Epic Of Caterpillar

Chapter 2552 - 2553: A Brotherʼs Love

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”Hanshuan…” Zagreus muttered, as he saw the scene while gritting his teeth. ”Y-You donʼt really need to go so far… Sheʼs already back this is… this is just madness…”

”It was his decision…” Sindarin said, holding his hands. ”We canʼt… do anything else, Zagreus.”

”…” Zagreus felt guilty, if he had been stronger, none of this would have happened.

Hanshuan hugged his sister and gave her warmth. The cold made her confused, and also very afraid. She was crying because she didnʼt understand what happened to her, until her brother told her the truth, that she had died.

While hugging his twin sister, the only family he had ever had, Hanshuan gave her his warmth, all of it. The coldness that made her mind feel so sad, and that brought her so much despair slowly dissipated, embraced by the fiery warmth of life.

”B-Brother? Whatʼs… I feel so warm… Whatʼs going on?”

Henshian was confused, but her brother didnʼt say a word, smiling at her like he always did ever since they were two little Fire Monkeys surviving in the Fiery Jungles of the Sun.

It was a life full of challenges, where both of them were always at deathʼs door, trying to survive a single day was a challenge in itself.

And yet they did it together, without the other, they would have never been able to get this far, and Hanshuan owed much to his sister for having saved his life so many times.

”Donʼt worry sis… You wonʼt feel cold.”

”H-Hanshuan, your hands… Why are they so cold?! Brother? W-Whatʼs happening?!”

As the girl gained her life completely and her warmth came back to her, as if she had never died, her brother became paler, and the crown of red flames above his head turned blue, with phantasmal, cold flames.

”I gave you part of my life, so you wouldnʼt suffer through the coldness of death.”

”W-Wha…?!”

”I didnʼt want you to suffer… I failed you as a brother, I let you die… I-I didnʼt know what to do.”

”Hanshuan…”

”I just… I just wanted you back no matter what… Iʼm sorry if it upsets you, Henshian… But I donʼt regret this.”

”Y-You dummy! Why?! You idiot! Why did you do this?!”

Henshian started crying over her brotherʼs chest, hitting him with her little fists gently, trying to make him see how wrong he was for doing such a thing.

”You didnʼt have to go so far for me! Just like I was before it was fine… E-Even if it was cold, I wouldʼve gotten used to it! I… I had your warmth!”

”But I wouldnʼt had been able to see you suffer so much, Henshian… Now your heart is finally fiery as always. Carry my Life and my Warmth forever with you, sister.”

”…Idiot, I-I… Of course… How could I ever reject this after everything you did… I-I… But why?! Ugh! Y-Youʼre so reckless…!”

”Maybe I am… but I am so happy now, more than if I wouldnʼt had given it to you…”

”Youʼre so cold…!”

”Itʼs fine because I have you.”

”Idiot brother!”

”Yes, Iʼm an idiot… And Iʼm also grateful I have a smart sister.”

”Iʼll get your flame back somehow! I promise!”

”Itʼs… alright… Iʼm fine, seriously.”

Hanshuan and Henshian stopped hugging each other, as the two adorable Sun Monkey God siblings relaxed and started talking like normal.

”Seriously? Really? You seem… very cold… I-I donʼt think youʼre fine…”

”Iʼm fine! It is just like taking a cold bath! Nothing serious, I swear.”

”If it wasnʼt so serious you wouldnʼt had given me your Flame of Life!”

”T-Thatʼs… Well, I just did it because youʼre such a crybaby! I wouldnʼt had been able to live with you complaining how cold you were all the time.”

”Hmph! I wouldnʼt do that!”

”I bet you would force me to carry a bag full of coats to cover from your own cold, it would be so tedious!”

”Geez!”

Although he said he was fine, he wasnʼt. He simply held back his pain. The pain of being embraced by the coldness of death.

It didnʼt quite feel like he just died, but as if he somehow… Lost something very precious. And yet, to him, precious thing he lost wasnʼt even as comparable to her, to the girl in front of him, which was alive.

The Divine Flame inside of his heart was now gone, and this made his own Divinity become twisted, stranger, instead of the Sun Flames he wielded, and Sunlight, they had become Shadows and Phantom Flames.

”My Divinity though, it sure changed, haha…”

He forced a slight laughter to make his sister relax, he tried his best to tell her was going to be fine no matter what. Hanshuan opened his palms and released darkness instead of Sunlight, and phantom flames instead of Sunflare.

”I-Itʼs kinda weird… Are you sure you like this?!”

”I canʼt say I like it, but would you have liked it? I bet not!”

”Uhhh… You only make me feel guilty!”

”Iʼm sorry, but you donʼt have to feel guilty, what I did was just my own selfish desires!”

As they continued talking, Zagreus, Sindarin, and Glimmerdust greeted them, Henshianʼs face quickly beamed happily as she saw them.

”You guys! Y-You all made it?! Iʼm so happy!”

She hugged them all with her big arms and her long tail, she was around twice their size after all.

”Yes, despite everything, we somehow survived…” Zagreus said. ”Iʼm glad to have you back, Henshian.”

”Yeah! I-Iʼm so happy, sniff…” Glimmerdust cried with her big moth-like eyes.

”Henshian! Please donʼt… donʼt leave us so suddenly again, okay?” Sindarin asked.

”O-Okay… I know I died, and it was sad… I am still trying to process it…” Henshian started crying as she hugged the two girls. ”Iʼm sorryyyy…”

As they cried, Zagreus walked towards Hanshuan, who suddenly looked grim the moment his sister stepped out.

”Hanshuan…”

”A-Ah, Zagreus! Iʼm fine, really!”

”You donʼt seem to be fine… For how long you will be able to pretend?”

”As long as sheʼs happy… Iʼll be happy too. Donʼt worry.”

”Fine, have it your way then. But donʼt say I didnʼt warn you…”

”I know… This was for the best, and I donʼt regret it.”

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