EnderBound: SOUL of Hatred

Chapter 18b: Brotherly Love

(Perspective: Lucas)

I was perfectly aware of what I was doing when I was under Hatred's influence. Even though I had damaged Asriel, I somehow held back from harming him. I may have been under her control, but I still had some of my own as well. I waited patiently in Judgement Hall for Ralsei to arrive.

"When will her control go away?" I thought to myself, "Can I finally be free?" Then, I heard footsteps walking towards me. I looked ahead and saw Ralsei there.

"So, you finally decide to show up," I said rudely, "What took you so long?"

"Sorry," he replied, "I didn't expect to show up so late. You're under her control, aren't you? You probably won't listen to me. I know how this works."

"I will listen," I told him, "It just depends on when I'll lose the ability to keep my consciousness. She picked a bad vessel for this job. But I will be needing the other half of that SOUL to be free." Ralsei pulled out the half SOUL he had and walked towards me.

"Take it," he said, "You need it more than me. When I died, it should have been the end for me. It's only fair that you have it back." Suddenly, I felt a strange powerful urge to hurt him. I clenched my fist and punched him in the stomach, causing him to drop the SOUL.

"Did you really think I would trust you that easily considering what you did to Claus?!" I shouted at him, "You have some sort of trick up your sleeve that you're not telling me about!"

"What?!" Ralsei replied with shock, "No I don't!" I looked back at the SOUL that he dropped and then I looked back at the scared goat child. My mind was conflicting whether to take the SOUL or kill Ralsei. Ralsei quickly got up.

"What are you doing?" he asked, "This isn't you. It's just the Hatred that has corrupted you."

"Maybe you're right," I replied, "Do you really think I WANT to hurt you? No! I don't have a choice. There's a demon inside me." I then thought for a moment and looked forward at him, widening my eyes.

"No," I continued, "There is no demon. These are feelings I've always had in my mind, but chose to hide away. Now, this Hatred is making me bring them out. I don't want to hurt you, but I need to unleash these feelings or else I will never get over myself!"

"Perhaps I can help," Ralsei told me. I suddenly fired PK Fire at him without control. Instead of dodging, he decided to take the hit.

"Why did you do that?!" I shouted at him, "You are going to get yourself hurt! Get out of here!"

"No," Ralsei said with a smile, "Not this time. I need to fix this mess I created." He walked towards me and embraced me. My Hatred began to slowly deplete.

"I..." I began, "I... don't know what to do."

"I'm sorry about everything," Ralsei told me, "I shouldn't have killed your brother to try and free the humans. It was foolish of me and only made things worse." He then stopped hugging me and handed me the SOUL.

"Now, take this and go fix my mistakes," he continued. He then placed the SOUL up to my chest, causing me to absorb it and remove the Hatred within myself. He then turned to dust. I smiled warmly as a tear fell from my eye.

"Thank you," I said. I then walked out of Mt. Ebott and looked towards the sun.

"There isn't much I can do here," I stated as I sat down, "I'll just wait and watch things unfold."

...

I may have lost both of my brothers forever, but I know that I will see them again. I just wish that I had more time to talk to Ralsei. We only got to see each other twice after a few years, and during those times, one of us was under Hatred. I still don't know how I'm going to explain all of this to everyone, but at least I can know that everything will be alright soon. I also learned that it's not good to follow suspicious figures, even if they do look like your brother. That's the last time I'm falling for that mistake, as it did cost me my life. Now that I am really on my own, I plan to make the most of the relationships I still have.