PeaceMaker

"Kalmi, please open your eyes, we're almost there," Alice muttered quietly as she shook her brother's arm, "please wake up."

Alice shifted uncomfortably in her seat on the carriage, the bumpy ride made her nauseous. The human in her belly seemed to agree as it kicked whenever they went over a crater in the ground. 

"Hmm..?" Kalmin muttered, trying his best to reply as he fought the hands of sleep that covered his eyes, "f-food?"

"No… Kalmi, please wake up," Alice pressed, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I don't want to be awake right now but I don't want to sleep. Please wake up, he's staring."

Although Kalmin was well wrapped under the blankets of sleep, her last four words had woken him up immediately. He jolted awake and rubbed away the sleep in his eyes. Kalmin looked across from his seat and surely enough, Justin was there, staring hungry bullets at Alice. Like the first child, he had already made her conceive wasn't enough.

Alice shuddered. His eyes were staring into her very soul, setting every nerve in her on edge and making her feel like throwing up. She was reminded of his hands whenever she locked eyes with him. Crawling over her body, caressing places she cried out to leave alone, marking places he called his right and pressing his body against hers again and again. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see his figure looming over her and then grabbing her roughly. Stripping her of her dignity and clothes even when she cried out in pain and kicked with all her might. On days she was too fierce he would pin her down and punish her with his belt while he laughed with pleasure, asking questions she was forced to say yes to. No was never an option. No meant more pleasure for him and more pain for her. 

Alice felt a hand on her shoulder and she immediately slapped it away. The image of Justin taking away her freedom while she was pinned against the wall came rushing in. 

"Alice?" Kalmin called out, the hand she had slapped away hung limply in the space it was pushed to.

"Ah…" Alice flinched, jumping out of her memory. She glanced at the shocked Kalmin and looked away in shame. "Sorry… I thought-"

Kalmin turned to Justin who still continued to send targeted stares at Alice. Even though he wasn't directly receiving the shameless perverse glares from Justin, he could feel them. His gaze seemed to be running up her legs, her small waist, burying themselves in her chest and then up to her lips. Not once did his eyes meet hers and wouldn't reflect the hint of unspoken sin playing in his head again and again. His treasured moments. He knew what he did but his stares seemed to not hold a hint of remorse, in fact, he was proud. Proud of all the marks me made on her in places only he would see, touch and impale. He grinned. 

Kalmin shivered and placed his hand over Alice's, not only calming her but cutting off his depraved stares. He looked at Alice once more and licked his lips. It was a warning that said he wasn't done yet. One that Alice knew so well. 

Justin looked at Kalmin, trying to pick a fight. He backed off seconds later.

Alice looked down at her belly, the bump giving her so many emotions she felt like crying and screaming. It was a crude reminder that she was being controlled by someone her brother could do so little to stop. Whatever was inside her would remind her of the person who stripped her purity and rights away and then claimed her like she was a property of him. Either the eyes, the hair, smile, nose, ears or personality would remind her of him. Every look she would give the incoming child would be painful especially since her first was killed by the family of the man that brought him to life.

Yet as much as she wanted to end the baby's life. Jump in front of a car and end her life along with the baby's, drown, hang herself, starve herself, she wouldn't. She couldn't. A life was hers to give not take away. They didn��t get to pick their parents so why should she get to decide whether it lived or not? The baby deserved to be born, even if the one who created them wasn't worthy of giving life and she wasn't going to be one to stop that from happening. Even though the child may resemble their father, it wasn't going to end up like their father. She would make sure of it. 

Kalmin glanced at Alice, watching her zone out and her eyes slowly close and open again. Each time she drifted off to sleep she would wake up and tightly grip her fingers to keep herself awake but would end up sleeping off again. 

Kalmin softly tapped Alice's hand, "you said we'd be here soon right?"

"Y-yea," Alice muttered, her voice trembling with tiredness.

Kalmin tapped his shoulder and shook it.

Alice stared at him blankly, confused at his motion.

Kalmin shook his shoulders again.

"Haha…" Alice chuckled, his movement coming off as cute to her. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" Kalmin stopped his actions and stared at Alice blankly, "what do you mean?"

"You looked cute. Don't tell me those actions were supposed to mean something?" Alice chuckled, a small yawn escaping in the process. 

"Hey…." Kalmin blushed. He tapped his knee for a second to get rid of his embarrassment before doing the shoulder shake again, "I want you to lay on me."

Alice flinched, a bit taken aback by his request. 

"I mean…" Kalmin blushed, "you seem sleepy and I've been watched by you the entire time so it's my turn to look after you. Use my shoulder to sleep."

Alice eyed his shoulder and then glanced at Justin. Surely, he was staring back at her. His eyes were threatening her, daring her to rest against her brother, trying to overpower her again. But she didn't care. Sleep had more control over her this time and it was saying to rest. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Kalmin's shoulder, letting herself rest in his warm embrace. She felt his hands hug her back and a surge of warmth ran over her, lulling her to sleep. 

She knew she would be punished for this later. Dragged into a corner and forced to submit. An anger-fueled body ramming into hers again and again draining her of whatever strength she would have left. Muffling her cries for help and chuckling with pleasure whenever she gasped in pain. Later she would be dropped off somewhere where she would be spotted by another who would lead her to where she was supposed to be since her legs would be too limp to carry her weight. Even if she was holding his own child. She had learned the hard way that a bump in between their bodies wasn't going to stop him from getting what he wanted.

That was how it was going to go. But for now, she didn't care. She wanted to sleep. She would take her punishment later knowing she had at least gotten enough energy to stay awake through it. She let go of her thoughts and drifted off to sleep. From the moment her eyes shut, she knew it was going to be the best rest she had had in months.

Kalmin looked down at his sister, satisfaction running through him. It was the first time he had seen her at peace since a long time ago. He felt a strong sense of failure and incompetence. He was there when she cried out for help the first time, he was there when he noticed the symptoms, the bump, her giving birth and her losing her first child. Then he had to witness the process begin to repeat again, all while having no power or control over the situation. He couldn't save them from the abuse and could only sacrifice his body to their whips when he didn't want to be used.

He looked out the window in the carriage, watching the scenery rush by. 'If only life would rush by that fast...then I could skip to days where we aren't placed down by chokers called society. It had begun with their parents splitting up due to their father losing interest in their mother and when he could chase after something else that was normal, he chose to bend. Then they were ushered out of their village by their own people, watched their home burn down as they slowly walked away, being sold to another country. 

'How did that lead to this?' Kalmin thought to himself. 'We started out bad but why did we go so down? Where did it all go wrong? When we were sold? The splitting of our family? Or was it way before then, right when we were born?' He knew for a fact that there was so much more to his life and his sister's. He knew he deserved a home where he wouldn't be tortured, where he wouldn't watch his sister get used while having his hands pinned behind his back. 

He glanced at Justin's sister who sat beside him, Annabeth, and quickly looked away when she started to turn her head towards his. 'A home where I wouldn't pine after someone who sat on levels higher than mine and wouldn't serve a family that fed out the hems of their shoes as food.'

He didn't know where they were going but he begged that the move this family was making would finally free them.. Whatever kingdom or place they were heading to, that place would be his new home.