𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋

Chapter 22

From the outside, it looked like Emilie was simply holding tightly onto Joseph's hand. On the inside, she was battling the shadowy figure, using up every trick and power under her belt.

He hasn't fully fused with him yet, I can still save Joseph..

The shadow veered away from me as I threw a beam of light at it. Good, this meant that he still feared being torn away. While I may not have been able to rid him from the body of Cartaphilus because they were completely fused, I can separate him from Joseph long enough for him to escape.

"Joseph!!" I shouted, "Please come back to me, I can heal you. Just please let go of Cartaphilus."

At first, there was silence, but soon the whole space of his mind began to shake. It seemed to shock the curse as well, but soon it grinned.

"Ah, it seems he can hear you," it laughed, "But he doesn't trust you anymore. You tell too many lies don't you?"

"Joseph—!" I tried again, only to feel a hand at my throat.

"Shh, he doesn't want to hear you. Too bad," the shadow mocked, tightening his grasp, "You told him you'd save the old man. But what did you do? You abandoned him."

I could barely breathe, that could only mean...

Joseph was choking me in real life.

Once that revelation occurred, I realized I had been too late. If he had control over his body and still willingly refused to leave, then it meant the pact was nearly finished.

"I-I'm sorry," tears began to fall down my face. The connection between us was cut short and suddenly I was in Cartaphilus' house. I could see it clearly.

Joseph, or rather a shell, was staring at me with a tearfully angry expression. His hand was at my neck, leaving a definite bruise.

"You promised..." he muttered again, "You promised to save him. Save me! How could you leave me with that fake father?!"

"Jos–"

"You're a liar! How could you nee-san?" he cried, "Now it hurts... it hurts.. Help me."

With the little bit of air that I had left, I decided to try my utmost last resort spell. There was nothing left for me to save, my memory was not nearly as important as saving Joseph who had nothing to do with any of this. It was my mistake, and I had to correct it.

"Sorry, Lindel."

Suddenly, the door to the house swung open and there stood the blonde mage, eyes with visible slits. He had an angry expression on his face that quickly turned to worry.

"EMILIE!" he shouted, as my vision began to go black.

I'm sorry, I have no other choice.

"I love you," I mouthed to him before turning back to Joseph.

"Slip to Oblivion"

This was by far the strongest and most damaging spell I could've cast, even under completely healthy conditions where I hadn't used magic in a long time, I still would've suffered from memory loss. It was the trade off, for removing a memory I lost a memory.

In this case, I would use everything I had to remove any influence the curse had on Joseph's memory in hopes he would decide to break from the fusion on his own. It was risky, but it was either that or his eternal suffering.

It was dark after that. And very cold.

MEMORY EXCHANGE

-- COMPLETE --

RECOVERED MEMORIES — 85%

BACK IN THE PRESENT

As I began to recollect my thoughts, I realized Cartaphilus was staring right at me. A certain grin on his face.

"Welcome back, Nee-san."

"Joseph. No- Cartaphilus," I reaffirmed myself, "You decided to fuse after all?"

The innocent smile on his face warped into an almost annoyed one, "Don't look at me like that. It took a long time for me to rebuild myself after you practically blew my memories to bits and pieces."

"But that means you weren't in pain during it," I answered plainly, "And seeing as you came searching for me, you must want something to do with that power."

"My sister is so smart," Cartaphilus answered in a sing-song voice, only to suddenly hold his eye as if he were in pain, "Ah... it hurts. But at least it won't for long. It can't."

"What are you talking about?" I muttered in confusion, only to notice that his personality still seemed to be split between Joseph and Cartaphilus, "What could you possibly do with it? We've both seen that it cannot cure you."

"And that's where you're wrong," Cartaphilus answered, a dark grin playing on his face, "You owe me, remember? It's so excruciatingly painful... So why don't you just give yourself to me?"

"Give myself to you..?" I repeated, feeling a pit growing in my stomach.

"Nee-san you mustn't," his voice broke, almost as though Joseph was warning me about something, only for it to quickly change.

Cartaphilus's hand slapped the side of his face before his sadistic grin resumed, "Ah.. sorry about that. Sometimes I just can't control my emotions well. But moving onto your power— yes that power to destroy memories and even feelings."

"Feelings?" I muttered, only for the realization to hit me.

That was what he wished to do with my power— destroy his feelings so he could no longer feel pain. Though, the question was how he was going to do that. His body was constantly decaying, meaning my power would need to be constantly running inside of him.

Inside of him...

"No way," I gasped, my hand instinctively covering my mouth, "We don't even know if that will work."

"Ah, but you agree there's a chance," Cartaphilus grinned excitedly, "After all, you're going to take responsibility for me. I see no better way of doing so."

Fear took route inside of me as I felt my heartbeat quicken. He was going to take my core— my heart, which for faeries were their lifesource. Then he was going to fuse it with his own, in hopes that it would stop his constant undying pain.

"Besides, I was going to use that girl— Chise," Cartaphilus continued, "But your powers are the result of a divine miracle. The opposite of hers, which is a curse."

"Cartaphilus—"

"Don't call me that!!" he shouted, anger filling his voice, "Call me Joseph, like you used to. After all, this is the last time you get to fulfill that duty."

｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

"Titania," a deep voice incurred, "You told me once that you'd do anything for one of yours."

The dark-haired fae turned her head, several petals falling from it, "Of course. You are one of my children too, as much as you despise it."

The owner of the voice kneeled before her, his blonde hair falling delicately beside his shoulders as he stared at the ground with a serious expression.

"My fiance has gone missing," he stated possessively, his slitted eyes glowing a bright blue,

"Take me to her."