Pot Calling Kettle (Odion)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani raised a brow at Caroline as the younger Hunter looked at her phone and smiled. “Who’re you texting?” He asked curiously trying to steal a peek. She stuck her hands out and pushed his face away with a laugh.

“Nobody.” She replied slyly.

Lani crossed his arms and eyes his sister suspiciously. She didn’t normally keep things from him. He raised a brow. “Is it a boy?” He was extremely nervous about his little sister crossing into the realm of dating. He didn’t want her to get hurt, and well, he honestly didn’t want to think of his sister being old enough to start dating.

Caroline looked at him with a smile on her face and Lani narrowed his eyes at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes before looking back at him. Seeing his facial expression didn’t change she gained a peculiar expression. “Yeah.”

Lani’s heart almost stopped and he was all of the sudden very interested, excited and protective. “What’s his name?”

Caroline giggled, “It’s Noneofyourbusiness.”

Gaping at his little sister he followed after her as she started walking in the direction of his apartment. He’d come to her and since she’d given him help she’d declared he owned her pizza and a movie. It had been too long since they’d done something like that so Lani happily obliged. They walked for a few moments in silence.

“Can I get a hint?”

“No Lani.”

“But…”

“No.”

Lani huffed already considering another way to find out. By the time the pizza arrived Lani had it. Nibbling on pizza, Lani lounged on the couch and poked Caroline with his toe. She tickled his feet and he withdrew them with a giggle. “C’mon Caroline, this is killing me.”

“I’m not telling.” She stuck her tongue out and Lani plotted his half finished slice on a paper plate on the table.

Lani jumped at Caroline. Caroline shrieked before laughing and then she became more aggressive when it became clear he was going for the phone. He tickled her and when her hands came down to protect her belly he snatched it and ran for the kitchen. He swiped in her passcode with ease and went to her text messages. He ignored her small fists beating at him and her called out protests and lifted the phone high above her head, she was still young and he was a few feet taller and it was easy to keep it out of reach. What kind of relationship did they have if he wasn’t the annoying older brother every now and again?

“Let’s see. Sarah, you text Sarah a lot. Ah, there’s me. Oooh… who’s James?... And… O-” The humor ran away from his face as he saw the next name on the list. Odion. Caroline stopped struggling and Lani lowered her phone and with shaking hands opened the conversation. The fight that started immediately after had both Hunters enraged and spitting fire. It would go down in the history books, the single worst fight ever had between the Hunter siblings. Caroline didn’t understand why Lani was being so heartless and Lani couldn’t understand why Caroline was talking about him to his ex. Slowly the answer became clear. “Odion put you up to this, didn’t he? He set you in to spy on me. I’m gonna kill him.”

Lani was already pulling on his coat and Caroline grabbed at his arm. “Lani stop! You’re angry, you do stupid things when you’re angry! Calm down and we can talk about this.” He jerked his arm out of her grip and shoved her phone into her hands. He jabbed a finger at her. “You’re my sister! I can’t believe you’d take his side over mine! Stay. Here.” He said viciously and slammed the door behind him as he went to seek out Odion and possibly kill him when he saw him, Lani hadn’t actually thought that far ahead yet. He didn’t even think that Caroline would probably send Odion a warning text, since they were best friends now. Lani was blind with rage and didn’t remember getting off the bus at the college and he didn’t remember how he found the Chemistry building. He could have found Odion blind and deaf as his power searched for Odion. Lani’s eyes zeroed in on Odion and his rage gave him tunnel vision as his eyes flashed with the power he was holding back. All of that bullshit about wanted to get back together. An elaborate scheme. But Odion had crossed the line. No one messed with Caroline. “You son of a bitch!” Lani crossed the distance between and with a last step he gathered momentum threw a punch.

[Odion Martins]

Odion knew that this was wrong on so many levels, but he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing by not immediately telling Lani that it was Caroline he had been texting the whole time. That it was Caroline who had found the time turner in just the right spot in his insanity to snap him out of it. She was just the right person that he loved who could bring him back to life. He owed her his silence in this matter, and they had both agreed it was the right thing to do. But it had also been selfish. Every now and then Caroline would text him little nothings like: ‘he’s just being stubborn’, or ‘how’s it going over there?’. And how could he not respond when she wrote about her family? Really, Odion thought love was complicated enough, but this, this was a whole new level he didn’t know how to maneuver through.

As of the moment, Odion was just about done packing his things for the big move with Jared. It was actually something that made him smile. This time, they would be roommates, and Jared could stop playing mature parent – it just didn’t suit him. The redhead ran his fingers through his hair and paused what he was doing in order to answer a text. Just like Caroline kept him in the loop with her family, he liked to keep her in the loop with her family too. Nothing too detailed, only that things were going well and that he missed her. It was all truths, and also wishes. Putting his phone back and switching it to silent, Odion took a deep breath – he was going to have to tell Lani about this soon. The more time it took, the angrier he would be.

Clean shaven now, Odion was starting to feel more like himself. Yes there was that nagging feeling of not knowing his whole past, but for someone who never planned ahead, he decided he could swing this too. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere today, and he wanted some quiet time for his warm up before going outside and jumping across various buildings – it was time to get reacquainted with his surroundings here. If he was going to become more grounded, he was going to have to start at the beginning. It also didn’t hurt to be strong when you needed to be. Needless to say, Odion had missed the dozen or so warning texts, and two missed phone calls.

The only thing that stopped the redhead in the middle of his next crunch was the staggering pain he felt in his mind. Odion winced and just stopped, his eyes going wide. It was Lani, and he was closing in with guns a blazing. Immediately knowing something was horribly wrong, Odion shot himself up of the ground and grabbed his phone off the counter, but it was too late. With Lani’s rage came Lani’s ultimate power, and Odion felt his phone ripped away from his hands and smash against the wall. He had a feeling he might be next in line, and the only thing that crossed his mind was that a Chemistry lab a lot of breakables in it and was going to be a bitch to clean.

Odion’s adrenaline was already high, so when the punch landed on his nose, every fibre of his being told him to fight back. And why not? He hadn’t in so long, and unlike when he took his anger out on Adrianna, this was the right person to be angry at. The redhead held his nose with both hands and stumbled backwards. “Fuck!” His eyes were cold fire, and he leaned back against the counter to regain his power. Somewhere between retaliation and knowing this was a Chem Lab, Odion’s fingers wrapped around the neck of a round flask, but that’s where it stopped. He closed his eyes and tried breathing through his bloody nose. “You want to fight?” He asked, wiping at his face with his forearm. “Good, I hope it makes you feel better.” And Odion swung forward with the rotund flask in hand – he would always fight dirty if he could.

[Lani Hunter]

There were so many things feeding his anger now. There were so many ‘what ifs’ that were playing around this whole situation. There was also the blatant hypocrisy that Lani was ignoring. After all, Lani’s rage over his sister being used was all to similar to when Lani himself had used Declyn. But this was Caroline. This was completely different. Or so the telekinetic kept telling himself. He ignored his phone and finally put it on silent so he could better ignore Caroline’s calling. It seemed like she was bound and determined to get a hold of one of them. Lani’s whole being for the time being was anger. Other emotions tried to weasel their way in and perhaps bring some calm and logical thought to Lani, but the anger roared and the anger blocked them out. He was always told that anger was a double edged sword. It gave him his greatest power, but it also consumed him.

The sad irony was that the separation and togetherness of mind and body that Lani had been looking for and training to obtain came so easily in rage. His power was acting, and instead of sapping all of Lani’s attention to it, it acted in tandem with him leaving his conscious mind to take care of his body. But it was a delicate balance. When Lani landed the first punch his power had hovered in the background and he knew somewhere behind this insanity that if his power got to strong then Lani would hang in the background. It was the latter situations that always won out in practice, and it was those moments that made him truly dangerous. Lani recoiled quickly from the blow he had delivered and for a split second looked at Odion and his bloodied fist in shock. He hadn’t actually thought he would land that one, but he had the element of surprise, in that Lani might rage but he’d never actually hit Odion.

He stood there watching Odion, paralyzed for a moment as he watched the redhead hold his nose as blood started to pour from his nose. It was here that the greatest flaw in Lani’s plan lay. He was a far better runner than he was a fighter. Sure, he had been in fights before, and he’d won some and lost some. But in this moment he hadn’t actually thought this far ahead and he wasn’t going to run away now that Odion’s fight response had been triggered. He glared and raised his chin at the question and smirked like he’s already won this fight. Lani only had a moment to react. His power caught the motion before his eyes and Lani ducked and brought up his arms to block the blow from getting to his head. It hurt a lot and the bottle shattered from the combination of impact and Lani’s power attempting to lessen the blow. Lani felt the tiny shards of glass tickle his neck and hair.

Lani staggered to the side from the force and found himself backed up against the counter. “She’s my sister,” he snarled his teeth bared in a feral display. So yes, he was going to fight. Lani glared his eyes flashing dangerously. If Odion wanted to play dirty, Lani’d play dirty. His power reached back and a beaker flew from the drying rack over the sink and launched itself at Odion from the left. Meanwhile Lani lunged from the right. He came in low and thrust his hands upward and into Odion’s chest hoping to throw the time turner off balance and he swept his foot out at the same time to kick Odion’s feet out from under him.

[Odion Martins]

Odion hadn’t a clue as to why Lani was here now to take out his frustrations, but he thought it had something to do with an earlier conversation – nothing else made sense in his mind. Something that Lani had changed his mind about or had only just considered which was causing him to finally retaliate. The secret he shared with Caroline didn’t come to Odion’s head as he thought of different ways of hurting Lani, and then hopefully restraining him. Odion didn’t know if he was strong enough for that, but he was certainly stronger than he had been before. It was hard to see the shocked look on Lani’s face through teary eyes. After touching his nose and deciding it was broken, the only thing that came to mind was that they were going to have to fight through this like they had fought through everything else. At least this made sense.

Admittedly, Odion’s return attack wasn’t as impressive as he hoped it would be – the glass would’ve looked much nicer smashed across Lani’s face. Feeling surprised at his own thoughts, he wondered why he was so quick in wanting to hurt Lani. But he couldn’t think about that right now, he had a loose cannon on his hands. Sharp pain erupted between his skull and Odion winced, which only made the pain in his nose worse. He watched Lani move away, and Odion gripped the counter tighter. He could see Lani’s lips move but couldn’t hear him over the shrill tone in his ears. Odi had been through hell and back to get to Lani and this was how he was repaid? His eyes were trained on Lani, but it was like everything was moving in slow motion – he wasn’t controlling this.

The beaker flew through the air and Odion easily dodged it. When time resumed, Odion was left with a whiplash that came to bite him in the ass as Lani pushed him backwards, and he tripped exactly one time over Lani’s foot before regaining his balance. This was exactly where his catlike grace came in handy. Time stopped again and Odion took the opportunity to step forward and put all of his force into an uppercut aimed at Lani’s jaw as time resumed.

[Lani Hunter]

This, Lani figured, was exactly why love was dangerous. Love made people do crazy things, and love could quickly turn and bite the heart. In his anger everything made sense, everything was logical and everything was calculated. He didn’t factor in matters of the heart and he didn’t factor in the connection of their power. In his anger he thought he saw the world for what it was, the wool finally pulled away from his eyes, but he was only blinding himself further. Lani glared at Odion. This was how they settled all of their problems, well, when they had been together it had been verbal reflection of this. It was infuriating when the person he loved with the entirety of his heart was the one person he fought so viciously with. The movements now, the retaliation the attacks. It was like they were completely different people.

Caroline was just the final straw on his back, he had claimed that the seven months apart didn’t matter, what was holding them back was Odion’s memory. But it did matter, because now Caroline was an excuse and he was taking out all of the pain and heartache on Odion. There were no more words to be spoken. Only action, only survival. All that existed was anger. Lani’s expression of anger didn’t change. He saw success for a moment then dashed it away as Odion then things got confusing. Lani was retreating, like the good coward he was, to get out of range and regroup. Odion was there then he was close and pain erupted in his jaw and Lani staggered back as the blow pushed him off balance and he was on track to land on his rump but he fell into the counter instead and kept himself upright, if dazed and hissing in pain. He felt his jaw and moved it a bit. It hurt like hell and he spat blood from where he had bitten his tongue.

A split second later a table leapt into place between them. Lani’s eyes flashed and the table charged Odion. It was probably safe to say that Odion was the better fighter as Lani had no plans and therefore had no idea what he was doing. The redhead had always been better at thinking on his feet and now Lani was paying for it because he couldn’t predict Odion’s next action. Not to mention pain was starting to make it hard to think. Lani didn’t expect the table to hit Odion, he expected Odion to dodge and Lani danced on his feet preparing to mirror the redhead and rush to meet him while he was still off balance.

[Odion Martins]

If Odion knew that this was why Lani thought love was dangerous, the redhead would call him an idiot in so many languages. This was the result of simple pigheadedness – it had nothing to do with love. But he could agree in that the fighting, though in a different medium, was familiar to them. It didn’t make the actions right, but Lani was still here. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t be here. Whatever was going on through his mind, Odion knew it was worth fighting for. Especially since he knew they couldn’t fight forever, eventually they would have to stop and talk about whatever was bothering him, or Lani would just leave. There weren’t many other options at this point that Odion was willing to let Lani get away with – he was done waiting, and he was done playing around.

Feeling the uppercut connect, Odion took a second to collect himself. He was breathing hard – Lani had just managed to catch the peak of a really great workout where everything was working at top performance. Odion only deemed it fair since he had been hit first and Lani managed to block the first attempt at attack. His eyes were trained on Lani, and Odion made to move forward but was immediately blocked by a table. The redhead grunted in frustration before going towards the table anyways, jumping over it as he grabbed the table in motion. The only way Lani was going to stop him, was to pin him by his clothes, or knock him out cold.

That hazy feeling was starting to creep in again, his mind trying to block out the past he had tried so hard keep out. The past was rekindling itself, because sometimes great pain stood beside great love. Odion missed a step on his way towards Lani, and suddenly almost all of the space between them was gone. The time turner didn’t think about it for more than half a second before going in for another swing at Lani’s face. He didn’t know if his power was for or against him. His face and mind were throbbing, and he only hoped this insanity would stop soon.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s jaw stabbed with pain as he clenched it and let his eyes bore into Odion like they could have laser beams shooting out and vaporizing Odion. If only, the passing thought mentioned before dismissing itself for more important matters, like things that were actually happening. Perhaps the largest problem was that when Odion had left Lani had locked away his heart, said love wasn’t worth it and he could survive in a loveless state. The problem was that when Odion came back all of that turned to dust along with his walls. All of the pent up and suppressed rage was finally boiling and maybe this fight would be good for them. Maybe it would finally get all of these furious and frustrated emotions out of the way and leave room for something. Lani said they couldn’t go back. Maybe this was the blaze that would destroy the rubble and then they could rebuild. But Lani was having a hard time being that much of an optimist about this right now.

Given a moment to calm down Lani would probably have agreed, but at the moment his jaw hurt and his tongue hurt and everything was just hurting as his head was splitting open and a nice bruise started to form beneath the surface on his jaw. Lani probably would have counted the first blow though, it might not have hurt as much, but there’d be a bruise there as well tomorrow, not nearly as bad as Odion’s nose but it felt like it counted. The fact of the matter was that Lani was not calm, nothing about him was calm and he wanted to make Odion pay for anything bad that had ever happened to his sister. Because he couldn’t beat up cancer and but he could punch Odion in the nose for twisting his sisters mind against him. Because that was how it had happened in Lani’s mind, as he yet again jumped to a conclusion out of thin air.

Odion was always the variable in Lani’s plans that he couldn’t account for. He could make assumptions but he’d gotten used to being wrong. He had been expecting a left or right, not an over motion. Lani gasped in shock as once again Odion had come upon him. There was no ‘back’ to retreat to and as Odion’s fist came flying Lani’s hands thrust out and Lani ducked but things seemed to be moving too slow. The blow caught him in the temple on an old scar and Lani’s power exploded between them reacting to the memory and Odion went flying back. It was like an old sports injury, once the knee was wrecked it was never quite one hundred percent again. He wasn’t sure if the reaction was imagined or real but his power was not happy about a repeat blow to its core. Lani’s mind hummed and he blinked in a daze and tried to get a hold on his power back. Everything was moving. Until Lani’s power short circuited and everything stopped because Lani simply couldn’t hold it anymore and his power buckled rushing back at him like a wave. Lani let out a growl of pain and frustration and rushed Odion where his power had flung him and recklessly threw his entire weight at the redhead.

[Odion Martins]

At the moment, Odion probably wouldn’t count this as a training session, but if that had been the intent, this would probably be one of Lani’s better attempts. The difference was that he didn’t care if his power hurt Odion, and in fact, was encouraging just that. It wasn’t the telekinesis that affected Odion directly though, as those things he could dodge. This just went to show that they could fight against one another, but they simply didn’t know how to work well together. Maybe they never could. This was something that needed to happen, Odion knew that, but he wasn’t questioning why it was happening – he just hoped Lani had a damn good reason for all of this after everything Odion had shared with him.

Odion knew he hadn’t been aiming for Lani’s temple, but that’s what he hit. He felt himself get pushed back my a great gust of power. The time turner righted himself and took his eyes off of Lani as he watched everything spin around in a mad craze of power. Odion felt Lani’s power retreat back into the telekinetic’s mind, everything in the room smashing to the ground as gravity became a variable force. Odion’s attention went back to Lani, and somewhere between the fighting and the rushing of power, the tight door of his mind cracked. He let Lani hit him, too preoccupied with his mind to protect his body. He knew his body could heal, it was his mind he was more concerned with. The glaze covered Odion’s eyes as he finally managed to remember something he hadn’t been able to before – part of their fight. He knew it was the wrong setting, he knew it was after the fact, but the feeling seemed to be the same. It wasn’t the memory itself in plain view, but Odion could remember what he had said. “You want to leave, fine! But we’ll never be the same.” Odion’s hands shot up to his head as his mind could take no more.

Snapping back to reality, Odion knew that was but a glimpse of what had truly happened. He shoved at Lani’s shoulders. “Are you satisfied yet?! What the fuck do you want from me?” There were more tears but they didn’t leave his eyes. Odion cupped his nose again, his mind breaking further. He was walking away from Lani, walking away knowing that he would never see him again, that all those glimpses of the future he had seen were lies. How could he had tricked himself into being so happy? He vowed never to let himself feel that way again. As the past crossed his mind, Odion finally let the tears slip. “I can’t remember this way!” And then he was coming at Lani again full force, going for the blond’s waist so he could pin him down and stop this madness.

[Lani Hunter]

There had to be more than the fighting. Lani knew that they could do more than fight. They had worked together before, maybe not smoothly, but for brief moments it had happened. Fighting was just easier. Especially at the moment when Lani didn’t want to listen and he didn’t want to talk. It was stubbornness and anger that was making him blind and deaf. This was not constructive, but it was serving a purpose to give Lani an outlet. It just happened to finally come to a boil and Lani put Odion in his sights and made him a target. Perhaps if he hadn’t figured out that Caroline was talking to Odion then this wouldn’t have happened. Or perhaps if someone had told him about it from the state he could have gotten it out of his system before it had a chance to pile onto all of the other grievances. Caroline was right, anger made him do stupid things and when Lani did something stupid he had a tendency to really commit to it.

By Lani’s count he owed Odion back for that last blow, and perhaps the one before. Lani took advantage of whatever it was that distracted Odion and threw a quick jab at his face and another at his torso. Lani wasn’t sure if Odion had went for his temple on purpose but either way he was furious that his greatest weapon was, at least temporarily, out of commission. It wasn’t as satisfying as Lani hoped it would be when he landed another blow. Inversely it made him sick of his anger. He had been angry and hurt so long he was just sick of it all. Couldn’t he just have some happiness for once? Just once. He thought he’d had it with Odion and that had been ripped away from him once again. Something changed in Odion’s eyes and Lani’s anger waned in the response of something else. Worry crossed his eyes, but he had no right to be worried, not after he’d started a fight with Odion, but something was going wrong.

Lani’s anger returned as Odion shoved him away. This fight wasn’t over. But, Lani couldn’t sustain his anger when Odion’s voice broke through his anger. Lani’s eyes narrowed and he was wary. Clenching his fists, Lani didn’t have an answer and he clenched his aching jaw and braced himself for another attack. Lani’s resolve was broken when he saw Odion’s tears. There was the emotion stronger than his anger that shook its way free of its bonds and blasted through his mind. His mind could throw logic and icy calculations but the love shoved its way in and made him human and wouldn’t let him freeze again. He was furious with Odion, and at the same time he loved and cared for him and he knew he was the cause of tears. He wanted, but wasn’t sure that he could make them go away. He closed his eyes and his nails bit into his palms as he squeezed them. Lani flinched when Odion shouted and when Lani opened his eyes he shielded his face prepared for another blow and he braced himself. He tried to trigger his power but it did little more than ruffle Odion’s shirt before the impact. Lani’s hands grasped at Odion’s back in a desperate attempt to keep his balance but there was no use and he grunted as he hit the ground and Odion’s weight fell on top of him.

[Odion Martins]

Oh of course they could do more than fight, but that was hard work, and honestly that had been really patient with one another up until now. Something had to give eventually, and Odion was almost relieved. If they didn’t fight anymore, that meant something truly drastic had changed and perhaps could never be repaired. If they didn’t fight, they didn’t grow, and they needed more than just acceptance from the other – they wanted to be understood. Well, not at the moment. Right now they wanted to get whatever fuse was inside of themselves. The sooner it set off, the sooner they could move on to new things, regardless of whether that was together or apart. And Odion hadn’t realized why they were fighting yet, he just figured he would eventually find out and didn’t need to question it. Besides, it felt pretty good to get some aggression out. It felt good like part of himself was coming alive again, and he knew wasn’t going to hurt Lani too badly, not physically.

With his face struck yet again, Odion could feel the pain worsen in that region more than he registered the strike to the gut. After all, the center of his body wasn’t where the majority of his power came from. At least neither of them had a fair advantage in that regard. Odion just waited Lani out, his patience was his virtue. Neither of them were so depraved as to actually enjoy doing this on a regular basis. The relationship would have never been what it was if that’s who they truly had been. The fighting didn’t make Odion feel happy, only relieved. He was so tired of waiting for something real. Yes this hurt and it probably wasn’t the right thing to be doing, but it was real and it was with Lani.

The one thing Odion never used to manipulate people with were his emotions – he didn’t understand them himself, so how could he use them to manipulate people with? When he was angry, he was angry, and when he cried, he was distraught, there was no hiding or toying with that. Others emotions he could use against them, but not his own, and certainly not to gain any kind of pity – that was the last thing he ever wanted. Memories swarmed his mind, memories of how he had walked away, and so had Lani. Harsh words had been spoken instead of punches thrown and landing. Feeling himself connect against him, Odion pinned Lani’s arms and gave the telekinetic a harsh stare. “This fight,” Odion took a breath, his chest heaving, “this fight is over.” Blood continued to run down his face, and he hoped that this pause would make Lani cease and desist. Maybe Odi was a stronger brawler, but if Lani had his power in check, he would be the one to bet on. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

Odion pushed off of Lani, but without the strength to stand, Odi just fell back to the floor. If Lani wanted to take more shots, it would be against a man who was already down. Trying to hold his emotions inside, Odion instead reached up with both his hands and felt his way through the pain along the bone and cartilage in his nose. A moment later a sharp crack could be heard throughout the room, and Odion made a deep groaning noise. Just because he had done it before, didn’t make it any less painful. Odion closed his eyes and tried to think about anything, anything other than Lani being in the room right beside him.

[Lani Hunter]

In the end all of the fights came from lies that had been told, or unspoken things that had been brought to light. Lies of omission were just as poisonous as outright lies. They fought, they challenged each other and when they lied things blew up. Lani knew he was a liar and he doubted that there was anyone who really know him who would disagree. Maybe if they didn’t lie, they wouldn’t fight so much, but then being burned made honesty harder to come to. Emotions were being laid on the floor in the way they struck each other and memories of this would be written on their faces and bodies. Lani had come here with the intention of fighting with Odion, he hadn’t thought much beyond that. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, he was in the mood to physically battle with Odion and all that he represented.

Odion was stronger and Lani did his best to not show the fear on his face. He squirmed but for the moment he couldn’t break free. Lani’s breath held and he clenched his jaw and matched Odion glare for glare. Surprise crossed his face and his first emotion was relief. A shaky breath escaped his lungs as he looked into Odion’s eyes. Some sort of sense returned to Lani and he looked at the aftermath of his rage. Odion’s face was bloodied and small drips of blood dotted his shirt. The knuckles on Lani’s still clenched hands were stained crimson. Lani’s jaw and skull throbbed and he could taste blood. Neither of them were walking away from this fight winners. Lani’s eyes glared and he tried to get his arms free. He didn’t say anything and he tore his eyes away from Odion intent on glaring at the poor defenseless wall. He felt the same way, though as much as he hated to admit it, it was a good thing Odion stopped this. Lani was definitely not the better fighter and Odion probably very well could have kicked Lani’s ass from here to Thursday.

Lani’s first reaction when he was released was to sit up and prepare for some sort of tricky attack from Odion. But Odion just looked done. Lani finally released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and his breathing returned heavily as his lungs demanded more oxygen. He was shaking and he looked around the room at the destruction as if he were waking from a dream. He reached for his power and the beast recoiled from his mental touch. It wasn’t as bad as it had been almost a year ago now, he could use his power if he really needed to, and he wasn’t completely torn through his power. There were raw spots, but if he was careful, they would heal quickly. Lani visibly flinched at the sound of Odion’s nose being put back into place. Lani took a look at Odion and felt like he should apologize. But he had a feeling that would not be appreciated at the moment.

The telekinetic looked at his hands and they shook as every nerve in Lani’s body was still excited from the adrenaline and shocked in its own way by his actions. He pulled his knees up to his chest and looped his arms around them. Lani swallowed and glared at Odion. There was still unfinished business. “It had to be my sister, didn’t it?” He said in a low voice, making no effort to hide the shaking of his voice, “It had to be Caroline.” His tongue felt thick and awkward and Lani turned his head and spat blood again. The room was already a disaster, what did a few more spots of blood on the floor mean do. He turned his eyes back to Odion and gritted his teeth as he waited for some form of an answer.

[Odion Martins]

Maybe that’s why Odion wasn’t questioning the why – they had both decided they were going to fight, and once these two decided they were going to do something, good or bad, nobody, not even each other, could stop them. The argument of the past was the fire, and the fight was just adding more fuel to it. The harder they fought, the faster the fire would burn whatever was left between them that was keeping them apart. Odion didn’t want things to be this way, but sometimes one didn’t have a choice. And remembering the rift between them only encouraged him to continue, because at least they were close in some way.

Odion knew how to kill a man with his bare hands in a dozen different ways, and that’s not what he was trying to do here. If he wanted to use Lani as his personal punching bag, now would be the time to do so. But that wasn’t what Odion wanted. They had had their fight, Lani had had his free shot and then some. If they continued, they were going to kill each other, Odion didn’t see any other options. With his mind on the fritz, he had had the time to look over the situation and knew if he didn’t step back now, he wouldn’t be able to stop. With both of their heads, hands, and hearts throbbing someone had to draw the line.

But Odion trusted Lani to stop when he did. If not, well, that would say more about the blond than any words could tell. But trust was the key here, and he wasn’t going to take that back when it had already been given. He was too hurt to try and pull anything more on Lani – if he wanted to pummel him, he would have. Both of them were tired, and Odion could sense Lani’s telekinesis tuckered out in the corner.

Odion gulped hard – so that’s what this was all about. But he was so confused, surely Lani would’ve understood? “Well of course, who else would find me?” Odi watched Lani spit out the blood in his mouth and he felt that sinking feeling in his gut he knew was called guilt. It was something he hadn’t ever known before, not to this degree anyways. “I thought you would understand, but...” Odion made a sweeping gesture around the room, which included himself and Lani in it. He sighed, closing his eyes against the pain in his mind. At least Lani had had the sense to blow up the florescent light bulbs with his power – intentional or not. Odion held the bridge of his nose as it healed itself. “I was planning on telling you after I moved...” His dark blue eyes swept over the room. Well, there wasn’t anything left to pack, now that it was all destroyed. Odion glanced at Lani and then looked away, staring at his bloodied hands. Did this mean they were done?

[Lani Hunter]

It was breaking down the walls that they had built and destroying everything that between them. They had been dancing around each other and walking on eggshells. That was as good as out of the way now. As Lani sat panting and trying to wrap his head about all that had happened in such a short time. Lani glanced at Odion, it was time to stop being distant and it was time to stop lying. He closed his eyes and hung his head as regret and memories and guilt filled the void left when his anger finally burned itself out. The idea of being honest was still terrifying, especially now, but he’d already lost Odion and he couldn’t lose him anymore than he already had. The fear of Odion leaving again was still present. Lani had a sinking feeling that he’d gone backwards in that and he wouldn’t blame Odion if he wanted to leave after this.

Lani wrapped his arms around his knees and just waited for something to happen. When Odion didn’t say anything Lani decided to start it. They’d already give each other physical wounds it was about time for the real fighting to start. He watched Odion and there was no sense of denial and Lani felt sick. His sister. He thought that Odion liked her, he thought that Odion had at least cared a little bit for her. At least enough to leave her out of their quarrel. Lani winced and rose his head. Who else? The question stabbed hard into Lani’s heart and twisted the blade viciously. Who else would find him? Lani closed his eyes. It should have been him. He should have tried to find him. He should have… But should, would and ought were three great warriors who always fought for the opposing side.

“Well you thought wrong,” Lani snapped his jaw stabbing with pain as he spoke and doing nothing to ease his mood. He didn’t understand why Caroline would do something like this. She knew how Lani felt about Odion, she knew how broken he was able about Odion. He didn’t understand. In a very selfish way it felt like Caroline was choosing Odion over Lani. Thinking about it he knew it was ridiculous, but it didn’t make it sting any less. “But I guess I deserve that, don’t I?” He said harshly and glared at Odion. It spoke to Lani knowing how much he screwed up when he was worried about Odion doing what Lani had done, just replace Declyn with Caroline. Perhaps this was a nice dose of Lani’s own medicine, a lesson harshly learned. He swallowed and shook his head. Speaking of the younger Hunter. His fight with her might not have been physical but it certainly hadn’t been a clear fight. She was probably furious with him, would be more furious to know what he’d done. Probably wouldn’t talk to him for a while.

“Why? Why would you keep this from me?” He asked knowing full well the answer would probably be because he would have had a mental breakdown as he was having now. Lani wanted to think that he would have been less angry if someone had just told him. Sure he’d probably be upset, but… Lani’s thoughts cut off midstream. Well, if this didn’t feel like a slap in the face and it was more painful than the pain in his jaw and head. He dropped his head again and shook it. “Is this all that we have left?” He loved Odion, but he needed to know if there was something here more than the lies, more than the fighting. He was tired of shutting himself down when he was supposed to feel, because things like this happened. Things exploded and things went off the handle. They had to stop keeping thing from each other, it always, always went south. With his boss and now with this. Reverse the position and it had more parallels than Lani wanted to think about. Granted he wouldn’t say the magnitude was anywhere close to the same, but he could finally say he understood why Odion had been so upset and he couldn't believe it had taken him this long. It wasn’t the action, it was the lie.

[Odion Martins]

Time had a strange effect on Odion, and he was trying not to think about what just transpired between them. He knew that if he put too much thought into that right know, his mind would rip at the seams. He was content with being content with their fight, so long as they could move past it. He wasn’t sure if they could, but he couldn’t deny that fighting was in his blood and what was done was done. Odion watched Lani turn into a wounded animal, clenching and unclenching his hands as he felt new cuts in his already scared hands. It was a miracle his face didn’t bare the same damage. He didn’t know why Lani felt guilty, but Odi could taste it in the air. The telekinetic had come here for some kind of revenge, so why wasn’t he satisfied?

Odion not only liked Caroline, he loved her. He knew that no matter what happened between himself and Lani, Caroline would not be hurt. Maybe she would feel sorry for them, but she wasn’t a tool to be used and manipulated. Odion would never, ever do that. It was far easier to abuse himself and try to make himself erase the fact that Lani ever existed – but he had tried that and failed miserably and it was the worst thing he had ever done to himself. Odion had voiced his thoughts not to hurt Lani, but to say that no one else could’ve found him, and no one else really wanted to.

Chuckling softly, Odion took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling. “I thought wrong did I? Fuck you.” God this was going nowhere, as usual. Instead of making a snappy reply, he continued to listen to Lani through the ringing in his ears. Odion gave Lani a level stare. “I have not the slightest idea what you’re talking about.” They were not on the same page, that much Odion knew. This was exactly why Odion hadn’t told Lani yet, he didn’t know everything that had happened, and Lani did and was being presumptuous.

“You don’t even know what happened do you?” Odion asked, pushing through the warning signs in his mind, but all he could find was a void. Something missing that he had known all along. “I’m tired of you acting like an idiot when I know how intelligent you can be.” There, he said it. The worst Lani could do was hit him or something and that didn’t really seem like a bad price. Odion was also tired of beating around the bush, and he knew he was stronger now than when Lani had found him sitting on that bus stop by his apartment. “You want to believe what I say, but you don’t, so here’s what you missed…”

There wasn’t much warning before Odion brought the both of them to that fateful day in Europe. This trip was much like the ones of past, where the boys were actually in the memory, watching from Odion’s perspective where his own thoughts could be felt.

Things were beginning to clear up and make sense. This was the life Odion expected to have, and he was able to hold things together. It wasn’t perfect, but he was reminded that someone did care about him, and was nursing him back to life.

So when he received a text from someone he thought he had forgotten, his whole world began to spin.

Caroline: You need to come back Odion, we miss you.

After all the progress he had made, after everything was seemingly making some sense, this wasn’t what he wanted. Odion set his phone down like it was a ticking time bomb. But deep down inside, this was what he wanted. He wanted to be found and to be sought after. Thinking about Caroline was like thinking about the only good thing left in this damned world. If he didn’t go back, what would he tell her?

Odion: How did you find this number?

Caroline: You sound like Lani.

Odion gulped. Lani… His mind went berserk and his vision went black. Grey eyes came to his vision and they were all he could see. He didn’t know what had happened, he didn’t know where Lani was, and then he knew… That was what had been missing this whole time. Odi couldn’t remember what had happened between them, he didn’t know what he was going to do, but he couldn’t sit around anymore pretending.

With no plan in mind and forgetting entirely about Jared, Odion had a new course of action. It was strange how his own mind had abandoned Jared in favour of what he had remembered before settling back into his old life in Europe. It was all very mind boggling.

Odion had never felt so exposed in his life. He didn’t have it all together, even though his façade often looked that way. The memory stopped as his mind buckled under remembering what he was supposed to forget and forgot the fake life he had tried to return to. The blood on his face had dried and he knew his body would heal. He couldn’t say the same for his heart or mind. Odion looked over at Lani, hurt and attempting to shelter himself. “I don’t want to lie to you anymore,” Odi pleaded, “but I have no idea what I’m doing…” He took a deep breath, deciding it was better not to blabber when his mind was in such pain. “I would never, never hurt Caroline. I love her.” And he didn’t care what Lani thought of that, because love was so much more than what these young men thought it could be.

[Lani Hunter]

The fight, this revenge was not as satisfying as Lani thought it would be. It was like he was fighting against his heart and whatever he still held of the damaged organ cried out in pain as they traded blows. The fact still remained that nothing felt right without Odion and fighting with Odion felt familiar but it was no less painful than it had been before. But in a sense it did bring some clarity to light. Now, now it was time to talk, as much as Lani hated to talk of painful things, as bad as Lani was at articulating his emotions, now was the time for it. The conclusions his mind was drawing were painful and true. He’d let out his anger and for once his mind could see past the pain and loneliness. He wasn’t sure what he could see beyond this, but if he was ever to see sanity again it was with the love of his life. With Odion.

Lani’s glare snapped back to Odion and a note of confusion flickered across his features as Odion laughed. He certainly didn’t find anything funny about this. He narrowed his eyes at the redhead and shook his head a little. Lani ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Odion was making this very difficult. How was Lani supposed to be angry with someone who didn’t know why he was angry in the first place? Consequently, Odion earned himself a heavy sigh from the blond. This was why they needed to talk, because Lani had a bad habit of thinking people could read his mind when he was angry. Instead of making him more angry it killed his will to be upset. If Odion had started to fight back Lani would have reason to retaliate and now there was nothing to do but to seethe silently about the fact that Odion wasn’t being cooperative with his anger.

“Yeah, you know what would have helped that? If someone had told me what the fuck was going on.” Lani drawled sarcastically rolling his eyes and looking away from Odion. His eyes nearly immediately snapped back to Odion a little in shock and Lani took a moment to process that. “Excuse me?” He growled half angry and half baffled. He honestly wasn’t sure if Odion had just called him and idiot or smart or both. Lani was about to snap at Odion again but he never got the chance. He had a sinking feeling in his gut and the familiar feel of time covered him. His power, even weary and hurt reached out to touch it, just to feel the warmth and the familiarity of the power and the connection to the heart. Lani thought by now he would be used to time traveling, but it still made his stomach a little uneasy when Odion did it without warning him.

For several moments Lani was confused about where he was and at what time. The thoughts he felt and the emotions were not his own but they struck in his heart as he watched through Odion’s eyes. Lani blinked in surprise, Caroline had contacted Odion first? His mind rocked when Odion’s did and Lani’s eyes widened and he swallowed hard trying to grip the floor beneath him. So many times in his dreams he was haunted by accusing eyes, and he could run from all of them, but the pair of blues that appeared wherever he turned. The memory snapped away and Lani was left staring at Odion and he nearly let out a cry to see his bloodstained face and he knew that he had done that.

Lani knew it wasn’t his business who Caroline talked to, but it was hard to be logical when it came to Caroline. He would protect her from anyone and anything no matter the cost. He’d jumped to conclusions, again, and he probably had a few angry messages on his phone at the moment. She would do what she thought was right, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. But maybe Caroline had seen what Lani had blinded himself to. Caroline was trying to fix things for Lani the way that he’d tried to fix things for her when she was sick. In many ways the past seven months had been like an illness, not of the body but of the mind and heart. Caroline recognized it for what it was. Maybe she was trying to help him get better. He had told her at the beginning that he would have given anything to take back what he’d done and have Odion in his arms again. Caroline was perhaps a little too much like Lani for comfort.

Lani closed his eyes again and hung his head and fought against the tears. He felt like an ass, he was such a fool. Not for the reasons he had initially thought. Lani nodded and raised his eyes to Odion swallowing down the tears and forcing his eyes to be dry through sheer willpower. He ran his hands through his hair. “I know,” he finally said. He knew Odion would never do anything to hurt Caroline, it had been his overactive imagination that had told him Odion would seek revenge. With his initial anger gone he knew he was horrible for doing what he had always done. Expecting the worst out of people. But he should have known better when it came to Odion. Lani looked back up at Odion. “I don’t want to lie to you either.” Lani sighed and looked Odion in the eye. Lani was not in the habit of giving second chances, he was used to shattering all tied when trust was broken, but he wanted to trust Odion again. He wanted to be with Odion again.

“I’m not good at this, but I’m going to try.” He locked his eyes on Odion’s blues and blundered on. He couldn’t show Odion his memoires, he could only tell him. “Odion, I love you. You were my everything and when you were gone there was nothing. I promised myself I wouldn’t let myself feel like that again. I’d never give anyone the chance.” He clenched his teeth at the memory and he remembered the pain. “I should have gone after you. I should have tried to find you. But, I was so angry. I wanted to hate you, but I couldn’t.” Lani’s eyes didn’t leave Odion’s even as they clouded with shame. Lani was laying all of his cards on the table and Odion would do with it what he willed. Lani had been in despair at first, then he’d needed something to fill the hole Odion had left and it had been anger. When Lani couldn’t bring himself to hate Odion, it only made him more angry and the lines of blame blurred. If Odion had never returned Lani would have continued on this path, but the redhead was back and that meant facing the anger and the guilt. So, Lani became more angry, but now the anger had run dry and he was left again in a void and his heart ached and screamed as there was nothing holding it together any longer.