STARDUST

Zach had told him to stay at home. He did as told because it was impossible to walk in town with his rapidly swelling belly, the townsfolk being crazily religious and all. He was sure they’d be punished severely. Not only they were two guys having a relationship, they were two brothers – twins to be exact – having a relationship together… with the addition of being able to conceive.

On that basis, Zach had managed to get him to agree to his condition of staying at home if he wants the child along with them being alive still.

… but.

He agreed mostly because Zach had promised that he’ll keep him company at home. No matter how much he wanted to believe that Zach, his twin was mostly known for breaking or forgetting them.
And it was evident the first day his stomach started to show signs of pregnancy.

It wasn’t obvious at first… Zach usually disappears early in the morning, leaving Luc to find the room along with their home empty. He convinced himself that his twin was working extra hard to earn more income to be able to feed the extra mouth they’ll be having soon.

He told himself the same thing when Zach began coming home past midnight. One night, when he noted that his brother reeked of alcohol, he merely closed his eyes and told himself that it must be stressed to work all those long hours. And he was alright with that because he understands the hardship…

However, when Zach doesn’t touch him let alone talk or look at him anymore, he knew that something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. He had approached his brother on that matter once but…

---

“Zach, are you alright?” Luc said as he touched his twin’s shoulder, worry clearly etched on his face. But the expression soon changed to despair when Zach noticeably flinched from his touch before shifting slightly to put some distance between them.

“I’m fine, why do you ask?” He didn’t look up at Luc, pretending to be engrossed in his work.

“Because you’ve been acting very strange lately. Are you sure you’re fine?” Concern heavily laced his voice as Luc braved himself, sucked in his pride and touched his brother’s cheek.

What he did next was forever imprinted in Luc’s mind, no matter how many times his brother told him to forget about it.

Zach roughly grabbed his hand that was on his cheek and threw it aside, causing Luc to fall off his chair mostly from shock. At the sound of the chair hitting the ground, their parents came rushing in. The first thing Pat was about to do was hit Zach (since he assumed they must have been fighting) despite Cien’s cries of protest.

“Dad,” Luc took hold of his rising hand, shaking his head. “There was a cockroach and I fell out of shock,” he said, obviously shaken from what Zach had did and what his father was about to do. He never raised his hands against any of them, no matter how severe their crime was.

But he knew his dad wasn’t buying it…
“Please…” He said and when he heard his dad sigh in defeat, he smiled earnestly to his parents.

---

Once they retreated back to the living room, Zach had his hands balled into fists while gritting his teeth. “I-I’m truly sorry, Luc. I don’t know what got into me… I-I can’t believe that I inflicted pain on you,” he said, his head bowed in shame as his whole body shook.

Luc didn’t know whether he was telling the truth or lies but decided to forgive him nevertheless. “Zach…” He said as he touched his twin’s cheek, leaning in closer to kiss him. When he felt his twin’s whole body stiffen, he stopped and pulled back.
“Still too early, huh?” He mumbled to himself, causing his brother to stare at him with confusion. He shook his head before turning on his heel, heading towards the stairs.

“Luc!” Zach called out when he was about to ascend the stairs, causing him to stop. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”

It made Luc happy to hear that, but he shook his head before turning his body slightly to look at his brother. “Don’t bother if you’re forcing yourself to do so…” He said with a smile before resuming his way up the stairs.

---

Sure enough, Zach did try to make it up to him the days after. Now every time he woke up, Zach was there despite the lack of physical touch but beggars can’t be choosers, right? Even though he still comes home late, Luc was glad that they were at least exchanging more than three words whenever they were with one another.

What shocked him the most was yesterday when Zach gave him a light kiss, despite the reluctance that he could feel lingering in the kiss. He waved it off as his twin being cautious because of his pregnant state.
Well, at least that’s what he thinks until only weeks ago, when their parents left the house for some business at the city.

Zach had brought their best friend, Ed back home. When he inquired, he said that Ed didn’t have a place to stay while his visiting.
And Luc believed him… he forever does.

---

Today, Zach bought him a bouquet of roses… Luc was happy as he sat rocking beside the window, holding the flowers close to him as if they were his newborn child. He began humming a random tone to himself, wondering how he should thank his lover for the flowers.

… perhaps, he could do that.

Yes, he could most definitely do that to return the favor to him. He stood up, making his way towards his dresser and extracting his precious possession that was given to him for his ‘coming-of-age’ day by…

Hm… he can’t seem to remember who gave it to him.

Sitting back at his rocking chair, Luc began to hum yet again as he stroked his precious possession while still marveling the beautiful bloody red roses.

His attention on the roses was stolen when he saw his twin walking towards the house with Ed, though they were having some difficulty. Heh, who wouldn’t when you’re in a lip lock as tight as theirs?

His eyes followed them until they disappeared out of his view. But he knew they were entering the house now. How? Perhaps it’s because of the sound of the door slamming shut followed by haphazard footsteps ascending the stairs and entering the room beside his.

Luc waited, waited for the perfect moment to execute his plan. When he heard the sound of wanton moaning and groaning through the rather thin wooden wall, he stood up and exited his room, standing in front of the door where they were engaged in an intimate dance… without him.

---

He waited patiently until he heard Ed calling Zach name, stealthily entering the room and crawling all the way to the foot of the bed. When he saw Ed arch his back and nearly screaming out his release, Luc stood up and shot him right at the back of his head.

The sound of the shot silenced the whole room. Luc was silent to begin with, a crazed glint in his eyes and the moonlight somehow making him look… much different than usual. Zach was silent because of the shock when Ed suddenly fell on top of him, lifeless, bleeding… As for Ed, well, we know why they’re silent.

“E-ED? ED!!!!” Zach sat up slightly while wrapping his arms around the other, shaking him despite knowing that it was a useless effort. But there was no harm in trying, right?
“Luc, what the fuck has gotten into you?!” Any sane person would keep quiet and not provoke the person with the weapon but Zach wasn’t sane… he was nearing his peak damnit!!! Oh and Ed’s dead!

Luc merely stood there, his eyes lifeless as he stared at his brother, the gun still aiming at him. He wondered if he was the one killed, would Zach act this way?
Of course not…

“Luc! Don’t fucking ignore me!”

“Shut up, Zachary.”

And he did. Luc never calls him by his full name… Not when he’s angry, not when he’s sad, not when he’s depressed… never.

“You’re the lowest, Zachary. You used me! You were just fooling around with me and when I got pregnant, I’m damaged goo-”

“You’ve got it al-”

“I said SHUT UP!!” Luc yelled before he hugged himself insecurely. “We were still close before the pregnancy began to show just cause you could still fuck me then! When the pregnancy was obvious, you began to frequently disappear. Perhaps because I disgust you, right? Or my current appearance is unsightly, right? You think I don’t know, do you? You’ve been going to the inn for god knows how long now. The only reason you don’t let me go out was because you’re afraid that I would find out, right?” He chuckled darkly, leisurely pointing the gun back at Zach.

“I’m not stupid as you are, Zachary. When you brought him back-” He motioned at the lifeless body that his gaping and speechless twin was holding onto. “- I knew that you’ve been screwing him since you rarely bring people home, no matter how desperate they are.”

Zach’s eyes were wide as saucers by the end of Luc’s speech. He was serious… he was really serious. But, maybe… just maybe…

“I know you won’t do it. Because deep down, you still love me, don’t you?”

“Try me.”

Those were the last words he heard coming from Luc before he felt… well, when the bullet hit him squarely on his forehead, Zach couldn’t feel nor think anything. He dropped to the bed, dead.

---

Luc took a deep breath, feeling disturbingly satisfied. Retreating back to his room, he took the roses and re-entered the room, crawling on to the bed. With all his might, he pushed Ed off of Zach and off the bed, not caring of the other boy’s state of undressed.

He then carefully positions his twin, spreading him wide before plucking the roses and scattering the petals all over the bed. He laid beside his twin before pulling the other’s arm over his body, imagining that Zach was truly hugging him now.

“I’m sorry, I love you but you’re truly troublesome…” He muttered as he positions the gun at his swollen belly. He then looked up at Zach’s lifeless face, into his lifeless eyes and smiled as he gently planted a kiss on his still warm lips.
“I love you… and I still will. It’s a pity that things turned out this way since we used to be soo happy,” he smiled slightly before pulling the trigger.

“I love you Zach…” He breathed out rather shakily, the mere motion of stroking Zach’s hair becoming difficult because his hand was feeling rather heavy and he could see the black spots slowly filling his vision. He took another deep breath before he rested his hand on Zach’s cheek. He then closed his eyes and exhaled for the last time with one word…

“… forever.”

---

A/N: This is a work of pure fiction and has no relation to anyone and if it does, I apologize. Anyways, this is the second part of my story... Hm, I'm not sure what to comment that I already haven't commented in the first part, Ark. Make sure to read that too!! Although, there's no link to this except for the fact that the characters are siblings and the first tragedy in Ark happened the same night as this one did.
Oh and this story is roughly based on a song by Sound Horizon titled Stardust. Feel free to youtube it because it's awesome!! Oh and don't forget to review!!