Chapter 4: Adamant Reluctance

A Chapter by Andrew Akuna

Adamant Reluctance

Xero and Longinus had been in the forest house for three days now. They continued tossing ideas after settling on conspiracy.

"Surely, you have some clue as to who'd benefit by ending your life!" Xero groaned.

"I can't think of anyone." Longinus replied, looking over the lake from the empty space in the front of the house.

"C'MON!" Xero shouted, springing from his chair. "No insurance policies, money in the bank, nothing big willed to someone?"

"None that I'm aware of."

There was a pause. Xero walked up to Longinus's right.

"Is 'Longinus' your real name?"

"I...I don't really know." Longinus looked away from the lake, but not to Xero.

"Do you know your parents?"

"Nope."

"Any family?"

"None at all." Longinus looked up to the cloudy sky. "Well, I do have an older brother...did... I dunno, maybe he's still alive." He chuckled. "We got separated about two hundred years ago."

"Is he an Eternus, too?"

Longinus nodded.

"Unfortunately, he has to be considered as a suspect, provided he's still alive."

"Y'know, life is so much easier when you just go where it takes you without question." Longinus took a few steps out of the house. It began to thunder.

"Why is that?" Xero asked, following him.

"If I hadn't questioned why I was in this forest, I wouldn't be considering that my only brother might want me dead."

"Family can be quite a pain." Xero replied. "Thats why I cut all ties to the remainder of mine." He put a hand on his neck where Longinus had bit him. "By the way, you better not have rabies..."

Longinus chuckled. "I'm quite positive I'm not infected, but I'm so sure about you. Your blood tastes funny."

"Don't even think it. So where do you think we might find your brother?"

"We won't."

Xero tilted his head to the left. "What do you mean?"

"No one finds him when they look. He finds you."

"O...kay, so where might he find us?"

Longinus turned around to face Xero. "I don't think you'll like the next thing I say."

"Why not?" Xero folded his arms and stared at Longinus.

"The place Vlad will most likely find us, provided he's alive, is....in the city."

"WHAT?!" Xero roared, his eyes nearly falling out of their sockets. Xero had only been in a city for a year, but vowed never to return. It was not other furs that Xero hated, just humans, but not all of them. He hated the vast majority of humans for their ignorance.

The year he tried to live in a city, Xero was harshly persecuted by the humans that lived there. The door to his apartment was often kicked in, and on several occasions, he was shot at, just for being a panther. Easily, he could have killed them, but back then, he was a much kinder indivdual. The only humans Xero could really tolerate now were children, as they were innocent.
"Forget it!" Xero shouted. "I'm sorry, but I am NOT going into another city!"

"Then all this plotting goes completely to waste!" Longinus exclaimed.

"So be it!"

"What problem do you have with life?!"

"None whatsoever, as long as I don't have to live it!"

"Coward!"

"ARRGH!" Xero hit Longinus on both shoulders and in the middle of his chest with an open paw, using barely enough force to move the wolf, then turned and stormed into the house.

"...what the hell?" Longinus said, taking a step toward the house. The second he put his foot down, the three places where Xero had hit him ignited in blue light and suddenly blasted him backward into the lake.

The rain started. Xero had climbed to the ceiling and through it to lie on the roof where he could feel it. He closed his eyes and found haunted by image of himself lying in a cold place, bleeding. He twitched as memories of being beaten by human laid seige to his mind. All of these memories were painful, but none more than the last one to return. He was on a swing in a park with tears in his eyes when a small child came to comfort him. They talked for about an hour before the child's mother came and dragged him away, saying that he should watch who he is seen with. Xero fell asleep in the rain on the roof. The rain was not the only moisture in his fur.

"Xero...Xero...Xero, can you hear me?"

Xero opened his eyes in darkness. He was no longer on his roof, but in a dark room. He felt cold.

"Xero, answer me..." The voice was distorted, as if it were fading in and out from another world.

"Wh-who's there?"

"You don't remember me. Thats wonderful." the voice replied sarcastically.

"Well, if you tell me your name, maybe I'll know you."

"You make me sad, baby brother."

"Who are you?"

"Come to me..."

"Where are you?"

"Figure it out." the voice chuckled. "Now wake up."

"What do you mean, I am awake."

"Wake up...wake up..."

Xero opened his eyes again. This time, he opened them to moving clouds. It was dark and the rain had stopped. "Double dream?" Xero yawned as he rubbed his head.

"About time you woke up."

"Huh?" Xero sat up and turned around to see Longinus sitting behind him.

"Almost thought you'd died up here."

"Someone was calling me."

"I was trying to wake you up, you must've heard me."

"It wasn't you."

Longinus shrugged and handed Xero an apple.

"You know, I'd be worried if I didn't know you were an Eternus."

"Worried?" Xero repeated.

"Unlike you, I'm able to care about my enemies." Longinus replied. "Another reason I called you hateful."

The next few days were spent trying to convince Xero to leave the forest. Xero was adamant on not setting foot out into the world. Longinus tried everything he could think of. Bribery failed. Pity failed. Threatening a curse failed miserably. Finally, the wolf hatched a plan. Longinus waited two more days, then put his plan into action.