Chapter Text
The family lineage should be honored, it should be rightfully followed. Honor the ancestors and the skills they have inherited. Throughout their entire upbringing, Alune and Aphelios were only taught to be grateful, for better or for worse, to their Lunari ancestry. To follow the steps of the training and lifestyle that had been decided for them before they were even born, whether they liked it or not.
Everything we have is thanks to our work, it is our responsibility, there is no other way. Those were the words that their parents used when one of the twins asked beyond their innocent childish perception.
As they were growing up, more and more questions were generated in the high-pitched voices of both little ones, they did not take long to realize the difference they seemed to have with other people of the place, they realized how isolated their parents were and how these attitudes were imposed on them, demanding that they keep any closeness to other people to a minimum. It didn't take long for others to look at them differently.
Aphelios and Alune paid attention, kept their distance, and their parents insisted, repeating each year with more details. There are people who don't like us out there, there are those who think that we are following a wrong path. They do not understand that they are wrong to follow the guidelines of the sun in the art of assassination. Were they the ones who were making a mistake with the teachings of the Lunari lineage themselves? Why should they bear this responsibility only because of the hope of their parents to retake the territory and power that they previously had? The little twin could not help but agonize about it with his own uncertainties.
He soon understood the history of the hitman families descended from Targon, losing the territory to the Solari lineage, they had to continue their profession far away and under the shadows, knowing that the Solari family believed that the situation was a settled debt. They think there are none of us left, we have to use this time to our advantage. Her parents' voices were a rule to follow.
All this knowledge was imposed on both of them, hitting them at an early age with the harsh reality of their presence hidden in plain sight in this remote city. Since they had been born under the blessing of the moon, as their parents liked to emphasize, both shared and dedicated every minute of their lives to the training of the family lineage, at no time had they been given any other choice. Being only nine years old, the twins were separated in different rooms, suddenly they had to separate, they had always shared a room, they were used to talking until they fell asleep, it was lonely.
“I don't like this.” the voice of the little twin Aphelios echoed in the high and long cold corridors of the house.
“Our parents say it's for the better…” the other twin was trying to sound positive but the insecure tone of her voice gave her away.
Aphelios sighed watching his sister across the hallway from his own room. They were both with their pajamas on, looking at each other from the door frame of each room. Even their mother thought that allowing their rooms to be opposite each other was consenting but luckily for the twins their Father managed to convince her.
The dark hallway was illuminated only by the lights that came from the rooms, both children were attentive to their surroundings, they knew that they should not be awake at this hour, much less outside their rooms, although technically they were not, it would not give much result to argue with their parents. Both of them had difficulty falling asleep, the silence of the lonely rooms was too dense and cold to get used to so soon. Alune played with her long silver hair trying to control the anxiety that escaped her between nervous gestures.
“But we can't sleep well... It's not fair, what a birthday present.” Aphelios protested with an annoyed sigh talking in whispers as he crossed his arms and leaned his body against the door frame in a pout.
“Aphelios.” Alune looked at him seriously to which the twin sighed regretfully.
“I'm grateful for the way of the Moon, I always am, Alune but…”
“But it's not fair to be separated…” the twin finished the sentence sadly trying to smile, watching her brother sigh again. “Mom and Dad insist that it's part of the training... I'm sure everything will turn out fine, we'll be able to get used to it.”
The twin watched his sister trying to improve the gesture with a forced smile but deep down it hurt, the days of both twins were already lonely in themselves, now they had not only been forced to split up in different rooms but also to take different classes. At least they were still at the same school and under the same roof, they reminded each other of that to make each other happy. Alune extended her hand towards the hallway looking for her brother's hand who tenderly reciprocated the gesture by reaching out to shake the little fingers of both with strength and affection stretching as far as possible from the door frames.
“In the dark.” the dark haired twin recited first.
“The moon will rise again.” the silver haired twin completed the sentence.
Both smiled with more determination at the promise that they reminded each other to maintain their strength in this cruel fate, always trying to give each other support and trust as the pillar in the life of the other. Since the night of their ninth birthday, the reality that they would have to face had been revealed to them, the Lunari twins had to start training, intense and extremely ruthless, which would only become more and more constant and demanding with the passage of time.
Aphelios was the body and Alune the mind of the next team that would inherit their legacy. All we have is thanks to our work and thanks to the blessing of our Mother Moon. The twins belonged to a family lineage chained to the abilities of the Lunari ancestry, ‘blessed’ with ‘superhuman’ abilities, the word does not fit correctly in the mind of the dark haired twin, no one was born special within this family, it was the secret, brutal training, putting their own lives at risk with the consumption of a family drug during the process to which they were subjected from the first years of their life. That created what others believed to be ‘superhuman abilities’. The Moon Mother was nothing more than a symbolism to represent the honor of his ancestors in the field of murder and unfortunately, when the years passed by, Aphelios was less and less capable to appreciate the symbolism of his life beliefs, it is assumed that they would only murder bad people, that was Alune's constant consolation, his parents insisted on the purification of the Mother Moon as the art of murder, purification.
When the twins heard a noise coming from their parents' room, both instantly separated to return to their own rooms leaving the door half-open by centimeters like a muscular reflex. After a long silence, they both looked at each other in the remaining space and smiled at each other before closing the doors and trying to go back to sleep.
As he settled between the blankets, Aphelios was looking out the bedroom window, fixing his gaze on the beautiful waning moon that was taking over the night sky. His parents' words echoed like a cursed mantra inside his mind.
All we have is thanks to our work and thanks to the blessing of our Mother Moon. We are the only ones who can take the poor souls in sorrow who have sinned. Taking them to Mother Moon so that they may obtain redemption, is an honor that we must carry out in secret from such profane banishment. It's an art, Aphelios, Alune. A job, a responsibility that we have inherited. You two are special, you must do better than any team that has witnessed the Lunari lineage so that the family can resume its ancient corresponding place in Targon.
Aphelios clutched the blankets between his hands in frustration, curling up to hug his legs against his body, nested between the sheets squeezing his eyes, trying to fall asleep in this dark and silent room, with his noisy thoughts echoing in the mind like a broken record that he could not stop.
They must murder, they must be trained for that. There was no other choice. There was no other way. The destiny imposed by their parents had been planted in the depths of their minds forming their whole way of growing up, thinking and acting.
The boy was trying to convince himself that it was the right thing to do. It was his inheritance and responsibility after all. Besides, he was not going to murder innocents. But that didn't take away the fact that other people's lives were going to be taken. Alune always tried to comfort him, she felt guilty after all, she would be the mind of the operation, although she would be trained to murder in other ways, it was unlikely that she would be forced to do so, she should only guide her brother to complete his goal.
She was the light illuminating her brother's dark path but he would be the dagger in the darkness to take the life out of their targets. Despite their young age, the twins repeated those words as a mantra in their minds, day and night to assimilate the fate imposed on both of them.
After reaching the age of ten the training intensified, Alune was instructed by their father, training in the art of espionage, investigation and monitoring. Aphelios was instructed by their mother, trained in the art of murder. Firearms, melee weapons, how other objects could be used as weapons, melee fighting, all possible ways to be able to assassinate one or more targets.
But the most painful part was to comply with the Nocturm ritual or as Aphelios nicknamed it, the family poison. The unique quality of the Lunar lineage, being able to withstand one of the most poisonous substances, a substance that potentiated all the senses of the human being in exchange for a strong pain, no other poison or weapon would be able to kill him if Aphelios was able to adapt his body to that substance. When he was suffering from pain in silence from the internal burn, the twins only had each other, communicating in sign language without ever losing contact and during the murder training, the only voice in his ears would be of his twin, guiding him through a communicator, following instructions.
However, over time Aphelios began to adopt a bad habit, he preferred to keep silent, feeling alien to his own voice by not using it for so long in training, starting to use sign language more and more. Their parents feared that he might develop reluctant attitudes to speak out because of the traumatic experience of the pain caused by the ritual. That fear was reinforced by noticing that, over time, after a year, their son limited himself to only using gestures and short words, unless he was alone with his twin, other than that, not even a sound, not even a laugh for his parents.
This was one of those days, the effect of the poison had dissipated two days ago but Aphelios did not say a single word, the eleven-year-old twin, was standing on the door frame at the entrance of the big house with his eyes glued on the sky, watching the snow fall, feeling his nose freeze slightly, Aphelios accommodate the big scarf that was around his neck and covered more his face, trying to warm up.
“Wow, there's a lot of snow today.” Alune commented, coming to the door smiling at her brother who only nodded with a tender smile. “Look, look, you can see our breath and everything.”
In playful gestures the girl took a few energetic steps to the front yard of the house, feeling the backpack bounce on her back creating plastic sounds between the fabric of the backpack and the thick fluffy jacket. Alune raised her face exhaling hard seeing the big cloud of smoke forming in the air, she got even more excited hearing her brother's soft laughter behind her back.
“Come on, the bus will be here soon.” Alune extended her hand covered with a thick glove, extending her arm to the side waiting for her brother so that they could start walking.
The boots of both of them clattered in the snow accumulated on the sidewalk as they calmly walked to the school bus stop. Even with all the snow that was falling, the school had no problems opening the first days of this new semester despite the strong winter that was hitting the area. In each classroom there was a stove that tempered the atmosphere of the place. Aphelios sighed sadly when entering the classroom on his own, attending classes separately thanks to an arrangement with the institution at the request of his parents was still annoying even though they had already spent a year in different classes, he was sure that his sister would adapt quickly with her sweet social attitude in this new semester, she already had several friendships inside and outside the classroom, compared to Aphelios, who had not yet created a single friendship in his class, nothing beyond a cordial relationship between classmates and some not so good encounters with annoying people.
As was his habit, he walked in silence to one of the last seats in the central column, reaching all the way to the last row, raising a curious eyebrow at the sight of the new seat installed next to him. Aphelios had been the last student to join the classroom, that’s why his desk had been added at the end of the seating column. But then, was there anyone new?
“Have a seat, please.” the teacher's voice woke him from his thoughts.
Aphelios put the backpack aside to sit at his seat, he took off his jacket keeping the big white scarf that stood out over his thin build that was noticeable under that black sweater. What stood out the most about the boy were his dark eyes, the pupil was barely distinguishable under the light, a detail that stood out more on his face thanks to his pale skin.
“Someone new will be joining the class, starting today.” the teacher announced once all the students had taken their seats, after some anxious murmurs, the woman looked at the door of the classroom with an affirmative gesture. “Give a warm welcome to your new classmate.”
When the door opened all the whispers were suddenly silenced, curious, Aphelios directed his gaze to the front, understanding the reason for the sudden silence. A tall boy with messy short red hair was walking calmly to the front of the classroom. He was wearing a thick sweatshirt next to some somewhat worn gloves. The red haired boy's nose was red from exposure to the cold as he did not have any scarf, earmuffs or a bigger coat. However, what really caused the resounding silence was the collective surprise at seeing the notorious vastaya ears that stand out on the child's head, which react by instinct. The curious movements of the animal ears caught the attention of Aphelios, he stood up a little more on the seat trying to get a better look at the new child who seemed not to feel very safe in front of so many people despite his large size compared to other children of his age, the boy's ears arched timidly back.
“Hm..” the red haired boy looked uncomfortable, he was muttering in search of courage squeezing a little the folds of his coat with both hands.
“Did the cat eat your tongue?” a child among the class blurted out the question in an offensive way to the more animal characteristics of the redhead.
Aphelios looked annoyed at the boy who made the comment, now the new one seemed even more self conscious than before, noticing how vastaya's ears were bent a little further back showing sadness and discomfort. The teacher was about to scold the boy but the red haired boy stepped forward taking courage by raising both ears in a more determined gesture.
“Of course not.” the redhead clenched his fists determined not to be affected by discriminatory comments. “My name is Settrigh.” he stated without taking a step back.
The teacher looked at the tension of the environment with regret, she had a feeling that this was not going to be so simple. Nowadays there was still discrimination towards the Vastaya, especially in remote cities like this one that did not have such a diverse population, much less miscegenation, there was a lot of ignorance regarding that type of people, people could be quite aggressive with the unknown generating a segregation to any type of vastaya or related hybrid. The class leader worried that Sett, despite being just a boy, would pay the price for the bad attitude of other malicious children who spoke in ignorance.
Before another awkward situation unfolded, the teacher motioned Settrigh to sit in the free stall at the bottom of the center column. The red haired looked up, crossing their gaze for the first time with the black haired child who only watched him in silence until he came to his side.
“How are you doing?” the half vastaya boy sat down leaving the backpack on the desk while turning to be his classmate, willing not to let a bad comment affect his perception about all people in his class.
Aphelios looked at him curiously, he had never seen a vastaya in his life. He was fascinated to see the movement of those adorable furry ears. Sett raised an eyebrow regretfully and covered his ears with both hands frowning, he did not wish to judge but the silence of the opposite was beginning to disturb him. The black haired boy blinked confused, now fixing his gaze on the amber eyes of the red haired, feeling sorry for having rudely observed the boy's ears without thinking.
“I know you find them ugly but staring is rude.” Sett commented defensively, looking annoyed at the child in front of him. “At least that's what my mom says…” he added shyly, seeing that the opposite only shook his head calmly, he looked at him confused. “What do you mean, no?”
The black haired boy pressed his lips together sorrowfully, he had no desire to speak but he also did not want to be rude to his new classmate, he did not want to be misunderstood like that, it seemed unpleasant enough to him that other children seemed to look at him badly or exclude him. With a little shyness he opened the notebook to be able to write, after a moment of waiting, Aphelios spread the sheet along the desk so that the redhead could read it. Lovely handwriting, Sett thought, noticing the way of writing on the boy, silent and delicate.
‘I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I think your ears are tender, curious, I've never seen a vastaya in person, I didn't want to be rude.’
Sett was surprised to read the honest answer of the child, besides a little surprised by the formal way he wrote for a child of his age, he looked at him a little embarrassed leaving his hairy ears free noticing how the opposite looked back at him with the same curiosity.
“I'm only half vastaya, everyone calls me beast or bastard although mom insists that I don't use those words.” the red haired boy frowned a little, noticing some unpleasant looks from other companions, when Aphelios noticed this he proceeded to write another line further down on the same sheet.
‘So you're half human, half vastaya then? That's interesting.’
Aphelios tried not to let the interesting word be received as an insult, with one more idea in mind he continued to write another sentence further down before the child finished reading to answer him.
‘Don't pay attention to the bad looks. They just don't like what they don't know, I get those looks sometimes too.’
Sett smiled slightly at the attempt of support he was receiving from the boy he did not know, he appreciated the gesture, he was used to the derogatory looks of others and even discriminatory comments, receiving insults from ignorant people was daily bread, it was the first time someone looked at him with genuine and innocent curiosity.
“Thank you. Uh.., I think I don't know your name.” Sett calmed down, relaxing more in the seat, noticing the slight smile that the boy dedicated to him.
The Lunari was happy to have provided relief to the half vastaya boy, he himself was also used to derogatory comments from other classmates, he knew that it was not pleasant at all to receive such unpleasant phrases but one should not allow that to affect in a negative way. With courage, the lunar twin took a short breath to respond using his voice.
“My name is Aphelios.”
The hybrid child was surprised by raising both ears at once when suddenly hearing the other's soft voice, he had simply assumed that the other could not speak but apparently he simply did not want to speak. Hearing that name gave him greater security, he smiled excitedly, feeling how the confidence of his more extroverted nature could finally start to come out afloat
When the class started, both had to stay silent, however, during the class, secretly, they continued writing notes to each other to keep talking. Aphelios was happy, during his first year alone in a different class it was too difficult for him to engage in a conversation that went beyond a cordial greeting with his classmates, not to mention the problems he sometimes had with some who liked to annoy him for his appearance or absence of voice from time to time.
But with Sett it seemed to have started on the right foot, surprisingly the outgoing personality of the redhead did not bother him, at all, quite the opposite, it was new and welcoming, at the same time, the calm and introverted personality of the dark haired boy seemed much more entertaining and cozy than Sett would think.