Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

— Rafaela - moments earlier—
"Okay, okay. One more time, just to get things straight—you think your boyfriend asked Modraniht to bring him to OC and that, right now, they've both been captured by Count Cae. The barbarian."
"Yes."
"And the reason you think that is because your boyfriend is also a cosmic trace wielder, and you can't contact him through the hot-wired connection you made four years ago when your boyfriend had barely learned how to control one of the most dangerous power traces in this fucking world."
"Uh... yes."
"Therefore, the only reason why you're not reaching him is that he must be locked up somewhere under Count Cae's watchful eyes."
"Y-yes?"
"And now, after hiding this for me for the past four years—putting not only your boyfriend himself but also all the people around him in danger—you want my help to find him. Cause you don't... trust anyone else with the truth about your boyfriend's powers."
Rob's shoulders tensed. "When you put it like that...."
Rafaela took a deep breath and started chewing on her fingernails. Her voice was cold and low when she said, "Bloody fuck, Roberto."
"Nobody knows about his power trace, Sis. He's—"
"Exactly!" She let out a bitter laugh. "I didn't know. If I did, I could've helped him!"
"Sis..."
"You know what's like to have this power, Beto. You know how scary it is!"
"That's the thing, Sister. I don't know!" Rob scoffed, massaging his forehead. "I've seen you suffer because of the bloody thing—and I've seen Toni going mad over it—but I don't have the slightest idea of what it feels like to be in your place. But Léon, he...." Rob paused. "He's strong, Rafa. Mentally. Morally. Physically. He's—"
"He's not unbreakable, Beto. He's human. With emotions and flaws, and you can't ignore that and expect him to just deal with stuff on his own!"
"I know! I know. And..." Rob leaned on a close tree. His hands opened and closed, trying to find the words he just didn't seem capable to. His muscles tensed, and his expression twisted in a way Rafaela worried he might be in physical pain. "It. Hurts. You already learned to control your trace. You know how to use it. I just... I wished I could help Léon do the same cause I know he can. But... all I did when I was with him was to cause him pain, and now he's in danger, and I... What can I bloody do?"
He spent a moment in silence, and Rafaela gave him time. She knew he needed it.
While Rob mulled over his thoughts, she fished in her cleavage for the broken necklace Brash had given her so long ago. After they had unlocked her powers, Toni and Brash marveled at how the amethyst in it had cracked. Now, it was only a reminder that, unlike Léon, Rafaela's powers were tainted by Brash, just like Toni's had been.
Léon was lucky to have escaped when he did.
"This is why I'm trying to find him, all right?" Rob finally said in a low, soft voice.
Rafaela raised her eyes and blinked, wondering if her brother could read minds.
"Because..." Rob's fingers traced over the dead tattoos on his arms, their lines opaque and powerless. "You, Anhangá, and him, sis. You're all I have."
Rafaela clicked her tongue. She pulled Rob into a tight hug. "I can and will help him, all right?" She stepped back and slapped his arm. "But stop keeping secrets from the people who love you, Beto. I'm serious."
"Look who's talking." Something dark crossed Rob's features. "Even if I had told you, you were too busy helping Toni."
There.
He said it. He finally said the one thing he'd been bottling up for the past four years—and there was so much violence and disgust in those words, Rafaela feared her brother would pop a vein or two. She placed her hands on her waist and sighed.
"Yeah." Her voice wavered; she cleared her throat. "I deserved that."
Rob offered her a dismissive click of the tongue and continued his walk, leading the way.
Rafaela thrust her hands into her pockets. She took a couple of long strides forward, looking around her.
"How long until we reach Aíbetama?" Rob asked. "Cae's group was a mess when we left—I'm pretty sure Léon managed to escape. If he did, Caidara can help us find him. And then, I'll protect him. I'll help him. For real this time."
"Good," she said. There was a proud smile on her lips and a warm pride swirling in her chest.
"It'll take too long to go on foot; let's go back to our NAV. If we manage to—"
"No need," she interrupted. "I might not be able to take us anywhere, but I think I still remember the way to Aíbetama. I took you there a few times, didn't I?"
Rob's eyebrows arched, and he opened his lips to answer. Before he could, Rafaela smiled. She batted a hand on Rob's shoulder and grabbed his shirt.
"Hold on." With those words, she closed her eyes and crossed them both to her broken undimension, preparing herself for the step-through. A moment later, she and Rob stopped in front of the old cave they had discovered a few months ago.
As soon as Rob crossed the threshold, his knees buckled and jabbed the ground. Like Rafaela, he breathed in as if he had stayed long minutes underwater. He coughed, hacked, and spat salt-water with a tinge of blood.
"Hey... you... okay?" Rafaela asked, giving hard smacks on his back.
"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Please... never do that again."
Rafaela chuckled. "It's faster than the subway."
They got up. Around them, the forest seemed more alive and stronger than before. Rafaela closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This place felt more spirited than anywhere else she had been in Old Continent.
"Okay. What if she refuses to help us?" Rafa asked. "You know how Caidara is."
Rob cleaned his lips with the back of his hand and hummed. "Well... I'll find a way to convince her."
And that all had happened only moments ago. Now, as Rafaela stared between Rob and the man who seemed to be Léon, something clicked inside her.
A weird, strong, ugly sense of guilt.
"Hello, Bhalu," Léon said.
Rafaela saw how Rob's muscles tensed. He didn't say or do anything for what felt like a century, while even his breathing seemed to have stopped. The world was static around them—static and charged with tension.
A bad kind of tension.
Léon took a tentative step forward. "Bhalu?"
Rafaela's eyebrows shot upward. Why was Rob not doing anything? She clicked her tongue. Her stupid brother was probably locked in the old cycle of blame he often led himself to.
So, like any older—and very normal—sister would do, she gave him a firm smack in the back that echoed in the cavernous walls around them.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Rob whined.
"Wake up. Talk to him properly, or I'll punch you." Rafaela furrowed her brows. "I thought I had raised you to be polite."
"You didn't raise me. You're one year older," Rob mumbled, caressing his back as best as he could. His cheeks started to darken. "And I'm very polite, thank you very much."
Rafaela sneered, crossing her arms. She tilted her head to the side and wiggled her eyebrows to show Léon. "He's waiting."
Yes. He was. And he had a soft smile on his lips, one that only widened as Rob walked up to him and wrapped his arms around his leaner frame.
"You're still so strong!" Léon laughed, his face contorting in what seemed to be the best kind of pain she could think of. The pain of a loving hug being too tight.
"Oh, bloody...! I'm sorry, Tiger. It's just... ah, bloody hell." He chuckled. "It's so good to hold you. I missed you so... much!" Rob ran his fingers through Léon's hair and chuckled when he closed his eyes, purring like a kitten. "It looks good on you, Leo."
"Thank you, Bhalu. I like yours too." Léon spread his hands on Rob's chest.
"That's not saying much; I still use the same haircut."
Rafaela stepped back and watched as they laughed and hugged—staring, caressing, and mumbling sweet nothings like two silly characters in a romantic comedy. Léon slipped his hands up to Rob's neck, pulling him down.
"Oh. Oh!" Rafaela's eyebrows shot up. "They're kissing now. All right," she muttered, pivoting around. When she finished the movement, her shoulders jerked, and she stumbled a step backward.
A blond man stood before her, his ocean-green eyes widened and focused forward. On Rob and Léon, she guessed.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "Almost ran into you, eh."
The man took his eyes off the scene in front of him as if pulling a dry bandaid. His Adam's Apple bobbed, his eyebrows twitched in pain. "What?" His voice was low. Weak like a dried leaf. He cleared his throat, then schooled his expression into something hard and unpleasant.
The change was so fast, Rafaela didn't fully process it until he said, "Look where you're going, partner. Do you have any idea how much this costs?" He gestured to the ripped, dirty, ridiculously tight scuba swimsuit he was wearing.
Rafaela raised her brows. She would've arched a single one to show all her confusion and contempt to that man, but she had never learned how to.
"One scratch in this and, considering your clothes," he continued, studying Rafaela from head to toe, "you'd have to work an entire decade to buy me a new one."
She lowered her eyes and met her baggy sweatpants and an old, worn leather jacket. Then, she raised her eyes to the weirdly familiar blond.
"What an utter piece of shit you are," she said. "And so very unkind."
Instead of answering, the man scoffed. With a very long and very deep sigh, he crossed his arms. "Won't argue with that. Are you with him?" He raised his chin to point at something behind her.
"Do you mean Beto?" she asked.
"Is that what you call Roberto?"
"Yeah." Rafaela tried to turn around and look at him, but the way Rob and Léon tried to eat each other's faces, climbing on each other like animals in mating season, made her turn her back at them once again. "Yeah. He's my brother." She grimaced. "And very indiscrete, as it seems."
The man clicked his tongue. "Hey! Show some decency!" He shouted. Bitterness oozed from his expression when he turned to Rafaela once again. "I'm Léon's emergency contact." There was something akin to pride in his voice, while a thin layer of sadness shone in his eyes. He stretched a hand in what looked like a peace offering. "Phillip Esposito."
Rafaela narrowed her eyes. That name was familiar too.
"Of course! The commissary's son!" Rafaela snapped her fingers and gave him a firm handshake. "And the rude man who bumped on me at Senibetama."
Phillip's eyes lost themselves for a moment or two. Then, they widened and snapped back to meet Rafaela's. "That's right! We met there too. Small world."
"Yeah. I guess those two were destined to meet, eh?" She jerked a thumb to show Rob and Léon.
Phillip shrugged. "If you say so."
"I'm—"
"Rafaela. I know." Phillip pointed at Rob and grimaced. "That guy slept one night in a friend's apartment once. He wouldn't shut up about you and Léon for a Goddess-forsaken second. Your brother, I know—but such an annoying dude."
She barked out a laugh. "Oi, don't say that. He's a good kid."
Phillip raised an eyebrow. "I had a dog once. Loved him; called him a good boy. Doesn't mean he was never a pain."
Rafaela hung her hands on her waist. "Aren't you simply adorable, comparing my brother to your dog?"
"His name was Mr. Bottles." Phillip chuckled, fitting his hands into his pockets. "Every time he saw an opened bottle on the floor, he tried to piss in it—it was hilarious."
She chuckled this time. Even if bitter and rude, there was something weirdly interesting about him. Phillip acted and sounded like the type of person who had faced truckloads of shit in his life, and who had found a very specific way to deal with all that. Sarcasm and bitterness, as it seemed to be his case. Rafaela mimicked Phillip's posture. Inside her jacket's pocket, she found her phone, a pack of gum, and her compact power-enhancing gloves.
She took a deep breath. That last item made her remember what she was doing here in the first place.
"Say, Phillip." Rafaela waited until the man looked at her to continue. "Have you been with Léon since he arrived in OC?"
"Mhm."
"You don't happen to...." She cleared her throat. "Is there anyone else with you?"
"Oh." He studied her face. Slowly, with the speed of a man who has all the time in the world, he crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his left foot, supporting his right one on a thick root at Rafaela's back. "Yeah. There's a guy called Modraniht in Caicai's cottage. He's still asleep, though—the old woman must've hit them pretty hard on the head. I was half-dead, so I guess she didn't bother."
Pure, cold, and heavy relief downed on Rafaela's shoulder. She stumbled a step to the side, a broad smile spreading on her lips. Her shin hit Phillip's leg, stopping her from moving any further. He gave her a little smile.
"Careful with the anthill," Phillip said, jerking his chin to show the busy colony bubbling beside her.
"Oh. Gosh, thanks."
His smile was a weird mix of arrogance and sweetness. "Nah. Just saving the world—one anthill at a time."
Rob's voice interrupted their conversation. "Com'ere, I want to properly introduce you to her. Rafa? Oi! Look. This is Léon, the man I told you about. Leo, this is my sis—"
She turned around.
Rob frowned when his eyes met Phillip. His muscles tensed, his posture hardened, and his face twisted. "What are you doing here?"
And just like that, Phillip wasn't as sweet anymore.