"Hey, sorry to interrupt y'all's bubble bath, but your sister is like... Freaking the hell out." I glance up as York comes into the bath room Ivan and I still sit in, sneering at us like a jealous little kid.
Ivan lets out a deep breath and leans his head back, sinking lower into the water, making his stance on leaving clear. Guess he wasn't interested in continuing our bonding outside the tub.
I groan, and get out of the water, picking my clothes up and trailing after York, who has already strutted off.
"What's she freaking out about?" I ask as I pull my shirt on over my head.
York shrugs a little. "She just keeps saying she's claustrophobic being underground and needs out. Aster said if you can't calm her down, he's going to sedate her." I groan, half tripping as I pull my pants on over my still slightly wet legs.
As we exit the training room, I can already hear my sister screaming and slinging insults at whoever was unfortunate enough to be stuck in a room with her.
"Where the hell is my brother?!" I hear her screeching. I rub at the bridge of my nose in frustration and rush down the hallway to the spare operation room where she was being kept.
"Good luck." I hear York grumbling from behind me as he hangs back. God, she was being such a pain even York wasn't interested in the drama of it all.
"Jazzy what the-" I sucked in a breath and duck as a metal chair is flung at my head as soon as I entered the room. I glare at my sister, who is huffing and puffing, her face red and flushed. "What the hell is the matter with you?" I ask as I approach her.
"Why am I still locked up here, …? I told you people what you wanted to know, now let me go!" She stomps her foot like a child, and I roll my eyes. Tragic to see she never outgrew that habit. My eyes shift over to Aster, who is standing, holding Tabitha by the elbow as she trashes around in his grp.
"And what the hell is her problem?" I ask, gesturing towards her.
Aster looks down. "She's just being difficult." Aster grumbles. "Restrain your sister, Zero, or I will. I'm going to take her to a separate room for now."
"Why do you keep calling him that?!" Jazzy yells, grabbing at her hair. I furrow my brow at her very erratic behavior. She'd always been a bit spoiled, but never to the point of throwing actual hissy fits. "His name is …!"
"No, it's Zero." I sigh and shake my head at the petty bickering between my sister and my mentor. It was clear they wouldn't ever be getting alone.
"Aster, can you please, give me a minute alone with my sister?" I ask him. He glances at me for a long moment, but eventually nods, and leaves the room, dragging Tabitha with him.
"Please, let me out of here." Jazzy begs as soon as Aster is out of the room, closing the distance between us and grabbing my arm with both of her hands.
"You know I can't do that, Jazzy." I say, shaking my head. "You know too much right now; we can't have you running around telling our secrets to everyone."
"But I won't!" She yells, and I bite my tongue before I snap at her to stop acting like a spoiled fucking brat. "Let me out!" She demands, and I finally snap.
"Jasmine, why are you acting like a child right now?" I snarl. "Are you forgetting that you literally murdered someone?" I ask, glaring down at her. "Did you think that was just forgotten about?" She flinches a little, like she had in fact thought it had been forgotten. "You don't get to whine and complain and throw a hissy fit. You made your bed, now fucking lay in it. If they tell me you're freaking out like this again, I won't even try and calm you down. I'm just telling them to sedate you, we clear?" I ask her, and she nods a little. She turns around, crossing her arms and sniffling.
I roll my eyes, and storm out of the room, slamming the door behind me.
"Ooo, big scary brother." York teases as I come back into the meeting hall.
"Oh, shut up." I grumble, plopping into my chair and closing my eyes. "God. How did my little sister end up being so fucked up? She used to be so sweet, innocent." I say, shaking my head.
York laughs, short and curt sounding. "You died, idiot. Losing a loved one is sometimes enough to send someone off the deep end. And if her childhood was anything like yours, I imagine she was already kind of fucked up to begin with." I press my lips together, feeling guilty for some reason for dying. I wonder what my sister would be like if I hadn't died for that girl. If I had stayed with her and protected her like she needed.
Would she have gone to college, met a nice guy? Gotten a good job, gotten married and had a couple of kids? That was definitely the life I had always pictured and wanted for her. Away from our parents and somewhere safe with someone who cared about her. I was still having a hard time imagining her killing someone, and over something that may not have even been real. For so long she had to have been working on pure faith, pure rumor and speculation. I was a little impressed by her dedication to be honest, but I could never say that. It would just confuse her more if I acted even a little proud of her for being so loyal.
I shake my head, clearing those thoughts from my head. There was no point in dwelling on what could be. I couldn't change the past, only work on securing a future for Jazzy. A normal future.
"Hey, Jake just showed up." I glance up as Dylan slides into the room, wearing nothing but swim trunks and flip flops. I raise my eyebrow, but don't comment.
"So, we're just waiting on three now." I say. York nods, crawling up on the table to sit. "What exactly are we going to talk about in this meeting?" I wonder out loud.
"We're going to see who knows what. About this portal chodes, about when and how Henry got taken, and where he might be." York replies, his lips curling into an evil little smile. "Personally, I can't wait to meet these guys." He sighs and flops back on the table. "I wish they would have taken me instead. I would've been so much more fun than Henry." I roll my eyes and shake my head.
"Hey, Zero, mind if I talk to you for a second?" I look up to where Aster appeared suddenly, in the hallway leading to his room. He looked a lot calmer now than he had before, so I figured it wasn't to lecture me about my sister again.
"Sure." I nod and stand up, following after him. "What's up?" I ask once we're in his ever-dark room with the door closed.
"Zero, we need to talk about what to do about your sister and her friend." I furrow my brow. Guess I was wrong about not getting another lecture. "The most logical solution is to wipe their memories." I nod a little.
"Well shit, it seems like you already have it all figured out." I say, shrugging. "What's there to talk about?"
He sighs, and motions for me to sit down. I listen, getting a little worried about the serious expression on Aster's face.
"See the thing is, the whole reason your sister started this insane mission, was because she missed you. She knew you were still alive and went after you."
"Okay..." I say, not getting his point.
"So, if I just erase her memories of Reapers and all things alike… there's a very good chance she'll revisit old ways and start her search for you all over again."
"What are you suggesting right now, Aster?" I ask, my heart hammering in my chest. I already had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say, but I was seriously hoping I was wrong.
He sighs and folds his hands together tightly. "Zero, if you want your sister to ever have a chance of living a normal, happy life, you need to let her forget you, entirely."
That was exactly what I had been hoping he wouldn't say.