The Queen Of Eternity

Smoking kills

My mother is nowhere to be found. Disappointed but not surprised. The woman is... not someone I can count on. 

By the time me and Lucas, along with a few other people could accuse anyone of anything, the place was cleared out. No cannons, traces of gunpowder not even one sign that anything out of the ordinary had happened. 

But something did happen and we have four (almost) dead bodies to prove it. 

There wasn't a soul in the forest when we were searching. But there was something. I felt a presence. Something that shouldn't be here. Something like me. 

     Restless anxiousness has taken over me as I sit beside a panicky Ocean. 

Panic attacks. 

Something, unfortunately, I am all too familiar with. 

"Hey. How you feeling?"

"Like I've run over by a truck. Twice."

Damn. 

"It was so scary. I have never felt like that before. It was like...like-" 

"Like your lungs were being crushed by an invisible force and the whole room was closing up on you and you couldn't for the life of you figure out why your hands and legs are shaking?"

She nods a yes. 

       Lucas has seen me have the worst panic attacks of my life and he has always been strong, calm and composed for me but when it came to Ocean...his stupid stone cold heart broke. 

"What happened?" I ask her, knowing full well she will not be able to give me a well definitive answer. 

"I am not sure, I was just- thinking about...some stuff and all of a sudden my hands started shaking and I just...I don't know. Lucas came into my room at the right time." 

I reply with an understanding sigh. 

"Try to get some sleep. It'll help." I give my unsolicited advice and walk out her bedroom door. 

      Azrael and I share a room and he's at the hospital wing at the moment, trying to do all he can for the guards. Lucas is helping. 

After I have panic attacks, I always want to be left alone. And I noticed that Ocean wanted to too. So, with nothing better to do, I head out to the forest. 

      Dense trees block the moonlight, lessening visibility even more. I use my phone's flashlight to scan my surroundings.

The plants around here aren't ordinary. I never knew that so many deadly plants of different species could grow together like this.

I  am not sure how far I wander into the forest before I stop. 

Smoke. Cigar smoke. I sniff around. It's a very faint smell. A lit cigar may have fallen from someone's hand here a while back. Which, probably, could be a lead in the case of 'who rained down fire?'

I bow down and try to see if I can find the butt of the cigar. 

Someone smacks my hand away.

"What the-"

"Language. I am your mother. Show some respect."

Anger takes control of my brain and logic goes out the window.

"Some mother you are. Did you know that bombs rained down on us? Or that we have four half dead soldiers? Or that there are no traces of life in this forest except this faint cigar smell, which thanks to your excessive all knowing abilities, is now gone?"

"Well...no I did not know any of that. But do you even know how dangerous those plants are?"

"Are you doing the mother version of mansplaining to me?"

My mother blinks at me before turning her back to me and walking back to the direction I came from. 

I let out a satisfied sigh and resume my search for a no-longer-smelling cigar.

After a few minutes, I find it. It's not just the butt. It's almost the whole thing. Whoever was smoking this was in a hurry. They dropped this and ran. 

I sniff it and run my finger over it. Looks expensive. Which would make sense. The smell, faint but it was still there. A cheap cigar wouldn't have burnt or smelled this long. 

I keep the cigar with me and walk back to the HQ with more questions than answers. 

°°°

"Hey, doc." I greet my busy bee of a boyfriend as I walk into his little make believe clinic. 

"Hey there, love."

That nickname. God, I love it. 

"You seem tired." I notice

"That's cause I am. I... did as much as I could with the limited supplies we have. They'll live. For now, at least. The maid is fine. She just had some mild injuries. But the guards..."

He sighs and I find his fingers intertwining with mine as he says, "Let's just go to bed."

 So we do. 

The bedroom door closes, and we both drop on the bed, my head on his chest and his hands going pretty much everywhere, as I start ranting about my discovery in the woods. 

"It could be someone's from our troops." He suggests as I draw patterns on his chest. 

"Weak possibility. Judging by it's fine fold and long lasting smell it has to be expensive. And I don't think my father pays his troops enough for them to spend so much on one cigar." I say as he takes off his shirt and walks away to change out of his jeans. I take this opportunity to take off my bralette and pants and slip on one of his t-shirts.

     As soon as he comes back from the bathroom, we're back to out previous position.

We sit in silence for a little while. I try to navigate through my memories, re-smelling every cigar I have ever smelt trying to see if I can remember this specific smell. But no.  

"Should I kill the lights? We can sleep on the problem, face it tomorrow."

Sleep sounds great. Too tempting to decline. 

So the room goes dark, I go from his chest to my pillow. His head finds a comfortable spot under my chin. It doesn't take him long to fall asleep. Understandable. A person is bound to get drained when some one else's life depends on them. 

Running my fingers through his hair, him snuggling deeper into my chest and his soft, steady breath slowly lures me into a comfortable sleep too.