Lights, Camera, Action!

Chapter 41: Heritage

Beauty silently cackled to herself as she walked back towards her office. That had been rather despicable of her and she nearly felt bad for the Twins, almost. At the end of the day, the part of her that was Dagger did blame the pair a little bit for the massacre. That same part of her also remembered the cursed words she declared on her twentieth birthday to her sister. Words that had decided the fate of four people involved although at the time Beauty only thought it would be three. How was she supposed to know her sister was surprisingly fertile and would sire two offspring rather than one?

Beauty had also given the Twins a place to work and live but she had never been aware of their bloodline until recently. The dress was a dead giveaway for who it belonged to, Star had had a particular taste for midnight gowns. The boxes had been packed away soon after the deaths of Shift and Star. Filled with their belongings, Beauty put them in the same orphanage she had left the Twins. She hadn't looked at it all, just kind of shoved it in and hurried out of the recently abandoned house. Having never seen the Twins once until they started work here four years ago, Beauty had no reason to suspect who they were. It wasn't as if either twin looked particularly like one or both of their parents. Sonic and Shadow looked more like their Uncle than Sliver looked like his Father.

Plus, neither of their parents had been this technological geniuses that could understand the most complex of physics. Time and reality and all the things the Twins found fascinating were concept Beauty doubted had ever crossed her sister's or lover's mind. If you knew who they came from, then one could see a few similarities. In name for example and a liking for the colour blue. Yet in character, the two siblings were nothing like Shift and Star. They had been manipulative, power-hungry, persuasive, ambitious and had a cruel streak. She supposed the Twins were ambitious but that was a good ambition, their parents had basically wanted to rule the world. Or at least this village, which was wrong. The Twins wanted to be put in science books and on posters, wanted students to learn about their theories.

Beauty remembered how, for a time, she'd felt guilty over abandoning two orphans like that. She sometimes contemplated going to the orphanage and retrieving them to come and live with their family. But that decision would have made them into Roses'. Roses' were nothing but blights on humanity and parasites on positivity. Seeing as how Sliver and Starlight turned out without her interference, she'd made the right choice. A decision she wasn't so sure on was the gifting of the belongings. Had that been cruel, to gift them material items that could never match up to the actual love of a parent? Would it have been better if they had had nothing from who they were?

Those were questions that would probably never get answers. Still, the Twins knew now who they were. Whose blood ran through their veins. Her veins shared some of that blood. Blood that she had spilled with two nearly orphaned infants upstairs in their cots. She wasn't a monster, despite popular opinion from teenage Star, adult Thorn and child Shift. Beauty had taken care of her niece and nephew before focusing on her sister and Shift. She hadn't wanted to kill Shift. She hadn't killed him then. The Twins hadn't survived through miracles or science; for twelve months, both of them had looked after the pair of them. Yet it was not to last. The longer Shift remained in her life, the more Beauty could feel herself losing control of Dagger. To protect herself and any future offspring, she'd decided to eliminate him. It was horrible and painful and terrible. Afterwards, she'd dropped the Twins off at the orphanage and didn't bother to look back.

A quartet of feet could be hear running behind her. "Beauty! BEAUTY!" Her name increased in volume as they approached by she never slowed down or forced them to go away. They wanted and needed answers. Answers that she could provide. They deserved more than a cryptic message and a few boxes filled with old belongings.

Stopping outside her office, she turned to see the Twins staring back at her, slightly out of breath. "Can I help you?" She opened her office door and they took the cue to enter. Amy was sat in an armchair, sketching away when they walked in. "Oh hello Amy," Beauty smiled at her daughter as she entered behind them. "Do you mind going somewhere else? The Twins and I have a few matters to discuss." Amy nodded as she quickly put her drawing equipment away, saying a whispered goodbye as she left.

Sliver and Starlight sat down in haste but Beauty took her time in getting comfortable. Once she was, there was a pause. Both sides were waiting for the other one to start this really bizzare meeting. Eventually, Starlight sighed. "Could you start at the beginning please? Of our birth, not yours." She had to clarify otherwise they could be here a while.

Beauty smiled. "I'll start a bit before that. I'll start on the day of my twentieth birthday. Get comfortable, you'll want to remember this story. " They did as she wanted, pulling out a notebook and pen each as well so they could take notes and not forget a single word.

Sliver nodded at her. "We're ready." Starlight nodded eagerly beside him.

This made Beauty laugh. "No you're not. No one ever is. However all you've heard of Shift and Star is true. I've made no attempts over the decades to hide who they were. Just keep that in mind." The pair nodded although they looked nervous. They would finally get the answers they had always wanted. On DNA tests, any results for who their parents could be had been blocked or erased. It occurred to them now that maybe Beauty had been the one to conceal that information from them. "Then I'm going to tell you a story of the Bat, the Wolf and the Owl."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, apologies for being a day late. The heat yesterday practically melted my brain and I couldn't write even if I wanted to. I thought Beauty's perspective on how the Twins came into the world was interesting. I'll most likely update again tomorrow. Bye, bye.