Happy Post Thanksgiving!
Replies to Reviews:
Daime Guiral: Hey yeah, I'm glad I returned to. And here I am again because I was at the point where my mind was about to burst with Ayamika. I think Aya and Fea are indeed brothers…and while I haven't read the ENTIRE manga, I'm not sure if they're otherwise. Either way, for the story: they're bros! (yay). I myself aren't entirely sure why I added Fea in here but I had a feeling it'd be fun. And besides I needed some member of Aya's family here to appreciate Mika, so voila. I'll just tell you that Fea doesn't have a huge role in this. And about reconciling –you'll find out. ;) Thanks for the review!
Lili. Chng. 1: Lol, hate to break it to you as the author of this story –but I actually love gore. Too bad I couldn't add enough into this story but rest assured I won't go crazy with it. Your words are weapons lol, love it—thanks for the motivation! XD I had to search Gaku up since I forgot and damn, this guy? What a coincidence, he's a beautiful painting of evil too. Haha thanks for the review! Hope you like this chapter.
Disclaimer: head to first chapter.
Spoilers : manga chapter 98
Chapter 30:
"Aya-tan, are you heading back already?" Hyuuga inquired as soon as he saw the chief exit his office and walk past him.
"Hn." Ayanami merely let out, as he continued down his trail.
"Did you finish all your work already?" The lieutenant blurted, carrying a stack of ancient files but received no reply from the other. Letting it slide, the brunette entered the silverette's head quarters to set the files and was startled by the sight before him. Ayanami's desk still held half the stack of papers that required analysis and signatures. 'This was so unlike him to leave work hanging like this.' Hyuuga automatically thought. "Geez, Aya-tan's actually not taking his work seriously anymore…" He whined out loud, a tad bit troubled. 'Did it had to do with Mika-chan missing? Undoubtedly.'
…
It had been a half a week since Fea was here. Ayanami tossed his hat and sword on the bed of his room and crossed his legs in his armchair. Shutting his eyelids, the elder began to gather all his concentration in the darkness before his eyes. 'Focus.' His subconsciously told himself. 'Get out of this world. Hear nothing. See nothing. Focus on his energy.' He could sense it. Now that he was aware of his brother, he could unmistakably sense Fea's barrier impeding his energy from reaching the younger.
However, this time around, the silverette wasn't in a panic. If he couldn't scout Mikage—no worries. As long as he could track down Fea, it would mean the same thing. 'You underestimate me, Fea.'
Twenty minutes later
Ayanami was so close—he could virtually feel it. He could feel himself crossing the border and grazing his elder brother's life force. As much as those were positive results, he was somewhat stuck in a maze when it came to the location in the real world. It wasn't very difficult to isolate an area of suspicion but to localize him to one particular coordinate seemed increasingly impossible at the moment.
Beep. Beep. Beep. The elder's phone unwelcomingly interrupted his mental research. He forced his eyes to remain shut but after a second round of beeping, the sileverette was compelled to get up and answer it. "Ayanami." He answered with a subtle frown.
"Sir, I'm calling to report the findings of my assigned task." One of the army's subordinates subjected.
"Proceed."
"Thank you. According to the job you've assigned me, I've found the location of the man you're looking for."
Ayanami's eyes widened, before a smirk followed. "Excellent." This was it.
…
Without delay, the silverette hauled his coat on again with his hat angled lower on his forehead and marched down the stairs. On the way down, he fixed his sword back on his side and exited the manor. His subordinate had input all the details to his portable device which he used as a GPS to lead the way. As he barely made it down the path to the front gate, the chauffeur was already awaiting him with the back door of the car opened.
"Take me here." Ayanami ordered, showing the address on the device to the driver, who nodded at once. 'Wait for me Mikage-kun.' He thought, sitting in the car.
…
Fea was doing nothing in particular but at the same time busy in something until he halted abruptly. Attenuating whatever he was preoccupied with, he averted his face to read the powerful levels of soul energy he was being bombarded with. 'Wait this power… It couldn't be. This soon?' The blond slowly turned his face to Mikage who was clueless to his dilemma. 'He's coming. I can feel it.' Kreuz inhaled a steady breath before expelling it and turning fully to the younger blond.
"Mikage." Fea cleared his throat. "Would you mind coming with me?"
"Hm? Yeah, sure. What's up?" Mikage looked up and nonchalantly smiled back, not reading the sudden tension.
"Just follow me." Fea led him to the third floor of his antique house. The top floor was unsurprisingly smaller than the others and only housed three rooms, all for storage purposes. Fea unlocked the furthest of the three and creaked open that door. Mikage entered the somewhat dusty room.
"What's this? Oh I get it, do you need help cleaning up?" the younger blond annunciated.
"I'm sorry Mikage-kun, but will you quietly settle here for a while?" It was intended to be more of a statement than a request. And with that, Kreuz shut the door and locked the outside.
"Eh?" It took Mikage a few seconds to realize what had just happened. "Fea- san?" He called out as he stepped back to the door and attempted to turn the knob. "What? It's locked? But why would he lock it?" The blond tugged on the door some more to confirm that thought. 'Eh…? What's going on? Well anyway, there's no use shaking this door—it's obviously locked.' The teen took giant steps back and wondered if there was a place to sit. 'This was Fea-san he was talking about. He would never execute anything without a reason.' Fea was one of the most reserved and serious people he'd come across. So there was no doubt in his mind that something must have led the other to do this. In a way, he couldn't help but think Fea was just like his own elder brother.
…
"You're quite the impatient one, as I imagined." Fea was prepared for Ayanami to barge into the house after he answered the door.
"I'm not here to visit the dead. Now where is he?" The silverette stomped into the living room.
"Are you sure you don't want some tea?" Fea tried to play it cool without getting killed again.
"Fea!" The chief exclaimed and met eyes with the other. "I'm sparing your life for a reason so I advise you don't change that. Regardless of whether you decide to tell me—I'm going to take him back. So, go back to where you came from and never come close to us again."
Fea sighed. "Aren't you too confident, Krowell? Or perhaps, ignorant shall I say?" Ayanami growled. "What makes you think he wants to return with you? After the way you've treated him—do you really care about him? Or are you simply using him as an outlet to your madness?"
Fea wasn't given the chance to continue as a loud crash cut him off. Ayanami had whacked the lamp on the nearby table with the edge of his sword's sheath. "I dare you to keep talking." The silverette intimidated, glowering eyes looking up at him. 'How dare he imply he was using Mikage?'
The elder brother clenched his jaw. "Isn't it true?"
"You know nothing." He concluded at that and began roaming the house, kicking open every door he saw. His rod-like sword sheath still in his grip, he stopped to think for a second. 'If he was going to hide Mikage, it obviously wouldn't be on the main floor.' With that thought in mind, he invited himself up the stairs to the highest floor the steps would take him. Which so happened to be the third floor.
…
'It was faint, but… was that a crash?' Mikage sat on the floor against an old drawer with an arm over his knees. He gulped now. 'I really hope everything's okay. Is Fea-san being targeted by some one? Thugs? No, loan sharks maybe? But that still doesn't answer why he would bother to hide me.' That's when he heard it. A yank on his locked door. His face impulsively rotated to the wooden door constantly being shaken, every attempt louder than the previous. "Fea—?" the blond began but stopped short when he recalled what the elder had requested of him.
He jumped when the inner knob tremored out of its place with a loud hammering on the outside. 'What was he supposed to do now? That was definitely not Fea-san. Should he have his Zaiphon ready just in case? Or escape through the window?' There was no time to debate as the knob soon fell apart and the door was busted open. Mikage gawked at his intruder. The other also held disbelief in his eyes.
"Ayanami-sa…" Before he knew it, the-all-anxiety-provoking elder took long strides toward him and yanked him up from the wrist. 'Wait, if Ayanami is here then—Fea-san! What if he got killed?' The blond suddenly lost his breath. "Ayanami-san—! Ayanami-san you didn't—!" He cried as he was forced to keep up with the other down the stairs.
"Mikage-kun!" The teen was relieved to hear Fea's voice call him. Quickly glancing at the bishop, his heart relaxed to see the other unscathed. 'Thank God.' He thanked right before expressing a short smile his way.
Ayanami led them to the front door. "Don't ever let me see you again." He warned his brother as he made his way out. The silverette stopped short in front of the car and swung the back door open. "Get in." he demanded of the younger who resolved it was best not to protest, considering the heap of trouble he was already in.
Until the very moment they stepped out of the car and even as they walked into the manor, Mikage couldn't function properly. 'He wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid.' He kept telling himself repeatedly but to no avail. It wasn't as though his body could help acting this way, after all he didn't want to be hurt. 'What if Ayanami really locked him this time? Or worse…would he… kil—no! what am I thinking? Fea-san may have said those things but he could assure himself his lover wouldn't go through those extremes anymore. … or would he?' There it was again. His dread was back. For the last twenty minutes his emotions would go through this endless cycle: an uneasy thought would surface, then he would confidently knock it down before he would doubt himself all over again.
The gate was previously unlocked and Ayanami opened the door. "After you." He insisted. Mikage swallowed his nausea and very slowly entered the place he hadn't set foot in for the past whole week. As his eyes leisurely drifted from the ground to the surface, he was awestruck. The place was a mess! Almost as if it had gone through a tornado but magically survived. A complete catastrophe –knowing Ayanami how was he even able to come home to such a distorted state? While it was true that the spaciousness of the place would hide some of that mess but it was still close to ruins. Vases knocked over, sceneries broken, mirrors on the floor—it was chaotic. Everything but the frames on the walls. 'My pictures.' Mikage immediately noted.
Mikage physically sprung when a pair of strong arms compacted him from behind and dislodged his attention. He lost his breath for a second in anticipation of something else but regained it quite quickly. "I know the place is a disarray—I was planning to get it cleaned once you returned," The elder breathed into the younger's neck. Mikage noticed one of the gloved hands slide up his chest and finger his chin guiding it toward him. Ayanami's face was now only a few inches away from the younger's, willingly taking in his lost breath. How he wanted so badly to kiss those tender lips. However, he was taken aback when his lover snapped his face away. Baffled, the silverette turned the teen's body more towards him and tried again but only to be rejected again.
"Ayanami-San please…" The blond muttered. 'He wasn't going to fall for this again. If he was really meant to come back home, to Ayanami –then he had to make sure things started over. And for the better.'
The elder frowned. "Why?" He demanded, involuntarily gripping the flesh of Mikage's arms harder.
"...we need to talk first." The teen finally croaked.
"About what?" The words came out impatiently from the other.
"About us…" Mikage urged. "Um, maybe we should sit down first."
"Mikage—"
"Please." Ayanami could sense the desperation in his voice and complied at once, sitting beside him on the couch. Mikage was evidently nervous—he had no idea how to start this. Why did it seem so tense all of a sudden? "You…can't get angry okay?"
Ayanami exhaled an agitated sigh before assuring him. "I won't."
'Okay, here goes …' The blond planned. He had the sentence he wanted to say in his head but when he opened his mouth, his tongue started out another safer way. "Um Ayanami-San do you ...really love me?"
The silverette frowned once again. "Am I supposed to consider that a question?"
"You said you wouldn't get mad."
"Of course I do—undeniably and indescribably."
"Then...do you think I'm too young to handle anything?" 'What was he saying?'
"On the contrary you're actually quite mature for your age." Ayanami didn't understand why he was answering these inquiries but if that's what the kid wanted so badly, then so be it.
Mikage averted his eyes for a second to formulate the next question. "Then why won't you share anything with me?"
"Share?"
"Ayanami-san, I have no idea what your family was like or what happened to them— and I want to hear it from you, not from Fea-san." Something glinted in the elder's eyes. "I mean…I'm your lover and I want to know more about you…" The blond wasn't sure if he should keep talking before he was slapped or something.
The elder took another breath and loosened his fists. " If. If I tell you, will you be happy?"
"Yes..."
"How can I guarantee you'll stay?" The teen sent him a puzzled look. Ayanami grabbed his wrist briskly, startling him. "I'll tell you everything, if that's what you really want. But no matter what you must swear to never leave again. I won't be so forgiving should there be a next time." Mikage immediately nodded, ready to journey into the other's past.
It took a brief moment for the chief to gather his thoughts and finally begin his monologue. "I ...was once the heir to the Raggs kingdom." He glanced back at Mikage for a reaction but didn't quite get one.
"I heard that one around."
"Is that so. In that case, do you know how it fell?"
"The war with the Empire (army)?"
"For the most part." Ayanami continued. "I was given charge of that mission a while back. It's true, I was the one who took down their king—"
"Your brother?" The blond impatiently interjected.
"Hmph, did Fea feed you that? Yes he was my elder brother."
"But—"
"I thought you wanted to listen?" That silenced the teen again. "I had no interest in the kingdom or that place. My brother was the king and his son would inherit the throne one day. That kind of secondary power that had fell upon me didn't amuse me one bit. Nor was it nearly sufficient for my caliber. At the time something foreign in me was growing greedily… I wanted to rule my own kingdom—not a generational hand me down. Therfore I left or more like—was exiled. This was around my late teens—and that's when I discovered the army."
"Um...what about the rest of the kingdom?" The younger had to ask.
Ayanami tried to interpret that question. "My encounter with Krom and Fea on the battlefield was the end for them. Teito Klein was the only remnant, who the chairman suggested should be brought back to the army as a sklave."
"Does that mean, if the chairman hadn't given you those orders you would have…killed…?"
Ayanami's eyes held no remorse whatsoever and actually waited tolerably for him to finish his question. The blond's heart sank in his chest when the answer was so obvious and the other wasn't denying it. "But wasn't he just a kid— and your nephew—"
" And?" Mikage was speechless as he slumped back into the sofa. 'This guy was his lover.' No wonder he could be such an adept army leader since he was practically ruthless. The blond didn't want to ask but just to be painfully sure, he mouthed:
"Wha... what about your parents...?"
"They also passed away."
"How?"
"..."
"Ayanami-san." Mikage was getting just as restless now. He wanted him to deny it. Pressing himself all the way back, he squeezed his own arm with a hand while he waited for the answer.
"Yes, It was me." Ayanami observed the other's terrified expression. "Are you happy now? I warned you that the past was better left forgotten but you insisted."
"But how can you just forget them!? You ...how did you do it...you were okay with ...killing your family— just like that—I could never imagine—" the teen began to ramble until Ayanami grasped his shoulders and shook him, seeing how his state was slowly deteriorating.
"Mikage-kun." The elder tugged his arms a bit. "You are you. And I am who I am—or was." The blond had it. That was all he had to say? Mikage staggered up from the couch and was prepared to leave. However, the silverette foresaw his motions and tightened his grip around his upper arms, holding him in place. The younger exuded a groan and looked at him unwillingly. "Where are you going?" There was a subtle bit of intimidation underlying his voice.
To Be Continued…
Wow this was a long chapter and their conversation isn't entirely over yet either lol. Hope this makes up for the time. Aw man, I was just reconfirming some things with the manga (the last few chapters) and the whole time I was grinning with a continuous " I LOVE THIS GUY SO MUCH—AYANAMI IS JUST SO—FREAKIN—" XD. Sorry, I just love his merciless/heartless nature. Bottom line: I enjoyed writing this truth about Aya.
Btw I wasn't able to add this in but since he was the youngest he was loved very dearly by everyone. Just seeing the scene of him in the manga where Krom offers his hand to young Aya – makes my heart melt. But anyhow thanks for reading and for your patience!