35 years ago.

Ffion's words echoed through Felix's mind as he raced through Nighthawk. There was more movement than normal. Soldiers were scrambling, Samuel's Secret Police chattering and organizing. It made Felix feel even more in the dark, that Ffion was right. For some reason, he felt his children would be safer with Ffion than his own father. Especially Lletyon. He hated trusting his gut rather than logic, yet here he was, trusting the words of his father's sworn enemy.

He rushed to his children's chambers in a shuttle which was several flights above the command centre and burst through the door. He sighed with relief.

"Nicole, help the kids pack their things."

"What? Felix you're scaring me," His wife said to him, her brown eyes filled with concern.

"They're not safe here. Aimos and Panza, help your brothers." Aimos and Panza obediently obeyed, guiding their younger siblings to putting clothes in their bags who were more frantic than their older siblings.

Felix's wife and mother of his children, along with his children, huddled around him, expecting answers. Expecting a justification.

"Lleyton is in danger. Lleyton, I need you to get in this case. Ffion's people can protect you," Felix said to them, emptying a large research bag and directing his youngest son to get inside.

They all looked at their father like he was insane.

He stopped and calmed himself, his hands to his face in an attempt to compose himself, and sat them down in the centre of their shared quarters at the family table. "I want you all to be honest with me. When Lisla died," he said sharply and sternly, Nicole's eyes filling with tears and the children averting their eyes in pain, "It wasn't the guard, was it? Tell me what aunt Mayla did, what she did exactly. I need the truth, right now. Did she threaten you if you told anyone?"

Aimos looked away sheepishly. Panza looked away, too. Lleyton had a dazed look, while Nik and Aaron looked at their mother. It was Lleyton who looked into his father's eyes, the other Alva children shocked.

"The cave turned her to ash, Dad. Mayla took the guard inside and that was the last we saw of him," Lleyton said quietly, his siblings hardly breathing. It was the first Aimos, Panza, Nik and Aaron heard the truth about what happened to their sister, having thought it was the mysterious Man in Red who had murdered her. Lleyton was so young when it happened, Panza had a tough time believing him. But Felix and Nicole knew it was truthful, seeing it in their youngest son's guilt-riddled face. All this time, he had kept the secret to protect his other siblings from Mayla. Ffion's informant must have been Maeve or Solan, maybe both, and she had gotten to them. "She said if we told anyone anything else we'd die."

The rumor being spread was true. Mayla lied. Ffion was telling the truth. Felix asked, "Who saw your sister die?" The answer would almost confirm his worst fears, that Lleyton, along with his niece and nephew, were on some sort of hit list.

"Me, Solan, and Maeve."

A chill ran down Felix's spine as he resumed emptying the large research bag. Maeve and Solan were already missing. Probably dead at the hands of Mayla and Samuel.

Nicole pleaded with him, and said, "Felix this is crazy. Mayla is the insane one, we can go discuss with your father. He's your father Felix, have you ever thought this is a trap? Think of what Ffion would be able to do if she gets one of your children. One of Samuel's grandchildren. What he'd relinquish to get them back."

Felix began guiding his youngest son into the large black case, and said, "Think about it, Nicole. They used it as an excuse to finally get rid of Ffion. They turned a tragedy to their gain. Ffion's all we can trust, now. Samuel and Mayla are going to kill anyone who can propagate that rumor. I think that might include Lleyton."

Nicole exhaled shakily. They all looked up at their father in disbelief. "That's impossible, Dad... We're talking about Grandpa. He loves us," Lleyton pleaded.

Felix nodded, and said, "Yes, he does. But I'm worried your grandpa is no longer your grandpa. That he's capable of justifying unthinkable things. The same way I believe Mayla is."

"There's one more thing, Dad," Lleyton said from within the bag, "There was a book. An ancient looking book. And a man. The man gave it to Maeve and then Solan took it from her," Lleyton added, trying to be as brave as he could as his voice broke in fright. "The Man in Red... he was going to kill Solan, or me. Aimos stopped him."

Felix knew the exact book. Maeve had given it to him with fear in her eyes only a few weeks ago, and said she found it during an expedition with Mayla. How could he be so foolish? He saw the fear in her eyes when she gave it to him, took it from her, and shoved it away in some desk in the Eastern Outpost. Now it had some great importance, a book belonging to some mysterious man who lived here all this time. He couldn't let it fall into Mayla's hands. It had some deep, nefarious meaning he had to discover.

"Listen to me. Take Lleyton to a house... any house. Tell them he's a package for Ffion. The people love Ffion, but they also love you all. They wouldn't dare take any of you as a pawn in Ffion and Samuel's skirmish, but they'll shelter Lleyton."

"What will you do?" Nicole asked her husband.

"I need to find that book, and Maeve and Solan. If they are anywhere, they're at the Eastern Outpost hiding. I need you children to make a promise to me. Whatever happens today, I want your loyalty to be to morality. To being good people, how I raised you. Not to your family, not even me, do you understand? That goes for you too, Lleyton," Felix said to his family.

The children nodded, and Nicole kissed him as he got up to leave.

He left his immediate family's chambers and ran into Gwenta who was waiting in the hall. He shielded the sight of Lleyton being zipped within the bag from the open chamber door.

She slapped his face. "Tell me where my kids are, you bastard. Solan and Maeve haven't contacted us in days. What have you and Mayla done to them in your little experiments?"

Felix grabbed her sister's hand which tried to strike him again, and said, "Gwenta, I don't know where they are. I'll find them. You know me. I would never hurt Solan and Maeve, I love them. You and Jackea need to barricade yourselves in your chambers. Do not leave for any reason. I'll bring them back to you, I promise."

It was all Felix could say. He hated lying to his sister. Her children were probably dead.

Gwenta cried but knew to obey her brother. The rumors of kidnapped children had spooked her, even though her children were now adults. Chaos was looming on the horizon.

"Have you talked to Dad?" Felix asked her.

"He said Ffion's appearing in the streets later, Felix. It's all hands on deck to get her. I feel like him and Mayla are keeping me in the dark. I don't know what to believe anymore. I feel like they've... changed."

Felix guided his sister to her chambers, and continued to the main elevator of Nighthawk to go down towards the Exit Bay and towards the Eastern Outpost.

Horror spread through his body as the elevator stopped at the command centre and his father entered with two guards. Horror spreading through him like shadowed electricity.

"Son," he nodded to him. "Off to work?"

Felix nodded as he pressed the 'Exit Bay' button again. He couldn't look his father in the eyes.

"I have good news. Ffion's in the streets. Our forces will capture her, and soon she will stand trial for the murder of your daughter. She'll face justice. We got her, son."

Felix looked at his father now, analyzing every facial expression, trying to identify any hint of a lie. Was he convinced Ffion had his daughter killed? Was Mayla keeping him in the dark? It didn't matter. His negligence was just as evil as any evil intent he had.

The elevator stopped at the main floor where Samuel exited. To Felix's shock, the other twin elevator across the lobby of Nighthawk opened, his children carrying the bag that Lleyton was hidden in as they walked towards the front exit. In full view of Samuel the tyrant.

Before the doors slid shut, and desperate to redirect his father's attention away from the children, Felix said, "Have you heard the rumors that have spread? About how Lisla actually died?"

Samuel turned and looked wide eyed at his son. "No. I don't need to. I trust the words of your children and Mayla more than some fake conspiracy theory."

Felix shook his head, and said, "Of course." He watched his children exit the chrome glass doors of the modified lobby of the great ship as Samuel kept looking at him, analyzing his every expression.

Changed in some ways, Samuel was still a master of his craft. The poker face Felix tried to wear was ill equipped to handle Samuel's expertise. Samuel could tell Felix knew something. That he believed something, and believed in someone else.

Samuel's hand shot into the elevator, stopping the doors from sliding shut. He kept analyzing his son. Dread filling Felix's heart like a dam housing toxic waste had broke.

"Speak plainly, son. Something's troubling you. I'm your father, you can tell me."

And at that moment, everything started to fall into place and make sense to Felix. With his children out the door and into a semblance of safety, into the hands of the people, he did not hold back. He made it clear to his father that he understood everything. His ears rung red and burned as the emotion of what his father was capable of enveloped him, Felix not able to give his father the satisfaction of thinking himself all powerful and omnipotent.

"I know Mayla's been rigging the Election Assessments from the start. With you in power, she could rule too, from the shadows. Continue doing whatever she pleased. What experiments are the two of you doing with those missing children you've kidnapped, now? Did you have your own grandchildren, Solan and Maeve, as part of those experiments too, you demented stain? If you two so much as look at my family, or threaten my kids again, I will tell the world what you two monsters have done. Give Ffion your damn throne, tonight. That's my offer. Or I go public, and side with Ffion."

It spilled out of him like a river of red. 

Samuel, stunned, looked deep into his son's eyes, seeming to come to his own realization. His own son now hated him.

Coursing with adrenaline and shaking, Felix closed the elevator doors, leaving his father on the other side of the thick glass to grapple with his words.

It would be the last time he saw his father in the flesh.

While Felix descended in the elevator and out the gates of the walls to search for the book Maeve gave him, Samuel returned to the command centre in search of Mayla, muscles flexing and skin hot as lava. He found her in the command centre level in her study room. She looked up at him over her reading glasses. She could tell something concerned him. He motioned for his guard to stay outside, entered, and sat across from her. Mayla's cherry oak study room a bloodier hue.

"Did we get her? Did we get Ffion?" She asked him.

Samuel ignored her, and said, "All this time. It was you fabricating the results, keeping me as ruler. Why?"

Samuel never wanted to believe it. But his son's plain words rang true and he had to confront it finally himself. He had to face the truth.

Mayla scoffed and took off her glasses. "You knew all along, Samuel. Don't play stupid. Not now."

Samuel had buried it. He always knew, but refused to believe his morally righteous sister could do such a thing. Her words cut him deeply. He calmly stated, "I asked you why."

"Isn't it obvious? Think of what we've accomplished together. If they pushed you out of the throne it would ruin everything."

Samuel whispered, his eyes growing in contrast to his reddening face, "I just stared into my son's eyes, and saw unadulterated hatred. And you know what? I would hate my father too if he ever used my daughter's death for his own gain. You lied to me."

"I've never..."

"Lisla, Mayla. How did she actually die?" He snapped, losing patience with his sister. "Those scientists you've been making me imprison from the Gothreek Mountains... You were scared they'd say something to the public. About something they've seen."

Mayla pursed her lips tightly. "Why would I worry you about something you could not control? You said it yourself. The people will not cope with this truth. Let me deal with it, as I've always done. I built this ship. This masterpiece," she motioned all around them. "I saved us. And I'll do it again, with my tenacious research. You govern. I learn. That was always the deal."

"Not when it involves the death of my grandchild. Or betraying my own son."

"Spare me, Samuel. I turned a tragedy into our advantage. We are about to rid this world of the only woman standing in our way-"

He struck her across her face. Stunned, she looked up at her brother with wide eyes, who said, "Tell me where the kidnapped children are. What you've done with Solan and Maeve."

Samuel had never laid a hand on her sister. It was difficult for them both to grapple with what had happened.

"Samuel I have nothing to do with the missing-"

He struck her again, this time harder, and she fell from the table, her cheek gouged and bleeding.

"And yet, Mayla, it wouldn't be the first time you've victimized children, and not the first time you've lied to me."

Mayla scrambled to the wall away from her brother, who was approaching her slowly. "Oh come on, Samuel, I forcefully told them not to repeat what they saw. You would have done the same. I let them live, didn't I?"

Samuel reached down and started choking his sister, furious. How could his own blood threaten his grandchildren? His legacy? Her face was reddening as fast as Samuel's. Her legs were sprawling across the ground. He shouted, "Where are the missing children, Mayla?"

He released her and she coughed and choked, catching her breath. She looked up at him wide-eyed and blue in the face.

"Why are you so desperate to find them, brother? Is it because you are truly concerned with their wellbeing," She said as Samuel raised his hand to strike her again, expecting a response he was ill equipped to hear, "Or because you think giving the people their children back will save your collapsing crown?"

He struck her furiously over and over and over again. Her words had struck a chord. How dare she. Of course I care more about their wellbeing than my rule, he told himself.

"Gods, you petty people. I should have killed all the Alva children right then and there at the caves."

It was the last thread, and this time, Samuel began choking his sister and couldn't stop himself.

Her lifeless body slumped against the wall and floor. The last bit of oxygen and life squeezed out of her with a final gasp.

His most trusted ally, the one who built the world with him, betrayed him. His son now hated him. No doubt his grandchildren, too. How dare his son accuse him of what he had. How dare Mayla lie to him and use a child's death as a political tool. How dare she pour gasoline on the fire of hatred that burned for Ffion for her own gain.

Did I just kill my sister because she knew the truth? He thought to himself in utter shame.

Ffion was no villain. He was. He knew what he had to do now. He had to give the throne to Ffion. He had to give up the last piece of humanity he had while he still clung to it, and face the consequences of what was to come. They deserved the truth about the Gothreek Mountains, how Lisla died. No more lies. Not to them, and not to himself.

**

Ffion was waiting for him on the main street. With his military and Nighthawk at his back, and the people and buildings at Ffion's, they quietly walked towards each other and stopped. Samuel was stricken with guilt and grief and his face showed it. It made Ffion uneasy. A weak Samuel surely was a guise.

"I know you weren't responsible for Lisla's death. I'm sorry," He said to her softly, just loud enough for the two titans to share.

A stunned Ffion could not have her plan altered. She couldn't be manipulated by Samuel. Not now. She had her plan and she had to stick with it.

He was about to peacefully hand over the keys to the Command Centre and his kingdom, but she began calling across to him for everyone around to hear, now. "Release the children you've kidnapped."

Samuel's skin turned purple with anger and embarrassment. He clenched his teeth. How many of the people thought he was responsible for such a crime? He looked out into the masses of people, all silent and waiting for his reaction. His next move. He was humiliated. And furious. He had difficulty comprehending how a person responsible for the safety and wellbeing of an entire colony for over twenty years, and from certain death when they first arrived, could be accused of such a thing. Yet here he was. A hated man. A monster in everyone's eyes. Even to his grandchildren, who he saw in the crowd opposite from him, having just delivered Lleyton. Their looks of disgust upon hearing Ffion accusing him of kidnapping children cut him like a thousand knives. The glares from eyes upon him like swathes of slung arrows.

Was he perfect? No. Could he have ever kidnapped children? No. They were traitors and usurpers. All of them. He took the crown originally because he was the best of them. Now, they saw only the worst of them.

Something within him broke in that moment. They saw the worst in him, and he would show them worse.

"How dare you. How dare all of you," he shouted at Ffion and everyone around her. "Kill her, now, for treason," He said grimly, the crowd gasping and Ffion bracing herself. "The Alva children, too. Kill them all. They conspire against me," He said sharply to his officers.

Ffion pushed her own guards back. Two soldiers from Samuel's military approached her with swords after slinging their rifles on their backs.

In a flash, Ffion pushed them back too and wrestled a rifle away from one of the soldiers. The crowds of people expected her to turn the rifle on the soldiers and shoot them, or the military to shoot her. Neither happened.

Instead, she turned the rifle on herself, the nozzle in her mouth. She pulled the trigger.

The Alva children, aghast that their grandfather ordered for their deaths, turned away from the imminent gore. They turned back to see Ffion still standing. The rifle hadn't harmed her. A silence washed over everyone like a dark wave after the bang from the phony firearm dissipated.

"The rifles, they don't fire," The crowd murmured and began yelling, the chant spreading like wildfire amongst the people.

Frantically, the two soldiers attacked Ffion with their swords. Ffion once could have disarmed her adversaries and cut them both down easily, but age had caught up with her. Weaponless, she was no match. Her son Cana yelled from behind and charged, smashing the two men with one stroke of his rustic hammer, the blood from his mother mixing with those of his foes. The military and Samuel retreated into Nighthawk as the people charged where Ffion stood, engulfing the two dead soldiers and running after the phony army, the Alva children quickly shuttled away to safety of the now fully rebellious population.

Mayla, twisted with time and a