Entwine - first step

It was like waking up from a terrible nightmare. The pain stopped, but the brain lagged behind and put the whole body into emergency mode to the point of squeezing a new batch of tears from me.

I immediately crouched and checked the leg from every side, looking for any signs of it being injured. However, it was in a perfect condition and the same could be said about everything else. The leg was alright, hands were fine, head didn't hurt and there were no mud residues anywhere on my body.

"Onii-chan? Is it over? Why are you hugging your leg?"

"Vio!"

"What's wrong? Was my lucky charm a tad too dar- whoa."

The moment I heard her voice I sprang into action and hugged her with everything I had. There were so many different emotions mixing within me, but the most of all I was relieved that it was finally over and glad to feel her in my arms.

We stayed like that for a few minutes.

“Clingy-nii-chan, can we move already? You’ve been hugging me for like… let’s see… almost fifteen minutes.”

After the first wave of a voiceless relief, I still wanted to keep her close until I re-learned the security of this world, as if I a was a deflated balloon which was slowly refilled with warm air.

“Can you at least tell me what’s going on. I would have used the pepper spray a long time ago if not for the situation back at the mall, but it really starts to creep me out.”

I un-clung myself, but kept my hands on her shoulders and looked straight into Vio’s emerald eyes.

"It was horrible, horrendously bad. First, I had to climb like a two hundred meters tall chimney and jump from it without any explanation. Then I was repeatedly submerged in mud – over and over again. After that, I had to fight with a fucking monster, twice my size! And at the end, that god damn fucktard of a demon almost destroyed my whole leg with a single kick! It hurt… it hurt so fucking much…"

"It was that bad? Yosh~ yosh~ it's alright now."

She stretched her hand and wiped the remaining tears from my face with her parka’s sleeve.

The tone of her voice was outwardly worried, but underneath it a poorly hidden irritation could be easily heard. Probably watching such pathetic display from someone with her brother’s face wasn’t easy for Violet.

And I wanted to be an oni-chan she could be proud of, god damn it!

“WHY AREN’T YOU GENUINELY WORRIED ABOUT ME?!”

““What was that?!””

Both me and Vio jumped in surprise, looking for the source of that loud, hoarse voice.

“WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?! WHY AREN’T YOU TRYING TO COMFORT ME MORE?!”

It was coming from my pocket, I quickly pulled out a few items that weren’t there before.

“YOU BETRAYED ME! THAT’S RIGHT, I’M TALKING TO YOU TRAITOR! VIO, YOU KNOW WHAT HURTS?!”

One of them was a small black skull, from which the loud voice was coming from.

“What’s that?”

Asked Vio suspiciously, looking at it and most certainly thinking about the words it was saying.

“HAVING YOUR LEG NEARLY TORN OFF WITH A SINGLE KICK! THAT’S HOW A REAL PAIN FEELS LIKE. WANT ME TO CUT OFF YOURS?!”

“Why is this thing talking to me like that?”

My little sister grew alarmed and took a step back. When I saw those items, I realized that I knew what they were.

“Don’t worry, this shit is harmless.”

I dropped the black skull onto the pavement, hoping that it would become silent as soon as it was no longer close to me, but it managed to spout more words before that:

“DON’T YOU DARE TO LEAVE ME ALONE YOU BRAT OR I WILL MAKE YOU CRY JUST LIKE I DID! YOU WILL SCREAM IN-”

It finally stopped in the middle of this sentence.

“The things it has said…”

Vio looked at me, this time her worry was genuine, but its source changed.

Fucking great. Now, how do I explain this...

“Wait, I know what you may be thinking, but those aren't my real thoughts. This thing is called Wicked Voice…”

I hesitated, wondering if I should just weave a suitable lie which would clean my name, but ultimately decided to tell her the truth.

“... it takes the first stronger negative impulse felt by the person who's close enough and amplifies it, but the more it says, the more bullshit is mixed within these words.”

“Negative impulse… heh… I get it.”

She poked the skull with her finger, carefully picked it from the ground and held on her open palm. Wicked Voice stayed silent till Vio looked at my face.

“YOU… WHO ARE YOU REALLY? HOW CAN I TRUST SOMEONE WHO JUST POPPED OUT OF NOWHERE?!”

“Vio, what-”

“Please listen.”

“IF NOT FOR THE FACT THAT I CAN USE YOU FOR MY OWN GAIN, I WOULD SNITCH YOU OUT TO VIKTORIA AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY!”

It was hard for me to listen to it and it looked that it was hard for Violet to let me listen to it, but nevertheless, she held the skull on her palm.

“GIVE BACK MY TRUE BROTHER! GIVE BACK THE WAY I CAN ALWAYS BELIEVE IN! OR MAYBE I SHOULD JUST TAKE EVERYTHING BACK BY MYSELF.”

She quickly dropped it on the ground, just like I did, but the skull still had to say its last few words.

“I WILL MIX SOMETHING INTO YOUR TEA AND KILL YOU SILENTLY, MAYBE THE-”

There was a really awkward period of silence between us. We both stood with our heads lowered. Layer upon layer of snowflakes was gathering on our clothes.

God damn it, hearing it like that hurts… I may not be able to drink anything she gives me ever again…

I realized that similar thoughts had probably gone through Violet’s head when the skull was spouting my part. This led to understanding why she wanted to show me her dark corner of the heart, after all, we were equals.

“Vio-”

“Oni-chan-”

We started speaking at the same time and stopped after the first word. I gestured her to go on first. She cleared her throat, brushed off the snow from her arms and from mine, took a deep breath and said:

“Oni-chan, I won’t deny it, there was some truth mixed in what that trash has said, but that’s not everything. Remember, there’s a much bigger part of me that wants to believe in you and grow stronger together. I promise that I won’t mix anything into your tea, so please drink a cup when we will be back home, alright?”

“Same here, I want to grow stronger together and become an onii-chan you can be proud of. I promise not to cut off any of your legs with a knife. But you will have to let me massage them with one hand when I will drink your tea with the other. The knife will have to be lying close by.”

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

For a moment after that we remained silent with perfectly serious faces before the absurdity of the whole situation made us both unable to keep it any longer and we burst out laughing. This was probably the only such deal between siblings in the world, one in which the sister promised not to poison her brother and in exchange he promised not to cut off her legs.

Oh, I made a promise… not that I was planning on crippling her with a knife anyway. Heh, no problem.

Vio grabbed my hand and pulled down the street, we were standing far too long in front of someone's house. Still laughing, we interlocked our fingers.

“Wait, I forgot the skull.”

I said when we started walking away and tried to go back for it, but Vio pulled me forward resolutely.

“Just leave it. It’s not as if either you or me wasn’t already suspecting that something like that was lurking in the other 's heart, right lonely-nii-chan? Though it was a bit scary to listen to it in the open, overall I think it’s good that we’ve made those parts clear. Don’t worry, I will raise my acting skills and by the time I will have to comfort my cry-nii-chan again, you won’t notice even a speck of my real thoughts.”

“Oi.”

I tried to catch the tongue my little sister stuck out from her smiling mouth, but in reality that was a feint. The true aim of my hand was to stretch her cheek.

“Ow, ow, ow, sowwwy.”

Vio was right, that black skull seemed like more problems than it was worth. There was also a problem with transporting it without allowing it to react to every negative impulse. A perfect human without something inside that was better left unsaid, especially by a thing that additionally amplified the touchy part, didn't exist. This time we managed to turn it into a positive bonding, but given a second chance, it might create a fissure that mere words wouldn’t be able to heal anymore.

We walked while talking, joking and teasing each other. I tried to convince her to forget about becoming an esper and instead move on to the next goal of our nigh trip, but she insisted that we wouldn’t stand together as true equals if she didn’t do that. Well, there was also a part after that when she giggled with an evil look on her face and said something about the possibility of obtaining an unlimited power.

When we were nearing the slide mana spot. I told Vio a more detailed description of the things that had happened in my case. This time it was in the form of an analysis and tips on how to behave inside.

I told her that it starts with a prelude stage, but emphasized that it might be different depending on the personal demon.

“Get ready for a heavy mental onslaught? Got it.”

“I hope you do, it’s really harsh and hurts.”

I told her about the furniture jumping stage.

“... for real? Jumping on a spiral made out of fridges? Only to find a closed hatch at the end and fall down without any explanation?”

“I actually tried bungee jumping once and it felt similar, only this time there was no rope attached. I don’t recommend it, zero out of ten stars.”

I told her about the swamp and Xeli.

“So there are demons like that as well.”

“Yeah, Xeli’s a slight airhead, but I don’t think she would hurt you without a really good reason. A pity she can’t become your guide.”

“I wonder what I will get. A handsome and kind butler type like Michael maybe?”

“Wait, wait, wait, what?! Michael’s your type?! Girl! He’s like thirty years older than you and he’s not even a butler, but a security chief! Your onii-chan does not approve!”

“U-fu-fu-fu~ my poor jelly-nii-chan, your sister has a lot of types.”

“What other types? I will have to eliminate them all!”

I skipped the part about the demon’s world and their life, there was no point in overloading Vio with too much information. Instead, I explained how the haunted house challenge looked like and how it was resolved, I also mentioned the wraith.

“But my challenge mode will be different?”

“Yes, but keep in mind what I’ve told you. Be ready for everything and please come back to me no matter what.”

“Nii-chan… even if you pretend to worry and try to get on my good side I won’t tell you my ideal type of men. It’s my little secret~, and I can’t allow you to annihilate every handsome man on earth. I will become the defender of girly dreams!”

I clicked my tongue and tousled her hair with a smile. Playing the jealous brother role was fun.

This was actually pretty serious, please come back safely.

My heart was being healed by the warmth of her hand and the sense of closeness we shared, while Vio was probably releasing her anxiety and worries connected both with me and with the fact that now it was her turn to use the ticket.

There was also the matter of the remaining mana-infused items and my newly obtained passive skill. As for the items, there were three more of them remaining:

One slime summoning rune - I explained everything I’ve learned about it and passed it to Vio for self-defense.

One mana potion - it was a small vial with green fluid inside, which made me seriously doubt its effectiveness, after all, everyone knew that mana potions should be blue. If not for the information implanted in my brain, I would consider it a poison instead. Drinking it gave an additional use of your active skill. There was no point in giving it to Vio since she still didn’t have hers.

One small shard of the past - a transparent orb the size of a pearl. This thing was quite peculiar, from what I knew it was to be used on someone by looking at that person through it and the orb would take a semi-random important moment from the target’s life - allowing the user to experience it. There was a higher chance of choosing a memory connected to both the user and the person it was used on than an unrelated one. I would have to test it out first to decide on how useful it was, but it sounded promising.

Only one out of four. I was counting on more.

As for the passive skill.

I didn’t mention it to Vio, but the reason behind it wasn’t that I wanted to hide it from her.

How was I supposed to explain something that I myself didn’t understand?

Its name was ‘The conductor’ and it had the following description in my mind:

‘The thespian is not performing.

The gazer’s eyes are closed.

Many others are waiting to come.’