My Sister, The Chosen One

Eleven

Labyrinth- Mount Everest

Ericson:

Marcus Lovewind and Doctor Alston Peabody are dead just as she predicted. Brucie is sitting across from me beyond furious and I don't blame him. This is one of the biggest consequences when dealing with the King of the Realm or in this case, the Guardian. The reasons outweigh the outcomes. This was a public execution. Lovewind had been in the middle of a press conference when his head exploded in front of hundreds. It's the same bullet design that nearly killed Breeze. It was a warning.

"You get how this reflects on you, right? Your job is to control this kind of behavior, Redwood. We're dealing with kids. Very powerful and reckless kids. This Guard has been the strongest we've had in a long time and they have the people on their side. Not only are they dangerous, but they're also protected by the public as f*****g celebrities. You know who this girl is right?"

"No, I don't. I thought I did but she's become unpredictable,"

"This is Sasha Airstorm's file. Both Military and juvenile. study it. I know you think the world of this girl but she's not just our savior. That's just what we call her now," he sighed and stood up. "There is no doubt in my mind that you can help this girl reach her full potential, Ericson. But she is going to fight you. She only cares about one thing and one thing only and she has been through hell to ensure that Breeze Airstorm is safe. She'll kill me for it and she would kill you with no hesitation or remorse. You don't know her. This isn't one of those I used to be this but I'm not anymore. She's just on the path most convenient. The Aldrich princess is nothing like the girls from Sentinel. We don't have high societal ladies. We have high-profile killers and this one is the nation's favorite. We're naming a city after her. Get it together new guy,"

"Thank you, Bruce," I groaned.

He stormed out of the room with a low gush of air circling around him. I get it, he's pissed because we have to clean up this mess. The fingerprints are back and we have someone to blame. This guy is barely a criminal but the profile sticks. Lilly is already putting together a profile to release to the public in the morning.

I stuck the USB he placed on the table in the computer. This is a really large file. The most recent stuff came up. Her entire military profile is flawless. She's never made a mistake. Well, none that have been found anyway. She covers her trail to perfection. However, her younger years are just as interesting as the past five years of her life. At nineteen, she met a man named Archibald Airington. Street name, the Ace.

Airington has a son named Sesshomaru with a woman from the Verglas Realm. f*****g ice fairies are the worst. This particular ace is one of the last pureblooded Airingtons. They're just as important as the Airstorms. These assassins work privately. They're not part of the military, officially. So, if one of them snuffs a political figure in another realm, there aren't any treaty laws broken. It's brushed under the table as an unsolved mystery. They're old money. As old as Aldrich.

"Sir, funeral arrangements have been made. Would you like me to send out the invitations?" Lilly walked in. The floral scent around her filled my office space.

"Yes," I sighed sitting back.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked putting her hologram puck in the front pocket of her jeans.

"Captain, what do you think of Sasha Airstorm?"

"In general or professionally?" she asked. I laughed.

"Humor me. Start with general,"

"She is amazing. Incredibly smart and gutsy. When I grow up I want to be just like her,"

"All right," that was incredibly honest. "Professionally?"

"She is dangerous, sir. The kind of dangerous that will smile at you tenderly while she guts another fairy alive. Again, I want to be like her when I grow up. Anyway, are you interested in her? Because she is not just a badass. She's insanely hot," she came and sat down in front of me. "I have a theory already. Word on the streets, I grew up in the same neighborhood as her, anyway. Word, when I was a kid, was that she was running around with our local bastard. He goes by the name of Spade. The guy was crazy scary. Probably still is. He's an ace now. They were together for a long, long time. The King, Spade beat the s**t out of him once when he called lady Sasha a b***h in front of Breeze.

"I mean lady Sasha really had to put in an effort to get him to stop. The King has a scar just above his ear from it, still. There was blood everywhere. The gun she gave us, was broken apart," she pulled out her hologram puck and placed it on the table. She's showing me the gun. "See this right here. They're black ash particles. Glossy ones. Sage is the only void fairy in Aldrich right now. This means she pulled the gun apart and then put it back together using her void abilities.

"Knowing how reckless Sage is, she caught him. They fought because there was blood on the floor. It was spoiled with ammonia. Whatever he said to her turned the tables. She stopped fighting him and they went their separate ways. Since I still check in on their apartment, a force of habit. I love lady Breeze. She's so nice. Someone broke into it last night. They took something from the kitchen and put everything back the way it was and even locked the door back up when he left. I watched the mysterious figure from the building across,"

"That could have been either of them,"

"No, no one in the guard is taller than six three. This dude was massive. It was him. I think he went there to get paid. Lovewind and Peabody die? Coincidence? Maybe," she shrugged taking the puck. This kid is amazing. I can't believe she's only twenty-six.

"Thank you, Lilly. Good work,"

"You are very welcome, sir. Blue orchids,"

"I'm sorry?"

"Sage's favorite flowers. Blue Orchids. Any shade but I'm willing to bet ice orchids would piss her off. That's how you know,"

"Know what?"

"If she'll ever be yours," she walked out and shut the door. Women all scare me. I picked up my phone and called Ansly.

"Have you guys sucked face?" is the first thing she asked me.

"Where are the twins?" I ignored her.

"Ugh, the twins this. The twins that. You know I should be your favorite. I do the most,"

"Where are they, Ans?"

"They're home. Be warned, Rain's girlfriend just dumped her ass. So, if it's violence you want. You shall find,"

"Thank you, Ansly. That purse you wanted, go ahead,"

"I love you," she screamed excitedly. "You are the best brother in the world. Okay, bye. I have to go,"

"Be careful,"

"Yes, sir. Love you. Don't let the twins eat all my snacks," she hung up. I pressed the intercom to Lilly.

"Captain Airstrike, forward any important calls to my phone. I'm going home,"

"Yes, sir. Let me know if you need anything,"

I gathered my things and jumped from my balcony. The twins are home. Rain and Rize are my youngest sisters. Identical twins. They can usually fool people regarding which one is which. They were only a few months old when our parents were killed. It's been twenty-two years. The two of them just graduated and have officially become officers.

"Papa, you're here. Please, please tell me you have a mission for us. Rain is driving me insane with her dumb sappy songs about being heartbroken. Please, papa. Make it stop!" she dramatically dropped herself on the floor. I could never stop them from calling me that. The door to Rain's room opened up. She is blasting Mariah Carrie's We belong together. It's her favorite. It has been her favorite since the one kid in a show she liked got married a few years ago.

"Not a mission but I do have something for us to do together. I need two snipers to watch my back later. You want in?"

"Depends, are you going to scare a politician or-"

"A criminal," I smiled tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I. Am. In. I'll go get soapy mopy," she laughed and raced off. Neither of them has earned their wings yet but they get around just fine.

I got what we need ready. Finding Airingston isn't the difficult part. Getting an audience with him, however, is a completely different story. I changed into something casual. Dark colors. Ace lives at the top of the Aldea resort in the penthouse suite. The place is beautiful and very open. Getting inside is the least of my worries. The man doesn't have an army of bodyguards. He has one. A man named twitchy knuckles. No one knows what his real name is. The guy has never been caught or spotted. We don't even know what kind of fairy he is. What we do know is that those who have come close, are all dead.

"Rain, I want you on the Elder tower. Let me know who's coming in and out. I want you to look out for Sage,"

"Sage? Is she meeting you there?" Rize asked.

"No, but I have a hunch that she'll be there tonight. Give me a heads up. Rize, I need you to hit a man with a tranq," I handed her the dart. "Inside there will be two. The one with the white hair, I need to speak with him. The other one doesn't need to hear it,"

"This sounds kind of illegal," Rain speculated.

"Do you not hear him? This is a high-profile criminal that even Sage is after. By all means, is the oath he took as the Fifth Elder of Aldrich. We've got this, papa. We have your back,"

"One thing, before we go. This guy has men all over the place. Not protecting him but nosy enough to try and catch one of us to get on his good side. You have a green light to defend yourselves. Keep your coms on at all times. Don't freak out when I turn mine off,"

"What are we getting for this?" Rain asked. "This sounds personal and I don't not want to get compensated for this, papa,"

"What do you want?"

"I want in on the High Rise investigation. Who's taking lead?"

"Captain Airstrike is waiting for confirmation from High Rise. You can go with her,"

"Thank you," she came over to me and took a case.

"What do you want, Rize?" I asked.

"Nothing. You just gave me exactly what I wanted. To get away from soapy mopy over here. Can I take a break, though? A couple of days at Jellies and I'll be great,"

"Sure, take the weekend,"

"Yes," she fist pumped and picked up the other case. They did their lucky handshake before running off.

"Can you hear me?" Rain called out from the coms as soon as I put it in my ear.

"Yes,"

"Let's go. We're all here," Rize laughed.

"All right, girls," I headed towards Uptown.

The Aldea Resort is one of the biggest tourist attractions we have. It's built on the top of Aldea's famous rainbow waterfalls. They were a gift from the water tribes to the Airgingtons. It's a massive heaven's cloud castle held up by the four smaller versions of it that were built on top of each waterfall. The North and the South pillars are both high-end shopping malls. The other two are casinos. And this ass hole lives at the very top.

I feel like I had a lot to worry about knowing that she just broke up with the King of Aldrich. I get it. They have history and I can live with the fact that they're close. Something happened between them that she didn't like. This is different. If what Captain Lilly Airstrike said is true and this is the first guy she was ever in love with, I'm worried. She openly admitted to being attracted to danger and that she's willing to put her family name on the line to make this happen. However, what if after it's over she gets bored. A guy like Sesshomaru Airington would never bore her.

"Question," Rain spoke up. "Do you guys think I'm too much?"

"What?" I asked stepping down at the top of the resort.

"Yeah, do you think I'm a lot to handle?"

"In what terms? Your s**t taste in music or in general?" Rize asked.

"Shut up. I'm being serious," Rain groaned.

"No," I answered. "You're the least too much person I know. You're independent, you keep to yourself a lot. I kind of have to coax things out of you. All of us do. Why do you ask?"

"Chance said that-" she paused and let out a heavy sigh. "She said I was too much. That I concentrate on work and that I don't have a personality outside of work and when I try to do nice things for her, I go overboard,"

"Chance is w***e," Rize proclaimed a matter of factly. I almost laughed. "Rain, Chance wasn't the one. She was with you for the clout. You got her into next-level society parties. It's the only reason why she was with you, sis. I told you to have fun. Not fall in fake love with her,"

"Fake love?" Rain and I asked at the same time.

"Give me a sec. I see the white-haired- oh my sweet fireflies. He is hot. Like dry ice frost hot. Some people are just blessed. Holy moly," Rize praised him.

"Is he alone?" I asked annoyed.

"Nope,"

"Dude, Sage is already inside. You're kind of late to this party," Rain chuckled.

"f**k. Let's wait her out,"

"What's going on, Papa?" Rize asked.

"I think Sage sent him to take out Lovewind and Peabody," I whispered, taking a knee.

"What?" they both asked at the same time. It's hard to make out which one is who when they do that.

"This is a private investigation. I have to cover up a bunch of s**t I need to know why,"

"Damn, brother. You're into some scary girls now. I for sure thought you'd go for the socialites here," Rize giggled.

"Those are the socialites here," Rain scoffed. "Anyone who means anything in this realm is a military brat. The point is to breed warriors. House mistresses with the highest rank officers as their children have it made. If Lady Airstorm were still alive, she'd be the most influential elder in all of Aldrich. They're the real housewives with AKs,"

"Sexy," Rize giggled. I need male friends.

"That guy is super tall. You're going to have to take a low defense, papa. Maybe keep your handgun seal open. Have your pocket knife ready if you don't want to be noisy," Rain advised. "They're going out onto the balcony,"

I sat down when I heard the sliding door move. The girls quieted down.

"-felt like old times, Spade," the man continued to speak.

"Don't call me that. What did Marcus say?" Sage demanded.

"He had a lot to say. Not just about Breeze. He said there's someone on the council feeding Sentinel information. Things have been moving in a certain direction since that new Elder has taken his seat. It kind of looks like he's favoring you,"

"The fifth Elder is always on the Royal Guard's public image. It's usually someone who was in the former guard. Elder Redwood was the former Guardian," Sage is sitting on the ledge of the balcony with her feet dangling off the side of the building. I can see her back from where I'm sitting.

"He's an outsider," Airington walked up next to her and sat down. "It's not him. I've been monitoring Mill. He's been snooping around my guys these past few months trying to find the Spade. Either he knows it's you or he has someone in mind,"

"What does he want with the Spade?"

"My guess is he wants to retire early. He'll never have the ace but the second in command is everything,"

"Holy moly," Rize whispered.

"Shh." Rain scolded her.

"Look, we've talked about this. Sess, I'm no longer part of this. You let me out. I gave you what you wanted. You need to replace the Spade. I took an oath to Aldrich and I'm not breaking it for you,"

"You say one thing but your eyes say another," he chuckled. Is he flirting with her? She laughed. No, Sage. Don't fall for that.

"How's your tooth? Ready to add another to your collection?" she scoffed. Ha.

"Come on, Sasha. You're single. I'm single. We're both beloved public figures. Match made in heaven,"

"Do you remember Aldrin?"

"Do I remember Aldrin? The f*****g place you dumped in? Yeah, I f*****g remember Aldrin," his tone is harsh. He's mad now. The girls snickered in my ear.

"I asked you what you wanted from what we were doing and you said you wanted everything. You painted a pretty picture for yourself and I respected that. Not once did you ask me what I wanted nor did you include me in any of what you wanted to do,"

"Sasha, you had your own dreams," he stood up. "Sasha this person you've become is a lot worse than when you were with me. You wanted to be an artist. You wanted to stop this and I wanted to give you that. You weren't included in my plans because I wanted you to be better. To mean something real. You chose to walk away from me because I wanted to be the Ace?"

"Sess there was rarely a moment when we agreed on something. We were constantly at each other's throats. By the time I told you I wanted out I was fed up with your s**t. Don't get me wrong. I was having a great time with you. You meant everything to me. You still mean a lot but I have more to think about than what I want,"

"Breeze can take care of herself. The rook takes care of her. There is nothing wrong with wanting more for yourself outside of your sister," he bit out angrily. Sage stood up and dusted off her bottom.

"I'm not going to sit here and argue with you about this, Sesshomaru," she sighed before turning to face him."You look good. I was kind of hoping you would get fat like your old man,"

"f**k you," he scoffed. She laughed pushing off the ground to be at eye level with him.

"Thank you for tonight. I needed to get that off my chest," she tried to go inside but he stopped her. He reached for her wings but she pulled away from him.

"Those are pretty," he dropped his hand. "The ash of the void. Legend says that those who bear the wings of ash are agents of chaos. They fit you perfectly. I have something for you,"

"What?" she asked.

"Wait here," he instructed and went inside.

"You shouldn't be here, Ericson," she sighed.

"Not here for you," I chuckled. Of course, she knows I'm here.

"I know,"

"She's good," Rize giggled.

"Here," Airington reappeared. It's a big box. She set it down and opened it. Inside is a very expensive-looking paintbrush and paint set.

"He's good," Rain scoffed. She picked up a pastel pink brush and inspected it.

"Sess," she sighed before she put it back and shut the box. "I can't accept them. In fact, I don't want them. Not because they're from you. It hurts me to admit this because it's you but I never want to paint again. The part of me that wanted this, was a little girl. A very talented one but she's gone,"

"Sasha," he whispered reaching for her. She stepped away but he didn't let her. "What happened? Did someone hurt you?"

"You hurt me," she laughed pushing his hand away. "No, I had to kill her. I was stuck in a loop where I got what I thought I wanted. I took my favorite brush and stabbed myself with it in my throat and bled out until I died. Picking up a f*****g brush again-" she shook her head. "I'm sorry. This isn't something I can take therapy for. It's a matter of life and death," she reached into her pocket and held a black chess piece up. It's the knight. "I never want to go back there again. It's not much of a loss anyway,"

"Come here," he pulled her in and held her until she pulled away. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I'll try jewelry next time,"

"Move on, Sess. There's a spoiled rich girl out there who would love for you to kill for her instead,"

"None like you," he put his hand in his pocket.

"I have to go. Go see a tooth fairy. You have really nice teeth and having one missing is too funny,"

"Yes, I have an appointment in the morning,"

"Good," she went inside and he followed. They shut the door.

"That was hard to watch, papa," Rize whispered.

"She's gone," Rain informed me. "He's alone. Are you going in?"

"Yeah, make sure no one interrupts us,"