The body of a boy flew as he was backhanded swiftly and painfully. With a thud, his body fell to the floor, his hand gently perusing the cheek which the hand had dealt the blow to. That hand, bore dark marks all over it, simple blots or disgusting mementos.

"You're useless!" roared the voice of a maddened man, whose remorse has all but left his body. Now all that remained was fury and anger. He heaved, not regretting what he had done, instead, he drew closer and clenched his hand.

"You've done nothing but cause me trouble! Both you and your brother, useless! I've wasted money on raising you, but what do I have to show for it? Nothing! Can't you do anything?! Your mother isn't here to hold your hand, so grow up, Pollux!"

His voice was deafening. But the boy's eyes didn't avert from the man's. His ears didn't perk or shy away, as if he had been through the same thing before. The words, they didn't sting as much. He felt like crying but stifled it by thinking of how painful the blow was, keeping his mind away.

The man stood in front of the boy, hand raised. The boy closed his eyes and allowed a tear to drip down from his cheek. The strength from his hands left him as he surrendered to the pain.

But just as a regretful loss could have ensued, the door was kicked open by a vengeful foot belonging to an equally enraged and maddened male.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my brother?!" he said, running towards the man with his fists raised. He tried to land a blow, but his stature and bodily frame made the effort look pathetic.

The man took the boy by the wrist, stopping him, and forcibly drew him close.

"Teaching him a lesson," he uttered in a low-pitch voice, eyes as dead as a fish's. He then took the boy by the hair and hurled him towards the other boy lying down, his eyes opened with bewilderment and shock. He roughly stumbled on the floor before stopping, pain throbbing on every part of his body.

"Leave before I teach both of you a lesson." The man turned and faced a tall glass window which showed a dark, starry night sky. Above was the moon, a light for the dark and decrepit chamber, candles not being enough to illuminate the dark.

"Castor!" yelled the timid one, running up to his brother, who looked up at the ceiling blankly, arms and legs sprawled out. "Are you alright?"

"Let's go, Pollux," said Castor, ignoring the pain by grinding his teeth. He got up and gently took his brother's arm, supporting him as they both left the chamber and headed for their room.

"Stay still, Pollux. You need to be strong, remember? Just bear it for a bit more, alright? Let me just patch you up."

Castor, the eldest of the two siblings, dabbed a cotton slightly drenched with medicine on his brother's wounds. A flickering candle light provided them with all the light they needed.

They weren't that old. Castor was eleven while Pollux was eight. Sons of a madman locked up in his own delusions and his castle made of stone. His riches drove him insane, and so his warped image of reality remains as is.

"Hey, why aren't you fighting back? If I hadn't gotten there in time, then something really terrible could have happened to you," said Castor.

"I didn't want to. Father doesn't deserve it."

"And so do you. Take better care of yourself, alright? You're frail enough as it is. Any more of those beatings and you'll collapse. This isn't the first time it's happened."

"Thank you, again, Castor," he coughed.

"Yeah, no problem. But Pollux, don't you hate father for what he's done to you? Don't you want to leave instead?"

As if mulling over an answer, Pollux hesitated but came to a conclusion.

"Father's lonely. I can see it in his eyes. He can't say it, but he's crying on the inside. Mom's passing affected him that much."

"We were affected by it more! What's the difference?"

"I can't explain it, but I don't want to abandon Father the way he is now. I know that one day he'll come back, and the three of us can become a family again."

"Before you worry about that, worry about yourself, alright? I'll get some help soon enough, so just wait."

"I understand. But I know I can depend on you, Castor, even if you can't land a blow," he beamed at his brother as his legs swung back and forth, happily enjoying the moment with his brother, however terrible the situation that led to it.

"You're getting too full of yourself," he grinned, then laughed. The tender moment of the two was something that they'd store along with the rest.

"Now, go to sleep. I'll keep watch on the door just in case he comes back in."

Pollux agreed and slept instantly, letting his fatigue take over. His expression of exhaustion and fatigue, disappearing, making Castor's face ease up as he knelt by the bed, hands clasped in concern.

"Please, if there's a God out there somewhere, help him. It doesn't even matter if it's God, anyone can do. Just don't take him away from me," Castor muttered in the air, wishing for someone to receive it. He rested his head on the comfortable sheets of the bed and felt he exhaustion wave its hand over his head. His eyes came to a close, and his body fell asleep.

A voice called out to him, conniving and eerie. Its lull was enough to draw any innocent soul in, but it awoke Castor.

He sprang up and looked around, opening the door which only showed the darkness still looming about.

"Who's there?" he called out.

"You asked for someone?" said the voice within the shadows. "You abhor someone, you curse them. I am here to answer your prayer."

Curious, Castor followed the voice from where it trailed, leaving the door closed, glancing left and right before heading down the corridor.

He saw a tattered linen cut across the right, leading towards a room which he felt hesitation to.

He felt drawn to it, however, and that he had to find out. He fought with the urge until a hand gestured and persuaded him to come closer.

The presence of another person in the abode made him uneasy for he had never seen anyone else besides the three of them.

He chased the master of the hand and came to the sight of a tall, overbearing dark shadow with a form of a cloaked, sinister figure. But, there wasn't any sort of figure to make out other than the reaper himself.

Castor recoiled, tripping on his own feet, falling with his eyes still drawn to the faceless figure.

"Come, I have something to show you. Then you may decide whether it is worth it." The dark, cloaked figure turned and proceeded towards the door where the voice of a man echoed.

Unable to remove the shaking in his legs, he powered through and tried to stand, following the cloaked figure, however terrifying it was for him.

They peered through the door, seeing Castor's father bawling with his face buried in his hands. Tears spilled forth, and the words of a desperate, resentful man came to be known.

He howled his laments for having brought upon his heavy hands to his own sons, and for what he had become. He yelled out a name familiar to Castor that it made his heart beat with a strange pang of guilt. 

"Ella, Ella!" the name repeated again and again. "Forgive me, punish me! I have done things I have come to regret. I long for you, but you cannot return. Forgive me, my dear..."

Hearing this, Castor reconsidered.

"So I shall now reap his soul for all his transgressions," said the reaper. "He has created a rift between you two, one that cannot be mended. He has brought upon you pain, and for that, you cursed him. I shall pass his punishment in the afterlife."

The reaper started towards the door, reaching for the handle until Castor grabbed his cloak, stopping him.

"No... I see my error now, why Pollux believed so much. I was the one who didn't try to understand using my words. I kept my fangs barred at him and didn't even think to try and mend things, only make it worse. I am the one at fault. Please don't take his soul," he pleaded.

"I cannot leave without the request having been fulfilled," said the reaper, crushing Castor, who fell into a trance of panic.

"Then take mine!" he said bravely. The Reaper became silent, staring at Castor for a while to test his resolve. "The two of them can mend things together. I'm simply a nuisance."

"So you wish to sacrifice yourself for the man whom has showed clear desires to harm you and your brother?"

"He may have his flaws, but he is suffering, and he is my father, through and through. I cannot fault him for that, I can only fault myself."

"Then come with me and we shall depart."

"Wait, will you allow me to say my goodbye to my brother first?"

The Reaper nodded, and they made their way back to the chamber, where they saw Pollux still sleeping soundly.

"The young one does not have that much left," he said. "He is suffering."

Castor didn't react, but simply stared at his brother with sadness in his eyes.

"I can only wish for him to have a better life than this. As his brother, I have not done anything worth being called a brother. But, with this, I hope that can change."

"I will take his wavering soul another time. I will grant him time. But you will come with me in his stead, and your father's."

"I understand."

"Then you will slumber, then awake in the afterlife." With a touch to his forehead, Castor fell to the ground. The Reaper tapped the end of his scythe on the ground, drawing Castor's soul from his body and unto him.

Just as the process was being done, the father of the two son's barged in, having heard everything. He had a face of a desperate man and heaved heavy breaths.

"Stop, please! Don't take him away from me!" he yelled, taking the Reaper by the foot, begging for forgiveness.

"Why should I? You could have been the reaper for these two young ones. Now you ask for me to not take him."

"I know what I have done wrong. A day doesn't go by that I don't regret or repent in what I have done. It is my fault. I have let this family crumble because of me. Please, don't take them away from me. They are all I have left," he said, allowing the tears to pass on once more, this, one of sorrow.

The Reaper explained the young one's predicament, and the fact that he cannot give back life as it is taboo. The soul of young Castor had been given up, and the young Pollux is on the edge. The revalation devastated the man.

"That cannot be. There must be a way! Please, I'll do anything. You don't have to take them away. Keep them together. They will be better off than with a father like me."

Pondering, the Reaper spoke.

"Then you will have to pay with something of equal value. What is left of you that you may bargain for?"

"... I will give, my life, for them. I know it will not be enough to repent for my past actions, but as long as they are together and well, I will have to worry about nothing."

"I accept. Then I shall give them to the heavens. God will decide what to do with the two. Now, come with me. We shall depart for the afterlife."

And with that, the two disappeared, and so did the siblings. It left the abode silent and at peace. And though painful memories remained, it was still a home at which they were born from.

And with that, the two looked from the heavens, named Gemini, they eternally looked down upon the place that was once their home.