"Oliver, why didn't you tell us?" His mother cried, sitting on her knees at his deathbed. "...Because I was stupid, Mother." He replied, smiling.
"I thought I could survive. Can you believe that?"
Lying on his bed, he looked like an angel. Oliver's eyes shimmered like gems. Although he was destined for death, he looked more alive than ever. His fluffy hair was spread across the bed and his lips rosy to the point of looking like the petals of a flower. In a way, he was a flower.
He was in full bloom, but suddenly, the Sun began to stop shining. Oliver began to wilt and his petals fell apart. Soon, he would fade into the void, someone who never existed and would never exist again.
"My life was such a short one. Despite that, I hope that no one remembers me."
"Oliver? Don't say that Oliver. Oliver? Oliver!"
---
Jupiter stood up and looked at the dusty house that he was in. The house was made from flimsy wood and seemed capable of collapsing at any second.
"How lonely this person must've been." He finally said.
He had come to the conclusion that he had been given the body of another's to save the world.
"Huh." He commented as the lights flickered on and off repeatedly, before completely shutting off.
"What kind of life did this man live?" He looked at a broken shard of glass and picked it up.
To Jupiter's dismay, the reflection in the glass looked exactly the same as the man from before. Brown hair and yellow eyes.
"...Really? Do I have to save this world with this man's appearance?" Jupiter frowned. "Are you trying to insult me?" A strange voice asked.
Jupiter looked up, seeing a void of darkness glitch. He sighed, knowing who it was. "However rude you may be, I can't deny your prowess." He held the void delicately, examining it.
"Well, it's not really that impressive. I can do much more. Simply ask and I'll be able to conjure whatever you want!" Even though the void had no form, you could still tell that it was snobbish and rude.
"I'll be sure to use you in the future." When he was done with looking at it, Jupiter tossed the void back into the air. "Anyways, what do I have to do now?" Jupiter asked.
"It's 7:34 right now, so you have 26 minutes left until the Royal Family comes to arrest you." Jupiter spun around and looked at the void in alarm.
"What?!"
---
Saturn walked through the empty hallway and stared out the windows. The position of the Emperor was going to be thrust onto him in a couple of days, because he was the second eldest.
Saturn had been prepared if he ever needed to become Emperor, but he didn't imagine it in a situation like this. He stopped walking and stood in front of a statue of one of the Gods.
These Gods were the true rulers of this world, and They were revered everywhere in the world. But as the days passed by, Saturn had less and less respect for Them.
"Why?" Saturn asked with chapped lips, then smiled. "Why are you doing this to us? What do you gain out of this?"
"Malvad."
A man appeared out of thin air, causing Saturn to step back in shock. "What? I have business to do so what do you want?"
"You conniving...!" Saturn began, but stopped as he saw the look on the man's face. "Finish that sentence. I really enjoy cursing people for life, you know."
"I know you're the one behind all of this." Saturn grit his teeth. "What?" The man finally looked surprised, and checked the watch he kept in his pocket.
"Where the hell did you hide Anastasia?" Saturn asked. The man sighed in relief and laughed. "Anastasia? I thought you... never mind, but that bitch is dead."
"...What?"
>>>
"Hurry up." Ayden said, looking behind him. "You look like an idiot wearing that coat." Chazia laughed. "It's cool these days to look mysterious. A fashion trend, or something. I heard that there was a pretty commoner around these parts and wanted to check her out myself."
Ayden and Chazia were riding on horses, joking around. "Not if I get to her first." Chazia smirked. Their laughter soon became silence.
"Do you think that Jupiter might be dead?" Chazia turned and asked. "That kind of thinking isn't going to save him, you know that?" Ayden pursed his lips.
"...But you think about it too, don't you?" A wet drop of rain fell onto Chazia's face.
"What if we never find him?"
Light rain began to fall and both Chazia and Ayden covered their heads with their coats.
"Because you can feel it too, can't you?"
"He's not dead, but he's not here, either."
Ayden smiled.
"Can you shut the hell up?"
"What?"
---
"Do you mean that the Royal Family is in this world too?" Jupiter made a face. "This world is similar to yours. The only difference is that you don't exist."
Jupiter looked up at the void. "So check for yourself. Is the world better off without you?" The void asked.
Jupiter walked up to the door. He put his hand on the doorknob, but refused to turn it. "Are you scared? Do you really think the world is better off without you?"
Against his own will, Jupiter opened the door.
When he saw the town that was in ruins, Jupiter fell to his knees in happiness and relief. "You really thought they would be better off? What amazing security you have in yourself." The void sneered.
Jupiter stood up and said, "Anyone would be worried about this." The void glitched. "You were more worried than most, though."
Jupiter sighed. "What's happening here?" He asked the void. "Check the news." The void glided down to a crumpled and wet newspaper.
"I refuse to pick that piece of filth up." Jupiter looked at the void in abhorrence. "Well, then don't. You have 18 minutes left, by the way."
"No, I'm not picking that up. I don't want to even look at it." The void laughed. "You're going to have to get used to it."
Somebody began making their way towards Jupiter, and he looked towards the void in confusion. "That's your friend. Act normal."
"Nikolas, do you know what's going to happen to us?" The woman asked in anguish. Jupiter had never been close to people other than Ayden and Chazia, and his relationship with them were more like partners in crime rather than real friends.
"No." He awkwardly muttered out. The void seemed to be amused listening to him.
Since Jupiter had been sentenced to isolation by the Emperor when he was a child, he never truly got the knowledge to make friends. That was why all throughout his life he was lonely.
He was quiet even after his isolation ended. He refused to speak to people and was seen as being excessively loyal to the Emperor. That was the only thing he was known for.
Being the loyal son of the Emperor.
"The Royal Family declared that one of their precious jewels was stolen, and they're planning on coming here to search for whoever did it!" The woman cried.
The void suddenly spoke, "For your reference, whenever the Royal Family comes to do these 'searches,' it ends with the death of multiple people. Maybe including you, the person who did steal it."
Jupiter groaned. "How much time do I have left?" He asked the void. "Huh?" The woman asked. "10 minutes left."
"Sorry, I have to go." He waved the woman goodbye and walked into an alleyway. "Nikolas?" She called out, but Jupiter had already disappeared.
"What the hell do I do?" Jupiter asked. "You have to figure that out for yourself. How do you expect to find yourself here if you can't even find out what you're supposed to do?"
Suddenly, the air was filled with gunpowder and bullets pounded the ground. "They're already here, huh?"
Jupiter frowned and walked out the alleyway and into the streets. "It makes sense that he would be the Emperor if I wasn't here, but why is he acting so strange?"
Saturn stood, instructing the soldiers of the empire where to search. "In your world, you were the person who would humble everyone else. You had it all."
"But in this world, it seems like there are others who assume they have it all, because you aren't there to be the standard."
Even though the void was practically complimenting him, Jupiter didn't feel accomplished or happy. "Their ego has grown, and that's why they're acting so cruelly?"
"It's not as if you didn't act cruel as well." The void pointed out. "Oh, and it starts now."
A voice called out, "I've found the jewel!"
>>>
"And who lives here?" Saturn asked, holding the jewel. The soldiers rummaged around and found an ID.
"Nikolas Leon." They announced.
Saturn stepped on the ID and said, "Find whoever that is, and sentence him to death."
This was the first time they had seen such an angry face on Saturn. Most of the time they had seen his contemptuous or ridiculing face, but never a face with this much fury.
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers immediately stood up in fear.
>>>
"So what will you do?" The void looked at him with interest.
Jupiter quickly grabbed the void and began running away. "I'm not the one who stole it, so it's not my fault."
"You have to start looking at yourself as Nikolas if you want to find out who you are, you know? You are guilty."
Jupiter frowned. "Guilty? Of what? I didn't do anything. Nikolas did." The void laughed, "How childish."
All of a sudden, someone grabbed him by the collar. "See? It's impossible to run away."
"Fuck." Jupiter spat as the soldier pinned him to the ground. "You don't have any magic yet, so just give up." The void said.
Jupiter sighed and laid down onto the ground. "Fine." He murmured.
Saturn came into his view, standing over him.
Jupiter always thought that Saturn was the opposite of him. A radiating beauty that had zero flaws or cracks. Perfect. He was a socialite that knew how to start a conversation and keep a friendship.
He had always been surrounded by people ever since he was born. Portraits, paintings, and poems were all drawn and written dedicated to him. The feeling that Saturn caused in people was a mix of anger, despair, but overwhelming euphoria.
It was the feeling of love.
On the other hand, Jupiter had always been alone. The Emperor confined him until he was of age, so he had zero skills in socializing. Shrouded in darkness, no one cared to look at him.
Jupiter always thought he couldn't care less, and that Saturn was merely a people-pleaser that people used and then abandoned.
"Trash." Saturn snapped, not caring enough to even look at Jupiter.
Everything that Jupiter had built from that point crumbled. He had gone from the top to the bottom in a matter of seconds. His security had already been weak, but it had been completely shattered here.
"That's what happens when you don't see yourself as Nikolas, but Jupiter."
"...What...?"
---
Oliver was dead.
His face had turned pale and cold, and the marks on his arms had grown up to his neck.
By his own words, he was a lost cause, unfixable.
Unsalvageable.
He was laid to rest in the grave next to his father.
Even while dead, he looked like a flower. Wilted, but still laid as a reminder of his former beauty.
It was a tragedy to all those who had admired him.
>>>
The same day, Jupiter had a horrible headache, remembering memories of someone unknown.
He told both Chazia and Ayden to leave, but it only got worse.
That was when he disappeared.
Gone forever.