“Where the hell are you going!?” Xilfer shouted at Jay, who was already working his way towards the shore.
Jay ignored his brother as he continued walking on the shallow water. He gritted his teeth for he was annoyed of how slow he was moving due to the water restraining his movement. When he was a few feet away from the shore, he strapped the mask on his face and hurried out of the water.
“That guy is nuts,” Rainbow groaned as she hopped off from the dragon's back and into the water. She sunk, but stroked her hooves and swam out of the water. She gasped for air and shook her head, her rainbow mane splashing water all around.
“Is your brother always that troublesome?” Bug asked before he wore a mask.
Xilfer sighed. “Only when Kronz is in trouble,” Xilfer eyed his brother for a short while before wearing his mask. He and Bug jumped towards the water as soon as Rainbow began swimming towards the shore.
Jay finally reached the shore, and completely ignored the sand he unintentionally collected in his shoes and the thin layer of mist that hung in the air. He began to run towards the bridge, but stopped after taking seven running steps from the shore. “Darn...!” He clenched his fists and glared at the ground after he realized that the bridge was broken. ‘I'm such an idiot!’
Jay quickly turned and ran back to the shore, and he ran passed the pegasus who called his attention. He immediately went back to the water, and wanted to get back to the dragon, but as he was about to walk pass Bug and Xilfer, a hand grabbed his and held him in place. Turning his head, Jay glared at Bug.
“Not so fast, kid,” Bug spoke, his voice muffled a bit by the mask.
Jay struggled to set his arm free from the muscular man. “Let go of me!”
“Jay, calm down,” Xilfer spoke, who stood beside him.
Jay turned to him with a glare, although Xilfer wouldn't be able to see it from his mask. “Calm down!? Kronz's is in trouble, and Claire and her sister!” He then turned towards the dragon, who was a few meters away, and began to pull his hand off of Bug's grip. “Nnggg! T-they're in trouble and I need to go back there and—”
“And what!?” Xilfer cut him off with an angry snarl, “do something stupid until you save them!?”
Jay turned to him with a glare, and although they couldn't see each others' faces, they countered each others' glares with their own.
“We came here for a reason, and now you want to go back!?” Xilfer continued. “And for what!? Be caught by the mist or whatever again!?”
“I will think of something, Xilfer!” Jay snarled back. “I care for Kronz, and unlike you who doesn—”
A quick punch struck Jay's cheek, throwing his head to the side from the pain and impact. He was stunned, shocked, from the sudden action that Xilfer did.
Xilfer pulled his fist back to his side while he kept his glare fixed on his brother. “While you are in the city working, who's there to watch over Kronz in high school, huh?”
Jay did not move, even though Bug already let him go.
Xilfer continued, “so you think I'm just a happy-go-lucky guy who always hang around with his buddies and doesn't give a crap to his family, huh? Well, think again. I only left 'cause I can't stand being around our stupid father!” He paused for a moment. “Kronz is being bullied at his school for being a nerd, Jay! And I may not be always there, but at least I'm there to stand up and beat the hell out of them. What about you? What have you ever done to Kronz, huh?”
“He...” Jay whispered, still not moving besides his lips, “...never...told me...about that...”
“Of course he didn't!” Xilfer quickly replied. “I asked him how you were doing one time, and he told me that you're always tired when you get back home, and then you go to work early! You're working all day to give a crap of what's going on with Kronz's life!”
“Stop...” Jay whispered.
“Why would he trouble you with his problems if you can even barely stay up and eat dinner when you get back, huh?”
“Stop!” Jay snapped as he turned to face his brother, though he was thankful for the mask to at least shield his teary eyes. “I g-get it, okay!? I'm...”
“Always busy,” Xilfer finished for him, even though that wasn't what Jay was about to say. “Even during the weekend.”
“...sorry...” Jay whispered as a tear finally rolled out from his eyes.
They fell quiet for a short while. Xilfer broke the silence by turning his attention to the shore. “Whatever,” he said coldly. “Stop being stupid for at least a moment. We came here to stop this hell, all right? Don't go scrambling your priorities.”
Jay opened his mouth to complain, but decided against it. Kronz was more important to him than anything else, but as Xilfer pointed out, what could he even do?
“And once this hell's all over, well, let's just hope that things will return to normal.” Xilfer continued, while he ignored the large number of very faint yellow dots from the mists on the shore.
‘Xilfer's right...’ Jay sighed. He still felt a heavy feeling for ignoring their youngest brother's situation, but a realization made him smile, and warmed his heart. Xilfer does care about them, despite everything.
“Guys?” Rainbow called, who stood on the shore, her back on the three humans who were still in the water. Her voice was absent of her usual tone of confidence. “If your little heart-to-heart drama talk is over, we could deal with something more problematic now...”
Arching an eyebrow, and still not quite believing that he could actually understand what the pegasus just said, Xilfer wondered what the pegasus meant. Just then, he realized that the faint yellow dots were now getting clearer and brighter, like twinkling stars in the evening sky, only, the air was also mixed with a low growling noise.