Askel stared at the pile of documents at a loss. His sister had screamed. He knew that much but she’d been gone by the time they’d reached the section of the archives she’d ventured to. He looked to Keir. At least he was as much at a loss as he was. The thought brought him little joy. He’d just burried most of his family earlier today, now his sister was gone. He couldn’t take it if he lost her too.

The stale air around them suddenly began to move and swirl. When it stopped a man stood in front of them.

“Which one of you is Akira’s brother?” the man asked.

“I…I am,” Askel stuttered.

“Come with me,” he said. “Your sister needs you.”

“How do I know you’re going to take me to Kira?” Askel demanded.

“We don’t have time to argue,” the man growled. “Your sister could hurt herself, if she hasn’t already. So, are you coming?”

The man extended his hand to Askel. Without thinking about anything but his sister, Askel took his hand. The archives in the Hall of Records disappeared without warning. Askel felt sick to his stomach but he felt too compressed to throw up.

As suddenly as the archives had disappeared, a stone building appeared. Inside the building were four people, including his sister. Everyone was dwarfed by the ship that was sitting on the ground instead of being anchored in a bay. Akira was screaming profanities, which was really nothing new, and slamming her fists into the side of the ship, which was the cause of everyone’s consternation. Askel ran to Akira as fast as he could despite the ice beneath his dress shoes.

“KIRA!” he shouted trying to get her to hear him over her own screams, a feat in itself.

Seconds later, it seemed, he slammed into her. They fell to the cold ground but at least he was in between her and the ship.

“Kira, what is it?” he asked shaking her. “What’s wrong? Please, Kira tell me what’s wrong.”

She began speaking in the language they had created as children. One that he had largely forgotten as he grew older.

“Kira, I don’t know what you’re saying,” he whispered.

Akira gave him a long look but switched to English.

“I miss them Kel!” she sobbed. “And I hate him for being a fucking asshole.”

“Well sadly, you knew Keir was an asshole from the very beginning,” he replied dryly. “And I miss them too. They…”

For the first time since Nell, Adan, and their mother had died Askel didn’t have the words to say to comfort Akira. It was almost like he’d said them all already and couldn’t find any more to say to assuage her grief as well as his own.

He sat up.

“Let me see your hands,” he told her.

Akira sat up and reluctantly held her hands out to him.

“Look at what you’ve done, Kira,” he tsked. “Gods, you’ve probably broken them, not badly hopefully.” He sighed. “He should have never come to see you.”

Akira looked up at his comment.

“HE made a promise, Kira, and he didn’t keep it,” he said. “How could he not expect you to be furious?” He sighed again. “Come on. We’d better get you patched up so you can get back to work on your thesis. Dad wouldn’t’ve wanted you to get behind on it. ‘It’d be the discovery of the century not to mention your life!’”

Akira laughed a little.

“That’s something he actually said to me when he started looking for the Bloodshed,” she said. “He would have loved to see this.”

She looked up at the ship behind him.

“Nearly seven years searching and here she is,” Akira said standing. “I only wish he could be here to see her. He’d be dancing around and singing off key. He’d whirl me in a circle like he used to.”

“Used to?” one of the others in the room spoke up.

Akira turned to the young man who spoke.

“Our father had a stroke about eight years ago,” she answered. “He was lucky to survive but it left him a vegetable, basically. He has good days though. Those are the days I talk about the Bloodshed with him but they are few and very far between.”

She looked back to the ship with a sad half smile.

“Yeah, he would’ve loved this.”