KEREN

Don't panic! Don't panic! Don't panic! Stars, don't panic!

Every noise from the city's nightlife drove the knife deeper into his back. Shadows danced in the alleys underneath the flickering streetlights. Insidious intent molded them into shapes on the edge of his sight. Hands tucked into his jacket pockets, Keren kept himself focused on the faraway casino lights, taunting him with their out of reach safety. But, as long as I can still see it, I can find my way home — without help. Keren slammed to a stop when a Sanctum patrol car rolled by, but none of the personnel inside gave him a second look. Bouncers sat out in the front of nightclubs, and he bit his lip as he ducked his head forward and walked past one, who looked down at him.

Just don't panic.

Keren kept to the illumination of the lamps and played with the handles of his schoolbag. Cars screeched throughout the heart of Roxton, and the familiar sounds lulled his heart. Stars glimmered across the clear night sky, and his steps faltered when he chanced a look at his dream.

I'm alone. Nebulous colours sprayed across the sky, and Lana, Eteran's moon, shone as bright as a star. Ships flew across the expanse, their lights flashing signals of communication before long disappearing past the atmosphere into the ethereum space Keren frowned, then kept walking, but where, he lost track. It'd be... easy to just run, wouldn't it? His thoughts wandered to Ethan, and the crack of his head against the counter. No... I can't leave Ethan... but how do I convince him to run?

Ice entered his blood at the scuffled sounds behind him, so he pushed onward. Always on the move. Never to look behind him or what stalked around the corners. He quickened his pace in time with his breathing when another car, closer to his position, slammed to a stop. Maybe I should head to Ethan's safespot first. Get into contact with him and just... just say I'm sorry for not listening to him. I'll be safe there. He'll come get me and I'll be in for a lecture.

But I'll be safe.

Electric unease wrapped around his throat and kept him on the move. Everything blurred past as he escaped from whatever pursued him. Just don't look back. Don't look back. It's just your nerves. Don't look back. A constant nagging jolt in his body, a millisecond of reaction at every sound. His thumb rested on the holster and he continued down the silent road, and the cars fell quiet. Several steps ahead, a lien of open, blazing shops. One more step for freedom.

Keren tasted it on his tongue and longed to scream out for his life.

He stopped at a high-pitched yowl filling the air, and he turned to the alley he left behind. Fearful curiosity retraced his steps and brought him closer to danger. He rested his hand on the corner, then peeked around to investigate.

A shape sat on the corner of the compactor, and its tail flicked from side to side as it made a similar call from before. Baseless fear swallowed into the pits of his stomach, he knelt down and caused the creature to leap off its perch and inch towards him. "Oh, a cat." He breathed out his stupid unease and stretched out his hand for the cat, allowing it to sniff his fingers. "You gave me a scare." He scratched it between the ears, where it released a loud purr. "I'm sorry, I have nothing to give to you."

I need to get home, tell Ethan what happened.

Tell him I'm sorry.

He left the cat behind and walked into view of the shops, he ducked his head down further as he walked past a pair of patrons who spoke quick words to the shopkeeper. Life hinted at his sense of safety, of freedom, he relaxed his shoulders. As he reached the end of the street, a screech of tires turning a corner made him stop in his tracks, the same, odd trickle of intent slipping down his back when he turned at its beckoned sound. A familiar, gray cobra's tires screeched when it nearly flew around it.

Keren waited on the edge of the street, and winced when the windows shifted down.

Ethan tapped the wheel with a harried expression on his face. "What in the void hells do you think you're doing?"

And here's the lecture... "I..." Keren caught sight of his holster peeking out of the secret holder. Ethan came prepared. "I was heading back but then I got lost and what are you doing?"

"I said I was looking for Jesti, remember?" Ethan motioned at him. "Get in."

Keren threw himself into the passenger seat and threw his bag into the back. Safety buckles locked against his chest, he drove his face into his hands. The cobra released a purr on the same wavelength as the cat before. Ethan returned to a comfortable, rule-respecting speed along the street. Silence clutched them both, and Keren eyed Ethan, where the void of space filled the green fire.

"Well... did you find Jesti?"

Ethan's fingers dug into the wheel, and he shook his head. "Don't try to shift the subject, Keren, why didn't you take the entrance I pointed out to you? Why didn't you go to the safespot I know I marked on your wristpad? It is dangerous out in this city, Keren, I thought you'd know that by now." His knuckles turned white from the pressure of his grip, and Ethan scoffed and glared out the window on his side.

"I just—" Keren scowled at him. "Look, Ethan, I need to be able to do this without having to always rely on you, as I said before, I'm not a child. I'm not that little kid who hid in your shadow. I can't do that anymore." It scrunched his throat when Ethan returned his glare. "And I don't need you lecturing me like you're our mom!"

His words tumbled out of his throat before he reigned them in. Ethan frowned, then switched his attention to the front. "I can and will lecture you, Keren," he growled. "Because it is miles better than what awaits people who are reckless in this life, and I won't let you be that."

"Yet you'll let me be everything else..." Keren stopped Ethan short from his own clapback. "I mean, let's be honest, Ethan. I'm useless. I'm useless and I will never be like the other people in the family. I'm a screw-up, and yes, I know how this life works by now. I'm weak, not stupid — and I don't want to get you killed because of my inability."

Ethan drifted onto the corner and stopped. "Where did you get that idea?"

Keren tucked his hands between his legs and winced at the words. "Well, you can't find Jesti, can you? Or else he'd be here with you. Where do you think he went? What if... What if he walked into the wrong place at the wrong time, and like you said earlier, someone caught up with him and... he didn't have you."

Ethan released a tight, shuddered breath and shook his head. "You really think it'd have made a difference if I was there with him?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

He closed his eyes with another small shake of his head. "I'm going to get you home, then continue looking for Jesti," he muttered. "I won't have you wandering these streets at this time of night." He breathed deeper. "All I knew was his movements before he went completely AWOL on me. He went to Mr. Guon's store, swung by the casino to ramble at Urto about some fuck up that he couldn't be bothered to tell me—" Ethan's voice came out taut, hitched, and angry. "So, you are going to go home, go to bed, and I'm going to find him without having to worry about where you are on top of it."

Keren flinched at the ferocity in his voice. His anger and rage.

"I'm sorry," Keren whimpered.

I make things hard.

Ethan continued their drive. "We can talk about it when I get home - after my search."

Weariness filled his bones when he stared up at the starry sky full of wings, and Keren struggled to keep his eyes open as Ethan drove around the bulk of the city, far away from the traffic. Their pace kept its steady course, but Keren snapped out of his doze when a chirp came from Ethan's compearl from its holder in the dash. "Is someone trying to call you?"

Ethan stopped at the curb and opened it up. "Jesti," he mumbled, but frowned when the beeping continued with locational markers. "Why is he... spamming a location?" He typed in the number, but Keren shifted in his discomfort when it didn't even ring, only continued the spam. Ethan held it between them, then frowned.

"Maybe he wants to meet somewhere?" Keren asked.

Ethan's gaze examined the constant beeps, a look of confused dismay replacing the rage when the harsh chirps turned into dying, serrated blips.

"Ethan? Kellzoro? What's wrong?"

Ethan's brow scrunched in thought, his gaze darting across the dashboard as his lips pursed. In the distance, a car revved up their engine, but Keren ignored it when the blips fought for their noise. Keren turned to Ethan, and his gaze met his own, but then drifted over his head when he continued the drive out into the open intersection when the light flashed their advance.

Tires squealed when the blips fell silent.

Keren went to investigate the sound, but gasped when Ethan slammed him into his seat, arm pressed against his chest as he spun the wheel in one quick motion. Tires locked, Keren found himself unable to scream when the viewpoints changed. A black car sped for them, an electricity of malice electrocuting him at his heart as the lights flashed with the intent to—

Keren gasped when the car's crash-shield expanded outwards to catch the impact. He gripped onto Ethan's arm when they skidded into the sidewalk, but Ethan continued to fight with the wheel, cold as ice. The dashboard screamed out an alarm in time with his own silent one. Dizziness spread through his exhaustion of nauseating motion. Keren found himself locked in the sights of a blaster, but Ethan jumped first. Keren grunted when Ethan slammed one hand into his face, the other tugging out the holster with deft hands.

A shot rang out and glass shattered.

Everything spun in his head when Ethan released him, then kicked the car into action, a speedy getaway with the tires squealing for rage. "Ethan—?"

"No." Ethan sped over the limit down the road. Instead of racing for the casino, he drove out of the city limits and towards the abandoned construction zone. He snapped his gaze at a quick flash of light, but Keren found his voice lost among the roar of predators. Ethan's hands gripped the wheel tight, and he slammed one hand into the dashboard.

"Alert: switching to off-road—" Ethan slapped the dashboard quiet.

"Ethan!" Keren broke out of his encased ice when Ethan sped down a gravel road. "Where are we going!?"

"Somewhere I can get this jackass off of us," Ethan growled, then clicked his wristpad to life with a shake of his wrist. Shield percentages came to life, and Keren found himself doing the same. His fingers shook when he grabbed his own blaster, and he choked.

Celestials, we're being chased! We're being targeted! Fire filled his nostrils with blood. They're going to kill us — those people outside the store. His heart broke apart and his lungs accelerated for air.

Ethan slammed to a hard stop in the construction site, kicking open his door before pushing Keren out his side. On the ground, skin scraped, he fumbled for his blaster when Ethan took cover behind his car, gazing at him.

The roar of a monster drew closer.

Celestials, this is happening.

Keren ducked with Ethan behind the car as he energized his own chain blaster with an unsettled hiss with the edevium loading into the chamber. On his knees, he swiped out a small mirror, and the car rolled down the same gravel path, but Keren lurched when Ethan jumped to his knees and aimed his blaster at the wheels.

It skidded off their rims, but scorched their tires. With a scream, the car bumped into one of the constructor portables.

"Get to the pit and stay in cover," Ethan hissed as the car doors opened. Keren nodded and sprinted with his older brother beside him. Foundations, half-built, towered from inside the quarry.

What is Ethan thinking—

A sizzle went down his spine.

He grunted when a round slammed into his shields, skidding over his arm as he stumbled. Ethan switched on his heel without hesitation, grabbing him between the thick portables, where the footsteps of their hunter trailed behind the quicker Ethan forced him to run. Keren choked on a sob when Ethan tugged him through an open window, and tucked them both into a corner, with Ethan's hand blocking his scream.

My shields, celestials, it broke my shields... Keren whimpered and bit on his tongue when Ethan held him closer, panting for reprieve from the death of his life and the near miss of a shot. Ethan held him tighter in a vicegrip with a soft huff, and Keren found himself in a gentle chokehold as Ethan shifted with something on his arm. His calm stature served to flare his own beating heart.

"You can't run, Ethanius Malakai," a voice said from the outside, somewhere at another portable.

Ethan squeezed, then let him go. Keren scrambled for escape, but found himself stuck when Ethan gripped his face tighter with a non-verbal indication of stillness and silence. Keren forced his heart to slow, no matter the cost, as Ethan loaded up another round with a scowl of rage, then held up his fingers, pointing at the distant pit.

What is he planning?

Keren followed Ethan when he ran out the door when the person's shadow flitted on the other side. He held a scream when another shot scattered glass, ducking out of its cruel sound as they ran to the large road, where Ethan's car remained at the edge of the path. Ethan tossed him behind cover with a waving motion to run away, to flee the tide of death, before ducking out of another shot with an irritated scoff and kicked over a planning table.

Keren fumbled to load the edevium into the chamber as Ethan checked on the other person when they rounded the corner, loading up their own shot, and Keren stilled when he aimed it in their direction.

Ethan overturned the table once more, taking aim in slow motion.

Keren lifted his head at the sharp, sizzling sound of another bolt-shot. In a scattered blast of blue shield particles, Ethan fell to his knees, where blood spread over his shirt and jacket.

He fell still.

What... no... No! His shields were—

Keren looked at his wristpad.

Shields at max capacity.

Keren held tight to his blaster and gasped out a sob when the person caught his eye.

Dark blood stained Ethan's shirt.

Keren found his voice failing where it mattered the most. Boots crushed bones. Keren pressed his hand against the energizer when they came closer.

Anything. To do anything.

Anything.

His gun clicked and refused to bring the rage of the family down upon their hunter.

Tears overflowed.

Come on, you worthless—

The shadow in the suit stood in front of him, separating him from Ethan.

"It's nothing personal, Malakai," they muttered.

Quaking fear sent another electric jolt through his spine, and he dropped his hands into his lap, with the blaster slipping out of his grip.

Keren waited for death and shut his eyes tight, but lurched when the man gasped out in pain.

Chains wrapped around his arm, Ethan came from behind, a look of tranquil fury on his face when he grappled with the guy, one blade driving itself into his arm. "It's personal now," he hissed as he pushed them both towards the pit. "Not my baby brother, you dead son of a bitch."

Keren ran out of the portable when Ethan unloaded a gravitational pocket to whatever rested below, and both of them fell over the edge.