Of Shattered hands and hidden hearts

Ch2: of bonds, both real and fake

Disclaimer: this story contains elements of depression, PTSD, panic attacks and gaslighting. Reader discretion is advised

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Archemd had felt weary even as he woke up today. There was no need for a reminder, it was almost as if the day had seeped into his bones, long past yet still torturing him slowly.

It was once again his wife's death anniversary. Another year had passed by, another year when she wasn't able to see the new trouble that py managed to get into, the new friends that Ari made, not able to see her boys grow up.

Arc shoved away these thoughts as he finished dressing, stopping for a mement to fix a smile on his face. 'You are never truly dressed without a smile' after all. It was poison but it was poison of his own choosing. 

He started walking. They all had breakfast together today, no matter what tasks were pending, they sat together today and talked almost as if they were a commoner family, as if they don't have any responsibilities or expectations on them.

They aren't, so he smiles at his eldest son as he sits at the table. Ari isn't here yet, quite suprising since he was almost always the earliest. He talks to Py, questioning about his friends and his current love endeavour and takes amusement in how embarrassed he becomes. It almost starts to feel like a normal day and then Ari enters.

'Something happened' is his first thought as he looks at his youngest son. He is never so quiet, always walking inside with a smile and a greeting. He calls to him but he doesn't seem to hear and when he does the boy simply deflects his questions. Though it is to be expected, almighty knows he too gets lost in memories today. So he doesn't say anything and doesn't enquire further.

It looks like he should have because now there are tears in his youngest eyes and Arc's heart aches seeing him like this. He goes to hug him, to reassure him and at first he relaxes only to start struggling mere seconds later. And then he's crying again and his breathings short and he looks panicked and Archemd feels like the world's biggest fuck up.

And then his son goes and yeets himself out of the window.

He runs to him, only to see him land on a tree and quickly jump to the ground and take off running.

He turns to his eldest, who immediately understands his expression and speaks up
"No father, I'll go after Ari, I believe he's simply missing mother."

Arc thinks to go after his child but sighs, "yes, that would be best. Look after your brother, okay?

Py gives a nod and walks away. Now left alone, he looks toward the sky and feels the absence of his wife so strongly, it nearly carries him away. "Oh Mellisa, if only you were still here."

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Aristle only seems to come to when a cat launched itself atop his face.
He blinked and tried to looked at the Somali cat. A hard task since it seemed to have situated herself on his head.
The cat hit him with her paw and meowed. It sounded as if she said 'get over yourself already.'

He pulled the cat from where it had taken a perch on his head and held her to his face "Miss Coper, how are you doing?"
Miss Coper meowed again and turned her face away. 'better than you at least, you pathetic kid.'

He felt the urge to laugh. There he was, princely clothes probably getting grass stains on them with a cat scolding him. Said cat had moved into his lap and hit him with her paw again. He obediently started petting her.

He had found Miss Coper just after his fourteenth birthday. There had been rumors flying of a lion cub in the back garden. Interested, he had decided to search for it himself. Instead of a lion cub he had found the orange haired Somali cat with it's teeth bared. It was a hard task to earn her trust but he eventually managed to do it, which led here.

Wait, he wasn't 14 yet? Then why was this cat, who should be hissing at every moving thing in his lap asking for pats?

He looked at miss coper. The cat looked back at him almost in confusion before making a sigh like noise and buried her head in his leg.
'Oh, you idiot kid'

His mind raced before stopping suddenly. Wasn't there something like cats having nine lives? Perhaps it was because of that?

Besides, there wasn't any point in dwelling over it. Miss coper looked happy enough and he was glad he didn't have to earn her trust back. The first was a misadventure including flying soup, rats and way more broken eggs than he ever wants to see again.

He flinched at the sound of footsteps. Miss coper, still wary of intruders, slinked away from him. He had almost decided to run when he saw the the blond Bob of hair. So, instead of running he drew his knees up to his chest and waited.

"Ari! There you are!" His brother kneeled in front of him, of course in a way that didn't dirty his clothes and spoke,"hey, what happened? Do I need to go fight for your honour?"

Aristle shook his head.
"Ari please, you can talk to me about anything you know?"

When he didn't say anything, pytha continued, "Father's pretty angry. You know how much this day means to him. So don't be childish and tell me, okay? We'll take care of it together. you don't wanna ruin this day just cause of a little nightmare."

"You don't want Father to be angry, do you?
"You don't want the people to..."
"You don't want her to be...."
"You don't want...."

He heard a meow. Aristle focused on the cat in lap and took deep breaths.
10000
9801
9604
9409
9216
8281
He continued counting cubes. It was something he had learned so that he didn't fall into memories every time he saw them. He wasn't there now, so it didn't matter.

"C-could you leave me alone for a bit?" He could ask that, he repeated the thought even as his hands shook.
"Of course" his brother smiled again and left.

After he was gone, Aristle moved hurriedly and retched in the bushes. Why did he ever think he could do something?! Just a few sentences and he was already,
....already back there.

No, he shook his head, focus on tasks, focus on tasks. What tasks does he have?
He grimaced at the taste in his mouth. First of all, find the stream that flowed here.

Finally when his mouth was clean, he put his feet in the water and just, sat there, Existed. Somewhere along the way, miss coper had joined him. There were faint memories of warm fur in his hand so perhaps she had been with him?

Now that he was away from his brother, it was so much more obvious, the manipulation that had haunted him his whole life. It was almost stupid, yet he had always believed every word, worked so much to please everyone, created someone who was what everyone wanted.

And then, it had all been shattered into pieces.

He took a deep breath. It was not even 12 and he had flashbacks twice already, no need to make it a third time.

What should he do now? He didn't want to go back inside and face them again. But pytha could find him here if he isn't back soon. Where else could he hide?

Aristle blinked. The library. He could spend his time there comfortably and his brother couldn't come inside seeing how the librarian, Mr. Boras still doesn't let him enter after he damaged a book.

His schedule for the day planned, he decided to stay in the company of miss coper for as long as he could before moving into the library.

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