["Hey, have I ever told you about my sister?"]
The viewing had started with any sort of visual feedback. The screen remained dark, the soft hue from the screen the only proof that it was actually turned on.
In the various rooms, the only sound that could be heard was the voice of the young man asking that question.
For most, the voice was recognizable, it was the voice of the Lord of Shadows.
Although it did sound much younger than the current Sunny, it still possessed the same sharpness as they recalled. However, instead of the sensation of facing a deadly blade, it felt like they were facing a porcupine using its needles for protection.
Naturally, only those close to Sunny were able to remain unsurprised by the reveal of his sister. The Saints of the Longing domain were completely unaware of Sunny and Rain's relationship.
["No. Why bring this up all of the sudden?"]
A new voice was heard, this one also much younger than the one they recognized.
It was the voice of who would become the Queen of Humanity, Nephis.
Had the Lord of Shadows and Changing Star known each other for so long? But then again, if the Lord of Shadows was the Fateless One, it meant that he had been forgotten by the world and therefore, not even Nephis herself recalled this conversation.
Hearing these voices, Nephis cemented herself on her conviction in this place.
She could not miss anything in this place.
She could not trust the other rooms to steal the possibility of regaining her memories of Sunny if it was in this manner.
She might not remember, but she wanted to know everything they had been through. No, she NEEDED it.
["I just was reminded of her recently, so I thought I'd share. You see… our parents died when we were little. She got adopted, but I ended up on the streets. Life wasn't really sweet for me. In fact, it was nothing but unsavory and bitter. So, young as I was, I simply imagined that it was the same for her. That's why I got obsessed with the idea of finding her. I had this fantasy in my head, you know, of saving and protecting her. Becoming a family again."]
In the Shadow Room, Rain was hearing her brother's voice calmly. Up until this point, everything matched what he had told her before. Still, perhaps it was because her brother had matured after so many years, but the way he seemed to be recounting things to Nephis was almost self-deprecating.
Wanting to save one's sister was only natural after experiencing what he had. Being a child that most likely was still grieving for his parents, Sunny was desperate for someone that could give him the same sensation of family again.
'But to call it a fantasy... After everything, do you consider all your efforts to find me... meaningless?'
["But how could a penniless undesirable like me find anyone? You know how the city databases are. Even if they're functional, unsealing anything requires you to be a citizen, and one of a considerable rank, too. However, I was ready to do anything to accomplish my goal. So, I saved up money. A street kid can't earn much, but even then, I saved up as much as I could."]
If there was someone who could relate to these words, it was the various Jets in these rooms.
Regardless if it was the Jet in the Longing Room, or the Jet that was alongside the regressor Sunny.
All of them could understand. As someone that had grown up in the outskirts as well, she knew how easy it was to lose someone forever in that manner, without any way to find them.
She had experienced it a couple of times, and Sunny had as well.
["Even if I had almost nothing to eat, I would keep putting away the pathetic amount of credits I had earned through doing all kinds of horrid crap. And after four or five years of this, by the time I was nearly seventeen, I finally had enough to hire a private investigator."]
["You see, there was this detective who sometimes hired us nobodies to gather information for him. His services weren't cheap, but I trusted him. Or in him, at least. So I gave all my money to that guy and told him to find my sister. And you know what? He did. One day, about a month after we made the deal, he gave me a piece of paper with an address written on it. So I went there."]
Seventeen...
He had taken years to save enough to even find her. To some people in this rooms, finding a single person was as simple as just asking for information on that person.
How many people in these rooms had the power to turn this boy's childhood dreams into an effortless task?
["So what happened? Did you meet your sister?"]
Nephis' voice sounded again.
Rain, who knew the story, already knew that Sunny hadn't. According to him, he had judged that she was doing fine and that she was not in need of saving and that she didn't need his protection anymore.
For the first time in the viewing, the screen finally showed something.
It was a tram terminal. A few people were there in the crowd, however, their faces were blurry, and their contours were hard to discern, except for two people.
One of them was a short young boy, they knew he was Sunny and that he was almost seventeen in this scene, and yet, he was so short he could be mistaken as a twelve-year-old.
Not far from him there was a girl, this one also seemed to be twelve years old. Being the only two people that the viewers could see, they couldn't help but see the similarities between the two.
So that girl could only be Rain, however, even with Sunny looking at her, he had not made any move since he didn't recognize her.
His voice sounded once again.
["Sort of. I actually met her near the tram terminal. Only at that time, I didn't recognize her. You see, despite my lofty ideas of being her savior, I couldn't even really remember what she looked like. There was this girl, around twelve years old, wearing a tidy school uniform. She was walking in the same direction as me. I only realized that it was her after she entered the house from the address."]
Rain watched silently as both siblings walked in the same direction.
Sunny's self-depricating speech still irked her.
Why was he belittling himself for not recognizing her? If he beat himself so much for that, what should she be doing now? After all, she not only forgot him as well, she might have forgotten him twice!
["It was already dark. I think it was raining."]
There was no rain.
["The house was situated in a really nice district. They actually had the whole house to themselves. Just one family living in it, can you imagine? Well, I guess you can. Anyway… there was even a lawn. And a window… a big window that shined light outside. Watching them through that window was almost like watching a television show."]
They watched as the young man approached the house, his gaze directed at the family inside, the family who was welcoming the arrival of his sister.
They saw as his face turned pale and his eyes widened as realization reached him.
["Standing in the shadows just outside the edge of that light, I observed her family for a while. She had parents who loved her and treated her well. She had real food, and enough of it to never go hungry. She had pretty clothes and expensive textbooks. She even had cute younger siblings. They were all smiling, laughing, and having a great time together."]
Seeing her family in that light, Rain felt something twist in her stomach.
He was right there, if he just came inside and explained everything, they could be together again, right?
In her mind, silent prayers resounded.
'Please, knock at the door, Sunny.'
'Please, father, mother, look outside your window, please...'
["So what did you do?"]
Nephis' voice asked.
[Sunny didn't answer immediately. Instead, he remembered how he just stood there, watching those happy people. How he looked down at his own frail body, his dirty and ragged clothes, the bruises on his bloodied knuckles. And realized how utterly out of place he was in that picture.]
An ethereal voice sounded. It was kind of mechanical, as if it was concentrated on recounting every sentence one by one instead of it as a whole.
They understood it as a form of narration.
They saw as Sunny moved in the same manner as the narrator had said.
[After years of dreaming of finding his sister and saving her, he was faced with the simple fact that she… she never really needed him. She probably didn't even remember that he existed. More than that, returning into her life would not bring anything good to her. He didn't have anything pleasant or beneficial to offer. He could only make things worse.]
'Do I have to need you? Can't I selfishly wish to have you by my side early on?'
To be honest, Rain herself wasn't sure how she would've reacted in such a scenario, even she had found it hard to believe when he had revealed it during the Realm War.
[Out there on that dark and rainy night, while Sunny was standing in the shadows, something in his heart was extinguished forever. Something inside him died.]
The somber faces of those who knew him filled the various rooms. Some of them had seen Sunny as someone that could traverse various difficulties in the most ridiculous ways only to recount them in the most unbelievable and vague ways possible.
So, they couldn't be prepared for that face of defeat, of something breaking in the deepest parts of his heart. His last anchor to life had been severed, what was he supposed to do now?
Only a few people were aware of this face.
Either they were Sunny himself or they were a version of Nephis and Cassie.
The Nephises had seen that face before, when uttering the words: "Lost from Light".
The Cassies had seen that face before as well, when they argued over her betrayal, as well as when she saw this very scene in her visions.
It did not do anything to diminish the pain of seeing it again.
[No matter what kind of situation he would find himself in after this, nothing would really compare to the darkness he felt in that single moment.]
[After remaining motionless for a long time, he slowly backed away, turned around, and walked into the darkness.]
Seeing his lonely back slowly walking away, some viewers had to force themselves to hold their hand to prevent an attempt at reaching out.
[…A few days after that, he began showing the first symptoms of being infected by the Nightmare Spell.]
The words hit dryly.
They were worried, but now they knew what to watch next.
["I did the only selfless thing that I have ever done. I turned around and went away. Do you know why?"]
The scene shifted.
Two young people were talking, their figures were not visible, but one could tell with the context that they were Sunny and Nephis.
["Because even a cretin like me was able to realize that the person he wanted to save didn't need his saving. So please tell me, Neph, why is it that you, with all your intelligence and clarity, can't seem to do the same?"]
'Huh?'
Nephis was confused for a moment.
Sunny's words carried a dose of venom that made her thoughts pause. Sunny had never referred to her in such a way, even when disagreeing about the Nightmare Spell, he had tried to persuade her with concern instead of using anger.
'This is new.'
A weird sensation crawled around her heart.
[Viewing Unnecessary Blood has been completed.]
******
Author's Note: Well and the reactions have started. What do you think of this style of reaction, I feel that it's a little too heavy on the pasted parts of the chapter this was taken from and lacking in reaction, there will be a second part obviously, with more detailed reactions, or rather like a after match commentary? Anyway, hope you like it.
Check out my other novels and leave your opinions on them and this one in reviews and comments, please.