Vibrant Eyes

Chapter 17 - Enemies to Friends

"Saturn, what's going on?" Haru said as we followed Saturn who was running.

"No time to explain!" We followed her to the border of our territory.

"Alana, don't freak out ok?" I looked at her with confusion. "Ok...?" She walked us through the crowd of guardians. We managed to get to the front of the crowd where Saturn was. "Hey, Haruto what's going on?" Haruto turned to me with a few tears in his eyes. "It's..." My eyes widened. "What?" I looked in front of me.

Before me was Riggs. Cuts and bruises were scattered all over his body, with one big gash across his shoulder. "Riggs!" I ran to him.

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked him with haste. His breathing was shallow as he looked down at me, holding his shoulder. "Takashi... he's gone mad!" Riggs coughed up blood, some of it landing on my shoe. "What do you mean...?" I went to touch his arm but I suddenly heard someone familiar.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM ALANA!" Haruto yelled at me with tears in his eyes. "Haruto..." Riggs muttered. "So, he IS you're brother..." I said to myself. Haruto stood there, clenching his fists. "He's a lying, cheating... just a terrible person." Riggs looked down at the ground. "Brother... I-" Haru cut him off.

"We have no time for this! Alana, Saturn, take... uh... Riggs to the medic cabin and have Sage take a look at him." Me and Saturn nodded. We each went under one of Riggs' arms and helped him into our camp. We took him towards the medic cabin and let him sit down. Sage ushered us outside as she did her work. I stood outside the cabin, pacing back and forth. Salem whined as he too felt my anxiety.

"What did Riggs mean by 'Takashi's gone mad'?" I asked Saturn.

"I don't know. But we need to find out more." I nodded. We sat outside the cabin, the apprentice's offering us refreshment as we waited. Minutes turned into hours as we waited for news.

At around 5pm, Sage finally came out of the cabin. I jumped out of my chair, so did Saturn. "How is he?" I asked her. She smiled and held a thumbs up at me. I smiled. She invited us inside. There we saw Riggs sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Alana, Saturn. It's really nice to see you again..." He said with a smile. 'A smile?' I thought to myself. 'Why was he smiling? I think that's the first time I've ever seen him smile.' "Riggs... what happened?" Saturn asked. Riggs sighed.

"You may want to sit down for this." We pulled up chairs and sat down.

"This is what happened."

"Aether... you aren't yourself." Riggs exclaimed. Aether slammed the kitchen counter with his hands. "I'M... fine. Can't you see?" Aether said with a smile. The smile wasn't genuine. If anything, it was quite terrifying. Riggs sighed shakily. "Aether, you need to calm down and listen to me-" He was cut off.

"I've listened too much to you," Aether said pointing to the door. "I'm not leaving." Riggs stood his ground, not moving. "If you don't leave... I'll make you." Aether pulled out a kitchen knife and started to walk towards Riggs.

"Aether, you're not thinking clearly. Please, let me help you," Riggs said. He genuinely wanted to help Aether, but Aether wasn't budging. He lunged at Riggs at full force trying to stab him. Riggs grabbed Aether's arm, forcing him to drop the knife.

Aether used his other hand to try and punch Riggs, but Riggs caught his fist. "AETHER, CALM DOWN!" Riggs yelled at him. "DIE!" Aether yelled back. Riggs dropped Aether to the ground and held him down.

"Is this what Alana would've wanted you to become? Some sort of puppet to be used by Takashi!?" Aether tried to wiggle free.

"SHUT UP! ALANA BETRAYED US! SHE'S USLESS!" Aether yelled again, and again, and again. Riggs finally realized that Aether had been brainwashed by Takashi. "...I'm sorry Aether..." Riggs took one big swing and knocked him out. Riggs stood up. "What the hell is going on...?" He asked himself. He left Aether's room and walked towards Takashi's room. As he got closer to the door, he could hear him talking to Satsuki.