'What should I tell him?' thought Taiga. 'There's no way I can tell him the Don was only interested in me. How am I supposed to get to Aria alone? I highly doubt the Don is going through the trouble of taking me there just to get me back out in a week. Shin would be devastated if I left him - we've been together since birth. I can't remember a day where he hasn't been playing some bullshit prank on me. All that in addition to the insults Noctis hurled at him, that lying bastard, what could he know about strength and power?! Shin's the strongest guy I know.
I could lie, that's it, I'll tell him he gave us both powers and that he wants to see both of us in a week's time. Yeah that makes sense. Plus, there's a very high chance that madman was spouting nonsense about these abilities, most probably there isn't going to be any power awakening in either of us. This is all for Shin's sake. But then what will I do the day of? I could just not show up but this meeting with the Don really feels like the first actual step towards my goal. Shit...
I know! Neither of us got Frazes because we were both rejected. Then, the day of, I meet with the Don alone and convince him to bring Shin along or try using his Fraze on him again - supposing he's not lying. The Don's going out of his way to collect me, so I must have something special he needs - I can use that as a bargaining chip and gain at least a little leeway here. This is gonna be hard but it's all for Shin's sake - I'd do anything.
Who am I kidding? What kind of horrible brother am I? I can't lie to his face for the sake of "protecting" him - he's older than me (by a minute) for crying out loud. Who am I to patronise him? Shin is much stronger than I am, the last thing he'd want is for me to lie just to hide the truth from him. Then we can work together and find a solution to this conundrum, I mean those powers Noctis was talking about aren't even real.
"A lot has happened, Shin, but first tell me- what do you remember?" Asked Taiga
"Hmm... Let me see... Last that I can remember the Don guy was grabbing me by my beautiful face while humming some weird tune. Then I just blacked out." Replied Shin
Taiga then explained what happened after Shin passed out, telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
His truth.
"After you passed out," said Taiga, "the Don threw both of us aside and shouted that we were both 'incompatible', whatever that means, before he stormed off in his car. He had an extremely angry look on his face, but I still have no idea what he meant by anything he said or did."
"What the hell? That Don guy has definitely got some weird voodoo black magic going on. Who just goes around palming people's faces and knocking them out? We have got to go and have a word with him." Replied Shin
Taiga laughed. "Yeah, where? Parliament?"
"Yeah, great minds think alike I guess. We're gonna sneak into his big, important government office and demand some answers. Who does that guy think he is?!"
Taiga's heart sank.
"Quick bro!" Shouted Shin whilst running back towards their house. "We've gotta stock up- it's gonna be one hell of a trip!
Taiga's eyes were fixed on joyful Shin, jaw clenched tight. He didn't reply - he didn't even make a sound. He simply let a single drop escape from his eyes, sitting perfectly still until he solemnly wiped it away.