Satarou was walking down the streets with Yui, hand-in-hand to keep the younger kid from getting lost. Majarok was at work. Satarou would be, too, if Majarok hadn't made him take the day off in favor of spending it with Yui.
Satarou always put Yui first before himself. When Satarou had barely managed to make any money and the animals were in hibernation for the Winter, Satarou even went as far as to starve to make sure Yui had enough to eat.
Satarou learned how to hunt just so he can make sure Yui always had food on his plate. But, Satarou knew that he was failing as Yui's brother.
Satarou was caught off guard when the six-year-old asked, "why don't we have parents, brother?" He pointed to a lovely couple down the road who had two kids with them, "parents disappearing isn't a normal thing, is it? That family has both parents!"
Satarou bit his lip for a second, deep in thought, before he shook his head. "I'm sorry, Yui. Our parents aren't in this world anymore."
Yui smiled like a kid who just got a toy for Christmas, "they aren't? Does that mean they traveled to another dimension? They can travel? We have awesome parents!"
Satarou shook his head, sadly. "No. I'm sorry, Yui. They aren't alive anymore." Satarou felt a deep sadness fill his heart as Yui's face completely crumbled and tears filled his eyes like giant puddles of water.
Jaw quivering, Yui asked, "what happened? Why did they die?"
Satarou picked up his little brother and smiled softly, "it's okay, Yui. They are in a better place now."
Yui clung onto Satarou's shoulders as he was held, and Satarou rubbed soothing circles into the younger kid's back.
Suddenly, Satarou was shoved into darkness.
Wandering around the darkness, Satarou frowned and called, "hello?" There was no answer. No matter how much he walked, he was in complete darkness.
He didn't know what he tripped on, but he was almost in tears as he caught himself on his hands and knees. From there, he sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees.
"Where am I?" Satarou asked, frowning. Looking down, he noticed that he at least had his mother's necklace to comfort him.
Looking back up, he noticed that Yui was now standing in front of him with eyes filled with hatred.
"Yui?" Satarou asked quizzically.
"Why did you let them die, brother?" Yui asked.
Even more confused, Satarou questioned, "what?"
"Why did you let our parents die?" Yui repeated.
Eyes widening, a river of tears flowed down Satarou's face, "do you really blame me for that, brother?"
"You killed them, brother" Yui said, "they are dead because of you."
"No! No!" Satarou backed away, but there was no where to escape to, "I didn't, Yui! You have to believe me!"
"Maybe you should just die, brother" Yui still kept a poker face, and suddenly Yui burst into bright flames that caused Satarou to cover his eyes with one arm. When the flames went down, Satarou removed his arm to realize that Yui was no longer there.
"Yui?" Satarou asked before it dawned on him, "Yui!" Tears continued to fall as the loss of his brother felt very real.
Panting, Satarou abruptly sat up from where he slept on the floor. Hesitantly, he touched a hand to one of his cheeks to realize that they were damp from tears. He could still feel tears falling down onto his fingers that touched his cheek.
"I'm crying?" Satarou mumbled to himself. Looking at the sky, he realized it was still dark. He was too afraid to go back to sleep, so he stayed awake. Looking to the others, he noticed that they were all still asleep.
The group has been walking for a few hours now. Satarou felt like a zombie, having not gotten much sleep. He didn't care that he was so tired. He was afraid that nightmare would come back.
He hasn't had a nightmare in years, but with all this recent drama, he isn't surprised he had the nightmare. Satarou also realized it was probably his punishment for putting all of his friends and little brother through so much pain.
Satarou fought back a laughter that threatened to escape his throat as he realized that he was lucky if a nightmare was the worst punishment he was going to get. No, he deserved far worse than just a petty nightmare. After all, Satarou destroyed his own life. After Leo's talk, he realized that he was also possibly destroying the lives of those he cares about.
Pausing for a split second, Satarou realized he was going crazy from the lack of sleep. Or maybe he would have finally cracked even if he hadn't been half asleep.
Satarou was so tired that he managed to trip on the floor he was walking on. He didn't bother catching himself as he fell, nor did he try to stop his glasses from falling off.
Curling in on himself slightly, he was in pain. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to care. Even as he started coughing up blood, he couldn't bring himself to care. He deserved a far worse punishment, and he would take it.
"Ketsu!" Leon called before running to him.
Satarou started laughing without a care in the world, "Leon?" He giggled a little bit more. "Don't mind me. I'm fine."
"You're not fine, Ketsu!" Leon lifted the teen into his arms and grabbed his glasses. "Now let me put these on you." Meanwhile, everyone else had stopped and were just watching.
"No need to, Leon. I look pretty with blood on me, don't you think?" Satarou let out a small laugh, before coughing up some more blood. He was really losing it.
"No, I don't think so!" Leon hissed, "you will die if you lose too much blood!" Satarou didn't move as he let Leon put his glasses back on. He also let Leon wipe the blood off of his face.
And suddenly, Satarou couldn't take it anymore. He bursted into tears as he clung on to Leon.
Startled, Leon froze for a second. Then with a soft smile on his face, he began to rock the teen a little bit as he spoke softly, "it's okay. You will be all okay. We are all here for you, alright?" Leon rubbed soothing circles into Satarou's back. Satarou thought it was a little ironic how he was usually the one taking care of others, or Yui anyways, but now he was the one being taken care of.
Satarou nuzzled Leon's neck, letting Leon's comforting smell fill his nose. He smelled nice like roses and mint.
After Satarou finished his little meltdown, he had fallen asleep in Leon's arms. Leon has been carrying him ever since that happened a few hours ago.
"Aren't you tired of carrying Ketsu?" Yorrel questioned Leon.
Leon shook his head, "no, Ketsu is tired. He deserves some rest."
"I hope he will be all okay" princess Marina frowned, "he deserves to be happy as well."
Smiling, Leon said, "i'm sure he will be all okay."
Leo stayed quiet, eyeing Satarou with curiostiy. He was surprised at the fact that the older teen had that meltdown, but he hoped that by the end of this journey, Satarou would choose wisely. Everyone deserved to have their happy ending, and right now, Satarou was preventing it from happening.
Leo knew that Satarou felt that he deserved to be alone, but in reality, that wasn't true. Satarou was just running away from his problems.
"How much longer until we reach Bloodstone territory?" Leo asked.
"We should be there soon" the princess smiled.
"Oh, princess, do you plan on returning to the castle soon?" Leon asked her.
The princess frowned before nodding, "yes, I have been gone long enough. My father is probably worried sick about me, plus I have duties I must attend to. This has been a fun journey."
Satarou woke up a few minutes later and softly pet Leon's hair for a second before catching himself.
"You finally awake?" Leon asked.
"Yes" Satarou mumbled. His heart pounded hard and fast in his chest when he took a look around, recently they would arrive at Bloodstone territory any time soon. "Can you put me down, Leon?"
Leon nodded, before putting Satarou down so that he could walk by himself.
Taking a deep breath, Satarou knew what he must do. "Guys? I need to tell you something. I haven't been completely honest with all of you."
They all stopped walking and turned to face him.
"What is it, Ketsu?" the princess smiled encouragingly.
Taking an even deeper breath, Satarou said, "Satarou isn't dead." He glanced over to Leo to see him nodding encouragingly.
"What? He's not?" Leon asked, frowning a bit, "where is he? Why would you lie about that?"
"Yes, please tell us!" the princess pleaded.
"I have to know where my twin is!" Yorrel demanded, "you didn't hurt him, did you?"
Satarou shook his head. "No. I didn't tell you because..." he paused for a second before saying, "I'm Satarou."
Leon's eyes widened, "you are? What happened to you? You look completely different!"
The princess sniffed the air before adding, "and your scent has changed, too."
Laughing slightly, he asked, "remember when I told you I was kidnapped?" They nodded. "That part wasn't a lie. Leo and I were kidnapped by these scientists who had disrupted our fight. In fact, if it weren't for the kidnapping, Leo and I might still dislike each other."
They all remained silent so Satarou could continue his story.
"The scientists specialized in experimenting on Supernaturals. Even though I was a werewolf, they tried adding vampire blood into my DNA" Satarou frowned, "even though they knew it has never succeeded before. In fact, I almost died."
"You did?" Leon asked, confused.
Leo frowned, "yes, he did! It was terrible. They hadn't experimented on me because they were busy with Satarou, but they had kept injecting him with vampire blood and the whole time he wasn't moving or speaking. In fact, that last day I was certain they were going to put him down. But somehow he had survived."
"How did you survive?" Leon asked.
Looking away, blood rushed to Satarou's cheeks. "Well, um, the funny thing is.."
"Yes?" Leon asked.
"You saved me" Satarou bluntly said, staring Leon in the eyes. A light blush covered the tip of his ears and down his neck.
"How did I save you?" Leon was really confused.
"Y-you kissed me" Satarou stuttered, looking down at the floor with embarrassment, "and I realized I had more to live for, I guess."
"I kissed you?" Leon was growing even more confused by the second. He didn't remember doing such a thing.
"In a dream, idiot!" Satarou glared.
A smile tugged at Leon's lips, "oh, I kissed you, huh? Does that mean you like me?" He leaned in close.
"What do you think it means?" Satarou's glare sharpened, "idiot."
Leon just laughed, "it's okay, princess. I like you, too."
Satarou rolled his eyes, though Leon couldn't see it. "By the way, I just rolled my eyes at you. Being forced to wear glasses in the sun is very inconvenient."
"We should go back to Bloodstone" Leon smiled at Satarou. Satarou froze.
Sadly, he shook his head. "I can't. Not yet."
Leon's eyes widened and he frowned, "but what about Yui? You aren't still planning to run away, are you?"
Laughing slightly, Satarou said, "no, i'm not. I just have some business to take care of first. Just wait for me a little bit longer, okay?"
Leon hugged Satarou tightly before saying, "I will wait as long as it takes for you, Satarou."
Satarou's eyes widened in shock before he mumbled through Leon's shoulder, "you called me by my name."
Leon smiled, "yeah, well, you called me by my name quite a bit now."
Glaring, Satarou said, "well, I was trying to be Ketsu. I didn't want to give it away."
Leon nodded. "Don't ever do that again, princess. It tore me apart to think you were dead. Yui would have been torn apart inside, too, if he thought you were dead. You've already made him think that once, and it would be terrible for him to think that again."
"I know, i'm sorry" Satarou apologized.
"But what made you decide to tell me?" Leon questioned.
Frowning, Satarou replied, "well, Leo talked some sense into me."
Finally the two pulled apart and Leon said, "you better come back to me, Satarou."
"Don't worry, I will" Satarou said.
At those last words, the two parted and began walking in separate directions.