Divinitas

020 - How the Story Unfolds

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The Aura family had been a prominent one in the local area for decades. It was an old and respected name, known for being prosperous and kind. The family would often donmonemoney to the public schools and other community functions.

However, this all changed two years ago.

The current generation had been gifted with two boys and a younger girl. The boys were identical twins, graceth sth silver hair and eyes, and the girl was an innocent beauty adorned with darker ashen curls and the brightest aqua eyes to ever look upon the world. All three children were considered angels in the public eye.

And then, two yeago, go, the girl was murdered, followed closely by one of the twins. The family was destroyed, emotionally if not financially, and their one remaining son was taken from them as well. This time, by the courts of law.

Because he was the one convicted with both murders.



~ * ~

\" \'Gryps Aura, pictured above, was charged with the murders of his twin brother and younger sister.\' \" Draco closed the faded newspaper and looked up, his gaze lingering on Phoenix who sat acrossm him him at the tiny circular table, idly sucking up chocolate thick shake through a too-narrow straw.

There had been no mention of what happened to Gryps once he was taken away. It seemed he had all but vanished for two years, only to resurface at the School of Genesis at the beginning of this semester. Resurfaced there to investigate disappearances of its students. Draco could only speculate from what Gryps had told him, that he had been posted here on a contract with the investigations department. A deal then, perhaps. Rather than years upon years spent in a detention center, Gryps would work for them instead.

\"The sister looks a lot like Casi, doesn\'t she…\" Phoenix spoke suddenly, voice a bare, flat whisper. \"And Gryps likes Casi… He\'s always watching her when he thinks no one can see… You even told me to be careful because he may be jealous of me since Casi annoys me so much… I don\'t think he killed his sister…\"

Draco didn\'t reply to Phoenix\'s comment. He leaned back in the plastic chair, looking up at the sky through the net of palm leaves that shaded them. The sky, wise though it may have been, was silent also.

It was always amazing how quickly one\'s perception of another could change. That realisation was unsettling. Perhaps because it showed so clearly how fickle one\'s beliefs could be… How human emotions were so unreliable…

What was this Phoenix was feeling? Pity for Gryps? Gryps would never want pity from anyone. Truthfully, Phoenix didn\'t know how he felt. Shocked was the only word he could come up with to describe the turmoil of feelings. The fact that he was eating a delicious meal and not even noticing showed how distracted he was.

How to react when he laid eyes on Gryps. What to say to someone with such a vividly disturbing past. \'Hey, is it true you killed your sister and brother? \'Cause if it is, I don\'t think I want to be sleeping in the same room as you.\'

Maybe he ought to be disgusted. Horrified. Was he? Draco didn\'t seem to be. He just sat there, across from him, looking thoughtful and distant. It ed led like just another ordinary day, eating out with a friend. Draco… The logical schowho who acknowledged injustices but accepted them all the same.

\"You shouldn\'t have stolen this newspaper…\" Draco spoke up finally. \"It may be important to us… But still…\"

\"Hn. Like anyone would notice or care. I seriously think we were the first people to actually step in that run down old shack in decades,\" Phoenix answered, though his eyes would not look directly at Draco, and were insteocusocused on the rotating cake and sweets display turning round and round within the café they were sitting outside of.

Suddenly, something dawned on Phoenix. He didn\'t have a cent to his name… And he was eating out with Draco… \"Shit, I have no money,\" the boy swore softly under his breath, blushing with embarrassment.

The wise sare ere eyes focused on Phoenix, smalsmallest amused smile forming on Draco\'s pale lips. \"It\'s alright. My Father sends me money on a monthly basis. Consider it my thanks for helping me out today… You k you you could ask Aether to give you an allowance… He\'s obviously and and has the money to spare.\"

Phoenix fell out of his c at at the suggestion. \"Are you insane?!\" he exclaimed, pulling himself back up and gesturing wildly. \"I don\'t care if you were just joking, it\'s a horrible, unthinkable idea! Asking Aether to give me money! What would that make me then?!\" He shook his head frantically, either to disagree or shake unwanted images from his head. \"Uh-uh. No in in a million years. I\'ll rather get a part-time job and earn money the hard but honest way!\"

\"Hmm, did I hear one of you just say you wanted a part-time job?\" the waitress who had come to collect their emptied plates asked.

The two boys looked up to see a woman in her late forties gaze quizzically at them. \"My friend does. We\'re both students at Genesis, and cash is rather hard to come by,\" Draco spoke up with a professional smile. \"Well, by any moralistic means anyway.\"

The woman raised an eyebrow at Draco, who only smiled back, before fixing her appraising eyes on Phoenix. \"Hmm… You\'re a bit scrawny, but you look well… Do you have any clothes like black pants and a white shirt? I need a waiter, you see, since one of my girls recently moved away.\"

\"Err… Black pants are fine, but I don\'t have a white-\"

\"He can acquire both. When can he start?\" Draco interrupted, beaming up at the woman who had turned out to be the owner of the café.

\"Next weekend. Both days, nine in the morning until noon.\" The pale brown eyes of the woman fixed themselves to Phoenix again. \"So, what do you call yourself, boy?\"

\"Phoenix. Phoenix Incendium. And I\'m sixteen. Sixteen! I\'m not a little boy…\" His pout didn\'t help his case too much.

\"Very well, Phoenix. I shall see you next Saturday, 9am sharp.\" With a courteous nod, the woman gathered up their plates and walked back into the shop.

Instantly Phoenix fixed his glaring crimson eyes on Draco\'s thoughtful face. \"I do not have a white shirt. And why are you so earnest in getting me a job?\" the younger boy demanded suspiciously.

\"You can borrow one from Aether, I\'m sure,\" Draco replied, waving Phoenix\'s concern away. \"And if you had a job locally, you may be able to learn something more about the disappearances from the castle. The lack of any mention of them in the newspapers implies one of two things. Either there weren\'t any, ever. Or someone\'s done a very good job covering it up. And if Gryps is what he says he is, then I\'ll bet my life it\'s the latter.\"

Phoenix just looked at Draco as if to say he was insane, and then moped to himself. Asking Aether for a shirt… Really, how low could he go?



~ * ~

\"No! You can\'t make me!\" Phoenix yelled, struggling like a wild horse suddenly finding itself in a lasso. Somehow Draco had attached a chain to his silver collar and was now proceeding to drag the very reluctant boy back up to Aether\'s rooms.

Draco smiled at Phoenix. \"Watch me.\"

\"Ahh! And to think you were actually on my side at the beginning of all this!\" Phoenix exclaimed, his hands wrapped around the chain and throwing his weight back on it.

\"Yes, but then I realised how futile my efforts would be, coming between the two of you, when one, you like Aether, and two, you like belonging to him.\"

\"That is a fucking lie! I so do not like belonging to him!\" Phoenix protested heatedly, sounding even to his own ears like a whining school-girl. \"Either way, it doesn\'t mean you have to help him!\"

\"You are right there, but I promised him I would return you to him. And I never break my promises,\" Draco answered, heaving with effort and finally dumping the reluctant lump that was Phoenix in front of Aether\'s door. Swiftly Draco rapped on the door. The two servants dressed in their black and white penguin suits didn\'t even blink an eye as Phoenix struggled to release himself from his leash, a rebellious puppy that would rather gnaw his own limbs off than remain tied up.

Of course, Phoenix had no such luck. Mainly because his teeth weren\'t sharp enough, and because he couldn\'t quite reach his own neck. The door was opened and the battle lost.

Aether assessed the scene in front of him for a few second before bursting out into heartfelt laughter.

\"Phoenix\'s already had dinner, and he\'s showered. However, he hasn\'t completed his homework,\" Draco told Aether in a no-nonsense voice, handing him an armful of Phoenix\'s books. \"So I would really appreciate it if you made sure he finished that before you start playing with him. Naturally, itall all due tomorrow morning… Aether, I really wish you would stop laughing. I\'ve kept my end of the deal, so the least you could do is make sure he doesn\'t fall behind in his school work.\"

Unfortunately though, seeing Phoenix on a leash looking so sorry for himself was all too amusing to Aether. He was having a laughing fit, and could barely grasp the end of the leash Draco handed him to.

Looking somewhat exasperated by the pair, Draco sighed and walked away. Really, the most foolish thing one could do was meddle with a conflicting couple. Yes, Draco was very thankful he was single and unattached to anyone. Especially as Phoenix\'s cries and yelps echoed down the hallway for all to hear.

There was little time to dwell on Phoenix\'s demise though. Draco had other things that needed pondering. Like where to go from here with his quest. His only lead at the moment was Gryps. And after today, he may have found the key to prying the necessary information from the younger boy.

It was certainly a very interesting discovery Phoenix had made this morning. Tried and found guilty of murder. Murder of his own blood no less. Gryps Aura… The cold aloof boy whose icy and distance glare could rival those of a glacier. He certainly fitted the description of one who could commit such crimes. But of course, nothing was ever as it seemed. And Draco knew better than to assume the worse. No, first he would ask the boy.

Closing the door to their dormitory with only the slightest of creaks, Draco quickly surveyed the darkened room. Phoenix\'s bed laid untouched has it had the previous night, the dark velvet drapes drawn back to allow the moonlight to pour onto the empty silky sheets. Chima, surprisingly, was already snuggled into his bed, his face a stamp of pure innocence. The boy hadn\'t had the mind to close his drapes, revealing his small body sprawled upon the large bed in a disarray of limbs. Gryps\' bed though. That was as empty and deserted as Phoenix\'s. The silver haired boy had not touched it tonight.

The sound of a closing drawer drew Draco\'s attention to the partly closed door of the bathr The The only significant illumination within the dorm came from the narrow gap that spilled golden light onto the cold stone floor, an arc of white that faded to darkness.

Gryps\' wounds stung still. Any movement caused his body to ache. But it had been worth it, hadn\'t it. He knew now, without a doubt, where his destiny lay. And his past no longer mattered. He could forget it all…

Mindlessly, his hands tugged at the stained bandages, loosening them and allowing them to slither off his scarred skin onto the tile floor, a snake shedding its skin. His skin was almost flawless before this… Except for the ugly slash across his narrow chest. Faint, easy to miss, but always there. A memento from two years ago. Well, there were some things that did not allow themselves to be forgotten.

Gryps started, his arm darting out to attack the figure that suddenly appeared beside him in the mirror. His blade of a hand halted mere millimetres from Draco\'s neck, the rush of air sending the ebony locks fluttering wildly. Instantly Gryps\' silver eyes narrowed.

\"Lympha…\" The feminine boy dropped his slender arm which still bore wire-thin cuts that wept. \"Do not sneak up on me if you wish to remain among the living.\"

Gryps was calm, composed. Unlike yesterday, when he had been drunk on his own plans and schemes. Draco quickly evaluated the boy standing before him, naked except for a pair of boxers, his long silver hair tied back as always in a long seductive braid. Without saying a word, the older boy picked up the damp cloth and wiped it over the healing wounds, startling Gryps and putting him on edge.

\"What do you think you\'re doing, Lympha…\" His whole body was tense. Torn between wanting to snatch his arm back and appreciating the kindness the sapphire eyed boy was bestowing upon him. What did he want… Lympha…

\"You\'re the Child of Air from the Legend, aren\'t you,\" Draco stated softly, taking up a new roll of cloth bandages and wrapping it around Gryps\' thin wrist. \"But before that, you are Gryps Aura. And you have a past, do you not?\"

Caught off guard, Gryps stiffened. Why was Lympha talking to him like this. Why question him like this? Did he know…?

\"You say you have cut all ties with you past. Is that really true?\"

The slender body suddenly withdrew himself from Draco\'s tender touch, picking up a T-shirt and shrugging it on. \"What are you getting at, Lympha,\" Gryps spat out, silver eyes flaring. He did not like this one bit.

\"I am only trying to make you aware. The past will haunt you if you do not bring closure to it.\"

The twisted smirk bloomed on Gryps\' lips. \"Bring closure to my past?\" He would have laughed if his soul hadn\'t suddenly ached, torn once again. \"A bit hard, when those who could give me that closure are both dead. It\'s nice too, to have a family that would rather believe you didn\'t exist.\"

\"Your sister and your twin, right?\"

The silver eyes grew narrower still. \"It\'s none of your business.\"

\"Phoenix doesn\'t believe you murdered your sister. Nor do I.\"

\"So? What does that mean to me? Whether you believe it or not. It doesn\'t matter, Lympha! The past is over! I am the Child of Air! I do not need a past such as that! I never had a past such as that!\" The hint of tears appeared in his icy eyes, and his whole body trembled as if possessed by a great rage. \"I never had a past such as that…\" A silver tear slid down the smooth cheek, following the contour of his jaw to collect at the tip of his narrow chin. It paused there for a lingering moment before plunging downwards, seduced by the pull of gravity.



~ * ~

Maybe humans could not always be strong. Maybe it was necessary for them to break down and cry once in a while. To let the built up grief and hurtful truths pour out, to let out the poison of one\'s mind.

For two years, he had locked it all behind a brick wall, erected guards all around it. Lest someone pry and set free the demons. For two years, it looked as if the wall would never crumble, never weaken, and that he would always be strong. Cold, but strong. Untouchable. And then? Well, he had said it himself. The world changes. Never had he expected that taking on this assignment would tear those walls down faster than the taking of one fragile flame of a life.

Seeing her, seeing that uncanny resemblance to his younger sister. That had been the first blow. The first ane woe worst. Then Phoenix. His personality. Extract Phoenix\'s soul and place it into a copy of Gryps\' body, and Gryps could have never told them apart. His twin and Phoenix Incendium. Stubborn, brash, loud, yet at the same time hurting inside, hidden from the world. A desperate need to have someone need him, to comfort him. Well, that was what had driven him to it in the end, wasn\'t it.

He could still remember it, as clearly as if it happened no more than an hour ago.

It was raining. It always rained on their part of the coast in late summer. Torrents of water driven by a warm breeze. How it had soaked him to the bone has he had sprinted back home after his usual afternoon art classes. His paintings in watercolour were ruined, he remembered thinking miserably. Cardboard folders were quite useless against the summer storms. His heart had ached at the thought of the portrait he was doing of his younger sister. That was one birthday present gone.

His drenched feet splashed in a particularly deep puddle as he ran up the path to his house, sending a large sheet of water in every direction. What did that matter though. Soon he would be warm and dry. Maybe Ophelia would make them all a cup of her famous hot chocolate and they could sit around the kitchen table and watch the rain fall.

The house was dark. Empty. His parents were never home this time of day, but where were his sister and brother? Hadn\'t they said they would be home early as they had no activities after school? Overhead the lightning shimmered across the dark wet sky, followed by the rolling thunder. Through the watery window pane, his frowning silver eyes watched as the lightning illuminated a distant rocky cliff where the three siblings had often played.

Terror stuck then. Pure and simple. Perhaps… Perhaps they had gone there to play, and the sudden storm had caught them off guard just as it had he? Perhaps… Perhaps one of them had slipped on the wet rocks and hurthurt themselves?

His art supplies dropped to the ground, wet, ruined, forgotten. The door slammed behind him, shoved by the wild gusts of wind. His heart pounded in time with the irregular beats of his footfalls, stormy eyes pleading with the world that sped past him. Please let both his sister and brother be fine. Please let him just be overreacting.

Crashing waves pounding the rocks became his world. Icy ocean spray lashed upwards numerous feet to pelt him along with the tears from Heaven. His matted silver hair became nothing more than a dull grey mass that wrapped around him, strangling his limbs. His heart pounded in his ears, his breathing rasping out of him. This was exhaustion. Sprinting from their house to here, spurred on by adrenaline born from fear.

Wildly his wide silver eyes searched the area. Where, where, where! His feet carried him further up the rocky cliffs, eyes still intent on finding nothing but the two figures of his sister and brother. So when his feet splashed into another deep puddle, what was it exactly that made him look down?

He wished he hadn\'t. He wished there was no pool of bleeding red all around him, slowly leaking away as the salt and fresh water splattered on to it.

The terror that welled up from within him let lose in a half-sobbed half-shouted name. \"Ophelia!\" The wind snatched away the cry and returned in it the storm\'s shrieking voice. Again and again Gryps\' voice soared up into the whirlwind, unheard by any merciful being.

\"Shut up!\"

The drenched silver haired boy whirled in the downpour, his eyes instantly locking upon an exact copy of his own pair.

\"Stop calling out her name. It\'s always her name. What about me? What about fucking me?! Ever even consider the possibility it could have been my blood you\'re standing in, instead of Ophelia\'s? Had it been me, would you have even cared?\"

The soulless sky had rained blood for the twin standing before Gryps. His clothing was splattered with bright red. Crimson that seemed to glow against the drenched material. And to think Gryps himself had given that lion-eagle dagger Ari held fiercely in his right hand.

\"Ari…\" It was a disbelieving whisper that slipped through Gryps\' lips. The name of his twin brother. The name of the one who had shed their kindred\'s blood.

\"You want tow whw why?\" Ari asked, smirking. So strange to see his face twisted into the embodiment of evil. No, not evil. Insanity. \"I\'ll tell you. Because you were meant to love me. Me, Gryps, not Ophelia. Me, the other half of your fucking soul!\"

\"Where… is… she…\" His whole body was trembling. He wanted to do nothing but scream. Scream and scream and scream.

Ari\'s smile widened, and let his gaze slowly drift towards the edge of the rocky cliff where the most violent waves crashed against the boulders to leap upwards in a dazzling display of white cold spray.

\"No… No!\" His feet weren\'t really working. Impossible to make them move and scramble over to the edge, following that horrid trail of red.

His body lost the ability to function. Down below, pummelled by the relentless waves, was the lifeless broken body of his sister. The beautiful angel of the family, reduced to a shattered porcelain doll.

He couldn\'t scream, he couldn\'t move. He could do nothing but stare down at the shell that was once his beloved eight year old sister. Why… Why had thappeappened. Things like this weren\'t supposed to happen in his perfect life! No, this couldn\'t be real, right? This was just a nightmare, and soon he would wake up and find his sister and brother sitting about the table eating breakfast, smiling at him as he entered.

\"But it is real, Gryps…\" Cold wet arms wrapped around him from behind, pinning his frozen arms against his side. Ari\'s warm breath was against his neck, a surreal skin-tingling sensation. \"Its alright now, isn\'t it? out out her, you\'ll return everything to me. No one will ever come between us, right? Let\'s die together. As one big happy family…\"

The dagger plunged into his shirt and flesh, a brutal cry sobbing out of him. The blade ripped diagonaupwaupwards, slashing the front of his shirt to ribbons and sending the scarlet blood spilling forth.

Mad laughter echoed around the cliffs, cutting through the wind and rain. Silver eyes watched with glee as Gryps\' tried desperately to stop the blood flow, wincing in numbing pain as he pressed his hands against the wound. All his mind could chant was \'this isn\'t real this isn\'t real this isn\'t real!\'

\"I\'m disappointed, Gryps. She screamed. A lot. And all you gave me was a little sob…\" Ari gave a delighted giggle, twirling the blood-tipped dagger in his hand.

Torn between shock and rage, Gryps could do little more that simply stare mutely. But that little comment had been the last draw. Something inside of him broke. Some part of him that had always existed suddenly flared to life, a pile of peaceful autumn leaves blown intsarrsarray by an icy winter gust.

\"How could you…\" the deadly whisper broke from his icy lips, eyes squeezed shut in agony. An invisible force began to build around him, a protective cacoon that spun faster and faster until it was a violent tornado.

Trapped in his own insanity and grief perhaps, Ari seemed oblivious to both Gryps\' words and the air twisting around him. The twin only laughed, a high pitched expression of bliss that did not seem to belong to a fourteen year old boy. \"Come now, Gryps, my beloved brother… Let\'s go to Heaven together!\" As the lightning illuminated the dark sky overhead, the braided silver haired boy leapt at the sorrow-ragged twin, the sleek silver dagger destined to pierce a hurting heart.

\"How could you?!\" The air exploded outwards from the teary eyed Gryps, snaring the identical body rushing towards him. The tendrils of air twisted like veins around Ari, halting him, lifting him high into the air. And before Gryps could even open his silver eyes, the living air had hurled the struggling body of Ari over the cliff to be snatched up by the howling wind.

Silence erupted around him at that moment. The world was sucked dry of any and all s as as Gryps turned around, terror seizing his heart as he watched in slow motion the body of his brother, his body, plummet downwards. His face scream out in betrayal and horror, only to be frozen forever in that gruesome disfigurement as his body was smashed onto the rocks.

It was the first sound he heard. That ugly sickening wet splatter of something heavy breaking beyond repair.

And then his own screams. Screams that scratched his throat raw. Howls that lifted up to the Heavens and drilled down into the depths of Hell.

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