Shadow Slave - One Shots

Sunny stood there for a moment after Aiko had left, his mind drifting in the quiet that followed their goodbyes.

For some reason, it had suddenly rained a couple minutes ago.

He watched idly as rain pattered softly against the glass.

But something wasn't right.

One of his avatars was getting attacked.

But, not in the way he thought.

This was different.

He could feel someone crying. Or.. someone screaming at his shadow.

Someone kept screaming his name, choking on their own breath.

A chill crept down his spine as his attention shifted toward Ravenheart.

Toward her.

The rain was attached to a little girl there. Not literally, but in the way the storm outside mirrored what was happening within her.

So much emotion being spilled out, like a torrent.

And just like that, he knew.

Rain.

She was crying.

---------

One second she was resting in her bed, the next she was shellshocked.

Images crashed into her like tidal waves, each one more devastating than the last.

Memories...hers and not hers overlapped eventually forming into one big truth.

My masters- No.

Brother's life.

And Mine.

She saw herself as a child, with no one but her Brother.

She saw the moment she lost her parents, the moment she was taken, separated by her brother.

But then, she saw something else.

A boy. Starving, desperate, beaten down by the world but still standing.

A boy who clung to a dream, a single thread of hope, for years.

A boy who had been cursed by fate, and forgotten by the world.

A boy who had searched for her, given everything for her, only to find that she had already moved on.

A boy who had stood outside her window in the rain, watching as she lived a life that he was never allowed to have.

Sunny.

She sucked in a sharp breath as the realisation crashed over her.

Sunny was her brother.

And worse, she realised that he had been right there all along.

That she had already known him.

That she had trained under him, fought alongside him, learned from him, admired him.

That her teacher, her mentor, the terrifying, but chatty shadow who had randomly appeared in her life but made her who she was - was the very same brother who had once sacrificed everything to find her.

Rain trembled.

Her hands clenched into fists, nails digging into her palms as her body shook.

He had always been there.

And she had never known.

She didn't know.

Because she couldn't know.

Tears burned at the edges of her vision as the scene replayed again, the one that had shattered the last of her doubts.

A boy standing alone in the rain, his silhouette swallowed by the night, watching through a window that he could never step through.

Her heart ached.

"S-sunny..."

And now, after everything, after all these years, she had finally found him.

A sob tore from her throat, as she reached out.

"...Sunny!"

She shouted.

"S-Sunny!"

She screamed.

"SUNNY!"

She screamed.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Rain's voice was raw, breaking between heavy sobs.

"Why did you... how could you-why?!"

The shadow beneath her moved.

It was alive. 

The darkness deepened, shifting until something rose from within.

A figure.

A person.

He stepped out of the abyss as if he had always been there.

Sunny.

His black eyes met hers.

He had the same tired, haunted expression he always wore.

As if he had already known this moment would come.

Rain's breath hitched.

And then, she ran.

She crashed into him, throwing her arms around his waist with enough force to nearly knock him back.

Her fingers curled into his shirt, holding on like he would slip away again if she let go.

"You!" She gasped between sobs. "You were there this whole time?!"

Her cries turned frantic, her whole body shaking against him. "Why didn't you tell me?! Why did you let me-why did you-" She choked on her own words, pressing her forehead into his chest.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed. "I saw everything! I saw it all!"

Her grip only tightened, as if she could somehow hold his pain for him. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that!"

Sunny stood still, watching as Rain clung to him, her small frame shaking with sobs.

He had always imagined this moment.

What it would be like when she finally knew the truth.

But he had never expected this.

For years, he had been the one watching over her from the shadows. Teaching her, guiding her, protecting her.

And yet, here she was - crying for him.

He exhaled slowly, his grip tightening on her shoulders. 

"Rain," he murmured, his voice quiet but firm.

She only sobbed harder, shaking her head. "I-I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to be," he said. "It's okay."

A single tear slipped down his cheek before he even realized it.

He had spent his whole life enduring, surviving, carrying his pain alone.

He had never once thought anyone would cry for him. That anyone should.

And yet, his little sister was here, weeping in his arms like it was her burden to bear.

He closed his eyes for a moment, steadying himself. When he opened them again, there was something softer in his gaze.

"You don't have to cry for me," he told her. "I'm here. I made it."

Then, a soft smile appeared on his face before he said.

"Big Brother's Home."