The Art of Living (Or To Die Trying) (boyxboy)

Chapter 20, Origins

So this chapter has been all typed up and more or less done for like... ages, and I just didn't get around to proofread it until like... now. I suck, and for that I apologize. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy it, even though it took me forever to post it!

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My sister was killed by the same people I sided with. By the people who considered me family—how ironic isn't that? They took away part of my family, and I replaced that lost part with the ones responsible? ...or was that the very reason why?

Suddenly I start to doubt everything I've ever thought. Vivian did mention that he wasn't sure himself if the baby was an accident or if it had been part of the agreement all along, and even though I didn't see a reason why that would be before, I actually do now. To make up for the family they took from me?

The hunters didn't kill my sister because they hated her. They killed her because it was their job. It's what hunters do. Only reason they killed her was because someone – the Council – hired them. I doubt the hunters had any idea of just who the job came from though. Or maybe they did? What do I know...

Point is that the hunters received information about a member of our kind who had gone native, so to speak. She was out of control, acting recklessly even by our standards, which in the eyes of the hunters must have made her a significant threat to the humans in the area. Can they be blamed for wanting to protect their own? Can they be blamed for taking out people who prey on them, marks who pose an imminent danger to humans as a race? Because that's what all of us, the People, do, isn't it?

I chose to side with them, because ultimately, it wasn't their fault that my sister died. She may have died at the hunters' hands, but the decision had been made by the Council—by members of the People, my own race. One of our greatest crimes is to kill a member of our own kin, even I know that... Yet they sold her out, discarded her when she became too much to handle. Can they be blamed for that? Were they just protecting their own, as well? I guess that's what they like to tell themselves.

-"Do you get why I was so angry with you?" Daz asks in a low voice after several minutes of silence. At least he was understanding enough to let the news sink in before trying to continue our conversation.

-"Because I befriended the people who killed our sister?" I state, though it comes out more like a question. I look up to meet his gaze, suddenly feeling very tired. I wasn't prepared for this.

He's silent for a while, just looking down at me with his own, sad eyes. It seems he doesn't really know what to say. From what I am able to read off of him it's like he's at some sort of a crossroad, where he either ventures forward and just tells me whatever is on his mind, or he keeps silent and tries to protect me from it, like he has been doing up until now. Whatever it is that he's thinking, obviously it's something I won't like again.

-"You don't remember much about the Council, right?" he eventually asks, and needless to say, that wasn't what I had expected.

-"Nothing more than what you just told me."

-"Right..." he mumbles, hesitating. "Who do you think are part of it?"

-"The higher-ups," I state. "That's what you just said."

-"Yeah," he nods, again seeming very hesitant. "From the most prominent families."

-"Yes. And?"

Again, he's just silent, staring down at me with even sadder eyes, waiting for me to connect the dots, though I'm not sure where he's going with this. Does he mean that I know the people on the Council? I'd be surprised if I didn't, since I was obviously pissed at them. What does this have to do with him being pissed at me though? Does he mean that if I knew them, I could have stopped them?