• 23
    ~~
    "My brother is dead. He's been dead for seven years, ever since those fools in the king's citadel tried to kidnap me," Syricuse began. S.A.G.E., too, seemed to be listening.

    "The king sent some soldiers to try and capture me, but my brother, Morrowen, came and distracted them long enough for me to escape. I only remembered him jumping in the middle of everything, and then I looked back long enough to see him in shackles, with a gun to his head. Then? Bang. It was over, and he was dead. For seven whole years, I had to live with that pain, with the pain that told me that I wasn't strong enough, that I had killed my brother with my weakness." Syricuse felt his eyes grow heavy, it seemed, and he felt his vision begin to blur.

    "No, you're wrong, Syricuse," White Fox's voice came quietly, almost saddened. "Oh really? Prove it, you stupid fox! My brother is dead! Has been dead! For seven years!" Syricuse shouted in reply, his eyes welling with tears at the thought that this, this... thing... could possibly be his brother. That all this time, he'd been fighting a war against the one person he found sanctuary with?

    No, it was not possible.

    "...Then let me show you, Syricuse, your dear brother, Morrowen."

    White Fox turned quickly and grabbed his sword out of its scabbard, swinging it past S.A.G.E.'s iron head, a loud ringing of metal slicing through metal heard for what seemed miles shot out through the dark hallway. For a moment, all stood still.

    Then, a strange noise, one that sounded like glass breaking, erupted from S.A.G.E. as his helmet split into pieces.

    A ruffle of purple hair flew out into the open, and two blank, blue eyes shot open as the machine fell to the floor, now lifeless. Instead of the black oil from before, now blood leaked from S.A.G.E.'s lips, staining the floor with its deep red hue, and spreading to cover the bionic boy's frame.

    Syricuse had felt many types of pain. Many indeed. He'd had his arm broken, he'd gotten his back torn open by a whip, he'd even felt the cold of a blade as it easily ripped the particles of his face, allowing blood to trickle to the ground.

    But nothing could compare to the unbearable pain he felt when he saw this sight.

    His eyes blurred as tear leaked down his face and onto the floor. His ears gave a loud ringing, as if a bell were sounding right next to him. He felt himself trembling, and his heartbeat rising, and his face grew hot as the flame. He tried to speak, but words evaded his mind. Tried to move, but he was frozen in place by unseen chains. He tried to blink, but his eyes only flooded more as this uncontrollable pain ripped him apart from the inside out.

    Then, all came loose with the sound of a horrified scream.

    Syricuse ran as fast as he could to the boy bleeding out on the floor. Over and over, he cried out his name. Morrowen. Until finally, he saw life within the other's eyes. If only for a moment.

    A weakened hand reached up and wiped the tears from Syricuse's eyes, a faint smile wavering on the machine's face, sadness taking form in his eyes, eyes that wept not tears, but blood.

    The boy choked out one quiet word, one Syricuse couldn't hear.

    Then again, louder this time:

    "Syr...a-a...c...cuse?"

    Then, all went dark, as the machine slipped into the abyss, his eyes closed. Never again would the open.

    Syricuse could hold it back no longer, and he fell to the floor, on his hands and knees, and wept.

    White Fox approached Syricuse, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your brother took your place. He never died, he prevented you from becoming him. He knew that should such a curse befall you, then he would have to have done the same to you as I to him. And I believe he knew that it would just kill him inside to know that he was forced to kill you for the greater good. He knew that with all happy endings came tragic intermission. He was willing to take your place to avoid that happening to him. Doesn't that show you how much he really cared? Here, you speak of him as if it was your fault, but the fault was truly his for getting involved. Had he stayed out, I would probably have killed you instead of him." The elderly warrior stood again and replaced his weapon before walking past the sobbing soldier.