Everyone was frozen in place, their feet stuck in the mud as they stared at the tall figure right in front of them. His hand was still on the bow and the arrow knocked into it was ready to fly right in their face at any given second.
"Makoto, it's us. Your Ate and Kuyas, don't you remember us?"
Maddin tried to appease him, her voice soothing and calm and Maki realized a little too late that she was using her gift of charm. When he did, Makoto had already aimed the arrow right at Maddin.
"Don't try to use your gift on me, it won't work"
Maddin's eyebrows creased in the middle when she realized that Makoto was immune to her gift.
"You're curious as to why it won't work on me but I don't care. You… all of you shouldn't have come here."
"What are you talking about? And that is no way to treat your older siblings"
Maddox added but Makoto only scoffed at him to which the older lad was greatly annoyed. But Maia for the first time ever since they got there spoke and everyone's attention was wholly on her, even Makoto's.
"You're a doomsayer. You saw what will happen. You've seen the chaos that was said on the prophecy"
It wasn't a question but a declaration and it was enough for Makoto to at least answer her.
"The future had changed when you lived instead of staying dead in that arena. It changed again when the two hearts inside of you started beating as one causing all of us to remember. And it changed once more when you decided to go find each one of us. It didn't change for the better and it was all because of your selfishness"
Makoto spat and there was venom in his every word because Maia had felt it. Because for the longest time she didn't stop to think about the future that had changed. She didn't even care about the future altogether, she had just wanted to survive. To be with her family and Damian. She just wanted to live.
"Makoto"
Magnus called to which the younger lad looked at him.
"That's enough"
Makoto's eyes wavered as he stared back into his older brother's eyes which were now burning with fury. Fury because his own brother was spouting venom right at their little sister who had suffered enough in this lifetime.
"I think you've said your peace now Makoto, put down the arrow"
Another voice echoed from within the bungalow and inside came out an older man, his face etched with lines that shows his age, and his body assisted by the silver cane he uses as support.
He had grown older but Magnus had recognized him, just as he did years ago.
"Magnus. Still holding the fort together I see"
He smiled at Magnus and the young lad's eyes flicker from the man to Makoto then back to the old man again.
"Kuya, you know him?"
Maki asked as soon as Makoto put down his bow and arrow and walked towards the old man, standing by his side. With the two of them finally side by side, it was clear as day who he was.
"Liam, Makoto's biological father"
The silence that followed right after was so loud it could almost cut through the tension between the siblings.
Liam had invited them inside. The bungalow was much larger than it seemed on the outside and it could fit everybody else just perfectly. The siblings sat beside one another while Makoto sat beside Liam. No one was saying anything but Damian was adamant on glaring at Makoto right after what he had just told Maia.
Maddox too who was all curious couldn't keep it in and tapped Maia by her shoulder.
"Did you really die and come back to life? And you have two hearts inside of you?"
He whispered but since everyone was too busy staring at one another, his was the only voice that made a sound catching everyone's attention. Maia only gave a brief nod before staring at Makoto once again. For some reason she couldn't find it in herself to be angry at him when she should be.
"What happened? How did you find Makoto?"
Magnus finally asked and Liam finally smiled at him. When their mother had conceived Makoto it was out of a one night stand with the bartender she had met at the bar who turned out to be Liam. Liam searched for their mother and when he finally found her, she had already married Khel. Magnus remembers him because he had briefly talked to him about Makoto and how as the first born he would always look out for his siblings.
Something that Magnus still regretted for he failed to protect his siblings from their own mother. What came out of Liam's mouth was something that shocked all of them.
"Artemis brought him to me"
The simple mention of their mother's name shook Maia inside. Maybe it was because Makoto had spouted venom but suddenly she felt like crying. A hand covered Maia's shaking one and when she looked up, it was only Damian's stare that was looking right back at her.
Breathe.
He mouthed and Maia realized that she was holding her breath. A scene that didn't miss Maddox's attention.
Maki gaped at Liam and Makoto bewildered at the sudden revelation.
"What do you mean she brought him to you?"
Liam only shrugged at Maddin's question and answered.
"Artemis went to me at the bar I was working at with a sleeping Makoto and told me to raise him far from the Seven City. She didn't tell me anything more, just that I should raise Makoto away to keep him safe."
Makoto glanced at his siblings before his eyes landed on Magnus.
"When Makoto woke up he couldn't remember anything, not even his own mother. So I moved back here and raised him outside of the city"
"Until the games happened"
Makoto cut off as he crossed his arms right in front of his chest.
"You were in the games when you got your memory back?"
Makoto scoffed.
"No. Mom came looking for me because she saw me… watched me in that damned game"
Every word Makoto had let out had a certain fury into it and Maia and Damian both could understand that. The games was a death machine and it's byproducts is the mental torture that no one can ever win against.
"What did she tell you?"
Maki asked carefully and for some reason, he found that he was the only person that Makoto could look at with a certain softness in his eyes.
"That we will destroy this world"
No one dared to say anything which confirmed Maki's earlier hunch. Everyone in the room had known about the prophecy.
"And the conduit, the spark that started that doomed prophecy is Maia"
Maia's ruby eyes wavered as she stared at Makoto's brown ones. She realized then that out of all their siblings, Makoto looked like her male version. Their features were almost the same… if only she could regain her natural hair and eye color.
"She could be lying. She already lied to all of you"
Damian countered as he held Maia's hand tighter. He knew better than anyone what kind of horror and pain Maia was carrying. That's why he wouldn't stand for this.
"Only she wasn't. Because the moment that Maia had died and the two hearts inside of her beat as one, the cogs started working. And when she killed Mom, a part of the prophecy became the reality"
Maia felt her lungs run out of air as she heard Maddin's gasp. That's right they hadn't told the twins about how Artemis had died. Suddenly the air felt too thin for her to breathe in as the images started playing again. The image of her killing her own mother.
"Maia was the one who killed mom?"
Before anyone could answer Maddin, Maia was lifted from her seat and was carried outside the bungalow. Maddin's screams and Magnus' shouts deafened Maia as her back hit the soft grass.
And her forehead met with the cold muzzle of the gun as she stared Maddox right in the eye.
Everything was a blur, her eyes stung as tears welled up but she knew what was coming.
For when Damian's panicked expression, Maki, Magnus and Maddin's screams all stopped she knew what Maddox had done.
When the only sound that she heard was the gun being fired, she knew that what Makoto had said finally came true.
The prophecy became the reality.
And the chaos had already begun.