Chapter Text
“Hey, Cain?”
“What is it, Isaac?”
“Do you think that… maybe, if I had a brother or a sister, things would’ve been better at home? Maybe dad wouldn’t have left, and mom wouldn’t have been so sad all of the time, cause they would have at least one good kid, one kid who wasn’t full of sin….. or would it be the same? Just with one more sad person?”
“I… don’t know. I really don’t. I think, even if things stayed the same, at least you would have somebody to trust. Honestly, Isaac… siblings are hard to deal with. You love them with all of your heart, you’d do anything for them. But you also disagree, get into arguments you don’t know if you can fix. You’re stuck with them until the end, and when the end comes…..”
“……….Cain? Are you okay?”
“I… I’m fine. I guess what I was trying to say is that it doesn’t really matter. There’s no time to linger on what could have been. Let’s just worry about now. Mother won’t defeat herself.”
“Right. Uh, if you ever wanna talk, Cain…”
“I know. Let’s get going, alright?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Jacob and Esau appear in the basement, many of the kids are confused by them. Sure, Jacob is a normal kid for the most part, cheerful and pleasant. The only weird thing about him is the overwhelming spirals of panic he suffers from. Esau is a bit harder to understand, as he’s mute and shy and follows his brother like a shadow. The strangest thing to grasp is that they’re always together. Always. They’re never not in the same room. Some (Eve, Judas, Cain) wonder how they never get tired of each other. Others (Maggie, Isaac, Cain again) crave an unbreakable bond like theirs.
The general consensus is that the twins are enigmas, which doesn’t matter much, seeing as most of the basement dwellers have strange quirks. Jacob and Esau are just another strange part of this dark and cruel world that they’ll learn how to deal with.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“How deep do you think this place goes, Esau?”
Jacobs voice breaks the uncomfortable silence of the depths. He holds on tight to his brother’s hand as they traverse a room full of spikes and stone heads that spit blood at them. It’s difficult to maneuver with two people, but they make it work, Jacob taking the more risky moves since he has most of their health upgrades. The treasure room lies across the corridor. Esau tilts his head to the right ever so slightly, which his brother interprets as a response.
“Really? I don’t know, that’s a long way. Do… do you think we’ll ever find a way out? I mean, the people here are nice, and I’d really like to be friends with them all, but… it’s kind of scary down here. And dangerous. And I know we don’t remember a lot of what came before the basement, but it must be better than here, and I don’t want us to get hurt- I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want to die anymore, I just-“
Esau tugs on Jacob’s hand, pulling him away from a long fall into the abyss of a random hole. Jacob yelps a bit as he’s pulled away. In his rant about death, he almost got himself killed. The darkness seems so suffocating now. He stares down, wondering what would become of him if he fell, if there’s a bottom or if he’d starve while floating in the darkness.
But before he can spiral again, Esau tightens his grip on his twin, keeping him in the present.
Breathe, he seems to be saying, and so Jacob does.
“Sorry,” he says after a moment. “I’ve gotta pay more attention, huh?”
Esau nods. Jacob laughs at his frankness.
“It’s a good thing I’ve got you around. I don’t know how the others go through this alone.”
They enter the treasure room on the other side of the deadly obstacle course, hand in hand. A fancy paper with writing Jacob can’t decipher floats in the center, clearly the item they came here for. There’s a blank spot for someone to sign it.
It makes Jacob feel sick.
Something about this piece of paper is wrong. Many of the items here are like that, but this… this is wrong wrong wrong wrong. The closer he gets, the more he wants to push it away. Something stirs in his stomach… guilt?
Esau moves forward to take it. Jacob wants to cry out, tell him how wrong it feels, don’t- but something shifts when Esau touches the Birthright.
This is better, somehow. Better that Esau has it, rather than Jacob.
Esau gains three items that upon inspection, are the last three that Jacob received. He’s relieved when they exit the treasure room.
Four rooms later, Jacob dies as they face Mom. Esau collapses beside him. It doesn’t matter if one heart still beats. If one twin goes, so does the other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the starting room of the first floor of the basement, the kids have created a makeshift safe room. Ratty blankets are placed on the ground for those who need rest after hard runs. Not many kids stick around at one time, so when Jacob and Esau fall to find half their allies, it’s quite a surprise.
“Hey you two! How was your run?” Magdalene asks, a sweet smile on her face. She’s a stark contrast to Eve, who’s cursing and suppressing her Whore of Babylon form, and Judas, angrily flipping through his book in the corner.
“We died at Mom’s boss fight.”
“Ah, I see. Everybody’s been rather unlucky today. That’s why so many of us are here.”
That makes sense. Jacob surveys the room, noting the presence of Isaac, Samson, Azazel, and Apollyon. Azazel catches him looking, and smirks.
“And here we have the twins! Unfortunate that nine of our runs have been crappy, isn’t it?”
Jacob is still tired, and Esau is too, if his barely noticeable swaying is anything to go off of. It takes energy to have a conversation with Azazel, energy they don’t have. Luckily, Magdalene seems to catch onto this.
“They seem tired, Azazel. Let’s let them rest.”
“Aw, that’s so boring though!”
“You can talk to Eve. She’s not boring!”
Eve is still seething. She raises an eyebrow, daring Azazel to piss her off.
He smirks.
“Alright, then. Come on, Eve, let’s see if we can get better luck on this floor.” He flies through the northernmost door, and though she’s annoyed, she follows.
Jacob gives Magdalene a thankful smile and ushers his brother to a blanket near Apollyon. The living statue waves at Esau, to which they receive a tired nod of the head. Jacob feels so proud of his brother. He’s making more friends!
“Thank goodness,” Samson says. He sits next to Isaac, whose head is on his shoulder. “I thought we’d never have peace and quiet.” His voice, usually quiet yet strong, is now barely above a whisper.
At last, the room settles down. Jacob leans on Esau as they drift off to sleep.
Jacob is running.
The basement is dark, only lit by the occasional fire. His hands are shaky, and lungs burn with the effort it takes to push forward, but he has to keep going. He can’t be caught (even though he deserves it).
What? Deserve it? Why would he deserve it? He doesn’t know. There’s a burning pit of guilt in the pit of his stomach, so vile that he wants to vomit and relieve himself of the misery. Jacob comes to a halt as the door closes behind him. Gapers stare at him, smiling wide and sadistically. This can’t be happening, he has to keep running. He guns them down with his tears (he has plenty of them to spare), he goes as fast as he can, but it’s not enough. One monster remains, groaning something resembling his name, and before he can kill it and leave, there’s a crackle of heat and anger behind him.
Esau is here.
(He doesn’t understand. That’s not Esau. Esau is his height and he has red skin and white hair, he’s not whatever this monster is.)
The demon shrieks and charges. All Jacob can feel is panic, terror, overwheming guilt.
He deserves this. Jacob deserves this, and he’ll be forced to pay for his actions by his brother’s hand.
When Jacob wakes up, he’s sweating and gasping for air. Esau is next to him, sleeping peacefully, no longer a vengeful wraith full of fury. He stirs when Jacob moves, and so he forces himself to be still and slow his breathing. The fear and guilt is still there. Apollyon looks at him with their hollow eyes. They’re probably wondering the reason for Jacob’s sudden panic.
He just shakes his head and forces a smile.
That dream, whatever it was caused by, will never become reality. Whatever Dream Jacob did to deserve that wrath from his brother of all people, it won’t ever really happen. Jacob loves Esau too much to ever hurt him like that.
He calms himself with this thought and places his head back on Esau’s shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jacob is acting weird.
Esau knows his brother better than anyone else in the basement, perhaps in the entire world, and he can always tell something is wrong with his twin.
Jacob has been quiet where he is usually chatty. He’s been more distractible than ever. And he holds his hand with a strange urgency, like if he lets go Esau will disappear into the infinite darkness of the basement and never return.
Maybe this whole thing has been getting to him. Esau needs a way to comfort him, and fast, before it gets so bad that Jacob implodes from the pressure of whatever’s eating him up.
They’re in the second level of the caves. Esau leads the way, as Jacob is too lost in his own thoughts to guide them properly. He tugs on Jacob’s hand, a silent plea for an answer. Are you okay?
“Hm? Oh, I’m fine, Esau. You’re really worried about me today, huh?”
Jacob smiles, and it’s infuriating because it’s fake. It’s been fake since the first time Esau asked the same question today. He stops walking, nearly causing Jacob to trip.
“Esau, wha-“
He does his best to form a concerned expression. It’s not easy. It takes incredible effort to make even the slightest frown, the tiniest rise of the eyebrow. Jacob understands, though. He always understands.
“I… I’m gonna be okay, really. I had a bad nightmare, that’s all.”
Esau reaches out towards Jacob, offering a safe place for him in the dark, and his brother collapses into his hold. They stay there for a while, lingering in the only comfort they have.
The twins make it further this time, perishing on the second floor of the womb. After Esau falls, Jacob lies down back to back with his corpse.
What a truly miserable way to die, he might think, if his thoughts hadn’t been shut off the moment his twin was gone.
Esau is looking for something. Someone. He’s not sure who, or why, but he does know that he’s angry.
Extremely angry.
He’s never felt such a thing. It’s a burning fire in the pit of his stomach, rising up through his esophagus and creeping through his bloodstream, permeating his very soul, pouring out of him in the form of a vengeful, lamenting scream. The fire shields something more fragile, which he barely notices beneath the sparks of hate. His heart, it aches. It cries out for something lost, broken. Why? What did he do to deserve this? What did I do to drive us to this, Jacob?
…..What?
This can’t be Jacob’s doing. He’d never do anything to make Esau hurt like this, hate like this.
No, this can’t be his fault. It must have been someone else, who made him like this. He has to find them, bind them, tie them to a pole and break every bone in their body to splinters.
He’s getting close. He can feel their fear. His rage grows and grows as he gets closer.
Esau enters the dimly lit room and sees someone in the middle. Dirty and bruised, brown curly hair, wide eyes filled with terror and regret as he watches his impending doom head straight for him.
Esau wakes in a panic. He struggles to open his eyes, and when he’s finally able to he sees the safe room. Someone is pressed against his back- Jacob, safe and sound. All of the anger and hurt has died, and now he’s just scared. What triggered that dream? How could he ever be mad at his beloved brother like that?
Is Jacob really capable of harming him that much?
No, Esau tells himself. Jacob is bright and good and he loves his brother more than anything. As Jacob sleeps, he trembles and whines and begins crying.
“I had a bad nightmare, that’s all.”
He can’t imagine what horrors are filling Jacob’s mind right now. Esau turns over and throws an arm over him, hoping to banish any demons from his dreams. Jacob inhales sharply.
It’s dead quiet. A moment passes, before a soft voice breaks the silence.
“Esau?”
Esau pats his arm. It’s me, he says. I’m here.
“You… you’d tell me if you were mad at me, right?”
He pulls him closer. Of course. Jacob mumbles something incoherent and drifts into a sounder sleep. Esau tries to follow his lead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’s gone.
They’d been in a bigger room, surrounded by enemies three times their size. Jacob remembers moving to opposite sides of the room, trying to avoid getting cornered. He’d lost himself in the panic, the adrenaline pushing him to survive and dodge, and when a door had miraculously blown up he was pushed through it. His first feeling was of shock. Then there was relief. Then there was panic.
He’s gone.
Esau wasn’t with him.
Jacob had cried out at the realization, had lost all sense of control and began running. He runs and fights and pushes through every room, but the depths are a maze and he can’t find his brother, he can’t find Esau and he’s a horrible brother and what if Esau is hurt or dies where is he where is he he’s gone gone gone gone.
“Esau!” he cries. “ESAU!!!”
He’s gone, he’s lost and now what is Jacob going to do?
“ESAU!!!”
His brother is the single most important thing in the world. They can’t be separated. They can’t.
“ESAU, WHERE ARE YOU?!”
He bumps into a humanoid figure, and he readies himself to fight before he’s interrupted.
“Whoa whoa whoa, snap out of it Jacob! It’s me!”
The person in front of him isn’t an enemy.
Though, he isn’t Esau either, so Jacob has to keep moving.
“Hey, wait!”
“No! I need to find Esau!!”
“Jacob!”
The shout shocks him into reality for a moment. Lazarus stands before him, pale and bandaged and bleeding all over.
“Calm down, Jacob. Breathe.”
His tears fall faster.
“I-I can’t, I need to find him-“
“No, you need to breathe. You can’t think rationally this way. How are you going to find Esau when you can’t think straight?” He crosses his arms. Despite how small he is, Lazarus can be intimidating when he wants to be.
“I’m sorry, I just- I can’t, I need him. I need to get to him, just please, please let me go to him.”
“Jacob….. ugh, fine. But I’m coming with you, and we’re discussing this before we go. I don’t need you to be running around panicking and dragging us both into a death trap.”
“Okay…” Jacob stifles another sob.
“Calm down, okay? We’ll find him.”
“Yeah…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Through the rush of blood and adrenaline, Esau didn’t realize he lost his brother until everything was dead.
Jacob isn’t anywhere to be seen, which is a comfort and a horror at the same time. On one hand, he’s probably still alive. On the other, he has no idea where Jacob could be. He’d never leave willingly. So what happened?
Esau’s legs shake. Without Jacob, he must support himself. The slash across his calf makes it even worse. He falls to his knees, unable to stand between his weak muscles, the searing pain of the cut, and the unknown fate of Jacob.
Jacob… where is he? Did he leave because of the nightmare?
The thought makes his tears fall faster.
Where did he go? Did he leave on purpose? Where’s Jacob he needs him he can’t do this alone where is he—
“Hey, you lost?”
Cain is crouched down next to him, brow furrowed. Esau tries to say something, anything, but he can’t maneuver his lips the right way and he can’t even make the right expression to let Cain know something’s wrong and he can’t do anything can’t do this without his brother his twin where where where is he?!
“Hey! Can you hear me? Where’s your brother?”
Esau shakes his head, just barely. He needs Jacob. They can’t be split up.
“Damn it…”
Jacob. He needs to do something. Say something so Cain can help. Anything. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.
“……..J…ac..ob…..”
“Wh- huh?!”
“Ja……cob…..”
Cain sits down beside him.
“Okay, okay. Don’t strain yourself. I know Lazarus is on this floor somewhere, maybe he knows where Jacob is. I don’t wanna leave you here though… ugh, I always run out of luck at the worst times.”
“…Jacob..”
“I know buddy, I know.”
But he doesn’t. Cain doesn’t know what it’s like to lose someone so important.
The sound of a shout comes from another room. Esau perks up his head in hope. Cain readies his tears.
“…s..u!”
“Who is that?” Cain mutters.
“Jacob?”
“Esau!”
The door bursts open. Lazarus is the first one through, bleeding profusely and looking quite sick, and behind him is-
“Esau, you’re here!!!”
Jacob rushes over at the speed of light and pulls Esau into a bone-crushing hug.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m-“
“Jacob…”
“…what?”
Cain lets out a bark of laughter.
“Surprised? Yeah, he started calling for you at some point. I didn’t know he could muster up the will to talk.”
“I…” Jacob looks at him with stars in his eyes. “You said my name…!”
Esau nods and falls forward into Jacob’s embrace.
“His leg is cut,” Lazarus says.
“Oh- oh no! I’m so sorry Esau, I panicked and I got lost, this wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t like this!”
“Ja…cob…..” There’s so much more he wants to say. It’s not your fault, don’t worry, are you hurt, are you okay, I missed you, I forgive you. I love you. But he can’t speak anymore. He’s too tired. Luckily, Jacob has always understood, and he picks up everything in a single word.
“I know. Thank you, Esau. I’m okay, you just rest. Everything’s gonna be alright now.”
Esau finally lets himself drift off into the world of dreams. As he closes his eyes, he can hear Jacob whispering.
“I love you, too.”
This run, they make it all the way Home. And when they rise again in the safe room at the very beginning of the basement, their dreams are peaceful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cain washes his hands in a shallow puddle in the caves. The blood is in every crack and crevice, underneath his fingernails, caught in scar tissue. He can never completely get it off.
“I’m glad we have someone like them,” he says to the darkness.
“I think Isaac was right about it being better to have a sibling here. I still don’t get how Jacob and Esau never get into arguments, though. Or how they got here.” A leak somewhere in the room drip, drip, drips as he talks to himself.
“We’re all here for repentance, aren’t we? That’s Keeper’s theory, at least. What could have made them feel the need to repent?”
He scrubs even harder, willing the red stains away in his mind. They stubbornly stay.
“…..I guess it doesn’t matter. You know, they remind me a lot of you, Abel.”