Chapter Text
In the first timeline, the end was a nightmare of fire and blood. Sylus and Xavier stood over Rafayel, their hands having literally pierced through his body to stop his vengeful destruction of their world. As Rafayel's unique fire flickered to life, trying to knit his flesh back together, he laughed through a mask of blood and tears.
"I hate you both," he spat, the words a final, jagged blade. "And this will never change."
The brothers stared back with eyes like ice, though their hearts were secretly breaking. To stop his rebellion, they threw his greatest insecurity back at him.
"Our parents made a mistake adopting you," they declared, their voices cold and flat. "And this will never change."
As the brothers withdrew their hands and stepped back, Rafayel's body burned with a healing fire that felt like a curse. While the flames tried to mend his physical wounds, the brothers' words left a scar on his soul that even his legendary power could not touch.
Xavier and Sylus stop Rafayel from healing quickly as Sylus energy power interrupting the healing glaring. While Xavier uses his sword to easily cut off Rafayel hands from doing anything.
Rafayel grunt as blood flow, but he laughed out more, tears drop.
"Then let's make it even, for the hardwork the philos family adopted me."
Rafayel uses his power internally, his power transferring hot towards the brothers, blasting them painfully but also healing them from the fight against him.
Rafayel slowly burning away as tears drop.
"I hate you both..but this is where it ends. I don't own you both and the family anymore.."
And then—
Time rewound.
Everything collapsed into light and silence.
Rafayel opened his eyes to unfamiliar warmth. He was small again. Six years old. Standing at the gates of the Philos estate, surrounded by unfamiliar faces.
The day he was adopted.
This time, his memories remained.
Rafayel looked at Xavier and Sylus—young, distant, unfamiliar—and made a silent decision. He would never seek their attention again. Never ask for affection. Never expect kindness.
Being an outcast was normal now.
All he needed to do was survive.
And love them silently.
From that day on, Rafayel changed.
Learning that adopted does not mean being welcome. Always leaving small gift outside the brothers door silently. Even when it's Rafayel birthday every year. Rafayel would request not to have his birthday celebrate.
When the family took him out and asked what he wanted, Rafayel always pointed to the cheapest item—the plain bread at a small stall. Because of that, his adoptive parents bought the entire stock for him.
They never knew the truth.
His favorite was strawberry cheesecake.
Rafayel never left the estate. It was a family rule—he could only go out for studies, or with his brothers, or with family. His power was too dangerous: fire that could heal... and kill.
Rafayel mistaken it as a punishment for being unique and adopted, never once ask or retort because of the past he know himself. He always silently look back at the brothers but never expect them to turn back towards him because that's what expected.
A bitter silent smile.
Now, Rafayel was twenty-one.
Xavier and Sylus were fully grown, rarely home. Rafayel only left the estate to attend university.
His book at the table writing as his friend Thomas beside sighing silently on a random day in the lecture room.
"Just how are you managing so much curriculem? I had five and im tired. You have at least eight of it."
Rafayel smiled softly writing at his lecture notes.
"Because i'm too free."
The lecture hall was filled with the rhythmic scratching of pens, but Thomas couldn't stay silent any longer. He leaned in, his voice a weary whisper.
"Too free? That's eight curriculums, Mr. Smart Boy. When are you actually going to head out with the rest of us and just... relax?"
Rafayel didn't pause his writing. His hand moved with clinical precision, his eyes fixed on the ink.
"Never."
Rafayel whispered back, his voice as soft as a falling leaf.
"I can't. And I'm okay with it. I have a phone; contacting you guys that way is enough."
Thomas let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
"You're twenty-one, Rafayel. I don't want to say this, but... don't you have anything you actually wish for? You have friends, but you never truly turn to us. You have a home, but it's like you only go there because you have to. We've been friends a long time."
Rafayel finally paused, but he didn't look up. A small, bittersweet smile touched his lips—the kind of smile that didn't reach his eyes. He thought of the previous life, the screaming, the blood, and the desperate, pathetic way he had once begged for a seat at a table where he wasn't wanted. He had learned his lesson: asking for love was the greatest mistake he had ever made.
Rafayel whispered, resuming his notes.
"I have nothing to wish for. Just like this... is enough."
In his mind, he wasn't just a student; he was a ghost paying off a debt. He had everything he deserved: safety, silence, and the ability to watch his brothers from the shadows without ever becoming the villain they had to kill again.
Thomas sighed, reaching over to playfully tap the corner of Rafayel's pristine notes. He clicked his tongue, a cheeky but envious grin tugging at his mouth.
Thomas teased, shaking his head at the sheer perfection of Rafayel's work.
"I guess when you're part of Philos family, you really do have everything."
Rafayel didn't flinch. He simply maintained that gentle, practiced smile—the one he wore like a mask to keep the world at bay.
"Yes," he murmured, his voice steady and polite. "Everything."
But internally, the words felt like lead.
Everything but their love. And that is more than enough.
To the rest of the world, Rafayel was the lucky son of the prestigious family, a boy who wanted for nothing. But to Rafayel, "everything" was simply the price of his silence.
He had the best education, a roof over his head, and a safe place to hide his dangerous fire. He had traded his heart for a peaceful existence, convinced that as long as he asked for nothing, the brothers he secretly adored would never have to pierce his chest again.
Thomas sensed the shift in the air—the way Rafayel's voice, though soft, carried a weight that no twenty-one-year-old should possess. He didn't push any further. Instead, he reached out and gave Rafayel's back a firm, supportive pat, breaking the heavy silence between them.
Thomas whispered, offering a bright, normal distraction from the mountain of notes.
"Let's go for lunch at the campus cafe later!"
Rafayel glanced up, his eyes meeting Thomas's for a brief moment. The ghost of the boy who had once burned the world down was nowhere to be seen; there was only a quiet student who had learned to appreciate the smallest mercies. He nodded, his smile turning a fraction more genuine.
"Okay." Rafayel replied gently.
In the halls of Philos University, the name alone was enough to silence a room. To the student body, Rafayel was a living masterpiece—famous for his striking, pinkish-blue eyes and a face that was almost too handsome to be real. Despite the family's fearsome reputation, he moved with a gentle grace that drew people in, even if he remained a mystery to most.
But if Rafayel was the family's soft light, his brothers were its overwhelming shadows. Sylus and Xavier were alumni of legendary status, having graduated with the same raw power they now used to rule high-tech underground cities and vast political empires. They were the apex predators of the Philos lineage—dangerous, brilliant, and utterly admirable.
Yet, where Rafayel was gentle, his brothers were stone. Even during their time at the university, they had possessed a chilling, unapproachable aura that acted like an invisible wall; no one dared to strike up a random conversation with them. They were figures to be studied from a distance, never touched.
Rafayel walked through those same corridors, feeling the weight of their legacy. To the students, he was the approachable "young master," but to himself, he was a ghost.
He knew the truth behind that cold aura better than anyone. While the world looked at the three of them and saw a united, powerful bloodline, Rafayel only saw the brothers who had once ended his life—and the love he now had to hide behind his own beautiful, quiet mask.