The Weight of the Family

43 (REVISED)

KEREN

Ow...

Lights pulsed in the dark. Voices mingled and he shifted against the mattress which cocooned him in a warm embrace. He tore himself back into the world, in a darkened room with only little lamps on either side of his bed. In a chair against the corner, Ethan. His big brother. Ethan lifted his head in one quick motion from his staredown with the door, where the voices continued to mix. Keren moved his hand off the side of the bed when Ethan hurried over to him.

"Sellzora," he said and put a hand on his wrapped forearm, with bracing straps at his elbow. "How are you feeling?"

Keren scrunched his brow free of tension, then gazed at him, a sense of security wrapping him in a tighter blanket. "I couldn't think of any restaurants I wanted to go to. Sorry."

Ethan sighed and rested an arm against his shoulder. "Don't worry about it." He tapped his brow, then an empty smile stretched against his cheeks. "Dr. Evelion fixed up your arm, and I'll be taking you back home later for more rest. We just need to make sure it's safe to move you," he explained, leaning over him. "You've been in and out over the past few hours."

"Anything happen?" Keren found his neck stiff, so kept it against the pillow.

Ethan's gaze dropped to the blankets, and he shook his head. "Not much since I grabbed you and brought you here."

"Ethanius," a suit came in, an Associate, but not close enough to Father. "Boss gave his okay, so what do you want to do?"

Keren frowned when Ethan's entire body stiffened, a predator among the grass. His gaze slid over to the Associate without a single word. His exhale left through his nose, quiet and tense. His lips parted, and he whispered, "I want it handled, so handle it."

The Associate nodded and closed the door.

"Handle it?" Keren mused with a frown, causing Ethan to twist back to him with the familiar smile.

"Don't you worry about it." Ethan shuffled with a pocket in his jacket. "I swung by an edevic store to grab you something on the off chance a situation like this happened, but I was too late to catch this one, I suppose." He unfurled a package, and Keren blinked at the four flares which tangled off the edges of his fingers when he held them out. "These are edevium flares. Bright as a star. I want you to have them." Ethan pushed the four flares into his hands, and Keren stared at him. "If you're ever in danger, light one of them up and send it flying. I'll come when I see it — I'll take care of you."

Keren dragged himself upwards on his good elbow, and winced when Ethan set a hand on his back before pushing his fingers between the four flares. "What if you don't see it?"

"I'll find a way."

Keren put them to the side and rubbed his bandaged arm at a curdling itch through his skin, but pulled his hand back when Ethan swiped it. "All you needed was a stitchpen," Ethan explained. "You're to not overexert it, and when I take you home Dr. Evelion will swing by every so often to check on the progress."

His energy ebbed out into a sluggish flow when Ethan's compearl rang. It stung barbs through his heart when Ethan left his side to step out of the room, but kept the door inched open. Ethan spoke under his breath to whoever talked on the other end, swaying on his knees as if poised to spring into action. Keren set his arm across his lap and gathered the strength almost stolen from him. I didn't die... Ethan came for me. He propped up the pillow to set his back against it when Ethan stiffened once more, then hung up the compearl. On his heel, he swung back into the room with his shoulder against the door to open it.