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Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

Age: 15

The Boss was the closest thing I had to a father. For a known yakuza, he had a big heart and couldn’t stand to see me struggling on my own. Since quirks had become a normal occurrence, the Yakuza were slowly fading away to nothing. The few remaining groups, in a last-ditch effort to stay relevant had started a war with one another. The Boss was a man of honor, he didn’t like this war and he couldn’t bear to see innocents getting hurt. He’d been planning to stay out of it and let the other groups destroy each other.

The war had finally reached our doorstep. The Boss was moving me from the nice apartment he’d set me up in to his mansion for my safety. I’d visited the mansion a few times over the years but had never met any of the Boss’ family. His wife had died a few years back which is what many in the Shie Hassaikai believed attributed to his sudden softness. I neatly packed a bag, normally I’d be anxious and nervous about moving someplace new, but I knew The Boss was almost as neat and meticulous as me and that there wouldn’t be any messes or filth. To be safe, I wore protective gloves and a simple black mask in an attempt to protect myself from any germs.

Once I’d packed a bag, I quickly began to clean the apartment, going over every surface with bleach and other chemicals to remove any trace of evidence of me ever being here and killing any and all germs in the process. Satisfied with my farewell cleaning, I picked up by bag and headed for the door. I found one of The Boss’ right hand men waiting at the door. He offered me a nod of acknowledgement before leading the way to the awaiting car. He was a man of few words, which I appreciated, I didn’t much care for small talk…or any talk for that matter.

  The ride to The Boss’ mansion was quick and silent. The car slowed to a stop outside of a glittering gate, there was a small security hut off to the side and a man peering through the window. He waved to the driver after he flashed the man some kind of signal. The gate opened and the car passed through down a long road that circled a giant fountain in front of a massive mansion. Everything was perfectly manicured and in pristine shape. It looked like the cover of some ritzy magazine, like a Better Homes for the rich and famous.

The car came to a stop next to the large fountain depicting nymphs frolicking and playing. I got out of the car and turned my gaze to the massive mansion. Each window was aglow with warm welcoming light. It didn’t feel like the home of a notorious Yakuza, it felt more like a family home filled with love and laughter. Though, it was filled with a little less after The Boss’ wife passed away.

I was ushered inside and a maid took my bag from me the moment I stepped into the large foyer. I panicked momentarily before I realized she was wearing sterile gloves and a mask as well. The Boss must have informed them of my mysophobia. He’d always been a thoughtful man.

“The master of the house will see you now, Young Master Kai.” A butler in a pressed suit with tailcoat bowed to me politely. He was a real butler, the kind that trained their whole life to serve the ridiculously wealthy.

I nodded and followed him to The Boss’ study. A girl, a few years my senior with long pale white hair and bright crimson eyes, greeted me with a smile. She approached me with a gold trimmed teacup and saucer in hand.

“You must be Kai, it’s so nice to meet you, I’m Genevieve but most people just call me Gene.” She was standing way too close to me. I took a quick step back not liking her familiarity, I recognized her name right away, this was The Boss’ eldest daughter. He had two daughters, Genevieve and Gemini. From my understanding Genevieve wasn’t involved in any way in ‘family’ matters she wanted to live a normal life and The Boss was happy to oblige. Gemini, the youngest, was involved in the ‘family’ but I didn’t know to what extent, I’d never met her.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I replied and forced myself to give her a deep bow of respect. As The Boss’ daughter it was to be expected to treat her with highest respect.

“You don’t have to be so formal with me.” She giggled and tried to hand me the teacup and saucer. Her crimson eyes fell on the simple black mask covering my nose and mouth. “Are you feeling under the weather?”

“No, I’m fine.” I replied in as neutral of a tone as I could muster, I didn’t want to come across as rude to her out of respect for The Boss, but I didn’t like how close she was to me and there was no way I was going to drink any tea she possibly made or even served. From a brief glance I could see what looked like dried crusted skin cells under one of her nails as if she’d possibly picked a scab recently, it was enough to nearly send me reeling into a panic attack. I didn’t want her touching me. “Where is The Bo-…your father?” I asked warily as she tried once more to offer me the tea.

“He’ll be here in a minute.” Genevieve, finally realizing I wasn’t going to accept the tea from her hands, placed it on the coffee table and motioned for me to have a seat.

I begrudgingly took a seat only to groan inwardly as she plopped on the small sofa beside me and scooted close. She made a move to wrap her arm around mine and I quickly pulled away from her just as a door at the back of the office swung open. The Boss, a tall muscular man with pale hair and dark eyes wearing a suit that cost more than the average working man’s yearly salary, stepped through the door and quickly surveyed the scene. He offered me a warm smile before looking to his eldest daughter.

“Genevieve, my angel, please don’t pester Kai too much. I told you he values personal space, did I not?” He scolded his daughter in a light tone.

“Sorry, Papa.” Genevieve giggled and moved away from me.

The Boss frowned as he glanced around the room realizing something was missing, “where is your sister?”

Genevieve shrugged her shoulders as she got to her feet and smoothed out her already perfect white gown. “She said something about wanting to put him to the test but I have no idea what she’s plotting.” Her tone seemed to shift when speaking about her sister. It didn’t seem like they got along well.

“I see.” The Boss sighed. He dismissed her with a wave of his hand and she happily skipped out of the room after blowing me a kiss. I felt somewhat repulsed by her but tried my best not to let any expression of disgust show on my face. The Boss turned to me again and smiled, “I must confess, I had another reason for asking you to stay here.”

“Sir?” I looked to him curiously.

“I’m worried about Gemini.”

“Worried, Sir?” I frowned.

“She’s young and wild and many of my men have trouble keeping up with her. I need someone I can trust to protect her who can also keep up with her. I think you could be up to the task. What do you say?” 

I was touched at how much faith and trust he put in me. I was also nervous about what it would entail to protect and keep up with her. Was she as disgusting as her sister? That could be a problem. After a moment of battling with my thoughts, I deeply bowed to him, “I am deeply honored by the faith and trust you put in me, Sir. I won’t fail you.”

He smiled, “I knew I could count on you Kai. While we work out the particulars of this arrangement, I’d like you to work alongside Gemini, try your best to keep her out of trouble, and make sure you keep her and yourself safe.”

“Yes, Sir.” I bowed again.

“Any questions?” He asked.

I could only think of one I dared to ask as the others were just worries brought about by my mysophobia which I didn’t dare ask. “What sort of work does she do for you?”

“She’s my best interrogator.” He seemed somewhat saddened by this. I had a feeling he’d never wanted either of his daughters involved in the family business. “Now, best go see what she wants, she’ll be in the basement…good luck.”

That sounded somewhat ominous…

The butler pointed me in the direction to the basement and I made my way there. The inside of the mansion was just as beautiful and lavish as the outside, there were many beautiful pieces of art on the walls and various sculptures and statues tastefully placed throughout the halls. It was somewhat reminiscent of an art museum. The door to the basement was through what looked like an ordinary bookcase. The bookcase pushed inward to reveal stone steps spiraling downward into darkness. So far, it looked clean so I was able to move pretty easily.

Once I reached the bottom, I could see a faint light at the end of the strange hallway I’d found myself in. It was eerily silent down here; I had a feeling the rooms lining the hallway were all soundproof. Standing outside one of the doors was a man in a nice black suit. His appearance screamed Yakuza. He turned his head slightly, casting his golden eyes in my direction. He gave me the briefest of nods of acknowledgement.

Was I supposed to talk to him?

I took a step forward. It smelled heavily of bleach and other cleaning chemicals down here which I found pleasant yet also unsettling. That meant there were a lot of messes to be cleaned up. Another step forward. The man turned his attention to me and moved away from the door.

“Lady Gemini wishes to test your ability to follow orders.”

I bowed my head a little, “and where is she?”

“Depending on how well you do, you’ll see.” The man’s gruff tone meant he wanted no more questions, “your orders are simple, kill the person in this room.” He pointed to the door he’d been guarding.

This wasn’t something The Boss typically asked of me, I was confident I’d be able to take a life easily enough, but in order to use my quirk I needed to make direct contact, what if the person was filthy? Maybe there were weapons inside that I could use so I wouldn’t have to touch them.

The moment I opened the door, I heard the sound of soft childish whimpers. It was dark in the room. I quickly searched for a light switch along the wall as the door slammed shut behind me. Blinding light flooded the room as I found the light switch. I held my arms up in an attempt to shield my eyes from the light. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust.

At the sound of the light switch being flipped, I heard a soft feminine voice. “Is someone there?!”

I looked in the direction of the voice once I’d adjusted to the sudden bright light. In the middle of the room was what looked like a crude metal medical table. There was a girl, who appeared to be my age, or perhaps a year my junior, secured to the table. Her skin had a somewhat bluish tint to it, due to the cold, giving her a corpse like appearance. I imagined her skin was a perfect alabaster when she wasn’t in freezing temperatures. She was wearing a plain white shift that reminded me a bit of a sleeveless hospital gown. It was a thin almost see-through material. Her frail body was trembling whether from fear or the cold I wasn’t quite certain.

It took a moment for me to tear my gaze away from the corpse like girl bound and blindfolded atop the crude medical table. I glanced around the room, there were drains in the floor. The walls were littered with various torture instruments and blades of every shape and size. The sight of the room alone was probably enough to make most people talk; I doubt Lady Gemini had to work very hard to loosen anyone’s tongue. I noted the texture of the walls ceiling and floor made for easy cleanup, especially with the drains in the floor.

“P-please, is someone there?” The girl’s soft pleading voice drew my gaze back. She tried to struggle against her bonds but they appeared to be too tight for her to move very much. Her frail frame thrashed about for a moment; she tossed her head spilling long silken raven tresses over the edge of the metal table. The blindfold over her eyes began to slip.

I felt something stir within me as the blindfold fell away revealing eyes that appeared to glow. They were a vibrant crimson with a faint bubble gum pink hue and they appeared to be glowing as if a light were constantly being flashed on them. The girl turned her glowing crimson eyes on me, her expression scared and pleading.

“Wh-who are you?” There was a tremor in her soft voice. I felt strangely compelled to answer her and a strange emotion I wasn’t even sure I’d been capable of feeling began to bubble up inside of me. Was it pity? Remorse? Regret? I wasn’t sure I wanted to kill this girl. Something about snuffing out the light of her eyes, didn’t’ sit right with me.

“Kai Chisaki.” I answered before I could stop myself.

I thought I saw a faint flicker of a smile on her lips but it was gone so quickly I was sure I had imagined it. “Please, help me.” She begged. “I didn’t see anything. I promise.”

Her soft pleading voice was making those strange emotions I’d never known bubble up again. I didn’t like this. This girl made me feel. It was unsettling. “You’ve seen my face.” I pointed.

“I won’t tell anyone. I swear. Please. Let me go.” She choked.

This was a test…that meant Lady Gemini was probably watching from somewhere. Would I fail if I hesitated too much or took too long? I told The Boss I wouldn’t fail, I had to go through with this…I had to pass this test. I looked to the wall of torture instruments and blades.

The girl shuddered as I turned my gaze to the wall of torture implements and I heard her soft whimpers of terror. “A-are you going to kill me?”

“Yes.” My voice wavered slightly and I clenched my fists tightly at my sides causing the gloves to squeak as the material drew taut. I looked for something that would be quick and as painless as possible and also the least messy. I grabbed a thin pointed blade, it was thin enough to slip through a rib and the blade looked as if it would slice through skin, tissue and muscle with ease. If I could pierce her heart it would be quick and I wasn’t likely to get any blood on me.

I turned toward her gripping the hilt of the blade tightly in my hands. Tears welled in her glowing eyes. “Please.” She begged me. For a moment I thought I saw a flicker of something almost manic in her gaze but it was gone in the next instant, it must have just been a trick of the light reflecting off the tears welling in her glowing eyes.

I hesitated as I reached her side. This still didn’t feel right to me, but I couldn’t let down The Boss or Gemini as she’d most likely report to The Boss about my failure if I were to fail her test. Perhaps I should say sorry to the girl before killing her, it seemed like the proper etiquette. As I gripped the hilt of the blade tightly in my hand and lifted it ready to stab her, I thought I saw her smile out of the corner of my eye. When I looked at her face, I saw only tear stained cheeks and a desperate helpless pleading expression that made my chest feel weirdly constricted. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that this girl was making me feel. 

I prepared to strike, raising the blade high, when her soft voice threatened to crush my resolve, “Kai.” 

My heart felt like it was being squeezed in my chest. I turned my eyes to meet her glowing gaze.

She looked up at me through long dark lashes a soft demure expression on her angelic face, “if you’re going to kill me…c-can I make a request?” Her voice didn’t sound nearly as shaky as it had before. Perhaps she’d accepted her fate.

I looked down at her waiting for her to continue.

“Look me in the eye.” Once more, I thought I saw a flicker of a smile on her lips but it was gone the moment I focused my attention there. That seemed like an odd request.

“Alright.” I nodded and held her glowing gaze. My resolve was starting to slip. This didn’t feel right, something in me didn’t want to kill this girl.

As if she sensed my resolve beginning to waver, she offered me a meek smile, “if it’s any consolation, I promise I won’t haunt you.”

My hand felt a little unsteady. Why was this so difficult? I grit my teeth and tightened my grip on the blade. I couldn’t fail this test. I drove the blade into her chest and felt my blood turn cold as her lips pulled into a maniacal grin. Her thin corpse complexioned hand encircled my bare wrist. How the hell did she get loose? She gripped my wrist tightly forcing me to drive the blade deeper into her chest.

“You missed.” Her voice sounded different, it lost all of its sweet angelic innocence and was  now still fairly high pitched but somewhat impish and maniacal. She erupted into a fit of laughter.

I tried to pull away from her but found her grip on my wrist unbreakable. She was strong. “Wh-what the hell?” I growled.

“I guess you pass.” She giggled as she released her hold on my wrist and sat up. Her wrists and ankles were miraculously free from her restraints. “But just barely.” She wrenched the blade out of her chest and swung her arm wildly in an arcing motion. 

A drop of her blood hit my cheek but I surprisingly wasn’t panicking about it. I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on. “Who the hell are you?” I growled.

The blade slipped from her bloody fingers and clattered to the ground. Blood poured from the wound and instantly drenched her flimsy white shift. A twisted smile spread across her lips as she skipped over to me. She extended a bloody hand toward me and I took it without thinking, “Gemini.”

My heart skipped a beat. Gemini, The Boss’ daughter, who I’d just promised to protect and I’d nearly killed her. “I—.” I paled but cut off as her grip on my hand tightened to the point, I heard something crunch unpleasantly.

“Come now, don’t turn boring.” She grinned. “Let’s table this order for the moment or father will be cross, but I still would like it if you killed me one day, Kai-chi.” Her eerie giggles filled the torture chamber.

I stared at her blankly as blood dripped from our clasped hands onto the floor. My brain was too focused on the cryptic words that had just left her mouth and her possible life-threatening injury to be concerned with the germs and filth. “We need to treat your wou—.” Her grip on my hand tightened again.

“I told you not to turn boring.” She pouted before giving up with a sigh. She released my hand and twirled away from me, “it’s already healed, so don’t worry. It’ll take much more than that to kill me.” She winked at me, “a little tip for later.”

This girl was a psychopath.  

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

Age: 15

The following morning, after a restless night of sleep, I woke with a heavy feeling of dread and impending doom. My survival instincts kicked in and I rolled out of bed in time to avoid a crossbow bolt that had come from a concealed trapdoor in the ceiling. Heart racing as adrenaline pumped through my veins I managed to land on my feet and looked up in time to see Gemini giggling maniacally from a trap door with an unloaded crossbow in hand. 

She tumbled out of the trap door as she was too caught up in her insane laughter to keep her balance. Gracefully she caught one of the branches of the silver chandelier hanging above my bed and swung from it. Her body scrunched up as she released her grip and executed a spiraling flip before landing swiftly in front of me. I hadn’t even had time to put on my face mask or gloves and was in nothing more than a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. She was so close I could feel her body heat radiating off of her.

“Good Morning, Kai-chi.” She grinned and threw her arms around me.

Despite the dust and cobwebs clinging to her long silken ebony tresses from her trek through the secret passage in my ceiling, I didn’t feel panicked or itchy when she touched me. I noticed a bright red spider crawling around on one of the cobwebs in her hair and picked it out of her hair hoping to avoid having to deal with a screaming girl. She looked to the spider in my hand before grinning wickedly.

“Gene hates spiders…” She snatched the spider from my hand and bolted for the door, “maybe she’ll get so scared she jumps out a window.” She cackled as she sprinted from my room leaving me standing in the middle of the room in a daze looking from the wide-open door to the flung open trap door in the ceiling above my bed. There was a bunch of dust and who knows what else that had fallen onto my bed when Gemini had made her dramatic entrance.

I wasn’t sure if my job was to be her babysitter or not and I didn’t particularly care if she tormented her disgusting elder sister. Though I had a feeling The Boss would probably want me to intervene. It could probably wait, the mess on my bed was the only thing I could focus on and then figuring out if there were germs in the ceiling, maybe I could get up there somehow and clean it otherwise I’d be up all night thinking about all the germs and filth above me.

Not long into my deep clean of the room to get rid of the filth Gemini had tracked in with her morning shenanigans, I heard an annoying high-pitched shrill scream from somewhere in the mansion. It was soon followed by the loud twisted shrieking laughter of Gemini.

“PAPA!” Genevieve’s voice echoed through the entire mansion as she appeared to be screaming at the top of her lungs. “GEM! YOU MONSTER!”

I glanced from my cleaning supplies to the open door wondering if I should pause and go help. My mind wouldn’t let me focus on anything else and I continued cleaning, grumbling all the way. I had a feeling Gemini somehow knew this would keep me distracted, like it was some kind of elaborate plan to keep me tied up so she could wreak havoc. I was annoyed that I’d fallen right into her trap and even more annoyed that after realizing it was a trap, was still stuck in her stupid plan. 

Thundering footfalls echoed through the hall outside my bedroom door as I continued my frenzied cleaning. I could hear Gemini cackling and Genevieve crying, it sounded like Gemini was chasing her down the hall. Genevieve’s annoying shrieks finally pulled me from my cleaning, her voice reaching octaves that I was sure was going to make all the windows shatter and threatened to give me a brain bleed. I peered into the hall glad I’d managed to get changed and get my mask and gloves on before doing so.

Gemini was indeed chasing her older sister down the hall holding the large red spider in her hand outward toward Genevieve. Genevieve was screaming, crying and frantically trying to get away from her younger sister. Despite her desperate attempts, she was no match for Gemini. Moving with cat like grace, Gemini managed to flip forward and get one of her feet in front of Genevieve’s ankle. I watched somewhat impressed by the psychopath’s skills as Genevieve took a bite out of the floor. Taking advantage of her sudden vulnerability and weakness, Gemini lunged easily pinning her older sister to the floor and dangled the spider in front of her face.

Genevieve let out another deafening scream and kicked and flailed in a futile attempt to break from Gemini’s grip. The younger girl didn’t seem to be struggling in the slightest to pin her older sister with only one hand. I didn’t really feel compelled to help the elder daughter, though I did wish her annoying screams would be silenced.  If I broke it up, she’d probably try to hug me, and after seeing all the snot and tears streaming from her, I wanted no part of that. I felt itchy just thinking about it.

Gemini brought the spider closer to Genevieve’s face before dropping it on her nose. Genevieve let out a horrendous shriek before fainting. Gemini fell off of her and proceeded to roll around on the floor laughing hysterically.

“Gemini.” The Boss’ voice sounded from the end of the hall.

Gemini’s hysterical laughter turned to quiet giggles as she flipped to her feet and turned to her father with a bright smile, “good morning, father.”

The boss sighed, “what did you do to your sister?”

“We were just playing a game.” Gemini grinned.

“What game might that be?” The Boss asked, this appeared to be a normal occurrence. 

“The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” Gemini beamed.

“I don’t believe your sister likes that game.” The Boss frowned.

“Of course, she does.” Gemini looked down at Genevieve’s motionless frame with a smile.

I felt my stomach churn as the spider crawled into her open mouth. Thinking about all the germs she’d possibly just ingested was enough to make me want to take several scalding hot showers. The Boss noticed me standing in my doorway and offered me a smile.

“Good morning, Kai. The girls didn’t wake you up with their little game, did they?” He asked.

Gemini turned her glowing pink hued crimson eyes to me and smiled waiting to see what I’d do. I shook my head in response. Her lips twitched and her smile grew. The Boss nodded his acknowledgement before signaling to one of his men to carry Genevieve back to her room.

“Please don’t pick on your sister, Gemini.” He gave her a small smile.

Gemini didn’t look the slightest bit sorry for her actions and it didn’t appear The Boss words were going to deter her in any way. She smiled in an innocent manner before skipping over to me. She linked her arm with mine.

“I guess she can have a break for a little bit, I have a new plaything.” She grinned up at me.

Oddly, I didn’t feel repulsed or panicked about her closeness. Though she was still covered in dust, cobwebs and other questionable grime, I wasn’t freaking out. I found myself drawn into her glowing gaze, captivated by her strange irises. 

“Gemini, Kai is not a plaything, he’s a valued member of this family and you two are to be working together.” The Boss sighed, his dark eyes noted our closeness and I thought I saw his lips pull into a smile before he took his leave to make sure Genevieve was alright. 

Gemini released her hold on my arm and turned and skipped into my room. Her dusty cobwebbed hair smacked me in the face as she spun on her heel before skipping into my room. I scrambled after her to make sure she didn’t contaminate anything I’d already cleaned. She went right to the spots I’d already finished cleaning and I felt my skin crawl.

Before I could stop myself, I reached out and caught her by the back of the shirt stopping her from touching any of the surfaces. She appeared to have lost her balance as I tugged on the back of her shirt and she fell backward into me. I struggled to catch her and we both hit the ground, hard. Her maniacal laughter rang through the room as we hit the floor. It seemed she wasn’t hurt by the fall, though I wasn’t really even sure how she was moving around as unhindered as she was after I stabbed her last night. She’d said her wound had healed almost instantly but I hadn’t really gotten to see for myself. Was it part of her quirk? Or did her crazy mask her pain?

“Are you alright?” I asked her as I helped her to her feet.

She rolled her glowing eyes at this. “I told you, didn’t I, it’ll take a lot more than something like that to kill me.” She winked at me, “so make sure when the time comes you give it your best.”

I frowned at this. Why did she want me to kill her? I still felt a little skeptical that she was completely unscathed, especially after last night. If she were truly as insane as I suspected she were, it was possible her pain tolerance was pretty high as she probably lacked the ability to feel anything. 

Her twisted smile turned somewhat sinister as she watched me try to work things out. “You don’t believe me.” She said in an eerie sing song voice. Lacing her hands together behind her back she swayed in time to her eerie song like response. Before I had a moment to question her or shoo her out of my room so I could continue cleaning and possibly investigate the secret tunnel above my room, she slipped her hand in mine and pulled me out the door. “Let’s go play a game!” 

“What kind of game?” I sighed as I allowed her to drag me out of my room.

“It’s like tag.” She giggled as she proceeded to skip and attempted to get me to skip with her but I refused.

I glanced down at our interlocked hands wondering why it wasn’t making my skin crawl. I was wearing gloves but normally it would still bother me to have someone this close to me—especially someone covered in dust and cobwebs and who knew what the hell else. Gemini didn’t seem bothered by my refusal to skip and continued awkwardly skipping and getting wrenched back in her attempts to drag me along with her. At this rate she was going to dislocate her shoulder. 

I followed her outside onto the perfectly manicured lawn. I was glad I’d worn my mask as pollen spores fluttered in the wind. Her eyes appeared pinker in the sunlight but still held that strange glow of light. We came to a stop at a table set out in the middle of the flat perfectly manicured lawn. There was an array of firearms and bows laid out neatly on the table.

“What’s this?” I asked her curiously.

“Well how else do you play tag, silly, you need something to tag them with.” She giggled as she picked up various firearms to inspect them.

“Your father asked me to protect you.” I frowned.

“Did he?” She cocked the pistol in her hand as if she’d done so thousands of times before. She placed the barrel in her mouth and began applying pressure to the trigger.

I hurriedly grabbed her wrist wrenching the firearm out of her mouth and attempted to wrestle it away from her. The gun fired with a loud bang that made my ears ring. I felt a burning pain as the bullet grazed my thigh.

Gemini dropped to the soft green grass giggling maniacally. “You’re not supposed to tag yourself, silly!”

I glanced down at the small patch of blood soaking through my pants. My stomach churned unpleasantly as I thought of all the fabric fibers that could be getting in the wound and running the risk of turning septic. As I was contemplating going back inside to clean the wound, I heard the sound of another firearm being prepared to fire and looked over to see Gemini holding a sleek handgun aiming it right at my heart.

I dove out of the way as she fired. The bullet grazed my arm, I hadn’t been quick enough.

“Tag, you’re it.” Gemini giggled and dropped her firearm on the table. She snatched up a light crossbow. She sprinted away cackling madly. “You better stay close if you’re supposed to protect me, you never know what scary things I might run into.” Her long raven hair streaked behind her as she sprinted across the lawn heading straight for a small patch of woodland at the edge of the manicured lawn.

“Gemini!” I bolted after her with the pistol in hand.

She glanced my way as she ran and smiled, “you can’t win if you don’t try to tag me back, Kai-chi!”

“I’m not playing! Get back here!” Was this what The Boss had meant when he said no one could keep up with her? Was it her literal speed or her insane games?

She stopped running and turned to me, her expression somewhat sinister, “don’t be boring.” Her voice came out in a frightening growl, her tone shifting from light and impish to dark and demonic in the blink of an eye.

“We’re done playing, let’s return to the mansion—.” I began but cut off as she vanished. For a split second I thought she’d somehow turned invisible or teleported but realized too late she just moved quickly into my blind spot and charged me.

She barreled into me and we both hit the ground, hard. I found myself pinned beneath her. My heart was pounding in my chest as she overpowered me keeping my firearm free hand pinned above my head while holding the other firmly so the barrel of the gun was in the center of her forehead. I stared up at her in awe.

“You’re not playing right.” She smirked. “Pull the trigger.”

“Are you crazy?!” That was a stupid question, the girl was absolutely a certified psychopath and definitely belonged in some kind of institution.

“PULL THE TRIGGER!” She tightened her grip on my wrist managed to hit a pressure point that caused my fist to clench.

“No!” I panicked as I felt the trigger begin to move beneath my finger. My heart dropped as the gun went off. I heard the sickening crunch of bone and rending flesh as I hit her point blank. The sound of the bullet ricocheting off a tree trunk made me realize it had gone completely through and exploded out the back of her head.

Blood, chunks of bone and tissue splattered everywhere from the exit wound. Everything seemed to freeze in that moment as I was overcome with a sense of dread and panic. What did I just do?!

Gemini’s glowing eyes were staring blankly forward before a wicked smile twisted onto her lips and she burst into a fit of laughter. “You should see the look on your face, Kai-chi! It’s wonderful.”

What?

The gun slipped from my fingers and I stared in awe as the bullet wound on her forehead stitched itself together in an instant. I was still frozen in a state of stunned horror.

“I guess that means I’m it.” She grinned as she pressed the very sharp tip of her crossbow into my chest just beneath my collarbone. “We’re going to have so much fun, Kai-chi.” She pulled the trigger and I was blinded by pain as the crossbow bolt plunged into my chest.

Her eerie cackling enveloped me as I slipped into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~  

Age: 15

I woke up to find myself lying in a bed on crisp white sheets that smelled freshly laundered. There was a sharp shooting pain in my chest. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the bright sunlight filtering in through the windows. When I glanced down, I noticed thick bandages wrapped around my upper torso. They were neatly wrapped which made me believe it had been done by a professional and I relaxed slightly.

I tried to turn my head to survey my surroundings but the motion tugged at the hole in my chest and caused me to grimace in pain. From the brief look I’d gotten, I knew this wasn’t my room. I bit my lip trying to ignore the pain and looked around. There were shelves along the walls that appeared to have perfectly bleached and polished human skulls lining them. This was most definitely Gemini’s room.

The room was surprisingly clean and aside from the skulls lining the shelves along the wall there wasn’t much in the way of decoration. It appeared to be furnished in a minimalist way. There weren’t any photos or personal items. A door along the wall opened spilling steam into the room. Gemini stepped through the door, wrapped in a towel. Her alabaster skin still had water droplets clinging to it and her long black as night hair was dripping wet splashing water all over the floor. 

Her captivating glowing crimson orbs flicked in my direction and a gleeful smile twisted onto her lips. “Oh good, you’re awake.” She moved to another door along the wall. It opened into a walk-in closet, she disappeared inside out of my line of sight. Her voice was oddly calm. I could faintly hear the rustling of clothes from within the closet. “I was beginning to worry you were going to be a bore and die or something.” She said nonchalantly from the closet.

When she stepped out of the closet she was dressed in a pair of tight black pants and a simple red short sleeved cut off shirt that revealed her defined abs and biceps. She’d looked petite before but now that I could see her a little more closely, I realized she was toned. Her glowing eyes wandered over to me as I tried to sit up. A worrisome thought crossed my mind as I glanced down at my hands and realized my gloves were gone. I couldn’t feel my mask on my face and panicked.

I hurriedly looked around for my mask and gloves, feeling naked and vulnerable without them. They were nowhere in sight. Ignoring the pain in my chest I forced myself to sit up before flinging the sheets off of me, I had spares in my room, I had to get to them. Gemini smirked as she watched me sway on my feet.

“What ya doing, Kai-chi?” She sauntered over to me with a wicked smile dancing across her pale lips.

“I need to go to my room.” I grumbled as I tried to shove past her.

She reached out effortlessly and placed her hand on my heavily bandaged shoulder before applying a faint amount of pressure just above the wound. I felt blood instantly begin to seep from the wound and soak the bandages on my back and chest, the bolt had gone clean through me. Bearing the pain, I managed to stay on my feet but couldn’t help but wince.

“But, I wanted to show you something.” Her grip tightened as she felt me try to resist and pull away from her. More blood spilled from the wound and I started to feel somewhat light headed, I must have lost a lot of blood.

“You’re going to have to send for a doctor again if you keep doing that.” I pointed.

Gemini giggled, “what doctor?”

“The one who patched me up the first time I imagine.” I grimaced through the pain.

Gemini laughed at this, “I patched you up, silly. You’re my new favorite plaything, I have to make sure I take good care of you.”

I paled for a moment; did she have medical training? Did she know proper sterilization techniques for cleaning and doctoring wounds? “…h-how exactly?” I asked almost nervously, afraid to know what she’d done.

Gemini grinned, “well first I made a paste out of ground beetle carcasses and dirt then I rubbed it in your wounds—.” I didn’t hear anymore as the world suddenly started to spin and I felt my vision grow dark just imagining the vile things she was describing. I blacked out.

A moment later I found myself lying flat on my back on her bedroom floor feeling a little dizzy. Gemini was rolling around on the floor nearby laughing hysterically. I vaguely remembered her saying she’d done something horribly unsanitary to my wounds and paled at the thought.

“You’re funny, Kai-chi.” She giggled as she rolled over to face me, resting her elbows on the floor in front of her and holding her chin in her hands. She kicked her feet behind her trying to act cute and I resisted the urge to reach out to her and use my quirk on her. I was supposed to be protecting her.

Realizing I wasn’t really going to get anywhere with her as she was the craziest person, I’d ever encountered I gave up with a sigh. “What did you want to show me?” I surprised even myself by moving on. Normally my brain would obsess over how my wounds were treated until I checked it myself. Despite Gemini’s obvious madness, she didn’t aggravate my mysophobia like everyone else did.

She grinned and flipped to her feet before extending a hand toward me to help me up. “The reason we had to cut our game of tag so short.” Her smile was positively wicked.

That was a short game of tag? Something cut the game short…is that why she’d delivered a finishing blow that was sure to knock me unconscious? “And what exactly is the reason we had to cut our game of tag so short?” I asked her after a moment.

Her lips twitched and her smile grew, “you’ll see.” She waved her hand at me and I accepted it.

It was the first time, in a long time, that I’d touched another person with my bare hand without using my quirk on them. She pulled me to my feet and gripped my hand tightly interlocking our fingers. Something about the action felt intimate and made my chest feel strangely tight, though perhaps that was related to the hole in my chest. 

I followed her to what just appeared to be a normal blank wall opposite her closet. Perhaps on top of being a psychopath she was also delusional. She seemed to sense my skepticism and giggled as she reached out her hand and pressed on the wall. There was a faint sound, like a door unlocking, before the wall swung inward. The room beyond the wall was pitch black. Gemini reached over and flipped a switch along the wall flooding the room with light. It was a small crude torture chamber. There were dozens of blades and various torture implements lining the wall. There was a drain in the floor, much like the torture chamber I’d first met Gemini in.  There wasn’t a medical table in the small torture chamber. Instead, there were a few large secure metal beams running across the ceiling each with clean chains and hooks dangling from them in various spots. In the center of the room dangling from a hook, was a middle-aged man. It looked like he’d taken a pretty nasty hit to the temple as it was profusely bleeding and blood was dripping onto the floor. Aside from the man, the torture instruments and the hooks and chains, the only other thing in the room was a glass barrel that looked as if it was filled with acid.

I didn’t recognize the man but did recognize the pin on his cheap suit. He was with one of the rival families. They must have sent him to scout out The Boss’ mansion for a future invasion. Knowing Gemini and what possible horrors she had in store, I almost felt bad for the man. The man stirred awake as the door closed behind us. His eyes fell on Gemini as she released her hold on my hand.

“I won’t tell you shit.” He snarled at her.

Gemini shrugged. 

The man hanging from the hook tried to struggle against his bonds. “I refuse to talk.”

Gemini sighed, “that would be ideal, your voice is quite annoying, do hurry and shut up.”

The man was confused, he didn’t quite understand the position he was in. He mistakenly thought Gemini had brought him here to get information. I had a feeling Gemini didn’t actually try to get information from anyone unless ordered to. I didn’t think she much cared what anyone had to say to her. Her victim was here for disrupting her fun and that was probably a much worse position for him to be in.

“Your father would probably prefer him to be questioned.” I noted as I leaned against the clean looking wall. The hole in my chest was making it difficult to breathe properly. Standing was becoming increasingly difficult.

Gemini moved toward the wall to select a blade. She picked up a large somewhat hooked blade and weighed it in her hands tossing it back and forth a moment as if testing it’s balance. It didn’t seem like she was listening to me and she had no intention of questioning the man.

“Gemini, we should at least find out why he’s here.” I sighed.

She hummed softly to herself a very eerie sounding tune as she set down the hooked blade and picked up another. She repeated this process a few times humming the eerie tune and weighing the blades as if to get a good feel for each one waiting for one to really speak to her.

“Gemini.” I called to her, becoming increasingly annoyed.

She returned to the first large hooked blade she’d picked up when she’d started her process. Her humming became even more frightening as she gripped it in her hand and turned to the man hanging from the hook.

“H-Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing with that?” The man was ready to squeal like a pig and she hadn’t even done anything to him. I hadn’t pegged him to be a spineless coward, but I guess to a ‘normal’ person, Gemini was probably very frightening. Though she looked small and cute, there was a very menacing aura around her.

Gemini grinned up at the man dangling from the meat hook. He started to struggle much more desperately at whatever look he saw revealed in her glowing eyes. “Careful now, don’t lose your head.” Gemini giggled and lashed out with a single slashing strike severing his head from his body in a flash. The blade cut through his neck as if it were butter.

Blood sprayed from his twitching corpse showering her and the majority of the room. She caught the severed head in her hands and jammed the blade into his still twitching body to hold it as she turned to face me with the severed head in her hands.

“What kind of questions should we ask him, Kai-chi?” She asked with an impish giggle.

My stomach churned as I thought of all the possible diseases and other contractible contaminants in his filthy blood that Gemini was now completely drenched in.

Gemini giggled again and looked to the head in her hands, “are you sorry for interrupting our game of tag?” She asked the severed head with a feigned pout.

She proceeded to move his mouth as if to make him speak and tried to mimic the man’s voice, “yes, I’m terribly sorry for interrupting your game of tag, I shall never do it again.”

I felt sick to my stomach. This was so unsanitary. I couldn’t help but think of all the germs we were now exposed to and all the possible diseases his filthy blood was carrying and threatening to kill us with.

“Do we accept his apology, Kai-chi?” She asked me and extended the head toward me tilting it slightly to the side trying to make it give me some kind of sad puppy dog look.

“If it will make you put that filthy thing down, yes.” I grumbled.

Gemini giggled. “How about I clean it up and add it to my collection?” She skipped over to the glass barrel.

Without warning she dunked the head into the glass barrel. There was a loud sizzling sound and the acidic contents of the barrel bubbled up as it began to eat away at the flesh and hair on the severed head and Gemini’s hands as she submersed them in the acid.

“Gemini! Don’t!” I ran to her side and attempted to wrench her away from the barrel. 

She looked over at me curiously and I stopped trying to pull her away. Her lips twisted into a smile. “You’re funny, Kai-chi.”  She lifted her hands out of the barrel of acid.  From elbow down, her arms were nothing but polished bone and she held a perfectly polished skull in her skeletal hand. “Yay! All done!” 

I watched in awe as muscles, tissue, veins and skin began to form rapidly over her bony arm and hand. In a matter of seconds, her arms were back to normal. 

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

Age:16

It had been a few months since I’d started living in The Boss’ mansion. Somehow, I’d gotten used to Gemini’s shenanigans and daily attempts on my life. Though I wouldn’t likely admit to it, unless she were torturing me, I felt I was growing stronger working with her. She put me to the test every day. 

“Happy Deathday Kai-chi!” Gemini’s voice startled me out of my mental musings, I spun quickly and knocked the crossbow out of her hands before grabbing her by the back of her shirt with my other hand and lifting her off her feet.

Her maniacal giggling filled my bedroom as she dangled in my grip her feet not able to reach the ground. Those captivating glowing eyes were filled with madness and mirth, like usual. She grinned at me and I sighed knowing she was about to hurl a knife at me. I caught it with ease and watched her grin turn twisted.

“I told you to knock before coming into my room.” I sighed.

“But, I’m bored!” Gemini whined and kicked her feet.

“So, bother your sister, we don’t have any work to do today, it’s my day off.” I sighed again.

“Ugh, she’s the worst.” Gemini huffed and folded her arms in front of her chest. 

“Not my problem today, Gemini.” I smirked, something about watching her pout amused me.

She pouted more as I carried her toward the door preparing to deposit her into the hall. “Play tag with me!”

“No.”

“Hide and Seek?” She grinned.

“That’s really not much different than your version of tag.” I sighed.

“You get a head start.” She giggled.

“No.”

“Hangman?” She beamed.

“Nope.” I dropped her in the hall and closed the door in her face. A small smile claimed my lips as I heard her hit the ground with a soft ‘oof’ before cackling like a loon.

“Kai-chi!” She whined and pounded on the door. “What about Operation? You can play doctor first.” She giggled through the door.

I’d discovered in my time at the mansion that Gemini had a rapid regeneration quirk her injuries healed almost instantly. The rate of regeneration slowed the more she used it in a short amount of time but would speed back up once she had sufficient rest. I also learned she had a way to move her vital organs within her body to avoid them being injured and suspected if she took a hit to her brain or her heart she really would die. 

“I don’t’ like that game, it’s too unsanitary.” I frowned.

“You’re no fun.” She grumbled on the other side of the door. I waited for her to continue but soon realized it was much too quiet in the hall.

Sighing I grabbed a sheet from my bed and approached the window ready to catch her when she no doubt broke through it like a maniac. Starting a mental countdown in my head I fashioned the sheet into a trapping device and held it at the ready. As I got to one, in my mental countdown, Gemini sprung through the window with a cry that turned to a sound of mystified awe as she found herself trapped in a sheet.

“Hey! No fair!” She giggled as I slung the sheet over my shoulder like a sack and carried her to the door. I reached for the door and pulled it open only to pause as I spotted the elder sister, Genevieve standing on the other side her hand poised ready to knock. She was dressed in one of her pretty white dresses looking ready for some kind of outing. She had white boots on and even a white parasol tucked neatly under her arm. Her crimson eyes widened at my sudden appearance before she looked to the flailing sack on my back.

“Am I interrupting something?” There was an air of jealousy in her tone.

“Yes, my morning peace.” I sighed and shoved the flailing sack into her arms before stepping back into my room and closing the door. 

The shattered window was a problem for my mysophobia, I needed to get it repaired soon, who knew how many germs had already gotten in thanks to Gemini’s shenanigans. I sent a quick message to the capable butler for his assistance in the window repair. This was a fairly common occurrence we had it down to a science now, our record for window installation was ten minutes. 

A moment later there was a knock at my door, if it were the butler, we were definitely going to break our window install record. I opened the door and frowned as I spotted Genevieve looking peeved. Gemini was still trapped in the sheet and now being held on the ground by her elder sister’s high heeled boots. There was a spark of something within me that wanted to push the disgusting elder sister away from Gemini but I knew she didn’t need me coming to her rescue.

I looked to her expectantly, waiting for her to tell me why she was still bothering me. Genevieve straightened herself up and smoothed out her expensive dress before trying to offer me what she thought was a flirtatious smile, “Chisaki-kun, I was hoping you’d take me shopping today.” She fluttered her eyes as if she had a lash caught in them.

“No.” I replied flatly. The Boss only said I had to work with Gemini, he never gave me any instruction regarding Genevieve, therefore I wasn’t obligated to do anything with her and could pretend she didn’t exist. 

Gemini howled with laughter under her sister’s foot and I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sound of her infectious laughter. Genevieve bristled at this and let out an unflattering shriek before stomping her foot down, hard, into Gemini’s spine. I heard the crunch of bone and the sound of the pointed heel tearing through flesh. Gemini’s laughter fell short. It must have actually hurt her. It was rare for her to react to pain. She recovered quickly and continued snickering. I was surprised that I felt worried for her but managed to push the worries away as I waited for Genevieve to continue throwing her prissy fit. 

“Fine, I order you to take me shopping.” Genevieve glowered at me.

“I don’t take orders from you and your father only ordered me to put up with that one.” I pointed down at Gemini’s form trapped in the sheet still under her sister’s heeled boot. “And today is my day off, therefore I don’t have to put up with either of you.”

Genevieve stomped once more, Gemini’s small form seemed to twitch at this and I felt worry begin to well up inside of me once more. “I’ll have father order you to take me shopping.” She huffed before storming away.

I glanced down at the somewhat bloodied sheet and frowned. “Gemini?”

She fought her way out of the sheet and offered me a bloody grin. There was a thin trickle of blood escaping from the corner of her lip. Genevieve must have nicked something vital when she’d stomped on her. “That was great Kai-chi.” She giggled, though it lacked her usual flair. “What did her face look like? I bet it was amusing.” She kept scrunching up her face trying to imitate her sister’s prissy facial expressions, “like this?” She scrunched her face up again, “or maybe like this?”

I shook my head at her. “Are you alright?”

She leapt to her feet as if to prove she was fine. Her skin looked a little paler than usual and she swayed slightly once she was upright. “Let’s play a game!” She attempted to hook her arm through mine but appeared to be off balance as she completely missed and nearly smacked face first into the wall.

I reached out and caught her in my arms before she could hit the wall before looking down at her with a frown, “you don’t seem to be alright.”

She looked up at me with her bright glowing eyes before a maniacal grin twisted onto her lips, “Kai-chi, it almost sounds like you care.” Her expression darkened, “don’t turn boring.” She lightly smacked me on the cheek before pulling away from me.

Another trickle of blood dripped from the corner of her pale lips. I wasn’t sure why I seemed to care about the psychopath but I didn’t want to see her hurting and she appeared to be hurting even if she couldn’t admit to it. I reached out and caught her by the wrist. She tensed and tried to pull her arm free but I tightened my grip and wrenched her toward me.

A soft gasp escaped her as she tumbled into my arms. “What are you doing?” She grumbled as I picked her up and carried her into my room.

“You’re obviously not going to let me get any peace and quiet today.” I sighed as I dropped her atop my bed before heading to my attached bathroom for some medical supplies to wipe away the blood. 

I was surprised to find her where I’d left her, lying atop my bed. More blood trickled from her pale lips. Perhaps it was more than a nick to one of her vital organs. I put on new gloves and used some sterile gauze to wipe the blood away from her lips. 

“What did she hit?” I asked her softly as I continued wiping away blood. Weirdly enough, I learned that Gemini didn’t bother my mysophobia. She could touch me without me feeling itchy and I could be exposed to her blood without a breakdown.  And all the gross things she exposed me to on a daily basis was somehow helping me. I didn’t have as many panic attacks as before thanks to her insane exposure therapy.

“A lung.” Gemini shrugged. “They always take forever to heal.” She grumbled I annoyance. 

“At least it wasn’t your heart.” I noted calmly as I switched out the old blood covered gauze for new gauze.

“Only you get that privilege.” She smiled.

I rolled my eyes at this, “yeah?”

“Mhm, because you’re the only one who can kill me, Kai-chi.”

My heart fluttered at her cryptic words, it almost sounded intimate. The room felt stifling hot all of a sudden. “Right.” I replied somewhat awkwardly as I continued wiping the blood from her lips as more continued to stream out. “Are you sure this is going to heal?” I asked her concerned.

She nodded her head and closed her beautiful glowing eyes. “Kai-chi, can I take a nap here?” It was strange to see her so vulnerable and weak.

I felt the sudden urge to stream my fingers through her black as night hair. “Sure.”

“Kai-chi?” Her voice was whisper soft and somewhat raspy.

“Hm?”

“Happy Birthday.” She pressed something into my hand.

I glanced down to see a face mask that resembled an old Plague Doctor’s mask. My heart swelled as I looked over the beautiful craftmanship. She’d be bored with a simple thank you and probably try to stab me. “Weird, I thought it was my deathday.” I remarked with a smile.

“I always get the two mixed up.” Gemini giggled weakly.

I tenderly wiped the blood from her lips. She seemed to have fallen asleep and was finally resting peacefully. She looked so sweet and innocent when she was asleep. I smiled softly and looked to the beautiful mask in my hand. “Thank you, Gemini.”

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

Age: 16

After a new window was reinstalled, I cleaned up my room, scrubbing every surface in bleach before dropping onto the bed next to Gemini as she slept soundly. I looked to the beautifully crafted mask she’d given me wondering how she knew it was my birthday to begin with, I wasn’t even sure The Boss knew when my birthday was. Gemini had tried to make me panic by putting a spider in the filtration part of the mask. I discovered it while I was disinfecting it and couldn’t help but smile at the psycho sound asleep on my bed. She definitely made life more interesting. 

I put the mask on and felt my entire being seem to relax, this felt right. I chanced a glance in the mirror above my dresser to look at the mask. It seemed to suit me perfectly. The gold accents of the mask really brought out the gold in my eyes. The base was a deep burgundy with subtle hints of a glowing magenta in certain light, that reminded me of Gemini’s eyes. I ran a gloved hand through my short dark brown hair to fix it as I’d mussed it when I put on the mask, satisfied with my appearance I smiled to myself in the mirror before flopping back onto the bed, next to Gemini’s motionless form.

The faint rise and fall of her chest was the only indication that she were still alive. Her skin was lifelessly pale, a pure alabaster and her lips had a faint blueish tinge to them. She probably wasn’t getting very much oxygen as her lung worked to repair itself. I removed one of my gloves and gently placed my hand against her cheek. She felt cool to the touch, though that was normal for her. I put my glove back on and relaxed next to her. Just as my eyelids began to feel heavy, there was a knock at my bedroom door.

I reluctantly left the psycho’s side and went to answer the door. I opened it and bowed my head respectfully as I saw The Boss on the other side. He offered me a warm fatherly smile, his crimson eyes fell on the mask on my face and his eyes filled with curiosity. “New mask?”

I bowed my head again, “Gemini gave it to me, for my birthday.” The words spilled from my lips before I could stop myself, I respected him too much to try to conceal anything from him.

“She did?” He seemed shocked by this news but recovered quickly and smiled, “it really suits you, she did a good job.” It made me wonder what the typical present Gemini got someone could be…it was probably a corpse.

I nodded my agreement.

“Sorry to ask this of you on your birthday Kai, but would you mind accompanying Genevieve on a shopping venture? It seems everyone else is busy.” He frowned. I wonder if he actually believed her tale or thought she was easier to deal with when he played along.

I resisted the urge to groan as I spotted Genevieve poke her head around the corner and smirk in my direction. “If Gemini feels up to it, she’s feeling under the weather and I should keep an eye on her since you asked me to protect her.”

The Boss looked worried by this, “Gemini isn’t feeling well?”

I moved away from the door to show him Gemini sound asleep atop my bed, “she’s been like this for a while now.”

He looked to her sleeping form and I noticed his smile seem to grow, “I had hoped you two would get along, but this exceeds my expectations. She must trust you, Kai.” He reached out as if he were going to ruffle my hair but stopped himself as he remembered my mysophobia, “I’ve never actually seen her asleep in person before, she won’t sleep if anyone is in the same room as her, even as a baby she never slept unless she was all by herself.” 

It was probably a defense mechanism since she was at her most vulnerable when she was asleep yet she didn’t seem to care if she were vulnerable in my presence because she wanted me to kill her. I still didn’t completely understand that. The moment The Boss took a step into the room, her glowing eyes snapped open and she sat up straight. Her gaze fell on me and her lips pulled into a small smile.

“Kai-chi, did you find the other present I left for you?” She giggled; her voice still sounded weaker than usual but The Boss didn’t seem to notice.

“The spider?” I sighed.

She giggled again, “did it scare you?”

“If that makes you feel better, sure.” I couldn’t help but smile at her. I was glad the mask hid my mouth.

Gemini looked to her father curiously, “did you get Kai-chi a birthday present too?”

“I’ll be sure to have one when you all return.” He chuckled, “Gemini, how did you know it was his birthday?”

“I’m good at getting information.” Gemini laughed. 

I blanched at this, “who did you torture for that information?” I had a vision of her torturing my old teachers and foster family.

Gemini shrugged her shoulders and hopped out of my bed, she made it seem effortless but I noticed how stiffly she was moving, even if her father did not. Her lung didn’t have enough time to heal properly. “I said I’m good at getting information not revealing it.” She stuck her tongue out at me before skipping past her father as if nothing were wrong.

“Where are you off to?” Her father asked her curiously.

“If we’re going on an adventure, I need to change.” Gemini shrugged her shoulders and skipped away.

I resisted the urge to groan, I’d been hoping to use her state of being as an excuse not to go shopping. In no time at all I found myself sitting between the two sisters in the back of a fancy car on our way to some high-end mall. Gemini was wearing a wispy black dress with long sleeves that fanned out, looking the polar opposite of her snow-white sister. They were polar opposites and equally annoying in their own way, though Gemini’s annoying was much more tolerable and sometimes amusing. 

Genevieve prattled on endlessly about all the shops she wanted to go to and all the things she absolutely had to buy. Gemini seemed focused on the rearview mirror examining the driver through the mirror with a distant wicked smile as he adjusted his collar while driving. Before I could question her, Genevieve attempted to hook her arm through mine. Gemini flipped over me in an instant and caught her elder sister’s arm in a death grip.

“Don’t touch my Kai-chi.” Gemini’s voice came out much darker than I’d ever heard it before and I felt an involuntary shiver roll down my spine.

“Get off of me, freak.” Genevieve snarled as she struggled, futilely, against her much stronger younger sister. 

“Gemini.” I sighed, not wanting to deal with Genevieve’s inevitable shrieking once she didn’t get her way, “the driver can’t see with you blocking the window like that?”

“No?” Gemini turned to me with an impish smile. She was up to something and whatever it was, it wasn’t good. She released Genevieve from her grip, there was now a large black bruise from where her hand had been and I had a feeling the prissy girl’s arm was fractured. Gemini moved toward the open divider that separated our part of the car from the driver’s. “Think he can see better this way?” She giggled as her hand lashed out. I saw a quick glint of metal from a concealed blade before a spray of crimson blood splattered the windshield as she stabbed the driver in the throat.

Genevieve let out a panicked shriek and I lunged forward to grab the steering wheel as the driver’s body sagged to the side and the steering wheel lurched with him nearly crashing the car into a concrete barrier. “GEMINI!” I snarled at her as I struggled to keep the car from hitting anything. I couldn’t see a damn thing through the blood-soaked windshield and the driver’s foot was still heavy on the gas pedal.

Gemini cackled but did absolutely nothing to help me. Instead she opted to drawing little doodles on the beige fabric ceiling with the blood on her fingers. I grimaced at the macabre finger-painting and crawled through the open barrier shoving the driver’s body out of my way so I could get the car under control. Genevieve was screaming more frantically now completely freaked out by Gemini’s odd humming and creepy doodle art. Somehow, I miraculously managed to pull the car off onto a service road away from prying eyes before throwing it into park.

I turned around only to jump as I came face to face with a wickedly grinning Gemini. She clapped her bloody hands together and let out an adorable giggle, “that was fun! Let’s do it again!”

Genevieve practically fell out of the car before vomiting in the grass along the service road. The sound of her retching made my skin crawl and I was tempted to put the car back in drive and pull away at least a few hundred meters to get away from her filth. 

“More warning next time, would be appreciated.” I sighed as I looked to Gemini’s maniacal grin. “I’d like to avoid dying in a car crash.”

“I would have protected you, Kai-chi.” Gemini giggled.

“Any reason you decided to kill our driver or were you just bored?” I asked her curiously no longer surprised by her wanton murder. 

Gemini smirked, her glowing eyes were agleam, “you didn’t notice?”

“Notice what?” I asked cautiously hoping this wouldn’t lead to another one of her tortuous games of 20 questions with much higher stakes.

“That wasn’t our driver.” Gemini shrugged her shoulders before exiting the car.

Genevieve let out a panicked shriek and scrambled away from her, “stay away you monster, I’m calling fath—AH!” A thin silver needle like blade pierced the prissy girl in the neck, it wasn’t near anything vital but close enough to vitals to terrify her.

“Shut up.” Gemini hissed icily, “you’re only breathing because mother said I wasn’t allowed to kill you.” Her lips twisted into a merciless smile, “do the world a favor and go play in traffic you twit.” 

I looked to the sisters curiously, it was the first time Gemini had ever spoken about her mother. Genevieve burst into tears and clutched at her neck to stop the steady stream of blood. Disgusted by her sniveling I looked away from them and instead turned my attention to the corpse of the driver. Curious by Gemini’s words I wrenched his tie off and examined his neck. 

A blue tattoo caught my eye, it was a rival gang symbol. It had been completely concealed by his clothes; how could Gemini have seen it? I sent a message to the boss with our location and what had happened. He responded right away saying he and some of his men were on the way.

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

Age: 16

A few weeks after the incident some members from the rival gang the driver had belonged to were brought in for interrogation. Gemini had a good time torturing them, though that part seemed to be the most fun for her she wasn’t too interested in what they had to say. They all blabbed every little thing they knew in hopes that she’d quit torturing them but they were shown no such mercy. It seemed to me she was even more sadistic and cruel than usual and I wondered if something was bothering her.

Since the incident that put a stop to our shopping trip—much to my relief– Gemini appeared to be much more violent and hostile. It was a little unnerving to see her lacking her usual manic behavior. It had been awhile since I’d hear her maniacal giggling. Even while she was torturing the rival yakuza members for information, she was eerily quiet.

I grimaced as one of the three men hanging from the ceiling began to cry and beg for mercy insisting, he’d told us everything he knew. I believed him because moments before that point he’d just spouted out his social security number and all of his financial information, he really had told us everything and we got a lot of useful information. Gemini didn’t care but it seemed his crying and begging had made her grow bored as she slashed him across the belly with one swipe just deep enough to cause his large and small intestines to spill out. The man shrieked in agony and horror as he saw his organs beginning to spill out of his body. Shock took hold and he slipped from consciousness before dying whilst his body seized and twitched.

The other two rival yakuza members began to scream in panic. Gemini was unmoved as she grabbed the small intestines of the dead man while his body continued to twitch. She gripped them in her hands and handled them like a rope. My stomach turned but I managed to keep myself calm and stay in the room without retching. She calmly walked over to the second victim and looped the rope like intestines around his neck causing him to flail uselessly and scream in terror.

The third man began sobbing uncontrollably and praying to every deity in existence to save him. I watched Gemini carefully, her face was a stony emotionless mask as she strangled the second yakuza member. Something was wrong with the little psychopath, and for some reason that concerned me.

“Gemini?” I spoke up, it didn’t appear she was having fun with her victims.

Her captivating glowing eyes flicked in my direction, they seemed somewhat duller than usual. She blinked once waiting for me to get to the point. That was very unlike her.

“Something’s wrong.” I noted as I removed my glove and activated my quirk before reaching out to the third yakuza member. All it took was a single touch from my index finger, and the man’s body broke apart and seemed to explode as my quirk disassembled all of his cells. Blood sprayed everywhere and I frowned as I realized Gem didn’t even crack a smile as she finished strangling her victim.

“You should probably wash your hand, Kai-chi.” She said quietly as she turned and walked away. 

I stared after her for a moment and scratched my head with my cleanly gloved hand. The moment she left my body felt itchy and awful and I stared down at the hand I’d used to kill the yakuza grunt. It was filthy. My throat felt dry and scratchy and my entire body felt itchy. I scrambled after her following the trail of bloody footprints she left behind her all down the hall and up the steps out of the dungeon. That was all she’d left behind, there was no sign of her, just a trail of bloody footprints leading all the way to her room. 

For some strange reason, my mind was too focused on what was wrong with Gemini to worry any longer about the filth on my hand. I knocked on her door. “Gemini?”

Nothing.

I knocked again, louder, “Gemini?”

Nothing.

I tried to open the door but it was locked. Sighing, I touched the door with my filthy hand activating my quirk to disassemble it. Gemini was lying on the floor in a pool of blood from all the blood and gore she’d gotten soaked in during the torturing of the yakuza grunts we were interrogating. There was a ring of perfectly polished skulls around her and she had one skull gripped in her bloody hands and was currently hugging it against her. Her glowing eyes flicked in my direction.

“Did you need something, Kai-chi?” She asked me in her eerily calm voice. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked her as I stepped into the room before reassembling the door behind me and removed my mask, something I only felt comfortable doing when I was alone with her.

“Something’s wrong?” She tilted her head to the side throwing me a curious look, it lacked her usual flair.

“I realize they were all pretty spineless, but you would normally have a little fun tormenting them, you didn’t laugh once…”

She stared at me a moment longer before a small smile twisted onto her lips, “are you worried about me, Kai-chi?”

“Is that what it’s called?” I shrugged, “I suppose I am, sorry for being boring.” 

Her lips twitched again but she didn’t bring herself to smile, “I’ll forgive you on one condition.”

“What’s that?” I sighed.

“Kill me.”

This again. I moved closer and knelt outside the ring of skulls.

“When?” I pondered, deciding to try it from a different approach.

Her glowing eyes shifted back to me, they were filled with curiosity. She thought for a moment before smiling, it was a haunting somber smile that I felt I’d carry with me always. “If I give you a date, you’ll do it?”

“If that’s what you want…”

She nodded her head and turned her gaze to the skull clutched in her hands before her smile fell away. It almost seemed as if she were relieved by something yet still sorrowful in a weird cryptic way.

“Who’s that?” I asked her curiously as I noticed her staring at the perfectly polished skull now covered in blood that she was hugging close.

“My mother.”

Did her father know? I thought for a moment, and realized this was around the time of year when we’d received the news she had died, was today the anniversary of her death? I wasn’t sure psychopaths were capable of feelings or that Gemini was truly feeling anything. 

“Did you kill her?” I asked her curiously.

She laughed at this, her beautiful maniacal laughter filled the room and she tore her gaze away from her mother’s skull before turning to me. Her smile made my heart stutter in my chest, “no, mother was the only person that didn’t annoy me. I never wanted to kill her. She knew what I was, and she let me have my fun. She didn’t mind my pranks on Gene so long as I didn’t kill her, that was her only rule.”

“Your father annoys you?” I pondered.

She nodded, “he’s getting a little less annoying but he still likes to hinder my fun.”

“How about me?” I mused.

She looked to me with a smile, “no, Kai-chi is the most fun.”

My heart skipped a beat at this. I must have revealed something on my face as her smile turned into her usual gleeful twisted smile and she gracefully rose to her knees. I felt my face begin to burn with heat as she inched closer to me, the only thing between her blood-soaked form and me was a ring of skulls. Her mother’s skull dropped to the floor beside her with a soft slightly squishy sounding clunk as it fell into a pool of congealing blood.

Gemini leaned across the ring of skulls and looped her arms caked in somewhat congealed and drying blood around my neck. Despite how disgusting it was, I could only focus on her captivating glowing eyes. “Kai-chi, promise we’ll have fun till the very end.”

I nodded; I’d let her destroy the entire world if it would make her happy. She leaned into me and I felt my heart begin to race as her face drew closer to mine. My body tensed and my heart pounded with anticipation as I imagined her pale petal soft lips brushing across mine, not even remotely bothered by the possibility of there being blood on those lips. As her lips drew nearer, I shut my eyes and felt my body lean a little forward. Rather than the kiss I was expecting, Gemini suddenly licked the side of my face all the way up my cheek to the edge of my eye. Instinctively, repulsed by her action, I pulled away. My heart skipped a beat as she fell backward onto the floor cackling madly. 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” I sighed as I wiped at my face with a clean handkerchief I kept tucked on the inside of my jacket.

Gemini stopped her cackling and looked up at me with a bright twisted smile, “you’re my favorite, Kai-chi.” She flipped to her feet and twirled around in the circle of skulls. Her blood-soaked dress crunched as it fanned out causing dried flakes of blood to fan out around her. It was macabre and beautiful and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.

She giggled as she twirled, seeming back to her usual self and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Kai-chi?” She paused her twirling and turned to me with a smile.

“What is it?” I sighed.

“After we get cleaned up, will you help me catch some spiders?” She grinned.

“I suppose, what are they for?” I pondered.

“Gene’s birthday is tomorrow.” Gemini grinned.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll hold the contraption you’re putting them in, but you’re on your own collecting them.”

Gemini giggled.

I retreated to my room to get cleaned up and put myself back in order making sure my gloves and mask were in place before exiting my room once more. When I returned to Gemini’s room, I found it spotlessly clean. All the skulls had returned to their rightful places, the skull I now recognized as her mother’s skull had a shelf all to itself and wore a crown of thorns. Gemini stepped out of her closet in a pair of skin tight black pants and a long flowy black shirt that fell in shadowy wisps past her bottom and hugged her delicate curves in sinful ways. Her black as night hair was dripping wet. I reached up to catch the knife she’d thrown at me in greeting and let it drop to the floor at my feet with an exasperated sigh causing her to crack a grin.

“Dry your hair before you catch cold.” I scolded her lightly.

“Nope, don’t want to.” She stuck her tongue out at me and made a move to skip past me.

I reached out and caught her by the arm halting her retreat and forcing her to face me. Her eyes were aglow with laughter and amusement as I wrenched her to the bathroom attached to her room. It was spotlessly clean save for the water all over the floor from her exiting the shower. I spotted a stack of fresh black towels folded neatly on a shelf and pulled one out with my free hand.

Gemini giggled as I began aggressively towel drying her head. “Kai-chi is funny.” She laughed.

I finished towel drying her hair and reached for a comb before trying to hand it to her she took one look at her wild black as night hair in the mirror and shrugged before skipping past me.

Sighing I followed after her. She handed me a mesh box the size of a small aquarium that could easily hold at least a hundred spiders. I tucked it under my arm and followed her out the door. Gemini was humming the itsy-bitsy spider in an eerie key as she skipped and twirled ahead of me.

In no time at all and with zero interruptions, we made it out into the woods behind the mansion. Gemini had no trouble spotting spiders in the darkness and in no time at all had gathered well over a hundred spiders and dropped them into the mesh box in my hands. By the time we finally made it back to the mansion, it was well past midnight.

I followed Gemini to a secret entrance that led to the tunnel in the ceiling. After discovering it once she’d tried to shoot me with a crossbow from my ceiling on my first morning here, I cleaned the entire tunnel. We came to a stop at a trap door above where Genevieve’s room should be. The door opened without a sound and I glanced down, it was directly over Genevieve’s giant bed covered in gold trimmed sheets. Genevieve was snoring loudly down below.

Gemini began plucking spiders from the box one by one and dropping them onto the bed in random places. After placing thirteen of them carefully, she grew bored and grabbed the box from my hand. I felt a small smirk begin to tug at my lips as I realized what she was about to do whilst humming the Itsy-Bitsy spider the entire time.

“The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, fell in the twit’s mouth.” She sang eerily as she dumped the box over and all the spiders fell atop Genevieve’s sleeping frame.

For a long moment nothing happened then Genevieve woke as several of the spiders landed in her mouth, it took her another moment to realize what was happening before she began to gag, retch, and scream in pure petrified horror. Gemini laughed mercilessly from the trapdoor, her voice dark twisted and demonic as she watched her sister nearly die from shock. Recovering from her petrification, Genevieve sprang from bed smacking herself all over and screaming at the top of her lungs. There were still spiders crawling all over her.

In her panic Genevieve ran around flailing not paying any attention to her surroundings. Gemini stopped laughing and seemed to perk up as Genevieve got closer and closer to the open window. A gleeful smile twisted onto her pale lips as Genevieve continued shrieking and flailing and smacking at herself in her dazed panic. I watched as she tripped over one of her shoes and went tumbling right out the window.

Gemini cackled and continued singing her twisted version of The Itsy-Bitsy Spider and ended it with, “and now the twit is dead.” 

At that moment, Genevieve let out a pained cry from outside and I saw Gemini’s smile fall.

“Damn.”

“I thought you weren’t allowed to kill her.” I pointed in a bored tone.

“She fell out the window because of her own stupidity, Kai-chi, I can’t be blamed for that.” Gemini grinned. She closed the trap door and we exited the secret tunnel to the sounds of the mansion staff panicking that Lady Genevieve had fallen from her window and was hurt. “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to get more spiders next time.” She sighed as we stepped into the foyer as The Boss, some of his higher up and some of the mansion staff came running. 

A few gardeners carried in a bloody and crying Genevieve from outside while hurriedly explaining to the boss that she’d fallen from the window. Genevieve’s crimson eyes fell on Gemini and she shrieked.

“IT WAS YOU!” Genevieve screamed and pointed a scraped-up finger at Gemini, she must have landed in the plush hedges below her room, which probably saved her life. 

“Have a nice trip, Gene?” Gemini asked with a smile not seeming the least bit remorseful for what she’d done.

The Boss paled as he realized Gemini was responsible. “Gemini, apologize to your sister.” He glared at his youngest daughter.

Gemini’s smile grew, “I’m not sorry so why should I apologize?”

“YOU MONSTER!” Genevieve shrieked at a pitch only dogs could hear.

Gemini stretched her arms above her head and let out a yawn, “Happy Deathday Gene, goodnight.” She turned and walked away. I was grateful for the mask over my face as I couldn’t help but smile after her. 

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

Age: 16

The Boss had tried to punish Gemini and get her to apologize to her sister once she returned from the hospital but his efforts were futile. She didn’t respond to any kind of punishment and it was very clear she felt nothing in regard to her action as she drew little spiders all over Genevieve’s cast while she slept causing her to freak out once she woke up. The Boss thought it would be best to get her out of the house and sent us into enemy territory in hopes we’d get some information.

Gemini’s strategy to getting information from a rival group was for us to get captured. It would have been helpful if she’d let me in on her plan but she wasn’t really one to share. She preferred chaos and loved to test me to see how I’d react to things. I thought we were stopping in a café for food, like normal people, but I should have realized we’d only stopped in so Gemini could slaughter every known grunt of the rival group in said café freaking out a ton of civilians who ended up getting caught in crossfire as the rival group opened fire on us before realizing who Gemini was. She didn’t put up much of a fight and let us get captured.

I sighed, annoyed. My hands were bound behind my back, my ankles were bound together and I was secured to a thick metal pole in a basement somewhere, I assumed we weren’t more than a few blocks from the café we’d started at. Gemini was bound to a wooden table in my line of sight. She let out a yawn as if she were bored with the whole ordeal.

“This is a sad excuse for a torture chamber.” She noted in a bored tone. With how her arms were strapped to the table it looked as if her shoulders had been dislocated but she didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

“Maybe you should give them some pointers.” I replied sarcastically, my bare wrists were rubbing against the metal pole, it felt scratchy and I began to wonder if it was chipping paint, rust or some other disgusting substance and it was stealing most of my focus.

“That’s not a bad idea.” She giggled, “Should I leave them my card?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “It would have been nice to get a heads up that you were intending on getting us captured.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” She giggled again.

“I could have at least prepared and put on some different gloves or something.” I grumbled bitterly; I could have worn some longer ones.

“Kai-chi, are you grumpy?” She turned her glowing eyes in my direction.

“Yes, you’re quite the nuisance.” I sighed. 

A door opened from the top of the creaky wooden steps that led to the cellar we were in. There were some hushed angry voices at the top of the stairs followed by the heavy footfalls. A cluster of men, a few well dressed, the rest appearing like they were trying to dress well but failing, descended the stairs. I recognized some of them as higher ups within the rival group, including their leader and his right-hand man. 

“The goddess of fortune smiles upon us, she brings the youngest daughter of my enemy right to my doorstep.” The rival leader started with a smug smile.

Gemini let out a yawn. A few of the men looked perturbed by her nonchalance. Her lips pulled into a twisted smile, “actually, I showed up on your doorstep and left you some bodies as a gift, don’t give credit that is due to me to your imaginary friend, old man.”

I groaned inwardly.

The rival leader’s right-hand man lashed out at her for her insolence and smacked her across the face with enough force I was sure her jaw had fractured from the impact. I heard the sound of bones cracking and mending. Gemini’s smile didn’t falter. 

“My twit of a sister can hit harder than that.” She giggled.

More of the men started to grow uneasy. Gemini certainly had that affect on a person. Not sure how to handle the perturbing girl, the men looked to their leader for direction. He looked down at Gemini with a scowl.

“Listen little girl, you’re not in any position to get smart, do you realize how serious this is?” He looked like he had reservations about hurting a girl, he must have received pressure from within to torture her.

Gemini somehow managed to shrug her shoulders, they popped, definitely dislocated. A few of the men took a step away from her. Those who seemed to be more seasoned within the group glared at the cowards that had reacted, but they all looked chilled. I couldn’t help but smile, Gemini was pretty amazing, for a psychopath. 

“Let’s play a game.” Gemini grinned.

“You don’t get to call any of the shots around here, brat.” The right-hand man who seemed to be the least effected by her snarled, he retrieved a thin iron rod from a nearby table and drove it through Gemini’s wrist. She didn’t even flinch. Her twisted smile grew.

“Oh, is the fun finally starting?” Gemini poked at them.

I shook my head at her once more. They all thought I was a low-level grunt with no useful information and I assumed were planning on killing me after they were done with Gemini. For the time being, they were ignoring me. 

“What kind of game?” Their leader asked her curiously visibly disturbed by her behavior and lack of reaction to the pain.

“Well I assume this is an attempt at torture and that’s what you all were planning to do.” She rolled her eyes, “for every question you ask, I get to ask one of my own, and you have to answer it honestly, since you’re intending to kill me anyway, if you didn’t that would just be poor sportsmanship.”

“Fine.” The leader replied looking somber and remorseful. He really had qualms with killing her, perhaps he wasn’t such a bad guy but I was unsympathetic to his plight.

“Oh good, let’s begin.” Gemini giggled. 

Two hours in, Gemini looked bored out of her mind, she’d gotten a lot of information about their operations and the number of members they had. The rival group got zero helpful information. Gemini had a plethora of small iron spikes sticking out of her body impaling her to the table but due to her ability to move her vitals none of them had struck anything of major importance, though I was a little worried now, with the amount of spikes impaling her it would be difficult for her to shift her organs around. 

“Last question,” Gemini sighed in a bored manner, she’d grown tired of this game, it wasn’t entertaining her anymore. The men in the room frowned uneasily at this, they still had lots of questions and were wondering why she said it was the last. “are all of your operatives somewhere in this building, currently?”

The leader thought about it for a moment as one of the grunts impaled another spike in Gemini’s side, they’d already switched torturer’s three times…she was pretty exhausting… I saw a flicker of pain in her glowing eyes, they hit something vital. “Yes.” He replied.

Gemini’s glowing eyes flickered to me, “Kai-chi, ready for something fun?”

“I’m a little tied up at the moment.” I replied calmly.

Gemini giggled, “me too…guess we’ll have to fix that.”

The men in the room stared at the disturbing teen with wide eyes, perturbed by her attitude and began to step away. Gemini suddenly jerked and ripped her arms through her metal shackles stripping her flesh down to the bone and even managing to scrape some of the bone off in the process. She repeated the process with her feet. A few of the men got sick at her display. Once her arms and legs were free, she sat up off the spikes and hopped off the table. She took a step toward me before sighing.

“Oh…Kai-chi’s skin and bones won’t grow back…that’s kind of problematic…you can’t kill me without your hands…” She furrowed her brow as if in thought as the men grabbed for their guns and formed a barrier around their leader. “I guess I’ll just have to find a key.” She nonchalantly reached behind her for one of the spikes. I saw all of her wounds begin to mend save for the wound on her side that was faintly spilling blood. 

The men opened fire on her, one managed a shot right between the eyes. Gemini must have moved her vitals again as she didn’t seem affected in the slightest. Her sweet eerie giggles filled the room as she dove at the men. She made quick work of them with the iron spike and in a matter of minutes she had several eyeballs impaled through it so the irises were visible. She held it up in front of her face so it looked like half a dozen differently colored eyes were looking at me.

“I see you, Kai-chi.” She cackled.

I sighed, “I thought you were supposed to be finding a key not messing around.”

Gemini huffed adorably and dropped her eye stick. She searched the bodies. Her movements were a little slow, the wound on her side was bleeding more profusely than before, she must have irritated it when she was killing them all. Her usually pale skin had a sickly pallor to it. After a moment of searching she found the key to my restraints and slowly made her way to me. Her steps were a little unsteady. 

“I can’t kill you one day if you go dying on me first.” I pointed as she gripped my restraints in her bloody hands and began to work at the lock.

Her glowing eyes widened as she lifted her head and met my gaze. I thought I saw a faint flush of color spread across her cheeks. A small endearing smile twisted onto her lips. “You remembered.”

“What did they hit?” I asked her with a sigh as she unlocked my wrist restraints. I took the keys from her and undid my ankle restraints on my own.

“I don’t want to tell.” She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Why?” I growled at her in annoyance.

“Because Kai-chi will take away my fun.” She huffed.

“Just tell me what they hit.” I glared at her.

“They grazed my heart.” She folded her arms in front of her chest haughtily but winced at the sudden movement, it was getting worse. 

I removed my gloves and lifted her up, keeping her secured with one arm so I’d have at least one hand free to get us out of here. “You’re right, I’m taking away your fun. You stay put.”

Her lips pulled into a pout but she didn’t protest, she must be in a lot of pain. Her thin arms encircled me and she leaned her head against me. I felt my heart start to race at her sudden closeness and her vulnerable attitude. 

“How many more are left?” I asked her with a sigh.

She looked to me curiously, “about twenty.”

“I guess I can kill them for you, if it will make you feel better.” My face grew hot as I said it aloud.

“Really? You’d do that for me, Kai-chi?” She asked me with stars in her eyes.

“I already said I would.” I grumbled feeling flustered.

“Kai-chi is my favorite.” She rubbed her face against mine, I assumed she was trying to be affectionate in her own weird way.

“Yes. Yes. I know.” My face was growing hotter.

I carried her up the stairs and used my quirk to break apart the door. A few people came running as soon as the door opened. I made quick work of them with my quirk. Gemini cheered and giggled as each one of them was broken apart by my quirk and seemed to explode into a gory pile of blood.

It took about thirty minutes to clear the rest of the building. I was surprised the rival leader had been honest with her, there really were only twenty more men in the building. By the time we left the building, Gemini looked like she wasn’t feeling well. Her skin was practically translucent it was so pale. She kind of sagged in my arms not able to hold herself upright anymore.

“Kai-chi.” Her voice was whisper soft.

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me have fun today… and every other day.” She beamed.

“You know…we could have a lot more fun together if you lived longer.” I pointed.

She hooked her arms around my neck, her body shook as she struggled to support herself. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as she stared into my eyes her face was so close, we were almost touching. A small smile twisted onto her lips as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine. I felt my heart nearly catapult out of my chest. I tightened my grip on her afraid I’d drop her in my shock and before I could stop myself, I kissed her back. 

Her weak grip tightened around me and she deepened the kiss. Her tongue delicately brushed against my lips and I felt excitement worm through me as we began to explore each other’s mouths.  Gemini suddenly bit my tongue and I pulled back with a grimace at the taste of blood and shot her a dark look. Her beautiful maniacal cackle almost brought a smile to my lips. I shook my head at her.

“Ever the nuisance.”

Chapter Text

~Gemini’s POV~

Age: 15

Flashback Age: 6

“Gemini?!” Mother’s voice sounded loud, it was sharper than usual, and it had started to crack. Perhaps she was upset about something, but what?

I looked down at the man who’d interrupted my fun as he tried to crawl away from me on all fours. Mother’s screaming voice was getting closer and more frantic. Why was she yelling for me so much? She didn’t usually raise her voice. Something told me, the man who’d interrupted my fun was responsible for upsetting her and I felt a spark of something within me. What was that strange feeling? I didn’t really experience emotions, not like normal people.

Mother said I was special and it was okay that I didn’t feel what everyone else felt. She never labeled me, like everyone else. She didn’t look at me the way others did. When I thought of her, sometimes I’d feel something, like a weird urge to protect her. When she was upset, I’d sometimes get other strange feelings, like the urge to crush anything or anyone that had made her cry. It was odd and not something I was used to. At times it was frustrating but I was glad it only happened with her, it would be irritating to have such strange feelings for someone annoying, like Gene or Dad.

I gripped the stick I’d been using to draw in the dirt tightly in my hand as I glowered at the man who’d interrupted my fun and killed my guards. I’d been drawing fun pictures in the dirt of Gene and Dad dying fun tragic deaths, but then this strange man stepped on my drawings and started shooting at everyone. He smudged my favorite one of Gene being eaten by a giant spider, but that didn’t make me feel as angry as my mother’s frantic yelling.

“You upset mother.” I said quietly as I stalked toward him, gripping the bloody stick in my hand tightly. “I won’t forgive you.”

“P-please…let me go.” The man sobbed as he continued trying to crawl away from me.

“That’s not nearly as fun.” I walked along side him and smiled as he let out a panicked yelp and tried to cower away.

I swiped to the side and dug the stick into his eye. The man let out an agonized shriek and I smiled as I felt a slight pop as the stick broke through the eye’s protective layer. Blood and eye goo oozed down the stick covering my small hand. I angled the stick upward until I felt it scraping against bone before pulling back, ripping his eye from its socket. Despite his screams, I heard nothing, just a nice calm quiet. I smiled, people were annoying, it was much better when they were quiet.

The man collapsed onto his side clutching at the empty socket. His mouth was ajar as he wailed in agony. I looked to the eye on the end of my stick and giggled softly. It looked funny as it stared back at me blankly. His screams started to penetrate the brief quiet in my mind and I scowled down at him before jamming the pointed end of the stick with his eye into his mouth. There was a brief moment of resistance as I hit the back of his throat but it gave as I pressed harder. A delightful gurgling sound bubbled up in his throat and I watched, amused as he twitched for a moment before dying.

“I prefer people like this, they’re less annoying.” I said softly.

“GEMINI!” My mother’s voice was closer now. I turned around and spotted her pushing her way through the thick forest where I often played behind the mansion. She fell into my clearing and stared at my blood-soaked appearance wide eyed. Tears welled in her eyes as she ran toward me and lifted me into her arms, “Gemini! Are you hurt?! Is any of this blood yours?”

“Mommy, why are you crying?” I asked her curiously not understanding why her eyes were leaking so much.

“I was so worried about you.” She choked on a sob as she held me tightly. It was a bit suffocating, but not annoyingly so. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, though I wasn’t sure she saw as she was holding me so tight. I gave in and hugged her back as I realized it might make her feel better. “I’m okay Mommy, that man won’t make you cry anymore.”

For the first time she looked down at the corpse of the man who’d interrupted my fun and jumped back, cradling me in her arms as if to shield me from the ghastly state of the clearing. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” She rubbed my back as she carried me back to the mansion.

I woke with a start; the memory of that day made my chest feel strange. Something wet slid down my cheek. Slowly I sat up and touched my face. My eyes were leaking. I looked to my mother’s polished skull on my wall. My eyes started to leak more. 

“Stop leaking.” I hissed as I rammed the heel of my palm into my eyes trying to block the tears. It wasn’t working.

My body started to shake and a strange sound escaped me as more tears spilled down my cheeks. I clenched my fists, frustrated. Kai-chi’s face flashed in my mind’s eye. Maybe that was what I needed, to play a game with Kai-chi. Kai-chi was always fun.

I hopped out of bed and slipped out of my room and into the hall. It was the dead of night and the house was at it’s quietest. I couldn’t enjoy it as my eyes were still leaking. Perhaps I was broken. Quietly, I made my way to Kai-chi’s room. I pushed the door open. 

He was sound asleep in his bed. The face mask, I’d gotten for him was laid neatly on his bedside table next to a pair of gloves. Everything in his room was meticulous and laid out in a very specific way. I slowly made my way toward his bed and stopped as I reached his bedside. I felt a strange feeling in my chest as I looked down at his sleeping face. It was a similar feeling to the feeling I got with my mother, I assumed it was just something that happened with people who weren’t annoying. Though it was similar, it was also different, more intense.

I stood there for a long moment, at the edge of his bed staring at him as my eyes continued to leak. I tried to get myself to move, to sneak attack him and beg him to play a game with me, but it was like I was frozen. My gaze lingered on his sleeping face, his eyelashes were kind of long and pretty. He had a nice face; his features were much softer when he slept. I looked to his usually meticulously neat dark brown hair. For some reason, I wanted to touch it. It was perfectly mussed from sleep, I wanted to mess it up more to tease him, but I couldn’t move.

His eyes fluttered open, revealing gold irises. They widened and he jumped as he realized I was at his bedside, “what the hell are you doing?!” He exclaimed in surprise before looking at me closely. “Gemini…you’re crying…”

“Don’t be silly, Kai-chi!” I giggled, “let’s play a game!”

Kai-chi frowned, “it’s the middle of the night, and if you’re not crying, you’re possibly having a stroke for your eyes to be leaking that much.”

I grinned, “we’ll never know unless you get up and play a game with me.”

He reached toward me; his bare hand came into contact with my wrist. I felt a strange feeling in my chest, like a tightness or heaviness. It was making it hard to breathe. “What’s the rule?”

“No games till sun up.” I grumbled bitterly.

“And is the sun up?” He asked as he tugged on my wrist making me take a step closer.

“It’s up, somewhere.” I pointed with a giggle.

He tugged again and I lost my balance and toppled into his outstretched arms with a squeak. My body was still shaking, and a strange sound escaped me, like one of those annoying sounds when Genevieve cried too much. His arms encircled me and he laid back on his bed, letting out a soft sigh as he tried to get comfortable with me on top of him.

Kai-chi didn’t say a word, he just hugged me tight. He gently rubbed my back, like mother used to do, and the tears overflowed, another strange sound escaped me and my body moved instinctively, clinging tightly to him. I buried my face in his chest.

“You’re such a nuisance.” He said softly as he pulled a blanket over top of us.

More of the strange sobbing sounds escaped me as I clung tightly to him. I didn’t understand why I was like this. Kai-chi didn’t pester me with annoying questions, he was quiet as he held me close, rubbing my back in a consoling manner. Eventually my eyes stopped leaking and I felt more exhausted than I’d ever felt before.

I could hear Kai-chi’s heart beating in his chest and closed my eyes and focused until it was the only sound I could hear. It was calming. I drifted to sleep, lulled by the sound of his heartbeat..

Chapter Text

Kai’s POV

Age:16

I woke with a start as I realized I wasn’t alone in bed before I remembered being awoken in the middle of the night by a crying Gemini. Glancing down, I saw her sound asleep snuggled up against me. Her small hands gripped the front of my shirt tightly and she had her face buried in my chest. Not wanting to disturb her, I adjusted the blankets around us so she wouldn’t catch a chill and laid completely still so she could keep sleeping. 

Gemini slept soundly cradled in my arms. I thought back to the middle of the night, it wasn’t the first time Gemini had woken me in the middle of the night. It happened on occasion which is why I made the rule no games till sun up. Once I found her just standing over me with a knife in hand, she cackled maniacally and ran away when I startled awake. Another time she’d been trying to finger paint on my wall with blood from who the hell knows where. She didn’t sleep a whole lot, probably too psychotic to sleep like a normal person.

I felt something wet on my shirt and groaned as I realized Gemini was now drooling on me in her sleep. “Seriously, psycho?” 

She didn’t stir awake, just nuzzled her face against my chest as if she were trying to somehow snuggle closer to me which was impossible as she was already glued to me. A soft sigh of contentment escaped her in her sleep. It seemed whatever must have upset her in the middle of the night was no longer a concern. I was curious what sort of dreams Gemini had on the rare occasions she did sleep. This one seemed to be a happy dream, perhaps she was murdering her father and Genevieve, that seemed about the only thing I could think that would bring her joy in her dreams, she was allowed to kill anyone else in the world if she felt like it so that wasn’t as fun for her. 

“Kai-chi.” She squeezed me tightly in her sleep and let out a small dreamy sigh.

“Are you murdering me in your dream?” I frowned down at her sleeping form. There was an adorable innocent smile splayed across her lips.

“Kai-chi.” She breathed my name again and squeezed me tight.

“I’m not sure if I should be flattered, annoyed, concerned or scared for my life.” I sighed.

An hour later, there was a knock at my door. Gemini still didn’t stir. I attempted to disentangle myself from her so I could go answer the door, but even in sleep she seemed to have beastly psycho strength. 

“Kai, Gemini’s missing.” The Boss’ voice sounded from the other side of the door before it slowly opened. His eyes widened as he spotted Gemini in my bed.

“I promise its not what it looks li-.” I blurted uncomfortably but cut off as he let out a soft chuckle.

“Honestly, I’d probably be happier if it was what it looked like, but no matter. I’m just glad she’s not missing.” The Boss smiled.

What on earth did that mean? Why would he want for her to be with one of his lowly subordinates? She was worth so much more. I frowned slightly.

“I’ll leave you two be.” The Boss shut the door and I heard his footsteps retreating.

I sighed and pondered what the boss had said. Did he want Gemini and I to be romantic? I wasn’t sure that was possible for either of us, the girl was a psychopath and I wasn’t entirely sure if either of us was capable of love, at least not the way normal people were. As annoying as she was, I did find myself caring about her feelings. Last night had scared me, I’d never seen her in such a state. I had no idea what to do. Gemini, cared about me in her own way, she usually showed it by making attempts on my life or exposing me to horrendous things that irritated my mysophobia.

“Kai-chi.” She snuggled closer to me, her voice didn’t sound nearly as dreamy as before, her arms reached behind me and I sighed as I realized she’d awoken and was trying to sneak attack me with a knife she’d hidden somewhere on my headboard without my notice.

I managed to reach up and catch her wrist in my hand halting the knife from getting stabbed into the back of my neck. “Good morning.” 

Her bright strangely luminescent eyes fluttered open and I felt something stir within me as she was still molded against me and I had her wrist caught in a death grip keeping her pinned to me. A bright maniacal smile twisted onto her lips. “The sun’s up can we play now?”

I thought about it for a moment, I didn’t think she’d come right out and tell me what it was that had put her in such a state last night. There was probably only one way to get her to open up, through one of her demented games. “Sure, can I make a request?”

Her eyes lit up, “you WANT to play?”

I nodded.

“Which one is your favorite?” She asked me with a twisted grin.

“Interrogation.”

She tilted her head curiously to the side. We’d only played a few times, I usually gave in pretty quick and confessed whatever she wanted and interrogating Gemini was no easy task, I’d yet to win, but I was determined. “Do you want to be the interrogator or the interrogatee?” Her twisted smile would have struck fear in the heart of the bravest man, but I was immune to her ‘creepiness’ which was just code for her insanity.

“Interrogator.”

Her body shivered with delight in my arms, “Kai-chi, you want to torture me?” She asked with glee.

“It seems like the only way I’ll get you to answer any of my damn questions.” I sighed.

“It hasn’t worked out well for you yet.” She giggled.

“I’m feeling pretty confident about today.” I shrugged.

“Okay!” She cheered, “but Kai-chi, if you fail to get me to talk, do I get to torture you?”

“Sure.” 

“Yay! Then I’ll never talk!” She declared and hopped out of my bed, breaking from my grasp with ease making me realize if she had truly wanted to kill me, I wouldn’t have been able to stop her.

I ignored Gemini’s whining from the other side of the bathroom door as I showered and took my time to get dressed and adorn my mask and gloves. By the time I was done getting ready I found her slumped on the floor pouting and whining about how bored she was. I smiled beneath my mask and followed her out of my room and down to one of her favorite interrogation rooms. It had any possible torture implement one could imagine and was squeaky clean despite all the people who’d been carved up in it. It always smelled pleasantly of bleach.

She skipped ahead of me her plain black nightshirt fluttering a little as she started to twirl and skip. When we reached the low levels of the basement and the thick iron door of Gemini’s favorite interrogation room, she turned to me with a bright smile. “Are you sure you have the stamina for this, Kai-chi?” 

“I’ll manage.” I opened the door and shook my head as she giddily raced into the dark room and hopped atop the cold metal table waiting for me to restrain her.

I flicked on a single light that hung over the metal table before approaching Gemini. She was practically buzzing with excitement as I secured the wrist and ankle restraints making sure they were tight enough. “What did you want to know?” She grinned.

“Why were you crying last night?”

Her smile slipped, before being replaced by one of her usual maniacal ones, “silly, Kai-chi, I don’t cry. You must have been seeing things.”

“Figured as much.” I sighed and looked at the wall of torture implements. No matter which one I used, I’d be here for hours cutting her open and would get nowhere. I paused to think. There had to be another method. Something other than physical torture which was way too exhausting.

“What’s wrong, Kai-chi?” She asked curiously, “need help deciding?” Her glowing eyes lit up once more, “I’m always partial to a good old-fashioned scalpel, gets a good precision slicing, and you can use the suturing staples to staple the skin back and get to the insides, like in operation!”

Physical torture would never work on Gemini, she wanted to die and she seemed to enjoy pain. I was struck with an idea and smirked beneath my mask, “why were you crying?”

“I don’t cry. And you haven’t done anything fun since you asked me the first time.” She sighed disappointed.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

She tilted her head to the side curiously, “Kai-chi, that won’t have enough power to try a zap, just use the fun electroshock machine thingy.”

I went to my contacts and showed her Gene’s number.

Gemini frowned.

“I was thinking I might ask Gene to go on a date with me.” I smirked.

“Liar.” Gemini giggled, “you hate the twit.”

“She is rather vile.” I agreed, “but I’ll do it, I’ll ask her out and do anything she asks me to do.”

“She’ll just want to violate you” Gemini pointed; all trace of laughter gone from her glowing eyes.

“If that’s what she wants.” I shrugged.

“You’re bluffing.” She hissed.

I pressed the phone icon and it started to ring.

“NO!” Gemini shrieked angrily.

I hung up the phone. My heart stuttered in my chest, there were tears in her glowing eyes once more. “Gemini?”

“That was mean, Kai-chi.” Her tears spilled down her pale cheeks, unbeknownst to her. “Why would you want to do anything with the useless twit, I’m much more fun.” 

“You’re right. You are more fun.” I agreed. “…and you’re crying again…”

“I DON’T CRY!” Gemini tore her wrists and ankles from her restraints in one go. Her tears streamed down to her chin and one dripped off and onto her chest as she sat up, soaking into the thin material of her night shirt. 

She reached up with shaking hands and felt her face. “Stop leaking!” She rammed the heels of her palms into her eye sockets in frustration. 

Sighing I pulled her hands away from her face. Perhaps the psycho really had no idea what crying was or why she was doing it. A soft choking sob escaped her and I pulled her into my arms. She felt so small and fragile in my arms as she trembled against me shaking with nearly silent sobs.

“Promise you won’t ever go on a date with Gene.” She mumbled half coherently into my chest.

“I promise I won’t ever go on a date with Gene.” I sighed.

“I don’t like this.” She grumbled, “I feel like my chest cavity has been ripped open and someone is sewing something into my heart but it’s a lot less fun and it feels weird.”

I tried to piece together what the hell that could mean but had zero luck, “what happened before your eyes started leaking last night?”

“I had a dream about mother.” Gemini said quietly.

“Did it feel like this?” I asked her curiously.

“No. It was different.” She looked frustrated, “is this what crying is?”

I nodded, “seems like it.”

“Gross.” She grimaced, “will you pluck out my eyes until they stop?”

“No, that sounds horribly unsanitary.” I sat atop the metal table with her in my arms. “I’d imagine you were crying last night because you miss your mother.”

“And now?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” I had an idea but didn’t feel like voicing it. Perhaps because Gemini cared for me as more than just a plaything or whatever she seemed to think I was. If that were the case, she probably wasn’t even aware of it herself which is why she didn’t understand. 

Chapter Text

Kai’s POV

Age: 16

Gemini and I were at a warehouse on the docks that had belonged to one of the Boss’, now former, rivals. Competition was a good thing in the criminal underworld, at least a little bit of it, but at the rate Gemini was going, our group would be the only one left standing, which could topple the entire hierarchy. I had no idea what I'd expected when Gemini woke me up at the crack of dawn with a spear being stabbed into my pillow saying she wanted to spend the day at the beach, but I probably should have expected something like this. She’d been extra murder-y since our game of interrogation.

“Master Kai,” the boss’ new secretary, Rosalind, extended a sterile wipe to me to wipe the blood splatter off my mask. “I have word from the bo-.” A knife impaled her through the back of the neck and protruded out the front as she was talking to me.

I let out a sigh, no longer shocked by anything Gemini did for fun, “now I have no idea what the message from your father was.” I nonchalantly used the sterile wipe that had been handed to me before her body hit the ground to wipe off my mask.

“Must not have been that important.” Gemini giggled maniacally from her spot sitting in a circle of bloody skulls, all with various expressions of horror frozen on their faces. 

I dropped the sanitary wipe atop Rosalind’s body before stepping over her, careful to avoid the pools of blood and gore all over the warehouse floor. “Not sure this can be called a day at the beach, I have yet to see a beach on this excursion.” I pointed with a frown as I stopped outside of her macabre circle of severed heads.

“We needed a boat to get to the beach, Kai-chi.” Gemini giggled as if it were obvious.

“And where is this boat?” I asked, skeptically. 

Gemini extended her bloody hands toward me.

I sighed and leaned forward.

She pressed her blood soaked hands to my cheeks, sliding my mask downward to reveal the lower half of my face. Despite how disgusting it was, I could only focus on how close we were as she sat up, bringing her face closer to mine. I closed my eyes as she drew nearer. There was a disgusting squelching sound as Gemini picked up one of the severed heads. I opened my eyes in time to see her bringing it toward me and I fell away from her.

Gemini erupted into a fit of maniacal laughter and hugged the severed head she’d been about to make me kiss close to her chest while kicking her feet in hysterical laughter. “What’s the matter, Kai-chi?! I thought you wanted a kiss.” She cackled.

“Not from that!” I snapped before readjusting my mask with a groan as I realized I’d just revealed to the psycho that I had wanted a kiss from her.

Gemini tilted her head to the side curiously before a big grin stretched across her lips. She dropped the severed head from her hold and got to her feet. Blood and gore dripped from her once white sun dress. She twirled a little, sending blood and gore arcing around her before gracefully hopping over her weird circle of heads. I wasn’t quite sure what this ritual was that she seemed to do with the circles but didn’t have time to question it as she barreled into me, easily knocking me to the blood soaked ground. Something disgusting splashed onto my mask and I let out a long sigh of exasperation, I'd just cleaned it!

“Gemini!” I growled as I was now thoroughly covered in blood gore and other questionable grime. Before I could start to panic about it, she pulled my mask away, dropping it in a pool of blood nearby as she giggled atop of me.

I reached upward to shove her off of me but halted as she leaned into me, clasping my hands in hers. She pinned my hands with ease to the blood soaked floor and captured my lips in a kiss halting my protests. In the back of my mind I thought about all the disgusting things I was lying in but those worries faded away to nothing as Gemini deepened the kiss.

My mind clouded over, blocking out everything, except for her. I kissed her back as fire burned deep within my core. Just as I tried to break her grip from my hands so I could grab hold of her, she pulled back before licking the side of my face. I grimaced at her disgusting display and she skipped away from me with a giggle.

I sat up with a sigh and looked at my blood soaked mask. I could feel some blood on my face beginning to dry and flake and somehow managed to stay composed as I watched Gemini twirl amongst the gore. I attempted to wipe the blood from my mask but realized my gloves were also a bloody mess. I gave up with a sigh and resigned myself to just stay in the filth and panic about it later.

“So...where’s the boat?” I asked her after a minute.

“Hm?” Gemini looked around before giggling again, “oops, I got the warehouse number mixed up. We’re not supposed to be at 31 we’re supposed to be at 13, silly me.” 

I knew that wasn’t the case at all, she’d known all along this wasn't’ the right place. Though she was absolutely certifiably insane, she was quite calcuative, and she never miscalculated anything. “Right.” I sighed as I slowly got to my feet to follow her out of the warehouse. 

Gemini slipped her hand in mine and dragged me along behind her as she skipped through the maze of dockside warehouses in broad daylight. Luckily this harbor was mostly only used by unsavory types so I didn’t have to worry about anyone calling the police. There was a drug deal happening outside of one of the other warehouses. The criminals involved looked our way, turned deathly pale at the sight of gemini, soaked in blood skipping happily in the sun without a care in the world. They hurriedly stepped inside the warehouse they’d been standing outside of and hid.

“Is there something on my face?” Gemini asked me curiously as she noticed the criminals run away.

“Nothing out of the ordinary.” I shrugged.

Gemini grinned. “You think they’d be fun to play operation with?”

“I’d venture to guess they’re pretty spineless and would bore you in a matter of seconds.” I pointed.

Gemini giggled impishly, loud enough for the cowards to hear, “you’re probably right. They didn’t look very fun at all, but I bet they’d scream really nice.”

I smirked as I heard a yelp from within the warehouse and a loud clatter as if one of the cowards had ran from his hiding spot to get further away and hit a bunch of their supplies. “That one sounded disappointing.”

Gemini nodded, “much too boring.”

I tugged on her hand in mine pulling her toward me before releasing her hand from my grip so I could drape my arm across her shoulders. “Can’t have you getting bored, we lose a lot of good help when that happens.”

Gemini looked over at me, “are you upset about the secretary?”

“Rosalind.”

Her glowing eyes narrowed slightly, “was that her name?” 

I reached up and blocked her knife with my mask as she swung at me. She seemed angry. She released her grip on the knife and quickly kicked the hilt as it fell toward the ground. I felt the blade sink into my thigh.

“Ow.” I hissed in pain and shot her a dark look.

“Oops.” She grinned with zero remorse. “It slipped.” She tore the blade from my leg and ran her finger over the blood coated blade. She painted a smiley face on the one clean patch of fabric on my shirt before cackling and skipping away from me.

We reached warehouse 13 which had an attached boathouse with a boat docked inside. Gemini skipped toward the boat. I spotted the name etched into the side and shook my head; it was named ‘off with their heads’. I had a feeling her mother must have read her a lot of Alice and Wonderland and she really identified with the Queen of Hearts.

Gemini hopped into the boat and turned to me expectantly. I limped after her and dropped into one of the seats wondering if she even knew how to drive. She hummed an eerie tune as she started the engine and untied the ropes keeping it secured to the dock. 

I was terrifyingly surprised to learn she did in fact know how to drive the boat as she rocketed out of the harbor and toward the open ocean with zero regard for the no wake zone. I clung to the edge of my seat for dear life as we seemed to bounce across the calm sea. She killed the engine once we got successfully out in the middle of absolutely nowhere in the sea with nothing in sight in any direction before she leapt off the side of the boat with a maniacal ‘wee’.

She splashed around childishly beside the boat while I searched for a first aid kit and some sanitizer, bleach or hell I’d be willing to bathe in acid at this point.  I couldn’t stand the feeling of the filth all over me, seeping into my clothes and drying to my skin. 

“You’re going to attract sharks.” I pointed in a dull tone as I managed to find a box that had a bunch of first aid supplies and enough disinfectant to keep me from going into cardiac arrest. I stripped out of my disgusting clothes before dumping one bottle of disinfectant over myself and scrubbing away at the grimy spots until my skin was raw and red.

“That could be fun.” Gemini giggled as she laid on her back and drifted next to the boat trying to look like a seal to be more enticing.

I rolled my eyes at her and  cleaned my mask. I was happy to find a fresh pair of gloves in the box of supplies. I threw a wary look at my grimy clothes, not wanting to put them back on after I’d just gotten clean enough to not panic. 

“Cabin.” Gemini said softly.

I looked over the side of the boat, she was still lying on her back with her eyes closed gently flapping her arms and legs in an attempt to attract a shark. I moved toward the cabin and opened the door to find a small bedroom. There was a picnic basket atop the bed along with a pair of freshly laundered clothes. I groaned as I realized there was also a functional bathroom with a shower that I could have cleaned up in rather than drowning myself in disinfectant on the deck of the boat.

After I’d managed to get contentedly clean, bandaged and into fresh clothes. I returned to the main deck and looked out over the edge of the boat at Gemini and was surprised to see a dead shark floating in the water beside her.

“I left you alone for five minutes.” I sighed.

“Sharks are boring.” Gemini pouted.

“I still wouldn’t call this a day at the beach.” I smirked.

“You’re so picky.” Gemini huffed and climbed back onto the ship, sloshing water everywhere. Her stained dress was now a faded pink color.

I quickly ducked into the cabin as she began to shake herself off splashing sea water everywhere. Once she was done with her childish antics,  she turned the engine back on and we were off once more. 

The boat came to a stop and I heard a splash as Gemini must have dropped an anchor, or a body, with her one could never tell. I stepped out of the cabin and was surprised to find us anchored next to an island. Gemini tossed a small life raft overboard so we could row to shore before retreating to the cabin to retrieve the picnic basket from the cabin. For a psycho she’d planned a pretty nice outing. The beach was calm and quiet, there was no one else around for miles. It was relaxing. I could have done without all the earlier gore but overall it was pleasant.

We rowed to shore. Gemini dropped the picnic basket in the sand before pulling it open. I ducked to avoid the knife she threw in my direction that had been on top. It splashed into the water several meters away. I felt the corners of my lips turn upward as she dug through the basket and found everything we needed for our slightly life threatening picnic. There was a large black blanket that we spread out over the sand, a hatchet I had to wrestle away from her, a grenade that nearly gave me a heart attack and exploded in the water not too far from us after I’d managed to get it away from her and toss it in the nick of time and an assortment of delectable foods and beverages.

After I got all the weapons away, we enjoyed a relaxing picnic. The sound of crashing waves was soothing, the gentle rays of sunlight spilling over us were warm and the salty breeze across the water’s surface was refreshing. Gemini left the blanket while humming the Itsy Bitsy Spider to herself. I frowned as our peaceful moment was about to come crashing to a halt.

“Gemini, why are we here?” I asked her warily.

“Dad said I had to get Gene a present.” She smiled.

I glanced around the deserted island, “uh-huh?”

“He suggested I get her a pet or something.” She grinned as she stooped next to a small shrub and retrieved an empty cage from behind it.

“I’m listening.”

“There just happens to be the most perfectest pet here on this island. I’m sure it’ll make Gene die of delight.” She grinned.

“Yeah...that’s a thing.” I said sarcastically, “alright, what is it?”

Gemini giggled and skipped off the beach heading inland. “Come see!”

I sighed and looked at the nice relaxing picnic. It was nice while it lasted. I got up, dusted myself off, readjusted my mask and reluctantly followed her across the island. After a small trek, I saw Gemini poised ready to pounce and turned to see what she was focused on. My stomach churned as I spotted a giant spider the size of a medium sized dog with a big furry body and long furry legs. It appeared to be eating a small rodent.

“Gotcha!” Gemini pounced.

I stayed back and watched her warily as she wrestled the giant spider into the cage. She turned to me with a big grin once her task was completed. I couldn’t help but chuckle softly. “You’re such a nuisance.”

Chapter Text

Gemini’s POV

“She’s a monster!” Father screamed.

“She’s a child!” Mother screamed back.

I could hear my annoying older sister sobbing in the room where my parents were fighting, about me. Dad was upset because I’d loosened the swing. Gene said she wanted to fly, I was just trying to help, but the stupid twit couldn’t fly properly and broke her arm.

“I’m sending that vile monster away from here!” Father yelled.

“I won’t let you! She’s our baby!” Mother cried.

There was a loud slapping sound and mother let out a quiet whimper. Gene annoyingly screamed louder, though she hadn’t been the one to get hit.

I glared at the door as I heard my mother crying from within. As I contemplated running in and carving up Gene and Father, the door to the study flew  open. Mother had a bright red handprint on her cheek. She looked down at me, offered me one of her warm smiles and scooped me into her arms. 

“It’s alright, sweetheart.” She cooed to me softly as she carried me outside.

“I want to put his insides on the outside.” I said in a faraway voice.

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Mother gently smoothed my hair back as she took me to the garden. “I’d be sad if you hurt your father.”

“Why?” I frowned.

“Because, I love him very much.”

I didn’t understand.

“Let’s play a game.” Mother smiled.

“What kind of game?”

“Let’s make a safe space. Our safe space, that no one else can get through.” Mother gently stroked my hair as she began gathering some decorative rocks. She handed them to me one by one.

I shrugged and played along, placing them in a circle around us.

“What are they?” Mother asked curiously.

“Rocks.” I answered, not sure why she was asking when she had handed them to me.

“Use your imagination silly, what did you make the walls of our safe space out of?” She laughed.

I thought for a moment. A small smile twisted onto my lips as I thought of my favorite story, the one she read to me almost every night. “Heads.”

“Heads?” mother asked curiously, “how come?”

“As a warning.” I grinned. “To anyone who spoils our fun.”

Mother kissed the top of my head, “I feel safer already, thank you Gemini.”

I woke with a start, my body was shaking and my eyes were leaking again. Frustrated, I rammed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets furiously trying to stop them from leaking anymore. It didn’t work. I looked up at my mother’s perfectly polished skull and faintly heard her warm soothing voice in my mind ‘let’s make a safe space’.

“...safe space…” I murmured in a daze  as I began assembling my collection of skulls in a circle in the middle of the room before grabbing my mother’s skull and stepping into the circle with her. “...there...you’re safe now…” I hugged her skull tightly and laid down on the floor in the circle.

Today was the day...the day she died. Most people were irritating, they made annoying sounds, did annoying things and ruined all of my fun. It was better when I made them quiet. I looked down at my mother’s skull. She’d always been different...she never annoyed me. She let me be me, she let me have my fun and she even played with me, though I could never let her play the kind of games I play with Kai-Chi, even if it was fun, I could never bear to see her hurting.

There was a soft knock at my door sometime later, though I seemed to have lost all concept of time as the sun now appeared to be high in the sky and I could have sworn I’d made my circle in the middle of the night. I stared blankly at the ceiling hugging my mother’s skull close.

My bedroom door swung open. I knew it was Kai without even looking. Something in the air just seemed to shift when he was around, it was nice. 

“I managed to sleep past ten without you trying to shoot or stab me.” He remarked in a bored tone.

I turned to look at him.

He looked at the circle of skulls, “does this mean something?” He indicated the circle.

“It’s our safe space.” I said softly as I looked at the polished skull in my arms. 

Kai nodded before taking a seat outside the circle of skulls.  “Your father and sister went to the family mausoleum. Is today the anniversary?”

I nodded.

“You don’t go with them?” He pondered.

I shook my head, “it doesn’t make sense to visit an empty tomb, she’s right here.” I held up her skull.

Kai watched me for a moment. His gaze was much more intense than usual. After a moment, though honestly with how skewed my perception of time was at the moment, it could have been an hour, he spoke. “Want to play a game?”

“No.” I said softly clutching tightly at the polished skull in my hands.

Kai looked frustrated. 

We sat in silence. 

Kai shifted uncomfortably. I threw a curious glance in his direction. He still looked frustrated.

“What’s the matter Kai-chi?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t like this.” He grumbled.

“Like what?”

“This.” He motioned to me in my circle of skulls. “Something isn’t right, I don’t like seeing you this way…”

“What way?” I tilted my head to the side.

“In pain.”

I thought for a moment before cracking a grin, “silly Kai-chi, I’m not in pain, none of my organs have been hit.”

“Are you sure? It seems like your heart might be injured.” He said softly.

I pondered his words and focused on my heart. It shifted inside of me and moved to the palm of my hand. “It feels pretty normal to me.” Even as the words left my mouth I could feel something, some kind of ache, it was unusual and only ever appeared when I thought of my mother and how much I wished she were still here. Life would be more fun if she were still alive.

“You’re crying again.” Kai said softly.

I felt the tears slide down my face from the outer corners of my eyes and disappear into my hair. Soon the back of my head was wet from the pooling tears. “Stupid eyes, stop leaking.” I murmured softly as I hugged my mother’s skull to my chest.

“Gemini?”

I turned my head to the side to see Kai sitting just outside my circle of skulls. His eyes fixed on me.

“May I come in?” He motioned to my circle of skulls.

I slowly sat up and moved one of the skulls so he could step inside. He stepped into the circle and I closed it once more. He sat beside me and I felt warmth envelop me as he wrapped me in his arms. My body reacted on it’s own, leaning into his warm embrace.

“Not going to try to stab me today?” He pondered as I allowed my body to relax against him.

“Not today.”

“How about tomorrow?” He asked.

“Most definitely tomorrow.” I smiled.

“That’s good.” He laid back on the floor, pulling me with him. He cradled me in his arms as I hugged my mother’s skull.

We laid in silence for what felt like hours, or minutes, I still had no concept of the passage of time. He didn’t pester me with questions or try to force a conversation on me. His touch was comforting and was somehow dulling the strange ache I was feeling. I snuggled into his embrace and let myself drift to sleep in his arms. 

Chapter Text

~Kai’s POV~

I woke with a smile as I rolled over to avoid getting impaled. A yawn escaped me as I sat up and glanced over to see Gemini with a trident in her hands, the blades of which were currently through my pillow where my head had been moments before. A maniacal grin curled across her lips.

“Nice try.” I stretched and easily caught her ankle in my hand as she kicked at me. A knife shot out of the bottom of her slipper. I leaned my head to the side and it whizzed past, lodging into the wall with a soft ‘thunk’. “Honestly, this is just sad.” I smirked.

Her grin grew. “Kai-chi is the most fun.” She was back to her old self. She hurled a concealed blade at the ceiling and I paled as I glanced up at the chandelier. It was covered in blades and was currently plummeting toward us.

“Gemini!” I tackled her off the bed and the pair of us went crashing to the ground. 

Gemini cackled, wrapping her arms around her middle and kicking her feet like a child as she rolled on the ground laughing maniacally. “Again!” She cheered.

I sighed and got to my feet before turning to look at my completely destroyed bed and all the dust now littering my room from part of the ceiling coming crashing down thanks to Gemini’s stunt. My skin began to crawl. I reached for my mask sitting atop my nightstand only to groan as I realized it was covered in a layer of dust. 

“Why can’t your methods be cleaner?” I grumbled as I took my mask to the bathroom so I could start disinfecting it and myself. 

Gemini got to her feet dumping a layer of dust off of her and spun, her dress fanning out scattering more dust everywhere. I felt itchy all over and hurriedly retreated to the bathroom. Gemini skipped after me with a giggle.  She threw her arms around me, knocking the mask from my hands causing me to drop it in the sink.

I sighed and met her gaze through the mirror as I looked up. Her manic crimson eyes with the faint fuschia undertones gleamed in the abrasive lights above the bathroom mirror. She dropped her chin atop my shoulder from behind me, smothering me in more dust and grime, but as usual, when it came to Gemini, it didn’t bother my mysophobia. 

“What games shall we play today, Kai-chi?” She asked me with a grin.

“Something clean.” I sighed and picked up my mask and began washing it in the sink.

“Operation?” She grinned.

“Is very messy.” I pointed while trying to fight back a smirk. It was hard to maintain a stern expression in her presence.

“Itsy Bitsy Spider?” Her grin grew maniacal.

I raised a brow at this, that game was reserved for her older sister. Were they coming home today? The Boss and Genevieve had taken a trip to visit the family mausoleum, they’d been gone for nearly a week now. In that time the dog sized spider Gemini had brought home for her sister had coated her room in thick webbing. She’d been dropping by to feed it every day but I had no idea what she was feeding it and was too afraid to ask. 

“Are they coming home today?” I pondered.

Her grin grew and she nodded.

“Guess I’ll be needing these.” I opened one of the drawers in the bathroom and retrieved a set of sterile ear plugs and set them on a clean patch of counter before resuming my task of cleaning my mask. 

Once I got my mask clean and cleaned the counter, Gemini shook her hair out, scattering dust all over the bathroom. I shot her a scowl through the mirror though I knew it was impossible to intimidate or scare the psychopath. She erupted into a fit of giggles.

I shoved her into the walk-in shower and turned the water on, delighting in the sound of her cackling as I returned to re-clean my mask and the rest of my room and bathroom. Once I finally finished cleaning my bedroom, the bathroom and my mask, I stepped into the shower after her and saw her laying on the floor, her eyes closed basking in the scalding water with a serene smile. Her soaking wet dress clung to her like a second skin molding perfectly to her curves. Her long raven tresses splayed out around her following the flow of water stretching out towards the drains in the floor. 

“Are you going to move so I can get all of this filth off of me?” I sighed.

“Nope.” She giggled.

I shook my head and stepped around her. It wasn’t the first time I had to take a shower fully clothed and I imagined it wouldn’t be the last time. “You’re such a nuisance.” I said with a smile as I reached for a bottle of soap.

Her hand lashed out catching my ankle and she tugged hard causing me to slip on the tile and crash onto the ground next to her. The soap bottle hit the ground a moment later splattering across the both of us. A wicked grin twisted across her lips. “I love you too, Kai-chi.” 

My heart stuttered in my chest dulling the pain from my fall. I reached for her, grabbing her roughly by the neck and wrenched her toward me. A giggle escaped her as I used my free arm to hold her tightly against me, not releasing my hold on her neck. “What did you say?” I asked fearing I had misheard her.

She hooked her arms around my neck, “I love you.” She captured my lips in a sultry kiss that stole the breath from my lungs and made my head feel like it was swimming.

I tightened my grip on her neck and she kissed me with more fire, her nails digging into my chest drawing a gasp from my lips as she managed to tear through my wet clothing and pierce my skin. Blood bubbled across my chest. It stung as the soap dripped into the fresh wounds urging another gasp from my lips.

Gemini giggled against me and bit my lower lip hard enough I tasted blood in my mouth. She broke the kiss as I released her neck from my grip as I couldn’t help but grimace at the pain from the fresh wounds she’d created.

I wiped the blood from my mouth with a sigh, “I love you, Psycho.”

Gemini grinned.

A loud shrill shriek suddenly rang from the other side of the mansion where Genevieve’s room was. I cringed and wished I’d put my ear plugs in before getting in the shower. Gemini’s grin turned positively gleeful as Genevieve’s shrieks fell silent.

“She must have scared her new pet, they don’t like loud things and they’re quite venomous.” She giggled. 

“GEMINI!” The boss’ voice rang from the other side of the mansion.

She skipped out of the shower leaving me drenched, covered in soap and blood on the floor. I sighed and hurriedly finished my shower and changed into fresh clothes and my now sanitized mask and a new pair of gloves before exiting my room.

I arrived outside of Genevieve’s room to see the annoying girl, unconscious in the arms of one of the butler’s, a dead dog sized spider on the ground and the boss screaming at Gemini. His face had turned purple whether from fury or lack of air from screaming without pause I wasn’t entirely sure. 

“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!” The boss snarled.

“You told me to get her a present.” Gemini shrugged, completely unfeeling.

“Not one that could kill her!” The boss raged.

“You’ll have to be more specific next time.” Gemini smiled.

Her smile fell as Genevieve slowly came to consciousness. It didn’t look like she’d been bit, just fainted.

“Apologize to your sister, Gemini.” The boss glowered at the soaking wet girl.

Gemini turned to her older sister with an icy smile sliding across her lips, “I’m sorry it didn’t kill you.”

Genevieve stared at her younger sister in horror before shrieking, “YOU’RE A MONSTER!”

“GEMINI!” The boss lashed out and struck her across the face so hard she actually hit the floor.

I felt rage well up inside of me but it diminished as Gemini sat up, looking completely unbothered. “Annoying.” She sighed and got to her feet.

“Gemini!” The boss shouted as she turned and walked away dripping water everywhere.

Chapter Text

Gemini: Age 16

~Kai’s POV~

The boss asked me to take Gemini on a trip for her birthday, to give Gene and the staff a break. He felt guilty for striking her. I should have tried to alleviate his guilt by reassuring him that Gemini was incapable of feeling anything for anyone, with an exception on my part, and she didn’t give a damn that he’d hit her and it wasn’t going to cause her to lose any sleep. While I knew it would have been good of me to alleviate his guilt, I did nothing to do so. I was angry that he’d struck her in the first place though I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d charged me with her safety and had put her in danger or because I was hopelessly enamored with the psychopath.

Despite the fact we were in a filthy city surrounded by filthy people, I was looking forward to a break from the manor and Gene and even the Boss. It would be nice to spend a few days relaxing with Gemini. As this thought crossed my mind, I paused. Relaxing and Gemini didn’t usually go together in the same sentence. She was the most anxiety inducing being on the planet, yet she was also the person I felt most comfortable with. 

Gemini skipped ahead of me, twirling beneath the glow of stringlights that hung in the alleyway overhead as we made our way toward the boardwalk amusement park. She alternated between skipping and twirling and occasionally tried to do both simultaneously which was honestly impressive and she made it look graceful and effortless.

I glanced up as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and realized several men wearing ski masks had stepped into our path, cutting off our exit from the alley. More men appeared behind me. I rubbed my temples with a sigh, “is it too much to ask for a single day of peace?” I groaned.

“Don’t worry pal, we won’t hurt ya if you hand over your wallets without a fuss.” One of the men behind me laughed not realizing the danger he was in.

Gemini was being oddly quiet and still.

“What’s the plan, Psycho?” I asked curiously.

“I want to play a game.” Gemini turned to me with a wicked grin.

“Great.” I sighed sarcastically.

Gem took a step toward the men blocking our exit in the front. One of them fired a gun. I watched as Gemini’s body jerked slightly and blood exploded out the back of her skull. A bone fragment landed at my feet. Her body started to fall backward as if in slow motion.

I sighed, “does it have to be a messy one?”

The masked men paused, unnerved by my callous reaction. They watched as Gemini’s fall began to slow before coming to a stop mid fall. She snapped back upright with an impish grin.

“They’re the best kind!” Gemini giggled and lunged toward the men in front of her.

All the men let out shrieks of terror and panic as Gemini leapt gracefully into the air.

“I’m not helping, I don’t know where they’ve been or what kind of contaminants they have in their blood.” I grimaced and folded my arms across my chest as Gemini landed swiftly before the man who’d shot her and plunged her bare hand through his chest with ease.

“Hot potato!” She giggled and tossed something in my direction.

I reached out automatically to catch it and frowned, “that’s a pancreas.” I dropped it with a grimace and removed my glove so I could get my hand sanitizer and wipes out to try and clean my hands and gloves.

“Always getting them confused.” Gemini shrugged before diving back into her fun. 

The men tried to flee, but they weren’t faster than Gemini. In a matter of minutes the alley was filled with bodies.

“Tah-dah!” Gemini declared with a giggle.

I glanced over at her as I finished wiping off my gloves and got them back over my hands. She’d arranged the bodies into a macabre heart.

“Love you too, Psycho.” I chuckled.

“Oh oh oh! Do you think they’ll have a merry-go-round at the park?” Gemini asked as she slipped her bloody hand in my freshly cleaned glove. She resumed her skipping toward the boardwalk.

“You’re covered in blood.” I noted.

She tilted her head to the side not understanding why I had brought it to her attention. 

“People may panic.” I added.

Her bright crimson eyes with the bubble gum pink undertone filled with confusion and she adorably tilted her head to the other side.

“You can’t go to the boardwalk like that.” I sighed.

She looked down at her bloody dress. “Why not?”

“For the reasons I jus-.” I sighed and rubbed my temples with my clean gloved hand. “I’ll take care of it.” I pulled her from the alley and we hurriedly ducked into another one before I moved her so she was leaning against the brick wall of a building concealed by a dumpster filled with wilted flowers. “Stay out of trouble and don’t move.” I released her hand from my hold, re-cleaned my hand and glove then exited the alley.

I stepped into a clothing boutique and quickly picked out a simple flowy black dress and some matching flats and more sanitizing wipes. It took me less than five minutes to gather the things and pay and when I returned to the alley, I found two dead men lying at Gemini’s feet.

“I was gone for less than five minutes.” I groaned. “What happened to staying out of trouble?”

Gemini grinned, “what trouble?”

I motioned to the two dead bodies.

“They ran into some trouble, yes but I am trouble free.” Gemini beamed.

I shook my head with a sigh and extended the bag toward her. “Change into that and clean yourself up.” 

“I don’t wanna.” Gemini stuck her tongue out at me childishly.

“Then we’re going back to the hotel.” I shrugged.

She frowned and snatched the bag from my hand. I turned my back so she could change. Once I was sure she’d changed her clothes I turned back to face her and sighed, she still had blood splashed across her face and arms.

I grabbed the bag of sanitizing wipes and wiped her face and arms clean from any remaining gore. Gemini was oddly quiet as I cleaned her up. I shifted my focus from the blood on her arms to her face. She looked pensive.

“What?” I pondered.

She lunged at me and I ducked just in time to avoid getting impaled by a very familiar thin metal blade, the same one I’d driven through her chest the day we met. “This dress doesn’t have pockets where will I hide my blade?”

I caught her wrist as she flipped the blade around and swung it back at me on the backswing. I took the blade from her with a sigh, “I’ll hold it for you.” I pocketed it wondering where the hell she’d stashed it before because her other dress also didn’t have pockets. 

Her lips pulled into a smile. “Thanks, Kai-chi.”

I chuckled softly, “anything for you, Psycho.”

Her manic smile shifted slightly. “Kai-chi?”

“Yes?”

“Is it okay if we put off my deathday a little longer?” She asked.

“I’d like to put it off as long as possible.” I said softly.

She tilted her head to the side, “how come?”

“I’d like to keep you around.” I shrugged.

She looped her now clean arms through mine, “that seems dangerous.”

I chuckled, “very.”

She leaned her head against my shoulder as we left the alley and headed toward the boardwalk. As we reached the merry-go-round we heard sirens in the distance, no doubt someone had discovered the two alleys filled with bodies, but it was far enough away that the boardwalk kept operating as usual. I saw heroes and police officers mixed in the crowd looking for clues or suspicious persons but none of them paid us any mind as Gemini insisted we ride the merry-go-round nonstop. Due to her maniacal giggling all the other people who’d been in line for the merry-go-round left. By our twentieth ride, the police and heroes had left to continue their search elsewhere not realizing the mass murderess they were looking for was cackling like a loon riding the merry go round nonstop. 

By our fiftieth time riding the merry-go-round I felt like I was going to be permanently moving in circles for the rest of my life. “Gemini.” I groaned and glanced over as I realized I no longer heard her cackling.

She was sound asleep atop a solid black unicorn. I sighed and hopped off my own horse and swept her into my arms. She snuggled closer to me in her sleep as I carried her off the ride and back in the direction of our hotel.  Thanks to the alleys being blocked off I had to take a slightly longer route back.

I made it back to our hotel room without issue and gently laid her atop her bed before reaching into my pocket. I pulled out a small black jewelry box and opened it up. There was a long white gold chain with a charm that looked exactly like the weapon I’d taken from her earlier, the same one I’d stabbed through her chest the day we met. I looped the chain around her neck and let the charm fall atop her abdomen. Since she seemed to enjoy strangling people, usually with their own innards, I assumed she’d want a longer chain for utility purposes. 

“Happy Birthday, Gemini.” I smiled as I tucked a few stray strands of ebony hair out of her face.