Chapter 4

Having agreed to take the rest of the day off and too pensive for anything else, Arados Lutoni took himself off for his second favourite activity. Running. As the most athletically built of the three Ohpayo cousins, and by far the fittest, he found physical exertion like this not only relaxing, but a great way of blowing off steam. And boy did he ever need to blow off steam.

Taking a break at a single metallic bench in the park he was running through, he took a swig of his bottled water and stared, with strange contentment, around him. A couple of female joggers, both in their mid to late twenties, passed by giving him curious glances as they did. A few seconds later they passed him again, this time in the opposite direction and he couldn't help but grit his teeth. Taylor might have been ruggedly handsome and Lus was undeniably a pretty boy, but Arados was an Adonis. And boy did he know it.

The girls passed him for a third time and this time he gave them a look of acknowledgement. Blushing, they both stopped and he wondered casually over to them.

'Seen something you like?' He kept his voice light and free of arrogance.

One of them giggled and the other blushed further.

'You know I'm only sixteen, right? I mean, I look it, don't I?'

'No,' one of them squeaked, 'not at all.'

'Well I am,' he focused his gaze on her, 'which means I'm far too young for women of your age to be ogling. I mean, what do I look like, a piece of meat?'

'No,' she shook her head, clearly shocked by his reaction.

'How would you feel if I were ogling you?'

'I…'

'Admit it, you'd hate it. You'd ask me why I thought looks were more important than the person you were underneath. You'd call me sexist, but the truth is you're just as bad. I'm a sixteen year old boy, with a brain, who's not looking to get laid every fifteen seconds. There are more important things in life than that. Now if you don't mind,' turning from them, he sprinted off, leaving them to contemplate his words.

He knew he should just let things like that go, but more and more lately he was finding it difficult not to speak his mind. Okay so maybe he wasn't losing his temper every fifteen seconds like Lus appeared to be, but it was definitely bubbling below the surface just as much. Lowering his head slightly, he lost himself in his chosen course of exercise again; not noticing anything around him, until he bumped head first into someone.

'S-sorry,' his eyes lifted apologetically towards them.

His heart almost stopped dead in his chest when he saw who it was.

'Kayrty,' the darkly familiar figure greeted, 'hige asta sai?'

'I… I'm fine,' he stammered, 'but… but what are you doing here.'

'Sai ketan vun reno mero nier,' he smirked.

'Yes… but…'

'Khesta xio ven noh? Khesta kesta?'

'Yeah.'

'Beto ven baias zes muton mai soulless,' there was a deliberate slowness to the way he spoke which made the words feel even worse than they already were.

'Wh-what?' He breathed in disbelief.

'Ven baias zes muton mai soulless,' he repeated.

'I... I can't believe I'm hearing this.'

'Recena solues yie.'

'No,' he shook his head, 'no; you can't want that.'

'Karto ven?'

'No, because it's sick.'

'Ven keta. Stas yie mitte ven yeug.'

'Why?'

'Because I need her like that,' he leant in close in order to breathe the words into his ears, before vanishing without a trace.

Swallowing sickly, Arados stared into the space he'd just occupied too stunned to move. After all this time... after all this time his brother had returned and that was what he wanted? His body began to tremble with anger, contracting his hands into tight fists. With an enraged cry he vented his fury on a nearby tree, shaking the poor oak to its core and causing a sizeable portion of its crumbling structure to break away. He then ran his fingers back through his mop of hair and his anger boiled over into tears; sobbing uncontrollably, he sank to the ground.

'I won't let you do it, I won't let you do it, I won't let you do it,' the words quickly turned into some kind of ominous mantra. 'I won't.'

'Arados, are you okay?' Mai frowned at him in concern, when he returned home, pale faced and his cheeks stained with tears.

'Lus had another fit today,' he shifted his gaze away.

'That's not it,' she studied him for a moment, 'what else happened?'

'Nothing,' he swallowed awkwardly, as he clearly tried to bite back tears.

'You're not the only Sensory Empath in this family Arados, I know you're lying to me,' she folded her arms, 'and badly at that.'

'I don't want to talk about it,' he moved away from her.

'Just because I don't use my empathic abilities as often as you do, doesn't mean I can't tell when you need to talk about something. You need to talk about this.'

'Maybe,' his voice was low as he remained with his back to her, 'but that doesn't mean I can.'

'What happened?'

For a few moments he stood there, clearly struggling to find any words at all. The confused turmoil of his emotions made it difficult for her to even hazard a guess at what he was about to say, so instead she just prayed it wasn't as bad as she feared.

'Crovell,' he eventually managed, in a voice so wispy she was barely even sure he'd spoken.

'You saw your brother?'

'Yes,' he visibly gritted his teeth.

'But... that's good, isn't it?'

'No. No it's very, very bad.'

'Why? What did he say? Why has he upset you?'

For a long while her son was silent.

'Ara,' she ventured, 'is he not coming back?'

'If only,' a half sob, half laugh like noise escaped him, 'because if he's smart enough to stay away, I won't have to kill him.'

'What?' She chocked, unable to believe the coldness of his words.

'I don't want to kill him,' his voice was wispy and hoarse, 'but if he sets one foot… if he comes anywhere near… mortal immortal or not, I will hunt him down and I will kill him.'

'Arados, you don't mean that. You... you can't mean that.'

'Read my emotions Mum, you know I do,' he met her gaze.

'But... why? What has he done?'

'Its not what he's done, it's what he wants to do.'

'And... what is that?'

Again he didn't reply. Instead he just lowered his head and looked disgustedly sick.

'Arados, what does he want to do?'

'Jo,' again his voice was low and tense.

'What?' She laughed in nervous confusion.

'He wants to do Jo,' his gaze lifted up towards her again.

She made a slight noise of disbelief, before giving him a look which bordered amusement and shock.

'No,' she shook her head, 'you must have misunderstood him.'

'There was no misunderstanding; his words were crystal clear.'

'What... what exactly did he say?'

'Ven baias zes muton mai soulless.'