The party had landed in Spain, arriving at 9:50 pm. They were banking on a personal villa for the Twins that happened to be in Spain. Cameron sighed, trying to think of an easier way to transport themselves at night. "I'm not sure how we'd even get a vehicle at this rate."
Aran stopped the party, holding her hand out as she spotted something coming from a distance. "Wait..."
Emilia Gabriela Caccia and a young red-haired female guard stand at the ready. Emilia crossed over to them with concern and a hint of determination. "We aren't... enemies." She put her hands up.
Luce stepped forward. "Do you wish to ally yourselves with us?"
Emilia nodded. "The other members of the family, aside from Antionio or Nevio, refuse to ally themselves with anyone. I have a pseudo-alliance with Antonio, and... I don't believe Nevio to be the most reliable ally. I'm hesitant to try and talk with the others as well due to their... perception of the youngest of the families, including me."
Luce nodded. "Understandable. What are your goals?"
"My goals?"
"What do you want for the family?"
"I-If you think I want to be a Matriarch, you're mistaken. I just want to survive... and I'm not willing to leave the family to do it."
"That's reasonable. I'm unsure of my other two brothers here, but... I want to be the next Patriarch. I want to unite the family." Aran looked impressed by Luce's sudden resolve. "I believe, though... since there are so many here now, not just my opinion matters, of course."
"I've not talked much with you, Emi... but..." Nero looked to his brother, Nello, who looked conflicted.
Nello glanced at Nero, nodding. "I... Emilia, are you sure? I... I can't imagine that you were targeted much before... you'd certainly be targeted now if you follow us."
"I dunno, more people often means better survivability."
"True... more people also probably means we'd be targeted less too..."
Luce straightened his back. "I'm assuming you know of your Boons?" He asked with a pointed look toward Emilia and her bodyguard, more worried than stern.
Emilia nodded. "We didn't participate in the ritual for a reason. I discovered my Boon before... all of this, same for my Guard."
"How?"
"Well... It's complicated. We should go somewhere less open so we can explain it. Maybe it'd be safer that way."
Luce nodded. "We're heading to the Twins' villa at the moment. Do you two have a vehicle in mind?"
"We did call one."
A van drives up before coming to a halt, they get out of the van. "It's all yours. I'm takin' off." The man walked off almost immediately, leaving everyone behind. With this new vehicle, it made it significantly easier to make their way back to the villa. It was there that Emilia and her Guard sat everyone down. Her guard stepped up, positioning herself in the middle of the room, arms behind her back.
Cameron looked around the room. "I realized I'm surrounded by mostly kids."
The guard gave a small chuckle. "Onto the topic at hand. I am Kamila Leah, I am Emilia's guard. My Boon is called Vicarious." A female humanoid figure with a long, lanky body, a shell around the head, and lips visible underneath as thin tendrils fall out from behind the shell. "I can redirect an enemy's attack, and if given enough time, I can take control of the body of a target of my choosing, allowing me to... well, live vicariously through them, you'd say."
Emilia raised her hand. "My ability is called Yume Utsutsu. It's... not very offensive. I think it can put things to sleep."
Cameron cocked a brow. "You think?"
Emilia shrugged. "Never had to use it before. It kinda came to be at school and even then..." She shrugged again.
"Have you encountered anyone on your way here, by the way?"
"Well... we did spot Cornelio, but other than that, we got here relatively conflict-free. Guess I'm less hated than I thought."
Kamila started her lecture again. "Boons are the manifestation of one's will. Emilia and I don't know everything, but we know at least that much, along with the fact that, aside from Boons, there exist Banes."
Luce leaned in. "Bane?"
"Banes are the manifestation of extreme negative emotions given form. From what I've experienced of them, they typically act in malevolence, mischief, or survival, or care, and cannot be controlled by any means. You could give them commands if they are a Bane inflicted upon you, but whether they listen is... debatable. While, if a Boon is uncontrollable, you can still feel a connection to it at the very least-- for Banes, it's the opposite, no connection whatsoever, yet it is still connected to you... or an object of interest. It's not incredibly consistent. A haunting would be a good example of a Bane, or maybe a possession."
"So... Banes can be weaponized?"
"They can, so we should watch out for those as well, and in very rare cases when a Bane is attached to someone, they could learn to detach themselves, which is a worst-case scenario."
Cameron smiled. "You sure know a lot."
"I think people know more about Banes than they do Boons, that being due in part to... well... how loud they are. Amongst the cacophony of quiet voices, they are the loudest yet most infrequent, making those in search of such spiritual entities more susceptible to finding Banes."
Luce looked at his hands. "The manifestation of one's will."
"There isn't much consistency amongst Boons other than that, most Boons can physically manifest themselves in various ways."
"Thank you for the information that you've provided us. It's good to know."
"It's not a problem."
Nero and Nello raised their hands. "How do we activate ours?"
"Well... it'll either be through a stressful encounter, or you'll somehow find out how to use it eventually, since the ritual skips the process of manifesting one's will partly. For all we know, you two could have a Bane instead, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. We'd just need to figure out what it does."
Luce observed the Twins. "I don't know about that. I feel like it'd maybe have shown itself by now to the rest of us at the very least."
Kamila looked at the Twins again. "You both can see Boons, yes?"
Nello nodded. "We can see them."
Aran, with a rhythmic click of her tongue, thought aloud. "It's a surprise you guys hadn't gotten your abilities earlier."
Kamila speculated. "Maybe it just hasn't met the right scenario, yet?"
"Maybe."
Now, how should I go about waking them up? All the others have their shit together, but the twins don't. I can't exactly use my ability since it'd reveal myself... I'd need someone else to come into the picture to stir things up.
Cameron yawned, stretching as far as he could before flopping down into his seat. "Well, we can talk bout all that stuff later. We probably have a long day tomorrow, and today was already bad enough, so we should hit the hay."
Luce let out a sigh, lifting himself from one of the chairs in the living room. "Yeah, I'm exhausted."
Aran scanned the room. "I think we all are. Let's get to bed." She held onto Luce, helping him to one of the rooms as the others scattered. For protection, the guards would be sleeping in the same rooms as their masters, Aran making the suggestion herself, of course, as an excuse, but nobody else objected, leading to the current arrangements.
The Twins slept in their bed as Cameron lay himself out on a couch, sitting right across from them. Emilia and Kamila decided to just sleep in the same bed to avoid complications. And Aran was clearly using the circumstances to her advantage. A wry smile spread across her face as Luce got ready for bed, closing the door behind her. She skipped over before plopping herself straight down onto the bed, causing Luce to fall off from the impact. "Oops." She chuckled, leaning over to look at him.
Pierre clambered back onto the covers with Luce, making his way up to the pillows to relax. Luce looked startled. "W-What, Aran!?"
"What's wrong, Lover Boy?"
"W-Wh... what are you planning?"
"I'm not planning anythin'. I just decided to hop on, plenty of room, y'know?"
"You don't plan on sleepin' like this, right?"
"What's wrong with it, Lover Boy? Come on~!" She motioned to the different sides of the bed. "I'll sleep on this side near the door, you sleep away from it, what's the deal?"
"I-Isn't it awkward, and weird!? We aren't... like... isn't that like something you do when you're in a relationship with someone?"
"Siblings can do it, right? And I bet that the other girls are doin' it too, cause there ain't no other room and we can't be havin' everyone sleepin' on the couches right?"
"Oh..." Luce looked conflicted, and Aran's smirk grew wider in turn.
"We don't have anywhere else for me to sleep in this room, and I know that you'd probably give up the bed for me, so no. You're stickin' with me, alright?"
Luce looked like he was being physically hurt by the very scenario that she was presenting before giving up and flopping onto the bed himself.
"That's what I'm talkin' about." A look of realization dawned on her face. "Hold a moment, I should take a shower!"
Luce blinked, "Oh, god, yeah... I completely forgot, I kinda just thought we should go straight to sleep."
"I'll be back." Aran chuckled, leaving Luce by his lonesome.
"Guess I'm goin' next."
After a few minutes of waiting, Aran returned wearing an oversized black t-shirt and sweatpants. "Go." She pointed to the door.
"Alright..." Luce got up, carrying his clothes with him. He prepared a bath for himself, taking off his prosthetic and propping it on the wall outside the door. He lifted himself across the restroom counters, throwing his clothes to the floor, his body showing signs of bruising, being much more hurt than he originally made himself out to be. After setting up a stool, he washed himself, making sure to clean out his hair as much as possible. Luce lifted himself onto the corner of the bathtub before plopping himself inside, slowly submerging himself within the warm water. "Maybe I should remind them...?" Who knows if they're already asleep or not?
Luce thought back to the last couple of days, his mind going blank, barely even capable of processing the situation he was in. Luce swallowed hard, shaking his head in an attempt to hold back the tears before they began flowing like waterfalls. He gasped, stifling his groans, violently wiping his tears away with his hands.
Luce swallowed his sadness momentarily, pulling himself out from the bath and throwing on some basic black pajamas. After he collected his things, he began crossing back to his room before deviating for the bathroom, specifically, stumbling inside and violently gagging. He took a deep breath, swallowing again. He picked himself up and re-entered his guest room.
Aran smiled momentarily before her expression dropped. Luce noticed, attempting to push away the issue by rushing to his spot before being physically stopped by Aran, who grabbed his arm. He's pulled into her lap, eyes widening from the sudden jolt of movement. "A-Aran!?"
"Jeez, Lover Boy, you need to up your vocabulary. It ain't all just about me, y'know?"
A light pink spread across Luce's cheeks, his expression confused. "Hey... I..."
"I know when you're hurtin', Lover Boy. And I get it. You've been impressing me lately, though."
Luce's eyes explored Aran's face, looking for an explanation.
"You've got a lot more demanding real fast. It's been pretty cool. At least, to me it is, I'm easy like that."
"I'm struggling... to reach a middle ground."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. My thoughts are so jumbled, I don't even know what I'm trying to be." Luce took a deep breath, "And then I remember everything and I'm back to that young man holding themselves up in a dark room all over again... and then I want to vomit." Luce began hyperventilating, hands shaking violently enough that he hugged himself as tightly as he could to stop himself from panicking. "Fuc-Fuck... i... I'm... I'm so scared... I..." Luce rolled over, burying his face into Aran's stomach.
Aran held him close, not saying anything. She didn't know what to say to begin with. The only thing she knew to do was to be there for him at the very least. The years have been tough on him. And out of everyone believed the most that he didn't deserve it. Every day, she wished she could've been there when he needed her the most. Every day, she wished that his burden would be lifted and, if it couldn't be removed entirely, placed onto her instead. But she knew that saying these things aloud wouldn't help, it would only exacerbate the problem instead.
So instead, she sat there, keeping her friend, who she considered to be her closest companion, as much company as she could. To reassure them that they were not alone.
After an hour, Luce and Aran lay on opposite ends of their bed, Luce still seeped in their melancholy, as this incident had only steeled Aran's resolve further, making her more determined to end this as quickly as possible, to lead this into the happiest ending she could.
The Twin lay, asleep, the bed in complete disarray already. Luce still has so much more potential... light manipulation is a hell of a thing. But... the others are lacking in ways. I want them to all meet their potential, I want to see what sort of things this world has to offer. So... how do I...?
Click...
A distant sound within the house. I'll keep a close eye out. For whoever that is.
Fieldworks II watched from the ceiling as someone unlocked the front door to the villa, slowly making their way inside. What followed them appeared to be a drone-like entity, gliding a few meters away from its user. It went forward as they centered themselves in the middle of the villa, checking all of the rooms accordingly.
And if my theory is correct... Another thought from somewhere, you could only imagine a wry grin coming from the recipient of such thoughts.
Yes, the most vulnerable in the house right now would be the Twins themselves. The assailant soon realized it for themselves as they slowly pulled open the door, for themselves as it hadn't been locked. They took out a suppressed pistol, pointing it at the two, their trigger finger slowly tightening.
Pop! Pop!
The man was astounded as their arm was pulled away from the Twin's direction, the two shots being fired straight into the wall. His eyes grew wide, and another arm meshed with his as a humanoid figure stared back at him, its arm stuck in his.