Saturday morning was quiet in the twins' house, it was approximately 3 A.M. when Emilio was abruptly woken up by his twin brother who whispered him till consciousness, he could not help but groan and curse his brother internally
"Wake up already!" Ivan said irritated as Emilio did his best to ignore him but in the end Emilio knew his brother better than that, he knew he was not the type to simply give up so reluctantly, he stared at his brother whose features were accentuated by the yellow glow of the lamp beside his bed. Having no other option he stood up and rubbed his eyes
"Why?" Out of instinct, he grabbed his phone and looked at the digital clock that barely marked 3:25 A.M "It's early in the morning Ivan. What the fuck" he didn't mean to be rude really, but to him it was definitely not delightful being woken up at such late hours, Ivan walked around the room and his older brother frowned not understanding his actions. Not long after a pile of clothes was thrown directly in his face.
"Get dressed we have to go somewhere"
"At three in the morning?"
"Yes and no gloves"
Confused, he tried to argue with his brother, trying to get at least a logical explanation of this nonsense but he just said the least he knew the better it would be, Emilio felt anxious as they took the car, even when it was mid summer that night felt a little chilly, his heart was steady but he felt odd no wearing the gloves. That in a weird way became just another layer of his skin and without the frizzy sensation of the leather against his skin.
The car ride was a torture and the silence was just making his nerves worse than they already were, along the way he thought of trying to get some information out of his brother but that idea was soon discarded as he knew it would not get him anywhere so he had no other option but to keep quiet and curse himself for not standing his ground, allowing his brother to drag him to this type of situations.
Finally the car stopped, when Emilio looked around confusion still persisted, a sense of alarm was ignited within him "Yo... why are we in the woods?" His voice cracked out of fear and not really knowing anything about the situation at hand certainly did not help. Pulling the break, Ivan got out of the car and started walking away, scared, the older twin did the same and ran after his brother who so calmly walked as if he was just walking on the streets of Beverly Hills instead of a dark and lonely forest in God knows where.
"This is the only place where we can start out safely" he mumbled quietly, as if he was afraid the wind would hear, tired of the situation Emilio pulled the sleeve of Ivan's sweatshirt making him stop.
"Start what? What are you talking about?" He questioned his brother irritated, the boy sighed
"I'm gonna help you control your powers, okay?"
"Ivan are you high or something? You don't know anything about pyrokinesis! Hell, I don't even know that much and I'm the one that has it!" He urged at the edge of hysteria not understanding Ivan's perspective in all this. The boy took a step forward, trying hard to keep his head cool, in some ways he understood Emilio's position, tired of having hope and being let down but if he could only listen to him he knew it would be different.
"That is exactly the problem Emilio! You don't know anything about it because you learned to fear it instead of learning how to control it. I'm gonna help you do that."
"I don't learn how to control it because it could get us killed! You, mom and dad everyone could die if I try to learn more about pyrokinesis. They could easily tell! For everyone Imperials are just a myth. I'm literally the only Imperial alive!"
"You don't know that! Maybe there's more Imperiums out there and we could find them!" Emilio scoffed and took a step back, he ran his fingers through his hair and pulled it slightly, trying to calm his despair, to him Ivan was being beyond naive and foolish.
"Find them? Now I know that you are completely out of your fucking mind!" He spat, chemicals within his DNA started burbling inside him like a cocktail perfect for chaos, his eyes shifted to their tangerine shade. A heat wave was exuded from the Spaniard's body, the younger sibling barely managed to move aside but even then the poor boy lost the equilibrium and fell on the humid grass.
A loud beeping echoed through the sounds of owls and crickets, Ivan kneeled down laying his hands on the grass and holding it tight, his breathing was shaky and hard, using his throat to get air inside his lungs. The persistent beeping in his wrist deafen him and his senses; Emilio could only stare at him in shock but as a few seconds passed before he managed to get past the initial shock and run to his brother's side.
Quickly enough he laid his poor brother in the grass and looked over at the heart monitor showed the number 162 in red; panic started taking over him as he grabbed his face within his hands "No, no, no,no. Ivan please stay focused" he urged scared. Suddenly his infrared vision was ignited and he could distinguish the irregular shapes of his brother's silhouette made.
Driven by instinct, he touched the edge of shapeshifting silhouette, his hands started moving almost as they had a life of its own. An odd warmth danced along his fingertips and he saw how slowly the silhouette went back to his normal rhythm.
Slowly his normal vision came back and he looked over at his brother's heart monitor that had already stopped beeping long ago and he thanked heavens above him as he realized his heartbeats were back to normal.
"How did you do that?" Ivan whispered below his breath
"I have no idea" he responded sincerely, Ivan sat up holding his brother's arm for support, and he tightened his grip as he started coughing hardly, Emilio places a hand on his back, trying to be there for his brother but the young boy had no idea what to do in this situation.
He felt something fall on his arm and the taillights of the car allowed him to devise the small drops of blood in his arm, tears cornered up in his eyes as he looked at his brother whose mouth was spilled with blood and skin was pale. Ivan didn't dare to look at his brother in the eye.
"I thought you were getting better..." he muttered as the first lonely tear rolled down his cheek
"There's no getting better for me, it's a congenital heart disease, my days are counted and you know it"
"No! You're not dying!" He exclaimed holding his brother close
"Dammit Emilio, just accept it. Don't grab your head around it"
"No. There's has to be a way, we will leave this place in a few months. We- I promise to control my powers and we'll look a way to help you. I promise" he blurted out holding his brother close, embracing his body and holding onto him as if his very own life depended on it.
Silence followed his words, Ivan could only hug his brother, he didn't really mind the disease, there's nothing he could do. But he did hate what it did to his whole family, specially his brother. Emilio would always try to protect him but he could not protect the boy from his own body, he could not stop or delay the self-destructive nature of his organs, as much as he would want to.
"We will figure out this. Just try to hold on for me, alright?" Emilio sobbed stroking Ivan's dark locks "You're not gonna die" a smiled was plastered on Ivan's lips, finding the words of the older twin quite reassuring although he did not believe in them.
"I love you bro" he said simply.
When they went back home, her mother was standing in the porch, arms folded around her waist and only wearing her pijama robe and puffy sandals. Emilio parked right in front of her mother "Shit" he cursed bellow his breath as he went out the car
"Where in God's name were the two of you!" The mother demanded to her son as she stepped in front of him
"Mamma, please don't get mad" he begged like a little innocent toddler "Ivan needs you" the mother's eyes fell upon her youngest child, who was almost passed out on the passengers seat, Marisol quickly ran to his son and opened the door. The boy's T-shirt was sprinkled with small drops of dry blood, his eyes were squinted and he looked like a porcelain doll in his mother's eyes.
Small and fragile.
She cupped Ivan's face within her hands "My little boy, what happened?" She questioned the teenager concerned.
"I'm sorry mamma. It was my idea, don't be mad at Emilio" he pleaded "I'm gonna help him mamma I promise. Even if it's the last thing I do" he said rather determined even though his voice was weak. Such promise made the woman's heart ache, a sense of nostalgia filled her and she laughed softly before kissing Ivan on the cheek, without really being aware, a set of tears adorned her mature features knowing that her child was being truthful and he would keep his word.
That was just the kind of person Ivan was; selfless and giving. Deep down the mother could not help but wonder why? Why did such good boy had to suffer the way he did? Why couldn't she protect her son? Most of the days, she managed to forget the congenital disease, this because Ivan had always been a kid full of life and dreams, but in times like this, reality stomped on her door. Tormenting her with the painful reminder that her little boy, her spoiled and mischievous baby had a time bomb inside his heart and at any moment; when she least expected it, Morpheus would crawl into her home and take the Ivan's soul forever.
"I know you will Ivan"