Chapter 25 - It's Family Day : Part 3

"What are you three doing here?!" Axel whisper-yelled at the three demons in front of him. Horizontal wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he raised his eyebrows.

As soon as he saw the three of them earlier, he kicked the chair behind him, ran into the rooftop door, and went downstairs without actually using the stairs. Axel skipped the stairs by jumping and rolling right before he hit the ground.

He did not even notice how Aster was watching him with his mouth hanging open loosely.

"Hi, Axel." Demon Kiaran smiled. He opened his hand and waved, black sharp nails went unnoticed by Axel's red contact eyes as the boy hyperventilated in his place.

"No, no, no. Don't 'hi, Axel' me." Axel ventured, warily looking around the school, hoping no one would hear him talk. "You're not supposed to be here! This is not your world!"

"We noticed how you don't have anyone to come to this human event with you, we're here to accompany you, son." Demon Cain spoke, he kindly put a hand on his shoulder, lips tugged upward as he showed his kindest smile.

"Wait, how do you know-" Axel frowned, looking at them with a confused face.

And then realization hit him. Axel tilted his head back slightly, a glaze of frustration adorned his face.

"So you have been watching me all this time? From the mirror? Why didn't you at least say hi? You just- you just disappeared that day. I thought you're actually gone." The human boy waved his hand around frantically to them.

Kiaran let a low coo sound at him. "Aw, did you miss me?"

Axel managed to glare at his pseudo brother as he tried to relax. "No." He paused, sending the glare to his two other pseudo-family too.

"Also, that's kind of weird that you've been stalking me. Please don't do that again. Just say hi the next time you see me from the mirror." Axel finished his sentence by crossing his hands on his chest.

The oldest demon chuckled. The hand on his shoulder moved to brush the black locks on the side of Axel's face. "We apologize for that. I hope you don't mind having us around for today." Cain answered, the kind smile on his face never left while he was looking at Axel.

"Well, actually," The boy looked around the area to find all the students with their families, bickering and laughing with each other. His eyes moved to Rune who was talking with her father with a sulking face.

He scratched the back of his head as he looked back at Cain's red eyes. "I don't really mind at all. It's just- it surprises me that you're coming to my world so sudden like this."

Axel fidgeted in his place, shifting his weight from one foot to another. "My family can't come for today, so it's kind of nice that you guys would come here just for me."

Kiaran walked to him with open arms and hugged him from his neck, trying not to break Axel's cardboard wings. "Of course we'd come, you're my favorite sibling after all."

Adreanna kicked Kiaran's leg at his words. The latter responded by sticking out his tongue at her, grinning ear to ear right after.

"Just don't do this kind of thing without telling me beforehand." Axel pushed Kiaran away slowly, eyes looking up to his tall brother. "You're lucky this is Halloween, people would freak out if they found out what you are."

"Attention to all students and families, please gather in front of the podium since the next agenda will begin soon." A muffled voice rang around from the school's loudspeakers, making all of the Vergessene look over at the podium on the furthest right of the school.

Under the soon-to-be burning sun, everyone quickly gathered over there. The place quickly became crowded as everyone waited for the next agenda.

Axel's red contact eyes sparkled at the sight of the crowd. He could not hold back his smile when he knew he finally could join Family Day. Even though technically he was not with his real family, but he would take what he could get.

He unconsciously grabbed both Kiaran and Adreanna's hands and dragged them towards the crowd, making the two startled at the sudden movement. Cain smiled at his children's behavior and quietly followed them from behind.

Axel was about to drag them through the crowd when he remembered that this demon version of his family had real wings and one of them was actually used to kill. So he decided to stay behind the crowds and watched the podium from afar.

Axel's child-like eyes stayed focused on his principal who was busy talking about this wonderful event. This time he managed to listen and actually be excited about it. Today he had a family to celebrate Family Day. Though they were not the real ones.

"Red eyes look good on you."

Axel snapped his neck toward Adreanna who was standing beside him. The sun was illuminating her porcelain wings. The wind was playing with her braided hair. The red eyes were staring at Axel as emotionless as ever.

"Thanks." Axel managed to form a smile before pointing at his eyes. "Though, these are not permanent. They're just contacts."

"Contacts?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah, I put this thing on my eyes." He then took the red contact lens in his right eye, showing it to Adreanna who was looking flatly at it.

"It's not enchantments?" She asked again, eyes still locking on the contact lens that Axel tried to put on again.

Axel blinked a couple of times before the contact lens finally covered his right blue eyes. "It's not. We don't have enchantments here."

"Human world is weird." Despite how apathetic she looked, Axel could see the vague peak of interest behind her blood eyes.

"I can say the same for your world, Adreanna." Axel shrugged, diverting his gaze to the podium again.

"Don't you want the red color to be permanent?"

Oh, that question again. This Adreanna was so obsessed with red eyes.

"No thank you," Axel answered without looking at her, eyes locked on the principal who was saying that the president had arrived in the school.

The president walked to the podium, waving to the crowd as he stopped to give a speech. His red hair and hazel eyes reminded Axel of Rune so much. They really look alike. Rune's late mother was the complete opposite.

"It's the king." A glowering voice spat from behind.

Axel looked behind him to see how close Cain was standing before him. His pseudo-father was staring at the president darkly. The murderous feeling was too obvious to go unnoticed.

"Uh, no. That's the president." Axel nervously answered. A red aura started to vaguely form around Cain's eyes, making Axel go stiff in his place.

"Please don't start a war here." Axel tugged Cain's shirt slightly, trying to calm him down. "I'd love to enjoy Family Day games for once, so please don't kill anyone."

The red aura suddenly vanished as if it was never there. Cain, Adreanna, and Kiaran snapped their head toward Axel at the same time.

"Games?"

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People were getting ready for the first game. Everyone was being grouped that contains six people. They chose their own members to play the game and Axel was in a total loss to choose who to add to their group.

He was about to add Rune and the president to their group, but for the fact that Cain almost started a war right when he saw Rune's father, Axel decided not to do that.

Though right now the most important thing was to search where the hell demon Kiaran went to actually play the game.

Axel did not realize that Kiaran was actually in the middle of stalking Valerian who just arrived with a ridiculous bear costume in front of the school. The sight of him made Kiaran grin, his tongue was itching to tease his pseudo sworn enemy.

"You look as ugly as always." Kiaran was sitting on top of one of the gates as Valerian got in. His feet were dangling in the air, red eyes locked on the guy below him.

The bear-wearing costume guy looked up to see red eyes with a hint of playfulness that was achingly familiar.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Valerian tilted his head to the side as Kiaran jumped off the gate and landed right in front of him.

"Wait, you don't know me in here?" Kiaran stared into the green confused eyes as he pointed at himself with an amused look. "I'm the m-"

A hand suddenly snapped the demon's mouth shut, making Valerian jump at the sudden intrusion. Kiaran glanced beside him to see Axel was staring at him with a bewildered look.

"I'm so sorry, my brother here probably mistaken you as someone," Axel spoke politely with a forced smile, hand still staying on Kiaran's mouth. Kiaran's lips pulled upward at the mention of him as Axel's brother.

Valerian stood in front of them with a dazed look of bewilderment before nodding slowly. "Right, okay."

"If you're looking for Aster, he's on the rooftop," Axel spoke again, trying to distract Valerian by going away.

A rush of footsteps rang behind Axel. "Oi dickhead! What the fuck are you wearing?" Aster shouted from behind as he arrived beside Axel, looking at Valerian with a wrinkled nose.

Axel looked to his right, Kiaran did the same thing with a hand still covering his mouth. "Ah, never mind." Said Axel.

Aster diverted his gaze to the two. He squinted his eyes as he looked at Kiaran skeptically, eyes moving up and down. "Oh, so you're his brother."

Kiaran put Axel's hand down before showing his smirk. "And you're..." Kiaran managed to glance at Valerian before looking at Aster again. "-not in a coma. That's interesting."

"A what?" Aster narrowed his eyes. Eyebrows pulled down as he raised both of his cheeks. "I've decided that you two are a family of losers. Fucking Vergessene."

Aster looked at Axel once more. He seemed to open and close his mouth, trying to talk with the boy hesitantly.

"You-" He choked on his word and decided not to continue when he grabbed Valerian's shoulders.

"Tch." Aster gave him a cold shoulder. "How the hell did that loser jump that high from the staircase," Aster murmured to himself. Though Axel caught what he was saying and grimaced at himself.

Axel quickly moved his head over at Kiaran, glaring. "Lieutenant Valerian doesn't know my brother's real identity, you can't just say hi to him!"

"Oh?" That did pique Kiaran's interest.

The demon seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for a second before sending a dubious smile at Axel.

Axel, who knew this was no good at all considering he knew how his real brother was insane with things, quickly shaking his head, trying to say no to whatever this pseudo brother had planned.

"Kiaran, don't-"

Kiaran suddenly disappeared from his sight, running at a quick speed toward where Valerian went off.

"Hey ugly bear, let's team up on the game with my family!"

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"So tell me, loser," Aster began, the wind blowing his dirty blond hair as he faced his two loyal minions across the field. "Why the fuck are we in the same group?"

"Uh, well-" Axel winced as he glanced at Kiaran who was teasing Valerian like today was the end of the world.

"I have no idea either."

The game they were about to play was called Capture the Flag. Each team tried to take the other team's flag and return across the centerline without being tagged. If a player was tagged while on their opponent's side they must go to the holding zone on their opponent's side.

Adreanna was the one who guarded their flag and Cain was the one who guarded the holding zone. Kiaran stood on the right while Valerian stood on the left, ready to tag while protecting the two younger boys in the middle. Aster and Axel were in the middle, looking at the opponent's flags that were waving in front of them.

"You better not be a pain in my ass. I'm planning to win this shit. I ain't letting them win." Aster spat at Axel without diverting his gaze to the two of his minions that were standing in front of their flag.

When the bell rang, the two pairs of brothers ran to the tagging zone. Aster quickly tagged one of his minion's sisters before aiming at the flag. The bully looked back for a second and grunted when he saw Axel get tagged by one of his minions.

During the start, Axel's eyes were full of fire, ready to finally play and have fun. Smiling wide, he gripped his hand, ready to win the game.

Though as the bell rang, as the wind blew around, he ran with an uneasy feeling in his chest. His hands were trembling and he just felt... wrong.

When he caught the sight of demon Kiaran who was so eager to play, he could not help but remember his real Kiaran as the world around him stopped.

Kiaran forbade him to join any sports even though he wanted to. He really wanted to play and have fun, but he was dangerous. He could let their identity blown away or hurt people accidentally and-

In the end, Axel let himself get tagged, playing the whole 'weak and can't do sports' thing like he was told to. He went to the holding zone and watched them play, at least he could see them play.

Aster reduced his speed and took a sharp U-turn to the opponent's holding zone. He managed to dodge the opponents, having played sports so many times, he easily ran past them.

He managed to swiftly dart the holding zone's guard and tagged Axel to save him. He grabbed Axel's hand and dragged him to the tagging zone.

"Stay behind me." The blond boy put Axel behind him, protecting him as he tried to tag other people.

The scene flashed back and forth between the day they were kidnapped and the present day, reminding Axel of the day he was in Aster's position, protecting him. Now it was the other way around.

Axel bit his lips as he followed the bully's command. Smiling a little when he actually kind of tried to play by not getting tagged while seeing Aster trying to tag people around. They danced with each other, hands holding one another just like-

Just like a friend.

Could Axel actually call them a pair of friends? He never had any friend other than Rune before.

Kiaran on the other hand was in glee as he made Valerian's play a living hell. He should have been helping him, but instead, he was leading the opponents to the bear-wearing guy.

"Can we work with each other for like a second? What is wrong with you?!" Valerian spat at him while dodging the opponents, glaring with all his might at Kiaran.

The demon shrugged, smiling sheepishly at Aster's brother. He spun around, darting from the opponents. His red eyes moved over to the timer that was about to end. One of his eyebrows pulled upwards at the sight.

He quickly led another opponent to Valerian before making his way to the flag. He did not actually try anything as he walked up to the guard who was ready to tag him.

Kiaran smirked at the opponent and fastened his speed. He slid below him gracefully, holding a hand out, and easily snatched the flag.

He turned around to see the opponent bracing himself to tag him. He looked behind the person and frowned when he lost sight of Valerian. Kiaran's frown deepened when he noticed the latter was at the holding zone.

All of the opponents suddenly turned onto him, coming at him at a fast speed. Axel and Aster shouted from far away, getting left behind as they yelled at Kiaran to run.

"Alright, stop." Kiaran sang, voice full of dazzling melody as the opponents suddenly froze in their place.

"You can chase me but you can't tag me." He continued, sending a mind manipulation to them.

Kiaran began to walk lazily with a flag in his hand, passing the opponents. He looked back once again to the bewildered eyes who were looking at him in terror.

"Oh, and you all will forget that I ever command you."

At the end of the game, the demon Vergessene family won alongside the confused Edelweiss brothers and a confusedly happy Axel.