Family Ties

[Cedahlia]

The concert had just finished and the crowds were starting to shuffle out. Sirius was so tired. It had been a lot of work to put on a the kind of production at the scale that he had. Everything with the set and effects had to be just right, timed perfectly and performed the same. It was a lot for the teen but he loved it. There was such a rush in the performance and panic of doing it all. The kid wanted a nice rest but he knew he wasn't going to get that at home. He never wanted to go home. So as always he tried to get in with going to the clubs or wherever after the band went to celebrate. And always he was met with a no.

"Sirius, no offense, but you're just not old enough. If you were eighteen that would be one thing. But fifteen is just too young to be partying with the crowds we do. It would be irresponsible of us to let you tag along," Eden said, trying to be firm but gentle.

"I can handle it!" Sirius said. "I can. I'll be on my best behavior. You won't have to worry about me at all."

Eden turned to the guys for back up.

[Athy]

The twins chuckled, "you really can't. Would you like us to walk you home?" They asked him, they would happily do it as well.

"I don't see what the big deal is..." Top replied, to which he got a slap upside the head. "Okay, it's a big deal. They're right." Though he would totally let him go.

[Cedahlia]

Sirius looked a bit frustrated. Top was cool. He would have let him go. But the three others were clearly not budging. "No," he said. "I don't need to be walked home like some little kid. Thanks." He tried to hide how disappointed he was. He failed at it but he didn't much care. He sulked off.

Eden felt bad as he watched the kid leave. He gave Top a look when Sirius was gone. "The big deal is something could happen to him and we'd be responsible for that. Clubs aren't a place for kids his age."

He didn't know that what Sirius was going home to was much worse than anything he might have encountered at the club that night.

[Athy]

"I am not comfortable with him leaving..." Jiyong said, though he hadn't meant for him to think he was calling him a little kid either. "Should we follow at a distance?"

"I am not sure he would appreciate that, brother." Taeyang said, but also what did he care? He was good at being a rebel. Ha.

Top shrugged, "but we wouldn't let anything happen to him. There is how many eyes here? 8 of them? We wouldn't miss a beat. We'd be focused on him. That's what I thought anyway."

[Cedahlia]

"It's more babysitting then partying if we're all keeping tabs on the kid," Eden said to Top. "Which is fine but...I don't know." He just looked at the twins with a funny expression on his face. "You want to stalk the kid home? Why? That's a bit creepy, even for you two."

[Athy]

"Because we're in a part of town that's full of clubs, alcohol and drug dealers. He shouldn't be on his own. Not because he's a kid. But because it isn't safe." Ji explained.

"I just have a bad feeling. So I'm doing it. Creepy or no, jerk." Tae said and punched Eden on the arm for being so mean. Fucker, calling him a creeper. "So sorry for caring!" He said as he walked off.

[Cedahlia]

"Hey!" Eden protested. "I'm just trying to give him some privacy." He wouldn't have been against it if the kid had said yes to them walking him home but he felt like it wasn't very nice to go against the kid's wishes and follow him home.

"Fine, I'll come with you." He just hoped that no one noticed them following a teenager home. That could be taken the wrong way. And as long as Sirius didn't actually walk home then it wouldn't be an issue.

The kid didn't. He got on a bus and rode it all the way to the suburbs. He should have been fine from there, in his own neighborhood. But that wasn't where he lived. They just didn't know that.

Sirius took the bus to the suburbs and then made his usual walk back home. At some point, Grim joined him, and they walked silently through the dirty streets. He stepped over a fallen body on the sidewalk. It could have been a drunk or a druggie. There were lots of them about in this neighborhood. They could have been dead. And at one point, Sirius would have stopped to check if they still lived and if they were okay. But he was so desensitized to what he saw now that he didn’t even give it a second thought. He just kept right on walking.

He hated that. He felt like part of his soul was dying a little more every time he returned home. He didn’t like who he was becoming. It was hard to stay pure when surrounded by so much of what was still bad in the world.

Sirius pushed open the door to his home. It hadn’t been locked and there was a car in the driveway that he recognized.

“Look who’s back,” his mother said when he came in. Grim had gone around the house to be let in through the window.

“Hey,” Sirius said. He’d wished they’d been sleeping. It was so much easier to just not interact with them at all. But he knew they wouldn’t be the moment he saw that car. “You promised me that you wouldn’t let him come around again while I’m home.”

“You weren’t home,” said the man in question with a sneer on his face. Uncle Roger. Everything wrong with Sirius’ life could be put on that man’s shoulders.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” his father said to him.

Sirius resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I’m going to bed.”

“You didn’t tell us how the concert went,” his mother said quickly.

Sirius stopped. “You don’t really care. You don’t want to know. What you do want to know is that no, they don’t just give me cash at the end of the concert as payment. I have nothing for you. It’s all deposited in my special work account that you don’t have access to.” He hadn’t meant to snap at them but he was just so unhappy and so tired of their shit. He was not going to give over his hard owned money so they could spend it on drugs and alcohol.

He stomped off into his room as quickly as he could while they shouted obscenities at him for disrespecting them. He slammed the door shut behind him. He really wished it had a lock on it. He went right to the window and let Grim in. And then he took a look at his room to see what was missing.

This time it was glaringly obvious. They’d taken his bed. He had nowhere to sleep now but the cold floor. And no blankets either. He’d made himself plenty, in the beginning but they’d always been sold so he just stopped.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” he said to Grim. “I’m going to stand up to them. I don’t think it’ll do me much good but I am. And we’re going to go. We’ll go stay with a friend of mine and I’ll figure out something from there…” He didn’t know what. He couldn’t get out from under his parents without telling someone what they did. And he didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to admit to anyone what his life had become since his father had lost his job. He didn’t want anyone to know what he lived through. He was so ashamed.

Sirius took a breath and then he went back out. They’d stopped shouting at him. They were drinking now. He could see the needles neatly placed out on the table. It made him feel sick inside. “I’m leaving,” he announced to them. He watched to see if they would even acknowledge that. He was hoping they wouldn’t. Then he could just go without conflict. Another part wanted them to say something so he’d have a chance to stand up for himself. But that part was also afraid. Very afraid.

His mother just gave him a look. “And where do you think you’re going at this hour?”

“To a friend’s,” Sirius said. “Since you sold my bed I don’t have anywhere to sleep tonight.”

“The couch is right here,” his father said.

His uncle was sitting on that couch. Sirius felt sick again.

“No. I’m done with this. With you. I’m leaving for good. I’m doing my own thing from now on and you’re not going to stop me.”

His parents didn’t look like they believed him. But Uncle Roger did. He could tell. And the man’s dark eyes looked a little more evil than usual. “You know what they say, Sirius? Snitches get stitches.”

“You’re not going to stop me,” Sirius said. His parents seemed to realize this was a serious matter now. “I won’t be treated like this anymore. I’m not feeding your bad habits. I’m not giving you money to waste on this…this poison.”

“What do you know about it?” his mother hissed. “You don’t know a damn thing about what you’re talking about.”

She was so angry. So was his father. But not Uncle Roger. No, he was scary calm. “Hold on,” he said, standing up and pushing down on the mother’s shoulders to keep her from getting up and smacking her kid. “You’re right. He doesn’t know what we’re talking about. But maybe he should.”

“What?” Sirius asked. Was his uncle saying what he thought he was saying? “I’m not doing that.” He wasn’t going to take drugs. Not even a little bit to humor them. He didn’t want that poison in his body. He had seen what it had done to his parents, what it did to the people that lived around them. He didn’t want it.

Uncle Roger just smiled in an evil way and motioned for his brother to grab the kid.

Sirius fought hard. He fought for his very life. But they were so much bigger than he was and they held him down so easily. He screamed and he fought. It didn’t stop them. He kicked and he bit and he cried. But the needle still found its way into his arm. It bruised terribly from how much he was fighting against it.

He tried to get away from them. He didn’t have long before the poison started to work its way through his system. He wouldn’t be able to get away then. He wouldn’t be able to function at all. But still they held him down. Still they wouldn’t let him go. Not until Grim burst out of his room and attacked them.

Sirius fell to the floor. He held onto his throbbing arm and tried to crawl away from the fighting and confusion. Grim emerged from the scuffle and lifted Sirius’s body up, carrying him out the door and into the empty streets. Sirius could do nothing but hold on. When the drugs kicked in, he couldn’t even do that any longer.

[Athy]

The twins had followed easy. They had thought to stop once he got off the bus, but again...they felt something was wrong. They followed him back to his house. "This isn't where he's supposed to live..." Taeyang said, frowning.

"Your gut feeling was correct, it seems. However, his parents poor choice of neighbourhood is hardly something we should lurk around for." Jiyong said, feeling bad then. He had obviously wanted to keep it a secret.

But that's when the big black dog appeared, carrying Sirius with him. That stopped the immediate argument Tae had. "Oh my god," he said and ran over immediately, he took the boy from the dog. One of his brothers workers? Possibly child? It was hard to tell in that form. "What happened?" He asked, knowing he could be communicated with.

Jiyong noticed the mark on Sirius' arm. It was already starting to bruise. "Fuck."

[Cedahlia]

Grim barked. "They injected him with some kind of drug," he told the man who was not really a man but a fiend in disguise.

Eden knelt down and placed a finger on Sirius' head. "Oh he's tripping. We have to get him to a hospital right away."

[Athy]

Tae and Jiyong were loathe to give themselves away as more than human. Though Eden at this point had already been told. They just nodded and then vanished with him to the hospital.

[Cedahlia]

As far as it went with Sirius, they had given away nothing. He was do out of it that he had no idea what was even happening to him at that point. By the time he reached the hospital, he started to convulsed from seizures. He was overdosing badly. His body just couldn't handle what had been forced into him.

Sirius was taken away from them immediately and taken back. They weren't allowed back there with him but Eden was able to keep the twins abreast of what was happening. He choked when the kids flat limed and they had to work furiously to bring him back.

[Athy]

"Was his parents still alive??" Taeyang asked of Eden, if anyone would know, it would have been him. He was so not okay with this.

Jiyong sat in a chair, his head in his hands. "We should have let him stay with us..." he said, blaming himself. For not knowing. For not helping before.

[Cedahlia]

Eden shook his head. "They were injured but still alive when we left," he said. He didn't know of that was still the case. The hellhound had not come with them. Who knew what he had done when they'd gone. "I should have been the one to know. I could tell that he didn't like his parents but I thought it was just the usual teen drama.. "

He paced while he listened to what was going on with Sirius. "They've got him back. He's not stable yet." He was just relieved that they'd brought the kid back. Now they just needed to keep him from flat lining again.

[Athy]

"I'll be back." Taeyang said in a growl then he couldn't sit here and wait. He just couldn't. He appeared outside of Sirius' house. "Grim?" He called out.

Jiyong shook his head. "It's on us all. We should have noticed the signs. Let me call Mireya, maybe she can help them?"

[Cedahlia]

The hellhound appeared from the shadows. He approached Taeyang and sat down at his feet. "You called?"

"I don't know that they'll let her help," Eden said with a frown. "Not right this second. But the after care, the recovery, they might..." He continued pacing.

[Athy]

"Are they dead? If not... Can I help? " Taeyang said, because he needed to do something. He'd already text his lawyers, they were dealing with legalities of adoption.

"I'll make them," Jiyong pressed because he could do that. He was terrifying when he wanted to be. He really was. Seriously.

[Cedahlia]

"Depends on what you're going to tell the human law makers," Grim said, tilting his head as he looked up at Taeyang. "I can easily take the blame without people thinking anything more of it. You cannot."

"If you want to," Eden said. "I'd feel better about it. I don't think Miri has had to deal with many drug related case though. I'm not sure how she'll take it." They all knew Sirius. He designed for the girls as well. Did their stage effects too.

[Athy]

"I can make it look like an animal attack." Taeyang said, he could just literally trash the house too. "Does he have anything in there he would want to keep? Or did they sell it all?"

"She is stronger than you think," Jiyong said, or maybe he had a lot of faith in them all. He had too though, as he was fond of these humans. He called her. "Need your help, it's Sirius, can you get to the hospital? Or shall I collect you?"

[Cedahlia]

"Most of it is gone. There's a lose floorboard under where his bed used to be that he keeps his favorite things. You might want to retrieve what's in there and what clothes they didn't sell. Though he can make his own..." Grim said.

"The hospital?" Mireya asked. "What hospital?" She was concerned. "Did something happen at the concert tonight? No, just tell me when I get there. Actually, come get me. I'm kind of...without a mode of transportation. We're out and I can't take the care and strand the girls."

[Athy]

"I'll buy him new ones." Taeyang said and went into the house, by literally ripping the door off. He collected the things that Grim had suggested. From the loose floor board and he put them somewhere safe and then a very, very angry dragon tore the shit into the house and the people inside. Though he offered some to Grim to eat if he wanted.

Jiyong didn't respond, he just appeared next to Mireya. "Nothing happened at the concert, it was after. When he went home." he said and then popped back to the hospital.

[Cedahlia]

Grim ate the souls. He also devoured what was left of the bodies to show little evidence other than a wild fiend attack on the house. He was satisfied when they were done. The drugs were left there for the authorities to find. A fiend could and would act savagely towards people who harmed Tamers they were attached to. When they authorities learned of what had been done to Sirius and how the fiend reacted, they would believe the story and not question otherwise. But only if the evidence was there. And the drugs were there. Sirius' blood was still on the one needle, with fingerprints to prove he hadn't done it to himself.

"My father likely wanted those souls..." Grim commented to the dragon as he licked the blood from his paws.

"What happened?" Mireya asked. "Where is he?" They weren't in a room where she could work on him. All she could see was the waiting area and her brother. He looked so pale.

[Athy]

"I didn't eat them, so he can have them." Tae said, he wasn't in the business of eating souls. That wasn't something he could do, or if he could, he didn't like too. "My brother will likely torture them in death for me, so I'm happy for him to have them. Actually! Let's get him here." He said and turned back into a human and text his brother. All yo, sup I got you a treat.

Jiyong felt bad then, like Sirius would want everyone to know? "I want you to treat this like it's a patient situation, he's not our friend in there. So whatever you hear, or see is confidential. I know I can trust you. He's been poisoned, by his parents who have injected him with heroin. An incredibly nasty and addictive drug. He has overdosed, it was too much for him." He said and then pushed through the doors dramatically, still holding Mireya's hand he pulled her in with him.

"No, you need to wait outside those doors." A nurse said as he tried to push his way into the room. "Out, now!" She said in a bossy tone.

Jiyong did not hear it, he looked at her and then at the others. "My name is Reshiram," he said and the room grew dark and his aura was thick in the room, if anyone doubted his words they would not his sheer presence. "This child is under my protection and as you almost lost him once, I no longer trust him in your care and I have brought my own healer to work on him. You will give her room to work and whatever she requires. Be that soda, food or otherwise. Are we understood?"

The doctors and nurses didn't react. Because it was their sworn duty to save the lives of people in their hospital.

"If something happens to Sirius and he doesn't wake up because you have not taken my kind advice, I will hold you all accountable and punish you to death. Hear the truth of my words and get the fuck out of her way." Jiyong growled.

Finally, the staff lifted their hands and moved away from Sirius. Jiyong and Mireya. Just backed their asses right up against the room. "Thank you," Jiyong said, rearranging his shirt and tugging his cuffs as if he was totally civilized. "Miri, my darling. Shall we?" He said and lead her over to the bed.

[Cedahlia]

Grim balked. The last person he wanted to see in that moment was his father. He'd gone against his orders when he'd interfered with what had happened to Sirius. He had also eaten the souls he was meant to deliver. He coughed them back up and then fled into the night.

Lucian appeared shortly after that. He didn't look all that amused either. "Why have you summoned me to the scene of your murder?" he asked.

Mireya was a bit shocked by how Jiyong had acted. He was not in the habit of showing what he really was while in his human form. She swallowed a bit hard and approached the bed with him. Sirius was visibly not doing well at all. He was not stable and it was likely that they'd have lost him again. While they had only science to help them try to heal what had been done to the boy, Mireya had magic. She silenced the machines that were all going off loudly. Then she placed her hands over Sirius' body.

The boy went very still. That made it easier for her to concentrate on what she was doing. She focused first on his heart. It was struggling the most with the poison and it had already failed once. It was going to fail again and he wasn't going to come back from it that time. She didn't let it fail. She boosted it, strengthened it, and started to purify it. Once his heart was purified, she was able to move onto the rest of his body.

It took a very long time for her to heal Sirius. By the time he was breathing normally again and his skin was no longer pallid, she was exhausted.

[Athy]

"Hello to you as well, brother." Taeyang said, as if he had no idea whatsoever why Lucian would be so mad. "What ails you? Are you against my form of justice?"

Jiyong went over and then helped her to stay on her feet. "Thank you, Mireya. As always, we appreciate your efforts. You're very sweet." He said to her in a very kind voice. Then he looked at the others. "I want everything he needs packed into an ambulance. You have thirty minutes. Then you'll set him up in my home and your hospital will get a large donation." For all your shitty help, he thought to himself.

[Cedahlia]

"I'm against the mess you and my son have made for me," Lucian said. He did not react to Taeyang's innocent tone. There was no point, really. He looked around. His son's absence was noticeable. He frowned.

Mireya smiled weakly at Jiyong. "I wasn't able to do everything," she said. "But he is stable now. He'll survive this and his organs won't have any lasting damage for the experience."  She was utterly repulsed that someone would voluntarily do this to a person, especially their own child. But she didn't ask about that. She didn't want to know what they had done. And surely, they had done something.

[Sponsored content]