A Day In The Fated Future
House of the Crowleys
(Dazai Crowley's POV)
After leaving Alice's room, me and Blair entered the hallway and began walking towards the last room upstairs. The master bedroom which belonged to me and my sister's parents.
"Hey Blair, do you have any siblings?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, no. I was an only child. But I have heard from other people and stories telling me about those experiences. From the looks of it, it's not easy being the older one in the family, huh."
I rubbed my neck in a manner similar to exhaustion while chuckling a little.
"Yeah. Even though you're considered to be the one in charge, in reality, all that means is that you have the responsibility of undoing your siblings' actions. You get less freedom, forced to babysit for free, and get blamed for most things when your sister does wrong. Not to mention, there's also sibling rivalry which is a whole other can of worms. It's actually pretty annoying if you think about it, really."
"But you still love her, don't you?~" She asked.
"Course I do. I'd rather die than see her troubled." I replied, subtly channeling a portion of my resolve.
Those words came from deep within my heart, as if it was only a natural response. That means I must've taken my role as her older brother rather seriously.
As I reflected upon my words, I didn't notice that Blair had stopped midway until now. Suspicious, I glanced back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I-I wish I had a bond like that…."
Looking towards the ground, her eyes seemed to be lost in space yet again. Her expression was rather odd and her hands were clenched into tight fists.
She spoke in a very low and almost near inaudible mumble. One so quiet, I would have missed it had I not been paying close enough attention.
"You good?" I asked from a distance.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking about some things is all. Pay no mind to me though. We're walking to your parent's room right?"
"Yeah, it's just up ahead."
Having snapped back to reality, Blair pushed on ahead of me while walking in an upbeat manner.
But her movements and behavior did not fool me.
After seeing her Oscar winning "performance" so many times, I was starting to notice that she was using a facade to come off as normal. Even if it meant forcing her emotions.
Hence the reason as to why I consider her to be overbearing.
But those eyes and that dark and gloomy glance of hers told the tale clear as day yet again.
She was reminiscing on the past yet again.
Well, even if she was, and, for some godforsaken reason, I wanted to help her out, it's not like I'm some sort of therapist either. The most I can do right now is notice from far afar and sigh.
In any case, after finally arriving at my parent's bedroom, I used Appraisal again to scan for traps.
Deeming it safe, I opened the door and stepped inside, with Blair following right behind me.
As expected, this room was twice as big compared to mine or Alice's. With thick and fluffy pillows and comfortable bedding, a large and wide king size bed laid dead smack in the middle of the room.
There was also a walk-in closet a lot bigger than the one I had before and even a luxurious bathroom that had a separate shower room and bathtub. Mom and Dad were clearly living it up in here.
One thing I did notice however was that this place also gave off a different vibe that was more mature than the last rooms we were in previously.
While it didn't matter all that much to me at first, thanks to the eerie "void" that existed here, this place felt all the more unapproachable.
Regardless, that void ever so faded in intensity as even more memories from long ago started to return to me slowly. With the light from before bringing back old items and pieces of furniture, things became a lot more familiar.
Though it was unfortunate that the memories I regained were nothing more but tidbits of unrelated information, atleast I was able to recall some things about myself and the family I grew up with.
"Ahh~….how comfortable~…." Blair mumbled aloud with stretched arms and a satisfied smile.
"Hey, don't lay on that bed….." I tried saying, but knowing her, she would just ignore me, so I let it be.
"Say, Dazai?~ I wonder if this is where all the…"baby magic" happened to make you and Alice~..."
I almost wanted to vomit.
"Don't make me think of such disgusting things….besides, what does it matter to you?"
"Hehe~....Well, I was thinking, maybe we should….continue the tradition?~"
".....You must be insane if you think that I would ever fuck you in my parent's bedroom all of places."
"So the problem is just setting!?~" She replied out of eager anticipation.
"I'm not fucking you, period!"
"Tch, so close…"
Stop clicking your damn tongue at me, you vixen….
Ignoring her, I went about my own business and continued to look around. Meanwhile, it looked like something caught Blair's attention.
Lined on top of a wall mount made of wood lay several old family photos of assorted sizes standing side by side to the next with each being perfectly encased and preserved in matching sized thick frames, similar to the picture in my room earlier.
The contents of each was different and unique as all of them seem to have been taken at different times to capture a large variety of precious moments.
However, over here, it was mainly pictures involving my parents with just a little bit of me, Alice and some other family members like Reyn and my cousin, Roy sprinkled inside.
"Is this your parents? They seem a lot younger." She asked as she grabbed one in particular off the shelf.
It was a picture of Mom and Dad, however like Blair noticed, they were definitely a lot younger, like in their late teens or so. Judging by the clothing, the nearby setting and Dad's tired and somewhat annoyed expression it looked like it was taken during their school days or so, with my Mom somehow teasing Dad in the heat of the moment.
"Yeah. I think they used to be childhood friends back in the day and even went to school together. This might be a picture taken from their days of youth."
"I see. What were your parents like anyways?"
"Good question. I can't say much considering my amnesia, but they were atleast parents done right."
"Dad was silent but strong. He protected us and the household, got work done and even trained us from the ground up when he had spare time to hang out."
"Mom was the same way, but much more emotional and upfront with her affection if that makes sense. She kept us fed, made sure we had a roof over our heads, warm bedrooms and even homeschooled us on our off days just so she could get us prepared for time to head out into the real world."
"What's really important though was that they were extremely close as family, and remained loyal to the other. Their teamwork was so on point that there were rarely times when they would argue with each other. And even if they did, they would get over it and make up some time later."
"So you guys were basically the ideal family, huh. Lucky bastard~...." She replied.
"I mean, it's not something worth bragging about but I guess you could say that. Most kids these days are lucky enough to have either a loving mother or father without the other being abusive or outright dead. And since having kind parents are important, that alone is enough to make me cherish them even more."
"Aw~....how cute!~...."
Thinking about my family made me realize this was the perfect time to learn more about Blair.
"Say, since we're on the topic, what were your parents like?" I asked.
Suddenly, she got a little flustered, but for what seemed to be all the wrong reasons.
"M-me? You sure that's something you want to ask?... It's…it's not as bright as yours to be honest. Just talking about it might bring down the mood."
"Listen, not once have I been happy since the moment I woke up in this world. Plus, I'm not the type who's emotionally sensitive to dark topics, so whatever you have to say I'm sure I can handle."
To be honest, judging from her previous reactions lately and even the way she's talking to me right now, I could already tell that her family weren't the most affectionate.
However, her expression and subtle movements were showing visible signs of uncomfort. As much as I wanted to learn more about her somehow, I can't push this subject or she'll try to reject me.
And with her being a possible kidnapper, that's the last thing I need right now.
"Of course, if you really don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to. I know most of us have plenty of dark secrets we don't want to touch upon."
"W-wait! I don't mind talking about it….it's just, well…I don't know where to begin…."
Seems like she's a little touchy about wanting to talk about herself. But I guess that's not too surprising.
"Why don't you start with some deep breaths?" I recommended her while sighing on the inside.
Without responding, she took a moment to relax and breathe for a second or two.
After relaxing, she sat back up and got her thoughts in order. That was when she began going a little more into detail about her past.