I Never Asked for This

I clenched my dying sister’s body in my arms, I couldn’t hold back anymore.

The swelling in my heart, the ringing sounds in my ears. I couldn’t breathe, my body shivering as if I was standing naked in winter. The desperate denials that played in my head over and over again, no one can hear it, yet if anyone did, it wouldn’t even make a difference.

Reality is cruel.

Her blood overflowing, making its way to dye my clothes red, completely red. Oh, how much I thought that this color was disgusting, this shade, this warmth, and what’s more disgusting was that this belongs to her. My twin, the one and only person who truly understands me, my partner, the other piece of me that I can’t live without.

Life is fleeting.

I couldn’t see clearly, I couldn’t hear clearly and I couldn’t think clearly at all. Everything was a mess. Blood was everywhere, and it was none other than my sister’s. The liquid spread to my guts, it feels as if it was burning against the touch of my skin.

Her blood, my anger, regret, and sorrow, boiling above the highest temperatures. I feel like I could pass out, but knowing that she couldn’t open her eyes when I still could open it again after closing it feels devastating. My eyelids felt heavy, the whole world was spinning. The only thing I could do was glare at the figure that just murdered my sister.

But no matter how much you hate someone, you can’t kill them with mere hate. As strong as this emotion can be, it was still just an emotion that hurts only yourself.

My mind filled with ‘what ifs’, my heart struck with needles.

“...they’re not as strong as I expected.” The voice came from the man standing not far away from me, confusion spread across his face. Eyes showing remorse and doubt, as if he was reflecting his actions.

It was as if this person was sorry.

‘Don’t look at me like that when you’re the one who did this to me, you bastard.’

“Are you sure they are the people that I was tasked to take care of?” As if to check for confirmation, he asked his aide with a questionable tone.

“Yes, they are your highness.” His aide answered without a single trace of hesitation, “They are the criminals that escaped to the border, this may be a trick! Their whole family submitted to greed as a result they became spies and worked together with the Heron Empire.”

I let out a cold laugh amidst the tears. As if we would have anything to gain from being a spy, it was truly unfair, we already have everything. Ahhh seriously? Being a spy? It was a well-known fact that the Heron Empire was a complete enemy to the 3 neighboring countries.

‘Hah...how idiotic. Why would we do something that is high risk with a small return?’

The man hesitated for a moment before he turned towards my direction and approached me.

I froze. That was it, I just froze, I couldn’t move, more precisely it would be that my legs wouldn’t listen to me from all the fear. As he gradually closed the distance between us, I could hear my heartbeat louder than it ever had. I was scared, but I knew very clearly that there was another emotion residing within me at this moment.

It was anger.

Airia, my sister can be annoying at times, she’s usually cold towards strangers and she’s not good at socializing with other people, but one thing for sure is that she has never done anything bad that lets her deserve to be killed. I will never understand why she ended up like this for the rest of my life.

Even though I know that mine would end sooner or later, considering how close this bastard is standing to me.

“Is your name-”

I instinctively turned my head towards the direction the voice came from, without realizing, the bastard who killed my sister was suddenly standing right next to me.

“Don’t come any closer!” I clenched Airia’s body tighter, not wanting him to get close to her body anymore. The sight of him sickens me, I hastily backed away from him. Glaring at his disgustingly pink eyes.

Pink of all colors, disgusting.

“...Is your name Asiel Calais-”

“Go away, just die!” I wept as more tears fell, blurring my vision once again.

“...Is your name-”

“Shut up. You ask for someone’s name after you ruined his life?”

He froze.

“Airi...she did nothing wrong... She got killed for no reasonable excuse, we aren’t involved with whatever treason our family did!”

“Sire! Don’t be fooled, the Calais family is filled with monsters. One is more cunning than the other, think about the ‘white flames’ Kiel or the infamous lady Irona, and most importantly…the ‘walking demon’ Marciel Calais.”

I was speechless, I could only stare blankly at the uninvited soldier in reply.

“Since these two were purposefully hidden away from the public, they could be even stronger than their siblings.”

“...”

I can’t believe the ‘excellence’ of my other siblings could be the cause of our downfall.

Strictly speaking, we are known as ‘useless’ in the family, we weren’t ‘hidden’ from the public, it was that we both disliked noble gatherings and crowded places, so we rarely go out of our room, not to mention our house. Ah, is this what they say about being socially inept would be the end of you? This really looks like it.

Laughable, so funny.

I let out a chuckle.

My actions were taken in as an insult by the guard, so he became unreasonably furious, “How dare you ignore me!”

“You? Hah, I have no words to spare for the likes of you.” My tears start to dry up, the body in my arms starts losing its temperature.

What’s the use? The truth is the truth, reality is reality. All that’s left is just feelings and emotions that are so futile. As if the gods care about my feelings, people who do are all gone anyways.

BANG!

The sound of the gunshot resonated clearly in my ears. It didn’t come unexpected, that’s for sure.

‘Ah, my vision is going hazy...’

With the last of my strength, I reach for my sister’s hand. It doesn’t matter if it didn’t reach, I just want her to know that I won’t go anywhere without her.

‘Sorry, only you could accompany a useless brother like me. If I could, I’ll make sure I’ll die first in our next life, just in case you complain about it.’

“Please, god. If you have time to spare for me… I’d like...to request...another life...with this annoying idiot...again…”

Everything went dark, my senses dulling, some noises erupting here and there, likely the pink eye bastard and low life bastard. But who cares, I just hope I can reunite with Airi again.

***

“This day, Asiel and Airia Calais, the obscure twins in the dark house of the Empire’s most infamous noble, died a tragic death on the borders of the Rioca Empire and Handac Empire. They died with pinkies touching, the tale of the twins became well known, people in the future would call the gesture an act of promise. A promise that they’d meet again.”

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“That’s so gross.” A young girl standing among the crowds snickered.

“Haha, very funny. It’s 100% justified, I was acting weird because I was dying, you know.” The young boy who stood next to her furrowed his brows.

“...hehe”

The young girl’s smile reminded Asiel of his wish to live once again.