The Brother That Never Existed

Rain continued falling.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The stranger stood there quietly while everyone stared.

Xin finally broke silence.

“Stonen?”

The man nodded once.

“Yes.”

Xin looked confused.

“No.”

The man looked at him calmly.

“Yes.”

Tara immediately stepped forward.

“You’re telling me after all this time another Stonen just appears.”

The stranger ignored her.

His eyes remained on Xin.

“Your parents called me Orion.”

Xin stared.

“Called?”

Orion stayed quiet.

That answer alone felt wrong.

Inside.

Everyone gathered.

Weapons remained nearby.

Nobody trusted Orion.

Not Tara.

Not Rion.

Especially not Rion.

Rion stared constantly.

“You are strong,” Rion finally said.

Orion shrugged.

“Enough.”

Xin sat opposite Orion.

“Start talking.”

Orion looked at Kaila’s necklace around Xin’s neck.

His expression changed slightly.

“You still have it.”

Xin frowned.

“What.”

Orion pointed.

“That necklace.”

Silence.

“How do you know about this.”

Orion slowly leaned back.

“Because I bought it.”

Everything stopped.

Xin blinked.

“What.”

“Kaila wanted something cheap.”

Orion looked away briefly.

“She argued for thirty minutes.”

Xin’s heart skipped.

That memory.

That exact memory.

Only Xin and Kaila knew that.

Orion continued.

“She picked the ugly one.”

Xin froze completely.

Tara immediately interrupted.

“Enough games.”

Orion looked toward Tara.

“Fine.”

He slowly removed gloves.

His hands.

Scars everywhere.

Burn marks.

Surgery marks.

Spinat damage.

Old wounds.

Then he rolled up sleeves.

Symbol markings.

Identical.

Xin immediately stood.

“What.”

Orion looked directly at him.

“I am your brother.”

Silence.

Nobody moved.

Xin laughed.

Actually laughed.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Xin pointed angrily.

“My parents never mentioned another brother.”

Orion nodded.

“They couldn't.”

Xin stared.

Orion slowly exhaled.

“Because Dive took me.”

Nobody spoke.

Not even Tara.

Orion finally continued.

“When mother was pregnant.”

“Dive discovered something.”

He pointed toward Xin.

“Not you.”

Then pointed toward himself.

“Me.”

Xin frowned.

“What.”

Orion answered quietly.

“I was born different.”

Orion stood.

Walked toward old windows.

Rain outside continued.

“They took me immediately.”

“Experiments.”

“Training.”

“Spinat exposure.”

“Entity exposure.”

“Combat.”

“Isolation.”

His voice remained calm.

Too calm.

“I escaped years later.”

Xin stared.

“Then why never come.”

Orion looked back.

“Because Dive wanted me.”

“Not you.”

He paused.

“If I stayed.”

“They would find you.”

Silence.

Then Orion dropped another bomb.

“I was the one who helped you escape.”

Xin froze.

“What.”

“When your parents died.”

“When Kaila grabbed your hand.”

“When that employee showed footage.”

“When Dive soldiers almost found your location.”

Orion looked directly at Xin.

“That was me.”

Xin slowly sat down.

Everything felt wrong.

“Kaila knew?”

Orion shook his head.

“No.”

“Nobody knew.”

“Not even her.”

“Why.”

Orion looked down.

“Because your parents wanted normal children.”

Silence.

“You two got childhood.”

He smiled slightly.

“I got laboratories.”

Nobody spoke.

Rion finally interrupted.

“Why reveal yourself now.”

Orion answered immediately.

“Because Andy.”

Silence.

“Andy changes things.”

Orion looked toward everyone.

“Zane was dangerous.”

“Andy is extinction.”

The room became quiet again.

Orion continued.

“I watched everything.”

“Kaila dying.”

“Zane.”

“Sector Zero.”

“Black Bloom.”

He looked toward Xin.

“You are finally strong enough.”

Xin frowned.

“For what.”

Orion answered quietly.

“To know the truth.”

Tara crossed her arms.

“Okay.”

“What exactly can you do.”

Orion looked annoyed.

“You really want to know.”

“Yes.”

Orion sighed.

Then pointed outside.

A mountain far away.

One movement.

He disappeared.

Not fast.

Instant.

A second later.

The mountain split apart.

Cleanly.

Orion reappeared.

Everyone silent.

He shrugged.

“I fight.”

Xin stared.

“What the hell.”

Orion looked toward him.

“I am stronger than you.”

Pause.

“For now.”

Night came.

Xin sat alone outside.

Orion approached quietly.

Both stayed silent.

Finally.

Xin spoke.

“Why didn’t you come earlier.”

Orion looked toward sky.

“Because.”

Long pause.

“I didn’t know how.”

Xin looked down.

Kaila’s necklace.

Always this necklace.

Orion looked at it again.

“She talked about you a lot.”

Xin looked up immediately.

Orion smiled weakly.

“Annoyingly often.”

Silence.

Then.

Very quietly.

“I’m sorry.”

Xin looked away.

Rain continued.

Two brothers.

One who lived.

One who survived.

Both broken differently.

And somewhere very far away.

Black Bloom continued growing.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━