Twilight's Embrace

Chapter 10

As the days passed, Amara couldn't help but feel a growing sense of unease around Subaru. His possessiveness and anger had been both thrilling and terrifying, but now she found herself wondering if she had made a mistake in choosing him.

This change in Amara's demeanor didn't go unnoticed either. All of the brothers seemed to have picked up on it. Shu had quietly been observing everything, including Amara and how she suddenly became more withdrawn and how she'd visibly tense up whenever Subaru's around. He had his suspicions, but he kept them to himself, since false accusations in their world could have very severe consequences.

One night, Shu saw Amara wandering around outside in the rose garden—alone. Wanting to be sure about his suspicions, Shu approached her. "Oi, you," he called out, startling Amara who turned her head to look at Shu.

"Yes?" she asked him, her voice quiet and small. "I've noticed a shift in your behavior recently," Shu noted. "Is there a reason for that?"

"Huh? W-well..."Amara replied, unsure if she should confide in him or not.

Picking up on Amara's hesitation, Shu sighed softly under his breath, his posture softening a bit. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine," Shu chimed. "I was just curious." Still a bit unsure, Amara remained quiet, causing for Shu to want to walk away.

"W-wait," Amara said, and Shu turned back around to face her.

"Hmm? What is it?" Shu asked, his voice soft and steady, almost like a soothing melody to Amara's ears. His calming presence encouraged Amara to confide in him, and so she told him what had happened, all of it. From Subaru chasing her in the forest and biting her afterward, and how it made her feel. She told him about Laito in the music room that same night, and how he bit her as well, and how that made her feel. She told him about that following dusk, how Subaru had found out about Laito biting her, and how little he liked it, which led to him crossing multiple boundaries at once.

As she told Shu all of this, she finds herself tearing up for some reason. Probably because she's not told anyone about this so far, and has been carrying it around with her ever since, weighing her down. So, to finally tell someone about it, emptying her heart, made her feel relieved, causing the bottled up emotions to surface.

Shu finds himself strangely feeling sorry for the girl. If she had chosen him instead, he'd never have let it come to this. "I'm sorry you went through all that," he said, much to both Amara's and his own surprise. "If you'd chosen me from the start instead, you wouldn't even have felt the need to seek out someone else to satisfy your...hidden desires," he proclaimed, the tone in his voice shifting a bit, still remaining calm and steady, but lined with a hint of something seductive, causing Amara's cheeks to flush.

"But," Shu broke the little enchantment. "You've made your choice. Now you need to come to terms with the consequences." Amara knew he was right, but she wasn't sure if she was able to handle the consequences of her choice.

Seeing as though Amara's gaze was on the floor, Shu wanted to walk away again, not really wanting to keep an already dead conversation going.

"Shu-san?" Amara called out to him once more, and his footsteps came to a halt. He looked back at her over his shoulder, ears piqued to hear what else she had to say.

"Thank you for listening," Amara said, her voice laced with gratitude and a faint smile dancing across her features. Shu didn't respond any more to that. He just turned his gaze forward again, and started walking, disappearing into the distance.

 Later that night, Shu stumbles upon Subaru sitting in a windowsill, staring up at the night sky. Walking up to him, Shu looks outside the window too, but at the earthly view instead, seeing Amara still outside amongst the flowers.

"That Amara," Shu started. "She's a beautiful, colorful rose, in the bloom of her life." The metaphor is well known to Subaru, referring to his mother. She too was once a beautiful white rose, whose petals had withered because of what the brothers' shared father, Karl Heinz, did to her and put her through.

Realizing what Shu was trying to play at, Subaru's attention was piqued, his gaze shifting from the stars above, to the side profile of his oldest half brother. "And you know what happens...to pretty roses, when they're not well cared for, don't you?" Shu continued, his half-lidded eyes piercing into Subaru's, who knew exactly what Shu ment. 

"How'd you know?" Subaru asked, sounding a tad bit defensive. "Doesn't matter how I know," Shu sighed, yet he sounded surprisingly assertive, compared to his usual calm, somewhat slow tone of voice.

"What matters, is her," Shu continued to say, pointing his gaze down at Amara in the garden. Subaru followed Shu's gaze, seeing the brunette girl amongst the roses, her beauty captivating even from a distance.

As Shu's words hung in the air, Subaru felt a pang of guilt mixed with a fierce determination. He didn't want Amara to wither like his mother had, and it almost sickened him that his own actions were the cause of the girl's spirit being broken. It sickened him, that he had done something his father would've—he refused to let that continue. He refused to turn into the man that was the cause of so much pain and suffering.

Shu looked over at Subaru, seeing his fists had clenched tightly.

"Getting angry at yourself won't solve anything, Subaru," Shu stated and the albino knew he was right, reluctantly letting go of his anger again.

Shu gave him a knowing look, a small smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "It's easy to forget," Shu said. "But remember, besides your prey, she's also a woman. And even though women can be scary... they also have feelings and desires, just like us. Maybe not the same, but they're equally important. Remember that."

With that, Shu walked away, leaving Subaru to his thoughts. He knew he had a lot to make up for, but he was determined to do right by her.