“Are we making less money?” Elray asked with his thin lavender brows furrowed in intense concentration while staring at the minimal funds they had, Alroy having let him look through the small pouch their father had given them to spend on food in the nearest town. And after digging through it, there were only two silver coins and a measly nine copper pieces, which was definitely less than usual by a considerable margin. Though it only led Alroy to sigh, maneuvering around people while he kept an arm hovering around Elray’s shoulders so that they didn’t get separated, as his brother was known to run off at the drop of a hat.

  “Yeah, the farm hasn’t been doing too well. You would know this if you paid attention to mom,” he grouched instead, subtly turning his cheek to risk another glance at the thick bandage their father had put over Elray’s nose after Alroy had punched him for playing with his dagger without permission. Looking at the fresh injury made him wince, and the boy had to look down towards the ground below him while he followed the beaten trail, shame and regret bubbling up inside him. “Um, and… and sorry about your nose, too, I guess. You know, because I… punched you, and all. I mean, you deserved it, but uh. Sorry.”

  “Hm?” Elray turned towards him with a rather uncaring look, lavender hair framing his small face before his twin broke out into a horrible grin. “Haha! Apology not accepted!”

  “What? But I really meant it!” Alroy snapped angrily, reaching a fist up on instinct to slam it onto Elray’s head, his brother wincing as the coin pouch slipped from his grip, Alroy needing to quickly maneuver and twist his frame in order to catch it. “Hey! Be careful! You’ll lose all our money!”

  “Then don’t hit me! I thought you were sorry!” Elray cried, his voice raised in frustration, Alroy not able to fathom what he should even be saying in response to that before he automatically switched the gears in his mind to be on the defensive.

  “I am sorry!” he insisted, voice a tad bit strained while he did nothing but glare back at the glare he was already receiving.

  “Then why’d you hit me?!”

  “Because you, you… you made me mad!!”

  “This is why I hate you!!” Elray screamed in his face, Alroy’s bronze features only wrinkling further, scrunching up into a tightly knitted scowl, before he had to quicken his pace to make sure his idiot twin brother didn’t get lost in this wide crowd, the other having turned away from him with a huff before rushing forward without even a direction to be traced in his mind.

  “Ugh, come back here! Fine, I’m really sorry, I won’t hit you anymore!!”

  Though all of that really must just sound like empty words, and both of them knew it. But still, he hated going into town with Elray. Not only was it a four hour walk just to get there, but being around that many people in general was just a hassle. Sometimes they even got robbed. Though, really, it was a small town compared to others, he supposed. There was never much going on, and it was surrounded by a whole bunch of nothing, with the next big town being weeks of travel away. But still, it was fairly big and was spread about for a few miles… and it did have a lot of expensive shops filled with niceties and antiques. Alroy had never been able to afford any nice outfits for himself, but… wow. He couldn’t help the way his eyes got caught on a long, flowy yellow dress decorated with lace and white flowers, the ruffles looking so smooth and soft, with a cute golden ribbon placed under the chest to make the bust look truly cute and fashionable. If he had the choice, he’d like to wear something like that. Though… that would probably never happen. It was nice to dream, though.

  Yet before he even realized what he was doing, Elray caught him and the way he was staring so longingly at the adorable dress behind all the glass, needing to stop in his tracks to walk backwards so that they didn’t lose each other. And the lavender-haired twin looked up at the frilly yellow gown with deep violet eyes, tilting his head at it in slight confusion, as if he were attempting to see what Alroy saw. “Do you want to wear this? I suppose it is pretty. And you’ve always liked girl’s clothes.”

  “Uh, that’s because female clothing is just objectively better. Man, why couldn’t I have been born a girl?” Alroy complained idly, turning away from the window to lead Elray along. Yet, for a long moment after, all the weaker twin could do was stare at him and watch his back, almost stuck in some sort of fractured amazement, before something seemed to click in his mind and he ran up towards his brother to walk at his side.

  “I think mom might have killed you at birth if she saw you were a girl. She said once that was her plan, since she wanted a boy to do all the labor,” Elray chattered mindlessly without much tact or care, Alroy only listening in silence while his resentment for his mother only grew. “But then she got two boys instead! Dad said she’d been very happy, because she was hoping we’d be big and strong, just like him! And, well, at least you’re big and strong, Alroy.”

  “Well, duh, that’s why I’m her favorite,” he shot back like a snipe, hands balling up into tight fists at his sides while he kept strutting through town. “Still though, I’m just glad dad convinced her to let us be freeloaders until we’re twenty. I still wonder how he managed to convince her.”

  “Uhh, well, we’re only ten years old, so that gives us another ten years, then,” Elray looked at his fingers, Alroy sticking his tongue out with a groan of pure disbelief.

  “Bleghh, yeah right. I’ll be running away from this damn house before I reach that. I plan to pack my bags and dip when we turn fifteen.”

  “Huh? You can’t leave me here alone! We should take dad, too, then. We can run away from mom, all three of us!”

  “Man, you’re joking, right? I’m tryna get away from all of you, not just mom,” Alroy spat rudely with undeniable venom in his tone, Elray only giving a deep frown with more frustration.

  “...well that’s not nice. Jerk.”

  “Eh? Say that again and you’re getting another punch to the face.”

  “But you’re being a jerk! See, you’re threatening me again! You jerkface!”

  “Hey now, it might be my dream to be a nice pretty girl with long hair and nice eyelashes, but I can still throw a nasty punch.”

  “Just yesterday you said it was your dream to be a dragon! Make up your mind, stupid!”

  “Can’t a girl have both?!”

  “You’re not even a girl!!”

  And oh, how the arguing continued. But despite all his threats, Alroy didn’t punch Elray again that day. In fact, he could still remember with vivid clarity the things his father had said to him three years ago. That he should protect his twin, who was weaker than him. Because he was the strong one, and that he should use his strength to be a protector, instead of someone who hurt. And it was true that he was getting along with Elray better now. They still argued constantly, and whenever they got into physical fights, Alroy always won and Elray always got hurt… but his twin still never lost his will to fight no matter how difficult things got. But it didn’t stop Alroy from wanting to escape them all.

  Lila was self explanatory. She tolerated him and praised him sometimes when he did work for her, and ignored him the rest. More often than not, she could be found snapping at Elray and calling him a waste of space. She’d even tried to kill him before. Of course, their father had defused everything, often with pretty words and empty promises rather than real action, but he never actually tried to stop it from continuing. He was scared of Lila, too. Because she actually had offensive concepts, whereas he did not. Her concept was the ability to never miss your mark with a knife, to always have perfect accuracy, and she always had a knife on her. She’d used it on Alroy before, too, when she got really mad. What a scary woman. Alroy needed to get out of here before she decided he wasn’t her favorite son after all.

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  “Uh, will this food be enough to last even a week? Mom’s gonna get mad at us for not bringing back as much as usual,” Elray frowned, Alroy scratching at his ear while the two of them started the long four hour trek back home.

  “She can get mad all she wants, but we spent everything dad gave us. Not our fault. Let’s just throw dad under the log if she starts getting aggressive.”

  “Huh? No, we can’t do that! Alroy, why are you so mean all the time?! Do you really hate dad that much?!” Elray huffed angrily, his voice pitched into a sharp whine, before he took a hand away from the food he was carrying to push his brother’s shoulder, which only made Alroy turn around to give him an even fiercer glare.

  “Aye, I said what I said! That man’s supposed to be our dad, it’s literally his job to protect us, not that he’s ever done it. Now shut up before I punch you.”

  “I’m gonna tell dad you threatened me again!”

  “Yeah, well I didn’t really do anything!”

  “But you might later!”

  “Huh? No I won’t!”

  “Good. Then I have no reason to shut up!”

  “...you’re dead, Elray.”

  “Ahhh, stop pulling my hair, ow, ow! That hurts! You’re so mean, big meanie!”

  Ugh, whatever, this was stupid. Alroy let go of his brother’s soft hair without much of a fight, and merely endured the rest of Elray’s ceaseless chattering until they got home. His twin was always happy, although Alroy didn’t know how. What felt like ages ago, he used to idealize their dad too, when he’d been younger… and maybe he was still young, only being ten years old. Yet the older he got, the more he watched that man get bossed around by his wife and get beat for it. Over his entire lifetime, whenever his parents got into a major argument, Lila would cut off one of his fingers at the joint, slowly taking more of the finger each time Morro did something she didn’t like. Now the man was missing three fingers, two on one hand and another on the other, and the pinky on his left was missing its tip. And Alroy knew what they usually argued about.

  Elray. Whether they should keep him or not. Their mother always said that if his twin didn’t start pulling his weight soon or doing anything besides reading his storybooks, that if he didn’t start being productive… she’d have him sold off for money. There were plenty of child trafficking scenes on their planet, Osmoro. It was in the same universe as Lilino, and was actually very close to such an important planet. But it was often overlooked by incoming tourists, and didn’t have the best atmosphere because of it. They didn’t get much revenue at all, you see. And of course, no matter how well they were monitored, things always slipped between the cracks. Queen Nadia Aixon, the woman who was supposed to be in charge of their planet, had never stepped foot into this town, and therefore would never hear of a whisper if an innocent child was shipped off to be exploited or turned into a slave. But, then again, that wasn’t very different from what their mom wanted them to be when they turned twenty, was it? Which was exactly why Alroy needed to leave, and leave Elray behind, too. His twin would only be deadweight. If Alroy wanted to survive, he needed to leave on his own.

  “Mom, we’re home. Dad didn’t give us much money this time, so we weren’t able to buy all the food you wanted. I don’t know how long it will last us,” Alroy gruffed out without making eye contact the moment he stepped inside, instinctively painting Morro as the villain while he put the baskets of bread, potatoes, and thin strips of meat on the table for Lila to come and analyze.

  It only took her a moment to look over what they’d brought back, before she predictably clicked her tongue and turned on the two children in front of her. “Seriously? Your foolish father only gave you enough money for this? How does he expect us to live off just these scraps for the next month? Agh, I swear, there’s too many mouths to feed in this damn house… and one of you brats doesn’t even put in any work that would make me want you to stay,” she glared at Elray, the boy instinctively clinging to the safest person in the room… who just happened to be him, his twin brother, Alroy.

  The action was small. But the truth was, Elray had never tried clinging to him like that before. Had never reached out to him for protection in such a vulnerable way. They argued too much, fought too much, hurt each other too much. Alroy was far too violent to be any safe person for Elray to look towards. He might’ve been playing somewhat nice for the past few years because their father wanted him to, but let’s face it, Alroy wasn’t a nice person at all. He just wanted to survive. And yet, this hand clutching him… the trembling grip, the fear in his twin brother’s eyes that Alroy saw when he turned to spare him a glance… and then, before he could even process what was going on, their mother’s hand was grabbing Elray by the hair, pulling him by his fluff of lavender before she began dragging him around the house and into the kitchen, forcing the poor, weak boy to let go of him as Alroy could only stare, horrified.

  “That’s it, I’ve had it with you. You do nothing but ogle and read all day, and I’ve tolerated it for too long already! I never wanted twins, one strong son would’ve been enough, so you don’t need to be here anymore. The least we can do to make you useful is chop you up and sell your parts,” Lila snapped, the most furious either twin had ever seen her, Elray’s face getting pushed into the kitchen counter right as the woman went and grabbed a knife. “Now, just stay still, you little—”

  “Mom, wait!”

  Alroy had no idea what possessed him. He’d been thinking about abandoning this forsaken family for years. He’d been dreaming of the day he could leave everything behind, and that had always included Elray. And yet, despite all of that and for a reason he might never know, now that things had come to this, he couldn’t let it happen. And… and he would do whatever it took to make sure it didn’t.

  “Mom, I know the reason we didn’t have enough money this month! Look at this!” he lied cleanly, pulling out the dagger his father had bought him over three years ago. But Alroy had taken good care of it, and had never even used it once. It still looked brand new, and… in reality, their father had never actually tried to protect either of them. He let them get beat, let them get yelled at, let them get cut up, was going to let them get turned into child slaves the moment they turned twenty, despite them still being young kids with the age of adulthood being one hundred years old. He might be gentle with them, but he was no protector. He wasn’t a strong father. He wasn’t the protector they needed. So if Morro wasn’t going to protect them, wasn’t going to face his fear of his wife to get them out of here… then Alroy wasn’t going to protect him, either.

  “Look, dad bought me this dagger recently, just last week. He said it was expensive, but he wanted me to be able to protect myself. I know Elray doesn’t do much, but still, you’ll get more out of him by keeping him alive so that he can work one day, right? Once we’re grown, even Elray will be strong enough to make us more money, and obviously we’ll be more responsible than dad. Seriously, who’s the real problem here?” Alroy lied through his teeth, carefully stepping in between the woman and his twin before he reached under his brother’s arm, propping Elray up to cradle his head into his chest, rubbing the sore spot that was sure to bruise with his thumb, the most gentle he’d ever been.

  And Lila carefully took the dagger he’d offered her as if in sacrifice, eyes scanning over its appearance. She analyzed, cold and calculating, before her violet eyes flickered over to Alroy, shining with contempt. “Good boy. Don’t worry, I’ll have this handled. Just wait here.”

  After those ominous words had been spoken aloud, she walked past them without another glance to spare, Alroy carefully kneeling down to help Elray sit comfortable. He was prepared to let him go. He didn’t think he was needed anymore. He’d gotten them out of being chopped up and sold, so his role here was done. Elray had never been clingy with him before, but… but this time, there were shaking hands wrapping around his shoulders, uneven breaths hitting his neck while his twin brother inched as close as he could possibly get. And Alroy didn’t know what to do, so he just sat there, holding him. Holding Elray, his brother, who he had just… protected. He’d protected him… for the first time, Alroy had protected somebody, somebody who was… somebody who was very important to him. And that realization made him hold Elray even tighter, burying his head in his brother’s shoulder as the two of them silently cried.

  And for the first time, Alroy realized… he wanted to become somebody who could protect what was important to him. He wanted to shift who he was, and become that ideal. He wanted to shed his skin and become something more beautiful, something better, something more powerful… so that he could protect what he cherished, and so that Elray would never get hurt again… he wanted to be a protector. But he felt like he couldn’t do that as he was now… he needed to change, to transform into something new, to morph into a better version of himself. He needed to shapeshift. He… he needed to become the protector for Elray their father had never been able to be.