Other Siblings

Reluctantly, he brushed his teeth, washed his face and put on his uniform wishing he got sick or something.

He didn't want to go to school, everything is going to be so dull.

Especially since he will not be having that much of a free will and will constantly be surrounded by people he has to be friendly with.

As he was about to leave the enormous bathroom, he caught his face in the mirror and frowned slightly while pulling at his hair.

Instead of the golden locks of his hair, they had turned to a very light shade of red, or is it pink?

"Cleo." He called, suddenly wide awake.

"What?" the fox appeared in a small hat, striped pyjama shirt and an even smaller pillow in its paws, yawning. "I was resting."

"Do you even need to rest?" He asked, sceptically. "Anyway, never mind that. I have something that I need to ask you."

"And that is?" It yawned once again.

"My hair." He pointed to it, almost frantic.

"Oh yeah, your hair." It said yawning. "We are still working on trying to get the colour out and it is taking a little longer than we thought it would be. We had to pause also because it is already the next morning."

"So you can't do anything yet?" he asked, looking at himself in the mirror. "It looks like he needs to recolour his hair but …"

He stared at his face and sighed in frustration, "Why does he still look so attractive? Damn it."

"That is the face of the main character of a romance game." It said, nodding. "Pretty isn't it?"

"A little too much." He said, sighing again. "How long is this going to take and … why red?"

"It was a default colour. You see, we put the choice up to a random colour generator that the system created just specifically for this."

"You left the fate of my hair to be decided by a random colour generator?" he asked, mouth agape. "How could you do that?"

"Red is a nice colour." It said, sitting on his shoulders. "Look it will be a fiery red kind of colour. Just imagine how cool you will look, especially with your eye colour."

He stared at his eyes and sighed, the fox was right. He would look very cool.

"Can I get any tattoos?" he asked, imagining one going all the way up to his left arm.

"Let's deal with one thing at a time." It chuckled. "Besides, you are still a high schooler. You aren't going to be allowed to have a tattoo just yet."

"Right." He nodded, slightly disappointed.

Cleo looked at his expression as something sparked in its eyes.

"You can't get a tattoo but … if you listen to me, I could help you get something really cool on your body." It said and watched as his eyes light up instantly.

"What? What will that be?" he asked, looking at Cleo.

"You'll know soon enough." It said, stretching. "But you have to reach level hundred first."

"Hundred? What's with you and hundreds?"

"It's an easy number to remember." It shrugged. "Besides, you need to be strong enough to withstand whatever it is that I am going to do."

"That sounds … suspicious." He said, narrowing his eyes at the fox.

"Perhaps." It laughed. "You better get going now. I can hear your brother coming."

Ace paused, listening for footsteps but there were no audible footsteps at all. Though his body was still tensed.

Why am I behaving this way? Like some kind of paranoid idiot.

There was a slight creek and his body reached out to grab a comb from the front of the mirror and opened the door before chucking the comb at whoever was approaching the bathroom.

"Hey." He heard Ajax say as the comb hit him square in the face.

"Are you ok?" Ace couldn't help but laugh. "I panicked and threw the comb at you."

"I guess I kinda deserved it then." He laughed, throwing the comb back at his brother who caught it with ease. "Shouldn't have snuck up on you like that."

"You are learning to control the sound of your footsteps?" He asked, putting the comb back in its place. "You are improving so much."

"Thank you." Ajax gave him a dramatic bow. "I have been working on it for a while now. I hope to keep improving."

Just then, a memory unlocked in his mind from the day of the attack.

_________

Ajax was severely injured and … well, he still has side effects from what that day did to him and his body.

The trauma crippled his ability to use magic properly and he would have nightmares almost every night.

Ever since their mother died, Ajax had not been doing too well, physically and mentally.

He became an outcast of the family but no one dared to touch him because of Ace. Speaking of Ace, he was summoned to his father's palace that night itself and was given the brooch that everyone wanted too badly.

His father personally placed the brooch on his clothes though Ace did not show a glimmer of excitement at having received such a coveted honour.

He was about to throw the brooch while walking out but his brother stopped him.

"Why are you trying to throw it away?" Ajax asked, taking it out of the trash and wiping it with his shirt sleeve.

"Why are YOU doing that?" Ace asked, taking the brooch from his brother's hands and wiping his hands with the hem of his shirt.

Even that was given by his father to wear whenever they are summoned by him or sent by him to a specific place for missions.

"This is a precious gift from father," Ajax said as Ace looked at the brooch then at his brother wrapped in bandages and had to use a crutch to walk.

He was so injured but their father did not send for a paramedic for the boy. Not only that, he made him come over as well, instead of resting.

Ace couldn't help but clench his teeth every time his brother mentioned his father in a voice filled with respect and admiration.

"That murderer?" he spat out. "Why should I care about anything he gave? The things he gave aren't even fit to give to a pig."

"Is that so?" They heard a voice from the corner of the room and turned to see several pairs of eyes on them.

"You have become quite cocky ever since you got that brooch." A girl's voice said.

"Hello, Zachery." Ajax greeted the girl with a wave.

The girl looked at him with disgust as Zoe walked up to Ace and looked him up and down.

"You were incredible that day." He said, shrugging. "Oh wait, it was today. How did you learn to fight like that?"

"He taught me." He said, pointing to Ace who looked at him as surprised as the others were. "The best teacher I have ever had."

"You never had any previous training right?" A white-haired girl with light green eyes said, looking at him lazily. "Do you even know how to read?"

"Of course I do, Diem." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ajax taught me everything I know."

"You seem to think of him dearly." Another boy with dark blue eyes and dark blue hair to match his eyes, Ina, said. "I wonder what your expression will be if something were to happen to him."

He walked to Ajax, eyes turning from blue to white with a greenish hint to them. His much darker skin as compared to his other siblings almost clashed with the colour of his eyes.

But they do not look out of place, though people said that it did.

Envy.

Ace summoned a sword and placed the tip of the blade at the neck of Ina, "I dare you to try it and I will be taking everything from you."

"Not an empty threat, I see." He said, chuckling to himself as he looked at the eyes of Ace. "Why don't you use the magic that father instilled in you? I want to know what you might be."

"I would rather die than use his magic." He said as the sword disappeared. "Leave us alone right now."

"What happened to that sweet little boy?" Zoe asked, putting his arms around the boy's shoulders.

"I quite prefer him this way," Zachery said, looking at Ajax who gave her a gentle smile.

Without saying another word, she walked away with Zoe behind her. The other followed suit.

Though Diem stopped right in front of Ajax, her eyes changing colour to white and a hint of violet in it.

Pride.

"You have to be the weakest person I have ever met. One day, you are going to lead Ace to his death if you don't try to get stronger." She whispered in his ears before disappearing with the others.

"Something wrong, Ajax?" Ace asked as the boy clutched his crutch tightly.

"It's nothing." He quickly changed his expression. "Shall we get back to the palace?"

"We will need to bury mother still." Ace said, nodding his head. "Let's go fast. I am hungry."