Ephemeral

Benign

Xavier had still not heard back from his associate that he had sent to check in on his sisters. It was concerning that it had been a couple of days with complete radio silence. It wasn't as though they were as skillful as the contracts he would sign and hire from the Compound, but this particular associate of his was close to him. They had known each other for many, many years, and his associate never failed to report back to him or get his job completed.

It wasn't just concerning...it was incredibly concerning.

The most he had received was that Arianna has woken up and that Bella was in stable condition. He hadn't once heard anything other than that. This associate of his was meant to report the night of but seemingly vanished from existence –

There was something...off that Xavier needed to investigate.

Xavier shuffled his legs, shuffling the heavy book that was positioned on his legs. He looked down at it, seeing two girls that were in multiple pictures inside the book. In his lap contained a photo album that was opened to display the entire normal lives of his sisters – after they had been taken away from Faye, of course.

It wasn't as if their mother was ever the sentimental type, and collecting memories in the form of pictures to remember later was never her forte. Don, his father, also never kept any pictures of him, Zander, or Aidan. They only pictures his father did keep were of his Vera – his lover, and also Zander's and Aidan's mother.

Photos were of moments people cherished...

Zander, Aidan, and himself...they were never cherished by their parents.

Xavier was going through the pictures and spotted two boys that were in a multitude of them with Arianna – his eyes darted to one of the captions with the three of them. 'Jack, Chris, Ari -- 9th grade track meet'. In the picture, Arianna was holding up a gold medal with a gentle smile on her face, signifying that she had won her event. The two boys were performing victory poses in the background, the dark haired boy giving a subtle peace sign and the lighter haired colored one was blowing a kiss to the camera and sticking his butt out.

They look like good friends.

Xavier's thumb went over the protective film of the picture.

They looked like good friends.

"I ruined this..." Xavier spoke darkly, looking over at the multiple pictures. In every single one on this page, the three friends were joking around and having a good time. Xavier could speculate that the photographer was Frederick, Arianna's father. "I ruined this, didn't I...?"

He turned the page and it displayed Isabella and Arianna before heading into a horror film at the movie theatres in one section, and another of the four of them swimming in a river. Another had his sisters and Frederick gathering around the fire pit that was in the back of their home. They were all experiences that Xavier never received when he was their age – he was expected to be the heir to the Mathis name...he was the prodigal son of the family.

The regime that Don had him on made sure that he had absolutely no free time. It was always accompanying him to Don's 'work functions' where Xavier learned at the very young age of six to not be afraid of blood or death. It might have been why he was unable to comprehend the gruesomeness that his family was responsible for until very late in life – it might have been why he was keen on keeping his family together.

He wanted these moments with his family --

"I ruined this," he spoke and then shook his head. "I had to take it all away because I...I was selfish...!"