Title: Calling Tears
Characters: Honest, Shine Angel (OC)||Pair: N/A
Words: 1,000/1,000||Chapters: 1/1
Genre: Family||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing, GX canon, B40, a farewell;
Notes: This takes place pre-canon, when Yuusuke is about six or seven, not long before his parents died.
Summary: Honest hears someone crying and must investigate. His brother has a few words to say on the matter.

Tears? Honest glanced up, wondering who he heard crying. There wasn't anyone in the area, though. Not anyone who was crying.

Only he and his brother were there, and his brother wasn't crying. Roshan seemed far more relaxed than anything else, his wings spread wide, sipping from a goblet of fine wine.

"Brother?" Roshan tilted one eyebrow towards him. "Has something disturbed you?"

Honest flexed his fingers. He could still hear the tears, perhaps a touch fainter, but there regardless. He wanted to track down where they came from and who was crying and dry them at once.

"I – I don't know." Lying was considered gauche among angels. They were supposed to be servants of good above all else, after all. A certain amount of withholding the truth did happen, and there were those who preferred merely to say they didn't wish to speak of whatever the issue was.

Honest preferred not to speak anything like a lie. If pushed on something, he would far rather keep his lips together.

But when he didn't know what the truth was, he found himself rather confused on how to deal with a situation.

Roshan sipped again from his wine. "Are you certain of that? You do look as if you're distracted."

Honest hadn't known that. It didn't surprise him that much, though. From the moment he'd first heard those tears, he hadn't been able to think about anything else. Now he tensed a fraction.

"I've heard crying." Honest admitted, glancing downward. "I don't know who it is, though."

Roshan leaned forward and rested his goblet on the table between the two of them. "Is that so?"

Honest nodded. Roshan toyed a little with the fringe of the cushion he leaned against, silver blue and catching the light. Like everything else in Roshan's home, it gleamed in bright colors fit to blind the unwary watcher. Angels had nothing to fear there, of course. Not that Roshan hadn't tried.

"I've heard stories that say when you hear a voice you don't know, it's your human partner. Reaching out to you from their world, through your card."

Honest closed his eyes for a few moments. He'd heard the same story. Both of them were Duel Spirits, and the thought of having a human partner wasn't a strange one for him. It could happen.

He'd just never thought that it would happen.

"Are you going to follow the voice?" Roshan wondered, reaching for his goblet again. "There really aren't that many humans who can see us. What would be the point of having a human partner when they can't see you or hear you?"

Honest tilted his head up, staring at the silver ceiling. His first thought had been curiosity, his second confusion. Now, the more he thought about it, the more he began to wonder. Was Roshan right? Would the child who called to him someone who would see him or would he st and there and be looked right through?

He pressed his lips together, trying to feel anything he could from the boy. He knew this was a boy, even without having to see him. The longer he turned his attention inward, the more he became aware of.

A boy. A child. And one that was incredibly sad about something. Not once had the tears stopped.

"I don't care," Honest said at last, rising to his feet. In front of him, on the silver table, a diamond goblet full of the same wine Roshan drank remained, untouched. He'd never been one for drinking in the first place, but Roshan always poured him some when he came to visit.

Now Roshan reached over to touch his fingers against the goblet. "Aren't you going to finish this?"

"No. I told you I wouldn't drink it." Honest stretched out his wings, fluffing them. "I don't know when I'll be back."

Roshan chuckled softly. "You won't be. Not until the child can't see you anymore. Some of them do that, you know. They call you your best friend, until the day that they decide that seeing 'imaginary friends' isn't what they want to do anymore."

Bitterness touched every word that fell from Roshan's lips. Honest didn't think he'd ever had a human partner. There had been a long span of eons where no humans called to spirits, no matter what. But very recently, it had begun again. No one knew why.

"That's not going to happen." Honest spoke quietly himself. "This boy won't forget about me."

"You don't even know his name," Roshan pointed out. He waved one hand dismissively. "But if you feel that you should go, then go. I'll see you again, once you realize that they can't see you anymore."

Honest turned to meet Roshan's gaze. He'd never heard his brother sound so bitter and angry, even with his tone so very calm. Roshan returned the look as if he expected every word he said to come true in the next few moments.

"Good-bye, brother." That was all that Honest could bring himself to say at the moment. Until now, he'd never dreamed that Roshan held any hatred or rage towards humans. It simply hadn't ever occurred to him.

Roshan picked his goblet up again and tilted it towards him in a way that might have been a salute. He picked up the book he'd had before and started to read, as calm now as if Honest hadn't ever said a word.

Brother... Honest wanted to ask questions, to learn more, but those tears echoed louder with every passing moment. He spread his wings and leaped through the nearest window, searching for the invisible exit that would lead to the human world. Roshan, for whatever his reasons were, kept his home near one of those exits. Honest hadn't ever crossed through it, but Roshan mentioned it at least once a visit.

Whatever Roshan's problem was, he would have to solve it on his own. Honest would have his hands full helping this crying child.

The End

Notes: I like Honest and Roshan (Shine Angel) as brothers. I should write more of them.