La Salle Des Diables Of Misfits

Chapter XIX

"All endings are also Beginnings," -The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Mitch Albom.

°°°

Lys POV

I watched as they drug the body from the water. Except it wasn't really a body. The police never found one. It was just a coat. Tobias's favorite coat in fact.

He had gone missing, but none of us bothered to call him or look around. August had been off with his new boyfriend. Clarence had been off looking for August with Grey's help. Cas had been flirting with grils. Ban and Lancaster had been trying out for sports. The others were watching some shitty movie and I had been standing at Tobias's door. My hand raised to knock, but I never did.

The police had come to tell us someone had watched him jump from a bridge.

Now here we all were. Standing as close as we could to one another, staring at the fine cotton coat Tobi loved so much.

"Oh!" An officer said, "a picture."

August limped over and took it. His face grew sad.

"Steele."

And that was it. The last straw. Tears started pooling from our eyes. Every member of the Hellmen family was crying.

"One last thing," an officer said, handing it to August.

August unfolded it as softly as he could.

"A note?"

"Suicide note probably," the officer replied.

"Nope," August replied, "just a note."

"What kind?" Romeo asked quietly.

"A to-do list?" August said, " Tuesday." He read. "Get Romeo some new shoes... Wednesday watch Ban and Lancaster try out for football. Thursday take Lys to the book store. Friday help all the boys with their school work. Saturday take Blue Jay to Sebi's to bake cookies. Sunday help Cas flirt with girls. Monday clean the house..."

August scanned down the page.

"Jesus does he ever take a personal day?"

We all went silent.

"No," Alias replied.

"He was always taking care of us," Romeo added.

"He never had time to do anything for himself," Lancaster finished.

August turned the page over. His eyebrow rose.

"September 10th. Visit Steele. Bring him flowers, Tulips-those are his favorite. Apologies... Again.

Take other siblings out for dinner. Apologies..."

We all watched as a tear slipped down his face. August had never cried in front of us before. He was the strongest Hellmen. We never thought he would cry or even could.

He stuffed his free fist into his mouth and bit down. Tears streamed down his face like a river.

"Tobi?" A voice said. We all turned. Sebastian was standing behind us, his cousin Kit next to him along with his uncle's and parents. "Where's Tobias?" He asked. Scar reached out and grabbed his son's sleeve. "Tell me!"

We were all silent.

"Where is Tobias!" Sebastian screamed. August shook his head and stumbled over, trying to pull Sebastian away. But over our brothers shoulder he saw a jacket floating in the water.

"Sebi," Kit whispered. Sebastian turned to him.

"Don't call me that!"

"Sebastian," Scar whispered, "enough."

Sebastian turned back around.

"This isn't real," he whispered, "Tobias would never. He would... He can't." His voice cracked.

August dropped the letter and wrapped his arms around Sebastian's shoulders.

"Tobias is dead," Bannahell said, "and it's all our fault."

°°°

Under the bridge, just behind one of the legs Steele sat waiting. Bannahell had told him not to show himself until they were all together. He was supposed to explain to his brothers, he was supposed to clear Tobias's name. Now it seemed he never would get the chance.

Steele reached up and wiped away a lone tear. A darkness was planted in his heart, just like it had been in Tobias's. It unflurered it's wings and wrapped it's arms around his soul, trying to choke out the beautiful light of the sun.

Steele wanted so badly to let the darkness do that. To choke out the light and bring about an endless void, but for the sake of the other Hellmen boys, he would hold on and fight against that darkness.

It was selfishness that led Steele to fake his death and blame it on Tobias and it was selfishness that led Steele back to his family.

Tobias gave up everything to be the bad guy, to take the blame for Steele's absence.
Tobias had been selfless. Tobias had been good and kind. Though driven by his jealousy, Tobias had been the better half of Steele and now he was dead.

And it was all Steele's fault.