Woot! My first one-shot, or this may just turn into a few chapters for Regret Message, and Re birthday. Anyways, I actually did this in one day after riding in a car for an hour and thirty minutes. Enjoy this 2,372 words of a chapter!
"If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?"
― Jodi Picoult, Ninteen Minutes
Litost
Footsteps, clanking loudly against cobbled stones, rang throughout the hallways that ran all around the soon to be fallen castle. His destination was to one place, yet his goal was many.
「Very soon this kingdom will end」
Slick blonde hair tied into a pony tail, bounced with his stride, small, slow yet defiant steps. However, soon he came to a stop, his hand placed against his chest in an elegant manner. "Riliane, you must leave at once."
"No, Allen. I've told you this more than once. We must stop those foolish peasants from treading, with their filthy hands, on our land," Riliane spoke with viligance, afraid of angering her blood-borne twin. Dressed in the finest of silks, she took a stubborn stance, not budging an inch.
「At the hands of the enraged people」
Allen held a straightforward expression of distress, "Riliane, I will buy you time so please run." Gulping down a bubble of air that had been caught in his throat, he stared into her cerulean eyes that were full of unneeded pride. "Please, Riliane."
The female scrunched up her face, facial features expressing mild anger, "Let's say I do run, where shall I run off to?"
The blonde male shook his head in disappointment that his twin did not understand, "To a land far away. Another country, perhaps would be the best course of action at this point." His eyes could no longer meet hers as they were filled with a different kind of intensity of a different kind of emotion.
"This kingdom is mine! I am the princess of it! Allen, this is nothing more than a petty revolt, hurry up and suppress the people!" Her demanding voice was ringing loudly in his ears, nevertheless, he did not leave to do as she said. Riliane was met with silence, a heavy silence that sat upon her shoulders. It was uncomfortable. "Allen!"
"Riliane... You do not seem to understand how dire this situation truly is," his lips were dipping downwards at the edges, frowning he was.
The female twin growled from her stance on her feet, "This is just a group of rebels who can foolishly believe that they can over run my kingdom!" Her hands were curled into fists that sat shaking at her sides.
His cerulean orbs reluctantly slid over to meet hers, though his gaze was filled sorrow. He blinked languidly, "Riliane, this is not a revolt," Allen whispered, his voice low and bitter.
The female kept quiet, her intense gaze on him prompted him to continue.
Allen's head lifted from it's downward position, "This is retribution."
「If this is what they call a "Retribution"」
"What?" her voice escaped from behind her now opened lips. " A retribution, you say? You do not dare lie to me, Allen. If God forbid it I w—" Riliane's sentence was cut off by her brother.
"Riliane, you know best that I would never lie in your presence," his breathing is short in an attempt to fill his lungs with the oxygen that they need. They were running out of time. "I fear I must cut our time short."
Her now wide eyes were filled with one emotion, fear. "No... No, Allen.. This cannot be true. Please tell me that you—"
Allen gave her a quick glance, for he could feel the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. "I fear I am not."
A sob emitted from her mouth, "Allen..." Water escaped from her own eyes, sliding all the way down her cheeks and to her chin where they dropped onto the polished floor.
"Do not cry, Riliane—I have a plan," Allen stated, his hands already popping the buttons on his decorative cloths.
「Then let me take it upon myself to defy it」
Riliane's teeth painfully clenched shut, words spilling out of her mouth as if she was a broken record set on repeat, "No, you're not going to— Allen! Please, don't do this to me. No— Allen, stop this moment! I order it!" Her heart thumped against her rib cage, crying out in pain as he continued to undress. The voice that escaped her cracked with every syllable. "I forbid it, Allen! I really do!... Please— I can't go on without you..."
Now clad in only his boxers, he held out his clothes towards the girl. "Take these. Wear them." His heart gasped as pain held it with all it's might, squeezing the life out of it. His facade won't last for long—neither will the kingdom. They must make haste. Hesitantly, he pushed the clothes against her chest, "Riliane, please do as I say."
「Here, I'll lend you my clothes」
"Why? Why don't you listen to me, Allen?" Her lips were pulled back to a massive frown, the tears still dripping from her eyes. She clutched the clothes that he handed to her with care, "Why must you do this to me?"
The way his name rolled of her tongue brought him a sense of dread, this was going to be one of the last times that he would ever hear her call his name ever again. "I wish not to see you cry," Allen spoke, his fingers brushing away the tears that stained her pale skin. "For you are my sister and I wish to see you with a smile. My last moments shall be remembering moments of you and I—Those of long ago. Please take these and change into them."
「Wear them and immediately start escaping」
Riliane's sobs were the only noise in the castle, heartbreaking to Allen as they switched clothes. He was draped in her dress, and to pull off the look of the princess of Lucifenia, Allen pulled his hair tie out, allowing his blonde hair to fall to his shoulders. "There's nothing to fear, for we look like each other."
「It's fine. We're twins after all」
Taking the hair tie, Riliane put her hair up to mimic his look. Dressed in his clothing was something Allen would've never even thought of until now. "Allen, there is something I must tell you before we depart." The said 'female' twin gave the other 'male' twin a look.
「Nobody will be able to tell the difference」
Riliane wrapped her arms around Allen's waist, her face pressing into his chest, neither of them caring that her tears were smearing into his dress. "Thank you, Allen," she mumbled, listening to the beat of his heart. A slow lullaby that could easily put her to sleep, if they were not in this situation.
Allen put his hand under her chin, lifting her face so that they were eye to eye. "I'm the one that should be grateful," He pressed his forehead against hers, the two shared a look of love yet sorrowful at the same time. A loud bang from deep inside the castle captured Allen's attention. "I'm afraid we must part ways now. Goodbye, Riliane."
A gentle push that came from Allen, separated the two. With his back turned to her, he began his trek to his death, while Riliane escaped to a safer place.
「I'm now the queen, and you're the fugitive」
After what seemed to be a mile of walking, Allen was met by a soldier whom was dressed in red. "Germaine Avadonia, of what business you do you have intruding on my kingdom?" He inquired, eyes boring down a hateful gaze at the female in front of him, he might as well make the best of the last of his time. Riliane, I hope you're safe, where ever you have gone to. May your life be a happy one.
「We're a lamentable pair of twins separated by our fate.」
"A despicable princess, the people of yours, and many other kingdoms call you," the soldier spoke, the hefty sword in her hand glinting from the light of the castle's interior. "I believe it's time for you to repent for your sins."
「If they must call you evil」
"Oh, repent I will, Germaine, however, there is one thing I must do before I do so," with an dark glint in his eyes, Allen grinned. "I hope you know I had fun partaking in the death of the girl with green heritage."
「then, alas, I am too, for we share the same blood」
Thrown into a prison cell only to wait for his public execution was something Allen should've knew was going to happen, but it never came to him until now. However, he didn't regret anything that he had done. It was for his one and only sister.
「Once upon a time,」
For her, he'd become evil. He'd sin, he'd kill, he'd sacrifice his all.
「There was a queen, my cute sibling」
She would dance on history's stage for all to see. Though that was now in the past.
「who used to reign at the top」
The kingdom had taken a turn for the worse. People threatening to kill the queen to start a new age. Allen scoffed, this was not how he thought things would have turned out.
「of a savage and ruthless kingdom」
Standing at the top of the pathway, Allen realized a truth. There was something he did regret, yet he had never noticed it because he was too busy idulging himself with the Princess's requests that he had happily taken on. If there is anything I regret, It was to not have been by her side from the beginning.
The crowd from all sides cheered as he was brought out into the open. Wind rustled his free flowing hair, along with his dress, rapidly fluttering in the seasonal breeze. His gaze was straight forward, not daring to even take a look at the people below.
「Even if the entire world」
Her steps against the cobbled stones were frantic as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd, her frightful gaze reaching all the way to the top of the swaying platform.
『Finally, the time has come,』
Hearing the crowds voices had not brought his hardened facial expression down. The shouts of curses, and strung along words, did not effect him in anyway. His mind was somewhere else. The kingdom had turned against him, or should he say Riliane.
「should become your enemy」
The small girl dressed in a man's clothing watched as the princess was brought to the guillotine. Breath caught in her throat, she could only watch as the blade that hung above licked it's lips as they readied it's next prey.
『as the bell's sounds signal the end,』
As the person whom was to be condemned for the rest of eternity, Allen was harshly shoved to his knees to be shackled to the stock at the bottom of the frame, and his neck rested against the wood, directly beneath the silver blade. He swallowed thickly, the saliva in his mouth forming faster than ever. Albeit the cheering of the crowd being overwhelming, it fell of deaf ears. A flash of blonde just so happened to be caught by his eyes. Their cerulean orbs meet and everything in their ears go silent.
「I will always protect you」
The air flow to her lungs stopped, she was struggling just to breathe again. With their eyes locked onto each other, Allen gave a light-hearted smile.
『Not even bothering to look at the crowd,』
Riliane's mouth was filled with words that she wanted to shout at her brother, most of them not nice. Fury bubbled in her throat as the salty water once again threatened to fall, though this time Allen would not be there to wipe them when they did.
Allen closed his eyes, his mind already beginning to fuzzle out from the strain of the feelings that came from his heart. So you were able to escape. Thank the gods.
Remembering his last words, Riliane's lips curled upwards into a large grin for Allen to see.
「so you just be happy somewhere else」
The endeavor of smiling was beginning to become a constant battle for the female twin when she heard his voice for the last time.
"Oh, it seems that it's time for tea."
『You utter my favorite phrase』
The angled blade that hung above, sliced through the air with a sickening crack.
Riliane's facade immediately crumbled from under the crowd's wicked laughs and chuckles. The tears began to fall, with no stop in sight. Her heart quivered in dismay, horrified eyes not blinking. A crimson color floods her vision and she could no longer bring herself to look where his head once was.
「You're the queen, and i'm your servant」
Teeth gnawing into the insides of her cheeks, they begin to bleed the same lovely color. The hand that clutched the fabric in front of her chest did nothing to help the crushing feeling inside of her. If only things had been different. If only they hadn't been born into such a hellish paradise.
「We're a pitiable pair of twins separated by our fate」
As the crowd began to disperse, Riliane stood still, her feet unable to move. The feelings of misery that flooded her lashed out, and her knees buckled out from under her.
「I'm willing to become evil for you,」
Allen, I wished things hadn't turned out this way, perhaps if we were allowed to defy fate, I wouldn't have allowed this to happen. The tears that blurred her vision wouldn't stop, nor would the piercing feeling inside.
「If only so that I could protect you」
Unbeknownst to Riliane, Allen, before the moment of his death, he had come to terms with the feelings that he had kept inside for so long. Though he had gone against God's words and for the life of his twin, repented for her sins, he plead with all of his life. Closing his eyes, he wished
「If we could be reborn again, then please play with me again」
Hopefully, y'all liked it! If you did, and didn't please review to tell me things that could've been better! Thank you for reading!