"He's not my brother, right?"

[Guest]

I know what people think. It's what people have been told. Aurelius... he's my brother. It's what I have to tell everybody that I introduce him to. Truth be told, it's not that simple. I guess it's all to do with him being adopted, but he's never been related to me... He's just someone from outside my family... who shares my last name... and is not related by blood.

Maybe it's just me, but every time he's done something stupid and suicidal, I've felt the urge to do the same thing. That day that he threw himself in front of the train... I couldn't contain myself! My tears flowed faster than they had ever flowed before... And I couldn't bear to hear that he'd died. If he had died, I would've taken myself with him. There was nothing else to say for that...

And then, when he took the glass to his eye, just hearing the laughter that came from him made me think. There had to be more to it! But there was nothing else... He was mad. But maybe I could've cured that madness. So I... I... I did to myself the same deed that he had. I lost my sight in that eye, but I didn't care. It was for Aurel.

Heh... It's difficult to write this, to be honest about my feelings like this. To tell the truth, I loved Aurel like a brother, and kept him on the right side of the line. But things have been changing. What he's been doing... It's immoral and wrong, but he's doing it for me... That's something I could never ignore. He wants peace... And he wants it for me. I feel... that there's something else I could do. But I'm not a leader. I never have been... It was all him.

And as I write these words down, I close my memoirs for the final time. I wish to write no more about my life. There may be those who chronicle it for all to see, but it won't be by my hand. Today. Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

He's not my brother.

And I love him.

--

Extract from Schwarz

[Aurelius Schwartz]

Aurel punched the wall, and he punched it so hard that his fist cracked. His shattered fingers quivered with jolts of the emotions coursing through him. Clutching the dry wall with obvious effort, the dark clad man for the first time in his life regretted his choice. What had compelled him to read the documents on his sister's desk? No, why had she left something so personal--so revealing out for public view? No...there was something completely wrong with this. It couldn't be possible.

Long, black hair dripped over his shoulders, pooling against the rugged wooden floorboards in swirls of melancholy. He took a deep breath, realizing just then that he was panting heavily. He raised a set of mismatched eyes to meet the glare of the window, blue and red gleaming in the burst of light from the setting sun. The outside world exuded heat, sweltering through the cracks around the glass, and caressing the man's skin. In a swift moment he threw himself at the window, peering out to the city below. How easy would it be...

He always thought that, but now... How hard... How hard it would be knowing what the consequences were now. Why--why did his life and his existence hold so much meaning? He himself could not see the value in such a painful struggle. How could she? That word... it left his own lips so readily. Everyday he would tell her the same thing over and over. She knew. She knew the only reason why he was still alive was for her sake. But what was this? This...was not Hild. It was someone else--someone that Aurel couldn't possibly recognize. He didn't understand. His mind swarmed like a hoard of bees drenched in hose water--wings flapping uselessly against the humid air, never drying quick enough.

Aurel's hand ached, it throbbed, telling him of the broken bones. It seemed his hand was always destroyed somehow. It was involuntary. To Aurel, punching the wall was like blinking. Pain...was nothing. He got hit by a train and lived. He stabbed himself in the eye! This... well, this was just a faint indication that he was alive at all. He thrust the window open and thrust his head outside. Instantly a torrent of wind swept away his breath. The black hole alchemist reveled in the feeling. If only it would stop like this forever. To never breathe again...

How could love someone who couldn't love themself? Aurel didn't understand. Usually people couldn't deal with such emotional turmoil and pain. People would have given up by now. Hild...really wasn't family. She looked like him, but they really weren't related. Their father...had probably chosen him to give them the illusion of being related. But...what was this? Aurel's quivering hand dropped the parchment to the ground somewhere at his feet. He couldn't see it; all he could see was the city they owned. Well, it was the city they would soon abandon..like everything else in this fleeting world. How long...how much longer would he live before it was all over? Someone please just raise a gun now.

The bees were festering, itching at his mind until it cracked like his fingers. Out--out! Just a push forward--some momentum. It was all he needed to end. Bring the darkness; end it. It was a moment away. Like the trigger of the gun he failed to pull in time. He really needed medication. He knew that much. But Aurel was sure that at this point, his mind was beyond repair. He wondered if Hild knew that... But did it really matter anymore? Maybe after she died too, she would be happier? Would she throw herself through his same window?

Aurel stepped out onto the roof and fell backwards onto the quaky tiles. The sky...was so blue. And no matter how many times he thought that or how many times people said it, it was always different experiencing it like this. On the brink of death, just inches away from falling. If only he could fall up instead of down. Below were people, loud, chattering, obnoxious people whose minds could only grasp simple things. Had...any one of them really thought about death? Do they understand the real concept of ending? If they did...maybe they would realize that clinging tenaciously to life was a waste of effort. Maybe that was why war was invented in the first place. Then...what of love?

[Guest]

The cracked plaster on the wall, the mussied documents on the desk, the open window. All of it, all of it lead to one thing. Hild slowly walked into the room, cursing her own stupid trustingness. She was the one who had left her own memoirs on the desk... But she was only leaving for lunch! She hadn't expected... No. She shook her head, and walked over to the desk, moving her papers back in order. It seemed that every one of them was there. As she moved the pieces of paper back into place, she could all but watch as a drop of liquid splashed onto the desk, a feeling welling up within her that she was unable to fathom.

Raising her hand to her eye, she felt the drop of liquid out of her tear duct. She was crying... She closed her eye, and suddenly shouted out. Anger... No, she wasn't angry. There was no anger in that shout, only frustration. She hadn't... She hadn't wanted him to find out. Not like this. The butterflies that were forever fluttering about in her stomach made a turn for the worse, and she doubled over - physically sick to her stomach. Just this? All of this, because she felt so strongly about what Aurel knew?

"Ohh..." More tears. More splashed onto the ground. Her skirt was starting to get wet as well. She closed her eye tightly, and sat down with a sigh. Aurel... She opened her eye wide. With conviction. The petite and timid girl suddenly stood up straight, a new fire burning in her heart. Things were no different to the way they were before. She walked over to the window, and looked down at the ground. She couldn't see anything. If he had jumped, there would be a crowd. Sirens. Anything. But there was nothing. That fact in itself forced a great load off her chest. She stumbled back slightly, before regaining her composure and leaning forwards to close the window properly. Now for the plaster...

As she inspected the wall, she became aware of another strange anomaly. The door to the roof... it was opened. She turned to the door, leaving the crack in the wall behind. As much as she wanted to use it, to let it distract her... She didn't want to waste any more time. She had to find Aurel. Her footsteps were slow and careful, and as she ascended towards the highest part of her city, she couldn't help the tears that were beginning to stream down her face. There was nothing she could do, and so she left them. Her final step. She finally reached the top, and turned towards the man laying on the tiles.

"Aurelius." Her voice was firm, not wavering. Nothing was going to stop her now. He knew, and that was all that mattered.

"By now, you should know. I know it all, Aurel. And you needed to know..." She stepped forwards, one step at a time, towards the man who was laying just inches from falling to his death.

"I never wanted you to be hurt... It... It would've destroyed me." More steps. Closer, closer.

"And... Every time I heard you contemplate taking your own life... My heart skipped itself. I would've taken my own life too! I would have made sure to be with you when you crossed over!" She was nearing him. Even closer than before.

"You were living for me. But I was living for you. You are the only reason I go on!" She was right next to him now, and felt herself landing on top of her brother, holding him in a close embrace, tears forming once more.

"Don't leave me, Aurel. Please don't leave me..."

[Aurelius Schwartz]

A cold smile from the depths of winter slid over the brother's lips. He lay there like a corpse, pillowing her body from the jagged tiles beneath. One slip and they would both plummet into the history books. His strong arms slid around her, clutching the heat of her skin to her thin clothes. She was color against the matching black of his clothes--a rainbow in the darkness. A soft laugh escaped his lips. "Where am I going?"

"Look," he cooed, pointing at the sky while running his other hand up her back. "That's all I'm here for." He smirked darkly, the strange colors of his slitted eyes glinting from beneath black lashes. "I cannot always be compelled to mindlessly end my life..." Aurel's voice was so dark that it clung to the girl on top of him like sludge from an oil spill. It stained her pure feathers, preventing her from flight. That's right...he was poison to her.

Silence brought by wind swirled around them, picking up with avid heat. Aurel's hair lit up as a furnace would, collecting the warmth from the sinking sun. Strands rose into the air, waving like ribbons Hild used to wear in her hair. But the wind didn't slow; it grew heavier and heavier along with Hild's seducing weight. Just as he turned his head to look down, something flew at him. Trying, to duck away proved impossible with another person on top of him. Soft lettering smacked him in the face, a crinkling sound filling his ears. Startled despite seeing it coming, Aurel moved a fraction of an inch and something cracked. No, it wasn't his hand or his mind, this time...it was the tile beneath him. His elaborate suit that had been gripping the roofing tested the limits of the old architecture. Baseball Hero Hits a Foul for the First Time!!

Falling was terrifying. No, there was something else. A girl. There was a girl with him falling. How had this happened? No! It could be-- Something horrendously hard smacked against Aurel's back and he let out a hiss of pain. But they were still falling. No, he wouldn't let go of her. Aurel squeezed his eyes open, trying to breathe, but it was too late. The ground was-- It was--

A sickening smack seemed to reverberate through the black-haired man's mind. He pulled in a struggled breath and only felt pain, but with it was a welcome weight. Creaking open his mismatched eyes, he tried to remember when he had ever closed them. "H-Hild..." he stuttered in a hoarse voice. She was on top of him still, a knee digging into his thigh. "I-I lied,"

[Guest]

Falling... Wind whipped past Hild's face as she closed her eyes to the inevitable. All she could do was hold onto Aurel as they fell, hoping to whatever Gods were out there that they would survive this ordeal, and live to have another day. Falling, and then the first hit. Hild braced herself, and the pair started to fall a little more, until they hit the actual ground. Hild groaned, but didn't let go of the man. She just held in, bundled up onto his body, his warmth reassuring her as much as the pain was. Both meant that she and her adopted brother were alive...

The softness by her knee made her realize that she might just be hurting Aurel more, so she wriggled her way off him and sat back on the ground.

"I know you lied, Aurel. The window... The window that you opened, it was what led me to believe you might be having those thoughts." She looked over at him, eye full of both pain and sorrow. She looked down at her knees, hands bunched up on them, and started to sigh. Aurel infuriated her at times. But maybe, just maybe, it was that love that she felt for him that caused her so much anger when he did this.

Maybe it was for that reason... That she wanted this man to live. And that was the reason that she would never let him die. She wanted to see the man she loved.

"Aurel... please. I just want..." Darkness ensued, and the girl fell over into a cold faint, breathing lightly on the ground beneath.

[Aurelius Schwartz]

Aurel was listening intently as his mind faded in and out. He caught bits and pieces of what she was saying nearby, but her words cut off. By then, people had gathered around, shouting various things and pulling out cell phones. Aurel sensed another one of his unpleasant visits to the Central Hospital, now with a scandal to deal with. But wait! Hild still wasn't saying anything. Should he move? Aurel was sure that if he moved he would ruin something physically. Maybe he would paralyze himself...then what?! More freedom would be stripped of him. Life would be reduced to taking over the world from a wheel chair. Not happening. He wasn't going to move, but... "H-Hild?" Aurel breathed, his voice hoarser than before. Tilting his head the slightest, he tried to see where she had been sitting, but to no avail.

When she didn't answer, his heart started hammering in his chest. He felt nothing then accept the sheer fear of what the silence meant. Well, it wasn't quiet. There was the roaring siren of--fuck. Aurel bit his lip. An ambulance. This was going to be fun. Please just stick him with a needle to end it all! But Hild had to be-- Searing pain shot through his entire body when he lifted his head. Immediately he dropped it, but then white gloves were fondling him and lifting him into something and then everything was dark. Aurel was very frustrated. He opened his mouth to demand his sister, but a mask was thrust over his face. The pure oxygen made his head swim and his body rejected the movement, sinking him further into oblivion where thoughts were no longer welcome.

* * *

"Wh--where is she!?" Aurel thrashed against the bed with his first burst of consciousness. The nurse in the room had a miniature panic attack before rushing off. That helped nothing. Aurel pushed himself off the bed, glad to find he wasn't actually paralyzed. Dragging a bunch of useless wiry things with him, he tried to peer around the corner. She had to be okay; he had cushioned her fall. So where was...she..? His head spun and he half crawled back to where he had found himself and sat down, tangling a hand through sweaty bangs. He didn't know what to do. This wasn't according to any of his plans...

[Guest]

White. That's the first thing that Hild saw when she finally opened her eyes. It was so... white. Not the white she valued, not that sort of white. It was clinical, as if she was in a hospital... The girl groaned, looked left, right and then straight up again, before closing her eyes once more and returning to a deep slumber...

Time Skip - Twenty Minutes Later

White. That's the first thing that Hild saw when she finally opened her eyes. It was so... white. Not the white she valued, not that sort of white. It was clinical, as if she was in a hospital... Hild blinked. De ja vu much? She groaned, and finally sat up, blinking a couple of times before she was used to the light. She was in a hospital bed, and the last thing she could remember was the wind whipping past her face. After that, it was just blank. She looked around the room, her senses coming back to her, and finally her thoughts.

AUREL!! Her eye widened at the thought of Aurel's death, and she suddenly leaped out of the bed, ripping several cords off her body, almost as if she hadn't just fallen off the top of Central HQ. Looking down over herself, she blushed slightly at the fact that she was wearing a hospital-issue gown... But she didn't care. She had to find him! Aurel was somewhere in this building... Even if he was in the mortuary, she'd find him. But if he was in there... The young Fuhrer shuddered at the thought.

Actually, she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she found herself wandering a corridor down by two nurses, one of who looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

"It's... he's... ohohohohoho.... Aurel..." Hild blinked and suddenly walked up to the woman.

"Could you tell me where he is?" She asked, using her cutest possible face. The woman was dumbstruck - the Fuhrer herself was asking for directions from her? Her original look of panic turned paler, and she began to stutter even more.

"M-m-m-m-m-madam F-F-F-F-Fuhrer... H-he's in room 308..." Hild smiled brightly and tilted her head to the side.

"Thank you!" As she walked away, it took the nurses a few seconds to register the fact that Hild should've been in bed, but she was too far away for them to do anything now...

Just before she entered Room 308, Hild found herself before a mirror, and turned to look in it, suddenly placing her hands over her mouth in shock. The eye-patch that had always hidden her deepest secret was gone, replaced with a bandage and taped up. It must have been removed after the fall... Hild lowered her head slightly, and walked into Aurel's room, eye brimming with tears.

"A...Aurel?" The girl peered around the corner, only showing a small part of her face. She was too ashamed to show herself to him... Even though all she wanted was to see his face, a small part of her felt that it was her who had caused them to fall... and she'd never forgive herself for that...

[Aurelius Schwartz]

Aurelius looked up from his hands with a startled stare. His pupils all but disappeared into the void of mismatched color. He was from the bed within a breath and fell straight into the unsuspecting girl's arms. Holding her tightly, he shut his burning eyes, taking a deep, unsteady breath. A machine nearby groaned with electronic sounds in warning of its absent patient. A twirl of long black hair, veiled around them along with the sweet smell of cologne and sweat. Bandages hung loose from movement around his fist and open chest. The side of one cheek was tinged purple with few flecks of blood. His eyes closed, he struggled to contain his equilibrium. He couldn't have them fall again. Funny, how his only thoughts upon waking were that if he had jumped, he wouldn't have died after all that. It was all for naught. Hild suffered again because of the thoughts he played with in his mind. There had to be some way to...rid himself of them. Soon the interviews would start, the loud noises, the flashing of lights and cacophonies of lenses opening and closing. Aurel was sure he couldn't deal with it. They would all die.

He hissed, not knowing what else to do or say. Everything in his entire being told him to leave and lock himself back into his dark room with bars on the windows, sit in the corner and listen to the crows speak to each other of death. Footsteps were clacking and echoing and reverberating outside the door. Aurel wanted to thrust the door open and cut their feet off. It had to stop all of it! Just a moment...a moment was needed of complete nothingness. Just with Hild. He had to stay there like this and then everything would be okay. Then again...maybe he should communicate something. Anything would suffice. Maybe then he would get his wish... For once it had nothing to do with his own demise, nor anyone else's for that matter.

"I want...to leave now..."

[Guest]

The collision of their bodies caused the breath to leave Hild's chest rather suddenly. Feeling her brother in her arms caused her face to glow slightly, and the girl just closed her eye and let the pair of them sway like leaves in the wind. She took in another breath, and was about to speak, when she heard Aurel's one, simple request.

"I want...to leave now..." Her eye opened suddenly, and she held him closer to her than she had before.

"Au...rel... I think we should, yes." The girl closed her eye again and nodded, burying her face deep into his chest with a small sigh. She just wanted to leave - she wanted some way to avoid the crowds of idiots with their flash photography. Reminded her of vultures crowding over a kill, they did. And she really did hate them so. They followed her everywhere, couldn't she just get some peace and quiet for once? She sighed softly, and moved out of her brother's grip, looked up at him with her flushed expression and closed eye.

"We should go. Out the back door. Get our clothes and make a run for it. They won't know what hit them." She suddenly opened her eye and nodded seriously, gripping Aurel's hand tightly. She wasn't letting go... No matter what.

[Aurelius Schwartz]

Aurel pulled away from his sister suddenly, eyes going wide. He blinked a few times as he tried to focus, but his pupils were drowning in an abyss of red and blue. Holding onto her shoulders tightly to keep himself steady, he noticed the shocking fact that he only had boxers on. This posed a problem for escaping... A brief moment passed and he stared at her blankly like that until working out a genius plan.

"We need to find our clothes." Yes, he took credit for the idea. This is Aurel we're talking about here. He also realized with strange, rather shocking clarity that Hild was only in a hospital gown. T-they had hugged like this?! A hand clasped threads of his bangs and he fell to lean dramatically against the wall, closing his eyes. Of course, he appeared in much apparent pain. However, it wasn't physical pain of any sort. In fact, Aurel had been pumped full of medication and barely felt anything at all. Truth be told, he should still be unconscious from it...

Without warning, Aurel pushed off from the wall, and clumsily weaved his way out to the hallway. No one noticed. Those loud obnoxious shoes were gone. Like an intoxicated man, he held the wall and tried to make his equilibrium work the way it was supposed to. The floor was a blur of ceiling, melting into the walls that were closing in. They had to get out of here!! Aurel took a deep breath and moved faster (which was about the pace of a snail).

After way too much time, Aurel located the area where they keep people's personal belongings. This was a problem. Another one. The lady at the counter raised a inquisitive eyebrow. "May I help you, sir?" she dared to speak. Aurel let out a frustrated sigh thankful that he hasn't wasted time in grabbing a scalpel from a tray that was in the hallway. In a flash that was probably too fast for a drugged man that had fell about... twelve stories. The lady flew backwards and was about to shriek, but a hand was thrust against her pink lips. A crash soon followed. In an effort to reach her in time, and with his newly acquired dizziness, Aurel had tripped over a bin and fell into her.

Panting, Aurel held the sharp object to her throat and glared at her. "Make a sound and my hand will slip if it isn't already." Soft raven hair, fell long over his shoulders in wisps. He motioned to his sister to retrieve their clothes.

Once she did that, Aurel struggled to get his complicatedly dashing clothes on. He needed help. It was time to break for it!! They made it outside...somehow without being mauled, captured, or brought back to their rooms. Freedom! For once, Aurel was happy to be outside...among the... He winced, his head getting foggier by the second.

Yellow! A cab! Genius! Aurel pretty much tackled the door when the vehicle pulled up. Opening the driver's side door instead of the passenger's, the driver was taken aback. Aurel wielded the scalpel at his neck. "Out," was all he said.

And that was that. Though Aurel made Hild drive while he passed out on the backseat.

[EXIT TOPIC]

[Guest]

The fact that there were only a couple of flimsy pieces of material separating the pair caused to Hild to blush, and Aurel to move away as quickly as they'd fallen to the ground. She blinked, and watching him head away, leaned over and picked up a fire extinguisher. Looked like a good weapon to her... Hild quickly followed Aurel out of the room, chasing him down the hallway, thin legs carrying her towards the desk where the lady worked that guarded their prize, their clothing.

A skip, trip and fall later, Aurel was on top of the woman, in his boxers, holding a scalpel up to her throat.

...

Yeah, that was an interesting scene in itself, and when she was motioned to go and get their clothes, she hurried and threw them out of the room to him - at least he had some underwear on... Her's were with her clothes... Damn perver-- She had a female nurse. Right. She closed the door, and replaced her lost clothes with a small sigh. Bundling up her hair into it's messy bun, she looked out of the door, making sure that Aurel was somewhat decent. Seeing that he was, she smiled brightly at him, not realizing that he was already on the run.

"Hey! Wait up!" Hild ran after Aurel, throwing the fire extinguisher to the ground beside her, when she ran out the big glass doors and into the bright light pf the day. She looked over at Aurel, who was now threatening the driver with the scalpel. She sighed, and climbed into the driver's seat, looking at her brother, who was now collapsing into the seat. She giggled, put on her seatbelt, and put her foot down - driving off back to Central HQ...

TIME SKIP - The Next Day...

"Reeeeeh?!" Reading the paper, the girl quickly put it down with a gasp. They... were on the front page of the news! She looked back down, making sure it wasn't true... But it was.

FUHRER AND CO. RAMPAGE THROUGH CENTRAL HOSPITAL AFTER FALLING TWELVE STORIES

Is she really suited for the seat?

Great - more shit. Looks like stuff needed to be done.

[END Thread]

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