{"sf1_id":559614,"sf2_id":"WelXz6je","title":"Aria's Love","author":"shanjoo","words":2313,"posted_at":"2013-07-05T04:49:00.000Z","tags":["Character Development","Fighting","Human","Incomplete","M/F","No-Yiff","Pain","Real Life"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/559614-aria-s-love","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/WelXz6je","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/de/4f/de4fe5ff-0514-4447-90f8-5ff3c78767da","description":"this is my first attempt at story writing. i started this story around late fall 2008, and its been kinda off and on with filling it in. So please R\u0026R and any ideas are welcome.\nthere will be more coming soon.","content":"The branches above him swayed slightly in the breeze,  \nruffling his hair a little bit as he leaned against the old oak tree. His  \nbreath came in ragged gasps as he held a blood soaked field dressing against  \nhis side. Looking out over the battle field before him, a tear fell from his  \neye. 'How did it come to this' he wondered. 'None of this should have happened'  \nand yet, it had. The bodies of friend and foe alike lay strewn across the  \nfields of battle. Most of his blood gone due to his wound, he slowly closed his  \neyes as the sleep of death crept over him. And in his final hour, his mind  \nwandered among the memories of his life that had lead up to this point.\n\nAlexander Rodius, though he prefers to be called Xander, had  \nwhat you would call a normal childhood. Went through middle school and was now  \ninto his second year of high school. He had lots of friends, had made some  \nenemies, got good grades, had loving parents, and even had a crush on this one  \ngirl in his history class. Normal enough for any teenager, right? Well all that  \nwas all about to change, as he neared his 17th birthday.\n\n\"Come on Xander, hurry up. Your sister is waiting\"  \ncalled Jessie, one of Xander's closest friends. They had been together since  \nchildhood, and were almost like brothers. \"If you don't hurry she'll leave  \nus again!\" Sylvia, Xander's older and drop dead gorgeous sister, honked  \nthe horn of their mom's station wagon impatiently, as if the empathize what  \nJessie had said. \"I'm coming!\" Xander yelled as he came running down  \nthe hall from the library. \"Had to email a report to history, and send my  \nscience project to my home computer\" he explained as they walked out the front  \ndoors of the school. \"You could have done that earlier you know. Or were  \nyou too busy gazing at Elizabeth?\" Xander didn't bother to answer as the  \ntips of his ears turned red. \"I thought so. Dude, you seriously need to  \nask her out. Before someone else does.\" Xander fidgeted with a pack strap  \nas they walked down the short path to the car. \"I know, but it's hard.  \nWhenever I approach her, I get all clumsy and get butterflies in my  \nstomach.\" Jessie sighed; he had heard excuses like this a hundred times  \nbefore. \"Then you need to find a different approach. Like sending her  \nflowers, or a box of chocolate. Girls always like those.\"\n\n\"Yeah, but she's not like other girls. Some guy tried  \nthat with her last year, she had the flowers returned. I need to come up with  \nsomething original.\" You see, ever since Xanders sister had gotten her driver's  \nlicense three years ago, she had been taking off before he and Jessie could get  \nto the car. And, being the determined young men that they were, they would give  \nchase. Running along behind. Trying to catch up. Of course, she purposely kept  \nthe car out of reach, going slow, but not slow enough for them to get within  \nfive feet of the car. Over the past three years, she would do this every day  \nthat she came to pick them up from school. They never knew how far or how long  \nshe would have them run, but she eventually tired and stopped the car, letting  \nthem catch up. And although there were many downsides to this, there was one  \npositive side; they could now run faster than anyone else at school. Even on  \nthe track team, though they never signed up for it. However, today was  \ndifferent. Sylvia, instead of driving off the moment they got within five feet,  \nsat there and waited for the two of them to get in the backseat. \"Buckle  \nup you two,\" she told them as she put the old station wagon into gear and  \npulled away from the curb.\n\n\"Ok Silvia, what's going on?\" Asked Xander, \"Why  \ndidn't you drive off like you always do?\" Silvia just looked at him  \nthrough the rearview mirror and winked. Fifteen minutes later, Sylvia turned  \noff the main road onto the dirt one that lead to their house, which stood a  \nquarter mile away from the main road. This road was in bad repair, with  \npotholes scattered every few feet. Xanders mom had been getting on his dad to go  \nout there and fix it for months. But dad was usually too busy with work and  \nother projects to get it done. So she had Xander do it. Filling in at least  \nfive holes every other day.\n\nPulling up to the house, Xander could hear his dad working  \nout in the barn on another of his latest projects. He made custom parts for  \nvarious clients that came to him for help. He was pretty good at it too.  \nDropping their bags on the porch, he and Jessie ran over to the barn, and peek  \nthrough the cracks. They could see sparks flying from one of the machines as it  \ngrinded out a new part. And Xanders dad was at the controls, guiding the  \nmachine in the process. Seeing that he was busy at the moment, he didn't like  \nto be disturbed while he worked; Xander and Jessie ran back to the house and  \nwent upstairs to Xanders room, grabbing their bags on the way.\n\n\"What do you think your dads working on this time  \nXander?\" Jessie asked as he plopped down on the giant beanbag couch. \"I  \ndon't know. He's been all hush-hush about this latest assignment. He won't even  \ntell me about it.\" Xander replied as he shut the door. He sat down in his  \ncomputer chair and swiveled around to face Jessie. \"But I do know that it's  \nimportant, else he would have told me a while ago.\" Jessie nodded,  \n\"yeah, I suppose so.\" Opening up his bag he began to pull out his  \nhomework. \"Well, let's get this homework out of the way, so we can get  \nback to other stuff.\" The two of them set to work on their assignments and  \nwere quiet for the next two hours.\n\nXander closed his book with a sigh and stretched his limbs,  \nsatisfied with his work. Jessie closed his a few minutes later. \"XANDER,  \nJESSIE, dinner time.\" Xanders mom called up the back stairwell. They raced  \ndownstairs and took their places at the table. They said grace and began to  \neat. \"So how was school today Alexander?\" asked mom. \"It was  \npretty good today. Making progress on my science project, and I finished that  \nreport for history.\" Mom smiled, \"that's good honey. \"He was almost  \nlate for the car this time, cause he was too busy goggling Elizabeth.\"  \nJessie smirked as he added in that tidbit. Xander felt his ears go red from  \nembarrassment. \"Do you like her Alexander?\" \"Uh, yeah, kind of.  \nShe's in my history class.\" \"Is she pretty?\" \"Yes mom, she  \nis. She is also very talented in many subjects.\" \"Really? Like  \nwha...\" The lights in the dining room suddenly went out, and Xanders dad  \ncame in, carrying a large birthday cake, singing the birthday song. \"Happy  \nbirthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Xander, Happy Birthday,  \nto you.\" Xander sat there, speechless for a moment, until he remembered  \nthat today was his birthday. His dad set the cake down in front of him,  \n\"make a wish son.\" Xander thought for a moment, and then blew out the  \nseventeen candles. CRAASH! The sound of breaking glass startles them and makes  \nhis mom scream in panic. His dad turns on the lights, only to find themselves  \nsurrounded by a dozen men, armed with automatic weapons, and tactical gear.  \n\"Who are you? What are you doing in my home?\" Xanders father demanded  \nof the intruders. \"Mr. Rodius\" one of them stepped forward, \"we  \nhave come for the device. Do not bother playing stupid, we know you have it.  \nAnd we want it now.\" A hard look passed over Xanders fathers face.  \n\"You shall not have it. I would rather give my life then see it in the  \nhands of someone the likes of you,\" he said defiantly. The man sighed and  \nshook his head, \"tsk, tsk. Mr. Rodius. I'm afraid that you no longer have  \na say in the matter.\" The man nodded to one of his men, who just happened  \nto be standing behind me, and grabbed me by the shoulders. Fear flicked across Julian's  \nface as his son was held captive. He turned back to the mysterious man,  \n\"don't you dare hurt my son.\" \"Oh, have no fear Mr. Rodius. We  \nare a patient people. You have eluded us for eighteen years, but we know when a  \nbit of leverage is needed to get what we want.\" Julian looked to his son  \nwith a pained expression. With shoulders slumped, he turned back to the man,  \n\"alright, you win. I'll take you to the device.\" \"Very good Mr.  \nRodius, and just for good measure, we'll be bringing your son along. To make  \nsure you cooperate.\" Julian nodded and turned to walk out. \"If  \nanything happens Strucker, I will hold you personally responsible, and will  \nhunt you for the remainder of my days.\" Mr. Strucker cocked an eyebrow,  \n\"is that a threat Mr. Rodius?\" Julian looked over his shoulder,  \n\"it's a promise.\" With that, he turned and walked out. Mr. Strucker  \nnodded to his henchman and they followed, with Xander in tow. Julian led them  \nout of the house, and guided them to the barn. He took out the key to the large  \npadlock on the door, and proceeded to unlock. Once the chain had fallen away,  \nhe pushed open the big door and stepped inside, flipping on the light as he  \ndid. The others followed him inside. Julian walked over to a large toolbox,  \nopened the bottom drawer, and pulled out an object roughly the size and shape  \nof a football. \"Here it is Strucker, take it and leave\" Mr. Strucker  \ntook the object from Julian's hand. \"Thank you Mr. Rodius, I appreciate  \nyour cooperation. However, I'm afraid that I can't leave just yet. You see, my  \nemployer wants you to be eliminated. Partly because you made him very upset  \nwhen you disappeared with the device all those years ago, but also so that you  \nwon't go telling anyone else what has transpired here.\" With that, he  \npulled out a 9mm pistol, aimed it, and fired at point blank range at Julian.  \nThe bullet hit him in his upper right chest. Julian fell back with a grunt as  \nthe round hit and punctured his lung. \"DAD!\" Xander cried as he  \nfought free of his captor and ran to his father's side. \"Hold on dad,  \nyou're going to be alright. You've got to hold on.\" Xander held his  \nfather's head in his lap. \"Alex,\" his father whispered, \"you  \nmust not let him get away with the device. You must stop him at all  \ncosts.\" Julian began coughing up blood. \"Don't worry dad, I'll stop  \nhim for you.\" He set his head down, stood up and grabbed his grandfather's  \nold bullwhip. It had been a gift to him when he had turned fourteen. Xander had  \npracticed with it every other day since then. He had thought it was cool, to  \ncrack it and swing it through the air, like Indiana Jones. Now though, he had a  \ndifferent purpose for it. Letting it play out, he whirled it around his head  \nonce, and snapped it forward, catching the large henchman around the neck.  \nGiving the whip a sharp tug, he jerks the large man off his feet. Xander crack  \nhis whip, and then lashed out again at Strucker, as he was raising his 9mm to  \nshoot him. The whip caught his wrist and wrenched it. Making Strucker drop the  \ngun. Xander snapped the whip again, and wrapped the tip around the device. And  \njerked it out of his hands. So fast was Xander with his whip that the whole  \nevent was over in less than ten seconds. Xander held the device in the crook of  \nhis arm, as he stared at Strucker coldly. \"You seem to have me at a  \ndisadvantage young man.\" Strucker said with raised hands, \"no one has  \never caught me by surprise like that before. I must congratulate you.\" He  \nclapped his hands, \"sadly though, those who do surprise me rarely live to  \ntell the tale.\" A small pistol popped out of his sleeve and into his hand.  \nWhich he then pointed at Xander and fired. Xander, acting on reflex, raised his  \narm to block the shot, though he knew it was hopeless to. Yet, when he raised  \nhis arm, it was the one holding the device. The bullet bounced off of the shell  \nof the device. And, instead of it finding its way to his heart, it lodged  \nitself in his shoulder. And the resulting impact on the device caused it to  \nactivate. It began to glow with an inner light, which rapidly intensified.  \n\"NO!\" Strucker yelled as he realized what he had done. Xander stared  \nin fear at the device, as its light became blinding. \"What's  \nhappeeenningggg..........?\" The light had suddenly intensified into a flash of  \nlight, and Xander disappeared. Leaving an empty space where he had previously  \nbeen. Strucker stared at the spot where Xander had been only moments before.  \nThen, mumbling a curse reached into his jacket and withdrew a cell phone.  \nHitting speed dial, he held it up to his ear and listened to it ring twice.  \n\"Yes?\" The voice that replied had a sinister sound to it. Making it  \nsound like the owner was not someone you would want to cross paths with.  \nStrucker winced slightly as he realized that his boss would not be happy about  \nthis. \"This is Strucker. Sir, we have a problem.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;  \n  \n  \n\n"}