They sat the river’s edge, and as irritate as the little girl was, she never left the confines of her brother’s arms. She had thought about it so many times, the things she’d say, the questions she’d ask, yet, as they sat face to face, her words leapt not forth, nor did they leave her mouth.

She had sworn to herself that the thing before her was no longer her brother, yet still, she couldn’t muster the strength to stand, to push him away and make distance between them. Thus, she thought, if she wasn’t quite ready for her real questions, or rather, the answers, she’d ask superficial ones.

There was so much to ask too, she had been out for so long, where was she and what had happened to her. Where were the guides and what had happened to them?

It was a torrent of questions, and the more she thought about it looking into the man’s empty eyes, the more she wondered if she indeed did want the answers. She knew her brother and while it wasn’t quite the same, it was him, but the lack of his smile, even in the face of adversity, did worry her. As, after all that had happened, how could he be so content.

“Are you okay…?” The little girl’s first words.

“Nope…” He didn’t elaborate.

“Okay… so where… where is everyone else?”

“Dead, I killed them…” He did not stutter, nor did his eyes waver.

May’s heart sunk to her gut as the words cemented themselves in her head, but she’d trust him, he was all she had left after all.

“W-why—wait… do I want to know?” The girl’s heartbeat was riding a high yet again.

“I don’t know if you’d like to know, but I’ll tell you anyway. Those two were not the friends I introduced you to, not the ones I knew… you must have realized that through the way they treated you. Kim was no longer as soft and caring, and Brody was not going off on his stupid tangents… just because he could… they’d imitate it of course… but it wasn’t the same…” There was regret in the man’s voice.

“I… I’m going to need more than that. You do realize that you… that you—…” She didn’t believe it; she couldn’t say it to his face.

“That I killed them… yes…” Her brother finished her sentence.

“Yeah… S-so… t-tell me why…?” May’s eyes glossed over as she spoke.

“Okay… they were imposters. Their bodies were stolen by… ‘monsters’ let’s say, monsters that came from here. They took them over and pretended to be them, they wanted human bodies… and they took them. It is my fault though… if I was faster… I could have saved them… That is something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my time...” His eyes finally faltered and he was forced to look away.

At that point, May did not know where to begin, she was angry, but a weight was still dragging her down from the gut.

“Wha- what do you mean…? You’re telling me you left me with… ‘monsters’…? Is that—… is that what you’re telling me…?” The girl grabbed her brother’s face with both hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

“Yes… it was the only way to ensure your safety… if they were the ones escorting you… then the likely hood that you’d be discovered would go down… since most the others in here would think that you’d all have been possessed… It’s the same reason I didn’t kill them earlier… they were valuable… until they weren’t…” He forced his eyes to give her the decency of eye contact.

“I—… I don’t even know what to say to you… what if they had hurt me… killed me…? What would you have done…?” May’s hands had lost so much strength, they were beginning to slip.

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“The same thing I’ve already done… send them to hell… They’d never hurt you though, as you were their only hope of living…” He was going to give her the answers, whether she wanted them or not.

“Explain…” May’s head fell limp, she barely had enough strength to breathe.

“We all knew what they were… so I gave them a task to complete, and no doubt they thought that gave them a chance… and it did… and they wasted it… they didn’t want to give the bodies back… so I got rid of them…” Fragments of the past presented themselves to August, but he held his composure.

“’What they were…?’ What are you…?! And how could you kill them just like that… they looked just like your friends…?! Wha—” He’d interject.

“They were my friends… until the very end… they weren’t dead… I killed them… it was mercy. You have no idea what they were going through, but I do… and I couldn’t stand to know that and do nothing… even if it meant killing my own friends… my own family…” August was still trying to convince himself of his innocence.

“You’re a… what are you…? Answer me…” May wouldn’t let him avoid that, she had to know.

“Right now… I’m me… I’ll die soon, because as much power as I have come upon, I can’t exist at two points in time at once… I am an aspect of Fate… the one that weaves and mends reality, the one that is eternal, the one that is absolute… I am the aspect of truth…” There were no lies told by August.

“I don’t even know where to start… you’re leaving me too… you’re going to die too… and what will I have left?! Why…?” May clung to her brother, even though there was no warmth.

“This me will die… yes, but we’ll meet again… though on what terms… I am unsure.” He took a hold of his sisters face, forcing her to look at him, even as she cried. “Everything I do… I do for you… even that body, that monstrosity… I did it for you… after you—…” The memory of so long ago, years, was still vivid in his mind, and even with a dead body, he couldn’t quite say it all in one go. “After you almost died because of my pride… I have never forgiven myself… I already thought that it was my fault… Mom and Dad…. But then that… that truly would have been my fault… because I couldn’t even save you… from my own mistake…” He pulled his sister close, embracing her in a hug, hiding his bloody tears.

“It was then… from all that time back… they’ve been gone since then…?” The dots were starting to make a pattern in the girl’s head. “So what happened wasn’t an accident…?!”

“As I said… I’m an aspect of Fate, but we don’t necessarily get along, she’s rather annoying… and merciless…” His gaze would falter. “She’s selfish too… really… really selfish… and so, when I denied her what she sought after most from me… like the child she’s always been… she threw a tantrum... and what happened after that… is what you recall... With all this power I have… I still couldn’t save you… and I can’t bring back the dead… so I would have truly lost all I had left of my humanity… you… In the end, it all just seems… useless, all of it… everything I’ve done… everything I’ve been through… it all just feels… pointless… because through all of that… I came back from the dead… and I didn’t deserve that… why did I deserve a second chance… but not them… that feeling, it eats me alive… every painful second of every day… why me…? What have I ever done to the deserve this…?” August didn’t even realize he was still talking; it was almost like he was thinking out loud.

May didn’t interrupt though, because as much he had taught her how to be a decent human being, and had taught her how to properly articulate her thoughts and feelings, he didn’t practice what he preached.

Thus, that was basically the first time, in her entire life, that she had heard her brother’s unfiltered thoughts. She wanted to hear them, but the more he spoke, the more she realized why he had kept it all to himself.

She couldn’t even imagine his pain, she could only squeeze his cold body, knowing, that even that, was for her own sake. There was still so much more nonetheless, and maybe she could know more.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it all, she even knew that she couldn’t help him, but the least she could do, was listen. As, the more she thought about it, the worse it got. He had lost the love his life, and he had been forced to kill his own friends, that were basically family, all in the same day. Yes, she felt betrayed, yes, she felt lied to and deceived, but no amount of anger could cloud her eyes when there were so many tears coming from them.

All those times he smiled and laughed, all those times he put his sister before himself, she was beginning to realize how unfair it was, how heavy a burden it was. It was always strange, his behavior, but he was always a psychopath, not quite.

He was a normal kid, until he was diagnosed a psychopath, and then he slowly became one the more he worked with the council and their messengers. It was around the same time their parents died, and maybe, even when he died. May pushed her brother away, and not because she hated him, and not because she was mad, but because she wanted to look into those empty eyes, and apologize.

“I didn’t know… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…!” The girl would hold back her tears as she apologized, after all, it wasn’t about her.