A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.1****1When all the people she wanted to love turned their backs on her, when the world stopped spinning, and when they kicked her to live in thy darkness, she found her very first friend. Or friends.
Hands.
When she was young, back then, she remembered, they locked her up in the very same room she's in. They kept her inside that she lost count of how much sun and moon chased each other, how long it's been since they closed the doors on her face, and how many nights she had to endure wide awake without other source of light but her magical hair.
In the midst of that isolation, pairs of hands helped her conquer her fear of the dark. Hands that have long been a part of her and she only realized them when she hit her lowest.
Hands, she named them, lifted her up from the ground. She forgot that when they took everything she ever loved, Hands remained behind her, by her side, and around her, because Hands is the only thing they could never ever take away from her.
Eight hands with arms that could extend endlessly, attached on her back. Slender and translucent like a ghost, is both invisible to the eyes of others and invincible, can change its form with a seemingly autonomous will of their own.
"Hands, come out!"
And from her back, Hands began to show itself to her again. Eight hands, each forming a 'T' to express their emotions. Each hand are crying because they were forgotten.
It didn't surprise Skadi Eira anymore. She already seen Hands before, but it still gives her the goosebumps every time. It's so creepy. She look like a spider. But Hands could make themselves seem like wings. Diabolical.
"You brought it for me?" A pair of Hands scoop the black heart on the pillow and transferred it to her hands.
A black heart with an unknown history. She just woke up one time and she's already holding it back then, refusing to let it go, keeping it to herself all the time, taking care of it like some priceless treasure. Whenever she's holding it, the waves pulling up to become a tsunami calms down. The black heart has the power to calm her outbursts. Thanks to it, lots of lives were spared and were graced with kinder punishments even though the people never sinned.
She brought the heart to her chest. Her soft yet emotional face looked at Hands. Hands touched her face, wiping the tears that escaped from her eyes.
Though she didn't say anything to Hands, Hands already forgave her. She received comfort from them and Skadi Eira left while hugging herself. The sight is very creepy to her. She couldn't stand that four pairs of hands are acting ou with will like it's an intelligent being. They're just hands! H-A-N-D-S.
Watts stopped playing the piano when he accidentally pressed the wrong key. He palmed his face and looked up. He just realized that it's already night when he saw the stars over him through the glass roof.
He heard a knock. When he looked down and waited to see who's on the other side, Wattroid's head popped in with a sorry smile. He knew how busy his master is, always drowning himself with work so he could forget his yearning for Moon.
"My Lord, are you alright? How about you retire to your bed chambers? I've cleared your schedule for a week, but you're still working. Please, you need at least a short vacation."
Watts sighed.
"Sorry. I just feel...so restless when I'm not doing anything. Don't disturb me tomorrow. Tell Mom and Dad that I'm taking a break for the whole day."
Wattroid bowed when he stand up.
"Please clean the place up. Thank you."
Wattroid even opened the door for him. He walked in the middle of the long, silent hallway. The only noise he could hear was his heartbeat. When he got into his room, he locked the doors and lied down on his bed.
Then he heard the clock ring. It's midnight.
And when he shut his eyes, his acid tears pour down his sheets.
"Princess... Please, come back. I miss you. I've been aching for you."
He punched his chest to loosen his twisting, squeezing heart. How long is he going to yearn for her return? He's willing to wait. He already made it through a whole fucking year. He bet he could go another with the same broken heart.
Why does it feel like he's so hollow?
He get up from the bed and caught his head in his hands. Then he stand up with crossing feet and made it safely to the shelf of liquors. He took the strongest one and twisted its cap.
It's that time of the year, and only alcohol can help him get through the night.
His family greeted him with a smile the next day when he made it to the dining room. His siblings went to him and gave him an embrace m, but he couldn't feel the warmth they're giving off. He feel likes Wattroid without the codes and programs.
"I cooked your favorites. Dad helped me. Come, let's eat~" Franchetti Xerene singsong and pulled his chair, but he remained standing on his place, shoulders dropped and eyes looking down.
"Where... Where is Kuya?" He asked out of the blue, freezing them. They didn't expect that he will ask of him. After all this time, he must've missed his second father. King Liorei was the third.
"Let's eat altogether, Mom. I miss him."
His family looked at each other. Voltage Xirquit drinks his tea while glancing at his wife. Whatever her word is will be his, too.
"I see..." Her smile weakened a bit, until she smiled again wider and nodded.
"We'll find him. Let's have our---"
"I want it now."
Franchetti Xerene was silenced. Her son is depressed and she doesn't want to upset him more, so she nodded at Spike to do the work and find Ohms as soon as he can.
Only for Ohms Xirquit to sashay past Spike with lots of gift in his hands.
He's been waiting for this moment.
"You looking for me? I'm here."
He spread his arms, waiting for their hug but nobody went to him. Watts turned around and looked at him.
Ohms changed. His demeanor changed but his fashion sense didn't. Somehow, the expression on his face look a bit kinder than before.
"Is it too late to apologize?" He said, with a hint of a smirk on his lips. When he saw his mother's glare, he turned it into a smile.
Watts walked to him lifelessly. Ohms waited for him and accepted his loving son---brother in his arms, giving him kisses and putting down his pride by apologizing. Watts is his strongest weakness. Watts is his favorite, after all. He's his son.
"Don't say anything stupid next time. I will never forgive you. Ever," Watts mumbled, soft and low as a breath. Ohms kissed his cheek.
"Yes, yes. I lay low for that. And stalking you."
Watts furrowed his eyebrows at him.
"Stalking me?"
"Uh-huh. Well, I can't get close to you, so I just stalked you. And watch you from afar. From the shadows." His smile grew creepy, scaring Watts who couldn't believe that his brother could go to such lengths. Well, for him.
"That's creepy as fuck. Stalking is a crime, Wattsy. Don't forgive him yet!" Elektra hollered and pulled her brother away from Ohms, but he pulled him back much stronger that she let Watts go.
"Like you didn't watch him sleep last night."
Voltage let his wife serve him. She's already putting food on everyone's plates. There were no servants in the dining room, just them.
"W-Well! He's sleeping! Shut up! At least I'm not a stalker like you! Who knows, maybe you put a tracking device on Watts or hidden cameras everywhere!?"
And Ohms smiled meaningfully, making their jaws dropped.
The things he would do for Watts.
"Stop bickering and come here."
Their mother sat on the table's aisle. Their father on her left, and they're all on the right. First was Watts, then Ohms, that's why Elektra is punching and biting him for going between them. Spike embraced his peace and started digging in.
But Watts seems to not have the appetite to. He's only staring at his food, seeing her image on it as his mind play yet another delusional scenarios.
"I heard you're opening the Academia," Ohms opened a conversation that only Franchetti Xerene, Wattroid, and Watts himself knew about at the moment.
"How did you know that? I, Mom, and Wattroid are the only ones who know about that."
Then he laughed. Voltage Xirquit shook his head.
"I knew it! He's been watching you, Wattsycakes! We should kill him!" Elektra swiftly sent the table knife to her brother's neck but he stopped it with his hand.
"I have my ways. You should eat."
He gave him his favorite, the chicken skin. Watts the wrapped his flimsy hands around the spoon and fork and started eating. Slowly, playing the food with his utensils, eating so little.
"I called for an important meeting already and sent out notices to everyone. They probably got it now since I used the drones."
"Sick. Should I go to school? I'm curious about the new curriculum."
"Me too!" Elektra raised her hand.
Ohms clapped, "That's the best thing you have ever decided for yourself! Hope the education system will work this time and not fail us."
"What! Grrr!" She stabbed him with the fork but stopped it with his table knife.
"Stop fighting, you two," their mother reprimanded, so Elektra pulled her hand back and hissed.
"Whatever happened to Gerson Liorei?" Ohms drifted the subject. No, he's truly curious.
Gerson Liorei, ill? He though that it was a joke but it's not.
Voltage Xirquit chew his food while staring at his eldest son. He doesn't know what to feel: should he be proud that Ohms has been watching them all this time without getting detected, or threatened that he's been watching them all this time without getting detected.
Since he's their firstborn, they taught him the ways of being an assassin.
And he fear that Ohms may be a better assassin than them. Stalking them, completely undetected? He hate the idea that he could sneak on him and he wouldn't even feel his presence.
Ohms noticed his father's stares and picked up what may be running in his head. So he grinned playfully and winked, annoying his father effortlessly.
After their breakfast, Ohms kidnapped Watts to have a walk with him. The people were buzzing to each others' ears about the sight. It's the first time they saw Ohms Xirquit's face again since the rumored 'feud' between the brothers. Seeing them together now gives them the idea that they have made up.
"Kuya," Ohms called as he watch his ice cream melt. They're in the Plaza for an ice cream. Then later, they will go shopping.
"Hmm?"
"What do you think would happen after I die?"
Ohms stopped. It made his heart skipped a beat. He doesn't like this conversation. He doesn't like how his brother speaks right now.
"I will kill everyone."
Watts looked at his brother. He felt the dripping ice cream reach his finger, running down thickly.
"If that's what you wanted to hear. I love you. Mom love you. Dad love you. Your other siblings love you, too. We'd lose our fucking shit and spread flames everywhere. I would be fighting those weak-ass Princes. Dad will handle that insane and manic Dragunovv. Mom will take his wife down. Then Elektra will be torturing Sun. I don't know what Spike will do. He's the neutral in our family, but who knows, maybe he will dismember their children one after another. Aurora just gave birth to another son. Healthy. If you kill yourself, then our name will go down in history as the first devils who brutally and ruthlessly exact their revenge against the world."
He wiped his brother's hand using his handkerchief. Watts remained staring at him, then a trail of his tear cascaded down his cheek.
"How dare them live happily after making me live my life so miserably?"
His grip on the cone tightened. It burst, splashed to their clothes, staining it with the colors of its flavor. Red velvet.
"Right? That's why I sent people to assassinate Izaac's newborn. The people I sent died, though. Sad, but the threat it brought them was worth it," he chuckled, not giving two shits about the people who heard him.
Watts is shocked yet he couldn't express it. So, he let it be, pretending to not hear his brother's outrageous confession.
"I'm opening the Academia soon."
"I know."
"Do you want to return?"
"To bully Sun, her supporters, and her brothers? Bet your money on me. I'll make sure there will never be peace for them."
Watts sighed and shook his head.
But it's a good idea, he think so.
"Hmm, but what program, though? I'll just pick randomly."
It's not what Watts wanted him to do, though. He already saved a place to his brother into.
"Be the Crowns' adviser, Kuya."