***CW: Sensitive themes***

 Silas knew he needed to leave this hell hole of a town when Keir killed someone.

Just like the grim reaper he was, he didn’t even realize that he was shadow travelling until he was spawning behind the bleachers of the football field. All he knew was that someone had died in town, and his instincts had taken over.

There was a body, of course, but what he wasn’t expecting was for the murderer to also be present. And he certainly wasn’t expecting to find a certain brown-haired boy that he loved sitting next to the body of Amanda Summers, rocking back and forth and mumbling to himself something along the lines of, “She threatened me. She threatened him. What was I supposed to do?” Over and over again.

As if sensing his presence, Keir looked up suddenly, and straight through Silas’s soul. There were deep gouges on his face, and blood was dripping down his nose, likely from Amanda struggling against him as he strangled her to death. One glance again over at the corpse again confirmed it, cause of death was asphyxiation and a broken Hyoid bone proved strangulation. He looked back to Keir, who’s bottom lip was trembling, and his mismatched eyes were filled to the brim with tears. One was its original honey brown and the other was pitch black because of necromancer magic. Even with blood on his hands, Silas’s heart thumped erratically at how beautiful the older witch was. “What was I supposed to do?” He repeated brokenly, like Silas might be able to answer him.

And he might have tried to console him, if Nyx hadn’t shown up suddenly. Relief flooded Keir’s expression as he appeared beside Silas, though tears were now freely spilling down his cheeks. “Keir!” Nyx called out dramatically and ran over to him, collapsing next to his boyfriend and pulling him into a hug. They were completely wrapped up in each other now, leaving Silas with a bitter taste in his mouth.

He wished that Keir had murdered someone over him rather than his brother.

He barely had time to process how fucked up that thought was when someone very tall moved in front of him. He looked up into the soulless eyes of his father, who had a very grim frown on his face. “Go home, son. Let Michael know we’ll be late for dinner.”

Silas didn’t need to be told twice, he needed to get the fuck out of there. He allowed the shadows to consume him and transport him home. He landed in the living room, where Michael was sitting on the couch looking startled. The human had never quite got used to the shadow traveling thing. He went back into his usual cheerful demeanor quickly though, smiling affectionately at him. “How was your last day of school, sweetie?”

“Shit.” He snapped, immediately heading for the stairs so he could lock himself in his room. “The rest are going to be late for dinner and I’m not hungry so don’t bother asking.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Running away certainly crossed his mind. In fact, he was halfway through packing a bag when he realized it would be pointless. His father would find him in a matter of hours once he realized he was missing and bring him back to this godforsaken place.

Would Keir even miss him if he left?

Of course, he fucking wouldn’t. Keir was too obsessed with Nyx to even realize he existed most of the time, he wouldn’t even know he was gone.

Where would he go, though? It’s not like his father had any extended family to talk of, he was an only child and his own parents had had him late in life, they had died almost a century ago. Silas didn’t have any friends he could turn to. Sure, he had some acquaintances at school, but he wasn’t even close enough to them to hang out with them outside of school.

That left his mother, Elizabeth. She had gotten in contact with his dad a few years back, wanting to make amends and get to know her children. When his father had brought it up to Nyx and him, they had both decided they didn’t want anything to do with her. What if that offer still stood?

That’s how he found himself walking down the stairs to the living room, where his parents always spent their evenings together before his dad returned to the cemetery at nightfall. They were both on the couch, talking in low voices to one another but Silas didn’t care to listen. He just entered the living room.

They were both in their pajamas, and Michael was curled up beside his dad with a wine glass in his hands. He didn’t look too upset, which meant he was probably going to be left in the dark about the incident earlier. As witches, they didn’t generally take human lives very seriously, they were so fragile and their lifespans were short, but Michael was a human. He probably wouldn’t take it well knowing that Keir was in his house now. “What’s up?” He chirped, always being the more talkative one between his parents. His dad just watched him expectantly, waiting for him to speak. He took a deep breath, suddenly feeling nervous. What if they said no?

“Can I go live with Elizabeth?”