Cali was never a woman of dull mind, even when most her blade was hidden beneath cloth of distorted truth and fractured reality.

“Where do I know you from!? Answer me!?” She stood, and within moments, she had one of her many rifles in her hands.

“The past…”

“Don’t mock me! I don’t know you!? So tell me what the hell is going on?!” She aimed for his head, though her hands began to shake.

“If I told you—… let’s just say you’re forgetful… maybe you’ll remember one day… but today is not that day… and I don’t intend to tell you anything…” He’d finally find the strength to get up, though he still couldn’t stand.

“Why not…?” She’d lower her gun, her hands too unreliable.

“Because I don’t want you to hate me…” He’d shut his eyes for a few seconds.

“So you’re a coward…?” She struck, but not with a bullet.

“You… you have no idea… none… what it’s like to watch, over… and over…” His gaze drifted from her. “And you never will…” A drop of blood would well up in his eye, and cascade.

“You just said a whole lot of… absolutely nothing...! Those aren’t answers! I want! Answers!” She quickened her steps towards him.

He’d reciprocate her gesture, and she’d halt her assault, but as he approached that time, stumbling, she did not retreat, for he was too weak to be a threat, too weak to be afraid of. For it was her that had taken in the stray, and it had yet to hurt her, or even show malice.

In fact, it proclaimed grandeur of a past unremembered. He’d reach her in time, and taking hold of her, she almost assumed ill intent, until he hugged her. In that moment, her heart skipped so many beats she thought it palpitations.

She experienced feelings of the past, but no memories returned. In truth, it might have been assumed to be August’s doing, but it wasn’t, not really. It was a tale of two people, one in the same, that had been made to live different lives.

She had no time to collect her feelings still, as his strength inevitably failed, and she was forced to drop her weapon and lend him her strength.

“I do know you…? I do… so, why do I not remember…?!” A pain would present itself inside her head.

His words would not come still, as his mind was amiss, lost in the sea of power he should never have attained. As such, in that sea of darkness, her light returned, and so did her voice.

“Do you not hurt for her…? For what you are putting her through…?” The woman had left her clouds, and her darkness, but she brought her voice on the winds of the still ocean. “Do you not feel an inkling of regret after what you’ve done…? I left your emotions in your hands… and nothing…? You feel… nothing… How twisted are you…? How selfish can you be…?”

He’d be left pondering in the dark for a time, but soon his eyes would open again, but Cali wasn’t there that time, only May. She laid beside him, curled up like a ball of wool, eyes swollen from crying.

It was a fragment of a future that he had sought to toss asunder, but pain was ever present still, no matter the steps he took. He’d accept such a thing still, such a cruel existence, for if he had not hurt, or hated, would he love those he did, and would he seek to protect them, perhaps not.

The very existence of happiness, and even sadness, pain itself, they were all markers of life, markers of humanity. So, it was never about getting rid of them entirely, it was about learning to manage and live with them.

A thought he would have after all was done, and after he felt no real pain, no real sadness, no real happiness. If only she had showed him, if only he knew the value of what he had traded, the only thoughts, in his empty soul.

He’d toss his feelings aside still, as he still had a lot to attend to, and chief among them was his sister. He’d stand, the effects of leaning on an inconceivable entity finally fading.

Thus, he was free once more. He’d return to the fixture and resting his hand on his sister’s waterlogged cheek, he’d apply some pressure, poking her until she awoke. Her eyes opened with delay at first, until she saw who it was.

Her eyes propped open as she lunged at him, and holding on, her hold suggested that she did not want to let go. That, or rather, ‘it’, was a feeling in May’s gut she could not shake, a weight, an uneasiness that persisted even in slumber. As such, even as she had a hold of her brother, her heart continued to race, until he returned the gesture.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You’re okay…?!” Her grip became a choke hold.

“Not for long.” His powers persisted, but he was still human once in a while.

She’d quickly gather herself, slackening her grip, but refusing to let go.

“You we’re gone… for so long, you were gone… And mom and dad… off in the old world somewhere… I was alone… and then—” She’d let go, almost as if losing strength. “It happened, visions… they showed me you dying, over… and over again… and there was nothing I could do, say, try… that would stop any of it… and then the daughter of The Obsidian House brought you here, unconscious, bleeding… dying… and I had seen it happen… so many times before… So tell me it won’t happen again…!?” She draped him by his suit, even as close as it stuck to him, eyes a dizzy mess.

“No one knows what the future holds… and that includes me… but—” He took hold of her shaking hands, and resting his forehead against hers. “I’ll never let anything happen to you ever again… and that’s a promise.”

He looked into her eyes, but even with his hope, all he saw were the signs of a downpour. So, he’d spend some time with the little lad, reassuring her of his words. They’d walk out into that hall, and standing to echoing silence, they’d stare at the door at the end, neither uttering a word.

“That’s the room I’m forbidden from entering… until when?” Her heart would rest a burden on her conscience, one she could not place.

“Until… until mom and dad return.” He should have been fine, but that would have been no fun, for ‘her’ of course.

She took hold of it, caressed it, then wrung it dry as his mind and body squirmed lamenting his words and memories of dead dreams and love. August would find himself almost falling over as his emotions stirred a world wind inside, but he kept up appearances, even after the monster removed the crutch of her strength. The floor would lower soon, and the skies mirth would bleed into their beings, the familiarity of it offering some comfort.

“What did you do…?” His voice echoed in a mind not empty, on ears perked.

“I gave her a taste of our world… the pain we—”

“There is no we… I’m the only suffering here, and it’s because of you, so don’t make yourself a victim after all ‘you’ve’ done.” He’d grit his teeth behind sealed lips, grinding them.

“You’re right… you are the only victim here…” She had a realization.

It took not minutes, nor hours for her words to actualize, for her actions were immediate. August could feel it, but he had no dominion over it.

It welled up in his chest, a fullness and warmth unmovable, her power, her energy, then like a bubble, it burst.

The very foundations of the island shook, but no damage was done to the ground. As for those immediate, the construct they stood on had long shattered, and with Fate’s energy running wild, all technology was null.

Thus, August fell, still numb from the shock, and so, there was May, barely conscious plummeting to her demise. He reached for her power, but it was a hair’s width out of his reach, so close he could feel it, so close he could taste it, but far enough for him to crave it, to need it, but still, to never reach it.

“Fate!” His voice transcended his mind, and his rage entered the corporeal world. “What are you doing?! Stop this!?”

“No. Save her, your sister, do the impossible… oh wait, you’re nothing without me…” He could feel happiness well up within him, and so his hate raged a white flame.

He watched, body a rock, and every moment felt like a thousand as he watched all he had left plummet, every second leading to the inevitable.

“I’m not evil you know? Watch.” Her voice rung again, but her words were nothing to him.

From the corner of his eye, a figure would appear, gliding across the open sky, it took a hold of his sister, Cali, her tech was working fine, better than fine actually.

She’d spin, but as she headed for him, then, it would malfunction then, and she’d miss, his hand slipping out of hers. Her eyes lost all glow as their hands parted ways, and even as she flew away she reached for him, screaming, but it was all in vain. He was content though, May was fine, and if it was that future, perhaps she’d be fine without him.

“And you question why I feel this way? Monster…” He offered dialogue.

“Stop cursing me and brace yourself, this is going to hurt, a lot… and that’s if you live… I’ll give you back what I promised… let’s hope you use it well…” Her voice echoed, and he seemed to get heavier, so much heavier even the confines of sound broke, shattered.

He’d grit his teeth, realizing her intentions, and as the foundations drew close, he could feel flickers of her power, but nothing tangible.

He’d almost accept death before mere billionths of a second presented themselves, her powers returned, but he was already touching the ground. Thus, he’d solidify himself, but it wasn’t enough.

The sound he made when he hit the ground, the crash and break of a great rock from height, a crack just as loud.

The sound of his skull hitting the pavement reverberated throughout the streets and into the buildings, sending fractures throughout the glass. It split below him as he bounced, the ground.

His eyes would become pinballs as he drifted, though soon he crashed back down to earth, flat on his back, his conscious still lost to the obscure. He’d choke still, more blood from his mouth, then she shoved it back in, his conscious.

The pain was like a being underneath a city’s weight of razors piercing through one’s body, needles mixed in for good measure. His head pulsated from the inside, his brain that was moments form mush firing sparks in all the wrong directions and ways.

He could not move, in fact, he could barely think, all he knew to be true, was his hate.

“A reminder… you are nothing… ‘nothing’…! Without me… and never forget that…” She did not retreat to the dark of his mind, she stayed, for a while at least.

August would respond though, forcing his throat into working order with what little strength he could muster.

“H—…ha—… I… h-hate... you…” Blood would erupt from his face as he spoke, but he knew she was right.