23 years before The Split; October 2013

I walked through the small cluster of trees devoid of animal life, heading to the northwest corner of the fence completely surrounding the farm. It felt like every step I took, every second I got farther from Rowan, the forest tilted around me.

After… that day, Rowan and I were forced to relocate to this farm, and were living there ever since. Not gonna lie, it sucked. Farm life was never for me. But at least we could keep each other company.

I wish we had more time to… hang out. You know?

Yeah. I know…

It’s just, he’s the only thing that keeps me from thinking about my parents.

…

You sure that’s the only reason you like being around him?

No; you’re right. I just don’t want to fail them.

You won’t.

How can you—

They knew already you would make them proud. Don’t you trust that? I mean, your father was a brilliant man… it took you a lot of work for even you to call yourself smarter than he was.

Yeah… I guess that’s true.

I reached the northeastern corner of the giant fence surrounding our farm, then started walking beside it, quickly inspecting the walls for any signs of weakness.

Along the way, I occasionally glanced a mound of metal embedded in the dirt beyond the fence. These mounds of metal were designed to look exactly like brownish yellow anti-personnel mines, with slits running across from the top’s center across every direction of the top.

But, to restate, they were designed to look like mines. They were actually machine gun turrets, which would shoot up from the ground when the defensive system was activated; basically whenever the farm was attacked.

After about 15 minutes, I made it to the end of the fence wall, so I turned around and started heading to the barn house.

Alright… should I talk to Rowan when I go inside? I mean, sure, I like being with him, but I’m not sure I’m in the best state of mind right now. I… don’t think he’d want to see me in this state.

I may not know more about love compared to most people I know, but… I think he’d rather see you in a bad mood than not see you all, Pemo said, clearly having something else on his mind.

That’s dumb. He would hate to see me distressed.

Yeah, it sucks to see someone you care about is hurting; but if Rowan was always crying, nonstop, would you love him?

I… huh. That’s a good point.

I was within a couple feet of the red wood steps of the barn house leading up to the front door, with a rusted handle and broken glass on the top side of the door.

I pushed the door open, since the handle never worked, so we had to break the locks of the door to get inside. The door made a fairly loud grinding sound against the wood floor. The door was unable to move any further when it was open enough for a 6 inch long gap.

I slowly squeezed my way through, trying not to cut myself on any stray splinters we couldn’t catch and remove. Once I was inside, I turned to my left, seeing the living room… and Rowan inside, reading a romance book.

I wanted with all my heart to rush in there and tackle him with a sweet, warm embrace, but a single thought of my mother was enough to remove that possibility.

I turned to my right, to some stairs leading to the top floor. I walked up, grazing my hand along the railing on the right wall.

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Every single time I look at him… why do I see my mom? It’s never my dad, or both my parents…

I… don’t know. My only guess is that, well, it’s something to do with what you like about him.

I silently sighed, before making it up. I stepped below a hatch in the ceiling, which I pressed my fist against, with just enough force for the hatch to pop down, bringing down a wooden ladder connected to it.

I climbed up, bringing me to the attic. Inside, there was a long metal table halfway across the room from me, and, if I spread my body flat on the floor, the table would be almost twice as long as me. There were a bunch of maps and broken or disassembled pieces of technology on said table.

I walked past the table, to a box designed for containing children toys. It even had a cute little monkey across the lock, the top half on the top part of the lock, and the bottom half on the opposite side.

I took a deep breath, mentally preparing for what I was about to do. Then, I closed my eyes, and focused, waiting for red electricity to shoot out of the sides of the box. Then, a small rusted key appeared in front of me in mid-air. I snatched it before it could fall, and I unlocked the chest.

As soon as it was unlocked, the key split in half as the top part of the chest popped up with a distinct click. Taking a deep breath, I reached inside, and grabbed the two swords of creation.

I rested the swords on the palms of both my hands, slowly stood up, and walked back to the table before setting them down.

Staring deep in thought at the glistening metal of the blades, my heart started losing all sense of feeling. I felt a tear attempt to break through my eyelids, but I quickly pushed it back down before I could even sniffle.

“I’m… sorry I haven’t gone back to Creation town to find your remains… I just can’t. I’m too scared. I’m… a coward. I failed you… I’ve been a failure from day one. Your deaths were just what opened my eyes.”

An aching sensation built up in my throat. As much as it hurt, I would rather die then than let myself cry.

…

Red and green electricity shot out from the hilts of the blades, all going towards the same direction: a singular spot in the floor on the left side of the table. The currents of electricity quickly built up a man… an all too familiar man.

The man didn’t look like they had any skin or physical features, meaning this was an illusion or hologram of some kind.

“I knew you’d show up to mock me again… Robert.”

“Eh. I was bored. And from the looks of it, you need attention like the spoiled brat you are,” he replied, shrugging before he walked casually to the left side of the room.

Meanwhile

“No! Don’t! Please!”

…

“G-God dammit Jacob. Can you please just tell h-her how you feel already? Instead of being a c-closeted dick?” I said, before giggling as I rolled onto my stomach, kicking my legs up as I continued reading my book.

“Though he’s probably closer to confessing his feelings than I ever will be…”

…

A black oily tendril shot out from between the ceiling fan and the ceiling, causing the fan to snap off and smash through the wood floor. I leapt back, landing on the back of the couch like a cat.

The tendril slithered down to the floor, and as soon as it made contact, the half of the tendril in the ceiling snapped back to the other half, before it formed a puddle heavy enough to make the floorboards creak.

After a moment, the floorboards started snapping, as a black figure rose from the puddle, which slowly changed into lighter shades, until they turned into my father.

“H-Hello…”

“Hello, my second born son!” Robert waved.

When nobody said anything else, he turned around, staring at the window across from the couch.

“How goes things with Steve?”

“It’s… g-going well. S-Steve might be wanting to a-ask me out soon.”

“As expected. The only thing that desperate survivor has is love.”

…

“D-Do we have to be doing t-this?”

…

“I really hate mustaches,” he said, ignoring me.

“F-Father?”

“Oh, right.”

My father spun around, smiling like he usually did. Though, there always was something… off, about his smiles. I always assumed he was just planning something similar, but I could never know for sure.

“Of course you do. It’s who you’re meant to be. There’s no escaping destiny… Modsil knows I’ve tried.” He began to look up at the ceiling.

“H-Huh?”

Father took a deep breath.

“Never mind that. I was an idiot. Too stubborn to accept why I am for my own good…”

After a long silence, my father glanced at me, then turned around, knelt down, and grabbed my shoulders as he stared me dead in the eyes; his normal smile disappearing.

“Look, son. I need you to promise me something…”

“I-I…”

“No matter what happens, no matter what you are told… stick to a side. Whether it be against or with me, as long as you’re completely loyal to what you’re doing. Don’t end up like me. Constantly doubting yourself…”

Then, his smile returned, and he let me go, before saying “By the way… you may want to go check on Steve.”

Immediately after, a howl of anger and pain came from upstairs. Instincts kicking in, I spun around and rushed up the stairs, reached the attic ladder, and climbed up it faster than I ever climbed or would climb up a ladder.

Then, I spotted Steve, on his knees, sobbing. I didn’t even think. I just grabbed him in my arms, letting him squeeze my waist as hard as possible. It didn’t even hurt…

“Shh. Shh. It’s okay. I’m here.”

“I-I… he sniff showed up again…”

“You don’t have to tell me what happened. Don’t even think about it. I’m here now. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

And, right there, I knew what I was meant to do. My destiny… would be the same as Steve’s. No matter how far away we were from each other, no matter what happens, we’d always be a unit.

*sobs*