Terminating Chaos

Three days later

The TV turned on. A female reporter, with brown hair and eyes was talking on a bridge, behind her there were machines and people removing large pieces of buildings and sometimes, people. "It has been three days since the terrorist attack on the Big Ben and Parliament. The death count has grown from 200 to 350 yesterday. Bodies are still being found on the rumble. Governments all around the world are working on tightening security in airports and they have shut down most landmarks for safety matters. Witnesses of this occurrence say that there was a large explosion that came from inside of the tower, which means this was not an accident, it was meant to happen." She was silenced when the TV got turned off.

Duncan was already tired of hearing people say that it was an accident. Of course it was planed. How could it not be? A giant explosion just happens to blow right in the middle of the most iconic mark in London? But he couldn't say anything to the press while he was in the hospital. The doctors said that he had only a few minor injuries, but he hit his head and ripped a large hole in it, causing severe loss of blood. He got knocked out for a 2 days. But the wounds healed quickly, he could get out of the hospital next week, only one more scar for the collection. So for the time being, he got stuck in a room with some stranger for an entire week, doing nothing, for an entire week. For some reason, that didn’t go very well with Duncan's personality.

Duncan was trying to rip every single thread of information of the attack from his memory. Time, location, weather, recent events, wars, etc… Then he remembered the girl, Hillary was it? If it wasn’t for her, he would've been in one of the 350 coffins being buried. She carried his unconscious body to the hospital, he had to do something to do something to reattribute. But that was for a later time, now, all he wanted, was to sleep.

After a couple of hours, Duncan got woken up with the sound of sobbing, at first he thought it was just a dream, one of the many. But then he saw that it came from the other side of the room. His roommate was crying. Duncan hates to see people crying, he would rather be the one crying, than see others.

He stood up from his bed and walked to his roommate. It was difficult for him to walk, his head hurt he had a difficult time with his balance. When he got to the crying man, Duncan put a hand on his shoulder and said:

"Hey buddy, you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" The man had a slight accent and was very angry.

"I don’t want to make you angry, all I want is to help. If you want me to go, I'll go." Duncan said trying to look as honest as possible.

"I'm..sorry. I didn’t mean to be angry, it's just…" The man sat on his bed and turned on the light. Duncan saw that the man was very tan, he is probably from Latin America, he had black hair and eyes. His eyes were red, most likely, he hadn't slept for the past days. "I lost the last person that ever cared for me."

"I'm so sorry. Hey, I'm Duncan and I was at the attack too." Duncan said trying to calm the man down.

"Hey, Duncan. I'm Marcelo." Marcelo had not even looked at Duncan for the entirety of the conversation.

"So…Where are you from?"

"I'm from Rio, Brazil."

"Rio! I love Rio, very nice city, the people are great and the girls are beautiful." Marcelo chuckled at the remark. Duncan felt happy by seeing him laugh.

"Well." His smile disappeared. " I know Rio from a whole different perspective. In Rio, you have to watch your step. I lived in the worst slump in the country. It was dirty, horrific, smelly and dangerous. But it was home. I had to live in those slums for over 20 years." Marcelo looked at the man he was talking to. "I came here through my brother. He got this fine new job with NWT, he had a future, but now…It's over. I have no one left." A few tears escaped Marcelo's eyes, but his tone of voice didn’t change, it was still this cold and emotionless tone. "My mother died when I was five, never did meet my father. So my brother and I had to live all by ourselves, then we got 'adopted' by the drug dealers. We were thought how to read, write, kill." Duncan shuddered when Marcelo said 'kill'. He hated that word.

"So have you killed anyone before?"

"No. I haven't. But my brother has. Several actually. It's not hard. All you need is a good gun and a steady hand."

"You speak English very well, how did you learn it?" Duncan really wanted to change topic.

"Languages were always my strong suit. My brother's was weaponry. So we always worked together in the city. I was called on when there was someone a foreigner who needed interrogation or torture, and my brother was called when they needed someone killed. "

"How many languages do you know?"

"Fluently I speak 10: Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin. But I know the basics for a couple more like Arabic, Vietnamese, Swedish, etc…"

"Wow." Duncan didn’t expect someone from the slums of Rio to know so much.

"Anyway, it was nice talking to you Duncan. It's late, and I need some sleep."

"Yea…right." Duncan moved back to his bed and turned off the light. Bringing darkness once again.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Vinyl speaking." The girl picked up her phone.

"Hey Vin!" Someone responded.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"It's Aaron, how could you forget about me? it breaks my heart." Aaron said sarcastically.

"Hey Aaron, how are you doing?"

"It's been good. Considering I was just in a terrorist attack that will probably scar me for my entire life." Aaron felt so bad for joking about something so serious. But at least it made her laugh. "Anyway, how's Vienna?"

"Oh you know.... boring."

"You really aren't into tourism are you?"

"Nope." That remark made Aaron chuckle.

"So umm.. what now?" He asked.

"Well, I was thinking I could maybe pass by London for a couple of weeks and hang out with you." Both of them smiled. Aaron wanted to squeal in delight, but couldn't because he's a guy, but he wanted to.

"Aw. So cute." Cantus laughed beside Vinyl. She jumped in surprise by hearing Cantus' voice. He appears out of nowhere sometimes, well, he is her imaginary friend.

"Shut up Cantus!"

"Who?" Aaron responded.

"No one, don’t worry. So… I will get myself a hotel and then…"

"Wait. My house is pretty empty right now, so if you want to stay here with me…."

"That's kind of creepy, we've only known each other for like what? 3 days?" Vinyl interrupted.

"No, I didn’t mean anything by it I was just…"

"Don’t worry Aaron, that is a wonderful idea. See you soon." She hung up the phone. Aaron fist pumped and laid on his bed. He took a quick glance around his room. All of the ponies in his room. Oh no.

2 days later

"Flight 11 will be landing in the next 10 minutes, dispatching of the bags will be in the stroller 12." The announcer said through the microphone.

10 minutes later, there were people leaving through the main gate. Aaron looked around for a woman with long blue and black hair. While searching he saw a small girl, about half his age, with a small toy, a pony. A blue pegasus being more exact. Rainbow Dash. He thought smiling at all the memories he has from these many years of being a brony.

He remembered the first episode he ever watched. It was the first episode of the second season. Some guys had dared him to watch a full episode without begging for forgiveness. Aaron watched it, and liked it. But he didn’t show it. If he did, then his friends would bully him for all eternity. But that episode was what sparked the begging of a brony. He'll never forget Discord, the monster who almost plunged Equestria into complete chaos and tortured thousands. The boy instantly got hooked on the show, he watched the entire seasons on YouTube countless times. Aaron was quite young when he first watched MLP, so he got scared of the bad guys, Sombra, Nightmare Moon, Discord, but especially Chrysalis. She was the one who made him shudder only by thinking of her. He'd stay up for countless nights, only thinking of that face and those eyes. It might seem stupid and childish, but Aaron is still frightened by her.

Then Aaron came back to reality. The cold, cruel, unforgiving reality. He saw Vinyl. "Hey Vinyl!" He shouted waving his hand. A blue and black haired girl pushed some people aside and hugged him.

"Hey there Aaron." They broke the hug and she handed him one of her bags.

"So, how was Vienna?" Aaron said heading out of the airport.

"It's nice, just very boring."

"You told me through the phone. I can only imagine. So that is why you want to come to London again?"

"Yea. And I want to spend more time with you of course."

"Aw. That’s nice." He chuckled and put one of the bags in the trunk of his car. Then he lifted up the second one and did the same. Both of them entered the vehicle.

"Horrible what happened isn't it?" Vinyl said.

"Yea…Horrible." Flashes of the tower falling came to his mind. The people screaming, the blood on the streets. "I heard over 350 people died, and they are still finding more bodies."

"Who would have done something like that?"

"Some people, Vinyl, just want to see the world burn." Aaron quoted.

"Hey, I already heard that somewhere, isn't it from that old Batman movie?"

"I wouldn't say old, it has only been 17 years. And yes it is from the movie. But it applies pretty well with the situation we're in."

"You know what this attack reminds me of? 9/11."

"Isn't that the terrorist attack from 2001?"

"Yes it is. This wasn’t very different. Do you think maybe, they were planned by the same guy."

"No, I doubt that. The one that planned 9/11 was killed in 2011, the only way is that he maybe planed this before his death." Aaron saw Vinyl taking a magazine with a guy with a Mohawk as a cover. He was wearing a cut vest and was holding a helmet. Under the picture, in very large red letters, said: What can't this guy do? "Who's this guy?" He said pointing at the picture.

"His name is Duncan Price, he was able to break the sound barrier without any propulsion, he has already come from the Lunar base and back over 4 times, and he survived the terrorist attack."

"Really? He seems pretty awesome." Aaron wasn’t really impressed, but she liked him, and women are always right. That's a lesson he learned the wrong way.

"Awesome? Awesome? He is incredible, probably one of the greatest people in the world. I want to visit him after he leaves St. Thomas Hospital."

"What happened to him?"

"In the attack, a piece of shrapnel hit him in the head, causing some blood loss. So he's staying over in the hospital for a few days."

"Wait? Did you say St. Thomas Hospital?" Vinyl nodded. "You know, I'm volunteering at the hospital, they are having some trouble taking care of all the people."

"Really? If you see him, could you get an autograph for me. Please." She asked with puppy eyes.

"Sure." He smiled.

"You're the best." She leaned closer to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. Aaron felt his inside melt. Vinyl was feeling the same thing, she had never been this close to someone, not even her parents. Every time she saw Aaron, something, a spark flashed inside her, which made her smile. Vinyl wasn’t a big one for smiles, she hated it. But when she was around Aaron, she became a whole different person.

"Hey." Cantus poked Vinyl's shoulder, he was sitting on the back seat, right behind her. Aaron turned and screamed. He lost control of the car, but quickly regained it.

"What the hell Aaron!" Vinyl scolded him.

"I swear I just heard someone at the back seat." He was hyperventilating.

"There was no one there Aaron." She lied. Did he really hear him? She thought.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I do some crazy things when I'm scared." He re-affirmed.

They arrived in his house about 10 minutes later. Aaron helped Vinyl taking her bags out of the car. And looked into the void that existed between the leaves of the trees. In that void, you were able to see the Big Ben and now, all you can see is the starless sky. You never know how important something is until you lose it. Aaron looked down and shook his head. Could I have done something? Could I have helped those people?

"Hey, Aaron…you okay?" Vinyl said.

"Oh…Yea sorry, I was just… thinking." He got one of her bags and put inside the house. Then he grabbed the next and did the same. Then he brought both bags to the room next to his that was used by one of his sisters before she left.

He opened the door and turned on the lights, the room was neatly organized, it had its own bathroom and study room. The bed was king size and everything, from the walls, to the floor was this dark, nearly red, pink. Why isn't my room like this? Aaron's room was half the size, and he had no bathroom. Then he looked at Vinyl and showed it to her.

"Aaron. Thank you so much for letting me stay here for the next two weeks. If there is anything, anything I can do to repay you, just tell me."

"It's okay. You don’t need to do anything. What you should do is take a nice shower, put on some pajamas and go to sleep, it has been a long week and you must be tired."

"Yes mom." Vinyl said joking. They both laughed and Vinyl closed the door. Aaron just smiled and went downstairs to get something to drink. His parents were waiting for him in the doorway.

"Who is she?" His mother said coldly.

"A friend." Aaron made his way to the kitchen and got some water.

"Why didn’t you say you were bringing someone in, especially if she is a girl."

"Didn’t think I had to." Aaron wasn’t even looking at his mother.

"Aaron Ray Stuart Braddock! Look at me!" She shouted at the boy. He just looked at her, without changing his expression. But inside he knew he was screwed, his mother never called him by his full name. "I am your mother and this is my house, you respect me." Aaron just put his cup on the table and crossed his arms.

"Mom, look, she's only staying here for the next couple of week, she won't cause any trouble, we don’t have to do anything, just breakfast and a bed. I swear nothing bad will happen. " Aaron assured his mother.

She took a deep breath. "Okay. But if I hear one moan or grunt coming from that room, you will leave this house!" Aaron's mother walked away of the room with her head high. She is very protective of her youngest son. She never lets him bring anyone in or do anything dangerous. She doesn’t even let him have a girlfriend because she's afraid of STDs. But thing is, Aaron already lost his virginity.

Aaron's father walked over to his son and put a hand on his shoulder. "The girl…" He whispered. "she looks nice." He left his smiling son. At least someone was on his side.