Chapter 87 - A Debt : Part 1

"Look, I can make it disappear like this. It's like a glitch." Axel waved his left hand in front of Adreanna as he walked backwards with a cupcake in his other hand.

His left hand appeared and reappeared just as the boy commanded. Adreanna kept walking forward with no emotion on her face while Axel kept walking backwards in front of her.

"I wonder if I can make the entire city disappear..." Axel tilted his head up to the moon above him, letting the hood on his head fall back to his neck.

"Wait, can I make people disappear?" He mumbled as he brought his hand up to his face while kept walking backwards.

Axel quickly shook his head and looked down to the ground. "No, that's killing."

"No, I shouldn't do that. That's worse than murder." He continued as he took the last bite of his cupcake.

Axel looked up to Adreanna and looked at her with his unpatched blue eye. "Yeah, I shouldn't do that." He giggled at her and smiled.

Adreanna grabbed Axel's left wrist without notice and dragged him to her side. The boy widened his eyes at the sudden movement and noticed that he had almost crashed onto a street light.

She sighed and patted Axel's head. "Look forward when you're walking."

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

Adreanna brushed the blood on her wrist with her red gloved hand. Today was the first time she worked without a mask right after revealing her identity a week ago. His boots clanked with the ground as she walked; there were bloodstains all over them.

She usually killed people clean without a mess. But since she could only kill her target just like what she had promised with Axel, she had to fight the others without a weapon. She might accidentally hurt them if she used her gun.

They had just come from the bakery again. The baker always gave them free cupcakes every time they got in there. Adreanna always wondered why. It was not like she did not have money, she was pretty rich after all.

Axel and Adreanna would arrive in their apartment a few blocks away. She was enjoying the walk with her youngest brother when suddenly her phone rang.

It would never ring unless it was from a family member. She did not even prioritize Zack's phone call. The last time she did, his phone call ruined her mission.

Axel took another bite from another cupcake as he watched Adreanna's phone with curiosity. She took out her phone and looked at the number with a sudden coldness freezing her entire ocean eyes.

Adreanna looked at Kiaran's name with an icy gaze and stole a few glances over to Axel, who seemed to not notice who's the caller.

She quickly picked up the call and brought the phone to her ear. There was a slight static before a familiar voice started to speak.

"Hello, my dear sister. How are you?"

Adreanna side-eyed Axel who was focusing on his cupcake with an innocent-like face despite the blood on his clothes. They were getting closer to the apartment in just a few steps. She should let Axel go inside first then talk more with Kiaran in private.

"What do you want?" She stated, straight to the point.

"Oh, nothing much. Just checking up on you." Kiaran huffed with a playful tone. "By the way, where are you right now? I'm inside your apartment, and I can't seem to find you."

Adreanna quickly dragged the back of Axel's cloak when the boy was about to get inside their apartment building. She pulled him away from the building at a quick speed.

"I'm at work." The assassin easily lied, still dragging the boy who was now staring at her with a confused look.

"Oh, what a shame. This handsome brother of yours really miss you, you know?" Kiaran whined, almost mockingly. "I'll wait for you to come home, then." He continued, faking the obvious false sincerity in his tone.

"No need." She dully said.

"Aw. That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" He talked as if her words actually hurt him.

"But I think you have something of mine." Kiaran's playful tone quickly turned into a frigid one. Adreanna gripped her phone as she glanced at Axel's questioning gaze.

A sudden dangerous aura formed between the two, erupting from the pair of older siblings without uttering a single word over the phone.

"Let's meet up tomorrow." Adreanna paused and tightened her grip on Axel's arm. "Eight o'clock. Morning." She continued, waiting for the other line to answer.

"Oh? Okay." His cold tone turned playful again as if it was never there. "See you tomorrow, then."

Adreanna was taking a gamble here. He did not know if they went back to the apartment right now would make sure that Kiaran was not there at all. They could not reserve a place either, police would notice it right away.

"Just a reminder." The mercenary chimed in, and Adreanna could hear the grin in his words. "-remember your place, Adreanna."

The once cold gaze inside her eyes had darkened. Her ocean eyes looked like a black void that could swallow everything up.

"Remember that I'm way superior to you despite everything." Kiaran continued, taunting Adreanna even more. "-and remember that you will always be alone."

"You think Axel, and you will stay forever like this?" He chuckled and did not even try to hide the mock in his words.

"Remember the real reason why mother died." He provoked her even more, digging into a conversation where he should not have.

Adreanna's phone cracked slowly as she gripped it harder. Axel's face had morphed into worry by this point, trying to find a way to calm her.

"Nothing ends well with anyone who ever had any relationship with you." He taunted, yet spitting everything like a fact.

Adreanna's gaze had gone fully dark by now, ready to kill anyone that touched a single hair of her. Yet her face stayed emotionless, and that was what made it more terrifying.

"-just like how your friendship with Maera ended."

Her phone had completely cracked by this point. Kiaran had not managed to even end the call when the phone smashed into pieces and fell from her red-gloved hand.

"Adreanna? What happened?" Axel put both of his hands on her arms, trying to calm her down. She looked over Axel for a very long time, letting the silence of the night surround them.

"Kiaran was the one who called me." She uttered the word, dropping the bomb right in the middle of nowhere.

Axel's worried face quickly turned into a terrified one, morphing into a haunted gaze that was staring at Adreanna with helplessness. "What- what's he saying?"

"He wanted to come to the apartment." She observed the boy's emotions like some kind of a television show.

"He- right now?!" Axel choked. The hands that were supposed to calm Adreanna were the ones that started to shake violently.

"Tomorrow," Adreanna answered, and Axel's eyes had become distant right after she said that.

"Axel," Adreanna grasped both of his shoulders, staring into his shaking blue eye. "I won't ever let him lay a finger on you."

"I promise." She tightened her grip.

"You promise?" Axel asked, and it was so broken. He asked like a kid who always got lied to by his parents.

She put up a pinky finger in front of him as she lowered her height a little to match with her brother.

Axel stared at it for a moment before looking back at Adreanna's face. "You know about it?" He asked, and a sudden chuckle came out of his mouth. "I don't know that there's this childish part of you, Adreanna."

A wave of warmness struck Adreanna when Axel's face had turned into his normal bright one. She felt the sudden weight in her heart had gone just by looking at him like this.

"Okay, pinky finger." Axel intertwined their pinky fingers. "Promise you'll stay by my side, forever?" He asked, and the moon world watched the pact made between the two broken siblings.

"I promise."

✵✵✵✵✵✵

In the end, both of them got back into the apartment past midnight. Adreanna was the first one to come in and scan the place. She noticed a cup that was probably used by Kiaran earlier and threw it into the trash.

When she had already made sure Kiaran was nowhere to be seen, the oldest Vergessene had to make sure the building's surrounding as well. You never knew what more tricks Kiaran had that was hidden in between his sleeves.

"I'm going out for some fresh air," Adreanna said as she went to the front door. The teen looked back at Axel one more time before she closed the door behind her.

"Don't sleep too late." Then the door was closed.

Adreanna started from the highest floor to the lowest one, eyeing every single corner for a possible scheme that Kiaran may or may not have made. She rushed out of the building and looked around again.

There was no one around except a guy who was creeping behind her right now.

Before the man could do anything, she turned around at an inhuman speed and stared at the man with two uninterested eyes.

"What a lady doing out here at night?" The man pointed a knife with his right hand to Adreanna's neck.

She did not answer the question and let the man's smile widen. A blast of wind blew Adreanna's hair that was covering her face a little and exposed her entire face to the man.

The man quickly staggered back at the sudden realization. He dropped the knife as he kept walking backwards from her. A frightened gasp adorned his throat when he stared at her wide-eyed.

"O-oh. You-you're the assassin." He tried to laugh and lighten the atmosphere. "Of course, of course! Everyone who lives here is a criminal just like me, eh?"

Adreanna did not utter a single sentence as she just stood there, like a statue. Everyone who was near her right now could feel the murderous intent that followed her like soldiers following their queen.

"I live here too, you know." He added, searching for a way to get out of the situation and trying to look anywhere but her.

"I'm just gonna- gonna go." He turned around and quickly walked away from her. But the sudden relief was only a mere second before he was suddenly pinned to the ground with his knife that he had dropped in Adreanna's hand.

"I promise my brother to never kill." She muttered, blue eyes shining brighter than the moon.

"I won't kill you." She continued, tilting her head and blocking the moon from the man's face. Her gaze was like a hunter that had found prey.

"But I have this feeling that's been bothering me. These voices that keep telling me to hurt something."

"To crush something."

She spun the knife in her hand as her eyes glowed even brighter, blinding and piercing. "I don't know what emotion it is, but I don't like it."

She dragged the knife from the man's hand to his neck. "Don't worry, I'll call the ambulance when I'm done."

A piercing cry rang across the city that night.