Home Sweet Home

"Sis...ter..."

Seeing my hands penetrating Inside her body, I was stunned that my whole body froze in place like ice.

What did I just do?

Why just happened?

Why am I trying to kill Arthur?

My mind was filled with this questions. I slowly removed my hand, as the blood begun to gush out from the hole I made on her body, and backed away by a few step.

"What a troublesome little brother..." Cossette mustered up the courage to say this with a smile. She approached me and caressed my cheeks with her bloody hands.

"Don't cause some trouble next time... Alright?" She proceeds to let go. While holding her stomach with her left hand, she fell on her knees. She could no longer raise her head because of her weakened body. Pretty soon, she'll die from the amount of blood lost.

"N-no..." Stuttering, I hurriedly turned around and saw other students looking at me. Their eyes meant the same. They looked at my direction as if they were seeing a monster for the first time.

The next thing I knew, I ran.

"Haaa! Haaa! Haaa!"

I ran as far away as I could to escape everything.

But...

"Sister..."

Deep down, I know that can't change it.

I started to tear up as I ran away like a coward.

This is the reality.

He's right.

Everything started because of me.

And right now, I don't know how to 'fix' any of what's currently happening.

Just why...?

***

"Ugh... My head."

Waking up from his bed, Arthur slowly sat up and slumped his back against the wall. He look tired. His eyes had dark circles under it, almost as if he had stayed all-night even though he was unconscious.

"Where am I?" Looking around, he noticed that he was laying on a bed that has many monitoring devices and medical equipment. He sees doctors and nurses with various tools and medical instruments. They wear surgical masks and white coats that had an insignia of a soaring dragon inside a blazing fire.

As for the room, it is full of beeping and blinking hospital machinery. There's also a tall, beautiful woman wearing white armor standing on the far side of the room. She has blonde hair and a white mask covering the lower part of her face.

Noticing him, the woman requested the doctors and nurses to leave them for a few moments. When she was done, her attention went back to Arthur as she said, "You're awake...." Her voice sounded calm and soothing at the same time. She walk towards him, with each steps releasing a clicking sound because of her armor

"Where... Where am I? No, where are my friends!?" While holding his head in pain, Arthur tried to recall what happened to him before he got sent here. His last memory is hazy. He couldn't properly recall about yesterday's experience.

Sighing, the beautiful woman crosses her arms and replied to his question, "You are currently being treated inside a private facility. There's no need for you to worry because it was Her Royal Highness, the Second Princess of Arcanian Kingdom, order to treat you in this advance private facility with the others."

After hearing what she said, Arthur unconsciously smiled when he thought about what Lumine might have done just for him and his friends to be here.

"About the others..."

"There's no need for you to worry about them either. They are currently being treated like you. Although some of them are in critical condition, it would still be more likely that they'll survive."

Arthur sighed in relief after hearing this.

"Though I had the task to ask you some questions, I'll let you rest for now and come back later." The woman turned around, preparing herself to leave.

Click-!

When she opened the door, the woman took one last brief look towards Arthur and said to him in a cold and dignified tone, "Stop seducing my little sister, kid."

Click-!

Arthur was finally alone after she left.

Though confused, he slumped his back once again to the wall and pretended that he didn't hear what she just said before leaving.

"....."

-....

Silence~

The whole room became silent.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Propping his elbow on the table next to him, Arthur tapped his index finger out of boredom and let out a long sigh.

"Haaaaaaaa.....~" He disheveled his hair with his hands, "I'm bored~! I want something to do..." He look up at the ceiling and tried to recall what happened to him yesterday.

[Still can't remember?]

Suddenly, the system spoke inside his head. Arthur nodded his head weakly and asked her, "Do you know anything?" Without averting his eyes from the ceiling.

[Yeah... But it's better for you to remember it later since you're still on the process of healing.]

Arthur closed his eyes. Just what could have happened yesterday, was the thoughts crowding his mind. However, after a few moments, he gave up on recalling about yesterday's event and lay back down on the bed properly to sleep.

"Since I have nothing to do, it's better for me to just sle--??"

Foosh-!

Thud-!

Suddenly, a young girl came out from the portal, that seemed to have appeared out of thin air just right beside his bed, and landed to left shoulder that was covered in bandages.

"Aaa-ack!"

Feeling the pain that suddenly came over his body, Arthur painfully gritted his teeth tightly to prevent himself from screaming his lungs out. He was in pain. The sudden appearance on of the girl had surprised the shit out of him that he momentarily blacked out before he woke up after a few seconds of passing.

"Just who...?"

Noticing the disheveled black color of the girl's hair and with her body that was full of scratches, Arthur somehow forgot the pain in his body as he sat up to help her.

"Chloe!"

He called out the girl's name.

Yes, this girl, who appeared out of nowhere, was none other than Athan's little sister.

"Please... Save him..." Chloe was crying while holding her stomach as her body curled up into a ball, indicating that she was in pain.

"Chloe!?" Arthur called out for her again, "What do you mean? No, wait! Let's ignore that for a second, so that I can ask what the heck happened to you!!?"

"Please... Save him..." When Arthur heard this, he clicked his tongue and shook his head. Though confused and wanted to ask her about what happened, knowing that her reply will be like this, he decided to ask about what she meant.

"Who's him...?"

"My brother... Save him from them..."

"From... Them? Who's them?"

"I don't know... What I remember... Was that they... All had a strange insignia that look-!!?" Chloe wasn't able to complete her sentence as she was cut off after placing both of her hands to her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up in Arthur's bed.

Alicia's death.

The massacre.

Athan being controlled.

And...

The «Virus» group.

Hearing this, all of the memories about what happened yesterday suddenly came back in his mind. We barely managed to save him from his other self yesterday. Now, more problems are already adding up the chart!?

He complained in his head out of frustration. "How did you escape?"

After recovering from her stupor, Chloe slowly lifted her right arm to show the silver bracelet that had a beautiful diamond as a design to Arthur.

"It was thanks to my brother's gift... Before he left to travel when I was... Around five..." Chloe breathed roughly as her heart beat weakly, probably because of losing blood or the effects of fatigue.

"Please... Just save my brother... My mother... They're the only family I had..."

She slowly closed her eyes to think back about everything when she was just a child (technically, she is currently 9) before falling unconscious in Arthur's weak embrace.

***

"I'm... Back..."

After I reached the Lohengramm mansion with the help of my barrier magic, I was stunned that I stood still after landing on the ground from the scene that I saw.

With the whole mansion burning, dead bodies of the maids and butler scattered around outside. The smell of burning corpses entered my nostril. It was uncanny, the burning muscle tissue gives off an aroma similar to beef in a frying pan, and body fat smells like a side of fatty pork on the grill. But, the scent of human remains can't probably be mistaken for a cookout. That's because a whole body includes all sorts of parts that we'd rarely use for a regular barbecue.

While their body burns, all the iron-rich blood still inside can give the smell a coppery, metallic component. Full bodies also include internal organs, which rarely burn completely because of their high fluid content; they smell like burnt liver. I could smell the cerebrospinal fluid of their remains burns up in a musky, sweet perfume. Mostly, the smell of the hair was the baddest one for it had a charcoal-like smell, that would probably cling in my nostril for a few days.

"Mom..." I entered the burning building and ignored that a part of my clothes was getting burning hot flame all-around me. It was painful, but it was not painful enough to break me completely.

Foosh~

While I was walking around the flaming building, I noticed a faint, moving silhouette from the nearby distance. It looks to be the same size as my mom. Because of this, I promptly ran towards it's direction.

"Mom!"

I ignored the falling debris around me as I focused only on one thing.

To get to her on time.

To see her for the last time.

To feel her for the last time.

As soon as I opened the door,

"Mom..."

There she was, standing before me with her casual smile.

At this very moment, as I stood there silently staring at her direction, I begun to have flashbacks.

'Mom, stop it!'

About the time we first started training,

'Let's train together!' She hugged me tightly as I struggled to free myself from her tight embrace.

'No! You don't know how to hold back!'

About the time we hang out,

'Let's buy everything!'

'You're emptying the whole store!?'

'Yeah!'

Seeing her this excited, I sighed helplessly. I couldn't even admit to myself that my life in this world had been fun.

Why couldn't I admit it?

Why am I always like this?

"Mooom!!" I ran forward towards her direction. She was just standing there with her body fully covered in blood.

Will I lose someone important to me again because of me?

As I ran toward her, I could feel my heart pumping blood faster than ever before. When I was just a couple of meters away from her, I suddenly had a flashback about the time I got reincarnated in this world.

'What would you like to name your son, Madam?'

'Haaa.... Haa... Ha...'

Panting, Celestia hugged my small body and kissed my forehead. She showed me a tired smile as she slowly closed her eyes and mouthed...

'He's name will be Athan... Athan Von Lohengramm...'

...

..

.

My mother seemed to have noticed me and was stunned for a quick second before recovering. When she identified who I was, she showed me a small smile in her face. My heart started beating more faster when I saw her like this.

"Get her!!"

"Roooooaaar!"

Suddenly, a man in his late-forties summoned a shadowy monster that was capable enough to eat a whole person.

"Mom, look out!"

I ran forward.

"Ah...."

She began mouthing something, but I couldn't hear it properly. However, I was able to understand what it meant.

'Thank you...'

She took a deep breath.

'Thank you for letting me experience how to be a mother...'

As soon as she was done, my mother widened her smile more and waved her hands as goodbye like she casually do whenever we part our ways.

My mother.

My own creator.

And the one of the two person I cherished the most.

Was devoured before my eyes.

Skriiet!

"Noooooooo!!!!!"

Splurt-!