You think that you're deep under my skin
You're trying to keep me suffering
If you use your words as a weaponThen as a weapon, I'll shed no tears
26 - Siblings
She looked at me with pity. "Once all of this is over, Vincent will be no more. There will be no more anything. Not even you or me."
The swelling in my throat kept growing, pushing out the sobs I had been trying to suppress.
"No..."
"There is nothing you can do, Aramis. Legion will devour all--Living and Immortal--until such time that the world is completely Purged. When it had done its purpose, Legion will starve and slowly perish." Her voice was quiet, so calm that it scared me. "It is what you may say hitting two birds with one stone."
"Is it because I killed your mother?! Is this some kind of revenge? Well then, I'm here now. Take it out on me. Let everyone else out of it!"
With a sigh, she flopped onto the only chair in the room. She took out an old leatherbound book--the Grimoire of Chasms--from her cloak.
"My mother..." she murmured, "has never seen me as anything more than a familiar."
"Sharifa..." Irvine called.
"You know it's true, Irvine."
Irvine didn't respond, but the expression on his face confirmed Sharifa's words.
She glanced at me with those sad, remorseful eyes.
"At first, it was exactly like that--revenge." With that last word, her brows furrowed slightly as if in disgust. "My only desire was to spite my so-called brothers, add a bit of chaos in their perfect immortal lives. However, I discovered that I can do more--something that would actually make a difference, something much bigger than ourselves."
"You're sick!" I retorted.
"Yes," she admitted. "I am sick. The world itself is ill. Are you not tired, Aramis? No matter how many wraiths we kill, we can never rid this world of chaos, of hate and suffering. Because people are evil and the world is a wicked place. All it has ever done is hurt us!"
It was the first time I heard Sharifa raise her tone. Her hand shook as she stroked the Grimoire's cover.
"After this Purge, Eldest shall recreate the world and this time, it will be perfect. That is why"--she gazed at me, her eyes hopeful--"I need your help, Aramis. I need you to convince Vincent to join Legion. He is the key for Legion to attain full power. Only he can be the Scarlet Beast, the scourge who shall pass judgement for all."
I clenched my teeth.
"Tell me, Sharifa. In this 'perfect world' you're raving about; where do you come in in all of that, huh? How about Irvine?"
She paused for a second as if to think.
"You. Will. Be. Dead!"
I felt Irvine squirm.
"We are already dead!" She slammed her hands on the table, toppling the chair over as she stood. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. "Eldest will be pleased, Irvine. This is the grandest soul offering since the beginning of time. It will earn us a place in the new world."
The conviction that had always laced her voice seemed to waver.
"If I..." I forced back the sobs and cleared my throat. "help you, will you release my father?"
She nodded.
"Then release him now and let me go back to my body so I could bring Vincent to you."
"Or... we can simply let Vincent know that we have you and he will obediently do our bidding," suggested Irvine.
My chest tightened, but I tried to rid my face of any emotion.
"Like he would bother to lift a finger for me," I smirked. "I'm just a familiar. He could easily replace me."
"We'll see about that," he said to me before turning to Sharifa. "What shall we do with the other one?"
Sharifa's face dimmed, sad almost. Averting her gaze, she said, "End his suffering. We have no further use for him," before leaving the room.
"No!! Don't hurt him! I'll kill you! You sick bastards! Not my dad!"
I was hysterical by the time Irvine had succeeded in dragging me across the room, to another door. As he opened it, I could hear Dad moan.
"Dad! Daaaaaaad!!!"
To my horror, I saw a few of Hector's vats inside. My breath got caught in my throat.
Help! I screamed in my head, desperately hoping that someone could hear me through the Diviner's Link. Vincent! Help!!!
I screamed and thrashed some more. It took a while for me to realize how useless that was. Instead, I began to concentrate until I felt the freezing cold that crept down from my right arm. Calming my breaths, I closed my eyes, willing the Bind to form faster.
Please, please, please...
We stopped in front of the nearest vat.
"Get in," Irvine ordered.
"You want to see a trick?" I whispered just as the staff sprung out of my hand, knocking away his Cataclyst.
Irvine staggered back, eyes wide in confusion.
Without wasting time, I hit him on the side of the head with one end of my staff, twirled and jabbed the other end into his stomach. He fell sideways, groaning. For a good measure, I ran behind the vat and pushed. It toppled over him with a dull clang.
I darted back to the other room, sliding to my knees as I reached Dad. The pounding in my temples made me nauseous. I frantically fumbled with the ropes, only for my hands to pass through them again.
"I promise I'll get you out of here," I said, my voice almost a squeak.
It didn't seem like Dad could see or hear me, but he looked really scared.
Irvine was behind me before I could think things through. I just had time to turn and block his sword as he attacked. With both hands on my staff, I tried to push him away. If I tried to dodge, Dad would get hit. I couldn't kick or punch him. I would just pass through him. The staff was my only way to fight in this form and I was losing.
Slowly, I slid my hand towards the end of my weapon, hoping to activate the blade and catch him by surprise. But, the more I loosened my grip around my weapon, the more force he was putting on me.
Just about when my arms were about to give way, the door flung open, spewing a frantic Cairo into the room.
"Irvine!" he called. "Stop!"
The split second of distraction was all I need to hit the floor with the end of my staff and let the blade swing out. Irvine was quick to leap backwards, the table behind him halting the skid.
Again, I swung at him. He deflected my blade and thrust the hilt of his sword into my jaw. For one second, the whole room was black. The pain seemed to have short-circuited my brain because I couldn't move.
He lunged at me, swinging his sword with nary a twitch. It stopped just an inch short of my neck and I saw Cairo's bleeding Cataclyst holding off the blade.
My knees buckled. I planted my feet apart to steady my stance, tightened my hands on both grips and rammed the blunt end into Irvine's chest. With what strength I could summon, I shoved him against the wall. It easily gave out and fell across the next room, crashing over the broken vat.
Cairo was in front of me before Irvine could get up.
"We have to leave!"
"But my dad!"
"There's no time!" he urged. "We cannot take him back with us!"
He was right, of course. He and I were only astral projections--souls that travelled out momentarily out of their bodies. There was no way we could take anything the way we came here. Still, I pretended not hear anything he said and began to untie Dad. As I clawed at the ropes with no success, the sobs came out uncontrollably.
"No," I cried. "No, no!"
With an irritated grunt, Cairo pulled me away from Dad and swung his Cataclyst at him.
The shock left a cold twisting feeling in my chest, I couldn't even gasp for air.
"W-what did you--"
The words got stuck in my throat, my eyes wide as I stared at Cairo questioningly.
Dad fell flat on the floor.
I forced myself to look at him, feeling horrified and scared and angry at the same time. But like a miracle, he started to get up, groaning in pain as he did. There were no claw marks or any injury besides the ones he had when we got here. The only thing that was ripped to shreds by Cairo's claw were the ropes.
Cairo glanced at me from the corner of his eyes as he hovered close to my Dad and whispered, "Run!"
As if hearing it, Dad blinked, shock registering on his face before scrambling to his feet and began for the door.
"Now, we really have to go!" Cairo shouted, gesturing me to follow.
"What if he gets caught?"
"He won't, if he runs fast enough. Sharifa has taken off and"--with his Cataclyst, he grabbed the table and hurled it to Irvine--"I do not think he will be getting up anytime soon. No instantaneous healing, remember?"
I nodded.
This was maybe the first time I was thankful for Death's weakening. As we started to flee, Cairo drew his amethyst pendant and began chanting under his breath.
The momentary relief disappeared almost as soon as it had come when I saw the vat I destroyed just minutes earlier whiz past us and crash against the spot where my father stood.
My mind was blank for a moment as a stared at the pile of dented metal and broken glass. A hand reached out from underneath, blood dripping from its fingers. Soon, water began to obscure my vision, coursing down my cheeks like a stream.
Cairo hovered over the pile, leaning close where Dad's head should be. His lips were moving as if whispering words of comfort. It seemed like a long conversation--too long that I could no longer hold my breath.
I didn't know how long I stood there, but perhaps, long enough for the painful truth to sink in.
"Is he dead?" I murmured, as if saying it out loud would confirm what I feared. I didn't know why I had to ask, when it was so obvious.
I guess I wanted to hear a miracle. There was none.
As Dad's hand fell down, I twisted and headed where Irvine lay panting. Mechanically, I raised my scythe over my head. Before I could take a swing, I felt Cairo's hand over my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Aramis." It was the first time he called me by my name since we started this mission. The way he said it wrung my heart. He told me the address we came here for, then whispered, "I will fix everything. And if... we see each other again, please try to forgive me."
He gave me a shove so light it surprised me how easily I began drifting away like a stringless balloon. His eyes were on me as he touched the amethyst pendant onto his lips.
"Taru anna zumru," he said those ancient words like a goodbye.
The last thing I saw was the blue flames that had engulfed Cairo's hand, the Roman numeral one glowing on his palm. And again, I was taken by the darkness.