Flashback (1)

***ARTEMIS***

I opened the doors that led to the terrace. I then stopped and admired the view of the sea spread in front of me.

Kyle, Seth, Kai, Blake, Xander and I were the ones in-charge in taking the half of the Codex of Souls from the black market auction. And since the auction was held in a small city of the Philippines, we needed a base of operations.

I was the one who took care of it. Well, Kyle and I.

We were stayed at one of my safe houses in San Remigio, a small seaside town in Northern Cebu province. It was a few kilometers away from Bogo City, where the auction would be held. The town itself was quite far away from the location, but we needed a place where we could work without anyone from the auction committee getting suspicious.

"Nice place you have here." Xander said and leaned on the railing of the balcony we were on. "It's peaceful and beautiful."

"The Philippines has its beauty and I like this certain area." I replied and then chuckled. "It's isolated and the townspeople aren't too nosy. Anyway, this place is one of my safe houses so we'll be fine here. Not even my father or anyone in Sceptre knows about it."

"Eh. A place where you can be safe and be yourself. A place you can be able to think clearly."

"Exactly. Also, this house is very special to me. For both me and Kyle. This is where our mother spent the last few days of her life with us."

"Oh." he sounded apologetic. "So… uhm…"

"Don't worry about it Xander-oppa[1]. That was years ago. I've moved on. Both my brother and I."

"Hmm." he nodded. "That's fine then."

As I watched the sea and listened to the sound of the waves, I reminisced what happened eight years ago.

I met my mother, and by extension my brother, for the first time when I was fourteen. Kyle and Luke, my stepbrother, was in cahoots with each other and the latter was the one who told the former about my mission in the Philippines.

My brother was an informant and has many connections, so it took him only a few calls on the right people and hacked systems and databases himself to find out about my safe house in Quezon City. It was where we first met.

I just finished my job, killing a traitorous informant who was hiding in Quezon City, and returned to my safe house. Everything was well, until I felt a foreign presence in the room I was in. To be specific, the presence was just right behind me. My instincts kicked in and I judo-flipped that person.

That was how we met. Yeah, our first meeting left such an unforgettable impression.

Kyle should be fifteen by that time, only a year older than me. As much as he had quite a strong physique, he was too tall for his age, had a weak body and was quite clumsy.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked. "No, who sent you?"

At first, he did not answer. Well, he was not able to and that was probably because my arm was pressing on his throat. I loosened it and said; "Right. You can answer me now."

"Luke! Luke sent me!" he exclaimed.

"Luke? How do I know you're telling the truth?" I inquired, still suspicious about the tall man who looked Asian.

"He was the one who told me about your location. He also told me you'll believe me if I say this; your favorite anime is Fairy Tail[2] and you have a panda stuffed toy named Mahiru! Please don't kill me."

My face heated up at that moment and yelled in my mind; 'That damn sly fox!'

"I won't kill you for sneaking up on me. I'll kill you for an entirely different reason."

"P-please don't. I- I- I just wanted to tell you something."

I calmed myself and released him. I did not take my eyes off him though.

"Thank you." he released a few coughs. "I'm Kyle. Well, my full name is Hong Huang Xue if we go by Chinese standards."

"I don't care about your name or if you're Chinese. Just tell me what you want to say. Also, how did you know that fox – I mean, how did you know Luke?"

"I'm Luke's informant. Any missions he has in Asia I'm the one he asks."

"Hmm… I see." I nodded. "I suppose you owe me one or two information."

"Hn." he smirked and avoided my gaze. "Maybe."

"So, what do you want from me? Make it fast though, I have a flight to catch."

Yeah, I was very rude back then.

"I want you to meet someone." he said.

"That's… That's it?" I scoffed. "You're serious, right?"

"I am."

I sighed deeply. "Okay, I'll bite. Who wants to meet me?"

"Your mother."

I froze. Well, it wasn't every day that someone would tell you that your mother, whom you have never heard of, suddenly wanted to see you.

"Bullsh*t. My other's dead." I growled.

"No, she's pretty much alive. Well…"

"Well she���s dead to me. I've never heard of her and I've never even saw her my entire life. I don't even know her name. So just-"

"It's because of your father."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Your father told her to stay away." he said in an angry tone. "He kept her away from you by grounding her in Canada. She was unable to leave the country because of Victor Hunter."

"You're lying." I sneered. "Don't let me ever see you again."

I was about to walk away but what he said next stopped me.

"No mother does not love her child. No matter how distant a child feels towards her, a mother is still a mother. And your mother is dying. She wants to see you before she closes her eyes forever."

"What?"

"She's got stage four cancer and she only has a few months left. She is hoping to see you before she meets her end."

"How do I-"

"Know if I'm telling the truth? Because she's my mother too."

A part of me thought to just walk away and forget about what just happened. And that part was probably the effect of never being able to experience maternal love. My father was busy with Sceptre and I only had a bitchy stepmother who attempted to kill me countless of times.

Although there was a part of me who wanted to see if he was telling the truth. And maybe that was because I had always longed for a mother's love and care ever since I was young. Well, younger.

I was supposed to be an emotionless assassin. I was the ace reaper of Sceptre, Huntress, but I agreed with Kyle.

We headed to Cebu Province where my mother was staying. My mother was finally able to leave Canada, probably because of her condition, and she and Kyle were travelling around. They were supposedly in Danao City when she collapsed and she had to be admitted to a hospital.

We were on our way to the hospital when I received a call from my father.

"Yes?"

"Why aren't you back yet?" he asked over the phone.

"I already finished my mission and I already sent you the information you wanted. As for me, I'm ging to take a break."

"You have a new mission. Come home." he ordered.

Now, a boss' orders were absolute, especially in the mafia, but I chose to disobey him even if he was my father.

"No. I have an important matter to deal with. Ask somebody else."

"Artemis-"

"You can ask Luke what it's about, he knows. And dad, you better stay away." I warned. "If you don't, you wouldn't just lose me, you'll lose everything. Now that will be troublesome, right?"

"Is that a threat? Is my fourteen-year-old daughter really threatening me?"

"Maybe. You know the capabilities of your fourteen-year-old daughter first hand. Goodbye." I dropped the call and turned off my phone.

Half an hour later, Kyle and I finally reached the hospital. The traffic in Cebu City was quite something.

We were in the elevator when I was finally able to ask Kyle what was our mother's name.

"Chen Lou Li, but her English name is Ellen Chen. She's half-Canadian."

"I see. So, how did she have you?" I asked.

"Hmm? Well, when two people of different genders do – Ow! What was that for?"

"Not that, you idiot. Don't be green minded."

"You know in China, perverted things are referred to as yellow stuff. Green symbolizes cheated men there." he explained.

"Who cares? What I meant was, how did she meet your father?"

"Oh that. They met in UK. My father was on a business trip while mom was studying in university there." he answered.

"Was it a one night stand?"

"Why do you focus on the useless things? Anyway, I guess you can say it 'was' a one night stand." he shrugged his shoulder. "They were drugged but my father took responsibility of me. Only me though. Now that I think about it, he was kind of a jerk too. He took me away from her after I was born. She was never able to finish university and returned to Canada. She met your dad there. After he took you away, he forced her to never be able to leave Canada while he raised you in Italy."

"He never told me about that." I replied. "I had always wondered who my mother was, but nobody really gave me an answer so I just kind of forgot about it."

"You were preoccupied."

"That too."

"How did you meet her…? Our… our mother, I mean."

"Pfft! You'll get over the awkwardness soon. Anyway, I met her because of my older half-brother…"

Note:

[1] oppa – how young females address their older brothers. Other times, girls use it to address those slightly older than them in general. Often times it is also used to address one's boyfriend. But for this story, the author meant the second description.

[2] Fairy Tail – a manga about magic and wizards by Hiro Mashima. It is also the author's favorite anime. :D