Where it all started

Iven had his firm hold on Seb this whole time, even after they were away from the lane and the weird psychopath at a distance. He showed no intention to let go of her hand or at least loosen the grip a bit. He held her wrist, which hurt even more.

Seb doubted if her wrist was already bruised, she could feel the heat in her muscles.

She did try to pull back once, but it revolted as Iven pulled her even harder to ensure that she won't escape or disappear.

He was walking at a tremendous pace too. Seb stumbled a few times, but didn't notify him. It wasn't probably the best time to interrupt the mind he is now. She willingly gave herself to him and let him do whatever it takes to ease his high anger.

Seb could swear she had heard heavy grunts out of his breath as he fumed with rage. She has never seen him like this before. This anger was indifferent. Different from the times she had seen him angry!

It had been 10 minutes they were walking. Seb knew that if she let it continue, it won't stop at any consequence. And she only could stop him, though she must choose her words carefully.

Finally when she called out, she tried to as humble as possible and not trying to piss Iven off even more," Iven.....please calm down for a moment okay?.....".

Obviously it was bound to work!

Iven started slowing down his steps to a pause. He stopped for a while and looked back, but he didn't let go of her wrist.

He noticed that Seb was panting. He realized the situation, and wasn't aware of the time.

Seb studied his eyes and seized the opportunity pleading," You can let go Iven, I promise I won't go any where", she gave her words.

She felt his hand shaking lightly, he was hesitating. She tapped it softly twice and was freed immediately.

She looked up at him and gave a grateful smile. Then she let out a sigh of tiredness. Iven looked around rolling his eyes and reached his hand inside his pocket.

A small bottle Kiwi juice popped in front of Seb's face.

"It might help...", he said timidly.

Seb took it from his hand. She indeed needed it. It felt nice when she took a sip of the drink.

Then she looked up again at him. This time her eyes were piercing. Iven knew that look well.

Here comes Sybelle!!!

Iven took his first speech before she could,"Belle, I'm so sorry. We need to talk...".

"We sure do", Seb tilted her head with a blank expression.

"Alright alright.....go for it", Iven assured,"...I'll try my best".

Seb started walking slowly. She never liked having conversations at a constant place. Based on her personality, she needs to move around. Motion gives her concentration.

Iven followed a few seconds later and maintained his position one step behind her. He dared not match her level. In short, he was a little afraid. Whenever Seb is in mode, she's pretty much like a FBI agent!!!

"You lied to me!", came the first iron-blow.

"I did, it was more like hiding the truth", Iven kept up with her. He was brave enough to admit.

"Is this why you always dodged me whenever I inquired about your siblings?", Seb asked.

"He's not my brother!!!", Iven hyped up.

"Denial won't change the truth Iven!", Seb said with a icy voice. It was one of her traits. Emotions can't change what is really true. And in this case, it was obvious,"You two not have one physical trait to differentiate. I almost fell for his trap...", confessed Seb.

"Almost?', Iven pointed out,"...ah the clothes!!!".

"Not the clothes", Seb said almost immediately," That was not the issue. It was....", Seb paused a second,"...the eyes!!!".

Iven looked confused,"Was he wearing contacts? We have the same color..."

Seb gave him the disappointed look,"I could tell them apart after staring into them for a second. His eyes are just like yours when I first met you, demonic and lifeless cold. He was your version of Lucifer, but darker. If you would still be the same, I had no way of surviving. I looked right through him and instantly knew it wasn't you at all".

"Then why the hell you didn't defend???", Iven snapped,"Surely you aren't so weak that you can't self defend if you can smash me so many times?"

Seb stole glances. Iven narrowed his eyes and said sharply,"Belle!".

"You...", Seb wasn't looking in his eyes,"...it wasn't that easy....I just couldn't...let's not talk about it", Seb was trying to skip the topic.

Iven understood her face within no time.

She couldn't possibly have resisted him. They have the same face after all. She couldn't have brought herself up to hurt him. Even if he would have tried something nasty, the level of faith had already gone higher past that level. But even it were to happen ever again, and Seb is unable to fight back, it won't result so well.

All of a sudden Seb backfired,"And you better explain yourself instead of getting all over me!!!", she said,"What's the feud all about? From where did another you pop out of no where???".

Iven threw a cold look. He clearly didn't like his brother addressed as himself.

Then he looked away and sighed. His face turned worried as he prepared himself for it. There was along pause, Seb waited patiently.

Finally Iven turned and said looking down,"His name....", he revealed with low aggression,"....is Iason".

"Wow!!!....What is it with you guys and names?" Seb exclaimed," Your folks must have had interesting taste in names".

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'm trying to set matters in serious terms here", Iven said in not so serious manner,"Do you mind?"

"Ah sorry", Seb gestured to go on,"...please continue".

And then Iven went back in rewinding the time," I can never forget any moment of my life, they had been too highlighted to forget. I remember, we were in good terms during childhood. Well, that's obviously my part of the story. My delivery had some complications, and was born 10 minutes later him. He got to be elder to me by 10 whole minutes. Again, at 10 years of age, what I thought was brotherly relationship, was actually quite far from it. He was always the dominant, and I....the victim".

Seb noticed as Iven was getting more into it. Probably he hasn't said this all to any one in ages.

Iven continued," He was in the bullies group in school, and I was in the nerds group. By the time we've reached adolescence, there a cold war between us already. To make matters worse enough, our folks got divorced and we were abandoned to a old women who worked as a nanny for us before. Iason completely transformed into himself during that time. He used to stay out 24/7 clubbing around, beating up nerds and teasing women. He would return once a week, midnight and totally drunk, banging at the door and demanding to let him in. Often I would lose my tuition money to him from my part times because he couldn't afford his own drinks and gambles", Iven paused for a breath,"

"Wasn't the Lady good to you?", Seb asked when he stopped.

"She was, I wasn't. I shut myself totally in and avoided any social connection. All I had were the bruises handed down from Iason's merciless beatings", Iven said,"But I behaved even I was very cold to her. I wasn't used to care and adoring. She still was nice enough for a jerk like me back then. She was afraid of Iason, and worried about me. And then one night, she handed me over my folk's remaining inheritance and suggested me to run away. She wanted me to escape from Iason and start a new life with whatever I've still left. I did hesitate, but I had to admit that even I wanted to leave that treacherous place. I didn't think thrice and left".

"Did you escape him?", Seb gave him a break.

"I did...but couldn't", Iven gave a confusing statement to make Seb more curious," Iason was back after a few days. As I heard, he returned late one night , totally high and drunk and kept demanding for me. When he couldn't find me or any cash on me, he started accusing the old lady. He took himself to exceed the extreme limit and lost his mind completely."

Seb knew it was the climax,"What did he do?", she asked with round keen eyes.

"The poor lady was beaten to death!", Iven clenched his teeth. Seb led out a short gasp," I wanted to run to him, but what a wimp I was that time, I was so ashamed of myself. No one could ever tell us apart, the cops might put me behind bars as the suspect, were all I could think of. The natives even caught sight of Iason escaping with bloody knuckles. They weren't sure who was it actually since it was night. So we both were on the list", Iven sighed with disgrace," I was so cowardly that I didn't even have the rights to want to protect someone. It had already started, the riot! That's when I built my rule. I wasn't sure if I could call them family unless I have done something for them to respect me and live peacefully."

"Is that when you met the boys?", Seb asked.

"I found Yuka first", Iven said,"He was beaten up and thrown in a lane for drug preaching. I can still remember the look in his eyes that time, so dark, harsh and not giving up. He was the most wild and brash in his adolescence and was the toughest for me to handle, tame and bring him up the way he is now. He always had boiling blood and often got into fights. Since he was my first brother and I put everything my maximum effort on him, I trust him the most, he would put his life on line for me."

Seb hardly believed his words. Yuka seems the most matured, calm and collected now. May be he is even more matured than Iven is. It is hard to believe that Iven brought him up. He must have done a good job on it. The way Yuka is now, is in full contrast of his youth.

Iven continued,"He then took on the job and introduced his troop of boys to me who were abandoned and had brash and wild attitude and needed taming. It was hard to run life at first because none of us knew decent business. Luckily we got ourselves the job best suited to us, the illegally legal job of import and export. We took it up well, and just when we thought that we could finally reveal to society...he returned!!!".

"Iason?", Seb knew it was him but still asked. Iven nodded firmly.

"He tracked my root source through business connections and finally caught up to me one day when I was alone", Iven shot a glance through Seb," Though I ran my brothers, I was wrong to think that I grew strong enough. He blackmailed me for money and I tried to resist. But his physical built was successful in beating me out of it. I could not tell my brothers about all the bruises and cuts I got that day. And it went on. Iason formed his own gang of cronies and lackeys with our earnings and became the town thugs. Whenever my guard was down, all his minions would beat me up mercilessly for all the 'tax' I was supposed to pay. That's the period when I went into severe depression and underwent a mental transformation. I was still a coward. He dominated and controlled me the way he wanted. I was a puppet in is hands. But then, his measures went extreme...".

Seb noticed as Iven was feeling the past moment which he had already undergone. It must have have been very traumatizing since he could still run through it. His voice broke as he said the last line.

"What happened?", Seb nudged.

"Since he controlled me, he expanded his powers among my brothers too",Iven said,"My boys were getting beaten up by his cronies just for sport."

"That hideous!!!", exclaimed Seb amazed.

"You have known nothing about hideousness yet Belle", Iven looked down,"I was helpless and couldn't do anything instead watch them return home everyday covered in bruises. But then, the day came which still haunts me till today at nights. I believed I'm to blame to build this place and give them hope. I am not even eligible to call myself their brother. I went into a severe shock."

Seb didn't say anything and waited.

Iven went on,"....before Noah, we had a brother younger than, Judy. He was 9 when we brought him in and he was the so adorable that made everyone of us wanting to protect him. We raised him up to 13. He was a cheerful kid and was kind, but a little fragile and rebellious. He wasn't like me, cowardly! He was braver than me and all of us. He dared to deny Iason's men and held on to what rightfully belonged to him alone. That's brought upon the calamity. You won't believe what that kid suffered just for a small act of justice".

"What happened to him?", Seb swallowed and waited for the worst.

"Judy....", Iven closed his eyes tight shut,"He paid up everything. Even his life..."

"His life?", Seb couldn't believe it.

"Those animals...", Iven said,"....sexually harassed him in the most brutal way, blew him with iron rods and threw him in a dark alley. By the time we got the news 3 hours later, he had already bled to death. We couldn't stand facing his lifeless body. His sparkly eyes weren't lit anymore. He didn't even get to close his eyes....such a horrible pain he underwent..."

Seb stared blankly.

"We didn't even let the night cross!", Iven clenched his fist,"The bloody catastrophe we created that night at Iason's hideout is explainable. We didn't care what we were doing, we just witnessed smashed skulls and a bloody bathed floor. When we looked back before leaving, we saw that how we have massacred Iason's den with flesh pile and half-dead bodies. We wondered when and how did we turn out to be like this? When did we grew up to be so beastly and cold? We were so peaceful a while ago! Everything was destroyed, we could never be the same again but we still tried. We had learnt to stop enduring and bite back. That's why we are so protective of Noah. Judy would have been his age by this time. And it was 3 years ago, we still can't forget that night ever, when Judy was murdered...!!!". Iven had metamorphosed. His tone had transformed emotions in them.

"What about Iason?", Seb asked slowly to make him snap out of it.

"The bastard had escaped", answered Iven.

Seb understood that's when Iven had a complete change over his attitude and became what he is today.