Parallel Lines- *RAYOR*

Chapter 24

I don't like how things are with Levy and I.

He's quieter. He's cautious. Makes me feel like some rabid animal. Ever since the joy from Gabriel pulling back had faded, our relationship was left strained and tense, pauses awkward, interactions kept a minimum.

Today the sky mirrors my mood, steely grey. It almost always is dull in the Underworld, but today it is especially so. Levy and I have just returned from reaping.

Levy hesitates. "Can I go to see Gabriel?" he asks.

Part of my heart froze over. Why did Levy want to hang out with someone other than me? And why was he even asking me in the first place? If I said no, I was a bad person. If I said yes, then I would be lying about how I felt.

And I don't even know how I feel about it. Yeah, I know Gabriel just came back to life. But things haven't been right between us for a while and I thought maybe some time together would fix that.

"Nicco?" says Levy. His voice is painfully familiar. Yes, it's mine, but it has- or used to have- this tone to it. A worried tilt to the vowels. A quaver as he revealed an idea to me, hoping for praise. But he doesn't care anymore.

Or maybe he does, but differently.

Levy still cares about me. Levy still loves me. And he's been helping me, even though I never knew that. My eyes have been opened. I can see now, what I have to do. The perfect answer to our predicament.

I think. I think about how all my flashbacks are triggered by anger. Anger at Levy. I think about how all of my flashbacks have Levy in them. I think about what Gabriel said, so long ago, about how he was once close friends with Aster but gave that up because he saw Blake would be happier with him.

I look up. "Fine," I say.

***

I always imagined to be like Blake, or Aster, or Gabriel sometime, and fight a bad person and win. Because that's the sort of story you remember.

But there doesn't have to be a bad guy for there to be a wild story.

I like to have things my way, to say something and have someone follow me. Normally it's my twin, Levy, the only person who can stand me for long periods of time. Because they say that family stays together. Right? But this is not always the case. Levy and I were, for a long time, Nicco-and-Levy, one being, always together, not seeming to let anything get in the way of our perfect twin relationship.

But he's growing up. I can't ignore that anymore. And I'm growing up too. He's learning to find his voice, and I'm holding him back. I've found, over some time, that though we are carbon copies of each other, it's dangerous and unfair- stunting each other's growth, limiting each other's potentials, holding each other back until one has to break away. And I'm faced with this dilemma.

Where two lines don't merge into one, but instead become parallel lines to support each other, going in the same direction. Two separate entities, both fine, on their own, but better together.