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When they were born, they were born alongside a string of planets and worlds breathing their first breath within the vast expanse of a dark coated universe scattered with twinkling lights that strung along the darkness to hide the maws of a greedy monster who watched these worlds with animalistic delight as it viewed each world as though they were theaters of entertainment for its sole excitement.
It reared its head to two young figures who were fully formed, their bodies were not of that of a babe nor a child, they were exactly as a young adult with youth and naivety pouring out of their pores as they opened their eyes to enchant the growing darkness.
Holding no name, they were the universe's favorites. Born with their two pairs of wings to soar and fly attached to their back with gold tipped at the end and a pure white, born with their sturdy bodies to endure any pain, clothed in a white fabric that strung along their body to cradle it delicately as though it couldn't hold any power of mass destruction, a veil of stars and night sky that hid their faces, feet bare with constellations twining along their ankle to thigh and born with the natural and deadly curiosity that caused their downfall. The universe spread its influence until it could cradle the children and sung haunting melodies to two siblings whose destinies were forever told in hushed sadness and fear.
The opened amber eyes to become witnesses to many downfalls and upbringings.
They were born to spectate, to be unattached to mortals whose lifespans were nothing towards their immortality and the worlds they visited in mere times. They were born to gaze at each world to see its value of existence, they judged thoroughly as though they were not a child. Their existence was meant to hold nothing but the litany of the universe's deadly yearning.
They were born to suffer and to love.
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In most worlds, the sky is blue. Either due to scientific explanations that fit within the world or due to magic influences that systemically destroyed and rebuilt the laws of science. Often times, even gods fit within equations as they are never susceptible to the growing influence of the world they are trapped within. A live parasite that thrived on the attention the universe deigned to give if they put on a silly entertaining show for the universe's beloved.
The sky is red, a deep, almost black color that hung on bright violet stars. Yellow clouds soared past and a grinning moon tethered to and fro. Where water flows downward, it flows up and covered the sky with its dark red mist, where the roots grown in soil become uproot and strangle its own host and where children frolic only are nothing but puppets that have lost the right to grow.
A decaying world, putrid of sadness and injustice, one where nobody could find beauty within its bowels if not for morbid curiosity as they listen to the howls of a litany of animals, morphed and misshapen, within the tall imposing trunks of tree where its roots can only inch their way up across the trunk they strangle. It was fascinating sight to see, a girl with beautiful blonde hair and stunning amber eyes thought as she perched herself upon a bright nauseating fuscia colored rock with flakes of bright green embedded when she brought a sword to strike at the irksome retorts of a rock that grew a conscious and begged her to kill it when it laid eyes on a barren wasteland.
She granted mercy, because this world had already decayed when the world itself revolted like an untamed spoiled child when the universe deigned not to give a passing look. It was amusing to her how this world destroyed itself from the outside and then desperately tried to call for help when it realized it was dying. No adults were left to wander the land, having found their bodies sliced open every time they breathed. No children were left to play after realizing they would die if they kept mortal flesh. She and her brother had come here only due to the pathetic howls of misery and karma, it was truly sad, really, that the residents who once lived in a thriving land had been cast aside so cruelly by the same world they loved just because they could not entertain no more.
She may never understand the need to validate oneself to someone. The urge to present and to be acknowledge even by a glance. The thrill of being loved and accepted. She may never know but she damn well is pleased she never has to, if all those feelings or needs are met with self destruction and slow decay.
... Even so, she can, for a slim moment, understand the need to validate yourself to someone you so desperately adore. And as such, she and her other half came to this world, not to save it, it was beyond repair and even the children-- no, they were merely hollowed husks at this point --begged them to let them die, to return in the warm awaiting arms of their loved ones and to finally rid of their awful and constricting puppet vessel. It would be heartbreaking if they could see the madness skewered inside decades worth of survival inside round empty heads.
"Sister!"
A shout of joy sliced through the world of suffering, it was something so ominously out of the ordinary as her other half flew to her side within the bright vomit inducing colors that once were brown and green now became stitched with colors that even a human eye could burst a blood vessel at. She glanced up to see similar looking strands of hair float gently across the air as he landed on the corroded dirt with soft feet. Watching as those white and golden wings of theirs retracted and folded into something manageable yet leaving behind the imprint of an angel descending from the Heavens to bring news, either good or bad can one choose to interpret.
For once, a smile of genuine delight overcame her face as she addressed him, "You seem happy, what could you possibly find happiness in this sad desolate world?"
"A book! It was one of the last things a child gave to me after I told them stories of yonder," Brother eagerly shared as he gently took out a tattered and barely held together paperback book in his naked hands. Sister looked curiously upon the book, not even paper was spared by the carnage, turning to polluted ashes as it clogged anyone's lungs from the inside out.
Gingerly, she touched the book which caused Brother to pout which was also unfair because Brother was the more naïve one between the two and thus his whining was feral and lethal, "Rude! I purified it of course!"
"Oh? The last time you purified something was when you caused that little shadow pet of yours to explode."
"I've been improving, Sister! See, even the pages have been frozen in time! Besides, I would never hand you something that could potentially wound you," Brother growled lowly as he eyed the tips of her healthy fingers, not at all marred by the poisonous dirt or stained. Both of their skin had a healthy glow and a glow of purification as this world was already a hazard zone for anyone to stumble upon. The 'inhabitants' were all mutated and not even human so the less than likely chance a lesser being could stumble in here, they would keel over and die, therefore allowing the already rotten dirt to feast on new nutrients to exude its poisonous cloud.
Her heart, a vessel for their energy, rarely ever skipped a beat but the concern was nevertheless addicting and assuring. Huh, it appears as though she shared one thing in this corroded world...
"Sister?"
"Yes, I know, it's time to end its pitiful existence. A thorn on on the side of the universe."
Brother nodded with a silly smile on his face. They both unfurled their wings, letting the appendages shake before leaving a few loose pure snow white and gold spun feathers to caress the ground and fizzle away from the purification. The twins soared high into the sky like rockets or planes slicing through the atmosphere. Clouds of yellow parted in haste, feeling as though acid had poured over though they were gas. The stars, a mockery and made the twins want to hurl stones at, trembled and crashed down on the cracked exterior of the Earth. A beautiful haunting display as all the stars that were held by nothing but a silvers breadth finally crashed down creating crators upon crators, leaving marks on a soon to be destroyed planet. The moon let out a shriek of laughter, madness and pain etched so deep within its voice. An ancient being corrupted by jealousy of the world and pain coloring the sky it entered the bones of the twins whose eyes glowed bright with power, to cause any selfish bastard to become drunk upon the sight of sheer raw strength compacted in beautiful figures that promise death and salvation.
What little was left of the residents raised their bobble heads, clattering against one another they let out an equally pain induced scream to sing in disharmony with the moon. No longer can they cry for they have lost their eyeballs, no longer can they feel warmth as creaky old wood served as their body, so they cry and screech to the sky, to angels who spare no sympathy but fascination, and beg them to kill and destroy on this cursed lands. To take them away and yearn for home.
The twins crashed upon the sky, a more beautiful and powerful meteor than any shambles of a star can be. Spreading their wings open, it did not impede their fast trajectory down unto the trembling planet. Reaching out hands covered in bright light and touching the screeching planet.
The world drew its final breath and out came thank you's of deceased children floating up and meeting long lost loves.
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They were called Angels for a long time. It always amused him especially when some males would try to dominate or woo his Sister into earning sexual favors. He would watch from the sidelines, a smile playing on his lips, as his Sister chuckled with the sound of a bell and air of something akin to the Virgin Mary as she swung whatever item she could grab and smash it down to those males and force them to beg. Even those that tried to force their way were met with iron clad resistance as Sister did her absolute best in making sure they suffered, either if it means to cause lasting physical harm or to leave scars that ran so deep not even a doctor could prescribe medicine.
Those that were rather insistent... Well, he wouldn't be a good Brother if he didn't take care of such annoyances while Sister danced to her hearts content within the town's bustling center, the bonfire lit background beautiful to frame a canvas worth billions when Sister danced her dance.
He closed his eyes and listened. The music was lively and enriched by the sounds of people laughing and dancing. They discarded those pure white robes that hugged their figure, it felt slimy just like how the universe kept a hold on them yet throwing them to different worlds just to see what they did. They were no different than a child's favorite toy and it was in times like these that Brother wonders what would happen if they broke.
He glanced at his Sister, strumming the lute in tune with the band and letting his mind wander as his face split to a cheerful grin. Occupying this man and coining him for all his worth was ridiculously easy, especially when he seemed enamored with Brother's looks and locks of gold hair. Oh, if he dare tries to profit or touch his precious hair...
"You and your sister really are something! You sure you don't want to travel with us? We can show you a whole new world!" It would have been convincing if he didn't leer at Brother's opened tunic where the strings had decayed far too much, the man did not believe that Brother was a man himself, citing him to be too pretty and too gorgeous just like Sister.
He oozed of rotten intention and his eyes were clouded with lust and greed. Those eyes roved his clothed body as though he was naked and Brother so desperately wanted to pluck this man's eyes and to feed them to the hounds to feast upon. He wanted to take his time to cut open a wretched person's body to see what made them so wretched. Curiously, he wanted to see how long the man could withhold his screams from the pride he held.
So, with a demure smile, he agreed.
He agreed while Sister laughed, a cheerful laugh which caused many to feel their hearts soar into the night sky as the beautiful lady danced with grace and poise not even the noble ones could offer. Yet, to one very specific man, that laugh bore down chills through his skin, sweating pouring out until the innocent boy he was planning to turn into nothing more than a personal slave became the devil himself. Cold, unrelenting and promising.
When he blinked, feeling his heart thunder and beg for him to run away from these real life black blooded monsters-- the boy returned to such an innocent face that made him wildly ask if he saw things clearly.
But oh, his heart thundered and thundered and it continued to thunder until the girl held his heart like a dirty piece of manure.
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Magic whispered in every corner of the world, unlike time that ran away from the mere sight of them, magic however cuddled close and impossibly close as though a clingy lover had finally met its other half after being separated for so long. They flew up high on a mountain and to their pleasant surprise found a large yet empty feeling mansion. Sister tugged on Brother's dark blue cloak as they descended down, wings flapping against the wind to shake off the clingiest of magic wisps that loved to grip upon feathers.
"Ah, such a nice place to rest," Sister moaned in delight as she surveyed the beautiful if not overgrown garden. Her bare feet seemed to be cradled upon the wildly grown blades of grass, it caused a lit of amusement within the very recess of her body. Was the ground or maybe building here so lonely that even the presence of Otherworldlies like them could make the magic here sing in delight?
Brother's nose twitched from where he was adjusting the collar of the cloak he swiped from one of his visits to another world. His clear amber eyes met those of big shocked blue eyes of a child who scampered away and hid behind a shrubbery, his small and thin figure blending seamlessly against the foliage despite the initial shock of white hair. He left his Sister who raised a brow when she felt magic instantly recoil at the sight of the boy and to Sister who bared her teeth once she felt the disgust matt out.
The blond could feel annoyance roll out of his other half and it helped soften his face until it made the child blush silly, "Why hello there, I'm so sorry if we scared you. Are you the owner of this place?"
The boy was small and alone, bereft of any workers who busily milled by the corridors or the jaunty sound of siblings playing around. The manor was cut off from the rest of the world and old with peeling paint and crumbled walls, based on the boy's clothing which resembled some sort of European low noble attire and his bruised body...
"You must have suffered alone."
The boy's eyes dropped open when the two figures that had randomly trespassed on a lonely Thursday afternoon. With the blazing sun bearing down on the backs of these two which caused their shadows to protect the fallen noble boy. His breath caught in his throat when his eyes viewed away from these angelic figures with beautiful golden spun hair and equally molten eyes. Wings snapped out and hid the glaring heat of the sun as it bore down on him.
"Oh, child of grief and misery, heed our voice and accept us."
Magic cried out when the twins held the boy tenderly in their arms before they tore his heart out.
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"Good morning, young master," Sister spoke when the boy opened his violet eyes to gaze up on a newly refurbished ceiling that held no cracks. He turned to look at the ancient being in front of him that could make magic itself bend to please as the other half began to sort through messy piles of books and scrolls he haphazardly gathered and studied last night.
"Young master, your... Aunt has been calling you and saying that 'Gide, that bastard son, doesn't have the right to have servants at his beck and call!' shall I dispose of her?"
"No, please don't, I... I'd rather not you resort to such violent means," Gide turned to plead leniency to the blond whose eyes thinned to dangerous levels but then a shocked almost sly expression came. Disgust curled within the deep recess of his stomach yet he still kept it.
A giggle came from both twins which made Gide feel as though he was being teased ruthlessly, it made him glare at them. "Apologies, young master, but why do wish to protect someone as foul mouthed as your... Aunt," Brother smiled as he seemed pure and naïve compared to Sister whose eyes held captive a dark twilight within, yet his next words cause genuine fear for his life, "when you can just simply command us and let us pick her bones apart?"
"It's not as though you are forced to comply," Gide spat out, conscious of how magic seemed to barely even touch his skin while it cuddled and condensed impossibly close to the twins, "Why are you even catering yourself in serving a useless noble boy like me?"
"Because it's fun," they bluntly stated.
Gide's eyes widened. Then a small laughed echoed in his stomach travelled upwards to his chest, forcing out to his throat and bursting from his mouth. All the while the twins watched with those eyes that seemed to stare straight through him and made Gide laugh hard, hard enough that the tears he hid began to sprung out and roll down his cheeks.
"That's..." Gide sobbed as he hid his face from the stares, "... the truth? You won't hurt me?"
"Unless you prove to be boring, however you seem quite interesting."
"Yes, one would think you, a child whose been abandoned by the world, would break down quietly but no, even fooling Otherworldlies like us to think you're harmless and to guilt them was quite clever."
"Truthfully, young master Gide, you resemble the snake more than any of your siblings. And you plan to use us to take everything they've taken from you, don't you?"
"It was quite fun to play pretend and watch as you show that mask to us, even crying it seems that you've broken that mask now that we know."
"Nothing in life can hurt you more than they have hurt you, no? So you will fight back like a child whose toys have been taken away."
"Ah, but you need not fear, young master, that heart we tore out? Well, it's a gift from us to you."
"Heart?" Gide's voice asked sharply as his shaky hands clenched the fabric over his chest on the left side. He knew how his once blue eyes had turned to a sharp violet, how it felt as though his weak body ravaged by poison they injected when he was a child become stronger and how he could accurately sense magic around him even when it never came close to him.
The twins smiled, "Oh, young master, Gide Killian Vourhun, you are now the only person in this world to wield the Anti Magic. Congratulations."
"We thought at first it wouldn't work since it came from someone outside of this world, really, it was a gamble and you didn't disappoint!"
"If we were to tell you then it would have brought your hopes up, and we know, young master, that your hopes have long since become brittle and fragile, so that's why we stayed silent. Really, we do it all for you."
"Though, I must say I am disappointed you never raised a fuss with your eyes."
"They're beautiful though, such a royal majestic color."
"Suitable for the rightful heir, no?"
Anti Magic?
What, what on Earth was that? Yet, his chest fluttered as though a bird was trapped within the confines of his own ribcage. The bird's wings fluttered and fluttered, beating harshly against his organs until it flew off and Gide could sense something creeping from underneath his skin, the power slithered within his once barren veins and rejuvenated it, magic screamed at the abomination as they were suck into a black hole and fueled the hatred filled boy, once magic hated him and he longed for it.
Now, he hated magic yet the magic itself had no choice but to be absorbed and used for a monster like him.
The twins smiled at him, eyes holding no malice but interest. Everything they did, Gide could now understand. They did things for their own amusement, while cruel to the unfortunate it would be beneficial for those who could play their cards right, and the twins knew that he understood, in fact they seemed eager to experience what he would do next.
Would he finally topple down his family? Can he finally bury his mother's rotting corpse by the gardens where she loved to dance in? Could he finally find his father who was held captive somewhere in that family estate where nothing but screams were heard in the dead of night? Can he torture and torment those that tortured and tormented him?
...
When someone hurts him, he plans to pay them back tenfolds...
But...
If someone, whether by the goodness of their heart or out of some twisted sense of enjoyment, ever helps him...
"Aether. Lumine."
"Huh?"
It was adorable. It made Gide feel a smile crawl on his face, he's already been through so many turbulent emotions he never thought he'd face, elation, disbelief, anger and that fragile hope, yet he can feel the slightest sense of satisfaction of having victory due to the twins simultaneous confusion.
"As your master, I cannot address you as Sister or Brother," Gide explained, gods he couldn't even begin to think of the possible shock over why his quote-on-quote siblings, were playing servants for him if he were to call them in public, "so, I've decided to give you names in exchange for this heart."
Twin blinks before shaky inhales and exhales, "You... You're giving us a name... In exchange for... For a heart?"
"I don't see why not."
"Young master Gide," Aether, whom Gide mentally labelled as, spoke with a tight grin, oh how rare for the blond boy to appear annoyed before Gide, "A name is quite important, it gives you an identity."
"Both of which we don't deserve," Lumine ends simply as she glares at Gide yet there is hope, in the twins eyes there is hope that Gide was sure he held not too long ago.
The young master smiled, feeling the entire world in his finger tips the moment that two angels crashed in a garden that was but a mockery of the same garden that his mother loved once, "Aether. Lumine. You two are my servants, and the only people who gave me a way to fight back..."
"That--"
"Aether, silence."
Aether paused before he went silent, mouthing off the syllables of his new name with an odd sense of fascination and elation. Lumine, however, remained sceptical.
"I plan on returning this favor tenfold."
"A name is hardly worth anything," Lumine bluffed as she stared down on Gide, her amber eyes boring holes down on Gide's violet eyes, trying to discern what his intentions are by giving them names.
He returned the stare, "To many, it may not. But to people who soar high in the sky, they can only land on the ground when they die like you... isn't it salvation? And as such, aren't you doomed to live an immortal life like that?"
Silence.
The two stared at Gide and for once, the boy felt like he had a glimpse at the monsters the twins had kept hidden and tightly bound in the prison of their mind.
"A name. It's all you ever wanted. Alongside a home to return to. This won't be your home," Gide admitted, destruction already calling for him and he knew the two saw it raging behind blue eyes from the very first meeting...
... "However, as my apology... I will give you the names that means the most to me. So, Aether, Lumine... Take care of me, won't you?"
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"Ah... I forgot how painful it is to become attached."
A boy sat down by the broken rubble as he held a cooling corpse within his tight embrace, the moon shining down on him made him irksome and wished he could destroy the light.
His master was gone, one of the very few that interested them and the only that ever gave them a name. The world should go rot, should crumble, yet it can't. Not when his master needs to be buried alongside his mother and father.
"Master, master look," Aether mumbled in the blood matted hair of a tall man with beautiful white hair and closed eyes, underneath those stiff lids were the most beautiful shade of violet that oozed of confidence and power which were flanked by two beautiful and mysterious powerful twins who heed only this man and were the most trusted vanguards of the ever so feared, Gide Killian Vourhun. Now, nothing but empty dull eyes peacefully looking past his beloved servants would bear at them should they open those lids.
The scenery where Aether asked the silent and permanently resting Gide to gaze upon was Lumine eradicating the last of the enemies that ambushed them on the last minute when Gide passed away. The twins weren't good at combat, how should they when they were the most dominating species?
But oh, oh how Lumine moved like a master who lost everything except their rage, anger and pain. They were the most perfect thing in existence. Their skills were perfect. But their life was a tragedy, how can it not be when Gide laid on his back with his body decaying?
Aether watched with cold eyes as he savored the last feeling of warmth dripping out of the gaping wound, how Gide looked at Aether and Lumine with those violet eyes of his and told them that he loved them, and that they were cruel to make him fall in love with immortal beings who could never love.
But oh, oh how they loved him, how the ache in their chest as time wore by, how they were minded of how fragile life can be whenever their young master fought till his hatred clouded his eyes and how he fell prey to sickness and death. Oh, why were they cruel when they could never last more than a hundred years to bask in the presence of such a willful stubborn and awful person who was deemed as an abomination due to their gift? Cruelty could take so many forms that even the cruelty of kindness was the most painful way to be hurt and still hurt.
Lumine's desperate cries filled the night, she loved Gide too, she held him close and wished him nothing but safety and peace. Her sword swung left, right, up and down until the enemies were bathed in blood and the ground they stepped upon was baptized by the blood of the cruel. She fought as though grace and elegance had abandoned her, she fought with the wild movements of a feral animal and the screams of a broken yet desperate man who watched everything crumbled.
Holding tightly, tight enough to creak brittle bones did he stop, fast and heavy something slithered down and Aether didn't know what he was feeling and why everything felt so irritatingly suffocating and harsh and it hurt but Gide's body was so cold and so lonely that even Aether himself couldn't understand why he couldn't wake his young master up that it wasn't time yet, because because they still needed to go explore. The land so vast and empty and he wanted to explore with Gide and Lumine and Aether and all of them all of them could be together and they'd watch Gide grow old and weary until they buried him in the ground and bury themselves alongside because immortality was so lonely that maybe they could choke on dirt and die with him but why why why did it have to happen so soon they couldn't prepare a coffin a casket a body bag the dirt wasn't uprooted no proper grave and still still still still the young master just had to go and he was so lonely and Lumine must be lonely because she's crying out and killing and killing until they proclaimed her monster with the blood tainting her body red and she howled with laughter that Aether echoed and echoed like echoing in the cave--
Men and women were not spared the moment they entered her sight, weapons and enchantment drawn, words of defiance and reasoning. Those who said Gide's death was well deserved perished, those that said they were being forced to act perished, those that sneered at them for loving a monster perished--
Everyone Perished Under The Waxing Moon
E vEry ONE perI shED becAU Se theY weRE awF U L anD stUPI d
IT WAS PAINFUL
IT STILL IS
THEY CAN STILL FEEL BlooD BloOd ON THEIR FINGERS AND ARMS AND LEGS AND STOMACH AND OH GOD THEY WERE CRYINGGGG
UN faiR unFair UNFAIR U N F A I R U N Ai r it Was sO so SO So UNFAIR
U
N
F
A
I
R
U
N
F
A
I
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WHY IS THIS WORLD STILL STANDING WHY IS THIS WORLD STILL LIVING WHY IS THIS WORLD INNOCENT IT'S NOT FAIR IT'S NOT FAIR
It's not... fair...
He's gone... So it's not fair... That everyone else gets to live... Gets to experience things Gide never experienced... It's not fucking fair. So why, why do they feel so ashamed of themselves for lashing out when Gide is peacefully sleeping as though two monsters were unleashed.. Why... Why...
So...
Cruel...
...
They're crying when they regain their clarity. Blood is splattered and bodies are strung around haphazardly. Mangled corpses and cut up bodies. Blood stained their clothes and they're quiet. The rain pours down harsh to wipe the blood of their bodies yet it brings a strange coldness to it, they've never felt the heat nor the cold yet they're shivering.
Lumine chucks her broken and blood stained sword to the side, she finds her knees wobbly and crashes to the ground. Dull pain echoes and she's reminded of how painfully alive she is. Crawling towards Aether stock still body who is holding unto Gide as though he is the most precious treasure they have. It's true, it's true and look at how desecrated Gide is. Oh so sad, tears prick her and stab her when she laid a shaky hand on cold still cheeks.
"Gide..."
Whose voice speaks is of no concern, but the twins sobs accompany the bloodshed surrounding them and baptizing them throughout the night sky.
When people come they will be greeted with the horrifying scene of bloodshed and the smell of anger that linger, they will be greeted with an ominous sign that promises death if they took the bodies out. Those who did take the bodies despite the warning fell ill to an incredible toxic poison that killed them three days later.
A week passed and that particular area has been completely destroyed until nothing but a large gaping hole smooth to the side as though a monster had meticulously dug out the soil remained.
That same week the entire Vourhun family was massacred with the innocent people left behind to rebuild themselves.
Another week and the tattered remains of the esteemed Vourhun family mansion had been cleared and a well protected garden stood with its beauty as a strong almost mythical barrier stood to protect it from any outsiders, those who could be able to peek within the foliage could spy three handmade grave stones at the very center.
A month passed with the horrible war that had finally ended with the legendary twins of Gide Killian Vourhun wiping out the opposing faction within three days was recorded down for many to fear and to succumb to the curiosity of what exactly those twins even were.
That same month many failed to see two lights soaring high up in the sky and vanishing within the clouds.
The world was left to pick up the broken and torn pieces of what the love and anger of a monster had done to them. Oh, they will never forget two mysterious and furious monsters and one man scorned by all.
Two beautiful angry gods and one ruined mortal.
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Another world, another bore.
This world was simple if not, so annoying that it stabbed their eyes upon looking at it, soft pastel pink sky, gummy trees, blood flowers sprinkled with golden dust, extreme mountains with floating islands drooping alongside a fizzy yellow river, alongside the painful music that would always play and play whenever they stepped on the bare ground instead of the horrible colored dark blue stone road--
All so boring... All so distasteful... Actually it was borderline annoying and made the twins want to hurl or preferably to stab their own eyes with that sharp looking bright blue stick off to the side of a white off putting rock.
The twins looked at one another, they were surprised to see the obvious disgust before quietly unfurling their wings and getting the hell out of here.
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Boring.
Boring so very boring.
This world operated with echolocation, no source of light were present other than the twins.
They watch with empty eyes as the blind people stop in their tracks and look at them, they hold no eyes yet had large sharp ends of their ears, sharp and long fingernails are fused and covered the tips of their spindly fingers as their body is so thin hidden behind sleek fur that fans out like puffed angry cats, their mouths split open and they moved with the grace of an animal towards them as though they want to steal this light and consume it to forever live within the bowels of their mangled forms.
Amber eyes glint with amusement, they wish they could die for every second but then the wash of guilt and the soft murmur of names they so desperately wish to cling on to stop them from opening arms to what is surely death's doorsteps and instead shine their light even brighter.
Screeches fill the air as the two figures jump up and fly. Any second spent in this world is a second spent haunted by a man who they love whispering to them guilt to not die everytime one of the inhabitants look at them. Every second is spent to spend in misery of hearing a voice so crisp and clear although it has been years, so very long years, since they last heard it from the source.
Each second is spent crippling and chipping away.
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The next world is a giant vs small world. Predator and prey within an underdeveloped landscape where trees and oceans run king and rule. Wilderness spikes up and the twins lounge on the tree branch and watching with dull interest as the giants swipe at the smallest of small to devour.
Tiny screams ring out, annoying them when it is covered with guttural sounds. They watch with disgust as one of the giants choke and shrivel up.
That giant flops to the ground and they're treated with the sight of its stomach bashing open from the inside out and tiny individuals pour out and cannibalize on the flesh of a deceased giant.
Cloaked by the foliage, the twins blink before finding that the entertainment they wish for has already passed and this world has become boring for them. So, they lift up wings and bring a storm to drown these people as their review of a scathing remark before vanishing.
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This world has no humans, only grotesque beings.
They mean no harm, surprisingly contradictory from their horrible and disgusting monstrous appearance that resembles no humans whatsoever.
They gift the twins flowers and dark blue slugs as the world cloaks itself with night. A starless empty sky greets them with shame at its own inadequacy.
They send off with a return of sparkling stars to see the monsters fumble around to try to dance, one had too many limbs and ended up stabbing themselves from the razor sharp spindly spider legs, another had no limbs and only stumps so they could only crawl and roll, and one had no body and only gas so it flew up and down and up and down and sideways all around.
They grant respite to the monsters.
Because in those feeble moments the voice of their young master quiets and a soft thrum echoes.
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There are moments.
There are moments where thoughts fail.
That they loved one mortal too long.
That it broke them.
Twins of dark light stand before them, eyes alight with rebellion, loyalty and most of all, life. The girl has long dark red hair tied in a high ponytail, the boy has chopped off dark red hair that sticks out unattractively, they both stand in front of these golden spun ethereal twins with nothing but a scrap sword and their willingness to love and protect.
There's another person behind them, frozen in a crystal to be doomed and damned by the very people they loved. Boy or girl, gender didn't matter as their body slowly became a crystal to fuel the world.
The twins stare at similar twins.
They feel mocked.
How dare they defend against them when all they're doing is to liberate the person trapped within the confines of a crystal that is forcing them to stay alive yet killing them all the same.
How dare they stand before them as though they were knights who had to defend their honor when that person surely perished under the continuous labor of living.
How dare they scream and hurl words at them as though they are blind.
Everything. About. Them. Makes. Them. Sick.
So when they end their existence and free the person, they are granted with screams of pain and sorrow as the captive crawls to the warm blood of two bodies who died with a smile.
They watched as the person cradled two corpses and spoke garbled words, throat bleeding from disuse.
The person then grabbed the spotless and immaculate chiffon dresses that both wore and begged them in a foreign tongue.
What they said could be interpreted easily, of course.
They ran the blade of their sword through the shriveled form of what once was human and watched as they died with happiness in their eyes.
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The world was destroyed yet it continued to hang in the delicate embrace of the universe. The universe let out a bellowing laugh upon seeing carnage and blood sprinkle from the what once was a peaceful world turn into a war hungry mongrel.
The world who used the life of a single loved person to fuel this peaceful facade and forced two twins immortality to protect their loved one has finally perished under their own sin.
The twins were apathetic to the cries of injustice citing it wasn't their fault, but oh how hypocrisy runs far as they discovered the crystal yet did nothing to free.
What is one life in the cost of billion?
Then they shall forcefully flip the narrative to enact a selfish wish.
-------------------
Another world. Another bore.
-------------------
...
Dull...
...
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It's not so bad, right?
Who are you talking to?
Nobody.
Sounds lonely.
We're always lonely.
Why did we break for a single mortal?
Was it predetermined?
When, when did we become attached.
Maybe it was meant to be.
It was in those moments...
Ah yes, those moments...
The moment he gave us names.
The moment he told us the truth.
The moment he told us what a family should really be.
The moment he died with tears yet happiness as he held us.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This world...
Should just rot then...
----------------
Attachment is wonderful yet awful.
Attachment to someone mortal is so fulfilling yet so painful.
It's even more painful when they die sooner than you expected.
It's heartbreaking when they die without completing their plans.
It's killing once you realize that you're still alive.
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Magic curls in every corner, they try to cuddle close to the twins yet are dragged back by hate seeped claws that throw them aside. Twin gazes of helplessness and darkness gaze upon the world, cruel selfishness and thirst when they realize how similar this world is to that one single world were they spent merely 10 years in.
Does this world hold him?
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It doesn't.
It doesn't so they set the world ablaze.
----------------
...
The universe was laughing.
It found their despair amusing.
It didn't care when they blew up a world for such a selfish reason.
Why else.
When its entire being was selfish from the start?
It was a spike of entertainment so the universe invested in it.
Throwing mortal after mortal.
Watching how they crumbled and become deranged.
They only had each other as they kept visiting world after world.
Never knowing when to stop, when can they rest?
What was the point--
------------------
This... World... Was...
Grey is all... We can see...
What, what were we doing?
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Everything
Had
Lost
Meaning
Colors
Have
Become
Dull
Gide
Gide
Please don't forgive us
Please hate us
Please
Please
Please don't forget us--
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What was the purpose.
------------------
They wanted to die--
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Why does anyone want immortality. It's so painful, painful to live when everyone fucking dies--
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A girl offered a basket of apples.
She died the next day when a wolf came, attracted by the red of her cloak.
------------------
What a shame what a shame what shame
Howled the universe as it watched two twins breaking each other. Wringing their necks.
Oh, how they hold so much love it kills then
Stars condensed as it held the limp figures of two starlit children. Tearing their wings away, light flowed out of savage wounds. Nevertheless neither child spoke, neither child cried, they stared at the vortex of their sins before closing their eyes.
I give you new wings to fly, fly so you will no longer be mocked of innocent naïve beings for your wings would long since corrupt and erode
Something attached to their bodies, searing hot pain forced open their mouths. An echo of a laughter surrounded by pained cries of agony and desperation as wings of light and gold sprung forth blood tainted bodies.
Learn to break these wings, learn to crash against the ground
Whispers of sadistic love embrace the still bodies of light and pain.
Learn to die while living
------------------
Often one finds themselves in the comfort of kin.
-------------------
They only had each other.
They only had each other.
It was horrible.
It was horrible.
It's so lonely even so--
--------------------
They always had each other even though they used to think of three. It amazes them, at some point, that it just took 10 or so years for them to fall in the lull of humanity before death took. And though their minds were muddled with pain and fear, they still had each other.
That's why... That's why...
"No, no no, no!"
Her body was covered in black veins, she was barely breathing and everytime they would unconsciously try and purify her it felt as though the virus was spreading and spreading fast.
Tears flooded down his eyes, the world was silent to their plight, rain crashed down on their bodies as the cries of a boy was muffled by the intensity of a storm. His arms were red and bleeding, pain coursed deep within his body and he could barely feel the power that thrum alongside his blood painstakingly stitch the skin back together.
With shaky legs, the boy held his sister close to his chest as he ran to find someone to help. Purification wasn't working, if not it was accelerating the growth of the virus, her hair became a pitch darker and darker, skin paler with black veins winding down every patch of skin, her lips becoming a shade paler until it could hardly match with her sickly color and she grew duller and duller.
Rain poured harsh, the black matter that they once curiously stared upon slinking away back to whatever crevices it could find.
The boy felt the biting searing hot anger of self blame. If only he had curbed their desire of self destruction. Yes they wanted to die, but they did not want to die in such failure. If they were to die it must be painless or should at least have both of them dying! Not one dying while the other runs around knocking on doors of people and begging for help!
Bang bang, he'll beg in front of a wooden door with tears running down.
Bang bang, he'll run to another and scream for anyone.
Bang bang, he's willing to kneel in front of any god if they can take away the pain Lumine is feeling--
Bang Bang--
--he can't fly--
Bang Bang--!
--he can't carry his sister with his wings--
Bang Bang--!!
--she can barely open her eyes much less her own drooping wings--
Bang Bang--!!!
--why did she push him aside?!--
BANG BANG--
--he can't lose her! Not like Gide!--
BANG BANG BANG--
--PLEASE HE CAN'T LOSE THE ONLY OTHER HALF TO HIM--
"PLEASE! SOMEONE!!! ANYONE!!" Useless screams as he helplessly bangs his fist against a door, his sister is silent, breathing having gone so dangerously quiet as he sinks to his knees and clutching Lumine so very close to him. To let her listen to the thunderous beating of his heart.
"Please... Please help..."
Was it karma...
Or...
Was he going to be alone...?
Ahaha, ahaha... Ah, he, he doesn't want to be... To be alone...
... He wouldn't mind it... He thinks... If only, if only Lumine can pass away in peace and, and not in pain.
Not when her face is ragged with pain, her hair is paling to a nearly white color and her skin becoming paste white... Not like this, not like this...!
If, if she has to die, if their immortality is like this, then Lumine shouldn't be subjected to this slow painful death. Drawn out as her immortality is making sure she stays alive, alive but at what cost?
If she, if she stays alive but at the cost of her limbs then... Then maybe it would be better for her to pass on, so she wouldn't need to feel this pain... And it will hurt, it will hurt so much for Aether but, but if it means that Lumine won't be hurting-- won't be in so much pa-pain...
Please...
"Hey, kid."
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It was pure luck and maybe the softening of the woman's heart that she peeked out of the curtains when her apprentice tugged on her sleeve, she carelessly looked out and her eyes widened when she saw twins soaking by the harsh rain. The male twin was holding what seemed to be his female counterpart, it was hard to make out since the female was covered by those blasted black veins, the male twin kept banging on doors and screaming for help.
Her heart clenched in deep pain when she could overlap their visages with other people in rapid succession. She gritted her teeth when the male twin slid his fist down on a door and held his sister as the rain poured down.
"Master..." her apprentice whispered as he gave a rather large umbrella to his Master who was already going out the door without any protection against the rain. His eyes were glued to the twins, more so to the trembling lips of the male twin who was doing his best to protect his sister from the pouring rain.
She gritted her teeth when she realized she had unconsciously ran towards the duo, but she nevertheless took the umbrella and ran towards them.
"Hey, kid."
The male twin snapped up, there was a layer of distrust and sharpness that surprised her. Yet, it couldn't hide how he was hunched over the barely breathing girl and the trembles of his hands.
"There is no guarantee that you can trust me... But I'll do my best to at least let her live for a few moments--"
"Please, I, please don't let her die like this!" the boy seemed frantic as he gazed up at the older woman with fervor.
The woman swallowed back how this male twin seemed to accept his situation, if his sister did try to live she would be crippled or stuck in life support, it wouldn't be better than dying but a cruel parody of living. Not many could accept it, desperation clinging to hope was normal, expecting since she knew how to handle those but this? This desperate gaze coupled with acceptance and pleas for the victim to suffer without pain and die quietly?
It was the most painful thing she had to witness and she had seen the breaking down of this boy.
She guided the two to her house/workplace. Her apprentice had already prepped the room and bed for the girl and brought three large towels.
"My name is Harley," her apprentice spoke as he helped the male twin dry up.
"... A... Aether... and that's Lumine over there..."
The woman brushed aside how awkward the boy made his own name sound so she could only assume he was using a fake name, that was fine since they looked obviously foreign and rather enigmatic, she just decided to focus on the girl, Lumine, as her own brother seemed to be dazed and unaware how Harley was drying him up and wrinkling his nose at their torn clothes, "You can call me Grace or Madame Grace. I need you to get out of the room, I can't help your sister if you're here to disturb me."
Aether looked as though he wanted to complain but seemed to know better. Harley stared at him before walking away with soft footsteps following him. "Master can keep her promises, your sister is in good hands," he attempted to console Aether who nodded listlessly.
"In the meantime... While your sister gets better you need to do your part, rest now and tomorrow I'll tell you the various chores you'll need to do, okay?"
Aether nodded, seemingly exhausted which Harley could understand. He guided the blond to the guest room and left the tired boy alone. In the meantime... Harley needed to prepare for having Aether and by extension, Lumine, incorporate themselves within this rather chaotic house.
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It... It can be terrifying to see Aether getting along well. From his beautiful exotic looks to his rather kind, humble and eager personality influenced by the children that love to visit their workshop, Aether spent a month working hard and earning his and his sister's keep.
"Hey Aether, you know you don't need to work yourself hard like that," Harley bluntly said as he leaned on the doorway and watched as Aether stood on top of a tree branch to feed the bloodthirsty chickens.
Aether blinked, "Mm, but I just, I just need to distract myself... I've never been apart from, from Lumine in such a long time."
Harley frowned at that, Aether exhibited unhealthy co-dependence towards his sister and seemed as though they went through quite a lot, that was putting it lightly...
"Are your names really Aether and Lumine..." Harley found himself saying before his eyes widened at how irresponsible he spoke, slapping a hand on his mouth as if to stop even more hurtful words to spew out he hastily amended the situation. "No wait, I'm sorry I didn't mean it--"
"It's fine," Aether cut in as he swung down from the branch, he wore commoners clothing, a thick brown simple cut vest with a beige button up shirt and some black trousers, Master had gifted Aether some sturdy boots that seemed to reach his knees. He had his long golden spun blond hair tied in a bun and hidden by a maroon newspaper boy cap. With his already exotic hair framed out of his face, he still looked ethereal with his pale skin unburdened by how he toiled in the grueling mornings and afternoons and had amber eyes that spoke of mystery and drew moths towards him as though he was light.
Aether plopped himself down on the patchy dirt and patted the spot beside him, Harley followed the gesture and carefully kept an eye on the rambunctious hens who seemed to snicker at the twos wariness over them. "You gonna tell me a story?" Harley teased as Aether shoved him gently, the apprentice had already witnessed just how strong Aether could be and often, he never saw the other eat or sleep.
He knew that the two guests that Master welcomed that very day was special, because it had been 1,000 years since they last had an Outlander visit their world.
Which makes sense why it seemed as though Aether was concerned and worried to the point of destroying his body when his sister, Lumine was kept in stasis and slept. Since, from what Harley could roughly understand, sleeping is equivalent to death in their words. A slow painful death. It explained the growing tension between Master and Aether, which was awful because Master has grown fond of the two despite her callous words and Harley himself has grown close to a comfortable degree with Aether.
Though, they didn't know what they meant to Aether himself.
"Aether and Lumine..." the Outlander spoke as he gazed up at the sky that showed the blue sky and two moons coexisting carefully with distance so they wouldn't crash and destroy one another, how poetic that Harley could imagine that is how the twins would interact with each worlds, "Admittedly, they weren't our names. We used to call ourselves Brother and Sister because, well, we didn't know who we were. We only had one goal and that was to explore."
"There have been Outlanders, but they always seemed to succumb to mortality," Harley spoke as he glanced at his companion.
Aether quirked his lips in a sad smile, "That was because, even when they could escape their world for any reason, they still were either human or mortal. Just because you've ran away from your birthplace doesn't mean death won't come for you."
"What about you? You sound and think as though you've lived for a very very long time."
"I might have... I don't remember, honestly I don't really understand the concept of birthdays all that well."
"True," Harley muses, "it's normally celebrated because humans or anyone really, have short life spans... But when you're immortal, I guess you don't really care to know you've been alive for so long."
"You seem understanding of me, do you really know what it's like?" Eyes shifting to stare hollowly at Harley.
"No, not really, I don't understand you, or any Outlander..."
"... So why?"
"Well, I guess I just wanted to think about those possibilities, you know. I might never fully understand you because I've never felt your pain, I don't even think I want to... But, that doesn't mean I can't worry or try to even sympathize for my friend, no?"
Aether took a sharp inhale as he trained his eyes solely at the sky, ignoring the gentle eyes of Harley, "Friend, huh."
"What? So you want me to experience those things?"
"God no," Aether cursed as his body seemed to loosen, "I just... The last time we found a friend we, we lost ourselves the moment he died."
"... Was, was that friend the one who..."
"Yeah, it's okay. It must be years now, we just spent 10 odd years in that world... But even then it just feels like yesterday..."
Harley pursed his lips in deep thought, "Is that why you don't like using those names?"
"Aether and Lumine?"
"Yeah, you don't seem to think it's your own."
Aether blinked before laughing quietly. A somber tune as the chickens fled to their coop and left the two alone.
Harley watched as Aether plopped his back against the dusty ground, uncaring if he had to scrub the dirt off his vest, "Whenever we use those names... It feels like a crime."
"Huh?"
"See, well, to explain it simply... I guess we never experienced attachment to a mortal, like, we really loved him, but now it's as though his face is all blurred. We can hardly remember his face, his full name and even what his ambitions were..."
"You must have lived a really long time..."
A cynical laughter made Harley shake, "Buddy, you have no idea."
"Then... What do you want to be called?" Harley turned to Aether, well, the blond twin who sighed heavily.
"Truthfully... I don't know, I like Aether... But, I guess I didn't sort out my feelings properly. I still love him, his death really hit us hard and... We grieved awfully, took it out and destroyed ourselves and others," the blond twin apathetically spoke as amber eyes became dull and murky, "the universe wasn't all that helpful, kept enabling us and ruining what little progress we had. I feel like, once I really loved him like I loved my other half... But now it's, it's been buried under years of pain and... And sorrow."
Harley shuddered to imagine what the twins must have done, to be cursed by the universe was heavy punishment yet it seemed as though Aether himself has long since resigned his life to a painful life like his.
"Maybe..."
If Harley misspoke... Then everything Aether has been doing to protect himself and this world would shatter...
"Maybe, maybe you should take Aether and make it your own."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't know exactly how deep your pain is... And I don't know your friend well... But, if he really was your friend, then he wouldn't have wanted you to, to grieve in a way that kills you," Harley softly said as Aether stared at him with lost eyes desperate for anything and Harley, Harley felt awful that it took so long for Aether to find something, a lifeline, anything to save him from madness.
"He, he must have given you names for important reasons, right?" Harley rambled on, "And, and names must be important so... I think you should just, you should just take it. Make it your own, when your friend gives you a gift you normally, well, you keep it or refurbish and change it. You don't need to forget your friend but, you can't just let yourself be stuck on memories that hurt you..."
Harley took a deep breath as he held Aether's shaking hands in his own.
"Please, you've been hurting for so long, you and Lumine, your friend would want you to be happy. It's enough."
Maybe Harley would have never known just how painful it was to not cry, so when tears slipped down Aether's eyes he panicked.
Aether clung to Harley, voice coming in stuttered tones as he cried. He cried remembering such painful memories that once upon a time were filled with nothing but happiness and family. He cried remembering a murky voice calling out to their names with a sort of fondness only created from years of love. He cried remembering violet eyes looking at them from his battlefield.
Oh, Harley didn't look nor sounded like Gide. But even so, even so he saw Gide behind Harley.
He looked so tired and sad, violet eyes stared with yearning for Aether to let go. He didn't look as though he was hurt but those ghostly violet eyes of him pleaded Aether to love again.
And so Aether cried.
He cried a sobbing goodbye to Gide for the sky to deliver.
He cried a wrangled thank you for every precious memory Gide gave him and Lumine.
He cried, hugging and screaming in the arms of Harley, the pain of loving yet the happiness to accept.
Years and years of agony, bottled up and hidden, burst and cracked.
For once, for once in Aether's life, he was happy he was alive.
Because Aether loved the name and loved Gide whose name has slowly left his mind after years of clinging to it, purifying it and leaving the memory of Gide to become a nameless man but his face was there.
White hair and violet eyes frozen in picturesque garden with a white haired woman beside him.
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"I knew I could trust him."
Lumine said nothing as she gazed at Aether who clung and cried to the boy's body. Her chest, which had always been empty save for an organ that beat 10x faster than a normal human being to give them the energy they needed, felt somehow... Tighter, as if it was choking her.
"Your brother has found closure, what about you?" Grace spoke as she put away the mortar and pestle she had been grinding herbs with.
Lumine was silent before speaking, "I have always been stronger than him."
"So you pushed away your pain and focused on your brother instead?" Grace calmly bore the wicked glare that could have made anyone succumb and wither even when Lumine herself was stuck in a bed looking sickly than anyone could have thought.
Sneering, the girl spoke with poison lacing her words, "It was a mistake to become attached. It was an err on my side, he always was the type who'd cling to anyone."
"And whatever is wrong with that."
"He gets hurt easily," Lumine finally articulated the complicated thoughts she had always harbored after Gide, that human who'd torn their hearts off a laughable parody to what they did when they first met him. "I should've known better, attachments with mortals broke us."
Grace felt annoyance spike but curbed it, this child-- could they still be called children? --in front of her seemed to be as emotionally constipated as a blubbering fool on a Sabbath afternoon with one too many ale to commune with. She rolled her own eyes at the self imposed blame, "Lumine, you're just denying you and your brother any happiness."
"But what happiness can we derive from other people when you all die?!" screeched a frustrated Lumine who began yanking her once golden spun hair now turned to a pale yellow washed up shore due to the illness she contracted protecting Aether.
"You all live for a long time, everyone dies and returns to peace. Yet here you are, the one who cannot be in peace and choosing to never connect and dragging your brother down with your destruction," she mercilessly told the girl.
Lumine's eyes filled with rage, "How dare you, you know nothing of our pain!"
"Thank god I do," Grace scoffed as she forced Lumine to eat for her body to sustain the copious and ridiculous amount of energy her heart was beating, "But I damn know for sure your brother doesn't deserve that. Look at him, look at him clearly."
Lumine opened her mouth but shut it with a click, she stared at Aether and found out her chest began to tighten even more when Aether seemed much happier to be with that apprentice of this woman than...
"He... looks happy..."
"Only for now," Grace spoke, "he's been working hard to earn your keep. I may be soft but as soon as you woke up I would've kicked you out. Your brother insisted you stay a bit longer and he would do the chores and occasional odd jobs for you to recuperate."
"... He did?"
"Yeah, so there's no need to be jealous that someone else has your brother." Rolling her eyes she checked on Lumine's vitals.
The girl remained silent before placing her hands on her face, "What am I doing?"
The woman paused, Lumine's voice lost its steel and strength, instead it become soft and rough, as if Lumine had wanted to cry but it was swallowed back all these years. Grace sighed as she kneeled by Lumine's side as the girl's shoulders trembled yet she kept biting her lip as if to stop the wretching sobs she wanted to hide from her brother. "Do you miss that friend of yours?" Grace quietly asked.
"More than anything," Lumine admitted so easily she let out a watery laugh, "More than anything and it hurts to love so much."
"Did you love him for Aether's sake?"
"... No, no I didn't. I loved him before Aether did and, and that's why it hurts so much. Because I chose to be attached and he still died, died before he could accomplish his dreams."
Grace was quiet again, letting Lumine release the sounds of years worth of held back tears flood out. She had decided to let Aether wash these bed sheets stained with tears of an immortal being because Aether should really talk to his sister about their co-dependencey.
"Is that why you're so scared to love someone who isn't Aether?"
"Don't ask questions you know the answer to," Lumine sniffled.
"You kids are more than what my blood pressure can take." Grace sighed as though she was the mother of 17 children and no insurance and her husband decided to fuck off to who knows where, "Take a page out of Aether's book and love. Love until you feel happy and mourn for them, mourn because they loved you still and let them be in peace. Never forget moments but let your heart learn to love and lose."
Lumine frowned, an uncharacteristic fear lit in her similarly amber eyes, "But what if... What if it still hurts?"
"Then take comfort with Aether and love again, you're immortal and life has become boring, so love those blips of people in a short time and continue to love until you look forward to life again."
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"LUMINE! AETHER!"
The twins laughed as an older version of Harley chased them around the backyard with a broom and a laughing child chasing after her dad.
"GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!"
"NO WAY!" Aether screamed as Lumine cradled the baby in her arms who kept laughing and laughing, "MELODY IS MUCH HAPPIER WITH US!"
"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO CHANGE DIAPERS!!!"
A woman who looked beautiful with her age wore an apron and a ladle in her arms frowned before laughing when the twins successfully cartwheeled over Harley while still maintaining equilibrium to make sure Melody wouldn't cry or vomit.
"Sarah! Quick! Hold down your dad!" Lumine cheered as she deposited Melody to Aether and began a wrestling stance. Sarah, the first child of Harley, nodded with such a cute angry expression as she bodily hugged Harley's leg.
"Ack! Sarah! Why are you on your aunt's side?! What about your dad?!"
"Daddy's boring! Auntie Lulu is fun!"
"The betrayal! How co-- AH! LUMINE!"
Nancy, Harley's wife for 9 years, sighed as she watched Lumine and Harley engaged in wrestling with Aether picking up Sarah and coaching her how to hold baby Melody while they both cheered for Lumine rather than Harley who desperately needed cheering since Lumine was always stronger than anyone sans Aether.
"You four! The children might be influenced by your roughhousing! Lumine, please don't dislocate my husband's arm," Nancy sighed as she walked towards the four of them, she scooped up Melody from Sarah's embrace and tutted at Lumine who pouted.
"That would be the best farewell gift I could give to Harley!" Lumine whined but reluctantly let go of Harley who then shoved the girl off of him. The two childishly stuck their tongue out while Aether rolled his eyes at them. Fondness in his smile.
Sarah became quiet before she looks at the twins with sadness in her eyes, "Are you really going to leave?"
The twins had a look of sadness, "I'm so sorry, Sarah, but we'll come visit. For now, please grow up safe and well, okay?"
Sarah had tears in her eyes, the earlier happy scene filed away in her mind, "P-Promise you'll come back?"
"Promise."
The family watched as the twins stepped back, tears on everyone's eyes as they recalled each and every memory they all hold. Madame Grace had peacefully passed away, witnessing the birth of Melody days before she had finally told Harley, Lumine and Aether her final words that were laced with pride for them. She could finally meet her beloved.
Beautiful wings of white and gold light sprung from the twin's back. They blessed the land with their purity and love before climbing high and high into the sky.
They may have left but they left behind love and memories.
And that was enough.
---------------------
If they wish to learn to love, they must first learn to love each other in a non-healthy way as Madame Grace so kindly bludgeoned their head with.
Lumine had not so kindly screamed when Aether returned with his once long hair which was his pride and joy, reduced to nothing but short, chopped and burnt.
In his hands lay two white flowers.
Aether mumbled words while Lumine laughed so hard she cried.
The two didn't say a word when Lumine purified the flowers to become immortal. Just as Aether was staring balefully at his burnt hair at the rainy night.
If they will learn to love others...
They must first lose themselves and rebuild their life from scratch.
So they can live and love.
---------------------
They fought corrupt gods and became symbols of power. They chose to save people and love them even more. Even when they peacefully passed away Lumine and Aether swore they would love again and again.
-----------------
They would visit Harley and his family, though they scarcely come nowadays. Harley and Nancy have long since passed away and Sarah and Melody have become old with age. The twins can still remember when they were small hapless children who kept bouncing everywhere and anywhere... But they were fine with them growing old and finding charm and comfort when taking frail rough hands in their own.
The family have grown bigger and bigger. The twins could hardly follow their family tree as there was all sorts of drama going on, even then, they'd always visit graves and tell stories of their travels.
Even if they can never return, they will always love them.
And love that boy with white hair in their memories, who seemed to be happy and content with them never learning his name.
---------------------
They learn to love again and again when they meet a child born with violet eyes.
They learn to care and parent a child who had monstrous strength in a world where everything was soft and normal.
And they learn to love until the child passes away.
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She met them on a snowy night. Her body shook from the sheer cold, and her body had started to become sluggish, cold and pain laced her muscles every time she moved. She was covered by snow, a mocking play of a bed, blanket and pillow she always became envious of, the sky was dark with snow falling softly, unaware of a human's plight.
It was always during these snowing days did death always creep up to her, maybe this time it'll manage to take her. That's alright, she has nothing to live for anymore. The last threads snapped right before her eyes and she fell down until death could finally take her away from the pain of living.
...
"Hey... Like him..."
"... Should we?"
"Not like... Anyway... Listen... Amends..."
"Wow... A saint?"
"... See... Come..."
"Gone... Awful..."
".... Even so... She... Monsters... Kindness, alright?"
"... Finds out..."
"... Would you... Die?"
"Shut up... Ass..."
...
Warm... It's... So very... Warm...
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"Lucille!"
The girl jerked to awareness when unamused amber eyes stared down at her, she giggled nervously at the rather intense emotions displayed so blatantly to her she calmly tried to flip her book and realized belatedly that it was upside down...
"I'm so glad you managed to be present," Lumine smiled serenely which was infinitively scarier than any other thing Lucille had the displeasure to meet, "and by that, turn your book rightside up, will you?"
"Yes ma'am!" Lucille hastily complied as she turned to attempt to read aloud the book she was given.
Lumine watched the girl struggle before sighing, "How about you go to Aether? He'll help you sound out the words, I'm impressed at your reading skills so after you have a good hand in reading out words, will go next with some reading comprehension."
Lucille nodded as she scampered out of the cottage where Lumine and Aether lived in, it was spring and Lucille had always loved spring since it became a colorful array of life. The little girl had always suffered in winter, but spring was something she would look forward to and kept her alive most of the time.
In the woods where a clearing was found, a figure dressed in plain clothes that managed to accentuate him became the focal piece of a painting. He was surrounded by various flowers that bloomed sporadically and twisted around trees that gave way to the clearing, he had long golden spun hair tied in a low side ponytail and amber eyes were glued to reading a book that had too much complicated words for Lucille to understand.
"AETHER!!!!"
"Lucille, ran away from your lesson?" The beautiful boy grinned a rather evil grin yet there was a sort of softness found in his face, Lucille frowned and dived head first into Aether who grunted at the notion, "Is this revenge..."
"Lumine said that you have to help me sound my words!"
"Ah, it is. She must have found out I ate her cookies..."
"You did what."
"Lumine! My other half! The sun to my earth! The thorn on my side! The venti to my latte--"
"Disgusting is what you are." Lumine wrinkled her nose yet she was smiling as she dropped on the other side of Lucille effectively putting the child as the center.
"Help me!" Lucille demanded, she could always get away acting like this because both Lumine and Aether would always actively tell her it was okay for her to demand things now that she was under their protection. It always seemed as though they had the ability to as no one dared try to cross them and those who did often lost. They also had enough funds that kept their life sustainable but they would always provide for themselves such as their own patch of vegetables or maybe their own orchid.
Lumine smirked at Aether who glared at her and thought of an evil thought to retaliate against his sister. "Alright, let's all make sure it's LOUD and CLEAR," Aether twisted his lips at the downfall evident on Lumine. She tried to escape but Lucille stared at Lumine with a sad gaze, as such, Lumine had no choice but to stay...
She tried to make it seem as though she hated it, but really... She couldn't, not when Aether and Lucille began a heated debate over the character in the story who wasn't even the main character. It made her stomach ache with cramps when Aether stomped inside the cottage and grabbed a pad of paper, she then watched them create elaborate diagrams and charts and oh boy, they bust out the calculator to calculate the power and science their way into making the other yield.
In Lumine's entire existence, she has never seen Aether engaged in a heated debate--
(--the walls were lined with gold and oak brown. The judge stood before them and Aether smirked. Lumine watched beside a boy whose wrists were cuffed as Aether began an intense debate. The odds were stacked against them, everyone was sure this was their win, but oh how wrong could they be.
Because Aether convinced everyone with a playful smile and a silver knifed tongue--)
--over something as illogical as that! Really, the main purpose of the story book which was aimed to young teenagers was the power of friendship and not whatever the hell they were saying.
Lumine laughed as petals blew all around them, she wished she had her camera in order to picture these ridiculous yet fond moments and turn them into precious memories, but for now, it'll have to settle in her mind.
Yes, that would be fine.
(A boy with white hair gently takes the glowing orb, he smiles at the memory and sends the orb floating up within the endless night sky permeated with glowing orbs turning to stars. He laughs as the orb he previously held on became a bright star.)
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"How was school? Did they tease you too hard?"
"It was fine... I mean, I think you threatened them enough as is," Lucille weakly said as she smirked at Aether, who hadn't grown old nor young, perpetually stuck in his prime, "Besides that... Auntie isn't home?"
Aether frowned at how Lucille inelegantly changed the subject before sighing, "The hunters needed more help, I've finished my rotation earlier but I'll have to switch when Lumine is home."
"The borders have been pretty peaceful, why would they need hunters?"
"The wolves are angry at us for breaking the peace contract when one of Fernard's Company men went to expand the residency area here."
"So it's like a peace offering? Since wolves can't hurt humans due to the peace contract but infighting between species is allowed?"
"Yup, you seem to have brush up on your historical lessons now," Aether plopped a small plate with a delicious looking raspberry shortcake, "Lumine would be quite proud of you, not that she's never proud."
A flutter in her chest--
"You're always proud of me," Lucille teased and tried to camouflage the growing smile on her face from embarrassment yet Aether seemed to have no tact unlike Lumine.
He tilted his head in confusion, "Shouldn't I? After all, you've grown up well and good, what more could we not be proud of?"
Lucille screamed on the inside at the heartburn.
Desperate to escape this situation, she turned to the door and willed the universe to make Lumine arrive early-- Please she can't deal Aether's clear and innocent gaze--
"I'm home--"
"AUNTIE!"
Lumine effortlessly held an incoming human missile that was Lucille, she carried the girl under her arm like a sack of potatoes and calmly closed the door, "I'm home."
Aether barely glanced at his sister and Lucille, "Welcome back, I made some cake for dessert. For dinner did you buy the pork?"
"Yep, since Lucille's teacher has been praising her to me about the project they've been doing, I thought it be nice if we could have some roast meat and soup."
"Oh, sounds nice, I'll make the soup, you make the roast, Lucille call your group mates, their parents are invited if they wish."
Lucille blinked, "WAIT IS THAT WHY MY TEACHER HAS BEEN SMILING AT ME SO MUCH?!"
The twins snickered at the shocked expression.
Lucille pointed an accusatory look at them, "You knew of this! That's so embarrassing!!!"
"Aiya, now now," Lumine patted the girl's head like a dog which made her pout and sulk even harder, "We're worried about you, since the last time we let you go outside unsupervised you were almost... Well..."
Aether whacked Lumine with a plastic ladle, it was a comical sight that broke up the rather tense moment. Aether wore casual clothes, a dark blue shirt with dusty faded pink pajamas and a rather tacky Valentine themed apron with frills to make an aristocrat kneel at.
"Tut tut, hurry and call your friends. You've been collecting those board games and card game, it'd be a shame if you never use it," Aether scolded as he dragged his sister who kept whining at the pain back to the kitchen where Lucille is still banned for an indefinite time after she tried making scrambled eggs.
The girl sighed as she called her friends who had looked past her irregular appearance, a soft smile enveloped her face as she thought of the rather colorful array of people in her class, both personality and looks. She was glad she wasn't alone.
Ringing up one friend and patiently waiting for them to answer, she glanced at the mirror and smiled at her once cursed appearance.
She learned to love her white hair and violet eyes.
(He also had white hair and violet eyes.)
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"--please give me your blessings to marry Lucille!"
Two cold amber eyes gazed coolly at the sweating man who performed a perfect bow to the point Lucille was astonished his spine didn't snap. Well, she could understand his intense fear because of the INTENSE BLOODLUST RADIATING FROM HER AUNT AND UNCLE.
"Auntie! Uncle! Stop threatening David!"
"Silence fetus," Aether spoke with the words of a commander gazing upon the battlefield.
"This is a talk between grownups," said the very young looking person in this room who had her eyes slanted in a very intimidating factor.
If David pissed his pants Lucille could understand.
"Auntie! Uncle! David's been with me for 5 years now, I know you guys love me but..." Lucille swallowed back her saliva as she took a deep breath, "Please... Please give us your blessings."
Aether and Lumine stared steadfast at the sweating couple. David's family weren't all that hard to agree since they always had good opinions on Lucille and had always been able to compliment David's timidness with her energetic personality. But...
The timid David bowed in sincerity, facing against two beasts who could AND would kill him if he did anything wrong against Lucille.
Lumine stared at them, "Do you two know the implications of getting married?"
"?"
"What would happen if, metaphorically, you two would divorce?"
"... If..." David swallowed back his saliva and tears at the mere thought, "If... Lucille decided she wasn't happy, I'd let her find her happiness, even if it isn't with me."
"You would let her go? Just like that?" Aether cut in.
"I love Lucille," David said fearlessly as he held hands with a furiously blushing maiden, "And if she doesn't feel the same... I can't force her, I love her so I'll set her free, even if... Even if it'll hurt."
The twins stared at David while Lucille covered her mouth to try and stop the sniffles at David's heartfelt words, his once cursed red eyes now bore determination and courage as he stared at two young appearing immortals who stared back at him.
Lumine cracked a smile, "What's the theme of your wedding?"
"Huh?"
Lumine cracked an even bigger smile, "Is it gonna be a celestial theme? Or spring themed? Gotta make sure to keep the schedule right."
The couple were silent before Lucille exploded, "YOU'LL ALLOW US TO MARRY?!"
"Eh? Wasn't that what you wanted?" Aether had the galls to look confused as his spine chilling dark gaze was gone, actually it was completely wiped off and made even Lucille question whether or not she imagined it.
David nervously chuckled, "Well..."
"You two are the most overprotective idiots I have ever met," Lucille bluntly said while David panicked at the background, Lucille can now understand why her aunt and uncle messed with David all these years... His reactions were beyond cute it gave her heartache most of the time.
Both twins glanced at each other before swatting their hands, "Lucille's happiness is with David, right?"
"Yes."
"And David's happiness is with Lucille, right?"
"Of, of course!"
An angelic smile that made Lucille want to puke and David jelly kneed, "Then why should we stop you?"
"Your happiness is your own," Lumine began, "and we're happy you found someone to share it with."
Aether set down some cutlery and plates with delicious looking and smelling food, "Now c'mon, time to celebrate!"
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A wedding in winter to wash away all those bad memories held within the bride's mind. There are three special memories that occured in winter like how Aether and Lumine found her, her friends throwing all caution in the wind to save her from an avalanche and David proposing.
Now... Their wedding will be the fourth memory to purify all those awful memories of a child almost dying every winter.
A phoenix rising from its ashes to soar.
The groom and bride were dressed for the occasion but Lucille's handiwork with fabrics shown through as her dress was all laces and fluff and fur.
The groom was elegantly dressed, the dorky look he once portray gone in favor for a rather dashing bumbling gentleman.
Aether and Lumine walked Lucille to the front, their attire a compliment with black/gold for Aether and a white/gold for Lumine. Both made by the overly ambitious bride whose eyes were threatening to ruin all the hard work on her face as she saw David bawling his eyes out even before she stepped foot on the carpet.
Chimes and harps played, the twins looked at David whose eyes were laid solely on Lucille, they smiled and stepped back. "Take care of each other," they both said and grinned helplessly when the groom and bride choked back their tears.
The vows were said in silver breaths, the cold becoming bearable as two people gazed with affection and trust.
Aether and Lumine blinked when they stood up to congratulate the newly weds, a person appeared at the back. Turning their heads they saw a similarly white haired person only this time they were a boy, he had calm violet eyes that felt as though he knew them for so long.
Their hearts thundered and tears they desperately staved away fell and landed on the ground, endless tears poured out of awed amber eyes as this stranger-- no, no he wasn't a stranger, they knew him but they couldn't remember--
"I'm so proud of you, Aether, Lumine."
The boy vanished within the snow. But his smile was forever stuck in their once turbulent and chaotic mind...
Now had become as peaceful as fallen snow.
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"AUNTIE! UNCLE!"
A desperate voice screamed in the backyard of a quaint house echoed.
"GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!"
Twin voices echoed back with laughter and a sense of nostalgia as Aether and Lumine effortlessly escaped Lucille's attempts to grab them. Baby Tommy giggled even when he didn't know what was happening, which was good because his mother was one step away from becoming a bull.
"ARE YOU TWO THE CHILD OR WHAT?!?!"
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"Grandmother! Grandfather!"
A young man with his wife in tow rushed to hug these two seemingly young people in his embrace. He had beautiful raven black hair tidied up by his wife and sparkling violet eyes. The man was tall and broad, seemingly taken after his father but his wild energetic personality was paved way by his mother.
And he was always a total sucker for his grandparents.
The beautiful girl laughed a sound similar to bells, "Thomas! Already 48 but you're still acting like you're 7!"
"Well, it is to be expected since, after all, we did raise him as chaotic as we could," a mischievous voice piped up from the deceptively innocent appearing boy.
The four were isolated from other pedestrians who seemed to be milling by and focused in whatever task they were doing that they did not hear the odd words coming from a grown man towards young teenagers.
If a grown man could, he would pout, but this was Thomas and he was shameless enough to do it. It earned him two belly deep laughter as the twins were clothed in the latest fashion of Lucille's brand. It was winter and the twins who were the main models of Lucille's clothing brand were bundled head to toe with tasteful clothing that could also function for warmth and comfort.
Aether and Lumine were the ever elusive twins that Lucille one day brought to be her main models and muses. Nobody could ever find out what they could with the twins as though they popped up out of nowhere, many claim that Aether and Lumine raised Lucille but it was preposterous as when the leading lady of revolutionary fashion design stepped up to claim these beautiful ethereal twins as her model, she was already nearing her 30's and the twins looked to be in their teenage years if not nearing their 20's if they stretch it out.
But they remained beautiful and ethereal, like angels or elves, untouched by the world's life. Many wished to have them as their own but the twins showed to be quite stubborn and if not, brutal in their fights which looked to be more as though they were dancing and toying with their prey.
Thomas was a well known and well respected author, many found his writings to be primarily on the fantastical and often horrific side and many wondered what genius laid in that seemingly well behaved smile could be. It was a funny story on why Thomas wanted to be an author, simply put, Aether and Lumine would often tell him bed time stories of their past exploration of the worlds they "visited". It was an open secret in their family that Aether and Lumine weren't normal, as though they were alien or immortal beings, anyway Thomas grew to love these stories so much that he wrote it out amd asked them to read it.
Since then, Thomas continues to write and share the world the brilliant stories the twins would tell him when he goes to bed, he never tells them the fantastical side of their family since, after all, it is a secret that makes him feel special.
"Thomas," a sharp voice came from his side and he turned to look at his stern wife, "Tell Grandmother and Grandfather, they're busy people."
"Relax, Eleanor, stress isn't good for the baby, remember?" Lumine advised as Aether pet the woman's hand. The tall slim woman blushed, her stern countenance from earlier melting into something soft and abashed. There was a bump in her stomach which was warmly covered by her well dressed and thick clothes.
Thomas blushed as he scratched his cheek, "Ah yes, Mother actually called for you two."
"Odd, my cellphone hasn't rung with a call nor text," Aether mumbled as he nimbly opened his smartphone and scrolled down the screen.
"What did she want to talk?"
"... It's about her..." Thomas smiled weakly which made bells ring inside the twin's mind, "... Final product."
The twins let out a sharp gasp. Eleanor bowed her head while Thomas smiled bitterly. Lucille was known to have stated that she would only announce her final product when she was near death, that woman loved to sew and sew that even at old age did it not hinder her. Her work became increasingly delicate and elegant, forgoing the function and instead bedazzling them with fashion.
Only Aether and Lumine were ever allowed to wear her clothes.
The family quickly ran towards the hospital where Lucille stayed, of course it was the twins who ran while the married and expecting couple just decided to use their cars because nobody was as monstrously fit as those twins.
The hospital staff had long since been used to the twins and raised a blind eye when the two models slammed inside and climbed the stairs at an impressive speed. After all, these twins were well known within the hospital for befriending the director all the way down to the patients and janitors, their charisma was surely threatening.
The twins stopped before a hospital door...
...
"Ah, there you are."
A frail voice spoke softly. The twins stiffly walked towards Lucille who held two packages on her lap.
There were four picture frames that stood by the bedside table of Lucille's bed. One where she was a child with two eternally young Aether and Lumine, the other held both David and Lucille on their wedding day, the next where David, Lucille and little Thomas posed and the final picture was a picture that was of Thomas's wedding day with Eleanor.
"Lucille..."
"Oh don't be like that... I knew this day would come," the old voice of Lucille rasped out as she tenderly gazed her misty eyes on her wedding day picture. "David won't wait too long."
Aether felt tears roll down his eyes as Lumine stubbornly tried not to let hers out, "Lucille..."
"When you first found me," Lucille interrupted with a calm and happy voice as though she wasn't moments away from dying, "I believe you didn't see me... But someone else, no?"
"... Yes," the twins quietly admitted as they bracketed both sides of Lucille's old frail body. The truth they had desperately kept hidden was unfortunately obvious... Well, obvious to only Lucille.
"I knew it." Lucille let out a raspy breath, she didn't sound angry, more though she sounded relieved, "What was their name?"
"We don't remember."
"Does it matter though? Lucille is the only we've seen now and even back then."
The white haired violet eyed woman closed her eyes as she remembered sweet and chaotic memories of growing under those wise eyes of these two. The mistakes and the arguments. The bittersweet pain. But the soft comforting love...
"I'm happy I reminded you of them... I'm happy I got chosen to live," she smiled.
Ragged breaths poured out of Lucille. She then gestured the twins to take the packages, "My last products... In fact, this has been in the works ever since you celebrated my 8th birthday..."
"Lucille," the twin sobbed as they cradled the packages as though it were a child, "Lucille hang on, Thomas and Eleanor... You won't be able to see their child..."
"I regret that, but... I don't think I can hold on..."
Aether gently held those fragile calloused hands that worked hard to create beautiful clothes to share with the world, "Hold on a bit longer!"
Lumine nodded weakly but her eyes were a bright kaleidoscope of amber, gold and determination flaming within, "Tommy and Ellie will come, hold on for them!"
Lucille slowly blinked and smiled, she had outlived David and was slowly accepting her death. But even so, she will stay here...
She regrets a lot of things, she regrets showing the world Aether and Lumine and having to watch the twins get swallowed by hysteric fans, covered in scandals and even getting crazed fans.
She regrets it very dearly that she would never be there to witness the birth of Thomas and Eleanor's child.
But...
Lucille will watch over them no matter what.
A door is slammed open and Lucille opens her eyes to see the crying face of her baby and her daughter-in-law.
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"Lu-Lu!!!"
A child screams and babbles as Aether pouts off to the side. Lumine casts a smug look on her face as the child waddles her way towards the female twin.
"It's cause 'Aether' is way too hard for a kid to pronounce! Even Sarah called you Ah-Ah!" Lumine snorted as she watched Aether's face soften at the mention of the child of his best friend, then she snorted louder which elicit the child in her arms to giggle when Aether blew up.
The two squabbled with no real heat as they played with the child, waiting for Thomas to return with Eleanor, his editor, for their dinner which was take out.
"Lucy!!!" a loud pampering voice came from the father while the mother stared at her husband as if she couldn't believe she married and gave birth to a child who was fathered by a fool like him.
The child giggled as it escaped Lumine's docile hold and waddled over to Thomas's awaiting arms.
"You're back, took you guys long enough," Aether grinned as he helped carry the paper bags over to the table. Lumine started to take pictures on her smartphone during the tearful reunion scene of father and daughter.
"Thank you, Grandfather, at least someone is helping." A piercing glare directed to the shameless father was not effective, Eleanor sighed but allowed Aether to help get the groceries while Lumine karate chopped Thomas on the top of his head.
It was rather lively, four people were eating and talking merrily while a single baby was babbling and making a general mess with her food. The twins felt a shred of happiness in their hearts after all was done and the cleaning maids quickly tidied up the table before bowing and returning to their own rooms to rest.
Now it was five of them inside a rather large living room. Thomas smiled sadly at the twin's reluctant faces, he was now the only one in this world that knew exactly why the twins became so restless, always gazing at the sky as though they wanted to fly. They had stayed here longer than 70 years and it was a shock for Thomas who had learned that the longest world they stayed in was around 10~20 years. The man thought guiltily that it was because Aether and Lumine felt a sense of responsibility over him and his family, since they had watched and cared for Thomas all his life.
"Grandmother, Grandfather... You have something to say, don't you?" Eleanor asked softly, she had become entranced by the twins at first and was a massive closeted conspiracy theorist, the twins mysterious aura and life was what actually drove her to pursue Thomas and you would have never guessed this fashionable woman would be a conspiracy theorist back then.
Lucy blinked but was blessedly calm, she sucked on her hand while gazing at the twins curiously, "Lu-Lu? Ah-Ah?"
Lumine felt her words were stuck in her throat. She sighed, as she thought, it was getting harder and harder to leave every world once she made a connection...
But...
"We've decided to leave this world," Lumine softly said as she held Aether's hand for support. Both of their hands tightened on one another as Eleanor smiled sadly and Thomas only nodded.
Thomas let out a watery laugh, eyes becoming red rimmed, "I've known that you've wanted to leave... But to be quite frank, I didn't ask because I treasured these days."
"It's sad you won't see Lucy grow up," Eleanor hummed as she pet her daughter's black hair, "but you've made impacts she can't possibly forget."
"I'm sorry it took us so long." Aether looked at the two with a complicated emotion when the parents laughed indulgently.
"It's okay," Thomas whispered, "Be free."
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It has been a long time since they've left a world. It was quite shocking they settled down at all. They were like birds who kept soaring and only ever stepped to the ground to rest, though that was wrong. They were more akin to a bird whose feet were cut off, they could never truly settle down. Even from that last world they could not stop that instinctive want to escape and be free.
To find worlds, to explore, to learn and learn until even their bones became brittle it would shatter. To learn of new destinies, to learn new people, to learn and learn until they fell from the sky in exhaustion. To finally rest and die.
Aether patted his exposed stomach with complication brewing in that pretty face of his. Lumine only laughed merrily as she ran around and found comfort in the sturdy heels of her boots.
They wore quite exotic clothes manufactured by Lucille, it was durable and resistant to any forms of matter which was surprising. The twins both swore no magic had permeated through the world yet Lucille, that lovable twerp, somehow managed to shock them after their years of experience and existence. But then again...
She wouldn't be Lucille if she didn't give them consistent heart attacks.
...
Rest in Peace, Lucille Hohenhaim.
Even until now, to the end of their lives.
You will always be loved and forever be loved.
You did your best, didn't you, Lucille.
Thank you for being you.
--------------------------
Spiritual entities were what they were called once, they had a brief stint as gods and they vowed if they met a god in future worlds they would pat them down and comfort them.
The stress-- oh my god, the stress --wasn't worth it, wasn't worth any white hairs. And Lumine would always complain loudly because she already had a paler shade of blonde and she did not want to mix in a white hair.
It was funny, Aether couldn't help it as he rolled on the ground, completely ruining the cold beauty front he put up as a self defense against the more fanatical bunch of believers who seemed to derive pleasure just by seeing him, didn't matter if he was aware of being watched or not.
Lumine pouted and kicked him, making Aether roll on the clean floor like an idiot. The twins bantered and exchanged blows via pillows and began an all too real battle enactment of one of the more war hungry worlds they previously explored.
They were more like siblings ever since Aether left Lumine by accident and got himself lost to which Lumine just began to follow the sounds of his loud crying on the top of a beaten up dragon who tried to make Lumine its bride.
Fun times...
... Fun...
Times...
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"Aether~! HELLOOOOO?!"
Aether blinked hastily when he remembered where he was, smiling apologetically to Paimon who floated beside him and basically abandoning her food. "Sorry, what were you saying?" Aether apologized as he blinked down at his own Sweet Madame, his tongue couldn't taste the delicious taste of the well cooked meal but could only extract the potent healing mechanisms that permeated it.
Paimon frowned, worringly she floated up on his head and began softly hitting him, "Jeez! Paimon was telling you about the time Paimon snuck out while you rested!"
"Wait you snuck out--"
"A-Anyway! Paimon saw two slimes! An Anemo and that Dendro one! Paimon watched them and they began jumping all over each other! Do you think they were trying to, trying to eat each other?!" Paimon gasped in horror as her tiny body shook in disgust just by imagining it.
Aether rolled his eyes, "Probably not, they might be playing with each other, besides you shouldn't run around!"
"Awww, is Aether concerned for Paimon?!" the tiny pixie asked with a silly grin.
"My emergency food is in danger that's why," Aether said with a straight face as he ran away from a furious Paimon who cursed him because he totally ruined the mood!
Paimon paused as she followed Aether who was grinning up into the dusk. His eyes stared at the darkening sky until night fell in a hush.
"Aether... Are you really okay? Paimon doesn't believe you when you said you were..." she spoke up as she floated beside him, she watched amber eyes close as though Aether was thinking of something deeply.
He smiled as he stretched his gloved hands up into the sky, "Mm, I just started to get nostalgic."
"Nostalgic? What's that."
"Ah, I guess I just got reminded of something that happened in the past," Aether inelegantly explained as he walked along the dirt road, Paimon and Aether didn't have much time to be with each other seeing as Aether was surrounded by people of Teyvat who orbited him like he was the sun. Aether's eyes then settled to Paimon.
"Hey, Paimon, I guess I never told you thanks."
"Huh? Why are you thanking Paimon all of a sudden???"
A laugh, "Well, I'd probably be very lonely you know, I don't know anything about this world, truly."
"But Aether is scary good at being with people? Even without Paimon, you'd manage!"
"... No, not really... Paimon, thanks for being with me, I really mean it."
"You're making Paimon blush and somehow sad!" a confused Paimon held her glowing cheeks, "Are you planning something?! Paimon'll be really angry if you ARE planning something!"
Aether laughed loudly as he evaded the blows quite easily, "Nope! I'm really innocent!"
"Innocent?! Paimon doesn't believe it! Just earlier you ran into those Treasure Hoarders voluntarily!!!"
"Oohh, you know the word 'voluntarily'?! Oh no, my emergency food is developing a brain!"
"AGH!! PAIMON IS REALLY ANGRY!"
Laughter and angry screams filled the air. The monsters were herded away by silent ever looming ruin guards and abyss mages who blend with the shadows of night. Aether and Paimon both rushed through the grass and wind, hurrying back to the city of Mondstat to pester Kaeya over something childish or maybe even listen to stories of the citizens, bug them and connect since Aether...
Aether doesn't think he can be able to soar through the skies anymore.
But... That's alright.
He finds Teyvat, a world he never expected to stay even though circumstances proved otherwise... He just wished his sister was here, here beside him and them being a general nuisance like back then. After going through so many trials, the past when they held nothing to themselves except for the universe's strangling hold and their pain over a lost loved one. The past where they broke and broke until they healed and loved until they could see why each and different world became beautiful...
Aether stared at the sky. The twinkling lights cascaded down on him, the universe no longer seemed to have tried to find them, but then again it was always bored of things and constantly yearning for more. Maybe it had given up on them? Frankly, Aether was happy he was no longer under the ever so constant gaze of the universe's perverse desires. "I'll find you, and when I do, I'm gonna kick you for hiding away, coward," he promised to the shadows where he subconsciously knew his sister waited in. He ran to follow Paimon and missed how a shadow nearby a tree trembled.
Lumine stepped out, silent, she watched the white cape disappear from her gaze before looking up at the same sky that Aether gazed at. Many would wonder why Aether would gaze at the same sky, sometimes Mona who was a renowned astrologist of this world, couldn't even see the sky as Aether sees it.
No, she could never see the sky as they see it.
"Soon," Lumine promised, promised to who, she doesn't know, she doesn't know if it's a promise to herself, to Aether, to the residents of this world or to the world itself. All the things she's been doing, all the steps she's taken and the separation...
"Soon... Just wait a little longer Aether," the Princess speaks as she returns to the shadows, walking the opposite road that her brother walked, "We'll be together..."
Within the dark. Within the light.
Two twins torn by life.
What story shall they write.
For an ending to come when one must--
"We'll be together and I no longer need to be in the shadows while you are in the light."
"I'm doing this to protect you, idiot."
"I just wish I could still be by your side a bit longer..."
"But it's going to be okay... Right Aether?"