Arcane ~ ONGOING

~Chapter Twelve~

not edited
 

I cursed as I flipped through the pamphlet pages trying to make sense of what was going on. To me, letters in Maths is just dumb. Like who the fuck thought that incorporating letters with numbers was a good idea. 

I let out an aggravated scream and banged my head against the table. I let my forehead rest against the table as I try to make sense of everything I just tried to grasp. 

"What in the holy fuck was that?" I heard a voice ask. I jumped at the sudden noise and turned around to Zane at the door with furrowed eyebrows. 

"N-nothing," I replied, composing myself. 

"You should be in bed right now," He said as he leaned against the doorframe.

"It's just eleven, I'll be fine," I muttered going back to my books. I had taken the opportunity to get extra Maths books from the library. Some of them were for the eighth grade and I somewhat understood them. 

"What are you doing?" He asked as he plopped down on my bed.

"Quadratic and cubic equations," I replied not looking up.

"Oh, they're easy as fuck," He stated as he got comfortable on my bed.

His comment just made me feel worse. How dumb was I that I couldn't grasp a topic that I have been on for two days. I had to be beyond dumb. 

I just gave him a tight lipped smile and went back to my work. "Anyways," He said, "I'm gonna go, I need to wake up early tomorrow and you, you better be in bed by twelve, one by latest."

I nodded in reply as he left the room and closed the door behind him. I could feel my eyes getting droopy but I pushed through it, trying to focus on the numbers.

***

Third pov

The eldest Crawford confidently strides through the silent hallways after a tiring day of work. His occupation and post demands hard work and precision and there couldn't be anyone better to fill that post other than him. But somehow it had been taking a toll on him for the past few days. 

His sister was back, which gladdened him but his younger brother was giving him hell. He understood what he was going through but he couldn't let his behavior towards their sister pass. And the work pressure was just adding more stress onto him.

He stood in front of the black door that led to his room, ready to go in but hesitated. Instead advancing forward and into his room he turned on his heel and softly opened the door to her sister's room. 

He expected it to be pitch dark but it wasn't. His eyebrows furrowed together as he observed the slumped figure in front of the desk. The table lamp was on as the books were scattered all over the desk along with at least two empty cup and one half filled with coffee. Her MacBook was open as well, showing a tutorial on Equations.

He slowly walked over the fragile girl's sleeping form and sighed. His eyes found the clock on her table, '4:00', it read. He casted a disapproving glare at Astria's sleeping form as well as the books. Slowly lifting her head from the table, he rested it against himself as he removed the airpods from her ears. He heard little grumbles from him which almost made him smile, almost. 

Brushing her hair out of the way, he picked her up, one of his hands under her back and one under her knees and rested her head against his shoulder. 

Faint words could be heard from the small girl's form as she woke up, "I need to study," She whispered as she forced her eyes open. Her squinted, worried blue eyes met the familiar ones of her brother as she started taking deep breaths.