Stormblood, стр. 13

‘We do when Harmony arrest me to talk about it.’

‘You should leave, Vak.’

I couldn’t remember the last time he’d called me that. I held out the arrow-shaped pendant he’d given me all those years ago on top of that mountain. ‘Does this mean nothing to you?’

My heart squeezed as I saw a spark of emotion in his eyes. As if he wanted to speak, but something greater was stopping him. He had started to move away when I grabbed him back. There was a series of deliberate slashes across his forearms and wrists. Some were only the residue of scars, like the ones he’d made by the frozen lake after our father had punched out one of his teeth out in a rage, and he’d seen no way out of our domestic nightmare. He’d have bled out if I hadn’t patched him up. The other scars were fresher. A crisscrossing, bloody tapestry.

We shared a long look. He snatched his arm back and tugged his sleeves down.

‘You promised me you’d never do that again.’ There was more heat in my voice than I intended. My brother brings out the worst in me: I’m both too emphatic and too angry with him.

‘Yeah.’ He couldn’t meet my eyes as he picked at a wood splinter on the table. ‘Well, we both made promises, didn’t we?’

The images of Artyom rolling the stolen stormtech canister and Alcatraz’s broken, mangled body spliced through my mind. ‘I’m trying to help. Harmony knows you’re stealing stormtech. You’re done.’

‘My life, my business.’

‘You’re not stupid enough to believe that.’ I leaned forward. ‘I can help you, Artyom. I can get them to protect you. Whatever it is, we can make it work. I can get you out. Help me help you.’

I expected quiet, brooding anger, the sort I usually got from him. Instead, he cast me a sad, tight smile, as if I couldn’t understand. ‘It’s too late to stop this. I—’

‘Is someone forcing you, Artyom?’ They must have something on him, something dark. ‘Talk to me.’

‘Now my big brother wants to protect me? That ship sailed, Vakov. It sailed when you went to fight your stupid sodding war. You left me with Dad, knowing you’d promised to stay, knowing what he’d do while you were gone, and then you came back full of that … stuff.’ His mouth twitched into a pitying, mocking smile. ‘Was it worth it, Vak?’

‘I sent money every month.’ I was feeling more and more uncomfortable, and more and more determined to break through to him. ‘I made sure you got a share of everything I earned.’

‘You really don’t get it, do you? Nothing you sent could make up for you leaving me.’

‘But I came back,’ I said, lowering my voice. ‘After everything that happened and everything that war threw at me, I came back home.’

Artyom’s chuckle was a throaty, raw sound. ‘What, and you thought we’d all just pick up where we left off? Pretend it never happened? No. No, it doesn’t work like that. I’ve got my own life now.’

I could feel the stormtech wrapping tight around my chest like nanosteel as childhood memories crashed on the banks of my mind. I locked gazes with him, searching for a connection. ‘Remember when we used to go behind the observatory and stargaze? Just lie there and forget the rest of the world? It was just you and me up there. You picked a different soundtrack from your collection every night. You wanted every night to be different. You’d spend so long searching, because you wanted to get it right. Remember?’

Artyom’s eyes seemed to glaze over, as if digging up the bones of an old, old memory. ‘That was a long time ago.’

‘We got through so much together,’ I offered. Even if the memories hurt, even if they scarred, even if I had to reopen all our shared bruises and wounds, I would do it to reach him. I loved him too much to walk away. Because beneath the pain were the moments that had bonded us together and made us who we were. Maybe, just maybe, they could again now. ‘We can work this out, Artyom. We can fix this. We always do.’

He blinked slow and hard, as if it hurt to see the world again. For a moment, I thought I’d won him over. Then, ever so gently, he said, ‘Vak, I don’t ever want to see you again.’

It was the worst thing he could have said.

The stormtech clawed up in my chest and I imagined slapping him. Hand cracking across his face, splitting his lip. The horrible urge departed as fast as it came, but the new steely, distant look in my brother’s eye didn’t belong to the boy who’d grown up with me. The boy who’d walk the city streets with me, exploring underground pubs and concert halls until dawn.

But we weren’t children anymore.

‘Mr Fukasawa, is this man bothering you?’ The inquisitive voice came from the bar’s Rubix, acting as manager. He’d manifested as a tall gentleman in a crisp tweed suit, a blue cravat and a ridiculous bowler hat. Only heavy-grade AIs are allowed to physically roam around, even in a limited capacity.

‘Yes, he is,’ Artyom said in English. He stood. People were staring despite the privacy of the dimmed alcove. ‘I want him to leave.’

‘Very well.’ The Rubix’s grin was wide and perfectly polite as it turned towards me. ‘Sir, please vacate the premises immediately.’

I ignored it. ‘Artyom, we could—’

He wouldn’t even look at me. ‘You had your chance.’

‘Artyom—’

‘Don’t, Vakov. Just don’t. Go out with a bit of dignity, why don’t you?’

‘Sir.’ The Rubix’s voice had sharpened. Eyes bulging with exaggerated anger. ‘You will leave.’

‘Not until I’ve finished talking to my brother.’

‘For god’s sake, Vak, for once do as you’re bloody told.’

‘Get out of my bar.’ The handsome Rubix face had melted into a nightmarish monster, its voice becoming thick and barbed. A crown of horns protruded from its misshapen, bloodstained head. A mass of needle-sharp teeth growing