There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 96 - 93. The Blood of The Covenant

Chapter 96: Chapter 93. The Blood of The Covenant

The first thing he did when he woke up at dawn this morning was to access the encrypted folder and unlocked it.

There was a comprehensive conclusion, but there were also separate details documents that led to that conclusion, including the note and photograph of Lucia’s letters to her friends, the records of her activity in Eiyuta, and notes of her history with Marshall Todres.

What Zein looked up the most, however, was a single blurry picture. It was from her mother’s guide license, dug up from an archive dated more than thirty years ago, so the quality wasn’t that good. The only other photograph of his mother was a tiny group picture of the Eiyuta Guide Center’s staff--so it seemed like she wasn’t part of any guild.

The report mentioned that they still hadn’t found out how she met the esper who imprinted her, just speculation about a certain commission. Obviously, they had no idea who that esper was, and she never mentioned names or affiliations in her letters for those women.

"That’s a pair of unmistakable eyes," Bassena said when Zein showed him the picture.

It might be low quality, but it was enough to discern her face and the striking deep blue phoenix eyes. Those eyes and the fair complexion--just like Zein, her mother was also a beauty.

"So you got your hair and lips from your father then," Bassena threw the guide a glance, whose eyes were narrowing at the mention of the father. His brows frowning too, as if he despised the mention of the unnamed esper. "Do you hate him?"

"...I don’t know," Zein replied after a long silence. So far, that person didn’t give him a good impression. Taking Lucia so suddenly, basically kidnapping her out of Eiyuta, putting her in danger...

"I don’t know how he imprinted her, whether it was consensual or...I don’t know," Zein bit his cheek to hold back the surge of emotions. He didn’t know if he felt angry, disappointed, or disgusted.

It was the whole reason he hated the imprinting concept between an esper and a guide.

And then he just died like that after imprinting someone and impregnating her. A young woman, alone and pregnant, ended up in a hand of scum like Todres. She was younger than Zein now when she gave birth to him and died not long after.

Zein couldn’t decide which one was worse; having an abusive father who sold him, or having a father that did all of that to his mother.

Bassena didn’t say anything, even though he wanted to say a whole lot of things, wanted to soothe that rare agony on the guide’s face. It was rare for Zein to sound hurtful, to pour his emotions out, after years and decades of always hiding them inside his mask.

Right now, he just wished Zein could pour it out, and not repress it into a festering wound like usual. For now, he would just be content and grateful that Zein would want to share it with him.

Zein took a deep breath, and followed what Bassena did earlier; leaning into the railing and putting his head down. There was another thing that had been bugging his mind so much since yesterday.

"So..." he started to speak in a rather weak voice that lost the fury he had earlier. "It seems like we don’t even share any blood,"

Zein didn’t explicitly mention it, but it was clear who he meant by that. The twins he had raised for thirteen years, whom he had thought to be at least his half-brothers...turned out to be just a pair of strangers. Sure, sometimes he had this thought that maybe they weren’t actually related. But since there was no proof of it before, he clung to the thought that there was a special bond between them.

But now...

"What does it matter?" Bassena responded dryly. Zein lifted his head, turning toward the esper, who was looking into the distance with a subtle smile and a calm expression. "Is having blood ties that important?"

"...is it not?" Zein replied with a slightly cracked voice, which made the smile on the esper’s face grew wider.

"Yeah?" Bassena turned to look at the guide, who seemed to be paler than usual. "Do you think your brothers would choose their parents over you?"

The blue eyes, which were shaking earlier, blinked twice. Bassena answered his own question with a smile. "I don’t think so," the amber eyes shifted into the distance again, as the smile turned into a sinister smirk. "Just like I wouldn’t choose the Vaskis over Joon and Radia."

The esper stretched his shoulder and leaned into the railing again while making a nostalgic face. "It was funny you know; both my blood relatives and those two were beating and scolding me so much, but I got a totally different sense from them."

"Different how?"

With a little laugh, Bassena continued. "With my blood relatives, it just felt hurt and unfeeling. But with Joon and Radia...I could feel that they were trying to get me to submit so I could calm down. They never made it dangerous or fatal for me, giving me little lectures and advice at the end of each fight. Rather than feeling hurt...I just feel like someone finally giving me the right treatment," the amber eyes curled at the memories, "I guess I just felt their good intention, even with Joon’s hard fist and Radia’s harsh words."

He glanced at the guide again, who was listening quietly with a rumination on his face. "I’m sure your brothers felt that too,"

Zein looked at the serene garden beneath his room, sipping into his watery drink to soothe his mind. But he looked calmer, his pretty face no longer filled with frowns like before.

"You think so?" Zein quietly asked, looking uncharacteristically insecure.

Bassena took the empty cup from the guide’s hand to put it away, replying calmly. "We can’t choose who we were born to, just as we can’t choose who gets awakened and who doesn’t," Bassena leaned down and looked up toward the guide with a bright, genuine smile. "But just like how there are awakened people that chose to live as civilians, we can choose the bond we make in our lives."

Zein looked at the bright smile, and felt his eyes flicker. There was a soft tickling feeling in the corner of his heart, as it beat comfortably, calmly, completely at ease. It almost seemed like a lie, the agitation he felt just a moment earlier.

With a slight smile, he asked the esper teasingly. "Who said that to you?"

Bassena laughed at that, lips curled mischievously. "Haha, that obvious?" the amber eyes curled softly, and the answer came with a certain tenderness in it. "I read that in my mother’s diary."

She would probably tell Bassena that herself if she lived long enough until her son could understand such notion. But at least, her thoughts and words were preserved well, although it took Bassena more than a decade to retrieve them.

"Mm..." Zein looked up for a bit, toward the cloudy sky that promised a heavy summer rain. It resembled the sky of the red-zone, but not so much of the state of his heart, for once.

Zein was reminded once again that his life and Bassena’s weren’t that different. Living in the higher zone did not mean one could be free of suffering. While Bassena had people like Han Joon and Radia Mallarc to put him straight, Zein had the grandma next door, Alma, and--to some extent--Zach to keep him anchored to the land of the living.

Of course, the biggest reason would be the twins...his brothers. Yes, they were his brothers, no matter what. The beads in his necklace told him so.

With a rare soft smile, his hand landed on the platinum-blonde hair, ruffling the soft strands while the blue eyes still looking in the distance. It almost felt like he did it absentmindedly, but Bassena liked it either way.

"Thank you," Zein muttered, still with that soft smile that made the blue eyes glow prettily.

Bassena looked up sideways at the guide, the cheek pressing into his arms adorned with a slight blush. He truly felt like a skittish teenager in front of his crush every time Zein showed this tender side that was always hidden beneath a stern and cold exterior.

He wanted to think that the only one who could enjoy that side of Zein was him. Like those light pats on his cheek, or this gentle ruffling of his hair.

"I want to ask for a reward, but I feel like this is a reward already," he muttered with a soft chuckle, which rewarded him with another one of those soft smiles.

They stayed like that for a while, as the air turned even more humid and the harsh wind started to blow. When they felt the first drop of rain, Zein parted his lips.

"I trade the information with something,"

"Well, that’s typical Radia," Bassena chuckled in response. But he soon stopped after looking at the solemn gaze of the guide.

"Bas," the esper stiffened at the sound of his name coming out of the guide’s lips. "It seems that I’m also a fragment of Setnath."

The rain started to fall just then, pouring with a harsh sound. The wind sent droplets of water splashing at them, but neither Zein nor Bassena moved back. The blue eyes looked down, staring at Bassena as of waiting for a response.

Or perhaps a judgment.

He looked at the amber eyes, which slightly shook. But it was only for a few seconds, before they steadied again. Zein didn’t blame the esper for feeling shocked at the revelation, and just waiting for the man to say something.

If he had anything to say at all.

But it didn’t take long for the esper’s lips to part in a smile. "Thank you," Bassena said softly, "for telling me."

This time, it was the blue eyes that trembled slightly. Zein had no idea what he expected--was he thinking Bassena would sulk because he told Radia first? But he felt like something heavy just lifted from his heart at that time.

In a flurry of motion that felt like a reflex, the hand that was caressing the platinum hair moved to cradle and pull the esper’s head, as Zein leaned down and pressed his lips lightly on Bassena’s temple, at the slight scar on the esper’s brow.

Bassena blinked as his vision was filled with the guide’s collarbone, so stunned that he couldn’t react properly, just frozen stiff on the guide’s hold.

Before he could wake up from his stupor, Zein already retracted his arm and patted his surprised cheek. "The rain’s getting heavier, let’s get in,"

Bassena wanted to say that he didn’t mind standing in the pouring rain if it was with Zein, but he just swallowed it down and savor the leftover taste on his temple.