Chapter 3: The Definition of a Family.

  What is a family? It seems like an easy question for most people, right? The denotation behind the word is simple: A group consisting of parents and children living together in a household; all the descendants of a common ancestor. Or maybe the meaning is even more abstract with anything that someone loves could be considered a family. Despite the variety of definitions attached to the word, not everyone may have one. However, it's the connotation behind the word that hurts. Those emotions and feelings that come with the word differ for everyone. Some have good experiences while others have awful. The problem with Taiyo is that he doesn't feel anything from that word. Where there should be feelings of love or hate, only the haze remains.

  ***

  The school bell rang signaling the start of the weekend. Taiyo stood up and gathered his stuff, trying to think of ways he could avoid Kendall and Lyra. He sighed and gave up on thinking too much and walked out of the classroom.

  "Hey let's hang out today!" Kendall said as Tai walked through the door.

  "No," Taiyo said.

  "Where should we go?"

  "I said no."

  "I'm thinking maybe a restaurant... What do you think, Lyra?"

  "Are you seriously doing this again?"

  "Hmm, I don't know... Maybe we should go to Tai's house and help him out at home..." Lyra answered, thinking carefully.

  "I don't need help."

  "Yeah, I guess that works. We could just chill and stuff," Kendall responded.

  "No, I meant like actually help out around the house with cleaning and tidying stuff up. I bet he constantly lives in a mess with no parents around."

  "You two are slowly provoking me to hit you more and more."

  "Yeah it might be messy so we may have to clean a lot. Hey bro, we're going to sleep over for the entire weekend so what's the sleeping situation looking like?" Kendall asked.

  "Yeah, that's pretty important. A girl shouldn't be sleeping in the same room as two guys," said Lyra with a nod.

  "You don't have to worry about where you're sleeping, Lyra," Taiyo said.

  "Wait, really?! You've already thought about it for my sake?"

  "No. You don't have to worry about it because there is absolutely no way you two are staying at my place. I wanted to test... something..." Taiyo said, secretly referring to his magic.

  "We can totally help with whatever it is!" Kendall said excitedly as he grabbed Lyra and Tai's hand and hurriedly pulled them forward.

  "God, what are you doing now?" Taiyo asked but didn't resist.

  "We're going to your house of course!" Kendall replied happily.

  "Sorry to burst your bubble but you don't know where it is..." Lyra laughed as she continued to be dragged by Kendall.

  "Oh yeah... Lead the way, Tai!" Kendall pushed Taiyo ahead and put his own hand and Lyra's in Tai's.

  "You can't be serious... Is there a way I can convince you guys to go home? Don't you have parents or something?" Taiyo said. He tried to let go of their hands but they both just squeezed tighter and refused to let go.

  "Nope, we're coming with you," Lyra smiled. "And I just texted my mom that I won't be back until next Friday!"

  "Ha same here," said Kendall, holding up his phone with a grin.

  "You two are really getting on my nerves. And how do you even manage that anyway? There’s no way you can just get a green light from your parents to disappear to who knows where for however long. You guys are idiotic."

  "Don't worry, we love you too!" Kendall said with a grin.

  Taiyo gave in to their demands because it was starting to get late and they had just been walking slowly in one direction.

  ***

  Taiyo finally got to his apartment complex and went into the lobby. He checked the time and realized how much of it they had burned. Lyra wanted to go shopping together for basically the entire day and Kendall forced them to eat out at a random mom and pop shop he swore was the best in town and go watch an action fantasy movie about some demon fox ninja and his edgy rival with a brother complex. Taiyo won't admit it but he thought it was pretty good.

  Time had really gotten away from them as it was already one in the morning. Taiyo was already tired enough but Lyra was already half asleep while Kendall fought to stay awake. They all got in the elevator and quietly waited to get to his apartment. His head felt like it was going to split in two as more images filled his mind. The angel and demon, the tower - all of it made no sense.

  Without thinking, Lyra rested her head on Taiyo's shoulder and closed her eyes without saying anything. Kendall was now on the floor sitting with his head in his arms.

  "What annoying friends..." Taiyo said quietly with a shake of his head. At that moment he could already tell how tiring this little sleepover of his was going to be.

  ***

  "Why'd you wake me up... I was sleeping so nicely..." Kendall complained.

  "You already forced me to hang out with you and made me take you to my house. I don't think you should have a problem with me being nice and not leaving you in an elevator all night," Taiyo said coldly.

  "Haha, I guess you're right!" Kendall laughed.

  Lyra let out a yawn as she stretched out her arms in front of her. "Can you please just open the door? A woman needs her beauty sleep..."

  "Yeah yeah, whatever," Taiyo put the key in and opened the door to his apartment and went in.

  "As expected, it's a dump in here," Lyra said.

  "Why should I care? I live here alone and the only thing around is just some clothes and some exercise stuff."

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "Yeah but a mess is a mess. You should clean even if you're living alone."

  "Well, we're here now so you can take the bed and go to sleep. Kendall you're on the couch and I'll be on the floor. Put the shopping bags on the kitchen island and please just be quiet until morning."

  "Sir, yes sir!" Kendall said, getting into a salute stance. Lyra laughed tiredly but walked to the room Taiyo had pointed her towards.

  Kendall and Tai put down the bags they were holding and got to their sleeping spots.

  ***

  "Hey Tai..." Kendall said after some time had passed.

  "I thought you said you'd be quiet..." Taiyo said sleepily.

  "I know but I just wanted to say I had fun today... And I'm sure Lyra did too..."

  "That's cool and all but Lyra is only here because I broke the rim. She only hangs out with us because I stood out for a second."

  "Hmm really...? It didn't really seem like you thought that when you called us your friends in the elevator..."

  "You heard that?" Taiyo said, his face burning a deep shade of red.. "I thought you were asleep."

  "I was but I kept waking up for a few seconds," Kendall laughed quietly.

  "You're so annoying."

  "Haha, goodnight," Kendall smiled wide. His eyes would barely stay open but he couldn’t help it.

  "Whatever."

  ***

  Tai had set his alarm to wake him up early through his earbuds. He quietly got up and got dressed in comfortable loose clothing. At the moment, sleep was the least on his mind.

  He looked over at Kendall to make sure he was asleep then went into the room to check on Lyra. After confirming that they were both still sleeping he slung a bag over his shoulders and headed out the door.

  "Time to see what I can do."

  ***

  Taiyo extended his hand and started to focus, trying to recreate the same feeling he had when he first went into that state. He was currently in an alley behind the apartment building so he could stay out of sight from people.

  "Come on, I'm on the clock here," he mumbled to himself in annoyance. "Do something... Anything..."

  Taiyo tensed his hand into a fist. He tried to remember how he had acted when he had first cast his magic, how he was so desperate to win that game and get past Kendall, how he wanted, no, needed, more speed and strength to win. However, sincere feelings like that can't be created artificially so he decided to find a different approach.

  Taiyo extended both arms in an X-shape as Kendall had done.

  "Maybe the X shape was nostalgic for a reason..."

  Moments had passed and he felt... nothing... absolutely nothing.

  “Nothing’s working…"

  ***

  "I'm running out of time..." Taiyo panted as he had exhausted himself for multiple hours and the sun had started to rise.

  He looked over at all of his failed attempts. There were times when he had punched and kicked the wall out of frustration, times he wanted to yell as loud as he could and scream out to the sky, he had tried everything and had pushed his body to its limit.

  "This is so annoying!" He yelled out as he leaned against the wall and slumped to the ground.

  "Then do something about it," a voice said coldly from the shadows.

  "Who's there?" Taiyo immediately got into a defensive position. If someone had seen him, things would get a lot more complicated.

  "If you're annoyed and fed up... then do something about it," the voice continued.

  "You're that lady from before with the mask... What do you want?"

  "What I want is for you to smile."

  "The hell… What are you on about? I've got nothing to smile about."

  "And that's why you're failing."

  A golden revolver dropped to Taiyo's feet, it shone a brilliant hue in the rising sunlight. Seeing it brought back memories he didn't even know existed. People were praising him. He had met a girl who had fought for him and lost. He saw visions of blood, the sounds of crying and screaming. None of it made any sense to him at all...

  "You've done enough killing in your lifetime. Now it's time to repent," She said as she stepped out of hiding and faced Taiyo directly.

  "I haven't killed anyone! What is this all about?" Tai yelled back.

  "I think it's only fair that you feel what it's like to die at least once. I already told you that I will follow you for my entire life. But, after what you've done, I wouldn't forgive myself if I followed someone who can’t even remember the faces of the people he brutally slaughtered in cold-blood."

  "I didn't murder anyone! And if I did I would probably feel extremely bad and would remember them!"

  Silence followed after Tai's statement. They didn't say anything to each other for what felt like an eternity.

  "Hmm... then die," the woman dashed toward the revolver at a high speed and swiftly picked it up. She spun its barrel and pulled the trigger, her sights aimed at Tai's head.

  Taiyo's eyes turned black and white fire erupted from them. His vision improved and he could now see the bullet heading towards him. But it didn't matter since his body seemed to not be able to get anywhere as fast as he was during the basketball game.

  Time seemed to slow down at that moment. He watched as the bullet dug into his forehead in slow motion. He could visualize and grasp every moment yet he wasn’t powerful enough to take action from what he saw. All he could do was sit there. Sit there as blood erupted from the hole in a near stop motion like fashion, followed by the sound of his skull cracking. His eyes lost their power as they rolled into his head and he collapsed.

  "The true heir of the Vitale Family would strike fear in even death itself. So overcome it, Master Tai."

  The woman took off her mask and rested it on the top of her head. She twisted the revolver one final time within her grasp before setting it down beside him. She slowly took off the cloak she was wearing and threw it into the road. The moment the cloak went out into the open sunlight, it froze in midair before shattering into hundreds of little pieces of glimmering light, her long hair following down to her waist.

  She let out a tired sigh. "Keeping this act up in front of the master is so emotionally, and physically tiring. I can't believe the old hag made me do this instead of Caelum..."

  "I bet the brat is still laughing at me..." The woman said through a strained smile as her eye twitched.

  "H-Hello... is anyone there..?" a man's voice called out from the street far ahead of her.

  "Security, huh? Looks like I overstayed my welcome..." She looked at Taiyo and smiled sadly. "At least you awakened your abilities..."

  The lady jumped onto the nearest roof and disappeared into the shadows.

  ***

  "Tai! TAI! Wake up!" someone said over the sound of loud crying. "Don't you die yet, you edgy, rude, emo piece of shit!"

  Bright white light shone into Taiyo's eyes as he looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Every part of him ached and his head throbbed in a rhythmic beat. He opened his eyes to see Kendall and Lyra. Both of them were still dressed in pajamas and had insanely messy hair. The bags under their eyes were also still noticeable.

  "Jeez, did you really have to go all out like that... A simple 'don't die' would have been enough," Tai groaned as he sat up slowly. "Honestly I'm proud of you though. Didn't think you had it in you to be mean; always thought that was more of Lyra's thing."

  Kendall gave a weak smile in relief as he let out a breath. Lyra looked over at Tai, her eyes were red as tears silently streamed down her face. She immediately got up and hugged Taiyo as tightly as she could, burying her face in his chest.

  "L-Lyra, what are you doing..."Taiyo asked, his face turning red.

  "Idiot..." her voice shook in reply.

  Taiyo didn't know what to do but he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and didn't say anything more.

  "What happened to you man? We woke up but you weren't there so we went out to look for you and there was a huge crowd outside with the police and some paramedics. We went to check it out and the police were surrounding your body talking about something. They said it was probably a suicide attempt because you were holding a golden gun and wouldn't let it go, even after they took you out on a stretcher."

  "Then what? Where's the gun now?"

  "They took you here to the hospital and we followed because we were worried about you. The gun is probably still somewhere in your bed because you absolutely refused to let it go. We weren't here for a while until you went into critical condition then you flatlined and they pronounced you dead. Lyra and I... kinda broke down,"

  Taiyo looked down at Lyra and immediately felt bad. He had said behind her back that she basically didn't care about him and Kendall when she actually treasured them a lot.

  "I'm sorry," Taiyo said quietly, his face still red with embarrassment. Lyra didn't move at all but Kendall sighed and grinned.

  "You should just let her be... It's been an insane morning."

  "Right..."