"I just can't deal with it, you know?" Quin sighed, swinging a glowing torch around between his hands as they walked. They hadn't come across any survivors for all the time they'd been there, which was surprising enough because there were so many rooms that they could've been hiding in.
"Refusing to deal with such situations can be no one's fault but your own," Helio replied, ducking his head into another doorway as Quin moved the torch he had in his hand around the darker corners of the hall, each flame beating away at the darkness. "Whatever happens, it will be your fault. Until you learn to deal with it, and acknowledge what you are doing."
"How can I acknowledge something I'm not even doing?" Quin demanded, a scowl rising on his features as he swung the torch around in front of him. "It's not me; it's him. He's the one who needs to deal with it."
"Wrong," Helio shot back, making Quin's scowl deepen.
"How am I supposed to deal with it?" he exploded. "Is there a way for me to get rid of him? Because that seems like the only way out, to me."
"Wrong again," Helio sighed. "You are really not good at this, are you?"
"Then tell me what I'm doing wrong, instead of criticising me about it, won't you?" Quin muttered, shooting another glance in another room they passed. It was empty.
"You cannot get rid of him," Helio said finally. "Even if you could, that would make you a coward. The sooner you face all of 'his' actions, the sooner you will find peace about it."
"How can I find peace about it if he keeps killing innocent people?" Quin groaned, raking his hair back out of his face with a free hand. "He's almost killed the only friends I've ever had multiple times; how is there anything peaceful about that?"
"Once you learn to accept that that is a part of you now," Helio answered swiftly, "then you can move on with your life. It is not as difficult as I make it out to be, I promise you this."
"Yeah, I don't know," Quin sighed, looking down at his boots as he walked. "I know what everyone else is going to do when they get out of here, but what am I going to do? I've got nothing to go back to, and I'm also bringing home a psychopath that likes killing people. No one is safe anymore."
"I do not know what your fate is, Quin," Helio admitted as they kept walking, side by side. "I do not know what you are going to do when Ìzzøckål is dead. That is one thing I cannot help you with. You must find your own path. For now? Focus on the present. It is the only thing you can change.
"The present is stupid," Quin growled. "We're looking for survivors that don't exist in a super big, advanced metal/rock castle thing, while everyone else is making bombs and facing the real threats. Why did you let me come with you? Did you think I was a threat too?"
"I never doubted your ability to stay in control, Quin," Helio replied as they neared the end of the corridor. "I simply trusted in your ability to judge your control."
"Sounds easy enough," Quin muttered in reply, frowning as they both slowed to a stop. "That room has a light in it," he added, pointing to the last room in the hall. He glanced at Helio before they both moved forward, curiosity getting the better of them.
As they entered the room, Quin set his torch in a nearby bracket because the other light was way too dim to make anything out in. When the light revealed what was in the room, however, Quin swore and jumped backwards in surprise after two bodies were found lying on the floor, decayed and gross. One was young, and very small. It couldn't have been older than fifteen when it died, although Quin couldn't tell exactly. The other body was larger; this person was obviously older, and looked like they had been dead longer than the other one. Maybe a year or two? It was really hard to tell.
"How strange," Helio murmured as he stepped forward, looking like he was inspecting the bodies. "Why are they kept in here?"
Quin lost track of what Helio was saying, as he started frowning and inched a little closer himself. Despite how decayed these bodies were, Quin felt like he knew them somehow, and it made him nervous. Neither of these people were immortal; Quin could see the remains of old, wiry hair on both of their heads, and their old baggy clothes still covered their bodies.
"I know these people," he murmured finally, his head tilting sideways as he took in the dead bodies, trying to process. Helio sighed heavily.
"That is Kiara Delwen," he announced rather reluctantly, and Quin's eyes widened as he took an unconscious step backwards.
"As in... Kida's sister?" Quin demanded. "Kida's twin sister?"
"Yes, Kida's twin sister," Helio agreed, and they both drifted their gazes to the other body.
"That means... but how-?"
"You do know this woman," Helio told Quin, his eyebrows creased together. "She is from some time ago, when you had family."
It took him a moment, but when Quin finally figured out who the woman was, he barely had time to widen his eyes before a loud explosion could be heard from somewhere else in the castle, and the entire thing began to shake.
"We need to get out of here," Helio snapped, grabbing Quin's arm before dragging him back down the corridor they came from.
"But if that's who I think it is," Quin shouted over the noise as he picked up a jogging pace beside Helio, "then that means Kaylan-"
"Not now, Quin," Helio shot back, dodging a piece of ceiling that suddenly flew out of its place. "We need to get out! We will talk about it then!"
So Quin, left to think about that woman without any answers, ran with his heart thumping loudly in his chest as he worried about what was going to happen next. He now understood, but he didn't want to. He wanted to forget ever seeing that woman and he wanted to go back home, where he dealt with memory-loss and stealing instead of saving the world and dying.
They were outside without getting hurt in a little while, where they turned and found the entire building shaking. It wasn't going to fall – it didn't look like it, anyway – but it was definitely shaking. It was kind of confusing.
"Okay, we need to find the-" Helio began, but stopped right as he turned around. Quin, frowning, turned as well, and was equally as surprised as the spirit was to find a man standing before them, breathing heavily. He had blood all over his hands, as if he had ripped someone's chest open with them, but that wasn't what shocked Quin the most. It was the man's grey skin, his bald head, his threatening black eyes, and his crazy-familiar features that put Quin's senses on fire.
"Kaylan," he breathed, his voice small and hoarse. He couldn't believe it. All this time.
"It's Ìzzøckål, brother," Kaylan spat, glaring his brother down as if he had just killed his entire family in front of his eyes. "I have not gone by the name Kaylan in a very long time."
"Not since you abandoned me, if I recall correctly," Quin shot back, anger rising in his own voice. It was then he realised they were speaking in their own native tongue, the language of the Keeri. Helio was not saying a word.
"I did what I had to do," Kaylan hissed, his fists clenching at his sides. "You killed them! YOU KILLED THEM ALL! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SAY GOODBYE, QUIN!"
Quin stared at his brother, feeling like his heart had just been ripped out. "No," he whispered, holding a hand to his throat. "No, I did not. I don't remember that, Kaylan; that's something I would remember."
"Then it was him," his brother snapped, referring to the crazy one. "It doesn't matter; it was still your hand. YOUR HAND THAT KILLED THEM!"
"I didn't mean to!" Quin shouted back, his eyes wide and full of horror. "I didn't want to, okay! I can't control him!"
"Don't you get it?" Kaylan demanded, taking a few steps closer as he spoke. "You are him! Everything he does? That's you. You can't blame anyone but yourself, brother."
"They were my parents too, Kaylan!" Quin burst out, anger bubbling to life just beneath his skin. "I didn't want to!"
"You killed Cloey too, Quin!" Kaylan screamed. "You want to know why I'm here? Because you killed my wife!"
"I DIDN'T WANT TO!" Quin cried, tears streaming down his cheeks and blurring his vision slightly. "Please, Kaylan! Come home with me; let me help you!"
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Kaylan growled, his fists tightening at his sides. Suddenly, someone came running into the scene and interrupted whatever was going to happen, making Quin kind of relieved until he saw the person was Issey. And she was covered in blood; some of it seemed to be hers.
"Quin, I'm so, so sorry," she called to him, tears filling her emerald eyes to the brim. Quin frowned slightly, opening his mouth to ask her what she meant.
"What-?" he began, but he was interrupted by Issey saying the words he most dreaded to hear, that he never expected her to use against him.
"My love."