Brother and Sister
2273 Words
Mila looks at me with widened eyes through her helmet. I knew my idea was bad. Damn, I shouldn't have suggested it.
“Or not,” I take it back. “Forget about it.”
She goes turning to look ahead without saying anything. I can hear her taking in air. Then she says, “Do you trust them?”
Ah, that question is a little bit hard to answer. “I don't know, Mila,” I answer instead.
“Come on, just tell me,” she asks turning to look at me, showing her eagerness to know what I think.
“I'm not sure about it so I don't have a clear answer. They're rogue deities and we don't share the same ideology with them.”
“Then why do you want to give Gwen to them?”
“I don't know… I just feel that they're not the enemies nor they're friendlies. They're just… neutral of some sort.”
“Oh,” she says, looking at our feet. “Somehow, you're kind of right to think that.”
“Also, it's because my friend, Philip is with them.”
“He is?”
“Yeah, I don't know why I forgot to mention it. And also, they have two other human friends. A guy and a girl in the age of around sixteen.”
“So, they're a group now.”
“Yeah,” I nod.
Thinking about it, they are fortunate to be free in what they want to do. If I have that freedom, I would've found Hera by now. Next time we meet I might-
“Leo,” she says, holding my arm. She's not looking at me but to the side.
“What is it?”
“Promise me one thing.”
Where is she going with this? “Okay…”
“Please don't ever think about joining them. We need you here. I… need you here.”
Her grip on my arm is getting tighter like she is bracing for what I'm about to say. “Okay,” I nod. Her grip becomes looser.
Then she looks at me. I can see her eyes squinting because of her smile. Her sigh is obvious by the way her body bends forward. She lets go of my arm. Somehow, I want her to hold me more.
“But are you though?” I ask. “I admit that Darius and I had an important role at our whole time in the bunker of Olympus. But now, we joined forces with Asgard so we are not needed anymore.”
“No, that's not true. When things get out of hand and when no human has the chance to pray, only the two of you have the strength to fight. In the end, we will be depending on both of you.”
“That's putting too much credit on us. Olympus also has you, Lady Eleanna, Lady Aurelia, Lady Juliet, Hyeon, and everyone else. All of you are strong, talented, and smart. I'm here only to play my role, not be someone who can do everything by myself. I couldn't even protect my family.”
“It's not your fault. It's Dragunov's doing.”
“Dragunov?”
“The name of that god who leads the Masked League.”
“I remember how we fought him.”
“You actually fought him?”
“Yes and all of us are no match for him. We just stalled so Jasper and his allies can escape. Then Darius and I escaped on our own. It was-” My headache strikes. “Argh!”
“What's the matter?” she asks but I hear her voice muffled.
“My head… hurts…”
“Okay, let's go back.” Then she gasps momentarily. “What is happening to your hair?”
“What? My…”
-
*
Leo falls unconscious but Mila catches him. She has a glimpse of his hair on his forehead. They are glowing in different colors like a nebula and with dots of different colored stars.
“What is happening to you, Leo?” she asks.
Meanwhile, in the cave where Sayuri and her comrades hide, they have an electric lamp as their only source of light. It's dim and they have to open their eyes to see very well. Although, this is not a problem for the deities and Philip since they have improved senses. Jasper is restless while lying on the ground.
“I'm dying of boredom here!” he complains.
“What do you mean?” asks Hiroki, cooking food for them. “This is your idea in the first place.”
“I know but damn… I can't stand this!”
“You're like a child with ADHD.”
“Argh…!” he growls out of boredom. He springs up, his expression changes. “Oh, I know! A walk in the field would get rid of it!”
“You're gonna get us caught.”
Prisha brings the ingredients to Hiroki as she adds, “They have OSD138—the most advanced Olympian Strength detector I have ever designed for Olympus. Although its range is not very far like radars, it is very good in close range.”
“So, you built that for this moment to bore me to death?” asks Jasper in sarcasm. Hyun laughs at him. “Seriously, your inventions are going against us.”
“We are even lucky that they are not designed to detect through the Cloaking ability such as Lady Sayuri from a farther distance.” She puts her hand on her chin. “I should've considered that.”
“Oh, no, please don't. I beg you Prisha. Don't make me suffer more than I can manage.”
Hiroki adds, “And also, long-range detection for the type of people who can disguise their presence.”
“That's a bad idea,” says Jasper. “It's the only thing I'm proud of besides my handsomeness.”
They continue their conversations while Sayuri is in the darkest part of the cave. Her eyes are faintly glowing violet. She is very patient and sure that Dragunov will appear.
Somewhere in the underground shelter, Darius is walking in the hallway with his hands in his pockets. Everyone he passes by gives way for him.
“Where did he go?” he asks himself. He means Leo. “Meh, never mind. He's free to date whenever he likes. I'll just go check on Guiria.”
He goes to her room but he frowns when two demigods are blocking his way to the door.
“Scram!” he shouts and glares at both of them.
As scared and intimidated they are, one of them says, “You're not allowed in Lady Guiria's room.”
“Why not?!”
“Her uncle commands-”
“I don't care about what that loser says! Get out of my way or I will make you kiss his butt!”
“We told you, you can't.”
“I'll count to ten! If you don't go away by then, I swear I'll shove you back into your momma's womb!!”
The other demigod reacts, “What the-”
“One, two, three, five, six-”
“You forgot four.”
“Argh! It doesn't matter!” His voice becomes louder as the number gets near to ten. “Seven, Eight, NINE!! TE-”
The door slightly opens and he has a glimpse of the mark he put inside the room. He teleports there then Guiria closes the door so they will not notice. He lands a floor with grease so he slips on the ground. The floor cracks against his head but he is fine. She at the door tries to hold in her laugh. He is infuriated.
“Where did he go?” one of the demigods asks.
“Maybe he chickened out and decided to leave.”
“Yeah, that's right! He better leave!”
Darius sits up slowly while grunting, angry at what the demigods said. Then Guiria puts her finger on her lips to shush him. He just raises his lips and wrinkles his nose in silent anger. Standing up and walking towards his sister, he glares at her while she has nowhere to go.
With his large handspan, he grabs her head, lifting her body off the ground. She struggles to get his grip off of her head but punching and pinching his arm but his Sword Breaking helps him.
He smirks at her, points at her face, and whispers, “You will pay for that.”
She bites his pointing finger. Although imbued with Sword Breaking, he is in pain because her teeth are strong and sharp. He wants to pull it out but he's afraid that his finger will be cut off. Instead of a scream, he lets out a wheeze with his wide-open mouth.
Then he lets go of her head and begs for her to let go. On the ground, he hits the floor with his fist softly. His forehead is against it. However, she is smirking at him, telling him to beg more.
“Please,” he begs, whispering.
She lets go and a silent wheeze of relief is what he lets out. Giggling quietly, she pulls him to a chair in front of a mirror on top of a short shelf. He sits there and does nothing. Then she brings a set of makeup. The huge confusion is sitting on his face.
“Don't move,” she whispers.
“What's all of this?” he asks as she starts to tie his hair from behind him.
“Just keep quiet!” She hit his head from behind.
“Ow, you brat!”
“I told you to keep quiet!”
“Then stop that!”
“Is everything fine there, my lady?” asks one of the demigods.
“Uh, yes!” she answers while glaring at her brother. “Everything is ey okay!”
“Well then, my lady.”
“No more words,” she whispers to Darius.
So, he just sits there while she tries every makeup on his face. He finds this embarrassing and humiliating but he lets her have fun with it. Every time she leaves in front of him to see the mirror, his face gets worse every time. Now, he looks like a white concrete wall with a face and hair.
“What the hell?” he whispers. “What have you done to my face?”
“It's modern fashion. I don't expect you to understand, ancient guy.”
“Being a clown is the new fashion now? I can't believe my sister is out of her mind!”
“Of course it's not, duh… I'm just having fun with the expired makeup on your face.” She giggles.
“This is gonna itch. That's it, this is over!” He stands up from his chair.
“No, we're not over yet.”
“This is a waste of time and I gotta train or I'll lose to Leo.”
She pulls his arm. “No,” she begs.
He turns to look at her and her eyes are getting watery. Gritting his teeth, he tries not to be convinced. But then, he remembers what Leo said to him. Also, Guiria is always here alone without anyone to play with.
“Alright,” he says patting her head before going back to the chair.
“Yes!” she celebrates quietly like ice turning instantly into fire.
“Drama queen,” he scoffs.
“No boy can resist my charm.” She brings out lipstick.
After she applies the lipstick on his lips, he says, “Don't get ahead of yourself. I've conquered the most beautiful and strongest girl in this whole universe. And you are never gonna get close to her.” He smirks at her.
“Well, she just agreed to be with you out of pity because you're pathetic and ugly. Anyways, she'll break up on you sooner or later.”
He scoffs, closing his eyes. “You're just jealous. She will never break up on me. She's obsessed with me.”
“How about I tell her that?” she grins, showing her corrugated teeth.
He opens his eyes and realizes what he had just said. “Wait, no. Don't. Uh, never mind, you can't leave here anyway.”
“You know, she comes to visit me sometimes.”
“Wait… what? She does?”
“Uh-huh, and she asked me if I could be her little sister too since I'm the cutest girl she has ever seen. She's so sweet with her boyfriend's sister.”
“Woah…,” he says, rubbing his chin. “I gotta think about how are we going to get married now. She's good with the kids.”
“Not, if I tell her what you said.”
“No, if you tell her, I will kill you!”
“Is that so? As if you have the guts.”
“I do!”
Their glares are like tips of knives against each other. So sharp and precise. But then he looks away. He lost.
“Well, don't mind if I tell her later.” She sneers.
Then he clears his throat. “No, don't.”
Turning the tide, she smirks at him. “Then what do you have to offer to me in return?”
He grumbles, “What do you want?”
*
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- Writer
