Of course.
I remember now.
Hunter, my brother, a year older than me. He was excellent with weapons as I was, but quiet and secretive and sullen. He really only talked to me.
Allison Chase, the mother of Lilly and Hunter Chase, died in assassination in the Peruvian army. The father, Diego Chase, died mysteriously. Foul play is suspected. Diego Chase, however, taught his children to fight and defend themselves, living in a more dangerous part of Peru. Allison Chase was the general of the Peruvian army and Diego Chase a bounty hunter.
The two where parents, however, to two children: Lilly Adolfa-Alicia Chase and Hunter Andre-Miguel Chase. Lilly was a beautiful little girl who had the features of her mother but the olive skin tone and thick, dark hair of her father. Her brother was a handsome young man who was almost a replica of his father, with dark wavy hair and more hazel eyes.
The two children where left alone often, but always had the orders to stay safe while they where the parents where gone, which they almost always where. They used illegal weapons such as knives and guns to "practice for fighting", as Diego Chase has protested. When they weren't doing that or running through the dangerous parkours or obstacle courses their parents constructed for them, they where making up games to play. Lilly was a very clever and ambitious girl, with a little stubbornness on the side. Hunter was sullen and quiet but very smart. The two children where practicing at home, home being a hidden Victorian-style mansion in the Peruvian woods, when disaster struck.
Investigators found, after the house being seemingly abandoned for months and their parents dead, that the two children had dissapeared from any sight. This was further investigated, and they where seemed to have been kidnapped. However, they where never found.
I remember a little bit now.
I remember being alone for most of my life, while mom was in the war and dad was out on his "missions". I was alone, except for Hunter.
He cared for me.
He loved me.
He was my only friend for some time.
Then our parents died, but it wasn't very different. Until we were sent to live with Aunt Rosa.
I grip one of my knives. I knew I had thrown one before. When we practiced outside I threw straight and swiftly. I didn't have much time, though, because of the kiss.
It confused me too much. I thought he liked Thalia at first, and then he told me he cared about me, and then he seemed to like Thalia again, and then... Then he kissed me.
I'm still buzzing with warmth from it, but I'm also trying to process the fact that I have a brother. And that Lolia is Hestia's sister.
Where is he. I think. I suddenly stand up, knocking over a stack of torn books. The others turn to me in surprise, a bit delayed, probably from shock about their own families. "Lilly?" Tallis asks, concerned.
"I-I'm going outside." I say, hearing the slight waver on my voice. Hestia nods to me, probably understanding since she's probably trying to process her lineage.
I turn sharply and walk outside the roughly-cut door, and notice that Tallis stands up to follow me, but Hestia pulls him back down. I don't turn back, and am almost able to ignore the yells from the townspeople. They've become less frequent, and it seems they're getting used to us. They still hate us, but they're probably used to us by now.
Yuchi is nowhere to be seen, and even if he did show up (since he never seems to be dead)
I walk between the two buildings, a small bakery and a small cafe, and enter the familiar path into the forest. I plan on going back to the river.
I walk quickly, because the whole forest seems to have an eerie feeling.
Will anything ever be the same? I find myself thinking. I shake my head, and continue walking to the rock that I will sit on.
Right as I sit down, I hear a sound. It sounds like a way faint gunshot, on the other sound of the river. I blink, suddenly very alert. I rest my hand on one of my gleaming black handled, silver-bladed knives and sit tensely. Suddenly, I hear a growl, and the sound of a footstep break a stick. I jump up, and hear the sharp crack of a gunshot, a sharp pain in my shoulder, and a yelp behind me.
I whirl around, dying with the pain in my now-bloody shoulder, and see a Shadow that looks like a huge, black dog fall down behind me and disintegrate.
I turn, dizzy with pain, and see a boy running towards me with a hard look on his face, before I pass out.
~
"Wake up, please..."
My eyelids flutter open. "Tallis?" I murmur.
My eyelids open fully, and I see the boy who shot the Shadow on his knees, leaning over me. He looks relieved. I stay down, studying his face.
He is good-looking, unmistakably, but not in a way that would make me attracted to him for whatever reason, though any other girl would be. He has olive skin and mid-neck length wavy dark, dark brown hair. His eyes are slanted slightly and the color of gold.
I blink. He smiles, and pulls me up. "Are you okay?" He asks.
I nod, then shake my head as the pain returns to my shoulder. "No. My shoulder hurts." I say flatly, flexing it.
He frowns. "Sorry." He says. "I panicked a bit when I saw the Shadow about to bite your head off." He rolls his eyes.
"Thank you." I say carefully. I look over him. He's about an inch and a half taller then me, maybe a tiny bit taller then Tallis, and is wearing a dark leather hunting jacket a lot like my own. He wears dark leather boots like my own, also, but his more in a hiking boot form unlike my own, combat shaped.
"What's your name?" He asks me. He has a slight, familiar accent.
"Lilly." I say. He looks at my shirt. "Water?" He asks, smiling slightly.
"Yeah." I nod.
"Cool. A bit more well-known than my own." He says. I blink. "You have an element?"
He flips two golden metal guns in his hands. "Metal." He says.
My eyes widen. Is he... He couldn't be! Could he? "Um, what's your name?"
He kind of half smiles, like he would when we were kids.
"Hunter Chase."
~
"Did you already visit the Attic?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I took my guns from the Metal podium." He replies.
"Have you met Yuchi?" I ask him.
"Ugh. Of course. What a jerk." He replies, making a sick gesture.
I laugh. We've been going on like this for about an hour, after we found each other again. I wonder if the others are wondering where I've gone.
We're sitting on the big rock and eating bread with cheese that he had. Apparently he visited the cafe a few times, and apparently he had 98 dollars left.
"Wait, have you met Clara?" I ask him, my deep blue eyes wide.
He shakes his head. "A man named Miguel. I met him with two others, Yuchi and a little girl called Lolia."
"Lolia! She's one of my friend's little sister! She's with us now!"
"Yeah, we traveled together for a little while, until Yuchi decided he wasn't Italian anymore and threatened me. Lolia didn't know, but I ran off. Who knows what Yuchi told her."
"And you've been traveling alone ever since?"
"And I've been traveling alone ever since. But, no matter how far away I try to get from this town, I somehow always end up here again."
I sigh, and hand him the book that had been in my jacket. "Here. It explains about our family."
He raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" I already know about our parents. Mom was the general of the Peruvian army and dad was a bounty hunter."
This makes me mad a little. Why did he keep his memory and I didn't?
"Well, what matters is that we're together now." I say flatly. He nods.
"Now, why don't we go back to where I'm living?"
He nods. "Alright. Don't expect me to get all lovey-dovey with your friends, though."
I smile. "Of course not. They're going to accept you, whether they like it or not anyways."
"Just how I remember you." He says with a laugh.
We walk back to the Library, talking all the way, and enter. Everybody looks up, still reading, and gape. Hestia has kind of this look on her face that makes me want to puke a little. (But not as much as it did with Yuchi, now I understand how it feels)
"This is my brother." I say, and smile. "He's the element of Metal."
