Life didn't get easier, even in another world

387  Which one

GASP

He could hear someone taking a deep breath. GAASPPP

It took him a second to understand that it wasn't someone but himself. He felt hot and was trembling from the cold at the same time. He felt his body laying on a soft thing, a confusing sensation as he remembered falling asleep on the hard and stiff ground of the jungle, beside his brother. His brother...

GASP

He snapped his eyes open and shot up, sitting straight, but he soon curled his body, clenched his shirt, and gasped for air. His whole body was wet with sweat. "...Ren?"

A voice rang out from behind him. He rolled his eyes toward the source, only to see a man sitting at the bedside, staring at him with wide hazel eyes, frozen stiff from shock. "..."

As if being splashed cold water everywhere, he was snapped back to his senses. He was no longer in the jungle, but in a room, in his room, on his bed, beside his brother. A burning fire flared inside his chest, blocking his breath. In the dark of the night, inside the room that was barely illuminated with the faint light of a bedside lamp, Kairen stared at the man with hazel eyes and light brown hair, at the older version of the same face he was staring at a few seconds ago, and opened his mouth. He was dead, but now, he was alive.

Kairen was lost. In between the flood of memories, he was being mercilessly tossed around, not knowing where and who he was, but at the moment, that didn't matter. Nothing mattered to him but one single fact. "Brother..."

He dragged his trembling body to his brother's side. The ache in his chest was swelling like a bubble inside his body, swallowing everything within it. A single pinch was enough to explode it. "Ren? What-"

The bubble exploded with the thin needle, with the man's voice.

"Haaaaaaaahhh!" With a voice that looked like taking a deep breath, Kairen burst into tears like a little kid. "What the- Ren!" Aaron, completely lost and bewildered, grabbed Kairen's shoulders and held him firm. "What's wrong? Was it a nightmare? Ren? Calm down! Ren!"

"Haaaaaa! Hic! Aahhh!"

Tightly hugging his brother, Kairen gasped and wailed out loud, whining and hiccuping in between his cries, trying to take proper breaths but failing times and times. "Ren!"

"Ah... Hic."

Like a young lost child, Kairen bawled his eyes out without consideration of anything. 'He's alive he's alive he's alive.

'He's not dead. My brother is not dead. He was someone else. Someone else. 'That was Redmond. Redmond, not Aaron. Not him. It wasn't him. 'It was a dream. A nightmare. It was a nightmare. It wasn't real. It wasn't real.'

"Hic."

"..."

Aaron looked at his brother in his arms crying and panting and hugging him as if scared that he'd disseaper. The boy who'd suddenly collapsed and was in a fever until this hour of the night had suddenly burst into tears as soon as he woke up.

The man's heart was racing wildly. He wanted to take this troublesome younger brother of his to a hospital right away and get him thoroughly checked. He wanted to lock him up in the room and not allow him to do anything but rest. His heart ached each time he saw this stupid brother of his in fever and in pain. Now, seeing the boy in such a state, it felt as if his whole soul was hurting.

"Brother..."

"Yes," Aaron responded to the muffled voice with a gentle tone. He pulled the boy deeper in his arms. "It's fine. You must've seen a nightmare, a dream."

. . . . . . . The door of the room slammed open without any proper knocks.

"Have you found a way yet?"

"Ah?" Stefan stiffened upon seeing the man walk into his office, "I'm working on it."

"Any progress?"

"Nope. We could've prevented things more easily if the memories hadn't started surfacing yet, but now, trying to stop or remove them might harm his new memories as well."

The red-haired man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "There is still time so don't worry, I'll find a way soon."

"There isn't much time left."

"Pardon?"

The red-haired man walked inside the office with the same troubled face. "Things are progressing faster than I expected," he looked outside the window where everything was shrouded in darkness.

"By that you mean..."

"Samuel."

Hearing that name made Stefan freeze on his spot. The other man didn't mind as he kept talking. "His plan is progressing faster than I expected. At this rate, we might also move our plan forward."

"..."

Stefan lowered his head to look at the books piled up on his table. "Doesn't that plan need Kairen to act up first?"

His friend in the room nodded his head after a brief pause. "That'll only make his situation worse-"

"I might need to execute the plan as soon as he activates the device," Reynold cut Stefan's sentence. The two of them didn't say anything for a brief second. "You should inform him prior to that."

"Things will only get worse if I set foot in that world."

Stefan frowned upon hearing those words, "You can't keep him in the dark!"

"It'll be better for him that way."

The red-haired man turned around, "I'll convey my will to him as soon as the connection is established, and if that happens soon enough, and if things go as planned, then the problem with his memories will be solved as well."

"Wait!"

Stefan slammed the table and called out. "You aren't moving things closer only because of that boy's memories, are you?"

"..." The red-haired man briefly halted, "I won't risk anything only because of that."

He left the room with those last words. "Oh, boy!"

Stefan plopped on his chair with an exhausted face. "I guess I must inform that young man to also prepare himself."

He remembered how a certain man was spending his time trying to get ready for the job that was intrusted to him. "I hope everything goes well..."