— AH, IT'S BEEN A YEAR NOW; THINK I'VE
FIGURED OUT HOW, HOW TO THINK ABOUT
YOU WITHOUT IT RIPPING MY HEART OUT.
(if the world was ending- julia michaels)

Solar felt tipsy. He could feel himself growing away from the conversation, the other Wonders staring back at him, expectant. He's now 101% certain; Earthquake has spiked his drink with something. "W-What did you put..?" He croaks, to which the lady smiles softly.

"The Truth Potion." She answers, brushing strands of hair out of his eyes. Solar couldn't move; as if he was physically confined onto the couch, cuffed onto it permanently.

All he could do was rely his four senses, except touch.

"Shall we start?" From his angle, he could see the woman turning away from him and to the supernaturals, specifically Thorn. The green-eyed apparition looks into his eyes, something stirring in his own orbs. He mouths something, Solar missed it.

Blaze sits across him, looking almost guiltily. "Sorry we have to do this to you, Sol." He pries his eyes off him, directing them somewhere else. "But this is for your own good.."

My own good?! He screams internally, How is this any good?!

"It's time you know everything about your past." He could hear Thorn's voice, although he couldn't visibly make out the apparition as he's moved somewhere away from his vision range. "From the start, I knew about your past, and how long you have left."

Blaze asks the question in his mind, "What do you mean..?"

Conflicted, Thorn grips the material of his trousers, "He only has a week to live left." He looks up into Earthquake's eyes, "Just like me. I'm not afraid of death, but," He looks over to Solar, who's laying on the couch opposite him. "He still has a chance, right?"

"Y-You're asking me to.." Earthquake stutters in disbelief.

"Pick one." Thorn lowers his head. "You have to pick either one of us. It's either me, or him. And I suggest saving the human kid." He runs his tongue over his lips, "I'm fine being this way."

Cyclone quickly chides, "Y-You can't do that!" All attention was on him now, as he sat cross on the rugged floor. "Life isn't about picking who deserves to live or not. W-We should find a solution," His blue eyes wavered, "For you both to continue living!"

Solar who hears this, became silent. Thoughtless.

But his mouth somehow opened, uttering the words, "Save my brother instead of me." His golden eyes widened. That did not come from him. His brother? He's dead! Solar exclaims in his mind. "I'm just human- and I killed him. Consider it a compensation."

"The truth has spoken." Earthquake dips her head, "So you're his dead brother, Thorn?" She raises the apparition's chin with a finger, slightly. "You knew all this time, right?"

The green-eyed spirit relaxes his muscles, slouching. He had been suppressing the feeling ever since he saw Solar in front of him for the first time. All he wanted to do was to run to the boy, hug him, tell him that he's sorry for leaving so early, for leaving the human boy alone.

But he couldn't do it. They're twins, one world apart.

"We're twins, made to be apart." Thorn forces his tears to stay, not letting them dribble down his eyes. "Solar," He calls for his brother's name, voice cracking, "I-I'm sorry. That's why I never wanted to grant your wish in the first place. I-I can't. I'm.. a W-Wonder."

Blaze glowers. What was this soap drama he's watching? 

"Oi!" He rises up from his seat, "Don't be so stupid. Even if Solar's human, and you're a stupid, turkey spirit, nobody said that you can't be together. Brothers stay as brothers, whether you like it or not," He's starting to pant now, "You're siblings. You're connected by family!"

He shouts the end part. Thorn clenches his fists at that. Solar physically flinches, his finger twitching. The words cut through both the twins hearts- but most important, the golden-eyed boy couldn't believe his own ears. Thorn was his brother all along.

Why hadn't he realized it? He's cheeky, dark and childish.

All the features that his sibling once had. Before he killed him. But something didn't sit right with him- why, out of all the years he had been living, did Thorn reveal himself? 

The theory is simply unacceptable. "I-It doesn't feel right.."

Earthquake notices this, "Ah, the potion effects are starting to wear off." She was about to get up and dose another one, but Cyclone suddenly raises a hand, stopping her from doing so.

"I think he deserves to speak too." Cyclone says.

Thank you! Solar shouts inwardly. He clears his throat. Although physically confined, he's free to speak on his will now. "I think there's more to that than what he says. I was 12 when I murdered Thorn. I'm 16 now- how in the world is he still taller than I am?"

Blaze burst into laughter, clutching his stomach and falling off his chair he just sat on. He wriggles on the ground like a flopping fish, unable to contain his shallow humor. "S-Shorty!"

Before Thorn could beat the boy, Earthquake hums to herself, considering Solar's theory. "That's true." She averts her gaze to the Sixth Wonder, "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Yeah." The boy musters his courage, wiping the droplets away on the sleeve of his shirt. "This has something to do with the event that happened fifty years ago. Remember when I said how I asked Earthquake to revive my brother, and then she died?"

Cyclone stares in confusion. Both figures nod.

Solar thought, What in the hell is going on?

"Well, something went wrong in that process." Thorn clears his throat, "Earthquake died because she tried to exchange my soul, which held the curse of death. But instead of bringing back my brother.." His voice trails off in probable hesitation.

"Oi, don't leave me hanging like that!" Blaze shouts.

"Shut up, it's a suspense in the working, salamander."

"And what does that have to do with this?!"

Thorn strips a piece of tape and slaps it onto Blaze's mouth. "You talk too much. I was just getting to the good part. Anyway, Earthquake, you might not know this.. but you placed the wrong soul in the wrong body." The boy peels it off, getting the message.

"W-What do you mean?" The woman's bottom lip trembled. "I-I failed the restoration process?" She looks at her own hands, "But I was sure that I put it.."

"You didn't." Thorn's statement made Earthquake grimace; it was all her fault that this happened, then? "Instead of putting Thorn into his actual body, you put me in his." He stares at all the bewildered expressions, and sighs.

"Me and the Solar you know now, switched bodies."

"Hold up." Blaze puts his head into his hands, his brain muddled from all this. Cyclone was still as disoriented as he was since the start. Earthquake slumps in her seat with utter disbelief. "So y-you're saying that you're the original Solar? And that Thorn is in your body?"

"Yes." The Sixth Wonder answers, picking on his nails. "That's the entire conclusion." He turns to his original form, "And that's why his memories are slightly from mines."

"What? But I thought that reincarnation erases them?"

"I was given a second chance at living," He rests his chin into his hand, "And since I'm the supernatural that grant wishes, why not use one myself? I couldn't remember a single thing- so I made another fatal mistake that led me here."

Solar chimes in, "Which is..?"

"I wished to know everything about my past." Thorn grimaces, "And to wish something as great as that, they took away my lifespan. Since I'm a Wonder, it couldn't possibly kill me in an instant. I was to only have a year left after I was moved into my brother's body."

Everything made sense to Earthquake now, who never knew why the apparition had such a saddening longevity. "And then when I merged with you, that's how you managed to live on.."

Cyclone, who understood a little of the problem, finally speaks up his mind. "Question though; if this all happened fifty years ago, and you were the one put into Thorn's body.. then why is he alive, human and sixteen? Shouldn't he be about 60 years old?"

Thorn blinks at the question. All attention turns to the apparition, who sighs defeated. He exhales and pads over to his brother, hovering above him and placing a hand on his cheek. Solar's orbs became teary at the sight of his long lost sibling.

His tears started to fall, "Because he's my yorishiro."

oopS :') did i say this was the end?
did i say 3 chapters- whoops! i meant 4 ;)
scroll down yall, you deserve it ♥️
thank you for going this far guys!