"Why do you have the Lost Chronos?" Ashton's tone was condescending and stern.
"It's ticking in reverse…" Desmond, beside Ethan, muttered before grabbing his shoulder forcing Ethan to face him. His blue eyes sharpened as he glared at Ethan. "What the fuck did you do?!"
"Des, calm down." Barry, behind Desmond, gently but cautiously pulled him away from Ethan, fearing this would escalate quickly if Desmond were to let his short temper get in the way. And as composed as he can, Barry stated; "Let Ethan explain."
Ethan was unable to hold back his tears gushing from his eyes as he fixed his gaze onto Barry. Breathing and alive. With his usual composed and mature character, nearly similar to their eldest brother, Ashton. Only difference was that Ashton may be strict but he was a softie for all of his brothers like their late mother whilst Barry wasn't openly affectionate but he could express his care for them through his strictness just like their late father.
Turning his focus to each of his brothers settled on the table, Ethan gratefully smiled as they anticipate his response in suffocating silence.
He wiped his tears away with his palms. Ethan swore he won't waste Barry's effort.
"Let's finish our lunch first then I will tell everything."
—
The brothers made themselves comfortable in the receiving room for guests—but since they barely had any visitors at all for years now, they utilized the room as their lounge area—except for Ethan who remained standing in front of them.
Despite being in this situation, trapped with suspicion and doubt in his brothers' looks, the solace of seeing all of them alive still made Ethan appreciate and cherish this moment after going through that tragedy. Being reminded of their dead bodies scattered everywhere in this home of theirs haunted Ethan that he had to control his breathing when it started to become ragged.
"I have betrayed you, my brothers." Ethan admitted right off the bat, and he instantly received violent reactions from them.
The twins, Harrison and Hubert, gawked and scoffed at him. "Quit being ridiculous, brother." Hubert said.
It was understandable that the twins doubting him the least as they always gave him the benefit of the doubt. From the smallest to the biggest sibling fight they went through, the twins always sided with Ethan. Ethan felt ashamed when his gaze met with Harrison, whose eyes carried pain from hearing that.
Noah and Theodore were clearly in a confused state. Probably millions of questions of whats, whys, and hows flood their minds when they couldn't form a proper sentence to say. But it was clear on their faces the sadness upon hearing that.
Marcin and along with Ashton and Barry remained seated on their spots. Marcin uttered no words, no negative reaction but just visibly contemplating something Ethan couldn't predict, whilst their two eldest brothers awaited for Ethan to end his explanation patiently.
"I knew it, you bastard!" Desmond roared and was about to pounce on Ethan if it weren't for Ashton restraining him into his clutch.
"He's not done yet." Ashton warned Desmond to cool his nerves through his grip on him. It's the least he could do to avoid a physical fight between them. The pacifist Ashton he was. But Desmond, as everyone knows, was ruthless yet would always obey his older brothers.
Desmond stabbed Ethan with his death glare as he returned back to his seat, unwillingly. "When this nut job is done, Ash, I will rip him into shreds. I swear to God."
Ethan swallowed a lump. He's grateful for Ashton but he couldn't just let his explanation end here. They deserved to know. If going back in the past, Ethan at this time would still be hiding the fact of his betrayal whilst protecting that woman from his brothers' wrath. If it weren't for that damned curse manipulating his decision-making and emotions.
His gaze was brought down to the Lost Chronos in his hand.
The Lost Chronos was a powerful mythical item and a prized possession kept hidden by their family from the world. A circular shaped watch with rustic shade on its shell—appearing to be nothing special at first glance. It seemed like a normal watch but once it received a drop of blood from a person from the Savestre lineage, time would immediately turn back at random. May it be a day, a week, a month, a year, or even a decade.
The thing was, the whole reason why the brothers had a violent reaction upon seeing the Lost Chronos was because it was last seen with their late mother who died in the hands of the enemy organization whilst fighting alongside their late father.
The organization was called Luminous.
The Luminous had been their enemy centuries ago, way back when their lineage was still considered royalties. Luminous used to be an opposing faction composed of rebel nobles and mercenaries who aimed to overthrow the Savestre clan. They held a firm belief to illuminate hope for the people ruled by the royal family who were depicted as the darkness draped in every citizen's fears.
However, the Savestre—even without the assistance of a neighboring kingdom—was a menace in the past that the coup d'état failed miserably with countless deaths to remember in history. The citizens and nobles who had survived cowered in fear and chose to surrender for their lives to be spared. Years went on with the Savestre's victory, the land was in peace from war; but perturbation remained in the minds of the people with monsters ruling their land. They were once the cruelest and strongest yet would spare those who chose to serve them faithfully. With that contrast, doubt and uncertainty persist in the heads of the people.
Unfortunately, the times were undeniably changing that the kingdom reached to the point it got dissolved after three generations had passed after the coup—in order to gain the people's trust, the king had decided. His intentions were not only to gain their trust but to also stop the decades of fear and live in peace along with them. But another dispute occurred when the king's brothers disagreed with his decision.
"Today is the 5th of July." Marcin suddenly spoke, after being quiet the whole time. "The Lost Chronos, from what I remember, reverses at no particular date. So from today, when is the D-day?"
Ethan pondered, rummaging into his memories of the past. "15 days from now." He responded and finally began explaining the situation. "If today is the 5th, it means it was exactly the other day when…"
Ethan halted as his throat constricted, as if giving him a warning signal to not dare utter a word. 'This damned curse.' He hissed in his thoughts. He cannot let his brothers know this.
"...when I was taken by the Luminous. Indeed, I blame myself for being careless; however they ambushed me while I was outside and I couldn't prepare enough with them using advanced technology amplified with mana on me. They administered truth serum after I regained consciousness and binded."
Half truth, half lie. It was actually Ethan's woman who deliberately hid her identity and lured him into their organization. Captured and forcefully gave him the truth serum.
"So that's why you were gone for a whole day." Hubert pointed out. "Harry and I were looking for you but Brother Ash only told us you'd be back the next day or they'd start searching."
"We trusted you would be back in one piece, at least. And you did, but you didn't provide us with any explanation. To think it was the damned Luminous behind this again." Barry said. "So, with the truth serum, how much did you spill?"
Their gazes sharpened intently at Ethan, who lowered his own gaze in shame.
"I recall revealing our names, our strengths, and our greatest weakness."
The Savestre brothers have only one weakness: the more siblings you have, the greater your weakness is. Basically, they are known to be the strongest and fearsome people, yet what the world does not know is their strength relies on them working together at close distance and will only diminish when they are away from their siblings.
The farther they are, the weaker they get.
That is without the curse involved.
"Even the curse?" Ashton observed piercingly.
"Yeah." Ethan responded, in a low guilty tone; "And no. I actually wasn't able to finish telling that part when a kid, I think she was a helper or assistant, interrupted us. I took that chance to escape. The ATAM they used on me were cuffs and for some reason I was unable to use my strength. It's the first I've heard of. So the interrogation never finished."
"You better thank that kid for saving your ass." Desmond made a snide remark.
"And the reason?" Barry asked.
"Reason for what?"
"The reason why you didn't tell us about that; because if you did then this mess wouldn't have happened. We could have prepared. You're aware enough that we're already on full alert, searching for those bastards who murdered our parents 15 years ago."
Guilt bit Ethan so hard from that. He wanted so badly to tell them, to warn them, and to save his brothers. But he just couldn't. If he did then it would mean he would have betrayed who his heart, influenced by the curse of their lineage, screamed for.
This time, Ethan made up his mind to head to a new route and daringly challenged this damned curse.
"The truth is I-I—ack."
Ethan's voice cracked when he felt his throat being sliced from the inside. When he coughed, which felt like thousand needles dragging their sharp points on the flesh of his throat, it took him a good moment before he registered the horrified look twisting in his brothers' faces. He glanced down and saw his blood splattered on the floor. Blood dripping from his chin, Ethan perplexedly tried to talk again.
Ashton already on his feet swiftly covered Ethan's mouth with his bare hand.
"It's okay, Ethan. Shh. No need to speak." Ashton's tone was softer and gentler than earlier, and full of concern.
"Brother Ethan! What's happening?" Theodore exclaimed as he and Noah worriedly rushed beside Ethan.
"Why did brother cough up blood?! Are you hurt?" Noah looked at everyone in the room, frantically searching for an answer. Tears welling up on the corners of his eyes.
Marcin and the twins sat on their spot with stunned expressions whilst Barry's and Desmond's faces were difficult to describe as the scene unfolded. The worry and shock were evident and a tinge of disappointment could be seen. Desmond gritted his teeth as he stood up and stormed out of the room without a word. Barry only breathed an exasperated sigh.
"The curse." Barry began, gaining all of their attentions; "Marcin, Harrison, Hubert, Noah, and Theodore. Listen carefully. Our late father had taught us about the Curse of the Savestre. 'You can only love one person until your last breath.' was what he told us. However, he never mentioned to you, but only us—your 4 older brothers, the gravity of the curse."
"If you betray in any form that person, may it be direct or indirect, you will suffer the consequences." Ashton continued. "And if they die before you, you die with them. That is why I proposed for us to have a pact. To protect ourselves because I know it can add to our weakness, in which we cannot let our enemies know. This curse… should never be underestimated."
Ashton guided Ethan to the couch. "Has the pain settled down? Just nod or shake your head. Don't try to speak."
Ethan nodded meekly as his mouth is filled with iron taste but relieved that the sharp sensation lessened. He couldn't even express how panicked he was just now. He wasn't expecting that to happen when he attempted to 'disobey' the curse.
Ashton sighed.
"Where's Des?" Ashton searched around.
"Walked out." Harrison answered.
Ashton pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ash, I think it's time." Barry said, and Ethan detected the resolve from his eyes.
"I guess it is time… let's head to the basement. Desmond is probably already there."
"But you warned us to strictly not go there at all costs, brother." Theodore, the youngest, said in wonder and confusion; in which he just received a tiny reassuring smile from Ashton.
"Yeah, because it is where our Activators are."