Monochromatic

Chapter 35

      And then, he was gone, leaving the four of them silently staring at the walls. Rave and Azoria looked at each other, not with disgust or dread, but instead, with a calm, assuring expression.

"I guess I have no choice..." Rave mumbled under his breath.

Libia looked at her brother with a concerned and confused expression.

"Have no choice?"

Rave barely glanced at her, "Libia, I need to tell you something, since this is the last time you'll ever see me..."

"Yes, brother?"

Libia scooted in closer to her elder brother, her heart slow, and her movements hesitant.

"I lied," Rave almost whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I will never forget you. I only pretended to, hoping to protect you. Turns out I was in over my head, and I never could either way."

"But the drugs..."

"They never worked on me."

"How?"

"I have my ways...There will be a lot of unexplained things happening in a short while, okay? It's better if...if you just don't ask questions..."

"Rave..."

Rave stood up, his movements were shaky. Libia stood up after him, following him towards the door quietly. The boy, now a young man, cracked open the door and peered out with his ghostly blue eyes. I tear unmistakably dripping out as he looked at his little sister. A small smirk, for the first time in a while, appeared as he looked into her eyes. Tears slowly began to form in Libya's eyes as well. Rave placed his cold right palm on the top of Libya's head, rubbing it soothingly and scratching her scalp a little, just as she liked it. He kneeled down, moving the black stains from Libya's eyes and kissing her forehead. Meanwhile Azoria was busy holding her little brother tightly in her arms as he cried silently into her chest. Freedom didn't understand why, but he knew there was a chance Azoria would have to leave him for good. She tried to let him go, but Azoria's arms wouldn't release the frail boy caught within them. Freedom's fingers were clenched tightly to his elder sister's shirt just the same. The air was still and yet everyone trembled. At last, Azoria let Freedom go, and Rave retracted his hand.

"Libia?" Rave cooed, clenching on to his last bits of self-control, "After this is all over...please...take care of yourself...."

"I..."

"And..."

"Rave...It's time to go...." Azoria interrupted.

She laid one last kiss on Freedom's head, giving him one last smile, "You two, stay inside, we'll take care of all of this, okay?"

Both Labia and Freedom shook their heads.

"No! You've been leaving us out of everything all this time, acting like we're completely defenseless against everything! Like...like you can't depend on us at all!" Libia shouted.

"No, it's not like that-"

"Then bring us with you!" Libia interrupted her brother.

"We can't let you get killed.."

"We won't!"

Freedom nodded with determination, clinching onto Azoria's arm.

"We've defended ourselves well for this long. We're not babies anymore, and we're all in this together! We deserve at least a little recognition for that!"

Rave said nothing, Azoria looking down.

"Fine... but be careful, and follow our instructions."

The four left together. You could almost feel the vibrations of their hearts beating.