Aragon cursed himself. In his preoccupation of everything going on, and preparing himself for what he had to do, he had failed to keep careful attention to the blood bond and his connection to Michael. He made sure to keep a firm hold on the net of memories so not to loose it, and then reached for a mental command.

Paralyze.

There was a small thud and a larger one behind him. Aragon turned with a heavy heart to find Michael sprawled out just beyond the copse of trees behind Aragon. For a moment he considered just leaving him there, but then thought better of it. The ship would probably do a scan for anyone else in the area and find him.

He jogged over to his son. Michael lay with his eyes wide open, staring into the blue sky over head. A taser lay next to him by his side. From the bright pink, he figured it was Cassie’s. The one she always kept in her purse. Aragon felt his heart squeezed at having to subdue his son this way. Against his better judgement, Aragon placed his index finger at the middle of Michael’s forehead and send a command.

Release.

Immediately, Michael blinked and tried to sit up. Aragon helped him to his feet and pulled the keys out of his pocket. He put them in his son’s hand, and then grabbed Michael by the forearm and began leading him to the BMW.

“I don’t know what the hell you were thinking coming out here, and roping poor Tyler into helping you, but you need to get out of here. Take the car and drive. I don’t care which direction you go, just get out of here now.” Aragon said the last word with as much command as he could muster with his mind still being split into its mental task and functioning in the physical.

The young man in his arms stiffened, and then brought himself to a stop. He turned with a defiant look in his eyes that made Aragon’s stomach drop as he realized his mistake. He should have left the boy paralyzed. It would have made this much easier.

“No, you don’t get to just order me away. Mom told me the truth. The parts you didn’t tell me.” Michael glared at Aragon with a mixture of emotions that broke Aragon’s heart.

So this was it––the moment he had worked years to avoid. He never wanted it to come down to this. He had always done what he thought was right for Michael––always. But how was he going to convince this boy that it was in his best interest to let this go.

“Son–” he began, but the Michael cut him off.

“That’s just the thing. I’m not really your son, am I? So why the hell should I listen to you? You’ve been lying to me my whole life. Why couldn’t you tell me the truth? Why all the secrecy? Did you not think I could handle it?”

Aragon shook his head. “No, not exactly. You just don’t understand––”

“Then tell me! I’m right here. Just tell me why I should stand by and let you give yourself up to people who want to do you harm? I may be angry at you right now for lying to me, but I don’t want to see you hurt. Not when I can go in your stead. They won’t hurt me, will they?”

Aragon stared at the young man he had called son for so many years as he tried to find a way to explain what needed to be explained, but instead, he found himself answering the question.

“The ones on that ship, no. I confirmed that it was your father who sent them. But that’s not to say you won’t be in danger once you get to Ethia. Your brothers––”

“Tried and failed to get rid of me, but I’m a grown man now, Dad. Don’t you think I can take care of myself?”

Aragon shook his head. “You don’t understand what you’d be up against. Besides, your brothers aren’t the only reason we left Ethia. Your father had a big part to play in that.”

“Why? Does he want me dead too?”

“No, but he’s…” how did Aragon explain to Michael the real truth of why he didn’t want him going back to Ethia. A storm of emotions he had long buried came back up to assault him. It felt like he’d taken a punch to the gut. Aragon found it hard to breathe for a moment as his vision blurred.

It was getting hard to hold onto the net and have this conversation at the same time. He could feel it straining his mental abilities. He wouldn’t be able to do this much longer. He’d have to do something to bring this to a close before it was too late.

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“Dad?” Michael said as he came in close to put a steadying hand on Aragon’s arm.

Aragon used it to his advantage as he grabbed his son’s hand, twisted him around and brought him in for a choke hold. His son hesitated a moment, but he too sprang into action as he broke the hold Aragon had on him and managed to dance away. Michael stood there glaring at him and nostrils flaring.

“Really, dad? You taught me years ago how to avoid that one.” He backed away a few more steps, knowing better than to stay within arms length.

In spite of the strain and his time drastically dwindling, Aragon chuckled. He had tried to do right by his children, and taught them as much as he could about hand to hand combat in the guise of Sunday afternoon family bonding time at the local dojo. It was good that even when Aragon was gone, his children would be able to take care of themselves.

Aragon put up his hands in surrender. “You’re right. Sorry. Can you fault me for wanting to protect you, because I assure you Michael, that’s all I have ever done. I just wanted you safe, and I want you to live a life of your own. If you go to Ethia, you will never get that. Your father won’t allow it.”

“Well, I only have your word to take for it, and right now your word doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot.”

Michael’s words hit like a physical assault. The sting going deeper than he would like, but Aragon let it pass through as if it didn’t bother him. There was too much at stake for him to be put off by a little hard feeling. He could still salvage this, but he had to keep his head together.

“Please, son––”

“YOU STOLE MY LIFE!” Michael shouted, his voice ringing out across the green hills of the farm.

The shouted words paralyzed Aragon as he watched the anguish in his son’s eyes. A wave of shame and guilted washed over him. Aragon wanted to look away, but found he couldn’t, and it only made the pain that much harder to bear.

“You stole my memories.” Michael’s voice now back to normal, but they shook with the rage Aragon saw playing out across his son’s face. “You stole my ability to make my own choices. And here you are doing it again, even though I am right here, and I am a grown man who is capable of hearing all the gory details of whatever it is you thought I couldn’t deal with as a child. At any point today, did it ever occur to you that maybe this was my choice to make? Did it even occur to you once to stop and ask what I thought of everything going on?”

Silence now stood between them as Michael’s eyes still blazed with his anger.

Aragon closed his eyes. It was the only way he could get away from the accusing glare. But he found no solace, because deep recesses of guilt awaited him––guilt he had pushed away all in the name of protecting this boy. He could justify all of it as long as he was protecting his charge. And that was what he was going to do––no matter what, even if it cost Aragon Michael’s love.

Sleep.

Aragon waited for Michael to succumb to the mental suggestion, but Michael still stood glaring at Aragon as steadfastly as before. He blinked at the younger man in shock as he sent another mental command.

Sleep.

Again, nothing happened. Aragon’s mind fumbled for an answer to why his Dome-ni wasn’t working. It must be because he was still holding on to the net. It was straining him to the max. If he was going to subdue Michael, he’d have to let go of the mental net.

He wasn’t sure what would happen if he did that. He’d never tried to break a mental lock in the process of making it, especially since he was so close to finishing.

Aragon took a moment to look inside his mind. All it would take would be a gentle nudge, and the closed lock would be finished. But then he would forget why he was here having this conversation with a man his former self would not recognize and in a situation he would not understand. And if the lock didn’t finish, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to create another closed lock before Aragon was apprehended by Vang.

He decided to plead one more time with his son. “Michael, please. You don’t know what you are doing. You don’t understand what going back would mean for you. Let me do this for you. Let me go in your stead. Just get in the car and go. Live out you life here on Earth. It will be a good one. A happy one. You deserve that.”

“And what about you?” Michael rasped. The anger was gone and now his eyes watered with tears. “Don’t you get to live a happy life too? Don’t you get to live, period? Mom told me what will happen if you get on that ship. I’m not okay with a lot of this, or that you look my memories, but I am definitely not okay with that––I don’t care what you did. I love you, dad.”

Michael’s words were like a hot lava melting Aragon’s cold resolve to protect his charge. Out of all the things in his long career he’d been taught to defend against as a Protector, this was something he had not been trained to resist, nor could he if he wanted. For the first time that he could ever recall, Aragon felt himself bow to defeat.

A surge of emotions blossomed in Aragon’s chest at the realization that he wasn’t going to be able to save his charge, not this time. It was an agony that hurt worse than any torture Vang or the Emperor could think up. It was enough to snap the net of his memories he’d been trying so hard to hold onto.

An explosion of white light whirled through his mind. It consumed him and felt like it was burning him alive. He heard a scream. It might have been his own, but he was too busy to care as he became bombarded with an onslaught of memories.

All of them demanding his attention at once, but all the strain he had put on himself in trying to split his focus for so long had fractured his usual mental strength. He was now a helpless spectator as memories tumbled around without an anchor to hold them where they belonged.

Aragon tried to focus, to come back to his center, but he found himself completely consumed by the past and no way out. It was a Mind Bender’s worst nightmare come true. Aragon was lost in the landscape of his own shattered memories.