Austin felt the truth behind the words. He couldn't kill her. He couldn't kill anyone. He wasn't a killer. And the connection he'd been feeling with Scarleteye ever since that first time in the Labyrinth - Austin had a sickening feeling that it wouldn't let him do it even if he tried to.
And, even as the rage tempted Austin even more to pull the trigger, he found his muscles failing rapidly, as the adrenaline in his veins began to dwindle and he began to feel the effects of his earlier battle with the the Annialhlators and the multiple claw marks throughout his body compel him to tire. He had ignored the pain up until then; he had to and the adrenaline allowed him to continue this long in the battle… But he suddenly realized he won't be able to fight this fight much longer, let alone stand.
So, as he tried to pull the trigger, he found that he couldn't. That, even in a half-dead state, his body refused to hurt the girl in front of him, even despite all she had done to him and his friends. And, as he swayed on his feet, unconsciousness gaining grounds on overtaking him whole, Austin thought back to his first time in the Labyrinth, when the girl tried fire at him, but missed every shot of her bow somehow, despite being called "Scareleteye" for her precision with the bow. He couldn't help but wonder if that was the same for her.
As he fell forward, his friends' surprised yelps and exclaims of his name in worry not registering in his brain, the last thing Austin had consciously heard was the roaring growls and metallic hissing of monsters outside. But he couldn't do anything to help, because he was already unconscious.
Austin's dreams were weird.
The first one was of various images of places he doesn't remember ever going, people he doesn't even meeting and weird flashes of events he had no idea the meaning of. But, then again, he had no memory of his past life, so, you know, weird is the best word to describe the images he saw - That, and too fast too comprehend, but too vivid to forget.
The next dream was the weirdest one. He was back at the place he first remember meeting his Voice - The cell chamber that he first woke up in with no memory and no way out. Except, he wasn't alone. This time, Scarleteye was there, too, only, she was talking to a hooded figure that, when the hood was removed, revealed a copy of herself, standing right next to Austin's Voice.
"Why… How are you here? What's going on?" Austin asked the girl, who, like him, was completely disarmed of anything that he could use as a weapon to defend herself.
The four of them had glowing forms, glowing slightly grey, as if they were phantoms in this place. It was slightly unnerving for Austin when he noticed it. It honestly felt like an out-of-body experience. But, deep down, Austin knew he was in some kind of collective unconscious space existing between the two of them.
"Isn't it obvious?" the girl responded with a sigh of boredom. "We bear the same crest. We possess similar instincts and abilities."
"Only I'm no murderer like you," Austin shot back.
"Yeah, sure, but are you sure? You have no idea who or what you were before, do you? Are you certain you weren't sent here for penance in murdering someone?" Austin didn't like Scarleteye's response. It made him feel like he didn't know himself, which, considering that he had amnesia and couldn't remember anything from his past, the words hit way too close to home. Plus, there was also the fact that he had already thought of this, and was still struggling to entirely not believe it.
"Look," the girl continued. "We both share the same crest. We have similar abilities. If our instincts both called us here together, then it is important. You wanna keep accusing one another of murder, fine, but later. Our instincts is our greatest weapons, so listen for now. We can argue some more later."
"Whatever," Austin responded, annoyed at the reasonable answer she gave.
"Do you notice what happened when you two locked eyes?" asked Austin's Voice, when they stopped arguing.
"You mean that inability to hurt the other?" Austin waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, whatever. What does it have to do with anything?"
"It is everything," Scarleteye's Voice argued. "We share the same psychic wavelength. You know what that means?"
Austin looked to Scarleteye, who, shaking her head, seemed just as confused. Then he turned to the two Voices "Hell, no. Speak english."
The two Voices sighed in unison before Scarleteye's Voice spoke: "Scarlet? Austin? You are both so similar in many ways, yet so different, too. Scarlet, you are not afraid to use your abilities. You are a fighter by nature. Your abilities reflect that about you."
"Austin," his Voice began. "Since the beginning, you were hesitant of me - of us. Our power. But your ability to hunt and find things are unmatched to those you know."
"Why are you telling us this?" Scarleteye asked Austin's thoughts.
"Yeah," Austin voiced. "What's the point of it?"
"The point is that, though you have very different backgrounds, you use your abilities differently and don't really know one another," Austin's voice began. "You share the same wavelength. You have similar abilities and share the same crest. You are siblings."
It took a moment to let that sink in. When it did, Austin and Scarleteye looked at each other, and simultaneously responded with a "WHAT!?"
"Those with the owl crest that are siblings have a natural instinct to not kill the other," Austin's Voice said. "Sure, you can fight with one another all you want. Hell, you can grapple and scrape one another, but, for some reason, you can't fight with the intention to kill the other. We call this 'the Kill Inhibitor'. It resides in many owl crested siblings destined for great things."
"You two possessing the Kill Inhibitor means that you're both destined for a great fate and that neither of you can die by the other's hand until you achieve it," Scarleteye's Voice spoke. "As for what that destiny is, I cannot know. But I do know this: You must stay alive, both of you. Stay alive and keep each other alive."
Austin thought long and hard about this. He knew the Voice was mostly likely not lying. For some reason, his instincts believed both of them. His had never lied to him before, so why lie now? Even if the other belonged to Scarleteye, if what they said were true, then it meant that they both were reliant on each other to some degree.
He locked eyes with Scarleteye. "I'm not dying for you. And if the others kill you, I won't risk my life for you."
"I agree the same," Scarleteye said, looking at Austin with contempt.
"But I won't be the one that kills you," Austin said, surprising everyone else. They had thought that it would take more convincing. Evidently, Austin wasn't stupid. If he tried to kill her, then he'd fail, especially if this 'Kill Inhibitor' was behind the failed attempt before.
Turning to his Voice, he could only ask "Is there a way to get rid of the inhibitor?"
The Voice was silent for a while in thought, before answering with "I don't know. For now, I'm not completely at my fullest potential. I can only guide you however I can and help however I can. For now, though, no, I don't know of a way to get rid of the Kill Imhibitor."
Austin sighed in resignation. 'Of course this happens,' Austin thought to himself, shaking his head.
"There's not much time left. You're both waking up now." Scarleteye's Voice spoke.
"Look after each other. Get stronger. You'll need each other's strengths for what's coming, I fear." Austin's Voice spoke, as both Scarleteye and Austin began fading away, slipping into consciousness.
And that was when Austin's body decided to wake up.