Lotus

"Lotus?" Joel blinked and repeated. "...I don't know what you're talking about."

Albert grit his teeth in annoyance. As soon as he smelt that floral scent, a throbbing pain suddenly assaulted his head. That was already annoying him to the moon and now this bastard was pretending to not know what he was talking about? "This is the last time I'll be repeating myself. Where. Did. You. Get. Those. Drugs."

"I-I said that I don't know what you're talking about." Joel sat up and began to shuffle backwards.

Albert merely stared at him with cold eyes. "Search the place." He commanded without shifting his gaze.

"Yes sir!" Two henchmen went into the house, leaving four behind to take care of things.

Albert continued to give Joel a chilling glare. He stepped on his chest and slowly increased the pressure as he spoke, "Which do you think will be faster? Me forcing it out of you or them finding it and killing you?"

Joel's eyes widened and shook with fear. However, stubbornly, he shut his mouth and refused to speak. Looking into those bottomless pit eyes of the child, he braced himself for impact. However, contrary to expectations, the devilish boy simply turned to the crying twins.

"Iris, since he hurt you, why don't you do the honours. I'm sure you'll feel better afterwards." The cold exterior of the masked boy instantly melted when he addressed his sister. He carried a warm smile on his lips and looked nothing more than a gentle older brother on halloween.

Iris lifted her red eyes up from Atlas' chest. Her eyes that fell upon Joel's pathetic state contained fear and even greater anger. She could still feel his gruby arm wrapped around her neck, the odd feeling of wanting to breathe but being afraid to for a cold, sharp knife was but mere inches away from her neck. The shallow wound on her neck was no longer bleeding now but the pain pulsated and throbbed and was amplified by each laboured breath she took.

The sliver of fear vanished. Her father's people were here to protect her. This was a different situation than before when she had foolishly sent herself into the arms of the enemy. The enemy was down now and she was free to do whatever she wanted to him.

"I-Ian?!" Just as Iris' eyes began to glow, a panicked cry arose from Vin. She swung her head around and found Ian collapsed in a flustered Vin's arms.

Albert shot the henchmen a glance before heading straight for Ian. After a quick glance, he knelt down and rubbed Vin's back to calm him down. "Don't worry. He's just sleeping."

Upon closer look, Ian's breathing was even and his cheeks were flushed red.

"Let's bring him to the car." Albert suggested with a slight smile. "You can yell at him after he wakes up."

"...En." Vin discreetly wiped his tears away and tried to no avail to lift Ian up. Helpless, he could only let one of the henchmen do it and stand uselessly in the distance. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, frustrated.

"Hmm, they should be close to finding it soon." Albert suddenly spoke with a loud voice. He smiled wickedly at Joel. "I'm looking forward to how I'll deal with you."

"Please wait a moment, Albert." Cain interrupted. Albert flashed an annoyed look at him but that was replaced by disgruntled acceptance. He grabbed the phone that had been presented to him.

"Yes, Father." Albert said as calmly as he could.

"Is everything okay?" Kin inquired, his voice as level as it had been the first time he met him. However, Albert could still hear the concern overflowing from it.

"Yes. Ian fell asleep and Iris was hurt a little and a bit shaken but other than that, everything is ok."

Kin paused for a bit before continuing, "Cain told me about the drugs. This isn't for you to handle, let Father take care of it."

"But…" Albert stopped himself from continuing. He rationalised that Kin was probably way better at handling these situations than he was. After all, Kin had banned the distribution of drugs in his territory and probably had run ins with more than a few idiots who didn't value their lives. Besides, he had that annoying headache to deal with. "Alright. Everyone is probably still mad about what happened so I'll take them out to play before heading back home. Is that alright?"

"...You can go after you visit the healer." Kin's voice rang in the phone. "Make sure you properly stay with Cain this time. Take Brian with you too."

"Yes, Father. I'll be sure to remind the others too."

"Alright. Don't stay out too late."

"Yes, Father. Goodbye."

"Mn. Goodbye."

Albert pressed on the hang up button and handed the phone back over to Cain. His glowing eyes indicated that he was still using his ability much to Albert's surprise.

"Aren't you tired?" He unintentionally asked.

"Ah, I forgot to stop it." Cain stupidly scratched his head and closed his eyes. By the time he opened them again, they had already stopped glowing. "More importantly, shouldn't you intervene?"

Albert cast his attention over to the direction to which Cain pointed. There, he saw a furious Vin being held back by Atlas as he scolded a teary Iris.

"How can you be so dumb?!" The young child yelled. "Don't you know you could've died?"

"I'm sowwwwwwwy~~!" Iris could only sniffle back her tears and apologise for she knew she was in the wrong. Many times, she had been told to stay by Cain's side but she disobeyed and paid for the mistake in blood.

"Iris has already reflected! Stop yelling at her, Dumb Vin!" Atlas protested in Iris' stead.

"Shut up! I'm yelling at her so she learns. Unless you tell her a hundred times, this idiot is never going to get it through her thick skull!" Vin flicked his head to face Atlas, with the same feriouscity that he had been directing at Iris. "You too! You're both idiots so make sure you both listen carefully. We promised to stay back and watch because we weren't strong enough to deal with unexpected situations. And look what happened today. You broke your promise and almost died. And WE were unable to do anything to save you!"

Atlas recalled the feeling of being powerless washing over him as he watched his twin sister being taken hostage by a crazed man. Clearly, he was stronger than the malnourished man and surely, if it were a one on one fight, he would win nine out of ten times. However, when he saw Iris trembling in that deranged man's arm, he couldn't do anything. He could only stand in place and stare, afraid that he'll lose his dear sister, his other half.

"We should have just listened to Father when he said we couldn't go on the mission. We clearly aren't ready."

""W-wahhhhhhhhh~!!!!"" The twins burst into tears and wailed uncontrollably. ""Noooo~!""

"We'll listen next time so...so…"

"Don't make us stop~!"

"Don't you understand? You could have DIED!" Vin cried, exasperated. Tears flowed down his cheeks and dripped down his cheeks. "I don't want you to die…"

The twins pounced on Vin and hugged him tightly. ""We're sorry.""

"Damn it! Idiots..." Vin wiped his unending tears and hugged them back. As the tears flowed and soaked his shirt, he felt his trembling shoulders settle and calm down once more.