Destiny woke with a gasp followed by a shuddering sob as she sat ramrod straight. She covered her mouth with her hand, hoping she wouldn’t throw up.
She could still it. Those tentacles reaching out to trap her so that she would cease to exist. She could feel her lungs being constricted; her body going numb; that horrible, horrible laugh ringing in her ears.
‘Dee? You alright?’ murmured a familiar voice. She looked up and saw concerned sea green eyes watching her intently.
‘River?’ she muttered, confused. She reached out to grab his scarlet jacket. Was he real? ‘River, is that you? Are you really here? You’re not…you’re not…’
‘I’m not what?’ he asked in alarm. He stared at Destiny in surprise. ‘Of course, I’m here, Dee! What happened? What happened on the roof? Destiny?’
Destiny groaned as her head began to spin. She released River to cradle her head, rocking back and forth to still the shifting colors across her vision. What had happened on the roof? Why couldn’t she remem-
Her eyes widened as memories of burning and a scintillating white flitted across her mind. She glanced about quickly and realized she was no longer on the roof. She was on the ground beside the Church.
‘River, what happened on the roof?’ she suddenly demanded as she whipped her head to stare intensely at him. He quirked an eyebrow.
‘Considering I’m asking you the same thing, you think I know?’ he pointed out.
She groaned in frustration. This wasn’t helping! Everything was so confusing and she needed answers! Just what had occurred a mere few minutes ago on the roof might be a clue to this complex puzzle!
‘The reason I want to know is,’ River began slowly as he stared up peculiarly at the roof. ‘When I reached, I was blinded by this bright, white light. And when it cleared…’
He gave Destiny a hesitant look. Like he didn’t know whether he should continue or not.
‘Out with it, River, this is a matter of life and-!’ she began to snap.
‘I saw burning bodies,’ he cut in. His eyes never left Destiny’s; even when hers widened in horror. ‘Just…a lot of…corpses…being burned alive. And they were screaming.’
Destiny shuddered involuntarily again. This all just didn’t make any sense. Why was this happening to her now? Was this Mage? And if so, would it consume her completely so that she would no longer be Destiny but a weapon of destruction? She needed answers. And she needed them now.
‘Destiny?’
‘I need to go,’ Destiny remarked flatly and stood up. She spotted her bike and made her way towards it. Suddenly, River moved in to block her.
‘Destiny, what’s going on?’ he asked quietly and crossed his arms. He wasn’t budging. She scowled at him.
‘Move, River!’ she said sharply. ‘I don’t have time to explain things!’
‘I just saw you surrounded by a sea of screaming and burning GroundUnders,’ River stated curtly. ‘Until you clear things with me, I’m not letting you go anywhere.’
Her scowl deepened. He wanted to know the truth? Fine, she’ll give him the truth!
‘You want to know what’s going on, River?’ she snapped angrily at him. ‘Alright, I’ll tell you! You know all those inhuman experiments Alicia was doing? And then the one which was successful?? Well, you’re looking at it! I’m living proof of her success! Right this very minute, residing in me, is the offspring of Hova! Mage itself in the flesh!’
With every sentence she uttered, his eyes widened in disbelief. His mouth parted but no sound came out. His hands slumped to his sides like he had no control over his body. She continued to glare angrily at him. She could feel her eyes burning but this time, it was due to tears threatening to spill.
He was probably going to turn her in to Vice and they’d wish to experiment on her. Something to poke and prod at and make sense out of. That wasn’t the life she wanted. She somehow escaped it years ago and she wanted to keep it that way. What she wanted now was answers and she wasn’t going to get it stuck in a test tube in a laboratory.
Then, River did the most incredulous thing. He smiled lightly at her. Now it was her turn to stare in disbelief at him.
‘What are you smiling about?’ she blurted out angrily. Was he making fun of her?
‘Well,’ he mused. ‘You finally let me in, Dee.’
She stood still, stunned by his words. Of all the things he had deciphered from what she’d said, that’s what he…
‘You’re such an idiot!’ she snapped and pushed him aside to reach her motorcycle.
He chuckled as he hopped onto his own and whirred it life along with hers. She didn’t stop him from following her to Vice and into Omicron, Vice’s enormous database hall which contained practically every bit of data one can think of. He knew everything now and there was no stopping him from sticking by her side to the bitter end. That’s just how River was.
‘Have you found it?’ she called out as she ruffled through files in an aisle ahead of him. Omicron was basically a huge maze of shelves upon shelves of stored data. They decided to stick close by to prevent the other getting lost.
‘Nothing ye-found it!’
Destiny raced to his side, her own heart running its own race. The information from Alicia’s drawer had been organized into a steel tray, making sifting through it really easy.
‘Should we take all of it?’ River suggested. Destiny nodded. She pulled the steel tray out of its place. There was a work cubicle nearby with a computer set up and everything. They could work there.
As she whirled around to stroll towards it, a CD accidently slipped off to clatter loudly to the floor. The impact caused the top to break off. Destiny groaned. If Rhett wasn’t angry before, he’d be furious now!
River picked it up the pieces and frowned.
‘It’s empty,’ he murmured and flipped it around.
‘The disk probably popped out too,’ Destiny exclaimed as she placed the tray carefully on the floor to get down on her knees and search for the supposedly lost disk.
‘I didn’t see any-hey!’ he pulled out a folded piece of paper wedged behind the CD’s cover. His jaw dropped when he unfolded the paper and glanced at it.
‘Dee, it’s a birth certificate,’ he said softly. ‘With your name on it.’
In the blink of an eye, Destiny snatched the paper from him, her eyes scanning it wildly. There was her name. But no surname. Well, was she really expecting one? Her heart raced as her eyes landed on line claiming who her parents were.
She brought the paper closer, her stomach suddenly twisting. No, no, it can’t be.
‘Destiny? Dee, what’s wrong? What does it say?’ River demanded, his heart palpitating.
‘River, it can’t be. I mean, how can I…who…’ she stuttered as her hands shook uncontrollably. She swallowed as she looked morbidly at River. ‘River, it says Alicia Crescent is my mother.’
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