Kings and Queens of Promise

[Kleopatra Selene]

Aria blinked. "If you're implicating me for bringing him here, save your breath," she snapped. "I've contributed more to KQP than anyone here. Anyone. And if you're accusing Jun, you're accusing me. I brought him here, I'm responsible for his actions, and I suggest that you find more evidence for you go around--" she looked distastefully at the finger Jess had pointed at her "--pointing your finger and showing me how little you obviously have observed about my emotions toward these kids and how I would never jeopardize their safety.
"Jun is one of us until I know that he's guilty. If he's guilty, you can interrogate him. I refuse to. I've done enough interrogating in my time, and you can deal with the repercussions on your own." She rolled her shoulders with a popping sound, winced, and shrugged one shoulder halfheartedly. "I'm going to go talk to someone who's being realistic. Who won't assume and won't implicate someone under my protection. You can go comfort the goddamn children, God knows they love you," she stated sarcastically, and walked off.  

[Lykaios of the Shadows]

Jess's neutral expression fell into that of a scowl, and she grit her teeth. As her superior continued to talk, her nails bit into her palms. Jess glared at Aria's back as she turned and walked away, noticing how similar it looked to the times when her sister turned her back on her.

Resisting the urge to pull out the lighter, Jess stormed forwards, grabbing the back of Aria's collar. "Hey!" she growled, eyes narrowing to mere slits. "Cut the sh*t talk, you prissy little..." Jess paused, considering her words. No, prissy wasn't the right definition. Aria was far from prissy.

Jess took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm her irritation. "You just don't get it, do you? You got to know this little brat of a rebel in one day, one freaking day! You don't know anything about him, Aria! And then, when his base goes up in flames, you just whisk him up like an abandoned puppy? It seems to me like you're getting your pity feelings confused with your judgement." she said lowly.  

[Kleopatra Selene]

Aria shook her head. "No, you don't get it," she snapped. "I know Jun, okay? We're...we're the same." She couldn't explain it. She didn't know Jun, that much was confirmed, that much she accepted, but...Well, she thought, I can't explain it, but we're exactly the same.
They were the leaders of a group of kids. And Jun had lost his. He wouldn't betray her, would he? She was so tired of being betrayed...
Aria realized she was just standing there, letting Jess think that she'd gotten to her leader's chinks of armor, and she couldn't have that. She swallowed and gathered up her resolve. "We're the same. He wouldn't betray me," she said confidently, not knowing if the confidence was real. "He wouldn't betray KQP," she corrected, realizing her mistake. "Not me. It's bigger than me. He wouldn't betray KQP. Not after I--not after we took him in, sheltered him...besides, whoever did this wasn't in his group. They're all dead and gone and ashes, blown away by the wind." She swallowed again. Was her throat dry?
"He wouldn't betray us," she repeated tonelessly, and snapped to attention. "And you," she reignited her flame towards Jess. "Do you have any idea what a priss is? A priss is our mothers, our sisters, the ones with all the rights that chose to be pampered while we scrounge in the dirt for food and shelter. I am not! a priss, okay? I've given up just as much as everyone else in this godd**n place! I don't need your approval, I choose who I trust, you can't dictate who I am. I am not a dictator, nobody here is." She swallowed once again, realizing how worked up she was getting over this. She was drudging back up memories of people she shouldn't be dredging up memories of, and she was taking it out on Jess, whether or not the girl deserved it.
Aria waved a hand half-heartedly at her and turned. "Whatever. You don't have to trust Jun. And sweetie, I've seen more abandoned children, puppies or no, than you could ever not hope to see. It's a horrible thing to see, and I've taken them all in. I've seen people starve in the streets, and I've had to pick which ones were closest to death and which ones were likeliest to live and which ones I could feed! That is the worst thing I've ever had to do, it was worse than watching Daniel die, it was worse than watching children volunteer stupidly to go on a suicide mission, it's worse than getting shot in the thigh, and I've done all of that.
"Don't tell me what it's like to look at an abandoned puppy because you don't know what it's like to truly do that, over and over and over and over. Stay in this business a little longer, and you might know. I took Jun in," she said, clearing her throat, getting back to the subject, "because he was lost and alone and he would die if someone didn't take him in. I'm not picky, am I? I've taken in all these kids, with others' help, and taken care of them all! Sang them lullabies, chased away their nightmares, taught them to shoot a godd**n gun, watched some die and some thrive. I want to do that for everyone who never got a chance to do that."
She sighed, and rubbed her neck, which had been closed off from her airway when Jess grabbed her collar. "And, by the way? I like breathing. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't try to choke me to death. And, just if I haven't made it clear, I'm not a priss. I'm actually quite far from a priss. I'm just a b***h. And, I don't like being nearly strangled." She sighed, running a hand through his hair, which had mostly fallen from the braid she had loosely put it in a short while ago. She batted a strand of the black curls from her eyes. "Just, either comfort the kids or get some sleep. I'm gonna go to the littles one, five and under. If you could take the preteens, or assign someone smart and alert to do it for you..." she swayed on her feet a little, rubbing at her cheek, and recomposed herself. "I'm off." She began to walk to the section where the little ones were being kept.  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

Before she had time to think, another man walked in, "Rowan,"the man said, taking his seat across from rowan. "Rowan Azar Pralone. Long time no see."Rowan took a second to file through memories, none of which came up including this strange man."Does the name, Eric Mcara, ring a bell?"He offered, undoubtably serching her face for any change in her emotionless expression. He found what he was looking for because that name did ring a bell. Eric had been a deeply trusted friend of her parents, occasionaly staying at the palace and playing with her and her older sister, Isabel. Eric smiled, "So you do remember." "Does that mean you work for my parents?" Rowan asked rhetoricly " Not just your parents, but for all royal familes seeking to find their missing second child." He replied calmly, "They just want you home safe." "That is such a lie!" Rowan yelled in outrage, " Even you know they've never cared about us! They only put up with us to look good to the kingdom." "We didn't realized how many of you guys there were until yesterday." Eric said not even bothering to comment on what Rowan had just said, "Don't worry about the others. they haven't been captured...yet. But as of right now you have three options, you can either 1) Go back home and stay there, 2) Help us find the others and no harm will come to you or them, or 3) We let you out of here... but the next time we find you, there will be no mercy. You will be hunted, all of you. The choice is yours...choose wisley."  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

"Option 1 is completely out of the question." Rowan pointed out, leaving herself with two absurd choices. But option two is just as crazy as the first... And Aria would never trust me if I were helping these guys...right? Eric's fingers tapped on the table in an irritated manner. " Option two.., " She paused, " would mean betraying those who have stay by my side for longer then I can remember... soo can't choose that one either." Does that mean you choose Option 3?"Eric asked, unhappy with the option chosen. "I don't see an option 4 so.. yea." Rowan twisted her wrists against the chair. "Very well then."Eric said pulling out a plastic baggie from his coat pocket and extracting a swatch of sweet smelling cloth for it. "You have two days before we start out to find you and your little friends" He whispered before clamping a cloth filled palm over her mouth and nose and the world faded to black.

Waking up in an ally was nothing new to Rowan, but waking up there in an open back shirt and jeans with a backpack full of supplies was something new. Rowan rubbed feeling back into her arms and stood up, realizing she was in a familar allyway as she looked around. Now to get back to the safe house. She thought, running out of the allyway and back to her friends.

(i made this picture of Rowan's back after she left..., yes there is a tattoo. They marked her with a tattoo so they can find her again if she changes her appearence.. *shrugs* Can Aria point it out later?... and yes that is the shirt she is wearing now. (they made it an open back shirt incase she is still wearing it 2 days from now.) (heres the picture!: http://s1039.photobucket.com/albums/a476/AzazelsGrace/?action=view¤t=openbacktop.jpg ) (the tattoo is the K.Q.P. under her shoulder blade.)  

[Kleopatra Selene]

Aria sighed. It had been a long night on her feet, her head ached, she was unsteady on her legs like she'd been at sea for a month, and all she really wanted was a good thick book. Books always made her feel good, but they were in short supply in the alleyways.
Sighing and running a hand through her hair, which had abandoned her braid rebelliously, she pulled herself out of the sewer. They'd moved the kids as early as possible so that some of the younger ones could take watch and the elders could sleep. Elders, she snickered to herself. Damn, am I getting old if I talk like that in my narrative.
She then saw a young girl, around her age, wandering around. "Rowan?" she asked, running to the girl. It was indeed Rowan. "Where the hell were you? Why were you gone all night? Were you kidnapped? Why'd they let you go? Jesus, I've been worried sick! I was cussing in French for you, girl, and I don't cuss in French for just anyone! What the hell happened? Why are you wearing a new shirt?" She caught sight of the tattoo. "Where'd the tat come from? I figured you for a tramp stamp or something." She blushed. "I mean...I've got mine."
Not that SHE'S ever gonna see it.
Aria shrugged. "Whatever. Why don't you come on home?"
Then the arrow struck, imbedding itself in her palm.
"s**t!" she muttered, pulling it out. "Well, this day don't get any better."*
She looked up, catching sight of an archer pulling back, dressed strangely in a mask. "What the hell was that about?" she asked Rowan. "Was it something I said?"

*Yes...I put in a grammar mistake. I, too, am shocked... burning_eyes Put me to the stake. *squeezes eyes shut* I'm ready.
(BTW, I figured the whole arrow thingy could be explained by the fact that Rowan chose 3...so they'd do the whole "we kill you and your posse" thing immediately...OK I feel stupid now. *blushes* Done with my little questioning-myself act...)
I just wondered...what happened to Bitten?  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

(you are talking way too fast! Lol... but a grammar mistake!?!?! bad kleo....wait...who am I to say anything, i make them all the time and you ussally point them out for me to fix... sweatdrop ) (I did write that she had two days before they came after them...so I guess that guy is the messanger for the rest of the KQP....to prove a point. (I guess!))

"Descendre!" Rowan said pulling Aria down into a nearby ally, "Attendre ici." She ran back out into the street, grabbing the discarded arrow and scrambing back into ally. Written on the arrow shaft were the words, "Combattre ou fuir." Fight or Flee...
"To answer your questions, Yes I was kiddnapped, I would never run off in the middle of something like that." Rowan babbled,"I have no clue where I was or why they let me go. And about the shirt, I didn't get a choice. They put it on me while I was out." Aria raised a questioning eyebrow. "Chloroform." Rowan stated, remembering the sticky sweet smell. She stuck her head out of the ally, looking for the archer and not finding him then got to her feet and helped Aria up as well. " What tattoo" She asked looking from Aria to the street in front of them.

( First phrase in french: "Get Down!"
Second phrase: "Wait here." )

(idk what happend to Bitten...i want it back)  

[Kleopatra Selene]

((I miss Bitten...I want it back! And I only gave Aria the grammar slipup because I figured that she was pissed off and she doesn't care about grammar when she's pissed off.))

Aria stroked her hair gently where Rowan had dragged her down. "That tattoo," she pointed to the one that said KQP on Rowan's back. "What, did they stitch it on you while you were knocked out?" She growled. "It's my job to torture my members! What is this, their tracking device? Is this how they know you're a KQP kid? Ces idiots! Je les trouverai et les a mis la guillotine! Je ferai les regretter jamais l'être né! Comment OSER ils ciblent mon équipe! Ceci est ma fichue équipe et je les contrôle et je les torture, personne d'autre, et ces f***ers meilleur est venu propre ou je les mettrai l'étagère! Ils ne marcheront jamais encore. Ils regretteront jamais la respiration! Ils regretteront la chienne qui les ennuie!" she raged. Sighing, she raked a hand through her hair--she was doing a lot of that lately--and said, "Sorry, Rowan, I know you speak French. Even Jess is picking some up. I kinda, uh, cussed the bad guys out in my fav language when you got kidnapped."
She looked at her hand. It had barely broken the skin. She'd be fine. "God, I hate archers. I love archery, but I hate archers. Unless they're with us. Then they're okay. How was being kidnapped? It's been ages since I was."

Translation: "Those fools! I will find them and put them on the guillotine! I will make them regret ever being born! How DARE they target my team! This is my f***ing team and I control them and I torture them, nobody else, and those f***ers better come clean or I'll put them on the rack! They'll never walk again. They'll regret ever breathing! They'll regret the b***h who bore them!"
Aria is a naughty girl.  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

"Guess so... It wasn't there before." Rowan shruged, takinga peice of broken mirror from the ally floor and using it to look at the KQP scrawlled in ink under her shoulder blade. "And the kiddnapping was plain. I got brought to the Loser Lair, got questioned, and now I'm back out....and now we're being hunted..." Rowan said, mumbling the last part and turning away momentarily.  

[Kleopatra Selene]

Aria sighed. It had been a while since she had to comfort someone that wasn't dying. That had actually become strangely easy. Comforting someone who wasn't bleeding to death? She blanched. "Look," she said awkwardly, "it wasn't your fault. They targeted you. You couldn't have done anything. Don't feel...don't feel responsible. You're not. I should have taken better care of my team."  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

"None of us could have predicted that bombing, but anyway we need to move everyone." Rowan said, " In two days they start searching for us, no mercy this time. They want bloodshed."  

[Kleopatra Selene]

"If they press hard enough," Aria replied coldly, "we will give it to them. And it will be their own blood that stains these alleys. I will not let my children be touched! And they should not have dared to touch you," she hissed, angry at herself. "I'm sorry, Rowan," she straightened. "I know you don't need caring for. You're not a child. But I feel so protective over everyone here, even the ones who are older than I.
"Very well," she said, drawing herself up to her full height. "Two days? Then we have two days to find a home. We will use those two days to our full advantage." She thought fiercely. "I want as many teams of the little ones to go out as fast as possible. They'll go beg food. Six and seven year olds. They're cute enough that some might take pity on them. Eight, nine, and ten year olds will go out to scrounge and steal any food available. I want eleven and twelve year olds off to find water--any source of water, be it river or stream or an old well, that we can use that's discreet and unnoticeable. Anyone older will go out to find possible new homes. We can no longer remain where we are."
She gazed at Rowan with hard eyes. "I will not let anyone get hurt, Rowan. Now, come; you've wounds to tend to, I suspect, and I could use a salve for my palm. We'll send out the groups as quickly as possible, but it's been a hard day and we might let them rest a little. There's much work to be done, but they can only stay innocent and young for so long."
And Aria turned, heading back toward the home they would have to leave.

**Sorry if this is...different in a way from my other posts, but I'm rereading the Eragon series in preparation for the last installment (which isn't coming fast enough!!!!) and it influences my writing a great deal. LOL. No grammar mistakes or French cursing this time...I think.  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

(It didn't seem too differant, still as great as it always is! BTW Did aria see daniel die? or did he go missing like Stephen?... I might have stephen go out with the hunting group...or something like that)

Rowan stayed silent the rest the way back to the safehouse. " I'm going to rest for a bit before we have to leave. If you need any help getting everything ready just find me, kay?" Rowan said, stepping inside the door and waltzing off to find somewhere quiet.  

[Kleopatra Selene]

(Aria watched Daniel die. He did NOT go missing.)
(Where the hell are Jess and Jun?)

*Time Skip*

Aria looked around. It would be an okay new home. Some fifteen year old had found it--Luc, wasn't that his name?--and it was mostly clean. They'd need to fix it up a little bit, but it wasn't crawling with rats and so far, there was nobody around. It was an underground home, just like the one KQP had just evacuated, but wasn't so easy to find. And it had another tunnel that led to a bombproof safehouse.
Heading towards a little crying six-year-old girl, Aria was struck by how much things had changed. Just a few days ago, Tartarus had been an enemy. Now it was nonexistent, except for Jun. A few days ago, no one would have dared kidnap one of their own, much less tattoo the victim and promise to kill anyone they saw who was in KQP.
How would they identify us? she wondered. Rowan's the only one with the tattoo. She thought of the little arrow she'd had tattooed on her ankle when she was ten. Well, maybe not the only one, she thought, and she refused to blush. No giving satisfaction to the enemy.
Her thoughts turned to Daniel. She was leaving the last trace of him. That home--their last home--had been the last safehouse he'd ever lived in. And it was gone. She lifted up her head--damn it, she would not cry, she could not cry, her tear ducts were empty and damn it they would stay that way--and patted the crying girl on the shoulder, surveying their new home. It would do. It would do.  

[x_-Mockingjay-_x]

(Oh.......okay)
(I have no clue where Jess and Jun went, but they better get back soon!)
(.....oh and one last thing, I can't really post right now so I won't!)