Cordelia POV

His body laid on the ground.

A stream of blood flowed from the hole in his head.

...

Everything...

Something...

I...

This was all wrong.

No...

Deux...?

He wouldn't...

He wouldn't do this...

I'm probably dreaming.

It's the only thing that made sense.

I'm in a dream world.

I must be in a dream world.

I'm having a sick nightmare.

No one died.

I just need to wake up.

Wake up, Cordelia.

Wake up.

I need to wake up.

...

...Why can't I wake up...?

"...I killed him because I felt like it," Deux said nonchalantly.

Haha...I'm taking this dream a little too far.

It's almost like everything is real.

Maybe I had been reading too much lately.

Too much anime.

Too much manga.

Too much...

This dream was too much.

My dreams were becoming too realistic.

"Cordelia...Cordelia, snap out of it," Ace murmured as he turned to face me.

...Ace?

What are you talking about?

What do I have to snap out of?

Everything was okay.

None of this is real.

It can't be real.

This was all a dream.

Tears dripped down my face.

This was all a dream.

They stung my eyes and made my vision blurry.

A dream...a dream...let this be a dream...

Ace was yelling at me about something, but I couldn't hear him.

This isn't a dream.

I screamed and dropped to the ground.

Mattius was dead.

He was dead.

Just a few moments ago, he was thanking me for bringing him here.

A few days ago, he was crying in my arms for deciding to help him out.

And now...he's dead.

He's dead because I brought him here.

It's my fault...It's my fault...It's my fault...

If I didn't bring him here...nothing would have happened.

It's my fault.

A never-ending downpour of tears flowed from my eyes.

I was hyperventilating.

I felt lightheaded.

I couldn't breathe.

My lungs were screaming at me...they were begging for the steady breathing that I couldn't give them.

"Cordelia...listen to my voice, okay? Everything is going to be fine...breathe..." Ace said with only a slight amount of panic noticeable in his voice as he tried to calm me down.

But I was never able to calm down.

Nothing was able to calm me down.

Nothing.

...Nothing.

There's nothing...

That's right.

There was nothing left in that lifeless body of his.

It was all over.

Pain.

There was a deep numbing pain somewhere deep in my chest.

A tight throat...

A blurred vision...

"Cry all you want. Do you think I care?" Deux asked with a small cock of his head.

Deux...Deux...Deux...

He was talking so much more than usual.

It wasn't like him at all.

Why did he kill Mattius?

He'd never do anything without a reason...

I know he wouldn't.

He's not that type of person.

He's not...

He's not...

He's not...I know that...but...

...What if he was...?

...What if everything he's done for the past few years fake...?

Were his rare smiles all fake?

Did all of our interactions mean nothing?

Maybe I never knew who Deux really was.

Maybe he hated me.

Maybe I was the only one who cared for him.

Maybe...

I couldn't see what he truly was.

And I trusted him.

I trusted him.

I trusted him a lot.

And then look at what happened.

What if everyone around me was living behind a mask...?

What if I didn't know anyone?

How could I trust anyone?

"Shh...Cordelia...You can't hyperventilate right now...calm down...I'll get to the bottom of this...Calm down..." Ace repeated slowly.

"Calm down...? Calm down...? He's dead. Mattius is dead...he isn't breathing. His head is dripping blood...and now I need to calm down...?" I murmured in a daze.

"No...you don't have to get over it now....you just need to clear your mind...Focus on what is important...Cordelia...listen to me..." Ace murmured with a little worry in his voice.

Haha...

...He's right...

...even though it was all my fault.

His death...it's all my fault.

I gave Deux the gun.

I brought Mattius all the way here.

I shouldn't have brought him here.

I shouldn't have.

I...

"Cordelia! Snap out of it! You're going to go into shock if you keep this up!" Ace yelled as he looked straight into my eyes with absolute worry.

Shock...?

Me...?

Haha...Look at me...I've gone crazy...

Look at me.

My hair's probably in a messy tangle.

My eyes are probably covered in red blotches.

I'm sure snot has covered my nose completely and I have Rudolph's red nose.

I'm a giant mess...

"...I'm leaving. Don't expect me to come back," Deux spoke as he looked down on me as I was still on the ground.

I didn't know what to say.

How could he just do this...?

What type of sick monster was he...?

Yeah...sure.

Just kill Mattius and then leave me alone like this without a proper explanation.

Yeah...that's okay.

Leave me broken.

Leave his dead body on the ground here to rot.

Leave.

Just leave.

...

Deux turned his body around and started to walk away.

Haha...this is fine...right?

If he leaves...the main problem will be gone.

This is good.

He should just leave.

Leave.

Leave...

...Leave.

...

Leave...?

Wait.

No.

No...

That's not right.

I lunged forward from the ground and grabbed his shirt.

Deux stopped walking.

"Let go," he said simply without turning his head toward me.

"...N-N...N-No..." I said through my tight hoarse throat.

"..."

He stayed quiet.

This was a weird moment in time.

There was nothing we could say.

I looked at Deux through my swollen eyes.

"...N-...N-Not...Y-Yet..." I cried hoarsely.

I was at my limit.

Emotionally and mentally...I couldn't muster a single bit of strength.

So, I cried.

I never felt more weak and hopeless before.

Deux had no expression on his face.

"...C-C...C-Can't...l-leave..." I whispered as I clenched his shirt.

"Why...Why...Why...?" he murmured as he looked at me.

"N-...No..." I cried softly in reply.

"...Why..."

I whimpered in response.

"..." Deux quietly looked at me from behind that mask of his.

"...P-Please..."

"..."

"..." I stayed quiet too.

"...Why..."

"..."

"...Hate me..." he murmured with pained eyes.

"..."

"...Why don't you hate me...?"

"...N-No..."

"I killed him," he spat out.

"..."

"Didn't you see?! I shot him."

"...I...Y-You..."

"Hate me."

"..."

"Yell at me. Tear me apart. Hate me..."

"...D-Deux...?"

"I killed him. I shot him, so hate me."

"...D-Deux...are...you...okay...?"

"Hate me...please...I killed him, so why don't you hate me...?!"

"..."

"...Please. I won't know what to do if you don't hate me..."

"...Deux."

"He's dead. I ended him."

"..."

"How will I make up for it if you don't hate me...?"

"..."

"Why...why...why are you acting as if you actually still care about me?!"

"...Deux...I-"

"I killed him! You watched me shoot him!"

"..."

"He's dead."

"..."

"I'm the one who did that."

"..."

"So...please...I'm begging you...Let me go. Hate me and curse my name..."

"..."

"Why can't you even do that much...?"

"..."

"..." Deux stopped talking.

"...Y-You...feel r-regret...right...?" I finally said.

"..."

"...But...if you...feel this much...regret...Doesn't that mean that...you...didn't want to kill him...Deux...?" I struggled to get the words out of my mouth.

"...No. I killed him because I wanted to," he replied after a little hesitation.

"...That's a...lie. You're lying...You wouldn't be...acting like this...if you wanted to kill him..."

"I wanted him dead. There was no reason."

"Y-You're...lying again. Why is it so hard for you to say the truth in front of me...?" I asked as my words slowly quickened their pace.

"I'm not lying," he said as he turned his head away from me.

I learned something new today.

Deux was awful at lying.

"No...you're lying. Please. I don't need lies right now...Please. Don't do this to me...if you keep this up...I might actually believe you..." I begged with a slight quiver in my voice.

"..."

"...Deux."

He turned to look at me.

His light-blue eyes, the only visible feature of his face to me, flashed with sorrow and pain.

"...What am I supposed to do...?" Deux choked out as he fell to his knees.

"..."

"What do I do now...huh?!" he yelled as he clenched his head with his hands.

How was I supposed to answer him...?

"There's nothing I can do anymore, right? Haha...Isn't this crazy..." Deux chuckled as he covered his eyes with his hand.

"...Deux...pleas-"

"Don't call me Deux anymore. What's the point in keeping that name if there's only one of me now, huh?!" he yelled straight into my face.

"..."

"Haha...My name is Mattius. Don't call me anything else."

"No...Deu-"

"Shut up. Shut up. Don't remind me of that name. It makes me sick."

"..."

"...Maybe I should just end my life and be done with it. I'm done with me. I'm done with it. I'm done with everything."

"...!"

"Haha...But I don't even have the will to kill myself...Because then..." he murmured as he suddenly started staring straight into my eye.

"...Because then...what...?" I asked with so many different intertwining emotions.

He didn't say anything as he stared at me.

"...Don't ask," he finally said.

"..."

"Deux..."

"Don't. Don't call me that. Please..."

"But...I can't...If I call you...M-Mattius...it'll be like...I'm replacing..." I murmured as I turned to look at Mattius' body on the ground.

"Replacing...? Don't you already get it? He was me. I am him. We're the same. I'm not replacing anyone. I'm just taking back my own identity," he spat out with a few curses at the end.

"But-"

It was this moment Deux removed the mask from his face.

Mattius...

That was the only thing I could think of.

Their faces were the same.

They were like twins...except...instead of being two different people...they were the same person.

His face...was exactly the same as the face of the dead body on the ground.

Almost feminine...yet also masculine.

It was beautiful...yet eerie at the same time.



The face of a broken man...was the only thing that could describe him.

His piercing light blue eyes...they held no life left in them.

It was like he simply didn't care about anything anymore.

It was breathtaking.

Almost like a porcelain doll...

Different than Mattius...but exactly the same...

"We're the same person. Get over his death. Half of me is still alive," he growled.

I couldn't speak.

My throat tightened again.

Why did the world have to be like this?

"W-Why did you k-kill him...?" I managed to stutter.

Shoot.

Thinking about Mattius' death was bringing tears back into my eyes.

"No reason," he answered again simply without turning to meet my eyes.

"Please," I begged again.

"There's no purpose of me staying," he said as he got up to leave.

But before he could go, a vine grew from the ground, wrapped around his leg, picked him up, and slammed him on the ground.

I quickly turned my head to face Ace.

"...You can't leave until you explain everything to us all..." Ace said softly.

"A-Ace...!" I yelled.

"Cordelia...this man just killed someone. He lied to you. I won't kill him if he gives a good enough reason. But if he has no reason..." Ace murmured.

"That's not oka-" I tried to say before being cut off.

"No...He's right...I would do the same too..."

I turned to face Deux laying on the ground in pain after being tossed.

"Deux! Be quiet! You're hurt," I yelled as I moved toward him.

"I...thought I asked you to stop calling me that..." he chuckled as he held his hands over his eyes.

"I'm never calling you Mattius. Everyone else in the world can call you Mattius like you want them too...but I'm calling you Deux to the very end..." I said sharply.

"...Of course," he finally responded after a while.

"Is there anything...you want to tell us...?" I asked after a while.

"Haha...I have so much I need to say..."

.

.

A Few Hours Later

.

.

We held a small funeral for Mattius in the forest that day.

The tears flowed down my face and I didn't stop them.

Ace flew silently in the sky in circles over the place Mattius was buried, the traditional way that a dragon mourned the death of another.

Deux had already told us everything we needed to know.

It was...dark.

Everything was so dark.

I looked at the face of Mattius one last time before we used Ace's magic to send him below the ground.

I choked on whatever was trying to rise up my throat.

This idiot.

Why didn't he just tell me...?

How scared was Mattius in his last moments...?

If he told me...we could hav-

"There's nothing we could have done," Deux murmured as he tried to comfort me.

More tears fell from my eyes at his words.

Deux was right.

There really was nothing we could've done to save him.

But...as I watched Mattius slowly sink into the ground and become a part of the earth...I couldn't hold back my anger and sorrow.

Marquis and Marquess Scott...I will get my revenge.

I swear it on my name.

But...little did I know, this decision of mine would lead me down a spiraling staircase to the biggest regret of my life.

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: I'm back to a regular schedule everyone! I'm not on vacation anymore and school is continuing just like normal~

I have a serious case of jet lag...so I've been struggling to stay awake at school. Luckily, I think I'm almost used to the time now.

But anyway, I just want to say that within the next three chapters or so, Cordelia will be in Greenwood Academy...the setting of our otome game~

This means...a lot of stuff is going to go down!

So, keep an eye out for that~

Alright...thanks again to all my readers/voters/commenters!

Okie byeee!

Word Count: 2085