I'll Protect You (Original Version)

I know what a stock market is, dammit!

Logan

There was a still moment, where tension skyrocketed, breaths were held, and Logan felt like melting into a puddle. All eyes were on him--it was funny how wrong the feeling felt. He spent every day at Cross Academy with everyone surrounding him, eyes trained on him. But this sensation felt weird--hostile almost. And Logan's hand itched towards his gun, which wasn't there in the first place.

"Ah, my boys," William Sparrow cried, cutting the stifled anger radiating off of the Van Hastings. He left the fireplace and ushered the boys out with a glint of dark eyes. He closed the white doors behind them.

"Of course you choose afternoon tea to interrupt," William sighed, shooting a pointed look at Archer.

"That's why she loves me the most," Archer grinned. "If I was forced to spend time with my unwanted in-laws, do you know how much I would pay for an interruption like us? Now Park can pretend to be emotionally stressed after seeing her brother for such a long time, and guess what? No more tea for her."

William laughed as he lead the boys down the brightly lit corridors, with suits of armors on stone pedestals, upholding the Cimerian seal on their shields. Archer's ring had the same emblem. And Logan swore he had seen Park where a necklace that had a dragon on it during her parent's wedding.

"It would be best if you two spend the rest of the day here," William finally said, opening another door, which lead to a circular room, with golden lights posted on the red walls. Logan smiled as he saw Darkwood inside, talking to Jasper about something. There was a large window behind them, and one could see the snow drifting downwards.

"By the way, go get changed," William said to Archer. "The first thing your mother said to me was, 'Get rid of those gloves.'" With that as his final word, he walked back, probably in order to restore order to the tension-filled chamber room.

"Hey, Logan!" Jasper greeted happily. But, like everyone else, he seemed confused as he gazed at his older brother. "Who are you?"
Archer finally took offense to the words, sighing in exasperation as he leaned against the door. "Am I really that unrecognizable?"

"It must be your clothes. You look like a homeless person," Alec chuckled, looking up from the scroll he was reading. "This," Archer said haughtily, waving his hand over his body, "is fashion."

"Guys, what's going on? Do we know him?" Jasper asked. "If you guys are playing a joke on me, I can tell Park, and Alec, remember what she said--"
Alec paled; apparently, whatever Park had said was rather threatening. "Think egotistical, extremely bold, and idiotic older brother."

Jasper's dark eyes furrowed for a second, staring at Alec with that's-not-a-clue-dammit until realization hit him head first. "Archer?" the youngest brother whispered, taking a tentative step towards Archer.

Archer didn't say any greetings this time, but took the initiative to cross the room and hug his little brother. Logan tiptoed over to Alec, and together they watched the final piece of the Sparrow puzzle click into place as Archer met his little brother for the first time in seven years.

"All this love in the air is choking me," Alec muttered. "But I'm not allowed to leave."
        "Why not?" Logan inquired.
"Because of the Van Hastings," Alec grumbled. "All that woman does is sit around and make snide comments on everybody's flaws. And her husband likes to compete with everybody on stocks, and I swear to the gods, the king was going to push him out the window this one day. Oh, and Vincent's mother actually called the garden atrocious and I swear Giselle looked capable of murder at that point."

"But what did they do to you?" Logan asked.

Darkwood hissed under his breath and crossed his arms, a deep scowl on his face. "First, they said that it was such a pity that the last of a wonderfully noble line turned out to be....not as attractive as they'd thought. They called me ugly," Alec snapped.