N o e l

After that strange encounter with that weirdo from earlier, I had continued on my way to the grocery store as planned. I had managed to get everything on the long list Adela, my cousin, had made.

She was coming over for dinner later and had expected me of all people to make something for her knowing that I can't cook to save my life. It wasn't up until when the Limosa name disappeared that I had begun to make my own meals.

It was horrible at first but I guess I've gotten better, at least the food is edible now.

I had accidentally lost track of time while in the store and cursed to myself, it was getting close to dinner time and I hadn't even started anything yet.

I was about to be on my way home but as soon as I stepped outside of the market, a face I never thought I'd see again was right in front of me.

"Hey there" the man from earlier said, his face cool and composed while my jaw was most likely on the floor.

"Y-You again?" I stuttered out but the man didn't seem to care for my surprise as he grabbed my free wrist.

"Come with me" he said and just like that, I found myself being dragged off to some unknown location.

"Hey!" I cried out as I tried to tug my wrist out of the man's grip, who the hell does he think he is?!

His grip was a steel one though and by the time he finally let go, we were in a dark alley and I was pushed against the wall.

Is this some kind of shakedown?

"U-Uh..." I could only stare at the man in confusion.

This was a dark, dark alley. No one to see us and it was just us, lord, it's just us. Am I finally getting what I deserve after all these years? If so, I had better prepare myself...

"Relax I'm not going to murder you" the man said and I opened an eye.

"How do I know that?" I asked and the man chuckled.

"Well, I want some info from you first" he said and my other eye flew open at the 'first'.

"First?!" I exclaimed.

"I'm not going to kill you at all. Jeez, how gullible are you?" he asked and I let out a short sigh.

"I'll explain myself" the man started but I interrupted him.

"Can you explain why we're in this dirty alleyway first?" I asked as I looked around at two rats that scurried on by.

"No. Keep your mouth shut until I'm finished speaking" the man said, his tone going a bit dark as he narrowed his eyes at me.

Rude.

"My name is Silver Hawthorne and—"

"Hawthorne?"

I may have been a bit dramatic last time with the jaw dropping but now my heart feels like it actually fell out of his cage.

Everyone knows about the Hawthorne group, they were powerful and deadly, and they didn't get their name from doing nothing.

God, I'm going to die here today.

"What did I say?" Silver said and I put a hand over my mouth, this time intent to keep it shut until he says I can speak.

The last thing I needed was my tongue being cut out.

"Your relation to Eros Azure, explain it to me" Silver asked and I was so stunned at the question that I forgot he was waiting for an answer.

"You can speak" Silver instructed and I lowered my hand from my mouth.

"There is no relation. Unless you count the in-law relation" I said and Silver crossed his arm.

"In-law?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, I believe my brother and him are married" I responded but that didn't seem to satisfy Silver.

"You believe?" He asked and I shrugged.

"I don't know, that's what I was told" I replied.

"You didn't go to the wedding?" Silver's face was now wearing bafflement as he stared down at me and it was only then that I realized that I really had no idea whether or not those two were married.

"Uh... I don't know. If there was one, it must have occurred during the time my brother and I weren't on good terms" I explained.

"Your brother, his name is Cole right?"

I felt my blood run cold when hearing Cole's name fall from this man's mouth and any inclination to answer his questions in fear of my death from before were gone as I stared at my hands.

It felt different when it came to Cole, it felt wrong. I wanted to somehow protect him in some way, even if it couldn't be physically.

"Answer the question" Silver urged.

"I...don't want to" I muttered.

"Care to repeat that?" Silver asked as he suddenly got in my face and I chose to just keep my eyes narrowed at him.

"Come on, say it louder for me" his taunt was barely above a whisper and that's when I turned my head.

If I stared into those eyes for any longer, I was afraid of what would come out of my mouth.

"I'm impressed. From what you've shown me so far, your will power seems to be extremely lacking. It's good to see that you can hold your own to at least some degree" Silver commented and gave a light clap to which my cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

This fucker was totally making fun of me.

"What do you want? Why did you follow me?" I spat out and Silver crossed his arms.

"I told you, information. You see, I'm in kind of a tight spot and right now, you may be the only one who can help me out of it" he said and I tilted my head in confusion.

"Me?" I asked dumbly.

"Yes" Silver nodded and nothing about him made him seem like the type of guy to bluff about such things.

Sure he's pulled my leg once or twice but I don't think he's joking about this one.

"I don't think asking me is a good idea" I said.

"I'll make it worth your while if it all works out. Anything you want, it's yours" Silver said, a smile that I couldn't read crossing his face and I shook my head,

"Do you really think I'd let you have information that you can use against my brother?" I asked.

"That's not my intention" Silver protested and now it was my turn to cross my arms.

"So what is?" I asked.

"You'll find that out later" Silver's vague answer gave me no comfort and I knew that I had to stand my ground here or else I'll really just look like a pathetic baby.

"Why should I trust you?" I asked, layering my suspicion on thickly.

"Doesn't matter if you do. You're helping me whether you like it or not" Silver said and my eyes widened.

"I'm not" I said firmly and Silver didn't seem to like what I had to say as he placed his fist against the wall above my head and glared down into my eyes.

God this guy is so weird, one second he's laughing and joking then the next he looks like he's ready to snap my neck in two.

Jesus take the wheel please.

"Given the fact that you are my target's in law, I'm not going to harm you. But keep testing my patience and we'll see how long that lasts" he said and I huffed.

"I'm not scared of you" I said as I turned my head, only for it to be grabbed by Silver's hand as he forced me to look at him.

"You should be" he whispered and although I suddenly felt like clamming up, I did my best to not show that side of myself.

I was tired of being a coward.

"Well I'm not" I said.

The two of us had a stare down that lasted for only a minute, the tension in the air thick until Silver let go of my face.

"You're...kinda stupid" he said as he backed off of me. My shoulders, that were unbeknownst to me tensed, relaxed immediately once there was some distance between us.

"Excuse me?" I said as I threw a glare.

"Hm, nothing. It works for you" he said and I had no idea what he meant by that so I could only give a weak retort.

"You're the stupid one" I muttered.

I'm not sure if Silver heard me but if he did, he chose to not acknowledge my low insult.

"Back to the topic on hand, you're coming with me" Silver insisted and I once again shook my head in protest.

"I already told you I'm not helping you. Get lost" I stated.

"Either you can come willingly or I'm going to lug you like a sack of potatoes and you don't look like you weigh much so I doubt that'll be a problem" Silver said and I just knew that he would act on his word so with a stiff nod, I followed this tyrant out of the alley.

He wasn't giving me much of a choice anyways.

Silver led me to his car that was parked not too far away and once we were inside, his questions started up again.

"Explain to me why your brother is basically a ghost" Silver demanded and I knew staying quiet would only further irritate the man so for once I complied.

"We're not full brothers, our mothers are different. I don't know too much on the situation but whatever Cole's mother did, it was enough to make my father regret ever meeting her or having a child with her. He wanted no traces of Cole in the world so he kept Cole's existence, nonexistent" I explained as Silver listened.

In the back of my mind, I was wondering what he could possibly need this information for but just continued on.

"When our features began to fully develop, my father had noticed that we could pass for twins and since then, he started to use Cole as my stand in. Any threats and or attempts on my life, Cole became the recipient"

When I finished my sentence, Silver's seemingly unbothered facade finally broke as he stared at me wide eyed.

"I've seen a lot of shit in my life but this one tops it all. You're telling me, you let your brother basically be your living shield?" He asked and I looked away.

I didn't want to face the shame and embarrassment of the situation but I couldn't keep running away from it.

"I know...I'm a shitty brother and an even worse person. There's not a day that goes by where I don't regret all those years of me treating him horribly and doing nothing to help him" I said as I just stared down at my lap in guilt.

All those years I had sat there and watch as father tore at Cole's own being. He had tore it down brick by brick until there was nothing but a lost boy who didn't even know his own birthday.

I was angry at myself for letting it happen. I could have done something, said something, anything and maybe Cole wouldn't have had to suffer the way he did.

I'm so pathetic.

What kind of coward watches as his brother's life is ruined right in front of him? And even worse, has a part in it?

If it were possible, I would ask god to smite me right here and now to make me pay for all of the pain I put my brother through.

"At least you can admit your wrongs, that takes guts" Silver said.

I said nothing.

Not because I didn't know what to say, but because I myself couldn't believe that. I was just a good for nothing bastard at the end of the day and that's all there was to it.

"Cole met Eros and became an Azure Dragon. I don't know how it happened but it did and as you can see, they fell in love at some point" I continued in order to take the spotlight off of me and it worked somewhat seeing as Silver didn't try to stop and question me any further.

"My father was furious that Cole betrayed our group and had basically sent out bounty hunters for him. I'm sure rumors were floating around everywhere about the tension between my group and his" I said and Silver nodded.

"It was pretty big news, even I was surprised. It's not everyday that the untouchable Azure Dragons go to war. I've never even heard of them having problems with anyone" Silver said.

It wasn't hard to believe that either.

Eros was a diligent leader, despite his loose tongue, he was still able to get others to like him to some degree.

Eros was hard on me, he hated my guts and probably still does but I can tell his anger at me has started to subside. He may not speak as freely with me as he does others, but at least he doesn't completely ignore my existence anymore.

Probably thanks to Cole anyways.

Cole's done so much for me even though he shouldn't have. He honestly should have just let natural selection do it's job a long time ago. The fact that he even had an ounce of remorse for someone like me was enough to confuse anyone.

"I told Cole the location of my father's safe house and that's when everything ended. No more father, no more Limosa, no more bad blood between us" I finally finished but all Silver did was give a short hum.

"What's his mother up to these days?" He asked and I gave him a bewildered look.

"Uh...I wouldn't know anything about that" I said.

"So let's go find out" Silver said.

"Huh?" I said and Silver nodded as he looked to me.

"I'm all for a family reunion. Let's see what your brother's family is up to" he said and I tensed.

"I don't know...isn't that invasive? If Cole wants to reunite with his mother's side of the family, that's a choice he should make on his own" I said.

"I agree but don't think of it as forcing it on him. It's more of...presenting the choice to him" Silver suggested.

"Are you seriously not going to tell me why you're so intent on doing this?" I asked and Silver was quiet for a moment before looking at me from his peripheral.

"I need help" he said and I waited for him to continue.

"There's recently been a string of killings within my group, staged to be suicides but I know it's not that. Whoever is doing this has left behind 'suicide notes', leaving horrible things about the deceased on the card and their signature" Silver explained and my stomach churned as he continued.

"They are deliberately targeting my group and I don't have enough eyes from all sides to track whoever is doing this. I'm also afraid that they will begin to spread to other groups. My friend said I should seek help, form an alliance in an attempt to scare them off" Silver's explanation helped me to finally make sense of this whole thing.

Not only did he need help, he was basically desperate. His people are being murdered and he has no idea who it is or how to stop them.

"Why don't you just explain yourself instead of running around and being secretive?" I asked quietly and Silver shook his head.

"Because you never know who is listening. I can't outright explain that I'm seeking out help for my situation lest I scare our perp off" Silver explained and I nodded slowly.

"I guess all roads lead to somewhere. Alright, let's go" I said with a sigh and Silver's grin returned after all this time.

"I'm happy that we're finally on the same page. I'm also glad that I didn't have to do anything to that pretty face of yours to convince you" Silver said.

"S-Shut up" I glared before turning my head to the window.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

A light gasp left my lips as I had finally remembered why I was even in this mess in the first place.

My groceries were left behind in that alleyway and the rats have probably already helped themselves to the feast I unintentionally left for them. Adela was going to be so pissed when I don't show up for dinner...

Only god can help me now.