Other Side

Chapter 7: Pain in his chest

Cove rubbed at his chest, the constant pain that's followed him since childhood. A pressure that made his heart beat harder and his lungs stall, like a cough you can't quite get out but try and try till you suffocate or it goes away. Over time he'd sort of gotten used to it, only once had he experienced a high-level pain that set him asleep for a few days. The beat of his heart and the work of his lungs belittled enough that he'd collapsed from a balcony, immediately falling under. When he'd woken up, days later, Leander and the blues had no further answers for the cause. So it's stayed with him and today, the magnitude is low, yet the duration for the 3 hours he had been awake thus far.

Thorn chuckled from where he lay on the couch in their father's office. It was his second day in charge, and he was drunk off his ass at three in the afternoon. The flecks of his magic are visible in its fight to get the chemicals out of his body. After waiting in the office for most of the morning, Cove found his brother in the barracks up west. "Fight club" they called it as everyone was drunk and swinging. Cove had to tie Thorn's hands together, so he'd stop getting hit long enough to get him out of there and on the tracks back to the COC. Then he had to contact the on-call guards and some orange class trainees. He likely took a little too much pleasure in pushing him off the moving cart that wasn't meant for travel. Luckily Frost was there to take over the rest.

"You look so serious." Thorn laughed heavily. He waved his arms at his brother as he readjusted his place on the couch. A wide smile pulled across his lips, the only glow in his eyes reflected from the ceiling's light.

Cove simply looked up at him raised brows, watching as he rolled off the couch. He shook his head and returned to filling out the paperwork before him. He was looking over the financial records of the different sectors, tracking the change of profit over the past year. The records were called for two reasons: one for Thorn to look through for practice and education, and then as a precursor to the coming Civilization meeting over priorities we should take with the new world.

He looked up, rolling his shoulders as he went over the request list at the back of the yellows report: photo ops, cloth trade, and fashion battle- being the top requests. He understands it's their life's work, but clothing and comfort came second to education and safety in Cove's mind. He hadn't heard Thorn for a while, his usual drunk groaning soundless. Standing from the desk he walked around the coffee table to find his brother snoring lightly.

Cove got him onto the couch, ruffling his hair. Thorn tucked his face back into his arms with a groan as Cove covered him with the toss blanket. A huffed thank you could barely be heard before the soft snores continued. Cove himself huffed as tucked the blanket over his brother, trying to make sure he is comfortable. In the coming days, if Cove was going to even bother giving a report, Thorn would have a lot to make up for.

****

The tightening in his chest was different today. Heavy and filled with grief he couldn't describe, he dropped his pen, hand on his chest as he held in the breath that was suffocating him. The tightness was like a noose around his neck. He didn't know why. Minutes later it calmed to an echoing ache and Cove was able to readjust.

"You still get those pains?" Thorn stood at the door, hand still on the doorknob as he looked in on his brother. Sat at their father's desk.

"Yes." Cove huffed, barely glancing at his brother. They hadn't talked in a while, not about anything real other the how are you. Most days they barely got a glance at each other, the two had very different lives in society. It was mostly Cove's fault, at least in his head, for not holding on for long enough after their mother died. He honestly didn't even realize Thorn knew about the pain.