Chapter Text
“Alear, I know you have a kind heart but you must be open to the challenges ahead. Blended families are never easy, and your new siblings will need lots of love.”
These were the words Lumera told her daughter four years ago when they decided to have Zelphia and her children live with them. Yet, Alear did not believe her mother’s words until the family officially moved in and it was a hell of a lot of work to adjust. Her siblings usually found themselves in some kind of trouble, whether it was on purpose or on accident. Today was no different as Alear’s brother ended up in detention. She convinced Framme to distract Vander while she went to the detention room for a breakout. Once she got a text from Framme she was good to go, Alear hurried to the detention room and opened the door. Alear crossed her arms as Griss had his feet up on the desk and flicked his wrist with a rubber band.
“What do you want?” Griss asked, not sparing a glance towards Alear.
“I want you to stop getting in trouble. One day I won’t be able to get you out of it.” Alear scolded.
Griss rolled his eyes and sneered at his sister. “I didn’t ask you to get me out of it in the first place.” He countered a matter-of-factly.
Alear sighed, “Then I’ll head out. Stay in detention if you wish but as always, the door is open for your escape.”
Alear turned on her white-heeled boots and promptly walked out the door. She was a few feet down the hall before she heard footsteps following behind her. Alear couldn’t help but smile as she glanced over at Griss beside her, hands behind his head and a small blush on his grumpy face.
“You need to stop manipulating that disciplinary girl.” Griss broke the silence and looked down at Alear. “You call Fele cruel but you’re holding her on the hook.”
“I-I am not manipulating Framme!” Alear stammered out her defense, “I shall keep my word on returning the favors one day! Only if those favors are to my ability…”
“So basically, if that frail pigeon asks you out, you’d say no, and break her heart completely.”
“No one knows for sure if that will be her favor!”
“Please. Anyone with eyes can see how much that pigeon idolizes the ground you walk on.” Griss scoffed.
“I…” Alear wanted to argue but she knew it wouldn’t be sound.
“I can’t bring myself to think of Framme in that way. I babysat her as a child. How can I think of her as a partner now?”
“It was pretty lame for her and her brother to need a babysitter at ten. Talk about hella paranoid parents.”
“Says the guy who still needs one at nineteen.”
“Hey,” Griss called out with a deeper tone of voice.
He stopped in his tracks which gained Alear’s attention and caused her to stop as well. She tilted her head as piercing red eyes sent daggers her way.
“You are not my babysitter,” Griss growled.
“Hm? So I do not take care of you and have to watch you in order to prevent you from causing trouble?”
“No, you don’t. You’re a pest who follows me around. You always have been.”
Alear let out a sigh. She was used to her brother's change of mood whenever she addressed taking care of him. She wasn’t sure why after all these years he still couldn’t accept her love for him.
“I guess this pest will throw away these burnt cookies that Auntie Zelphia made.” Alear teased, pulling out a ziplock full of charcoal-colored cookies from the side pocket of her messenger bag.
Griss’ solemn expression lightened up in an instant. If he had a tail, it would be wagging from the excitement flowing through his body. With a giant smile on his face, red eyes now wide and full attention on the bag of cookies waving in his Alear’s hand. As the bag swayed from side to side, Griss’ eyes followed.
“Cookies from Mama?!”
Alear held back a laugh because she knew it’d return Griss into a somber mood.
“Yup! She told me to give them to you during lunch but you avoided me like the plague, as always.”
Griss snatched the cookies from Alear’s hands and quickly opened the bag. He stuffed an entire burnt cookie into his mouth and smiled, letting out a happy hum. Alear’s face contorted as she watched Griss stuff down the cookies one by one.
She attempted to eat one of Zephia’s cookies as a show of goodwill. But when her stepmother pulled out a tray of charcoal-colored cookies and presented them to her, Alear immediately regretted her decision. She couldn’t back out of it as Zelphia stared at her with wide eyes full of excitement and waiting for her verdict. Alear swallowed the lump of regret down her throat and picked up one of the cookies. Tossing it into her mouth, Alear scrunched up her face as she attempted to chew through the rock-like texture of the cookie. After managing to swallow the dessert, she had to stop herself from falling over as it felt like the chewed pieces dropped down into her stomach like stone quickly sinking in water. Alear recalled she drank three glasses of milk that day and later apologized to Zelphia that her type of cookies was not for her tastes.
But there was at least someone in the world who liked them, and he was walking beside her with a now empty bag. Griss licked off the remaining—or lack of—taste off his fingers with a wet smacking sound and crumbled the bag up before tossing it onto the floor. Alear sighed as she bent down to pick up the bag and placed it in her skirt pocket so she could dispose of it later. She caught up with Griss who didn’t bother to stop and wait for her to pick up his litter.
It wasn’t long before they reached the entrance of the school and exited the building, finding themselves now in the massive courtyard.
“Aunt Zelphia will be here in a minute to pick you up,” Alear informed her brother. “Try not to get into any more trouble in the next ten minutes.”
“Fine by me. Looks like Fele is causing extra trouble for me.” Griss grinned a devious grin as he pointed a black-painted finger towards a scene at the bottom of the school entrance stairs.
Heterochromia eyes followed his finger and saw Fele, in front of her older twin sister, pointing a sharp-edged stick at another student who towered over the girls in size. Yet, the taller male had a look of fear in his eyes while Fele sneered up at him with her red eyes narrowed.
“Why are you scared all of a sudden? If you want to fight, you need to be prepared to finish it.” Fele threatened.
“What the hell?! Are you crazy? Put that stick down!”
“Crazy? Oh please, the only one who is crazy here is you.” Fele thrust the stick forward and laughed when the student stumbled back.
“Only an insane person would dare to lay hands on any of my siblings and think they can get away with it.”
“S-She tripped down the stairs! I didn’t do anything!” The guy pleaded, but he sent a harsh look at Veyle. “Right?”
Veyle winced under the student’s glare and meekly nodded, “That’s right. I tripped, Fele. Please, leave them alone.”
Fele clicked her tongue and gave a disappointing look at her sister.
“Such a weak-willed little thing you are…if we didn’t share the same face I would constantly debate if we were even related.”
Fele threw the stick down and crossed her arms, letting out a huff. The scared student in front of her took this as an opportunity to run before Fele changed her mind and stabbed him just for the fun of it. Veyle started to carefully stand up and let out a surprised gasp when Alear suddenly appeared to assist.
“Do I even want to know what happened?” Alear asked Veyle as she held her little sister’s arm to support her onto her feet.
“I fell down some stairs and due to my clumsiness it became a big misunderstanding,” Veyle explained.
Alear’s eyebrows furrowed as she examined the scrapes and bruises on Veyle’s limbs. She could tell this was not a clumsy fall and based on Fele’s aggressive engagement with the student, he likely pushed Veyle down the stairs for some cruel reason.
“If it isn’t the school’s divine savior. Where were you before Veyle was mistreated?” Fele glared at Alear, as if it was her fault Veyle was hurt.
“Getting our brother out of detention. Again.” Alear replied.
“You should let him rot in there since he likes it so much.”
“At least in there, I get a break from your cocky-ass attitude.” Griss rebuked.
“Guys, please. Don’t start fighting.” Alear said, stepping between the two.
The siblings glared, two pairs of red eyes sending daggers to one another. Then, with a huff, they looked away. Alear let out a sigh of relief. A few years back, her words would’ve meant nothing and Griss would have Fele in a headlock. It was small victories like this that made Alear smile. Alear stood with her siblings until Zelphia came for five, very awkward, minutes. No one said a word until a familiar black car drove up. Fele and Griss argued over who rode shotgun until Zelphia demanded they both go into the back for causing a fuss. They grumbled but did as they told without saying goodbye to Alear. Veyle waved to Alear before entering the passenger side of the car.
Zelphia rolled down the passenger window, blew Alear a kiss and said, “See you back home, dear!”
Alear smiled and waved, watching the car drive out of view. She started making her way back to the school so she could thank Framme and return to the student council meeting. As she walked, she contemplated her mother’s words about the difficulties of a blended family. It has been four years and her siblings were still quite the handful. But they will always be Alear’s handful.