All the cards

2

Meanwhile, Amity and Aeliana stood in a room, in front of a man.
"I see you found her first." The man said.
"Oh, shut up, Malum." Amity said. She seemed to know him.
"And you have your memories back?"
"As do you." Aeliana said. He glared at her.
"Hiding behind our big sister as always, I see."
"That's enough, Malum." Amity said. "It's been a thousand years. Surely you don't still hold a grudge?"
"Hold a grudge that my own sisters stripped away my identity and shoved me in a mortal body? No, why should I care? And having to start anew as a brand new baby every few decades when I died? It was no biggie."
"You were out of control."
"It did teach me perspective, though. I remember it all now. Oh, how I once adored the two of you."
"You decided upon a path of darkness, Malum. You were such a sweet little boy, and you decided you wanted to leave behind destruction wherever you went." Amity reminisced.
"It was all right for you, you got new sisters and new brothers. You left us behind. You chose a new life, to be reborn a mortal."
"As you can see, that clearly didn't work out. Look at me. I'm still an immortal."
"Well, all these centuries, all these lives- it was peaceful." Malum admitted. "I didn't have the two of you ruining everything for me."
"We ruined everything for you?" Aeliana burst in anger. "You cursed me, and then you tried to kill our sister. You tried to kill Zia." She gestured to Amity.
"I was trying to survive." He said. "The two of you were already plotting ways to stop me. You betrayed me."
"You can't betray someone who doesn't even trust you, and the truth is, you haven't trusted either of us for over six millennia. You have hated us. We could've been happy. The three of us but you decided to turn to darkness and evil."
"Lia, stop." Amity breathed. "Enough is enough. We are supposed to be a family, or do you not remember? We all spent the past millennium alone. Do you remember the time when we were so new to magic, to sorcery, but no matter what threats emerged we managed to keep the town safe."
"Zia-" Aeliana started.
"Call me Amity." Amity said. "Just call me Amity for now."
"Why Amity?" Malum frowned.
"It's who I've been for the last thousand years."
"Okay, Amity." He tested.
"Mal-"
"Before you start the lecture, I'm not here for the reasons you think I am." He said.
"I don't know why you're here, Malum. You have a habit of generally doing the opposite of what I think you're going to do."
"I'm not here to apologise and for things to go back to sunshine and daisies. But I'm not here for a fight, either."
"So why are you here?" Aeliana crossed her arms.
"I want a truce. We'll divide the world up. I'll live my own life, you two live your own."
"And let the world suffer your wrath?"
"He doesn't want to." Amity noted. "Do you? You've changed. The dozen lives you've lived- it's changed you."
"So what if it has?"
"You don't want to hurt anyone anymore. You want to follow a path of light. Like Lia and I."
"I just want to follow my own path. Not light, but not dark."
"Oh, Mal." Amity grinned.
"Zee." Aeliana frowned. "Seriously? Everything's fine? Just like that?"
"Maybe not everything. But with time, it will be. After all, we're family."
"He's caused us five millennia of misery."
"Three millennia. The first two thousand years, he wasn't so bad. In fact, it really wasn't until the fifth millennia that things even got really bad."
"And all it takes is him not even apologising to forgive him?"
"I'm not asking forgiveness. We've all hurt each other." He said.
"Some more than others."
"I just want a truce. We live our separate lives. You two stay together or whatever, I stay away."
"No." Amity said. "Like it or not, Mal, but we're a family."
"You already have another family. Other brothers. What do you need me for?"
"I won't deny that they are my family, but so are you. You're my brother. My first brother. I will never give up on you."
"I don't want to stay here."
"Why not? You, me and Lia."
"For one Aeliana looks as though she wants to poke my eyes out."
"We're going to hash this out. The three of us. We're not leaving until we do."
"Don't I need to undo Hayley's curse?"
"Go. When you come back, we're going to do this."
"Why don't you do it?" Malum asked Amity.
"I'm afraid to leave the two of you on your own, even for a second."
"That's probably smart." He agreed. Aeliana huffed and disappeared.
"So what have your lives been like?"
"That's what you want to know?"
"Yes."
"Well, I've been rich, I've been poor. I've been homeless, I've been a king. I've been an assassin, I've been a doctor. They all varied."
"Ever been married?"
"No. I've been in love, but never married."
"Children?"
"None." He said and she smiled at him comfortingly. "And you? I know you have other siblings, but..."
"I was married once." She told him. "Before I'd been turned into a vampire."
"Oh?"
"I'd had a son. The line still continues. I have another son."
"You do?"
"Yes." Amity smiled. "A few years ago, my husband came back, for a brief period of time. A spell gone wrong, I suppose."
"How old is he?"
"He's one." She grinned. "One year and three months. So you still wanna just split up the world and avoid us for eternity?"
"Why are you acting like nothing happened? Aeliana hates me, and believe me it goes both ways. And you're just moving past like we haven't been fighting for millennia."
"Because for a thousand years I couldn't even remember that you existed. I couldn't remember you. I not only erased the bad, but I also forgot the good."
"Yeah." He sighed.
"Have you truly changed?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "I mean, all the people I've been- all those memories. I know I'm different, but I don't know if I've changed. I don't have a desire to burn down the world, if that counts."
"We'll count it as a positive."
"You keep grinning." He pointed out.
"I just- I've slowly been getting these memories over the past month, but they were small ones. This is the first time I've fully remembered everything. And I remember you. You and Lia. I remember it all."
"And that's a good thing?"
"You weren't always terrible."
"Well I see you haven't changed a bit. You're exactly the same."
"I haven't lived quite as many lives as you. After I made Lia link the two of us and perform the spell, I lived a short life. I died at the age of seven. And then I became Amity and I've been Amity since."