William Wilson

"In me didst thou exist—and in my death, see how utterly thou hast murdered thyself."- William Wilson by Edgar Allan Poe

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"Master Cain, would you happen to recall a Roselyn and Revelin Dracen?" Riff questioned after Cain walked in with a gift ready for Merrieweather as he had been out late again.

"Yes, I remember that we'd visit them every once in awhile several years ago and we'd play together. Very interesting twin boys that appear to be just as distant from the people around them as I am. They only seemed to trust one another." The youth blinked and looked to his bodyguard.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because many years ago their mother died and other relatives living in the household are steadily dying in the same way. We received a recent request for you to visit them and assist them in finding the answers they seek. They've set up a party to cover up the real reason." Riff Raffit explained, summing up the letter written in one of the twin's hand.

"They would only ever call on me for help if it involved poison... even if it was only an inkling that a poison of some sort was used. I'll be leaving immediately." Cain then started to walk back out the door with Riff not far behind him.

"You are actually going?"

"It has been awhile since I've seen them and we got along for the most part when we were young." He shrugged and Riff didn't question him and instead simply followed his young master.

"By the way... Revelin and Roselyn are brother and sister." Riff informed and Cain turned to look at him blankly.

"Are you sure? I could never really tell when we were younger and no one ever told me." That was when he found an entirely different reason to go to the Dracen Household.

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"Brother! Why are you making me wear this?" A distressed female voice protested.

"Remember when we were younger and always used to play with Cain when he came over? Well, this is just like that. I doubt he even knew you were a girl then since you and I were so similar in attitude as well. No harm done, right? Cain is not our enemy."

"Then why would we play this game on him?"

"Why do we play any game?" It seemed to click almost immediately in her mind.

"For fun." It made sense now.

" Precisely. This isn't much different from the role switching we've done before." He explained and she nodded with a smile.

"Okay."

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"Here we are, Master Cain. The Dracen Manor. Most of the family has decided to live here rather than move out and live with their spouses... though a few of them have chosen to do so." Riff informed and Cain simply looked out over the large house with an unreadable emotion about his face before climbing down from the carriage and walking towards the entrance with Riff by his side.

When he reached the entrance, he found he was the first to arrive. The building where these twins resided was just like he had remembered them telling him it would be. What first caught his eye was the glass roof over almost a third of the mansion. If he remembered correctly, then that was where the library was. They had always talked about how their mother would have loved to watch the sky through the duration of the day while reading to and with them.

A man with dark hair and brown eyes opened the door for them and welcomed him and Riff with a smile.

"You must be the young count. Welcome to the Dracen residence. I am Henry Foreman. I will take you and your friend to where Miss Roselyn and Mister Revelyn are. Please, follow me." Quietly doing so, he was sure to assess his surroundings as he followed and didn't touch anything. If there was a poisoning going on around this house then he had to make sure that he had an idea of what kind it was before jumping to any conclusions.

Stopping before a pair of double doors, Henry opened them, and gestured for them to enter. Before them stood row upon row of column upon column of books, and he couldn't help but gawk slightly at the ceiling as he found he was right. Light flitted in through every given angle of the glass roof, casting light over every inch and corner of the library.

They continued forward until two forms came into view. They were dressed identically, had their dark hair up in the same fashion, and were both looking in his direction with their equally grey eyes.

Glancing at Riff, Cain wondered if he had been mistaken about the gender of Roselyn because from where he stood, there was no way for him to tell if there was a girl in the room, and if there was, which one it was.

"You're early." One of them acknowledged. Maybe he'd be able to tell which one was Roselyn by the sound of their voices.

"Yeah, we weren't expecting you for at least another hour." The other added and he held back a sigh. Both their appearances as well as their voices were alike and androgynous in nature.

They hadn't changed at all, and when Cain realized this he couldn't help but smile a bit.

"It's nice to see you both again. I see you have your dream house all figured out now." Then he motioned towards the area surrounding them.

"Is this really a maze like you said?" They both nodded with smiles.

"We're the only ones that know it." Said the one on the left.

"Save for you if you remember." The one on the right teasingly finished. This time he did sigh.

"Are you two playing with me again?" His question held mild fatigue.

"It's only a game if you play along." One smiled at Cain, and their eyes twinkled impishly. He got an idea then.

"I'm not here to play games as much as I miss it. I'm here to help you find out who the one killing everyone in your house is as well as to see what poison they are using. Is it safe to talk here or should we go somewhere smaller so that we know that no one can hear us?" The twins exchanged glances and then nodded once in unison before moving their eyes to the young master and silently telling him to follow them. He did but only with Riff at his side.

"May we inquire as to who he is?" The same one from before motioned to Riff with their head.

"Riff has been my personal servant since about the time my father passed. He is trustworthy, I assure you." This seemed to be enough for them as they all continued to the room they had been talking about before. While they were sauntering towards the destination they'd mentioned, he couldn't help but notice that one of these 'gentlemen' had more movement in their hips than the other. This made him smile. He had found Roselyn and all he had to do now was keep his eye on her. It didn't sound like something that was all that hard to do... unless they stopped walking or they turned a corner before him and went into the room they were taking him to and switched sides to further their game. Then things changed and became even stranger.

"C say mana K." She mumbled to him, and he nodded.

"Hui D bon N." Was his reply and he exchanged a look with Riff. Cain knew that they were close but learning that they still had their personal made up language after all these years was baffling. They entered a room that was quite a bit smaller, and Cain noticed Roselyn's slight discomfort.

"K M igfill?" Revelyn's tone suggested it was a questioning... whatever he said.

"Dimlin B taff." Was her reply.

Then they turned to Cain.

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"I'm still not in this loop here, and I don't mind that you two are talking in your own language, I'm used to that, but if you want me to trust you at all..." Whether he meant to or not, he locked eyes with Roselyn." I'm going to need for you to trust me so we can figure out who's responsible for these poisonings." Hair on the back of her neck stood on end, did he somehow know which one she was or was it just a coincidence? The smirk on his face was invisible and yet she could almost see it. He knew...

"Lyn, can you tell him the side effects you remember?"

"There was only two odd reactions from it and they were severe fatigue and then some sort of comatose that they never wake up from. I have a sample here." Reaching into the inside of her suit jacket, she was glad that she had bound her chest up with gauze, especially with how Cain was looking at her already. Handing him a vial, she noticed his black gloves for the first time and it was something Roselyn found a bit odd at the time. Normally, she never would have thought anything of it but when she looked back to when the two used to hang out with him, he wore black gloves that seemed unnecessary at the time... almost all the time. How peculiar that she never remembered to ask him about it. Probably didn't have a particular point filled meaning anyway.