Exposed

The Accident

"Andre?"

"Ki, it's me! It's Andre, your brother," Jae blurted out.

"How?" 

"We came out of the same womb?" Jae joked moving to hug his sister.

More people had gathered in the room, watching Jae and Ki. Nothing made sense to anyone anymore. Jae's grandmother walked into the room and slowly began moving people out. Quietly, the audience filtered out in confused states. Soon, it was just Lumen, Jae, and Ki. Ki was wrapped in Jae's arms. He seemed to be holding onto her as if she'd be lost to him forever if he was to let go.

"Jae-"

"It's Andre," Jae interrupted Lumen.

"Okay, Andre then. What caused this...to happen," Lumen spoke slowly trying to find the right words.

"I remembered. I remember myself. I remember my family," Andre said looking into Ki's eyes.

"Your mother didn't give birth to another child Ja-Andre."

"No, she didn't. She wasn't my biological mother."

"What?" Lumen said shocked.

"How would anyone have missed the fact that you aren't an alpha's son?" Ki asked trying to put the puzzle pieces of information together.

"I am an alpha's son. Our father was the alpha of the Silver River pack. When things got tough, one of us would step in as alpha. We're half kitsune and our blood is closer to the original alpha, so we're a lot stronger. We being our brothers," Andre explained.

"But how could Lumen not know you aren't the last alpha's biological son?"

"Lumen is the former luna's mother. She married into the pack. Lumen wasn't informed of the tradition before..."

Andre fell silent. The memories began flooding in again as he realized why he had forgotten about his sister. Ki and Lumen were looking at him with both concern and worry. 

"There was an accident," Andre recalled, "It's tradition in our pack for the alpha and his luna to go away for a while to have their pup and raise him or her for the first month or so. The tradition exists to bring in the hybrid alpha without the pack finding out. I had met up with my new parents. We were driving to the pack house and-"

"You got hit by that semi-truck. My daughter and the alpha had been crushed in the crash, but you somehow survived. We found you in wolf form. We thought the crash forced you to shift so unnaturally young because you were trying to stay alive," Lumen finished.

"I didn't die because I'm half kitsune. You can only kill a kitsune by cutting off all of it's tails. You can only kill a hybrid wolf by cutting off it's tail," Andre disclosed.

"You were there Ki," Andre revealed, "You tried to stop it from happening. You stood in front of the car and were crushed along with the alpha and luna."

So that's why I can't remember anything, Ki thought. Now she knew why she felt so lonely without him with her. She knew why she was so comfortable around him. If she was 900 years old, then so was Jae...Andre. They'd spent almost a century together. If she was the last girl, that most likely means Andre is the last boy. They are all that's left of their family. 

"so, what do I call you now? What does the pack call you?" Ki asked.

"Andre, I think it's best to continue going by Jae. To change something as significant to you as a name will be difficult for the pack to accept," Lumen pointed out.

"Okay, fine. I'll continue going by the name Jae, but I'm different now that I know."

"But our duty is the same," Ki reminded him, afraid that his sudden revelations would end up hurt everyone here.

Jae pulled Ki into him again. He held her tight in his arms, happy to be reunited with his sister and his memories.

"I'll help you remember. And I'll teach you how to use the abilities of a kitsune," Jae promised.