Takes place in a few days before Part I starts. Sky and Dio are both 12-13 years old, four years after their mother's death. Every chapter will focus on their POVs. But as story goes on, the POVs might increase, focusing on other characters.

(Chapter unedited.)

Observation, SKY

The heating sun above her are slowly getting her, sitting at the lone swing by herself—as she prefers—and wondered if a human being like her would melt under it. She scoffed. That's impossible. How can a flesh and blood easily melt her at this puny heat when she can always run away to a nearby shade? She's not an object—a non-living object that waits itself to be melted under this heating weather, slowly getting herself to death.

But why does she not run away under this heat? Well… she heard a saying that one of the best hiding techniques is to hide out in the open, blending yourself among the crowd and trick the seeker to look at you while not recognizing you. In other words, she was hiding from someone. She was playing a game— not that kind of game, but still a game nonetheless. And the seeker of this hide-and-seek game is—

Thunk!

"Ow!" She yelped as she held her head in pain when someone 'thunk!' –ed her as she looked behind her to see the perpetrator. "What was that for, Dio?! That wasn't part of the game!"

Without saying a word to her, he took her hat from her head. She gasped in realization that he took it when he decked her in the head and ran after him, trying to snatch her hat from him. But Dio took advantage of his height and raised it above his head. When he saw her stopped reaching the hat from him, he took this opportunity to talk with her.

"Game? What game are you talking about? Are you treating this all as a game to you, Sky?"

She glowered at him with all her might. "We're children, Dio. We should act like one and play games with each other."

He scowled at her in return. "Are you seriously taking mother's word with you? That we should play dumb and obey father's words? Do you realize how much suffering mother had to take in our sake while you played your games?"

Sky felt a rush of guilt coming towards her but she didn't let it overtake her. "I know! I know that the whole time! I am not blind to see what kind of suffering mother had! The reason we had to play each other because I wanted to honor mother's memory! That we are her children, not his!"

"That we had to act childish in his presence? That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard. I agree that we had to act like our age in the eyes of others but him? Ridiculous. I don't want to act childish in his vicinity, let alone being under his filthy breath."

She wanted to retort against him, to argue against him but she can't found words to go against him. Playing games with Dio was a selfish request, she knows that, but despite herself, she actually agreed in her brother's word. Just like him, she doesn't want to act like children under their father's fingers— fingers so filthy that she wanted to bathe herself even just by one touch. But unlike her brother, she wasn't particularly pride-oriented and her identity doesn't revolve around it. If the situation demands it, she would threw it away for the sake of herself—and by extension, for her brother. That's why she was asking him to act with her, to act like children when they were never even grew as one.

As if seeing his sister growing silent, he grasped her forearm and dragged her with him. "I didn't search for you because I wanted to play your game. Father is looking for you."

Hearing the no-nonsense tone her brother used with those words, she can only sigh dejectedly. "Yes."

The first thing she received from her father when she arrived was a typical piercing slap. But she already numb at the pain it brings to her. It may be the first thing she received today, it wasn't the painful slap she felt compared to the first when she received it. And for today, she refused to show pain in front of this filthy father of theirs.

"Where the hell were you when I needed you, Sky?! You know I hate it when you're out sight from me, don't tell me you forgot about it?!"

She huffed inwardly. Yeah, right. To become your punching bag, that is.

Her head snapped to the side when she received the second bout of his oh-so-usual slap of his.

"Respond, you bitch. What does that mouth of yours do? Shitting?!"

Ignoring the growing anger within her, she curbed her own temper and responded, "I was at the park earlier. Playing with Dio." After she said those words, she saw in the corner of her eyes Dio glaring at her. She made a look at him in response. You want me to be punished? Then, let's suffer together.

She watched her father walked passed her and walked towards her brother. "And, you…" she heard seething tone of the older man before she flinched and looked away when a slap echoed in the room. Under the crack of her eye, she can see the identical red mark in his brother's face like hers as she winced at the sight of it.

After slapping both siblings, their father—no, Dario seemed to have a change of heart and asked the siblings to go make their usual chore in the house. Dio and Sky wordlessly obeyed their father's words as they went to their assigned work; Dio in the kitchens and Sky... she really hated doing this but it was her job to clean their goddamn father since he can barely get out of his bed—today is obviously the sole exception—and sort of became his caregiver. She saw already him naked than a proper lady should take but unfortunately, she didn't grow into one as long as you have Dario Brando as your father.

What does her mouth of hers do, shitting? He's wrong. She's the one who's catching his own shit in her hands, not her own mouth.

It was the usual dull, very boring day. Because of the demands of their father, the siblings can't make a spare time to leave the house and mingle around the neighbors and their children. Though, both of them were not very social people, especially Sky since she doesn't know what to say to them and ended up being tolerated—sometimes forgotten—among the children as they play games on their own, Sky being their only witness, not participating and not invited to their presence.

But Sky was fine with all of it. She may not have friends, she still have Dio with her. As long as he never complains when she impulsively want to hug him out of nowhere, she would never be alone in this world. Despite not agreeing her request to play with her, she is fine with his rejection because she knows he doesn't like it. Unlike her who wanted to know what it feels like to be the laughing children around her as they play their games, it was Dio who wanted to mature out of their childhood, seemingly in a hurry to become an adult and leave the house. Sky felt the same way too. She wanted to leave their father to his own devices but she can't. Even though she can find a reason to leave, she bring herself to do it. After all, Mother didn't leave him on his own so there must be some kind of reason that she didn't left him. Sky trusted her mother that there must something in their father that their mother only saw in him.

When she was still busy cleaning the house since Dio went out to buy their food necessity, she looked outside the window and realized that it is already sunset. When you have your mind occupied all day, the sun seem to running so fast in the sky, she thought, gazing outside of the glaring sun in her leisure since Dario was fast asleep in his bed upstairs. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a loud 'bang!' at the door and realized that Dio had arrived home. Seeing him entering the living room, they looked at each other for a while before she looked down and continued sweeping the floor.

"Tomorrow. Are you doing something?"

She stopped her sweeping and raised her head to her brother. She tilted her head. "A bit. Why?"

Her brother still gave her a neutral look. "The church, I presume?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Why?" She repeated her question.

"Let's talk tomorrow."

She frowned. "Okay. But why tomorrow?" Surely, they must have some spare time for today since Dario was asleep?

Instead, Dio gave her an irritated look and glared. "Tomorrow." He said with finality in his tone and went towards the kitchens, probably cooking for their dinner as he disappeared from her sight. She shrugged. If she is going to find out tomorrow, might as well leave him alone for now.

That night, the three had their dinner—not together since they had their own time of their 'dinner' and ate separately while Sky had to spoon-feed Dario since, apparently, he claimed his hands no longer work as 'his own' when she knows he can use it fine on his own when he used it to grip and gulped down the bottle of alcohol which was unceremoniously put at the side of his bed, not even attempting to hide it from her.

And then the siblings went to their room together since they both shared a bed as they wordlessly lied to their bed and slept each other back-to-back.

Observation, DIO

Dio will never understand why Sky continues to go to the church every Sunday in every week when all they do was stand, sit, kneel and pray. He never saw the importance behind it but apparently, Mother and Sky saw it in their eyes. He scoffed. Ridiculous. All they do was waste time and not do anything; they just keep yapping about nonsense and listen to some fat old man in front of them as he would repeatedly preached about the saying in the Bible and give some long winded speech.

Whatever. He doesn't care. But, even if he doesn't care, he had to admit the structure of the church was one of the beautiful thing he had ever seen. The mosaic art of the church, symbolizing the birth and death of Jesus Christ, was engraved in the every walls. He may hate the church for what it is but it doesn't mean he won't appreciate beauty in every art, after all, they say that art represents humanity's vivid imagination—who could never see the magnificence it embodies to every art other than him, Dio?

At least the sight of the magnificent beauty in front of him, he tolerates being in the church as he waited for his sister to come out after the Mass inside. He had to ignore some vendors who tried sell him their candles and pretended to be uninterested at everything except for his occasional glance to the church.

Perhaps this one was Sky's plan to not be in their father—no, Dario's presence and have some 'spare' time without that man's filthy breathe that constantly reeks in alcohol. Dio refused to be thrown out of loop. If that was her plan, then he would force himself into it. If she wanted to be free, then he should be free; if she wanted peace, then he should be in peace. This was an unspoken rule between him and Sky. Just like Mother said to them, they had to watch each other, protect each other because they only had each other. If they get separate, they will search one another. If one of them gets lost, one should search the other. They may not be siblings by blood but they are one by bond. No matter what happens, they should held each other's hand and walked together in their path.

Outrageous. Those were his first thought when he heard it. So what he gets lost or she gets lost on the way? They can take their own road and move forward however they like. And also, if his sister would get lost, she would never complain a goddamn thing about it. She would silently go back to her tracks and return where she came from—did their mother seriously think they would not use common sense in that situation? He is not stupid; both of them are not that stupid. Mother made sure of that they would never grew as one.

But, despite Mother's ridiculous words, he would sometimes found himself obeying it without knowing—only to realize it a little later. Probably because they grew up together, Sky was the one Dio trust the most. Even though they don't see each other's eyes at times, Sky was the one who would understand him and in return, Dio was the one who understand her the most. Despite the lack of the so-called 'love' between them, trust was one that made them tied together. If the world collapses around them, Sky is the only person he would allow to hold his hand despite not liking the idea of it.

But… he chuckled ironically, if the world actually ends.

Seeing a crowded people finally walking outside the church, he immediately saw a certain white-haired individual among the crowd and grasped her arm without warning, feeling her stiffened under his touch, as he dragged her inside the church, deliberately going against the flow of crowd, tightening his grip to Sky before they finally freed themselves. Looking left and right of the few people left inside the church, he loosen his grip in her arm, but still not letting go, and dragged themselves and forcibly sat her in the first row of seats, following behind her and sat beside her. Looking at his sister, he saw her rubbing her arms to ease the pain of his grip as he grunted at the sight, looking away from her, waiting for her to do her business and sat patiently until she was done.

"You startled me, Dio. You should have called me first before you grabbed me. I thought I was being kidnapped there or something."

And there was his cue to start.

"If you were kidnapped right there, I would advise you to beat them up. They don't need you mercy, not everyone deserve it. Anyway, you remember what I told you yesterday, right?" He crossed his arms, already predicting what she is going to say next.

She blinked at him. "Well, yeah, I did. You wanted to talk. Is there something do you want to talk? Why do you want to talk? Is there something wrong that you want to talk it out?"

He inwardly smirked. You're too predictable, Sky. He always found it amusing when she does her barrages of questioning.

"Sky. Next time when you talk to someone, you should refrain from giving them multiple questions. Didn't I told you before, one question at every breath?"

She pursed her lips and nodded at him. "Okay, I get it. Uh… what do you want to talk about?"

Good, good… she's learning. "It's about Dario."

"Father?" She blinked, startled at the sudden topic of their filthy father. Well, he can't blame her.

"Don't worry. We're not talking about him at all. We'll be talking about his situation and our situation."

She stayed silent, looking at him with a frowning contemplation of her face. "What… about our situation?"

This was what he was talking about. Just like he doesn't like to be locked out in the loop, he doesn't want her to be locked out of it too. He doesn't like explaining things to her that already happened because he knows that Sky will notice it and ask him nonstop.

"You notice under our bed what I've collected these past months, right?"

She stared at him, as if trying to search something. "…yeah. I've been wondering about that. That was lots of money, you know. I counted it all."

His eyebrow twitched in ire. Not just she noticed it, she even counted it without him knowing… Well, that's fine. He thought. It makes things easier with his explanations.

"How would…" he glanced at her for her reaction. "…no. I'll be blunt. I will use that money against Dario."

He looked at her trying to process his words in her brain. "Why… what… how… how would you do that?"

Curiosity killed the cat, he thought amusedly at her. But too bad the cat has multiple lives.

"Well, why don't you figure it out yourself? If your observation is right, perhaps I'll…" He paused. Perhaps he will what? What is he going to do with her? He can't come up with anything to go against nor beneficial for her.

She looked confused but she responded anyway, "Okay. What about our situation you talked about?"

He hand waved. "If the money went well, it's gonna make our lives better."

"We're gonna make ourselves orphan?"

He snorted. Well, she is not wrong about that. "Something like that."

She tilted her head. "Is that…all? What, I thought you were going to tell me something big. That's disappointing."

He didn't respond. Instead, he stood up from his seat. Oh, it is something big. She just doesn't realize that. He considered this talk between them as warning for her. "Let's go."

She followed after him. "Yeah…"

Dio walked towards the entrance, his hands tucked in his pockets. He halted when he didn't hear any footsteps following after him and looked back behind him to see Sky standing in front of the altar with her back facing towards him. Instead of going to her side, he waited for her to move.

"Dio. If what I think is what you thought you were going to do with our father…" She turned around to him. "Would that make me a greatest sinner?"

He stared at her eyes before he closed his own eyes and faced his back to her. "Everyone is a sinner. You being a greatest sinner won't change a thing."

Seeing her nodded at him solemnly, he let Sky passed him as she walked ahead of him. He looked at the large sculpture of a man who had his arms spread out with a halo around his head and a cross behind him. Dio turned his back to it and walked away.

The first thing he did when he went outside the church was spit on the ground.

The first thing he noticed when Dio arranged the bed for him and Sky was the bookmarked Bible put in the corner of the bed. He always noticed Sky reading the bookmarked section of the book before she went to sleep. He realized that she didn't read it last night, possibly forgetting about it. Since his sister was busy feeding their father in the next room, he decided to take his time and opened the bookmarked section of the Bible. His eyes immediately flew to the highlighted words and read it.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, and always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

"Ah… I'm tired…"

Dio immediately closed the book and put it where he found it and continued his arranging of the bed when Sky entered their room. He saw her collapsing in their bed, fixing herself in the corner before she grabbed the Bible and read it. She closed it when she is done and her breathing became rhythmic, signifies that she already fell asleep.

Seeing her like this, he went under the blanket and lied beside her with his back facing her. With his mind keeps reminding of the words he just read earlier, it wasn't long after before he finally went to sleep.

Love? That's absurd. Love doesn't solve anything. Not everything at all.

But I know I'm strong from all the trouble I've been through
the story starts where the story falls apart with you
—Dreaming Alone by Against the Current feat. Taka from ONE OK ROCK