| Chapter 23 Ana and Marie sat in Brian's room talking. They hadn't seen each other in several years, so they had a lot of catching up to do. Ana told Marie of her position as ambassador to earth, and her most recent position as Nick's teacher. Marie told of her time as a nurse, and how she came to be assigned to the palace. The girls were enjoying their time together, although both seemed to be distracted. Marie had noticed the way Ana talked about Nick, quickly realizing her friend had deep feelings for him. And Ana took notice of how enamored Marie seemed to be with Brian. "Hello? Celeste to Marie," Ana laughed. Marie looked over at her friend, and blushed, "Sorry Ana." Ana shook her head, "In English, you're the one that suddenly took an interest in it, so use it." "Sorry," Marie said, "I was um ..." "Staring at the earthling again?" Ana offered. Marie's face turned even brighter, "Ana!" "What? You've been doing it since Nick and I came in," she said. "I can't help it. There's something about him, I just can't not look," Marie admitted. "Well, if it's any consolation, it seems that Brian is having the same problem with you," Ana teased. Marie sighed, glancing over at Brian, making sure he was still asleep, "This isn't suppose to happen. Why do I feel like this towards him?" Ana shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know ..... what exactly are you feeling?"she asked with raised eyebrows. Marie rolled her eyes, "I um ... like him? Is that the word?" Ana stared at her for a moment, "Like as in have feelings for him?" Marie nodded, "I don't understand it Ana. I don't know him, we've barely talked, but I can't make my heart stop beating overtime whenever he looks at me." Ana stared at her friend like she'd grown a third arm. "Stop looking at me like that," Marie said. Ana got up and walked over to the chamber, peering down at Brian for a moment. "He does look like us," she admitted, coming back over to her chair, "I admit that when we found them, I thought Brian was the prince. I was actually shocked when the mark showed up on Nick's arm, and not Brian's." "Do you think he could be one of us?" Marie asked. "He doesn't carry the mark, he can't be," she said. "Yeah, but we aren't born with the mark Ana, you know that. If he was born on earth, he wouldn't have it," Marie countered. "Has he been scanned?" Ana asked. Marie smiled, "No, but we can fix that once he's out of the chamber." The girls smiled at each other, "Yeah, let's do that," Ana said. Marie grabbed Brian's chart and wrote the orders for the tests down, perfectly matching the doctors handwriting. "Oh you're good," Ana laughed. "I write most of his orders anyway. He hates doing the paperwork," Marie smiled. "Good for you, huh?" Ana asked. Marie looked over at Brian, "Right now, yeah it is." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick stood near the door to his fathers room. Anthony and the queen were still sitting with him, quietly talking to him. Nick didn't want to interrupt them. They'd spent their lives with each other, and they needed time to say goodbye. At some point, Mason appeared beside him. Nick didn't even notice when he came in, but now that he was here, he noticed something. There was no sadness in his uncles eyes, no posture of grief. Mason stood there staring at his brother with no emotion whatsoever on his face. Nick was on the verge of tears, and his uncle was stone faced? Nick sighed, telling himself that different people deal with death in different ways. Maybe this was just Mason's way of dealing with it, just not to let any emotion escape at all. He watched as Anthony and then the queen hugged his father. They both got up, clinging to each other for strength. The king looked in Nick's direction, but motioned Mason over. Mason walked over to the bed and sat down, taking his older brothers hand. Nick couldn't hear what the king was saying, but judging from the expression on his face, it wasn't a heartfelt goodbye. It looked more like a warning. Mason only nodded, not the least bit phased. What good was a threat from a dying king anyway? Mason got up and glanced at Nick for a moment, before looking back at his brother. There was an exchange there, that set the hairs on the back of Nick's neck on end. It was almost as if they were conversing, without speaking. Nick was sure they were, having found out that was one of his abilities as well�to project his thoughts to others without having to verbalize them. Mason shook his head, then bowed, in a half curtsy to the king. Nick glared at his uncle, feeling the gesture was one of defiance, not respect. Then without a word, Mason returned to his place near the door. Nick glared at him for a moment, but Mason refused eye contact with him. Nick finally turned his attention back to his father, who was motioning for him to come over. Nick walked across the room and sat down by his fathers side, taking his hand. "Nickolas, there is so much I need to tell you... but there is no time," the king said. Nick's eyes were stinging from his tears, but he made no effort to wipe them away. "Son, when I go, the planet will look to you for guidance. Lead them with your heart," the king told him. Nick nodded, "I'll do my best to make you proud of me." His father smiled, "I'm already proud of you. You have become a good man and have accomplished many things already. I will always be proud of you Nick, and I will always love you." The king reached up, and Nick took him in his arms, hugging him. "Watch out for the council, especially your uncle. He stands much to gain if you fail," the king whispered in Nick's ear. Nick nodded, still holding his father, "Please don't go, I'm not sure I'm ready for this." "I'm sorry my son, but I can no longer fight this battle. Remember what I've told you, and you will be fine," the king said. Nick nodded, biting his lower lip to keep it from trembling, "I love you," he whispered. The king smiled, leaning into Nick's embrace, "I love you my son .... always." It took a moment for Nick to realize that his father was no longer hugging him. Nick carefully lay him back on the bed, "Father? Please don't go.." he begged, as the doctors turned the monitors off. Nick looked up at them, wanting them to do something, but they just looked at him with sadness in their faces. The king was dead. Nick looked back down at his father, tears streaming down his face. Suddenly he felt someone's hand on his shoulder and looked up into the loving eyes of his mother. She took him in her arms and held him as he sobbed, Anthony standing with them, offering his own support. Mason watched his family as they grieved. He sighed, looking over at Rowland, "I will send the word." Rowland nodded as Mason turned and left the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian moaned as they lifted him from the chamber over to the bed. His bruises were looking much better, but he was still sore. He settled into the bed, as several nurses removed some of the patches from his chest, leaving others. One of the nurses came over with a needle in her hand, and reached for Brian's arm. He jerked it away, "What are you doing?" "It's alright Brian," Ana said, "We need to make sure you're OK. It's just a few tests to make sure we didn't miss anything." Brian stared at her for a moment, still suspicious. Marie walked over to his side, "It's all routine. We won't do anything to hurt you." Brian gazed into her crystal blue eyes for a moment, then nodded, letting the nurse take his blood. He watched as another nurse came over with some sort of hand held wand, and passed it over him. He wondered what that did. Then someone snipped off a small piece of his hair. "Hey! What's that for?" he asked, as the person walked out of the room. Ana and Marie smiled at each other. "Just some tests," Marie said, "You'd be amazed at what you can learn about a persons health from analyzing their hair." "Oh, OK, I guess," Brian said, still feeling uneasy. He wished Nick would come back in. He trusted Nick. "So, how are you feeling?" Ana asked, when the nurses left the room. "Sore and a little tired," he admitted. "That's to be expected. You're very lucky to even be alive," she said. "How did you rescue me?" he asked. "We had a ship trailing yours. Nick ordered it closer and put the rescue teams on alert. He knew something was going to happen. So when we saw that your airlock was failing, we launched. They picked you up as soon as you cleared your ship," she explained. "But how did he know?" Brian asked. "It is one of his abilities. Sometimes he can see the past or the future. He saw you being sucked out of the ship," she said. "How many of these abilities does he have?" he asked, in stunned amazement. "He has all seven," Ana said. "Seven?" Brian asked. She nodded, "I will let Nick tell you what they all are." "But, if you brought me here, where is my ship? Where are the guys?" Brian asked. "They are still on their way here. If they keep their rate of speed, they should arrive in two days," Ana said. "Oh," he said, not even thinking that they weren't there yet. "Brian, why don't you rest for a little while. We'll wait until we get the test results back before we move you to your room," Marie said. "My room? I thought this was my room," he said. She smiled at him, "The prince wants you near him, on his floor." It took Brian a second to remember that Nick was the prince, "Oh, OK." Marie helped him settled into bed. Brian stared at her the entire time, he couldn't help it. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't make himself stop. As he was just closing his eyes to go back to sleep, bells started ringing. He opened his eyes and looked around. It sounded like every bell in the city was ringing. He looked over at the girls. They both had tears in their eyes. "What is it?" he asked. "It's the king," Ana said, "He's passed away." Marie walked over to a screen on the wall and flipped a switch. Brian watched as the screen came to life, filled with images of the king throughout the years. He couldn't understand what was being said, but he knew a memorial when he saw one. The girls wept as the story played on. Brian felt for them. They obviously loved the king, and his death was painful. Then his thoughts went to Nick. This was Nick's dad, his real dad. He could only imagine how hurt Nick was right now. Brian sighed, leaning back in bed. None of this was fair. For Nick to be brought here and reunited with his family, only to lose his father in a matter of a few weeks? No, this definitely wasn't fair. His attention went back to the screen as a few pictures of Nick came on. "What are they saying?" he asked. Marie wiped her face, "That the funeral will be tomorrow, and Nick will be named King afterwards." Brian bit his lip, realizing that all hope of Nick coming home just flew out the window. He closed his eyes and shed his own tears of loss. Chapter 24 |