RWBY: The Hero in your Heart

by SlimPickensUK

Over the many centuries, the Gainsborough bloodline has given Remnant numerous warriors, scholars and artisans who have all been revered in some way, whether it be small or large. But after a horrible tragedy befalls the latest generation, only a son is left. Will he carry on his family's legacy and honour the name? or will he be consumed by his own selfish desire for vengeance?

7. Chapter 4: Bad Dreams and One Last Gift

AN: Again I probably could've got this done faster, but I got distracted by...things n' stuff, mainly Netflix which I recently got into. I also went back and revised a few things in the previous chapter. Besides that I got nothing else to say other than to leave a review if you want and let me know how the story's coming across. Now, some part of me is extremely pleased with how this chapter turned out while another is slightly ashamed...you'll see when you read it.

Also, things will get very dark and emotions will run very high in this chapter; no one would blame you for skipping some parts. You have been warned.

---

Bad Dreams and One Last Gift.

By now the skies were a very depressing grey and the storm was in full swing. It was a torrential downpour, with irregular claps of thunder and flashes of lightning. The air was thick with the smell of petrichor due to the recent summery and dry climate in the region.

Under a rock shelf blocking out the rain sat a boy in tattered and soaked clothing. Next to him out in the rain sat a canteen, letting it slowly fill up and in his hand was a piece of cloth with black stains. He was holding this cloth out in the rain from his seat and letting the rain washout the black sludge. Satisfied that the canteen was sufficiently full and the cloth was clean enough; the boy got and moved along the wall behind him. The wall curved round and lead to a small cave opening in the earth.

As he walked into the cave he could see the small fire he had started made using the twigs and leaves. The cave didn't lead very far in but it provided enough shelter from the wind and the rain. Next to the fire lay a small pale skinned girl who was barely moving. "Ishara? How you doing?" he softly said with a smile as he knelt down beside her.

Her voice came out slightly raspy. "Aero, there you are." She responded as she reached out for him. He met her halfway and grasped her hand. "I'm still alive, don't worry." She smiled weakly.

"And you're gonna stay that way if I have anything to say about it." He said with as much confidence as he could muster. He moved to lift her shawl and inspect her arm. What he saw saddened him, Ishara didn't notice this however as she was watching the flames of the meagre fire. The infection had spread fast for such a small amount and her entire right arm was pitch black; it had reached down to her wrist and up to her shoulder. He took the soaked rag and swabbed up and down the length of the infected area. Looking over to her, he decided to test something. "Ish, can you feel that?" He quietly asked her as he continued washing her arm.

She kept her focus on the flames. "No, I can't feel anything below my shoulder and even that feels really weird as it is." She replied still in a scratchy voice.

He gently raised her head and picked up his canteen. "Drink some of this." He told her bringing the canteen to her lips. She gratefully accepted it and drank it quickly. She spluttered a little bit from the speed at which she had essentially chugged down the water. "Slow down there." He brought the canteen away from her and set it down. "How does that feel?" he asked as her breathing settled and he rested her head in his lap.

"Much better. Thank you." Ishara replied before suddenly going into a coughing fit. This lasted for a few moments before she settled again. She looked up at Aero. "Sorry about that." She weakly apologized.

"It's okay." Aero told her as he brushed her hair back that had fallen over her face due to the intensity of the coughing. "Do you want some more water?" he asked reaching for the canteen again.

"No, no. It's fine." She responded. Her breathing now seemed slightly laboured. "I'm actually a little sleepy." She said with half lidded eyes and a wheeze.

Aero got as comfortable as he could on the cold stone floor. "You take a nap then. Don't worry I'll keep watch." He said as he threw a few leaves and stick on the fire from a small pile he had gathered beforehand. Ever since they left the stream he had kept one eye on the sky in fear of the Wyvern returning to finish what it started. Ishara shifted slightly in his lap and turned towards him with her back to the fire.

"You should get some sleep too." Ishara murmurs sleepily.

"I will. You just get your head down in the meantime, don't you worry." Aero responded whilst flexing his burnt hand instinctively. In a matter of seconds she was out cold and asleep; but her breathing was still strained and Aero knew it would probably only get worse.

He could tell she was getting worse. The infection had spread across her entire arm in a matter of hours; the simple act of breathing was beginning to become a chore; she was as white as a sheet, and her once beautiful blue eyes were now so dark they almost seemed hollow.

He ran through what had happened in the few short hours of the day so far. His mother incinerated before his very eyes. His father transformed into a mindless abomination and now his sister was slowly dying in his arms; the last thing he had left in this world and it was being torn from his arms in the most violent sense without a single thing to be done about it. He had spent so long mentally torturing himself that he was gradually settling on the floor and nodding off to sleep as well. Ishara instinctively laid down next to him and shuffled closer for warmth despite her weakened state.

---

Aero dreamt that he was back at home with his family and everything was right in the world.

He was sitting outside at a picnic table with Ishara beside him, and his mother and father sitting opposite them across the table. The sun was shining and a gentle wind was rustling the trees creating an altogether spectacular ambience.

"Mom! Dad! It's good to see you guys. Me and Ish thought you were both dead." Aero said looking across at them before turning to Ishara.

"Don't worry Aero that was just a bad dream." His mother responded in a monotonous tone.

"We're not going anywhere son, you can count on that much." His father added.

All four of them were enjoying their lunch and Aero was about to reach for a red apple on a plate. But something suddenly occurred to him and it seemed very wrong to him; no one was saying a word to each other and hadn't done unless he spoke to them.

Aero soon felt a tug on his arm. He looked to his right to see Ishara with both her arms wrapped around it his arm and pulling it towards her. "What's the matter Ish?" he asked with a smile, still happy to be back with his family. But when he turned to her he could see she looked quite distressed and her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. "Ish come on quit playing around." He pushed her hand away that had gripped his sleeve. She started to get more animated with her motions and even shoved Aero slightly. "Ish! Quit it!" She viciously grabbed on to his shirt and looked up at him, all the while her mouth was still moving but still with no sound.

"Ishara! Stop bothering your brother!" Ulrich practically yelled.

There was something in her eyes though that did worry Aero. They were panicked and almost pleading with him, but he just couldn't decipher what she was trying to tell him. He grabbed onto her shoulders to calm her down. "Mom! Something's bothering Ishara!" Aero implored with worry.

"Just ignore her. She just wants all your attention on her, like usual." His mother responded in a snide tone.

"That's not true!" Aero yelled across the table as he hugged Ishara close to him. "Look, something is clearly bothering her!" He looked back to her too see her head buried in his chest, but she was looking over at their parents with a look of absolute terror. "And the only reason I give her my attention is because I want to. That's how it's always been and that's how it'll remain." He as he ran a hand through Ishara's hair in an attempt to calm her down.

"Just leave the little bitch and we'll discipline her later." Zafina said getting up from her seat.

"Don't call her that!" Aero spat out angrily. "You're her mother for monty's sake." He said regaining some calmness in his voice.

"Just step away from her and everything will be okay, I promise." Ulrich chimed in as he too got up from his seat.

Aero saw his mother slowly reach back for her sword. Aero, on instinct to protect his sister reached for his belt. He was thankful that his knife was where it's supposed to be. He drew it and flipped the blade out with strong flick of his wrist.

"STAY BACK!" Aero roared at the two fully trained hunters before him whilst shifting Ishara behind him. "What's come over you two, we're your own children." he could feel his sister's tears soaking through the back of his shirt, It was only then that he noticed the sky had turned a faint shade of red and the wind had picked up immensely.

Zafina drew her sword and cleaved the table in two with one swing but Aero stood his ground. "You're so weak, you're the reason we're dead! You're the reason Ishara is suffering!" she yelled as brushed aside the two halves of the table like they were made of paper.

Aero was too busy focusing on her that he didn't see his father materialize seemingly out of nowhere behind him. He seized Ishara by her throat and yanked her away from Aero. "Ishara!" he cried as he turned to face Ulrich. "I don't who or what you are, but you sure as hell aren't our parents!" he pointed his knife towards his father and looked him dead in his eyes that were full malice. "NOW LET HER GO!" he looked back to see his mother approaching like a hunter would stalk its prey. She was menacingly licking her lips and twirling her huge sword in her hands effortlessly.

Ishara was still mute but her squirming spoke volumes as Ulrich tightened his grasp around her fragile neck. By now the sky had become much redder and the clouds had begun to move at unnatural speeds creating a vortex of sorts above them. Aero was stuck in the most agonizing conundrum; if he moved to save Ishara then he would be cut down by his mother and that's if he could overpower his father in the first place, but if he stood his ground and dealt with his mother then Ishara would have the life squeezed out of her in seconds.

Ulrich lowered himself so that his head was level with Ishara's. "All you have to do is give in and all of this will stop." Ulrich calmly said with a menacing smile as Aero turned back to face him. "That doesn't sound too hard now does it? After all look how much pain your sister is in." Ishara tried to pull away from him but he grabbed her head with his other hand and held her firmly in place. "Now I thought you wanted to protect your sister like a good big brother." Ishara had tears streaming down her face as he continued.

"SHUT UP!" Aero yelled with eyes that burned with wrath.

Ulrich let out a disturbing chuckle. "Here I thought we taught you some MANNERS!" He suddenly tightened his grip and Ishara's arms tensed and went rigid while her legs and arms flailed about wildly. She may have been mute but her gasps were very audible. This threw Aero into a rage forcing his decision; he lunged at his father with a guttural roar and his knife at the ready. However, Ulrich had anticipated this and launched a powerful push kick into Aero's chest. This kick had hit him slightly off centre and the force of the impact had turned him back around to face Zafina. Before Aero could even figure out what had happened Zafina had slashed him across the chest and he fell to his knees with wide eyes. His mother then came up to him and struck him across the face with the back of her hand and sending him to the ground.

He couldn't actually feel any pain from the slash or the strike, but neither could he get up nor move altogether. He was paralysed at the perfect angle to see his mother standing over him and his father slowly choking his sister to death. Ishara movements soon ceased and her eyes rolled back in her skull. Ulrich tossed her limp body towards Aero and she landed facing him in the blood that had quickly pooled around him.

"Get up, Get up!" Aero muttered angrily through gritted teeth. He used every ounce of willpower and strength he had and stretched out one of his arms towards Ishara's lifeless body. "They're right; I can't even protect her, let alone look after myself." He thought wistfully to himself.

His vision slowly began to fade and last thing he would see were his parents or whatever was trying to pass for his parents gleefully standing over his and sister's body. However, as his vision was about to be consumed in total darkness something caught his eye. The apple that he previously reached for on the picnic table had rolled to the edge of the broken table. He couldn't really explain why this grabbed his attention but something about captivated him. Time seemed to slow down as his eyelids felt heavier and heavier. The apple soon fell and as it hit the ground the most unexpected thing occurred. Instead of landing without incident, it shattered as if it were made of glass.

Not long after everything began to shatter just as the apple did. Aero looked up in time to see his mother and father beginning to show cracks and eventually explode into tiny shards. The earth suddenly erupted in a web of cracks with red beams of light shining through and it soon collapsed beneath him sending him into a dark oblivion. Aero looked over fading in and out of consciousness to see Ishara's body falling beside him; He lazily reached whilst fighting to stay awake and snagged a part of her shawl to bring her closer. But just he was able to get his arms around her something caught his eye in the darkness below. Whatever it was it was moving towards him fast and there wouldn't be a thing he could do about it. As it closed he only got a glimpse of it before it swallowed him in its pitch black maw and everything went dark around him.

---

Aero jolted awake and shot upright clutching his chest where the wound would've been, but all he could feel was his still beating and very much alive heart. "Damn it, what was that? it-it was all just a dream." He was shaking all over and his skin crawled. "No, a nightmare. some kind of nightmare." he laid back down and rested an arm on top of his head as he let out a shaky breath.

He looked over expecting Ishara to still be sleeping next to him, but instead she was sitting upright with her legs pulled to her and her back to him facing the small fire. "Ish?" he whispered as he crawled over to her. He looked over her shoulder and only just realized that she was taking in very quick breaths and they sounded just as haggard as before. He scooted up next to her and put an arm around her; her breathing slowed at this but only by a little.

"I'm okay." She responded taking in a deep breath. "Wha-what was that?" she asked turning to Aero.

"You felt that too?" he and she nodded in reply. "But how?" he inquired still rather confused.

"I-I don't know." She grabbed the canteen off Aero's belt and took a few gulps from it before handing it back to him. "But whatever that was, I don't want it to happen again." She collapsed into him and her breathing became exacerbated again "I can't lose you too" she managed to choke out. She was shaking like a leaf and she had a cold sweat as well.

"Ish, you need to calm down." Aero said before he wrapped his arms around her stomach from behind and pulled her to him so that her back was against his chest. "Slow your breathing and try and match it to mine if you can. Okay?" He cupped a hand over her heart to try and help her match his heartbeat as well.

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I-I'll…..try." she managed to say between breaths.

As her breathing steadied, Aero noticed that the infection had spread up over her shoulder and onto the back of her neck. He skimmed his finger along the darkened skin and he could see that it ran up further than he had initially thought. A clump of her dark hair moulted off from just above the nape of her neck in Aero's hand.

He was afraid of this happening but in the back of his mind he knew it was inevitable. He pushed these fears aside for now as Ishara had finally settled and was peacefully lying against him. "How you feeling now?" he asked as he quickly chucked a few leaves on the dying flames of the fire. She murmured something that he couldn't quite hear so he brought his head closer. "Say that again, Ish."

Her eyes were half lidded and she was blinking very slowly. "Hungry." She whispered into his ear.

"Okay, h-hold on. I might have something." Aero said as he reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a few strips of salted pork. Before the attack at camp, Aero had prepared this for when they would go fishing. He pulled apart some of the pieces of meat and brought a piece up to her mouth. "Ish." Her eyes flicked open slightly and focused on his hand in front of her face. "Try some of this." He placed a piece on her lips and she held it there. "c'mon, chew." He softly told her. She tried to chew the meat but she just didn't have the energy and it simply fell out.

"I-I-I can't." she whimpered out and she shakily gripped onto his arm that was still wrapped across her stomach. The storm had worsened even further by this time and the temperature was slowly dropping as well.

Aero thought of the only other way he could help her eat and at least gain some strength back; he picked up the meat that fell and brought the rest still in his hand round back to him. He place a good portion of it in his mouth and quickly chewed it himself until it was finely ground.

He spat out the minced meat into his hand and brought it back around in front of Ishara. "Ish." Her eyes slowly drifted open at his voice. "Try this. It might be a little gross but I didn't really…" He didn't have to finish as Ishara practically threw herself at his palm and was greedily eating out of his hand. "Slow down a little." She complied and took small bites.

As she ate, Aero could already tell she had regained at least some measure of her strength as he had actually got a grip on his hand and was holding it firm to her face as she fed. When she finished she kept her hold on his hand and brought it to rest on top of their others still resting on top of Ishara's stomach. Aero slipped one hand out of her grasp and grabbed his canteen again. It felt light in his hand, so he gave it a shake and heard it to be less than a quarter full; regardless he uncapped it and brought in around in front of the both of them.

"Here, this is the last of it." Aero said bringing the canteen to her lips.

"What about you?" she meekly asked looking up at him slightly.

"I'll be okay." Aero responded with a gentle smile. "Besides, you need it more." He added as he hugged her a little tighter.

"No." Ishara said gently moving the canteen away from her.

"Ish, please." Aero said with a sigh and sounding slightly vexed.

Ishara became very annoyed at hearing this. "No!" she cried as loud as her frail voice would allow and she pushed the canteen away more forcefully. "Stop worrying about others and take care of yourself for once in your life!" this proved too much for and she broke down coughing again.

Aero took this opportunity and forced the canteen past her hands that were blocking the way. Ishara moved her head away trying to avoid the canteen, but Aero gently cupped her face with one hand and quickly put the canteen to her lips. She closed her eyes in frustration, gave in and reluctantly drank down the last few gulps of water whilst calmly clasping her hands back over his. As she drank Aero could see tears were streaming down her face and a bit of water had leaked as well from the corner of her mouth.

Once the canteen had emptied, Aero took it away and let it fall the floor with a hollow thud. He then wiped the water that spilled as well some of her tears with a part of her shawl. "Sorry, no arguments." He said as he turned and threw more leaves along with a couple of sticks onto the fire.

Ishara turned into him; she buried her head in his chest, clutched onto his shirt and broke down in tears for the umpteenth time today. "Ya know, sometimes you really piss me off." She quietly muttered through her sobs. "You should've drunk that yourself." She looked up at him slightly. "We both know what's going to happen." Aero looked down at her and he could see her eyes were still glistening with tears. "So it's pointless to keep doing this. So just stop it and look after yourself!" she said thumping his chest and raising her voice slightly.

A gentle smile appeared on Aero's face. "Ish, there wouldn't be any sense in that now and besides I made a promise." She eyed him curiously. "I made a promise to stand beside you whenever you were scared or in a bind and I intend to keep it." He said looking her in the eye with a serious face.

Ishara's expression softened hearing this. She let out a heavy sigh and faced forward. "You would say something like that." She half grumbled.

Aero plants a light kiss on the top of her head and then rested his head on top of hers. "Mom said that's just the kind of person I am." He lifted his head back up. "Speaking of which, I thought I was supposed to be the pessimistic one out of the two of us." He added looking down at her with a smug smile.

"Well I think I'm entitled to be a little grumpy after what we've been through." Ishara responded turning slightly away from his gaze.

"Fair argument, but negativity really doesn't suit you." Aero said as he scooted them both back slightly so that he could rest back on a small rock.

Ishara tucks her legs in and curls herself up against Aero. She starts to fidget a foot against one of her boots. "Having trouble there?" Aero asks with a slightly amused grin.

"Shut up and help me off with these things. They're starting to get uncomfortable." She said as she fiddled fruitlessly with the strap on one of her boots.

Aero manoeuvred his arms around her and reached down to assist her with the strap. He undoes the straps on both boots easily and slips them off before placing them aside. Ishara curls back up with her legs pulled in tight and settles in.

"Better?" he asks as he wraps his arms back around her in a hug.

"Much better, thank you." She responded as her eyes slowly drifted shut.

Aero didn't know how much time had passed as Ishara rested up against him. As she slept he periodically tossed some leaves and sticks on the fire to stave off the cold trying to creep its way into the cave. Aero idly stroked Ishara's head as he stared into the small fire a few feet in front of them until something suddenly occurred to him. He looked down at his sister and slowly moved to pick up the hand of her infected arm. What he saw saddened him; the infection had spread further and a black patch now covered the back of her hand. He could also see that her nails on that hand had grown pointed and sharp like razors.

He felt Ishara begin stir in his lap and he swiftly put his hand on top of hers to hide the state it was in from her. "Sleep well?" he queried before moving his hand from her head down to her shoulder. She responded with a gentle nod.

The two siblings both just stared into nothingness in silence for a while before Ishara felt the need to ask something. "Aero." she said in a voice barely above a whisper and he murmured in response. "You really…wouldn't leave me, would you?" she inquired with a confident smile being very sure at what his answer would be.

He gave her shoulder a gentle reassuring squeeze as he answered. "Like I promised, I never would nor will I ever."

"Never ever ever." She said with a big smile.

Aero knew what she was doing and joined in. "Never ever ever ever." He said with an equally large smile and a chuckle as well.

This went back and forth a couple more times before they were both laughing at one another and momentarily bring some light into the dark situation.

The laughter soon died down. "I wish mom and dad were here." Ishara said in a glum manner.

"Me too Ish, me too." Aero agreed. A brief silence set in and all that could was the light crackle of the fire alongside the howl of the wind outside.

"Hey, Ish. What was it like to…ya know what, nevermind." He exclaimed and then quickly abandoned.

She pushed herself up and looked at him. "Hmm, what is it?" she inquired.

"Don't worry about it, it was stupid anyway and it isn't really something I should just ask out of the blue." He told her with a dismissive shake of his head.

"Aero, tell me." She said practically begging with her tone.

He looked down slightly only to be met with her big blue eyes looking straight back at him. "Damn it. You know one day those won't work on me right." He smiled and lightly laughed.

"Well until that day your just gonna have to suffer through it." She replied with a sly grin. "Now what was it you wanted to tell me?" she asked.

Aero hesitated for a moment and took in a shaky breath before he spoke. "Okay. I was gonna ask what it was like in the nightmare."

Ishara looked confused. "What was what like?" she asked her curiosity rising.

"In the dream… you died and I guess I was just curious" he explained. "Like I said it was stupid and not really something I should've just asked." He looked away out of shame.

Ishara took a moment to process this. "Aero, I didn't die." She whispered.

"Yes you did Ish, I saw it."

"Aero, I didn't die." She paused to turn away slightly. "You did." She sorely added.

This made him equally as confused if not more. "Hang on. In the dream we were sitting at a picnic table with mom and dad right?"

"Yeah, then the sky turned really weird." Ishara picked up where he started and continued.

"That's right." Aero quietly interjected.

"But mom and dad were...different." Ishara said in a solemn tone.

"I definitely remember that." Aero added with a nod. "For some reason as well, you were mute and they seemed like they both wanted you out of the way. They started to get more and more angry if I tried to communicate with you as well." He rubbed his chin, then ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. He didn't want to have to recall the horrifying vision. "That's when it all went bad. Mom struck me down and dad, he-he strangled you to d-death in front of me." Ishara tightened her embrace and it seemed to help if only a little. "Seeing that completely broke me inside and the worst part about it was that I was entirely helpless to do anything about It." he finished on the brink of shedding a tear. He purposefully left out the part about the Wyvern right before he woke up; he didn't want to bring that monstrosity up if he didn't have to.

Her face was nothing short of absolute shock and that on top of what she saw in her dream proved almost too much for her. "Ish?" Aero whispered looking down at her. Seeing her expression he cursed himself at his own carelessness. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone into so much detail." He apologised while gently rubbing her head.

"What's happening to us? Our dreams are similar if not the same altogether and they both show our deaths. Why is this happening all of a sudden; today started out so well, just like any other day." Ishara raved on and Aero just let her vent while offering a comforting embrace.

"Did you want to tell me about your dream? It might help if you let it out." Aero asked trying to dissuade her from getting too worked up during the rant. She looked paler than ever before as the infection was taking a very noticeable toll on not just her appearance but also on her demeanour.

She turned in his arms so that she was facing forward again with her back resting against him and her knees pulled up to her face. She stared at the small fire for a moment and absentmindedly curled her toes every now and again.

"Everything was the same as we described up until when you said I was mute in yours." She slowly and calmly told him. All the while maintain her gaze on the flames. "In mine you weren't exactly mute, but anything you said I couldn't really understand." Her head lowered slightly and her face was now partially hidden behind her shawl. "It just came out as grunts and growls. It was like you were an entirely different person, like an animal." She said sounding slightly frightened by the concept.

She turned back slightly to look at Aero from the corner of her eye while still slightly hidden behind her shawl. "Except when it came to me; when mom and dad started to become aggressive you behaved like the same loving and caring protective brother I always knew." She shot him a loving smile which he returned, but hers faded just as fast as it had appeared. "But that still didn't stop them." She turned back to look into the fire. "Dad grabbed you and slammed you up against a tree. When I tried to help mom threw me to the ground and beat me." She described the events that Aero was oh so familiar with from his own nightmare.

Aero could already hear hitches in her breath as she struggled to continue. He thought of stopping her there and then and saving her from having to relive it, but she continued before he could act. "Mom held me down and forced me to watch you. Dad looked like he did when we last saw him, all covered in black and he had those red eyes." She hunched forward further trying to curl up as much as she could and her breath had quickened ever so slightly. Aero, seeing this simply wrapped his arms around her tighter than ever before. "I was so scared; I didn't know what was going to happen to you or me." She brought her head back up and her breathing evened out. "I tried to struggle against mom or whatever those two things were. But every time she'd hurt me or dad would hurt you. The worst thing about it was they were laughing all the time, like it was some game to them." Her hands gripped Aero's arms and squeezed them with every ounce of strength she had.

"You were fighting against dad all the way and then he...h-he..." Ishara started to choke up a little bit.

Aero quickly but gently turned her in his lap and cupped her cheek making her gasp in surprise. "That's okay Ish; you don't need to go on." He whispered to her. She looked at him with glistening teary eyes and he offered a kind smile back. "although that would explain why you've had a death grip on me ever since we woke up." He added tightening the hug.

Much to Aero's dismay, talking about it had only made things worse it seemed. Ishara buried her head in his neck and wailed for what seemed like an age. It didn't matter to Aero though as he had a multitude of feelings flowing through him. He felt remorse at not being able to protect his sister like he promised and upsetting her by making her recount her horrifying nightmare. He felt confusion and worry at what was happening to himself and his sister with these bizarre visions. But most of all he felt anger, anger at the thing responsible for all of this, anger at the Wyvern.

Ishara had eventually calmed down; she had a vacant look, almost unseeing as they gazed aimlessly into space with her breath wheezing every now and again. It was strange, throughout the whole ordeal Ishara had wept and mourned almost relentlessly. But Aero hadn't cried, mourned nor even expressed some notion of sadness at his parents death; with the exception of the time down at the river and even that was at his inability to look after his sister after finding she had been infected with the Wyvern's venom.

It was almost like Ishara was bearing all of his grief on her own and he was left an emotionless husk left to pick up the pieces. He hated that he couldn't feel anything and he certainly wanted to but if he tried all he could think was the responsibility that now fell on him. He knew that he was nowhere near capable of taking on that much so early in his life and that made him feel weak, just like his mother said in his nightmare.

Aero continued to berate himself when a sudden realization hit him. He had allowed himself to fall asleep with the Wyvern still out there somewhere and leaving the both of them completely vulnerable. In his mind it was dumb luck that they were still alive but that still didn't make it alright.

"I'm sorry." Aero suddenly said.

Ishara pushed herself and looked at him. "What for?" she plainly asked looking slightly confused.

"I fell asleep when I should've been keeping watch."

Ishara suddenly flicked Aero on the chin surprising him. "I think you've done enough apologising for one day." She told him in a flinty way and he stared back befuddled at her objection. "It's a very unattractive trait ya know. I don't know how you expect to get a girlfriend if you keep apologising all the time." She smiled and lightly chuckled.

Aero couldn't help but smile at seeing her happy even if it was just for a moment. "Maybe I'm not so hollow after all." He thought relieved that he was wrong and able to feel something. "Oh yeah, well speaking of girlfriends." She raised an eyebrow wondering where he was going with this. "Did Luz finally make his move?" He said a little too mischievously for Ishara's own liking.

"I-I d-don't know what you're t-talking about." She responded tripping over her words and turning slightly red which was an achievement in itself due to her paling complexion.

Aero chuckled at her cute behaviour. "Ish, it's okay. I gave him my blessing when we were hiking." He patted her on the head.

She swatted his hand away like she always did whenever he patted her head. "Not that I needed it anyway. Besides, I made the first move." She retorted as she folded her arms.

"Whoa, really?" Aero exclaimed and he received a smug nod from Ishara. "Well what happened?" he asked relaxing back against the rock and waiting for her answer with a smile.

Her eyes darted around nervously a couple of times; she wasn't expecting to actually talk about this with her brother. "W-well when we went to collect firewood while you guys set up the tent, that's when it happened."

"Very sly. We all pretty much arranged it for you!" Aero said with a massive grin as he folded his legs over another and rested his hands behind his head.

"Smugness isn't a very attractive feature either." She muttered with another flick of his chin whilst admonishing him.

"Quit it." he grumbled as he batted the hand that flicked him.

She quickly got a playful poke at his cheek before she continued where she left off. "Like I was saying, we went to collect firewood. He started to what I assume was a confession, but he was stumbling so much over his words that I could barely understand him."

"Very reminiscent of when you two first met." Aero added still hanging on her every word.

"Tell me about it. Anyway as he babbled on I just decided to go for it and I kissed him." She muttered the last part.

"Way to go Ish." He clapped her on the shoulder.

"That pretty much broke him and it took a while before he came to his senses." They both shared a hearty laugh at this, but just like before the atmosphere of the situation soon killed it.

Ishara sighed heavily. "I hope they're both okay." She said resting her head on Aero's shoulder.

"I'm sure they are Ish." Aero said not really knowing their fate but not trying to depress his sister even more.

"Why weren't they at the riverbank?" she asked her eyes glancing up at him worriedly. "Do you think that thing got to them?"

"I-I don't know Ish, there's no way of knowing if...they...got..." His vision started to blur all of a sudden and he also felt very drowsy. Before he get another word out he collapsed onto the hard ground on his back unconscious.

"Aero!?" Ishara cried in both surprise and worry at this sudden development.

Ishara hovered over him shaking his shoulders trying to get some sort of response from him, however soon felt the same symptoms and she collapsed on top of him.

---

AN: Here's where things might get a little racey.

Aero dreamt he was back in his own room reading a book like he always did before bed. There was a strong wind blowing outside that made the windows rattle and cause a slight racket. But he was so engrossed with his book that he didn't really notice the noise outside. What did get his attention though was a knock at the door. Aero got out of bed and opened the door. He was greeted with the sight of Ishara standing outside in the dark hallway.

"What's the matter Ish?" he whispered. Ishara just looked left and right down the dark hallway in a shy and nervous manner. "Another nightmare?" Aero inquired and she timidly nodded in response while nonchalantly kicking at the floor. "Okay, come on in then." Not a second later she had scurried into his room, jumped on his bed and got under the covers.

This was a common occurrence whenever Ishara had a nightmare or when there was a particularly bad storm brewing. Not that it was any different in his room, but sometimes she just didn't want to be alone and sometimes they would just talk about trivial and frivolous things. Either way his presence alone always seemed to calm her no matter the situation.

Aero closed the door, walked over to his window to draw the curtains to try and block out the rattling sound from them. When he turned back around from the window he saw Ishara standing right in front him barely millimetres from his face and this expectedly made him a tad uncomfortable what with them both being in their sleepwear.

"Uh...Ish...you okay?" He managed to stutter out with a slightly nervous grin and being completely red in the face.

She didn't respond, she instead slipped her hand in his and pulled him towards the bed. She sat down on the bed and pulled him in front of her still holding his hand.

"Ish, what are you doing?" Aero whispered and at the same time sounding a little demanding.

Ishara still didn't respond. She took his hand, now in both of hers and brought it up to her cheek nuzzling into it with closed eyes.

"Ish, is something wrong?" He urged. This was very unlike Ishara whenever she came to his room. Normally she would just climb into his bed, have a little chat or he would read to her and then she would just fall asleep peacefully next to him.

"I'm sorry about this, it frightens me so much and I don't know what I'd do without you. You're always so good to me." She responded. "I know...I must...be such a burden." She added with a hitch in her breath and Aero saw a tear drop onto his hand holding her cheek.

Aero sighed and knelt before her. "Ish, you've never been a burden. I love spending time with you, you're my baby sister, I love you and I can't imagine anything else I'd rather do." He smiled and turned her head to look at him.

"I love you too, more than you know." She told him. "Let me show you how much I love you." She said in almost a whisper.

Before Aero could register what she actually said, she had taken his thumb in her mouth and lightly sucked on it. Aero immediately yanked his hand away from her and jumped back a few feet in shock. "Ish, stop that! What the hell are you doing!?" he snapped.

"I'm showing you how much you mean to me." She said as she slowly rose to her feet. "I know what all boys want."

"Ish, stay back." Aero said sounding very nervous and a little bit scared.

She didn't heed him and padded straight over to him. Without hesitation she threw her arms around him and kissed him hard on the mouth. Aero's eyes go wide and he promptly shoves her off of him only for her to come straight back at him.

She lightly shoved him into the wall and pinned him there. "GET OFF OF M-!" Aero tried to cry out before he was cut off by her lips crashing into his in another rough kiss. He tried to push her back but she had him pinned with unnatural strength that was in no way hers. She finally relented and came away from his lips to move down to his neck. Aero looked away trying to distract himself from Ishara's incestuous behaviour; all the while still trying to push her away from him, which proved more than difficult due to her outlandish strength. "I don't know what you are, but aren't my sister!" he cried out as he managed to finally push her off of his neck.

An impish grin appeared on Ishara's face when Aero looked back down at her. "What? Why would you say that?" She said trying to sound innocent, but it if anything she sounded absolutely menacing. "Don't you love your baby sister like she loves you?" she caressed a hand under his pyjama top and up his chest. "I have feelings and you're the one person in the world who could really break my heart.

She ran her hand up to his collarbone and brought her other hand up to drape them around his neck. Her motions may have looked delicate and soft; but some unseen or supernatural force was holding Aero in place and he couldn't hold her back anymore.

Aero looked her square in the eye and his expression was one of absolute rage. "If you were my sister, you'd know what you're about to do is wrong." The room suddenly became much darker and Aero's eyes turned a faint glowing blue with small wisps of vapour emanating from them. "You are not Ishara!" He growled with his eyes now turned completely blue and there was vapour now spilling forth from them. "NOW STOP THIS!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

A wicked grin appeared on Ishara's face. "If I'm not your sister like you say, then what's stopping you?" She said in a sultry tone. She took a step back to give Aero a full view of her. "You can kiss me however you like, put your hands wherever you want, do whatever you want to me." She purred and as she said this she was running her hands up and down her body in a seductive manner.

Aero scowled at her. "You're sick!" she recoiled a little bit in fright at his yelling. "How dare you use my sister against me like this!" he managed to regain some movement in his body and took a step away from the wall. "SHE'S NINE YEARS OLD FOR MONTY'S SAKE!"

This seemed to trigger something in the Ishara doppelganger as she quickly lunged forward, grabbed Aero by the neck and pushed him back up the wall using her unrealistic strength. The Blue glow from Aero's eyes instantly dissipated and the mist coming from them soon went as well. His legs were kicking off of the wall wildly as Ishara slowly choked him and looked up at him with eyes that were burning with what could only be described as feverish lust.

"Ya know; it's a shame really, I could've been all yours if you'd just been more submissive." She calmly told him as she turned his head slightly in her grip. "I would have done anything you wanted me to." She turned his head back the other way and by now his struggling had weakened. "We'd've grown old together and it could've oh been so romantic." She suddenly grabbed his crotch and a wicked grin crept its way on her face. "Still, there's no use letting everything go to waste." She purred.

With that she turned and threw him at the bed and he landed perfectly on it but broke the frame in the process. Once she had let go Aero spluttered to life taking in ragged breaths and groaned from the impact. He slowly sat up rubbing his throat just in time to see Ishara leap at him, push him back, pin him down and hold his wrist's above his head as she kissed him hard on the mouth whilst she straddled him. In the heat of the moment she had gripped his wrists too tight and broken both of them and whether it was accidental or on purpose Aero honestly couldn't tell.

The Ishara doppelganger pulled her lips from his and looked down at him with grim determination. "Don't fight it big brother, I want this and I know you want this." She leaned back down and whispered into his ear. "And it's going to happen whether you like it or not." she nibbled on his ear ash simultaneously ground her crotch into his pelvis and moaned as she did so.

"Please…stop this." Aero begged his voice raspy and with eyes glazed over from nearly dying of asphyxiation.

The doppelganger let go of his ear and sat back up with a pout. "Awwwww." She moaned playfully which just came across as plain sinister. She took one Aero's hands out of her grasp and placed it on her collarbone. With his wrists being broken and her freakish strength, he was entirely at her mercy. "You mean to tell me you don't…" she continued as she dragged his hand down just past her chest and lightly tugged it on her tank top. "Want to be…" now down to just above her belly. "Inside this tight…" she circled her navel once with his hand. "young…" she took his hand further down to the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. "virgin…" she slipped his hand past the waistband and she let out a soft moan. "pus-." Before she could finish Aero had mustered as much strength as he could and kicked her off of him sending her tumbling across the room.

Aero slowly sat up with a very painful groan, he could see the doppelganger slumped against the wall and he couldn't care less. But it still had the visage of his sister and his brotherly instincts kicked in no matter how much he fought them.

"Ish?" he said hesitantly

Her shoulders started to shake and Aero could hear her begin to laugh. His brotherly instincts left just as quickly as they had arisen and he was now very wary of her once again. He laugh soon developed into what could only be described as a maniacal cackle.

Ishara threw her head back with huge grin plastered on her face and continued her demented chortle. "I didn't know you were into the rough stuff Aero!" she sang merrily as she slowly rose to her feet.

Small patches of the same black tarry substance that ailed the real Ishara soon started to appear on random places of her skin and quickly began to spread all over her body melting her sleepwear off as it went.

Her voice became heavily distorted and menacing. "Give a girl a chance." The venom had now made up to her head and completely enveloped it.

Her raven black hair moulted off and drifted to the floor; while her eyes soon turned a solid red and glowed like fire. She breathed out a low growl and let out a corrupted cackle. "Like what you see baby?" She asked running her hands over her bare venom covered form.

Aero sat there absolutely petrified at what he just witnessed and even if he was lucid enough to do anything something in those crimson eyes welded him to the spot. Then all of a sudden in the blink of an eye the room was plunged into darkness, it was only for a split second but it was long enough for the doppelganger to vanish from sight.

Aero broke out of his stupor when the twisted form of Ishara disappeared and he sprang up from the broken bed before positioning himself in the middle of the room. He peered into the darkness looking for any sign of the demonic being he knew was still in the room. Aero had trouble focusing though as the pain in his wrists was pumping so much adrenaline his vision and balance were very much compromised; but he thought for a moment, the adrenaline alone shouldn't make him this sluggish, there was something else at work here.

"Awww, did I break the poor little birdies wings?" the doppelganger taunted from the shadows. "Is the biiiiiig hero gonna cry."

True to her word tears had started to well up and sting his eyes; the very notion of having to harm his sister even if it was just something imitating her made him sick to his stomach. "She isn't real, it's all a nightmare, and you just have to wake up!" Aero repeated this over and over in his head like a mantra.

"Would you like me to kiss it all better?" Aero caught a glimpse of Ishara's glowing eyes as she continued her jabs but they moved too fast for his lethargic reflexes. "I'm the only one who could ever really love you like you deserve." He heard her skittering about the room like a predator stalking its prey.

"Now why don't you just sit back and enjoy…" Ishara started and Aero looked around in a panic trying to pinpoint her. "…THE RIDE!" she yelled as she lunged into a flying roundhouse kick and hit Aero straight in the face sending him back onto the bed. The doppelganger once again pounced on him and pinned him to the bed. "You have no idea how long I've wanted this, I want nothing more than to please you." She moaned out with her ghastly corrupted voice. She smashed her mouth against his and forced her tongue straight down his throat.

Aero felt the tongue slither all the way down his oesophagus and it tasted of death. She'd had him on the ropes ever since he first protested and alongside the supernatural forces acting against him he was totally spent. He had kept his eyes closed ever since she had kicked him and in his exhausted state he just prayed for it to be over as quickly as possible; but he soon felt something else accompanying the salacious assault on his mouth. He cracked open his eyes and saw nothing but the black abyss of the doppelgangers oozing skin in front of him.

She thankfully relented after an agonisingly long moment; she push up from him dragging her tongue out of his throat as she did and Aero could see now that it was at least two foot long and looked more like that of a reptiles. It whipped its way back into her mouth with globs of the venom flying off as it lashed around and touched her lips sucking her fingers as she rocked back and forth on top of him. "You taste incredible." She panted out.

While she was preoccupied Aero brought his now free hand up to his mouth and felt the same sticky tarry feel of the wyvern's venom. The doppelganger had excreted it all the while she had her tongue down his throat and he was now violently trying to cough it up which proved futile in his weakened state.

"I want to more of you." The corrupted Ishara moaned out, almost desperately.

Aero looked around weakly still coughing and spluttering up the venom that now also covered the entirety of his torso from the succubus' constant gyrating. His vision was slowly growing dark as the venom started to take its toll on him.

"It's…..not…..real." Aero managed to say between the continued coughing and spluttering on the venom filling his mouth as tears spilled freely from his eyes.

"Then I guess this won't hurt." Ishara said with a deranged giggle.

He looked up at the demon straddling him and she threw her hands out to the side. She started grunting as if she were in pain; then with a loud shriek long claws broke through the ooze on her fingers and splattered the venom all over the walls. The doppelgangers claws were very similar to the Ulrich's claws when he was corrupted; only hers were more like needles rather than razors and they extended from each finger instead of combining into three larger claws.

The twisted copy of Ishara looked back down at Aero and caressed on of her clawed hands down his face. "This may be a dream…" she started in a calm manner. "BUT ISHARA WILL DIE!" she screamed as gripped his face and brought her other hand up winding it back. Aero's eyes went wide and he moved to stop her. But it was too late and she plunged her claws straight at him.

---

"NO!" Aero screamed shooting straight up into a sitting position. His heart was racing so fast he thought he would go into cardiac arrest then and there. His face was drenched in sweat and his breathing was heavy.

He took a moment to steady his breath before he looked around and gave his eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness. It was only then that he noticed the fire had completely burnt out and he was actually glad to see he was back in the dingy cave he had started to become so familiar with.

Aero felt what he assumed was Ishara, the real Ishara in his arms. He fumbled with his belt for moment searching for one of his pouches and once he eventually felt his way to one pulled out the lighter that Luz had given him that he had stowed their earlier.

It took him a couple of strikes to light it due to the dampness in the air from the storm and the small lighter created a dim glow in the cavern. Aero looked down and he did indeed see Ishara in his arms; but she was very limp, her eyes were open and looked vacant almost like she was in a trance.

Aero set the lighter down so that it stood up whilst still alight. "Ish?" he whispered as he shook her gently. "Ish?!" he said with more urgency. "Ishara!" he cried out shaking her more vigorously.

Ishara jolted at this and gasped for air. Her eyes were darting around and bugging out of head as she took in panicked breaths.

"Ish, it's okay, I'm here." Aero soothed.

"A-aero?" she stuttered out and managing to focus her eyes a little bit.

"Yeah, it's me." Aero smiled.

Ishara started squirming all of sudden and whimpering as she did. "G-get off me!" she weakly cried.

"What?" Aero asked confusedly.

"GET OFF OF ME!" she shrieked. She grabbed a nearby rock off the ground and struck Aero across the face with it.

He fell backwards holding his face in pain and Ishara crawled out of grasp away from him.

"Owww! Dammit Ish." He grunted out as he staggered back up to a sitting position. The blow had left a cut just to the right of his chin going about halfway up the jaw stopping just short of his mouth.

He saw Ishara weakly dragging herself away from him and she was whimpering as tears streamed down her face. "It's not him, he's not real." She mutters out repeatedly.

"Ish, what's wrong?" Aero asked approaching Ishara as she continued pushing herself away.

"No more, please." She screamed.

Aero grabs her by one of her ankles and drags her back a few feet towards him. "Ish, it's me! It's Aero!" he exclaimed grabbing her shoulders and pinning her under him.

Ishara didn't listen though as she grabbed the first thing she could which unfortunately was Aero's flip knife; her movements were panicked but fast, she slashed wildly upwards and cut him diagonally across the root of his nose.

Aero grimaced at this but didn't let it faze him too much. He grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the knife and held it away from the both of them. H was able slip the knife out of her hand and chucked it away sending it sliding across the cave floor.

Ishara squeezed her eyes shut with tears still pouring like a waterfall. "Please, it hurts!" she choked out as she pushed up at him.

Aero brought his hands to her face cupping her cheeks. "Ish, you're safe, whatever was in your nightmare can't get you now." He whispered to her and her eyes peeled open slightly. "I promise, okay. Whatever happened, I will not let happen again." He wiped away some of her tears.

She closed her eyes again and continued sobbing only less hysterically this time. Aero pulled her up to hug her and she slowly returned it. Aero sat up gently cradling her in his arms just like he had been doing all night and Ishara's weeping slowly subsided. A trickle of blood trailed down his face from the wound staining parts of both his and Ishara's clothes.

Aero ignored this for now and waited for a moment until Ishara had calmed herself. "It…it was the same as mine again, wasn't it?" he asked nervous and afraid of the reply.

She clutched onto his shirt bunching it up in her hands. "You…he was so…rough with me." She stammered out. "He…did things, vile things." She added tearing up again.

Aero ran his through her hair. "That wasn't me, it was all a nightmare and it didn't happen. You know I would never hurt you, ever right?" he said.

Ishara turned her head to the side slightly. "Hold me." She whimpered out and Aero wrapped his arms entirely around her in a tight hug.

That was it; that was when Aero knew there was something else definitely at work here and looks like it wouldn't stop until they both were either dead or enthralled. He had to find an alternative or at least some way to at least spare his sister. He was soon broken out of his thoughts when Ishara shifted slightly in his embrace.

"Aero?" she said quietly.

"Hmm, how you doing?" he responded.

"I'm Okay now. But it's dark." She said.

Aero hadn't even noticed that when he was dealing with Ishara's panic attack he had knocked over his lighter and extinguished it.

"Oh sorry, the fire burned out and I was using my lighter but I must've knocked it over or maybe the wind got to it." He replied before he felt around behind him for the brass lighter.

Aero shuffled back a little bit with his sister still in his arms and found it next to the burnt out fire. He struck it back alight and brought close to him and Ishara.

"How's that?" Aero smiled down at her.

"I-It's still dark." Ishara said

"What?" Aero said puzzled. He brought the flame closer and held in front of Ishara's face while he waved his other hand in front of it.

Ishara wasn't responding to the flicker. It was only then in the light that he noticed the infection had spread further. It was now covering a small part of her cheeks and her temples. Aero deduced that this is what robbed her of her eyesight and this probably didn't help her emotional state at all when she awoke from her nightmare.

"Aero, what's wrong with me?" she weakly asked with a catch in her throat.

Aero didn't respond immediately. How do you tell you baby sister that on top of everything that's happened this day that she won't be able to see ever again as far as he knew. He kissed her on the forehead and the reassuring taste of her skin on his lips told him that she was still here and alive; he was going to take care of her and not let her tackle this alone.

"Nothing's wrong with you Ish." Aero told her with her smile. He didn't know why he put on a smile when Ishara obviously couldn't see, but she was always good at picking up on his emotions both on the surface and underneath without even having to look at him.

Ishara turned in his arms to face towards him. "You're a terrible liar you know that?" she smirked up at him.

Aero returned the smile. "Oh really?" he replied as he relaxed back against the same rock they had slept against earlier.

Ishara shut her eyes. "Yeah and I'm still not entirely convinced you're the real Aero."

He shifted slightly for her comfort. "Oh yeah, well in that case I better tell you something only your favourite brother would know." He said brushing a few strands of hair out of her face only for a few locks to fall out, his smile faltered at this but only momentarily so as not to alarm Ishara.

"My 'favourite' brother? What I have others?" Ishara said with a light giggle.

"No and with the nightmares we've been having that is the best news of all." Aero responded with a snicker as he set his lighter down next to them.

Ishara face grew more serious and she pulled herself up so she was level with him. She looked him dead in the eye despite her blindness and Aero could see the concern in them. "Please Aero, tell me something. Tell me something only he would know. I have to know it's really you." She said and with those sightless big blue eyes practically begging him he wasn't about to deny her.

Aero hugged her closer. "Okay then. Do you remember that trip we took to the beach when we visited grandma and grandpa around four years ago?" he asked her and she timidly nodded in response. "Well I remember that we both got sunburnt." He chuckled remembering this himself. "We were both as red as lobsters and it hurt like hell. I remember you cried the whole time because of the burns and on the way home you held onto my hand so tightly it was like you were afraid I was gonna disappear." He paused to take on her hands in his. "And if that doesn't convince you, this will. When we got home you still hadn't let go of my hand and I asked why. You told me that as long as you held my hand and didn't let go that the pain would go away." He finished with a gentle smile and Ishara rested her head on his shoulder.

She sighed and her eyes fluttered open. "I was always so helpless without you. I must've been such a burden, I'm sorry." She said turning her face into his chest.

Aero digested what Ishara had just said; it reminded him of the horrible entity that took her form in his own nightmare and he wasn't going to let that worm its way back into his thoughts.

Aero cupped the back of her head. "Ish, don't ever say that again. You've never been a burden. I love spending time with you, you're my baby sister, I love you and I can't imagine anything else I'd rather do." He told her repeating the same speech he told the doppelganger before he knew what it really was. "And don't say sorry, wasn't it you who said that apologising profusely was an 'unattractive quality' in people?" he quipped.

"That proves it then." Ishara tittered.

"Am I in the clear then?" Aero asks facetiously.

"Yeah, it's definitely you." Ishara replied. "Don't know whether that's an improvement or not." She smiled pinching his chin between her finger and thumb.

Aero put on a face of feign shock. "Ish, you wound me with your words." He said in dramatized voice and they both laughed.

When their laughter died down Ishara spoke up. "That nightmare felt so real and I'm glad it's really you here with me."

"Same here, you were much more…amorous in mine and I…I don't think I would've been able to harm you." He told her his voice filled with anguish as he continued. "I knew it was just mimicking you, but it looked and sounded just like you."

Ishara shifted her head into his neck and nuzzled into it. "That what sets you apart from your copy in my dream." She softly told him. "He was aggressive, demanding and…and he hurt me." She scrunched her face up slightly at recalling the abuse she suffered at her brother's copy. She reached up and softly kissed his cheek before returning her head back to his neck. "He was nothing like you. My kind, caring, strong and lovely brother." She added in a cozy tone with a gentle smile.

Aero expression didn't change. "I'm sor-…saddened that you had to go through that." He proceeded to rekindle the fire with last of the twigs stockpiled.

Ishara smirked. "Good save there." She sighed as she slid an arm around Aero's waist. "They're only going to get worse, aren't they? The nightmares I mean." She asked.

Aero sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It looks like it." He hugged Ishara closer. "But I'm not gonna give up just like that." He added with confidence.

"It's this sticky stuff that's doing it, isn't it?" Ishara wondered.

"I think so. In the nightmare you changed just like dad did before he…" Aero trailed off momentarily before resuming. "You were all covered in that black stuff and had really long claws. The same happened in yours I take it?" he said looking down at her and her expression told him all he needed to know.

Ishara soon broke down in tears and sobbed into Aero's shirt. "Oh Aero! I don't want to become one of those things!" she cried out slightly muffled by Aero's chest.

Aero hugged her even closer and squeezed her tight. "You're not gonna turn into one of them! You're not gonna become whatever dad became! And you are going to be just fine!" he muttered through gritted teeth and for the first time that whole night he had actually shed fully flowing tears.

Ishara pushed up from him abruptly. "Knock it off!" she yelled and Aero looked at her a little shock at this outburst. "Stop saying everything's going to be alright when we both know that I am going to die and then become some kind of an abomination!" Her sightless eyes were ablaze as she said this and Aero could have sworn he saw them turn a bright green at one point.

Ishara words cut him like razors; she was giving up on her own life without any consideration what it would do to him. "You'd be better off just leaving me and tak-." Ishara was cut short when Aero suddenly slapped her across the face and she held her reddened cheek in shock.

"How can you say that Ish!?" Aero yelled as she moved out of his lap and sat on the ground a few inches away from him. "Do you have any idea what that would do to me if you died!" he grabbed her shoulders and turned her back to him with tears in his eyes. "I can't live without you Ish!" Ishara gasped when he pulled her into a sudden hug and after a moment's hesitation she pulled him to her pressing her head into his shoulder. "Don't ever leave me, not like that." he begged her kissing her forehead and then pecking her on the cheek.

Ishara now realised what she had just told him earlier and she now felt like the monster she was so afraid of becoming. "I-I won't, I won't ever leave you." She said, and Aero could feel the tears streaming down her face and running over onto his own cheek, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare or upset you. I couldn't help it I'm so sorry. I wouldn't ever leave you, I love you so much, Aero."

"I love you too Ish and you don't have to apologize." Aero told her, his fear and worry for his sister swelling up inside him, "I just want to hold onto you."

"Hold me as long as you want." She said, still crying, "I love you so much, I'll do whatever you want me to."

"Stay alive and stay with me. That's all I want." Aero stated as he started to calm down.

"If that's what you want, I-I'll try." Ishara spoke in a low whisper.

A moment later they had both settled down and at some point Ishara had drifted off to sleep still clinging onto her elder brother as if her life depended on it.

Aero shifted slightly to get more comfortable while carefully cradling Ishara in his arms when she suddenly woke up, jerked out of his grasp and hunched forward.

"Ishara?" Aero murmured just from the brink of falling asleep himself.

Ishara didn't respond to him. Before he could say anything more she vomited all over his leg and onto the cave floor.

"Ish!" Aero exclaimed in alarm. She started to wobble after she had finished and Aero grabbed her to steady her.

Ishara went into another panic attack and here breathing was more laboured than ever before. "I…I can feel it, it's getting worse." She croaked out with half-lidded eyes.

Aero really didn't know what to do or say anymore; this thing was viral and now it was clear there was no coming back from this. He tenderly wrapped his arms around her stomach and rested his head on top hers as she convulsed every now and again in aftermath of the episode.

Ishara took in a few deep breaths before she spoke. "The venom, it's…it's making me want to hurt you." She hugged his arms as tight as she could. Her nails that had grown from the infection dug into his skin, but he wasn't about to let her out of his grasp.

"This thing is going to kill us both if we don't do something about it." Aero said. Ishara was panting from the exertion and curled up into a ball. "I'm open to idea's." he added with a weak half-hearted laugh.

"Besides the obvious?" Ishara muttered ominously.

Aero's face grew concerned. "What do you mean?"

Ishara turned back around to face him and just sat there looking at him with unseeing eyes. "Forget about it." she said sadly looking down and away.

Aero dismissed this worrying and obscure proposal for now, the ominous nature of it alone terrified him and he had to get his mind on something else. "I'm gonna go get this cleaned and bandaged." He gently lifted Ishara out of his lap and moved to get up.

"Do what now?" she quickly said.

Aero turned back to her and smiled. "Don't worry about it; you just got a little uppity when you woke up blind." He explained patting her head and she didn't push his hand away this time.

"Well, why didn't you say anything?" She exclaimed. "Get back here and let me tend to it." She ordered grasping at the air searching for one of his hands.

Aero gently took her outstretched hand and held it. "Okay, but we're gonna need some water to clean it and last I looked we were all out." He slipped his hand out of hers and snatched up his discarded canteen from the ground. He didn't tell Ishara of the extent of the damage she had done to him; he knew she didn't mean it and they were barely worse than scratches by his reckoning.

"Hurry back!" Ishara called out.

"I will!" Aero replied with a pointless wave as he made his way out of the cave.

Exiting the cave he noticed that the rain had let up quite a bit and only coming down in a light drizzle; The wind had decreased into a gentle breeze with the occasional gust, the sun was threatening to peak over a low mountain range on the other side of the woods beneath the cave entrance and the whole scene could've been described as tranquil if it wasn't for the gravity of the situation.

Aero moved along the rock shelf and found a trickle of water coming down from above the shelf. The rain had let up so much that he wouldn't be able to just leave the canteen out in the open to fill up and so he quickly set up the canteen to catch as much as he could before the water stopped pouring.

He sat down on the ground next to a mini stream that had formed from the trickle and vocalised a relaxing sigh. He splashed some water on his hands and cleaned off as much as he could of Ishara's vomit from his pant leg. He re-wet his hands, and then cupped a good amount of it before splashing it on his face and washing any of the dried blood from his face as well as cleaning out the two wounds.

Aero decided he would tend to his wounds out here and now. He came to this resolve on the premise he didn't want Ishara to know these wounds were worse than he made out initially. He knew it would be awkward and it was only then that he noticed he had nothing obvious to bandage with. He let out an annoyed groan and held his head in his hands by his chin absently tapping the side his head with his fingers. Then he had an idea or at least half of one. He looked down at his shirt, it was riddled with holes and tears from the calamity that was his birthday camping trip. Discarding any sentimental value the shirt held he ripped off the sleeve that was barely holding on by a thread and tore it into a lengthy strip.

The wound on his chin was barely a scrape by Aero's reckoning so the wound on his on his brow took priority. He started wrapping around his head so the cloth rested on his brow but for the life of him no matter how many times he tied he couldn't get it to stay on the wound, it turned out bandaging the his own head proved more difficult than he first thought.

Aero sighed and let the bandage fall from his head. "dammit, I'm gonna need Ish's help." He thought looking back towards the cave entrance which had become too much like a home for his liking. "Then again she already thinks of herself as a burden despite my assurance that she isn't, this might at least show that she isn't." A smile made its way onto his face but then faded; he sighed again and looked down at the ground at the canteen that was still filling up. "But then she'll see...feel the extent of the wound." He jumped up onto his feet, tucked the sleeve/bandage into his trouser pocket and picked up the now full canteen before making his way back the cave. "I guess I'll just have to think of something on the fly." He thought angrily to himself for not thinking ahead.

Aero walked back in the cave to see Ishara sitting up and next to the fire. "Any messages while I was out?" he joked with a smile kneeling down next to Ishara who didn't respond. "Ish?" He looked her over and she appeared fine but he noticed something resting in her hands, it was his flip knife, he didn't see where it went during her panic after waking up and she must've looked for it while he was out. "Ish, give me that." He said as calmly as he could manage.

She sat absolutely still like a statue; her sightless eyes reflected the fire and the flickering flame highlighted the extent of the infection across her once adorable features. "It's the only way." She quietly mumbled.

Aero snatched the knife from her hand. "What do you mean 'it's the only way?!" he yelled absolutely aghast. "Was this what you meant earlier when you talked about the obvious solution?! What about when you said that you wouldn't let this thing beat you?! Were those just hollow promises?!" He grabbed her shoulders and she yelped a little. "You don't get to make that decision!" he practically screamed at her when he said this.

Seeing her with the knife in her hand virtually saying that she was going to end her life may as well have put the knife though Aero's heart, but the cold way in which she said like it was the most righteous thing in the world felt like someone had cut it out.

"I can't remember them." She said in a soft almost haunting voice and ignoring Aero's tone.

"what?" Aero said absolutely puzzled.

"I can't remember their faces." She said in the same eerie tone.

"Whose faces Ish?" Aero asked still completely in the dark.

"M-mom and dad's." She said with a little more volume but still maintain the eerie tone.

"It's the venom, it's just gotta be." Aero said mainly to himself. "How did this go downhill so fast? I was barely out there for five minutes and now she's forgetting the people closest to her. D-does she r-remember me?" He had a look of sheer horror at this notion.

Aero slowly turned to Ishara who was still sitting incredibly still and still in a trance like state. "Ish." He said hesitantly and she slowly looked up at him like a drunk that lost a bet. "Do you...know who I am?"

Ishara's expression instantly brightened up and her eyes came alive. "Of course I do!" she said merrily but still stared into space. The sudden change did unnerve Aero slightly. "I won't forget you that easily." She smiled.

Aero settled down next to her and put an arm around her. "The rain's stopped and the sun is out by the way." He said as he discreetly returned his knife to his belt.

"C-can we sit outside then?" she timidly asked.

Aero smiled at this. "Ish, you know you can't see right." He said almost teasingly.

Ishara pinched his arm making him yelp sarcastically. "Oh that's real charming of you, make fun of the blind girl." She said whilst grinning from ear to ear.

"I thought you were the one who told me to hurry back so that you could bandage me up like a mummy and play doctor." Aero said rivalling her smile.

"Can we please just go outside, just for a little bit?" Ishara asked borderline pleaded.

"Alright, alright, you win." Aero said patting one of her hands. "Hold this." He said placing his canteen in her lap and she held it close to her.

Aero shifted around and gently picked up Ishara and cradled her in his arms. He slowly walked out into the fresh air of the outside carrying his sister, sat down on the edge of a flat rock plate setting Ishara beside him and she leaned against him resting her head back on his shoulder.

They sat in silence for a moment until Ishara let out a relaxed sigh and looped her arm around Aero's arm. "This is why I wanted to come out here." Ishara quietly spoke and Aero looked over down at her to see her staring blindly out across the woods before them. "Being blind isn't so bad you know; the wind feels even more amazing than it already did, the birds chirping sounds so much sweeter," It was then that Aero had only just noticed the bird calls coming from the trees. "And the sun's warmth is second only to this." She stated hugging his arm tighter.

A moment of silence set in before Ishara spoke up again. "What did mom and dad look like? I keep trying to picture them and...and it's just emptiness."

Aero took a deep breath before he spoke. "Well mom; she was absolutely beautiful and that was only surpassed by her childish behaviour, her hair was like silk and she always had smile on her face that would cheer up even the loneliest of souls. Her eyes were full of fire when you looked at them but that only showed her utter devotion to doing what was right." He let out a sigh when he finished. "We were...lucky to have her as our mother."

Aero rested his head on top of Ishara and took in another deep breath. "And dad; people say I looked a lot like him, but in my opinion he always looked a little scruffy face wise, then again that kind of made his look when paired with his modest but smart dress sense. He had the same fire in his eyes as mom did and I guess that comes with the job when you're Hunters, but his face that when you looked at it seemed to say that no matter what everything was going to be alright." He kissed Ishara on the top of the head before adding. "He was...a true hero if there ever was one."

"And now they're gone." Ishara said in a low glum voice.

Music cue: Euterpe- Egoist (piano, low volume.)

Aero looked up skyward; thinking back to their parents brought up their last moments in his mind, it sickened him to think that the only memory Ishara actually has of them is of their demise and how it all happened right in front of his and hers eyes. He had pretended to himself all through the night that everything would go back to the way it used to be, he felt a complete fool for carrying on the charade, he had lied to himself and worst of all he had given Ishara false hope. He felt such a hypocrite, making Ishara swear to stay with him, no telling what she would have to go through with the Wyverns venom coursing through her veins and turning her own body and mind against her until she breaks. Every time he would think about Ishara's fate he would purposely push it to the back of his mind or distract himself with paltry reasons and now there was no more hiding from the cruel ultimatum being forced upon him.

For his parents.

He knew what he had to do and it was the one thing he was afraid of doing the most.

For his sister.

He knew what he had to do and it was something that would blacken his soul forever.

And for himself.

He knew what he had to and it was something that he was destined for.

The sun had just crept onto to his face illuminating his bruised and cut up face and the warmth brought him no comfort at all. A solitary tear ran down Aero's face. "I don't want you to leave me Ish." He choked out his voice cracking slightly.

"I don't want to either...a-and I won't." She whispered back. Aero brought a hand up to wipe away the lone tear while simultaneously bring his other around clasping it in hers that was wrapped around his arm, she intertwined her fingers with his and pressed her face into his arm.

"Aero, promise me something; promise me that you won't die, no matter what happens, no matter what you do, promise me that you won't throw your life away." Her voice raised in volume ever so slightly as she said this.

"Ish, I-I-I..." he stammered.

"Promise me." She said sternly. She turned towards Aero and he turned towards her. Aero pulled Ishara into a loving embrace and she gladly returned it. Aero soon loosened the hug a little and Ishara pulled herself into his lap resting up against her brothers knee that he had propped up for her.

Ishara raised a hand up with her pinkie extended towards Aero and he couldn't but crack a weak smile at this cute gesture. He shakily brought his hand up to meet hers. "I promise you Ishara, I won't die." He said forcing a smile onto his face. He wrapped his pinkie around hers, lined up there knuckles, touched the tips of their thumbs together and gently bobbed both of their hand up and down.

"Thank you." She said gratefully and softly. "Everything we've been through tonight and this morning is only going to get worse like you said." She added now fully holding Aero's hand. "And I'm not going to let this...whatever it is consume me."

"I know...and I won't let it either."

"You know what I'm asking of you?" She said slightly taken aback by his sudden acceptance and he nodded while gently squeezing her hand. "I wanna go while I still have memories of you at least." Ishara pulled herself up slightly. "I think it's about time we got you bandaged up, don't cha think?"

"Go ahead." Aero muttered.

"Stop acting so down would you." Ishara lightly scolded.

"Sorry."

"I'll allow that one apology because you were right to." She playfully tells him off. "Now where are you hurt?" she softly asked bringing herself level with Aero.

He brings the torn shirt sleeve up to his face and places it over the wound on his brow. "Up here, just wrap this around my head; I've already put the bandage in place."

Ishara reaches up to his head and takes hold of the material. "This is your shirt sleeve isn't it?" she inquired with a frown.

Aero actually chuckled at this before responding. "The thing was in shreds anyway, don't worry I'll get a replacement in town."

Ishara smiled and started wrapping the sleeve around Aero's head as held it over the wound. "Aero?" She said as she continued bandaging.

"Yeah?" He replied curiously raising an eyebrow and crinkling the dressing slightly.

Ishara felt the bandage shift slightly and moved to redo it before speaking up. "There's something I want you to remember." Ishara finished straightening out the bandage and Aero sat in silence waiting for her to resume. "Always remember that...the world can be a very kind place, you...only have to look for It." she tittered a little before continuing. "But I shouldn't have to tell you this." She brought a hand down from his head and rested it on his cheek. "After all, you're the one who showed me it was." She slowly took her hand back up and returned to the task of finishing the wrapping.

Aero shakily moves a hand to his belt and retrieves his knife slowly pulling out the blade. He holds it between them pointed straight at Ishara and his had was shaking so uncontrollably that he could barely keep a hold of the blade. Aero's eyes are already watering when Ishara suddenly place a hand on top of his holding the knife. He gasps in surprise at her touch but it also calms him down and his hand steadies under hers.

"It's okay." Ishara coos softly.

"I...I-I can't do it." Aero stammers out with tears now flowing freely.

"Yes you can." She calmly tells him, she pulls his hand forward and lines up the tip of the blade just under her sternum. She leaves it there and goes back to finish the bandage.

"You...you were the perfect sister." He chokes out sliding an arm around her shoulder.

Ishara ties a knot in the bandage after one final wrap around Aero's head. "You were the best brother a girl could ask for." She responded with warmest of smiles.

With that he lurched forward holding the knife steady and pulled Ishara into a bittersweet embrace. Ishara didn't flinch nor express any pain; the venom by now had numbed most of her senses so she didn't even feel the blade plunge in, she just wrapped her arms around her brother with the same warm smile on her face.

"I love you Ish." Aero whispered, his voice cracking in the process.

"I love you too Aero." She affectionately whispered back.

They both pulled back from one another slightly and they both were smiling warmly at each other as if all was right in the world. Ishara's eyes were glowing a brilliant solid green while Aero's shone a powerful but calm blue. Ishara's entire body soon began to glow the same green as her eyes. Aero leaned forward and kissed Ishara's forehead before tucking her head under his chin, holding her tightly to him and squeezing his eyes shut as tight as he could.

No matter how tight his hold was on her, Aero could feel her slipping away both physically and spiritually. The glow coming from Ishara's body intensified, bathing the whole area in a brilliant eruption of light that could be seen all the way to Verbist and beyond.

Aero felt a flood of memories enter into his mind's eye.

He saw when Ishara was first brought into his life, with her tiny frail form in his mother's arms before she handed her to him.

He saw himself vowing to be the best brother he could be.

He saw himself and Ishara when she was sick and when he gave her his old blanket.

He saw Him and her walking to school hand in hand like they did everyday.

He saw himself beaten and bruised with a frightened Ishara behind him as he defended her from a couple of bullies.

He saw a sunburnt and crying Ishara holding onto his hand like her life depended on it.

Lastly, He saw him and Ishara sitting on a log in front of a fire, with Ishara gently leaning on him, except this time there were others. Sitting alongside them were their mother and father, and Luz and Andy. They were sitting at their old camp and they were just...staring into the fire, without a care in the world. The scene was absolutely silent, with only the gentle crackle of the fire. He wished he could go back to this precise moment in time, and he would honestly be completely happy to live out the rest of his life frozen in that one single time in his life.

As usual though, fate had other plans though.

The light ultimately faded though and Aero fell forward onto his hands and knees with his eyes returning to their normal chestnut colour. Ishara was gone, vanished into thin air and leaving behind an emptiness in Aero's arms, beyond other things.

He felt a tidal wave of emotions sweep away any sense of everything around him. He had lost sensation in his body as he found himself unable to do anything, save for squeeze his eyes shut and pray for this whole ordeal to be one bad dream. He wanted it to be true that what he had been denying all night and what he had inevitably forced himself to do was just a figment of his evidently screwed up mind.

But, no. He knew what he did.

Ishara was gone, and that was that.

Aero shook and convulsed a few times before he suddenly slammed his fist down into the ground.

"I-Ish..." he whimpered out, letting tears and spittle quickly pooling on the ground beneath him.

He slammed his down again, harder this time.

"Ishara..." He was blubbering now.

Again he slammed his fist down to the ground again and he was sure he broke a few knuckles this time, but he didn't care.

He threw his head up towards the sky and howled so loud and fiercely it would have terrified the Wyvern himself.

"ISHARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He continued screaming her name and smashing his hands against the floor until they were bloody and mangled beyond recognition. As the sun reflected off the rain still coating the ground around him, it made the whole area glisten and created a twisted contrasting scene to the one it held.

His cries echoed through the woods and mountains around him creating a symphony of emotional torture and it was only just reaching its crescendo.

To be continued...

---

AN: ...Well that escalated quickly. What bizarre event happened at the end? Why was Ishara so cryptic? And will I ever stop leaving on somewhat semi-cliffhangers? Find out in the next chapter where a lot will be explained.

I originally intended for this chapter to be about 5000 words long, maybe 6000, but as you can see it turned out much longer.

And I think I've finally realized what's been bugging me about this story; I've been trying to get too fancy with it when I should just focus on being clear and concise. Plus when I tried to be too clever with it I just wasn't enjoying it, so hopefully I've rectified that a little bit with this chapter.

Also I'm going to change the rating to M because of this chapter.