What a pathetic sight to see. Nivi didn’t know what else they’d been expecting from their older brother, but still. Walking into a dark and crumbling hallway with a woman straddling his unconscious form with thorned vines wrapped around his throat was not something they wanted to see.

  “Tsk. Hey, you. Get off him,” Nivi clicked their tongue, strutting into the room with their hands in the pockets of their loose pants, sand curling around them as Rose lifted herself from where she’d been sucking hickeys along the unconscious man’s neck, which only made them feel angrier. “Hey, your name’s Rose, right? Didn’t Orvana tell you about our deal?”

  “Uh, don’t tell me she actually gave you information on us,” Rose frowned, wiping the saliva off her plush red lips before she removed herself from Kimith, although her thorns stayed pierced in his flesh as the vines tightened around his throat, his breathing only making room for weak and choked little whimpers. The tall woman carefully stood up and patted down her long, skimpy dress, red eyes turning up to glare at Nivi before she crossed her arms at them and raised her narrow chin high. “Honestly, I don’t care about whatever damn deal you made. What’s in it for me?”

  “What’s in it for you is that I don’t kill you right here and now,” Nivi responded coldly, honey brown eyes glancing down at their older brother’s unconscious form, taking in the panicked and terrified expression that was pinned on his face even in a sleep that was supposed to be pleasurable, as if he couldn’t even allow himself to feel such a thing even when he was being forced to. But they quickly turned their sights back to Rose, large eyes narrowed with a pointed gaze. “Orvana said that you would all be leaving my family alone. That includes my mothers and my brother. Now step aside and don’t touch him further or ever again for the rest of your disgusting life.”

  “Ah,” Rose sighed, tilting her face back down to stare wistfully at Kimith. She’d been about to have some fun… “At least let me take his virginity, first. I won’t hurt him—”

  Yet she didn’t get the chance to finish that statement before sand suddenly flew in her mouth, small, miniscule pebbles driving themselves down her throat as she stumbled over her feet and into the crumbling wall, choking on the coarse feeling as the skin on her palm ripped the moment she hit sharp rock that crumbled under her weight. She choked, her gag reflex activating as she collapsed to her knees and hacked, her body going to desperate measures to get the painful feeling of sand out of her throat so that she could breath, her entire form convulsing until she could do nothing but violently puke.And Nivi merely controlled the sand to keep it itching at her throat and stuck on her tongue, Rose gagging and heaving as she squeezed and clawed at her own neck, as if she wanted to tear it out just to get rid of the pain. Eventually, they decided she’d had enough and scraped the sand out from inside her, flicking their wrist as it all scattered onto the ground in front of her. “You think raping someone isn’t hurting them? Give me a break. I said don’t touch my brother and I meant it.”

  “Hahh… hahhh… you ugly son of bitch… fine then, if that’s how you want it to be,” Rose heaved, rubbing her throat before she lifted herself back up again, ready to use her concept to make Nivi see her as the person they loved most fueled with feelings of heated anger and burning vengeance. However, before she could do so, she felt someone’s warm hand on the small of her back, Rose’s red eyes cornering in on the person who would ever dare to touch her like that… before she laid eyes on someone she despised and feared even more.

  This organization was full of fucked up people. Sinicus and Orvana were their leaders, and they only ever recruited the most deranged people they could get their hands on. Rose was aware that she herself was no different, as she was a horrible person by the rest of society’s standards. But this man here was far worse than anyone else she’d come across there. He had more than a few screws loose, and she watched as he stalked over towards Nivi on the balls of his feet with a rather curious, sinister smile.

  “Come on now, let’s not fight, you two! We’re all friends here, even our handsome little fellow on the ground. So let’s all calm down and re-assess what’s going on,” Lune smiled widely, his hair a bright neon green with eyes the obnoxious color of lemons. His skin was a dark chestnut, and he was a rather short and slender man who looked rather small and delicate by most measures. He was scrawny, and barely looked worth fighting or fearing at first glance. But Rose knew from experience he wasn’t someone she wanted to mess with.

  “This is the person Orvana made a deal with. I’ve heard about it, but I did not pay attention to the details,” she explained stiffly, watching as Lune’s lemon yellow eyes widened with joy, a gleeful laugh escaping him before he skipped over to where Nivi was standing.

  “Oh, that’s just perfect! You’re here to meet with me, then! As promised, your family’s safety will be completely assured and your planet will not be targeted by the apocalypse… all you have to do in return is let me inside your body! Will you be a good host for me, Nivi?” Lune giggled, reaching out to caress Nivi’s bare arm as the skin of his fingers started to turn into small little tendrils that looked as if the membranes of veins had turned themselves inside out over their fit and muscular frame.

  “...you’re the one with the parasite concept, is that correct?” Nivi’s expression did not flicker, the person only moving one of their hands from the pockets of their pants to fully extend it to the crazed man in front of them. “Sure, I’ll be a good host for you. And I’ll follow my side of the agreement so long as you all follow yours.”

  “Wow, oh my goodness, thank you so much, Nivi! You seem like such a great guy!” Lune gleamed, smile turning even more deranged and obsessive when he began fondling Nivi’s arm, his own arms breaking out into more thick, pink tendrils that looked like thousands of thin tongues in all sizes. They were wet and slimy when coating them, Rose suddenly feeling more sorry for the person after seeing what was happening, though Lune just seemed to be overjoyed. “I can’t believe you’re doing all of this for your family! Just to keep them safe! What a nice person you are, I can’t wait to see what your insides are like… you know you’ll have to eat and drink twice as much than you usually would, right? You’ll need to sustain me, too! Are you ready for that, hahahahhh?” Lune drooled, bringing up Nivi’s hand to lick between their fingers, tongue splitting into three as it elongated and wrapping itself around them, the man’s mouth contorting until it began to look like it could eat them whole with the jaw his jaw unhinged. “I’m gonna go inside you now. You’ll feel light-headed for a minute, but I promise you everything will be just fine… just feed me lots and lots, or I’ll start eating your insides, okay? Hahahah…” he sighed dreamily, before Lune’s body morphed and shrank into a white little worm, which silently dug itself into Nivi’s thick and hardened skin before it slipped right on under, disappearing entirely from view. It did sting a bit, but if someone didn’t know it was happening, they’d probably just assume they were having a random muscle cramp, which Nivi could definitely work with.

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  “...what is Orvana even having you do?” Rose frowned, crossing her arms over herself as she rubbed her hands up and down along her arms, just trying to erase that disturbing image from her mind of Lune’s horrendous concept at work. He was too dangerous to let live, but he followed Orvana’s orders pretty well most of the time, and had the personality of a loyal dog. And while he looked and acted rather young, he was already well into his adult years, from what she’d heard. But Nivi didn’t seem too phased, somehow still completely well and stable after they felt the feeling of lightheadedness pass through them. They could feel Lune’s body stretching around their muscles and morphing into part of their flesh, and while the feeling was somewhat odd, they could still move themselves normally.

  “I don’t really know what she’s planning. It doesn’t concern you,” Nivi retorted instead, before they straightened themselves and rolled their shoulders, popping their neck while they got used to having another layer of muscles coating their insides. “Now, we need to make it look like we fought. I’ve done everything I need to do here, so why don't you go down easy for me?” they scoffed apathetically, lifting their arm as sand began dripping off their body, moving around to create a thin shield around them as Rose took a step back.

  “You… you can’t! We’re on the same side, aren’t we?” Rose screamed, flashing her red eyes at theirs to try and make them hallucinate.

  But Nivi just sighed, the flash of their older brother’s face wafting over their vision before they took a step closer. “Yeah, I almost forgot… your concept has different gears, huh? You don’t always make people hallucinate romantic endeavors. But trying to make me see my brother, the person who I want to protect most in this world, is something that makes me feel sick. Are you into that?” they glared darkly, sand whipping around to cut Rose’s back, the woman screaming when the base of her spine got damaged to the point she lost all feeling in her legs, Nivi using that momentum to reach forward and grab her wrist, forcing her shoulder out of its socket as they dragged her up.

  “Listen up, you bitch. I’m not on your side. I will stop you from starting the apocalypse. I’m just getting what I need and then I’m out, alright? Don’t lump me in with you and the rest of your filthy organization,” they snapped fiercely, reaching around with both hands to break her wrist, Rose letting out another scream before they dropped her and let her crumble pathetically against the wall. The sand covering her pores was stopping her from creating thorns, and her eyes were welling up with hot tears before she felt Nivi slam her into the wall. “Now, the real problem I have with you is about what you were going to do to my brother just now. Exactly how many bite marks did you give him? Let’s say one broken limb for each, and then I’ll let you run free. How’s that sound?”

  “You… you psycho!! I’ll have Wisteria kill you!!” she screeched, before the woman was only forced to watch as Nivi gave her another scoff, their arms lifting up towards her face as she tried to back further and further into the wall she was already plastered against.

  “Oh come on, don’t be like that. You have a healer among your ranks, don’t you? If you let me do this, I won’t hurt you anymore, so long as you follow my warning and never lay your hands on my brother again,” Nivi smiled, carefully caressing her thin pale neck as he wrapped his dark hands around it. “Now… let’s get you knocked out and paralyzed for a while, alright?”

  “You, you—!”

  A loud snapping noise cut her off, Nivi twisting her neck until it cracked before the woman’s eyes rolled dangerously back into her head. She wasn’t dead, but she wouldn’t be able to move at all until someone came along and helped her out. Good enough, they decided. And as the person looked back to where Kimith laid uselessly on the ground, Nivi could only be filled with more fury before they turned and kicked the woman over all over again, only then being able to walk over to check for their brother’s pulse after ripping off all the thorns that stung him.

  Everything they were doing was for their family. Kimith was weak, so he couldn’t be trusted as king. Nivi needed to make sure their family survived above all else, and they knew their older brother would never be willing to do the dirty work like this. He was far too much of a coward. But that was okay, Nivi could let that slide as long as Kimith showed some awareness about his inferiority and his incapability as a leader. It was already unfathomable how Ruba had prophesied him of all people to be the next great king of Monotum. And it wasn’t like Nivi particularly wanted to be ruler either, but they valued their planet and their family’s legacy greatly, and didn’t want it to meet its downfall if it was ever given to Kimith to do as he pleased. They didn’t think he’d want that, either. Which was why they either needed to see some improvement on his part, be given the title of heir for themselves, or preserve their mother Nikiva’s reign for as long as possible. Still though, they wanted what was best for their brother… they didn’t want Kimith to be put into a hard position.

  They brushed off some of the sand that had gotten on the man’s face, before they lifted him up over their shoulder and teleported them both out. They were aware their family wouldn’t approve of them using the enemy to get what they wanted, but Orvana wasn’t as bad as everyone thought. She had solutions to their problems, and she held much useful knowledge. It wasn’t like her goal was to start the apocalypse anyway, like Sinicus and the others. She knew how to, and was a key force in driving it along, but that wasn’t actually what she was after. So as long as Nivi got her what she truly wanted from all this, which was something so simple and easy to obtain, then the woman would no longer desire to be on Sinicus’ side of things, and they could use her as an ally. Nivi was determined to use her until the very end, until they preserved their family’s legacy and gave it wings… because to them, that was more important to anything else could ever be.

  Even if they had to sully their hands, even if they had to lie to their parents and brother for a while… it was all for the greater good. They would make sure their mothers were able to safely retire, and they’d make sure Kimith got the life he deserved. Right now, he was far too cowardly and incapable to deserve the life of a king, but… they’d wait and see. Their brother listened to them, so if worst came to worst, they’d just pressure him into giving them the throne… and then they could make sure he got the life he wanted. That was all Nivi desired. To just give their family everything they deserved. And if they began to see one day that Kimith deserved to be king… then they would be happy to see it. If that day ever came, despite how impossible it may seem now, Nivi would be relieved, because if that was the path in life their brother ended up deserving… then they would be the first one to support him, and they would be glad to see the path he made.