Chapter 61 - Just Like Their Fathers : Part 1

Down south of this city, there was an endless forest stood by. It was surrounded by a thick veil of trees, hauntingly staring at the complex nearby. Rumours had it that if you ever found yourself inside, there was no guarantee for you to come out.

Cain was too busy with his schoolwork to actually give a damn about the rumours. Though, he was still careful not to go there since his house was literally beside the forest. He could not move out of the house anyway, he did not have enough money, and his mother was still away.

Or maybe he was in denial, and maybe he wished his mother would come home.

He did his best to push the thoughts away.

As for now, the matured teen was busy stomping down the hallway with papers in his hands. The sun almost died as the last of its light went through the glass partition walls that surrounded the school.

His wavy-length black hair was tied into a bun; the locks of it bounced around as he speedwalk through. His white button-down shirt supported his hair to stand out even more.

He was just got home when he got the call from the principal. He was asking the teen to pick up the student council president for a meeting. Apparently, the principal could not contact the said president and Cain was forced to come to school again.

He stopped at a black door and knocked a few times. He took a deep audible breath and opened the door just to see the back of a chair that was facing the glass wall.

The chair turned around slowly, revealing a teen within the same age as him. An apparent undercut leather red hair with hazel eyes that stared at Cain with a piercing gaze was on display.

"Cain Vergessene, why did you come back? Didn't I tell you to get out of my office?" The student council's president's ivory skin hid from the sun behind him as he spoke with a firm voice.

Cain stood there in silence. The sound of the clock ticking surrounded both of them. The traffic right outside the glass wall was visible as they were high up on the school building. He stared at the president with emotionless eyes.

The Vergessene raised an eyebrow at the man in front of him. Blue eyes met the hazel one as Cain could feel the tension built up between the two of them. They kept staring at each other as if waiting for something to happen.

The president was the first to break the silence and grinned sheepishly as he stood up from his chair. "How was my impression as a scary president?" He teased, hands stretched as he grunted for the pain on his back from sitting too long.

"So scary. I can feel my hands trembling." Cain deadpanned. He rolled his eyes and put down the papers to the table.

"I knew it. I can be an actor if I actually try."

Cain stared at his student council's president with a clear disappointment in his eyes. He was the vice president of this dork in front of him; therefore, he should deal with this nonsense all the time.

Oh, and apparently, the said president was his best friend too.

"Anyway, why'd you come back? I thought your class ended?" The red-haired man asked.

"The principal just called." Cain sighed while brushing his shirt, trying to make it look presentable.

The president did the same thing as Cain with his own shirt. "Oh, the old man? My father?" He questioned him again.

"Yes, he wants your ass up to the meeting now. He has been calling you, but you didn't answer." Cain darted. He blew his black locks up and then messed it up again.

"What the hell were you doing that makes me go back to school again just to call you?" Cain continued as he looked at the guilty teen with scolding blue eyes.

The president laughed nervously. "Uh, re-watching SpongeBob?"

Cain closed his eyes in distress, trying to hold the anger within him. "For god's sake, I'm going to murder you." He grunted.

The victim of Cain's threatening smiled ear to ear. "I love you too, bro."

"Alfred." Cain's monotone voice rang in the air in pure disappointment. He opened his eyes and stared at his best friend dejectedly.

Alfred's eyes widened. "Oh no, you're saying my name in b-flat. This is not good." He bashfully answered back.

He walked past Cain, who was still glaring daggers at him. "Alright, let's meet the old man." Alfred declared and opened the door for Cain while bowing his head. "Please do lead the way, your highness."

Cain let out a deep breath and made his way out of the room. He bit back a smile at his best friend's joke. Alfred followed him right after with an etched grin on his face and walked beside him.

They walked through the hallway, making their way together to the elevator. The trophies around them were sitting on the glass, mockingly waiting for some students to feel insecure every time they saw them. The furniture around the school screamed expensively, showing that this was the best school in Livedam city.

When they got in the elevator, Alfred made a silly little dance. He pressed the button on the highest floor dramatically. Cain was used to his behaviour that he ignored the red-haired teen completely.

Alfred looked over to his best friend. "So," He paused, sounds of the elevator rumbling surrounding them. "How's your little brother?"

"Oh, Raziel? He's fine." Cain stated dismissively. Eyes were watching the number of the floor went up more and more.

Alfred's eyes flashed into sympathy for a second. He knew his best friend barely had any time for his brother. The little brother was always Cain's father's favourite, bringing the younger brother around instead of Cain.

Alfred's best friend was too righteous. He did not want to admit that he was sad about it. Cain was a different kind of naive, yet he could not easily be fooled.

"Well, I heard that he did get detention today," Cain added, shrugging his shoulders.

Alfred gaped at that. "Whoa, he's following your step. You're really brothers under the skin, huh?" Teased the teen playfully.

Cain snapped his head to the red-haired teen. "I literally got detentions because of you." He retorted back.

Alfred shrugged and stared at the shorter man. "Well, detention is detention. The teacher gives no shit about who's wrong."

"Besides, we are the head of the student council now." He spilled the obvious truth between them. The elevator stopped, the two best friends came out of it and immediately went to the principal's office.

You see, this was the punishment for Alfred because he got too many detentions and got away with them so many times for the fact that his father was the principal. So then, the principal himself punished Alfred by making him the student council.

And brought Cain into the mess.

"What if I blow up the school? What if I can't do my job properly and then fail and become a disappointment for my father and then become depressed? I just want to be good for once. Cain, you are the only one who can help me." Alfred said it that time.

And it worked. Cain actually took the bait. He told you before, Cain was naive, just a different kind of naive.

Well, maybe Alfred was naive too for clinging to his best friend. He would not admit that, though.

As they made their way to Alfred's father, the taller man could not help but feel bad for Cain. His family did not care about him, but the Vergessene would still do anything for them.

Even though they lived in the same house, Cain could only look at his little brother from afar as Raziel and his father trained. If Alfred was not mistaken, Raziel was learning material arts.

Alfred stopped at his track, making Cain stop a couple of seconds late upon noticing the footsteps that had stopped. The Vergessene looked back to his best friend questioningly.

"You should take some time to talk to your brother. You know, just talk it out before it's too late?" He blurted, causing Cain to furrow his eyebrows.

"You know I can't do that. He should focus on his training with father, Al." He answered truthfully.

Alfred cleared his voice a couple of times and straightened his pose. "Then, as your president, I command you to go home." He made his voice deeper and stared at Cain with a serious face.

Cain opened his mouth in disbelief. "That's not how it-"

Alfred pushed a finger to Cain's mouth almost comedically. "Shhh, no, shut up and go home. President is commanding."

He dragged the Vergessene's collar, making the teen yelped in surprise. Cain helplessly followed his best friend to the elevator again. Alfred took a swift move and pushed Cain inside. "Have a nice night."

Cain almost fell face-first on the floor. He quickly put his hand on the elevator's fancy wall, trying to stay steady. He looked at his best friend in a bolt from the blue.

"Okay, thanks, but I literally just got here, you dumb-"

Alfred put a hand up, signalling Cain to stop talking. "No, no, no, I don't want to hear another word from you, now scram."

The red-haired boy smiled playfully and closed the elevator on him. He managed to scream one last time. "Take care, Cain, say hi to Raziel from me!"

Cain stared at the closed elevator door in mixed emotions. Disbelief and disappointment were all wrapped up in his eyes, though there was no actual malice in it. He just got here to call his best friend, and now the said best friend told him to go home again?

His best friend was a moron.

"One day, I'm actually going to kill that guy." He muttered as he pressed the ground floor button on the elevator.

"One day."

Cain got out of the school with the moon up in the sky, shining like beautiful yet broken mirror pieces. He did not realize it was night already. Well, he did come to the school when the sun was almost disappearing from the city. He did not know what he was expecting.

He went home that night, ignoring the bright amusement park that he passed through. He wondered if Raziel had finished his training or not.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

Down south of this city, there was an endless forest stood by. It was surrounded by a thick veil of trees, hauntingly staring at the complex near it. Rumours had it that if you ever found yourself inside, there was no guarantee for you to come out.

But a boy came out of it. A boy with two mismatched eyes, running away right after crossing the mirror inside the hidden building within the forest. The scientist's building.

He finally got back into his own world with only one thought in his head, one home, and one place to come.

Rune.