The Very Next Day
Tomorrow came like it would everyday, with a rising sun in the east and the chirping of birds in the bushes and trees.
It was all over the news in the morning, Caden Price was alive, having 'survived' his death and that the serial killer who had massacred his family was now dead. His life was announced on national television as the boy who survived having an assassination had the hands of a mad man. How he survived, no one knew.
Thea woke up, her eyes peeling open and her head throbbing as if she was having a hangover. As she slowly sat up, she paused as she felt something weighing on the bed. There was a small foldable table with skillet cooked bacon, sweet sausage and over easy eggs on an island of toast.
The eggs over easy were Caden's favorite, though she never knew in either of her memories. She stared at the food that was prepared for her as she wiped her eyes. Had her mother done this? Or perhaps Walter?
Hearing someone sigh with relief at her waking up, she looked over at the boy who was leaning against her desk with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing an alabaster grey turtleneck, black blazer and black pants.
Her eyes wandered down to his feet, seeing black dress socks with a bright yellow toe mark at the ends. Her eyes traveled up to his face, Thea blinked several times and rubbed one of her eyes. "Who...?"
A sudden memory slapped her in the face. The very memory which she had chose to cherish before her mind was wiped. She had kissed this guy, but she didn't recall who he was.
She made a stern expression, but no matter what she tried to do, no matter what she tried to remember there was nothing. However these feelings made her heart flutter and her face flush. She swallowed the silva which was forming in her mouth from the aroma of the food.
There was no chance of her other memories returning, he had extracted them from her mind when he took back the ring.
"Did you make this?" Thea asked as she squinted her eyelids, narrowing her sights on the man. From how he was dressed, he appeared mature, yet his face and body appeared to be in a state of a teenager. He looked no older than herself. "Who are you?" His face did look familiar however, other than from the memory. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.
The moment he opened his mouth to answer, Moira opened the door and raised a brow seeing the scene. "Caden, your Godfather Kenneth Bender just called, he said he'd like to meet with you at the cemetery later today."
Caden and Thea both looked at her, as if she had just intruded and interrupted something.
Moira just looked at them for a few moments before backing up and closing the door, clicking it shut, then walked away.
As this was happening, Caden was rather inwardly confused at the name which was given by Moira. Kenneth Bender? Wasn't that Damien Darhk? For some reason his family was related to him in some fashion. He was becoming rather curious to what that relation was.
Caden stared at the door until he knew she was far enough away before focusing back on Thea who was waiting for him to tell her who he is. Though now she had his name, at least his given name.
"My name is Caden Price," he reintroduced once more with a casual appeal, "You may call me Cade." Caden gave a light bow of his head as he continued to lean against her desk. "And yes... I made that for you." He smiled at her with a fondness in his eyes.
She slowly nodded as she took everything in. It appeared her mother wasn't bothered by a boy being in her room. Let alone this one in particular. "Are you my boyfriend or something?" She asked with her eyes still narrowed on him, her fingers fiddling with the fork on the portable table.
Caden bobbed his head in a positive response to her inquiry, "Aye."
Thea raised a brow as he only said one word to emphasis the movement of his head. "I don't remember a thing about you..." She began to push the sausage around on the plate, the headache being completely gone now. It wasn't a hangover, she's had one of those before. Maybe she had been drugged? Maybe she had some sort of medically induced amnesia?
"How'd we meet?" Thea inquired as she impaled the piece of sausage and brought it to her mouth, biting off its 'head' as she did so before pointing it at him. "Mmm..."
"We met at your Brother and Father's graves," Caden responded truthfully, not giving much information, but still giving her what she wanted to know.
Thea stared at him for a few moments in silence before raising a brow, "We met in my backyard?" She asked with a mouthful, then swallowed. "That's trespassing."
Caden nodded with a smile across his lips as if he was proud of the fact he was trespassing on private property and then entering a relationship with the girl. "Also stopped you from buying drugs from Jordan," he added as he sat on the end of the bed now, the ship on her desk being visible.
"The dead drug dealer..." She seemed to be remembering the previous, original, timeline where he wasn't present. However now it was slightly mixed, but it didn't trigger anything in her mind. She didn't fully remember everything encyclpedically now that her memory wasn't being aided by the ring.
However she did remember the argument she had with Tommy, how her brother would be hurt to see her the way she was. How he would be disappointed with her if he saw her now.
"...Who killed Jordan?" She asked as she looked at Thea, she felt as if he knew something as he had said that he had stopped her from buying drugs from him. However she could clearly not recall this.
"Oliver Queen, your brother." Caden gave no hesitation in answering her.
Thea had the look of hysterical disbelief. "Who killed Jordan Kern?" She asked once more, she wanted him to say it again. She wanted to hear that her brother was alive. However, in that moment she remembered seeing someone like him in the crowd when she was talking to Captain Lance. Even if it was a brief glance, she was starting to have a feeling ti was him.
"Oliver Queen," Caden started again as he lulled his head back as he flopped down; now rested at the end of her bad by her feet. "Your brother is still alive, but he's off saving the world." He revealed this fact to her, over emphasizing that he was away though, nowhere near.
Thea alone smiled, containing her happiness, but it also made her feel a bit sick. She put the fork with the sausage at the end of it down into the yoke of the egg. She watched as the yellow popped open and bled out onto the plate.
She licked her lips and swallowed her saliva as she brought the sausage back up into her mouth and nibbled on it silently. She couldn't help but squirm though, her brother was alive.
However just then for a brief moment, a red beam narrowed on her chest. Before she could notice it however, Caden raised a hand. A series of silenced shots rang out, it sounded like a woodpecker at first, and then a couple bodies fell out of a tree directly outside of the property line in ARGUS uniform.
He wore a frown on his lips, his thoughts going back to when she had asked him if he was going to stop the killing. He compartmentalized that thought, that memory, and stuffed it away.
Caden didn't live up to the promise, even if it was just to stop killing people on the list, he killed someone anyway in order to save her. Even though she was practically bullet proof with his personal protection ward.
He felt it was too early for her to feel the pain, but not be dealt the prize of death.
Looking over at her reflection in the mirror of her desk, she blinked several times seeing that her hair had been styled differently than she remembered. It was a layered bob, wavy with slight curls here and there. "When did..."
"You and I went and got a haircut before going to Tommy's Birthday party," he said with a snicker, rolling onto his stomach as he watched her eat the food he prepared for her.
"Re-really?" She stroked her hair slightly with her left hand, looking it over the best she could.
She took about thirty minutes to completely eat the whole meal he had given her. He ended up taking the portable table and the dishes and brought them down to the kitchen.
Thea had gotten dressed while he was away and made her way down the steps, pulling her blue pea coat over her person. She paused however when she noticed Caden was putting on a pair of men's loafers.
"Where are you going?" She asked as she tucked and clipped a lock of her hair behind her ear.
Caden looked over at her with a gentle gaze, "The cemetery, Mrs Queen said that my Godfather wanted to meet me there." He responded with a simple tone of voice, as to not set off any flags.
"Ah... Right." She narrowed her head as she pursed her lips hearing this. "Can I come with? I'll give you a ride." Thea said as she wanted to get to know this person she kissed, this person who affirmed that they were an item.
Caden didn't necessarily need a ride, though if she was offering, who was he to decline? If he took transportation, private or public, he'd fit in a bit more. He was used to that more than he was teleporting everywhere anyways. Plus, he had no idea where the cemetery was in the first place.
"I don't see a reason why not," Caden surmised as he knew she didn't remember his powers, and she never will unless he told her or she finds out on her own.