Abel was exhausted. He'd been tossing and turning in his very large and very comfortable bed for hours but after a series of horrific nightmares he simply couldn't get back to sleep. He'd woken screaming himself hoarse, his eyes glowing bright red and sweat beading on his pale skin. His hair was sticking to his skin and he panted heavily as he tried to throw off the stubborn grip of the nightmares. This wasn't the first night we'd woken from horrific dreams, it was getting out of hand now.

He was sitting hunched over with his hands gripping the bed sheets as he took deep, shaky breaths when his sister Seth ran into the room with Astha and Ion at her side.

"Nii-san!" Seth exclaimed and ran over to him. Her eternally youthful face was marred by a deep furrows in her brow and she leapt onto the bed to sit beside him and took his hand in hers.

"I'm...fine..." he mumbled.

"You were having a nightmare, weren't you?" she said.

"I'm..."

"Please don't say you're 'fine'," Seth pursed her lip at him.

"I'm...sorry if I...woke you," Abel said, looking away from her and Ion and Astha who now stood at his bedside.

"Abel nii-san," Seth sighed, heavily again. "Were you dreaming about Cain?" she asked after a moment.

He didn't deny it and really, what else would he be dreaming about? "You really do need to rest," Seth told him, kindly.

"I'm trying," Abel said, shakily and he fell back onto the bed, dropping his head to the pillow. "But every time I...I'm sorry I woke you. Please go back to..."

"I'm staying here," she replied.

"I've always found a good, honest fight helps with...insomnia," Astha remarked. "Thought perhaps you need to recover before you can attempt that, Toravish."

"I've always found reading my grandmother's etiquette books to be helpful for that," Ion said with a small grin. "They'll send you to sleep in no time at all," he said and Abel managed a quiet scoff.

"Maybe you should just hit me over the head with one, it might be faster," Abel remarked and Seth hissed at him.

"Haven't you been wounded enough?" she said.

"But I'm..."

"Here we go again," Seth threw up her hands in frustration. "You always say that. You said that even when you broke your leg the first time and the bone was sticking out," she sighed.

"I'm fine," he repeated even more quietly than the last time.

"See?" Seth rolled her eyes. "You always say that," she reiterated.

"You are clearly not 'fine'," Astha snapped.

"They're not buying it either," Seth told her brother, smugly. When he didn't so much as smile back at her or even scoff at her, she frowned in concern. "I know you're not sleeping well. I know you're not eating much..."

"I'm sorry, Seth," he said, his voice hoarse and so quiet they could barely hear him.

He pushed himself up in the bed again and swung his legs over the side so that his back was turned to them. He rested his elbows on his knees and hurried his head in his hands. His head was bowed low, hiding his face with strands of his long silver hair was fell from his messy low, pony tail.

"What?" Seth furrowed her brow at him in confusion. "Sorry? For what? For not eating?" she asked.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated, "I'm...so sorry."

"Why?" she asked, looking up at him. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. Why are you sorry?" she asked.

"I do...there's so much...I'm sorry for...everything. I'm sorry...it's my fault that Cain...turned out the way he did. It's my fault we had to try and kill him the first time all those years ago. I'm sorry for all of it. I'm sorry for what we did in the war. I'm sorry I ever thought it was right. I shouldn't have...the war...I was so angry...I thought...we were right, I..."

"So did I," Seth said, placing her small hand on his tense back, "I was at fault too. I fought. I killed."

"I hated humans...for the awful things they did to us...so I did awful things too..."

"So did I," she said, sadly. "What they did to us was...unforgivable. I know they had a fairly good reason...but that was no excuse."

"I've tried...to atone...for what I did," Abel said.

"I know," she said. "So have I. It's why founded this place," she said.

"The things I did...It won't ever be enough...but I don't know how to make it up to you for what I've done. I don't know how..."

"But you haven't done anything..."

"I'm sorry, Seth," he continued. "I'm sorry...I left you alone for 900 years. I'm sorry I was too ashamed to face you for all that time. I'm sorry I had to...kill...our brother...again. I'm sorry I...died and left you alone again. I'm sorry that I'm such a burden to you now. I'm just...so very, very sorry," he said as he wept, silently.

"Abel..." Seth whispered, waiting for him to look at her but he never did.

Astha and Ion shared an understanding gaze and backed away silently, however reluctant to leave their duty of caring for Abel, they knew better than to stand and watch on such a private moment.

Seth turned and gave them a grateful smile just as they closed the doors behind them, leaving her alone with her brother. Then she slowly moved off the bed and knelt in front of him, taking his hands and gently tugging them from his face so that she could look at him properly. "Is this what's been bothering you? Is this why you can't sleep?" she asked, tenderly brushing the strands of hair from his face.

He gave a feeble shrug and she sighed again. "You're really not going to change your mind about this, are you?" Seth said. "No matter how many times I tell you, you've not done anything wrong. Cain left you...left us...no choice. I wasn't angry at you then and I'm not now. I never was. We both had a hand in what happened. I'm as much to blame as you. But I know you'll never believe me," she lamented. "You never change, nii-san," she said.

"It was...my fault..." he sniffled.

"No, it wasn't. But if you won't believe me...then I know exactly how you can make it up to me," she declared with a kind smile.

"How?" Abel demanded. He moved almost too quickly for the eye to see as he lowered his hands from his face and slid from his bed, kneeling on the floor beside her. "I'll do anything. Anything. Whatever you ask. Whatever you want," he said.

"Stay here with me," she answered.

"...Eh?"

"I don't want to go 900 years without seeing you again. I missed you. I'd like you to stay here with me. Be my brother. That's all I want," Seth told him. "I've already told the court that you're my brother and you're not yourself at the moment because you've been terribly wounded so they won't be looking too closely. We'll introduce you to the court when you're ready and not before. It'll take some time and some work. But we can do it. You can stay here, with me, and we can be a family again."

"A...family?" he blinked at her, stunned.

"If that's what you want too."

"...If I...Is...that...okay...can I...do that?" he asked in disbelief.

"If you want to. I hope you do," she said.

"I can...stay here?"

"Mmmm," she hummed and nodded.

"With you?"

"Hmmm," she nodded again.

"And Astha-san...and Ion-kun...and I don't have to leave?"

"No, you don't. But if you wanted to go, I won't force you to stay, I..."

"No!" he cried and threw his arms around her, pulling her small frame close to him. "I want to stay," he said, "I want to stay. If you'll let me...I want to stay."

"If I'll let you," she repeated, lightly shaking her head, incredulously. "I've always wanted you here. And now I'll never let you leave," she said, "You'll get so bored with me you'll be running away..."

"Never!" he insisted, sounding horrified at the mere thought of it, "That won't happen. It won't."

"I'm glad," Seth smiled and gently drew her arms around his back, resting her head on his shoulder. "I missed you, nii-san," she said again.

"I missed you too," he muttered.