Chapter 1 - Will

"Stop it Zed!", giggled the soulfinder of my youngest brother, jerking me out of a surprisingly pleasing dream, whereupon I was in my own apartment and the only thing that woke me up was the all too familiar sound of the alarm on my phone. Speaking of my phone, I groaned as I rolled over on my bed and stretched my arm out to check the time on the aforementioned device. Another groan resounded throughout myself as I saw the boldly written 09.30 displayed on the centre of the screen. My right hand covered half my face as I thought, 'why on Earth was Sky over at this hour in the morning, but more importantly why did she have to wake me up at his unholy hour of the day?'

I sighed, as I lay back flat on the bed and folded one arm back to rest my head upon. Staring at the ceiling, I thought to myself, 'When will I be joining in that group? When will it be me tickling and joking with my soulfinder? When will it be my turn to be that happy simply by being in the company of one other person?' My heart wrenched as it often did upon thinking such things.

I glanced around my room. Photos of my friends decorated the space, along with my jersey and it's accompanying football strewn across my desk chair. My guitar sat idly in the corner, resting against the wall with tarnished strings and a worn-out neck. A photo of my Dad playing said guitar sat upon my bedside locker and I stared at it with the similar expression of my nine-year-old self in the photo. I smiled. So what if I haven't met my soulfinder yet? I'm only 21 years old, as of today anyway. I have my entire life ahead of me. I had my friends in college, my football team and a loving family that waited for me downstairs.

No longer perturbed by my less-than-thrilling awakening of the day, I jumped out of my bed smiling before throwing on a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt and journeying my way downstairs.

"SURPRISE!", yelled the vast amount of people congregating around the bottom of the stairs. I jumped, lost my footing and fell down the last few steps accompanied by the booming laughs of my brothers. Uriel's hand found my upper arm and helped me up, while I continued to look around in awe at the heavily decorated room of banners, balloons and confetti.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE ANOTHER ONE OF MY BABIES HAS BECOME A MAN!", yelled my mother as she threw herself at me. Despite my muscular stature, I was forced a step of two back by my petite, yet powerful mother.

"I can't believe you guys", I exclaimed, "how long did this take you?"

"We've been here since 8am", smiled Sky while a nodding Zed slipped his hand around her waist.

"I always knew I was the favourite", I joked to the room.

"Then why did they have three more after you?", Xav chipped in.

I looked at him, "When I turned out so good, they thought they were on a lucky streak and tried for a few more like me. Unfortunately, they were wrong. It's ok though, one gift is enough. Especially when that gift is me".

"Stop that now", said Mom releasing me and tapping Xav on the forearm, "You are all special in your own way"

"But I'm still the specialest Mom, right?", Xav asked leaving Crystal, who stood rolling her eyes, following Mom into the kitchen.

"You certainly are, Xav", smirked Victor as he sat down at the nook.

"Not like that!", cried Xav from the kitchen.

"Anyway, seeing as I am the favourite", I began while joining Victor in the nook, "what did you all get me in order to prove your love and admiration"

Sky hurried towards me with a large, flat, brightly wrapped present. She handed it to me excitedly and her smile continued to stretch across her face as I tore apart the paper.

My jaw hung open as I stared at the framed jersey which was signed by my all-time favourite Buffalo quarterback, Kordell Stewart.

"How", I breathed.

"He commissioned my parents to do some paintings for his home in Denver. I got Zed to take your jersey and Sally passed it on to him to sign. Do you like it?!"

"It's amazing Sky, thank you", I said getting up to give her a hug.

"We really shouldn't have started with this one, because I doubt there will be any topping that", I said to the room.

"I don't know about that Will", said Xav as he bumped Crystal from her seat and propped her back on his knee.

I stared at him raising an eyebrow and he smirked at his soulfinder.

"Well", began Crystal, "We were thinking, only if you wanted to, and its completely ok if you don't I understand it's a big decision and judging by the track record of the others in this family, it certainly has never been easy. But, if you would like me to, I would love to try and locate your soulfinder".

I stated at her.

'Wow', I thought. I certainly had not been expecting this. Of course I wanted to find my soulfinder but what Crystal said was true. None of my brother's had an easy time when discovering their soulmates. One didn't know they were a savant, another was part of a crime world savant organisation, upon finding the last two, all links were severed and Crystal and myself, nearly died when trying to rectify the situation.

Besides all this, I looked at my brothers who had found the people they were destined to be with. None of them looked unhappy with who they were with or by what they had to go through to get to be in said relationships. Hell, I didn't even regret what happened to me when I was helping them.

I looked back at Crystal and then around the room, at the faces of my brothers who were still waiting to become whole.

"But why me? Should it not be Victor or Uriel? They're older. It's their turn", I said looking at the pair.

They smiled at me, "We discussed it", began Victor "and we decided that it should be you. When we were rescuing the girls from the Contessa's house, it wasn't either of us who had been shot and had to go to hospital."

Uriel nodded, "and you did it without a word of complaint. I don't know if I'd have done the same"

I looked at Uriel when he said this, of course he would have. Uriel was hands down the most empathetic, giving person I have ever met. I really appreciated what they were doing but I wasn't sure if I could accept it.

"Besides", said Victor, "we didn't get you anything else, so this is really a present from us as well".

I laughed, "Well, in that case, I would love to"