A/N: It's time. Rewrite time! Woooo!

This is a fixup of the previous version of Twinning, since while it was enjoyable, it wasn't perfect. I decided a while ago that Twinning needed a rewrite. I'm not happy with the original, some of you probably didn't like it either. Especially how i ended it and how things were not planned.

So, here we are. More info at the bottom.

Enjoy!

The cage felt wet on top of the damp, mossy stones. I sniffled and coughed. The blurry grey lines that made up the cage were cold.

"R-Raphtalia." I croaked out. I saw a brown blob come a bit closer to me. She coughed too, a little bit of spit hitting the ground.

"Faust Fire." I felt the warmth immediately form on top of my finger. I poured a bit more energy into it, nurturing the flame. I held it near Raphtalia. She huddled towards the warmth. Our backs were cold, but something was better than nothing.

The small flame only lasted five minutes before I clattered back against the cage. It rang out briefly, then stopped. The flame disappeared into a wisp of smoke.

"Ariete!" Raphtalia moved closer and grasped my hand.

"It's just the lousy food. I… I'll be fine." In honesty, I was pretty sure I had only a few days left. It felt hard to breathe, my lungs were buckets of syrupy water and drowning in yourself isn't something you don't notice.

I hate that it also drains my mana too. Can't keep the flame going for Raphtalia. I'm exhausted of mana.

"Sorry, sis. I can't keep the fire going."

"I-It's fine. This is enough." Her hand gestured towards her clothes. It was just a torn sheet I tied for her. At least for decency's sake.

I heard talking. Danger.

"Raphtalia, head down." I put an arm around her back and laid as close to flat as I could in the tiny cage. As footsteps approached, Raphtalia let out a cough. Dammit!

I felt the slight warmth from the light as the cloth over the cage was lifted.

"Raise your heads."

Raphtalia tried to lift her head, but I kept it down. Mine stayed facing the stone. If we were stubborn, maybe they'd take us. Then the plan wouldn't work.

"He said to lift your heads, girls." The gruff tone of the slaver sent chills down my back.

Purple sparks flew from our crests. The pain hit like a brick wall, hard. I gave a grunt, Raphtalia sat up, screaming.

"Don't harm my purchase. I'll take both of them."

I got tugged out roughly, followed by my sister. Raphtalia whimpered. I looked towards the exit. It was so close. Another escape. I was dragged away from it. Maybe my plan would work with a quick edit.

"Sir, I need a bit of blood for the binding process." The slaver said.

I tapped Raphtalia on the shoulder. "Here." I slipped a vial of white water to her.

"What's this?" She whispered back.

"Holy water. Pour it on your crest and it'll disappear. Run right after."

"Do you have one?"

"My pickpocketing isn't that good. Besides, the guy only had one vial. Now quickly, pour and go!" The man with a shield was almost finished putting his blood into the pan. Raphtalia was taking too long.

I plucked the vial out of her hand and popped the cork. I poured it onto her crest. She winced as the purple sign dissolved into wisps of white smoke. I pushed her forward. "Go! Now!"

"Hey, what're you two doing!?" The slaver yelled. Raphtalia tried to run, but the slaver caught her by the arm. Dammit! She was so close!

"What's this? Your slave crest is gone? I wonder who decided you were free…" He turned his head and stared at me. He took Raphtalia by the collar and shoved her back towards me. The empty vial slipped out of my hand and shattered on the ground.

"Hmmm… two girls trying to defy their master? What do you say, sir?"

"Leave her be, I'll punish her how I want later." The man with the shield said. "Hurry up, I don't have time to waste here."

I sighed in relief. The man was gruff and definitely angry. I can see it through the constantly angled eyebrows. At least it can be delayed. I moved the trembling Raphtalia to my side.

The slaver brought over a brush and a pan. I offered Raphtalia my hand; she took it. The bonding process was always painful. He did me first, tugging away the tied sheet on me and painting a circle. The ink burned along with my crest. I gripped Raphtalia's hand and winced. The purple glow receded and I took in a deep breath.

Raphtalia didn't take it as well as me. When the ink hit her chest, she immediately began to squirm. The pain must have increased twofold, since the bonding was happening at the same time as the crest was put back. Her hand tightened on mine, enough that it hurt almost as much as the crest. After her bonding was done, she clung to my arm and took short gasps of breath. I turned and took her into a hug. I glared at the slaver who shrugged, chuckled and pointed to our new owner.

"What're your names?" he asked. I'm not sure why. None of the other owners asked for it. Eh, better not to question it.

"Ariete. She's Raphtalia."

He pushed us outside. I felt the warm rays of the sun hit my skin. Warmth. It felt nicer than the small flames I could make in the cage. I made sure to savour the feeling, even if my eyes hurt a little from the difference in light.

He led us to a shop. A bulky, tanned man looked at him, then us, then back to him.

"I need clothes for these two and weapons."

The shopkeeper sighed. "You know you're not helping you image buy buyin' a pair of slaves. Twins, by the looks of it."

"It's none of your business. Clothes and weapons. Keep it under five silvers, thanks."

The shopkeeper slid some clothes onto the counter. "This is all I have in a remotely fitting size." He said. Naofumi glanced between the two of us. He gave Raphtalia one set of clothes and me another.

"Change, quickly please."

Raphtalia's set was a red and brown dress with some straps along the chest. The shopkeeper added in a sheath for a knife at her belt.

I entered the changing booth and shrugged off the rags I'd worn for months. The new clothes were a short sleeved shirt. On top of the orange background, thin red stripes ran up. A brown cloak went over it, and a sheath hidden on the inside. Both me and Raphtalia had slightly oversized boots. For once, I had real underwear. A skirt covered my waist.

When I exited the booth, Raphtalia was fiddling with the hem of her dress. She looked at me. I walked over to her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. She was still trembling. Trying to calm someone when you're not calm yourself is a bit hard. I still didn't know this man's intentions. Why'd he buy us? If for our bodies, why'd he give us clothing? The clothes both came with sheaths, but if he wanted us to fight, why pick two sickly, scrawny little girls?

"What weapons fit them?" Our owner asked.

"They're too small for a sword, probably they'd only really be comfortable with knives and daggers." The shopkeeper laid a selection out.

Our owner picked two similar ones for us. Raphtalia stored hers. He held one towards me. "Take it."

I took a deep breath. I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the handle. My arm was a bit shaky, and the weapon slipped out of my grip. The sharp point put itself into the wooden floor.

"Is there a problem?" he asked. I knew that those words always came with a threat in them, so I hurriedly shoved the knife into my cloak.

"Alright, Raphtalia. You first. Draw your knife." I was scared of what he was going to ask her to do, but I was more scared of what he'd do if she refused. I nudged Raphtalia. She drew the knife.

Our owner reached into his cloak and pulled out a balloon. It chomped on his bare arm, but the skin didn't give an inch. "Stab it." He ordered. Raphtalia yelped and the knife from her hand nearly fell like mine did.

"I said I ordered you to stab it!" He yelled again. The slave crest activated this time. I immediately went to embrace Raphtalia as soon as I saw the unfortunately familiar purple glow. Her knife clattered against the floor as she slumped into the fetal position.

"This country has gone to hell…" the shopkeeper mumbled.

Raphtalia grabbed the knife. The glow ended and her pained yell turned into heavy gasps of air. I helped her up. I sent a glare at our owner, not that it'd do anything.

Raphtalia stumbled over and thrust at the balloon. Most of the knife missed, and the part that did hit the balloon bounced off.

"Harder!" He yelled. Raphtalia yelped and stabbed straight into the balloon. It made a pop. Raphtalia stumbled back to me. I rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. Her first kill, technically.

Our owner had taken out another balloon and held it in his hands. This time, he gestured for me to kill it.

I reached down to the floorboards and took a splinter from the planks. The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow. "Faust Fire." I felt just a tiny bit more tired and a candle-like flame appeared on my finger. As I held the flame closer to the piece of wood, I poured mana into the flame.

The splinter caught quickly. The flames left a general warmth on my fingers rather than the melting heat it actually produced. I tossed it at the balloon. The small line of flame pierced the balloon and went past it, igniting the wood stand behind it.

"OI!" The shopkeeper yelled. He dashed into his backroom and then came out with a bucket of water. He dumped it onto the flaming armor stand. My work had left a good amount of scorch marks.

"Hey, you're going to need cover me replacing that..." He looked at me and Raphtalia and his eyes softened.

"Ah, whatever. Six silvers for the knives. Have the clothes on the house."

And with that, we left the shop.

For this story, I'm going to start replying to reviews in PMs rather than these notes. Sorry to the guests.

This story is probably going to update bi weekly, but no promises. If I do end up with backlog, I'll post a chapter early.

Also, This story is now on AO3. To be honest, I almost prefer FFN's style of posting, but oh well. The people in the Raphumi discord have practically bullied me to posting there.

Well, That's all for now! I'll be back in probably two weeks.

Bacon, Signing off.