, faded shirt, black jogging pants and ratty sneakers. No one had ever really recognized her or wanted to admit that the beautiful queen was mostly an illusion.

I slowed up a bit when we got past  downtown. I could see the Manhattan Bridge in the distance. It’s been a while since I’d been on this side of town.

“Hey, I’m going to make a detour. Can you make it home alone?” I asked.

“Everything okay ?”

“Yeah. Call me when you get home. ”

 “Yes, sir.”

It’d been six months since she’d seen her husband and I didn’t want to be a third wheel. Last I heard he was walking, talking and back to faking normal. Last month he went back to work at The Capitol, his fucked up mug pushing hope and prosperity on the evening news.

It was odd watching Seraphina leave. We’d seen each other nearly every single day for the past year. Hell, I’d even taken leave to go with her to Cascade Falls to help Paris recover after the assassination. We were a team. It’d be weird getting back to whatever was supposed to be normal.

A woman with a fluffy dog and stroller let me into one of the bigger walk ups off Murray, the woman smiled when she saw my NADF shirt and dog tags. I slipped up to the fourth floor and knock so hard and efficiently I know it must have rattled her. That was my military raid knock

A series of locks disengage and Isobel Charter opened the door.

She was dressed sensibly in a black button up with lots of dark eyes make-up. She was on the phone and gestures for me to come in. The apartment was warm on the inside, the living room had plush carpet, sensible artwork and comfortable couch set. The small dining room had a mahogany table and plum painted walls. It was meticulously decorated and way to suburban for The Village.

“I understand your concern Ms. Montella but your son is in college now. Yeah, I know it’s just community college. . .”

I walked into the eat-in kitchen and take a seat at the counter. I watched as Isobel nodded her head while putting up groceries from the Whole Foods that just opened up. It looked like she’d forgotten to do it last night. There was  an oversized calendar in the kitchen with post-its and events reminders; award dinners, speaking engagements, therapy sessions and doctor visits.

I took a stool next to the kid who I couldn’t admit that I didn’t know at all. The kid's yellow Briar Boy’s School polo shirt is meticulously tucked into his Dockers. My heart kinda tugs whenever I see the kid, he looked all determined and smart just like Titus. I’d looked out for Titus back in the day. I was like his big brother or something. I figured I owed his kid the same. The kid's got Titus’ small eyes, dark brown hair and overly pronounced widow’s peak. Isobel had agreed to keep his hair long, much to her chagrin. He’d be short like Titus, maybe 5’8 if he was lucky.

The only thing Arrow got from his mother was her pain.

I knew Titus was a little shit, but I couldn’t see him as the weak pathetic man who did the terrible things he had. I just couldn’t and I hated myself for it. Cause Titus was dead and I would never be able to mourn him. Never be able to tell his son about him.

“Hey”, I said to the kid and discreetly slide over 10 dollars, “Get yourself some lunch Okay. ”

He slipped it into his pocket just as Isobel turns around. There was a knock at the door and Isobel hands him his lunch. On the other side of the door was a woman I gathered was in charge of the car pool. The woman looked nervous as she took the kid’s hand.

I waited around for Isobel to finish her call. Nothing in her apartment looked like it needed to be fixed. She finally hung up and grabbed a rolling leather bag.

“Welcome home, Captain”, she said giving me a half-hearted salute, “How was The Middle East ?”

“Unsettled. If the President sends U.S Troops into Syria we might get deployed again. Extraction, not combat.”

“Of Course.”

 “You participating in this New Aeterna  Court business ?”, I asked her.

“I was officially invited”, she said waiving her introduction packet.

“Seems like a bunch of King Louis bullshit to me.”

Isobel quirked and eyebrow at me, that thing she did when she wasn’t sure if I was making a historical reference or re-living a memory.

“ What brings you by, Leon ?”

“I was in the neighborhood.”

“Okay.” She pours some coffee in a to-go cup.

“Didn’t take you as one of those stereotypical New Aeterna organic neurotic city moms.”

“I’m not”, she said putting her phone down

“You are—“

“No, I mean I’m not going to adopt him. I just. . . this just isn’t what I signed up for. It’s not like it was before. He's unpredictable. He doesn't sleep, he won't talk . . .and if he goes catatonic again they’ll send him back to that mental hospital and I can’t go through that again.“

“I get it”, I said even though I didn’t. I couldn’t begin to understand her situation. She cared to much, “The group homes for Angel orphans are pretty nice.  He should be with his own kind anyway.”

Isobel didn’t seem completely resolved but just shook her head and forced a smile. The kid had spent the first three years of his life in a camp up in Guantanamo and about 18 months in one of Helios' youth prisons where human kids didn’t treat him to kindly. Resistance life had moved so fast none of us had really taken the time to help the kid adjust.

The kid had been placed with social services after the revolution. They put him under psychiatric care and admitted him for a year. Then he’d been fostered by humans . . . but it didn’t last long. Isobel had been legally fostering him for 2 months, but everyone knew it wouldn't last.

Most second generation Angel kids still had at least a mother. Only a few had been orphaned as Helios hated killing Angel women. They had group homes for Angel orphans. . . nice places for kids who had nothing.

Shit, maybe I should talk to Sera.

I picked up a white apple from the basket of fruit and tossed it around.

“You ever miss it, Izzy ? Resistance life ?”

“Sometimes. I mean I’m glad it’s over. I just . . . I don’t know”

 “ . . . why did you leave government work, Isobel ?”

“You know how sketchy that place is.”

“Look sweetheart, We did a lot of illegal and immoral shit to get Paris New Aeterna and you didn’t leave then.”

“Leon. Things are good for all of us now. I don’t want to ruin it. I have a class to teach.  I just want a normal life is all.”

“Iz, you can tell me what’s up. Think of what we’ve been through together. You can trust me”

“Leon get out.”

“What ?”, I stood up, “What did I say ? What did I do ?”

“New Aetenra is my home now. I love that I helped shape it. I love the people and prospects here. I don’t want to ruin that”

I looked at my hands.

“Isobel—“

“Stop it Leon. I know what happened. I saw it. I saw her. I know Seraphina was on that roof. I know she fired the bullet that was supposed assassinate her husband. . . and  I saw you right there with her.”

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DUN DUN DUN