CW: Isolation from peers and sibling fights
Having a twin felt like having someone who you could rely on, or at least that's what it felt like for Via. She was born having a friend for life. All the way through school she had someone who she knew, someone who she could hang out with in class and during lunch. They had been in the same classes all their life, they sat together in each class. They switched between being at the front because that's where Via liked sitting, and going up the back because that's what Blaze liked. Via liked being up the front when it was a class she enjoyed most, it felt like you could get so much more out of the lesson when you were closer to the teacher. Via couldn't imagine what it would have been like in school without her brother, her twin, her other half. She struggled with making friends so being born with one was a good thing for her.
- - - - - -
Going to an admin academy was hard for Via, she didn't think about the fact that she wouldn't have Blaze with her. The academies were sister schools so they weren't far away from each other, about a twenty-minute walk between campuses, but she would be staying in the admin dorms. She would be sharing with someone else, she was used to it having shared a room with Blaze for all of her life, but it would be weird for it to be a stranger rather than her brother. She had only partially paid attention during orientation, she kept looking at the people next to her expecting one of them to be her twin. She was excited about being at the academy, after all, she was hoping to go far as an admin. She really wanted to be one of the admins who went out to all kinds of servers and helped fix bugs, she thought it would be fun to see all the amazing builds that players had built. So she would be studying hard, and paying extra careful attention in the coding classes.
She had been given her key after orientation, and her bags were apparently already in her room, which according to the number on her key was room 2. She made her way over to the dorm building, which was on the left side of the campus, in a big group along with the rest of the first years. She wasn't sure if her room was going to be close to the door, or down in a corner, and she honestly didn't know which one she would prefer. She looked at the sign and saw that her room would be located down one of the far ends. She made her way down to the second door from the end, there was a large number 2. Her name was written beneath, as well as her roommate, Millie Veretic. She made her way inside, the door was still locked so she was the first one there. She automatically made her way over to the left of the room, it was always her side of the room whenever she shared with Blaze, but she wasn't sure which side her roommate would want, so she decided to wait.
Her roommate didn't say anything when she came in. She went straight to the left side of the room, the side that Via wanted. Via didn't want to deal with confrontation so she placed her bags on the right side of the room. It felt weird to her, and she thought that she might even fall off the side of the bed since she wasn't used to what side the wall was on. She tried to start a conversation with Millie, she said, "Hi, you're Millie right?"
The admin looked around at her, rolled her eyes and ignored her, it made her feel bad about herself. This person who didn't know her seemed to be acting like she had done something wrong. "So are you excited about classes?" she asked, trying again.
The admin looked back at her with a death glare before she spoke, "You and I will not be friends. I can see you are one of those rule-following boring teacher's pets, not the sort of person I hang out with. Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours,"
Via had to stop herself from crying as they continued unpacking in silence, she just wanted to have a friend. She wished her brother was there.
She tried talking to a few other people during class, but many of them weren't interested in talking to her. For the next few years, she chose to focus more on her studies to try and be the best admin she could be. She still spent the holidays at home with her family, and it sounded like Blaze was having more luck in the friend department than she was. They did have some occasions at the academy when they could cross campuses to meet up with the watchers at Blaze's school, but he was often too busy with his new friends so she spent the days in the library studying. She managed to make it to the top of her classes and she wanted to keep it that way, and it wasn't like she had anyone else to hang out with either. Even with the others who tried hard in class, she couldn't make friends with them, they were all competitive so they only saw Via as a rival to crush.
- - - - - -
When she graduated, at the top of her year, she ended up sharing a place with Blaze and some of his friends. It was cheaper that way, though again she was left out a lot. She had applied for a position at ᓵ||∷╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷╎ᓭ as soon as she got there. With her grades, she was able to get a position fast, faster than her brother who was still more focused on having fun. As much as she loved her brother, and living with him again, she didn't feel welcome with all of his friends. She wanted to get her own place as soon as she could, so she started to save as much as she could. She certainly wasn't expecting it when she, along with Blaze who was still struggling with finding a job, was summoned to meet with the High Leader. She didn't know what she was going in for, and she was nervous. She hoped it was going to be some sort of promotion but her supervisor could do that, she didn't need to meet the High Leader to get one. Blaze himself looked nervous, his being there made her wonder if this was work-related at all. That just made her even more confused as to why they were meeting with the High Leader.
They were brought into the centre room where she knew that the council had their meetings. Both High Watcher Gryff Dirsu and High Admin Lysabel Yineria were not currently there, so it was only them and the High Leader. Via could feel the power radiating off her, it sent a chill down her spine. "Via Celrinine, Blaze Celrinine, thank you for coming to meet with me," she said to the twins.
"It is an honour, High Leader," Via said, doing what she had been told to do and bowing.
Blaze just stayed silent, bowing as well. "I come to you two with an offer. It is time for the council to welcome more to their ranks and I want to offer both of you a place," the High Leader said.
Via froze in place, she didn't know what to think. Being a council member was one of the highest honours there was and both she and Blaze were offered to become a member. She would love to be a council member with her brother, they would be working together. Via still wanted to visit servers though so she asked, "What does the position entail?"
The High Leader replied, "You will play a part in making decisions that affect the Main World in the surrounding areas. You'll have a couple of different jobs you'll need to do such as helping stop rogue academies, and you'll also get to help in different places such as helping players in different servers or helping with the protection of the Main World. If you accept you'll also get a place to stay at ᓵ||∷╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷╎ᓭ,"
It seemed perfect for Via, she would get to do what she wanted but also so much more. "I accept,"
"Me too," Blaze said, she wondered what he was thinking but she wasn't giving anything away.
- - - - - -
It was a couple of days after both she and Blaze had started at the council, it was their birthday. Their parents were off at the moment but they left both of them a gift and Via called them in the morning. They had just given her some money, it was supposed to be put towards getting her own place but now she had her room at ᓵ||∷╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷╎ᓭ so she was just saving it for something, she didn't know what yet. She was excited to spend the day with her twin, it was their birthday after all, she had asked him earlier in the week and since then planned a few things that she thought Blaze would find fun. Blaze's room was across the hallway from her so she went over and knocked on the door. She could hear Blaze inside as he came and opened the door. "Happy Birthday Blaze!" she said, hugging her brother.
"Happy Birthday Via," Blaze said, "Is there something you wanted? I'm meeting up with my friends for the day,"
"I thought we were spending the day together," Via said, sadness stirring up inside.
"I changed my mind," Blaze said, not looking Via in her eyes.
"But it's our birthday!" Via cried out.
"Well, I want to hang out with my friends!" Blaze cried back, "Just go hang out with your friends or whatever!"
"What friends!" Via yelled as she started to cry, "I don't have any! You're the only friend that I've ever had!"
She wasn't sure if Blaze knew that she didn't have any friends or not, she never exactly told him, but she thought he might have guessed considering she had never mentioned anyone.
"Sorry, but that isn't on me," Blaze yelled back, "I was stuck with you for years at school and I didn't have any friends other than you. You always wanted to hang out so I never got the chance to make friends. At the academy, I finally met people, and I made friends. So sorry if I want to hang out with them,"
"I wanted friends! I tried to make friends but everyone hated me! My roommate didn't talk to me, I was only seen as competition by other students. You were the only person I thought enjoyed spending time with me! I've wanted to spend more time with you but you're always out with your friends," Via screamed, she didn't realise how much everything had pained her, how many emotions she had bottled up that she was finally letting out.
"I spend a lot of time with my friends because they make me feel better about myself. You've always been the perfect student, the one the teachers love and our parents were always so proud of you. I got tired of being compared to you all the time, it made me feel like I wasn't good enough. It always felt like you were looking down on me because I couldn't get the perfect grades. My friends from the academy made me feel like I fit in!" Blaze screamed back.
"I tried hard because I wanted to. I didn't make people compare you to me and I've never looked down on you! I always thought you were amazing, the best brother in the world. But unlike you, I've been alone! I've been alone for years and I was just hoping that maybe I could spend my birthday with someone for the first time in five years, but I guess I was wrong!" Via yelled leaving, pulled up her admin screen and teleported away.
- - - - - -
It was Via's birthday and she was crying on the roof. It was the worst birthday that she ever had, including all the ones she spent alone either in the library or her room at the academy. She didn't want to fight with her brother but after she started talking everything just came out. She hadn't known how Blaze felt about her always getting good grades, she didn't want him to feel bad about himself. Even if she had known back then she wouldn't have stopped getting good grades, she still had her own life to live. But she would have tried to help Blaze in other ways. So she was just crying on the roof of ᓵ||∷╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷╎ᓭ on her birthday, alone, just like the past five years.
She didn't see the High Leader until she sat down next to Via. She tried to dry her tears, she hadn't even been in the council for a full week but she was already crying on the roof, and she wouldn't be surprised if the High Leader kicked her off. "Via, are you okay?" the High Leader asked the crying admin.
"I'm fine," Via said, trying to stop the tears coming from her eyes.
"Via I can see you aren't fine, you can talk about it if you want. But if you don't I can leave," the High Leader said.
The admin took in a deep breath before facing the High Leader, "I'm not fine," she said, "Blaze and I just fought. We had plans for our birthday today and he changed his mind and went to hang out with his friends. I guess he didn't realise that I didn't have any friends. He also told me that he always felt like I made him feel not good enough, but that was never my goal. I just- I don't know what to think. I also feel so alone. The one person I thought I would always have as a friend has not wanted to be my friend for such a long time. I feel stupid for thinking that he wanted to be my friend when he hasn't wanted to hang out with me for years. I'm an unlikeable person,"
"I think you and Blaze will need to have another talk. Not now, you both need some time to cool down. By the sounds of it, it was your first time truly sharing your feelings for a long time. Through it all you two are still twins, you'll get through this. Both of you shouted out your feelings, and both of you have issues with the other, so having a calm talk later is what you need to do. You're also not an unlikeable person, you just haven't found the right people yet. I only had one person who cared about me when I was growing up, and now I no longer have that person but I have Lysabel, Gryff, Blaze and you, as well as everyone else. Trust me when I say as the council expands you will find people who make you happy that you will hang out with whenever you are free. You've already got the day off but if you need someone to spend the day with Lysabel will be more than happy to give you an amazing birthday," the High Leader said, hugging Via, "Happy Birthday Via,"She flew back inside, Via felt better, she still felt lonely but she hoped that what the High Leader said about her finding more friends as the council expanded would be true. Via decided that she was going to ask Lysabel to spend time with her on her birthday. She would talk to her brother, just not today. Today she was going to enjoy what was left with her second family.
WC~ 2688