People always said twins were inseparable. That they shared everything—faces, thoughts, fates.
But they are wrong.
Julius and I were born on the same day, from the same mother, in the same house. Yet from the moment he opened his eyes, he was different. Blue eyes, brighter than a summer sky. Snow-white hair that caught every ounce of sunlight. A smile that drew people in like moths to flame. He was warmth, laughter, radiance.
And me? I was the shadow that followed. Black hair, black eyes, pale skin. A face so ordinary it vanished in crowds. Where he shone, I faded. Where he walked, people parted the way. Where I stood, I was overlooked, as though I wasn't even there.
It wasn't just looks. Julius was perfect. He always brought home the best grades, perfect scores that left teachers praising him as a prodigy. On the field, he was untouchable—captain of the soccer team, natural at every sport he tried. He was the kind of child parents boasted about to neighbors, the kind they held up as an example at dinner.
And I? I had nothing. Nothing but a sword in my hand.
Fencing—something my classmates laughed at as an outdated hobby, something my parents dismissed as "just a sport with no future." Yet it was the only place I wasn't Julius's shadow. The only place I could breathe.
I told myself it didn't matter. I told myself I didn't care.
But then Elena chose him.
She was ours—our childhood friend. Short, bright, with a smile that made her seem younger than she was, and eyes that sparkled with mischief. She had been the only one who ever made me feel visible. She lingered to watch me spar. She listened to me talk about books Julius never cared for. For years, I believed that connection meant something.
But when her hand slipped into Julius's, when her laugh was softer at his side, I understood the truth. People always chose the sun.
Did it hurt? Of course. My chest ached with it, a quiet twisting that never went away. But I didn't rage. I didn't scream at her or hate him. I swallowed it down, the way I always did.
And I turned to the only thing that never betrayed me—my blade.
While they went on movie dates, I sparred until my palms split and bled. While they shared sweet nothings under neon lights, I stood in the dim training hall, thrusting and parrying against an empty air that was more faithful than any companion.
My sword became my partner. My confidant. The rhythm of my strikes was the only heartbeat I trusted. The sting of blisters was the only embrace I deserved.
I endured. I hardened. I made the silence my ally.
And it paid off.
At the interschool fencing tournament, I moved like water, like wind, like something not bound by flesh. Point after point, match after match, I carved my way forward. I won—not by accident, not by miracle, but by bleeding for it when no one was watching.
The applause was shallow. My parents' faces showed only polite approval, a single nod that cost them nothing. Julius, of course, had their full smile, as though he had been the one holding the blade.
But for once, someone else noticed.
An old fencing expert, retired from international tournaments, approached me after the match.His back was bent with years, but his eyes were sharp, unclouded. His grip, when he shook my hand, was iron.
"You're exceptional," he said. Not promising. Not good. Exceptional.
That word seared into me. A brand. A proof that all those nights alone had not been wasted.
I wanted to treasure it. But when I told Julius, he only smirked, clapped my shoulder, and said, "That's great, little brother."
We were the same age. He knew it. But he always said it anyway. As if the shadow must trail behind the sun.
I told myself I didn't care. And maybe I was starting to believe it.
---
The night it happened, the rain fell like knives.
I left the training hall late, soaked in sweat, my muscles screaming. The street lamps flickered through the downpour, each step home heavy. Julius was waiting with an umbrella, casual as ever, his shirt half-unbuttoned, hair somehow untouched by the storm.
"Still at it, Luci?" His smile was sharp, mocking. "You know, no matter how good you get, people won't care. They want the sun. That's why Elena chose me."
The words should have cut. But instead, I only gripped my bag tighter. My voice came out quiet, cold.
"Then I hope you protect her better than I ever could."
For the first time, he faltered. His smirk slipped, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. Guilt? Pity? It didn't matter.
We walked in silence after that, the umbrella rattling under the storm's fury.
Then came the roar of an engine. Headlights cutting through rain. Tires screaming on slick asphalt.
The truck hurtled toward us.
I barely had time to gasp before Julius shoved me. My body slammed against the railing, ribs bursting with pain. His face, for a split second, was desperate, raw—then the world shattered in metal and screams.
My vision tore apart in light and sound.
---
I thought death would be silence.
But it was not. It was endless.
I drifted in darkness, no body, no form, only thought. A void that stretched forever. Yet in that vastness, one voices thundered like gods.
"Half for the light, half for the dark."
"Then let fate divide them."
I reached for Julius, desperate, my twin, my other half. My hand stretched toward his figure in the void.
But light seized him, dragged him away. And I—
I sank.
Shadow swallowed me whole.