Fuck this.

  Fuck this fuck this fuck this fuck this fuck this fuck—

  “Yooo, Elray, you ready?” came the sly voice in the midst of their pounding thoughts, a heavy arm getting draped over their shoulders as the smaller person froze, barely able to contain their anger.

  His words made them angry, and every little thing this man did got on their nerves. But for now, he was helping them, so Elray knew they couldn’t blow it. Even if this beautiful man beside him had the ugliest personality they’d ever seen. He had clear, dark skin the color of a smooth beech tree’s bark, with short, fluffy, mint-colored hair that always looked a little messy in a way that was visually appealing. His eyes were the color of his name, Wisteria, just as soft and pretty as the flower. They were a soothing purple that looked as if someone had taken real living flower petals and mixed them into his iris. He was exceptionally handsome, which was fitting for a former prince who had once been primed to inherit his kingdom’s throne. Before he’d committed a crime so heinous he got disowned by the royal family and was told to never return. Or rather, there’d been a date set for his execution before Wisteria managed to escape and run off, and now he was a wanted fugitive. Either way, it didn’t paint a good picture for him. Royalty could get away with almost anything, after all. So what would a man have to do to warrant that kind of reaction from his family? Though Elray knew exactly what this man had done.

  Wisteria was always trying to touch him, and he hated it. It would always seem ambiguous at first, almost harmless, which could lure you into a false sense of security and stop you from realizing when things might be going too far, but they knew better than to fall for that trap. He’d heard about how Wisteria liked to target people younger than him, and through experience, that was proving to be true. Because the moment Alroy was out of the picture, and the moment Elray felt he had no other choice and asked him for his help, Wisteria agreed to set up a portal for him in the middle of Lilino’s royal palace in exchange for a few sexual favors. He’d agreed, of course, even though he didn’t like it. Even though he’d hated it and felt like he wanted to puke the entire time. But he’d do anything for Alroy.

  “Aww, why so tense, hm? I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m helping you, aren’t I?” Wisteria smiled, moving a hand through Elray’s lavender hair as they kept staring at the ground.

  “Whatever. Just open the portal for me.”

  “C’mon, don’t be like that,” Wisteria chuckled, hand moving to ghost over the back of Elray’s neck before it slid down his spine, snaking around his hips while he pulled them closer to his chest. “But you’ve been a good boy, so I’ll follow the agreement we arranged. Remember, don’t tell your brother about this, ‘kay? Otherwise I won’t be so kind to you again,” he warned, voice rather mild, though Elray noticed a threat when he saw one. But that wasn’t even their snapping point. After everything they’d endured, a few threats were fine. Yet he nearly blew up and turned violent when Wisteria grabbed his ass, giving it a shameless squeeze before the banished prince who should’ve been executed centuries ago pushed him by his butt and forced him through an open portal without warning. “Have fun!! I really hope you come back, Elray… let’s spend some more time together, alright?”

  And then the portal closed. Ahh… god fucking damn it…!

  Agh, that asshole! What the fuck was wrong with him?! Elray couldn’t even say anything back, because he’d already wound up smack dab in the middle of Lilino’s royal castle! Their violet eyes were blown out wide, already on guard as they quietly looked around the empty hallway like a scared animal. Their concept of luck was on full blast, so they’d just happened to arrive in an area that didn’t have anyone around. Good. As things should be.

  Though, the concept of luck was rather odd, honestly speaking. It didn’t always work. For example, in their fight with Leocadies, they’d managed to get a lot of lucky hits in and dodged a lucky number of times, but in the end, he’d been completely outclassed. They might’ve been lucky, but luck can only be taken into consideration if it was something that was possible to begin with. In other words, if someone or something was simply that much stronger, Elray might be able to make a lucky escape like he had with Cirrus… but they wouldn’t actually be able to win if their difference in skill was that large. However, in times like these, as long as he didn’t do something that was wild or crazy enough to where it couldn’t help but gather people’s attention, he could typically walk through places and go completely unnoticed. Even in royal palaces. As long as he didn’t run into anyone who knew what he looked like, they could easily use their concept of luck and pass as a servant to most people.

  They could also use the concept of luck as a navigator, just as he was doing right now. Their feet would just happen to luckily take them on the right path, as easy as that. He didn’t even have to think about it too much, no matter how many splits in the road there were. So when he finally came across a lightly guarded door, he knew exactly where he needed to get into. The next question was how.

  Walking by with a stiff, curt nod to the guards, Elray passed them both without issue before casually turning a corner and memorizing the surroundings. That was the entrance to the dungeon, his lucky gut was telling him so. It looked to be near the very back of the castle, as all the windows in this area were overlooking a steep cliff that Lilino’s royal palace was built alongside. Though, luckily, he’d brought just the thing.

  Slinking closer towards the nearest window, Elray quietly pretended he was idly looking out and admiring the view as a few people passed him by. He just needed to wait and bide his time. His luck would pay off, it always did. He didn’t even need to look around before he quietly slipped on a pair of silver gloves, his luck as good as it always was, because Elray’s lucky instincts were telling them that now was the time. Wisteria had managed to get him these rare specimens for a hefty price, and all of the humiliating things he’d been forced to do would definitely be worth it if he could save Alroy. So, pressing the gloves carefully to the glass, Elray phased through the wall when nobody was watching and ended up falling over onto the other side.

  But hah, like a cliff could stop him. Their wind was quick to surround them, whirlwinds taking root around their ankles before they flew all the way to the walls surrounding the underground prison, where they chose a lucky spot and phased through. They fell into a prison cell, but at least nobody was there. And with these gloves, it didn’t even matter. Phasing through the bars was easy.

  Elray wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, since they’d never been advanced enough to make something like it, but some very skilled people in the world had the ability to pass their concept on into objects, so the object would be able to temporarily give people the concept their owner had transferred into it. However, each object only had a limited number of uses, and these gloves had ten, so Elray had better be careful not to use them for no reason. He’d already used them three times, so he better watch himself and save the rest for when he needed to get Alroy out of his chains and then out of the prison completely.

  Although, this dungeon was… very empty. Was it supposed to be like this? Looking around at all the empty cells, Elray couldn’t help but confront what he’d originally thought a royal dungeon would be like… filled with a bunch of criminals. He’d fully expected to have to fight some guards down here, but looking at it now, there was no reason to establish any guards at all, because all of the cells were empty. Did that mean Alroy was somewhere else? No, no, his luck had led him here… his brother had to be here somewhere…

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Uh… um, Alroy?” he tentatively threw out there, shoulders hunched and arms close to his chest as he tiptoed around. However, he didn’t get a response. “Mm…”

  His luck was telling him to go this way. Then that way. Then left. Then straight for a while. Then take a right. Perhaps they’d entered on the wrong side of the dungeon, because the more their luck led them places, the more they realized Alroy hadn’t been anywhere close. Though, at the very least, they couldn’t get lost with their concept.

  Yet, all of a sudden, he heard voices. It made him freeze, halting in his quiet footsteps as he leaned himself all the way against a corner. Should he phase through the bars of a cell and pretend to be a prisoner? No, no, that wouldn’t work… he’d use up all of the gloves' powers in order to put himself in and out of the chains, and this place didn’t even have any other prisoners, so if it was a guard passing by, that would definitely look suspicious… ah, his heart was pounding. They couldn’t afford to get caught here. They couldn’t afford to fail Alroy like this. Alroy, their brother, the only person they cared about… they would do anything for their brother. Suffer through anything, kill absolutely anything, they’d even humiliate themselves and suck an asshole’s dick and too much more if it meant he’d get the tools he needed to save his twin. Because Alroy meant everything to him. Alroy was their world, their role model, their shining light in all of this dark, dark, darkness… he was this void of humanity that ate up their soul and replaced it with an empty socket that could only feel satiated when Alroy was near. So, whoever it was… whoever was over there… Elray would kill them. He’d kill them, kill them, kill them… he’d kill anything if it was for Alroy…

  They put their shaking hands up into a guard, soft whirlwinds fluttering along their arms as they widened their shaking stance. They knew it wasn’t a very good stance, but they didn’t know how to fix it. No one had ever taught them, and Alroy didn’t really know anything either. Alroy, Alroy, Alroy… they felt like their vision was turning red, they couldn’t even make out the voices of the people who were approaching. It didn’t matter, they’d kill them, they’d kill them all, they would—

  “...Elray?”

  His breathing was heavy as all the wind flushed out of his system, a soft breeze encasing the room as a soft swirl took all of their hair, Elray’s heart rapidly pulsing inside him as the adrenaline suddenly dipped and dispersed. Because… that was Alroy. Alroy was right there. Alroy was free. Alroy was free and walking around, and… and Alroy…

  “Alroy!” they yelled, tears springing into their eyes as they ran towards him, throwing themselves at his chest while ignoring the second person that was there. If Alroy hadn’t killed them, then that probably meant he was using them, so Elray wouldn’t acknowledge them for now. He didn’t think he could acknowledge them even if he wanted to. All he could do was cry as he felt strong arms wrap around his back, Elray’s heart stuttering in and out of his chest as they clutched onto their brother’s shirt. “I… I thought they might’ve already killed you… I, I came as soon as I could, ah, Alroy… Alroy, are you… are you, okay?” they sobbed, that strong hand soothing them by running down his back, the only hands that had never hurt him.

  “Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry about me…” Alroy whispered, carefully taking Elray’s head and gently moving it to rest against his shoulder. “Did you come all this way to find me? I’m flattered, it must have been difficult… you did so well, Elray. I’m proud of you.”

  A long, drawn-out sob stretched out of them almost instinctively the moment their brother moved to comfort them, the only comfort they could ever find, and Elray slowly felt themselves calm down. Their heartbeat slowed in their chest, their palms stopped feeling so sweaty, and when they found the strength, they turned their head to spot the man who was watching them with wide eyes that were amber in color with wavy black hair that looked like a mess. But they didn’t say anything, and instead waited for Alroy to hint at what they needed to do. They pushed themselves off their brother and wiped at their eyes, Alroy smiling gently at them as the stranger looked between them both.

  “Ah… Alroy, is this your brother? You two look similar… but I thought you said he was a hostage?” the man wavered, slightly confused as Elray let their brother do all the talking.

  “Well, this is one of my brothers, yes. We’re actually twins!” Alroy laughed, moving a hand to squeeze Elray’s shoulder as they kept sniffling. “But the brother I was talking about is much younger. He hasn’t developed a concept yet, unlike us, so they made him a hostage. A lot of people in the organization are in similar states, but the higher ups are so strong that we can’t do much about it.”

  Ah, so that was the lie he was going with. Elray could play along with that. That lie was incredibly large, though… no one in the organization was being kept there because of a hostage system. The truth was that they were all just horrible people who sought destruction and the collapse of humanity. Elray didn’t care how horrible he was though. He just wanted everyone else dead. Everyone except himself and Alroy. In the end, they were the only two who should survive. That is what they truly believed.

  Alroy, on the other hand, was beginning to question that philosophy as Lavimo looked in between them. Well, there was no denying that both himself and his sibling were horrible people. They’d killed people, robbed people, tortured people… they planted the seeds of apocalypse on their leader’s order, and had felt no remorse. Not at the time, anyway. But now… should he really have taken Elray down this path? Looking at them… they were so vulnerable, so utterly codependent on him for everything in their life… had it been right to take advantage of that? Had Alroy actually been destroying them all this time? Was that really all he’d been doing?

  …damn it, Feather sure was convincing. Just like Sinicus. Those two were essentially the same person, just on opposite sides of the war. They were both silver-tongued and prone to violence, and they were both chaotic men who only ever followed their whims and refused to listen to other people, yet somehow still seemed so convincing and enticing to follow despite that. Feather and Sinicus were both the type of person that could talk to you and make you think they could actually give you everything you wanted if you followed them. And neither Alroy nor Elray would ever forget the words Sinicus had said to them when he’d first recruited them off the street…

  “Do you want to destroy everything that’s hurt you?”

  It was such a morbid question. But the two of them had lived a morbid life, so it felt appealing. That hand outstretched to them felt like an intoxicating temptation, a hand that would help them bestow their revenge on the world that had abandoned them and hurt them so much…

  “Do you want to kill all those who made you suffer? All those people who hurt you, who blamed you, who looked past you when you were bleeding and begging on the streets? Do you want to make their life a living hell, just like they made yours?”

  Yes. Yes they did. Alroy wanted all of those people dead. All of the people who hurt him, all of the people who hurt Elray… he wanted to kill them all.

  “If you want destruction, then follow me. I may not be kind, but I will give you the tools you need to destroy whatever your heart desires. We will destroy everything, kill everything, corrupt everything. Is that what you want?”

  Alroy had said yes for both of them. He hadn’t let Elray make a choice. Even though he knew at the time, they would’ve done whatever he wanted. If he’d declined, they wouldn’t have objected. They might’ve been able to clean themselves up, live a better life. Be better people, like Feather said they could be.

  But instead, he’d taken Sinicus’ hand. He’d made that decision for them both. He alone had brought himself and his brother down this path. He’d been the one who turned them both into what they were… the horrible people that they were now. But Feather was wrong about something, he was sure of it. Feather was wrong… because there was no way they could return from what they’d become. If Alroy had wanted to be a better person, if he’d really wanted to give Elray a better life, he would’ve done it much earlier. It was too late now. It was too late. There was no turning back. Too late… it was all far too late. For him, for Elray… there was no going back anymore. This was the life they’d chosen… because he’d taken the wrong hand so many decades ago. And now he would never be able to go back and choose another. If only… Feather had outstretched his hand sooner. Maybe then… things would’ve been… a little different…