For the Good of the Family

Juno once heard that every person was unique. But she determined that was a load of bullshit. When she was born, there was already two of her. She looked so alike her twin sister than even their mother often mixed them up.

Sometimes Juno wondered if she was actually named Venus and her parents had just mixed them up too many times. But her father always assured her, "You're my Juno. You've always been my Juno."

As the twins grew, their differences began to show. Venus excelled in the arts where Juno excelled in swordsmanship. Venus was seen as the perfect noblewoman. She had their mother's favor. But their father favored Juno. It was rumored that he would be passing the baron title not to Juno's younger brother, but to Juno herself.

After Juno turned eighteen, she began to be trained in taking over the title. She tried to stop her mother and sister's extravagant living. They were trying to act as a ducal family instead of the baron family they were.

Her relationship with her mother and sister grew strained. But her bond with her brothers and her father deepened.

Her father died the day after her brother's thirteenth birthday.

It felt like plunging deep into a cold ocean. He had been killed, they called it a simple carriage accident, but Juno knew better. Somebody had killed her father.

As badly as she wanted to, Juno had no time to grieve. Her mother became bedridden, leaving Juno as the sole caretaker of her four younger siblings. Venus was of little to no help, often needing to be cared for herself. Juno's youngest sibling was still but an infant. She held the child to her chest as she planned her father's funeral.

The debt collectors came a week after the funeral. Juno found herself completely blindsided. As she worried about the funeral arrangements and taking care of the kids, her sister had been spending more and more money adding to a debt that her mother had already accumulated.

Juno was willing to forfeit what little she had, but she loathed to give away what belonged to her siblings. She ended up having to sell their estate and everything in it. There were only two things she kept. The baron's title and a ring her father gave her when she was a child. But even then it wasn't enough.

She took several jobs, but in doing so she found she had to spend more money in order to have someone look after her younger siblings. Venus could not take care of them, she said that she must focus on marrying well. Venus said it was up to her to save the family.

Juno scoffed at the idea. Who would want to marry either of them now?

As Juno sat, surrounded by bills and documents, she came to a realization. There was no one else that could help her. She crumpled the documents and hardened her resolve. If she truly wanted what was best for her family, she would finally do what she had been debating with for weeks.

She set into motion Killian's ascension into the Baron's role. He was no more than thirteen, but they had no properties, nothing that he would need to worry about for some time. She wanted him to go to school, a proper school for nobles. She twisted the ruby ring around her finger.

'This can be the one thing that is yours.'

Her father had given it to her with that promise. She raised the gem to her lips.

'I'm sorry, Father.'

It almost felt like he died again when she sold it. Her finger felt empty. She kept twisting the skin as if the ring was still there, unable to reconcile the loss of it in her mind. However, it felt only right to surrender the last of her past. She was willing to part with it to assure Killian's future. Especially when she was undoubtedly walking straight to the place she would die.

"Sister," Killian was waiting in her room when she returned from the jewelers. Her eyes fell to the floor, spotting her letter clutched in his fist. "What is this?"

She wanted to reach out to him, to hold him to her like she did when he was younger. But she couldn't. If she did, she would cry and he would convince her to stay. And she couldn't. Not if she wanted his happiness.

"You're sending me off to a school?"

He was angry. He had every right to be. Juno gave into her impulses and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand.

"It isn't far," she said, quietly. "You can visit home whenever you like. But the conditions will be far better there than here."

He clenched his fists. His eyes were wide and wet like a puppy. "I want to stay here. With you."

Juno smiled sadly. He would only be hurt if he stayed. "You will be a great baron, Killian. You'll learn so much so you can become great?"

"You'll be a better baron than I," Killian latched onto his sister, his head only reaching her waist. He gripped her dress hard so she could not pull away.

"You are the rightful baron."

"I'm afraid," her brother's voice was muffled by her skirts as he held on for dear life. "Everytime you walk out the door, I'm afraid you aren't coming back."

Juno exhaled, her hand coming to stroke his head. "That's something that will never happen."

"It happened with Father."

Juno hated the pain in his voice. She hated that it was something she couldn't fix. She thanked god that Kit, Anya, and Lucia were too young to fully understand the death of their father. Lucia probably didn't even know who he was, Juno doubted that a three month old child even know it's own name.

"Trust in your big sister, my love." She kissed the top of his head roughly. "Have I ever lied to you?"

Killian shook his head. Something wet caused her dress to cling to her body and Juno realized that he was crying.

She held him to her tightly. She allowed him to cry until he ran out of tears, holding his trembling body tightly until he dozed off.

Juno swept his dark hair from his forehead. She and Killian didn't look alike at all, something she found herself grateful for. It was a relief to not have another person who shared her face so acutely. She couldn't bear some of the things Venus said while bearing her likeness. If there had been another child doing so, Juno would have lost her patience long ago.

After carrying her brother back to his room, she visited her mother. Her poor, pitiful mother, always bed bound after her father's death. She barely spoke, barely ate. It was if she was not even a person anymore.

A candle burned by her mother's bed. She was awake, but staring vacantly at the wall, as she always did.

Juno knelt by her mother's bed, lowering her lips to her ear.

"Catarine," Juno hissed lowly, addressing her mother by her first name. "I will no longer be around for the children."

Catarine didn't even glance over at her. It was like speaking to a blank wall.

"I won't ask you to take care of them," Juno continued, "as I know you are not only incapable but also unfit to raise them. However, I request only one thing." She gripped her mother's arm tightly, finally extracting a look from her. "Do not ever burden Killian or any of the other kids. If you do, I will not hesitate to remove you from their lives."

Juno didn't add that she had considered killing her mother for quite some time now. It took her quite a long time to come to terms with these ugly feelings she held towards her mother. Juno had never been fond of Catarine, there had always been some sort of wall between the two. But after seeing her mother completely abandon her children in the way that she had, those tense feelings turned absolutely hostile.

The only reason she didn't act on her thoughts was because she didn't want to rob her siblings of both parents. Even a useless mother was better than none at all.

Juno blew out the candle before she left her mother's room, leaving Catarine to staring into the dark.

Juno didn't sleep that night. Rather, she after tending to Killian and warning her mother, she stopped in Kit and Anya the younger twins of the family. How cursed must a family be to have two sets of twins?

They looked more similar to Juno and Venus than Killian did, however not quite so alike that it upset Juno. They had the same blonde hair, but their eyes were blue while Juno's were a dark enough brown that it looked black. And the biggest blessing of all, Kit and Anya were not identical. They looked distinctly different.

Juno remembered how afraid she was when she heard her mother had another set of twins. She was still struggling with her own identity, who she could be separate from Venus. When she heard of the twins her blood chilled. She didn't want anyone to suffer through the same kind of crisis.

Anya must've had a nightmare because she and Kit slept in the same bed. She stroked Kit's soft yellow hair. His face scrunched up tightly at her touch, but he didn't awaken.

She left a letter by their beds.

In all honesty, Juno didn't want to leave her family. She agonized over it for weeks. She loved the kids more than anything in the world, she didn't want to be separate from them. Especially not so soon after their father's death. Juno had tried so hard to keep her family together, but she was beginning to realize it was all in vain. In order to support them, she had to let them go.

She was thankful she could at least keep everyone in the same area. Juno was able to find a kind family that she had known for years to take in Kit, Anya, and Lucia. She agreed to pay for her siblings' living expenses in exchange for their care.

Catarine and Venus were to stay in the small house Juno had been able to secure in the capital. And Juno... Well, she would do what she must.

At least that was how it was meant to be.

She was surprised to find Venus waiting for her in their room in the early hours of the morning.

"Did you just get home?" Juno tried to sound casual when she spotted her sister watching her with pursed lips. "Where were you?"

"Natalia had a party."

Juno clenched her fist tightly. There were times when she desperately wanted to hit her sister. She loved her, she truly did, she would die for her sister. But she found herself furious with how little Venus cared for their situation. She didn't work or take care of the children. All she did was cling onto the threads of their past life of nobility, something that they could no longer afford to do.

Juno had forfeited eating so that the children could.

And Venus was at a fucking party.

Venus was staring Juno down, as if she was the one who had done something wrong. Juno refused to shrink under the accusatory gaze. She met her sister's eyes levelly. The same black eyes as hers.

"Do you have something to tell me?" Venus demanded.

Juno sank onto their shared bed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It seems you already have something in mind, so why don't you just tell me what it is you would like to hear."

"I can't believe you would be so selfish."

Juno's head snapped up. Her eyes narrowed. That was not something she wanted to hear from Venus. She exhaled through tight lips. "Why would you say that to me, Venus?"

"You are going to abandon me!" Venus tapped her foot impatiently. "You're going to leave me here with all these children and that invalid and run off to live a happy life. What about me, sister? Where's my happiness?"

Juno was already exhausted by their conversation. "I am not running off anywhere."

"Then why do you have a bag packed?"

"I'm staying in the city. I just have to move to new accommodations for a new job."

Venus crossed her arms over her chest. "You will not leave me behind with all of these brats."

"Don't talk about our siblings like that," Juno snapped. She covered her eyes with her hands in a futile attempt to quell her raging headache. "I'm not leaving you behind with anything. I've taken care of everything."

"Taken care," Venus scoffed. "Yes, if by taken care means you've shoved all responsibility onto me."

"For god's sake Venus. Stop talking." Venus's mouth snapped shut, but her eyes remained furious. "Killian is going to school. A family is taking in the children. All you need to do is stay here with your mother."

"I will not be subjected to being her caretaker."

"No one is asking you to!"

Juno was fed up with the conversation. If it continued like this, she would truly lose her temper.

"Take me with you," Venus demanded.

"No." It was not a place that Juno could simply take her to. "If you come, you must work."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"You never know if you don't ask." Juno didn't reply. Venus stomped her foot like a child having a fit. "Father always said that I should rely on my big sister. He said big sister would protect me."

Juno sighed. Venus was the older one, yet she was only older when it benefited her. But she did promise her father that she would protect the family.

"You will hate it there," Juno warned her.

"I hate it here," Venus countered.

Eventually Juno relented. It left a sick feeling in her stomach. She didn't want anyone in the family to know...

Juno was going to sell herself to a brothel.