Sorry for the lack of updates last month. Was busy.

A span of three years happened in this chapter. During first POV, they're 13-14 years old. Second POV, 14-15 years old. Third POV, 15-16 years old. And no animals were harmed in this chapter :)

(Chapter unedited.)

Confidential, JOJO

"Here, Danny! Fetch!" Jonathan threw the stick in the distance. His pet dog, Danny ran enthusiastically to the direction where he tossed the object.

A smile grew in his face as the animal went out of sight, knowing Danny would have a great time searching around the stick, get distracted whatever caught his attention before he would return to him. It had been always like that, he thought, sitting in the yard while waiting for his dog to come back to him and stare off at the distance. Mind empty for thoughts, not knowing to do for the day other than waste his time.

"Is Danny with you?" A familiar voice called.

He didn't have to raise his head who it was. "Playing fetch with him. He's currently there." Jonathan didn't point a finger. Danny could be everywhere. "What are you doing here, Sky?" He asked when he felt the presence sat beside him.

"Nothing." The white-haired beauty shrugged. "I had nothing better to do. Well, it had always been like that."

Jonathan laughed. It's true. Sky was not the active person he knew. She likes doing nothing to do. "That makes both of us then."

"True."

Comfortable silence blanketed them. Sky Brando, he thought, was vastly different from her twin brother, Dio Brando. The most obvious was she didn't torment him like her brother did a year ago. That series of incidents still left a scar with him, unable to heal, his mind refusing to forget. What made him fought back was a breach of pride of his loved one, Erina Pendleton whom he had never seen again as he found out her family had gone abroad, for their daughter had her own peace of mind, to not face shame from others. And most of all, from him, her parents told him before they left.

Jonathan missed his chance to comfort her. He doesn't care if Dio stolen her lips. He doesn't care about that. All he wanted was for her to be his side. When he was lonely, when she was there with him. She made him smile, she made him forget what it felt like to be alone. And he just wanted her. Her, Erina Pendleton.

Really, he seriously missed his chance to take her back.

"Danny's back." Sky told him, successfully breaking out of his distant regret.

Raising his head, he can see the black-and-white spots of fur in the distance as Danny ran back to them. He forced to wear a smile and stood up. In his peripheral vision, Sky did the same as she ran her hand between Danny's ears, huffing happily under her touch. This put a genuine smile on him. Yes, she was a drastic experience, he thought as he gaze after her back when they walked back to the mansion. From Dio's arrogance and Sky's kindness; he had to admit it was actually the siblings that made him put a different kind of experiences. Ever since they had arrived in his life.

He heard a saying that negative aspects are most remembered in your entire life. Thanks to Dio who made a testament to that, it was the dark times of his life. When it comes to Sky, who had approached him many times during that time with encouragement to never lose against her brother, the words he received from her was all but a blur. Darkness weighed heavier than light, it seemed, and he was ashamed when he barely recalled anything.

But not everything. Jonathan was reminded of a strange conversation between them. Was it before or after, it was left into a question when it happened. It was too weird to forget, he thought.

"Remember, Jonathan," He can still the touch of her fingers as it brushed to his lips. And then she pulled it away and lightly touched her own lips. It was an indirect kiss, he can scarcely remember but Sky called a Seal of Promise. "Don't tell anyone about this."

He nodded. And then words came from her shocked him.

Unrelated by blood. Abuse and bruises. Money and church.

The truth.

The siblings had suffered through painful hardships. Sky had prayed for salvation, she told him, the Grim Reaper gave it to them. And then Dario Brando died from alcohol poisoning. On his dying breath, a letter came to them. That was how they arrived in the Joestar household.

"I'm really sorry for what Dio made you through," faint words came out from her, coated in regret. "I'll apologize on his behalf. He's too proud to do that." Sky bid her farewell to her after that.

He doesn't know what to think from that. Was he supposed to express pity on Dio? Was that an excuse for his atrocious acts he made against him? It seemed unlikely. Dio is too proud, Sky even said that, and he carried those deeds with him without remorse, head held up high. It was an attempt to make him understand what kind of person Dio was. That was Sky's intention.

And she trusted him for it.

He gasped. How could he forget about that? "Sky, you're not doing anything today, right?" Jonathan asked. They had stayed with Danny enough. It was time to go somewhere.

She cocked her head. "Yeah. Isn't it already obvious?"

He smiled. Good. "Come with me. I'll show you something." Jonathan half-led, half-dragged her to a certain location.

If she trusted him, then he should return the favor.

Jonathan's classmates doesn't like Sky. They found her as an annoyance and a hindrance. They actually had a good reason for it, Jonathan confessed guiltily, since he shared the same feelings in the beginning. Eventually, he understood why she always raise her hand and inquire some answers. It was in her nature. She can't possibly cast it aside from her but Dio actually found a solution to that. He always did. Dio knew his twin sister better than him.

"Don't ask for an answer over smallest things," he watched Dio lectured Sky. "Go for the big one. The great one. The most important one. I always said that to you, didn't I? People doesn't remember unnecessary things, they always go for the noteworthy. They ignore what doesn't caught their attention."

Sky listened her brother's advice to heart. While it didn't made her friendly enough, his classmates' former feelings of irritation was replaced with tolerance. They got used to her questions. Some silently admitted they depended on her unabashed attitude for their problems. If they wanted to ask, Sky was doing all the work to see answers.

He doesn't like it. Jonathan wanted them to interact with her, to give her thanks, offer her gratitude. Sky was fine with it, she had told him, and perhaps there were shy with her, she added. Being bashful was out of question. He knows they didn't like her because they refuse acknowledge her.

When there's no one a move, Jonathan made a promise to himself. A hundred-fold appreciation, a thousand-fold gratitude and an infinite-fold friendship. This was all he can give to her. Nothing else.

"What are we doing here?" Sky's breathless pant came beside him. "That was a long run."

"Sorry, Sky," he smiled apologetically, "I had to avoid the eyes of other people." He knows she had questions. It was evident in her expression yet only frowned puzzlingly at him. A two thousand-fold gratitude, he smiled as he opened the door. "Come in." he invited.

It was a spacious room. A queen-sized bed and a humongous window to see the landscape outside. It was clean inside, mostly the maid had been here long ago, Jonathan noted. Lightly walking to the bed, he knelt down and pulled the drawer beside it before smiling when he saw the familiar object inside.

Sky stood by the door awkwardly. "Um…"

"I already invited you in. There's nothing dangerous in my room." He promised.

She pouted. "That's the point though…" she muttered and sat on his bed. "You said you'll show me something. What is it?" Sky crossed her legs.

"I said there's nothing dangerous here. That includes me." Jonathan received her stare. He doesn't want her to feel guarded around him. "I wanted you to trust me, just like you trusted me with your secret."

Her spine bristled. "You still remember that?"

He tilted his head. "Am I not supposed to?"

"Never mind." She crossed her arms. "So what is it?"

A gloomy look went through him. Looks like he was unsuccessful to make the lady secure with him, he thought. But he had no choice. This was the only way. "Here." He sat beside her and hand over the object.

Sky inspected it before she raised her eyes to him. "A stone mask?"

Jonathan imitated what she had done to him before. Brushing her lips with his fingers before touching his own. "This is strictly confidential." He whispered.

There was a horrified look on her face. "You even remembered…"

He blinked, confused. "What is?"

"No, never mind." That's the second time she said that, he thought with an eyebrow raised, watching her shaking her head. "So what does this stone mask had to do being confidential?" she asked.

Promptly, Jonathan took the stone mask from her. Pulling the knife inside the drawer, he immediately calmed her down when he saw she was about ran away from him. He sliced a small graze from his finger, enough to draw blood. He pinched his finger as a drip of blood trickled to the stone mask. The object trembled at first and he knew what was going to happen. Jonathan glanced at Sky worriedly.

The stone mask leapt for a few inches from the floor as razor sharp, claw-like spike grew at the edge of the mask.

Sky immediately climbed to his bed in fright.

"Don't worry! It won't hurt you!" He watched her crawl near him and grasped tightly his arm. Jonathan patted her hand comfortingly. "A drop of blood and this is how it reacts. Nothing more, nothing less." He said softly.

She never drew away her attention from it. "Reminds me of a spider." she murmured.

Jonathan understood. She doesn't like spiders. Hairy legs and multiple eyes. If he was a lady, he would be equally scared but he had to man up. "But it doesn't look like a spider. Look," he pointed, the spikes withdrew as quickly as it appeared. "It's just a mask now."

"But it doesn't look like an ordinary mask," she keenly reminded. "Where did you find it?"

"This one seems to be from my mother's," he took the mask from the floor. He stared at the fangs from its mouth. "Father said it's antique. Just a house decoration but I said otherwise. He doesn't know I had it with me. I don't think he would yell at me for this but I had to hide it just in case. This mask is… bizarre."

"It does." She agreed. "So this is your secret you entrusted on me?"

He nodded. "Yes. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. That wasn't my intention." He said in remorse.

"It's fine." Her white hair glowed along with her smile. "I know you are no pervert, Jonathan. I'm just confused why you brought me here." She clarified.

Her words stabbed through his pride. "A pervert… It is inappropriate to be bring a lady to man's room, doesn't it?" He realized, horrified at his own action.

She laughed halfheartedly at his reaction. "You're a gentleman, Jonathan. Don't forget that. Your father didn't raise a pervert."

"Stop that, Sky…" His cheeks was aflame at her unserious accusation.

"Alright, alright…" Sky chuckled before turning her attention to the stone mask resting in his hand. "You know what this reminds me?"

"A spider, right?" Didn't she said that earlier? Jonathan thought.

"At first, yeah." She admitted with a laugh. "Taking a close look, it's actually sinister looking…"

It was his turn to jest. "Well, spiders looked sinister…"

"No. Not like that." Jonathan forced his joking attitude when he saw her frowning, thinking look. "The fangs on the mask, doesn't it remind you of something?"

"Something…?" He caught on her insinuation but he had no idea what she was talking about. "Of what?"

"The fangs, Jonathan." She directed a wide incredulous eyes to him, making him feel stupid. "Are you sure you do not know?"

"Tiger…?" He lamely guessed.

"Vampires. I'm talking about that." She puffed a sigh, as if aggravated. "It reacts to blood, right? What others thing does it react to?"

"Just blood, I think." But still he was doubtful. "But Sky, vampires doesn't exist. Perhaps it is related to bats." He suggested.

"But does it look like a bat?" She hovered her hands to the stone mask in his hands. "That's a human face. With fangs. And it's alive somehow. If it wasn't alive, those spikes wouldn't have grew at all but it did. How would you explain these supernatural qualities from this, Jonathan?" She challenged, almost accusingly.

He… can't really deny those words. It's true it possessed strange abilities and it reacts to blood as if in hunger. "I don't know, Sky. I really don't know but…" If he doesn't know about it then he had no choice. "I'll look up to this." He said strongly.

Sky was taken back at his resolve. She can only offer her smile. "I'll look forward to your results then." She encouraged.

Jonathan returned the gesture. "Leave it up to me."

Confidential, DIO

Sky's hair had gotten longer ever since two years ago when she first cut it and sold it.

Dio looked at the back of her head as he sat behind her. Her hair was put up into a half-updo, the upper half twisted into a bun while the lower half was free tumbling like waves, resting and sprawling on her back like a second layer of cloth. Stealing a strand of her white hair, he brought it under his nose and smiled at the familiarity.

Lemon-scented. His sister never changed.

It was lunch break and as always, in the courtyard at the back of the school, the four of them lounged here. A less grand picnic, but a picnic nonetheless. His sister, Jonathan, him and lastly, his girlfriend.

Charlotte Fagerstorm. The Merchant's Daughter.

It seems like the merchant, Charles Fagerstorm had enough money to send his daughter to a prestigious school. The Hugh Hudson Academy. Incredibly suited for a woman like her. Vain and haughty, like the self-conceited students attending this school. That's why he liked her. No sign of purity, unashamed for his attention to him, to the point of seduction. Who could deny a rotten beauty like her other than him, Dio?

As usual, Charlotte dragged him off the moment they were done with their lunch. Like an insistent lover she is, she never wasted time and caress her hands everywhere. He let do whatever she wants, not really in the mood to reciprocate. While she forcedly leaned him to a wall, familiar voices entered his ears nearby.

"Jonathan, are you sure about this?" Sky's faded voice asked.

"I'm sorry, Sky," said Jonathan's voice. "This… us… I really can't do it."

That put a bitter taste on him. Just like him and Charlotte, Jonathan and Sky are together. An unknown incident made them grew closer together. He doesn't know what. He doesn't like being locked out of the loop. He always did. When he asked his sister, it was confidential, she said, and nothing can convince her to talk to him about it.

Dio swallowed his grunt when Charlotte bit him. He scowled at her. He is seriously not in the mood like this.

"It's okay." He returned his attention to them when he heard Sky. "To be honest, I feel the same too. I guess being friends suited us together instead of being like—well, together like Dio and Charlotte." He heard her reluctant laugh. Jonathan chuckled. Dio's eyebrow twitched when he overheard it. "What about the stone mask?"

Now that caught his attention when Sky changed the subject. "Nothing much." Jonathan sighed. "It feels like a dead man's dead end. I'm still analyzing it though."

"Have you anything that seems to be related to vampires?" Dio raised an eyebrow to that. "Anything in the history perhaps?" She asked.

"Fictional history, maybe. But no, there was nothing. The vampire mythos was interesting though."

"Like what?"

"Being burned under the sun was common but heightened eyesight was something I didn't know."

Sky scoffed. "Well, they had to adapt in the dark. Of course, they would have that."

"No, nothing like that." Jonathan pressed. "They see and count. No matter how small the object is. For example, one look at the fallen leaves at the ground and them immediately knowing how many had rested there." He explained.

There was silence, processing his words. Even Dio. "Sounds like an accountant." Sky mused.

"Sounds like you." He can feel a smile from Jonathan's tone.

She laughed. "A Vampire Accountant. Sounds like me, right?" said Sky.

After those words, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. "The end of break," Sky said distantly. "And the end of relationship." She said jokingly.

"I'm really, really sorry about it." Jonathan profusely apologized.

"Nah, it's okay. I told you I felt the same. No hard feelings. We're still friends, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then let it go. Come on! We're gonna be late."

Footsteps faltered away from them. When they are gone, he pushed Charlotte away from him. "Dio?" He can hear his partner's confusion as he walked away.

"We're gonna be late." Dio said without turning around.

"Yes!" Charlotte enthusiastically followed after him.

Really, the heart of maiden are easily swayed. Shallow and useless.

Dio doesn't know what sort of madness had possessed him that night. With a light rap on a certain door in front of him, the face of his sister came in his sight, eyes wide on him. "Dio?" Sky said with furrowed eyebrows. He entered himself in her room and seated on her bed.

Sky stood by the door awkwardly when she closed it behind her. "Um… what are you doing here?" She nervously asked.

"Nothing." That was the truth. He had no reason. "I was just thinking of visiting you. That's all." This one is also true.

"Huh." She looks unconvinced. He can't blame her. "Well. Since you're here, let's talk." She muttered, sitting beside him.

And there was his cue to start. "I overheard."

"Of what?"

"You and Jonathan. About your relationship."

"…oh."

Hearing a mild reaction from her, Dio found himself disappointed. He guessed he should have expected this since she doesn't lashed at everything. Unlike Charlotte who seems to be always offended at everything. "I'm sorry about that." He tried his best to look apologetic.

Sky looked bothered at those words. "Don't do that, Dio. You don't apologize. What exactly are you doing here?" She asked accusingly.

He raised his hands in defeat. "Does it hurt to act like a brother to you?"

"You've never acted like my brother in the first place."

Refusing to flinch at those honest words, he rested his back on the bed, facing the ceiling. "Just let me stay here. My room is suffocating." He told her as he felt her lying beside him.

"It is?" There was confusion in her voice and also curiosity.

No, he almost said. His room was plenty comfortable for him. He was just making an excuse to stay. Reasons be damned because he had to. "Does it hurt you for me to do that?" He said instead.

"Not really." She shrugged before hoisting up. He watched her saunter to the window and perched herself there like a bird.

"You'll fall." He warned as he sat up.

"I won't." smiled Sky. "Besides, I stay here until dawn when sleep doesn't claim me through the night."

He perked an eyebrow. "You can't sleep?"

She shook her head.

Dio almost made himself blinded at the radiance Sky currently possessed with her. She wore a negligee that hung to her shoulders, showing her slender neck. Her hair flowed free behind her as well some stray strands making their way to her naked collar. Her grey-blue eyes and white hair seems to glow under the moonlight while she look ahead at the distance outside, distracted and unaware of the stare he gave to her when he assessed her appearance. Another strange madness had possessed him once again and he found himself standing in front of her and wholly received her surprised eyes.

"Dio?" She tilted her head up to him.

As if waking up from a trance, he averted his eyes from her and leaned at the wall beside her, the cold air caressing his face. With a question hanging above his head, he decided to speak it up. "Why did you and Jonathan break up?"

"We can't get pass the barrier, I guess…" A breeze lightly passed them. "Our friendship is stronger than love, I think, and we can't see each other seriously as lovers. Like you and Charlotte for example. Physical touch can't even suffice it. It only make us awkward. Jonathan always looked distracted and I wasn't interested in it. We just had terrible affinity with each other perhaps. So…" She shrugged with finality.

Dumb and foolish Jonathan, he found himself cursing at her former partner. It seemed like Jonathan can't get out his innocent first love, Erina Pendleton, from his dimwitted brain that he was willing to ruin the relationship Dio thought was going smoothly, seeing how happy they were with each other's presence. Stupid Jojo, he found cursing at him again. Sky is more a realistic choice than Erina who is miles away apart from him yet his love seemed to fly away with that woman, he scornfully thought.

"But Dio," Sky broke him out at his furious daydream. "What is love really? I always ask about that myself. It's the reason why Mother didn't left… Dario, right…?"

Now it has been a while since they've talked about their filthy father. It was like an unspoken taboo between them. He didn't expect Sky would raise a topic about him. "I like to think Mother stayed for our sake, that's all. Let's not talk about him anymore." He said coldly. The presence of Dario had long left their life. There's no need to talk about the dead.

Sky shifted beside him. "Sorry. I just wanted to why Mother did that. Anyway, going back to—"A loud gasped entered his ears and he noticed her falling backwards.

Dio never moved faster in his life. Quickly as he could, he darted towards her and snatched her away from the window. He wrapped his arms around her, protectively and securely, backing her away from near-death of fall, his sister's remains splattered at the concrete ground below. He shook the image from his mind when he felt her shaking under him. He almost sighed in relief. Almost. He refused to show that.

The trembling that shook her body gradually subsided as she found the strength to wrap her arms in his torso. "I'm sorry." She apologized, voice muffled. "I should have listened."

"Let's not talk about the dead anymore." He comforted in a form of warning. "It invites death in your doorstep."

He felt her move under him as she nodded. They both laid in the bed, cuddling each other since Sky refused to let him go. As he put his face at the crown of her head, Dio finally realized what he was here for.

To smell her lemon-scented hair as he sleeps beside her.

Confidential, SKY

Her prayers had been answered. Sky had become taller.

Submerged in her bathtub, the upper half of her face just under her nose was floating above the water. She set her eyes on her legs protruding from the tub. Her hair swimming around her like a halo, making her think she was a drowning angel in a small ocean. When the small ocean was just her bathroom.

Three years of avoiding the church with her best abilities, she wondered if she should become a devout follower for her granted prayers. Ridiculous, she thought to herself, this is just her body naturally growing and she is only approaching the cusp of adulthood. Pointing the reason of her development to God seems to be a bit ridiculous. While she acknowledge God as the creator of the universe, it still made her wonder why His presence—Him Himself—are constantly felt by other people when he wasn't here. It was the belief and faith that church followers believed for His Second Coming, or so they say. That He will come back to this world.

God must have not loved this world if he left us to our own devices, Sky speculated.

They say love is the greatest. She remembered the words of the Bible she memorized when… She frowned. Dio told her to never speak of the dead but the dead are always evoked through memories. She can't possibly forget the existence of Dario Brando, their father, and the painful beginnings of their life. Especially Mother who endured him with all of her being.

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, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.

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

But love doesn't solve everything, she realized that. But she agreed love is kind and patient. Love itself is not envious nor arrogant nor evil. How this love are used by people makes the perception of this feeling are distorted when it was just an innocent thing the whole time. Love is good, she knew that. But it was the hearts of men that makes it tainted.

There are many kinds of love, her teacher told the class in a certain lesson. Romantic love, erotic love, familial love, friendly love. The definition is very abstract, nothing can ground it to a certain and just meaning; it was always an intangible emotion.

If Sky wanted to present an example; Dio and Charlotte had romantic and erotic love in their relationship. Their unashamed and bold actions to touch each other are the very evident of this. It always make her jealous how casual and blatantly they show this to others.

She and Jonathan had a shy presentation of familial and friendly love. They can't get pass and 'upgrade' their relationship like Dio and Charlotte since they were more comfortable to be just friends. Sky can't help but feel Jonathan already had his heart captured by another. The only person she can come up was Erina Pendleton who gave him light during his dark times. A feat that Sky failed to attempt.

Embarrassment came to wash over her when she remembered a certain night she thought Jonathan won't ever remember but did. She was startled at that time when he suddenly came sauntering to the kitchen, while she stood frozen in the spot with the cold ice cream slowly melting in her mouth. She was hungry and was craving for something cold and sweet, and the ice cream was the perfect solution.

When she saw him, Sky was afraid Jonathan might see her as a thief, a mongrel who doesn't deserve to eat quality foods for a mere Londoner like her. As she realized that he was sleepwalking, she sighed in relief and tried to walk him back to his room. She was bewildered when he refused and cried on her shoulder when he hugged her.

He was delirious at that time. Word after word, expressing his anger and sadness to her, and she was bothered to realize that he was opening himself to her. Seeing this, she thought she would do the same gesture and tell him the truth, with a touch of white lies. Along with the Seal of Promise.

She likes to think that night was the start of their strange friendship. And it was reinforced when he showed her his 'secret' in a form of antique stone mask. It was a bizarre event, she thought, with a bizarre object. The mask scared her but Jonathan seemed to be determined to find the true nature of it, especially its supernatural aspect. How did his mother get her hands on it? She wondered.

Heaving a sigh, she leaned her head back at the tub. Well, she had no idea nor Jonathan's mother thinking why she took it with her. Blinking back the drowsiness in her eyes, she gave up and closed her eyes.

"Miss Sky, please wake up."

Sky had fallen asleep and she was awoken by sundown. She thanked the maid who dressed her with the white negligee before she was left to fend off on her own room. She sat beside the window, no longer perched to it. She had brought a chair next to it a year ago when she can still remember when she almost, almost fell to her death if only Dio wasn't with her.

Her memory to that night still left her shaken. The feeling when she lost her balance and slowly descending backwards from the window and the image of her bloodied body plastered on their still made her startled when she dreamt about it. She had frequently visited Dio sometimes Jonathan to their rooms just to ease it.

A knock echoed in the room. She stood up and opened the door. "Dio?" She was surprised at the sight of his brother standing in front of her. It gave her a certain déjà vu for some reason. The only difference was the look of irritation twisting his face. She backed away when he forcibly entered. "What's wrong?" She asked, closing the door.

"The stone mask." Her brother said sharply. She stiffened. "What is it?"

"It's confidential." She replied tightly.

"Vampires, I remember you say that," she muted the gasp from her throat. "Why are searching about it?"

"Dio, wait, wait," She was confused at the sudden questions directed at her, "why… when… how… where did you hear that? Why are you asking me about that?" She tried her best to look confused but she knows he will only glare through her façade.

"Don't act dumb with me, Sky, because I know you are not. To answer your first question, I heard it from you a year ago. The second, we don't hide secrets with each other and I demand an explanation."

"From me? I never spoke to you about that," she was getting thoroughly confused, "and second, I can't because I made a promise."

He scoffed. "Promise? Promises are meant to break, this one should be no different. It must have been an empty promise, I'm sure."

"It's a promise of trust." She said hotly, glowering. "I can't break it carelessly."

And then he showed it, so suddenly in front of her, his audacity expressed through his smirk. "This stone mask? Oh, I can break it carelessly."

Anger boiled her veins. "Go back outside that door and apologize. Grovel into Jonathan's feet if you will." She told him with clenched teeth.

Dio mirrored her welling emotions. "Apologize? You should know better I do not apologize, Sky."

"Then don't use that to threaten me!"

"I wouldn't have used it if you answered me!"

"You—!" Her rage rendered her speechless for a moment. She briefly noted it has been a while since they argued like this. It was like a balloon waiting to be pricked by a pointed needle. Then an idea came to her. "Then swear to me, Dio! Swear in the name of our Mother! As long as you don't destroy the stone mask, not even a single scratch, I will answer all your questions." But I didn't say honestly, she inwardly smirked.

"Then in turn to that; promise me, Sky," he cocked his head arrogantly while wearing his smirk, "Promise me you'll answer me genuinely with every fiber of your being. And if you do, the stone mask will remain untouched."

Time waited to a standstill for Dio.

Sky wished to go back in time for her mistake.

Of course, it was natural for them to know each other's weaknesses. This moment between them showed that. Pride for Dio and holding a promise for Sky. They had used it against each other to attack, glaring and glowering to see who backs down first. Dio expected me to do it first, she thought, but she won't. He wanted her to grovel at his feet. Sky refused to do that, not anymore. It should be him of all people to learn how to be on a losing side.

Startled, she saw Dio marching forward to her. She apprehensively backed away until the back of her knees stumbled to the edge of the bed, knocking her down to the soft covers. As she half laid there, she attempted to raise herself but her brother was already on her with the object of their argument close to her face. Smoldering gold met icy silver. She glared. "Drop the stone mask away. Scaring me won't receive you answers." She said with finality, eerily calm. "If you won't apologize, then put that back to its rightful place."

He only gave her a condescending look. "Don't change the subject. The matter was simple. A swear to a promise. A promise for an oath. Don't put your cowardice on me. They say honesty is the best policy. So why don't you?"

That struck a chord on her. "Damn you," she cursed. She can't believe he would pull that card. He's trying to guilt trip her. "No. No matter what you do to me, my answer is still the same. You can't convince me to say otherwise." Despite that, she steeled herself, as gallant as a knight with a sword on hand.

Irritation twisted his handsome face once again. A soft thud collided on her chest when he threw the stone mask at her. "Fine. Be stubborn as you can. But that won't get you nowhere. I'll find the truth somewhere. Trust, you say? Let me tell you, trust is…" He paused, his face shifted.

And then, she saw it. The look of betrayal.

A loud thud in the room when he left her to drown in her guilt.

It took her a few minutes to regain her composure, and she found herself washing her face, looking at her haggard appearance in the mirror. She looked at the stone mask resting in the sink, glaring and cursing at it. Was it really worth for keeping the promise and make her the traitor in Dio's perspective? She sighed, feeling the strength fleeing from her.

Perhaps a strange madness had her possessed that time. The more she looked at the mask, she more wanted to wear it. And she did. The strangely heavy stone mask on hand, she hovered it on her face and looked to the mirror under the cracks where the eyes was positioned. Then she gasped, startled, nearly slipping her hold from the object, frightened she might accidentally break it. She turned to look at the mirror, and frowned when she saw her grey-blue eyes.

Strange, she thought, because she saw red eyes peering under the mask.

Ordinary life alluded me for my duty you are losing me
You are one of my few weaknesses
But this girl has deep allegiances
In the meantime the shields are down
I'm in a special place
Survivor.
—Cage by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Tielle