"Bad news broski. Or, it could be good news, I guess?" Chad said, walking with Arthur down the street.
Two days had passed since the victory against "Pyro," and Arthur was done with his classes for the day. Chad lured him out with the promise of paying for his food, and apparently had something big to talk to Arthur about.
"Huh? What's the news?" Arthur asked, taking a bite from his cheeseburger and carrying the bag. He was wearing a ring around his middle finger, a simple one that was entirely a dark red.
"Apparently a new member has joined the Assas family, named Damien. From what I've heard, they're actually your brother," he said with a grin. Naturally, walking down the street with an outrageous height, muscular build and a good use of avatar customization, Chad got a lot of looks, which he didn't pay any mind to.
"My brother? I have a brother? I thought I only had my half sister. Actually, come to think of it… I do kind of remember that, but really faintly," Arthur said. He did his best to be friendly with Chad, as he wanted to capitalize off of Chad's favor.
However, deep down Arthur knew that Chad held little to no actual regard for him. What Chad had towards Arthur was something Arthur couldn't recognize as friendship. Though he supported him in the fight against Taylor, he was entirely willing to let Arthur die against Pyro.
"Ah, yeah. Kinda funny ain't it? You've got a bro who's just like you apparently! Though, he didn't leave his family, so I've got pretty much no care for him," Chad said. Arthur hummed a question, and Chad looked at him with confusion.
"Ah? What's that questioning tone for?" Chad asked.
"Well, I would think that if I'm your 'bro,' wouldn't you consider my brother your 'bro' as well?" Arthur wondered.
"Nah. I like ya cause ya smell good. I hate people that care about useless stuff, so that smell you've got shows that you aren't tied to useless shit. I like people who are free, people who don't cling to petty ideals just cause they're told to. I've never met him, but if he's not like you, I truly don't care about him," he answered.
'Ah… good to know, I guess.'
"What's he like?" You know anything about that?" Arthur asked out of sheer curiosity. No, there was a hint of fear.
"Apparently he's not bad. This is all that I've heard from the grapevine, but apparently he's pretty muscly, has a good heart or whatever, and just an overall typical good person. They've taken a liking to him then," Chad said.
"Ah, okay…" Arthur mumbled, thinking out loud. He looked down, continuing to walk.
'So he's still part of the family… if he's like me, I bet he just now found out about this stuff too. If that's the case, then he just got lucky then. If he's part of the family, they're protecting him most likely, so he doesn't even have the option of failure.'
'How nice it must be for him, then. I wasn't protected, and I got hurt, yet I'm the bad guy and they won't ever listen. They beat me until I wanted to just die and let it all end.'
'Lucky bastard. I bet they love him because he's what I could have been. He's just me, but better. He didn't get put in the same situation I did, yet they probably love him just because he's not me.'
Arthur's face warped into one of anger, as he clenched his teeth and furrowed his brows, frowning.
"They think I'm worthless. All they see me as is a screw-up, a traitor who brought shame to them all. But he, but he isn't like that. They're making damn sure he's better, cause they don't want him to end up like me," Arthur growled, speaking quickly and stuttering frequently as his voice got deeper.
"You good broski?" Chad asked, stopping and looking at Arthur with a slight bit of concern.
"It doesn't matter. It doesn't fucking matter," Arthur grumbled, clenching his fists as he groaned and shook his head.
The events of everything up until now had not fully healed. Though he could ignore them and live his day to day life with minimal change – other than seeming angrier and more disinterested in things than before – that did not mean they went away.
He still remembered the deep love he held for his mother, and how he blamed the Assas family for being chosen instead of him. It felt completely unjust, being forced into making a decision and being forever hated by people for it.
Not just them, but his own mother, the only parental figure he had in his life, attempted to kill him because of it. His fear of being abandoned for being worthless was directly attacked.
And on top of that, the pain he'd endured, physically and mentally, made things even worse. They hated him so much that he would forever be a sworn enemy, and he could not trust in his own safety or anyone for that matter to always protect him.
That night in which he was tortured, being put in a restaurant in which many people were killed, and he was going to be next, stuck in his heart and was seared into his flesh.
And those same people, who had hurt him so much, had refused to let his mother show any love towards him, had now found someone like him, but someone who was able to be loved.
He was replaced by a brother. Someone had taken his position in his mother's heart, despite being someone she previously abandoned.
All those years ago, she chose Arthur. But because Arthur made one mistake which he was helpless to prevent, she abandoned him.
He was the lowest bar, a perfect example of "what not to do."
"Uh… okay then broski. Actually, nah! Turn that frown upside down, whatcha so sad for!? Be happy for once, will you?!" Chad yelled at him. Arthur clicked his tongue and smiled, though it was pretty poor.
"That's the spirit! I paid for your food, so don't be all mad, dawg!"
"Yeah…"
Arthur continued with him and went back to his dorm room. He wanted to talk to Lucy about it, since she had the best ability to gather information.
…
Currently in a warm, typical house. Arthur sat on the couch next to her, and she looked at him with a smile.
"So, got any tea to spill?" She asked.
"Can you… can you try to go to the dreams of Damien? Um, I don't—"
"Oh, like your half brother?" Lucy said, smiling as a bucket of popcorn appeared in her hand. The TV turned on to some random movie, and it played in the background.
"Uh, yeah, actually. How'd you know?" Arthur asked.
"It's pretty big news among dragons that the 'most wanted man' in the world had a brother who recently awakened as a dragon," was her answer.
"Ah, okay. Um, yeah, so can you talk to him? And let me know what he's like?"
"Of course! I've actually been pretty interested in finding out for myself. I'll check back in with you when I'm done," she said.
…
It didn't seem like much of a change. However, after she left, Arthur went into unconsciousness and time therefore didn't seem to pass. In that same sleep, she rejoined his dream after talking to Damien.
"Oh wow, he's pretty cool," she pleasantly affirmed.
"Hk."
"Huh? Ya dyin?"
"No, it's just… yeah, tell me what he's like, please."
"Hm… well, he's pretty cool. Apparently he's 16, but he's already pretty cool. I'd say he's handsome, but that's mostly as a compliment, since I'm 18 and it'd be weird if I said it with a lot of emotion. Um, he's a really cool guy, it's hard to describe him. Oh, and one more thing," she said.
"What?"
"He's gonna try to help bring you back to the family. He's quite understanding of your situation, and he says he's going to help you."
Arthur was entirely surprised.
His hatred towards the boy was indeed unfounded, somewhat broken apart by her words. If the boy, Damien, was actually on Arthur's side, then maybe there was no reason to hate him at all.
In fact, he might even be a "better" Alicia. Alicia, despite knowing Arthur and helping him that one time, didn't do all that much. She was on his side, but she wasn't present in his life to make a difference.
However, if Damien could actually try to help through his actions, then there was a chance that he and Arthur could get along. So, Arthur cooled his resentment, wanting to believe that Damien could help him and try to get the family to stop.
"Ah, that's… really good to hear, actually. Can you bring other people into these dreams?" He asked. She might have told him before, but he'd forgotten whether she had or not. She shook her head, saying,
"No. In these dreams of ours, it's only me who can hop into them. It would be nice to get you two to meet, though, since I feel like it would be nice to see. That said, I can pass on a message, if you'd like."
"Ah… just tell him that I'd really like to… meet him, and I hope we can be really good siblings, or something."
"Understood!" She yelled with a smile, raising her fists into the air and pointing at Arthur. "I'll see ya tomorrow then! Goodnight!!"
"Ah, yeah, goodnight."
…
That was that. It was Thursday morning, and Arthur got out of bed to get ready. He used the bathroom, showered, and got ready for class.
When he entered the lecture hall, he saw that the weather was pretty bad. It was raining quite heavily and the clouds covered the sky.
He sat down and got his things ready. He waited a few minutes, and Sally, who usually showed up by then, was missing.
'Huh. That's a little strange.'
…
Eventually, the entire class was over, and she had still yet to show up. Arthur wondered if she was sick, or just outright skipping. So, he texted her:
"Where are you??"
The response he got was a text of a location, followed by an image which he needed to click on in order to get the full thing, but it seemed dark in terms of lighting.
Swallowing his spit, Arthur clicked on the image.
Sally was beaten quite badly, with a bloody, purple and blue face. The top of her head had several patches in which hair was torn out, and there were lashes and cuts all along her body.
The next message he received was, "Save her."