The air was thick with the tension of Rachel's disbelief, her body still trembling against the rusted chair, her mind struggling to process the unbearable truth. Her brother, Tommy,—alive, standing before her, speaking in a voice that no longer held any warmth or familiarity. She had thought him gone forever, thought she'd buried his memory under the grief, the anger, and the years that followed. But here he was, a twisted reflection of the person she once knew.
The silence between them felt suffocating, each second dragging Rachel deeper into a chasm she couldn't escape from. She had always thought there was no one left to rely on, no one to trust. But now, with the horrifying truth in front of her, she realized just how wrong she had been. There was no family left. There was nothing but this empty shell standing before her, the man who had been lost to the cult, to Levanzo, to a darkness Rachel couldn't even begin to understand.
Tommy's cold, dead eyes bored into her, and his words twisted the knife deeper into her heart.
"You're still stuck on that, aren't you?" His voice was sharp, cutting through her like glass. "The idea of family, of love, of anything resembling the life we had before. You never understood it. You never understood what really mattered."
She wanted to scream at him, to demand why he had done this, why he had let her believe he was gone. But her throat felt tight, her voice strangled by the weight of the betrayal. Why? she wanted to ask, but she already knew. It was all part of Levanzo's plan. It always had been.
"You don't get to say that," Rachel choked out, her hands straining against the chains as if she could break free just by sheer force of will. "You don't get to—"
Tommy's laugh cut her off, low and humorless. "I don't get to what, Rachel? What do you think you understand? You've been chasing shadows, running from ghosts, but there's no one left to save you. Not even me."
The words struck her like a blow, knocking the wind out of her. He was right. She had been running for so long, clinging to the belief that there was something worth saving, that the world wasn't as broken as it seemed. But now, as she looked into her brother's eyes, she realized she had been a fool. She had been chasing an illusion, and that illusion was gone.
Her chest tightened, and she fought back a sob. Her uncle—the thought of him was like a fragile thread tying her to reality. He was out there, along with Alastor, Jack, and Emily, somewhere, searching for her, willing to fight for her. But in this moment, facing her brother—her betrayer—Rachel couldn't help but wonder if there was anyone left in the world who wasn't twisted by the darkness that had consumed her family.
Her brother took another step forward, his shadow falling over her like a weight. He reached out, his fingers brushing her cheek in a gesture that was meant to be comforting but felt like a violation.
"You still think you have a choice in this?" he asked softly, his voice cold but filled with a strange sadness. "You never did, Rachel. From the moment they took you, from the moment I died, you were always meant to be part of this. You just didn't know it yet."
Rachel recoiled, her body jerking away from his touch. Her mind screamed at her to move, to run, to do anything but stay here, in this place where the truth was slowly eating her alive.
"No," she whispered, the word barely escaping her lips. "No... this isn't happening. You're not him. You're not my brother."
His eyes hardened, and the sadness was gone, replaced by something darker. "I'm exactly who I need to be, Rachel. And when Levanzo's plan comes to fruition, you'll understand. You'll see."
Rachel could barely process the words. Her mind was drowning in confusion, in sorrow, in the weight of everything she had lost. The world she had built in her head, the world where her brother had died fighting for something good, was shattered in an instant.
"Why?" she asked again, the question escaping her in a ragged breath. "Why did you do this? Why did you let me think you were dead?"
Her brother's gaze softened for a fraction of a second, but it wasn't a warmth she recognized. It was pity. And then, just as quickly, it turned cold again.
"It was necessary," he said, his voice quiet but final. "It was the only way for you to see. For you to understand what you truly are. What we are."
The silence that followed was deafening. Rachel's heart raced as she sat there, bound to a chair in the dim light of the warehouse, her brother—her betrayer—standing before her, the embodiment of everything she had fought against.
Alone.
She had always thought there was still a chance, that somehow the world could be fixed. But now, the truth was undeniable. She was alone. Her family had betrayed her, and the life she had once fought for had slipped through her fingers like sand.
And as she sat there, broken and overwhelmed, a quiet voice echoed in the back of her mind. Uncle…
She wasn't completely alone. Not yet.
But even as hope flickered in her chest, the weight of her brother's words pressed down on her, and the feeling of isolation, of being lost in a world full of lies, threatened to consume her.
Tommy turned toward the door, his figure dissolving into the shadows once more. "You'll understand soon enough, Rachel," he said, his voice fading as he left her alone in the cold room. "You'll see the truth. And when you do, you'll know what you're meant to do."
Rachel could only sit there in the silence, the reality of her situation settling over her like a suffocating blanket. The world she had known was gone, and there was no escaping what came next.