Adam felt his heart break when he saw the rest of Elena's family standing over her grave. There was her mother, Sophie, who wore a black dress. Despite the situation and the morbid look on her face, she still managed a smile when she saw Adam. Besides her were Elena's brothers, Oliver and Harry. Both were older than Elena, and both were in the army at the time they heard the news. They still wore their military uniforms.
Sensing his discomfort, Duncan put his hand across Adam and led him towards the grave. With each step he took, Adam felt a desperate need to run away. To leave then and there.
To never look back.
It was even more heart-breaking to know that this was the first time any of Elena's family have seen Adam. Elena's boyfriend… and the person responsible for her death.
By the time Adam reached the grave, his hands were shaking, his mouth felt dry, and his eyes turned glossy. He slowly reached towards the grave and sat on the ground just in front of it. He sniffed once, trying and failing to remain strong. He placed the bouquet on the grave before reading the inscription, below the dates of Elena's birth and death.
'Parted by death, we'll be reunited in Heaven.'
Adam hung his head low. Too ashamed to look for too long at the grave. Behind him, he could hear Duncan speaking with his wife. Their voices meant nothing to him. He cared little for what they were saying.
Oliver and Harry sat on the ground as well, each sitting beside Adam.
Oliver, the oldest sibling, nudged Adam just a bit. "Oy, don't beat yourself up about it. It wasn't your fault."
Adam sighed but other than that, said nothing.
"He's right, you know," said Harry. "No one could've seen that coming."
Adam felt his lips tremble when he spoke up. "Then why?" he whispered softly. "Why I'm sitting here, while Elena is down there? What makes me special? She didn't deserve that. If anything, I should be the one-"
Adam could not finish his sentence as Oliver smacked him across the face. Not enough to hurt, but enough to get the message.
"You start talking like that and I'll box your teeth so hard, your head will make a full one eighty! Am I understood!"
"Yes sir!" Adam replied automatically. He had never seen Oliver like this. Sure, he saw him only in pictures but he was always smiling in them. Seeing him scowling at his direction made Adam more than a little nervous.
"Don't startle the boy, Oliver," said Harry from the other side of Adam. Harry placed his hand on Adam's shoulder and tugged at it so Adam was looking him in the eyes. "Look… I understand what you're going through, I really am. Elena was special, no doubt. So sweet and caring." Adam lowered his head. "But don't sell yourself short because of it. She loved you, and that's enough for me. I can't offer you words of comfort, but I can offer you a shoulder to lean against. We're all here because of Elena, and I know she would chew our ears off if we were to treat you as anything but family."
Despite the situation, Adam cracked a sad smile. "It's true," he croaked. "She would smack me in the head for acting like that."
Harry smiled weakly at Adam before standing up, pulling Adam as well. Oliver stood up as well, giving Harry and Adam a nod before walking up to his parents.
Harry crouched next to the grave, tracing the cold stone with his fingers. His lips trembled and his eyes were red and slightly moist. He occasionally sniffed.
"Would you like to have a private moment with her?"Harry asked.This surprised Adam. For a moment he simply stood there, opening and closing his mouth not unlike a fish. Realizing that words have no meaning anymore, he simply nodded.
Harry nodded as well, straightening himself and walking past Adam, giving him a pat on the shoulder. Adam waited until the only sound he heard was the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds. The rest of Elena's family was slightly further away, letting Adam say his final goodbye.
"H-Hey Elena," Adam stammered. "How's it going down there?" as soon as the words left his mouth, Adam smacked himself in the head. "I'm so going to hell for that," he whimpered before collecting his thoughts. He took a deep, calming breath and relaxed his tense muscles.
"I'm lost Elena," he finally said, whispering. "I don't know what to do. You were my anchor, my reason why I wake up in the morning. I know I'm a lot younger, but I honestly believed we'd be with each other forever." Adam felt something wet trickle down his cheek before wiping it. "S-Sorry. Got something in my eye." Adam wiped his eyes furiously,
but no matter how hard he tried, the tears continued to flow.
His knees trembled and his felt himself drop unceremoniously to the ground, still looking at the grave. "I miss you. I can't bear the thought of living without you… I just… I just wish I could tell you goodbye properly, instead of between a coffin." The last word came as a pathetic whimper as Adam moved away from the grave, picking himself up. Adam reached for his pocket and fished out a wrinkled photo.
It was a picture of Adam and Elena. They were both smiling at the camera, despite being wet to the bones. The Eye of London loomed behind them. Adam felt a thin smile spread across his lips as he gazed at the photo. He straightened the crumpled edges before placing the photo next to the bouquet of flowers of the grave. "Goodbye Elena…"
Adam sniffed one last time before going back towards the group of people he had just met a few minutes ago. He felt a lot better. Not happy, mind you, but Adam felt relieved to know that no one was harboring hard feelings towards him.
Once he reached to the group of people, Duncan spoke up, "Well, since we're all here how about we'll go out and spend some time together. What about you two?" he glanced at Harry and Oliver. "Can you two join us, or you're going back to your base?"
"We're free for the rest of the week, Dad," replied Oliver.
"Good, then let's head out. I'll drive with Adam and you two can join Mum."
The rest all nodded and soon, Adam and Duncan were alone again in the car. Adam felt less nervous being alone with Elena's father, but still preferred the silence over what might be said between the two.
"You know," Duncan spoke up, "When Elena died, no one blamed you at all. Sophie, Oliver and Harry all love you as family. We were actually worried about you."
"Worried about me?" Adam questioned.
"Yes… You grieve over the dead, and worry over the living. We were afraid how you might take Elena's death, considering…"
Adam hung his head for the umpteenth time this day. "Yeah, I understand," he said somberly.
Duncan risked a quick glance towards Adam before snapping his gaze back to the road. His blue eyes sparkled with sympathy. He was silent for a few moments before realizing something.
"You first met Elena when she was tutoring you, correct?"
Adam seemed a little thrown off by the sudden change of subject but nodded nonetheless. "Yeah, she taught me how to speak Italian."
Duncan hummed in thought. "Never understood that language," he finally said, "My wife, Sophie, was born to Italian farmers. Sometimes she would help them in the field, that's how she got her figure actually. Elena always wanted to know more about our Italian roots so she asked Sophie to teach her. I guess she learnt in rather quickly if she managed to teach you as well. Why did you start learning it in the first place?"
Adam felt his cheeks heat up as he answered. "Emm… Assassin's Creed, sir."
To say that Duncan broke down laughing would be an understatement. Adam actually had to hold the steering wheel for a few moments while Duncan pounded his legs.
Duncan wiped a stray tear out of his eye as he took the steering wheel back to his hands. "S-sorry, heh... heh… couldn't help myself. I cannot believe you lad. You wanted to learn Italian… because of a game?!"
Adam crossed his arms and puffed his cheeks. "You don't have to laugh about it, geez."
Duncan chuckled a few more times before smiling apologetically at Adam. "Sorry, that was unbecoming of me. But I have to ask, why Assassin's Creed two? It was released years ago. Unity was much better."
Adam stared wide eyed at Duncan. "You play Assassin's Creed?!"
"I sure did. Since the first one I've been a sucker for the franchise. Sophie says it's unhealthy for a man in my age to play video games, but I find it relaxing and a nice break from the serious nature of my work."
Adam sat there, unable to come with a coherent answer. Here was the man he probably feared to meet the most, and here he was, talking to him about a video game.
"Too dumbstruck to talk, heh?" Duncan smirked. His smile though, faded rather quickly and instead was replaced with seriousness. "Now I want you to listen to me, lad. I don't want to hear you blaming yourself over what happened, you hear? You are a good man, Adam. Don't let anyone tell you different. Sure, you're rough around the edges, if what Elena told me about you was true, but she also told me of how caring and self-controlled you were around her."
Adam simply nodded, still a bit jumbled from the previous talk but enough focused to understand what Duncan had just said.
"Good, I want you to work hard and make yourself into someone great, because I know you can be one. I can only guess how thing are in your home, but not a lot of young lads manage to climb out of a situation you've been put through. Be a good man, Adam. Not just for me, but for the memory of Elena. Can you do it, Adam?"
"I can," Adam proclaimed. He surprised himself with his own conviction.
Duncan smiled warmly, his eyes shown with care. "That's a good lad…"
Adam woke up to a freezing sensation washing across his battered form. He coughed and wheezed, sputtering a few mouthfuls of feelingly cold water out of his muzzle. He tried to open his eyes but felt something wrapped tightly across his head, concealing everything. He tried to move his body but found himself in the same predicament.
He was unable to move and he was shaking violently as the water seeped through his coat and touched his skin beneath.
Adam wanted to shout, to call for help, but the moment he opened his mouth, someone wrapped a piece of what Adam hoped was cloth across his mouth, effectively shutting him. Before he knew what was happening a bright light suddenly attacked his eye lids and burned into his pupils. Adam tried to look away but his head was bound.
Finally, after a great deal of effort, Adam was able to open his eyes, though he regretted that as soon as he did.
"Wake-y, wake-y little colt…"
hey I have a slight problem with the end picture but besides that the chappy was good keep up the good work
sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608007218759140611&pid=15.1
thanks for the update!!
Flashback- the flashbackening.
I really don't like huge amounts of exposition in a row. If I was not reading this as its written, I would just skip these chapters, as they offer noting to the story, and frankly I hate the funeral flashback thing(why it is even a thing?). This shows noting of how the dead person interacted with character, and ewryone is doing heaps of nothing.
Also this makes the character look like shitty self insert, especially the disconnect with the world around him, and him being all depressed. Well I seen worse, but still meh. Also the tags start to seem wrong. Slice of life, I see, but slice of life, romance, comedy? Extended funereal scene is tad bit out of place.
The waterboarding wake up was sweet. I hope the next chapter is more like the previous ones before the flashbacks, or at least something less depressing/disconnected. Good luck on your writing!
What fortuitous timing, I had just finished the previous chapter to see an update!
I expect some action to be coming, someone's gonna get a beat down.
Picture at the end not showing up on my end either. Otherwise it's fine. Personally not a fan of flashbacks to sob-stories most of the time, but it's a thing and a thing that happens a lot in HiEs. I've learned to deal with it.
Celestia: Blueblood have you seen Ad-
fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/050/3/b/angry_princess_celestia___animated_gif_by_nicoboss143-d5vi6u6.gif
THAT GIF. I must have it!
That ending:
[youtube=GJtnP6iJ8iA]
~Somepony is going to be killed by celestia and luna~
Great chapter as always keep up the good work
Bye-dy Bye-dy little stallion
Wow... Just, WOW! What the heck was that?!
They are going to have to bury what is going to be left of them in a shoe.
Collectively, since it'll be too homogeneous to differentiate.
That is, if our little protagonist doesn't lose control of his magic again and make them wish they were never born himself.
The picture isn't loading for me
5383648 It's Twilight shaking her ass in front of Cadence.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100621095818/half-life/en/images/thumb/2/27/G-man_heart_to_heart_headshot.jpg/250px-G-man_heart_to_heart_headshot.jpg
Rise and Shine
5383648 It's a gif of Twilight shaking her plot in front of Princess Cadance, its sped up and the caption says: "The plot intensifies"
heavy, celestia is gonna go mamma bear on someone
looking forward to whats next
stay classy
Remove the extra space.
*attacked
Needs a question mark at the end.
Going to hell for that, might sound better.
I think Mum and Dad need to be capitalized, not too sure.
Remove the extra speech mark at the end there.
That's about all I could find. Good chapter though, nice to see some character development like this. I feel for whomever foalnapped Adam though... Celestia getting pissed will be a tad of an understatement.
freezing
And now, back to the story (and maybe some when a sun goddess finds out what happened, Solar-edition.)
Meh, this chapter wasn't the greatest, but now i know stuff, so mission accomplished. I just want more of pony Adam next chapter.
Link is broken.
How did Adam lose his girlfriend? Is it going to be revealed?
5385613 It will, and it's all I'm going to say
The plot intensifies
Duncan wiped a stray tear out of his eye as he took the steering wheel back to his hands. "S-sorry, heh... heh… couldn't help myself. I cannot believe you lad. You wanted to learn Italian… because of a game?!"
Adam crossed his arms and puffed his cheeks. "You don't have to laugh about it, geez."
Duncan chuckled a few more times before smiling apologetically at Adam. "Sorry, that was unbecoming of me. But I have to ask, why Assassin's Creed two? Unity was much better."
This is going to be a jerk move on my part, but... both games came out in completely different years. I'm not sure if these couple paragraphs even make sense...
Also, I'm not an expert on the series, having only played the first game.. but I'm pretty sure Unity has no Italian in it.
Neat chapter either way.
5387088 its french
5387410 Okay, then it's not Italian. Why did he ask the question? It just seems weird.
5387430 No author is perfect. Its as simple as that
5387467 No one is perfect, no. It's just something I couldn't help mention. When you bring in video games to a story, especailly ones that aren't made up, it should make sense. No biggie.
5387468 True enough XD though that is a big reason editors are helpful though huh lol
There's a problem with this chapter...you left me hanging.
right one of two things are going to happen, one blue blood is going to get slapped HARD!! or two cadence is getting her rape face on
Yeeeaaahhhhh... I almost feel sorry for the ones who captured Adam.
...almost...
Oh, who am I kidding? Make Swiss cheese out of them Adam! You da bad plot muffin fudger!
(I don't like swearing, Sue me.)
Is it bad that gif made me laugh my ass off for a good 5 mins? anyway a good chapter, cliffhangers are of the devil but alwell. cant wait to read more
Now I see how it all partially comes together, though did you specify the age difference? Either way that is both sad an tragic. Now I am very invested in Adam's past. Can't wait to see who woke him up out of his memory. Why do people always think of one of the worst moments of your life when people knock you out? If that happens to me I wanna dream of some random taco dinner night.
5393432 Thanks, you don't learn stuff like that where English is a secondary language
I always wait until there are a few chapters out on the stories I'm following, but every now and then I still find myself stuck on a cliff... *sigh* Let's hope I don't have to wait long, my arm is getting tired.
On a different note, I like this story so far, the only thing I don't like is how you made such a big reference with harry potter a few chapters ago. I've already seen the movies and imagined them with ponies, copying the scene almost exactly with no punch line just spoils the end of it. And how did he turn the bullies into animals? does he have enough control over his magic to recreate a scene from a movie? It just seems out of place to me. The Leroy Jenkins joke was good, short, sweet and with a decent reaction from the characters. If you where to, say, start a scene exactly like a scene from the harry potter movies and then half way through pull the rug out from underneath us and change the ending, that would be okay. That's the only fault I can find actually, The rest is good. Now If you will excuse me I shall get back to screaming for help from this cliff of mine.
Plot intensifies I rofl'ed.
Ah another fanfic with an insane celestia always a pleasure my good sir
I have total faith that Adam will kick ass and take names in the next scene. He was simply taken by surprise.
5414733 If you're mad over this, you'll be furious the longer you read...
Adam's lfe is just one big cliché, yet for some reason I'm still reading.
5414840 ya the videos arent working for me
Please tell me you play Assassins Creed on PC.
I got Unity for Christmas, so if you do play on PC add me on uPlay
5443901 I've always played Assassin's Creed games on ps3 but recently bought Unity to the PC. Only problem is that my graphics card is just below the minimum to actually play the game. I have such horrible lags that makes the game impossible to play
5444050 I have everything up to scratch for minimum but I'm not sure about my RAM. I think I have 8GB but I'm not all too sure
5444054 I have 8 Gb of RAM too. Funny, my laptop has 12
5444060 Yeah my computer only has 4 but my laptop has 8 (I think, I'll have to check)
Okay, you've really got me hooked to this story, man! Please make more chapters; I really want to see where this is going.
Also, how long will it take for Adam to finally call Celestia "Mum" again?