Gently, Gabriel brushed a few strands of hair behind Misha's ear. His fingers then lingered on his cheek, his emerald eyes locked on the teenager's sleeping face. It didn't look very peaceful, however; a frown creased his brow while his lips were stretched taut. Nightmares seemed to be plaguing his sleep, which wasn't anything surprising considering what he had just gone through.
"I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner," Gabriel whispered with a tired sigh. He also hadn't rested much these past few days, but he couldn't go to sleep just yet.
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Stephan comforted, patting his friend's shoulder. "You couldn't have done better in this situation. You're human, not an omnipotent god."
"I know. It's just—"
Gabriel was interrupted mid-sentence, the door of his bedroom being slammed open. Masha hurried over to grip his collar the next instant, fury distorting her face. If looks could kill, Gabriel would be dead by now.
"What the heck happened?!" Masha growled, her grip so tight that her knuckles turned white. She was doing her best to restrain herself, but it wasn't very successful. She was out for blood, anger clouding her reasoning, and not beating Gabriel to a pulp took all of her goodwill.
"You said Misha was staying at Dereck's these past few days! I did find it weird, but I fucking trusted you. I trusted you! You…. you went too far with your lies this time!"
Gabriel stayed silent, not refuting anything. He had only told her the truth after Misha was out of danger. However, the news hadn't made its way to Misha's parents yet—and he hoped it would never.
"Calm down," Yuki's cold voice resounded as she wrapped a hand around Masha's wrist. "If he had told you, you'd have gone into a frenzy. It wouldn't have helped."
"So what?! We're talking about my brother's life! I had the right to know!"
"Masha, you're too emotional and impulsive when it comes to your brother. You'd have rushed to Matthew and interrogated him on the spot, forgetting to shut your mouth about certain things. He'd have learned that we're aware of his side business, and that would have put all of our lives in danger, not just yours."
"Still," Masha bit her lower lip, looking wronged.
But deep down, she knew Yuki was right. Matthew would never hesitate to get rid of anyone who posed a threat to him, no matter who they were. And knowing her temper, she'd have indeed said too much. With this in mind, they would most likely have been buried six feet under before finding her brother—not exactly the best way to save Misha, one could say.
"I know you're agitated, but maybe you should lower your voice a little," Stephan said, tilting his head toward Misha, whose sleep seemed to be disturbed by all the noise. "Luckily, we're not in a hospital, or the nurses would have already thrown us out."
Masha shot daggers at Stephan, but the man responded with a smile. Though they weren't in a hospital, Matthew had the decency to bring over a doctor, who then proceeded to check the teenager and his sons. Thankfully, Misha wasn't severely injured and only needed rest. He had a few nasty bruises but nothing that required an extended stay at the hospital. Knowing this, Gabriel had told the doctor's diagnosis to Masha before she came over, trying to reassure her however he could.
"Now that you're here," Gabriel said, ignoring the tense atmosphere permeating the room, "can you watch over Misha?"
"What the heck wouldn't I?" Masha snorted as she loosened her grip on Gabriel's collar, albeit a tad reluctantly. "You've got something to do?"
"I need to have a little chat with Jake."
"Now? Can't it wait?"
"No, it cannot."
Gabriel smiled kindly, yet a shiver ran down Masha's spine. There was something dark brewing in her friend's eyes, something terrifying. However, it didn't seem to be directed at Jake like usual, but at someone else.
'Whoever has provoked his ire is doomed to a fate worse than death.' The realization struck Masha like a lightning bolt, making her gulp. She wisely decided not to ask anything, lest Gabriel snapped.
***
Jake's room was deserted. There was no one in sight, not even the doctor. It was a stark contrast with Tristan's room, in which Angela was closely watching over her son. In a way, the place felt lonesome, abandoned, even.
Gabriel walked to Jake's beside, dragging the chair the doctor had used closer to sit on it. Stephan stood near him, his hands hidden behind his back. His long silver hair was braided and fell before his chest, his heterochromatic eyes betraying no emotion. When he kept his mouth shut and didn't grin, he looked like a beautiful life-size doll.
"How do you feel?" Gabriel asked, knowing Jake was pretending to be asleep. And as expected, the man opened his eye before sitting up in the bed, his gaze falling upon them.
"Like a man who had his eye gouged out," Jake snorted, his behavior back to its cocky way. "Have you come to mock me?"
"No, not at all," Gabriel shook his head. "What did the doctor say?"
"Nothing much. It should heal relatively well since the bastard cauterized the wound after the deed, preventing it from bleeding and getting infected. Apparently, he was also quite skilled and didn't damage the orbit more than necessary. That's what the doctor said anyway. Whether I leave the eye socket empty or opt for a glass eye is another story, though."
Gabriel could not help but look at the eye bandage at those words. The blood trailing on his brother's cheek had been washed, and the clumsy bandage made by Misha, changed. Now, Jake's complexion appeared healthier than a few hours back, easing Gabriel's mind a little.
"If you have nothing else to say, I'd like to rest. I won't see you out."
"Actually, there is another thing I'd like to discuss with you," Gabriel admitted as he slightly nodded at Stephan. "It maybe isn't the best time—it definitely isn't, considering you're on bed rest—but it cannot wait. The sooner we clear up a few things, the better."
After Gabriel was done saying his piece, Stephan showed Jake the diaries they had found. He had been holding the notebooks behind his back all along, waiting for the right time to lay them on the bed, one after another.
Upon seeing the diaries, Jake's whole body stiffened. The annoyed and arrogant expression on his face wore off, replaced by stupor. He stared at the notebooks for a while, his lips pinched. In the end, it was Stephan who broke the silence first.
"We want to talk about these."
"You must think that I'm crazy then" Jake let out a self-mocking laugh, knowing it was useless to deny the diaries were his. "Could you please not tell my mom about these? I don't want to end up in an asylum."
"Why on earth would we tell that wench?" Stephan scoffed. "Anyway, we don't think you're crazy or anything."
"What…?"
"Why do you always leave out the most important part, Stephan?" Gabriel sighed, his friendly demeanor now gone. "He means to say that we don't think you're crazy because we know these two lifetimes happened. They aren't figments of your imagination."
A dumbstruck look flashed across Jake's face, and his mouth fell slightly agape. While he was busy wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him, Stephan took the opportunity to sit on the bed. With a chuckle, he said:
"What's with the face? Don't worry, your fever went down a while back, and you're not having an auditory hallucination."
"But, what? Eh?" Jake looked more and more confused with each passing second, glancing back and forth between the two men. Both appeared to be dead serious, much to his dismay. "How…?"
Gabriel looked straight into Jake's remaining eye. Doubt and uncertainty were swirling in its depths, giving his brother the air of a lost kid. He wouldn't admit it, but it tugged at his heartstrings.
"Well," Gabriel slowly opened his mouth, enunciating every word very clearly, "because I came from the second timeline. The day you wrote I died in my sleep at Misha's house is the day I traveled back in time and started the third timeline, just before Mrs. Brown's death."
"What are you talking about…? Stop joking around!"
Of course, Jake wouldn't believe them. His brother probably thought that he was playing him, telling lies and taking him for a fool. It was to be expected, however.
Jake knew that behind his smile, Gabriel arbored a deep hatred toward him. It was something he had found in his previous lives. As such, his brother tricking him and playing with his emotions wouldn't be surprising. Why wouldn't Gabriel jump on the opportunity when it was presented to him at his doorstep? Unless he had become a fool, he'd definitely size it.
Sadly, Gabriel had long given back the golden watch with the record to Santa, and he had no proof left he could use to prove his point. The golden watch they currently had was from Misha's time traveling, and it looked like nothing more than an expensive but ordinary wristwatch. Still, there were plenty of other ways Gabriel could convince Jake if they shared the same memories. There were things only they knew.
"Remember the day we crossed paths at the zoo in your second life? Yuki, Masha, Misha, and me, then you and Camille. After discussing for a while, Masha ended up tripping you with her crutches, and you fell headfirst in front of a crowd of onlookers. That was also the day you learned of our sexual orientations."
Jake's face grew paler. That was something he hadn't written in detail in the diaries. He had left out a few embarrassing things, not wanting to torture himself more than necessary.
"By the way," Gabriel smiled coldly, "thank you for taking that viper out of our life. Camille would have loitered around longer if you hadn't "seduced" her. It'd have been quite bad for Masha's mental health."
"…I had no idea they were lovers at the time," Jake sneered after a moment of silence. So what if his brother was playing him? He had nothing left to lose, anyway. He might as well bite the bullet and see what happen next. "I thought she was after you. Turned out she had no idea who you were."
"Hm."
Jake closed his eye, leaning his head against the wall. If these two had read the diaries he wrote to keep himself sane, then there was no need to hide anything. He could talk freely.
"If only I had noticed her sooner in the first timeline, Masha wouldn't have had to die the way she did. Heck, I'd have loved to have the memories of my first life in my second life too. It would have made things easier." Jake paused to sigh. "You know, I sometimes wonder why memories of my previous lives suddenly came up to me in this life. I even thought I'd go crazy at one point."
"Sorry, I've got no idea why either."
"I wasn't expecting you to know. I was just saying. But… time traveling? Seriously? I don't know which is harder to believe: me with the memories of previous lives or you traveling back in time."
Stephan chuckled. Yeah. Both were hard to believe. Anyone who heard their conversation would think they had a few loose screws.
"But I do have one question. You said you started the third timeline, then who started the second timeline?"
Silence.
"Well, even if you don't tell me, I can pretty much guess who. It would explain why his behavior is so different from what I remember. Besides, he was the one to die in a bizarre way in the first timeline, for you lived quite a long life in that one, Gabriel."
"Is that so," Gabriel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll have to make sure Misha never finds out about this, no matter what."
If that soft-hearted guy were to learn that life went on after they went back in time, creating parallel universes, who knew how he'd react. If anything, it'd shatter his heart, just like Gabriel's had after realizing he had left behind the little Misha he was so fond of.
_____________________
Edited by Clozed!
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