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When Caelus first joined the Stellaron Hunters, he was still recovering from his ordeal at the abandoned space station. His clothes were torn to shreds and his body was littered with wounds. Even when he was healed, he was covered with countless scars, a reminder of his brush with death. He disliked it, even going as far as covering them up with wrappings that Blade gave to him. Yet, when Kafka offered to take him out shopping for clothes — ones that could cover every inch of his exposed skin — he declined.
Silver Wolf could not understand why he would say no. Was it the guilt of making Kafka pay for his clothes? Or maybe he felt like he owed too much to the Stellaron Hunters for saving him. It certainly was not the first time he thought himself a burden, something that she accidentally found out when she was hiding from Blade after pranking him and overheard Caelus talking to himself. She kept that part of information to herself. It was not her story to tell or confession to speak of but she had a feeling that Kafka already knew.
Putting that aside, her little brother was in desperate need of a new wardrobe and it was up to her to fix it. She found a nice set of clothes online, durable and comfortable, and she immediately bought them. It was troublesome having to go through the trouble of setting up a drop off point and picking it up without revealing the location of their current base of operations as well as her presence.
Why was she going through all of this? Normally she would just leave it to Kafka or Elio to handle everything but for some reason, she wanted to do this. Perhaps this was what it felt like to have a younger sibling. If it was for Caelus, she would not mind putting in the extra work.
“Thanks, but I don’t want it,” Caelus said as he returned the pile of clothes to Silver Wolf.
“Why? Your clothes are barely holding together. Just take the new jacket, it’ll at least cover you up.”
“No, I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“It has sentimental value.”
“That’s it? Just take a picture then you can look at it any time you want.”
“You don’t understand!”
After all the trouble she went through, he was rejecting it? “Fine then, do whatever you want,” she said in cold anger before walking away and leaving Caelus with the pile of discarded clothes.
The moment she returned to her room, she locked the door and sulked. Playing video games did not improve her mood and the boredom was not helping either. She expected Caelus to knock on her door and apologise but there was nothing. She waited for hours, days, weeks, and the disappointment sunk in before she realised he was not coming at all. When she finally left her room having run out of supplies in her stash, she found Caelus still dressed in his old torn-up clothes sitting on the couch and tapping away on his phone. Their eyes met for a brief moment before her brother broke eye contact first. He stood up and walked away, disappearing into his room without a single word.
They stopped talking to each other after that fight, unwilling to stay in each other’s presence, and Silver Wolf was happy to let Caelus do whatever he wanted. If he did not want to talk to her then she would not say anything to him either. If he did not want to be in her presence then she would take her leave and return to her room.
“Did you and Caelus have a fight?” Kafka asked from where she was leaning against the doorframe to Silver Wolf’s room.
“Did he say anything to you?” she asked, her eyes not leaving the screen in front of her.
“Nope, refused to say anything either,” Kafka answered with a shrug. “Well, whatever, as long as both of you can get the mission done. With that said, Elio has a mission for both of you so get to it.”
“Can I take Bladie with me instead?”
“Nope.”
“Can I refuse?”
“Not at all.”
“Ugh, fine.”
The planet where the mission took place was one where Silver Wolf had been before. It was a dusty planet with most of the surface covered in sand. Water was scarce but life still managed to flourish on the desert planet. The last time Silver Wolf was here, she had been helping Blade secure a Stellaron that managed to make its way here. Thankfully it was not active when Blade retrieved it and all she had to do was open up an escape route for him.
Unfortunately, this was a mission that required her physical presence which meant that she had to be on the field. It was an utter pain but Elio warned that the equipment might be destroyed if she went in with her usual method. Fortunately, no one saw her when they stole the Stellaron from the people here so she was free to roam about without needing a disguise. Caelus, on the other hand, despite never once setting foot in this world, had his hood over his head, a useless action considering that it was full of holes and barely covered anything.
Whatever, he would find out later when he got sunburned from the exposed parts of his body.
Silver Wolf led Caelus through the desert ruins towards their destination where Elio wanted them to plant a device. They did not speak to each other, not that there was a need to at the moment. Yet, the silence was angering her. Why was Caelus not saying anything? Was he really planning on not talking to her for the rest of his life? Fine, two can play that game.
It was still hot despite already adjusting the value of the temperature. Next time, if Elio decided to send her off on a job way below her skillset, she was going to quit being a Stellaron Hunter. How was Caelus still insisting on wearing that jacket of his? Was he planning on getting a heat stroke? He was obviously suffering from the heat from the way he dragged his feet across the sand and the way his hands hung at his sides. Silver Wolf grumbled to herself as she lowered the temperature around her and Caelus again.
“Take off your jacket,” she ordered when she was no longer able to stand watching Caelus’ self-inflicted suffering.
“No.”
“Just take it off, it’s obviously too hot. I can’t keep lowering the temperature just because you’re throwing a tantrum.”
“No one asked you to.”
This man-! Here she was showing concern and all he did was throw it back to her face. “Are you serious?”
“Why do you care? Just send me back if I’m slowing you down.”
“Because you’re my brother!”
Caelus’ eyes widened at Silver Wolf’s outburst. “I’m sorry,” he apologised as he looked down at the ground, as if unable to meet Silver Wolf’s own.
Her anger dissolved at the sincerity in his voice. “Please take off your jacket. You don’t have to get rid of it, just take it off for now.”
She let out a sigh of relief when Caelus nodded his head and did as he was told. He gently folded the jacket and held it under his arm before accepting the bottle of water his sister held out to him.
“If you need a drink, tell me. I don’t care if you’re angry at me but I don’t want you to die here. Who else is going to play games with me? Blade? It’s going to be so boring.”
Caelus let out a laugh before sobering up. “I’m not angry. It’s just…” He sobbed and Silver Wolf pulled him down to sit against the crumbling wall with her. They could afford to stop here for now, there was no time limit on the mission anyway. “Stelle has a jacket like this and every time I wear it, it just feels like she’s there beside me. So when you told me to replace it… It’s stupid, it’s just a jacket.”
“Idiot.”
“I deserve that.”
“Let me finish,” Silver Wolf said with a glare. “You’re an idiot because you should have told me the real reason in the first place or did you really think I wouldn’t care?”
“Sorry.”
Silver Wolf sighed and reached up to ruffle Caelus’ hair. “Whatever. I’m the older one so I’ll forgive you. Come on, let’s finish this mission and head home. I haven’t done the dailies yet.”
Caelus laughed and allowed his sister to pull him up to his feet. “We better hurry then. Don’t want to miss the boss raid too.”
It was a few weeks later after they made up when Silver Wolf silently dropped a wrapped package on top of Caelus’ head. The latter had been lying on the couch playing a game before something blocked his view, causing his character to be killed by the boss.
“Silver! I almost had him!” he shouted as he moved the package off him.
“It’s a two part boss fight and you’re already down to one character in the first phase. Go grind more,” she said before disappearing into her room.
Caelus childishly stuck his tongue out at Silver Wolf even though he knew she would not see it. He set his phone aside and grabbed the package to inspect it. The packaging was unmarked, there was not even an address on it. He could not see through the wrapping and he could not tell what was inside when he shook it. Finally letting his curiosity win, he tore the packaging and he froze at the sight of the contents.
It was his jacket, or rather, a replica of the jacket he always wore before it finally fell apart on him a few days ago. It was the same jacket that Stelle wore, the only physical thing he had that belonged to his sister.
He lifted the jacket up to inspect it further and a card fluttered out. Caelus managed to grab the card before it could hit the ground and he found a single word written on it — Sorry. It was signed with Silver Wolf’s infamous digital graffiti, a cute tiny version of herself bowing in apology.
Caelus quickly set aside the jacket and he walked over to Silver Wolf’s room with the note in hand. He knocked on the door, fidgeting in place as he waited until the door slowly creaked open.
Silver Wolf stuck her head out of the opening and grumbled, “What is it?”
“Thanks,” Caelus said with a bright smile, “and I forgive you because you’re my sister.”
“Sure, whatever,” she said, turning away but failing to hide the twitching corner of her lips. “Try it on and let me know if it doesn’t fit.”
“Oh, right!” he said before running back to grab his phone and his new jacket before dashing off into his room.
Silver Wolf watched everything with an amused smile before shutting the door to her room and returning to her game. The smile never left her face and not even a game over could dampen her mood. It was definitely worth all the trouble of finding a tailor to make a custom jacket based on the photos she had of Stelle and setting up a location to pick up the packaging, all without revealing her identity or leaving any tracks for the IPC to find. Maybe one day, Caelus would finally be able to stand on his own without always tying himself to Stelle. Until then, she would happily supply her little brother anything he needed.