| ☁️ Before The Story

Warnings: Abuse, Parentification, Child Abandonment

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The “Astraia” surname has always carried an air of prestige. The Astraia family has had a long line of successful descendants, from lawyers, doctors, scientists and more. As a result, high expectations are placed on all future children to maintain the legacy built centuries before they were even born.

They are told from the moment they are conceived that in due time, they will grow up to shine like “the stars they are”. Whether or not the children actually want to pursue this, though, is often overlooked entirely in favor of appearances and keeping up a name that is older than most of its members combined. It is no wonder then, that in practically all of Lia and Nate’s parents' teachings, the same sentiment always arose. “Always do your best to shine, no matter how much you have to burn to do so.”

With these factors in mind, it’s not really a surprise to know that when the time came for their parents to “pass down” the legacy by having a child, they obliged the best they could. It’s a tradition in the family to keep as much information possible secret until the baby is actually born. As a result, Lia and Nate’s parents were not prepared or informed in advance for what was to come.

While the specifics cannot be delved into due to spoilers, the circumstances of the Astraia twin’s birth led to some…interesting decision making by their parents on how to raise them. When Lia was born, she was viewed as a “prize”, a “trophy”. From the moment she was born, her parents were already thinking of what she’d become. Nate, in contrast, always came secondary. He was attached to Lia by the hip and became extremely protective of her. Essentially, he took up the job of taking care of her when their parents couldn’t. Additionally, his abrasive personality put off those who did try to care for the two, as he wouldn’t trust anyone around his sister, not even their own parents. The two were inseparable from one another, and their parents knew it very well.

As their parents ranked up in their positions at work, they often moved around. Their huge focus on work kept both of them from regularly interacting with their children. Their parents, especially their mother, were chronic overworkers, constantly spending long days away from them and leaving other people to take care of them while they were away. This led to the two twins getting even closer, as they quite literally only had one another most of the time. The constant fluctuation in their life, from where they lived, to whether or not their parents would be present led to the two basically relying on each other in their childhood.

However, Lia remained optimistic that one day, their parents would settle down and spend time with them like a normal family. She held onto the hope that eventually, the idea of the perfect family they worked so hard to portray to everyone around them would become a reality. Maybe, if she pushed herself a little harder, if she fulfilled what they wanted, things could be next to something normal. Nate, however, was never optimistic about anything in regards to their parents, he knew deep down that unless their parents put in the effort to change to accommodate for them too, it was unlikely the two were going to get any sense of “normalcy” anytime soon.

Time ticked by. Years would pass and the cycle would remain the same. Move, settle in, get just comfortable enough, and then be forced to restart. As the twins both got older, Lia’s pipedream became even more unrealistic as the twin’s parents took multiple job opportunities farther away, meaning they’d have to go months without regularly seeing their children in person. This, to their parents, was a natural development in their life, but to most sane individuals this is a level of isolation and borderline neglect that unsurprisingly informed how the Astraia twins felt about each other and themselves.

No matter if their parents “supported” them financially or were giving them a roof under their head, it was obvious that alone wasn’t going to pull the two through everything they needed. This is why Nate, who’d already been taking up a role of protector and caretaker since the two were small, saw himself as the only one who could work to maintain any illusion of stability. He took it upon himself to keep the two together at any cost. As a result, he threw himself into studying, exam preparation, anything that could help propel them out of the situation they were in. He ran errands, he did most of the house chores, he did the shopping. When he was old enough, he got his drivers license, and right before the events of the main story, Nate was already applying for part-time jobs.

You’d think Lia would notice this imbalance, and to a degree she does. Though it’s important to consider, Nate refuses to let burden any responsibility for their upbringing. In his eyes, she was already dealing with so much considering her parents' desires for what they wanted her to be. After all, to Nate, Lia is his primary reason to exist truly, so he doesn’t care about the sacrifices he has to make for her sake. Though, that doesn’t stop Lia from feeling indebted to her brother for essentially becoming her caregiver. The complications of their upbringing hurt both of them deeply, leaving one forced to be a protector and provider in the face of adversity and the other constantly paranoid of slipping from the strict and sharp expectation of her entire family.

The Astraia twins live a complicated life. But despite it all, they still promise to stay by one another. They still have each other, at the end of the day, and for now, they’re both convinced that’s all they need to keep marching on…