Aftershocks

Brandon could have warned the kid of the Ethereal pokey tendrils of eternal annoyance, but did he? No, he did not. Instead he would allow said poking while grinning partially sadistic while the kid would fidget about and try to find what tormented him so, much like a three year old. That would go on with him looking for these mysterious pokers, until Niall gave up and went for a hugging you tighter than a vice kind of thing. Brandon wondered what sort of sick enjoyment he got out of it, but at the same time it was cute really, so all he could do was watch as the kid was wretched away from what looked like the proverbial nirvana by his facial expression. Considering that he was now being held ransom, the question he was unable to answer came up, and boy did it leave a proverbial elephant in the room.

This moved onto the kid kinda stammering to himself, as he tried to remember what name they gave him. ”His names Sean, or atleast thats what he says it is.” Aaron answered for Niall, partially lying considering that he suggested the name first, but that was alright. He knew the kid would not argue with that, and it was true, Little blonde Sean nodded, still with a hyperactive Niall latched onto him, perhaps not so used to things latching onto him than the other way around. He was even more confused when he was offered the skittles, which he took only to not seem rude, and popped into his mouth like an unsure kid trying drugs for his first time. ”Can't say you missed much though.' Aaron noted making a spoon float about in the air, doing circles. He noticed the little silver lines on his body beginning to glow minute color of yellow, but nothing too noticeable.

 
       ”I’ve always liked that name...” Niall said with a smile as he watched the kid take a skittle. Niall rubbed his head and nestled against him for a second before letting the kid run free again. Niall looked at Brandon and smiled a little. ”It’s offical, this kid is like my little brother and Gods help anyone who tries to hurt him.” Niall said as he shot the kid a smile. He stood up and went towards Brandon. Niall kept observing the little kid, happily watching the kid with a content smile. Niall completely missed the light show with the spoon, apparently it was supposed to turn into something that would help with the “wing” issue. That prompted something in his mind. What was he going to do about that arm issue. Something had to be done about it.



      ”Missing nothing is good.” Niall said as he hopped up and began stretching out quite a bit. He yawned and started to sway back and forth. With another smile at little blonde Sean he seemed to settle in and relax. He already liked the little guy, he sort of reminded him of himself in a sense. He remembered the markings on blonde Sean’s arm, and suddenly he had an idea. But he didn’t want to share it just yet. It would probably be better off if he asked Arianna about it anyway. Not that he didn’t think that Aaron would lack the answer, but he figured Arianna would be more...receptive...to the idea. In the mean time he popped up behind Brandon and draped his arms over his shoulders and leaned on the Hale as he watched how things unfold.

Brandon could not help but snicker when Niall said that he liked that name, seeing as how the last one that bore the name kinda messed things up, for everyone. It could be put off as Niall being eccentric, or maybe he was being serious about that? Either way, the winged Hale would recline on the counter top, and rest himself a bit, his muscles seeming to ache from whatever had happened last night. He knew that his body was unharmed now, but then again that was not so only around twenty four hours ago, when he had been torn apart by that dark seeming magic Niall employed. It was something dark, and for a moment it seemed like it wasn’t Niall was using such an evil thing, but someone like that bastard that ruined their home.

It was that which ran through his mind like a dagger, disjointing his thoughts, and otherwise ruining what could have been a lazy evening, with Aaron, Niall and his mother; plus the little one. Was Niall going to become an evil guy like Zell, or whatever his name was? While he continued to boil within his little internal worrying, the blonde Sean would chew quietly on the colored candies, perhaps enjoying them a little as a sheepish grin formed on his lips. It seemed that he indeed held a love for brightly colored candies,  his eyes followed the spoon that would spiral for a few seconds, before glowing a little brighter like hot metal, and then in an instant it became what looked like a simple silver ring.

”Yeah, you owe me big time.” Aaron noted letting the ring float over to Brandon who would catch it within his palm. Brandon would smile wryly to Aaron, perhaps alittle pleased that his brother had chosen to help him with his problem. He wasn’t really surprised when Niall threw an arm around his shoulder, and the contact was nice, though it brought up a question.

”Niall…stop me if this is a little intrusive, but what was that with your arm? Not that I…mind the whole darkness thing, and the painful flesh rending, but yeah.” The words may have sounded a little smartassish, but mostly he had no idea how to word the question, so it came out like that. The tone however was a little more unsteady than anything else.

The sound after that brief silence was the sound of flesh hitting flesh, or more like Aaron slapping his palm against his face. If his brother were any stupider, he would have to be considered mentally retarded or maybe something else entirely. ”Smooth move asshole.” Aaron mentally noted to his twin, who was likely more clueless than a kitten staring at a large dog with a taste for felines.

”Wha….?” It did not take him long to figure out that he had said one of the most idiotic things that anyone could say, and he stood there slack jawed. Aaron however was not smug, like he usually was, just…disappointed. Perhaps what the others said was true, he would fuck everything up. Something good happened, and here he went saying the most stupid of things, making it worst for everyone. His hand tightened around the ring that was still in the palm, and the metal bit deeply into the flesh, drawing a small amount of blood.

”I…need to do something elsewhere…I’ll be right back.” Brandon said as quickly as he could and walked away. He did what he usually did when he screwed up, and that was run away from the problem, walking to wherever he could, likely the only room in the whole mansion that was built for him; the work out section. However instead of punching things, he ended up just leaning back against the wall and slammed his fist against the floor, but that only really resulted in small cracks spider webbing out across the rather durable wood.

Granted that this room was made to deal with his monstrous strength anyway, so it would take more than that to break apart, it would take a nuclear strike or something along those lines. ”Great job Brandon..why didn’t you just call him the devil, stomp on his cat and dump his fucking skittles all over the ground.” He said verbally berating himself, metal of the ring biting deeper into his hand, though he didn’t really seemed to notice that at the moment.

Arianna on the other hand was finishing half of the dinner preparations, though she did hear the little misstep. With herself into an intermediary step within the whole cooking experience as a whole, she would take this opportunity to speak up. ”You know trying to mask your feelings won’t work with me.” Arianna added, ducking down, grabbing Niall by the arms and forcibly pulling him up. ”I thought I told you that it was not your fault.” It was obvious she had gathered information before hand, likely from a rather chatty Caster that was watching the whole thing transpire. ”But if I didn’t, It Was Not Your Fault.” She said making sure each word was enunciated this time. ”Now if you excuse me I need to have a word with my son.” She said crushing the irish male in a hug before walking away in her usual spritley fashion.

Aaron watched the strange display of Ethereal energy with half interest, keeping a mental note of what was happening before him. ”You need my help?” He asked raising a single eyebrow, perhaps perplexed that the Irish male would ask him, and the blonde male could only look confused at what was happening before him. ”Fine, I can do that. What do you need exactly, the means to control your arm problem or something else?” He pondered for a second before finishing his questions.”While I know nothing about Ethereal energy except for something about devouring souls, that gives me enough of an idea that I could go on with something” He had heard of magics that devoured the soul before, but most of them were so obscure that they belonged in ancient, and mostly lost tomes of knowledge, and one he was sure was once held by The Crimson Witch Elena Marie.

If anything, Aaron knew that she had a pension for not dying so easily, and he had been following her misadventures more than ever. ”And you shouldn’t worry, I’m know for my confidentiality.” Aaron promised as Arianna began her search for the little winged Hale that had ran off. She had an idea where Brandon was, but then again assuming was something that only worked out half of the time. While her search was going on, Brandon tested out the ring that was now a little red from blood. It slipped onto his finger easy enough, and then the wings kinda went away in a rush of sound.

Brandon felt over his back, which was now wingless, and that brought a brief smile to his face. ”Found you.” Arianna noted stepping up to Brandon, with a rather hard to read expression. ”Ya know, what you said was…..kind of rude. I mean sure you might have had a right to know, but the whole execution was a little off.” By little she meant very off ”But you can’t run away from everything that seems to hard, or when you royally fuck things up. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten that neat scar.” Arianna may have been good with joking about, but she had an inkling of why Brandon fled from the scene. Brandon could only really look at her with that lost puppy expression, perhaps beating himself up. ”Stop it, you’re making me sad now.” She said wrapping him into an embrace.

”I wasn’t even thinking. If I had just kept my mouth shut…I.” He said not really resisting the all consuming hug.

"If you mess up, all you need to do is apologize. If that does not work, either they are too thick to except it and beyond help, need a mana cannon to the face, or some ass kissing is required. Now go back in there, and be happy, maybe with two less wings he might ease up around you, and please do not bring up anything like that again, it only makes things awkward for everyone.” She said pulling away from the hug, and continuing her spritley movement made her way back to the others.

”You want me to seal it off? I could perhaps make a regulator for you, but sealing it off is a stretch.” Aaron admitted, perhaps a little miffed that he knew next to nothing about Ethereal energy. ”It should help you until you learn to control your energy, but that’s all I can do.” He noted Niall about to say something that started with an O but that train derailed as quickly as it came onto the tracks, so there was no real reason to nose into that whole mess.

The little blonde Sean would look up from twiddling with his thumbs when spoken to by Niall. ”i…um, nothing.” He said trying to not seem rude in any way, but found that he was not the most social one in the room. That was when he caught sight of his mother meandering back into the situation, not seeming to miss a beat as was her usual style.

She noted Niall’s change in demeanor and smiled widely. ”He’s fine.” Arianna said flicking a strand of blonde hair from her fringe, and resting on the counter. ”He will probably be back with us when he’s done doing whatever.” and only a minute after that Brandon would make his reappearance, and with no wings too. A silver ring now adorned his middle finger, and nothing was on his back. He looked to Niall and smiled sheepishly, if not a little guiltily. Aaron however was the first to point out the lack of wings.

”Looks like my little trinket worked.” He noted with a slight smirk, slightly beckoning with his telekinetic prowess, and moving Brandon next to Niall. ”Now everyone kiss and make up. If I have to hear anymore melodrama I might vomit.” Aaron said with an overdramatic eye roll, and impish smirk. It seemed that his brother was in a good mood today.

So it seemed that everything was once again back to a modicum of normalcy for the less than normal family. At least, normal enough for Brandon as he felt like Irish male cling to his back like a monkey with that smirk of his which seemed to make things better, or seem that way. Sure he was now once again Niall’s personal jungle gym, but that was well enough, considering that he could hold far more weight than what was being placed upon his back. ”I don’t know, my face is kind of similar to a certain Hale who you’re lounging all over.” Aaron stated with a certain coyness, considering that they were twins, but that was a rather negligible fact in the long run. Brandon would smirk widely and as goofily as usual when Niall kissed his cheek and that seemed to make everything even better for a moment.

Now he had Niall resting chin on his shoulder like a parrot, and Brandon turned his head lightly and placed a peck on the Irish males cheek. All seemed fine within the Hale household, until what sounded like something buzzing caught Aaron’s attention, as it seemed also Niall’s attention. Brandon felt it coming from his phone, and he rarely got calls these days it seemed, and for the most part he would ignore it. ”Great, someone’s calling.” Brandon muttered reaching into his pocket, which….strangely still had his phone intact. When he looked it said that Niall was calling him, and Niall was right here, which made no sense at all. The Hale raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment as if this were some kind of strange sci fi thing. With the confusion mounting, Brandon would answer and press it to his ear. ”Umm hello?”

Brandon did not recognize the voice on the other end at all, and his expression was a slightly confused one. Was it some hooligan that had found Niall’s phone, or someone that knew him, and found the phone? This Josh fellow seemed to know Niall, so the second was correct, and that meant Brandon would give him the benefit of the doubt. Niall sure seemed to perk up when he heard about this Josh guy, and that only added to his curiosity, and Aaron kind of just leaned on the palm pf his hand and motioned about with the fingers of his other hand, as if doing something. He said he was waiting at some park, and that Niall could come get his phone, and Brandon saw no problem with it. ’yeah, we can meet up…or whatever.” Brandon would agree with a half smile as Aaron sighed and with a motion seemed to be moving something.

With all of that done, a shirt flew into Brandon’s face, as well as two sandals so that he could not walk around barefooted. Brandon would smile at his brother, who only rolled his eyes as the two would go on their great mission to get the phone back, and from this Josh dude. The adventure was taken within his crappy truck, and it did not take long for him to reach said destination, with Brandon walking only a step behind Niall who was taking the lead. There was someone that claimed that Niall had saved them and their kid, and that gave Brandon a sense of….pride in his Irish boy. He was being all heroic and things like that, even if they had gotten their asses handed to them by some mecha bitch. When Niall left, the baby would cry but he was used to it with his little bundle of joy.

That was when they came upon the male, someone that was a toothpick and for the most part nerdy looking. Looked like someone that would probably get along with or hate Aaron, depending on how their preference of anime. Considering that was the only thing that was slightly normal about his twin, but then again watching and loving anime was not a…widespread thing for the people to do. Brandon would shake the man’s hand trying not to shatter it with his strength. ”Hey, names Brandon.” He said with the best smile he could muster up, seeing as this was Niall’s friend, and with how Niall’s friends went, he would so not blow his home up.

Brandon had tried to hold back with his monstrous strength, and it seemed that even then it did not go too well. The guy notice his grip it seemed, and he wondered if he had hurt the guy in some way, and he was just hiding that really well. With that gesture finished, Brandon would let his hand return to his side and let the rather awkward cavalcade continue, though he was still wondering who the hell this guy was. Well if he was Nail’s friend, that meant Brandon would have to give him the benefit of the doubt, until he did something that was evil, and he got to turn his face into spaghetti. Not that..Brandon wanted to turn a skill into an Italian dish, but then again things happened. Perhaps he was not an Ethereal monstrosity that planned to blow up expensive mansions.

His mind snapped back to his latest sputtering spell; follow by a question that was like asking if someone as a Nazi during World War 2. Granted no one in their right minds would answer yes to that, Brandon had some pride within his superhuman nonsensical powers. He could feel Niall lean against him, as if this were some kind of unconscious thing that he did when matters grew a little stressful. Aaron would have told him not to say anything except deny his natural powers, but then again Brandon did not really go about his life trying to please Aaron. Brandon would let his fingers bunch up some of the fabric that composed Niall’s shirt, perhaps tick of his that came up. Some could call it ADHD, considering that he occasionally had to keep his fingers busy, and that was what he was doing now.

”I guess you could say I’m a superhuman, metahuman or whatever.” Really the term was thrown around so much,  and the media liked to associate that word with baby eater. This guy was probably one of those guys that were kinda sympathetic with the metahuman race, or perhaps he had a weird fetish thing towards them, not really sure at this point, though if he tried anything; Brandon would shut him up quick. That was when the guy explained that he had watched them in their fight, and seemed to have already know that they were not human to begin with. Brandon would try to laugh, but part of his felt that this guy was…..a bit off. ”Yeah.” He would chuckle weakly.

      ”Well thanks man, I appreciate it!” Niall said as he began to check through his phone. Josh just nodded and began to look very nervous very quickly. Niall didn’t notice though of course, but that’s nothing new. Josh fixed his beanie and his glasses. He cleared his throat awkwardly and he backed away.
 
      ”Well..uh…no problem. Well, I’ll see ya around, take care.” He said as he walked away. Now Niall knew he was either really shy or he was really just a weird guy. It didn’t really matter though, he had his phone back, he had a few messages from a certain someone, and a few missed calls from another particular person. Niall suddenly got nervous at the prospect that that guy might have cone through his phone and seen the stuff he had on it. That would be terrible, there were things on there that Niall didn’t want anyone to see. Primarily his text messages and recent phone calls.
 
      ”Well...that’s that.” Niall said as he slid his phone into his pocket and sighed with a smile. Niall began to walk off towards the white guardrail that blocked off the teir of concrete they were on with some water. From there he could see the large crater that was made by Miss Machina, as he called her. It crossed his mind that he was the one who originally did that…but his energy…it…fixed the damages he did. This only confused him though. Ragnarox consumed the soul and essence of all living things around it. Why did it all suddenly return to normal after it was used? It was a sick and twisted fate for it to heal over…just to be destroyed again.
 
      ”Do you ever wonder what it would be like…to just be human?” Niall asked Brandon as he leaned against the tall standing guardrail. He watched as the sun set just off to his left, as he looked to the crater dead ahead. His mind was racing, this much was given. How on Earth did he go from wanting to be a human to being a ‘monster’ with this kind of power. His heart sunk. My life it the computer version of Pinocchio that turns into Alice in wonderland…the only thing we’re missing is Maleficent and seven tiny men…but Sean was enough attitude and shortness for seven people. Niall mentally scoffed. For a minute he actually though of his life as a Disney movie…it didn’t get past the first ten minutes before becoming impossible.
 
      ”I wanted to be a damn Soldier ya’know?” Niall said. He looked over at Brandon with a contemplative face. He looked from Brandon with a small smirk and he looked back to the crater. I wanted to go to war and defend the country…then I wanted to be a doctor…and then a soldier again.” He said. He was slightly perturbed that he was suddenly just spilling out this pointless information. But it was a little part about him Brandon didn’t know. He smiled…and when he did it looked like it was…bittersweet almost. ”I would always play war with the other kids from the orphanage. I never won though. Being in a Catholic orphanage didn’t help matters either…the second I answered the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They said it was the Devil…that growing up to kill people was bad….then they said it wasn’t my fault…it was my dad’s…” Niall scoffed a little, still the bittersweet smile of memory lane drawn on him.
 
      ”My dad was in the IRA. Mom died in the whole complications of birth. Something about traumatic hemophilia or something like that. Dad didn’t want me, so he left to join the IRA and I was left in the hospital and never got claimed….don’t even know my last name…” He said trying not to cry over it. It kinda felt good though…which is why he wore a genuine smile the entire time. When he was a machine he wanted to cry, he felt like crying…but he could never let it out…he didn’t have a body to do so. ”I spent years looking him up in the orphanage even called and sent letters.…only got one letter from him…my dad…” Niall said as he shook his head, indicating the end result was not good. He clutched his phone in his hand and smiled even wider as he drug an arm across his eyes.
 
      ”Anyway...I read the letter when I saw Zell…and I thought he was a relative…I legit thought it was a mirror…He heard me out and we ended up actually becoming decent friends...until he found out I was an orphan...then he ditched me for a couple days...thought he didn't like me any more...I was wrong. He was clever enough to fool his parents, and took on my life for a little while…and then eventually tricked his mom and dad into keeping us both....hard to believe a good guy like him ended up....never mind... anyways, I wasn’t too old…but then Zell’s dad came to me and asked me if I wanted to save Zell’s life. After all he did for me…I was ready to do anything for him.  ..Papa Atterrius hooked me up to a machine…and befor Iknew it I was inside a computer…but when I tried to come out…he had unhooked my body. I was an artificial intelligence. He saved my body and turned it into a “Mobile platform” where I could sneak into when Zell let me so I could be…almost human again….Then Papa Atterrius died…I was put into the A.V.A.T.A.R….the think on Zell’s wrist…and I was in his head the entire time…The rest is history…” Niall said. He looked over to Brandon and Niall felt guilty…probably looked it to. ”You asked me when we first met…to tell you about myself…That’s it.” Niall said. He left out a few details, but that wasn’t too important. He sniffed and shook his head. Then he looked over to Brandon, praying this wasn’t going to be the last time he saw him. ”Just thought…you deserved to know.” He added in. Now all he could do…was hope for the best…and anticipate the worst.