Aren't we Forever?

Chapter 1: Don't think about It

It had been five years since the Dark War. Nearly six months after it had ended Emma Carstairs and her best friend since childhood, Julian Blackthorn, became parabatai. It was a big step for the both of them, but they were definite in their decision. Four and a half years later, they still remained at the Los Angeles institute; ran by Julian's uncle, Arthur Blackthorn. The parabatai were both seventeen years of age, but soon Julian would turn eighteen, as well as Emma a few months after him. They'd had their fair share of rough times together, and over the years had developed scars, a side affect you could say of training, and battling demons in the night.

~

"C'mon Jules!" Exclaimed Emma,"I know you can do better!"

Emma stared down her parabatai who stood wielding a sword across from her, dripping with sweat and huffing for air. Emma on the other hand seemed fine, as though she could go at it for hours.

"We-we've been at this for hours," said Jules between breaths,"we have to patrol in like two hours, and I'd really like to eat and shower before then."

"Fine, but first you have to do a double-flip off the balcony and land in a crouched position."

Lately they'd been working on different sorts of flips from higher positions. Emma had picked up on them very quickly, Jules however continued to struggle with them, and he'd only just barely been allowed to train again after spending a few days in the infirmary for a broken ankle.

He let out a sigh, but reluctantly climbed his way up to the balcony. He knew that Emma was only trying to help him get better.

"You can do this Jules," she cheered from below,"just go for it! Don't overthink it!"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then did just as his parabatai had told him, he just went for it.

Emma watched him as his eyes fluttered open and his feet left the balcony. He hugged his knees as he did two flips in mid-air and then landed right in front of her. He'd looked so graceful she thought.

Jules looked up at Emma and saw the bright smile that was now plastered on her face, and he couldn't help but smile with her. As he stood she pulled him into a tight embrace.

"That was perfect Jules!" She exclaimed.

He let out a short laugh, then replied,"You were right. I just had to go for it."

She beamed at his response but quickly said,"Ok, you can go shower now. You need it. You stink," she said with a laugh.

He scoffed in response but gave her a smile as she walked out of the training room. He never would've told her but just before he'd flipped off the balcony, he cleared his mind of the task before him, just as Emma had instructed him to do, and instead thought of his parabatai. Of how much closer they'd gotten over the years. People may have thought that they were inseparable when they were twelve, but those people didn't even know how they were nowadays. Every single waking moment of the day they spent together, as well as most nights. They usually stayed in Emma's room those nights, mainly because it was cleaner than his, and was also farther away from his sibling's bedrooms, which made talking ideal since they didn't have to whisper.

As Jules thought about it all, he was suddenly awakened from his thoughts, all thanks to his little brother Tiberius. Well he wasn't so little anymore considering he'd just turned fifteen along with his twin sister, Livia.

"You'd better hurry up," he stated.

Jules then gave him a puzzled look, and Ty being the way he'd always been saw the confusion on his older sibling's face and added,"You've only got about forty-five minutes to shower and eat before you and Emma go out to patrol."

Julian then glanced at the clock that hung above the entrance to the room, he'd been stuck in his thoughts for just nearly over an hour. Without saying another word to his brother, he found himself running down the halls of the institute to his room, leaving Ty all alone in the training center.

He then muttered a curse as he read the time on his bedside clock, now realizing that he had just about 40 minutes to shower, eat, and gear up. Then he shuffled his way into his bathroom and shut the door.