SGE His Darkened Heart (A Japaric Fanfiction)

CHAPTER 6 The Deadly Waltz

~JAPETH'S POV~

Japeth didn't know if it was a profound, overwhelming sense of discomfort that drove him to leave Rhian behind, or an inner bitterness within him.

Either way, Japeth had rejected his brother and left him in the dust with Aric out of pure frustration. Now Japeth looked back at it whilst sitting at his desk, fingers drumming anxiously on the wooden surface as he watched Dean Burnhilde demonstrate a drawing of a social class pyramid.

Japeth had made sure to throw on some clothes before he'd slipped into class with a lack of urgency. It wasn't until a few moments before the bell rang that Aric had strolled it, Rhian behind him. Aric was about to go sit with Japeth, but Dean Burnhilde had already assigned student seating.

Rhian was instructed to sit next to Japeth and Aric had to slump at the desk next to a puffing Jach who was coated with sweat as if he'd run a mile. But Jach only looked terrified when he saw Aric sit beside him. Everybody in Arbed House had already heard of all of the rumors surrounding Aric, and they were wary of him, uncertain if the rumors were true or not.

Japeth hadn't asked Aric yet why he'd come to Arbed House like he had and if he even had any other family. Japeth knew what it felt like to feel alone, to feel unwanted. Him and Rhian's mother was long gone and Rhian wasn't very brotherly towards Japeth at times, but Rhian was all Japeth had left.

Rhian and Japeth did have an uncle though by the name of August Sader, their mother's brother. But they'd never met him before and Evelyn had always said that August was resentful of her gifts and was too busy with his duties at the School for Good and Evil to care about his nephews. So Japeth and Rhian were on their own.

Japeth hoped Aric wasn't more alone than he was. He hoped that somewhere out there Aric had somebody that could look out for him and care for him in a way Evelyn had never done for her sons. Japeth hated to think of the possibility that Aric had been all alone in the world before he met him, so he prayed that wasn't the case.

"Stop staring at him," Rhian's voice was gruff and low. Japeth turned his head to see that his twin was watching him with a stern look.

Was it that obvious that Japeth was looking at Aric?

"Don't see why I will," Japeth hissed, crossing his arms indignantly as he squirmed in his seat beside his brother. "I can stare at whoever I want. You're not my keeper, now are you?"

He watched Rhian suck his lower lip into his mouth to sink his teeth into the flesh in an obvious sign of annoyance and turned back to the lesson. Than, a hand gripped his knee, fingernails digging into his pant leg.

"I mean it, brother," Rhian gritted, teeth clenched as Japeth slapped his hand away. "Nothing good is going to come out of you hanging around with that monster."

Japeth met Rhian's stormy gaze and saw a sliver of concern in his brother's blue green depths, but only a cold resolve wormed its way into Japeth's gut. He felt a sudden burst of pain coarse through his bones at the lack of understanding in Rhian's tone.

Rhian called Aric an outcast, a monster, yet he didn't even know Aric. He insisted Aric and Japeth stay away from each other, but Rhian didn't know how Japeth felt when he was with Aric. Being with Aric was being content, was being forgetful of the things Japeth didn't want to dwell on. What they had felt real and strong, perhaps even stronger than Rhian and Japeth's so called "brotherhood." 

If Rhian really wanted to be the good guy everybody in Arbed thought he was, he'd let this go. If Rhian wanted to be a good brother to Japeth, he would stop trying to tear him and Aric apart. If Rhian was his flesh and blood, he wouldn't get in the way of Japeth's friendship.  He would let Japeth be happy.