81 | gratitude; for all the years you gave

Adelaide's introduction had stunned Nora and Kane, while Julian nervously stepped closer to the girl to protect her, and Elias yawned with an air of disinterest.

All Kings were bound to find each other, with the pull of their Titles linking them across continents.

He wasn't all that interested in their conversation, easily scooping Lucas' limp body into his arms, and walking away silently. Kane made a move to call out, but Nora smiled and shook her head softly. "It'll be fine. He can look after him. There's nothing much we can do, unfortunately."

Adelaide watched after them, her young and fanfic-loving bells ringing in her head. "Those two..."

Kane shook his head firmly, already knowing. "Absolutely not."

At the same time, Nora smiled. "Yes, something like that."

"I see..."

Meanwhile, Elias threw the door open to the house they'd stolen away a previous night, closing it behind him to shut out the watching eyes. And the four pairs of eyes were definitely watching, along with a fifth pair he had reason to believe belonged to Sylvia.

He didn't bother to question the woman's actions—she'd already insisted that her only reason for following them were due to Alastair's instructions. And knowing their odd relationship, it had a high chance of being true.

He set Lucas' body on the smooth cold of the floor, the sinister of its existence suiting the black hair that splayed over the white bone marble.

Adelaide's character was bemusing, not one Elias would've thought to associate with Lucas. The sponge, even unconscious, always had a way of surprising Elias.

Never the same dull and dreary day, and he was becoming attached to the excitement.

He waved his hand in the air, a lowered gaze watching the creeping breaths that escaped Lucas' lift, and on the fifth swirl, a notebook appeared in his hand.

He languidly opened it to a blank page—half-way filled already with sketches of a single item of his affection—and swiped the pencil he materialised boldly across.

The scene of his waiting and Lucas' unconscious was really too common recently.

His finger twitched, and the man's deep blue gaze narrowed.

"Should I imprison you in this cage of memory," The pencil led formed the curve of Lucas' eyes, solemn in their slumber, "Where you can never waste away or fall at the whims of disaster?"

The sound of sketching was small, but completed in wide slashes against the paper. Only on paper, could Elias command Lucas' eyes open, exposing the clear whites that were empty and cold on the surface, disguising the myraid of emotion underneath.

A contrast that couldn't really be displayed in the blur of dark lines, the criss-cross shading of black and white.

Yet, in the mess of graphite, there was an overwhelming sense of life and emotion.

Lucas stirred, the marks on his body lingering in folds of red gashes and scarring, but even that was beginning to fade. Elias noticed, but didn't look up, and begun to hum quietly to himself in the darkness. The moonlight gleamed from the window, scattering over the white marble.

"The idea of capturing your presence on paper, in an eternal prison of my making, is tempting." mused the man in a low, simmering voice that lacked any teasing or humour.

Lucas was staring now, blinking his eyes slowly. "Is that so?"

"It is." Elias smiled, flicking his gaze up. "Will you obediently lay still for me?"

"For you? Never."

"Why?"

"I don't want to listen to your orders." yawned Lucas, rolling onto his back as he stretched his arms wide, feeling the painful ache deep in his bones. The floor was hard and uncomfortable, but the coldness of it soothed his burns.

Partly to relax his muscles and to spite Elias, he rolled again and pushed himself into a stand, roaming around the room. If somebody wanted him to be drawn, then they would have to adjust to his movements.

Time waited for nobody, and neither did he.

"A shame," Elias' fingers skimmed over the page, crinkling the delicate slip of white and black, a slice of a tree remade by human hands. "But I can capture an essance of yourself."

"It's not real." scoffed Lucas, moving to the shattered window, careful to avoid glass shards. "If you want to cling to history instead of facing your present, then so be it. I don't give a damn. But what you're drawing, that version of me, it's not me. Not really."

"My opinion differs."

"Your opinion doesn't matter to me."

"You're too cold to me, darling. I'll get a frostbite." Elias filled the pitch of Lucas' soft hair in gentler strokes, tangled black that strayed disobediently over the man's forehead. "Isn't drawing one of your hobbies?"

"I draw to remember. You draw to imprison."

Lucas rolled his shoulders, skimming over the ugly and fading burns. He grimaced, imagining the sorry state of his body earlier. Well, as expected, Elias had some devious way of saving him, no doubt using means illegal or strange.

He decided not to dwell on the consequences of Elias saving him, or the means of it. As the saying went, if he saw no evil, then no evil existed. At least, that was his variation of it.

Elias stopped then, placing the pen and notebook down. "Enlighten me on that."

"Asking a patient to use their brain?" Lucas scowled. "You're terrible."

Elias only smiled patiently in response, a smile that could be mistaken for charming and handsome if Lucas didn't know the cruelty and indiference in the man. He sighed, turning around.

"I draw the images, memories that I think are worth drawing. Things I want to remember. Your idea of drawing isn't to remember, but to capture a living moment—you're clinging to the present that has already passed. You're scared to look at the future."

"Psychoanalyzing me, are you?" Elias looked at him with a bemused smile, but his eyes remained a chilling cold. "I'm scared of the future?"

Since Lucas had started, he allowed everything in his mind to flow unfiltered. He didn't really care about offending Elias, he never had.

"Your indifference is a means of protecting yourself. You're scared of what could happen, and like to pretend you aren't. If a lie is told long enough, it becomes truth. Even if that truth is a delusion."

"Did I tell you that I love you?"

"You're lying."

"I am. And you gathered all that from my drawings, darling? Have you seen them—do you know them?"

"I don't. And I don't care to."

"Because?"

"I don't like your drawings." Lucas paused, turning again and crouching down in front of Elias lazily, lifting his snow-white eyes that were clearer, brighter in the night. "There's no freedom in them if your intention is to imprison."

"That feeling isn't something you can see in a scribble of ink or graphite. I'm no artist a drawing is just a drawing." said Elias bluntly, earning a cool look of reproach from the other party.

"It's whatever you make it. Why the hell should I care for your opinion? Similarly, why bother listen to mine? I just dislike your drawings, that's all."

Elias regarded Lucas, one leg stretched out as he looked down at the closed notebook. He chuckled, more to himself than anybody else, and waved his hand in the air, the notebook and pen disappearing. "Nothing I can do about that, I suppose. How're your injuries?"

"Suspiciously fine. The burns are fading, and it hurts, but nothing I can't tolerate." answered Lucas honestly, leaning against the wall like a sack of potatos.

"If you're fine, you have some friends waiting for you outside?"

"Kane and Nora...Were they concerned?"

"Of course—but you know that without me saying." Elias tiredly rolled his head sideways, giving a lopsided smile. Lucas thought it looked more exhausted than usual. And a little less annoying. "There's a kid called Julian, who I vaguely remember joining our egg searching mission in the past."

Lucas frowned in confusion, before understanding. The cowardly, bear-like boy who'd clung to his side with deep admiration and great respect. He was an entertaining youth, one Lucas hoped didn't lose his gentle qualities by the corruption of the apocalypse.

He nodded quietly, and stood up. Before he could, a hand snaked around his wrist, holding him in place. Lucas raised an eyebrow, half-standing as moonlight frayed his raven hair.

"What?"

And Elias couldn't answer, because he hadn't realized that he reached out until he saw his fingers splayed around the man's sturdy wrists. And he decided, it was maybe because he didn't want Lucas to go out there, exposed to danger and in a reality so far away, despite being so close.

Lucas lowered his gaze, always observing and knowing. He crouched back down to the ground, and tilted his head and repeated, more softly this time, "What?"

A lost and confused Elias was always a sight to see, Lucas' favourite means of looking at the man. When the hair, usually parted to the left and always messy, instead mused and tangled against other strands, and his deep blue eyes reflected a curiosity of wonders Lucas couldn't decipher.

The straight and proper buisnessman, once his own boss and leader of a chain of delinquents, once indifferent to his survival or death and instead finding amusement in his struggles.

Elias. A man of many secrets. A man that was falling in love with Lucas Silvius.

Elias leaned his head back and smiled, relaxing into the wall. "I just wanted you to look at me, darling, that's all. There's a girl out there too, her name's Adelaide. Seems to know you."

Lucas didn't settle with the languid excuse, knowing it was a truth that buried a heavier truth. He slipped his hands around, locking his fingers with Elias' sturdy grip, examining the weight of their interlaced hands, the curve of the bent knuckles, the warmth of them.

"I don't know any Adelaide's."

"Aren't you terribly bad with names?"

Lucas paused, frowning. "It's names that refuse to stick to me." He blamed others for not wanting to be remembered by him, to the point he forgot. A ridiculous belief, but Lucas was a ridiculous man. "I don't know her."

"She was looking for a writer. A writer whose protagonist resembles Kane." Elias paused, feeling Lucas' hand tighten momentarily. If it was anybody else, he probably wouldn't have recognized or noticed the small action. But it wasn't just anybody else. "You remember who he is to you."

"...and who is coming up with predictions, now?" Lucas looked away, a touch of awkwardness settling over his face. "I don't know how to act with him, knowing he's my brother."

It was rare to see such weakness from Lucas, and Elias smiled genuinely. "Now, don't tell me you're nervous?"

"I'm not nervous."

"Really? Let's see, refusing to meet my eyes, tension in your hands, I'd say those are telling signs of nerves. If you'd rather stay here with me forever, I would be more than happy to indulge you."

Lucas sneered. "Has the apocalypse damaged your brain?"

Elias leaned his head back, pulling the back of Lucas' hands to his lips. "No, you have."

"Then what you need isn't to indulge me, but a doctor." said Lucas in a solemn tone, prying his hands away. "Do you need a re-introduction to Kane? Wait."

Lucas froze suddenly, after he stood up. "Adelaide. She's looking for a writer?"

Sometimes, there were instances that made one realize how incomparably small the world was to the vastness of the universe. How even countries couldn't always seperate each other, how everybody was related or to be related in some odd way.

This could be that said instance, but Lucas wasn't sure. Because what were the chances? That the girl, her endless chattering over texts always bright and lively, would appear in America—chasing after him?

His most important reader.

While writing had been a random hobby, and he didn't really care about fame or popularity, the first reader was always dear to an author. And the readers who stayed, even dearer. The girl's cheerful words had been a spark of life in his gloomy days.

Similar to watching videos of cute animals or families laughing around a table.

He climbed out the window—it was right there after all—swinging his long legs over before walking to the ground, making a circle and sharing information.

Kane was the first to notice, the doctor's eyes visably lighting up as he broke free from the group instantly, rushing up to Lucas. "Are you okay? Lucas, you had me so worried, never do that again. No, I mean, I believe and trust your ability, but please try not to get harmed. Does your skin burn or itch? Are your bones in place? Do you—"

Lucas' throat felt dry, a low rasp of words that waited far too long.

"Kane. I've missed you."

He took a step forward, foot hovering hesitantly in the air before he cast away any reluctance. It was always Kane that had reached out, always Kane that ruffled his head and told him it'd be okay.

With a swallow of rarely revealed fear, he moved again and stiffly wrapped his arms around Kane's broad chest, like a shield that never broke.

His brother and protector since childhood, the only person Lucas ever admired to such an extent.

And no matter how many people he met in the future, Kane's existance was irreplacable.

Lucas was willing to sacrifice everything he knew for his brother's sake.

Just as Kane had been willing once, working several odd jobs late into the night, dark bags constantly plaguing the skinny and tired teenager, abandoning friends and entertainment to take care of his little brother.

Kane went entirely still, planted firmly in the spot, rooted by a mixture of bewilderment and a happiness that couldn't be described by mere words. One that made him tremble with a decade of sorrow.

"Lucas." he gasped, wrapping his arms around the other. "You... you, do you remember who I—"

"I remember. Thank you."

Kane laughed hoarsely. "Thank you for what?"

"Thank you for being you. For all the years you gave me, and all the years you continued to give even after I left."

It was true that many siblings bickered or argued through loving each other, they teased and joked, or perhaps were distant and behaved with indifference. But Kane had been not only his older brother, but a parent, a teacher and a friend.

A relationship of depondancy that Lucas always assumed was one-sided, believing his presence to limit Kane's future. But Kane had needed Lucas as much as he needed the other.

They pulled away, and suddenly both parties became stiff and awkward again. Lucas was good at masking his uncertainty, but Kane's nervousness was written in the way he straightened his back, in how his eyes darted left and right.

Kane licked his lips, smiling gently. "How was... your life while I was gone?"

Lucas swallowed, shrugging. "I became a delinquent."

"...sorry Lucas, I think I've heard you wrong—"

"I became a delinquent." Lucas repeated obediently, a fraction louder. "I jumped from house to house, and got into fights almost daily." He thought about it and added, "I think I'm a little famous too. In delinquency."

Kane had gone entirely pale, and while he supposed he could see Lucas as a delinquent, that wasn't what he invisioned his younger brother's future to become. He panicked, and his imagination ran rampent—of Lucas bloodied and bruised, being bullied by other people.

Elias, watching with a gleam of interest, walked foward. "I suppose it's time for introductions again, big brother Kane. Lucas was a delinquent, and I'm Elias. His boss. The one he worshiped and admired, obeyed every order of—"

"Once, I'd thought about beating up the boss. Because the frequency of fights he organized was too much, and I was tired." remarked Lucas casually, thinking back.

"But you didn't." said Elias.

"I didn't." agreed Lucas. "I decided he wasn't worth my time."

Adelaide popped her head around, the bright blue becoming brighter upon seeing Lucas, as if a single glance told her all she needed to know. The girl's brown curls bounced with energy, and Lucas knew in a second that this was the reader who'd followed him for over a year.

Elias, curious about all things to do with the particular white-eyed sponge, raised his chin with a faint smile.

"And certainly, you've changed your mind now?"

Lucas' eyes curved lightly. "No."

———xxx———

[Lukiyo says helllooooo!!!]

HI, editing might be a bit rough and rushed especially today, I've been out of town all day so I'm a bit not clear headed lollol, but I did skim through, I don't think it's like deathly but! Just in case! I'll be back on Friday to read through properly and do (better) edits if anything is out of  place.

Please bear with me! And thank you a million trillion times, you who are more wonderful than the stars in the sky. ^^