𝑬𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑹𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑮𝑶𝑳𝑫 ⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐕𝐈 - 𝐉𝐔𝐌𝐏

TWENTY ONE YEARS AGO, Saturday, August 10th 1996 –

"I'M SCARED!" MIKAZUKI SHOUTED, tears streaming down her face as she looked down at her twin brother.

The seven year old wasn't sure whose idea it was to climb the honeycrisp apple tree in the garden, however, the young Kinzoku was starting to seriously regret that decision. Keisuke stared up at the girl, a faint smile appearing on his face as he watched her squirm.

The two siblings were rarely allowed to spend time together – he was the heir, had been from the moment he was born (and from the moment the firstborn heir, the true heir, died) and she was the spare, the backup plan. Maybe that's why Keisuke had dragged his sister across the gardens of the Kinzoku Estate, far away that neither of their caretakers would notice them but close enough they could still see the main house.

The tree – much like everything else in the estate – was old. It was one of his father's favourite, the scars that ran along the trunk just another testament to its ability to withstand anything. According to Asahi, the tree had survived at least three hurricanes, a cyclone – which apparently was something else entire – and two electrical storms only in the last decade.

Keisuke suspected the man was lying, trying to form an analogy between the tree and the Kinzoku bloodline, but that thought was currently too complicated for his currently seven-year-old mind to comprehend. Still, the tree was clearly something to behold. It was taller than the rest, the apples that occasionally grew from its branches the tastier Keisuke had ever tried, and he was somewhat of an apple connoisseur.

Which is why he'd proposed they should climb it, not really considering the possibility that his twin would chicken out when the time came to climb back down. Mikazuki might have been seven, but she certainly wasn't the kind of girl to get scared by simple things like heights – that was a privilege reserved for the lesser branches of the clan, as the heir (and the spare), the twins did not enjoy such an advantage.

Keisuke looked up at his sister once again. He could see her clearly from the ground, a curtain if black hair and poorly dyed blond strands – he didn't understand why Asahi insisted on that – covering her swollen face. Truth to be told, Keisuke had never seen Mikazuki in such a state, nearly hyperventilating at the thought of jumping down from a tree that was less than one story high – for future sorcerers, that was nearly considered ground level.

She would have been able to climb down just as easily at him, but instead, she heaved as more tears ran down her cheeks. If Asahi found out about this, he was going to be pissed. At Keisuke for being such an idiot, and at Mikazuki for crying like a baby.

"It's okay to be scared." Keisuke called back, attempting to pull at Mikazuki's heartstring so she would finally step down. "But you can't let fear hold you back."

Asahi had said those exact words to him on multiple occasions, and although they haunted him at night, it was the only thing he could think of to comfort his twin. Mikazuki tentatively moved her foot, pressing down on a branch before a creaking sound echoed in the field. The girl quickly retreated, more tears gathering in her eyes.

"I can't!" She screamed back, hugging the trunk of the tree in an attempt to keep her balance.

Keisuke silently Cursed, stepping closer to the tree until he was directly under his sister.

"You can't stay there forever." He tried to reason, expression shifting when Mikazuki paused to think about it, as if he could already guess what she was going to say.

One of the perks of being twins – a bond that transcended sorcery and magic and everything else – was being able to sense the other's thoughts before they could even come up with them in the first place.

"I can." Mikazuki called back, her voice softer now, almost defeated.

"The family needs you." Keisuke countered back, swallowing that I need you that Asahi had always told him was just another weakness he should rid himself of.

Mikazuki scoffed, as if that simple sentence was enough to offend her. The girl glared at her twin, an uncanny intensity hidden behind her golden gaze.

"They don't need me, I'm just the spare."

It wasn't even a lie, and Mikazuki believed it with every fibre of her being. It was what she had been taught since she came into the world, a whole seventeen minutes after her twin brother.

Kinzoku Keisuke was the heir, and Kinzoku Mikazuki was the spare.

From the moment she was born, the girl knew she was nothing but a replacement for her brother, and, in the worst-case scenario, for her older sister whom she barely glimpsed in the ostentatious hallways of their home. As the firstborn male heir, Keisuke was the one who would have to shoulder all the responsibilities that came with this position. As for Mikazuki, she would remain in the shadows, awaiting instructions like the good sister she was expected to be.

Mikazuki was just the back-up, the spare parts, the 'just in case'.

Keisuke stared at his sister, almost as if he was seeing her for the first time. The boy opened his mouth, about to say something nice, a quick 'that's not true and you know it', but the lie didn't leave his lips, because even at the tender age of seven years old, Keisuke was no fool.

Instead, the boy pressed his mouth into a thin line and spread out his arms.

"Just because we're twins doesn't mean we're interchangeable parts." He spoke, his voice so loud and clear Mikazuki felt it in her soul. "You and I are different people, there are things that only I can do, and there are things that only you can do. Our destinies may be intertwined forever, but we are not the same." He paused, inching forward and watching a small smile played in his sister's face. "One day, something will come up, and you will be the only one capable of fixing it. Not me, not father, not Niko – it will be you, Mikazuki."

Mikazuki brushed the tears away, stepping into the branch to glance down at her brother's smiling face.

"Come on, I'll catch you." Keisuke wiggled his arms invitingly. "Jump."

Jump.