Chapter 35 - The Death Of A Humanity : Part 1

Axel's ears were ringing. Everything was overwhelming him. Everything happened too fast.

The boy just stood there, in a daze, in the middle of the war that surrounded him. His guns were already gone. He only had some knives in his pocket right now.

Though it's not like he was going to use it anyway.

"What are you doing?! This isn't- why are you betraying me, hitman?! I give you the documents not for you to start this madness!" A red-haired man yelled, causing Axel to look over at him.

The president was standing right in front of the building where Kiaran, Adreanna, and Cain stood. His eyes were full of glowering anger, looking over to the hitman with gritting teeth.

Then suddenly, a rope gun was shot by Cain, causing it to circle the president's hand.

The president was not given a chance to actually think about what was happening and quickly got pulled to the air. The red-haired man dangled right on the edge of the building with Cain holding the rope, the only thing that was holding him right now.

"Oh? Did I betray you?" His father spoke sternly to the demon king, looking at him from behind his mask.

Cain pulled the rope at him and started to hold the president's neck, bringing the man with him. Axel watched as his father kept the red-haired man even higher on the edge of the building. Rune's father desperately gripped his father's hand in distress, eyes wide as he looked down.

"You want a betrayal, right?" The hitman darted. He tilted his head as he stared at the president's teary eyes. "Here, I'll give you a treason."

He let go of the president's neck. The man screamed and tried to grab ahold of the hitman but missed. Axel jolted at the sight. Breath hitched as he quickly ran over to catch the man.

The wind fought with him, blowing his fluffy hair as he tried to hold the king, who was still falling down. His heartbeat thumped loudly as he stretched his hand out to the king. Axel widened his eyes as the man got closer to the ground. He bit the inside of his mouth and put more speed.

He completely pushed all the people in his way. He was too focused on saving him. Adrenaline kicked him hard, leaving him to forget about his bleeding leg.

He caught the man right before hitting the earth in a swift move. Axel tackled the red-haired man to the ground, putting a hand right behind the president's head before they crashed onto the floor.

The president's eyes were still wide as he looked at the boy who saved him. The man quickly got up, running away to his people with mixed emotions, trying to save his own very being.

The hazel eyes managed to catch Axel's blue one with a look of gratitude and finally disappeared alongside the crowds.

The boy's chest heaved up and down as he stared at the madness that had befallen him. He could not help but tremble at the sight.

The boy turned around to the sound of some rope guns being shot right behind him. He was quickly met face to face with his family who was staring at him like he was the lowest person in the world.

"Axel, you keep betraying us," Adreanna spoke, her red porcelain mask staring coldly at her youngest brother. The sound of yelling and screaming surrounded them, yet the family stood there like the world was silent.

"No-" The boy frowned at the accusation. "I- no!" Axel cracked a yell. His face slowly changed from confusion to anger.

Axel gritted his teeth, ignoring the lump in his throat. "You were- you were trying to kill me!" He spat. His sister's face stayed emotionless at the statement, gawking at him from behind her mask.

"You," Axel paused. He pointed an accusing finger to Kiaran. "You were using me." He continued as his breath ragged in a fury.

"And you didn't even care about me." He moved his finger to the hitman. The boy was at a loss on why he had a lot of courage to say these things right now. Maybe it was the leftover adrenaline he still had.

"So why did you keep blaming me?" Axel choked on his words. Everything was too overwhelming, and he's just- he's just tired. "I just want a normal family! Why can't we be normal?!"

The boy trembled in his place as he yelled. "Why can't I be normal?" He whispered the last word.

"I'm tired-" Axel brushed his hair in distress, eyes glassy as he watched the three people he used to be willing to die for. "-I'm so tired with this family's bullshit."

The three of them went silent while hearing Axel's angry confession. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts. But they shared the same thing in their mind.

They didn't really care.

"Why did you two go along with Kiaran's madness? I don't understand." Axel looked up to stare at his father and sister, demanding an answer. Kiaran stood there, analyzing Axel with two dark amused eyes.

"Maybe because we didn't go against the family, unlike you." Cain finally spoke up, completely cornering his youngest with his statement.

"Father, don't be like that. He's still a kid." The mercenary took a step forward, reaching a hand to Axel.

Kiaran smiled softly behind his mask with his pleading eyes. As if he was not the one who went mad the moment before. "You know I care about you, right? You can always come back."

Kiaran had spoken his sweet words, a mask of a loving brother stared at Axel in patience. The boy knew it was fake, and the boy knew he was using him right now.

Or he actually did know since the first time he was being used. But he just denied it because he just wanted a brother who loved him. He just wanted a family that cared for him.

"Look, you're doing it again," Axel darted, the face of a broken boy staring tiredly at Kiaran. "You're doing the 'using me' thing." He stated flatly.

"Oh, You know I care about you, right?" Axel mocked, mimicking his brother's words. His eyes flashed with disappointment as he stared at his brother.

"No, no, you fucking don't." Hissed the boy as he desperately held the tears that were threatening to fall.

"You never do, aren't you?" His voice went quiet at that.

"If I go along with you, you're just going to make me kill my own best friend," Axel added, trying to shove away the feeling that he wanted actually to live in the lie Kiaran made.

Because the lie felt good and the truth hurt. So why live in truth if it was only going to hurt him?

But Axel knew the lie would endanger Rune. The reason why he stood here right now, facing them, was Rune. The girl was the only one that genuinely cared about him.

"You are siding with the president, Axel," His father spoke up. The kind smile that he always used was gone now. Cain never showed a single kind smile to him. Even though it was fake, he didn't even try to lie for the boy.

"You're siding with the one man that I despise the most." Cain retorted darkly.

"But you don't have to kill him. You don't have to kill them all!" Axel ventured. He stared at the man who was supposed to be there for him. "They are people. They have a family too, just like us."

"The president? He has a daughter too. There must be a way other than war, father!" Axel tried to justify, ignoring how his heart was beating weirdly.

"I never raised you to pick a side other than your family, Axel." Cain disapproved as he put the rope gun down from his hand.

"But you never did," Axel spoke up, face morphed into a realization to his own words. "You never raised me at all." The boy chuckled bitterly.

Cain was taken aback by the statement. He widened his eyes and quickly hid it well. "Well then, it seems like our path ended here." The man spoke and turned his back on the boy, just like he always did before.

Adreanna followed Cain right away, stealing a last glance at her brother with hidden emotions, something that the girl was never good at showing.

Kiaran stood there a little longer, staring at Axel with two unexplainable gazes. Axel caught his eyes, and Kiaran returned the stares with a look of pity before finally leaving him too.

Not the kind of pity where you actually feel bad, but the kind of pity that was manipulatively mocking.

Everything was happening too fast.

One second, Axel was seeing his messed up family turn their back on him for the hundred times, the next second, there was a heavy pain. A necklace had cracked, letting all the red lights it was holding go inside his heart at full speed.

He staggered back, stood in shock. The silver arrow necklace that Rune gave to him fell from his neck to the ground.

As the red lights took hold of his heart, unbelievable agony wracked his mind. Axel gasped and fell, conscious but paralyzed by the lights. If the previous pain in his heart felt like his chest was being squeezed, this felt like it had been crushed.

Someone was screaming so loud that he could not hear anything. Soon he would realize it was him that let out the agonizing scream.

He did not realize how Adreanna and Cain suddenly turned around again, looking at him with confusion and a slight genuine worry. While Kiaran just stood there, trying to find out what was happening right now.

Red lights suddenly burst through his chest, swirling around him from toes to his hair. The lights brought him up to the air as he continued to scream, finding it hard to breathe with a mask covering his mouth.

The red lights went inside his eyes, blinding him entirely from his surrounding. He gasped for air in between his scream.

Adreanna was the one who ran over to Axel first. She jumped at him, trying to tackle him down from the air, only to be sent flying backwards by the lights. She did not give up and wanted to save him again.

How ironic that she was the one who almost killed him earlier.

Kiaran just froze in his place, looking at Axel with two incomprehensible blue eyes. He did not know what to do besides watching Adreanna get thrown a couple of times, trying to save Axel from the lights around him.

Cain finally came to help Adreanna and tried to shoot at the red lights that were circling around Axel's body. The bullets bounced back at him and the man was fast enough to avoid them.

Tears formed in Axel's eyes as he could not breathe a single air. He desperately reached out at Adreanna with a weak hand, begging for help.

The assassin gasped when she saw how Axel slowly went limp in the air. Panic struck her body for the first time and she desperately jumped again, trying to save him.

Unable to stay awake through the pain, Axel closed his eyes and blacked out.

That day, Axel probably would find out what happened to his counterpart. The day the youngest of the Vergessene family died. The day where the three demons mourned and lost a war.

Because it happened to him too, that day.

They were reflections, after all. It didn't matter if the story was different because the reflection of the story would follow Axel everywhere.

Though this time, the ending was a little bit different. The boy's heart stopped as a human, but soon it would be beating as a different being.

The story continued as the world burned.