A distant past…
His hands tremble.
Peter was barely ten years old, the knife in his grip heavier than any burden a child should bear. His eyes were filled with tears, his lower lip quivering. In the corner, leaning weakly against the wall, his mother struggled to breathe. Yet a serene smile remained on her face, even as blood stained her dress.
Her voice barely above a whisper, pleading:
"End my suffering… please… my son…"
He crawled toward her through blurred vision, choking on his tears, his scream tearing free as he drove the blade in—
—yet she did not cry out.
Instead, she opened her arms and held him tight.
The knife remained embedded in her chest.
She whispered:
"You… are my pride…"
And in that embrace, she let go of life.
Peter shattered. His cries echoed through the room. His tears burned like embers as he clutched her lifeless body, whispering words into emptiness—imagining that if he cried enough, she might return.
He did not understand what had happened… until Lucas burst in, guided by his brother's screams.
He found Peter kneeling there, holding their mother's body, the knife still planted deep in her chest.
Lucas approached in horror, eyes wide as the world seemed to halt around him.
"Mom…?!" he whispered.
Then he turned to Peter, voice trembling, fear strangling each word:
"Did you… kill her?"
Peter could not speak.
He simply could not.
The weight of his pain crushed him beyond language.
⸻
Now…
His hand trembles again.
Peter grips a sword, taken from a headless knight. He steps down from the execution platform, each footstep heavy—every memory clawing its way back with each breath.
He strides toward Nereus, the friend at the storm's center.
But Marcus notices first.
He stands before Peter, anger etched into his eyes, voice harsh:
"What are you doing?!"
Peter does not look away. His voice is distant:
"Step aside… This must be done."
From across the square, Lucas sees him and rushes forward, wrapping Nereus in a protective embrace, hiding behind him.
"Peter! Are you out of your mind? That's Nereus—our brother!"
At that exact moment—
Ilarious and Valerian arrive. Their eyes widen in horror.
Corpses lie headless on the ground.
Black veins pulsate from the earth like living nightmares.
Death hangs heavily in the air.
Ilarious moves, eyes fixed on Sera, still standing atop the execution platform.
But Aqua grabs his arm with urgency:
"Do not move… the air itself is corrupted. Even you, mythical though you may be, would have your head burst."
Ilarious pulls back his hand, glaring with anger and contempt.
⸻
Peter and Marcus—face-to-face.
Marcus roars:
"He's doing this to protect you! To protect Sera! And this is your reward?"
Peter's voice cracks, tears tinting each word:
"You don't understand… he wants this…"
"He wants to die?! Who could want death?!" Marcus shouts.
Peter's response is barely audible, but tremors ripple through his body:
"Stay out of my way—before it gets worse…"
Marcus readies himself for battle.
"If you want to kill him… you'll have to go through me first."
Peter knows—Marcus's brutal strength is unmatched.
Still… he advances.
He swings.
Marcus blocks the attack, sending a shockwave through the ground.
He is a beast. Their shield. Their protector.
Sera watches from afar, tears glistening.
She sees the boy who once called them "family."
She remembers laughter… memories molded together.
And she wonders—must he die?
She steps off the platform.
Stands before Peter—
Just as Marcus's blow comes down.
"Stop this!" she cries.
Marcus halts mid-swing:
"You're choosing him? Are you insane?! That is Nereus! Our brother!!"
Sera speaks, voice pure resolve:
"I cannot let him die… but I won't let you fight each other now. We need to think—together."
She faces Peter:
"Why choose killing first? Why not try to stop the curse?"
Peter's desperation fractures:
"As if we know how! You don't understand…"
He glances toward Lucas, still clutching Nereus.
"Don't you remember how he lost his sight? The nights we thought he cried for blindness? He cried because he killed a man."
"Now he has killed dozens—innocents! Can't you see, Lucas?!"
Lucas snarls through tears:
"You heartless monster! That's your solution to everything—violence. Just like what you did to our mother! But I… I won't let it happen again!"
Peter's eyes fill with agony only someone who's carried the weight of death could know:
"Do you think for a moment I was happy… that I killed our mother? I did it so you could live without that pain."
Lucas screams back, words seething:
"Liar! Merciless! Emotionless!"
⸻
Suddenly—
Nereus opens his eyes.
A calm smile illuminates his face.
Time freezes.
"I… see you."
Sera's tears overflow, but she catches her breath—something about this awakening feels ominous.
"You're okay!!!" Lucas sobs, voice raw.
Nereus whispers:
"You are beautiful… I am… truly happy."
Peter collapses, blinks through tears:
"I never wanted to hurt you. I thought… this is what you wanted."
Nereus smiles—sad yet gentle:
"Yes… please… my insides… they are crushed."
Their eyes go wide.
Sera cries out:
"No! We can heal you! You'll become whole again!"
Nereus's sadness softens his expression:
"No… This is my curse… To remain like a tree that kills the ones who come close.
There was one last wish—before I transformed:
That my eyes would return… to see you—my family."
They all collapse—grief's embrace suffocates them.
Black roots creep around his limbs.
Blood seeps from his mouth.
He smiles faintly, voice a whisper:
"I… I love you all…
Please… kill me.
Do not let the world remember me… as the monster who killed the innocent."
The scene halts in wrenching silence.
Then—
A child's scream.
"Mooooommmm!!"
A young boy races forward—barely clothed.
At his mother's side—her body lifeless.
As he stepped into the tainted air—
His head explodes.
They freeze in horror.
Death was no longer abstract—it was immediate.
Peter's final cry shreds the silence—he raises the sword and plunges it into Nereus's chest.
One strike.
Nereus gasps.
"It hurts…"
Sera screams.
Marcus pushes Peter away.
Lucas trembles, haunted.
Nereus's eyes dim.
Then—he dies.
Peter collapses, trembling on the ground, face buried in his hands.
Sera clings to his cold body, sobbing:
"No… please… no…"
Marcus and Lucas collapse beside him, wracked with grief.
In the distance, Loren stands with the others—eyes wet with sorrow.
She whispers through her tears:
"…He was such a good boy…"
⸻
He is gone.
With Nereus… a part of their little thieves' family vanished forever.
⸻
And in the stillness that remains…
Let this truth echo through your soul:
Sometimes the heaviest sacrifice is not the life we take, but the innocence we lose along the way.