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birth

im calling you from the future to let you know [break]
we made a mistake

born in the eye of the storm. a calmness envelopes the world but it is not peaceful. the silence is broken by screams of pain and the shrieking of an infant muffled only by the rolling fog. aiden is small, but alive. he was not meant to be alive, but he is. Amelia Cunnigham holds him close and whispers sweet nothings. Her touch tames the tempest she bore. [break][break]

She is determined not only to thrive, but survive. They both will. She does not cry for her lost lover, nor does she miss him. She does not think of him as anything more than passing disdain, unwelcome in her home. their home. Aiden shares his mother's eyes but lacks her immeasurable kindness, he shares his father's hair but lacks his austere control. his mother prefers it that way. He learns not to ask for him. He does not need him. He is happy with just Amelia. He is her everything.

[break][break]

She leaves him with his grandparents and local brothers that care for him. The brothers are never around for long but they bring laughter whenever they come. Their games are simple but he is happy. He learns to speak things he shouldn't. This only makes Aiden speak them louder and with conviction. It's not funny but to him and brothers, it is. He is too young to memorize their faces or grasp their true worth. When they stop visiting, he is sad, but he hangs on tight to whatever memory he can keep and locks it away.

[break][break]

His grandfather teaches him of manly things. Fishing, fighting, foraging. survival!! Aiden begins to understand what money and class and need is. His grandmother is the opposite. She plays, not teach. She lets him help her in her weaving and her cooking. Aiden is decreed official Taste Tester and Professional Spoon Licker. He behaves under her watch. He gets a fishing hook stuck in his thumb under his. The Cunningham's are happy.

[break][break]

loss

i got nothing but dreams inside, [break]
i got nothing but dreams

She is beyond their help but Aiden is not. He must not only survive but thrive. These are Amelia's last words to her child as her life fades. He is old enough to understand, but barely. His grandparents take him in when the sun goes down. They are slightly better off than he and his mother ever were. Their love is unconditional. They are essential. They hold him together and keep him that way.

[break][break]

All Aiden can taste is salt. Days, months, years go by before he learns to live with it. He is forced to grow too much, too quick. Where is his father? Why did this happen? survive. He lives for her. He is her life, her love. He learns what his grandparents can afford to teach him. He perfects what they offer. Magic will offer him a way out, an escape. Magic will bring new opportunity. He carves his path with dirty fingernails and calloused palms. He is not his mother. He is not a force of nature. Yet. [break][break]

Aiden is rough, bruised, and mouthy. He does not back down. He does not show weakness. He can't recall if it's his blood or someone else's on his palms, on his clothes. Is his nose broken or was that someone else? He is a rolling mass of emotions as any given moment. Immature, ignorant, and above all incorrigible. He barely eats, he barely sleeps, but he grows all the same against all odds. Aiden hides his wounds and cares for his grandparents. He is at the cusp of adolescence when he begins working to do his share. [break][break]

Not everyday is horrible. There are sunny days without Amelia. Clear-blue-sky days with crisp breezes and the smell of flowers. Even when wrapped up in mischief Aiden is fortunate. He is blessed with an aunt. Fierce but admirable. Generous only once, but once is enough. He feeds her his thanks, and earns her friendship. [break][break]

Then another aunt. She is practical, and intelligent. Their friendship is slower, and their talks are talks he enjoys. She speaks of ways to survive, to fight and he listens with begrudging admiration. Aiden starts trouble only for her to dismiss him but he keeps coming back for more. [break][break]


Then a cousin. He is strange. Aiden holds him at a distance at first. He is cautious, formal. He is more mature, he thinks. But still, there is a sense of familiarity and he finds himself slipping face first into that comfort. He grasps at wisps of a memory that are locked away so deep he has no chance of getting to them alone. The laughter is back.

[break][break]

They are all sunbeams in his life and reminders of better times.

[break][break]

selection

i got rage every day, on the inside

The storm runs in his blood, the lighting flashes in his eyes. The winds ruffle his hair and thunder cracks with each step he takes. He will not be denied. He cannot be denied. Aiden Cunningham is the ghost of a time long past. He is inexplicably him with dark green eyes that hide so much more than just the righteous fury of mother nature.

[break][break]

Nothing can silence the gossip as the coven is reminded of the fallen knight. Aiden's likeness, his affinity. The Emerson clan is silent, ruminating as this aberration walks through hallowed halls. He has earned his right through his own self worth alone. He is grown, intelligent but still just a child. His moods fluctuate too quickly to keep track.

[break][break]

The stories of his father reach his ears and worm their way into his thoughts. The spectacle that was his father's fall from grace makes his stomach churn, and his blood boil. He was a proud, rich, and powerful helios knight, but then he became corrupt, depraved, and vile. His last wrongdoing was not ruining Amelia Cunningham's life but suspected bribery of coven officials.

[break][break]

Son of a fallen idol, inheritor of a derelict throne, heir to a wicked reputation. Aiden shoulders all these titles without hesitation. He is more than this. The revelations only strengthen his resolve, and amplify his ambition. He is his mother's legacy, her avenger. [break][break]

And when the Emerson clan finally claim him, Aiden goes willingly. He is under no illusion that there is anything more than personal interest at play. He is, at best, the one who will atone for his father's sins against the family. He will repair their broken image. He will be proof that the blood of the family is stronger than any impurity mixed into his body. He is a thing to sympathize with. A story of overcoming the odds. He will add his mark to the world in the name of the family.

[break][break]

present

i'm just young enough to still believe, still believe [break]
young enough not to know what to believe

Aiden Emerson is a bottled thunderstorm ready to burst. He is a leech quietly taking his new family's vitality and sharing it with his true family. He learns what he can, and does what he can. His deficiencies in speech and mannerisms are hand waved away with money and mentions of his upbringing.

[break][break]

Aiden looks to the future, loyal to his coven, true to their beliefs. the whispers in the shadows are enough for him to set his sights to the top. it will take years. it will take decades but he will erase all that tainted the helios knights. he will find the source and crush it. he will stand for the right way to achieve results. he will hold himself first, to the highest standard.