This is a Divine Gate fan fiction. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! BASED POST-SHOW AND HAS ALL THE INFORMATION FROM IT! Okay, I wanted to say first that I don't actually care for Aoto's twin brother much (since he's messed up) but their relationship is adorable and super sad at the same time. So, I decided to write a happier ending for the two of them. This is by no means intended to be yaoi.

Six months had passed since it was all over. All Aoto ever wanted was to reunite with his little twin brother Ariton in a peaceful setting. That's what he'd devoted his life to do. He sighed lightly, wishing he had any inkling as to where he went off too. But then again, it was probably for the best that he hadn't found him yet, as he has no idea what he could possibly do to convince him that he wasn't a hypocrite so that he wouldn't try to attack him again. The thought hit him with a new wave of sadness, he had done everything to help his brother but he wouldn't accept him. He was no fool, he knew of how messed up his younger brother had become, but he knew there was still light in him somewhere, he just needed to found out how to expel it from inside him. His eyes fixed in one spot, it was a picture of the two of them when they were a bit younger, and they were smiling. It was Aoto's most prized possession, he always kept it with him.

"What are you doing over here?" A voice called from behind Aoto. The slight surprise in his features was a contrast to how surprised he actually felt as he turned at the voice. Interrupting his thought process was none other than his close friend, Akane. Being considerate of his feelings, he quickly tucked the photo back in his jacket.

"...Nothing really."

Akane's mouth dipped into a scowl, he obviously wasn't buying the excuse.

"I thought we were over this, Aoto! You're still hiding things?! Don't you trust me and Midori?!"

"No, it's not that."

Really, he just didn't want to bring up painful memories for his friend. Neither he nor Midori were as fortunate as he was six months ago, their reason for going to the Divine Gate, the people they were looking for... He couldn't imagine it. To believe your father dead since you were a kid just to have him return then dies again not an hour later? True, he had been through far more throughout his lifetime, but still. He felt guilt as his brother was the only one who lived, Midori's best friend whom she had searched years for, also died. No, he refused to bring up such painful memories for him, the pain was too fresh. Aoto had been alone a good portion of his life and his social skills were not great, and even though they had improved, he still choked over how to say what he meant... without getting misunderstood.

"Then what the heck is it?" Akane questioned.

"I was... just..." Aoto really didn't want to say he was thinking, Akane would pick it up right away. "I just wanted to be alone." He lied instead.

"Huh, guess you still have those loner urges in you." Akane accepted, waving his arm in the air dismissively. "...Well, are you done now?"

Aoto nodded, hiding the fact that he was pleased Akane was so easily convinced.

"Good, cause I'm bored and Midori's hanging out with Undine and the girls saying it's a 'girl's night' or whatever."

Akane unorthodoxly took a seat on the small rock wall that Aoto was perched on. Aoto had noticed that since it had all happened, Akane did not seem to want to be alone; maybe perhaps he didn't just want to relive the same memories, over and over.

"You don't mind right? Ginji can be a real jerk and I'm not in the mood for dealing with him right now."

"I don't mind."

"Good, cause I'm not leaving." Akane claimed, putting his arms behind his head in a relaxed gesture.

Aoto could not help but smile slightly at his bluntness; he was never good with hiding his thoughts on something.

"Well, do you want to go do something?" Akane asked.

"Like what?"

It's not that Aoto was against it, he just wasn't used to any sort of social gathering, even with only one person. So, he wasn't quite sure what he had in mind.

"Like we could go too..."

...

The young blonde Ariton frowned at the display before him. He had committed another atrocity, but this one was far more different from his other two. His older brother Aoto had not claimed that he had done it and hadn't been accused. The second part was not a surprise or a concern to him, it was the first part.

"It's too late, Big Brother." He remarked bitterly. While Aoto's clear blue eyes were calm, his evil twin's were cold, murderous as an avalanche and even more so at the moment. "Do you really think you can 'win' me back? You haven't changed and you never will. Hypocrite."

He promised he would kill him, but decided to wait until he came to him, it was only a matter of time.

Another notification came up on the screen in his hands and his eyes widened before his face contorted into a evil grin.

"Perhaps this moment will come sooner than expected... Brother."

...

Using his driver to deflect another attack from the small drones, Akane was beginning to get a bit tired. How the heck had things even come to this? All they were doing was getting a bite to eat at the mall before everything went to heck. The drones had gone crazy and started attacking people, (this seemed to happen far too often.) Thank goodness, they had just defeated the last of them.

"Akane!" Akane couldn't react before he was pushed out of the way of an attack, but it wasn't the drones.

"How annoying. I was hoping that no one would get in our way like last time." A familiar cold voice said, dripping with malice. Had Aoto not froze completely, eyes fixed forward on the figure in front of him, the thought would have brought up memories. Memories of the 'last time' when Aoto refused to battle with him and Undine took the blow from one of his attacks and almost died in the process. Even though he was just as close to her as to Akane and Midori, she had tried to befriend him long before he even knew the two of them existed. He was too shocked for these memories to occur but they had stuck well in his mind. After the attack, he had finally retaliated only for a brief moment and managed to wound him. Vividly, he could picture the decent sized but not fatal wound and the wry smile on Ariton's face as he said the one of the most terrifying things he'd ever heard:

"You see Brother? You just subconsciously tried to kill me just now."

"No…"

"B-brother?" He spoke breathlessly. "What are you-"

"I couldn't miss the opportunity to meet with you again, Big Brother."

Akane was sick and tired of Aoto's evil twin Ariton, quite honestly. He knew that Aoto had practically dedicated his whole life to protecting him ever since he was young, and how does he repay him? By very literally trying to stab him in the back.

"Why?" Aoto muttered silently.

"So that I could finish what we started six months ago." His malicious grin grew wider when he saw the look of horror on his twin's face. "Let me guess. You're going to go on about that crap about not fighting me then attacking me anyway?"

"Please, don't do this! Why do we need to fight?!" Aoto's voice was raising but he kept a breath to calm himself. He needed to calculate everything to a degree as this was his only chance to talk some sense into him.

"Why? Because you're a hypocrite and there's nothing that I hate more than hypocrites especially when it's you Brother."

Taking another breath slowly, Aoto calmed himself. This time would not be like the last. No, he wouldn't allow it to be like the last. What could he say to him to convince him that he was not as he claimed? He had tried everything he could think of last time.

"You're the one who's a dang hypocrite!" Akane snapped, no long able to stay silent. "You say that Aoto's a hypocrite just because he made you suffer when he protected you, yet, you're making him suffer by attacking him like this!"

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about! You weren't there, you don't even have the facts straight!"

Blinking Aoto stared at the exchange, for a moment, he had forgotten Akane was even there. He examined his younger brother's face and could see that Akane had gained a little bit of ground. Though that had happened last time as well, this did not mean he wouldn't capitalize on it and thank Akane later.

"Do you remember those first nights?"

"Of course I do! How could I not? Your eyes were always clear, just like now!"

"But how were your eyes?"

"….?"

It took Ariton several moments to process what Aoto had meant, it had double layers of meaning. However, Aoto had not stopped talking.

"They seemed kind and sad, but with a dark edge to them."

"So?"

"I regret that I couldn't protect them, that I never had protected them." Protected them from the dark edge taking over, Aoto finished in his mind.

"It's too late for that now, isn't it Big Brother?! If you had just listened to me-!"

"I regret so much that I didn't. Every day I regret it."

"Regret doesn't change anything!"

Frowning slightly, Aoto realized he was losing ground so decided to circle back around.

"I still see the same eyes, Brother."

"You're imaging things, I've moved on, but you haven't moved on from being my scapegoat have you?! Don't think that you've deceived me!"

"I have, because I know it doesn't help anything."

"Don't lie to me!"

"…."

Aoto wasn't sure how to respond to that, so the young man took another breath trying to keep himself composed, but he was already failing.

"If you have anything else to say before you die, I would say it now."

Those words brought a bit of hope to him; his brother was subconsciously giving him one last chance to change his mind.

"If you wanted to still want to live freely together, there's nothing stopping us now."

"…What? But it's too late already!"

"It's never too late, Ariton."

"That's a lie."

"Why? What's stopping us now?"

"That's cause you-!"

"You can't forgive me? Have I done anything that makes it impossible for us not to?"

"I can't forgive you! We wouldn't have suffered so much if we had escaped together then!"

"But, we can't change the past. The only thing we can shape is the future. Deep down, you don't want to fight me, I know it."

"You're a fake! You've always pretended to be me, so I can assure you that your 'feeling' is anything but the truth!"

Aoto could feel it; he was digging his way through the evil corrupt part of his younger twin, Ariton, if only a little bit more, a final strike. He had never been this close before. Reaching out his hand slightly, Aoto held it out as an invitation.

"We can live together again, but this time, we won't have any of the worries holding us back."

The younger twin inched closer, and closer, until he was almost about to touch, Aoto almost had relief rushing through him, until Ariton had made an attempt to attack him when his guard was down. And the attack would no doubt have landed and killed him if Akane, who trusted the evil, twin none, had not stepped in, blocking the attack with his gauntlets.

The same despair Aoto was more than familiar with filled him to the top when he looked again at Ariton's eyes, figuring out instantly that any progress he made was lost now.

"Why do you insist on getting in my way?! I guess if you're so pleading to die-" Ariton sneered with obvious annoyance in his voice.

"What kind of low blow was that?! Of course I'd stop you!" Akane snapped.

Aoto wasn't sure what he should do. It was plainly obvious that by this point, he was no longer able to be reasoned with. Not fighting did not solve anything, but if he did fight him, he could kill him by accident and then what would he do…? What his decisions resulted in last time flashed in his mind for a moment before Ariton broke away from Akane.

"So, what'll it be, Brother? Fighting? Or not fighting? I'll kill you and your friend anyway."

Before Aoto could make any decision, a small part of the ceiling broke and fell with disturbing speed… right on top of Ariton. Usually he was swift but he was distracted and hadn't imagined the building would be attacking him.

"BROTHER!" Aoto shocked, his eyes becoming as big as saucers and rushing to his younger twin's aid.

"G-get away…" He murmured, barely holding on to consciousness. "I… don't want your help… I would rather die here…"

Ignoring him, Aoto gestured to Akane to help him lift the heavy piece of building off of Ariton. Recovering from his shock, Akane hurried over to assist him.

"But why…?" Ariton muttered, inaudibly.

Both of the teens strained for several minutes before they were able to pull it off of his him.

"A-are you okay?" Aoto worried, kneeling down to eye level.

"I-I don't get it… Why did you do this…?"

"Because I care about you. All I've wanted was to reconcile with you ever since…"

"Hmph… Maybe you're not as much of a hypocrite as I thought…"

Aoto's almost stopped right in his tracks, had he finally gotten through to him? Had his actions conveyed what his words could not, or was he just delirious at the moment just to return back as soon as he regains his strength. As soon as his consciousness faded, Akane gently removed his driver from his wrist (so that he couldn't try to assault them when he awakens) and looked towards Aoto.

"So… What do we do now?" He wondered.

Snapping out of his thought process, he made eye contact with Akane. They both knew they couldn't just take him to a hospital, he would not doubt be recognized by the Council for his actions. But, it seemed likely he had a broken bone or two and needed a doctor. But there was no doctor they could contact, was there?

"I-I don't know." Aoto admitted.

"Well, let's just take him out of here. The Council will no doubt be here any minute."

Aoto nodded, and the two of them gently picked up one of his arms and put them on their shoulders, taking the journey to find a relatively safe hiding place.

…..

The young sixteen-year-old felt the guilt tearing into him at leaving his brother alone in that place, injured, but he knew he didn't have a choice. They couldn't afford to be gone any longer, and they had to find some way to help his injuries, if only by searching for medical information to do it themselves. When they had returned back to the Academy, Midori was looking at them, actually she was glaring slightly.

"That's not fair, Aoto never goes with me anywhere when I ask! How did you do it, Akane?"

"I don't know! Don't ask me!" Akane remarked.

"Err… It's for a different reason than what you're thinking, Midori…" Aoto said shyly getting a bit embarrassed. Girls were even harder for his social skills than boys, and honestly he had probably already offended her several times already but she didn't seem to mind.

"Okay fine, but I get to come along next time ok?" Midori smiled.

"Go ahead. But…"

Akane glanced over at Aoto seeming to ask with his eyes, 'can I tell her?' Aoto nodded slightly by tipping his head.

"What is it?" Midori asked, seeing the serious expressions on her companions' faces. Aoto did not seem to want to repeat the events of today too much, so Akane told her most of the story, allowing Aoto to interject here and there.

"Oh geez! I can't believe I missed that!" Midori commented. "C'mon, I'm sure we can get some medical practices from the database."

The three nodded to each other and headed over to check some information in the room with the various monitors for information. When they arrived, Aoto sat down in one of the computers with Akane looking over his shoulder and Midori getting some scratch paper to write all the information down. Aoto typed in first:

emergency first aid for broken limbs

Thank goodness the piece had only fallen on his bottom half. After all, he could live without his legs if worse came to worse. Aoto mentally shook the disturbing thought away. Many, many results showed up immediately. He had never much searched anything up but school projects, but, since his dear brother's health (or life) was involved, choosing the right one was crucial. Several minutes passed of wading through search results.

"Why don't you just pick one, already? We can sift through the crap and move on." Akane commented, impatiently.

"No." Apparently, Aoto was not willing to give him any attention, but that was understandable. After about ten minutes, he found an article worthy of checking into, and tapped it with his hand. His two companions loomed a little closer as to better read the information. It made him a bit nervous, since he hadn't been in close proximity to someone his own age ever really except for his twin, but he ignored it completely.

"This is good, right Aoto?" Midori asked.

He nodded, scarcely taking his attention off of the words on the screen as he heard the scribbling of pencil on paper.

…..

After a good hour or two of collecting good information, and after gathering the supplies (without causing suspicion), the three sent off back to the twin Ariton. When they arrived at the abandoned house, the younger twin still appeared to be sound asleep, but that didn't mean much. Aoto had learned of how crafty he was and did not wish to endanger his two friends. Ariton could still attack them just fine without a driver. It was like the difference between a sword and a small knife.

"Stay back here." Aoto ordered.

"But, Aoto! What if he attacks you again?!"

"I won't let my guard down this time."

"No matter what he says?" Midori added.

"If you think I am, feel free to intervene."

"…Why… does it have to be you…?"

The voice brought all three of them to alertness. Aoto took a breath; this would be the best time to convince his brother to defect, when he wasn't 100% there and not influenced heavily by anger. The words he spoke before fluttered themselves in front of his mind but he pushed them away.

"Who else would it be?" Aoto asked carefully.

"No one, of course… No one is… like you."

The older twin wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Do you know what I'm here to do?"

"Kill me?"

Aoto's eyes widened as he studied Ariton's face and all he saw was bitter amusement.

"The look on your face… it's priceless, Big Brother."

His features returned to normal quickly, as this is the most civil conversation he'd had with him ever since that day and he wasn't going to pass it up. This was the biggest chance he'd gotten. Aoto had to do something, something… First he took out some of the medical supplies. He needed to know which bones were broken where.

"Now you're… going to play doctor? This'll be interesting…"

"Can you move your legs at all?"

"If I could… I would be gone by now."

"…You don't trust me?"

"Oh I do, Big Brother, you're too soft… I just hate you."

He was taken back a bit by the harshness of his words, but he really shouldn't have been. Even Akane and Midori cringed slightly. Aoto would not believe that Ariton didn't love him, deep down. He was just too blinded by his craziness and the pain.

"Since you're so insistent… I guess I'll just make the most of it… and kill you later."

Aoto took a breath and pulled up his brother's pant legs. Surprisingly, his legs looked perfectly fine, but the older brother knew that was far from the truth. With a gently hand, he ran his fingers up from the calf down, trying to find where the break was.

"If only you were this gently that day, Big Brother…"

"Wait!"

"Big Brother, you're hurting me."

Yes, if only, that's the one thing that had run in his head over and over and over. If only he hadn't gripped his wrist so tight, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe Ariton wouldn't have gone off the deep end; maybe they would have lived the way he had always dreamed. Day after day, this regret had eaten its way through him, until he had met his friends that helped ease the ongoing pain.

"Yes… I regret it so much."

"Do you now? ...So that you could fool me a little bit longer?"

"That's not true! All I ever wanted was to-"

"Shut up… If I'm going to be stuck here, I'm not going to tolerate your excuses!"

"I'm sick and tired of you turning hypocrisy into love!"

Ariton groaned in pain from the strain of his words.

"Please don't push yourself."

Beginning to wrap his makeshift splint around his brother's leg, Aoto relaxed slightly but didn't let his guard down. He'd have plenty of time to convince his brother; he just needed to work slowly, surely. He was relieved when he noticed that the progress he'd made earlier today wasn't lost, no, it was more than present at the moment.

"What happens if I push myself…? I'd just have to stay here longer? You'd like that... wouldn't you, Aoto? For me to be your prisoner?"

"No. As soon as you can, you can leave here."

"Good."

After Aoto had finished splinting both of his legs and treating his other injuries, the three of them left again, planning to return soon after.

…

Slowly as time passed, Aoto could tell he was wearing down his brother's hate, inching through. Maybe at this rate, by the time he was healed, Aoto's dream could finally come true.

"I'm sure you'll be able to do it, Aoto!" Midori encouraged.

"Yeah, I can see the difference!" Akane agreed, nodding.

"Thank you both." Aoto smiled slightly.

When the three of them walked back into the room, however, Ariton was nowhere to be seen.

"Eh?! Where the heck did he go?! He can't even walk straight!" Akane exclaimed.

Fear filled Aoto's features as he thought of the possibility of someone else finding him here, and kidnapping him. Maybe the Council had found him? That wasn't likely to end well.

"Brother, are you in here!?" Aoto called, searching further in the house.

"Calm down, I'm right here, Big Brother." Ariton called from further in, Aoto found him sitting on a staircase inside the abandoned house. Inching closer to him, Aoto saw the glisten of tears on his cheeks.

"What's wrong, Brother…?" Aoto shocked, as his other two companions kept their distance.

"I-I'm so sorry… I was wrong about you, all this time… Big Brother!"

Ariton hugged his brother losing himself in tears. Aoto was dumbstruck for several seconds before tears fell down his face almost uncontrollably and he hugged him back. It felt like a dream, but it was real. He almost couldn't believe it. He hadn't cried like this for as long as he remembered, neither could he remember ever feeling so happy.

"It's okay… I-I'm so glad… This is all I ever wanted…" Aoto choked.

Eventually, Ariton broke away, trying to wipe away his tears on his sleeve.

"So you forgive me? We can live together happily?" Ariton worried.

"Of course! That's all I've dreamed of…"

"But we can't stay in the same place, Big Brother."

"Why not…?"

"Because the Council… And though I regret hurting you, Brother, I don't regret nearly as much the things I've done."

"Don't worry, Akane and I will handle that." Midori smiled.

…..

They couldn't publicly state that Aoto had a brother that would no doubt make the Council realize who was responsible for Blue Christmas. Using a disguise would not quite be enough, their faces looked too similar. So, they decided Ariton just would have to live in a secluded place. Blue Christmas had happened a while ago and not too many were still searching for the culprit so, as long as he did not bring attention to himself, they should be fine going places together.

"Where do you want to go today, Big Brother?"

"I'm happy going anywhere."

"I feel the same way. Why don't you let your friend decide? She seemed to know the places to be."

Aoto nodded but couldn't help smiling warmly. Every day was wonderful, he felt a bit bad for enjoying his life so much since his friends had lost so much… But, he had been suffering far longer than they had and had been long overdue for happiness. Ariton reflected his expression.

"Aoto, I got you this, as symbol of our new life, together." Ariton smiled, handing his older brother a blue bracelet full of blue beads with AO imprinted on the back. The younger sibling pulled up his sleeve to reveal that he also had one that had AR imprinted on it. Aoto smiled warmly and put the bracelet on his wrist.

"To our new beginning, Big Brother." Ariton smiled, holding out his hand.

"To our new beginning." Aoto repeated, taking his hand.

Fin