Chapter 24

The clock strikes the twelfth. Midnight arrives.

The Noah of pleasure stands up and walks towards the siblings.

'It's good that you were smiling. Sadly, it's good ... bye,' the Noah says to himself.

Phasing his hand through the little boy's chest, he holds the beating heart. His hold turns into a grip but have yet to tighten. It freezes in place as wide amber eyes stare into the shock of horror and betrayal on the young girl's face. The little one whose heart he is holding wakes up and struggles to breathe.

"Tyki-nii, please don't. Please. Don't take Lavi-nii away. Please. How about me instead? He still has a future ahead of him. I have none if he's gone."

"There is no point in that. I'm taking both of your hearts," says the Noah of pleasure while a very wide and creepy grin formed on his face.

"I'm sorry, Tyki-nii. I didn't want to use this," says Kayin as she removes the patch from her face and stares into his eyes. He lets go and holds his own head suddenly filled with pain.

/You didn't want to yet you did,

No choice you reasoned,

Yet many are there,

You hide and hide,

Rarely showing who you are for real./

It stops the moment the girl loses her energy to continue. The older boy pulls his younger sister back on the bed then walks towards the unconscious man.

He chants a spell binding the Noah temporarily on the chair.

He goes back to his sister's side holding her protectively until falling asleep.

Morning comes but nothing is good about it. The red headed boy sits up and checks on his sister. She is still tired and asleep while the Portuguese man still unconscious. He gets up from the bed and locks the door behind him. He speaks with the finder saying that his sister isn't feeling well and asks him to bring some food up to the room instead.

He goes back to the room after opening it then closing it again.

He sits on the vacant chair and watches over his sister and for the Portuguese man.

The older man had betrayed them just as the red head expected. His younger sister is too trusting due to the past and ignores the harsh reality that it can never be like before and the fact that it is this man who caused the death of their family. The younger never knew that fact though since the older didn't tell her after finding out. He should have so this wouldn't have happened. His sister wouldn't have been hurt by the truth.

The older man moves and slowly opens his eyes that meet a set of mismatched irises. The look holds anger with strong intent.

"Why pretend if this is all you'll resort to? You could have killed me in the first place then her. Why take all those time and waste it?"

The older man remains silent.

The red head punches the man in the face.

"If I weren't in this state now, I would have done more but I'll let the order decide what will happen to you."

The man unexpectedly gives a smile before it disappears after another punch.

"Lavi-nii, stop! Why did you do that?" says the younger red head with concern despite what happened.

"You know why," says the older red head with spite.

"Don't hurt him. You're just doing what he planned."

"Planned? What did you see Kayin?" asks the older with a confused look.

"He was ordered by the earl to kill us. He said yes but inside his mind, he didn't want to. He decided attempting to do it and receive his punishment."

"There is no need for me to do that. I really was going to kill you," the man defends.

The younger red head gets up with unsteady steps and walks towards their uncle. She holds her arms around him as tears stream down.

"Don't say that. Stop. Please don't ruin what we have left."

"It is either my death or yours," he reveals.

"Is there no other way?"

"Such naivety won't work."

"I'll be scolded but there's another place even the earl doesn't know and can't go to. I shouldn't tell you about it but... what she said is true. You are part of what we have left that is important."

( \ / )
(^.^) Kylie: I hope you like this one cause I really do. Sorry if it's shorter compared to the usual but I can't connect the next part yet. It's for the next chapter. Please review. Thanks if you did. :) Any constructive criticism shall help.

NOTE: If anyone got a second alert for this, I apologize. I decided editing the chapters. I already started with the first chapter and this one. I'll update after I finish editing the chapters. There is no need to get back on it since the story's still the same but my way of writing somehow changed. I hope with the changes, my writing somehow improved.

Edited: January 5, 2013