Broken

[Nox]

Nox didn't see Sage nod through tear blurred eyes but the hacker split the screen and started playing the images he'd collected over the years. The first was of his sister at the prom. How pretty she looked in her pink frilly dress their mother had bought that day for that very reason. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a bun with a small tendril hanging next to her ear. She was so young then. Sage was there in the frame with her as they danced into the crowd.

Sage found images of Nox and Aurora in a small town in the Rocky Mountains where they'd gotten supplies for the year they were hiding. They were taken from security cameras, but Sage didn't display the footage, only still images of them walking across the street holding hands. They looked happy.

Everything Sage showed Nox for the next two hours was happy. How happy the two of them had been. How much he loved his sister, how much she had loved him. Sage didn't show them fighting. He knew they fought. They fought because they were blood, it was in their blood. Aurora was like the day and he the night. Everything they did was almost always polar opposite. Where he was outgoing, she was shy. She was book smart, Nox was street smart. For two hours Nox cried happy tears. "Show me, Sage. Show me that day that changed everything."


Sage shook his head. "No. I can't."


Before Nox could reply his wallet beeped. He frowned at it as he pulled the message up on the holo screen . Who was messaging him? Elyse was home...

Sage asked, "Who's that?"


Nox looked up at the screen with a wry grin. "Would you believe my girlfriend?"


Sage shook his head. "No."


"Me either."
Nox sighed and wiped away the tears from his eyes.

"You should call her."


"And say what? I'm crying over my dead sister. I'm begging some hacker she used to know who's been stalking me all of my adult life to show me her images - to see the day she died, the day my mother died? I don't want her pity. It's bad enough she knows."
Nox felt the disgust at his own sob story. As much as he'd played it up down stairs he hated it. Hated the tragedy in his life - he hated feeling guilty for all of it. There were things he could have done. Things he should have done to stop it from happening.

Nox pulled his power around him and watched as in his anger a fireball formed. He was about to throw it across the room when Sage spoke, "Nox. Don't."


Nox blinked at the screen in front of him then at the fireball above his cocked arm ready to throw and he let the power go with a sigh. He whispered, "Thank you."


Nox sent a reply to Elyse. "Glad you are home safe. Did you get your errands done? I'm stuck at one of mine, not sure when I'll get to finish the rest." Nox pushed the send button.

Sage shook his head. "You can talk to her. If she's your girlfriend."


Nox frowned. Sage continued. "That's part of what a girlfriend is for."


Nox changed the topic, he didn't want to discuss his relationships with a guy he hardly knew. "Show me that day, Sage. You know the one."


Sage nodded but Nox knew he wasn't happy, he could see it in the hackers eyes and hear it in the sound of his voice. "I can't watch. I'll be back in twenty minutes."
Sage left the screen and the video started playing.