Sync

There was pin drop silence, broken by the sound of a bus on an empty road. None of them chose to make the run for it. 

Mimi gestured to Aiden to put her down. Realizing what she had in mind, he let her walk and approached Lucas. The crying best friend didn't see it coming as Aiden gave him a hug. 

"It's alright. You're alive. You have me now. You have us." He separated and pointed to his sister, "There's someone willing to call you a big bro."

Lucas chuckled, feeling as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest when he saw Aiden accept him so readily. He smiled, "I didn't have a good big brother. He convinced me to give up my life for him, that he would take good care of my organs and live up to it. Heh." He let out a curt laugh at the end, unsure who it was directed at, himself or his big brother.

"It's a good thing you aren't that helplessly stupid, foolish, selfless and kind." Aiden mocked. "True." Lucas agreed.

"This is why I want to be a good big brother."

Aiden thought as he finished telling his tale. You also want a good big brother don't you? Someone who could be what your real big brother failed to be. He slightly shook his head while looking at Grace and Lucas bonding. It's a pity but I don't think I can act like your big brother, it simply doesn't fit. I wish Evander was here.

Their walk was mostly silent, sprinkled with a few talks from their different walks of life before Aiden spoke up again. 

"Don't you guys want to know what happened later? It's alright you can ask me you know. It's in the past, I won't cry again." He didn't let them speak. "I spent a couple months living on the road. Naturally, I dropped out of school. This was also the time when those weird people investigated everyone in our area."

He looked at Aiden and said, "Remember how you deduced that the Bureau's supers probably didn't investigate me? There was also the fact that those weird people in suits investigated me and others like me way less than the normal people. After all, who would care for some poor kid living on the street?

"I awakened my abilities not long after. I guess I must not have been careful with using my ability as the Bureau approached me soon."

He looked at Aiden, and frowned, recollecting his memory as he explained, "You know, it's strange. They came to register me in the Bureau, and told me I'll be working in the specter department. But a few days later, the same guys approached me and asked what I wanted to do instead. I told them about rescuing kids and such, and they readily agreed."

Aiden knew what Lucas was hinting at. Someone at the Bureau was helping him. Both of them suspected it was Evander. But could Evander really have such a high standing?

Before they could realize, they were already at aunt Hellen's house. Their talking didn't stop the whole way, and the topic was back on Evander. But Grace was quick to notice her surroundings.

"Why are we heading towards aunt Hellen's house?" When sending her to the care center, Aiden had given her the excuse that something wrong was going on in their home and he couldn't afford to risk having her. She was pretty understanding of the situation after considering how serious her brother was. Naturally, the same thing which Aiden told her resurfaced in her mind just after she asked the question on reflex. 

"Oh!" He exclaimed, and glanced back at his own house which he had just passed by. He completely forgot he was supposed to put these two in his own home to lower the risk of facing the ghost and avoid conflict with the jerks from the Bureau. 

He traced his steps backward and unlocked the gate of his lawn. Walking through the cobbled pathway, he approached his door and unlocked it. He refrained from entering, though. If there was even a slightest chance that the ghost might travel to this house to target him as soon as he entered this home, he would rather not do it.

"Has the issue been solved?" Grace softly asked from behind him after he opened the door. He forced a smile, "For now, yes. You'll have to live here with Mimi okay? Take good care of her. For the time being, I'll be at aunt Hellen's house with your big bro Lucas. We have some serious work to do."

Grace was a bit sad. Out from the care center, where she constantly lived in pressure, she thought it might be better since her brother brought her out. But it wasn't any better, her brother wouldn't be home because he had more serious work to deal with. 

Serious enough that he would have to leave her alone at home. She knew for a fact that her big bro never left her alone at home. He rejected all night out invitations and any such events which would result in her being alone at home. She felt pressured not for herself, but for her brother. 

What must he be going through?

Grace smiled brightly at him. If there was one thing she could help him with, it was to not make him worry about her. "You don't need to worry big bro. I'll take care of Mimi."

Aiden informed her that he'll be ordering food for her so she need not worry about not having anything to eat. "Go inside, I'll send Mimi after explaining some stuff to her."

Turning around, he kneeled on a single knee and whispered to her. "Don't apply the rules I told you about earlier. Instead, behave like a good girl and don't trouble Grace."

He had said those earlier rules to her considering that the care center was a peaceful place and Mimi would make quite an addition to Grace's life. Bringing a twist and spiciness in her life in case she was bored there. But the situation was entirely different, and it was different now too. 

He explained to Mimi about everything she might need to know about his home, Grace, and well, everything yea. He promised to deliver her packet of potato chips she won at the lottery when she reminded him about it.

Despite watching them both walk inside, he couldn't quite come to terms with it. Suddenly he remembered an important thing and yelled out to call them out. Lucas smirked, "Already can't afford to leave them behind?"

Grace yelled out similar words from inside as she ran out, followed by Mimi. "Already can't live without me huh. I knew it!"

Aiden helplessly smiled as he looked at them both, "Already so much in sync, aren't you?"

Lucas wisely chose to keep his mouth shut as Aiden shifted into a serious mood and asked the little girls, "Did any of you see the red moon?"