A Chat With Sue

Chapter 2

"I don't remember Shawna all that well but I do remember that she was literally our only friend. She was a kind and friendly soul to everyone in the castle. She called me, Flora, Ricardo and even Dawn friends. It's a real shame that she's now deceased. How did she die anyway?" asked Sue curiously.

Sue handed Fei a rag and he wiped my face with it. Fei sighed with new tears forming in his eyes. He jumped in my sister's arms and screamed as loud as he could. Fei used Sue's body to lessen the noise squeezing her tight with a hug.

Sue placed her hands on his brother's head and gently patted him. Fei stayed in her arms screaming and crying for five minutes before he stepped away from her. "Heheehe I can't believe you see Shawna inside your big sister. You're starting to make me worry" said Sue teasingly.

"Huh, did you just read my thoughts just now" Fei asked upsettingly. "Yep it seems like you forgot that my gift is that I'm a psychic. Far better than talking to the wind all day" said Sue bluntly.

" I just glanced your memories too. You've been through a lot of shit in just one morning you know. I feel your pain. You practically killed Shawna yourself" said Sue with a straight face.

"What! I would never do such a thing. It was, it was....."

"Good I'm glad you shut up. You practically forced her to go the castle with your gift of wind. If you just respect her wishes and broke up she would've still be alive right now" said Sue.

"No, so it's my fault then. Ricardo killed Shawna" Fei said softly consumed with disparity. "If only I didn't force her there. I was being selfish again. I just proposed to her last night too" Fei said depressingly to himself.

"Moments like these reminds me why I can't stand Sue sometimes. When something bad happens she points out things that makes you feel guilty" Fei thought to myself.

"That's just who I am. There's no way I'm going to let you give Ricardo all the blame. Knowing him he probably is going to punish himself for what he did" said Sue.

"Stop listening in to my thoughts. That's cheating!" Fei shouted.

"Just like sending Shawna to the castle using your powers instead of trying your hardest to convince her to go" said Sue .

"Ricardo and you are responsible for her death" said Sue.

Those words cut a deep wound in Fei's chest. He almost couldn't recover. "I brought Shawna to her death? That sounds fake. If I knew this was going to happen I wouldn't have brought her there ever."

"Even if I brought her in they could've had their important discussion somewhere private, or they could've negotiated with her like they did with Sue. They could've imprisoned her with me forever. They didn't have to kill her!"

"Why the hell did she had to die!"

"Death should've been the last thing that should've happened not the first. My siblings even considered her their only friend that isn't a royal why the hell would they allow this to happen?! Why the hell didn't they tell me about their dark secrets about extracting souls from people I would have been way more careful damn it!"

The more Fei think the less guilty he felt. "I wasn't the one that killed her. "It was Ricardo said Fei strongly. "Ricardo right. Yes of course he's the one that dared to sliced my girl's head off right in front of me right after torturing her to a point she couldn't speak". "I heard that he chopped her in the neck. All those whip marks didn't just appear on her skin out of nowhere. I bet he whipped her" Fei thought to himself.

Sue heard every last word that was running through Fei's mind and tried her best not to laugh because she knew if she did they probably going to have a fight or her scheme won't work.

"Hmmm Fei talk to me" said Sue.

Fei looked at Sue and told her how wrong she is. "I will not take any responsibility for my girlfriend's death. It was my father, my brother and all of them at that castle that did it". "I swear I'm going to find Ricardo right now and murder his ass while he might still not have the will to fight back" Fei said angrily.

Sue clapped her hands and said " Great if you want your revenge then you could help me". "Help you, what are you planning on doing?" Fei asked. Sue folded her hands and started humming.

"What do you think I was doing the past five years? Idling, making love, gambling? No I was plotting a Take Over. This year is the year I take control of this country. What do you say Cj? They have done the unspeakable to you. I assure you if you help me out you won't regret it" she said holding Fei's hands.

Fei was surprised to hear this suddenly from the sister he thought have died until now. He pushed Sue off of him and shouted "Before I give you an answer. Explain yourself first! What have you been doing and what did you do to disappear from the family. I want to know everything. I can't trust family anymore, not after what just happened".

Fei looked around his surroundings and thought it would be safer to talk at a more private location like outside of town. Fei mustered up enough energy to fly both himself and Sue up in the air and went to the northern borders of Territory III where no one ever visits because of the abandoned mines.

The two siblings sat in front of each other and stared for almost a minute before Sue said something. "My answer better be damn good for you to help me out. I can tell without having to read your mind" Sue sighed.

"Talk to me. Start from the beginning" Fei said seriously.

"For years I thought about how we would reunite and I didn't expect this at all. I expected us to have a cold drink in a bar or something since you are legally of age now" Sue said disappointed. "No idle chat! I don't have time for that!" Fei shouted.

"I have known about the secret of our family since the day I was born. My gift gave me the ability to read minds so the moment I understood human speech I knew the harsh truth. I knew it at such a young age it didn't faze me like the others. I was just a young girl and didn't understand much at the time anyways. All I cared about was playing with my toys hehehe" Sue laughed.

"You knew all along! Did you make father know immediately?" Fei asked curiously.

"Yes of course I told him. He told me not to tell the other siblings or anyone for that matter and I agreed to his request. Sadly he did not believe me since I was just a child. He thinks that kids don't know how to keep their mouths shut so to keep it safe I wasn't allowed to leave the castle until my other siblings were aware of the secret about stealing souls" said Sue moving her head back and forth.

"I wasn't aware of the secret until today. My father said that you are the reason why I was never let in on it. Why and how did you convince father not to tell me such a family secret" Fei said eager to know.

"Since I have the power to read minds I find it easy to blackmail people if I want. When I was around seventeen I was watching you and Ricardo's progress with the wind. You two were fighting each other over the last piece of pancake that I made. I doubt you remember that" said Sue.

"How is that relevant?" Fei asked.

"You ended up winning the fight over the pancake but Ricardo started crying for it. His tears hurt you more than any wound he inflicted on you and you quickly gave it to him so he could shut up" said Sue.

"So I was soft to my big brother. What of it!" Fei asked.

"Quit interrupting jeez. I was watching the whole thing and were reading your minds while doing so. That's the first time ever I regretted reading someone's head. Inside your head was full of good and righteous thoughts it was honestly scary. You were young but not so young to be thinking so purely. I will make everyone smile. Family, my people and even outsiders. What's the point of you being the only one who is happy. That is what you said. I remember it as clear as day. I immediately thought about you being king. Your influence would be healthy for the world" said Sue seriously.

"Recall that I have been reading minds since the days I understand human speech so I learned about how cruel human kind is at an astonishingly young age. We are terrible, we never try to remain balance. It's either we're too bad or too good you know. Your thought process that day was the first for me. It startled me. Better yet it had me worried for you a lot" said Sue crossing her legs.

"That sounds like me alright. The wind taught me that I should be selfless like him. So I was trying my best to do so at the time" Fei said starting to remember his childhood.

"But now you are selfish enough to decline your father's request to become Territory General. You have changed" said Sue.

...…

"The wind said change isn't wrong. If I continued to be selfless I would have broken down psychologically" Fei stated.

"That's true but at the time when I read your mind I was determined keep you in the dark about killing our citizens. I was afraid of what that information would have done to you. Because of my powers Father had no trouble listening to what I had to say because I saved him many times in the past with it. I am not sorry for what I did. I know what I did to you was unfair but I am not going to lie. I have no regrets at all. That day is one of the few days when I actually heard something I liked" said Sue sincerely.

"You need to understand that hearing someone's voice from the outside is completely different from reading their minds and emotions deep down. You can't even compare the two" Sue added.

"Okay I wont dwell on the past but about our family's secret. I still don't understand it all that well. I stole some documents from a basement but it still doesn't quite stick. Why are we stealing souls and keeping them locked in the basement of all places?" Fei asked confused.

"Umm, Our father's gift is to add years on to his life span by consuming souls you see. It is a terrible gift passed down by the blessed warrior Tate Ryouque. Father fears death more than anything else I'm afraid so he's using those souls to extend his life. The dream he wants to accomplish is impossible to complete in one life time" said Sue.

"So that's his Gift! I asked him many times but he had never told me before. Extracting souls from others is not what you call a gift. That's poison. What dream does he want to fulfill that he had to go so far to kill people" Fei said finding Sue's words hard to accept.

"He wants the entire world to be one country or something like that. It's so crazy that I faintly remember it. Conquering Xang, Aprodite and Espoira, by doing that he basically have the whole world under his rule or something. He is planning on making Ricardo on being the future of king of Abyss but that role is doesn't matter to him. What he really wants is to be the king of everything" Sue explained.

"For some reason I don't feel all that surprised anymore. Father never knew the meaning of boundaries even after being an old hag. He should be chilling and watching television instead of chasing after a stupid goal" said Fei.

"He extracted hundreds of people's lives annually and blame the mysterious deaths on murderers and thieves. The worse part he doesn't take souls from people of the Abyss Kingdom but the small islands that are owned by us. This is all I have to say Fei. If you don't feel like helping me take control of my kingdom even after telling you all that you better not get in the way" said Sue seriously.

"Ricardo, Dawn and Flora knew about this all along huh. They are just as guilty, what will you do with them?" Fei asked.

"They could have prevented many lives from being stolen but they ignored it. I will kill them personally" said Sue.

"Hmm but what about you. You knew about it longer than they have. Will you kill yourself too?" Fei asked.

"No I wouldn't. I would atone for my sins by fixing this damn country until I day" said Sue.

Fei breathed in deeply and stood up with a slight frown on his face. "My family has been this corrupt under my nose. I think we should all be wiped out and give the throne to someone fresh" he said out loud. "We'll make the right decision when we get there. Alright I should get going now. I came out here to find a strong new recruit who possessed a gift and I luckily found one" Sue giggled.

"Yeah you have. I will help you on your Coup d'etat'" said Fei strongly.

Meanwhile Dawn and Flora were at the castle in Ricardo's room trying to have a chat with him. After what Ricardo did this morning beheading Shawna in front of his little brother Fei he suddenly lost all of his drive to do anything.

"Ricardo you don't have to feel bad about today. It's not like she was your girlfriend or anything. She was Fei's. I honestly am starting to hate you now since you're being all depressed about what you've done with your own hands" said Flora strongly..

Ricardo turned over in bed to look at his sisters with a dull look. "Fei isn't coming back is he" said Ricardo softly. Flora looked down on the ground and replied " NO he's definitely not coming back here and father isn't even making an effort to look for him" replied Flora upsettingly.

Ricardo closed his eyes and told Flora and Dawn something mind blowing. "Flora you said that I shouldn't feel down about what I did. Shawna is someone the rest of us can live without unlike Fei. Well that's wrong" said Ricardo opened his eyes.

Dawn and Flora looked at each other shockingly. "What do you mean by that? asked Flora with sweating popping up everywhere on her face. Ricardo closed his eyes and replied " I loved Shawna"

...….

No one uttered a word. Both Dawn and Flora were furious but speechless. Dawn went on her knees and started crying.

"Why Ricardo? Why ? What's wrong with you?" cried Dawn starting to breathe heavily. Flora's eyes were fixated on Ricardo's face. "Ricardo explain right now" said Flora.

Ricardo sighed and replied " Well ever since I was ten I started developing feelings for Shawna ya know. I loved the way she talked to me, her personality was just my type. She's strong and pretty at the same time. I really wanted to be with her but there was just one problem. She was always hanging out with Fei. Even when I get alone time with her Fei most times find himself involved with it. Later when I found out that Fei and Shawna started dating I was heartbroken, but honestly I wasn't too surprised. Fei had more time with her. As the first born son, the king gives me less time to myself each year so I had lesser and lesser time to see her. Knowing that my little brother was dating my lover, the same brother that I also cherished with all my heart were together I had to always tell myself hey it could've been worse hahaa." Grinned Ricardo softly.

"Is that it?" asked Flora.

Ricardo nodded no and continued. " One day during the time when Fei left the country to do business with Kou Ramidon in father's stead Shawna stopped by to play with Dawn. I happened to be there and waited for when Dawn went on her evening nap for Shawna to be alone. I walked up to her and did something crazy. I held my feelings back for quite a long time. I tried to love other girls as hard as I could but it was no use. Shawna alone was in my mind. I confessed my feelings to her and asked her if we could go on a walk and eat ice cream along the way. Shawna smiled at me and nodded to me no. She giggled and said" I knew you had a thing for me since we were children but sorry I didn't talk to you about that. I'm a bit scared thinking about that. You are going to be the future king after all so I didn't want to put you in any situation where I had to reject you but please forgive me. I love Fei your brother, you're a cool friend sure but nothing more or nothing less. If you still want to go on that walk for ice cream I'm up for it though"

Her reply didn't stab me in the heart like I thought it was going to. Instead I started to love her even more. She totally pretended like my confession didn't happen and we went for ice cream. After that evening though I couldn't help but notice that she stopped coming to the castle. I was curious to why that is but I didn't ask Fei about it when he came back from Kou Ramidon. Last year I started a rumor close to where Shawna lives about Fei being appointed a wife by the king. Of course that was a lie, all I wanted was for Shawna to feel bad and break up with him so I could have a shot. But instead last night I walked in on them thinking that Shawna went home. They were about to make love to each other until I intruded. I noticed the wedding ring on her finger right away and at that was the last straw for me.

I got so mad I deliberately planned her death. I thought that if I can't have her then Fei shouldn't either. I knew she was going to go to the bathroom eventually so all I did was convince my father to have a open conversation near that area enough for Shawna to overhear our us. Once I was sure she overheard I threw her in a cell and threw her wedding ring and a piece of paper she had on Fei's bed.

After that she started asking me question about our dark truth but I paid no attention to that. Instead all I told her was to choose. You're in a load of trouble right now. The only choices you have to escape it is either A marry me instead of Fei or B don't marry Fei and never see him again. I was too cruel to give her those options. She didn't chose any of the two options instead she got pissed and shouted at me on why am I so evil killing innocent people just to further your father's life. Everyone has to die someday she shouted. I grabbed a whip and started whipping her back staining it with her blood. She miraculously didn't scream. I looked at her face and saw that she was holding her breath. I whipped her again and again and the more I did it the more I could hear her voice getting slightly louder with her screams. Tears obviously came from out of her eyes which did pain me a little but I still kept on . I confessed to her but she rejected me. She made out and even got proposed by Fei. I was getting more jealous of him by the day.

I had to do something. Anyways you all know what happens next. She didn't ended up choosing any of the choices I gave her. Before I chopped her in the neck so that she couldn't talk when she met Fei was… uhhh….

Hmmm, well whatever it wasn't for me anyways. So yep this is your real good big brother. I don't feel sad because I made Fei sad or whatever. I don't feel sad because I killed Shawna my sweetheart I mean I still have Alisa who is a close second. I feel sad knowing that I'm going to die soon" said Ricardo lifting himself up out of bed.

Dawn stood up scared of her big brother trembling and looking at him like he is monster. Dawn rushed out of Ricardo's room crying even louder.

Flora and Ricardo stared at each other. After hearing what Ricardo told her. The truth of what happened she couldn't help but feel disgusted. Flora stood up and said " That's why I don't deal with that Lovey dovey crap. All It does it ruin lives" said Flora about to exit the room.

Ricardo sighed and said " It goes without saying that Fei can never know the full story of Shawna's death. Right now I think I putted on a good act in front of him when I killed her. I made sure to make him see that I had a guilty and regretful look on my face. Maybe he'll let me off the hook" said Ricardo.

Flora nodded in disagreement and said" Nah he wants your head. Just make sure you fight back".

When Flora exited the room she immediately went to her research lab where she continued her project on building war machines. Dawn on the other hand went to the king and had a chat with him. Dawn told The king about Ricardo's twisted actions and the king frowned." I'll talk to him for you" said the king.

"Thanks father" said Dawn reassured.

"Nah ah, call me daddy smiled the king." Dawn nodded and replied "Good night daddy".