Chapter Text
Fluffy clouds on a light blue background. The sky was so bright, but Aeolus wouldn't stop looking at it. After waking up a week ago, and determining there was nothing wrong with him, he was now enjoying the feeling of real grass under his fingers.
Something was off, though. Athanasia was acting weird.
He was never very perceptive to other people's emotions, even as Till, but even he could tell that his sister (A sister! He still wasn't over that part. The closest thing he had to a sibling before was Ivan, but that was just because Ivan refused to let him be, like ever.) was hiding something. What could it be?
He looked up at her and she jolted, standing straight and hiding something in her hands. Definitely suspicious. Athy slowly turned around, and Aeolus knew that he should wait for her to tell him herself, but Till had never been good at controlling himself so he asked her anyway.
"What are you hiding."
A bead of sweat rolled down Athanasia's forehead, leaving a small trail after it. Like snail mucus. (Snails were a weird discovery he had made in this world. They looked like segyein but they were small and had no teeth or limbs. He used to enjoy displacing him, but after regaining his memories, he crushed a few out of spite.)
Athanasia laughed nervously. "Nothing! Why would I be hiding anything." She was a bad liar.
Aeolus leaned to the side and peeked behind her back. A small pouch was clutched in the palm of her hands. Athanasia followed his gaze and gave a small sigh of defeat. Slowly, she brought it out in front of him and opened it. It was full of shiny jewels, and other valuables. Aeolus frowned in confusion.
"Do you remember what I said about running away together?" She asked, and oh. That's why she was hiding it. He fainted the last time she brought it up. She was being considerate. His chest warmed at the thought and he nodded.
"I've been gathering and hiding these around here, so that we have funds for when we escape," she explained. She looked more serious than he had ever seen her, eyebrows furrowed and eyes blazing. "I didn't wanna tell you yet, because..." Because you fainted the last time I brought it up.
He flushed a little, embarrassed. "I'm fine!" He said, wincing because it came out louder than he expected. "Why do you wanna run away, anyway? " What is there to run from? This world is peaceful. He does want to go outside, see what's different. Earth was overrun years ago, and humans were enslaved by the aliens.
(The palace felt like Anakt sometimes, all white walls and closed doors, but there was colour. Colour everywhere, colour in the crayons Lily brings them, colour in the story books, colour in the curtains, the clothes, and the beautiful colours in Lily's eyes and voice when she sang them to sleep. The gorgeous swirling colour in Athy's jewelled eyes whenever she ate some of her favourite food.)
Athy bit her lip. "I, um. I'll tell you one day." She looked uncomfortable, and Till didn't want to wait, (He never did) but Aeolus trusted Athy. How could he not? (She shone like the sun, no matter what she did.) He stood up suddenly, and went over to one of the rose bushes. They were red, just like Mizi's flowers used to be. Athy looked up, startled and asked curiously.
"What are you doing."
"I'm going to make a flower crown." He announced, dropping a bunch of roses, and flopping down next to them.
"...Do you know how to make a flower crown," Athy asked sceptically. Aeolus shrugged. He saw Mizi do it loads of times, it couldn't be that hard.
It was. It was that hard. But it felt like a challenge. Multiple failed flower crowns and broken flowers later, Till was focusing so hard, that he didn't even notice Athy calling his name. It was worth it, because the result wasn't trash. It wasn't a fragile crown, that would break when he picked it up, and it wouldn't prick the person's head when worn.
(He tore out every thorn, pretending each one was a tooth from the wagyein monster back in Anakt. He may have left Till behind, but he couldn't stop himself from taking little revenges where he could.)
It didn't look perfect, so he would try again tomorrow, but for now - he plopped it down on Athy's head, and she gasped in delight.
Immediately, she ran over to the fountain in the garden to see how it looked.
(He had looked at himself in that fountain multiple times. He and Athy were twins, but they still didn't look that alike. Till's eyes were still sharp, like they were before. The shade of blue was different, but he couldn't really tell, with his face reflected in the translucent blue of the water. He knew his hair was blonde, but the only thing that reminded him of was Luka. His face being the last thing he saw before waking up here. Even still, it was different.)
"It's so pretty!" she gushed. Aeolus' ears burned red, she may look pretty in it, but the crown itself still looked a mess.
(Her smile shone like the sun. Mizi's did too, but he wasn't worth basking in her light back then. Still, like the sun it didn't discriminate. That was why he loved her, after all. His love for Athy was different, but he still wanted that smile to remain forever. Be directed towards him, sometime. Maybe it was selfish of him.)
A pleased smile spread across his face, which brought on a whole new round of gushing. Athy cooed at him like he was still a baby, but they were five years old now. Granted, compared to his age in the past that was a baby, but they were twins! She still acted like she was older than him. That was okay. (Till was a mature adult he would not argue with a child. No child wanted to be around him at Anakt anyway.)
Athy pinched his cheek. "My baby brother is adorable!"
He was a mature adult.
His face flushed. "We're twins!"
He cornered Athy later that night, and demanded that if she was running away, she let him join in preparing for it. Sitting around helplessly, like some damsel in distress was something he'd had enough of in his past life. And waiting for things to fall into his lap was never something Till was good at.
It was dark, and he couldn't quite make out her expression, but she agreed, so it was fine.