He stared with wide eyes filled with disbelief at the woman who sat cross legged atop his bed. Reciprocating the gesture, she took him in with watery eyes. "...Ash." Her voice was the sweet song that brought him out of his daze and yet he still felt he was dreaming.
He had dreamt countless times of their meeting, scenario after scenario playing out in his head that fuelled his morbid sort of curiosity but when he woke up he was always reminded of the fact he was alone.
This time was different, he knew it was different. She had grown into a beautiful woman but she had also become a different person. He still felt her comforting aura but he also felt something else. Some distorted presence that seemed to thrum with unimaginable power. It frightened him much more than he felt was reasonable.
"Why are you here?" His words came out much colder and sharper than he would have liked but he was quickly being drained of any self control being in proximity to his sibling. He wished nothing more than to hug her and feel her arms wrap around him as if to shield him from the world but 12 years of living in the wilderness had taken it's toll on his ability to trust.
"Do you really need to ask that?" Her voice was as smooth as silk and he was tempted by it alone to abandon his sense and submit to the aching pain in his heart.
"Do I know you?"
"I'm your sister." Him inhaling sharply was her only warning for the dam breaking.
"My sister abandoned me 12 years ago!" he roared back.
"I had to!" she retorted heatedly. "I wasn't strong enough to do ANYTHING! I was forced to watch my brother slaughter soldiers and huntsmen alike, the same little brother I was meant to be protecting. I watched you fight for your own freedom while I sat back and did nothing because I was nothing but a scared little kid. I let you fight, I let you suffer and I let you down." They were both inches apart and their yelling had no doubt made it through the walls and into the corridor. While Cinders face was a mix of rage and hurt, his was nothing but pure distrust that only increased her own grief.
"Do you think that we would just kiss and make up? That I would somehow forgive you and act like you never left?" It was in that moment that she realised how different he really was. Gone was the cheerful and optimistic child who would look up to her in unadulterated joy. Of course Emerald had warned her but seeing it was something else entirely.
She had idiotically assumed he would just forgive her because she was family but now she understood just how ridiculous that sounded. So she stayed silent as he venting, listening to the rage and hurt that emanated from the boys mouth.
After he was done he stood shaking with unwanted energy... negative energy. It enveloped him in an aura of stormy shadows and he fell to his knees. The crippling pain forcing him to throw his arms out in front of him in order to keep him from falling.
He screamed a harsh cry as his eyes bled tears of blood that stood out against the pale colouration of his skin. He felt the air around him thicken and his vision was obscured by a fog of black. He began to feel dizzy . It knew exactly what it was trying to do but unfortunately he had already activated his weapon. His victorious smirk lasted for only a second.
The clicks of the lighter was the only warning he gave before his whole body was set ablaze by his own flamethrowers. He withheld a scream and instead grinned madly amid the flames. "All you have to do is give me control and this end's." He said seemingly to himself. The black fog began to swirl erratically in a useless attempt at dispelling the raging inferno but after a few seconds it retreated quickly back inside of him.
Once again Cinder had been delegated to a helpless onlooker. Her eyes fixated on the the shadowed face of her scorched brother. She was only a few steps away from him and had clearly felt the blistering heat that had engulfed his form just a few seconds ago. Now all that she could picture was his mad grin and the roaring of a wild flame. She stood stiffly as the distance between them grew.
"You told me that your my sister but am I still your brother?" His voice was hoarse and he sounded tired beyond his years. His eyes were no longer the bright, flames that would fill her heart with unadulterated love and warmth. They were dull, crimson orbs that seemingly pierced through her carefully crafted mask. "We can't just continue our lives as if our time apart never happened. If you really want to be my sister than first get to know me."
"...Ash." Her voice was little more than a pleading whisper and an unpleasant surge of self-loathing made itself known inside her.
"Please... just leave." Flashing him a glance she turned and made her way out the room. When she shut the door behind her, he slumped to the floor and wept.
He stained his face with the crimson droplets of sadness but he didn't allow himself to feel any grief. Such a luxury was ill advised and for obviously good reasons. But mostly because he felt resignation over sadness. Such a wonderful dream could never possibly come true for a monster such as him. The harrowing truth had finally revealed itself. The lie that had sustained him for so long had come falling down around.
His sister never left because she loved him but instead did it out of some warped sense of pride. As if it was her duty to protect him and that he was just meant to keep relying on her for the rest of his life.
He swiped away his tears with a deathly calm and once again Ash Fall emerged from the husk of the scared little boy. Ash was a wraith... a monster. Feelings were not for him.
So he ignored the crying that echoed through his head and the painful throbbing that was tearing his heart asunder.
A.N:Here a thing for some people