Syndicate of tribulation

Chapter 18

King's POV

I've never seen him look so vulnerable. I've seen him hurt, I've seen him afraid, and I've seen him beat to the point he couldn't stand. Yet, he never looked as vulnerable as he did now. Glassy eyes, plagued with conflictions. Trembling lips, plagued with words unspoken. Shaking hands, empty hands, reaching for a speck of memory to help him drown out the empty that fills him – ironically.

Besloe is someone that I could only ever describe as a brother. He was with me from when I was 7 to when I was 16. I think the year I spent thinking he was dead was the most depressed I'd ever been; that's saying something seeing as I was kidnapped and turned into nothing short of a machine.

"Guys, Blake's here" Amo muttered, staring down at his watch with an irritated expression.

The mention of Blake fills me with an unexpected bout of calmness. Blake is somewhat of a metaphorical checkpoint in my head. He serves as a reminder that I'm still alive because I only ever see Blake after dangerous endeavours. So, if I'm seeing Blake that means this one is over.

"Stall, we need to get Bes out of here. I don't want him to go through whatever Blake will put him through" I commanded. Amo, Domo and Dax nodded to me, like I was their leader, and rushed out the door. Tyro remained behind like the stubborn underling he was and ushered Bes to a ladder near the window.

I followed after them and we climbed down the ladder and darted off down the street, losing ourselves in the endless amount of people who seemed to be wandering at this time of day. Once we reached a small alleyway, we took a break. "What now?" Tyro questioned me, but I kept ignoring him. "Who is Blake? Do they want to hurt us?" Bes questioned. I shook my head and took a deep breath, conjuring the lie I was about to tell. "Think of Blake as all our father figure and think of yourself as a stray in this situation. Father doesn't know about you, so we need to hide you but it isn't safe here." I blurted. Tyro snorted at my analogy and Bes also gave me a strange look. "We have to take him back with us, King" Tyro muttered.

I wanted to keep ignoring him, but the urge to rebuttal won.

"Shut up. We all already know you don't care about him so stop acting like you do" I bellowed. Bes' eyes widened at my words and my hand slapped over my mouth immediately. What happened to the 'brother that loved him very much'. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Tyro just annoys me... all the time" I say softly to Bes. He nods at me, but I knew he took it to heart.

"King..." Tyro started but cut himself off, taking a deep breath and recollecting. "We will talk about this later. But Bes has to come with us, even if we have to sneak our dear stray onto the plane."

"We don't have anything to talk about." I spit back. "Bes, we need to help you regain your memory before we leave because if you come with us... you won't be safe at all, or ever again. And if you stay here without your memories you won't be safe either but if you regain your memories you will be fine" I say to Bes. He looks sceptical and goes to say something but stops himself before opening his mouth again to say "are you guys together? Or like were you ever?".

Tyro and my jaw, drop to the floor before we look at each other and grimace harshly. "No!" we chorus, with an equal amount of disgust in our voice. This makes Bes' laugh, I haven't heard him do that in a while.

"How are we going to jog my memory? Maybe you can tell me your favourite memories that you had with me. Seeing as we are all friends there should be loads right?" Bes suggested. My face dropped and Tyro's face dropped even more. We looked at each other discreetly. But we had no choice. We had to try.

"Bes try to picture this. We are in a dark hall. You are on my back as I sprint to the hall. We only have a few minutes left to get to lunch and you are too tired from training. We are very young too" I say, he looks confused. "Why were we in the dark hall?" he asked. "That's where we lived" I replied. He looks even more confused yet closes his eyes and tries to picture it. "Are there candles on the wall? They never really provided enough light that we felt they were redundant" he asked as his eyes scrunch and sweat beads form on his forehead. "Yes, there are, we use to make jokes about lighting the place on fire with them to 'brighten it up'". It seems that phrase did something to help because he opened his eyes hyperventilating and holding his chest. "Something is coming back. I don't like it" He spoke softly, so afraid of his own memories. As I am with mine.

"Close your eyes and try to imagine yourself as an 8 year old and me as a 7 year old. Try to picture a dark alleyway with a nauseating smell. Now try to imagine a small knife in your hand and a pencil in the other." Tyro began, smiling softly. "I said give me good memories of us together not nightmare filled one" Bes quickly said, watching Tyro's face smirk. "But this is the happiest one I have of us" Tyro exclaimed, though his tone was sarcastic I know him well enough to know he is telling the truth.

Bes nodded dubiously and closed his eyes, picturing the scene as Tyro paints it. "Now imagine an old lady below you on the ground begging you to forgive her as she kisses your feet whilst she bleeds from the multiple wounds you have inflicted. Now imagine me... on the ground besides her, bruised and broken. Shattered by the abuse that she had been inflicted on me. A child." Tyro took a deep breath and was about to continue but was stopped by Bes.

"I remember. I remember everything." Bes uttered. The cold tone back in his voice and the power he has back in his eyes. "That was the day I told you I would kill for you. That's the day I really did. When I saw the old woman having her way with you, I grabbed her by the hair and jammed her eyes with my pencil. I was coming back from school and I heard screaming. I remember how I sliced into her so many times and turned her into a human water fountain. I remember how she begged for forgiveness and kissed my feet, and I stuck my foot in her mouth and told her to suck it. And the crazy bastard actually did it" Bes was cackling at the end.

This wasn't the Bes I knew. It wasn't the Bes I met recently either. He was a mix of both, his true form. "That was the day you abandoned me" Tyro spat out. "Oh please, no way you are still on about that. Would you prefer if I told you that I was going to come back? That we were young and if you had come with me you would've been plunged in the awful world that I plunged myself into just so I could come back and rescue you form those vile monsters" Bes rebuttal. "Get a new excuse, that one is tired and used" Tyro spat. "Well, it's true. Where I went is worse than where you were and I did everything I could to save you, you ungrateful brat. Oh my dear little brother, you were only 7 and had only seen half of the bad that the world had to offer" Bes shouted back.

"Ungrateful! How can I be grateful when I needed you so desperately and you were never there for me?!" Ty roared. I don't think I have ever seen him this angry.

A vein throbbed on his forehead. "you're right. I was unsuccessful. You needed me and I wasn't there for you. I'm so sorry little brother." Bes uttered earnestly. Tyro took a deep breath and steeled his eyes. "You don't need to apologise. I got stronger and I killed the monsters myself. I don't need you anymore" Tyro muttered.

I assumed Bes would be hurt by this, but it seems that they have their own hidden meaning in that because he smiled – teeth on full show. "That makes me feel better. I'm glad you are stronger little brother. You don't need me anymore" Bes voiced, a smiles till lingering on his face.  Tyro nodded and shook his hand and then I realised why Bes was so happy.

Tyro let him call him 'little brother'.

We walked out of the alleyway different people than we walked in, more enlightened and more free. Free of the shackles of the past that had dangled us like puppets for so long.

"Hopefully we will meet again little sis" Bes said, reverting back to the nickname he called me at the institute whilst giving me a pat on the shoulder. "Hopefully we meet again, little brother" He turned to Tyro and smiled a little. "Well you know how to find me if you're looking" Tyro replied. "By calling you?" Bes replied whilst smirking. Tyro scoffed in reply, "When you need me." Tyro curtly declared. Bes nodded as he already knew.

For Tyro didn't need Bes but Bes might still need Tyro.

Bes walked away from us, pickpocketing and stealing on the way. He pickpocketed some money and a watch and then stole a hat and scarf from a stand. He was always so good and stealing.

"We still need to talk" Tyro demanded. I shook my head in response. "Enough has been said. You aren't so bad Tironai..." I trailed off, not knowing his surname. "I told you to stop calling me that, Kingide" Tyro vocalised, but surprisingly he didn't seem as annoyed as usual. "Let's go back. The others must be having a hard time stalling" I suggested. He nodded and we walked back. The tension had significantly died down, but some still lingered.

"Did you miss us?" I voiced as I saw an angry Blake trying to get through the door to the room we were staying in and our entire team holding him back with everything they had. Everyone froze.

"Well, it's good to be back" Tyro muttered sarcastically.