Chapter Twenty-Two; Part Three

Sanda's P.O.V.

I stared at my brother, the greatest person I ever knew before this craziness happened. Straight A's, amazing athletics, a beautiful girlfriend, he had it all. But now he was on the ground, his body steaming, skin red and burned, covered in bruises, and bleeding from several places. It'd be a miracle if he were to live more than ten minutes, much less survive. "No... I didn't want this... Raito...get up...please..." Tears spilled from my eyes. "You're going to be okay... You have to be okay... We already lost mom and dad...and everyone else...and I lost you once... Please, I can't lose you again... Open your eyes Raito..!"

The steam coming from Raito suddenly turned pitch black, coming out of his mouth, nostrils, eyes, and ears. I stared at it, confused and weary. "What the hell is this..?" The black mist seemed to completely vanish with the wind. I looked down at Raito as he started coughing and muttering. I quickly knelt down, wanting to know what he had to say.

"Sanda...you did...a good job..." He coughed.

"S-Stop talking, you need to-"

He held up his hand suddenly, silencing me. "We both know...I'm not going to make it... So please...with what little time left...let me explain what the fuck happened..." He coughed up a bit of blood. My eyes darkened and I stopped talking, holding back tears and any noise I'd make. "There's no need to cry..." He reached up, wiping my wet cheek from the previous tears. "You freed me after all..."

The gentleness in my brother's voice had returned. I didn't sense any malice or killer intent from him anymore. I looked down at him, shocked to see the kind smile he always had back on his face. "Freed you..? I don't understand... You were just trying to kill me a second ago... Now you're the same way as always..."

Raito frowned, coughing again as he sat up a bit. "That...wasn't me..." He wiped the blood from his lips. "Not the real me..." I stared at him, confused, but stayed silent to let him explain. "I was conscious for it all... I remember every single bit of what happened now... That day, when we turned into Elementia, I thought you were dead. Then Atiyama appeared before me..." He paused. "Actually...come here... It'll be easier to show you... If I explain everything...I'll die before I finish..."

"What do you mean..? What do you want me to do..?" I asked in a mumble. He reached out for me. I hesitated, but slowly got a bit closer to him. He grabbed my head, gently pressing our foreheads together and sending a jolt through my head. My eyes glew, as did his, and he sent his memories into my mind in an instant.

1.5 Months Prior...

Raito woke up shortly after the giant blast that destroyed the town. I could see through his eyes and feel what he felt. I guessed that was something only people with similar elements could do. I watched, feeling his emotions, his pain, living through him as the memory played.

Hearing his thoughts, Raito had thought he was the only one to survive. He was too distraught to think clearly and question why our bodies weren't destroyed as well. It was then that Atiyama appeared out of nowhere. "Do not be frightened... This will all make sense very soon..." Raito turned to look at the man cloaked in shadows, weary of him. Just his presence made Raito shiver a bit. "Your brother is still alive as well...just knocked out..." Atiyama muttered.

Raito sighed, relieved. "Thank god..." He looked at me, smiling softly.

"Why does that make you relieved..?" He muttered again.

Raito looked back at the man, giving him a look of confusion. "Why wouldn't I be..? He's my brother, of course I'm happy he's alive..."

Atiyama tilted his head slightly, glancing at me, seeming genuinely confused. "But you have such a hard life... Your brother has it so easy... Don't you envy him for it..? Hate him for it..?" He then looked at Raito. "You have to deal with so much strife and hardship every single day...yet your brother has given up and even stopped talking to you entirely..." Atiyama stared at Raito, his eyes as dark as always. "Does that not make you hate him at all..?"

Raito glared at him, stepping back a bit as he grew even more weary of Atiyama. "Even if I do get jealous that my life can't be that laid back sometimes, I could never hate my brother. I don't know who you are or what the hell you want, but don't you dare insult my little brother like that..."

"That's all I needed to hear... Thank you Raito Aito... You'll be coming with me now...friend..." Atiyama held his hand out, the shadows encasing his body lashing out at Raito. Raito's eyes widened and he wanted to run, but he simply fell back, too weak to run. The shadows managed to grab him, entering his body anywhere they could. Raito yelled out in pain, tears pouring from his eyes as every awful memory he had played through his mind. One in particular that I didn't remember flashed through his mind: the same image of Raito as a young boy crying flashed through his and my mind at the same time, the one I saw when I activated my "Level Two", which is what that form soon came to be known as. However, that memory faded in a flash.

Raito's memories started only playing memories of me. My average grades, zero friends, no real talents, no girls falling for me, and my slow fall into who I became before becoming an Elementia; the me who gave up on ever becoming anything special, or even becoming anything at all. Raito's negative feelings for me began to surface. First pure sadness, then disappointment, jealousy, envy, anger, and finally rage. It all happened in an instant. I could feel the will to kill me welling up inside of him more and more, to the point where it was the only thing he really wanted to do. He wanted to kill me right then and there, but for whatever reason when Raito became free of the shadows that binded him, he was in a run down mill of sorts, with the other Dark Elementia and Atiyama.

"Your brother is still alive, but worry not, once you're fully trained...you'll be able to kill him without a problem..." Atiyama explained to him.

Raito, angered but understanding, slowly smirked. "Then let's get started already. He's fucking dead..."

After that, everything else played by in an instant; all of the training he did with the Dark Elementia, the fights he had with them, the first time he appeared in front of me and Akari with Atiyama, the training he did afterward, the day we were all attacked by the Dark Elementia again and him riding on the shadow ball that binded me all the way to our battlefield, him being revealed to me for the first time, him training even fiercer than ever before due to his failure at killing me, to the point he wrote the note and left it in my room, and when he finally lost to me.

Present...

When the memories faded, I was looking at Raito. I was filled with rage and anguish at the fact that Atiyama had corrupted my brother so we would be enemies, and tears spilled down my cheeks. If I had realized it sooner then maybe Raito wouldn't have had to die.

As if he could read my mind, which I later found out he actually could with our elements connected, he spoke up. "The only way to get rid of that darkness was either to kill me or Atiyama himself...or get him to do it willingly somehow, but that'd probably be impossible..." I looked at him, bewildered that he could read my thoughts so easily. He ruffled my hair weakly. "I should be thanking you...honestly." He smiled his gentle, warm smile. "You got rid of the darkness and turned me back to normal... That alone...fills me with happiness..."

He groaned in pain, more blood spilling from his lips, his hand slipping from the back of my head as he fell back. I felt our connection break as our foreheads separated, and that alone made my heart sting. "Big brother!" I quickly caught him before his head hit the ground.

He muttered weakly to me. "I have...one more thing...to share...before I pass... Connect with me...again...please..." I frowned, the tears threatening to spill from my eyes as I held his head and pressed my forehead against his for the last time.