Punishment

The beautiful and colorful rays of the sun were just peaking over the horizon when Storm returned to the Royal house.

After spending the night roaming the streets of Alada and feeding on one of his targets, all he wanted was a peaceful and quiet morning, alone in his room.

However, his feet took him in a different direction when he walked into the main palace. Much as he wanted to be alone, he felt a need to check on his latest guest – Nicholas – and find out how he was faring.

When he turned the door handle and stepped into the room, his feet came to a halt and his brows knitted in confusion at the scene he met there.

The boy was awake, but he was sobbing lightly with his eyes shut, and mumbling some words which Storm didn't understand at first. Only when he paid close attention did he realize the boy was saying "It's a dream" repeatedly.

Storm shifted his gaze to Seth, who was also looking at the boy with a confused expression. "What's going on here?"

At that question, Nicholas stopped mumbling and opened his eyes. Mild shock registered on his face when he saw the new familiar face in the room. Unrestricted tears began to run down his cheek. He was just wishing Seth would disappear and everything he remembered when he woke up would be a dream, only for the worst demon to appear.

"He just woke up a few minutes ago and started crying as soon as he saw me. The next thing he did was exactly what you saw him doing. He has been doing that for a while before you came in." Seth answered the question that was thrown at him, turning away from Nicholas and facing Storm.

"And you didn't do anything about it?" Storm queried, lifting a brow.

"What was I supposed to do?" Seth asked, legit ignorance plastered on his face.

"How would I know what you were supposed to do? I know nothing about how to handle kids." Storm responded.

"Same here, Storm."

Nicholas moved his gaze from one to the other as they exchanged words on what to do with him. Although his eyes were still glassy from his tears, a trace of amusement could be found dancing in the pair.

When Storm looked back at him, he drew in a sharp intake of breath, and blinked, causing the tears in his eyes to drop to his cheek.

"Stop crying," Storm ordered, and Nicholas shook his head.

"No. I want my Ellie." Nicholas responded in a near whisper voice.

Storm began to approach him and the boy pushed himself up to a sitting position while looking like he would fly away from the room any moment.

"If you stop crying, I can try to make sure you see her again," Storm spoke when he reached the edge of the bed and sat down on the soft mattress.

Nick's eyes widened. "Really? You did not hurt her, did you?" He probed, his eyes searching the grey ones that were fixed on him.

"Not yet. But if you continue crying, I might change my mind. I don't like crybabies."

Nick wiped his eyes with the back of his palm, then nodded when he was done. "I won't cry again. Will I see her now so we can go home?"

The area between Storm's brows furrowed at the sound of that question. He had no plans of letting either of them leave the palace. Not yet, at least.

"No. You can't go home until she's done serving her punishment." Storm answered, and the boy's face twisted into confusion and shock.

"Punishment? Why are you punishing my Ellie? What did she do to you?" Nicholas probed.

"She stole something and did it with my identity."

"Huh?" Nicholas looked like he couldn't believe what he just heard. A second later, he shook his head with so much certainty. "That's not true. My Ellie doesn't steal. She works at a restaurant where she feeds hungry people."

Storm didn't argue, neither did he try to convince the boy that his sister did indeed steal. There was no way she would tell him what she was doing to raise money to take care of him. The only person he knew that was capable of doing such to a child is Elfin.

But something disturbed him and continued to disturb him for no reason at all every time the boy used the same words to describe his sister.

"Why do you keep calling her your Ellie as if you want to monopolize her?" He asked, unable to stop himself.

"I… I don't know what mopolize is." Nicholas stuttered as legit confusion registered on his face. He looked like a hard equation had just been placed before him to solve.

"Not mopolize, Mo-no-po-lize." Storm broke the word down into four syllabuses, for the boy to understand.

Nicholas repeated the word the way he pronounced it, then asked, "What does it mean?"

"It means wanting to have her all and only to yourself."

At this point, Seth was giving Storm an incredulous look. What the hell was he doing? When did he become a teacher? He had never seen a weirder scenario in his life. If he wasn't standing there at that moment, looking at the two of them, he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who accused Storm of being in that position.

Nicholas lowered his eyes as he absorbed what Storm just said to him. "She's the only one I have, and she's my big sister. Doesn't that make her mine?" Nicholas reasoned, and Storm didn't know how to counter or why he even cared how he decides to address his sister.

He shifted his eyes from Nicholas to Seth, then wondered why the guy was looking at him like that.

"What?" Storm probed.

Seth shook his head and schooled his expression.

"Get me Enrique." Storm ordered, and Seth moved without a second wasted.

***

Back at the cage, Ellie woke up with a loud cry, clutching tightly onto her stomach, and rolling on the bed until she rolled away from it and landed with a thud on the hard marble floor.