Chapter 28

[On a far distant planet in the same universe]

The butterfly effect was a true effect. It meant that a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world could bring forth a hurricane on the other side of the world.

The blood of the dark soul used by the painter had spilt onto a dead world. There wasn't supposed to be any life on that world.

The blood spilt on this world far before the firekeeper arrived at this universe. It was an ancient theme.

From the black blood, evolved the great ones. The blood also gave form to the humans with the characteristics of the undead. Not immortal yet they hold the great strength of the undead.

But they were missing something fundamental to a normal human being. They were missing part of their immune system. This made them prone to sickness and death.

This caused the humans there to go mad due to the infections that spread rampant there. Their undead genes made them particularly prone to madness and going feral.

The disease eventually turn man into beasts looking to slaughter everything around them. Many attempts to cure this disease was made.

Every country on the planet was destroyed as the result of the disease.

This gave birth to the one and only city of Yharnam and the healing church. Yharnam is a towering, labyrinthine gothic city, home to both the Healing Church and the Blood Ministrations.

Although no ruling body exists in this miraculous city, one can assume that it was controlled by the Church. The Church focuses on healing by infusions of blood.

Miraculously, blood healing can repair wounds and cure or hinder diseases.

Yharnam's whole culture became focused on blood, even to the point of blood-based drinks surpassing alcoholic beverages as the most commonly consumed.

In the city of Yharnam, lived a family. A family of four that consisted of a mother, her daughter and her two sons. Nobody know who the father was, and nobody cared.

The mother's name was Maria. Her daughter was given the name Julia and her two sons, Marco, the older one and Fabrizo the younger one.

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[Marco POV]

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Mother has a below average IQ.

This meant that she has a disorder that made her not as smart as most. Her cognitive abilities were inferior to others.

Yet, we were lucky enough that mother had only that disease and not much else. Me, my younger brother and my youngest sister all had different hair colors.

Her mother had pale blonde hair. I had brown hair. Fabrizo had dark blond hair while Julia had black hair. That's the type of household we grew up in.

A household struggling with the debt one of our fathers dumped onto us. I don't know how she got it, but somehow, she always had milk. I never hated the fact that we were poor. After all, we were never rich either.

"No, you have to drink your milk! Drink it so you grow tall, strong and, um... smart!", said our mother when Fabrizo complained about milk.

Mother was well aware of her condition and always feared that we would grow up like her. However, we learnt a little earlier than others that the world was a dark place with only family to rely on.

Fabrizo and I relied on pickpocketing so that we may ease mother's burdens. So that Julia may join the church. Mother sometimes went out late at night and came back early in the morning.

But the world is equally cruel to everyone. To the kind or evil, rich or poor or even to boys living in the slums. We were caught one day.

"Your boys were out there stealing money from people, so I taught them a lesson.", said the muscular man to our mother. He caught us and broke our arms.

"I took the money as payment, but they were a little short on their lesson fees."

On that day too, mother went out and came back early in the morning.

"Did you boys steal other people's money?", she asked as she hit our calves with a stick.

"Why did you do it?!  You know you aren't supposed to! Stealing is wrong! Do you want to grow up to be bad adults?!"

Of course, we knew stealing was bad.

We knew, but ... we still couldn't help but steal.

Is taking one's anger out on one's wife a good deed?

Is not taking responsibility and abandoning one's family a good deed?

Is dumping one's debt on a woman with an intellectual disability a good deed?

Is not showing any mercy to a poverty-stricken person a good deed?

Because we were living in a world plagued by evil ... even though we knew ... we still couldn't help but steal.

"You have to grow up to be good adults!"

I won't have any choice but to grow up as a bad person and live as one, too.

The stick eventually snapped. She was startled at this.

"Are you okay, boys?!", said mother as tears were running down her face.

"I'm sorry. Mommy is sorry."

We couldn't even wipe the tears on our face.

"It's because I'm a fool.", she said as she broke down into hysterical sobs. She knelt on the ground covering her face.

"You wouldn't have done that if I wasn't a fool. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

That night was like any other night with hunters hunting the mad beasts. But I felt heavier than usual. The world ... why was this our world?

The boy yearned for vengeance.

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[Fabrizo POV]

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"Marco, how do you read this?"

"Hunter", replied my brother.

"A hunter make a lot of money?", I couldn't help but ask.

"They do and they probably eat meat every day too.", he replied.

"That's cool."

"Of course it is."

That was when I first encountered the word 'hunter'.

"Maybe we should stop lying to mom and try to go to school", I said as we both were leaning against a wall.

He thought for a moment.

"Okay, let's try going to school."

"Really?"

"First, work on your reading. It won't do any good if you can't read once you start going to school. Circle any words you don't know and I'll tell you what they are after I get back."

And so, Marco came back in the afternoon.

"Where were you?", I couldn't help but ask when he got back.

"I was looking for a good school to go to", replied Marco.

"Really?"

"It's late. Let's go home.", he said as he stroked my head.

Like that, the next day... and the day after that... Marco wandered around by himself.

"Where are you going?", I couldn't help but ask in the morning.

"To kill that bastard.", he replied as honest as ever. Of course, he knew who that 'bastard' was. It was the muscular man who caught them.

"Don't follow me. My plan is failproof, so I don't need any help."

He looked at me as if he could read my thoughts.

"Mom told us to become good adults but I don't think I can. But you and Julia can grow up to be normal good adults. You can go to school and learn how to read.

And maybe, you can even become a hunter. So stay home. I'm leaving to do something bad. Stay home and watch over mom and Julia."

And like that, he left. Of course, I couldn't leave him alone. Marco was smart but he was weak. Weaker than me. Meanwhile, I am not as smart as him.

I decided to just watch. Of course, it was until the muscular man pinned down my brother to the ground. Brother got the man good with all his traps.

The man could be described as severely injured with arrows lodged onto his hands and spike penetrating his boots.

Just as he was focused on my brother, I grabbed a stick and swung it with all my might at his head. He went down. We both took the opportunity to pound him with our fists.

There were many things around we could use as weapons, but this man will die by our hands.

And so, we killed our first man. We took everything we could from him and decided to drain his blood to sell it somewhere else.

Mother would never know because she would always be praying at this time.

"Oh, dear lord,"

We stuck a knife into the man.

"I earnestly pray"

Marco started tying him.

"That my children will never hurt and always be healthy."

I pulled him and hanged him upside down.

"And they will not be led astray"

We both watched as blood dripped into a bag from the struggling man.

We sold the blood once night was coming. We bought some meat with it.

In the morning, "Oh my! Where did you get this meat from?", said mom as we handed her the pack of meat we bought. I did not know what to say.

"The butcher gave us some meat because he had some left over yesterday.", said Marco. His wit as quick as ever.

"Wow, really?" Our mother looked so genuinely thankful that it hurts my soul.

"Mommy." That was when our youngest sister Julia woke up. Her long black hair draping over her small stature.

"Good morning, Julia.", said mother as she smiled. Her smile as pretty as ever.

"Wow! Meat Pie! Is it someone's birthday?", asked our sister endearingly.

"The butcher was kind enough to give us some meat!", mother replied.

"Wow!", Julia marveled at it. her young and innocent smile ashamed me. It made my heart bleed to even think of what they would look like if they knew that we killed a man for it.

The recipe for the pie was terrible.

We had bought the meat with dirty money with the expense of another life.

But it was enough.

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This chapter is an unusual chapter as it is longer than usual.

The next chapter will also be about them as well.

Also, in this chapter, Marco is around 14 while Fabrizo is 12. Julia is 6. The mother is 35.

I did not include any POV of the main character. 

But how do you like it?

I am setting these characters for future plot.

I am also well aware that bloodborne isn't exactly like that but think of it as an AU. 

Leave a comment on this chapter as I want to know your opinions on this one.