Catching Shadows

Chapter Four

A / N : Being sick sucks you guys. Seriously. A few people have noted that the faces I've chosen for the boys can't really be believable as early adults. That's because they aren't supposed to be. I've upped the ages a bit. Sang has just turned twenty, and the boys are (physically at least) in their mid to late twenties. Unedited, so if anything is blantantly wrong or confusing, please let me know!

Starring Igor Nigmatullin
as
~ Lucian Taylor ~

It was difficult to resist the urge to roll my eyes as my brothers' bickering, however I managed by focusing on the double scoop of ice cream I was currently savoring. Normally I wouldn't have bothered with the effort, but there was twice as much reason today. The first was the text message currently sitting open on the table in front of me. It had come in just seconds after our family phone call disconnected this morning.

North : Don't you dare gorge on sweets, Lucian!

Grumpy he may be, but that man knew me way too well. Even if he did call me Lucian. I hated that name. It always sounded so pretentious. That was the point, though, wasn't it? The English ton would have never stooped to such a low, common name as Luke. The scandal that would cause!

I sure did love being Luke these days.

The arguing across the table grew heated and drew my attention back to the second reason I was trying, quite valiantly thank you very much, to keep my exasperation from showing. Gabriel and Victor were my brothers, just as the others in our family were, but they were more than that. These two were also my very best friends. We had been together from the beginning; before the Academy found us, we were already brothers. I even had the scar across my palm to prove it, because brothers were family and family was blood, and no one was going to get the chance to tell us that we weren't brothers if we shared each other's blood, gosh darn it all! That was before the Academy showed us that blood had nothing to do with family, but it was still a point of pride between us that we each shared the scars of a blood brother.

"All I'm saying is that it wouldn't have changed without --"

"No!" Gabriel interrupted Victor, his hand slamming down on the table hard enough to make my phone rattle. "You don't get to tell me there's a fucking reason! You think I don't know that? But the only god damned thing that's changed is Sean! What does that have to do with me? Why wasn't it his that changed?" His hand raked through his hair and tugged sharply. "Maybe I'm the one who's broken," my oldest of friends muttered, low enough that I don't think he meant for it to be heard.

Finally, the sigh I'd been holding in escaped, and I set my spoon into the clear plastic holding my delicious contraband. "Gabe," I started, my tone low and as unargumentative as I could make it. His normally clear blue eyes shot to me, and I could see the strain in them, the doubt and fear making him seem like a cornered animal. It hurt to see him that way. Sure, he put on a good act, but Victor and I both knew he was inching closer towards the edge that Sean seemed to have jumped off of a few weeks ago. My poor brother cared deeply, and while he may not have said so out loud, he was driving himself insane with guilt.

He wouldn't let go of the fact that he hadn't seen the trick, but I wasn't so sure there was a trick to see. She'd said she'd be back, all those decades ago. She'd promised. That girl had never once broken her word. I knew she would return to us one day. That was the thing about souls, they never really disappeared. How long it took for them to come back to this world, that was always a mystery, but they always came back.

Her's was just taking a little longer for whatever reason.

"Do you really think it's just a coincidence that your colors changed to hers?" I paused long enough to take a bite of my ice cream as he digested my question, his head tilted to the side slightly. "Is it a coincidence that a spirit ring appeared in Eternity Forest while we were there when them forming outside of the safe zones is unheard of? Is it just chance that particular Eater, the one who hunted her mercilessly the first time, the one who disappeared and hasn't been seen since that night, just happens to show up in the Forest at the exact same time? What about the fact that the soul wasn't afraid of us, even after North growled at it? It accepted Sean without hesitation. And Sean swears it was her. That she recognized him. He may be as much of a joker as I am, but he would never mistake his Pookie."