ANNOUNCMENT: I will be showcasing fanart at the end of this book along with doing a book/author QnA. If you have any old, current or WIP art for this series including Destiny Calls please send me images. I want to try and include as much as I can as a thank you.

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Grasping Fate

Chapter 23

"Aren't we all sinners"

The rebels were indeed leaderless. It wasn't that they didn't believe Jordan, more of they weren't sure who they could place their trust in. They wanted to trust Jordan for he was their leader, the one who held the organization down and kept them all moving towards their envision future, but for now there was just no way. They had no leader and they had no engineer. Their council was short to many people, and distrust was growing in the cracks that were forming.

Their last hope was Sub. Despite betraying them, if they could just convince him to help they would have something at least. The one person who had every plan down to memory could recreate what they could not. And maybe these 10 years would not be a waste.

However Sub had recovered from his injury, though still imprisoned, did not care to speak or listen to anyone. Not that he could actually speak.

He spoke mouthing his words, and unfortunately very few people could understand him since he moved his mouth so fast. Those who could were imprisoned or Jason.

Sub had indeed heard the news, and a bit of the commotion, so he was very well aware of the situation the people were in. Sub has never been one to trust others, for the very reason that the first time he ever trusted someone he was robbed of not only his voice but his first world changing creation, the Spawn Regulators.

He joined the rebels not for their goal but to make money and eventually buy the equipment to eventually fix his own voice. But progress was slow in the four years he's been here. And when he heard of a way to make a lot of money fast, he didn't care if it was wrong, or involved capturing someone he just happened to recognize seeking shelter with the rebels. He was desperate to speak, he hardly cared about anything more than his voice.

So he betrayed the people that took him in, because it was the only way he saw himself accomplishing his only goal. And when he was caught, he was imprisoned, and now they want his help again.

And without a leader the rebels were without proper focus and most of all direction.

~~~~~

It was Alesa who took action to help the rebels, right now they trusted her. She wasn't affiliated with Duhita or Emedo, and she spoke for what they truly wanted. For now she was all they really had. When she heard of Sub and the situation of him being their only hope for progress she demanded to see him.

She hadn't heard much about him, only that he was a 'stubborn, traitorous mute' At first the idea of placing her trust in another traitor was against her better judgement, but when she heard of the scar across his neck she immediately wanted to see him.

"Please take me to where this Sub is, I think I may be able to help with the situation."

"But, there's no hope," it wasn't just that there was no hope, the rebels were in a position where it was hard to trust any. Alesa wondered if that bastard king planned this. Capturing that poor Vragan boy, enlisting an inside man, was this to throw off the balance? She heard a lot of the king's desire to kill Seto, but would he really do this all for one boy, what was so special about him?

No, maybe she shouldn't ask that, she knew something about him he likely didn't realize about her. But there was no way a king like him would no anything about that, there must be another reason.

"I insist, I am sure I can suade Sub to help."

She was sure she could, she had a secret weapon up her sleeve. She didn't know all the details, and she didn't need to, she was very good at figuring out these sort of things.

"Alright," she was lead away to a small building off near the shore, it had one guard, "in here, I'll wait out here with our guard for you."

"Thank you," she hesitantly opened the door. It wasn't much of a cell, just a room with a bed. A man who had to be Sub was lying on that bed with bandages wrapped around his abdomen. She walked in and heard the door close behind her.

"Excuse me, you are Sub right?" Sub didn't answer her, didn't move, or even acknowledge her. She moved a little closer.

If she didn't know better she would almost say he looked dead, but she could see the signs of life in him and consciousness, "I know you are awake. I can tell by your breathing patterns." Was that a weird thing to say? Perhaps it was, she had a slightly different way of looking at life honestly...

"Do you wish you could speak?"

Sub sat up and glared at Alesa with a hateful glare, he mouthed his words slowly for her, 'Go away.'

"Is your voice lost due to the cause of that scar?"

'Go away.' he repeated once more.

"I know of a way to help you, I hear you want your voice more than anything."

Sub stayed silent and and fell back on his bed. He had his back turned to her.

There was something no one knew about her, something she herself knew a lot about despite never using that knowledge to her advantage.

For the same reason she felt a pull towards Seto, he must've felt a pull towards her. And he wasn't the only one, there was that one fellow, was it a week ago? Blond hair, black streaks, a dark presence about him.

Seto and that man were what was known as a God Candidate, now in terms of how much Seto knew, she did not know. But she likely knew more, why was that? Well she was one herself, which is why there is connection between her and the other two.

The difference between her and Seto was Seto was born a candidate, and she was graced with that title, from none other than Notch himself. He was the one to give her this knowledge, and it was why she likely knew more. She learned of it early enough to know what she could do and its price.

Was this a sudden thing to confess? She would hope not...just thinking about it however did make her feel like a fool. Here she was, the one chose by the bearer of life, and here she spat on the life of another man. Adam.

In this moment she was not here to think of that man, but here to help the one in front of her...She honestly forget the feeling of life flowing through her. She was slow and delicate as she placed a gentle hand on Sub, he stiffened and almost immediately turned to face her.

"Leave me alone!" His reaction was delayed, at first there was rage, and then confusion. He wasn't sure where that voice had come from, but soon he came to the quick realization that the voice was his own.

Alesa smiled, she let out a quiet cough, and the guard along with her escort slammed through the door in a panic.

"Are you alright, There was an unfamiliar voice!" Alesa backed away from Sub who sat in shocked silence.

She smiled and walked towards the rebels, she spoke calmly and softly to them, "Yes, I think you'll find Sub much more cooperative."

And she left. Alesa had another thing on her mind.

She needed to calm down, a lot had happened today. Things she was not expecting. One moment she was having a pleasant conversation with Adam, next she was shooting words filled with a poison she'd never let anyone hear. As a princess she always had to stay composed, but the moment came so sudden. That the friend that was made was really her enemy.

And then there was Seto, he was chosen by the gods long before he was ever born. The first of 4. And it was through him she finally found the strength to save her kingdom, she was drawn by a future she couldn't quite see but knew was there, she was sure she would be successful.

She found herself in the temporary hospital set up for both the second prince and the Vragan boy. She entered, no one else but those two were around. The Vragan boy was asleep, however Adam was awake with his eyes closed peacefully. She could tell from his breathing, an odd perk of her abilities. She was just very aware of the living around her.

She was quiet as she made her way across the room and sat down near but far from his bed. His arm was slung carefully in a hold to help it heal and prevent worse damage.

"I didn't think you'd be the kind of person to visit me."

"Why would you come to a place like this?" She ignored his comment.

Adam opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling above, he said nothing at first.

"Well?"

"Because this is where Seto decided to go. He was the one to decide; so we all followed him to the rebel camp. And thus ended up here."

"But why, if you weren't here to ultimately ruin them, why live amongst people that wish you dead?"

Adam quietly began to hum a song. A pleasant melody ringing with the voices of many, it was both beautiful and haunting.

"What song is that?"

"An Emedian children's song my mother sang to me before she died, a song of my ancestor, the first of the Azures and the founder of Emedo. She would always finish the song with a story about a good prince , a kind prince; they were the kind of people I dreamed I would become, the person I believed my father already was, and the kind of person my brother would have been."

She thought to tell him about Jordan, then thought against it, that was his secret to tell, not hers, "Can you sing it to me?"

"Why, I know you don't like nor care for me very much, with good reason too. You are right, I never questioned my father, even when I knew our marriage was something I neither wanted to do, nor was something you were comfortable with. But I believed what he told me, that it would ultimately benefit both kingdoms."

"Can you...just sing the song?" She wasn't in the mood to talk really she needed a distraction in order to clear her thoughts.

Adam stayed silent, "I don't sing," that was a lie. Adam could in fact sing, and do it quite well. There were two reason; however, why he would not. One was the mentality he had about singing in front of others, it was always his father's rule that as a person of power he needed to compose himself. Which meant the lack of singing, he was quite good at staying composed when he needed to be, especially in his father's presence. Second this song was a song he and his mother sang, thus it was their song. Of course the song itself is a popular song in Emedo, since for one it is a children's song, and two it is a song that tells of Emedo's origin. But Adam himself never sang it for anyone but his mother, he only allowed himself to hum it since he died.

"Ok." Alesa decided not to press him, instead they sat in silence. Oddly, it felt neither awkward or tense, just a simple silence where neither of them talked.

"So...can I ask why you're sitting here?"

"I'm trying to figure you out."

"Oh," More silence. Alesa embraced the quiet and closed her eyes. She heard moving in one of the bed, Adam made a groaning sound. She opened her eyes to see he had sat up. He was looking at her, he had no glasses on, guess they never returned them to him.

Alesa kind of wished that she could just put those glasses on him and believe none of what happened, happened. She liked Adam the rebel, he was light-hearted and cheerful, but she didn't know what to think about Adam the prince.

Since Neim became Emedo's resource farm, which was the best term she could think of, her home was being dried of not only food, but men. And to her, it was the second prince that sent those men to die or be brainwashed.

"Do you think I'm a terrible person for not realizing the kind of person my father was?"

Adam's question caught Alesa off guard, she looked into his eyes. They were filled with sadness, guilt, and most of all loss. Like he wasn't sure either of what was happening now, "I've always idolized him. Sure he was strict and a bit harsh, but I always thought that this was the only way for me to become a good prince, a good king, a good person for my kingdom to rely on. Perhaps I'm just as bad of a person as he is, and people will believe that too."

Alesa couldn't formulate any words, Adam's heart was crying out in pain. She could hear it clearly now, normally she would block these noise out as they hurt her head to listen too, but his cries were so strong and so close to her she could do nothing about their intensity. And despite all that, she had to will herself to do nothing, she could feel the truth radiating off of him. Seto was right, Adam was not the person she thought, but she wouldn't allow herself to get involved. At the present time that would be bad.

"I...I don't know," was all she allowed herself to say. She stood up, and left. Alesa could feel Adam's eyes staring deep into her, like a ghost.

~~~~~

I like this chapter :D And yes, Alesa has magic, but she isn't considered a sorcerer. Sorcerers are natural born, she is a candidate, you should recognize this word from DC and GF. You'll learn more about it in the next book.

Man the endings is filled with plot twist after plot twist....I probs could've done a better job at delivering all of this.

Also, SUBBBB ( he was supposed to die when Seto injured him but then I realized no I can't it be sad and he has a purpose)

Theories??