Chapter Text
There isn’t enough food. They are starving. They are two dirty little elves, witch-eyed and abandoned. Freezing and aching.
They are twins. They have very little possessions, but they have a knife.
Taako is going to do it.
They haven’t had enough to eat in weeks. It’s cold, they have no shelter. Lup has a fever. They are going to die.
Taako has made a decision. He’s going to do the right thing. He’s going to let Lup go.
Lup is good. Lup doesn’t deserve to starve. Lup doesn’t deserve to die in agony. Taako knows he’s bad, so he’s gotta do it. He loves her, he’s gotta do it.
He trembles, but he grips the knife tight. He cries, but it’s time to be brave.
“It’s gonna be okay Lup,” he whispers in her ear, pets her hair. “You’re gonna go to a good place.”
Lup is delirious, but she hears him.
“We gonna go to the same place Koko?” She asks, and Taako cries harder.
“No Lulu, we’re not.” Because Lup is good, and Taako is bad, and he’s going to be even worse because he’s going to kill his own sister.
“Then I don’t wanna go.” She says before she loses consciousness again, and Taako collapses against her because he can’t do it. He loves her, but he’s selfish. He doesn’t want to be without her. He’s a coward. He holds her and she’s so warm.
When he wakes, he sees a campfire. Taako looks at Lup, and she has fire dancing on her palm. She grins and presses a small rock into his hands. Taako looks at it.
He holds it and magic floods from his soul, through his arms into his hands. It turns into an apple. He starts to laugh, but he’s crying too. Lup does the same.
They laugh and cry and hold each other. He’s never going to let her go.