Chapter 65 - Epiphany : Part 2

Everything oddly felt normal.

It was as if all the things that he had been through; the war, the kidnapping, the turning-

It was as if he had never been there.

The city was healing, and the police kept searching for the mercenary and his murderer. The dead governments were all replaced by the new governments as history repeated itself.

Nothing changed aside from the new buildings and the faces that were gone from the world, eaten by the fire and the made-up demons.

Nothing changed except that Axel may have become a monster of his own, a demon, and could never go back to his own humanity.

But then again, he was good at ignoring red flags. He was part of the Vergessene family, the family of denial. So he was alright at wherever and whatever he was right now.

At least he did not ignore the fact that he was in a messed up family and actually ran away. It was a matter of time until they met again, but Axel did not want to think about that. He wanted to live in the present. He did not want to see the future.

He was back to school after the rebuilding finished. He lived in Rune's big house now. A place that was actually a literal president's mansion. Both of them got even closer than before with a lingering fear that they could lose each other when they blinked.

And Axel felt like he was so close to losing Rune in many ways. The president's daughter felt like she could lose her prince again every time she turned around and faced the other way.

The white knight was protecting her prince while containing a monster behind the said prince. Though, she did not need to know right now. Everyone knew it was better this way.

It had been two weeks, and Axel felt like he could go back to being a normal kid his age. Studying, laughing, stressing, and playing. And he would hate to admit that he kind of missed his bully a little. Maybe Aster was not that bad.

But these past two weeks were going too fast. It was unfair. Every time something terrible happened to him, one second felt like an hour to the boy. And yet, when everything was fine, the days passed like a blink of an eye.

And the part of him that kept screaming everything would go wrong in any given moment was too loud. He wished it could just shut up.

A sound of a ringing bell blasted his ears, causing the boy to jump and go back to reality. He looked around to see his teacher leaving the room and the students following the steps right after.

"Wanna go to the cafeteria?" Rune dropped her head over Axel's shoulder. Hazel eyes patiently waited for an answer as t supported the smiling lips on her face.

"I don't feel like it. I think I'll say here." Axel moved his eyes over to his best friend and returned the smile.

She nodded, causing her red ponytail to wiggle a little. "I'm just going to buy some food and eat here, actually. You want some?"

Axel froze in his place as his mind played the horrifying scene that had been haunting him all the time.

He remembered how he gagged a couple of times until painful nausea hit him hard. When he immediately lurched, coughing hard that he could feel his throat being ripped off. He tried to gulp down, finding what was going on with his throat.

He could feel a bitter taste coming out as it lingered in his mouth. He remembered how he lurched forward again, expecting a gag but instead, a ridiculously amount of red liquid poured down on the floor, making a tiny pool in front of him.

The terrifying and haunting memory of how he kept puking his own blood as he felt a familiar hand on his back, rubbing circles, trying to calm him down. And how he heaved up and down as he froze, looking at his own blood in horrified silence.

Axel actually had not been eating very much after that incident. He just seemed like he could not swallow any food like he used to do.

He shook his head without causing his smile to disappear. "I'll pass."

A flash of understanding flashed on the girl's face, almost sad and pitying. "I'll get you a drink then." Said the red-haired girl before patting the Vergessene's shoulder and going out of the classroom.

Rune had been treating him like he would break at any moment. Like he was a glass inside her hand that could break if you let it go but would also break if you held it too tight.

But Axel understood her wariness. She was afraid of losing him again. She was scared of hurting him by forcing him to actually tell her everything.

And he knew he was selfish that he had kept everything from her as he stayed with her.

Or maybe coward. A selfish coward.

But he was afraid if he actually told her everything, it would only hurt her. But if he did not tell her anything, he would actually hurt his best friend too. He could not take a step forward nor a step back. He was forced to stay in the middle of the road until something actually pushed him or dragged him away.

Or maybe he did not care about her feeling at all. Perhaps he was the one who was afraid to get hurt again when she found out the truth.

"Hey, loser!" A voice shouted from behind as a hand slapped the back of the said loser.

Axel closed his eyes as he braced the pain. He had been sensitive with touch lately. It seemed like his body was afraid that every single thing that touched him might hurt him.

Aster let his right leg support his whole body and relaxed his left leg as he raised his eyebrows at the youngest Vergessene. "How's life?" The blond asked, looking at Axel as if he was calculating the boy.

"Well," The said boy bit his lips and smiled awkwardly. "I'm fi-"

"Actually, don't answer that." Aster cut the black-haired boy off, waving his hand dismissively in front of Axel's face. "It's called a basic manner of greeting. I'm just saying some useless shits to start a conversation or whatever."

Axel blinked sheepishly at the bully.

Since when did Aster have a manner?

The blond jumped onto the table beside Axel and sat on it. He put a leg on top of the other as his forest eyes stared at the ocean ones. "You know, my brother has been interrogating me for days about your brother. It's annoying." He complained while rolling his eyes at the boy.

"Oh, and you really made me do a lot of work by disappearing on the world burn day." Aster sighed, remembering how he had to chase Rune down for the mute murderer.

"I had to actually chase your dear white knight when she just went woosh and fucking broke into your house." He continued to complain, grunting when he remembered how tiring and traumatizing that day was.

Not that he was scared or anything of course.

A sudden realization seemed to flash into his mind, causing the Edelweiss to frown at the Vergessene. "Actually, where the fuck are you that day?"

Axel's eyes widened for a second before completely masking it with his usual nervousness. "I- um..."

Axel could feel sweat running down the side of his forehead when Aster's watching eyes seemed to interrogate him even more. The blond eyed him like an eagle, gawking at the black-haired boy as if he would swallow him right away.

Axel's feet started to tap nervously on the floor. He scratched the back of his neck while diverting his eyes away from the watching Edelweiss boy. "Well-"

"Wow, you actually look like murder boy if I actually focus on it."

The sudden exclaim from Aster made him snap his head at his bully with a slight frown. The blond moved his face closer to Axel as he squinted his eyes at the boy.

The sweat formed even more on Axel's forehead. His heartbeat went faster every second. He fiddled with his nails while trying to stay as calm as possible.

"You're probably his doppelganger or something from the eyes and the hair," Aster commented while nodding at himself, still looking at Axel with a serious face of calculating gaze.

Right, Axel forgot that Aster was kind of a moron.

"Huh, wonder where the guy went. I've been waiting for him to take the white cap for weeks now. Hope that he's okay." Aster sighed again as he finally took away his gaze from Axel. He quickly jumped onto the floor from the table he was sitting on and walked away from the Vergessene.

Right before he reached the doorway, he turned back to face Axel and pointed at the Vergessene's face. "Oh right. You didn't hear me say shits, okay. Or else-"

He made a motion by slicing his neck with his thumb threateningly. He clicked his tongue and finally got out of the classroom and leaving Axel alone.

Axel did not know why he had to be nervous about Aster finding his identity. He was glad that the blond was too stupid for this.

The boy sighed and looked out of the window with two wondering blue eyes. Although one of the eyes were not actually blue.

He should get the white cap tomorrow.