Chapter Text
S.1192
Estelle Bright was exactly five years, seven months, and twenty-five days old (not that she was counting or anything) on the day her father brought home a present for her. He walked in all excited, so that obviously meant it was something good. Like a new net. Oh, or maybe a kitty!
Then he slightly unwrapped the cloth covering what he was carrying.
"…Dad, that's a boy."
Her dad smiled. "It is."
"…Boys aren't presents." Surely he knew that? Maybe this was some game, and he was hiding her real present outside the door.
Her dad moved out of the doorway and over to the chair he liked next to the fire. "Estelle, this is Rean. I'm hoping the two of you can get along." He gently placed the boy, who was fast asleep, down.
Estelle walked up to the chair and gave Rean that look her dad usually gave the morning paper. The one that showed that he was thinking super hard. Rean looked to be about her age, and he didn't seem like nearly as much fun as a net or a cat. But then people always looked boring when they were asleep. Plus, having an extra person to play tag with was always a good thing. Yes. She could make this work.
"Darling," her mother said sweetly, standing up from the kitchen table. She had been fixing a hole in Estelle's shorts when Dad came home. "Do you think you could help me with something in the bedroom?"
"Oh, er, yes dear, of course," her father answered. He turned to Estelle. "Keep Rean company, would you sweetie?" Her parents then left the room.
Estelle gave the sleeping boy a quick glance. Then she mumbled an apology and started sneaking down the hall. She wasn't dumb. She knew that whenever Mom used that tone, it meant Dad was in trouble. It was always fun when Dad was in trouble. He got all sputtery.
"…sounded so desperate Lena. I couldn't just say no."
She could hear her mother sigh, but to Estelle's surprise, she didn't sound angry. "I know you couldn't. You know I love that bleeding heart of yours."
Then there was a pause. It was long enough that Estelle was starting to worry she'd been discovered eavesdropping. But thankfully, her mom continued. "Okay, let's see how it goes. We can hardly just turn him out on the street, now can we?"
Estelle tiptoed super sneakily back into the living room. Rean was still fast asleep, but as Estelle got closer, she noticed he was twisting and turning and making uncomfortable faces. Maybe he was having a bad dream?
She frowned. She didn't really get why, but it sounded like he'd be sticking around for a bit. Well, that was fine. He'd need someone to show him the ropes around here, and Estelle was definitely a good choice for that. She knew pretty much all of Rolent like the back of her hand by now! She inched closer and put a hand on Rean's head like her mom always did whenever she felt sick. His face slowly returned to normal, and he stopped fidgeting. She nodded, quite pleased with herself.
That was how Estelle Bright—five years, seven months and twenty-five days old—met her brother.
S.1196
Rean Bright was nine years old when the power first manifested.
It was a day like any other. He wanted to read and Estelle wanted to go hunting for beetles, so they went hunting for beetles. That's when they took a wrong turn and got lost in the woods.
It shouldn't have been a big deal. Getting lost in the wilds around Rolent seemed to happen almost every other week, and they always found their way back home. Only this time, for whatever reason, they were unlucky enough to run into a pack of crazed rhinociders. Armed only with the knives their father gave them for protection against far smaller, less armored creatures, their only choice was to run.
Then the laces on Estelle's Strega's came undone—she still wasn't the best at tying them, too impatient—and she went down.
Then the nearest rhinocider reared up on it's hind legs, letting out a horrifying bellow. It had his sister right in its sights. He had to do something. Had to protect her.
The monster readied its charge. Without even thinking, Rean darted forward, placing himself in between it and it's prey. No matter what, she had to make it out of this.
Then a single solitary, painful heartbeat. Freezing time, consuming sound, draining color. Fear ran like ice water from the center of his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes. Followed by a pressurized anger that swallowed up the entirety of him. So molten hot that he thought for a split second he was burning alive.
Then the hunger. Desperate to rip, to tear, to maim. To hurt. The world turned red.
When sound and color and time returned, the woods were deathly quiet. Nothing remained of the monsters but loose piles of sepith and the blood that dyed his hands. He dropped the knife and turned to his sister. Her knee was scraped, she was missing a shoe, and there was a small amount of blood sprinkled over her face, but otherwise she appeared unharmed. She was staring at him with eyes as round as saucers.
He took a stumbling step backwards. Away from her. "I…I-I'm sorry, I don't…I didn't…"
"That. Was. Crazy!" Estelle yelled, startling both Rean and the family of birds in a nearby tree. "Your hair changed colors! And your eyes! And you had this weird fire stuff around you." She ran up to him, clearly not even noticing she was partially barefoot. "It was a little creepy," she laughed breathlessly.
Rean winced and made to wrap his arms around himself, only to remember the blood. His teeth started chattering, and he took another step back.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Estelle asked. As if she didn't know. As if she didn't see what he just did. He wanted to run. Run and never stop. But he couldn't quite make his legs obey him.
"Stay—stay away from me, I… something's wrong with me. I'll hurt you. I don't want… please," he whined.
His sister frowned deeply and put her hands on her hips. "What are you talking about, dummy!? You just saved our lives! You took out all those monsters by yourself!"
Rean shook his head violently. "I didn't! I don't… I don't even remember what happened! I could have hurt you!"
Estelle's frown deepened into a full blown scowl, and she closed the distance faster than he could back up. Without another word, she reared back and kicked his shin with her still shoed foot. "You're my brother!" She yelled. "You'd never hurt me!"
Rean bounced up and down on one leg, rubbing the other one where her sneaker had made contact, the sudden and unexpected pain temporarily disrupting his spiraling worries. "But—"
She kicked him again. "And also! Why'd you get in the way!?"
"I had to protect you!"
That only made her angrier. "Then just help me up so we could both run, you jerk! What if you died!? You think I want to lose my brother!? You…" She trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes. They hurt him far more than the kicks.
"I'm sorry…" he said quietly.
"Promise me you won't be dumb like that again," she said with all the sternness she could muster. "And no more saying you might hurt me!"
"Estelle, I—"
"I'll do it again, Rean!" she shouted, pulling her leg back to show she meant it.
"Okay, okay! I promise I won't do something like that again! Just… just no more kicking!"
"And!?"
"…And no more saying I might hurt you."
Estelle's scowl immediately gave way to her standard brilliant smile. "Good! Now let's go! We have to tell Dad what happened."
Fear shot through Rean. What would Dad say? What would he think when he saw what happened? When his sister explained what not even he could remember?
"Do we have to?"
"Duh! You've got a superpower! We've gotta figure out how to train you!"
And figure it out they did. Estelle made him explain what happened to their dad who, just like his daughter, seemed far more curious than scared (why weren't they scared of him?). Their dad exchanged some letters with someone name Yun Ka-fai, and before he new it, Rean was being trained in the Eight Leaves One Blade school of swordsmanship as a means of gaining control over whatever was inside of him. By Master Ka-fai whenever he found time, but mostly by his father.
And while he was scared at first—scared of making a mistake, or of letting the monster out—he diligently kept at it. Because even though he wasn't allowed to say he might hurt her, that couldn't stop him from thinking about it.
…And also because his sister had a pretty mean kick.
S.1197
Joshua was eleven years old when he officially became a Bright.
He honestly was still a bit unsure how it happened. He was only supposed to be here until he healed. But days turned into weeks turned into months, and every morning he work up staring at ceiling of the bedroom he shared with Rean. He kept expecting Cassius to kick him out, especially once his foot was strong enough to walk on again. He didn't. He kept expecting Estelle to finally get tired of asking him to play kick the can or tag or any of the million other inane things she liked to do. She definitely didn't.
He didn't get it. He was an assassin. A tool. The only reason he was even here was because he failed to murder Cassius! He had made it clear that they should want nothing to do with him, right? So then why did they care about him? Why didn't they want him gone? Why didn't he just leave?
Estelle's face flashed through his mind.
Joshua sighed and let the book he was trying to read drop to his lap. He turned to watch Rean, who was in the middle of his practice swings. He was good, for his age. Impressive even, for someone who only started training a little more than a year ago and had no access to some of the more…rigorous regimens that he had.
"…Can I ask you a question, Rean?"
"Seventy-nine… Sure," he said, continuing his swings.
"Why did you take up the sword?"
Rean faltered, then lowered the bokken he was training with. "I guess to protect my family?"
Joshua pressed his lips together. "Not because you like it?"
"I mean, I do like it. But that's not why I started."
"But you're dad is Cassius Bright. No monster or brigand is going to dare attack you."
Rean scratched at his cheek. "Haha… Yeah I guess he's pretty strong."
Pretty strong? Cassius Bright was more than pretty strong. Did they not know?
"But it's not other people I'm trying to protect them from." Rean retook his stance and started swinging again.
Right. That power he had. They had explained it to him last week, right after they had signed the adoption papers. Joshua remembered having to act more surprised by it than he really was. Apparently the Eight Leaves One Blade school was supposed to be a good way for him to gain control over it.
"…Did it worry you? When it first happened?" Joshua wasn't exactly sure why he was pressing the issue. There was just this… pressure welling up inside of him that he wanted more and more to release.
Rean paused again, and Joshua felt a small tinge of guilt. The other boy didn't look upset, though. Just thoughtful. "Are you kidding? Yeah, a lot. I remember Estelle dragging me back to the house to tell Dad, and freaking out because I thought he was gonna kick me out of the house or something."
Joshua straightened up slightly. "Yeah?"
Rean smiled, clearly playing through the memory. "Yeah, I was kinda dumb. Dad and Estelle didn't care at all. At least, not in the bad way. Dad told me it didn't matter what I was, just who I was." He took up his stance for the third time. "Or something like that."
The pressure inside Joshua lessened, only to be replaced by a new one. Maybe Cassius really didn't care that he was a former assassin. But if he wasn't that… what exactly was he? Definitely not Joshua Astray. That boy was dead. All that remained was a doll. A twisted, broken fragment of who he was.
"REEEEEEAAAAAN!! JOOOOSHUAAAAA!!"
Both boys groaned in unison, Rean finally giving up and setting his bokken down against the side of the house. Seconds later, Estelle came bounding around the corner, followed by a winded looking Tio and Elissa.
"Found you! C'mon, let's go! Today's the day we check out what's behind Tio's farm!"
"Geez, Estelle, at lest let us catch our breath first!" Elissa whined, hands on her knees. "Why did we have to run all the way here!?"
Estelle titled her head slightly. "Huh? The faster we go, the more time we have to explore, right?" She turned back to Rean and Joshua. "Let's go go go!"
Rean just smiled and nodded, but Joshua still felt like he needed to put up some small amount of resistance. "You guys go on, I want to finish my book."
Estelle rounded on him, face all scrunched up. "When will you learn, Joshua. I'm the big sister—"
"No you aren't," her brothers said in unison.
"—I ' M T H E B I G S I S T E R, so that means what I say goes!"
"You're not going to win," Rean said, giving him a commiserating smile.
Joshua let out an exaggerated sigh and put his book down. If he had to figure out who Joshua Bright was, he might as well get started.
S.1202
"So, are you three ready? It's you're last day of training at the guild, right?"
"Yes," Joshua said, putting down his coffee as Rean started collecting their plates. "But it's just a review of everything we've learned so far."
"And once we're done, we'll be full fledged bracers!" Estelle said, arms extended in a-half stretch, half-celebration.
About three months ago, Estelle turned sixteen. Since she was the youngest of the siblings (though you'd never get her to admit it), that meant they could finally enact their plan to become bracers. The very next day after her birthday, they had made their way to the Rolent branch of the Bracer Guild and applied. Since then, they had committed almost every moment they had to learning everything they'd need to know. And finally, finally, she and her brothers were ready. Ready to take Liberl by storm and become the best bracers ever!
"Junior bracers, Estelle," Rean said, walking over to the sink.
"That's what I said, full fledged junior bracers!"
Cassius chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself. You've still got a ways to go if you want to overtake your old man."
Estelle grumbled. That stupid dad of hers. Always trying to act so cool. "Just you watch! I'm gonna rack up achievements and become a way better bracer than you, Dad!"
He just waved her off with a smile that made her grumble even more. Oh, she'd definitely show him.
"Another day, another round of father-daughter verbal sparring," Joshua said, shaking his head. "You'd think they'd get tired of it by now."
"I think it's nice," Rean said, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the kitchen faucet. "It's their way of showing affection."
Estelle huffed. "Shut up, it is not!"
"Oh, my darling Estelle, how you wound your father!"
"You shut up too, Dad!"
"She's probably just nervous because of the exam," Rean said.
"That is so not—exam?" Estelle gave Rean an uncertain smile. "What exam, brother dearest?"
Rean gave her an uncertain smile right back. "The… the exam we need to take before we can become bracers?"
"You did not seriously forget," Joshua asked, eyes half-lidded.
"O-of course I didn't! But maybe you could uh, explain it anyways? Just so we're all on the same page."
Joshua sighed, and Estelle had to resist the urge to sock him. Always so cheeky! Why couldn't he be nice like Rean? "The exam is going to test us on all we've learned these past few months. You know, Schera said that if you don't pass, you'll have to take supplementary training."
"Wait, why just me!?"
"If any of us fail," Rean said, sending Joshua a raised eyebrow.
Estelle groaned. Loathe as she was to admit it, she understood why Joshua singled her out. He was a super genius, and Rean was always way more diligent with his studies than she was. If any of them were going to fail, it'd probably be her.
Oh well, nothing to do but hope for the best at this point. "I guess Schera did mention something like that. I'm sure it'll be fine!"
"There she is! The daughter with boundless optimism I know and love!" Cassius laughed deeply. "Where on earth do you get it?"
"You're way worse than I am!/Pot meet kettle./The apple fell really close to the tree, didn't it?"
Cassius grabbed at his heart and threw a pained look on his face. "All three of my children, so eager to hurt their papa! Oh Lena, we're did I go wrong!?"
Estelle just rolled her eyes. "Bye Dad! Wish us luck!" With that, she marched out the door, eager to get the show on the road.
"We'll make sure to stop by Rinon's and get you that copy of the newspaper," Rean said, following her out.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure she doesn't cause too much trouble." Joshua waved and closed the door on the way out. Cassius could hear his daughter's muffled complaints growing fainter as his children made their way down the porch steps and onto the dirt path leading to Rolent.
So, the day was finally here. It was almost time to push the fledglings out of the nest. He smiled fondly to himself. A bittersweet feeling, to be sure. But those three were ready. As long as they had each other, they'd be just fine.