Work Text:
In every family, there was the perfect child. The children that the parents pointed to saying, “Did you see? Why can't you be like your brother? "
Parents loved to say that.
Everyone sees only the surface, seemingly effortless perfection.
Nobody ever asks the child, "How are you? Are you struggling?"
Why should he or she have a problem?
The child was perfect. But it wasn't true.
Few know. Nobody wants to see it.
Hector was the favorite son, the hero of the family and the best of all.
And he was loved. But nobody helped him.
The pride (Priamus)
Priam looked at Hector and saw the opportunities he had lost. He saw the hero he could never become, the prince his father never had. He saw the future of the city, the glory of his family.
Hector was his pride, his firstborn. It wasn't true. He had other children, but they didn't matter. Unfortunately he thought so seriously.
Priamus was increasingly severe with Hector, but he wanted to make him understand that actions had consequences and that a king could not afford mistakes. He didn't want Hector to make the same mistakes as his father: Laomedonte (no one speaks of him anymore, his was a cursed name, a bad memory) was a very rich king but who didn't keep his word and who ended up antagonizing both the gods and Heracles and was punished and killed by them.
Hector deserved better than this. He had to be perfect. He couldn't be anything else.
Thanks to the gods, Hector had learned, and Priam was proud of the prince and the king he would be.
Too bad he hadn't had the same care with his other children...
The inimitable model (Paris)
Upon his arrival, when everything was new and scary, Hector had been his guide.
Paris had been grateful to him for finding five minutes to spend with him - the unwanted child, the one who should have died - and teaching him how to live at court.
Hector wanted to be a better brother after ... well after trying to kill him.
Paris was convinced that Hector regretted not having succeeded in those days.
His brother hated Paris more than the others. Of course he did, Hector was the favorite son, the Golden boy.
For sure he would never star a war for the love of a woman. That was Paris' thing.
Paris wished he were more like his older brother than him. At least people would stop looking at him like he's a curse.
He hated Hector. It wasn't true, he wanted to be like him. He wanted him to disappear. No, Hecuba would not have endured it and Paris did not want to give that woman any more suffering.
Paris wanted so many things, but above all he wanted a respect that he had not earned.
Despite everything, Paris wept sincere tears when Hector died. Whether it was because he realized that he was now the heir or out of sincere pain, no one could tell.
The smile (Andromache )
Andromache kissed her son's face and tickled him. The child laughed and the woman felt her heart tighten.
"You have your father's smile."
She had loved Hector's smile. It was a smile that rivaled that of the sun in brightness. It was the reason why she believed there was something divine about Hector.
Hector had made her feel at home right away, and she had found a part of herself in his smile.
But he no longer smiled, the war had taken it away. Hector on his shoulders had the weight of the choices of others, and the fate of the city.
"Your dad is fighting for you too, love," she whispered to her son, cradling him in her chest.
She had failed to protect her husband's smile - she had never realized how fragile it was - but she will go to great lengths to protect her baby from war.
Astyanax smile remained as unaltered as his age.
A friend like a brother (Aeneas )
Hector was his best friend. Although Aeneas was a bastard (son of a goddess, but no one believed in his father, maddened by the pain and the loss of his legs), Hector treated him with respect.
His cousin was always on his side, even when Aeneas didn't deserve it.
Aeneas had no brothers (at least not generated by his father. He didn't consider his mother's side) but Hector was the closest thing to it.
He protected Aeneas, at court as on the battlefield, and Aeneas knew he always had his back covered.
He was strong. Hector, the prince, the future king. The example of how a prince should be. Aeneas adored him, and would die for him.
It was a tragic ironic that the gods had decided to let him live and Hector to die.
The man I wish I was, but I never will be ( Troilus)
Troilus had clear ideas. He wanted to be a warrior, a hero, a protector.
He wanted to be like Hector, his big brother!
Hector gave him the best gifts, even though he was always busy. He didn't treat Troilus like a child - he was already eight! -and he explained things to him, even the ugly ones.
Troilus knew that there was a war and that Paris had caused it (he had never liked Paris, he was unpleasant and mother was always with him), and that many of his brothers were no longer there.
He didn't like war. He didn't like the Greeks and their ships. He didn't ike that Hector was always sad.
Troilus will grow up and fight with him. Ettore will no longer have to do everything alone.
Troilus died holding the wooden toy that his brother had given him.
Hector tried. He was a hero. He was brave, loyal, and a good son. But in the end, he couldn't save any of them.