Family reunions are weird

Arcane had not been this state when Asha and Vaughan had left to rescue Cristian, the cities overrun with Oxen corp and buildings left ruinous. The devastation was evident, with little to no sign of any species other than humans and oxen corp uniform clad soldiers. Vaughan and Asha had been travelling for just over a week to get back home and though they knew Ox Corp had been progressive in their efforts to roll out the antidote, nothing could have prepared them for their return to Arcane.

"You think anyone is left?" Asha muttered as she walked along side Vaughan, her fingers playing with the bottom of her bow whilst her other hand held onto the strap of her backpack.
"Don't start thinking doom and gloom, The guys will be fine and i'm sure the deaths and Matashina's are all hunkered down coordinating things. "Vaughan responded plainly, though he was doubtful given how many Oxen Soldiers were crawling about the city. Even the outskirts of town seemed ghostly compared to the life that swept through the streets before they had left. It was odd and a little more than concerning.
"I can't wait for a decent bed and a hot shower." Asha moaned as she kicked a stray rock, glancing up as the sound of Vaughan's voice grumbling under his breath.
"oh, for fucks sake," he snarled, letting out a gruff sigh as he peered ahead of the track, where the crest of the hill would have normally displayed the first sign of the Dimitru mansion. Only it was not there at all. No large looming tower, only an open skyline. He quickened his pace as Asha jogged a few steps to catch up, struggling to swing her backpack out of the way and draw out an arrow for her bow.
"Do you think?," Asha began, though Vaughan ignored her, picking up his pace into a jog towards the Dimitru mansion. It didnt take them long to get to the location, though as they did, both seemed to slow to a walk as Vaughan glanced back at his sister.
"It's gone...the whole lot is gone!"
----

Poking the wood of her bow into the ash and debris, Asha screwed her nose up as she searched for any sign of life or lack thereof in the rubble. Vaughan walked through the remains of the kitchen, all but a few remnants of the oven and a cast iron pot left behind. The whole place had been burnt to the ground and yet so far, neither sibling could find any sign of the others. Were they alive? Asha had mentioned feeling some sense of the boys, but as they searched to find any sign of life following whatever had happened to their home, there was little confidence that they would find them in one piece. If there was one thing that they could hope for, it was that perhaps they would find the brothers at their club or one of the few remaining hideouts.

Romal stood slap bang in the middle of the city, his form hidden in the gloomy shadows of a back alley. He was a canvas to the blood that dripped down his leather jacket, a puddle of it surrounding his feet, where a freshly mutilated Ox Corp soldier-or what was left of it lay. Romal was always crueler when drunk, his ‘humanity’ toned down, and tonight he was plastered. He had tortured this one slowly before killing it, and he’d enjoyed every second of it.
“Well, you’ve made a mess,” he grumbled at the lump of flesh beneath him as he wiped his bloody palms on the damp wall beside him, the embers from a recently lit cigarette illuminating his crimson speckled face as he sucked in the fumes. “But..eh, I’ll forgive you, I look good in red,” he smirked, taking a swig from a flask he pulled from his pocket.
He knelt down, pocketing the flask so that he could take out a knife, quickly removing the tracker that he knew all Ox Soldiers had implanted, before he grabbed the man's skull, yanking his body into an arched position, twisting the head in a full circle, not once but twice as he sheared it clean off of the body, removing any possible connections with the nano machines he had learned that some of them had as those were also traceable, “That’s better,” he chuckled to himself, drop kicking the head into a nearby dumpster.

This was his routine. Time was meaningless since Ox ruined his life, destroying any and all will Romal had left to continue. Hope was the only thing forcing him to stay now. She had become a glorified babysitter for her drunken pathetic ‘uncle’ and he was under her watch, but not even Hope could watch him all the time. And this is what he did whenever she couldn’t. He’d go off with a death wish into the city, he’d find himself a soldier and he would kill them, loudly, obviously and usually in the open. God knows how he’d not been caught out yet, but luck seemed to be annoyingly on his side.

When he killed them he’d drag them all the way back to the remains of the mansion, and that is what he did, yanking the man up by his boot so he could drag the bloody remains along the back streets all the way back to what was once his grand home with those he loved, yet now it was nothing but a shell- just like him.
He was oblivious to the signs of his siblings as he walked through the breeze swung gate, his eyes on the ground, voice low as he mumbled his usual pain filled rambling to his headless friend, names of the fallen issued in hisses, his eyes glistening with the rageful tears that no longer fell, simply stayed trapped within him, drowning him in a way that he’d never be saved from.

It wasn’t until he was halfway through the ashen courtyard on the way to an outhouse that he paused, the runes on his back sizzling in a way that they only did when one of his kin were nearby. “Yeah…you’re fucking imagining it,” he cursed himself, having convinced himself many times in a drunken or drugged up state that his family had come back for him, only to find out it was a self inflicted delirium.
Yet something was different, and it made him drop the body with a thud, Romal’s head cocking as he fell totally still and silent, the purple river spreading throughout the runes of his entire body in a way that he couldn’t deny or ignore.
And then he heard it- far footsteps in what would have been the main house- listening harder he frowned, squinting into the darkness until he could pick up faint voices without clarity.

It could have been kids, or a homeless one looking for shelter, it could have been druggies looking for a new den- wouldn’t be the first time. But he couldn’t ignore the runes, they were undeniable.
“Oi!” he shouted, the slur more obvious than he’d noticed in solitude, suddenly feeling drunker now that he had to focus. “Which one?... which one is it?” he muttered to himself, leaving the corpse forgotten as he started making his way over, clumsily jumping what would have been the library wall. “You’re home eh?” he shouted out, a laugh on his tongue, was it bitter, hurt, both? He didn’t know, why haven't they called? Why didn’t he know they were back?
“Who’s in there?”

Kicking a piece of brick out of the way, Asha stepped through what remained of the kitchen doorway to where Vaughan was sifting through charred items that were barely recognizable.

“Somehow I don’t think you’re going to find anything useful in all that mess,” Asha pointed out as Vaughan stood back upright with a hefty sigh.

“I was looking for any kind of...well shit I don’t know, something to show the place was still lived in at least up to the point of the fire.” Looking across the scorched rubble and what still stood as a reminder of the mansion’s foundation walls, Vaughan narrowed his gaze in annoyance and concern. It was impossible to find whatever had started the fire in the destruction though he could at least rule out the use of any kind of ignition fluid. Not a skerrick of sharp gasoline smell could be smelt throughout the site. It meant that at least by his own assumptions, this was not the doing of Oxen Corp.

Asha glanced down as she wiped her hands on her jeans, smearing soot across them in finger marks as she tried to clean her hands. She stopped however as she felt the back of her neck prickling as her rune seemed to pulse.

“Vaughan…” She murmured as she glanced about with curiosity. Vaughan was busy prodding about, returning a ‘mhm?” amidst concentrating on his own task.
“Someone is near,” Asha responded, Vaughan glancing up and across to her with a nod of acknowledgement.

“can’t be all bad news then.” He replied, standing up and wandering back through the rubble whilst Asha took to looking from out of the ruins, hoping to lay her eyes on one of the brothers. To Vaughans surprise, as he stepped carefully through what was left of the main living room, the stench of death wafting up from an ugly sight.
What remained of several bodies was severe putrefaction, none of them having any signs of being victims of fire but instead a torturous death. Some were older than others and from what he could see in the mess of maggot blown limbs, all seemed to be from Ox corp. prodding one with the toe of his boot, Vaughan was about to start digging for more clues when Asha called his name again, a little more excitable than the last. And then it came, the undeniable and miserable holler from their brother.

“Romal!?” Asha called as she scrambled over a fallen wall to get toward the sound of approaching footsteps, though as she reached the old threshold, She paused as she looked out at Romal approaching the house, a body sprawled out behind him as he seemed to mutter under his breath. She couldn’t help the feeling of sadness that drew over her like a wave, the sight of her brother in a stupor as he clambered across the old library wall. She turned off to intercept him, just as Vaughan appeared across the ruins from her, the two of them heading to where Romal was, a cynical laugh emanating across the walls.

“Rom,” Vaughan called out as he took a slight lead from Asha, stepping around a pillar in time to see Romal appear.
“Jesus Christ you’re a mess,” Vaughan noted, looking Romal over as he watched his brother teeter across the rubble covered in blood.
“Hey!” Asha called out, appearing a few steps beside Vaughan.

Romal wasn’t putting much thought into things as he stepped over some burnt beams, already letting go of the notion that his siblings were here, even though it seemed a sure thing only seconds before. He was a fool to think they would be back, after all what was left for them here. They wouldn’t willingly return into a life where they would be surrounded by Ox corp and death, how stupid did he think they were. No his mind was playing tricks on him again, he was wasted and that’s all that it was.
But then he heard it, his name. Asha was there and she was calling him. What was she doing here? He lifted his head, his mismatched eyes brightening with interest as his gaze followed the direction of her call. He picked up on not one, but two sets of feet navigating through the rubble then, and he paused, a slight look of suspicion and confusion on his face as he waited for them both to show themselves. He knew they’d remained together, he was the only one left without the company of a sibling, and that wound had been a stinging one for many years, he’d often mulled over what he would do when he saw any of his siblings again, but now he was about to be faced with at least two of them he felt like he didn’t know how to react.

And just like that- they both appeared in his eye line, so close to him. Vaughan was closer, and Romal cocked his head at them, wondering whether Vaughan had positioned himself between the pair on purpose, some sort of message to him that he didn’t trust him, or was it an instinctual thing to protect Asha. Did he trust him that little…nah he already knew the answer to that one.

He stood still, drinking them both in, looking for new injuries, looking for damage, for any visible information he could find to try and understand why they had been gone for so long, yet he didn’t see anything obvious, his gaze moving from Asha to Vaughan when his older brother addressed him for the first time in years with a comment that made Romal scoff, his shoulders shrugging in acceptance of it, as Asha took to a more gentle greeting.

“Hello, Asha,” he replied, his voice betraying the hardened exterior he was failing to portray. He didn’t know what he was feeling. So many emotions were assaulting him all at once that it was overwhelming. Relief, rage, resentment, abandonment, happiness, betrayal. He simply didn’t know how to react to either of them, it drew him back to the last time he’d seen them, in the grief fueled days that followed the death of his family, and that was something he’d never anticipated. In fact he felt like turning around and running then, to pretend this wasn’t happening so he could lock himself away in the miserable life he’d been living in, without having to face his family or himself. But it was too late, they’d seen him, they’d find him. Why wouldn’t the world just fucking open up and swallow him already?

“You’re surprised by that?” he finally replied to Vaughan’s comments, still not making a move to approach either of them. “How am I supposed to look?... You two look great by the way, I’m happy for you.”

Perhaps he had expected Romal to simply come in on a blind attack, or rather just about anything other than the way both Asha and Vaughan greeted a blood-soaked Romal who seemed to be just as standoffish as them as Vaughan felt with his younger brother. There was a marked difference in their tones, Asha’s cheery yet concerned voice in contrast to Romal and Vaughan who seemed more to be convoluted with spite, sarcasm and perhaps a little strain. It didn’t bother Vaughan when Romal didn’t immediately respond to his mention of him looking like shit, At the best of times, Romal and Vaughan were awkward in their interactions. Vaughan didn’t need to be any closer to his brother to know how inebriated he was, the hunch of his shoulders and marked slur as he said hello to Asha.

Asha didn’t wait for additional conversation as Romal greeted her and gave a shrug. Despite the rubble in her way, she seemed to glide over it with ease as she made her way to Romal. Ignoring the fact that he was covered in dirt and blood, she wrapped her arms around him as she reached him, pulling herself to him in a warm embrace. Vaughan couldn’t help but smile a little at the display, watching as Asha held onto Romal for a long moment before stepping slightly back as she held onto his arms, looking him over.

“I wouldn’t go lighting a flame near your breath anytime soon. I missed you, we saw the city, is everyone here?” she enquired. Pausing when he answered Vaughan, Asha frowned and glanced back at Vaughan for a moment.

“Don’t start.” Vaughan returned, happy to accept Romal throwing sarcasm and vitriol towards him but there wasn’t a moment he would let Asha take it.
“I had to go for Criston, Asha came with me. You weren’t…well aren’t in a position to have come and Nathaniel and Caine weren’t either.”
Vaughan was curt with Romal in his explanation but not for the fact that he was angry or had ill will towards his brother. He could see Romal’s suffering ooze from his pores the same way the smell of liquor left his tongue when he spoke.

“Can we not? Please?” Asha interjected, turning back to look Romal in the eyes as she still held onto his arms at the elbows.

Once upon a time Romal would have taken Asha in with open arms, squeezed the life half out of her with joy, but now he stood awkwardly as she wrapped his arms up in the kind of hug that he could have done with a hundred times since they’d left him. His arms hang loose by his sides, the scent of his sister mixing in with his own stench. Asha had left him too, though Romal doubted that she had much of a choice in that, yet would it have killed her to pick up a phone, or send a letter to him? No. He was angry, but more than that he was hurt, and feeling suddenly vulnerable when faced with affection from the siblings he’d felt abandoned by.
Yet, Asha was stubborn as ever and prolonged the hug, holding on until Romal relented, which she knew he would, the man gently wrapping his arms around her, pressing her into his chest for a few seconds before she pulled free of him, Vaughan’s smile not missed as Asha held his shoulders, now examining him.

Romal mustered a smile daring to allow himself a fleeting moment of relief until the words “Is everyone here?” Romal's smile dropped. A lot had happened since they left, and not everyone had made it through, and those that had were different now, more broken.
But before he answered her Vaughan stole his attention in a dismissive order, Romal’s eyes lifting tiredly from his sister to look at Vaughan with an unreadable expression.
The explanation was given, and Romal softly shook his head, not having the energy to respond angrily about the fact that they’d left without a word and he’d heard nothing from them since, instead he offered the usual sarcasm. “Thank you for keeping us updated. The postcards were appreciated.”

Asha brokered the peace, moving to distract his gaze, Romal slowly looking back to her after watching Vaughan for a moment longer. He’d spent all this time feeling abandoned by them, wanting to know where they were, and now they were back and he was unsure of himself, unsure of them.
“Well…there isn’t much of a home to come back to I'm afraid” he nodded his head towards the ruin that surrounded them, trying and failing to find humour in the fact that Kenshu had obliterated their home- not that he was going to tell them that.
“Some of the outhouses are still usable…the ones that don’t have bodies in them,” he added, not caring enough to hide his hobby or Ox hunting.
“I’m sure if you say pretty please Hope nicely she will put you up in the apartment building she owns or hell you can even join Coran’s merry band of misfits and become a soldier for the resistance,” he snorted, “But I wouldn’t get too invested in any of it. We’ll all be dead soon enough.”