Groaning, I cracked my eyes open. My head pounded like I had been drinking for three days straight. The sheets sticking to my skin told me I wasn't in my own room. I blinked, sat up a little, then winced as every muscle in my body protested.
"Ugh… what the hell happened?"
It came back to me in flashes. The fight, the strings, the fire, that damn beam, the screaming, the head rolling into the mud and the Fluveheart glowing in my hand. I remembered collapsing but somehow staying awake through it all. Adrenaline must've been the only thing keeping me conscious. My body had given up out ages ago.
I rubbed my temple, groaning again, then let my eyes wander around the room. White walls, dim light, the steady beep of a machine somewhere to my right. I'm in a hospital, huh...
There was someone sitting in a chair beside the bed, her head resting on folded arms against the mattress. Long hair spilled over her shoulder. Her face… even in sleep, looked composed, elegant, almost delicate.
I actually gasped.
"Xaessiarerich."
My twin sister, Xaessiarerich Vecria Argemenes, the villainess herself, was here.
She shifted, groaned faintly at my movement, then lifted her head. Her eyes fluttered open and then widened the second she saw me sitting up.
"You're awake. Are you okay?"
I stared at her, blank for a second. Did she… just ask if I was okay? Out loud? With actual concern?
"Uh… yeah. I think? I'm alive, aren't I?"
She exhaled, like she'd been holding her breath for hours, and for a second her expression almost looked... vulnerable and not the cold, sharp edge she always wore in the game.
I glanced down at my hand and realized I was still clutching the Fluveheart. The damn thing must have stayed with me even after I blacked out. It glowed faintly in my palm and I quickly curled my fingers around it, hiding it from her eyes. I looked back up at my sister. I didn't know what the hell to say.
Because back on Earth, I'd never had a sister or a brother. Family, for me, had been two foster parents who cared more about grades than joy, and a few teenage friends who made life tolerable. Siblings was a completely foreign concept. I didn't even know how you were supposed to talk to them. Joke? Fight? Ignore?
So my first instinct was the blunt one.
"Why are you here?"
She blinked, like I'd slapped her with words.
"What?"
"Why are you here? Watching over me. Staying by my bed. That's not you. That's not how you act."
And I meant it. I knew who she was supposed to be. The fandom didn't call her the 'trash treatment queen' for nothing. In MoDS, she had never cared about Phaser, not even once. From childhood to the academy years, she treated him like dirt. He wasn't a brother to her. He was her servant or her lap dog. She used him, abused him and discarded him. The MoDS fandom had hated her for it. Every forum, every comment section, the villainess tag under her wiki page, it was all filled with ranting. And I agreed. Even I, just as a player, had felt bad for Phaser. Watching him cling to her, protect her and love her, despite everything was pathetic and heartbreaking.
And yet, that was the one thing about Phaser that had stuck with me. That limited event with the heroine, when she asked why he still cared about his sister despite all her cruelty. His answer: "She's the last one of our family. That's enough for me."
He really believed that his bond with her, no matter how one-sided, was worth protecting. But me? I wasn't that Phaser.
"You're only here because your lap dog almost died, right? That's the only reason."
Her eyes flashed, and she straightened in her chair. "That's not true—"
I cut her off with a scoff, shaking my head.
"Don't lie to me. You've never cared about me. Not once. Not as a kid, not at the academy. I was always weaker, so you made me your servant. You made me your shadow. I know how this story goes."
She went silent. Her lips parted like she wanted to argue, but nothing came out.
"Well, I'm done. I can't keep being mistreated by you anymore. I won't. I've had enough."
Her brows furrowed. "Phaser…"
"No. From now on, I'm going to live my life normally. My life, not yours. I'm not going to obsess over you. I'm not going to protect you. You're already stronger than me, right? You don't need me trailing behind you like some pathetic puppy."
Her hands tightened in her lap. For the first time, I thought I actually saw guilt flicker in her eyes. I exhaled, softer this time, and let my gaze drift away from her.
"So live your life, Xaessiarerich. And let me live mine."
The room fell quiet, save for the hum of the machines and the soft patter of rain against the window. My chest felt lighter saying it, even though my heart was racing like I'd just fought another Fluvium. For the first time since waking in this world, I felt like I wasn't just playing Phaser's role. I was rewriting it.
And the first thing I have to do is prevent the very thing that killed Phaser in the first place.