Shadow Slave: Monochrome

Nero was standing in front of his home. Of course it was still the same ragged, dirty and crumbling building that he was used too, but somehow it felt a little different. Something was wrong with it.

He grew worried.

**

Cyrus was just about to drift back to sleep, but before that he said,

"You need Soul Shards? Go home first and see your parents. They must be worried about you. Tomorrow, I'll take you some place special." 

**

And so that was what he did... but he was scared at the earful he would get. His brother wasn't even here, so he would get the full blame this time! Mother still thinks that they had just went missing, but they had left behind a decent amount of credits which should've lasted a good bit.

But things would be different now. If his mother could see him and Epsilon both as sleepers, then everything would be alright.

With a steady heart, he took his first steps into the house.

He was puzzled at first, but then all he felt was despair.

They were poor, but even they had furniture, if it could even be called that. The one and only couch was something that their father had picked up while diving through garbage dumps one day. It took quite a bit of deep cleaning over a year, but eventually it became useable.

It was gone.

The coffee table was something he had also found through hard labour in the dumps. This time it was quite broken, however Epsilon with his creative mind was able to repair it somewhat.

That was gone too.

The lamp that had no bulb. It served more as a decoration rather than for its original purpose.

That was also gone.

The dinning table that they all used to share a meal on, even though it was mostly synthpaste. They still had much of the happy moments on their, that any family did at dinner.

It was gone. Even the non matching chairs around it were gone as well.

All their furniture, every bad drawing, every piece of decorum. It was all gone. The house was empty, completely ransacked of everything that made it a home that a family used to live in.

Even his mother too, was also gone. Instead, just a single red envelope remained in the centre of that room. With fear gripping in his chest, Nero slowly approached it, and picked it up.

'Please.. please... even us just getting robbed would be better... please...'

With dread, he slowly tore it open, revealing a white letter hiding inside. However its contents was what made Nero despair.

Written in dried red blood, it simply said:

[You took what was ours, and discarded it like it was trash. You will pay in either your blood, or the blood of your family.]

And at the bottom, was an address.

They thought that they could get away with it. They all thought that they could, but it seems that their sins have finally come to stab them in the back. Their desperate attempt to hide their mistake had resulted in a failure, somehow, and now they would pay for it.

Nero then let out a gut wrenching cry.

The Red Sons knew what they did, they knew who they were, and they wanted justice.

**

There were three parties struggling over control of Endroll. The government, The Red Sons, and The Prophets.

The Red Sons particularly, were a nasty bunch who delt in all kinds of crime. Human trafficking, extortion, and then their speciality, drug trafficking. One which Nero, Epsilon and Emma had involuntarily gotten involved in. 

They had always thought about it, in fact, it was every thieves thought and imminent doom. What happens if they steal from the wrong person?

Once that happened, a thief would cross the boundary of no return. And now all three of them had crossed that boundary.

It was Emma's idea to even get rid of it in the first place.

'Hang on.. how did Emma recognise it?'

Despite being of nearly the same background as the other two, Emma recognised it without even touching it herself. Just one glimpse told her all she needed, while the brothers had only heard about it from whispers and casual talk.

The only kinds of people who would have Carnage, were those who bought it themselves, or members of The Red Sons.

Emma certainly looked like no drug addict, so the only other possibility was...

She was a member too, or at least she was involved with them somehow.

'It couldn't've been her fault.. could it?'

She was the one who approached the man first, she was the one who put out the idea of getting rid of Carnage, but most importantly, she was the one who chose the target to rob.

Nero's brain strained just thinking about it, but the evidence was right there.

But now another question remained.

'Why? Why did she do that us?'

He couldn't think of anything. They had known each other for a long time, since they were kids even, so there was nothing that came to his mind when he thought about grudges or any kind of malice.

At least nothing he knew of. But then another thought creeped into his mind.

'..us?'

Was both of them necessarily the one she was targeting? It was Epsilon who was dating her, not him. It would only make sense that Epsilon would know her better, and thus would know why she did this.

In fact, it was Emma who proposed to Epsilon first.

Perhaps it wasn't a coincidence, and she could've proposed to any of them. Nero might've even said yes. But the way her eyes lit up around Epsilon was undeniable. She really did love Epsilon... or was that fake? She was extremely talented at acting. It was how they've been able to rob so many people after all.

So was it him that she was targeting? Was Epsilon the sole target of some kind of vengeance?

Anyhow, figuring out Emma's role in all of this was too hard. If he wanted any answers, he would have to confront her himself. But for now, he needed to get his mother back. He was certain that they were keeping her at that address, but they would also be waiting there for him.

He couldn't get help either, he was sure that they would kill her if he did.

He had to do this himself.

But he was not the same weak boy as before, he was the holder of a Divine Aspect, the one with the advantage was him.

'Wait for me mother... I'm coming.'