Chapter 35.2 Side: Yandere (2)

  It’s dark, it’s lonely, It hurts, it's painful, make it stop. I cried out where no one could hear. I felt pain coursing through me, no not me, pain was coursing through brother. It hurt, it was painful. No, not the pain.

  The hate, the anger. It was unjust. I saved people, yet I was being punished. No, not me, brother. Brother saved them, fixed their mistake, but they repaid him with pain. It is unfair, it is wrong. They should be punished, they should be gone. Why do they exist? They are wrong.

  It's all so frustrating. If I were in control, everything would be right. If I'm not, they could take what's mine, steal them away. It's not right.

  No, not me, brother. It is all so confusing. The emotions are so strong, so strong, I can't think. Why does brother have to feel this way?

  With what little consciousness I have left, I glimpse into the future. I am outside their base, not skilled enough to breach their defenses, still too weak. Too weak to extract my brother, to stop the torment, to make it right. I must soothe his pain; I must end this suffering.

  I charge at the base, letting my mana surge, but a man appears out of nowhere, pinning me to the ground. I struggle, I wail. My gaze fixed on the pce where my brother is held. I despise it; I wish it would all vanish.

  My vision snaps back to the present. I hastily erect another barrier to muffle my wails, ensuring they don’t wake my family.

  I wish I was stronger. Why am I not stronger? Why can't I stop this? I need to see brother. Comfort him, distract him. Why can't I do anything? I hate it. I hate it.

  Brother, feel better. Brother, it is okay. Brother, I will make it better.

  I can feel the thread that connects us; it pulses with energy. I reach out, tugging at it, trying to draw my brother to my side.

  Before I realize it, I'm outside. My brother is there, soaring through the sky with wings of lightning and fire, cd in armor matching the sky. The sky is pitch bck, void monsters pour into the city in an endless deluge.

  The pain intensifies—it's so much worse now. Why are they gone? Why didn’t I act sooner? Why did I push everyone away?

  The agony forces me to double over, colpsing amidst the corpses strewn around. Monsters surge nearby, but a bolt of lightning strikes close, and I feel a gentle touch.

  "Yuno! Are you okay?" His voice is den with concern, its warmth seeping through me. No, I can't just lie here. I need to rise. I push myself up, ready to fight. Yes, I can fight; I can help. Here and now, I am much stronger.

  “Good, then cover me. Let show that stupid fucking void goddess that she cant just do what she wants,” he said, turning around and shifting a fourth card beneath the other three, wiping out a swath of the sky filled with monsters.

  I sughter void monsters behind him, driven forward by his fury. The hate fuels me; I tear them apart so swiftly they can't react. My love for him provides purpose, direction. I know exactly where to strike to keep him safe. I move so quickly that not even my brother can keep up. Even an endless horde isn't enough to stop me from protecting him.

  Suddenly, my brother stops and peers into the bck sky. Large tentacles, greenish-bck and purple, as rge as buildings, rip through the bck and into the city, causing the ground to shake. A creature rger than the city itself pulls through, its head a writhing mass of tentacles around two white eyes. Its fingers, long as streets, smash and obliterate anything beneath them. Its wings stretch out, extending beyond the city into the surrounding darkness.

  A pair of purple eyes stare from the void just as the creature nds, a ughter filling the air—a screeching, maddening ughter.

  Fear, terror, hopelessness. For the first time, I feel my own emotions. I can't move, can't speak, can't think. Until a soft finger wipes away my tears. Yet, I still cannot move.

  “Don’t worry, your brother will handle this. I refuse to let it end like this.” Brother tried, he fought. He lost; he was swallowed. Suddenly, I could no longer feel anything. All was silent.

  Please, bring back the pain, the anger, the despair. The silence was worse than it all. Driven by this silence, I let my vision shift back to the beginning. The city was in turmoil, announcements bring through the air, but none of that mattered—brother was here, looking up with a worried expression.

  The sky was cracking, but this time, things would be different. I felt stronger. Everything would be okay. I would save him. Save them all.

  And I did save them—our family, his friends. But it all felt meaningless, for no matter what I did, that creature would come through and swallow up my brother. I tried running. I tried hiding. But no matter when or where, that creature would find us. Why, why, why?

  “Hey, why are you crying all of a sudden?” a warm voice asked. It was so comforting, so peaceful. I was being held gently.

  “Making another little sister cry, Kevin?” a girl asked. I didn't recognize her. Brother softly pulled me in, holding me tightly.

  “Like I could ever make you cry. You’d just race off to mom and tattle on everything I did,” brother joked, he was happy, so happy. He was worried, so worried.

  “It was Dad,” the girl said, sparking confusion in him.

  “Was it? Man, I’ve been here too long; my memory’s getting faulty,” he said before turning back to me. “Feeling a little better? What’s wrong, had a bad dream?”

  “I couldn’t save you. I failed,” I said, holding him tight.

  “Looking into the future again?” he asked, his hand soothingly rubbing my back. It felt nice.

  “This is the future,” I answered.

  “Wait, you mean I am the future me? I sure feel real. Yep, never going to get this time stuff,” Brother said, making it sound complicated. It was simply cause and effect and your ability to calcute it. I didn’t understand what made it complicated but I did not question him, enjoying the feeling of peace, of love that filled me.

  “Well, tell me what’s going on. I might be able to help,” he said, looking down with an assuring smile. I showed him what I saw, my abilities flowing more easily than ever before. After seeing the whole scene, his expression turned serious. “Well, shit, that fucking sucks.”

  After a moment of silence, he finally spoke. “What part of the past—would it be the past? Anyway, that doesn't matter. At what point are you at?”

  It’s the present. Only the present and future exist; the past is set in stone and can’t be changed.

  “Military, punishment,” I said, then I felt a wave of anger sweep through him as he recalled that time.

  “Right, that fucking pce,” he said, I could still feel the disgust, the helplessness. It had to go.

  He thought for a while before speaking again. “Go back and tell my past self that if he doesn’t do everything he can, our family and daughters will die. Also, fuck seers—I’d like to skip the whole angst about free will only to realize I'd already figured this out as a kid.”

  “Daughters?” I questioned, sensing the strings of connection radiating from him across the city, yet none linked to any daughters.

  “I know you won’t lie to me, but it’s not you—it’s me saying this. Tell him his future self said that but leave out all time frames. If that doesn’t kick my stubborn ass into gear, nothing will,” he said, his voice radiating frustration at his past self.

  “Monster,” I uttered, trembling at the mere thought of that creature.

  “You leave that to me. You just do what you can and leave the rest to me. And don’t look into that day. What will be, will be,” he reassured. I should do something. I should protect him.

  “No,” he said once again, and this time I felt it—a compelling force urging me to heed his words. “You will spend every waking second of every day trying to change that day, and in the process, you'll neglect everything else. You leave that to me, understand?”

  “Yes,” I said, burrowing my face into the warmth of his body. I felt at peace. This is how it should be, always.

  My eyes slowly opened to see a silhouette before me, her finger on her chin, her head slightly tilted, her featureless face etched with worry. I felt a strong connection to her.

  “Aunty, I was only trying to help, truly,” she cried, her eyes pleading with me. “Father is going to be even madder. All our love points are gone and the debt is back.”

  I reached out to pat her head, just as Brother and Sister Angelica do for me, assuring her that it would all be okay. I could still feel my connection to my brother—radiating anger, frustration, and pain—but now I knew how calm, peaceful, and loving it could be. It must always be that way, always.