Frederich Starts To Feel Guilty

Frederich was sitting at the table, reading a book about Indian folklore.

"I finished the tree."

To cut to the chase, the tree Frederich decorated looked like shit.

Claude continued to force a smile; it was all he could do to keep form grimacing horribly.

"Haha...I actually had some decorations of my own I wanted to add, is that okay? Sigrid won't be needing them this year, since she's just coming over here." He paused while on the stairs. "...Oops. Did I forget to tell you she's coming?"

"That's fine, just don't mess it up." He replied, turning the page in his book. "I don't care if your sister comes over, I just expect you to treat her nicely. Or else."

"Or else what?" he asked, frowning. He and Sigrid never got along well.

"Or else I'll fire you."

His face blanched.

"O-okay. Sigrid and I can get along, I promise--you won't fire me if she's mean to anyone else though, right?"

"No, that's perfectly fine."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ah, great. Say, why do you like her so much, anyway?"

"I don't like her at all." He said truthfully.

"Then why do you care if we fight?" he asked, confused.

"Siblings shouldn't fight."

"But siblings always fight," he said, frowning. "Well, I guess we didn't fight as much before I died...but we still fought from time to time. Not that I ever won. Why, don't you and Faith ever argue?"

"No." He lied. Actually, they fought a lot. But Frederich tried to forget about those times.

"Wow," he said, honestly surprised. "I guess I'll try harder, then--even if she is kind of a b...a real...let's just say she's a sycophant."

"Yes, you should try harder." He said, as if it were a simple thing to do.

"I'll do it for a kiss," he joked, not really joking at all.

"If you don't do it, you're fired." He replied coldly. "Your choice."

"But I'd do it better if I could have a kiss, right?" He laughed, still not joking.

"I don't see how that would affect anything."

"Sure it would. It would affect a lot of things."

"I don't think it would."

"I promise you, it would," he said, a desperate tone creeping into his voice. His knuckles were white as he squeezed the railing.

Frederich just gave him a long look, not saying anything, not moving, and most definitely not blinking.

"...Is that a yes?"

"No."