Chapter Text
The news were everywhere in the center of London's city.
Whenever she turned her head to cross the streets, or because her attention was caught by voices and sounds, her eyes met screens of TVs, and even newspapers, all in display for the rest of the population to see. All about sudden explosions, awful accidents and more, all in the blink of an eye, without any explanations in hand, even if she thought of it hard.
Because of this, she couldn't concentrate properly on her way, carrying with the worry about her children as all of this awful scenes piled, all of them being so sudden. She went step by step with her high-heeled bots marking her presence, getting closer and closer to the private school they were both attending to. Her short straight black hair was getting messier and messier by the wind and water that was carried by the air, and her suit was only saved by a big white coat that reached her knees.
It was a stormy day like she, Eun-Ji Merrygold, never saw before in her life.
Finally, a few minutes late, she reached her goal, letting a sigh escape from her mouth, catching up her breath. She took some time to fix herself once again, and looked how her little one, blonde and blue-eyed son, was taking his blonde brown eyed sister on his side. Holding her hand as she waved goodbye to some girls that were still inside, showing pure innocence in her eyes, that quickly connected with her mother.'s.
— “Alaister, Charlotte, my babies…” She said, a little exhausted, getting closer to hug them both dearly.
— “Hi mother… How are you? Did something happened with the car?” Alaister asked, fixing his round glasses to see her better.
— “I'm fine, darling, and yes. It looks like the battery died and the one we had in spare was lost, so I asked someone from work to leave me at the center, and I walked the rest. I didn't take too long to arrive, did I?”
— “Oh, no! Not at all! But did you get too wet by the rain? It's really strong today!” Charlotte looked a little worried to her from below.
— “Just a little, but I still want to get a taxi for the three of us. My legs are killing me.” She softly laughed, smiling at him. For a moment, she forgot about all those weird things that could horribly her family… And there was again. Those events won't get out of her mind that easily, isn't it?
Alaister knew her well and wasn't oblivious of the fact that something was wrong, even if his mother tried to not tell him. But he preferred to not say a word, more if that meant worrying her even more, or even his sister. As they talked, they both hold each of their moms hands and walked outside, a little fast, covering in every place they could from the rain, and from some fugitive umbrellas that were trying to be caught. They were all young males with blue suits, red ties and a briefcase either hanging on one of their hands, or used to protect their heads. Charlotte couldn't help but softly laugh to each of them of their disgrace.
Putting aside the fact that they were still with this weird storm and that the taxis weren't still on reach, they three felt that this was a curious, but entertaining walk… But Alaister's eyes looked at the sky, and saw them.
They looked like dashing clouds of black smoke, watching from above, playful and excited. He blinked a couple of times, wondering if he was hallucinating or if his glasses were too wet.
But his face went from ignorance to horror, as he saw one of them send some kind of light, crashing and exploding on a tower not so far, making her mother and sister look there, scared and confused. The fire, the screams, it was awful. Eun-Ji hold them close and walked slowly behind, still processing what happened.
— “M-Mommy…”
— “It's okay, sweethearts… Just stay close.”
Then, he saw it again. A car turned to nothing by another of those black things. He took some time to realize the worse. He looked up, being followed by his sister. Those dancing clouds were... Laughing. Giggling without mercy. Their mother looked at them rather confused, a building just exploded, and they were scared... Of the sky?
— “Kids... It's everything al-?”
Her voice was shut by the scream of Charlotte, looking as how one of them was falling, and falling, and falling in their direction. Alaister was the first one to react, pushing both of them with all of his strength to the ground... Her mother was confused, and she was talking to him concerned... But his mind was lost as he saw it. A face. A human face, rushing in front of his, looking with an evil grin to his front, a hunter chasing a pray, a big one, even more than they togheter.
It... Or, she, he was not sure yet, attacked a history bookstore some meters from their location. She broke the windows as a huge wave touched it, and suddenly set it all on fire, making some pages softly fly, some still with flames consuming them.
Eun-Ji got herself togheter, she quickly stand up and carried their child's on her arms with a strength she never had before in her life, whistling loudly to get a taxi nearby, hopefully, of a familiar face.
— “Miss Eun! Kids! Are you all-?”
— “Mister Palace, to Saint Thomas, now!”
The old man nodded, fixing his hat and launching the car as the kids managed to get their seat safebelts on.
It was a tragedy. One of the biggest for the hospital, and for the city. Every worker in the place was going side to side, floor to floor, receiving all of those injured people. Some of them were burnt. Some of them lost a limb or more… And some were unconscious and with multiple injuries on their bodies.
For Mathew, this was something of such a magnitude he couldn't explain with words, or rather, he couldn't find the exact ones to describe how horrible it all was. And he neither had the blessing of time by his side, as he was giving all of him. Either commanding all the workers, classifying every patient by their injuries, and making sure every of them received the attention they so much needed. He looked again at the register on his tablet, fixing his glasses with the help of the little to no reflect on the screen that only could show his blonde hair… They were just so many patients and more were arriving…
— “Mister Merrygold! Your family is here…” His eyes widened in terror as Isabella called him, she did notice this and quickly added “… They are fine, do not worry.”
— “Thank god…” The air of his lungs finally released. He forgot to breath for some seconds.
— “It's alright… Mathew, go with them. They will need your support.”
— “But what about the patients?”
— “Don't worry, I'll cover you up. I'm your boss, after all. But don't take too much time. You got 10 minutes.”
— “Thank you so much…” He gave her his work tablet and rushed to the entry, avoiding the people on the way.
Finally, he saw them close, reaching and hugging them with some force, as his smile widened in relief.
— “Oh love… My kids… Are you all alright? What happened?”
— “We are fine… But there was a building… And the store…” Eun-Ji tried to explain, grasping his clothes as she felt tears forming in her blue eyes.
— “Those evil clouds wanted to harm us!” Charlotte cried out, confusing both of her parents.
— “Evil clouds?”
— “Yes!” Alasiter added, “There were people, or I think they were… They looked like black smoke, flying around and destroying everything! There was even a woman… She was going to do something to us, but I managed to protect us!”
Mathew looked worried at them. As a father, one of his biggest objectives was to teach their children to not lie… But he knew him. He knew that Alaister would never do that. Even Charlotte, who tended to be creative, looked truly scared and convinced. If they were saying the truth, who were they? Without answers, he caressed one of each of their cheeks and softly calmed them.
— “It's alright now…hey won't hurt you here, nor in home…”
— “Mister Merrygold! There's a blue code!” A lady in light blue uniform yelled in his direction.
— “Understood. Eun-Ji, take them back home. Talk to the guard outside and ask him to give you his keys. He already knows you are my wife.” He commanded, leaving a short kiss on her lips as he rushed back to work.
She sighed and took both of her kids by the hands.
— “It's alright, kids… Let's go home.”
— “But daddy…”
— “I know you worry about him, Charlotte, but dad is now working hard to save lives, to heal every single injured person here… And you heard him. No one will be hurt here, not anymore.”
She softly kissed her forehead, making her little one smile. The three of them calmly walked to the man Mathew mentioned…
The news filled his brain of information, all inconclusive and contradicting.
Some said it was a series of events that resulted in a big accident. Some that a pipe broke. But one of them seemed a little fitting, if you excluded the nationality they all dedicated to mention.
A terrorist attack.
In his bed, he couldn't conceal the sleep that night, wondering about all that happened… Why did he see those things, or people? Was he, and his sister, the only ones who noticed? Or maybe, just maybe, they were the only ones who could see them? It all felt like a nightmare, and he really hoped it was that, but deep inside, he knew it was real. All of it. The seconds passed, the thoughts and theories tangled inside his head, and the sleepiness never appeared, it even went far and far from him… And he wasn't the only one, as he felt a silent knocks, two to be precise, outside his door. He took his glasses from his night table and turned on the light.
The door slowly opened, revealing his sister's face, shining by all those tears she cried, hugging a little plushy, her only company until now.
— “You… Can't sleep too?” Alaister asked, receiving a silent nod in response, slow and shy. With a little smile, he moved to a side of his bed, receiving them both in her bed.
Once she covered herself from the cold of the night, she quickly hugged her bigger brother. She wanted so badly to cry, but it seemed that she went dry.
— “You… Saw them too?”
— “Yes. I did. We both did.”
— “You think they believe us?”
— “Mom and dad? Well, maybe… But I'm glad that you are with me on this.”
Slowly, his hand reached her blonde hair, caressing it like their mother used to do with him when he was her age. Charlotte seemed to calm little by little, but didn't want to let go, not yet. He then softly sang a lullaby. He knew he didn't have his mother's voice, but it seemed that she didn't mind, in fact, she felt it even more relaxing and harmonious than hers. A few seconds passed, and some silence made its way, but didn't last longer as she finally cried…
— “I'm scared…”
— “Me too… But, whatever happens, I'll always be there to protect you. To protect all of us. I'll even try to learn what those could be, all to make sure we are safe…”
Those words, in the past, could have easily been part of a game of medieval times when he had to be the princess knight. Or maybe of a stage play he had to perform, or even a book he was reading a long time ago. But now, their meaning was explicit, direct, strong, even for someone at his age, where is hoped for them to not worry about anything. He felt the weight of the responsibility forming on him, pressing his back and shoulders, but he didn't react much. He didn't say a thing. Not only that, but he was convinced, no, going to fulfill that destiny. He was ready to protect his family with the little he had.
After sometime, their eyes felt heavy. The stress seemed to fly away, little by little, leaving them finally be able to sleep. Charlotte was the first to fall, then her plush, and Alaister joined too, not before turning the lights off and getting his glasses off. In his mind, he tried to solve the problem. To find a coherent solution to it all… Some thoughts appeared, but nothing seemed to convince him, being this reflected on a big yawn, announcing that it was time to rest. Finally, he gave up on that, and slowly, his eyelids closed.
Altough, one final idea slipped his mind before giving himself, succumbing into the sleep, falling deeply into the black void, but not before echoing itself one more time...
Magic.