Chapter 93 - Declaration Of The Play : Part 1

Behind his mask, Kiaran smiled at the news teller after he hijacked the entire channel. There were some people lying on the ground, passing out. Only some were still conscious, and they all did not dare to move an inch.

The said news teller cowered in fear, raising her hands in defeat at the sight of the mercenary. She trembly stared at him, trying to shove down the sob that started to form against her will.

"I'll take it from here." He commanded, and she quickly moved from her seat, running away from the mercenary.

"Don't leave the room, or you'll die," Kiaran stated without even staring at the woman who was about to reach the door.

She froze at his words and slowly turned around. Tears started to stain her cheek as she kneeled on the floor beside some of the people who were still conscious. She probably had a panic attack at the moment.

"Alright, you camera guy." Kiaran pointed at the guy with square glasses and nodded at the camera. "Turn the camera on, and the rest of you should make this a live station."

No one moved. Everyone just stared at him in fear. Some of them did not know what to do.

Kiaran rolled his eyes. "Are you all foolish, or do you just want to die?"

Everyone started to scatter around like mouses in a nest that had a cat in it—no, a lion would be more precise. They went to do their jobs, knowing that their lives were hanging by a thread.

"W-we'll go live in three," the glasses guy exclaimed, setting up the camera with trembling hands. "-two, one."

"We are live." He declared, and everyone started to watch the mercenary with sweats, fearing what he would speak about, what he would do.

"Good fucking morning, every citizen in Livedam city!" He spread his hands, ominously staring at the camera with glinting blue eyes. "It is I, your one and only mercenary, the machiavellian, your worst fucking nightmare."

"I hereby declare you, the long-awaited play, the coming soon entertainment you people will experience first hand." He exclaimed loudly, eyes full of glee as he madly stared at the camera.

"-The second season of the world burn."

Everyone in the room started to gasp. Some of them choked on their own tears. The camera guy even started to go pale to the point that he might pass out at any rate, just like the news teller woman.

Kiaran smirked behind his mask, tilting his head dangerously to the camera. "So please do enjoy the show. I insist."

✵✵✵✵✵✵

The television's screen cracked as Valerian threw the remote at it. "This motherfucker-" He gritted his teeth, staring at the mercenary's masked face on the camera that seemed like mocking.

Valerian was about to get angrier until he heard footsteps closing, approaching the living room.

Aster appeared from the corner with green eyes that were not as bright as it was before. "Val?" He croaked, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

Aster's eyes questioningly stared at the television before diverting his gaze to his brother quizzically.

"Hey. You rest well?" The lieutenant's face quickly changed into a resting face, softly staring at his little brother.

"Tch, I'm not a kid." Aster still managed to spit even though he looked like he hadn't slept for days. Which almost likely true because he kept having nightmares about Axel.

His eyes moved to the television again, looking at the news behind the cracking screen. "That's the mercenary? Another world burn?"

"...yes." Valerian gritted his teeth, trying to stay calm in front of his fragile little brother.

"You are fucking weird today." Aster slightly glared at him, frowning a little. "Usually, you would complain about the mercenary in front of me all day non-stop." He finished his sentence and went back to look at the shattered screen.

Valerian tried to smile. "I just don't feel like it."

"That's so not like you. Some demons might possess you right now. Are you sure you're not possessed?" Aster tried to joke, trying to lighten the situation that had been too depressing lately.

"You don't look scared about the mercenary's declaration." Valerian quickly changed the topic and dodged his little brother's question.

Aster's face quickly darkened. "No, not at all."

"I've been getting saved a lot in these situations, you know?" He chuckled pathetically and sighed. "-by a certain someone."

"Maybe I should've stepped in that day." Aster's green eyes became distant as he looked at the television. The memory of how Axel was surrounded by the people that cornered him played in his mind. The guilt started to choke him again. That's fucking annoying.

"I've been a damn trash to Axel, and I keep being that way until the end," Aster muttered quietly, avoiding his brother's pitying gaze.

"It's not your fau-"

"No, It's my fault." The youngest Edelweiss cut off the lieutenant right before he managed to finish his sentence.

"Axel is not the only one who had killed people, you know?" He smiled sadly, staring at his older brother with hopelessness.

"He killed people physically." Aster continued. A flow of guilt and fear adorned his green eyes.

"I killed people mentally."

Valerian's eyes widened as he opened his mouth to speak again, to tell Aster that it wasn't true. But yet again, the youngest beat him to it.

"I realized that after what happened to Axel." He trembled, eyes started to pathetically cry again as he had always done all night. The strong appearance that he had tried to build for years had shattered as if it was never there before.

"If I hadn't bullied him a lot, do you think-" He choked, trying to search for an answer in Valerian's surprised face.

"-do you think he won't be a murderer?"

Valerian gasped. Identical green eyes had become wide. "Aster, it's not-"

"It's karma, isn't it?" Aster yet again cut him off. Tears had been pouring like an unending stream. It was too pathetic. His parents would mock him for it. Valerian probably already did.

"It's my fault. I'm fucking useless. This is why- I can't even be bad or good I'm just a fucking useless piece of shit and-"

"Stop."

Aster suddenly got shoved by his brother for a hug. Valerian caressed his back and wrapped his hands around the boy's back. They were hugging as if the world would end soon, and it made Aster become a sobbing mess.

"Aster, stop. It's enough."

"I could have-" He sobbed, gritting his teeth at his pathetic cries. "I could have saved him from becoming a monster."

"I could have saved him from having that look in his eyes," Aster added, gripping the back of Valerian's clothes tight.

"All these times, I thought the look that he gave me was fear." He uttered truthfully, remembering how Axel would look at him every time he bullied the murderer.

"It was not. I was wrong." He confessed. The guilt was too much to handle. No matter how he tried to say that it wasn't his fault, he could not.

"That day, that's his real fear." He continued, remembering the look from the mismatched eyes that Axel gave to him. He placed it too well, like a record that would never break.

"And I'm part of the fear."

The look that Axel gave him before the day of his big reveal was the look of giving up.

The dark tears stained his cheeks as one of his blue eyes morphed into a crimson colour, like fresh blood that had been forming inside his eye. His pale face that usually gave in to any situations thrown at him, at any situations that Aster created for him, the look had vanished.

Axel had the same giving up look when he was forced to reveal his identity. He also had the same look when he bullied him. He had the same look when his family never attended any school activities that required a guardian.

Aster thought that the look would form again right then and there. He was used by it, knowing that it would happen. But that day, he finally saw the fear in his eyes.

It was fear of giving up. There was a fucked up determination in his eyes like he was afraid of losing something, losing someone. He was afraid of everyone turning their back on him.

Axel did not want to give up that day, and Aster just realized how everything was part of his fault.

Axel wanted to stay normal, and how Aster had just realized it. That was the reason why he was so afraid of telling Rune who he was because he did not want to give up on her.

But in the end, the fear slowly morphed into a gave in, and the boy vanished.

People always had a different point of view of everything that happened in front of their eyes. One could see dead people as a blessing or traumatizing just based on what they thought of themselves.

And that boy Aster saw what Axel had become as his fault.

A point of view could be deceiving, really. You would blame someone based on your beliefs and would support someone based on the facts.

But sometimes, the lines between the two were blurred. The world seemed to love to mix the good and the bad.

The world was cruel.. But the lines were crueller.