True Friend

"The real ones stand with you while the fake ones find reasons to leave."

As both Lucian and Ethan took a fighting stance, they prepared for the spar.

Lucian rushed at him, but Ethan was way faster, already landing a punch on his face.

"Nice one," Lucian said, rubbing his face. "But that had no force behind it. Use your hips to generate power instead of only your shoulders."

Ethan quickly adjusted himself to Lucian's advice and tried putting his lower body into the punch, but Lucian had other plans.

Lucian flicked Ethan's lower body with his leg, causing Ethan to wobble and fall to the ground. Lucian quickly used his legs to choke his neck.

"That's called an inverted triangle. Learn some martial arts—it might just save you." Lucian kept talking as Ethan ferociously tapped his leg to let him go.

"Okay, I'll let you go. No need to panic," Lucian said, letting go of Ethan's neck and getting up.

Ethan remained lying down as Lucian shrugged the dust off his clothes. "You're not gonna get up? I'm pretty sure I didn't paralyze you with that lock."

"I can't. It's almost as if my body isn't listening to me," Ethan said, trying his best to get up. "I feel weak for some reason."

"Wait... don't tell me I actually paralyzed you!" Lucian said, rushing to his side. As he sat down, Ethan's stomach growled.

Both of them looked at each other and laughed.

"Don't scare me like that," Lucian said, helping Ethan get back up.

"Let's get some food inside that belly," Lucian said, rubbing Ethan's stomach, but Ethan slapped his hand away.

"Honestly, I'm shocked that I'm only feeling hungry now. I haven't eaten in a while—even before coming here—since Dad went missing..." Ethan said, his voice trailing off toward the end.

"I'm sorry about your dad. Wherever he is, may God protect him," Lucian said, praying. *I knew it. This guy has something special waiting to be awakened. No way anyone normal can run that fast without eating for five days.*

"Let's go. Food is waiting for us," Lucian said, helping him get inside the lodge and onto a chair.

Inside, everyone was already eating.

"You're late, Lucian. You were the one who said we should always be on time for food," Marcus said angrily, glaring at Ethan.

*Why is he glaring at me? What did I even do?* Ethan thought, looking down at the food to avoid eye contact.

"Sorry, I was checking on Ethan," Lucian said, laughing awkwardly.

"Lucian, don't you think you're being way too close to him? You guys met just a few hours ago," Ashley said, getting up and slamming the table.

"Ethan is new. He needs to be supervised and supported. I thought you guys would be smart enough to understand that," Lucian said, his tone cold.

"Lucian! You're gonna talk like that to your sister?" Marcus said as Ashley began to cry.

*They're related? But they look nothing alike,* Ethan thought, surprised, but he didn't get much time to react.

"Grow up. You're being totally unreasonable. This hate is being directed at Ethan for no reason," Lucian said, looking disappointed.

*It's happening because of me... Even during school days, guys always tried putting their hands on me for no reason...* Ethan thought, closing his eyes to avoid crying.

"Lucian, either you apologize to Ashley, or I'll—" Marcus suddenly stopped as Lucian glared at him angrily.

"What were you saying, Marcus? Do you have the guts to finish that statement?" Lucian said, laughing in an attempt to hide his anger.

Ethan glanced at Lucian's arm as he clenched it into a fist. *Oh God, this might actually turn into a fight. I have to break this up somehow.*

"Lucian, I think we should step out—" Ethan said to Lucian, but Lucian wasn't paying attention. His eyes were locked on Marcus.

"Lucian," Annie said with a gentle tug on his overcoat, "can you go out, please?"

Without saying anything, Lucian left. Ethan closely followed him.

*Wow, it seems like both of them listen to each other a lot,* Ethan thought, finally relaxing as they stepped outside.

"I'm sorry," both of them said at the same time.

"Why are you sorry?" Their voices overlapped again.

Lucian raised his hand. "You go first."

"Oh, okay. Well... I was sorry because the reason everyone was angry was me..." Ethan said, pausing as he looked at Lucian to gauge his reaction.

"No, no, you got it wrong. It's not your fault. Those people are getting angry for no reason. I thought they were just being cautious, but this is just absurd. I apologize to you on behalf of my whole team," Lucian said, bowing.

Ethan didn't know what to say. He didn't expect that. He was ready to take the blame—that's what he's been doing ever since he was a kid, punishing himself for everything.

Ethan slowly walked closer.

"Ethan, I promise—no matter what happens, I'm not gonna leave your side. Even though we just met, I already think of you as a friend," Lucian said, raising his head.

Ethan was in tears. Not because someone finally understood him, not because someone was taking his side, but because, for the first time, he felt genuine compassion from another person.

"Lucian... Thank you," Ethan said as he frantically wiped his tears.

Both of them just kept looking at each other without saying anything. Finally, Ethan broke the silence.

"I didn't know... Ashley was your sister," Ethan said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, she's my older sister, but I have to often look out for her. You know how it is between siblings. You had—... Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Lucian said, looking sad for mentioning Leo.

"It's alright. I know he's okay. That rat is really lucky—he'll make it somehow," Ethan said, biting his bottom lip tightly.

"Don't start crying again," Lucian said, laughing.

"You keep crying all the time, like Marcus when we were in school," Lucian added, trying to ease the mood.

"You knew Marcus before coming here?" Ethan said, surprised.

"Why do you get surprised so easily? Well, anyway, yeah, I knew him since middle school. All of us were consumed by a flash when we were partying in my room."

Ethan kept looking at Lucian, wishing to hear more of his stories.

"You're making me feel like a celebrity. I'll tell you about my school days—they were so fun..." Lucian said, throwing his arm over Ethan's shoulder.

"You see that bitch getting all buddy-buddy with Lucian?" Marcus said, watching them from the window.

"Well, my brother was never the type to get attached to someone else so easily, so that guy really must be something special," Ashley said, joining Marcus.

"Well, are you sure your brother isn't gay? He looks plenty gay to me," Marcus said, laughing— his face quickly twisted into disgust.

"Hi, Annie! What are you doing down here?" Ashley said loudly, making sure Annie didn't hear what Marcus said.

"There are just a few hours left before the second stage, so I came down to discuss strategy with Lucian, but it looks like he's busy," Annie said, looking confused as to why Ashley was suddenly being so loud.

"Annie... Don't you hate the new guy too?" Ashley whispered into Annie's ear.

"I don't like him, but if Lucian thinks he's good for the team, I won't complain about it," Annie said, shrugging her off and turning away.

"Don't you think the new guy is gonna steal Lucian away? What do you say, Marcus?" Ashley said, winking at him.

"Absolutely right. If I remember correctly, Lucian said he was bisexual back in middle school, but since you only met him here, you wouldn't really know," Marcus said, winking back.

Annie looked at Ashley, worried, hoping she would deny it.

"Yeah, Marcus is telling the truth, and all of us can agree Ethan looks beautiful. Makes sense why Lucian is taking his side," Ashley said, closing in on Annie again.

"It can't be..." Annie said, her eyes widening.

"It makes sense, right? Do you think he'd fight his own sister for a random guy? Maybe they're already a thing..."

Ashley kept going, making Annie question it more and more until she finally collapsed, crying.

"Hey, don't cry—we'll help you, right, Marcus?" Ashley said, comforting Annie.

"Absolutely right. We'll kill Ethan so we get a new member," Marcus said, hugging both of them. "We're a team. We look out for each other."

Annie nodded while Ashley and Marcus smirked at each other, seeing Annie finally join in on their plan.