"What the fuck were you thinking?" Levi asked once Aurora had left the room. Alaric gritted his teeth, knowing this was gonna be a long conversations, but kept his usual bored expression to hide his irritation for Levi.
"I was thinking the girl needs a break. She hates the whole guards thing. It was the middle of the night, she was emotional and embarrassed, I thought one of us could listen to her for once" Alaric bit back. He was leaning against the counter, one arm folded with his other elbow propped on top, leaning his forehead against his hand.
"That's where you thought wrong, our job isn't to listen to her, its to keep her safe" Levi hissed. He was fuming with Alaric, and how irresponsible he was acting.
"Our job is to be her brothers Levi, not her fucking soldiers"
"We stopped being her brothers years ago. The second I drove a knife through his chest was when she became our responsibility, past a brother and sister relationship" Levi argued confidently. He was leaning against the counter with his two palms pressed firmly into the counter.
"Thats exactly my fucking point. She didn't ask for any of this yet she and Atlas and Axel are the victims of your stupid fucking actions." Alaric stood up straight, taking the same stance as Levi from across the counter. At this point, the island between them was the only thing preventing any violence yet.
"I did what I had to do at the fucking time!" Levi defended.
"You did what would please your ego. You should have discussed it with me or Isaac first" Alaric seethed, clenching his fists on the cold counter top to find some sort of restraint.
"Oh yeah, cause you were such a big help at the time" Levi sneered. "You were too busy moping around in your pathetic garden" He scoffed. Alaric banged the counter, hard. Levis gaze shot towards him.
"I was grieving" He defended in a deadly tone.
"We didn't have time to grieve"
"No, you didn't give us them to grieve! No wonder every single one of us is fucked up. Everything we went through was just swept under the carpet. All the shit the younger ones went through, they didn't even understand any of it and barely got an explanation. We need to take some sort of responsibility here Levi" Alaric tried to reason. Levi turned his head away from him, not liking what he was hearing.
"I am taking responsibility. Its my responsibility to make sure they're safe and provide prote-"
"Not just taking responsibility for their safety. For their happiness too" Alaric cut him off. Levi looked back at him. Alaric features had soften, well, as soft Alarics features get. "I know you want to keep them safe, I do too, but if you continue to look past their happiness, they will rebel. Aurora especially will get sick of it and do shit out of spite. That is when she will be in danger" Levi stared at Alaric as he spoke. He knew he was right. Alairc knew he knew he was right. Levi remained silent however. Alaric took that as a sign, knowing he wasn't going to admit it here and now. He pushed away from the counter and walked out of the room, leaving Levi to his own thoughts.
Alaric made his way upstairs slowly. His shoulder ached from the tense car chase as he rubbed them to try and relieve the burning. He reached the top of his stairs and made his way down the hall. He stopped outside Auroras room and debated whether to go jn and she if she was okay, but as he stilled, he could hear the sound of muffled whimpering and soothing 'shhh's'. He stepped away from the door, knowing who was in there instead and went to his own room.
Synn lay on Auroras bed, arms wrapped around her shaking body. Her head was buried into his chest while his fingers stroked through her hair gently. He thought about her face when he first stepped through her balcony doors. Her bottom lip quivered while she sat up in bed, looking at him as her eyes glossed over. Her cries right now were the only thing preventing him from hunting down the mother fuckers behind the ambush. He would get his revenge, but right now, Aurora need him.
"I-I'm sorry, I think I got snot all over your h-hoodie" Aurora eventually said one her sobs died down slightly. She pulled away from Synn to look down at where she had her face buried and grimaced at the wet patches.
Synn looked at her face. Red cheeks and nose. Swollen eyes and lips. Loose curls stuck to her face also with her tear stains. She looked a mess. Yet Synns heart still raced when she looked at him through wet eyelashes. He lifted a hand to her face to brushe her hair away.
Aurora looked into his eyes, finding them to be her new favourite home. They were a green that mimicked the endless greenery in a forest. An enchanted one, full of life and mystery. He pulled his hood down once he entered her room, without knownst to himself to be honest. It just came natural. She was glad he did.
"Its only a hoodie, baby" He said distractedly, tucking her hair behind her ear. He didn't notice the endearment her just said, it being a slip of the tounge. Aurora did however. She dropped her head back onto his chest, feeling her cheeks blush crimson and not wanting him to see.
"I like it when you call me that"
Now it was Synns turn to blush crimson.
~*~
"Any update?" Levi said, walking into the room. The room was basically an IT room, where Atlas usually did his investigating with the shit ton of computers in the room. He was sitting down at one of the screens, four other screens around him which were also occupied. He was concentrating heavily and didn't even acknowledged Levi as he entered the room. Alaric was standing beside Atlas, on hand resting on the back of his chair and the other on the desk beside his keyboard. He eyes all the screens, watching what he was doing. He heard Levi, but simply chose to ignore him instead. Levi came to stand behind Atlas chair and glanced at the screens also.
"I have a list of names. Screen 2" Atlas said distractedly. A list of eight names came up on one of the screens. Alaric and Levi both looked closer at the screen. Neither one of them recognised any of the names.
"Who were they sent by?" Levi asked.
"Thats what I'm trying to find out but-" The screen Atlas was working on froze in front of him. He frowned. Suddenly the screen glitched and fell blank.
"Fuck!" Atlas groaned, slamming the desk.
"What happened?" Levi asked, stressed out at this stage.
"They kicked me out of the system. I'm gonna have to try again on another laptop. I won't get back in on one of these, they all have the same identification and they'll cop it straight away" Atlas sighed, running hisbhands through his hair.
"Print that" Alaric said, pointing at the screen with the list of names. Atlas did as he said without a word. Alarc snatched the sheet from the printer and left the room.
Levi looked down and seen the worn out look in Atlas's face. He grinned his teeth together awkwardly, thinking about Alarics words. He slapped his hand down knto Atlas's shoulder.
"Its alright, we have a list of names so that's good for now. We don't know how dangerous these people are yet so don't stress. Take it easy and make sure you get through it safely" He said sincerely, though his voice sounded slightly strained. Atlas turned around and looked up at him with an odd look. When he seen the genuine look on Levis face however, he softened his gaze and nodded softy. Levi nodded in return, giving his shoulde rone last squeeze before leaving the room.
Not long later, Alaric showed up at Dunes with the piece of paper crumpled in his hands. Bruise was at the bar, his back turned towards Alaric who was striding across the room until he was leaning against the bar, two hands flat on the counter top.
"I need a favor" He said bluntly. Bruise winced slightly before turning around to face him. He knew why he was here.
"I'm not telling you about those men" Bruise said, nodding towards the piece of paper under his hand. Alaric frowned in confusion before growing slightly annoyed.
"Why not?" He demanded. Bruise sighed and looked around the room, finding it empty apart from two old men chatting in one of the back corner booths.
"No point telling you about a dead man, now, is there?" He hummed. Alarics face softened slightly as he sat down in one of the stools. He grew confused.
"Dead? They were very alive last night"
"Yes, and now they're very dead"
"Quit with the vagueness, Bruise. My little sister was nearly killed last night by a shower of cunts and we need answers" Alaric eventually snapped, loosing his patience entirely. Bruise looked down at the counter. Alaric watched as the clogs in his heard turned. When he looked back up at Alaric, he had a reluctant look on his face.
"Alaric, they weren't after Aurora last night, they were after you. Your name is on our hit list"
~*~
Holy shit, I am so sorry for the delay. I'm in the middle of doing my Leaving Cert and have been crazy busy the last few weeks studying for it. I don't finish until the 23rd of June, but after that, updates will become wayyyy for frequent.
Thank you so much for baring with me, again, I'm so sorry for keeping ye waiting.
XO