Chapter 1: The Rain

They say life is cruel. Never has it been forgiving to anyone. Never has it let anyone rest. Never has it given anyone a peaceful day without any worries. Never has it been beautiful.

They say life is a lie. Never has it been what one has expected it to be. Children, they see life as lights and rainbows. They see life as a world of fun, laughter, sympathy and harmony. They are too naive to see the harsh truth. They will soon realize that life was just a pit of darkness. They will soon see life as a world of sadness, cries, coldness and betrayal. And when that happens, it will be all too late. The old one will pass on, the young one will be born, and it will be just an endless cycle.

They say life is unfair. Never had it been fair. Never had it given anyone what they wanted. Never had it let anyone kept what they loved. It would take everything away, leaving one with suffering, and just suffering alone.

No one is safe.

No one is safe from the suffering.

Everyone will have to suffer.

Everyone will have to fall. Fall painfully and harshly.

Just like the heavy rain that was now pouring down the eldritch in black.

Black Hat, like a mighty villain himself, had never cared less about life. He knew life was cruel, he knew life was unfair, he knew life was just a big lie, but he never minded. Beside, he had been conflicting pain on others for millions of decades already. He had been enjoying the sight of his enemies suffering, falling to the ground as their last breathe left them or standing there in helplessness as their loved ones were all gone. But he would just laugh it off in the most mocking way possible, laugh it off like it was the funniest joke in the whole universe. Their expression was too priceless to not laugh at. Their words were too pathetic to not laugh at.

Just like that, he also couldn't care less about time. "Time never waits anyone, so always try to make the best of it while you can", they say. But to Black Hat, he would just let out a scornful chuckle if anyone ever used that saying to "teach" him. No one teach the Black Hat, especially with those overused words. He never had to worry about time, because he was immortal. He would live on forever, which gave him all the time to do anything, including conquering the world, an achievement he had already reached. He had lived through many centuries, from medieval time to the modern age. He had seen the wars arise, the world evolve, the technology advance, and so on. He had seen many things some mortal couldn't see, because by the time it happened, they were no longer in this world.

He used to laugh at mortal for their limited life span… until now.

He never knew the definition of time, he never knew the definition of emotions, until she made her appearance in his life. With many things he had once thought to be ridiculous, she had proven them to be true. She had proven that anyone could have feelings, even a ruthless villain like him. She had proven that anyone could fall in love, even a heartless eldritch like him. She had proven that true love existed, which was something he had thought to be made up. His wife Fluggie, she was an incredible woman, the most incredible woman he had ever had the pleasure to meet.

The people who were head over heels for him, they were extremely jealous of Fluggie, and would use excuses like "she has nothing special!", "she is a weirdo!", "she is ugly and not talented!", "she must have some tricks to manipulate him!", etcetera… to bash on his wife, like what Miss Julianna had said when he had revealed his marriage to the public. To be honest, from the first glance, everyone would think that she was just a plain human, saved for the paper bag she always wore. She had a typical looks with no supernatural feature, really, but Black Hat was the first one to ever find out her true beauty, and he felt lucky to have done so. Her deep blue eyes, long dark eyelashes, rosy cheeks and lips, perfectly curved jawline,… she was gorgeous in any way, so gorgeous that even the many scars on her face and body, the scars he had kissed over and over again, couldn't make her any less attractive.

Her haters were wrong enough about her appearance, and they were even more wrong when they said she had no talent. Only the most brilliant minds could prove worthy to Black Hat, and when she was able to keep working for him for many years, it was enough to say that she had the skills required to be useful in his eyes. Her creations were what kept his business running even though he really didn't care about the downfall of his business, as it was founded just out of boredom anyway. But she was talented nonetheless.

With all of that, it didn't take a genius to say that he was madly in love with her. He loved her to the bottom of his heart, with every inch of his being. He wanted the best for her, to make her happy in every second, to protect her at all cost.

She was his lover, his soulmate, his dearest, his joy, his treasure, his obsession, his everything.

So at this very moment, thinking back, he finally understood the saying "life never gives anyone what they want".

Looking up, Black Hat only saw darkness. Pitch dark sky, pitch dark clouds, pitch dark everything with no sign of any light, just like his life, hopes and dreams. Each drop of rain was heavy, harsh and painful on his skin, but he didn't care. Comparing to the emptiness in his heart, no pain could ever be as hurtful. Gently putting his hand onto the surface of the tree beside him, he gazed absentmindedly out to the cityscape in front. This place, this very place up at the tip of the hill, it had always had a great view, but rarely anyone knew about it. He had taken his wife here, and she loved it at the very first moment she came to it, just like he had expected.

This place, this very place that overlooked the city, it'd used to be very beautiful in his eyes, but now, it was nothing but a dreaded place of memories. When she had still been with him, standing beside him with her arms wrapped around one of his own, the scenery had seemed to always be full of bright sunshine. But now, in front of him was just an eerie view full of black clouds covering the entire sky, and the heavy rain made the view barely visible. In front of him was just a dead place that had once been a magnificent view.

It was nothing more than a cursed place to him, yet he kept coming here unconsciously even though he knew he must not revisit the memories.

Suddenly, the raindrops stopped falling onto him, and when he looked up, he saw a white umbrella on top of him, shielding him away from the rain. Not needing to look over to his left, he knew exactly who was holding the umbrella.

"You don't need to be here, White."

His twin sighed. "I don't need to be here, but I need to be with you."

"And you know exactly where to look for me?"

White Hat was silent for a while, trying to think of a logical answer. "Well, you…"

"… have said that this place was one of her favorite?"

Black Hat finished his twin's sentence, and the twin in question bit his lips as if feeling guilty of having brought that up. Black Hat just let out another long sigh, looking out of the city again in hopelessness. His brother looked at him with his troubled eyes before following suit, the two of them standing there in silence under the rain. The rain, it still hadn't gone away, still falling hard on the surface of the umbrella, emitting a loud sound as each drop made contact with it. White Hat, he had always been quite annoying and obnoxious to Black Hat, but at times like this, he was extremely calm and collected, much to the twin in black's surprise.

White was calm and collected when he had tried to comfort Black, making him move on from her sudden loss.

"It's been… eight hundred years, hasn't it?"

Black said, voice as cold as ice.

Eight hundred years had never felt so long until the fateful day when he had lost her forever.

Other writers start a sequel with a perfectly fine scene with little or no hints of sadness.

And then there's me.

So… welcome to the sequel! This comes out earlier than expected, so I'm glad about it.

Welp, way to start a sequel. See you in the next chapter!