Crime and Punishment

The pair’s parents were quick to arrive, the first being their father. He was as distant as ever, sitting apart from them and the only acknowledgement given being his hard gaze. With the Shogun, though, his silence already spoke a thousand words. The man had already spoken to Take about his disapproval with his absence and it had hit him right in the core. A part of him had felt anger that the man couldn’t understand the agony that the migraines had brought on. He hadn’t been there to see the glowing boy vomiting from pain, snapping a stick in half as he bit on it to stop himself from wailing and waking the entire palace. But the other part of him understood. Afterall, who would want a son so weak that a headache would take them out of commission? Who would want a son that couldn’t even speak? He was a disappointment.

Their mother arrived in all her regal, beautiful glory, placed a warm kiss to their brows, then settled next to their father. It was then that their Aunt began talking, and it was then that his heart sank into the pits of the earth.

He felt his body go stiff at her suggestion that both he and Kit be disowned from their family. His jaw clenched, but he fought to keep his expression neutral. He knew no good would come from crying, and how would he protest anyhow? It wasn’t as if he could verbalize his opposition. So, instead, the large glowing boy simply tucked his head to rest atop his younger sister’s, her small body quaking with the force of her sobs. His heart ached for her, and before anything he wished he could oppose it for her. If their parents agreed to their abandonment, he knew he would first try to shift all of the punishment onto himself, and if that didn’t work he would take care of her. None of his siblings would ever be alone as long as he was alive.