KEREN

Stuck in his room, Keren quivered whenever Father's Associates moved through the house to his office, suits pressed and immaculate, but unseen blood splattered their boots. Jaws crunched bone as he sprawled across his bed with a ship catalogue in his hands. One of the few things he found solace in.

As long as it didn't get ruined for him too.

The clock echoed his own heartbeat. Keren pressed his chin deeper into the pillow and longed for Ethan's boldness to speak out. A shockwave of fear sliced his spine when the door creaked open, expecting interrogation or questions from Father. Tension stiffened his bones, and he hid his face in the comforter and waited for the end.

"Keren?"

Ethan! Keren choked on relief and sped out of his comforter. When he went out with Father, I— Thought slammed out of his mind, he hauled himself out of his bed, where his abandoned classwork sat on his desk. In one last ditch effort for outside connection, Keren opened his wristpad, but Father kept it locked from outside channels. It left very few contacts, among them Jesti and Chalen.

I don't know what I expected. Keren dropped his hand to his side. ...I didn't have any friends.

"Keren, I want to talk to you."

Keren took in Ethan. Purple edevic lines pulsed through small connectors within the fabric of the stealth suit. "Why are you wearing that?"

Ethan stepped over the threshold into his room without further care in the world. Irritation drove his teeth into his tongue, though it washed away when Ethan sent his palm into his forehead with a playful scoff. "I want you to come with me to our house gym," he said with an empty smile, the same one etched on his face from the fateful encounter and Keren's killer curiosity. He swallowed on his stupid mistake, but frowned when Ethan picked up one of the model scouts they both built together. Happier days; when Mom was alive.

In the shadows, bathed in dying light, Ethan turned into her, with wide, horrified eyes as he dug his fingers into his shoulders and pleaded for him to forget it all even though Father hit him for his disobedience.

How can I forget?

Ethan put the ship down and returned to him. "I'm going to teach you a couple things, and Father is going to hound you if you hole yourself up in your room."

"Why does he care what I do as long as I don't talk?"

It took too long for Ethan to reply. "Don't think about it like that," he whispered. "I just want to spend time with you, and I have a secret to show you."

"Oh, now you want to spend time with me," Keren mumbled and folded his arms. Secrets were what their family was made of. Skeletons hung in their closets, and he suspected if he opened Father's he'd find literal ones along with the metaphorical ones.

Stars, what would I find in Ethan's then?

Keren tasted hopelessness when Ethan refused to leave his room. "Okay, what's the secret?" He bit at his tongue at the reminder of questions, and the target they painted on someone's back. One wrong question through the wrong ear led to the jaws of a Gorgot. "...I'm not going to get an option, am I?"

"He's not going to give you an option," Ethan corrected. "But I won't leave you to these wolves. Not without a fight."

Weariness slammed down on his shoulders. "Why don't we run?"

Ethan's smile died. "Because... we just can't." He huffed. "So, are you going to come? I'll teach you everything that will help you survive... I might even teach you how to use this edevic opticamo suit."

Dread chewed on his excitement, drained into the event horizon. "Why would I ever need to use it?"

"Just come on." Ethan left his room.

Keren dragged his feet to follow Ethan. On the stairway to bone-crunched hells. Ethan led him down the corridor where he threw him inside and death sent a sticky sweat over his neck. He slammed to a stop at the sight of Father outside, surrounded by Associates, Old Joz among them, his right hand. He shook himself out of the distraction and rushed over to Ethan, who opened up the training gym. "This better be some secret," he grumbled once they were out of sight and out of range of Father.

Ethan pushed his shoulder. "There's my baby brother."

Keren found a smile on his lips when Ethan ushered him into the gym room. Sticky electricity rumbled down his spine, a threat of immobilization, but he relaxed when Ethan set a hand on his shoulder. Panels lined the walls for Modi and environmental settings. Skylights lit the roof to the cloudy Eteran skies. Keren went for the panels, but froze when Ethan closed the door and locked it. Terror sliced through his throat at the echoing of Father's footsteps.

"Why'd you close it?"

Ethan sighed. "I told Father I'd be busy in here — it's not like he uses this place anymore."

Keren shivered at his disobedience and knowing disrespect. "Ethan... you shouldn't say that. You don't know if he'll hear you." He glanced around the room for a camera or a bug, but they were alone within. He wrapped his arms around himself and tried to flee from Father's scrutinizing voice. "So, what's the secret?"

Instead of a reply, Ethan nudged him out of the way of the panels and tapped in settings. Holographic sprites built the blocks of the practice Modi. Hardlight walls and pipes formed along the training gym, which created safe spots out of the Modi's view. Keren jumped when Ethan clapped his shoulders with a mischievous sneer.

"So, you want to go first?"

"... For what?"

"I guess I'll take that as a no." He closed the beautiful sky from the appropriate panel and focused patches of light through the path he created. "First lesson, Keren, here's what old-timers wished they could still do. I'm going to reach the end without tripping any of the Modi's sensors."

Keren frowned at their erratic patrols. "You're going to get caught at some point..."

"Not if you do this right." Ethan brushed his hand down his suit. Magenta lines hushed and shimmered into a camouflage. Keren sat on the sidelines when Ethan hopped into the practice zone. Ethan, who had the bravery and confidence he lacked when it came to Father; and used the shadows with precision.

What's the point of speaking out the way he does? He could keep his head down, maybe Father... Father wouldn't hurt him...

Ethan hopped onto a pipe to avoid a patrolling Modi when it turned a corner. He glided over the hardlight slopes. One switched at the click of his boots, and Keren gaped when he rolled behind it with ease, racing up the next magnetic wall. He slid down the next angle underneath a Modi on a catwalk. Ethan switched on his heel and leaped onto the finish platform. Each Modi broke apart in their defeat and scattered across the floor.

"You make it look so easy." Keren sighed. "Can I try?"

"Of course." Ethan hurried over to the panels on his side and rebuilt the Modi. "Think you can get to me without the use of a suit?"

"Uh—" was all he managed before Ethan set the Modi loose. Okay. I can do this. I can show Ethan I can do this. Limbs braced for impact, Keren rushed into the practice zone and focused on his goal; Ethan. His strength. His confidence. His apparent ease around the horror of truth. His brother was amazing.

He wasn't.

One Modi buzzed to life when Keren threw himself into its sight. It tripped up his feet with a swipe at his knees, and Keren landed face-first on the floor with a hard smack. It floated above him before returning to his patrol route.

Keren groaned and curled into a ball, waiting for disappointment. Ethan's footsteps came closer, and the energy in the air pulsed.

Ethan knelt over him and his shadow expanded with Father's cruelty. Keren flinched and scrambled, only for his back to hit a wall to prevent his escape. "I'm sorry, I should've—"

"Taken it slower?" Ethan smiled and held his hand out. "It's okay."

Keren hesitated, then took Ethan's hand and allowed himself to be hauled up to his feet. "I'm sorry," he mumbled when Ethan clasped his arm. "I'm not good enough for this." Terror drowned him. "What if I get made to—"

"Slow down. Why do you think I brought you here, Keren?"

"I don't know... to show off that you can?"

Ethan shoved him with a scoff. "I'm much better than that," he said with a happy smile, but the happiness bled out in front of him. "I just... Keren, if I had my way this wouldn't be happening to you. But what I can do is teach you how to survive; to make it. You've figured out what happens to those who get caught or go against the family."

If we're caught, or go against them... the cost is life. Keren clenched his fists. "I don't want to do this, Ethan." I want to run.

A black hole swirled in the greens. "I know, but escape isn't... it's not an option, you know that," he said through his teeth. "They have their rules, yes, but I'm here. I'll help you, no matter what comes. You are my family. I can teach you how to survive."

Keren sank into his shoulders. "We shouldn't break the rules..."

"We're not going to break any rules, Keren. You don't have to worry about that."

Keren gazed at Ethan. "Then... what do we do?"

Ethan studied him, then frowned. "I'm going to tell you a secret. Something that will keep you alive. Keep your head straight." He came closer. "Keren, if there's one thing that will keep your head out of water, it's that you can't trust anybody here. No one." Ethan sucked in his lips, then whispered, "... not even me."

"What?" Keren rasped and stepped from him.

"Look at who you're around," Ethan explained. "How far does trust go when you take their hand in understanding, but hold a knife in the other? Trust only goes so far in this life. It's just the truth. At some point, something will break and our worst enemy might become the guy beside us. It's not your enemies that can betray you, Keren." Ethan shook his head, but Keren slid on the wall. "So, trust no one. Trust no one because your life depends on it here. Not even me."

"No." Keren shook his head. "No, no, don't tell me that." He pushed his hands against his own chest. "Ethan, you're all I have. If you're telling me to not trust you—No." Tears swept down his cheeks. "You can't make me. If there's no one I can trust then there's nowhere I can go."

Ethan frowned, then winced. "It's safer for you."

"But you told me you wouldn't leave me," Keren begged.

Ethan curled his fingers and rubbed the edges and his teeth slid over his lip. "Okay, I can see that will be difficult for you," he whispered, and Keren found the strength to lift himself out of the weight of distrust, though trembled at the empty, sad expression on Ethan's brow. "But trust no one else. We're family." Ethan came closer and held onto his shoulder. "We'll survive together. I won't be too far away, and in turn I don't want you leaving my side unless there is no choice in the matter, and to understand that if I get called, or you get called... that takes precedence." Ethan poked his chest. "But you will always be my priority when it's my decision." He released him.

"What do we do?" Keren asked again when the silence drew out his pain.

"Well, I think it's about time I taught you how to properly cook," Ethan said. "There will be times where I probably won't make it home for supper, but I don't want you to starve so..." He overturned his palms, motioning at him.

"Ugh..." Keren followed Ethan out of the training gym. "Fine."

Ethan ruffled his hair, but Keren lost the ability to smile.

Light drained out of Ethan's eyes.

Miama... what's happening to him? What happened to him? And will it happen to me?