“So that's what happened.”

Annabeth sat beside Amy in a field of green, overlooking the sight of a garden, similar to that of the garden Annabeth had on the eastern continent. The overwhelming information she just received from Amy shocked her.

She kept trying to process the information he just heard, and yet she found it a little hard to believe. Imagining Cosmo Le Strange, the holier than thou crown prince of the Le Strange family, who had a diamond spoon both metaphorically and literally, enduring such hardships and torture voluntarily(kind of) was hard to believe.

She had mixed expressions and thoughts about her brother's experiences. For one, she knew that she had to get Cosmo out of this continent as fast as possible, there was no need for him to suffer this much, since back home, there was no need for him to even lift a finger.

Spoiling him to an egregious degree, she knew, was bad in and of itself. She and along with their parents tried not to spoil him, like instead of giving him a diamond spoon, they just gave him a golden spoon to eat with. And when they did do it, Cosmo didn't seem that bothered by it.

It didn't even matter to him whether it was a diamond or not. But eventually, they reverted to giving him the diamond spoon. Annabeth remembered that Mother thought Cosmo was just being strong and acting in a way that he didn't want them to worry.

So stricken with a sense of guilt, their mother put it back to the way things were and more.

Annabeth sighed, wondering how on earth Cosmo survived this long. She had never even seen him work hard on anything, and yet now, to see him able to endure her pressure to such an overwhelming degree shocked her. Annabeth had no words to describe what sort of feeling she was having.

“Cosmo… He will be fine.”

Startled, she looked beside her and saw Amy, the forest-eyed person that Cosmo was somehow able to befriend. Amy was looking over the vast expanse of flowers, her thoughts unknown with her opinion on the situation mixed.

“He will not. He's my weak, spoiled little brother who barely put his clothes on alone back home. He is not to fit in this continent.”

She paused, remembering the story that Amy just told her. There was another feeling of wanting to refute, no, not believe the story she told. It was too unbelievable, myth-like even.

“You are afraid.”

“Afraid? Afraid of what? You? You seem to be mistaken.”

Annabeth's aura started climbing, her aura strengthening, and solidifying. She stood up and looked down at Amy. She tried to look tough but Amy saw right through it. Amy opened her mouth and said.

“You are afraid of Cosmo not being the little brother you once knew.”

Annabeth's rising aura popped like a balloon, slipping away as she finally realized why she was all frazzled up. She weakly sat back down and looked up at the sky with a blank gaze. Finally knowing what exactly she was feeling.

Fear.

‘Cosmo he- he is too different’, she thought.

She felt that Cosmo still might seem a little silly and stupid at times, yet she felt there was something different about him. She looked back to the moment she first saw him.

Cosmo walked with a confident yet cautious gait, observing his surroundings, cautious of anything and everything around him like he was in a foreign environment. And in fact, he was.

To make it worse, he carried two hybrid swords with him, its aura even more perplexing and alien. It had a hint of something that did not belong to this continent, she even had a feeling that it didn't belong to this plane of existence.

His eyes, too, were different. There was a look of boldness she found in his gaze, a look of will and determination. Like he was a man who had experienced countless trials and tribulations, and from what she heard, was true.

He seemed just different. At first, she wasn't even sure she was his brother. Annabeth was only sure when she saw the robe he was wearing. A sky blue robe with plum blossoms was designed at the edges of it, a design that only one person in the eastern continent was allowed to have.

Eventually, she approached him, and the moment he did, still unsure if he was her brother, was then sure that it was indeed her brother. Cosmo seemed to revert to an infantile state, going back to a meek, submissive attitude like the one he previously had before.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Thinking that he hadn't changed at all, or maybe she only thought that because that's what she wanted to believe. Refusing to see the reality in front of her. The reality of her little brother, the Cosmo Le Strange she once knew was no longer the same.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, feeling the silence in the air. She decided.

Snapping her eyes open, she stood up and approached Cosmo. She kneeled beside him, observing and looking at him for what seemed like an eternity. She held out her hand, caressing the long locks of hair, feeling it becoming rugged and uneven.

“You need to wash your hair more…” she whispered gently under her breath.

Eventually, she pulled back her hand, took some things out from her pockets, and placed it in the pockets of his robe. Thinking that he might need it later on. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even a few years later, but soon.

For when he eventually decides to go home, it will be when he wants to. Instead of being forced to. Oh and of course, a nice little surprise for him if he ever gets in a bind.

She smiled and stood back up.

“Big sis…”

She was about to turn back and say a few words to Amy when she heard Cosmo mutter something in his sleep. The smile on her face turned a little sad, and for one last time in what was going to seem a long time, knelt back down and kissed Cosmo on the forehead.

“Goodbye little brother, we will meet again when the time comes. But for now, you may go off into your adventure. I'll deal with our parents.”

She giggled for a bit under her breath and proceeded to turn to Amy. Still, with a smile on her face, she said one last thing before vanishing.

“Take care of him or die.”

Then she was gone.

Amy looked on with an indifferent expression, yet her eyes betrayed otherwise. A little helpless what seemed it was.

“These two… are siblings. Shameless.”

…

In any situation where I had to risk my life to get out of a snag, I had to be creative with how I did things. Muscling it way through just with the use of my abilities, though I prefer to do it that way, was sometimes not a very good idea.

Especially in cases where the opponent is stronger than me. Simply slashing at them again and again with my sword would only annoy them further. The latest example is when I fought against the giant monsters at sea.

I still remember that moment. I didn't even get to do any damage to the monster and yet, that thing threw me through the air so fast I thought I would be dead mid-air.

Out of all the times I have been thrown into and through the air, that time still stung the most. Maybe because my everything, and by everything I mean EVERYTHING, was broken. The only reason I survived was because of Mr. Lucius.

Moving on from that traumatic experience.

Thinking of solutions to my current predicament has been an almost daily occurrence in my life. More so because the sheer amount of training I have to go through is literal life and death. Yet somehow I became somewhat numb to it. Death still terrifies me though.

Now, to the problem of my sister kidnapping me back to the eastern continent. A sentence I would have never expected pre-arrival here to utter in my entire life.

Well, I got nothing. Life will figure itself out…

You are so optimistic sometimes Cosmo

‘Indeed.’

“Yes I know, that's why I'm awesome. But shut up both of you.”

There was a strange situation at that moment. While I was pondering mid-air, in the middle of a pitch-black place, there were somehow, for some reason, two other ‘people’ here. I still have no idea who they are.

Oh dear me, somebody grew a pair while I was gone.

The white shadowy ghost, blurry in form, giggled as he held his face with his hands. Let's find out who they are first and why are they in my head.

“Who are you two? I don't remember inviting outsiders into my head. Well, maybe except Mr Lucius.”

‘Idiot.’

I know right? It's hard to believe he survived this long

“Wha- I'm not an idiot! And hey answer my question, who are you two?”

Two ghosts(?) floated before me, one was well, kind of a literal ghost, his form translucent and completely white while the other was pitch black, his eyes blood red, floating in complete silence. He was in complete contrast to the white ghost who kept laughing beside him.

Some might think he was insane. No, I think he is still very much insane.

Hmmm well, let's see, I'll give you a hint. Take a look at our clothes.

Listening, I looked closer at their clothes, and though their form was blurry and transparent like glass, it had a strange resemblance to someone familiar. Someone very familiar who is very close to me. Like someone who I spent all my time with.

I held my chin as I pondered, still piecing together all the clues available to me. I looked harder at the two, cross-referencing them and pairing them up against each other. So much so, that I felt my eyes were bulging out from their sockets.

Yeah, I got nothing. I stopped looking closer and proceeded to ignore them both. Thinking hard about who they are and why they are here is wasting my time. I can solve this later when I finish the affair with my sister.

I plopped onto the ground, though it was hard for me to call it the ground, and thought of my situation in the real world.

We are doomed

‘Indeed’

I pretended to not hear their words, yet even when I was pretending, I was still hurt by their words. Like the one they were leaning towards was to me. I don't know why though.

All of a sudden, I felt their presence disappear, gone like a wisp of smoke. Outwardly I acted like I did not care, but in reality, I cared a lot. I was curious about who they were and why they were here. Heck, I even have questions about why they have a strange resemblance to me.

Then it struck me.

“Their-”

Without even asking my say, I was pulled out of my mind and felt a monumental force tugging me up to the surface. Like a giant pulling me out of the water, my eyes snapped open as I sat up straight.

Not questioning it, I looked around frantically for a certain person who was still certainly very mad at me right now.

“She's gone,” said Amy.

Bewildered, I stood up and did a few rounds of patrolling the place. I cast {Lightning Movement} god knows how many times and still, she was nowhere to be found. I was shocked.

“She left, saying some things, and said that you are on your own Cosmo.”

“Oh um okay.”

Finally, she left me alone for once in my life. No more dragging me away from school or preventing me from swimming in certain areas. I was free.

But why do I feel a gaping hole inside my heart?