Twelve

"They don't need me," he whispered as he wandered the darkened streets. The street shook with the energy of the people hidden along it, behind buildings, under benches, hidden wherever they could fit.

There was no place for him, a fact he was painfully aware of even now, the feeling of rejection from an uncaring city barely fazing him as he walked...nowhere to go...nowhere to hide.

There was no relief for him in these moments, no way to stop his thoughts or shut out the new and overwhelming sensations assaulting him from every direction. Lovers in homes, wanderers suffering their own dim agony, random people experiencing a dull cacophony of emotion and power that threatened to wash him away from the world he had been fighting so hard to stay rooted in.

An Auros with dull, black eyes lay in the middle of the road, waiting for something to come, said, "This isn't really living...is it?"

A panicked thought crossed his mind...could he die...or would he just become another one of these Auros he'd been seeing. Another him, this one with bright green hair and obvious signs of drug addiction looked up at him from across the street and said, "There are always other options."

A shudder coursed through his body and he turned away from himself, rejecting that impulse as a notification pulsed his phone.

Checking it half-heartedly, he was only mildly surprised when he saw that his account was wildly negative, some old debt being automatically collected. An alarm rang his phone now, an alert from the state, letting him know that his federal account was ALSO negative.

"Tonight has been...bad," his voice monotoned next to him.

This Auros's eyes glowed a dim red as he bled from wounds on his chest, massive claw marks that had cut clean through his shirt and flesh. He held his body in a tight embrace, though it was unclear if it was to keep his blood in or to comfort himself. He looked back at Auros and said, "I get it…"

He fell to the ground and after a few moments, his eyes dimmed as the life drained from his body.

Auros was unsure if he was worried or envious.

The streetlights began to dim as time dragged on, the various people slowly drifting to sleep around him, their energies calming and passively leaving Auros truly alone for the first time in the evening.

As the darkness encroached, he thought about going back to Benny's, but had the thought that Shining Eyes had probably been working alongside her. It was something she'd do...and he was definitely closer to what she was looking for from him. Confident, powerful, ruthless...he had all the traits she'd want to pass on to her children, that she'd had pressed into her by a family that thrived on cutthroat behavior.

Which meant he'd be back.

Luna and Mark's energy flickered in his memory and he choked back a sob that fought its way up in his throat, though he wasn't even sure where it came from.

Did he miss what he'd had with her?

Was he hurting from the feeling of not mattering?

Maybe it was the fact that they just...didn't know. That they blamed him for everything that had happened, and that's how they'd coped with all of it. Wiping his eyes and clearing his throat, he tried to stop thinking and started walking, just letting his feet take him wherever they might go.

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Luna kicked the clothes off the bed as she felt Mark pull her in closer to hold her, his warmth filling her heart with warmth and love. In the corner of the room she thought she saw Auros...a memory maybe, an Auros that once she and Mark had offered to join in the kind of thing they'd just done.

He'd never taken them up on that offer, and eventually it just...fell off the table as time went on, his eyes eventually set on further horizons than they thought either of them could ever reach.

For a moment, her heart ached for that Auros again, for his touch and for his fire. Mark shifted slightly and she felt a pang of guilt at that longing, a rush of shame at the thought of asking Auros to join her again, at the thought of explaining to Mark that she might want that once more.

He had been right...she thought he was at least, Auros was just...too much for them, too much chaos, too much motion for a life they had built very specifically to be quiet and still...but something about him still called to her, pushed on her heart when he was around.

She didn't want him to leave...but...when he wasn't around, things did feel easier, and she felt deep frustration with herself for feeling that way.

Mark's arms tightened slightly around her, making her a little uncomfortable, and she pushed his arms away, getting up and pulling on soft pajamas, her favorites, though she'd probably never tell Mark that.

Auros had gotten them for her on one of their shopping trips. He'd gotten her lots of things, and she'd gotten rid of most of them, but these...she just couldn't bring herself to get rid of these.

They reminded her of better days, of the times when Auros had actually been ok and that look behind his eyes wasn't there. When he loved himself the way she loved him and he was vibrant and alive.

Alive.

Moving to the living room, she turned on the tv only to be shocked to see Yohai sitting on the couch, previously in the dark.

She'd actually managed to forget about her somehow, though now she had her right in front of her.

"What do you think Auros is up to right now," the young woman asked quietly.

Looking at the clock and seeing that it was almost 2am, Luna said, "Heading home, I hope."

"He came home already," Yohai said, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"What? When," Luna asked, afraid of the answer.

Yohai looked her directly in the eyes and said, "I think you know when he came home."

Luna opened her mouth to say something, but before the words could leave, Yohai started talking, "You know...I'm not fond of you."

Outrage instantly flared out from Luna, her thoughts clouding as she said, "Yeah well, I don't like you either!"

"You don't like me because you think I'm here to take Auros from you, because you want to have what you had but you don't want to make any sacrifices to have it again," Yohai said, her voice dispassionate.

Taken aback, Luna couldn't respond, cut to the quick.

"You don't like me because you're afraid that me being here means that you'll have to actually be honest with yourself, be honest that you screwed up as badly as he did, and now, you have to acknowledge there's nothing you can do about it," she continued.

Yohai's eyes glowed a gentle purple and her pupils were narrow slits, black holes into a sight that Luna feared on some primal level. Turning toward her, bathing her in that purple light, Yohai said, "You've put all of this on him and said he can handle it and then are shocked when he can't handle the weight of everything alone."

Luna stepped back away from the girl, her anger dying down and becoming shame as she continued, "You watched him change. You watched him fall. You heard his last words, his words to you and it mattered so little to you that you couldn't even close the door, knowing that its a straight shot from the front door to your room."

Luna fell to her knees and tried to speak, but the pressure of Yohai's increasing energy kept her silent, kept her listening.

"I see you for who you are and what you are and I am disappointed in you," she said as her eyes darkened and her pupils returned to normal.

Tears flowed from Luna's eyes as she finished speaking, her words lashing her deep inside, carving through her excuses and confusion. Trying to defend herself, she said, "I...I do care…"

"A lack of care has nothing to do with what you do, Luna, it has to do with what you don't do."

"I don't know what to do," she shouted, a dam within her breaking and spilling out, filling her eyes with tears and her throat with sobs.

"You'll do what you always do. What you've always done, Luna. You'll let him figure it out alone and then tell him that you tried, tried to reach out. You'll allow him to put everything on his shoulders and then get angry when he's crushed beneath the weight of his and everyone else's pressure."

As Yohai finished speaking, the apartment began to shake, rattling wildly as some force from far away filled the air with power.

Luna clutched her head and shouted, "I'm SORRY!"

Yohai looked out the window to the distance and said, "You're apologizing to the wrong person, Luna."

"Where...where is he," she asked, looking up at Yohai desperately.

"Why? What difference would it make," Yohai asked, disgust tangible in her voice.

"WHERE IS HE?!"