There was a brief time where everything was normal.

At least, considered by the then world's standards, it was normal. Japan didn't look too different from what it does now, modern technology in the palm of everyone's hands, medicine present to cure the people by the thousands. But the world's normal was also for some to live in poverty, to play the beggars to the rich and subject themselves to rain-torn roofs and shoddy electrical systems. A situation where no one really knows how bad it is until they've experienced it themselves. That period in time is something I can no longer correctly remember, but if you truly are interested, I find it in me to apologise in advance. What I will tell you is nothing like what the glorified stories of the past parents read to their children.

I don't actually recall the place where I grew up, only the city- Osaka's slums, most likely. I had a twin brother, who unlike I, was born weak with several sicknesses. I don't think there was ever a time where we were apart, perhaps because I didn't trust for something to not happen to him if I wasn't there. Our mother died in childbirth, the one and only thing we knew about her. Our father was a drunkard, and as far as that goes, it's the usual sob story I don't care to dredge up. It probably started after our mother died, come to think of it.

In actuality, I recall hardly a thing from the twenty years of life prior to my quirk's appearance. I just remember how much I wanted to protect my brother, how often I held his frail hands in my own. Letting go wasn't an option in that place. The people there were selfish, ruthless. Some were kind and shared with us what little they had to spare, whilst others were skittish and refused to trust what help was offered. It was that bad, yes. There were many times where I thought him and I weren't going to make it through the night.

Then help came in a way I never expected it to.

I could make a difference. We could make a difference. It was something like out of a fiction book, like a novelty hero comic. The world could make a difference, but in doing so, set itself on fire. I can understand how bad it was from just how little I remember in those earlier days of quirks- the body and mind has such odd defense mechanisms for bad memories. A sea of flames engulfed the Earth, chaos unbridled, looming and endless. I suppose there are monuments these days for the people who sacrificed their lives to stop the evil from spreading? They deserve as much.

Poverty was still a very vivid reality for him and I- it didn't stop for a long time. But at least we could do something about it; I had the power to take from others, he had the power to give. We were polar opposites, but we made the perfect pair to help the folk who had helped us during the days we had starved, and in doing so it gave us the perfect opportunity to learn. Boundaries were no more, so we pursued information about our mother via the viaduct of data leaks that people had so easily penetrated. Though him and I always looked to be complete foreigners, it was only then that we learned that we were half-Greek. I didn't find the time to figure out why such an uncommon immigrant was in Japan until later in life, because there were far more pressing matters at hand.

Becoming such a person who can do anything for the poor means becoming uncivilised, barbaric, coarse, just like the lot of those other fools. We could not afford to be the people we were, citizens of Japan, as we would be easily eliminated by the law's lapdogs. So, we embraced our foreign identities, forgot and left behind what characters we were, in pursuit of a brighter future for the unlucky.

Augustus and I hunted down peace for our city for some very long years, hardly any days went by without a fight. The life we'd known turned into a war between the quirked and the quirkless, sparking a decades' long vengeance for those who died in that time. I know the fact that we survived was only thanks to Augustus and his quirk, a power that enabled him to see other's futures, but alas, he was still a weak man. Whilst he became my advisor, I became his sword and shield, and in that, we found something very powerful. I came to be his dark, and he came to be my light.

Peace was hard-fought and won, but not without a high cost. It was only then by age thirty did Augustus notice the lasting effects on our bodies due by our quirks- a painful but inevitable experience. I should have been the same as him, but only he was more older in appearance. My quirk took from others. His quirk took from himself. Vitality draining seemed to be the price for Augustus' priceless power, a fact that turned what was my kind, benevolent and loving brother into having a hint of jealousy and fear. There was no room for blame. As alarming as it was, it was something that had to be ignored.

It took a long time for order to restore itself to Japan and the rest of the world. It was evident by the fact that we were approached by what the was-then Hero Association that we had definitely made a name for ourselves in terms of fame. We had fought battles for the people, time and time again, but of course, nothing was ever expected back. So the world continued to take. They approached us with a new idea- form an alliance with other veteran-vigilantes without any penalties as to what crimes we may have committed in the past, or be subjected to the new law of non-quirk abiding rules. Wary, but excited by the chance to finally make permanent progress on peace for Japan, we accepted.

That's how Twin Eclipse was formed. A band of peace-seeking guerillas turned into "heroes", a term I thought would never exist in our world.

Given my brother and I's position, we were placed as heads of the agency. This was a time where rather than entirely faded, my memory becomes only about three-quarters far fetched. In all honesty, I only remember one person of the people in our organisation... things are still so blurry to me, and they continue to get worse as time goes on. At least, I remember our success over tyranny in Osaka to be exceptional. The first four years, our agency rose to glory in Japan, and we actually made progress towards decreasing the high crime rate. Only then did I fail to notice, despite our everlasting bond, how increasingly distressed Augustus was becoming. He could no longer fight as much as he wished to. What a fool I am, to fail to see his suffering.

Anti-quirk symbolism became heavily present after an impacting battle which ended in several dozen accidental civilian casualties due by the hand of heroes. Morale fell deep in the hero community after that as time went on. Villains were commonplace. It only continued to grow as more innocent bodies were added to the pile, and protesters were present outside our doors. That malice eventually coalesced into a battle that took place on Osaka's soil, an event that cost my brother greatly. Even if we saw the future of that fight, the end, as always, is inevitable.

Her name was Alyssa, a brave soul in our agency. She was very close with Augustus. She was on the front-line with us when the villains surged to their peak and attacked us in a great number, and with us under major pressure, I had to force Augustus to use his quirk on me despite what the consequences were. The future is certain. It will never change. But I had to do something about what I had seen, I couldn't just give in.

Alas, their quantity in numbers proved to be our undoing, and the one who lead the charge had some sort of sealing quirk. A perfect martyr for their cause. Our agency was swiftly demolished by the sheer amount strength that everyone fighting had shown, and I can't deny I was responsible for a fair part of it. But then Alyssa tried to show her benevolence to the restless souls through flowers and vines, ever innocent and unaware of what wrath they would bring in response. We tried to get to her in time. I vaguely remember Augustus screaming somewhere in the chaos as my halberd met that bastard's throat. Alyssa was saved, but her quirk wasn't. So I cut him down. Permanently.

It wasn't the first life I took, no. I was forced to have many meet their ends by my hands whilst Augustus and I were vigilantes. But for some reason... that one stuck with me. Haunted me. I suppose it was the fact that I failed to protect someone so dear to my brother, and had to watch him suffer because of it.

They blamed me for it, I didn't blame them in return. I failed. Horribly. I killed a martyr. I failed to prevent our agency's fall, both physically and literally, the building and the surrounding area for hundreds of meters razed to the ground. I failed to prevent the loss of Augustus' eye, and forced him to bear further loss of vitality. I failed to prevent the loss of Alyssa's quirk. I failed to prevent everything. And for that, I duly paid the price.

What was left of the agency fell under heavy scrutiny by the public and the Hero Association. We were no longer the golden heroes everyone believed us to be, merely just husks of that idolism. I recall the death toll of that fight to be around fifty. Faced with our first severe defeat, and with the fact that we'd failed to save so many lives, Twin Eclipse was forced to disband after four years of serving the country. What we had done in the past for our nation was for naught. That's how it always was. But, despite all that, Alyssa said she wasn't worried about losing her quirk. In fact, she said;

"Alex... Please know that I don't blame you for anything. I don't want you to feel like this is all your fault... after all, it were quirks that started this, right?"

Yes, she was right. Absolutely right.

Augustus never looked at me the same way again after that event. I'd chosen to ignore it in favour of our bond, but I could tell that his jealousy for my quirk's effects on my body was starting to get to his head. He didn't look me in the eyes. His smile never reached far up his face. I knew he blamed me, and despite the fact that yes, quirks were to blame, it was still entirely my fault. Just that. My fault. We fell apart as the agency did. He left Osaka with Alyssa to value what little time he had left with her. I paid for my sins.

Though I did visit him from time to time to watch their child grow, I could tell I was never welcome in his presence anymore. That hatred, that envy, that resentment in his eye... I could feel it all. As the vitality left his body, so did his sanity. One day, Augustus, Alyssa and I were called to escort a government executive despite our low social standing. Because of that, I knew that the once low crime rate had skyrocketed. But despite what powers we had, despite what futures we had seen, it was, as always, inescapable.

The bombing was unexpected. Even if I was sent ahead to survey the land, I failed to notice what laid in wait. I was too concerned with what could be. I was too concerned about... him. Alyssa got the executive out in time. She didn't. That was where what little good there was left finally turned bad.

Augustus immediately turned on me after the mission had ended, but even then, I was still surprised by his actions. Forty years. Forty years of being together. Forty years of protecting each other. Forty years of holding hands. All turned to nothing for the sake of people I don't even know. Even if his quirk was for predicting the future of others, he was still an entirely formidable opponent. One slip up would have killed me. That's how well he knew me. He was still willing to risk everything, his own life, to make me pay for what sins I had made.

He did. He really did risk it all. All of that, and for what in return? For what? I couldn't understand. It hurt to understand.

I think that was the first time I shed tears. Him in my arms as he lay there, lights slowly fading from his vision. Hand in mine. Our life each other's. I never once did raise a hand against him. I couldn't. I had spent my entire life protecting him, and that wouldn't change. I couldn't have that change. In this worthless world, it was all I could ask for. But still... he saw some worth in those people. He lifted his free hand to my eyes, and I saw the heavens fall. I saw the future, stationary, unmoving, eternal in truth. Fate.

"I've met an early end, huh, Alex? To think it would come to this... please, don't look at me like that. You knew there was never enough time for me, or her... but Akira... I leave their future and my son's in your hands. And please... please remember what this feels like."


As soon as I could, I wrote down what I had seen. Unfortunately, Augustus' quirk worked in mysterious ways. The future was shown in snippets, dregs, and you were never able to see nor recognise when or where it actually happened. It could have taken place ten minutes from then. It could have been the next day. It could have been the next year, or decade, or even further than that. Even if it was inevitable, it was entirely uncertain and unpredictable. But I... had already had enough. I had watched so many people die at the hands of quirks, had my brother die in my arms, watched his wife get decimated by the bane of human weapons... it all felt so bad and just. Worthless.

I'd already given up so much for this country, and they had returned nothing to me. In our time of need, all we received was slaughter. So I left.

I couldn't tell their son, a ten year old child, the truth of what happened. Facing both his parents' deaths on the same day proved to be too much for the both of us. So I ended my contract with the Hero Association. Severed our bonds with our colleagues. Left behind all I had been developing for the past fifty years, and ran away like a coward. It was fine with me- I didn't deserve anything. But Cyrus... Cyrus deserved something.

I searched for my mother's bloodline in Greece with Cyrus for the next ten years. Keeping my identity on the downlow was a must, so we couldn't make much progress very quickly. Cyrus, being a young boy, couldn't understand much of what was happening. He sometimes asked when his parents were going to come back. Every time I responded I told him they died for their country valiantly. He seemed to take it okay, and in that, I found something very wrong. But I couldn't do much for him. All I could do was leave him with the blood that would actually take care of him.

We did eventually find them after some years. In a small mountain village overseeing the ocean named Kariovuni, our family was there. They were stunned, shocked, to hear news of us. There were questions, question why fifty years later their daughter's son had finally come looking for them. Shocked that to hear of our story. Apparently their daughter had up and abandoned them after a fight, deserting them forever. My grandparents were long dead. Their relatives were all that were left of our family. Suddenly, I realised my mother may have not been a good woman. How odd that felt.

Our bloodline was extensive, and there were many relatives in the village. A safe place for Cyrus to grow in. They had no reservations for him, only me, so I kept my distance. Enjoyed peace for a few years, but I always kept my head turned to the stars, waiting for a calling.

No answer. So again, I left.

I parted with Cyrus- he would have no need for me. I left him his parents' will. Even if he was safe, amongst family and friends and a world away from any danger, I still saw darkness in his eyes as I left the village. Reservations for... something I couldn't tell of.

The next couple decades become blurry again... I recall that I went to Athens after that to take up hero work there instead, rather than Japan, this time for a different country who had different values. It was nicer there, with white sandy beaches and buildings, endless blue skies and an absurd amount of stray cats. I think I felt happy, or at least something related to that. For a good while, too. But there was still emptiness in my heart without my brother. But one day, Cyrus found and approached me. He was much older now, having a life of his own. Late twenties. Still had... that hollow look on his face. His hair wasn't as blonde as I remembered it to be. Then he opened his hands, and showed me myself.

Immediately, I felt unrest. I would have thought that Cyrus would inherit one of his parents quirks- future seeing or plant manipulation. But he didn't. It came straight from my side, a power that ate away at others.

Knowing him, the life he could potentially lead if he found out what had really happened to his parents, I couldn't afford to turn him away. So I took him under my wing, and we contracted under hero agencies as I trained him. I felt as though we were making progress again over the years, but it didn't feel right at all. He didn't smile, like me. Didn't laugh, like me. There was nothing on his face that showed how he felt about me. But really... I think I already knew how he felt.

I let him use me for his own personal efforts and growth, as at that point it was all I could do for him. Suddenly, one day, he announced that he was leaving.

"I'm going to Japan."

I didn't let the surprise I felt show. "Why?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"... I see."

He turned away and left. That was the last I saw of him for a long, long time. I returned to the village to ask about his growing up, but only received normal, regular, inquestionable answers. There was always something off about him, nothing I could quite put my finger on. But if his verdict was to return to Japan, then... I would not follow.

Years passed again in a flash, something I no longer felt any longer, time's hands ticking a familiar sound in my mind. I wandered Europe as a mercenary, that occupation the only one I could properly fulfill despite my dislike of giving to others. How ironic. Some agencies I stayed with, some I didn't. I watched comrades rise and fall, again. And again. And again. A thing I grew numb to.

There was no sight I didn't see when travelling Earth, seas made of molten fire and mountains made of solid snow. Quirks that had the power to split the ocean. Monsters who were undeserving of names. I often found myself asking if it was really worth all the trouble. Was there anything I hadn't seen yet? Tribes in Africa, maybe? The bows of Mongolians? Glaciers in the Arctic? No. Just one thing, one thing I had already seen that was worth waiting for.

He'd given up his life for that vision. It was just one last job to be done... then it would be over.

So I waited for years, surviving tempests and weathering blazing storms. Till one day, Cyrus found me in Canada. Who knows how long he had been searching for me after he found out the truth. He came as a familiar sight, one who lived for vengeance. How many years had he been under the influence of evil thoughts, I wondered? How many years had he spent succumbing to the thirst of revenge? I could already tell he had forgone good morale years ago. Darkness in his eyes. White in his hair. Product of my doing.

I finally felt like what it was to be on the receiving end of my quirk. No wonder everyone had thought me the shadow of Augustus. As much as I still loved him, as much as I didn't want to forsake my brother... sinners must be punished. That was how the world worked. That was fate for Cyrus, stationary, unmoving, and eternal in truth.

So I showed him what it meant to have survived for as long as I had. I showed him what it meant to survive in those hellish dawning days of quirks. I showed him what it meant to be us, to be me. An endless nightmare of a consuming void.

Inexperienced, despite his longlasting, he fell by my hand. Despite it all, there was no emotion to summon, no tears to cry. All in spite of killing my brother's son. The best I could do for him was give him a grave overseeing the mountains and sea of our village. Again, I left. Again, I experienced the solitude of someone who was cursed with an undying perseverance.


Days dredged by more slowly after that, whatever hope I had left diminishing for answers about what sight Augustus had given me. I felt like... I lost something within that time. Whether it was my power finally decreasing by a drastic level, or the loss of purpose, it was certain that something was missing. Even if I kept an eternal watch on the sky, there was still no answer as to when my brother's vision would come to fruition. I could do nothing but stand idly by for answers, watching as the world developed, rose and fell around me, leaving me behind. By the time I finally received news of something, there was hardly a corner left on earth to see. But finally, I saw it. Sparkling in the skies, and a whisper of truth in my ears.

"So this 'young blond-haired technician' you've been boasting about really is the real deal, huh? S' a shame they're so far away, could have really helped out my ma there..."

Normally I would have turned a blind-eye to such a passing conversation. But somehow, it felt wrong to ignore. I inquired my co-workers from an agency I had contracted with in London of what they were talking about, but they quickly assured me that whatever they had said I had misheard. It was a red flag. I couldn't ignore it. It was all too coincidental. The celestial bodies shifting, a whisper of my nephew's name. Had he really died, back then, so long ago? Had I made a fatal mistake? What was he doing?

Finding out what he had done in Japan was necessary, even if I had sworn to never go back there. The old notes of my brother's vision were finally falling into place. Memories I thought I had forgotten about were being dredged up.

What choice did I have? It was time to go home, back to where it all began.