Chapter 41: Siblings

"What did you say?" Aries could not believe what he just heard.

"You have to take her soul or those Celestial Knights will keep on using her," Prince Sunrei clenched his fists. "She became a corrupted soul because of them. I want to take her out of their side. Only you can do that."

Aries believed that it was because of him that Pieffer became a corrupted soul. But he kept his silence. Prince Sunrei had finally calmed down. He did not want to infuriate the prince again.

"I'll try."

"Do it," Prince Sunrei insisted. "This is for her. We both don't want to keep seeing her possess bodies and get them killed."

"Okay," Aries sighed. "I will do it."

^########^

"Why?" Aries asked while he and Princess Pieffer were patrolling around the Eastern Border.

The princess glanced at him with confusion.

"Why did you volunteer to guard this border with me?" he asked more clearly.

"It's because I think that you and Prince Sunrei should not pair up for now. Just for now," she answered with a smile and a sigh.

"I can team up with Siorre."

"I don't think that two Zodiac Knights should leave the safety of Quaria on me and Sunrei. That's not fair."

"Point taken," Aries smiled. "But I think there is more to that. You seemed uneasy in front of Prince Sunrei. It was the first time I saw that look in your eyes. You were smiling awkwardly, not happily."

"You're getting better at reading people's expressions," there was sadness in the smile of the princess.

"I always observe people. It was part of my job that eventually became a habit of mine," Aries admitted then cleared his throat before asking, "So… what's wrong?"

Pieffer smiled a little brighter as she answered, "Sunrei is not my brother. I should start accepting it and distance myself from him. I should not make things difficult for him now that he had found his real sister. He should focus on her."

"You are tough," Aries tapped her on the shoulder. "But I don't think that is necessary."

The princess kindly shrugged his hand off her shoulder, "We should not give Lady Pieffer more reason to get angry."

Aries quickly kept his hand to himself and asked, "I'm sorry. I thought it was normal for comrades to comfort each other. You see…" he hesitated before confessing, "I never had any comrade or friend. Not in the past ten years. I only had Lady Pieffer."

"Of course, it is normal for friends to comfort each other," the princess agreed with a wider smile. "It's just that Lady Pieffer must feel a little sensitive since Celestial Knight Sunrei is fueling her rage. She could misunderstand."

"You are sensitive," Aries could not help but smile teasingly at the princess. "You should not distance yourself from Prince Sunrei. He is angry at me but not at you. The only way to keep him is to stay close to him."

"How can you know such things?" the princess was teasing him back.

"From experience," he seriously answered.

"Princess Pieffer," a young lady had timidly approached them. "Can you spare our house a bit of your time? My mother… she... she is sick and… and she needs help. I heard that the princess can heal people…"

"Let's go," Aries had said but the young lady stared at him with panic.

"Sir… my mother… my mother hates seeing men…"

"I will be quick," Princess Pieffer promised. "You should continue patrolling. I'll join you in a moment."

"Fine. I'll wait at the border gate," Aries said then he and the princess had parted ways. But after he had reached the border gate, he jumped into the shadow and checked in on the princess.

It was a good thing that he did.

The young lady did bring Princess Pieffer to a house. A woman, probably in her early forties, was sitting comfortably at the window sill. She did not appear sick and there was a fierce look in her eyes as if she wanted to strangle the princess to death.

It took Aries a while to notice that there was black smoke around the woman. It was too faint, almost undetectable.

"Young lady, can you leave us alone for a moment?" Princess Pieffer kindly asked but the young lady only stared fearfully at the woman sitting at the window sill.

"Leave," the woman had coldly commanded.

Though the young lady was hesitant to leave, she still walked out of the house.

A few minutes of silence had floated inside the house before the princess had decided to break it.

"Lady Pieffer," she nearly whispered and the woman laughed.

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"Lady Pieffer?" she furiously spat. "Why do you have to put a lady before my name?" she slowly moved away from the window sill and unsheathed a dagger that was familiar to Aries. It had a silver hilt that had an intricate design. A rose with three leaves. That was the dagger she was carrying in the other world, a memento from the Celestial Knight Sunrei.

"Do you despise me that much? It was because of that attitude that all of this had happened!" she was struggling to restrain her anger against the princess. "You are selfish! You cast me out and now you want to take the only two men I love!" she raised her blade and attacked.

Princess Pieffer could have unsheathed her blade and parried the blow but she only moved her body a little to avoid being hit on the chest. The blade stabbed her arm and she had been pushed hard against the wall.

"I will not let you have my brother and my beloved Aries!" the woman yelled and stabbed the knife deeper in the flesh of the princess. "He is mine. He will always belong to me," she grabbed the neck of the princess. "Give me that body," she began choking the princess. "That body is mine right from the beginning!"

"I… understand… your anger," Princess Pieffer grabbed the hand that was choking her. "But I cannot allow you to take my body."

"I'm sorry," Aries whispered as he moved out of the shadows and stabbed his beloved on both shoulders.

"You!!!" the woman screamed and tried to pull away but Princess Pieffer grabbed both her hands. "How many times will you stab me in the back?" she asked as her soul was slowly being drained out of the vessel. "You will… kill me… again…"

Aries trembled but only for a moment.

"This is for you," he whispered to his beloved. Tears trickled in his eyes.

"NO!!!" his beloved yelled and bolts of electricity had hit Aries. He was almost thrown away but he managed to hold on to his blades.

"Princess, let go," he quickly instructed and the princess instantly obeyed.

He dragged the struggling woman away from the princess until they stumbled on the floor. Her dagger stabbed Aries at the abdomen, at the same spot where the prince had hit him.

"You don't have to do this, Aries," she had tenderly spoken. "Just go to Hell with me."

"I can't," he said while enduring the pain from the blade and bolts of electricity. "Not now. I'm sorry," he whispered one more time before fully absorbing her soul.

"I'm sorry…" Aries closed his eyes and let his dual blades disappear.

^########^

There was absolute darkness and deafening silence. Aries dwelled on it for a long time until voices had slowly found a way to break into the deepest part of his mind.

"Why are you doing this?"

It was the voice of Prince Sunrei. He sounded frustrated.

"What am I doing?"

He was talking to Princess Pieffer. She was trying to sound ignorant.

"You are avoiding me!"

"I'm just trying to make things easier for you."

Aries kept his eyes closed and tried to repress a smile.

"Make things easier for me?" the prince repeated those words with annoyance. "Your action frustrates me!"

Aries did not want to continue listening but he cannot block their voices that were only growing louder.

"You already found your sister! She wants to be with you! I cannot continue being your sibling! That will make her more furious. I don't want her to get angry with you."

"Yes. I'm glad that I finally found my sister! But that doesn't mean that I will stop treating you as my family! We became siblings by fate! And I will treasure it until the end!"

"Really?" the voice of the princess softened up. "You are not angry with me?"

"Why will I get angry?" the prince had also calmed down. "You didn't do anything wrong. You never wanted any of this."

"Brother!" the princess sobbed and Aries had been tempted to open his eyes.

The royal siblings were tightly embracing each other.

"Do not leave me with that Celestial Knight. I want you to stay in that body not just because I don't want him to return! It is because you are the only brother I want!"

"I know," he gently stroked the back of his sister. "I'm sorry for saying those words. I didn't mean it."

The princess buried her face on the chest of her brother and cried more loudly.

^#############^

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