"We're brothers?" It was almost as if an invisible weight had been lifted off his chest. He had a brother. Someone who shared his secrets, but a different realisation came to him first, "Why do you only know of me if we're brothers?"

Aegis' twin gave another sigh, a sadder one, "We've never really met," he began, "you've had a very ... complicated life." His eyes darted to Aegis as he said this, almost searching for a reaction. And while Aegis said nothing to this supposed brother, his own eyes were constantly narrowed. So his young doppelgänger began speaking again, more gently than before, "The entire point of this—this bout," his twin insisted, "was to make sure you were you."

Aegis frowned, taken aback a little by his strange combination of words, "I was ... me?" It was definitely the same language, but together, the words made no sense.

"Your secret ..." his twin insisted pointedly, lowering his voice even more and motioning to Aegis' arm with a small inclination of his head, "we all have one, all of us with the Eye."

Aegis continued frowning, unsure if he was being cryptic on purpose.

After a moment where neither of them spoke, the prince pointed at his forehead where a red and blue vertical eye sat embossed. He attempted to smile faintly, but Aegis didn't return his sentiments. He was far too busy looking at his twin's forehead.

The mark was an eye.

Aegis was certain he had never seen through his forehead though. The only eyes he had ever used were the ones under his forehead. Besides, a fringe didn't grow overnight. Why did he have to hide the mark when his twin never did? But cryptic phrases and secret eyes were the least of his concerns at the moment. This supposed twin had pointed at something on Aegis' arm as well.

He looked down at his wrist. The yellowing-white sleeve had torn at the cuffs. Aegis could see a small red mark that stained both the torn fragment as well as his pasty skin peeking through the tear.

There were two possibilities here.  One, he hadn't realised he had gotten hurt because of the blood rush during the fight. Or two, the other more likely scenario: his second secret had taken care of the wound.

His secret healing touch.

Ever since he awoke in that hall a year ago, Aegis had noticed how his touch made all living things shine green, but that wasn't the gist of it. He had also noticed how his cuts seemed to vanish, how his touch would bring the dying plants back to life and let the wounded birds fly again.

He had the touch of life. The secret that no one would believe. The secret that made him a monster.

Aegis turned back to his twin, repeating his last few words in his head over and over again. He wasn't sure what he expected, but he hoped to find some meaning. That had been the point of sneaking out to this dark, boarded shack, hadn't it?

Aegis' doppelgänger was sitting very patiently, still watching him with an expression he couldn't quite decipher.

He sighed, "You said all of us with the eye have a secret," Aegis then said, focusing on the next part if the conversation, "There are more of us? Siblings? Friends? Parents?"

His twin's face fell at the question, and Aegis felt a twinge. He didn't need some noble idiot's pity.

But the young prince ignored Aegis' glare and gave a slow, small nod, "There are more," he agreed, "some more dangerous than others, and some would pretend to be you to hurt me."

Aegis shook his head. A small but efficient gesture to control his frustration before he'd impulsively say something he would regret. Every word this fellow uttered seemed to add even more questions, "Why?" he demanded. Aegis didn't bother lowering his voice this time.

His twin smiled uncharacteristically at the question, a wide, sly grin, "A revolution," he declared in a whisper, "the biggest this kingdom has ever seen, and I'm leading it."

"Wait." Aegis needed a moment to let the information sink in. Barely a few minutes ago, this supposed brother of his had called him an 'heir,' and Aegis had foolishly assumed it meant he was next in line.

But his brother wasn't the king. It didn't matter if almost no one was allowed to gaze upon the king or even breathe the same air as him. The King was older than them, his unforgiving rule indicated it. The only logical conclusion to this was that the king was their father. But what kind of father threw his own child in the slave house?

"You have questions?"

Aegis' head jerked up in the direction of his brother with two very raised eyebrows. Of course he had questions! His mind was swarming with so many of them, and this twin that claimed to help him wasn't answering any of them properly!

"Did you assume that I wouldn't have any?" Aegis demanded, "Because I'm a slave and it isn't my place to ask a high and mighty prince?"

The smile on his lookalike's face vanished instantly, and the young face turned a deep shade of red that was impossible to miss even in this darkness. Aegis' twin shook his head firmly, "Nothing like that!" he said firmly, "You're not a slave, you're just as much a prince as I am."

Aegis scoffed, "Well one of us in the wrong place then."

He was going to be suspicious of everything he was told ... everything. Why would his twin take this long to find him? Why hadn't they spent their childhood together? How complicated of a past did he have, to incur the wrath of an enemy that would wipe his memories as punishment?

Another sigh, this one more frustrated than pitiful, "You're not a slave Aegis," he repeated, "you haven't been in that place for very long—"

"Yeah, I know," Aegis snapped, not bothering to wait for the full explanation. He was well aware of how long he had been a slave, "took you a whole year to find me, didn't it? Must have been hard to leave the luxuries behind to find gutter scum like me."

The prince flushed again, "That's not true—"

"Then where were you all year?" Aegis raised an eyebrow as he demanded. His tone harsher than he had intended.

"Away." And even though his twin never broke eye contact, the guilt on his face was more obvious than the answers that he provided. "There is so much I need to tell you Aegis," his lookalike said with a quiet, almost resigned sigh, "and I will! Just not here."

Aegis scoffed again, "Why should I believe you?" The rage and bitterness he had been feeling all year had finally found a vent, "You're in the middle of a rebellion, how do I know you're not just looking for an extra body on your side? An extremely convenient body that looks exactly like you."

"I'm not," he said quietly, "this war against the king is mine." Any mention of the king seemed to set the prince's eyes ablaze.

"So you won't ask me to pick a side?" Aegis asked next, raising a single eyebrow.

"There are no sides," his twin responded with the same patience he had been exhibiting all night, "and I can't say anymore here," he added as if ending the conversation.

"Then where?" His vague answers were aggravating, but Aegis didn't really have a choice. If he wanted to know more about himself, he would have to do as he was told.

"How about we meet in the city tomorrow night?" he suggested, "I can tell you everything I know about you and we can discuss where you want to go."

"Where I want to go?" Aegis repeated, cocking an eyebrow again. Was this brother getting rid of him?

"Do you want to stay in the palace as a slave?"

The two young men stared at each other in silence, with Aegis evaluating his twin who looked genuinely confused. Maybe he was a nice person. It was too soon to judge.

"Okay," Aegis relented once more. He needed to show better restraint with his emotions instead of pouring them out in front of this lookalike of his. "I can get there," he admitted, intentionally being as vague as he could about how he would. Until Aegis decided whether or not he could trust this brother, the latter may as well have been another slave to him, "where are we meeting?"

"There is a forest just outside—"

"I know where it is," Aegis cut in, there was only one real forest in the circular city below. He didn't need to be explained where it was like a child.

"Okay," his twin continued calmly. It was far more vexing that the noble idiot kept his calm despite Aegis' shortness. "Enter the forest through the mines and head towards the Edge, we'll meet there."

Aegis shook his head again, this time out of sheer frustration, "Wait! The edge?" Why did he think that something as vague as the edge wasn't worth explaining, but a freaking forest was?

"Of ... the sphere," Aegis' twin let out a small frown and then a shrug, as if it had been the only obvious answer.

He ignored the foreboding that overwhelmed him every time he was reminded of where they really were. Underwater, shielded by a bizarre technological sphere that no one could see. It was hard enough adjusting to the world around him without memories. It had taken him far too long to understand the sky, the stars, the water and the ground, and the entire world that lived in it. And then just like that he was told the stars were fake and the sun was fake, and they were underwater, protected from the crushing abyss outside by a miracle called technology.

It was harrowing.

"Okay," Aegis said, he could find his way to the end of their tiny world, "I have one final question though," he said and then instantly shook his head, "two," he corrected himself, "two final questions."

The smile he received was oddly warm, "Alright."

"One, how the hell do you know so much about me," Aegis demanded, "for someone who has never met me, you seem to know a lot about me and my nightmares."

His royal twin was still smiling, "You have a friend," he responded, "that friend is doing everything they can to see you again."

An actual answer, it nearly threw him back a bit. Aegis had half-expected him to dodge the answer with a cryptic riddle again. But if it was true, this was good. If it was true, he had someone to fill the blank slate the past eighteen years of his life had suddenly turned into. If it was true, his brother may not have been as altruistic as he first appeared.

"Two," Aegis continued regardless, "I need a name, you seem to know everything about me, and I don't even know your name."

His twin considered the second question for a suspiciously long time before he answered, "Ska."

"That doesn't sound like a real name."

'Ska' shrugged again, this time with a small apologetic smile, "Tomorrow night," he reiterated, "forest near the Edge."

Aegis made his way to the door without so much as an 'okay.' He was still very annoyed at how vague his twin had been, but for the first time in so long, he had answers.

Even if they might have been lies.