The Choice Of Fate || The Promised Neverland

Chapter 30: He Knew

Sistine's POV:

"Why do you want to meet me here?" I utter, looking around the garden of scarlet flowers. I turn to the boy standing before me. "Do you need something?"

The boy looks at me with soothing cobalt eyes, giving me a warm smile. "Is it wrong?"

"No, not really..." I mutter, barely returning the smile. I can't help it; I don't know this person at all!

All I know is that his name is Genesis, and he looks like a teenage version of Francis.

And he's an entity. That guy isn't fooling me; his skin feels nowhere near human.

The boy bows low in respect, saying, "Genesis, adopted son of Lord Bayon. A pleasure to finally meet you, Miss..."

"... Sistine," I add, surprised and... a little flustered. "Please call me Sistine."

The boy stands to his full height, asking, "I couldn't trick you into thinking I was human, huh?" I give a little nod, which makes him chuckle a bit. "No wonder Lew-chan took an interest in you. Welcome to the family!"

"Family...?"

"Kind of...? I mean, of course, Lord Bayon and the others aren't related to the queen, but it's still kind of a family thing. For me, at least."

"I see..."

The boy walks over to me, the proximity between us getting smaller and smaller. Until finally, he's a foot away. He eyes the print on my neck, asking, "Grace Field?"

In an instant, I hide the print with my hair, nodding quickly. My eyes dart all over the place, anywhere but Genesis.

"... So Francis was his name." I freeze, turning to him in shock. He gives me a gentle smile, uttering a soft "I'm sorry".

"... Why are you apologizing?" I ask.

Genesis runs a hand through his black hair, saying, "I think I get how I turned out like this now... It was because I ate your friend, wasn't it?"

"Oh! That's- it's okay!" I react, raising my hands defensively. "He didn't feel any pain, at least! It's all right! That was a long time ago, it's fine!" He lets out a low growl, muttering something about a stupid Dozza forcing him to eat humans. "Uhm... you still eat humans... right?"

"Hate them," the boy groans, plopping down on a nearby bench. "Not as in the 'hate them as living beings' kind of hatred. I just think they taste disgusting."

"Then how..." I trail off, unsure if asking it would be offensive. Should I or...

"... how what?" He asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

...

Yeah, screw it.

Taking a deep breath, I ask, "How do you maintain your physical form?"

He flinches at my question, questioning himself if he could tell me. He looks around the area, supposedly searching for any trace of life. He then slowly turns to me, patting the space next to him.

As I sit down, I look at him in confusion. All of a sudden, he yanks my arm and puts my head on his shoulder. After a short moment of silence, I hear him whisper, "... Do you know about the cursed blood?"

In an instant, I push myself away from him. "YOU'RE PART OF THE-!"

He shushes my screeching and pulls me close to him again, hissing in a whisper, "Quiet! If someone hears you, both of us are dead! We can't have that, Sistine."

"Are you seriously part of that clan?" I ask him.

"More like one of those people born with such power," he replies, moving himself away from me. He scratches the back of his neck, uttering, "When I heard that there was an entire clan out there with the power to preserve their form, I was quite amazed. I thought I was the only one."

I tilt my head in confusion, commenting, "... I thought that clan was destroyed."

"I thought so, too!" he responds. "But then, one day, I heard the Queen talk to his regents about... something about a 'miracle child' on the loose, along with one of her brothers..." He lies down and rests his head on my lap, muttering, "I really wanna look for them. I bet they're awesome."

"Yeah..."

A moment of silence holds for the two of us. I tilt my head to look up at the stars, wondering how the other kids are doing. Wondering if they're alive, dead, captured, or... if they finally reached their destination.

Though, I bet it's too early for that. It's only been about a day or two since they left Grace Field. It's surely going to take longer than that.

"Hey..." I hear Genesis utter, making me look down to meet his gaze. "Can I ask something?"

Curious, I reply, "Sure, go ahead."

"... What was Francis like?"

I fall silent, trying to recall my memories of him. Now that I think about it, I haven't thought of him in such a long time. My memories feel rusted, or maybe just blurred or dusted. I gently caress his soft black hair, letting the memory of Francis sink in for a bit.

"Gotcha!"

I let out a high-pitched shriek as the boy slinged me over his shoulder, running away from the gate. I smacked his back repeatedly, whining, "Put me doooown!"

"Nope!" Francis replied with a popped "p", shaking his head. "You're not allowed to go near that place."

"But whyyyyy!?"

He looked at me as if I just said a curse word. "Mama said it's dangerous! Obviously, you shouldn't go! What are you, a dumdum?"

"You're the dumdum!" I countered, making him pout.

"No, you."

"No, you!"

"Okay, fine," he sighed, a smile still on his face. "We're both dumdums."

A giggle escaped my lips as I said, "That's better." Excitedly, I point at what's in front of me, yelling, "Onward, fellow dumdum!" Francis lets out a cackle as he keeps running the opposite direction.

"You're pointing the wrong way!"

"He was..." I utter, a smile slowly creeping up my face, "... like the brother I never had. He was funny, and sweet, intentionally stupid, and... a lot smarter than what everyone, even him, made him appear."

"So he was a genius?" Genesis asks me, and I nod. "Then, how come he was shipped out so early?"

"I don't know-!"

"Wait!" He blurts out, making me flinch. "You said he was a genius, right!? And your name is Sistine!?" I give a confused nod, and Genesis fishes for something in his pocket.

I can hear him mutter, "I knew this was gonna be important someday... Screw you, Lord Dozza. This isn't trash, after all...!"

Not long, he brings out a piece of paper from his pocket. "This is from a few years ago," the ravenette boy says, handing the paper to me. "I found it on the day that Francis was sent to the production factory.

"The demons were starting to burn some clothes there, but I thought of checking it out for treasure. I found a bunch of cool items in their pockets, but I chose to kept this one."

I look at the folded piece of paper, wondering what could be inside. It seems so unreal for him to write a letter, and it seems even more unreal for me to find it here. Why...?

Upon opening the letter, that's when I realized why it happened.

It was because he knew.