Soul Chains

Chapter 18: I Want to Know You

"Reine--" I start, but she shushes me and holds a finger up to her lips before leaning more towards the door again.

I pause whenever I hear voices coming from the other side of the door and I raise my eyebrows in surprise when I recognize them as Dimitri and Ayette.

"You act like you know everything and it's utterly annoying," Dimitri says, his tone irritated.

"I don't act like I know everything," Ayette starts, "in fact, I know I don't know everything. I speak my mind and I don't care what comes out because it's exactly what I'm thinking. I wouldn't want to filter who I am. I say it as I see it."

"I don't even know why you came in my room in the first place," Dimitri snorts.

"Because I wanted to try and find a middle ground with you," Ayette sighs, "look, you may not realize this or know what it's like, but I wasn't exactly...the most popular when I was a kid. People are harsh. They make fun of you when you're yourself because, well, most of the time it's because they don't have the confidence to be themselves. Over the years, I realized I should just be who I want to be and not worry about what people think. I may say some things that come out wrong, but I also bury my feelings behind my wit. And I think you bury your pain with your stick up your ass attitude."

"If you came here to try and gain my approval, insulting me isn't going to get you very far," Dimitri counters.

"Your approval?" Ayette laughs, "I don't need your approval. I just want to be able to say that I'm trying to be the best me I can be for my brother. I may not be his sister by blood, but I love him to death and nothing will ever change that. I'm closer to him than my own adopted siblings. I've made some shitty decisions in the past and I know nothing will ever completely make up for them, but if I can prove it to myself that I'm worth it and can protect and keep happy the ones I love, then I'll be happy. And I've noticed that you aren't particularly fond of him, so I wanted to try and figure out why."

"You wouldn't understand," Dimitri laughs dryly.

"Why?" Ayette muses, "because you think I'd be biased? I may love him and he may be my step-brother, but I don't let that blind me. If someone's in the wrong, I'm going to let them know, no matter what their relation is to me."

"Do you know what it's like to watch someone you love have their entire world ripped from them?" Dimitri asks quietly after a few moments of silence, "ever since my sisters and I were little, we trained in order to help protect our village. Our family was designated to protect most of Spring and our ancestors protected royalty. Gabriel...wasn't born in your realm. Gabriel was born here. He grew up with me and my sisters. Reine really loved him and he was a good friend of mine. Our little sister, Elespeth, loved him dearly as well. One day, our village was attacked and Elespeth died. I felt like I failed not only as a person but as a brother and a protector of the ones I love. A few days later, more reinforcements came for the enemy side. It was supposed to appear like an accident whenever Gabriel was intentionally targeted by my parents, but I learned over time that it wasn't. Gabriel was attacked whenever he was nine and he was hit so hard he got amnesia. They dragged him away and sent him to your realm before they were killed in battle by Iegashyias who were from the enemy side. I never learned why my parents did it...but it completely wrecked Reine. We had already lost our sister, and then we lost Gabriel and our parents. She was...forced to grow up much faster than she should have."

"Reine..." I breathe out, looking over to see her staring at the floor and clenching her fists, her hair shielding her face.

"I'm so sorry," Ayette whispers softly.

"I know it's not his fault, but it made me so pissed," Dimitri continues, "I know I don't have the right to be mad at him, but seeing him suddenly come back into my sister's life just to potentially leave it again really drove me up a wall. Whenever I turned eighteen two years later, Reine was only twelve and I was forced to leave to the frontlines in Winter. I got to come home every six months, but Reine had to handle herself when I wasn't there. I felt like even more of a failure for not being there for her when she needed me most. I'm really proud of her for who she's become. I just wish I could've been there to see it happen and to help her. I know she met Ciana about a year after I left and they hit it off, but that didn't stop the guilt of not being there for her."