Welcome to Gaia! ::

His brother had been the one to push him, nag him and all but outright drag him to the place. The place being the top of their hotel where the chances of a negaverse agent or a youma finding them were not only slim at best but rather impossible for them to make it up the multi storied building. The brothers and only a select few of the staff had the card key to get up to the lofty presidential suite, which hadn’t been used in weeks. The sad part was that it hadn’t been used at all by anyone other than the brothers, mostly Marlo for nights when he wanted to be alone and the office was loud with noise tricking in from around him, and the hazy lights of the street not far outside gave the world around him a yellow glow. Up in the suite the world was darker, quieter, and the noise of city was distant with the buffering of thick glass walls.

If he had been Marlo he would have taken the time to just go out to the covered deck to enjoy the warm night air, maybe light up a single cigarette; it was his guilty pleasure since he’d taken up full time work. Track team had always cautioned him from the use of the so called cancer sticks, but stress in the short term couldn’t be taken care of by pills alone, much less by some time wasting exercise or class, (even if he’d prefer the rush of endorphins). Elzo was busy overlooking the city, and Marlo wondered why. Why did his brother, the one who had been reckless, hedonistic, and outright idiotic, change? What gave him the reason and the desire to turn his life upside down? When he asked the elder sibling had laughed and simply told him ‘Love’.

It was an answer Marlo didn’t understand. Much less care to.
Putting out his cigarette, marlo nodded. They’d come to discuss something both brothers had put off far too long. Their inheritance. But Elzo had something more to tell his brother. A secret he had kept from the one person it mattered most to, and one of the few people who he cherished more than almost all others. If Daphne, Lina, was the one he’d die for, Marlo was the one he’d suffer in damnation for. The elder brother’s gaze was distant as he pulled out the letter and sat it on the table between them.

“What is this?”
“Something that should have been given to you years ago.”
Marlo noticed Elzo’s sad and guilty look, not understanding. As he lifted the letter Elzo’s hand shot out, gripping his wrist, eye pleading. “Understand, they begged me not to say anything, he swore he’d tell you when you hit 18. But then the coma…Maria and Giovanni-“ The words faded into a bitter grimace and Elzo looked away, distant. Timidly, or perhaps wary, Marlo used his key to rip open the envelope, taking time to be sure not to tear the contents inside. Five sheets of paper. Folding crisp and neatly, seals of various official offices, some American, some Italian. The Italian papers weren’t even read as Marlo’s brow raised to look at Elzo, who looked ready to hit something. Something was wrong with his brother. Something words couldn’t be used to express.

“What are they Elzo.”
“I didn’t want to be the messanger. I never wanted to keep this from you. I never wanted to let you live thinking he-“
“Elzo-“
“It was just another way he controlled you. A way he controlled us. Controlled Maria. He is a sick son of a b***h and just-“
“Elzo-“
“He used it, used it as a threat all those year. I was stupid to think Gregory would have the guts to keep his word when faced with him. I was so damn stupid.”
“Elzo sto-“
“I’m sorry.”
The apology made Marlo snap, his voice finally rising as his hand slammed down on the table.
“ELZO.” The Elder brother fell silent, eye still off to the side, unable to meet the lighter blue of his brother’s gaze.
“What is this Elzo.” Elzo’s raised a hand and motioned to one of the Italian papers. “History.” Marlo’s confusion must have been seen as Elzo kept going. “Our legacy, or rather-“ Marlo lifted the top paper, it was in Italian but to him it might as well have been English and the words were plain as day to him.
“Your origins.”

Marlo’s breath sucked in, fearing that something was amiss. These were copies of the official documents, once held in the safe at the family estate, for Elzo to have not only sent for them, but to have gathered them and other could only spell trouble. Or at the very least, incurred the wrath of their father for abusing his right as his being his heir and now company CEO. Eyes scanned the page and looked up when he noticed the names on the certificate. “I don’t understand Elzo, it says everything as it should, Maria and-“

“No.”
The word was spoken and the edge of anger and sorrow was clear as day. “Look at the second paper, the dates.” His eyes still looked out at the city. “Look at the names then.” Marlo frowned, flipping to the next certificate, and as he read the words, it felt like someone had dropped a rock into his stomach. It was a later document, revised, corrected. And the names-
“Maria Xanis….and Gregory?” Marlo’s question was innocent, unbelieving. But the way Elzo nodded made his worry rise. Flipping back and forth, the papers were both copies of the originals, but the dates, the corrections. It was all so…official looking. What he was looking at was a lie. It had to be. “There had to be some mistake, why would one say Giovanni and another say Gregory?”

“The third.” Elzo reached over, lifting a third paper. “I’m sorry Marlo.” Snatching it over, Marlo looked at, it was the original copy, and what he read on it made him sick.
“How long did you know?”
“Years. Maria told me in a drunken fit. Gregory made me swear not to say anything. Said he’d tell you when you were ready. Time passed and he never moved. He gave a dead line of when you hit 18.” A pause. “But he was afraid of Giovanni. He threatened to take the ranch if Gregory even so much breathed a word. Then you hit the coma and Maria snapped and just-“

Elzo finally looked at him, and Marlo understood. He understood what it made him. What it made them. “Why?”
“You deserved to know. You always wanted him to call you his son.” Elzo shrugged. “Now you know why he’ll never say it.” Marlo felt something, but he wasn’t sure he understood it. He was desperately trying to make sense of it all. “Then how did I get-“
“That was me.” Elzo gave a weak smile. “He wrote it all to me. And once he signed the last paper I started writing mine.”
“Last winter-“

“Yeah.” The time he’d been placed in charge, slowly been given more work, higher titles…it had all been a slow progression. It had been planned from the start and he’d been blind to see it. Elzo had inherited the company, but he’d been slowly shifting it into Marlo’s hands. “Why do this Elzo?” Anger fueled his words. “Why give me what belongs to you?”
Elzo’s smile was still so full of sadness, so full of regret. “You wanted so badly for him to love you. I watched it for years Marlo. You wanted his blessing, you wanted his approval, you hardened every part of yourself to be like him, to try and get something that Giovanni never had for anyone but himself. Not even for me.” Marlo looked at the third paper. A genetic record. The nail in the coffin. Something he couldn’t change, couldn’t dispute. Blood was blood and no amount of paper work or even magic would sway the most simplistic and basic this as one’s origins. Elzo kept speaking, his words soothing the lashes that had been buried and scabbed over now blooding like open and festering wounds.

“I hated him, and you loved him, idolized him, maybe even worshiped him as a kid. I was maybe 13 when I found out? I vowed I’d get him back for it. For what he had done, what he had tried to do, what he managed to get away with for over 19 years.” Elzo’s bit his lip. “Nineteen ******** years he lied to you, lied to everyone. Maria, Gregory, they lied. And so did I.” He looked away, ashamed. “I lied to Marlo, for that…for that I am the most sorry of all.”
Marlo swallowed his emotions and in a cold voice said one word.

“Go.”

Silently, Elzo picked up his jacket, and left. Ifting up the final two paper he picked up on the stationary first. It was Elzo’s. The crest of their family, embellished with symbols his brother had picked out, some Marlo knew reflected his secret senshi life. A hand written letter. In the silence of the presidential suite, Marlo was able to sit down and read it undisturbed.

Setting down the letter, the young Xanis noticed his vision was cloudy. He wasn’t sure why, but he could still make out the names on the one document.

Mother: Maria Xanis

Father: Gregory Xanis

He’d grown up without his parents in many ways, and he’d always known on some level, he’d never have them, not really. Looking out into the night of city Marlo realized why his vision was cloudy. He also realized why he felt so much pain. He’d grown up without parents and had always known. But in that moment he had found out a truth that hurt more than any wound, any pain he’d ever suffered. Marlo Xanis realized he’d never had a real brother, and no matter what he did…

He never would.