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Ever since they’d joined the X-Hunter pack when he was just four years old, Buddy never had to worry much about his safety. Sure, he had to when he was racing, but outside of racing where he was willingly putting himself at risk for the career he loved, Buddy didn’t live in fear that anyone was out there to harm him. The Foundation had been toppled, and by the time he was old enough to really grasp all that had happened around him when he was a child, all those threats had been taken care of. His grandfather was long gone, and the pack had always been so fiercely protective of him and Martin and then their cousins as more pups came along. His dad kept him as close as possible until he got his hands on a bike for the first time, and even then was still with him at every practice and race weekend.
Buddy never minded how his dad was like his ever-present shadow. It could be embarrassing at times if he turned around after a squabble or encounter with Rider to find his dad lingering nearby, but he’d always gotten over it quickly. His dad loved him, and Buddy knew how his dad worried for him. After their escape, there was no separating the two of them. Buddy never wanted to be left behind again, and his dad was scared to lose him the way he’d lost Buddy’s older brother.
His nii-san… Buddy didn’t remember him anymore, not really. He’d been only three when his older brother died. His parents hadn’t told anyone in the pack, and had never mentioned it to him, but Buddy knew that at just ten years old, his older brother had killed himself in the Foundation. His grandfather had told him while driving it in that Buddy needed to be a good boy like his brother had always been, and then he’d overheard his dad telling Kim what happened one night, so he had always known. He was pretty sure everyone else just assumed that like a handful of the other kids in the Foundation, his brother had died during a training accident or even at the hands of their grandfather. And weren’t they right, technically? It was Grandpa’s fault, like Kim had said years ago, that Buddy’s brother had killed himself so young to escape living in a nightmare.
Most of what he remembered about his nii-san wasn’t really even memories at all. Just pseudo-memories from stories he’d been told throughout his life. Or things he thought he remembered, but might have just thought of for himself and stored away like they were. His brother had apparently looked like him and their dad, except for having green eyes. They had no pictures, so Buddy just tended to imagine a version of himself at that age. His brother’s name was Taro, but Buddy had never called him that, because his brother had taught him to say nii-san instead, though his dad wasn’t sure why Taro been so insistent on using the Japanese term instead of phi. He’d been the one to give Buddy the teddy bear that he’d had for as long as he could remember, the one he still kept on his bed even as a young adult, and had been the one to come up with Buddy’s nickname. His brother had loved him a lot, and sometimes Buddy thought that was a memory and not just what his dad had told him, and Buddy had missed him when he was a little kid. Their dad had never quite recovered from the loss, and even with Kim their family had never felt complete.
So Buddy supposed he still missed his brother, even if he couldn’t picture him in his head anymore. The young Alpha always felt like there was something absent from their lives, like a puzzle missing its last piece, and it had to be his brother.
“Buddy? Are you okay?” Blinking, Buddy turned to see that Rider was by his side. So lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed the other racer approaching him. For a moment, Buddy was silent, just staring at him. Rider poked his cheek. “Hey. That media thing- did they upset you? What happened?”
“Oh. That…” The whole reason Buddy ended up even thinking about his older brother. Little interviews came after every session of a race weekend, and Buddy was still getting used to them after being shielded by his packmates from media his whole life. But once he’d gotten hired by a real team and started to compete in the big leagues, there was no more being edited out of vlogs and posts or getting shuffled away from cameras. Drivers had to appear in interviews and on social media for the team. Buddy thought he was getting pretty good at dealing with the media, even for someone quiet and subdued like him.
Rider had interrupted when he saw Buddy faltering after a question that should have been a plain and simple yes or no, letting them waste enough time that their PR managers, Buddy’s uncle Sonic and Rider’s dad Net respectively, had come to retrieve them and bring them to the teams for debrief, their media allotment over.
Buddy still didn’t know what to say. He sort of wished his parents would come around with the car quicker, so he could ignore it completely and they could go home. He sort of really just wanted to tuck against his dad. “It’s fine. I just… I didn’t know how to answer.”
Rider was both confused by his response and visibly concerned that Buddy hadn’t reacted to the cheek poke. “About whether or not you have siblings?” he asked, echoing the interviewer’s simple question.
It probably wasn’t a good idea to admit to Rider that his older brother had committed suicide in their grandfather’s house when Buddy was three years old. So instead he just said, “I used to have an older brother.”
“Used to-? Oh. Sorry.” Rider looked away, awkward.
“It’s okay. I was a toddler when he died. Just- don’t mention that in front of my parents. My dad-”
Buddy didn’t get to finish what he was saying, because all of the sudden a group of people in face masks surrounded them. So distracted by Rider and thoughts of his dead brother, and just assuming that it was stressed out track staff around that he was sensing with his ability, he didn’t realize that he was being followed. Right as it clicked for him what was happening, before he could react quickly enough to stop everything, a bag was forced over his head and two people started to drag him off, turning him around. Rider shouted out as he was attacked as well, but his voice was quickly muffled and then stopped.
“Rider!” Buddy cried out, his instincts roaring at him to do something.
The turning was disorienting him, so he couldn’t tell where Rider was anymore. Buddy couldn’t lash out all at once with his ability, in case he hurt Rider as well, unable to distinguish his blood signature the way he could for his parents and the X-Hunter pack. He tried to use it on the people touching him, but as soon as he did, he was just shoved into someone else’s hands and forced to try all over again. Having never had to worry about his safety before, Buddy had never really paid all that much attention when his parents sparred or his appa did boxing, nor when his dad had taught him the basics of self-defense when he was younger. While in theory he knew how to fight, he’d never used it before outside of doing enough for his dad to be satisfied and take him to get a treat as a reward for the lesson. Not enough to defend himself against people spinning him around while kidnapping him. And Appa had only ever told him to go for the groin if he needed to. Which he couldn’t do since he couldn’t see where to kick.
So he didn’t have any way to defend himself while people dragged him off. By the time he was sure Rider wasn’t around and that he wouldn’t hurt his rival if he used his ability, it was too late. His hands were tied by a strip of fabric and he was shoved into the trunk of a car. The car screeched as it took off, and then he couldn’t risk using his power on the driver. If he gave the driver a heart attack, they would crash.
He was scared. Buddy tried not to give in to panic with his heart pounding in his chest, but it was hard to stay calm when you had just been kidnapped. He could only imagine it had something to do with the Foundation, because why else would someone target him? And though Buddy didn’t really remember the Foundation, that was terrifying to think about, because even just growing up in it for four years had left its scars on Buddy. The trauma had remained with him his whole life, and he’d picked up on bits and pieces of stories from the members of his pack who had also grown up there. Trafficking and testing, abuse and manipulation. His brother’s death. No one outside of the pack was supposed to know that Buddy had an ability, but if they did, they would know it was quite a valuable one…
Struggling against his bindings, feeling like he was suffocating with the bag over his head in the hot trunk, Buddy growled and whined. But they hardly loosened, and he couldn’t get his hands free. Kicking and shoving at the sides of the trunk also did nothing. Not that he could even force it open and try to get out while the car was still moving.
There was nothing he could do until they pulled him out. He stopped, curling up to try to catch his breath and calm down. As they drove, the thought occurred to him that his kidnappers had to have known about his ability, because they’d been so prepared for it. The second he’d frozen their blood flow, they’d overcome the sense of doom it caused in an instant and shoved him off to someone unaffected, over and over until he was closed up where he couldn’t hurt them.
Even though he was trying to stay calm, he couldn’t stop tears from falling from his eyes. He was scared, and he wished his parents would suddenly appear to save him. “Dad, Appa…” he whimpered, wondering when he’d see them again.
Because it had to be when, because of course they would save him, because he couldn’t bear to think of any other option.
When the car slowed to a stop, Buddy thought he was ready. But nerves got the best of him, and he wasn’t able to lash out quickly enough with his ability. There was a sharp pinch in his arm right after the trunk opened, and everything started to fade as he was hauled like a ragdoll out of the back. They’d injected him with something. As they carried him, he could hear them talking to each other as everything went hazy. He couldn’t tell what they were saying.
Is that Japanese? Dad is half Japanese… he thought, and finally it all went black.
-
The next time he woke up, Buddy couldn’t use his power at all. He thought he was dreaming at first, because he couldn’t feel any of the blood signatures of the people around him with his ability. But his arm ached in multiple places, and he couldn’t recall ever feeling pain in a dream.
To his absolute bewilderment and horror, he looked around, and seeing a few rows of seats and small windows showing clouds going by, feeling the vibration beneath him, Buddy realized he was on a private plane. There was nothing he could do but sit there in silence, motionless, tied up and strapped in to his seat. A group of men in casual clothing, undoubtedly the ones who had taken him, filled up the rest of the seats.
Without his power, it was like one of his senses had been stripped from him, as though he were suddenly deaf or blind. He reached out on instinct, trying to bring back the feeling he’d never been able to truly ignore before. His power was always on, and now they’d done something to him.
He’d fantasized before, what it would be like to live without his ability. To feel less like a monster wearing a human skin, to not have to fear what others might think if they found out about that terrible secret he kept. His parents had never let him anywhere near Beyond Group’s lab and their drugs. While the power suppressant had found success, it was still a risk for people with extreme abilities and non-standard designations. His ability wasn’t natural, so there was no telling what the drug would do to him. They couldn’t risk it on him.
Buddy had never expected it to feel like something had been carved out of him, leaving him helpless and desperate.
One of the men nearest to him gave him a fake smile. “No powers, kid?” the man asked in English.
Buddy was glad that he’d learned the language young, both in the Foundation and then from Kim when he expressed an interest in pursuing a future in motorsports. “What- what did you do?”
“Don’t worry. It’s temporary. The young boss would be angry if we took your power. Besides, it’s too hard to get ahold of that good stuff from Beyond.”
“Temporary? Isn’t that dangerous?” One of his uncles had told him how Uncle Charlie had used some experimental power suppressant, before Uncle Pete’s company had taken over research and development. The original had been too dangerous for continuous use, but had spread on the blackmarket when the formula was leaked.
“You only need a few doses until we get home. It’s safe. Our boss doesn’t want you or your father hurt.”
“My dad?”
The man frowned. Others shifted uneasily. “The others couldn’t get him. But we’ll go back for him again. The boss wants you both. He’s already furious that we failed on our first attempt… But we’re lucky that he’s happy we got you first try, or else he wouldn’t have been so forgiving.”
“Why? What does your boss want with my dad?” He had powers, so it made sense for him to be a target. But why his father?
“To bring you home,” the man told him, and then gestured to another. Buddy had nowhere to go to try to escape before he was injected yet again, and once more he slipped into unconsciousness.
-
When he awoke for the second time, they were in a car, and he supposed through his terror that he was lucky enough that he was in the backseat instead of the trunk. Even with the car’s tinted windows, they’d put a jacket over him to hide how he was still tied up. It was a testament to how much time he was losing while unconscious that the car ride wasn’t all that long before they were pulling through the gates to the long driveway of some strange estate.
While he felt like he was living through some kind of nightmare, his surroundings as he pulled to his wobbly feet out of the car were practically paradise. All around a driveway with a few black cars and armed men milling about were beautiful, well-maintained gardens and the distant smell of the ocean in the air. Everything in its perfect place, plants trimmed to complete control. That control was even more apparent as he was brought inside and the house was decorated all along the entryway and main hall with a multitude of bonsai and elaborate flower arrangements, each its own art piece.
Everything was exact, colors muted even in the arrangements if not a natural green. So when they entered the main hall, Buddy’s eyes were immediately drawn to the only bright colors inside the estate he’d seen. Framed by delicate, twisting stems and thorns that might have once held fine roses was a portrait on a large canvas of two people dressed in brilliant colors and flashy patterns, of a man with a big smile and a large scar across his cheek who was standing behind a little girl with fluffy hair and thin brown eyes who looked nothing like the man with his hand on her shoulder.
Is that who ordered my kidnapping? Buddy wondered.
It was the only hint he had so far of who might have owned the elaborate estate, who clearly sought to own him as well.
They stopped in the entryway, in front of a flight of stairs. The guard who had spoken to him on the plane told him, “The boss will be seeing you now.” Then, up the stairs, he shouted, “Aoki-dono!”
Almost as if summoned, a man appeared at the top of the stairs. He wasn’t the one from the portrait, but he was definitely the man who had orchestrated Buddy’s kidnapping, the boss he’d been told about, as all the guards around him straightened up and locked their gazes on him, the ones closest to Buddy taking big steps away from him so it was him alone at the foot of the stairs. He didn’t need his power to see their fear. Whoever the boss was, his enforcers were terrified of him.
Admittedly, Buddy didn’t know all that much about Japanese culture and especially not about its traditional wear, having grown up in Thailand and with a half Korean stepfather, but even he could tell right away that his kidnapper was some kind of powerful Yakuza boss. Dressed in something like a kimono with one arm unsleeved, the dark haired man had heavy tattoos down his bare arm and the exposed skin of his chest and neck. He rushed down the stairs, shouting, “Buddy!” and Buddy could see the tattoos were mainly of a sprawling juniper tree and lots of flowers, spider lilies and red roses within black blocking.
The boss beamed as he reached the bottom of the stairs, tears in his eyes, his green eyes, and Buddy couldn’t help but stare. It was almost like he was staring at a younger version of his dad, but without his power he felt like he was looking at some kind of hollow doll made to look like him and his father.
Then the man’s scent curled around him, bright and happy. Underneath a faint hint of cigarette smoke clinging to his clothes was a dominant scent that could have been either Alpha or Enigma, something that at first seemed chemical but then gave way to organic instead. Like ripping up leaves of a plant that Lhung would scold them for touching before dragging them off to wash their hands before they could start to sting.
It should have been offputting.
It wasn’t.
He knew the scent. Buddy met the man’s eyes, and said, voice unsteady from the injections, “...Nii-san?”
His brother hugged him tight and cried, holding onto him like he was never going to let go. Taro sobbed and rambled on and on in Japanese that Buddy couldn’t understand a word of, and while his brother was overjoyed to see him, Buddy didn’t know what to feel. He hadn’t been kidnapped by someone intent on using him for his power. He’d been kidnapped by his brother, who was supposed to have died in the Foundation when Buddy was three years old. Even though his mind was racing, he hugged his brother back to see if it felt right. Buddy couldn’t be sure. The scent was right, the looks were right, but… He’d made his peace with never knowing his brother, with the false memories and the knowledge that one day he’d probably forget those as well and only know basic facts that wouldn’t feel like they had much to do with himself at all. His father and grandfather had told him his brother was dead. Now his nii-san was hugging him.
Then, Taro pulled back just enough so they could look at each other. “Sorry-” he managed, and Buddy blinked as he finally recognized a word, spoken in Thai. It took a moment for his brother to get ahold of himself enough to say, “I’ve missed you so much, Buddy. Every day I missed you and Daddy so much.”
He pressed their foreheads together, and Buddy could feel his brother rumbling deep in his chest, a faint purr. His own head spun. In the midst of his overwhelming confusion, his stunned silence, he wondered if it should have felt familiar. Had they stood like that before? Had his brother often hugged him, nuzzled him, purred because of him when they were children? Had he? If he had his power, would he have recognized his brother’s signature? Would memories have come flooding back, familiarity? Would he cry as well to be reunited with him?
“I’ve been working so hard to bring our family back together again, Buddy. I’m sorry it took me so long. It wasn’t easy at all to get free and figure things out.” Taro let him go momentarily to wipe his eyes and then held his arms, squeezing him. “Is my Thai okay? I’ve been relearning it so we can talk.”
“It’s-” Buddy started to answer, but then it hit him hard. His brother had kidnapped him. Had ordered men to attack him and Rider. Had them trained against his power, had them inject him to keep him sedated and his powers suppressed. Had them throw him in a trunk and drag him onto a plane all without telling him what was happening. Had ordered them to do the same sort of thing to their dad, and Buddy had no idea what had happened then. Had the guards attacked anyone else in their pack while trying to get their other target? He had no idea if his appa or his uncles or cousins were okay.
“Buddy? Are you okay?”
“Why did you kidnap me? Why didn’t you just-” It was crazy. He could have just called them. Surely someone with the power to arrange his kidnapping could have gotten ahold of their contact information or sent a messenger with proof of him being alive and wanting to get in touch with them. “Why didn’t you just get in contact with Dad and I? Fuck, Nii-san, Dad has never stopped grieving for you. We would have dropped everything to come see you the second we knew you were alive.”
His brother rubbed his arms, giving him a tearful, comforting smile, and Buddy still didn’t know what to feel but now knew he felt angry, at least. “No. I’m sorry if it scared you. But I had to do it this way, so no one could get in my way.”
“Who would-?”
Taro didn’t let him speak. “My men weren’t able to get Daddy yet, but soon he’ll be here too. And then the three of us will be together again. Our family. And you can both meet mine.”
“But we have a pack, I have-”
He was interrupted again before he could mention his appa. “Buddy. I’m your family. You and Daddy belong with me,” Taro stressed, his scent spiking up in strength. If they weren’t brothers, it would have been overly domineering. An Alpha trying to make another submit. Buddy struggled against it. “Grandpa and Ojiisan took us away from each other. The Aoki group has tried to keep me under their control. Daddy's been trapped by some Alpha. I won’t let anyone else separate us again. I’ll protect us. I’m finally strong enough to keep you and Daddy safe.”
Though his brother looked so much like their father, Buddy’s heart dropped as he recognized that the soft-hearted older brother he’d been told about had turned into something dangerous during his years away from them. A puzzle piece that had warped away from the rest of them. Their dad had left everything behind once they escaped the Foundation. His brother had freed himself from his own kind of captivity and then grown into it, taking it over. Buddy felt like he was four years old and standing in his grandfather’s office, being told that everything horrible was for the best for he and his dad and all the other children in the Foundation.
Taro stared up at him, searching his face for something. Buddy bit his lip, unsure of what to say. Though he was glad their dad hadn’t been taken yet, he wished he was there with him. Maybe it would be easier then with their dad to try to talk to Taro. Or maybe they could escape together. His brother lifted up his hands to hold Buddy’s face, and briefly the glint of metal of a black wedding band on his brother’s finger caught his eye. Shiny black, inlaid with sharp thorned roses in gold.
Then, he couldn’t wrench his gaze from Taro’s eyes. The green seemed to grow more intense, so much so that Buddy felt like he was going to be consumed by it.
“If…” his brother started, careful and desperate all at the same time. “If it’s too unbearable, I can take it away. Just think of what happened, Buddy, and Nii-san will take the bad thoughts away. Okay?”
Buddy’s instincts screamed.
“I want you to be happy here,” Taro told him, sniffling. “I want you to be happy to see me, the way I’m happy to see you.”
Buddy, his heart pounding in his chest, his brother’s heart racing in his-
(a pulse that finally wasn’t his own)
-could not remember what his brother’s power was.
He lashed out with his ability, mustering up every bit of strength he could. Taro staggered back with a gasp, his expression morphing at first to that inherent fear caused by Buddy’s power and then to shock and hurt. Buddy kept going, willing his brother’s blood to stop, to stop him from doing whatever terrible thing it was he was trying to do.
The green faded from his brother’s eyes, showing brown instead as Taro struggled to breathe and stay upright, to force himself to step back to Buddy’s reach. It wasn’t their dad’s almost-black deep brown. He didn’t have their dad’s eyes.
Even though he was scared, even though his brother had done something so horrible and had set off his instincts, Buddy couldn’t help but apologize, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” He hated to use his power, hated that he had to use it to defend himself, that he needed to use them against his older brother, against that memory his father cherished and grieved for so deeply, against that maybe-memory of his own of a child who loved his younger brother so much in a place that tried to destroy them all.
Two guards grabbed him, trying to twist his arms behind his back so he couldn’t extend them towards Taro to keep using his power. His brother snapped something in Japanese and the guards eased up on their hold, letting his arms free but holding onto his shoulders instead so he couldn’t try to run.
“B-Buddy… I won’t hurt you. It won’t hurt. Nii-san won’t hurt you, I promise-” Gasping needlessly for air, Taro staggered forward.
The drug hadn’t worn off enough, but Buddy kept pressing with his ability. It wasn’t strong enough to keep his brother back completely, and soon the older man had gotten close enough to press their foreheads together once again.
As his strength faded, green returned to Taro’s eyes.
“Buddy- think of how you got here. Think of our reunion. Think of how you got here,” his brother tried, again and again and again, until finally, “Think of something bad.”
Everything went black.