Disclaimers: Hive ain't mine, but Ekansia is. Also, I blame the plot bunnies for this.
A/N: This is my first ever AOS fanfic! Yay!
No one knew he was gone.
No one knew he had even existed.
Well, no one except Ekansia.
She knew both these facts, as well as hundreds of others. She had known almost everything about him. She knew he'd had a secret passion for knitting. She knew he'd always had a deep-rooted hatred from mathematics. She knew the name of his first host was a little boy named Jonathan, who had lived in Essex. But perhaps best of all, she knew his core desire for connection would be his ultimate downfall.
She just didn't think it'd happen so soon. But she really should have known better. He was her brother, after all.
"Mama! Mama! Look at my new body!"
Ekansia looked up from the book she was engrossed in to look at her younger brother. His body was a young boy's body – he couldn't have been older than six summers. His skin was fair, his eyes brown, his hair red, and his cheeks dotted with freckles.
"Oh, Alveus!" their mother gushed, grabbing his cheeks and touching and feeling. "That's wonderful! What was his name?"
"James O'Brien," Alveus said excitedly, before getting more serious as he recalled some of the hosts' memories. "He had a little sister, who he loved very much. His mama died last year, and he never knew his papa."
"Oh, dear, that is very sad," their mother sympathised, caressing her son's shoulder. "But we mustn't dwell on their memories."
Alveus nodded and managed a small smile. Their mother smiled sadly at him, and then turned back to preparing dinner. Ekansia was concerned for her brother. James was his fifth host, and he'd not shown his true face in almost one hundred years. She knew her mother felt the same concern. Perhaps it was time to have a chat with him. She slid off her stool and gently but firmly grabbed Alveus' wrist and tugged him into a different room
"'Smatter, Eka?" he asked, using her nickname. He tugged his wrist free.
"You tell me," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "You've not shown your true face in almost one hundred years and you've had five hosts in as much time."
"I like being in different peoples' bodies." The boy shrugged, although he averted his gaze.
"No, Alveus." This got his attention. He looked up. "You long for a connection, perhaps even more so than mama 'n' me. That's why you go through so many bodies – you wanna find someone like you."
"So?" He crossed his arms over his chest; a defensive position.
"So, you have to learn to control it! Having that many personalities and memories is dangerous, and if you're not careful, it will kill you."
"Whatever, Eka," he huffed. He knew that she was right, and she knew that he knew that she was right, but Hive was too proud to admit it. He brought his gaze up to hers defensively. "I've got this."
With that, Alveus spun on his heel and strutted out of the room. He didn't hear Ekansia's quiet whisper that followed.
"I hope so."
"You always knew I was right," Ekansia said in barely above a whisper. She ran her hand over the memorial she had purchased for him. A tear slipped out of the pool in her eye and rolled down her cheek. The memorial was a headstone, labelled 17.05.04, his birthday: the 17th of May, B.C.
Kind of funny, it was, him dying on the same date he was born, thousands of years later. It had been said in the past that a person who died on his birthday was favoured by God. Ekansia wondered if that belief also applied to species often considered to be gods.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye."
It was true; she'd never got to say goodbye. Her last words to him were "grab my hand". Then she'd never seen him again.
"No! Mama! Eka! Don't let them take me!"
His screams echoed off the stone walls as easily as a bouncy ball would. He was crying, kicking and flailing, in a desperate effort to free himself from the grip of the man holding him tightly.
"Al! Grab my hand!" Ekansia's screams were just as loud and desperate as her brothers'. Her vision was blurred by her tears. She struggled against her mother, who was desperately trying to get her out before the men grabbed her, too.
Ekansia and Hive were weaker than the men, given that they were only the age equivalent to children, and so they were separated, the adults winning out. The screams of their sibling were permanently branded in their memories.
She flinched, hearing his screams resound in her mind as if she were back in that abandoned church the day he was taken away. She felt the same pain she had felt on that day.
"You're such a drama kind," she breathed out, her tears once again making it impossible to see. She drew in a shaky breath. "Only you're dramatic enough to go out with a bang."
She let out a wet laugh and swiped at her eyes. "You were probably staring wistfully into space, too."
She didn't know he'd come back. He'd never reached out to her, and she was sure that he had had many opportunities. She squeezed her eyes shut, as if she could close out all the hurt. It was a long while she spoke again.
"I was always here." Her voice was barely a whisper. "You could have connected with me. That's why we were made in pairs."
Ekansia finally broke down and began to sob. She sobbed for what felt like forever. It felt as if every drop of water were being squeezed out of her body. She didn't know how long it was before she stopped crying.
She felt empty. It felt as if time had stopped and nothing was ever going to happen again.
She sat for a while longer, until the sun began to set. She then pushed herself up off the ground, brushed herself off and started to trudge away, feeling suddenly tired. But then she suddenly stopped and turned back, casting one final glance on Hive's empty grave.
"Rest well, baby brother."