Chapter Fourteen

Meeting

"You guys shoulda seen Jace and Gen fight," Auron told three members of SLVA during their meal a the end of the school day, "They just blocked an' countered the whole time. It had to be put on a time limit an' a higher aura limit an' the time still ran out."

"Sounds like it would've been great," Aulin said, "I wish we were part of that class today."

"It wasn't that big of a deal," Genesis told them, "It's what always happens when we fight."

"Yeah, but we never saw it before." Alyss said.

"It was something else, really." Nika said at Genesis' side. Their teammates had returned to their dorm, having decided to eat later after Liza recovered her scrambled thoughts from her match.

"And you said Terra had a grapple-based fighting style?" Inuvali asked, "I've never heard of something like that."

"She got it from her dad," Genesis said, "He calls it a wrestling style or whatever, but it works. Her attacks don't hit extremely hard but she hits fast and can grab you and slam you down hard."

"You remember when she hit you with a… What'd she call it? A powerbomb? Like she did to Liza?" Jace asked his brother with a grin.

Genesis laughed. "Yeah, I remember. What about when she got you with a DDT? Nearly knocked you out cold because you didn't see it coming."

"Gods, I remember and that hurt." Jace shared a laugh with him.

"You two are very close," Bell observed, "You've told us about that, but seeing it is also something else."

"I promised Jace when we met that he would never be alone again," Genesis said and showed a grin, "I've always stuck by his side. He's the closest person to me right now, and next is dad."

"And he knocked the hell out of an annoying person for grabbing my tail." Jace grinned.

"Language, Big Cat." They heard Sapphire say from behind them.

"Sorry Saph. You guys have a good first day?" Jace asked as SHRA sat down at the table, with Barrett arriving with them.

"It was good. Got to know Barrett a little more." Zack answered.

"At least you guys can keep SHRA as your team name." Alyss said to them.

"Yeah, that's really good," Heath replied, "I don't wanna have to get used to saying a new name for us all."

"Yeah, it's pretty great on their team too," Barrett said, "It just sucks it'll still be a few months before I can see mom."

"Don't worry Bear, it'll be okay," Heath said and patted him on the shoulder, "She'll be alright."

"You two getting along good?" Aulin asked them both.

"Yeah, we are." Barrett answered with a grin.

"Did you guys ever meet with your new teammate yet?" Sapphire asked Aulin.

"Yeah. He's back in our room resting. He had a rough day." Aulin answered.

"Can you tell him I want to meet him sometime?" Jace asked her, "Y'know… I want to know."

"We can set it up for this weekend. It'll give him time to get used to the school and we won't have to worry about school the next day." Aulin suggested.

"Sounds good…" Jace gave a nervous sigh as his fists clenched.

Alyss reached over and put her hand on his shoulder "It'll be okay, Kitten," She grinned and he smiled back, "Do you want to be alone for it?"

"Gen kinda has to be there too." Jace said, calming down from his nervousness at the touch of her hand.

"Yeah… I need to know if I might have another little brother." Genesis said.

"We'll leave the room for you then." Aulin offered.

"Good luck with that." Auron told them.

The week went by agonizingly slow for Jace. The overly-strong scents, loud talking, and a few boring classes put him in a dour mood most of the time. That didn't last long as Alyss always lightened his mood with a smile or when she put a hand on his shoulder, or when she just rubbed his ears. He loved every moment of being with her. She just made him feel great. Combat classes had changed around and he got to see fights between Auron and Tyr, Alyss and Sky Lark from CRDL, Weiss and Bell, Aulin and Michael, Blake and Raine, himself and Inuvali, Pyrrha and Sapphire, and Zack and Paige.

At the end of classes on Friday, JKDW separated. Jace went to a quiet spot to talk with Genesis while the rest of their teams went to their dorms. Both of them had a lot on their minds about one subject.

"What if he's your brother?" Genesis asked.

"Then I'll accept him if he accepts me," Jace answered easily, "If we are, then we came from the same parents. I doubt he ever really knew what happened to them. They probably told him that he was their only son and kept me a secret. I'll tell him the truth about it all."

Genesis nodded slowly. "If you accept each other, then I'll accept him too. If he's your brother by blood then I'll be as much a brother to him that I am to you."

"We gotta call dad and tell him about this." Jace said.

"Wanna go ahead and get that out of the way?"

Jace nodded and brought his scroll out. He quickly found their father's number and called.

"Hey Jace, like it at Beacon?" Haile greeted Jace.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome so far. I've made a lot of friends already. Even a few people from Haven."

"That's really good to know. I'm happy that you found friends quick."

"Me too. I have this on speaker and Gen's here too." Jace replied.

"Hey dad." Genesis greeted.

"Oh, hey Gen. Was the flight okay?

"Not at all." Genesis replied.

"I wish they weren't so hard on you. What did you call about?"

"Well, it's not about Jace sleeping with a girl." Genesis remarked.

"Really? Jace, what have you been doing?" Haile asked in humor.

"Damn it, Gen, I didn't want to tell him that..." Jace sighed, "I-it wasn't anything like that… M-me and my teammate just fell asleep in the same bed."

"Ah, good to know you aren't just sleeping around."

"Dad…"

"I'm just teasing you, son. It's all fine with me if you're safe and happy." Haile assured him, and Jace could only assume he was giving a light smile.

"Right... Listen, I told my team and my new friends about what me and Gen went through and they accepted us. Alyss comforting me after that is what really made us sleep together."

"That's good to hear. Now… what did you need?"

"Umm… you remember that Storm used to be my last name, right?" Jace asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm not forgetting that anytime soon." Haile said, his mood growing serious.

"Well… There's someone with that name joining my friend's team. His name is Alex."

"Alex Storm?" Haile echoed in shock, "I read reports that they had another son but… I thought it was a mix-up and they meant you, not a kid named Alex. If I knew, I would've told you…"

"Don't worry about it dad, it doesn't bother me," Jace assured him, "Me and Gen are gonna meet with him tomorrow and talk. I guess with what you said... that means we're actually brothers."

"You both need to know for sure. I'm gonna try to read over those reports again if I can find them. I'm gonna see if I can head down there to meet him too. Maybe we can have a bit of family time before the tournament."

"That would be good," Genesis said, "What sucks is that we can't be in it this year because our teams changed around right before the semester started."

"That's disappointing, but you always have next year," Haile told them, "I'm gonna let you go now. Thanks for letting me know that."

"No problem. Talk to you later, dad." Jace said.

"Bye dad." Genesis said.

"Bye kids. Stay safe."

The call was ended and the brothers looked at each other, faces full of nervousness.

"How's Alex gonna take it?" Jace wondered in his head.

"I guess we should get back to our rooms," Genesis said, "We have to get ready for tomorrow."

"Yeah, we do. See you then, Gen."

"Till then, Kitty."

Jace rolled his eyes at that, even though he'd be smiling if Alyss had said it. And blushing, most likely. He walked toward the Beacon students' dorms slowly as he tried to think about the next day. It would be awkward as all hell when they meet with Alex and he knew it. He doubted he would get much sleep that night.

Before too long, he arrived at the dorms and was standing in front of his team's door. He unlocked it and opened it up, seeing Auron and Raine sitting at the table.

"Hey guys. Where's-"

Jace was cut off when Alyss pounced on him from the side, sending them both to the carpeted floor with Alyss straddling his stomach with her hands on his shoulders.

"Hi." She greeted him with a little smile and a blush on her cheeks.

Jace reached his hand up to scritch her ears, drawing a happy purr from her. "Hi Kitty Cat."

"Where have you been?" Alyss asked, cocking her head to the side with one ear flattening out and the other sticking straight up.

"Talking to Gen and dad, you adorable kitten," Jace answered, "Now, may I please stand up?"

Alyss nodded and moved off of him, then they both came to their feet. "So, I have news." Jace said as he and Alyss sat down at the table.

"What is it?" Raine asked.

"I have a pretty good amount of proof that Alex is my brother."

"How did you find that out?" Alyss asked him.

"Dad told us that he read a report saying the Storms had another kid. He thought it was a screwup and they meant to put my name instead of Alex. Now I'm even more sure that we're related."

Auron let out a loud breath. "Damn, you're gonna have a hell of a time tomorrow."

"I know and I won't be able to sleep because of it." Jace said dryly.

"I'm sure you'll find away to get at least a little bit of sleep," Raine told him, "Even if for an hour or twk."

"What? Knock myself out?" Jace asked jokingly.

"I... wouldn't go that far." Raine laughed.

The team finished the conversation and dressed in their sleepwear. Auron jumped in his bed first before the light was turned off, then Raine hit the switch. They all laid in their beds and slowly drifted off to sleep, all except for Jace. He laid there for an hour trying to drift off. He gave a sigh and turned over for the fifth time, just unable to clear his mind.

"Light damn it… I'm so nervous that he might not accept me…" He groaned and turned over again, "What is he even gonna say? Or think? What the hell am I gonna say? What if he just can't accept our parents were-"

"Jace?"

Jace jumped a bit at the soft voice of his teammate next to his bed. He looked up into her concerned emerald and sapphire orbs and sighed. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"No… I can't sleep," Jace whispered, "I just don't know what he'll say."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Alyss assured him, "Just try to stay calm."

"Hard to do when you're about to talk with the brother you thought you never had..."

Alyss gave a sigh and lowered herself into the bed with him. "Wh-what are you doing?" Jace asked in confusion.

"Remember when I stayed and helped ease your mind when you told us about your childhood?" She asked and he nodded slowly, "I'm doing it again. I don't like seeing anyone worrying over something like this."

She reached her hand up and started scritching his ears. "I won't stop you…" Jace closed his eyes and leaned his head forward against her shoulder. "Thanks… I can't help but be worried about what he might think, but this is helping."

"Then I'm staying right here. Maybe we should keep doing this. It... feels nice."

Jace hummed and his tail came to his front and draped itself over Alyss's waist. She jumped a bit from the contact but reached her hand down to lightly rub the furry appendage, drawing more purrs from her friend.

"Go to sleep, Jace."

"Thanks again… Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"You ready to meet him." Alyss asked Jace at their table the next morning.

"Not really, no," Jace answered her, "But I think I'm getting there."

"You're just waiting for Genesis, right?" Raine asked.

"Yeah."

"Have fun with your day." Auron told him.

"Easier said than done." Jace sighed.

Alyss placed her slender hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "You'll both handle it. You just need to stay calm."

"I think I'm my calmest when you scritch my ears now." Jace said.

"That has to be the sappiest thing I've ever heard a cat Faunus say." Auron remarked.

"Shut up, Pepper." Jace and Alyss told him.

"It's a sweet thing of him to say." Alyss said.

"Don't make it any less sappy."

"But it doesn't make it any less true." Jace countered.

"It's both sweet and sappy," Raine interjected, "How about that?"

Auron rolled his eyes. "Sure, let's go with that. Plus I never knew any cat Faunus before you two an' I don't know Vivi well, so yeah." Auron said after a moment.

There was a set of knocks on the door and Jace jumped up to answer it. "Hey Gen."

"Hey. You about ready?" Genesis asked.

"Nope. But that won't matter in a little bit," Jace said and went to his desk to retrieve that journal, "What's everyone else gonna do while we're doing this?" He asked his team.

"I'm gonna go hang out with Sapphire and the others for a bit," Alyss said for herself, "I was gonna take them to see mom too."

"I might go talk to Pyrrha." Auron answered.

"I'm gonna hang out with Vivi while she's here." Raine answered.

"At least everyone has plans," Genesis said, "Nika's reading a book and Michael and Liza are gonna go train against bots."

"Hey Alyss," Jace turned to the cat Faunus, "How long are you gonna be with your old team?"

"Maybe two or three hours. Why?" Alyss asked.

"Because I'm gonna need scritches probably."

"Oh you are just a little kitten." Genesis laughed.

"Shut up, Gen. You don't know how comforting and calming that can be." Jace told him.

"Children, don't start arguin'." Auron said.

"Hey, I'm older than you!" Genesis huffed.

"How?" Auron asked in confusion.

"Because I held myself back so I can help and keep even with Jace. I'm two years older than him." Genesis answered.

"Damn. I didn't know that."

Aulin appeared in the doorway a moment later and waved at them. "Alright, both of you get on over there," She told Jace and Genesis, "Alex is waiting."

"Here we go." Jace said and took a deep breath.

Alyss stood from her seat and hugged him lightly. "Good luck with the talk. We'll definitely have a scritching session later."

"Th-thanks… I'm gonna need it."

"Two things on my mind that I don't know what to do about…" Jace thought to himself, "At least I'm talking to Alex about this."

The brothers left the room and Aulin led them to the room next door. She left them there and walked on to find something to do. They looked at each other, then to the door and simultaneously took deep breaths. Jace knocked on it and he heard some shuffling in the room, then he heard the door handle turning.

The door opened and a dark-brown haired and eye teen around five feet an nine inches tall looked at them both, wearing thick brown pants and a thin light-blue jacket. "I guess you're the ones that wanna talk to me?" He asked.

"Yeah… I'm Jace Reznor," Jace greeted nervously, "This is my adoptive brother. Genesis Galloway.

"Hey there. Just call me Gen." Genesis greeted, looking between Jace and Alex with surprise.

"I guess you know I'm Alex Storm," He didn't notice the slight flinch that Jace gave, "I guess just come in and we can talk."

The two walked in the room and Alex sat on a bed. "You guys can sit down on that bed. I don't guess Aulin would mind it," He pointed to the bed across from him and the two sat down, "Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"Did you… know your parents?" Jace asked slowly.

"Birth parents? No, not much, just their names. Bray and Abigail. I remember being... four or five when I was put in an orphanage at least. I grew up there and I'm basically on some grant or scholarship or whatever. I'm a year early too," Alex looked at Jace skeptically, "I never got a straight answer about them. Why?"

"So, you don't know they're in prison?" Genesis asked bluntly.

"What!?" Alex exclaimed, "They're locked up in jail? Why? And why couldn't anyone even tell me that?" Alex shook his head, "How do you two know?"

Jace looked at the journal in his hands and clutched it tightly. "Because… they're my birth parents…"

"You're telling me that the Storms are your parents too? And we're brothers?" Alex asked, narrowing his eyes as Jace nodded, "Then why aren't you using their last name?"

"Because… they're just horrible pieces of trash that deserve to rot in there." Jace said lowly.

"Okay, why are they in there in the first place?"

Jace took a deep breath and opened the journal to the marked page, then he handed it to Alex. "B-because they sold me…"

"They what…?" Alex asked in disbelief at what was said. He took the journal and looked at the names on the page.

"Sellers: Bray and Abigail Storm… Subject: Jace Storm, age six…?" Alex echoed the names and looked at Jace, who nodded shakily.

"Oh gods…" Alex shut the journal after a few moments and slowly handed it back to Jace, "I'm sorry that happened to you, man…"

"When the police and Huntsmen finally showed up, Jace was put in an orphanage and he was adopted quickly," Genesis continued where he thought Jace might not be able to, "Then he grew the ears after awhile. Those people kicked him out…"

"They just left me to die," Jace said lowly, "Two grown adults leaving a child to die alone in the streets… I grew this tail after a few more months and then dad… our dad found me. I took his last name because I want to leave all of that in the past. The Storms and the ones that left me on the streets. I'm fighting for all the ones that didn't survive that hell…"

"And so am I," Genesis added, "I was kidnapped and used in those experiments too. We never knew of each other until dad introduced us."

"I… I think I remember something…" Alex said and rubbed his temple, "I remember when I was five… I remember someone other than them… I think that might've been you… I remember having someone else there now."

"Really? You're remembering?" Jace asked, "A-after all of that stuff… I don't remember anything before I was experimented on."

"Yeah. S-so… that was you?" Alex said, still trying to wrap his head around it, "I-I think I might remember them saying that they were just taking care of you for someone... They lied about you."

"You two should look in a mirror," Genesis said, "You look almost the same. You got the same jawline, nose, hair color, and your cheekbones look almost the same too."

The two stood and went to the mirror that Bell had for her desk. They looked in it and were shocked at how similar they looked. "I'll be damned…" Jace breathed out.

"We do look like we're brothers…" Alex said in shock, then the two returned to the beds and sat down, "And… they just sold you…? Like you were an item?"

"And they got caught for it. Both of you are better knowing that they're locked up." Genesis told them.

"Y'know… I always wanted to see them again… Bray and Abigail…" Alex let out a loud sigh as he shook his head, "Now, I never want to see them. I never want to be associated with them… I want them to rot in that prison for what they did…"

"And… you have no problems with me being a Faunus?" Jace asked, "As unnatural as it is?"

"No… Hell no. I don't have any problems," Alex answered, "You're still fighting after all of that. You have my respect, Jace…"

"Y'know, I might have a solution if you don't want to be associated with them anymore." Genesis said to Alex.

"What would that be?"

"You can join our family," Genesis replied, seeing Alex's head tilt, "You can come to our family. With your brother."

"Y-you'd really let me into your family after you just met me?" Alex asked in disbelief.

"I'm with Gen," Jace said, his eyes blurred with tears, "You need something better than them. Dad's on his way over and he should be here in the next few days, a week at the most. I'm sure he'll say the same."

"Gods… I don't know what to think…" Alex said as his eyes started leaking tears, "I have a brother… I-I really have a brother…"

Jace stood from the bed and stepped over to place his hand on Alex's shoulder. Alex looked up and Jace nodded. "I'll accept you as my brother no matter what happens."

Alex stood and wrapped Jace in a strong hug. "Th-thanks, man… I accept you too… Thanks for letting me know the truth."

Jace returned the hug just as strong. "You needed to know."

"You both did." Genesis said lightly.

"Listen…" Jace said and released Alex, "We're gonna go… I'll let you know when dad gets here so we can all talk."

"Okay. Maybe we should get each other's scroll number." Alex suggested. He quickly gave his to Jace and Genesis and they gave theirs to him.

"See you later." Jace said to Alex, then he and Genesis left the room.

They walked back to Jace's room and Jace threw the journal back in the bottom drawer of the desk. He faced Genesis and gave a shaky smile. "S-so… He's my brother…"

"Yep," Genesis said, "And that means he's my brother too."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Probably go and hang out with Nika. What about you?"

"I might stay here or go find Auron or Raine. I'll probably just stay and lay down."

Genesis laughed. "Did the talk drain your energy or something?"

"You have no idea." Jace said and jumped in his bed.

"I'll leave you to it then. See ya later."

Jace gave a slow wave. "Later.

XxXxX

AN: Hello to everyone that's been reading this as it's updated. I just wanna say that there are two more chapters to this act that I'll post today. Then, I'm taking a week's break to make sure the next act is all good and ready to go. I just figured I would say that.

See you next chapter, and have a nice day!