Icarus

Redemption

Redemption

Piero hadn't been the same since Cassie was born. Time became a train he couldn't get off of and soon he realized it would never stop for him. He felt like everything that made him who he really was existed beyond the train, but he was trapped there.

He did have one consolation, one station, one temporary stop where he could get off the train...his memories.

A little boy with hair as black as a raven's wing. A little boy whispering he was afraid. A little boy letting go of his hand. A little boy running away from him.

His name was Elek. Piero's eyes still tear every time he thinks of him...how he got inside the castle how he ignored Piero's desperate calls for help. He never found his way back. Heron did nothing about it as it was common for young apprentices to get lost in the palace. That still didn't change the fact that Piero still mourned him deeply all the years after until Cassie was born. This time he made sure to hold her small hand tightly as she grew into the woman she became.

Piero found Alexander in one of the corridors, sitting on a bench of white and gold marble. He sat quietly next to him and waited a few seconds before speaking.

"I know you are into something, brother."

It was like a knife slicing through the air, his words cut a fast straight line right to the point. Alexander grinned without looking to his older brother; the cloak's hood was hiding his face in the shadow.

"That I am...that I am."

Alexander's smile was bittersweet. With his fingertips he touched where Petra had cut his neck, he cleared his throat, and the brothers stood there in silence for what seemed like forever.

"You won't you ask what it is?" Alexander looked at Piero; he laughed and patted his head, making Alexander frown.

"You wouldn't tell me even if I begged."

"It's amazing how well you know me."

Piero now had a vision of himself, when his human soul was still in his body. Heron was his master and he was the apprentice. Heron was the kind of Guardian no one would mess with, not even other Guardians at his same level. Things hadn't changed. Then, Alexander was born, Piero begged Heron to also take him on as his apprentice and he did.

"Regardless...I do think you should tell me...you do know you can trust me."

Piero remembered when they were both named part of The Twelve, but thought Alexander was too young and too careless to raise an apprentice himself.

"No, I need you to trust me. Everything is under control."

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"My...life?"

"You are such a terrible liar."

"I prefer being thought of as a storyteller."

"Whatever you are planning on, please be careful."

Piero's words were now coming slow and resonating deep in the honesty they were meant to convey.

"You too should be careful."

Piero saw the look in his brother's eyes; it was the same look of despair Elek had just before letting go of his hand.

"Cassie's mission is a failure and you are lying to protect her...thought Mister Goody Two-shoes could never break the law."

"Alexander—"

"No need to deny it...it is obvious...you are just too..." Alexander placed his finger on his chin, pretending to think of a word to describe him when in reality he's been practicing this speech since he realized he'd never be able to live up to his illustrious brother's legacy of accomplishments..."Too good...too pure...and you care too much about the people you love, so much so that you risk everything for them."

Alexander stood up in front of Piero, looking down at him, casting a shadow over his body. A growing feeling of self-loathing mixed with envy saturated every emotional cell in his body when he continued the diatribe, this time using a script he hadn't rehearsed.

"You are risking your life to protect Cascadia...you are risking your life to protect me, and why haven't you told everyone that I had a child with a human yet? Why?! It's just something I cannot understand."

Alexander remembered the words of Petra and shook his head. How could he possibly even consider murdering all of the members of The Twelve? He suddenly felt like a rope was tightening around his neck as he thought of Petra, the child he raised, how he could be planning to kill Piero?

When Alexander understood he'd never be like Piero he made it his passionate mission to be nothing like him, but he never dreamt while raising Petra that he could ever grow up to hate his brother.

Alexander knelt down, seeing his reflection in Piero's benevolent eyes. He looked miserable. He despised the fact that he was kneeling down before him. After all the years of constructing an iron curtain of separation between them, now he was asking what it would take for him to be more like his brother.

Piero sensed Alexander's sincere regret and placed his hands on his brother's shoulders.

"I followed the rules by not looking for Elek when he escaped, now I have a festering wound I'll never recover from. I don't want that to happen again."

Alexander straightened his back, maybe that way Piero wouldn't know how vulnerable he was. Piero tries to protect everyone while Alexander only thought of himself when Petra threatened him. Suddenly a revelation crossed his mind—perhaps he could save Piero before Petra murdered everyone else...and maybe then he could escape.

"So you're going to be forgiven of all your transgressions just because you are protecting others?"

"What others do is not my concern. I've learned to forgive myself and that's all that I need. If Heron decides to exile me, at least I can die with a clear conscience."

Alexander looked at Piero in silence, absorbing each word. If he saved his brother then he wouldn't feel as guilty for the crime he was about to commit...making Petra immortal.

"Alexander, I know you are a man of principle. I know you're not as ruthless and heartless as you pretend to be," Piero continued after a solemn pause, "but if you intend to violate the rules, please at least make sure it is for a just cause. I know evil sometimes gets into your blood but if you are ready to risk everything to do what is right then you'll find forgiveness...and with that my brother, comes redemption."

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