𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨. / tabi x agoti.

chapter 6. brother's guilt.

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"Can we... talk?"

Solazar raised an eyebrow at Aldryx.

"You're up awfully early," he replied, seeing how the time was around 7:30am. Even so, he closed his book and placed it down on the coffee table, patting the space of the couch next to him for Aldryx to sit down.

"Go right ahead," he replied, "what's wrong?"

Aldryx took a deep breath and sat back before beginning to voice his thoughts.

"... I just wanna know, if YOU know," he said while fidgeting with one of his tendrils, "how did Tabi end up looking like that in the first place?"

"Well," Solazar began, "from the very little he's felt comfortable sharing with me, he'd been dating the Dearests' daughter for some time."

Aldryx was already frowning at the mention of the infamous family, fully aware of what they had done to his brother. The very name filled him with inexplicable rage.

"However," Solazar continued, "the girl and her father had only been using the poor lad for his career and work, all behind his back. Once he found out, they took him away and cursed his body."

Once again, the red digidevil recalled Tabi's previous appearance: brown curly hair, striking golden eyes and a cheerful, freckled grin that always greeted him first before he even got a chance to say hi. He looked so different now, it was almost surreal.

His father's face fell. "I couldn't help but overhear his and Agoti's conversation the night he returned. I heard the story in explicit detail." He pushed his glasses further over his eyes and sighed.

Aldryx felt a twinge of guilt in his chest, wondering if maybe he had done something... different, then Tabi would still be, well, Tabi. Not a poor, cursed human subjected to terrifying elements of trauma. After all, he was supposed to be Tabi's best friend. Tabi trusted him immensely, and yet he had let him down by not even being there in the slightest. If he hadn't been touring the state, then...

He could've been there.

He could've helped Tabi.

"... I feel so bad for him.." he murmured, a sympathetic expression on his face as he mulled over the facts.

"Actually," Solazar added, "I did find him one night, while you were touring."

Aldryx raised an eyebrow– "You did?"– to which the Solarisapien nodded.

"He was huddled in an alleyway, draped in nothing but a ragged, dirty blanket. He was all but a mere skull with invisible skin, cold and terrified. I almost didn't recognise him at first, but when he called out for help..."

—

"... Help... anybody... please..."

A pitiful voice rang out from the alleyway, prompting Solazar to enter albeit with caution. The teal glow from his body illuminated the walls; he didn't know whether this would scare the person or not, but it wasn't something he could really control, per-say.

"Hello?" he called into the darkness. Solazar was tempted to turn back and leave, believing it may have just been another rugged human from the bar, when the voice called out again.

".. I beg you... anyone..."

Something clicked. The voice sounded far too familiar, akin to that of his sons' best friend. He peered behind the dumpster and froze at the sight.

Sat shivering next to the dumpster, wrapped in a dirty blanket that definitely saw better days, a goat-skulled humanoid weeped in fear and sorrow. He didn't appear to have a visible body. When he finally looked up, yellow eyes gazing into Solazar's white ones, he froze in pure terror and went to shuffle away to the back of the alley.