Chapter 106 - The Rewritten World Burn : Part 4

Axel made his way first to Adreanna right when the glasses opened, earning cooed of interest from the blindfolded men.

Axel touched the roots and made them disappear with his power. He quickly caught his sister when she was released from the hold, slowly helping her stand up.

"Why did you save me?" She said, staring at him with her usual emotionless face. However, something was starting to flash between her eyes, something that Axel could not quite understand.

"I promised, remember?" He easily answered the question and brought Adreanna out of the room.

"You could've saved them both by sacrificing me." She added as Axel led her where he was chained up before.

"Funny. Father said that too." He chuckled and flashed one last smile at her. "Don't worry. I've got this."

Kiaran eyed the boy as Axel slowly went past his room and came to Cain's room instead. The mercenary's mouth was being sealed by the roots while staring holes at his little brother who slowly vanished from his sight.

When Axel got inside Cain's room, the head of the Vergessene family couldn't help but widen his eyes and try to shout at his boy. The roots were still holding him down and shutting his mouth, so he could not do anything.

Axel formed a reassuring smile and touched the roots with both of his hands. The black roots slowly vanished from Cain's body as the man landed on the floor with a soft thud.

The man's blue eyes started to form a fit of anger. "Why are you saving me?! I told you to save-"

"Run outside the room on my cue. I have a plan, father. Don't worry. I will save Kiaran." Axel whispered, staring at his father with determination in his eyes.

Cain quickly snapped his mouth shut and nodded slowly. He raised his eyebrows when the boy slowly disappeared from his sight, becoming invisible.

When Axel disappeared completely, Cain took it as the cue and ran as fast as possible to the outside room. He quickly diverted his gaze to Kiaran's room and found his two sons inside.

"Tithonus, what are you doing?" The mysterious man chimed in, tilting his head in Axel's direction.

"What? There are still two people in the room, right? You can't kill my brother yet. The rule is the last person in the room will be killed when he's finally alone." Axel shrugged at the man, softly glaring at the two mysterious men.

"And you knew it'd end up this way anyway." The boy was still staring at the blindfold, pretending that he saw right through the man's eyes.

"We'll see if it's 'shit' after we reach the end, Tithonus." Axel copied the man's words from before, coldly gazing at him. "That's what you said."

"You knew it beforehand." Axel turned around and slowly released Kiaran with his power. The older gracefully dropped to the floor and brushed the specks of dust on his trench coat.

"You both will die if you try to get out of the same times." The man behind it all reminded.

"I know," Axel replied and sighed, letting Kiaran walk in front of him.

Kiaran flashed a winning smirk at the man who ruined his play. "Maybe your plan is shit after all."

The blindfolded man stayed silent for a while and returned the smirk. "Oh yeah?" He paused, earning a chuckle from his counterpart. "Look behind you, Kiaran."

Kiaran quickly turned around. He was not given the time to react when Axel suddenly kicked him out of the room.

The time slowed down when Kiaran got thrown away. His blue eyes widened in realization when he watched Axel's knowing smile.

This boy's plan was this?!

"No-" Kiaran did not have the time to scream when he suddenly bumped onto the wall and choked.

He quickly got up, ignoring how his head started to bleed from the strong kick. "This wasn't supposed to-" Kiaran sputtered and tried to catch Axel.

But the glass was already closed, and Axel was already bound by the roots, locking his wrists and legs, spreading the boy wide in the air, making him not being able to move even an inch.

Everything was happening too fast.

One second, Axel was kicking Kiaran out of the room. The next second there was a heavy pain, a rust sharp black arrow found its mark on the boy's heart.

Oddly enough, the pain felt really dull. Maybe it was because he had felt it before, being stabbed in the chest. Something was splashed from his chest, and he could see the red on his clothes.

Blood quickly tried to fight its way out of his throat, making it pour down from the restrained boy. Axel inhaled slowly, trying to calm his body down.

"Axel? What are you doing?" It was surprising that Cain was the one to speak. Everyone was still processing what had just happened. Adreanna and Kiaran froze in their place, unable to move, just like Axel.

"I could choose two," Axel explained in between the blood staining his lips. "That means I could choose one to sacrifice."

"They didn't say anything about me not participating in this." Axel laughed slightly, finding his daze to meet with Kiaran's. "I'm pretty smart, eh?"

No one answered for a while. Every single family member was frozen in shock. Because they never thought that the event would turn out like this. Because why would Axel do this?

Cain was the first one to react as he started to shoot the glass. When it did not work, he tried to break it with his body, throwing himself at it a couple of times.

"...what are you doing? get out of there." Kiaran walked toward Axel mindlessly. He clenched his fists and threw a punch to the glass. "Get the fuck out of there."

Adreanna began to tremble when Cain tried to break the glass again. She did not know what to do. Her eyes kept staring at the arrow in Axel's heart, and she did not know what to do.

"But I'm a nobody." Axel's words made the three stop breathing. "If I die, it'll be like I was never there."

"But if any of you die, it'll leave a big impact. Because you're somebody in my life." Axel croaked and coughed another handful of blood.

"I just- I just want to rest so." Axel trembled, eyes getting sleepy while still trying to stay awake for a moment.

"Okay. You can rest later." Adreanna tried to smile just like he had asked earlier. It was like a panic move, she just formed it quickly from the adrenaline that started kicking in her bones.

Axel's words were the only thing that rang in her mind, and she needed to smile.

"Your smile is pretty. You should smile more." Axel stared at Adreanna in a daze. Everything started to go dim. It was not as bright as before.

"I will, I will smile. So keep your eyes open." Adreanna finally moved and touched the glass with her red-gloved hand. Cain tried to shoot at the glass again, causing the bullets to bounce back. It was helpless.

"You know when you were younger, you loved it when I told you stories?" Kiaran took over the conversation. He clenched his fists to the point that they bled, staining his black gloves.

A crack started to form from Axel's heart, spreading to his neck. It went like broken glass, beginning to tear the boy's skin away. They spread like bugs, crawling in the skin, cracking it away.

"Mmm-hmm." Axel hummed. He showed a genuine smile to his brother. "You said when I reach seventeen, I can tell my own stories."

In a dying bed, in the middle of losing his own life, he seemed to forget all the bad things his family had done to him, just like that. The manipulation, the fear, the hatred, the boy did not care.

"Yes, I want to hear your story, so keep your eyes open." Kiaran pleaded, begged. "Keep your goddamn eyes open. I'll find a way. There must be a way. I should have a plan, so please, just wait for me."

The roots kept holding Axel up, spreading all his limbs to every corner of his room, as he faced his family. It was as if Axel was being put into a theatre where the audiences were his own family. A theatre of his death.

He kind of like this play, though. Seeing all his family worried and caring about him made him feel like he was wanted.

He loved this moment.

He couldn't help but wonder if his counterpart had a nice death too. He wanted to apologize to him when he met him in the afterlife.

"I would..." Axel coughed, and more blood trickled down his jaw. "I would love a hot chocolate from you."

His father's counterpart had made him one before. But he never got to ask Cain to make it for him. He never had the courage to.

Maybe he should've been braver. He was naive, after all.

Cain put both of his hands on the glass, desperately clawing to it. He wanted to speak, he wanted to utter a word at his youngest. Why couldn't he-

"Father will make it for you, just like he makes it for me," Adreanna vowed. "When we are home, you can drink as many as you can. Cupcakes too. I'll give you everything."

"But-" Axel chuckled a little. "But Kiaran burn the house down."

"We'll rebuild it together." Adreanna still tried to keep her smile, reassuring the boy, making him forget all the pain he was feeling right now.

"Together?" Axel whispered, finding his voice getting weaker.

"Yes, together, son." Cain finally uttered a word as he rested his bleeding hands on the glass. He finally smiled at Axel, and it made the boy grin, beaming at his father.

"Okay. That's nice." He chuckled again, and tears started to fall down from his eyes.

Did it take death to feel happy? Ah, what would happen to them? They would be okay, right?

Axel was just taking some rest after all.

He looked at the three one last time. Adreanna was still smiling despite the tears in her eyes. Ah, she cried. She shouldn't cry. But he heard that a person would feel happy after they felt sadness.

He hoped that she would find happiness after this.

Axel did not realize that Kiaran was just staying silent at him while smiling. There were also tears that were threatening to fall. It seemed like he was still good at holding it. The older patiently watched Axel. Was his brother trying to comfort him by staying composed?

He hoped that he had repaid Kiaran enough for all he did for him, whether it was fake or genuine. Though in death's entrance, everything manipulation felt true.

His gaze finally landed on his father. His father was smiling at him. Hey, look, his father was smiling! He was smiling.

Ah- he was smiling for him.

He hoped that his father would feel relieved that he had finally disappeared from his life.

Axel made his smile even wider for the three, ignoring the cracks that had touched his left eye, slowly shattering his skin.

"Thank you." Axel breathed. Another crack was made and finally covered his whole body. "I'm sorry, I..." There was too much to say. He had so much left to say—forgiveness, warmth, love, assurance.

He couldn't talk later. He couldn't talk because he would never wake up again. He wished he could tell them when he made it to seventeen. Axel finally got to rest for a long time.

The boy closed his eyes with roots holding him instead of his family. The crack adorned his skin, showing how broken he was right now. His three family stood in front of him, watching him withering in silence.

For the first time ever, the Vergessene family lost a mission.

And a member of their family.