What Separates Me and You

Lewis did not react. His stance remained firm, unblinking.

Josephine, on the other hand, was greatly panicked. She rushed forward and grabbed Seth's forearm, shaking her head frantically.

Her franticness coaxed a sneer from him, his bone-deep resentment awakened by her concern for that man's safety.

"What did you find?" Lewis asked suddenly.

Seth's gaze was cool. "Why should I tell you?"

Lewis raised his arm, pushing his dagger away. "It's getting late. Let's finish up here."

Dissatisfaction coated Seth's every move, even as he sheathed his dagger angrily. He yanked Josephine toward him, pushing her in front of the tombstone.

Josephine staggered all the way to where Seth wanted her, the photographs stark in her vision. Compared to the foreignness she had felt earlier, an indescribable emotion she couldn't quite identify seized her. Her chest felt unusually tight.

Lewis watched their silhouettes silently, turning to walk away.

He found an abandoned pavilion and leaned against its pillar, igniting a cigarette as he lost himself in his thoughts.

Meanwhile, Seth knelt in front of the tombstone and gestured for Josephine to come closer.

"Kneel here," he said in a low voice as he lit a few candles.

Josephine frowned, confusion marring her features.

Seth, however, was entirely preoccupied with the task at hand.

"Can't you read?" he said distractedly.

It was then that she turned her attention to the inscriptions carved on the headstones. Joseph and Elizabeth Vance, it read.

Vance-

Her eyes widened abruptly, and she leaned closer to examine the man's photograph. Vaguely, she thought she felt a familiar sense of recognition between those brows.

Her breath quickened.

Could it be-

Could he be-

A terrifying suspicion arose within her mind. She turned to Seth, hoping to attain the truth from him.

And yet, he was still lighting those dratted candles calmly, entirely fixated on the flickering firelight in the darkness that seemed to have descended around them. The smoke from the flames stung her eyes, but she did not look away.

Momentarily, all the strength she possessed seemed to have been drained, her body crumbling weakly to the ground.

She had been five when she first visited the Alvarez family.

At that time, she didn't remember much, but she did remember constantly hoping, constantly waiting for her parents to return and take her home. She had thought that they would find her again. One day-she told herself. One day, she would be home once more.

She'd always thought she still had a home to return to, that the people she loved were waiting for her there.

But now, Seth was telling her that she didn't, that the cold, rotting corpses below the two headstones in front of her were her parents.

She had no home after all.

"I'd wanted you to remember this yourself. I wanted to see the regret on your face, to see you pay for the years of complacency you seemed to have greatly enjoyed," he jeered. "Must be nice to be you. Not only do you never seem to remember anything, but you also forget things faster than you could register them.

"Whatever. There's no hope left for you to be anything but a waste of space.

"Who asked fate to have me indebted to you Vances."

Josephine sat down on the ground in a daze. She was unable to speak through her tears, and she hardly understood his words.

All she knew was that she no longer had a home, that the home she'd been dreaming of, her parents-they were all gone.

To have her hopes and dreams shattered in the swirling ashes from the candles was truly merciless.

Seth, to his credit, had completely calmed down as she cried. He rearranged the candles once more when a pair of arms clasped around his wrist.

He stilled, turning to look at her.

Josephine gazed at his face intently, as if she yearned to carve his appearance into her bones, if that was what it took for her to remember who he was.

And yet, no amount of time nor effort allowed her to place this man's identity in the cavernous space of her mind.

Her arms dropped helplessly. "Who-" she signed, "Who are you?"

The resulting smile that graced his face upon beholding her fingers that'd long frozen stiff was more ice than warmth.

"Who am I? That's for you to find out."

His refusal to answer her question fueled her distress. Josephine stared deeply at his profile, but only his lips and the tip of his nose were visible to her through the curtain of hair that fell over his cheek. She recalled his previous words desperately.

He'd said something about being indebted to the Vances.

If he owed them, then he couldn't be her brother, could he?

But if he wasn't her brother, who was he?

Josephine searched her mind for anything-anything at all-to clue her in to this man's identity and who he was to her. But even as her head throbbed incessantly, even as she clutched her hair and leafed through the remains of her mind, all she unearthed was a turmoil of anguish.

She tried-she really did to glean even the slightest inkling of information from the agonizing assault of her own mind, but... nothing. There was nothing in her mind-nothing but endless, persistent blankness.

And, of course, her memories with Lewis.

Josephine gritted her teeth through the pain and grabbed Seth's arm once more. Her eyes were pleading.

She wanted to know who he was-she needed to know how they were related.

She'd already lost a home, her parents.

And this man-he might very well be the last person on earth related to her by blood.

Despite her pleas, the more she persisted, the less inclined Seth was to reveal the truth to her.

He swatted her arm away, gazing directly into her eyes. "I will not tell you. If you can't remember, then let it be your punishment."

After that, he picked up a bottle of wine he had on hand and poured it onto the candles.

The alcohol in the wine prompted the flames to surge higher, its searing heat scalding her cheeks.

Josephine was close to breaking point now, and she bit her lip harder.

She couldn't remember, and he hated her for it. His refusal to enlighten her about their relationship was his way of punishing her.

Seth added, "Even though you'd forget today's happenings very quickly, Lewis is right. Although you might not have a single memory left, you would still have been punished. And this punishment wouldn't disappear so easily. It's not just a matter of forgetting anymore."

As he spoke, he retrieved a white watch from his pocket and handed it to her. "Don't lose it this time."

While he meticulously secured the watch on her wrist, her disheveled face appeared on the screen on his end.

The nearby bonfire, previously consisting of candles, was beginning to extinguish. The pile of black ashes it left behind blended into the night, as if they'd never existed in the first place.

After ensuring that the watch was secure on her, Seth told her distractedly, "Every New Year's Day, Elysians gather in cemeteries to pay respect to their ancestors. This is also the liveliest day of the year. "No matter how far you are from home, regardless if you're abroad or physically out of this world, it is necessary to return home on this auspicious day. I remember my last time returning to the Vance mansion to pay my respects. I remember how lively it'd been."

Seth murmured, as if they were having nothing but a casual conversation. His eyes were fixed on the headstones, though his mind was light years beyond.

"The old manor was so crowded it was comparable to the business of a market. And you, you were there too, dressed in a bright red dress fit for a princess, your hair tied up in pigtails. You were running around the house, and a toy drum was clasped in your arms as the whole family chased after you, afraid that you might hurt yourself in your excitement.

"Do you even know how fortunate you were? To be the only daughter in the household, doted on by everyone in your vicinity ..."

Seth's gaze turned complicated the more he spoke.

He raised his arm, placing it against her cheek. "Look at you now. What kind of life are you living by Lewis' side? Do you think you've lived up to their expectations? Do you think you could look them in the eye and tell them this is how you repay their painstaking care?"

Tears welled up in her eyes before streaming down her cheeks. A drop landed on Seth's fingertips, but he ignored its presence. "The way you treat him like he's your lifeline, like you'd die the second you leave him-Fuck you to hell and back, Josephine."