“Get out of her and come face me, blood fiend! I’m right here!” Somnu shouted, keeping a tight grip on his sister’s head.

  “Let her go, Somnu!” Mo jumped forward, but was quickly held back. “What are you doing Aurora?!”

  She squinted her eyes and winced slightly before opening her lips.

  “Something isn’t right… You feel it too, don’t you?”

  “...”

  After furrowing his brows, Mo joined her in looking toward the head doctor to the side. He was looking at the holographic tablet hovering in front of him.

  Noticing their gaze, he narrowed his eyes.

  “I don’t see any anomalies, but… her behaviour is clearly-”

  “Hahah! So, you noticed!”

  “?!”

  Leyna’s mouth suddenly moved, opening in a wide grin that didn’t suit her elegant features. An unfamiliar, deep hoarse laughter resounded from her lips. Unfamiliar to everyone, but one.

  “Leyna wouldn’t jump into my arms, she’s shy, hesitant, she would be overthinking, too worried about how I would feel to do that, as much as she might want to.” Somnu explained, tightening the grip a little more. “I’m not letting you near her ever again.”

  “Oh yeah? Watch me kill her in front of your eyes-”

  [Distorted Fallacy!]

  “Get out, and wait for me, bastard. If you won’t come out and face me yourself, I’ll find you on my own soon enough.”

  The moment the words left his mouth, Somnu fell down to his knees. He tried his best to swallow the rising tide making its way up his throat, but blood escaped his lips nonetheless and splattered on the ground, even reaching some of his sister’s clothes.

  “I got you!” Aurora, on the other hand, was fast enough to catch Leyna before she fell down from the sudden release of control, gently lowering her to the ground.

  Her grin had faded, her eyes returned to normal. Her brother had made her believe she was strong enough to expel the other person lurking within her psyche. It had been a risk, but it was Somnu’s only option.

  The only issue was that the stronger the fallacy, the stronger the knockback from it, but he didn’t mind the pain now.

  “I… Didn’t notice anything…” Mo muttered in a daze before rushing forward. “Leyna, are you okay?! Arman!”

  “She’s okay… Except…” The head doctor narrowed his eyes as he crouched down with his hovering tablet. “I don’t seem able to see whatever that was. It wasn’t a physical issue.”

  “!”

  Leyna suddenly buried her face into Aurora’s chest, shivering as though freezing cold water had been thrown over her. The action made the delinquent girl stagger back in surprise, but it only took her a moment to soften her expression and pat her shivering friend on her back.

  “It’s not your fault… Mo.” Somnu spoke, having used the remaining two level ups he had to recover his strength somewhat. “He only possessed her briefly when she saw me…”

  “Somnu, your eyes and your arm… and now all this, what have you been doing all this time?” Mo glanced over at his sister, then walked toward his bloodied brother.

  “We don’t have time for me to explain… We need to go talk to the Fortmaster, there is a lot you all need to know quickly and it’s best everyone is present.”

  The scarecrow clenched his fists and walked past his brother who half-expected a quick hug with his slightly raised arms.

  “You need to rest!” Mo turned around with a sharp expression, patting his brother on the damp shoulder. “There is a lot we need to talk about, you can’t keep running away from us forever.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “...”

  Somnu halted his movements, and instructed Naga to look down at his sister. She was slowly building up the courage to look his way, then finally noticed the blood on her dress, both hers and Somnu’s.

  As much as it hurt, the scarecrow ignored his brother and walked towards the door.

  “I’m not running away anymore. I wish I could stay here, and apologize to you all for everything I did… I truly do.” He spoke, keeping his back to them. “I wish that would have been enough to make it all go away, to put an end to all of this, but we all know it isn’t.”

  Everyone listened intently while Mo visibly swallowed the words rushing to his lips.

  “And yet, I am sorry.” Somnu turned around and lowered his head. “For hurting you… For everything I did back then, for what I am doing now… and all that I will do in the future. I am sorry I’m not strong enough to find another way, a better way. And I am sorry I got blood on your clothes, Leyna… I wish I could take it all back and start over, to erase the me who caused you so much pain.”

  “... I let you speak, and this is the bullshit you spit out?” Mo’s contorted into an angry frown, both his fists clenched. “Do you really think we wanted your apology?! We came to you, we wanted to help you, we wanted our brother back! It didn’t matter if you felt bad, or if you apologized… It was us… we should be the ones apologizing to you.”

  “... I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’ve never had any reason to apologize to me. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.” The scarecrow grabbed onto the stick a serpent clone brought him, immediately leaning on it. “But that isn’t me anymore. I want your help now, I want us all to get out of here and wake up. I want us to try sitting down and playing some board games again. So, if you are able to, put it all behind you for now, and help me.”

  “...”

  Somnu’s words traveled between the four other humans in the room. His conflicted brother clawed at his hair and racked his brain. Aurora looked down at the other girl in her arms.

  And Arman curled up his lips slightly before jumping in the conversation.

  “I think that was beautiful. There is nothing healthier than open communication, but it is very clear that you all need many more of these conversations.” The head doctor walked closer to Somnu and patted his back. “And yet, I think Somnu is right, two more murders have been found this morning, and we got very close to losing Leyna too. It’s best to tackle this and the dangers as quickly as possible.”

  “Arman, I don’t think she should push herself after everything that happened.” Aurora spoke, then noticed Leyna move away and straighten her back. “Leyna?”

  “No one wants to be left behind, Aurora.” Arman explained. “Her long lost brother just asked for her help, she isn’t going to sit here and do nothing. My little assistant isn’t as weak as you may think. Being possessed by a deranged murderer isn’t going to stop you in your tracks, right, Leyna?”

  The previously shivering sister finished wiping away her tears and stood up next to her big brother, refusing to take the hand he offered her.

  “Somnu, I never held a grudge.”

  “!”

  As she spoke to him finally, Somnu’s eyebrows perked up under the still damp blindfold.

  “I know you thought that, and no matter how many times I came and told you at the door, you never opened it or responded.” She lowered her head and held on to the hem of her dress, covered in her brother’s blood. “Truth is, that hurt. It hurt more than the burns or the needles in the hospital. So… I, for one, accept your apology. I forgive you for running away, so don’t you dare do it again!”

  By the end, Leyna’s shy and low voice had grown louder, making her last sentence seem more like a shout. It startled everyone around briefly, but Somnu was the first to recover, unintentionally releasing a chuckle.

  “Heh…” He covered his mouth and turned his head away.

  “?!”

  It made Leyna look around as if she had said something wrong, but everyone else looked just as confused as her.

  “Sorry… It’s just me laughing at myself. All this time, all it would have taken is a conversation, but I was so afraid. I don’t even know what it was that scared me, I just knew you two, Mark, Ashley and even Ava, would be better off away from me.” Somnu paused, then slowly raised his head to face his siblings he had wanted nothing more but to reunite and reconcile with. “I’m glad we could all be together now. Let’s make sure that from now on, we keep each other safe, all of us.”

  As he said the last words, his head had moved towards Aurora who unintentionally furrowed her brows slightly.

  “Okay guys, let’s go.” Arman clapped his hands and walked towards the door. “We have a murderer to catch, we can have the best reunion when we all wake up!”

  “Wait!” Leyna called out, then rushed toward the couch she had been resting on not too long ago.

  She took out the cushions, revealing a hidden compartment below. Clothes of different sizes and colors were neatly tucked in.

  “Somnu, I prepared a lot of clothes…” She started, hesitating slightly. “I don’t know if you’ll like them or if they’ll fit you-”

  “It’s okay, Leyna.” Somnu comforted as he stepped closer slowly. “Thank you. Maybe you can all go ahead and send Bro’Ski to get me. I need a quick shower if I’m going to wear nice clothes like this.”

  “No offense, Somnu… I think that might be necessary.” Mo chuckled, then scratched the back of his head.

  “Offense taken, asshole.” Somnu chuckled again. “Now go, I’ll be right behind you.”

  Truth was, the shower had only been an excuse.

  The scarecrow had just received word of another pawn being found.

  As always, there was no rest for the wicked.