Section 54: A Strong Brother

"Your reaction is so slow, you can't survive with that kind of movement" the man who stomped on me sighed in defeat.

He turned me around, and that's when I saw the face of the person who pinned me down. It's Ender Warren, he's here.

"Wait, what? Ender?" I looked at him dumbfounded. "Weren't you supposed to be in the base?".

"I sneaked out cause I'm bored" he laughed cheerily.

"Excuse me?" I sighed when I heard his ridiculous comment. "If Vladimir found out, you're a dead meat big bro".

"Pssh, I know" Ender grinned mischievously. "Plus I want to look after Aria, I bet she's picking a fight out of the blue".

"No, on the contrary, she's siding with these people".

Ender widened his eyes toward my commentary, he rubbed his chin in deep thought. I noticed that both of them look similar, they have the same habit of furrowing their brows and rubbing their chin if they're in deep thoughts. No wonder they're lovers, they act the same after all.

"Aria? Negotiating with these people? That's a new development, I thought she would go crazy and kill anyone" he sighed in relief.

Ender said the word 'kill' as if it means nothing for him, both he and Aria are strange. Something about them can be pretty unsettling, they lack the delicacy and the sensitivity with their surrounding. Ender sits down with me, with a mischievous grin on his face.

"So you're hiding from them Tristan?" he asked me.

"Yeah, Aria told me to gather info about these guys," I remarked. "I feel like she's doing the right thing though, Vladimir is covering up something in here".

"Inconsistencies?" Ender asked again.

"Yeah, I feel like he's covering up something and maybe Aria sensed that too" I started my current theory. "That's why she's with them now, to find out more".

"I see, interesting" Ender mumbled.

I would love to hack now, but my gut feeling says that I might get interrupted by other things. I wonder how's my younger sister back at the base.

"Ender, how is she?" I asked the raven-haired man next to me.

"She? Chrysant is it? She's doing fine" Ender chuckled. "More like she's letting me off because she's worried about you".

Chrysant let this man off? Does that mean Chrysant found out Ender's plan to sneak out? She's pretty leeway about him. Did Chrysant like Ender more than her older brother?

"She's letting you off-hook? That's very unlikely of her" I pouted. "Maybe she likes you better than me".

When Ender heard my seeping jealousy, he laughed playfully as if to mock me.

"You're mocking me?" I grumbled.

"You got it all wrong Tristan, she likes you" Ender smiled. "I don't understand why you would be jealous of me".

He's shrugging it off, I don't get what he means by that. I still remember the fragrance of her gingery hair, we're always together and yet here I am on the field. It has always been Chrystant on the field, she's more adaptive than me and I'm smarter than her. Her body is fragile, and yet she volunteers to be a part of the scavenging team.

"I'm a useless brother" I sighed.

"What are you saying? You're our greatest asset in unraveling the drone mysteries" Ender replied swiftly.

"That's not true, even Chrysant is better than me in fieldwork, I'm a weak older brother" I sighed.

"No, that's not true" Ender shook his head impatiently. "I heard from Chrysant about your marksmanship test, you're better than her in many ways".

Chrysant still remembers the marksmanship test I did in the past? That brings back memories. I've indeed been neglecting my physical capabilities for hacking. The fact that I am more superior than her in hacking is true, that's why Vladimir prefers to utilize my skill in hacking rather than in fieldwork.

However, that only makes me feel useless. Every time I see Chrysant back from scavenging, her pale body is covered in bruises and injuries. She never complains to me, she always smiled it off. Those scars, those bruises, she received because of my incompetence. I always tried to switch places with Chrysant, but Vladimir rejected my request.

I stared at Ender who sits next to me in an idle manner, his gaze focused on the clear morning sky. Ender is the new leader on the Chrysant team, I wonder if he could tell me more about my younger sister.

"Ender" I called his name quietly.

"Yes, Tristan?" he replied in immediate response.

"Is Chrysant doing okay in your team? Is she alright?" my voice almost broke into tears. "I don't want her to get hurt anymore, Ender".

Ender's expression turned mellow as he saw my sorrowful face. He tapped my shoulder gently with a reassuring smile.

"Chrysant is strong, she can do everything in order" Ender cheered me up. "Despite her shyness with strangers, she never complains nor brings us down".

"Never?" I asked again between tears.

"Never" Ender stated firmly. "She's a good sibling, she said she wants to go see you as soon as we're back".

"She's lying," I stuttered. "I'm a useless brother, why would she want to see me?".

"She's not lying, Tristan" Ender reaffirmed. "The first thing he said whenever we're heading home is-".

"I hope my brother will always be there to wait for my return".

I sobbed quietly as soon as I heard those words come out from Ender's mouth. I don't deserve that kind of word Chrysant. I have always been a useless brother in the past, and now she's worried about my well-being.

"I'm such a weak brother" I sobbed quietly next to Ender.

"You're not, the fact that you're here to find out about the one who injured your younger sister is already a sign of a good brother you are" Ender smiled kindly to me. "Now, let's move before someone spots us".

I nodded to him and walked behind Ender's back. I followed his tall back, he's so firm and masculine. The way he talks, the way he could calm me down just shows how attentive he is to other people. I think he's more attentive and sensitive than Aria, he's an excellent leader with a good quality of leadership as well.

"I wonder why he always traveled alone though," I thought to myself.

When we were about to check the archive room again, all of a sudden Ender fell onto his knees. He grumbled in pain as he held onto his stomach.

"Oh! It hurts!" Ender muffled his pain by biting his lower lip.

"Ender! You're not healed yet!?" I panicked as I approached the hurting Ender.

"Not really" he laughed in an easy-going manner.

"You should have stayed in Vladimir's base" I sighed worriedly.

After I made that speech, Ender fainted on my shoulder, unconscious.