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The whole house was dreary.
The kitchen tiles still reeked of blood and a small amount of the stains were still there, a whisper or a ghost of what had happened just a few days earlier. All the pictures on the wall she had smashed to the floor in a fit of rage and desperation, the shards were still there because she hasn’t even bothered cleaning it up yet.
It was as if her life was in total disarray, completely upended and shot in the head.
In the middle of it all, sitting on her sofa, Adeline let out a shaky breath as she brought a trembling bottle of vodka to her lips. The taste of it straight will always be vile, but what does it matter anymore? It burned her throat in the same way everything has burned at her consciousness. The way her baby cried as that man slit his throat, the way Slade’s body crushed Joseph’s after she shot him, it’s all torn her from the inside out.
15 years of lies and a double life. Her baby is in the hospital, and Grant ran away a few days ago. God knows where he is. Wintergreen of course left with Slade, probably off to take care of that new daughter of his that wasn’t her’s.
Bitterly she couldn’t help but wonder if Slade cheated on her with anyone else. Hell, maybe even Wintergreen. Adeline thought she finally had it going on, finally had something solid and stable despite all the time Slade spent away from home.
The vodka washed down her throat and she winced. She probably won’t even trust another man again. Her father beat her, her first husband beat her, and finally when she felt like she found someone who saw her as an equal, he lies, cheats, abandons her and even gets her son’s throat slit.
Where does it end? What is she even to do?
Adeline buried her face into her hands, ignoring the greasy feeling of her own unwashed hair. At least Isherwood has stayed… for some fucking reason. He was more of Slade’s friend than her’s, but when he saw her and Joey at the hospital, he seemed so sympathetic that it broke her. She hated running up into his arms and sobbing her heart out, but she did it anyway. The hug he gave her was comforting, the soft whispers warmed her heart.
It was a little odd to watch him pray over Joey’s unconscious body, but she let him do it anyway. What was the harm? A few words from the bible wont hurt him anymore than his father has, but it won’t do much to help either.
Adeline set her gaze on one of the many shattered pictures on the floor. It was of her, Slade and Wintergreen. A photo of them while they were all still… whole. Slade’s arm was wrapped around her waist, and his other hand was placed on Wintergreen’s shoulder. Her smile was so young, bright and hopeful.
Tears pricked at her eyes as the back of her throat caught a knot in it. At least she’ll know which photo to burn first.
“Mrs. Wil—” a tired glare. “Ms. Kane. I sincerely regret to inform you that I’m afraid Joseph won’t be able to speak again. His vocal cords are—”
“What?” She croaked out.
The doctor in front of her, under all those clinical white lights sighed deeply and gave her a knowing look, silent and warning. “His vocal cords were slashed, Ms. Kane. He’ll be able to breathe properly and eat, but not—”
Adeline swallowed thickly as the doctor rambled on and she gazed through the window of Joey’s room. He was awake, alive. His beautiful emerald eyes were fixed on a point on the wall, staring blankly at something. There were so many bandages around his neck and there were blood bags connected to his veins.
She has seen and brought war to countries, laid witness to children’s slaughter and has even caused some of it herself, but for some reason she thought it would never happen to her sons.
Her baby looked so tired, so miserable. She felt the same way.
Adeline couldn’t take her son back home to there. The entire place was trashed, and the memories would be too hard to bear for the both of them. Instead, she took him to a hotel for the time being while she tried to fix up a new place to stay.
Sitting at the hotel room’s living room, she couldn’t help but feel unnerved by how Joey wasn’t drawing or singing anything. They had a piano in their home, bought it just for him. He had the most beautiful voice, as sweet as sugar and as soft as clouds. Joseph was an artistic boy, he never liked basketball or hunting like Grant. Adeline was fine with that, his paintings were always a delight to see.
But at the moment he was just… sitting there on the floor, staring at a book he wasn’t even reading.
“I’m going to…” Adeline trailed off, staring at the ceiling for a moment. “Order pizza.”
She definitely didn’t feel like cooking at all.
Joey doesn’t even look at her, simply blinks as if that alone was enough to acknowledge the presence of his mother. Adeline takes it and runs with it, tiredly going on her phone to order pizza online.
Maybe Joseph blames her, maybe Joey remembers the look in his father’s eye right as she shot him.
A tap on her back. Adeline blinked and turned around to face her son. He was holding up a piece of torn notebook paper with a silent face of worry. It read in mediocre handwriting, ‘Where is Pop?’
Right. She needs to sign him up for sign language lessons.
“He won’t hurt either of us again,” She spoke gravely. “You won’t see him ever again either. I’ll make sure of that.”
Mutely, Joey didn’t seem to happy about that but he nodded anyway and flipped the paper over to the back, which read, ‘And Grant? Uncle Wintergreen and Uncle Ish?’
“Grant is…” Adeline didn’t even know how to explain. “We’ll find Grant. Wintergreen left us. And Isherwood… you can see him.”
Joey blinked in surprise before giving her a small, barely there smile. It was the first time she’s seen him smile in what has felt like forever, so of course her heart melted and tears pricked at her eyes again as she leaned down to cradle her precious boy.
His arms wrapped around her as well and she leaned down to lay a kiss on his lovely curls. She might not have Slade, she might not have Wintergreen, she might not have Grant, but she still has her darling boy.
Her sword ran through the training dummy like butter.
The adrenaline that rushed through her veins was euphoric, the sweat that poured down her back and the ache in her muscles made her feel strong. It was an understandable addiction, she supposed.
Things have been going alright, not good, not bad. Her and Joey moved, Joseph isn’t back in school, she’s paying a private teacher for that, but Adeline has been hard at work. She’s been set straight in a cycle of training, work and even more training. Part of her wants to get back into field work, part of her wants to hunt Slade down and finish the job.
It’s been a bit more than a year, and she still doesn’t know what she’s training for. But she’ll find it. She will.
Adeline huffed and panted as she stood up straight, the fans she set up in the garage rushing cold air onto her heated body. Her bones creaked as she reached for her sword, ready to start swinging again but—
A knock on the wall sounded out in two thumps. The brunette blinked and turned her head around to face her son. Joey has grown so much, even though his voice will never be back, he seems happy at the moment. He stood taller, with a soft smile on his face and dressed in a purple turtle neck sweater. He doesn’t like to show off his scar, even if it’s to her.
‘Ma,’ he signed out to her, tapping his thumb on his chin. ‘Can you train me today?’
Adeline stiffened and swallowed thickly. He asks her this a lot. She’s not sure if she could ever say yes in good conscience, but—
Slade and her trained Grant starting from an early age, so it was only fair, right? Especially considering Grant barely wanted to train in the first place. They just wanted their son to be strong, to be like them.
How foolish of them.
“I’ll… I can show you how to throw a solid punch,” Adeline replied without much confidence.
Joey beamed at her with the widest smile imaginable, and Adeline couldn’t help but feel like she’s just done something incredibly wrong, but it was the happiest she’s seen him in ages.
As her son approached her, his emerald eyes caught the light a certain way, made them shine a different green. Adeline said nothing as she furrowed her eyebrows and gently cupped his soft face with her hand. He still had some baby fat on his cheeks despite being a teenager now. Adeline couldn’t help but smile down at him, disregarding his sharp, hunter like eyes.
“I love you, baby,” she murmured. “No matter what, no one will lay a hand on you again, mhm?”
Joey nodded enthusiastically. He probably thought she was saying that because Adeline wanted him to take care of himself in a battle, but really, as her muscles ached with usage and her heart scorned with vengeance, Adeline wanted to cut through every bastard who has tried to get rid of his adorable little smile.