Chapter 19: Brother

Brother


"So are you going to tell me your name this time?"

Not yet... Not until you remember me...

"You claim to be my brother, but I'm an only child."

Thats what I personally led you to believe... I didn't want you looking for me...

"So why call on me now?"

...I need your help...

"WAKE UP!"

Xero's eyes snapped open, then immediately closed again, taken by surprise by the blinding sunlight he'd fallen asleep in.

"You know, there's medications for falling asleep the way you do. It can't be healthy." said a voice to his right. He turned over to see Longinus lying in the grass next to him outside Vladimir's mansion.

"You're speaking to me calmly. Does this mean you're not pissed anymore?" Xero replied.

"I'm still pissed, but not as much. Perhaps getting out of my apartment was what I needed." The Wolf sat up. "That reminds me, I went through those files from the hospital fiasco. I found one with your information in it. I think we've found your 'brother'.

Xero sat up as well. "Really? What's his name? That damned voice in my head won't tell me."

"The file said 'Aadrik Black', but Vlad thinks it's an alias."

"Why's that?"

"He said he knew that name. It was from someone he knew a long time ago. He was certain that the person by that name was dead."

"Nothing says its a living relative."

"Nothing but that voice in your head."

The thought of a living relative was a joy and a source of irritation for Xero. He, though not verbally, would admit to being lonely without any family to speak of, and the idea of a brother thrilled him. On the other hand, the Panther had made it his mission to kill all of the remaining Eterni, then let himself die so that they could no longer feed on the lives of mortal beings. Xero had no desire to remain in his present state of confusion, but could find no way out of it. It was times like these when he wished he had never followed Longinus out of his forest.

"Good to see you two have made nice." called an almost mocking voice. Vladimir was approacing from mansion behind them. "It's been four days. You two get mad over the stupidest things."

Xero dismissed Vladimir's comment. "Where do you know the name 'Aadrik Black' from?"

The elder Wolf's expression fell from one of relatively high spirits to one of near depression. That name, for Vladimir, held several memories. Hearing it made several images flow through his mind, the last of which being the burial of a Panther. His gravestone said 'Halim Blake'. The truth was that a long time ago, Vladimir and Aadrik had been partners in an assassin organization.

"We were partners before." Vladimir answered after a few moments. "Do you know the name 'Halim Blake'?"

"I've never heard it be--" Xero's eyes widened and is pupils narrowed. Something pulled him into his own mind, causing the Panther to black out.

Xero was standing in a hospital. It was the Raven's Way Medical Center, but it was odd. Everything was sepia toned. There was a female Panther squeezing someone's paw while giving birth. Also present, two male Panthers, one older and looking as if he were in as much pain as the woman (he probably was, since it was his paw she was squeezing). The other Panther was much younger, perhaps in his teens. He appeared worried, more so than he should have been. Xero stepped forward to get a better look at the boy's face. When he leaned in to see, it was as if the boy looked right through him. To them, Xero was not there. This was to his advantage. He could easily look at the people present. He could see that the boy's eyes were blood red. In his experience, this was a sign of a SecondSight ability. Something in his expression said that he could see something going horrible wrong with the birth happening before him.

"Alright Mrs. Blake, one more push." said the doctor, an elderly Fox. That moment, Xero realized that he was watching his own birth. The woman was his mother, the man was his father, but who was the boy? He looked like them, but Xero had never seen him before. Could they see him? What happened next caused Xero's heart to skip a beat.

"I'm glad you've finally figured out who I am, baby brother." The boy said, turning to face the seemingly elder Panther. He was speaking in the voice that spoke in his mind when he slept.

"Who are you?" Xero demanded. The boy held up a paw and turned back to the birth, returning to the memory. "Halim, please leave the room." their father said. The boy, who apparently answered to Halim, nodded and left through the double doors behind them, beckoning for Xero to follow him. When Xero reached the door and tried to push it open, he passed through it as if it were not there.

Everything was white. There were no walls nor ceiling. It was like the outside of the delivery room did not exist. Halim turned around to face Xero. Xero had not paid much attention to how the seemingly younger Panther looked until now. He had black headfur, somehow darker than that which covered his body. He was wearing black shorts and a vest and mesh shirt just as Xero was, but they fit him properly, whereas Xero's stopped before his navel. Halim was appeared almost as a miniature Xero.

"I am Halim Blake, your older brother."

Xero's heart skipped a beat. He had been wrong from the start. His malcontent state of mind caught him once more between the joy of having a brother and the irritation of needing to insure that he was dead.

"Where are we?"

"Outside the delivery room where you were born over six hundred years ago."

"Okay, so why bring me here?"

"You need to know what happened. The reason we both abandoned the name 'Blake'."

A man called from the delivery room. It was their father,

"Halim, come back in now!" Avery called. "Come and see your little brother!"

Halim looked to Xero. "Come, now you shall see." He stepped back through the doors that appeared to be the only things that still existed and returned to his place in the memory once more.

"Halim, look at your baby brother." Avery said, gesturing to the newborn Panther in Alexia's arms.

Halim, instead, looked to their mother, "What is his name?"

"Malik." she answered, waving a finger above Xero's head.

"Malik, unfortunately, will not live beyond a week."

Both Avery and Alexia looked to Halim with rage and fear. They knew that he had the SecondSight ability, which allowed him to see lifespans, but that their newborn was going to die was the last thing they wanted to hear. Both of them forgot for a moment that Halim could see what would happen short distances into the future with his eyes. When they recovered from the initial shock, the questioning began.

"What do you mean?" Alexia asked shakily. "What's wrong?!"

"Mother, I feel something, well, a lack of something." Halim explained. "Malik does not have the longevity trait that you two have."

"How does that mean he won't last a week?" Avery asked.

"I also see illness. As we speak, something in his blood is destroying him from the inside."

"That can't be right." Alexia said. "The doctor just said that he was healthy!"

"Is the doctor a magic user, Eternus, or any form of mystic?" When he got no response, Halim continued. "It is an overactive shadow trait. It infects him rapidly. During this week it will shut down his vital organs and kill him."

"Is there a cure?" Alexia asked, on the verge of tears.

"Sadly, no."

"Wait, I know you, Halim." Avery said. "You wouldn't tell us this if there were nothing we could do. What do we have to do to save him?"

Halim waited a few moments, choosing the words to use. "How much do you love us?" he asked.

"What kind of question is that?!" Alexia shouted. "You know we'd both die for our children, for any child!"

"Do you mean that literally, mother?" Halim asked the instant she had finished her statement. This was the answer he was looking for.

Alexia paused. Avery answered. "Yes. We would lay down our lives for yours. Is that the solution?"

"Simply put, yes, but theres more to it." Halim replied, making his way to the side of Alexia's hospital bed. He held a paw out to baby Xero, who grabbed it as best as he could with his little fingers. "I have been studying more complex magic in preparation for this day. Please understand before I go on. I would never do this if it were not to save my brother. Do not think that I spent time learning this so that I could kill you. Do you understand?" A nod from both of them prompted him to continue. "I can take the longevity trait from both of you and give it to him. The unfortunate after effect, being that you two waited so long to have children is that, father, you will die exactly five minutes after I complete this explanation, should you agree." he turned to Alexia. "You, mother, being younger than father, will go one hour afterward." He turned back to Avery. "Father, your time starts now. Do you accept?" Avery immediately nodded. Halim nodded as well. "Say your goodbye to him." Halim said, gesturing to baby Xero.

Alexia looked to Avery through her tears and handed the baby over to him. "Sit down." Halim said. When Avery was seated, Halim put a paw on both his father's heart and the baby's. After a few moments, both paws began to glow, spreading light around both of them. "Father, repeat this sentence." Avery nodded. "EGO tribuo vos meus denique dies." Avery repeated the sentence and held Xero close. True to Halim's prediction, Avery Blake died with Xero in his arms less than five minutes later. In Halim's distorted red vision, a floating number above the baby's head climbed rapidly into the hundred thousands. He turned to Alexia, who had now sat up. "Now it is your turn."

Alexia dried her eyes on her sleeve and nodded, holding her arms out as Halim took the baby from her late husband's arms and placed him in hers.

"My estimate is thirty-five minutes for you, mother." Alexia nodded and held out an arm for Halim. He stepped into her embrace, then placed a paw on her's and Xero's hearts as he had done with Avery.

The adult Xero watched the events in shock. He knew he was not supposed to make it to adulthood, and that his parents died for him, but he had no clue that it was his brother who took their lives.

"Now, mother, the sentence."
 

Reviews

[Forist.johnston]

Woah� his brothers kind of a jerk.

Oh!

"Mother, I feel something, well, a lack of something." Halim explained. "Bartholomew does not have the longevity trait that you two have."

Found another Bartholomew.