A/N: This is the second part of my series called 'Thicker then water'. The stories written in this series will be about the brothers and sisters in The Tribe. Each brother or sister will have one. This one is Jay's and the one before it was Ved's.

Thank you Cloe-Franzi for reviewing 'Different kinds of light'

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize is not mine. Shortly said, pretty much everything. The only thing I can claim is the plot for this story. Everything besides that I'm just borrowing.

Bonds of brotherhood:

2nd part of the 'Thicker then water' series.

Jay-Ved

"He's dead Trudy; I'll never see him again"

The minute he ha spoke those words, he had known them to be true. His little brother was gone. Deleted. Dead. Because of some unspecified mistake, Ram had taken it upon himself to make sure Ved would never see daylight again.

Ved had always been good at making mistakes, ever since he was a little kid. Before Jay had always been there to bail him out. To, more or less, gently push him back onto the right path.

Not this time though. This time he had been away, his brothers safety had barely crossed his mind. Other things had seemed that more important. And now all he could do was regret and mourn.

It was true that the bonds of brotherhood had never been particularly strong between them. The phrase 'Blood is thicker then water' had never really fitted them, but Jay had always managed to look beyond that obstacle. He had always ignored the way Ved had acted up. That was just the way Ved had been.

Had been. Those words ached. Ved had been, and he would never be again. All for one mistake.

Whose mistake? Ved's or Jay's? Maybe if Jay hadn't left the city, it wouldn't have happened. He could have kept an eye on his rebellious little brother. No, he should have kept Ved close when they had first joined the techno's, he should have kept him far away from Ram. Maybe they should never have joined the techno's.

Guilt and what ifs battled for space in his mind, there were just so many things he could have done to prevent things from happening. So many things he could have done to protect the kid who was all he had left, the boy he had promised himself to protect.

And if he, no matter what, hadn't been able to stop it from happening, then to at least to have kept Ved close, while he had the chance. To have talked to him when something was on his mind. To have strengthened those fragile bonds of brotherhood.

But he hadn't, and what little of Jay's life before the virus that had remained, had been torn away from him in his absence.

Ved was gone and in his place, he had left only sadness, guilt and the broken bonds of brotherhood.