"Relax Lucian... Just breathe in and breathe out. That's it tesoro (sweetheart). Just listen to big brother's instructions..." He whispered.

Lucius's warm breath fanned against my nape as I let him push behind me. My shoulders trembled and sweat cascaded down my forehead as I let him stretch me excessively. My muscles were straining and aching from the intense activity that Lucius seemed to leisurely partake in. He was taking much pleasure from hearing me excessively grunt and complain.

"You're stretching me too much..." I breathlessly told him.

"Am I? Does it feel good?" He chuckled and gave me an abrupt ruthless thrust.

He was even more unrestrained today.

"You're pushing too hard," I grunted.

My brother had placed me in countless positions for his iniquitous desires and as a result my lower back was sensing soreness from the abuse. He then put me in a more convenient position and spread my legs further. His harsh thrusts were becoming more and more unbearable and I briefly wondered— did we really have to do this every morning just because we were both stiff?

"I don't want to do exercise anymore aniki," I deadpanned.

"But we're just getting started!" he laughed out.

My body was not meant for sport.

My legs were spread out in a v-shape while my upper torso was being pushed to hover on top of it. According to Lucius I needed to reach my toes and it was a meaningless activity. All these warm-ups were unnecessary but he told me that I moved so rigidly. It was like my movement was always controlled.

"Your body is too stiff. You need to be flexible otouto!" he lectured in a jovial manner.

For the past five days Lucius had patiently tried to teach me how to feel, what to feel, and why to feel certain emotions in certain events. He had also attempted to teach me how to control my powers in which I was also failing miserably for a reason that I was abusing the opportunity to let out what I have. The release made me ticklish. It made me ecstatic. I can understand why Otousan and Okaasan barred me from using them.

Lucius declared a short break after a vigorous training about basic defense and offense. I was getting the hang of it due to his guidance and perseverance as a mentor. Never did he once get frustrated with my failures which were...very strange for me. He never missed a chance of commending me for my every fruition and when I did fail, he would merely smile at me and say:

"You can do it. Don't give up!"

Harmonizing with the elements was the key for a precise concierto and Lucius told me that it will all come in naturally if I opened my heart. Being a maestro required of being able to feel because the strength of the elements rooted from the intensity of emotions.

This was one of the reasons why he disapproved of the law passed by the Higher Order. The Higher Order wanted to create disciplined Knights but such strictness restrained the Knights from reaching their full potential as maestros because they were pulled down to a certain limit of freedom and just enough to get them to orchestrate.

Did this mean that the Higher Order members were terrible at orchestrating too?

"Lucian, what do you feel now?" aniki asked me.

I stared at him for awhile as I structured an answer base on my heart. He told me that he would ask me what I felt thrice a day and I was required to answer him honestly.

"I am fine; not too bored and not too enlivened," I replied.

It was very difficult to reply to him at the very start. I had to lie at first try despite hearing him lecture me of being truthful because he just couldn't take my honest replies of: "I feel nothing."

He was very persistent. He was so tenacious that he would go to the extent of kidnapping me, forcing me to be in this situation, making me feel things that contraindicated what was taught to me and embracing me.

He never stopped reminding me of how important I was in his life. He never stopped pampering me and despite the training I had gone through I couldn't apply what I had learned to this man and to this world that was kept hidden from me.

"Is that right...Remember that honesty is the best—?"

Ah I forgot.

"Atrocity?" I tried causing him to chuckle.

"Come on you heard this from me a couple of times," he pushed on.

"Comedy?" I tried again.

Lucius's smile twisted into a playful annoyance. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you?"

I tilted my head at him in question. "Now why would I do that aniki? Remember that honesty is the best mythology. It exists in our greatest imagination especially in yours," I deadpanned.

"Lucian I did not teach such thing!" he protested.

During the past nights I attempted to escape and to return to the Kingdom. Although I did place the greatest height of trust on Lucius there was still a part of me that was pursuing to go back.

Lucius was fast asleep and did not notice me slipping off from his embrace. I stood up and got out of the house. The vampires were livelier during the night and though I can feel their gaze on me, they did not attempt to converse with me.

Crickets made a continuous soft bell-like sound. Argo stood awake outside of the house with his tail swishing side-to-side. I made my way out of the village and began to draw a distance between me and my brother. The further I went the heavier my legs became. I kept looking behind me expecting that any second now Lucius will wake up and realize I wasn't there and that he would chase me and bring me back.

My feet stopped moving and I stood rooted to the grass beneath me —something that I wouldn't see again once I go back. The cold and light breeze of the night will be replaced by the suffocating weight of the castle's air. This freedom will be nothing more but a mistake caused by an external force.

I glanced at the moon and relished its beauty up in the skies because this might be the last night I'd see it again.

But...This wouldn't have to be the last.

Why should it be?

Why did I have to choose the shackles?

This was stupid of me.

"See you tomorrow night..." I murmured at the moon.

Last night was the last time I attempted to leave. I chose to stay for no bird would want its freedom to be taken away and no bird would return to a cage of disarray.

All my life I was following a law of impossibility and contradictions but Lucius became my moon and guided me through the darkness that I was submerged in.

I was trained into something invaluable to my own kind. I was made into someone useless to every kind. I was no one. I was nothing. I was just a Prince with no quality but he came and dug me out from my misery.

He wanted me to become more and it sounded better than being nothing at all.

To the people who I turned my back on it may seem that I was betraying my own race. I had thrown away buckets of sweat, blood and tears but they must understand that I didn't plan on carrying a past that would only drag me back.

Tossing them out didn't mean that I was forgetting them fully. They had stained me and I will keep those stains on to remind me to better myself in every step of the way.

"Have you decided?" I heard someone ask me from behind.

A dark-cloaked man was on a pegacorn similar to the color of Argo and half of his face was covered with a black mask. The hood of the cloak was pulled down revealing platinum short hair and the color of his eyes were almost blending with the white area if not for the pupils.

"I have been observing you for these past nights. Where exactly are you going?" he questioned me.

"I just went out for some air," I answered him.

"There wasn't enough air in the village?" he asked.

"The air is fresher here," I replied.

"Ah...The air must be spoiled by vampires then, understandable."

"I did not say that do not misinterpret me," I deadpanned.

"Of course, no misinterpretations here, please call me Arrah."

"I did not ask," I retorted.

"I did not answer; I was merely reminding myself of my name."

"This conversation is severely stupid. You are stupid," I deadpanned.

"Indeed but my name is Arrah and not Stupid. You are extremely forgetful aren't you?"

It would seem I have met a more suitable adversary than Lucius.

I turned my back on Stupid and started walking back. Stupid slipped off from his pegacorn and ambled beside me while guiding his pegacorn by its reign.

"What is your name?" he asked me.

"My name is Lucian," I responded.

"Ah my name is Arrah," he squeezed in.

"I did not ask," I sighed.

"Of course, I was simply letting the world know of my identity."

"You seem to be very proud of it..." I commented.

"No, in fact, I despise it."

What a baffling man.

"Then why do you keep introducing yourself?"

"So that you can hate it with me..."

I believe I need to hurry my way back to Lucius.

Once we had arrived in front of the residential provided for us, I petted Argo and then nodded at Stupid.

"Goodbye."

"Farewell," he responded.

As I twisted the knob of the door, Stupid spoke again. "I hope that the world greeted you well."

I looked back to see him but what was left was his pet pegacorn tied beside Argo. He must be residing near here but why leave his pet in front of a stranger's house?

I returned beside Lucius and realized the exhaustion of that short walk pouring in. Just then I heard him chuckle and I completely relaxed against him.

"I'm proud of you otouto. Thank you for staying," he whispered.

Thank you for coming back.

I stopped recalling the previous night of my escape attempt when my stomach grumbled. I placed my hand over it and gave Lucius my usual stare.

"Esurio...(I'm hungry)."

I looked around me and noticed that Fenris was nowhere to be found.

"Where is Fenris?"

The werewolf had been with us for the past five days and he was becoming livelier day by day. He still hadn't changed into his other form but we did not pressure him of doing so as to not scare him away. He was quick to be rattled.

Lucius stomped his foot to the ground and a wooden stairway grew from the soil in front of a tree that grew nectarines.

"Thank you for this food," he murmured to the tree and began to pluck its orange to reddish fruits.

"Lucius, where is Fenris?" I asked him again.

Lucius was busy getting us food but he did reply after my second attempt. If he didn't, I will have no other choice but to push him off to get his attention.

"Oh Fenris? Maybe he overslept. He did stay up late last night since we finished so late."

The wooden stairway sank down under the soil with a cracking sound after he descended from it. He carried six nectarines from the tree that was as big as his fist. He gave me one fruit along with a teasing smile.

"Do you miss him?" he asked.

"How do you feel miss?" I questioned.

Lucius ruffled my hair and sat beside me. "The one you felt when I was gone for eighteen years!"

I narrowed my eyes at him and his ridiculous conclusions of the past. "I did not feel anything. I did not know you at that time. You were irrelevant to me," I deadpanned.

Lucius placed his hand over his chest and sucked in a breath of air with his face cringing from dismay.

"Otouto that really hurt! Did you know how much I missed you during those years?"

"No," I replied nonchalantly and began to eat the nectarines while he sulked. He kept on forgetting that I had no memory of him. How can I miss someone I didn't even know of?

"My baby brother hates me!" He wailed.

The sun had fallen and I waited for any signs of Fenris before we take our journey back to the vampire village. Lucius hopped on to his horse and I looked at a pathway sandwiched by trees. Fenris always found us in any part of the forest. Lucius said that it was because werewolves had a sharp sense of smell and hearing.

Yesterday Lucius left us for awhile.  I was sitting beside a tree while Fenris was staring at me in an intense way. The wolf suddenly rose up on his four legs and approached me. He then pushed his nose against my crotch and began to sniff. His warm breathing passed through the thin fabric of my shorts.

"What are you doing?" I questioned him.

The wolf continued to take in my scent as I observed him. When he finally stopped sniffing me, he looked up and licked my face. Lucius arrived a minute after and brought something which caught the attention of Fenris. Lucius placed the plate of meat down to the ground and Fenris began to maul it hungrily.

"Why are you feeding him meat?" I questioned with my tone higher than the usual. He shouldn't teach Fenris how to eat dead creatures.

"Werewolves are meat eaters Lucian. They aren't meant to eat vegetables and fruits. If you don't give him meat, his sexual drive will rise and seeing that you are his love interest, he might sexually attack you."

That was not a reason for him to influence such innocent wolf into eating corpses.

"Don't give him meat. Let him sexually attack me if he wants to. I don't want him to eat meat," I deadpanned.

Lucius choked on his own saliva and Fenris suddenly stopped gnawing on his food. The wolf turned around with a deadly gleam in his eyes and suddenly readied himself to pounce. Lucius stood as a shield and caught the  triggered beast.

"Fenris don't believe him! Stop!" Lucius shouted angrily.

"Fenris, I will offer my body to you but you must only eat fruits," I bargained.

"Verdammt (Damn it)!" Aniki snarled. "Otouto stop enticing him!"

Lucius's voice snapped me out from that memory and I gave the area one last look before approaching Argo.

"Lucian, are you ready to go?"

"No," I responded. Fenris hadn't shown himself for today. 

"Are you still hoping that Fenris will come?"

"Yes." What if Fenris was just late? Won't he be upset if he found no one here? 

Lucius pulled me up onto Argo and sat me in front of him. "I'm sure you'll see him tomorrow. Let's go home," he cooed. 

"Will he be alright?" I asked.

"He will. He'll understand. Tomorrow both of you will nap together again and I'll have a difficult time scrubbing off the scent of his slobber on you again," he laughed. 

I had no other choice but to agree with Lucius. I gave one last glance around me and hoped that Fenris will visit tomorrow.

We arrived at the vampire village and found many people lined up in the streets. They were bowing down to someone who was heavily guarded by more of those cloaked vampires. Lucius clucked his tongue and he pushed me away from the entrance.

"Let's take a different path," he said and we mounted back on Argo. "The Vampire Prince must be here. I can't let him see you for he might take an interest on you."

Argo took us to the other entrance by foot because a flying Pegasus might get far more attention. We entered the house and Lucius took a peek at the window.

"That Prince is a pain in the arse," he grunted. He shut the curtains with a visible frown on his face.

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked and sat on the lectus.

"You're exactly his type," he sighed.

"I have no interest on him. Grow a corpse flower and feed him to it," I deadpanned.

"I thought you promote life?!" he cackled.

"I only promote the life of the worthy. Is he worthy?" I asked. He and Segreth can get married. 

"Promise me that you'll behave. Once he gets his hands on you who knows what he'll do?"

Do? Will he do those things to me?

 Lucius placed his hands on my shoulders and enveloped me in his embrace.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

I observed myself for any foreign feeling and found myself perfectly comfortable and safe.

"No...I have you and Argo. You won't let that happen right?"

"Yes, I'll protect you no matter what," he murmured. The corner of my lips twitched a little and I closed my eyes.

"Then you don't have to worry about someone that you're sure that you can protect, baka (fool)."

"You're so cold otouto!" he whined.

"I am perfectly in normal temperature," I retorted.

There was nothing to be afraid of; Lucius was here and tomorrow I will get to see Fenris.

The night was undisturbed and we ate a great-tasting meal and slept. This kind of tranquility was a bit suspicious because Lucius was apprehensive before bed. Nonetheless Lucius snored through the night clearly voided of any worry from before. 

Indeed it was a peaceful slumber but that was replaced by a bitter dawn.

"Werewolf! Shiet op en dood het! (Hurry and kill it!)"

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A/N: HALLLLUUUUU