50

When Bella heard that Eli-turned Ari- had woken up she hurried outside and demanded that any guard with guts come and fight her in the small fighting area next to the garden area.

Her mother hated that it was so close to the garden where the guards were constantly thrown on her favorite rose bush. Now that bush was a withered stick with no roses in sight.

It was good that Ari was back, but it wasn't her Ari. Before he'd been stuck in bed with fevers and dizziness, he'd been a happy kid full of energy and endless hugs that he gave freely. 

He'd been nothing like their father, which was why he hardly paid him any attention and constantly beat their mom for giving birth to a 'weak' boy.

When Ari had been stuck in bed for over a week, he knew that something was wrong.

Bella had visited every day and remembered their conversation as though it were yesterday.

"Hey, Ari. How are you feeling?" Bella asked, sitting on the edge of his bed. 

Ari tried to laugh but started hacking and coughing. He pulled out a bloodied cloth and pressed it to his mouth, spitting out a wad of red.

Bella was in too much shock to gasp.

"Sorry." Ari rasped, balling the cloth up and tucking it away. "But to answer your question...as well as one can with the Flare."

Bella opened her mouth to say something but a sob came out and tears began streaming down her face. She'd never felt so helpless.

Wasn't the medicine working? Shouldn't he be getting better?

Ari reached toward her, eyes wide. "Great Mother, Bell, whatever is the matter?"

"I'm..I'm sorry."

There was a moment of silence in which her cries filled the room. She hid her face in her hands, ashamed of herself. Her father's voice echoing in her ear. "Tears are a sign of weakness."

"Sorry, for what Bell?"

Bella sniffled and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She bit her lip struggling t contain her emotions. "I'm sorry for not being able to...to fix this. I-I don't know what to do."

She looked down at her hands which were shaking uncontrollably. She balled her hands into fists. No emotions.

"It's not your fault, B." Ari licked his cracked, dry lips. "Not everything can be fixed, money doesn't always bring happiness and there isn't a cure to every sickness."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Bella whispered. "I'm scared...this shouldn't be happening to you."

Ari blinked, "Why do you say that?"

"Because...because-"

"I'm a kid?"

Bella opened her mouth but shook her head. 

"I'm ten, B. The Flare had taken those younger and less fortunate than I. You know how unpredictable this sickness is."

He had a point, Bella supposed.

Other people had experienced terrible pains and headaches, some went mad and ended up killing themselves, and like Ari, they suffered high fevers and coughing blood.

"I know but-"

"I'm Ace's son and it should happen to everyone but me?"

Bella blinked, surprised. But Ari always had an uncanny way of knowing what she was thinking. Was he perhaps a mind reader?

"If I am a mind reader?" Ari smiled and cocked his head.

"How-"

"I'm not reading your mind B, Just your face. you're easy to read when you're emotional."

Bella lurched to her feet startling Ari and a cat that was under his bed. It skittered toward the desk and hissed at her.

"I am NOT emotional."

Ari settled back on the pillows. "If you say so. Oh, B?"

"Yeah?"

"Your birthday...it's tomorrow, yeah? You'll be what...fifteen?"

Bella blinked. Memory loss.

"I'm..I'll be seventeen, Ari."

"Oh." Ari chuckled. "You're getting old then, yeah?"

"I suppose." Bella pursed her lips. "You remember how old Aniyah is?"

Ari frowned. "Aniyah?"

"Yeah."

"Who's that" Ari blinked in confusion. "Is she your friend?"

Bella choked on a sob. "She's my-our sister. She's older than you and younger than me by a couple of years."

"What does she look like?"

Bella contemplated running from the room to drag their sister inside and scream at Ari to remember, but she knew that wouldn't get her anywhere.

"She's short with glossy black hair like mom that she's cut in a cute bob. Aniyah has pale skin and beautiful silver-blue eyes; she loves you a lot too."

Ari fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt. "Is she pretty?"

"Mhm."

"I feel horrible." he sniffled. "I'm dying, B."

Bella gasped. "Don't..don't say that."

"But it's true!" Ari argued. "Don't you see? I'm not getting better! I'm forgetting things and coughing up more blood."

"Great mother wouldn't."

Ari swallowed. "Great Mother had a reason for everything. Tell Ariyah I'm sorry, tell Father I'm sorry for not being strong enough."

"Ari-"

"I'm going to rest my eyes a bit, B. Love you."

Bella blinked then leaned over to kiss his burning his forehead. "Love you more."

On the morning of her seventeenth, she rushed to Ari's room to see Aniyah curled into a ball on the floor.

A couple of maids were covering Ari's body with a cloth.

"What are you doing?" Bella demanded.

A maid with stringy blonde hair sighed. "Your brother passed early morning."

"What?"

"I was here with him. He'd been complaining to headaches and was sitting blood up for hours. He passed in his sleep as I sang for him."

From the floor, Aniyah let out a wail of grief and wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

Their mother burst into the room looking like she'd just rolled out of bed with her hair knotted and her dress wrinkled and bunched up. There were dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep.

She gathered her daughters into her arms and they cried together.

...

Two years later Bella still had nightmares about that day, especially since the day her mom died.

If anyone found out that she knew what really happened...

Bella would rather not think about what could happen. After her session, she sat beside Aniyah who was sketching. She didn't pause when she asked. "Finished already?"

Her hair had now grown back down to her shoulders in a glossy wave.

"Yeah."

Bella took a swing from her canteen. "We need to get Eli out of her, and return his memories."

That made Aniyah pause. "What? You're kidding."

"Nope."

"What if dad-"

Bella gritted her teeth. "I don't care. This isn't right."

"Oh. You're right. Is that after he returns?"

"Returns?"

Aniyah nods. "Father sent him on a mission to save Vlad." 

Bella bristled, Vlad could rot in whatever prison he was being held in for all she cared. She hated him too for playing a role in her mother's death.

Her father only insisted the two get together so he could keep a close eye on her. Bella shivered as if her father's empty eyes were staring at her at this moment.

"We must warn them of the upcoming war." Bella added.

"In that exact order?"

Bella pushed to her feet. "We leave in a day."