Time to spend some time with big bro Aoba!
The quaint feel of the house from the outside definitely matched the inside. Everything felt so bright, warm and welcoming, almost a ray of light in the quiet desolate ruins.
"This place is really nice."
"Thanks!"
His nose caught the smell of something very sweet.
Aoba noticed, "You smell that? Surprise! I made you a butterscotch-cinnamon pie!"
"So that's the surprise you meant."
"Of course. I want you to enjoy yourself and have fun in your new home, little brother. I figured it's best to make something suitable for a human before I feed you something more liked by Ultra's, especially snail pie," The thought of something like snail pie sent shivers down his spine. Aoba reached out and grabbed his hand, "Follow me, I got something else to show you."
He brought him to the right hallway and stopped in front of a door.
"What's this?"
"Your room, little brother," Aoba rested his hand on his shoulder, "There's plenty of space here, and I want you to feel comfortable," He took a quick sniff, "Uh oh, I better make sure the pie doesn't burn. Make yourself at home!" With that, he ran off in the other direction.
He went to check inside the room. The walls, ceiling, even floor was painted in a light blue color. It consisted of simple bed, a drawer with a large mirror above, a lamp and a desk. Everything was so neat and tidy, almost as if no one has been in this room for a long time yet Aoba still made sure to keep it clean. The sight of the bed became incredibly tempting by the second. The long traverse through the ruins left his legs pretty worn out, and his body still felt slight bits of pain not only from the battles against the Ultra's he had to deal with on the way, but the initial fall that landed him in the Underground in the first place. He flopped onto the bed, laying on his back with his hands behind his head, he eyes closed as he allowed himself to relax. The comforting air and the peaceful atmosphere of the room lulled him into a calm slumber.
He was almost surprised when he woke up. "Can't believe I actually fell asleep." He sat up and stretched, his arms and legs feeling revitalized. He caught a sweet smell and looked to his side. On the small desk next to the bed was a piece of butterscotch-cinnamon pie and a written note:
Hey sleepyhead!
I guess you must have really been tired from walking through the ruins. It makes me feel a bit bad, but it's also comforting knowing that you're here, safe and sound.
I took the liberty to heal your wounds and I left you a little something for when you wake up.
Enjoy!
Your big brother, Aoba
He smiled as he helped himself to the pie. It had a pleasantly sweet taste and it was still warm, as though it just came out the oven. Once he was done, he decided to look around the house more. Leaving the room, he headed to the next room down the hall. The room was a bit bigger than his and he assumed this was Aoba's. On a desk he found a book where Aoba had apparently been working on some jokes, a large bookshelf that filled with several books about different types of plants, but one thing in particular caught his eye. On top of his drawers was a picture frame. He picked it up and saw a picture of Aoba, a large man with dark brown hair and golden eyes hugging him from behind and another man the same height as Aoba with dark blue hair and eyes and a black hat hugging him from the front.
"They all look so happy. But who are those two other Ultra's? I hope Aoba doesn't mind me asking."
Finished in Aoba's room, he headed down the other hall and found the living room. Aoba was there, sitting in a big chair in front of a fireplace, a book in his lap and a pair or reading glasses on his face.
He looked pretty engrossed in his book, a part of him didn't want to disturb him, but he figured he should let him know he was awake. He cleared his throat.
Aoba looked up right away and smiled, "Hey, you're finally up! You must have been pretty tired, you've been out for almost an hour."
"I guess I was," He pulled out the chair in front of the small table and sat down.
"Listen, I know this might sound kind of weird, but… I really am glad to have you here. I have a lot planned for you; there's a lot of old books I want to share with you, I want to show you my favorite bug hunting spot, I even got a curriculum planned to help you learn more about the Underground. It might not look like it, but I've always wanted to be teacher."
"I can actually kind of see that."
Aoba let out an embarrassed chuckle, "Yeah, I guess," He cleared his throat, "But still, I'm happy to have you here and I'll do everything I can to make you feel happy here as well."
"Appreciate it… Hey, Aoba?"
"Yes?"
"You don't mind if I ask you something, even if it's kind of personal?"
"Not at all. What's on your mind?"
"Well, I went to check out your room and I found this picture of you and these two other Ultra's. Who were they exactly?" He could see the hesitation on Aoba's face, "It's fine if you don't wanna tell me-"
"No, it's fine. You trust me, little brother, and it's time I show I trust you," He let out a sigh as he adjusted his glasses, "The tall one in the photo is Mink. He's my husband."
"Your husband?"
"Yeah. Is… is that weird? I've read up that humans weren't very comfortable with this back when we used to live with them."
"No, I don't think it's weird. Some other humans might think so, but I never really saw the problem with it."
A relieved sigh left him, "That's good. I was afraid I might freak you out," He recollected himself, "Anyway, the other one in photo is my twin brother, Sei."
"Hmmm… where are they?"
"Mink is back at the capital. And Sei…" His eyes filled with grief as he looked away from him, "Sei… died a long time ago…"
"Oh… I'm sorry."
"I-It's okay. A lot of Ultra's say I'm still not over it, but… I'm handling it…"
"I feel pretty bad making you bring it up."
"Don't worry. I'm glad to know I can share anything with you. I already feel kind of better."
He gave a small smile, "When did Sei die?"
"About 10 years ago."
He got very confused, "Wait, 10 years? You barely look a day older than you do in that picture."
He let out a small laugh, "Oh, that's simple. Ultra's age much slower than humans do. One year for you is about five years for us."
"Really?"
"Mmhmm. Some species of Ultra's don't even age. Robot Ultra's can live for as long as they want so long as they take good care of their bodies and can have someone to rely on to help them just in case. There's actually some robot Ultra's that are still alive that used to live among the humans."
"Man, that's pretty insane. Ultra's have been gone for so long that everyone believes that they're nothing more than a myth. Even I used to think that. But now that I'm actually living with one, I'm really hoping that this isn't just a dream."
"Well, I hope so too. I'd hate to think that you're not actually real, little brother," He gave the brightest of smiles that he could help but reciprocate.
"Thanks for sharing this with me. I'm going to look around more."
"Of course. Let me know if you need anything!"
Aoba went back to his reading as he went to explore the rest of the house. The kitchen was very quaint and simple, the large pie that sat on the counter with the small piece he ate cut out of him practically made his stomach jump, and he found the stove was spotless and didn't seem to be plugged into any type of power source.
"Aoba did say he was an electromancer. Guess he must handle it himself."
He walked back to the hallway where his room was and found there was one last door at the very end of the hall. But when he went to check, the door was locked and there was a sign on it that said "Currently in Renovation". He was a little confused by this, but he decided to not pry Aoba about this. He already told him some pretty harsh stuff he's had to deal with and he didn't want to make him feel worse. He was sure that he explored every place he could of the house, until he remembered one last thing. The staircase he saw when he first entered the house. He headed back to it and saw that it lead underneath the house. He was about to head down when he was stopped by a loud voice.
"Wait, little brother!" Aoba was quickly at his side as he pulled him away from the staircase, "Please don't go down there."
"Why? What's down there?"
"N-Nothing important," He quickly left back to the living room, clear hesitation and fear was present on his face.
He followed him to the living room, finding Aoba back to reading acting as though nothing happened.
"Aoba."
"Hey little brother. Do you need something?" He could hear his nervous tone seeped in his voice.
"What's down that staircase?"
He paused for a moment before answering, "It… It leads to the exit out of the ruins. B-But it's nothing you need to worry about. You're safe here."
"Aoba, can you show me to the exit?"
He could see fear etched into his eyes, "U-Um… Hey, this book I'm reading has a lot of interesting facts on snails! Would you like to hear one?"
"Aoba."
"Listen to this. Did you know that snails have a chainsaw-like tongue called a radula? Pretty interesting right?"
"Aoba!"
"There's a lot more interesting things in here, like-"
"Big brother!"
He refused to be distracted, and calling him that seemed to break the remnants of Aoba's resistance as he closed the book and set it down along with his glasses, "I'll be… right back."
Aoba dashed off in a second and he ran to keep up with him following him down the stairs. There was a long hall upon heading down and he saw Aoba standing a foot or so away from the staircase with his back to him.
"Aoba, what are you doing?"
"The exit at the end leads to the rest of the Underground. It's the only way to leave the ruins… I'm going to destroy it, so I know you won't leave. So please go back upstairs."
Aoba tried to keep going, but he stopped him by grabbing his shoulder, "Wait! Why do you want to destroy it?"
"... Every human that has come down here has met the same fate. I've seen it time and time again. They come. They leave. They die. Don't you understand? If you leave, they… Mink… will kill you. I don't want that to happen to you. Please… go to your room."
He dashed off again, and he ran to follow after him. He found Aoba at the exit, his back still facing him.
"You're still came?"
"Aoba, you know that I appreciate everything that you've done for me since I came here. I don't take any of that for granted. But… I can't stay here forever. I need to get back to the surface."
"So you really want to leave that badly?" He could hear slight bits of anger in his voice, "You're like all the others. Fine. But if you want to leave… prove it to me. Prove that you are strong enough to survive!"
Aoba quickly turned around and locked eyes with him, the field opening up.
"A-Aoba?!"
He didn't respond and barraded him with electric attacks, coming out quick and fast, forcing him to remain on guard. Aoba didn't speak, but he could see the hesitation and regret on him with each attack. One bolt of lightning struck his soul and a searing pain shot through his arm. But even with that, he still refused to act back. He could see the confusion on Aoba's face.
"What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why aren't you fighting back? You want your freedom, don't you? So fight back!"
He attacked with more bolts of lightning, but he still refused to fight back.
"Why are you doing this?!"
"I have no reason to fight you!" He looked at him, determined, "After everything you've done for me since I came here, after looking out for me, teaching me how to defend myself and treating me like family, why would I ever fight you?"
Aoba tried to strike back again, but he noticed that most of his attacks were missing him. And not by accident. Even when he was standing still, the lightning didn't get anywhere near him. Eventually Aoba stopped, his gaze fell to the floor.
"I know you really want to leave, but… please… just go back upstairs."
"Aoba."
His arm fell to his side, "I'll take good care of you… I know I don't have much… but… I'll do everything to make sure you have a good like here… Don't make this so hard… please go upstairs…"
"Aoba…" He slowly walked up to him as Aoba hugged his sides.
His body was slight trembling, before he let out a small laugh, "I'm pretty pathetic, aren't I? I can't even save one human."
"I don't think you're pathetic at all," He rested his hand on Aoba's shoulder.
"... I understand. You wouldn't be happy being trapped here. The ruins are very small, there's not much to do… it's not a proper place to raise you. So… my expectations… my loneliness… my fear… for you, little brother… I'll cast them aside."
The field disappeared, Aoba still looking at the ground.
"If you really want to leave, I won't stop you. But, if you do… don't come back. I hope you can understand that," Aoba hugged him as tight as he could, and he hugged him back, almost not wanting to let go, but eventually he did as Aoba finally looked at him, "Goodbye, little brother."
He gave a slight hesitation before he finally left, looking back at him once more as he disappeared down the hall. He felt a strong pang of guilt. A part of him wanted to go back, but he had earned his right to keep going and he wasn't going to waste it. He went through the door, passing through another small hallway before he reached the end. But standing, or rather levitating, in the middle of the room was a familiar face he really didn't want to cross with.
"Usui?!"
She gave a sly chuckle, "Well, aren't you just a clever little one. Don't you remember what I said? In this world, it's kill or be killed. Yet you try to play by your own rules. You didn't kill a single Ultra. You must feel really proud of yourself, don't you? But, tell me, what will you do if you meet one who is relentless, one who won't let you go easily? You'd much rather die and die and die than fight back. But what will you do then? Will you give into your desires, or surrender and give it to me? I am the one who holds the future of this world in my hands. So don't you worry, my little monarch, my plan isn't regicide. This will be so much FUN!" She gave a maniacal laugh before she disappeared in a flash of light.
Her words rang through his mind, but he couldn't let them affect him. He forged his path this far by making his own decisions, and he wasn't going to let some crazed Ultra tell him otherwise. Remaining firm, he walked through the final door, separating him from the outside world, ready and full of determination.
Yeah, I did that last line on purpose. No regrets!
The next part might take a while to come up, along with the next part for With Just One Moment, since I'll be spending a few days with a family member and I don't have access to the internet.
Until then!
