"How did you even manage to get a slash like that, love?"
The eye-patched woman asked with an interested grin, her face displaying genuine curiosity with a layer of concern for her little brother.
And turning to her, the young blond replied with his usual blank expression, his voice a mixture of calm and tired.
"Um.. the target wasn't as weak as he seemed to be."
Flicking her eyebrows up, Glaz nodded, leaning her head on Chaos' shoulder once again as her palm caressed his arm all the way to his knuckles.
"Mmh... Makes sense when you're fighting a 50 year old dad bod. But what happened to your poor hand, love?"
She examined the tiny, fleshy slits outside the coverage of his gauze pad, tenderly brushing them with her fingers.
"Nothing, I just... got a little distracted, that's all."
Chaos answered abruptly, turning away from his sister's adoring gaze and looking out of the window.
But needless to say, Glaz knew exactly what he was doing—not telling her the details of the experience, as he didn't want her to worry too much.
"Love, you're doing that thing again."
She stated in a soft but assertive voice, her gaze still lingering on his skin as she slightly pulled herself back.
With a defeated sigh, the young blond directed his face towards Glaz, responding in a quiet tone.
"He slammed my fist on his desk."
And just as Chaos finished giving a proper answer to the question, she immediately cussed, her eyes filling with tender yet possessive fury.
"That fuckin' bastard-"
But she couldn't finish as Sila quickly intervened into their conversation, driving while giving out a light chuckle.
"Slammed your fist on the- whahat!? How did you even get in that situation?"
Moving his eyes towards the driver's seat, Chaos answered a third time, supposedly sufficing him with a simple—
"I was distracted."
However, Sila didn't seem that pleased with the answer as his caramel eyes moved up towards the rearview mirror, aiming at Chaos' reflection before moving down on the road.
"Right... no wonder you a failure."
And that quiet, little sentence caused the young blond's eyes to immediately slip closed, not because of his brother's disheartened words but because of what was coming after them...
"Shut the fuck up, Sila! Why don't you go to the orphanage and look at the list of how many times you fucked up? Then you could jerk off at night, crying and knowing that our little brother's record is much finer than you ever had."
When Glaz's outburst ended, a soft, wholehearted snicker escaped Glok's mouth, allowing him to turn his gaze to the road ahead and letting his phone screen go dark.
Chaos, on the other hand, didn't make any noise—just looked out of the window with his habitual dull, empty expression even though a part of him secretly adored the fact that his sister was so protective of him.
He knew very well that Glaz was going to throw a tantrum for him, just as she had always done whenever he was underestimated by his siblings.
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Sila let out a deep sigh, adjusting the steering wheel as he affirmed in a calm voice.
"God, Glaz... That kid is gonna turn into a real spoiled brat if you keep being this much of a possessive asshole."
"I don't give two fucks about what you think he's gonna turn into. I have a responsibility. Given by Mother herself."
Countering Sila's words, Glaz put her head on her little brother's shoulder, wrapping her arms firmly around his as she added.
"And I love him with all my heart."
And with that, the eldest sibling of the group got silenced in an instant, his eyes fixed ahead on the road and nothing else.
Glok glanced at Sila several times in the next few minutes, his grin getting more and more smug by the passing second as he was really enjoying how Sila just got thrashed by their little sister.
Chaos, however, was the total opposite, looking at Glaz with expressionless eyes, hiding deep appreciation and respect behind them as he gave yet another faint smile.
'Love... It feels so warm...'
He thought to himself, turning to the glass once again and viewing the outside world from the van, when he saw a woman and a child, walking on the pavements together.
'So.. many... types of love...'
And not even a minute later, the van came across a park, allowing the young man to spot a father-son duo playing catch together with smiles brighter than the sun itself.
'So many... different types...'
And finally, after a few seconds, he spotted the most precious type of love—according to, of course, the little films that he used to watch with his siblings.
A couple, sitting together on a bench, leaning on each other in silence with expressions so calm and peaceful that he couldn't even begin to perceive.
'I...'
"I want to experience that..."
This time, however, Chaos didn't only just think but also spoke his thoughts out loud, at least, loud enough for his elder sister to hear.
Tilting her head away from his shoulder, Glaz remarked quietly yet full of affection for her sibling.
"You will, love... One day..."
Chaos turned to her, his weary eyes filling up with an innocent curiosity as he asked.
"What?"
Concern, however, clouded Glaz's face for reasons Chaos couldn't really tell. But all he could say for sure was that she wasn't lying.
"You'll see."
With that, the sister brought the young man's wounded hand up to her lips, pressing a soft kiss on his slits as she leaned her head on his shoulder once again.
Questions encircled Chaos' mind, not just about what Glaz meant by her statement but also about how she knew what he was talking about.
But of course, he decided to pause them all, setting them aside and just savoured the tender warmth of his loving sister's embrace, not doing anything that could potentially ruin the moment.
.....
.....
.....
When the van finally came to a stop, Glok was the first one to get out, stretching his limbs for a couple of seconds before slamming the door shut.
Then came out Chaos and Glaz from the backseats, turning around and proceeding towards the massive building that was looming over them.
And finally, Sila—exiting the driver's seat after killing the engine with a sharp twist of his key.
The building was labeled 'Prizrak Stunt Arts'—known as one of the most expensive stunt schools in the present day and age.
And the reason for that was actually quite simple: it didn't house any actual stuntmen. Rather it only housed assassins, trained to the brim to kill, to sabotage, and above all else, to get the job done...
By now, one could obviously tell who owned such an institution. The incarnation of bad luck herself. The mother of Russia's greatest killers. The woman that no man had the gall to even name.
And she was here today. In this one twig of her vast empire. Inspecting all the unripened members of her academy. And waiting for her precious children to return home.
Entering the building, the group was immediately greeted with warm welcomes from the staff, one of them even hitting Sila with a rapid question.
"Did you guys send in the informants-"
"Yeah, those fuckers are still there, working with our undercover cops."
The bearded man replied, a drowsy, bored expression forming on his face as he passed the reception desk, following his siblings.
Going deeper into the establishment, the siblings came to face a couple more of the staff workers, greeting them with warm and enthusiastic smiles.
And when they entered the giant training hall, filled with darkness and discipline, they were pleasantly met with the familiar sight of blood and sweat from the trainees, both young and old, as they sparred with one another.
There were multiple instructors in the expansive hall, multiple men and women looking out for sections of different age and sex.
But there was one instructor that stood out from them all. The chief supervisor of this branch.
Boris was his name. Seeming to be a man in his late 20s. And even though he wasn't as highly ranked as any of the four siblings, he was still considered a pretty well rounded opponent by them all.
After all, Likho wouldn't just give away such a well esteemed title to some random amateur, would she?
Passing the droplets of blood spraying from the children, Sila closed in towards Boris, only stopping when he knew the bearded overseer could hear him.
"Boroda, where is Mother?"
He asked, his deep russian tongue slipping out as Boris replied in the same language with no issue.
"Mother's in her chambers."
"Did she give her lecture yet?"
Sila asked again, this time with a voice that seemed curious yet full of concern as he knew he would be in grave danger if he missed the lecture.
Seeing him, Boris gave an amused smirk, knowing well enough that his brother was worried about being late.
Yet, he did not choose to be sarcastic today, informing Sila plainly after glancing at the clock.
"No. But she will, at approximately 6 PM."
"Thank god..."
Sila sighed in relief, turning around to see his younger siblings interacting with their surroundings before stepping towards Chaos.
Still held close by his elder sister, the young blond was watching the sparring of two teenage trainees, having no thoughts whatsoever in his mind except for the fact that one of them was clearly losing.
However, before the fight could end, Sila interrupted their focus, informing Glaz to take Chaos to their mother.
And without any hesitation, the eye-patched woman agreed, pulling her little brother by the arm and taking him to the elevator outside the hall.
"Love, come... Let us meet with Mother."
She said with a caring smile, her voice soothing as always even though she switched her tongue to match her elder brother's.
All this time, Chaos did not really have anything in his mind aside from the pain of his wounds and the regret of his failure.
But just when he stepped inside the elevator, his heart suddenly got stung with the thought of a single word.
'Disappointment.'
The thought... The stinging thought was not spoken in his own voice but the voice of the woman that he idolized more than his own life.
The same deep, feminine voice from earlier...
And when the doors slid open, the young blond's heart thumped in his chest, his expression shifting from a cold, empty stare to a nervous, shuddering one.
And just when Glaz opened the dual gates of Likho's chambers, the word resonated in his mind from all sides, making it harder and harder for him to focus.
But fortunately enough, before he could faint to the ground under the weight of the word, ringing like a bell in his ears, the feminine voice struck once again, this time not as 'disappointment' but as a tender greeting.
"Welcome home, child..."