Caiden attempted to head toward the medical bed but couldn’t maintain his balance. Before he completely lost his footing, the twins caught him and helped him to the bed. “Thanks. In the second closet there’s rubbing alcohol, gauzes, and stitching material,” Caiden grimaced.
The twins rushed to get all of the materials together. “Are you ready?” Nami asked with the rubbing alcohol prepared.
“Yes,” Caiden said. He took a deep breath as Nami began to pour the alcohol into the wound.
“Shit! That burns like hell!” Caiden exclaimed. Hitomi cleaned the wound on his shoulder, and nervously began to stitch it up. “Ever do something like this before?” Caiden asked.
“Never. But it's not so unfamiliar. Our mother taught us how to sew when we were younger.”
“Yeah, we hated it, but that was one of those minor things we learned while growing up back home,” the twins replied.
“Where is back home for you guys?” Caiden asked, wincing.
“Rune Village,” Hitomi replied somberly.
“I’ve heard a little of it. Neutral nation, right? I know Zonos, Inc. has a serious issue with them, fucking Zonos bastards. Always sticking their noses where they shouldn't be,” Caiden said.
“Our homeland is a strange place, but it has always maintained a peaceful approach to world affairs as far as we know,” Nami stated.
“Exactly, and that’s what the Zonos officials don’t like. It’s just another nation they’re unable to manipulate and control,” Caiden replied. “Speaking of strange, I heard Rune Village is covered in some kind of mystical protective barrier of some sort? I heard it glows at night, but its invisible during the day. How true is that?” he continued.
“The barrier has been around long before even our great grandparents were born. We really don’t know much about it,” Nami replied.
“Hmm, I wanna see it someday,” Caiden said with an adventurous smile. Hitomi was just about finished stitching the wound closed. She applied a gauze and bandage wrap around his shoulder and upper arm.
“How about your arm? Is it okay?” Nami asked.
“It’ll be fine. It’s actually feeling better already, to be honest,” Caiden replied.
“After all that voltage you absorbed in your arm, it's a surprise it didn’t fall off!” Hitomi exclaimed as the three then exchanged laughter.
“I know right? So. How did you end up at The LoveMaars, of all ungodly places?” Caiden asked. The twins’ facial expressions changed.
“It’s a long story,” Nami said as she stressfully ran her fingers through her platinum blond hair. She and her sister were clearly traumatized by an extremely painful memory.
“We’ve got all night,” Caiden replied.
“Okay,” Nami started. “Well, we lived in Rune Village until we were fifteen years old. Our father was the village derelict. In our culture, anyone who strays away from ‘the path of the power within’ is looked down upon. Our people… We're different, to say the least. The customs of Rune Village are unlike anywhere else. But humans are still humans, and boy did we find that out early on."
"That is true," Caiden said. "That must've been really tough to deal with, huh?"
“Our fellow villagers weren't really the problem. Our Dad was abusive, manipulative, and selfish. He terrorized us, and after a while, Mom decided she’d had enough,” Nami said.
“Nevertheless, we were avoided by a lot of the people from the village because of him. That’s when Mom decided that we would move here to Neon District. So that we could start fresh and escape the madness there. The journey here was dangerous. We almost died a couple of times traveling through that wasteland of a desert,” Hitomi added.
"It was bad, but Mom… She always had a knack for sniffing out danger. She definitely possessed a rare ability of sorts. Without her, we wouldn't have made it here," Nami spoke with sadness and nostalgia in her voice.
"Our grandparents always told us Mom was special. That she was one of the few who possessed the Eye of Rune," Hitomi added.
"Whoa, Eye of Rune? Sounds like some sort of video game ability," Caiden responded with a hint of childlike energy.
"What did the village say this Eye of Rune ability was like?" Caiden asked, extremely intrigued.
"I dunno really. It's kinda hard to explain. Mom would always have these intense visions of stuff happening. Like, shortly before it would happen. Like a sixth sense or precognition or whatever, but she would always do something to prevent whatever bad thing she envisioned from happening, somehow. It was like she could almost see into the future," Hitomi stated.
"And she did stuff like that all the time?" Caiden asked.
"Yeah, especially when it came to Dad. It's like she always knew when he would go on a rampage," Hitomi said.
"Mom really was amazing," Nami added sadly.
“But moving to a new place, especially one as massive as this one, wasn’t easy either. Mom struggled to find a good paying job to support us,” Hitomi continued, changing the subject.
“Still, we managed to participate in the ACTS online junior apprenticeship program for computer systems. We were both working our way toward a full scholarship to be full time students,” Nami added.
That explains their detailed knowledge of the brothel’s layout and security systems, Caiden thought to himself.
“That’s when Dad showed up again,” Hitomi said.
“Yup, somehow, he found us and begged us to give him a second chance, and that he wanted us to be a family again. Blah, blah, blah,” Nami said, rolling her eyes.
“Things went well for a while. He even seemed to be changing for the better. But bad habits die hard. He relapsed, and got mixed up in a bad drug deal. Ended up robbing a dealer from Chimera, of all people, and he killed him for his supply! Can you believe that? All of this over some shitty drugs!” Hitomi fumed.
“We came home and found him dead on our floor. Totally OD’d from Mania just hours after he stole it. A short time after that, Chimera sent their goons
