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“This is our last sparring match, isn’t it Father?”
Father’s eyes were not focused on him. They weren’t focused on anything. Could Father even see him? Did he have thoughts of his own or was he just a dead body used as a puppet? Diamant did not know what would be worse; Father recognising him and knowing what Diamant would have to do or Father not knowing that everything Diamant was was thanks to him.
“Was I a good son?” Diamant asked, his voice hollow. “I should have asked you that sooner.”
Diamant raised his blade and Father dropped.
The world went still and Diamant stilled alongside it, his sword still pointed to the sky. He saw the arrow in Father's back before he saw Alcryst but the moment he met his baby brothers eyes, Diamant was surging towards him, throwing his weapon to the side.
When he was still five steps away, Alcryst dropped too, his knees buckling as he stared at Fathers body. Diamant did not need to look at Father to know that the arrow had struck his heart; his brother never misses.
Diamant skidded the rest of the way on his knees.
"I'm sorry..." Alcryst moaned. "I couldn't make you do it."
Diamant didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. He pulled Alcryst into his arms, pressing his lips to the top of his head. Alcryst started shaking then but Diamant just held him tighter, making sure he could not see the body. He could sense people watching them, maybe Alear or someone else, but Diamant ignored them. All that mattered was Alcryst, now and forever.
"You would have never forgiven yourself, it would have been an unbearable burden.” Alcryst continued. "And Brodia might have blamed you."
“It’s okay, brother.”
"People already hate me so it's okay that I killed... I killed..."
Alcryst buried his head into Diamant's chest and sobbed.
"It's going to be okay." Diamant mumbled. "This isn't your fault.”
It was Diamant’s. He should not have hesitated, he should have struck down Father the first moment he could. There was no time for final words in war, if Diamant had stuck the killing blow than Alcryst would have not had to do this. Diamant had failed, failed Father, failed Alcryst.
He had failed protecting the person that mattered the most, there would be no coming back from this for Alcyst. That guilt, it was never going to leave him just like Diamant’s guilt for not having killed their Father first.
Alcryst’s whole body shuddered as the tears flowed freely but Diamant kept him close. He pressed another kiss to Alcryst’s hair, a hand rubbing circles into Alcryst’s back. Alcryst shifted weirdly in his arms and Diamant felt his own breath catch.
“Alcryst?” He said.
“My fault…” Alcryst mumbled.
The tears had stopped, the shifting had stopped, Alcyrst had stopped. Diamant wanted nothing more than to hold his brother closer to his chest but he knew that something was wrong. He repositioned Alcryst carefully, leaning him back so that Diamant could see him fully and Alcryst’s head rolled back fully anyway
His eyes were closed.
“Alcryst!”
With one arm supporting Alcryst, Diamant’s hand rushed to cup Alcryst’s cheek. He was cold, too cold, the colour drained from his face. There was no blood yet Diamant was still checked him over for injuries anyway, his own heart racing.
“Diamant,” A voice broke in.
Diamant snapped up, not having realised that Alear had moved right next to him.
“He’s not moving.” Diamant said. “I, he, he’s not moving.”
Diamant’s voice was breaking, he knew it was, but he could not stop it. He was now King of Brodia yet he felt like a lost child, clutching his brother’s body with Father laying dead a few feet away. He could be crying, he didn’t really know if they were Alcryst’s or his own tears anymore.
“I know,” Alear said carefully. “But he is okay.”
“He’s not moving.”
“Diamant, he’s just in shock. We will take him to the Sominel. He’ll be okay.”
The others came closer now. Alfred and Celine. Alfred would understand, he was an older brother after all. He would understand that Diamant had failed his one true duty, he understood that Diamant would never be able to forgive himself. The twins were there too, just little kids who should have never seen battle yet alone war. Framme was crying, Clanne was too but he understood the duty of an older brother as well and he was holding Framme close to him, protecting her from seeing King Morion’s body.
Both Alfred and Clanne were better brothers than Diamant could ever be; they would not have hesitated to strike down their parents if it meant protecting their siblings.
Diamant had hesitated and now Father was dead by Alcryst’s hand and Alcryst himself was unconscious.
“Prince Diamant,” Vander said. “I shall carry him to the-“
“No!” Diamant barked, holding Alcryst ever closer.
Alcryst did not wake as Diamant lifted him, his head tilting back and his body limp. Diamant readjusted his hold until Alcryst’s neck was not bent uncomfortably, his head now rested against Diamant’s shoulder.
The first step was jolting and for a moment Diamant was terrified he would drop his baby brother. The next step came easier. He did not look at Father’s body, he could not. He kept walking, not waiting to see if the others followed. Diamant knew that Alear was next to him but Alear did not have siblings, not as far as Diamant knew, so Alear could not possibly know what it was like to fail a younger sibling as badly as Diamant had failed Alcryst.
But Alear had seen his own Mother die so maybe he did understand the pain.
Reaching the Somniel was a blur, a blur that Diamant wasn’t even sure he wanted to remember. He had tucked Alcryst into bed, the way he used to back at home, but it felt wrong to not be holding him anymore. Diamant curled up next to him, his whole body aching, his gaze focused solely on Alcryst’s sleeping face.
Diamant had failed Father. He had failed Alcryst. He had failed as both a Son as a Brother but he sure as hell was not going to leave Alcryst now, not until he was well again and maybe even after that because Alcryst was all he had left.