"Where do I begin?" Bernkastel thought out loud. The others had moved about the room to orient around her and Kanon.
"Start with why you defended this guy," Blackstar ordered, crossing his arms.
The room became a bloody red, signaling that Bernkastel was telling the truth.
"Kanon is my older twin brother and Equal Furniture."
Endless Twins; Kanon's Reformation
It took a moment for that to sink in.
"Of course," Kid thought. "Was that why she was so upset?"
"They were… partners?" Maka realized. "I wonder how hard it would have been for Soul if I became a Keshen."
"A long time ago," Bernkastel continued. "Kanon and I fought against the only other Endless Witch, so that we may have attained her power. Using Kanon's weapon form, we were able to defeat her, but something went wrong. We were separated. I thought that the final blow destroyed Kanon, so I tried to move on as best as I could…."
"Like we believe that," Spirit interrupted. "Why didn't you revive him?"
The red in the room evaporated; a stress mark appeared on Bernkastel's forehead.
"Interrupt me again and I will drive a stake through your brain," she warned. She opened her eyes and the red resumed once more. "I couldn't revive Kanon for personal reasons. The entire reason he became a Keshen is because he's afraid of death; if I brought him back from that, he would have become a Keshen a lot sooner. However, it seems that Kanon was alive and thought that I had taken the power from the witch and abandoned him. From fear of death and pain of abandonment, he became a Keshen."
"Whilst rising, he tried to change his rank," Bernkastel kept speaking smoothly. Her gaze flickered among the others, searching for any traces of disbelief or confusion. "Kanon and I are what is called an Equal Pair. Instead of treating the weapon like a servant, we treated each other as equally as Meisters and Weapons at this Academy. Since Kanon thought I had degraded him, he tried to summon me as his weapon and not his Meister. That's what happened that day when we were training."
"Why didn't you say so when it happened?" Stein asked. The room retained normal color as another stress mark twitched on Bernkastel's head.
"You're interrupting again," she growled. "If you knew the Keshen was my brother, you wouldn't have let me live it down. Besides," she opened her eyes again, making the room become red. "I wasn't even sure it was Kanon. I'd been searching the witch chapels and conducting censuses to find the missing witch. It makes sense since Kanon was the only one I couldn't track."
"There's just one thing I don't understand," Maka said. The room lost its unnatural color.
"Do you wish to say something, Maka?" Bernkastel demanded, an iron stake appearing in midair from a cloud of teal ashes.
"You say you were separated a long time ago," Maka clarified. "There's a gap between then and when he became a Keshen. Where was he all that time?"
"Only he can tell you that," Bernkastel said, turning to look at her sleeping brother.
"Uh, I have a question," Soul said.
"WHAT?"
"How do you know all this stuff? I doubt you spent the entire fight catching up with each other."
"Are you serious? That's the stupidest question I've ever heard! Our minds link when we resonate; we're not that different from normal Meisters and Weapons."
"Whoa, Bernkastel, chill out. And besides, I don't know what you're talking about. Our soul wavelengths will sync with each other, but we can't explore each other's minds in the middle of battle."
"I'd understand if you weren't up to having an almost-pre-Keshen in your small apartment." Kid stated. "Maybe Bernkastel and Kanon could stay with us for a while?"
"How could you say that?!" Bernkastel flamed, lunging forward and stabbing the stake into his forehead.
"Ah! It's A-symmetrical. You stabbed me with A-symmetrical garbage!"
"You may be a child, but you still have the word Death in your name! Stein!" she turned on her heels. "Get the *ABK48* away from him."
"I was just looking."
"It doesn't matter!"
"And I was curious about this scar on his neck…."
Although Bernkastel was worried about her brother attaining a scar that she had never seen, she was still defensive. "That's not your business, now leave!"
"But it's my office," he complained, wheeling submissively out to the hallway.
"Well, then," Lord Death said, waving as he left the room. "I'll leave the reformation up to you when he wakes up."
"You won't have to worry about that," Bernkastel said. The Grim Reaper glanced back at her. "It's already started."
Soul Eater
"Kanon," Bernkastel whispered to her brother as she laid him down on her bed. "We're home now."
"Sis?" he whispered, opening his red eyes. He sat upright in a jolt, pulling away from Bernkastel. He squirmed as far away from her as he possibly could. "They're here! They've come to kill me!"
"It'll be okay," she told him. "Just tell me what happened."
"They… they tried to kill me before… before you came in. You tried to help them, didn't you?!"
"Why were they trying to kill you?" she asked.
"I… Sis, I didn't mean to, I swear!" he looked at her with pleading eyes, clutching the collar of her dress. Bernkastel continued to gaze at him stoically, unmoved by his helplessness. Kanon released her and pulled away in horror. He curled up, putting his hands over his head as if to shield himself.
"Kanon," she spoke; he flinched at her cold voice.
"I killed… someone," his speech was shaky and broken. His mind was disturbed. "You left me behind… and someone else… took me. They all hurt me—there were so many of them. No one was there anymore, I was hurt and I was alone…. I hear your voice. It tells me… 'Find a way to not be hurt anymore…'"
Bernkastel gave a nod. She remembered a time when they were children and she told him to be positive; to find a place where he could rest.
"I figured…" the pre-Keshen laughed uneasily. "When you lose your mind… nothing hurts anymore. I was wrong," he doubled over, wrapping his arms around himself. "It hurts like you wouldn't believe."
"Kanon," Bernkastel said softly, her voice more childish and friendly than before. "It's okay; you don't have to feel that pain any longer. Just come back to me. It's okay to be scared as long as you don't leave your little sisters behind to fend for themselves."
Kanon gasped quietly as the first hint of hope entered his features.
"Are you okay now?"
Kanon's face softened; his blood red eyes melted away into a deep cobalt blue. He looked up at Bernkastel and nodded. He reached out tentatively, gradually wrapping his arms around her and bringing her close to him in a tight embrace. Bernkastel hugged him back; it was good to have her brother back after all these years. She would have to look into the people that hurt him later, but in the meantime, she wanted to talk to Tsubaki about the success of the conversion.
So, was it… good enough for you? ;D I know I have some scattered things around the place right now, but I swear I have it all under control. Please keep reading and watch out for the next chapter!