Chapter 73 - A Breakable Friendship : Part 3

"You're so cool, brother." Tiny Raziel exclaimed as he looked at Cain's effortless throw into the basket ring with a pair of glimmering blue eyes.

Young Cain chuckled. "I know, right?"

He put a hand on Raziel's head and messed the hair up. "So don't be too hard on yourself. This is just a game, see? And what dad has been training you is the same thing as this."

The light seemed to be more bright than ever as the youngest looked at the oldest in glee, knowing that Cain was only worried about his harsh secret training that his brother thought was only material arts.

"I'm giving you an example, so you don't have to put too much effort into something that you don't really like." Cain continued, smiling at his little brother as he tried to hide his worries.

"Mmm-hmm." Raziel happily hummed in agreement. He needed to hide his scars from his brother more thoroughly so he wouldn't be worried.

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"Besides, I'm doing this for your own good too, Cain."

Cain did not understand Alfred's sentence. He really didn't understand what's good would come out of this. The world did not make sense.

The knife that was aimed at Raziel's neck went slowly in his vision, too slow. The time teased him, allowing him to feel what it felt to be so helpless. The world did not make sense.

When the weapon stabbed him and caused too much blood to fly out of his dear brother's neck, the world still did not make sense.

His ears were ringing, flowing with white noises. His vision blurred, and the teen realized he had already started marching toward Alfred.

His throat was hoarse from the scream he had been letting out. However, he could not hear them because the teen felt like he had suddenly gone deaf. He felt like all of his senses started to make zero sense, just like the world.

He pushed Alfred with all the force he could possibly gather and sent the red-haired boy flying into a nearby tree. He did not even care to see Alfred's state and quickly bent down to pick Raziel up.

There was one thing you should know, Cain learned from his mistake, but sometimes he would still make the same mistake again without consciously knowing it.

Maybe you knew what that meant.

So the older wasted no time to wait and brought Raziel up in his arm, carrying him bridal style like a baby.

Just like how he would cherish his little brother when he was way younger, holding him in his hands as the tiny hand never wanted to let go of his index finger.

But this time was different. Instead of a baby, Raziel was already a teen. And instead of clean clothes that wrapped him up, it was the dirty and bloodied colour, changing the original clothes' colour.

Raziel watched Cain's long hair dance with the wind while he ran. It was beautiful as it glinted under the sun. His brother was always a gorgeous person.

"I miss you," Raziel started with, almost a talk of nothing, just like a small talk despite the situation they were in. "I am happy that you came. I was scared I could not see you for the last time, just like father."

"He really regretted that he could not see you one last time, you know? He was so sad." The dying teen told in between his short breath.

"Save your energy, don't talk." Cain choked, and tears started to fall without his consent, dripping onto Raziel's cheek.

Ah, the sight of it made Raziel want to cry as well. He could never see his brother being sad. Especially if it was because of him.

"I just wished you could become like us too. Maybe everything would be okay." Raziel moved closer to his brother's chest, staining the clothes red with his overflowing blood.

"Maybe you'll see me like you used to do." Raziel let his head rest upon his brother's chest, hearing the heart beating uncontrollably from how fast he ran.

The beating heart of his brother was like a messy melody, yet it was beautiful. Soon he could not hear it anymore because his own beating heart would stop, cruelly stopping him from breathing.

"But if my dying state could make you worry about me like you used to do all the time," Raziel gazed upon Cain's face and saw the etching worries within him. "Then I wouldn't mind dying."

"Life is cruel, anyway." The younger chuckled, knowing how the world was unfair for him. But at least the world was kind enough to let him be held by his brother again like this.

It was warm.

He wondered who Cain would receive warmness from? Maybe his girlfriend? Raziel heard about her and her two beautiful violet eyes. He wished he could thank her for being there for his brother. But the world was not kind enough to do that.

"Don't say that. Don't say that-" Cain desperately said. He still tried to reach the hospital on time. The world did not make sense, so he hoped that running into a kilometre long hospital from where he was would make sense.

Even though it wouldn't.

"I've always been worried about you all the time, I just- I just-" Cain's lips trembled, and his eyes were already puffy from his unstoppable tears. "Save your breath, please. Please, I can't lose you too, I can't-"

Raziel finally let himself sob as he stared at his wailing brother, allowing him to finally cry. What was the point, anyway? There was no father anymore to sternly yell at him for crying because he was not allowed to do so.

He wondered who his tears were for. Was it for his own being or his poor brother? Maybe both.

Raziel looked upon his brother once more time. He wished Cain would live a happy life and be a good man. Maybe his brother would die like a hero and go into heaven.

But that would mean that he could not meet Cain anymore because he knew he would go to hell.

Raziel did not want that. He wanted to be with him again.

So the following words and the very last words that came out of his moth was childish. Instead of what he had been doing for his brother to live a normal life, Raziel found himself becoming selfish on his last breath.

"I wish you were a criminal too, brother."

In the face of death, honesty no longer seemed like a frightful concept for Raziel. The youngest that always wished for his brother to have a normal life yet deep down wanted to see how Cain would mercilessly end someone's life with his warm smile.

In the face of death, there was no longer a burden inside him as Raziel remembered how he begged his father to never train Cain and only train him to be a criminal instead. Because he saw how happy Cain was when he received a new friend, a normal life.

In the face of death, he did not think about the consequences of his words as he closed his eyes with a brother that was keeping him warm.

And so, Cain granted Raziel's wish.

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Cain had been missing since then. Of course, the parents were declared dead alongside the brother in a 'forest accident'. The governments obviously covered the truth of who was the one who wiped them out. It was their plan anyway.

The one closest to the Vergessene family was only Alfred. The red-haired boy had been on a mission to kill them all.

Sometimes Cain would accidentally wonder if they were ever a friend in the first place.

The only Vergessene left disappeared for a year without a trace just to come back right on Alfred's birthday, inside the red-haired's house. He stood there, welcoming his dear best friend right when Alfred opened his bedroom door.

"Happy birthday," Cain said as he threw Alfred's father's head as a humble gift.

Alfred froze in horror at the sight of his own father's head and looked over at Cain in terror mixed with guilt, sadness, and anger. He clenched his fists, causing them to tremble slightly.

"You-" The red-haired teen that had just turned 18 gritted with tears that were waiting for the right time to fall.

Cain casually walked away from his frozen ex best friend, not wanting to see the pair of hazel eyes anymore.

When he reached the window, he put on his mask and covered all of his head. The mask was plain and had no holes on it, making those who saw it struck with an eerie feeling.

"You should've killed me too, Alfred." He spoke coldly. So cold, just like that day Alfred betrayed him. Maybe even colder.

Right before he jumped off the window, he turned around and faced him with his uncanny mask.

"I'm the Vergessene, after all."

And then he let himself fall just like their friendship. A friendship that was destined to fall from the beginning.

He just wished that Raziel would wait for him in hell. He would go there soon. But first, he had to fulfill his little brother's wish first.

The world didn't make sense, so Cain created some sense on his own.