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According to the time on his phone, Elías had woken up around 5:30 AM. Jetlag would be his excuse, but stress was something he had become intimately familiar with—and this, he concluded in curtain-veiled light of dawn, was stress. It made sense, of course: He hadn’t come back to Tanner under the best of circumstances, and this town had an echoing effect—whatever negative feelings he had seemed to be amplified by the sheer emptiness of the place, the lack of any reason for him to engage with it. 

His gaze flitted towards his brother, still snoring soundly in the bed across from him. The last time Eli had seen him, he was still a child—he’d grown so much, and Eli hadn’t been here to see any of it. When he left years ago, it felt as if Tanner would wait for him—time would stop, and everything would have been how he had left it. But people had changed, and grown, and left him, and strange faces had moved in to replace them. The disconnect between what he knew to be true and what was actual reality only drove the wedge between himself and Tanner deeper. 
Eli paused, catching himself in the mirror. Almost unconsciously, he'd chosen mostly blacks and greys. 
Quietly, he buckled his belt and stepped out into the hallway. 

He moved through the house quietly, past the rooms of all his other siblings: He had quite a few, all his juniors. They, no doubt, would still be sleeping. As would his mother—best not to wake them. This was what Eli had assumed—so he was rather caught off guard when, stepping into the kitchen, he saw his mother. 

She was still in her pyjamas, a shawl thrown loosely over her shoulders. Her hands held her arms, rubbing against them for warmth as she stared forlornly into a boiling pot on the stove top. She was a woman often praised as beautiful, but in the cold light of the early morning, she looked gaunt and worn down. The bones in her slender face seemed severe, crows’ feet cracking the sides of her eyes. Her hair, often painstakingly styled in extravagant ways, was pulled away into a scraggly ponytail.
[color=9036c1]“Mama?”[/color] He broke the silence in his native Spanish tongue, his brow heavy with concern. [color=9036c1]“What are you doing…?”[/color]
Surprised, she looked away, up to Eli. 
“Ah—! Eli, love,” she too responded in Spanish—they hadn’t been raised speaking English at home, after all. “What…time is it?” She chuckled sheepishly as the clock ticked above them. 
Eli’s brow furrowed further. His tone was weary, almost angry. [color=9036c1]“It’s five in the morning, mama.”[/color]
His mother paused, as if contemplating. Then, she sighed weakly, her eyes widening ever so slightly. “Ahh.”
There was a silence again, permeated only by the bubbling of the pot and the ticking of the clock. 

Eli knew exactly what was happening, and his mother knew he knew, but they both said nothing. There was a gulf between them, and neither would take the leap and cross it. There were a thousand things he could have said, but it didn’t feel right—it didn’t feel like he was speaking to his mother anymore. It was as if he had walked into his kitchen to find a stranger standing there, someone he could never hope to speak intimately to. In his mind, he could do nothing except extend half-hearted empathy. 
[color=9036c1]“...I'll help with the breakfast."[/color] That brought an end to it, and the gulf widened that bit more. 

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Breakfast was eaten in silence, broken only occasionally by chirping from one of the younger siblings. No one spoke of the day to come: Everyone was already quite aware of Elías' feelings on the matter. His siblings didn't dare poke their eldest brother for fear of irritating him, and the topic of the Coven was still a raw wound for their mother. So they spoke of mostly nothing, and the usually lively Delgado family withdrew into themselves—something that very much unsettled Eli.

He left quickly, plucking his overcoat from the hanger and throwing it on as he strode out the door. He didn’t want to be here anymore—the entire house emanated an aura of sheer oppression. It didn’t feel like the house he left years ago—it wasn’t where he felt he belonged anymore. Not that he had ever felt at home in Tanner, but there was always an air of comfort to the home, to the ever-present joy of his siblings running wild. In a way, he even missed his parents’ insistence on his magical pursuits—he’d always thought he would appreciate their silence, but the quiet reservation his mother had withdrawn herself too was nothing short of disturbing.
Still, he had to put that out of his mind for now. He hadn’t come home just for commiserations, after all. Pulling his coat over his rollneck, Eli grabbed his suitcase by the handle, took a deep breath, and stepped out into Tanner’s morning air. 

Elías walked through the town, the path to take still fresh in his mind. His eyes wandered purposefully as he moved through Tanner’s streets. Years had passed, and the town was so different—and yet there was no shaking the sense of familiarity. He observed as he walked past, taking in all the changes the town had gone through. Shops had opened and shut, houses had been moved in and out of, buildings built and left derelict—life went on, even in his absence. He chuckled mirthlessly under his breath at the thought: Of course it had. He had been so conceited in the past, though it was never a conscious thought. Thinking the world would pause when he turned his eyes away from it, that it would wait for him to return. Of course it hadn’t: Things really were no different in his absence. People moved on, life adjusted to one less player in the game. Tanner needed him about as much as he needed Tanner—it wouldn’t wait for him. 
That’ll show him, he guessed. 

But one sight that remained timeless was the Coven. He saw its towers cresting the horizon as he approached, the light of dawn illuminating the evergreen courtyard. The household hadn’t changed a bit, its silhouette unshakeable from Tanner’s skyline—however stout that skyline might have been. Elías walked underneath the arches as he had done so many times, and he felt a stirring inside of him as he took his first steps onto the Coven grounds in quite some time. He hadn’t expected to come here ever again—certainly not in this lifetime. He’d thought he’d left it long ago, for his brothers or sisters to go through. They, at least, seemed more invested in carrying on the Delgado legacy than he had—though, of course, they were all only children, as he had been. They couldn’t understand the implications it carried, hadn’t seen the world they’d be signing away in exchange for the supernatural. 
The thought earned a shiver from Eli as he strode up the path to the main door. How easy it would have been to surrender all he had seen if the circumstances were different; how easily he could have been chained to Tanner for the rest of his earthly days. For better or for worse, at least, it would at least be different for his siblings. 

With the hand not holding onto his suitcase for dear life, Eli pressed his fingers against the front door. He paused, running his tongue along his teeth. His brow creased, and he paused, cocking his head towards the forest in thought. What would happen, he imagined, if he just ran from here? He could hop the walls and disappear into the trees and no one would ever know. He could catch the next flight to Brazil and no one would ever find him. His Portuguese wasn’t exactly fluent, but it was similar enough to Spanish that he could probably coast by, right? He could find out. He could turn heel and find out right now. 

But his hand moved as if to silence him, pushing the front door open and inviting himself inside. 9.35 A.M., by his watch—he’d taken his time on his way. 
He stood there, in the middle of the hall, taking in the room around him. Just as static as the outside. He grimaced. Of all the things in Tanner he’d hoped would wait for him, the Coven wasn’t too high on the list. And yet, here it was, exactly as he’d left it. 
Typical, he thought as he sighed through gritted teeth. No running from it now. 

Lugging his luggage along with him, Elías stepped into the dining hall—just across from the hall, and the most logical place for people to gather. Entering, he came face to face with the first of his returning peers: Carlisle Aston.
Alone. Eli pursed his lips. Just his luck.
Wordlessly, he cleared his throat to get Carlisle’s attention, raising his suitcase and gesturing towards it. 
[color=9036c1]“Where do I…?”[/color] His words trailed off, his voice quiet. His discomfort was evident—not a great sign this early, a nagging voice in the back of his head pointed out. 

He shuffled awkwardly in the doorway of the dining hall, awaiting a response in silence. He thought of saying something else, but he wasn't sure what. It had been so long, they were essentially strangers—and, of course, Eli wasn't the most sociable amongst them when they had known each other. It remained to be seen if that would be different this time.
[color=9036c1]"...It's cold out, isn't it?"[/color] He chuckled sheepishly, internally tearing his hair out over his awkward attempts at small talk. Maybe he should have just stayed silent.