Chapter 44 : Aaron's plight
[Author note : If you're interested in supporting my work, or just want to read more of my stories, check out the Patréon website (e instead of é) and search for Cathbel.
Enjoy !]
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Half a year ago, during the summer vacation, Aaron had left with a group of friends from elementary schools for a camping trip. It wasn't too far from his house, and an adult would be present to oversee their little group, so his parents saw no reason to refuse.
Aaron had been excited ! It was the first time in two years that he'd be able to spend some time with his best friend, Timothy. The others of the group were just a bonus, one he was neither eager nor reluctant to have with them.
Another reason he was excited was to take a breather from the suffocating political climate of the Wizarding World. A new Minister for Magic had been elected. A woman, by the name of Amelia Bones. Apparently, she was also the former head of the DMLE, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. And unlike her predecessor, she was tough on corruption, crime, and dark magic. So, Aaron had hoped that things would change for the better. And they did… Somewhat. Unfortunately, there also was push-back from the powerful pureblood families : financial pushback mostly, political too, in the Wizengamot… But the worst kind of pushback was actually the rise in crime. Attacks on businesses, muggleborn and half-blood homes had increased quite significantly. And Aaron feared for himself and his parents. Hopefully, since he wouldn't stay at his home for a while, neither he or his parents would be in danger ! How naïve he had been !
Two days after they were settled in a forest north of Bristol, right on the riverside of the Avon, his hopes for a stress-free and restful vacation were dashed. In a horrific attack from masked Dark Wizards, most of the kids, and the adult of their groups were killed. The women were played with by the few sickos in their midst and he… Well, since he wasn't sure what happened to the survivors, he might have been the least lucky of all. The bastards sold him to some shady international organization. To this days, he didn't know the name, nor what they aimed for when they captured him. He only knew they treated him like cattle, to be led around, poked and prodded, to be tamed…
For months now, the scientists, in their white lab coats, and without any humanity to be seen, had drawn him to unleash his magic in a variety of ways. However, since he didn't have his wand at the time, they mostly worked on wandless magic. Moreover, they weren't educators nor, in fact, had any idea how magic worked, so they trained him like they would an unruly dog, or an abusive parent with their child.
Most nights, he spent knocked unconscious, bruised and bloodied. The ones he wasn't were actually the worst, since it let him think about his condition, his friend and his family. He still had no idea what had happened to Tim. And when he thought of his parents… They must have been devastated ! Various nightmarish scenarios usually popped up in his mind in those cases… And as the days went by, they only grew worse.
However, alongside his despair, a growing and burning hate had been birthed. Not only for his captors, who he now daydreamed killing in horrific ways as his wandless magic grew with the experiments. The Death Eaters who had attacked him and his friends… He wanted to track down, kill them one by one. Letting them taste the fear and despair… Capture them and slowly torture them like he was going through. And also… The despicable, rotten and useless magical government. He wanted it all to burn !
So, when the alarms blared outside his cell, only a small part of him hoped that whatever was happening outside would let him escape this hell. The other, just wished that whatever had caused this alarm would destroy this place. Vaporize it, melt it, incinerate it… He was even currently muttering it like a mantra, following the beat of the alarm.
As his door was suddenly caved in before being blasted on the other side of the door, he was still doing this. And the two intruders started speaking :
« The hell ? What if he'd been behind the door ? You can't go around and do things like that ! » The canary wearing teenager turned, looked and listened to Aaron for a short moment, shook his head and continued firing his mouth off like a machine-gun. « Maybe we should leave this one… He's not stable, that's for sure. Hear what he's muttering ? Must be nuts ! Can't blame him, though… Haven't been here long and I still lost it a bit… »
« Shut up, Kid ! First, I knew he wasn't behind the door 'cause of the armor's sensors. Secondly : It doesn't matter. Time heal all wounds, they say. Even those of the psyche. We can't leave him here under this organization's thumb ! »
For a blissful second, the young speedster was silent. And even the next moment, when he opened his mouth, it was only for one sentence :
« You're right ! » He nodded and sped off in the distance. Meanwhile, the guy in the armored suit, Silver Lad, if Aaron recalled correctly, approached him.
« Don't worry, man ! We're here to help ! »
« Help ? » Aaron parroted with a weirdly intense, husky tone of voice, as if he wasn't used to speak anymore.
Suddenly, Ned's sensors started to send warnings on his HUD :
[Magical energies detected !]
[Magical energies increasing !]
Already, the squib could pick up with his eyes the consequences of such a swift and powerful rise of magic in the area as the teenager's cot started to bend as if under extreme heat, and dust started to hover. Ned scrunched his brows in appalled realization :
« A wizard… » He whispered.
So… This changed things. And at the same time, it didn't. Before, Ned planned to change Wizarding society in order to face their inevitable exposure. But now that he knew that, at least one organization, in the world knew about them… His fears were not only validated, they came true much too soon for his liking ! Moreover, he never thought that they would just… use the same means they used for centuries now… Hunting them while they stayed hidden, acting in secret. They didn't just take a page out of their book, they stole the whole damn thing and wrote a sequel !
« I don't need help ! » Aaron rose to his feet swiftly, rolling his half-opened hand with a finger pointing, Ned, notified of course, by the armor, felt the telekinetic hold on him as he was moved to the side, slightly. An impressive feat since Ned was in full armor, and the boy neither had a wand, nor a lot of years behind his ears.
Ned needed no talents in legilimency, nor even magic to notice the anger distorting the boy's expression, fueling his actions. To him, the boy looked like a man ready to kill… And he couldn't have that ! He followed after him as soon as the hold vanished. Not that it would bother him much, but the boy might consider it as an attack.
« What's your name ? By your accent, I'm guessing you're from England ? And considering the magic, from Hogwarts ? You don't seem like you've graduated from there, so… »
Aaron shot him a scalding look over his shoulders as he continued walking without stop. After a few seconds, he offered his name, in the same raspy voice :
« Aaron. My name's Aaron. »
« Hi, Aaron ! Nice to meet you ! My name's Ned. Ned Stark. » He paused, searching how to continued the conversation without it devolving into a fight. Platitudes and cliches wouldn't work here… As they often didn't in fictions. Finally, he found something…
« I killed once, you know ? Not a pleasant experience. For either of us. Beyond the remorse one might feel, or the disgust… It's the realization of how fragile people are that truly put me off… »
« You… You're a hero ! Heroes don't kill ! »
Ned scoffed :
« That's comic book talk ! Originally, the word hero was defined by people in power, who used it to bestow honor on someone. It could be and often was a soldier, a professional killer, rewarded for defeating his enemies. To put it simply, heroes were always killers. It's just that nowadays heroes try to project another image of themselves. They're basically trying to rebrand themselves and making their business private ! » He said the last part as a kind of joke before realizing that it was kind of true. Shaking his head, Ned got back to his point :
« The reason I'm saying this is… I understand the urge to kill someone. Although mine was a conscious and somewhat cold-blooded choice, while yours is dictated by your anger… I won't tell you what to feel in this situation, nor even tell you what you'll feel whether or not you do kill every despicable person in this forsaken place. But… » He paused as he noticed that the boy's attention was fully on him now, his body in the middle of putting his foot down. « … Isn't there something better for you to do ? Maybe find your family or friends ? A girlfriend ? Or a boyfriend ? What do you think ? » Another pause. « What do you think would make you feel better ? Going on a rampage here ? Or going home ? »