Angsty story time just like I said! This one took a bit of time to think about because I was trying to match it with the other one and used my other fic as bit of a reference. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go write something fluffy and funny before I cry myself a river. Please enjoy.
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This blessing truly was a curse.
Another wave of heaviness overwhelms Silver’s entire being, causing him to stagger against the gigantic, rusted door. Almost there, a voice whispers in his ear, almost there.
There wasn’t much time. He had been travelling on foot for a few days now, having snuck out of Night Raven after making sure that everyone was alright and resting. He had gathered all his meagre possessions from his dorm room and set fire to them, watching as the smoke and ashes rose up into the cool, starry sky, no one will miss them anyways. The only thing that was spared from the flames was the small photograph from Silver’s birthday where everyone wore pleasant happy smiles, back when everything was normal. He couldn’t bear to part with it so he carefully pocketed it in an old coat he brought from home.
Home. What does that mean to him now? Home was wherever his father was, and now that was gone too. Lost to the sands of time and revelation.
The castle was decrepit and in ruins, but there was a melancholic beauty among the briar thorns that draped over the whole crumbling structure, threading through old looming towers and snaking through rotted doors and windows. Elegant it was, for an ancient tomb made for a forgotten kingdom.
Silver groaned as another wave of exhaustion hit him, it was getting worse, this was different from all the other spells, it was heavy and unrelenting, weighing him down like a prisoner with a ball and chain. It had started when everyone had tended to the aftermath of Malleus’s overblot, while everyone shed tears of relief and embraced each other Silver felt a sharp pang in his chest, his eyelids began to sag and his head languidly swayed. Before him was the sweet sight of his family in a tight pile sharing heartfelt whispers and cheers, suddenly he grew to be very tired. Silver was so happy for them, finally he got to see his prince and father genuinely smile once again, but this time the pang he felt before returns with another kick. Harder this time. So hard that he thought he could feel something split inside him, slowly spreading into what would later become a fragile web of cracks just waiting to shatter. By then he had left before anyone had noticed, slipping out of the room to what he believed was his final walk to the gallows.
He recalled visiting his father before he left. The poor fae was utterly exhausted and hadn’t even stirred as the moon’s light flooded the room through the crack of his door, Silver slowly crept up to the edge of his father’s bed, watching the level rise and fall of his chest as his gaze shifted to the peaceful expression on Lilia’s face, it was the most peaceful Silver’s seen him for quite some time. If Lilia were to wake up right now he might’ve startled at the close proximity his son’s face was to his, just watching intently while resting his drowsy head on top of his arms, expression blank as it had always been. How did he do it? After all the suffering he’s had to endure all these centuries, how did Lilia still find it in himself to love and care for the offspring of his enemy, the enemy who's stripped him of everything.
Silver sighed deeply, his head lolled against the cool stone of the castle, his thoughts were flailing from his grasp while his vision blurred at the edges, how much longer… how much longer. He was so tired, this was worse than the exhaustion he felt carrying the general up the forbidden mountains or the cold, cold magic that seeped into his joints. Silver clumsily waves off some birds, fluttering about in their worry when he refuses to speak to them, so tired, it didn’t matter. It was no use clinging to something worth nothing.
As he was leaving father’s room, he did not expect to hear a voice weak with sleepiness calling out to him ‘Silver?’ Lilia’s voice rang out ‘my dear, what are you doing out? You should be in bed little one’ Silver turned from his place at the door to see Lilia lifting himself upright, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. Once again Silver was a small child, silently praying for his papa to wake up and soothe him after the throes of a dreadful nightmare, he stalls, unsure of what to do, fortunately Lilia beats him to it ‘couldn’t sleep could you? That’ll be a first, but I’m not surprised,’ he yawns widely, ‘come here little one’ he says, patting the bed. When Silver doesn’t budge he pats it more insistently ‘well, come on!’ Silver twitches hesitantly, he’d want nothing more than to run and snuggle into his father’s arms just like how he did as a child, but due to what he’s devised and done it felt rather cruel, in the end though Silver gave in. However, as father’s arms eagerly wrapped around his shoulders the drowsiness he felt in the lounge returned tenfold, making him slump further into Lilia’s chest. Unaware of what was truly happening Lilia coos, thinking that his son simply needed some company to help lull him to sleep, not that he could blame him, the past few days have been quite the eye opener for his boys, and not the pleasant kind.
‘I’m so sorry you had to endure all of that my love’ Lilia murmurs as he buries his face in silver locks ‘it must have been terrifying for you all’ he then lays back down, bringing Silver down with him ‘yes, but I’m just glad that you and Lord Malleus are safe’ he whispers back, letting Lilia press a loving kiss to his forehead ‘oh my darling, who could have ever raised such a wonderful boy? Oh yes, it was me!’
Normally the boy would relish in his father’s doting affections, hands combing through his hair and massaging his scalp, his warm body curled around his under the blankets, it was the perfect way to fall asleep. But all it does now is widen the gaping hole in his chest, rendering him numb to the bone. Please, why?
It should be Malleus here in father’s warm embrace, not him.
Malleus, the prince who had lost everything before he was even born, the prince who had been denied a family by those who sought power, the prince who had been denied his rightful father. I’m so sorry.
No, Silver was not jealous in the slightest, the void within him did not bay for anyone’s downfall. Only his.
Had it not been for his birth family Malleus would still have his parents, perhaps even his freedom, and Lilia would still have his beloved friends, his reasons for living. And now thanks to Silver’s selfish desires he had helped trigger Malleus’s overblot and thus this whole mess.
And it tore at Silver to know that, despite all of these transgressions, Lilia still found it in himself to love him. It was with these thoughts stewing in his head that he carefully crawled out from the blissful warmth once he was certain his father had fallen back asleep, slipping out of the dorm just as a certain prince came to check on him, only to find that the window had been left open, curtains fluttering as the moon leaked through, illuminating a room that was dreadfully cold and devoid of everything.
Silver wasn’t even meant to be here, hadn’t the great fairies blessed him with a prolonged slumber, he would merely be another fading memory of a kingdom lost to time, a distant fragment in the history textbooks if he was lucky. Which was partly why he was here now, back to the castle where Lilia had found him, and the place where Princess Malenoa was slain, if he were in the right state of mind Silver would have spent a moment savouring the desolate beauty of the whole place. But alas, it seemed that his body recognised its home of the last four hundred years, and a familiar sense of fatigue clawed at his legs. But the voice in the back of his head urged him to walk further, almost there almost there.
After all, there was a reason why Silver was here.
He wanted his family to be happy, and it seems to ensure that, the blood stained slate must be wiped clean. And while there was no way he could disband the senate, the least Silver could do was make sure that nothing from his forgotten home harmed anyone ever again, including himself. Everything here must remain buried, for the sake of everyone. Everything from that tragedy will die here with him, his bloodline and existence will be naught but a distant memory.
The great fairies magic seemed to agree with him as with every ladened step he takes, the harder it was for him to move. Just a little more…
In the background, he heard a frantic volley of chirps and squeaks. What is it this time? It takes a momentous effort to lift his hooded eyes to see a pair of dark wings flapping and tugging at his hair. Oh, it was one of Father’s familiars, the one who took charge whenever Malleus or the Zigvolts babysat him. The bat squeaked with desperation, even digging its tiny claws into his shoulder in a pitiful attempt to either wake him up or drag him away he was not sure, all he knew was that any and all entrances had been sealed to prevent anyone from breaking in, but it seemed that the wildlife were still granted entry ‘leave me’ he tells his old caretaker, his voice slurry and barely above a whisper.
The old bat chirps back, refusing to let go as if it knew what was happening. It's possible that it does, the bat was nearly as old as Lilia, its borne witness to his family's atrocities, seen what they have done so why was it pulling at him so? It was the head of its colony, it knew as a leader that sometimes one thing must be sacrificed for the good of many others. Why didn’t it understand that this is what needs to be done? It was for the benefit of its master for goodness sake! ‘please. Leave me alone, return to Lilia’ it hurt him to insult his father like this, he could almost hear Sebek cutting into him at such blatant disrespect. I’m sorry, Father.
The bat’s urgent squealing escalates into a borderline wailing as Silver stumbles forward, crawling up the steps leading to the desecrated throne, and the empty cradle right next to it. I’m…tired. The further he climbed, the deeper he sank, down, down into the darkness, the sweet promise of rest right at his fingertips. The bat faded off into the distance, all sense of feeling in his limbs fell away, all he could see was that small cradle.
Every resounding step echoed throughout the empty halls.
His legs buckle underneath him, his face crashing into the harsh stone.
He was terrified, there was no stopping this, this exhaustion. Weak fingers drag his body closer.
Father, he wanted Father!
Why would he come? There was nothing here for him, he didn’t deserve father.
It was so cold, where was father? He’s warm.
In the fading light, a hand reaches out for the cradle, almost there.
Darkness swallows him whole.