Ashes

Sixteen: Blood and Water

A/N: This chapter needs a lot of editing, so forgive whatever mistakes are there!

"Ariadne. Ari, wake up," Kyros urges, and I feel his hand on my shoulder before my eyes are even open.

With a sharp intake of breath, I open my eyes and sit up with a start, and Kyros has to practically hold me down so I don't fall off the couch.

"You okay? You've been out for about an hour," he states, worry drawing creases across his forehead as he waits for my answer.

"No. Not okay. I don't think I can handle having another existential crisis," I say, and he lets out a stifled chuckle at that.

"Yeah, well, buckle up. They want you, Titus, and Echo outside in half an hour," Kyros says, his tone apologetic. I cringe at the phrasing of his sentence, memories of Mikhail returning to flood me with guilt.

"Are they going to take us to see Ezekiel?" I ask, and Kyros shrugs.

"I want to say yes, but we've just met a woman who was alive before the the desert existed who looks like she's only in her thirties. And she says she's over a hundred years old. Which has to mean the earth died a century ago rather than hundreds of years ago. I don't even know what to expect anymore," he says, a hint of panic-induced humor tinging his voice.

"Oh, goodie," I groan, and my ghost gives me a rueful smile before helping me to my feet. I step outside and find a very worried-looking pair of siblings waiting for me.

"Okay. Please don't do that again," Titus huffs, and I give him a small smile.

"Sorry,"

"You guys ready to go?" Echo questions, and Titus and I agree. We all turn to leave, but Kyros catches my hand and turns me to look at him. The lighting that races up from the hand he's holding isn't lost on me.

"Hey. Whatever happens, I'm here if you need to talk after, okay?" he says, his gaze almost bleeding with sincerity.

"Thanks, Ky," I tell him, and he smiles a little bit.

"We look out for each other, Ari. It's what we do," he tells me, as if that statement is the simplest thing in the world. Before I can sit there and think twice about it, I lean forward and hug him quickly, before turning and trotting after my siblings.

Eva is waiting for us at the train, so we all walk in without a word and take a seat.

It must be fifteen minutes later when we stop, and I feel like my heart might beat out of my chest. We're going to meet my real father. Of the three of us, Echo is the only one who remember even a little bit of what he's like.

We step outside of the train and head up the step quickly, finding ourself in one of the small cities I saw from Gwen's apartment. From one of the apartment building steps a man who resembles the three of us enough that there's no doubt in my mind about who he is. Ezekiel.

Tightly curled hair that's as dark as night is cut short on the top of his head, with sharp, striking amber eyes that match my brother's set into his skull. He looks like he hasn't shaved in a while, and the black t-shirt and jeans that he's wearing are covered by a white lab coat that falls down to his mid-thighs. He stands like he's ready to fight a war, fists clenched tightly at his side, shoulders back, and chin up slightly. Understandably so, consider my mother's pale skin, he's darker than the three of us, and we can all do nothing more than gape.

He looks exactly like the hologram Kyros and I had found back at the Refuge, with quite a few years added to him.

He sees us standing there and kind of freezes, his eyes wide and jaw slack as he recognizes us immediately. Slowly, as if he's waking from a dream, he takes a few wary steps towards us, and none of us really know how to react.