Fire Emblem (Edgar Frog Fanfic)

Chapter 27: Balanced Brothers

Chapter 27: Third Person POV

"You are in love with Rambo. Aren't you?" The arrogant blonde alpha taunts her, not expecting her to respond so openly.

From a distance away, fighting with Alan as he swings his fist to deter the vampire part of him, Edgar can't help but pause to hear her response. The sounds of metal against metal clang and although he wants to face them, he doesn't to save himself a little bit longer from Alan's controlled wrath. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out." He hears Seraphina's voice strongly admit without any embarrassment.'

The vampire hunter's eyes fall back onto the sleeping form in front of him and his eyes draw up towards the bronze pendant he thought she'd have taken off the moment he'd kicked her out. Blood and heat rush to his cheeks as his mind replays that shameful moment over and over again in his head like it has since she left.

Somewhere deep down he knew she was right about Sam playing bad guy. Edgar had seen the pause and felt the hesitation- the care he'd taken when tackling him to the sand in a manner that was hard but not nearly hard enough to cause any real damage. As much as he knew it, he could only justify scarring Sam if he identified as a heartless bloodsucker instead of a sorrowful friend. And instead of admitting his guilty conscience to an already heavy hearted Seraphina, Edgar shut her out.

As he lay there with DJ X above him, preparing to kill him, all he could think of besides a fleeting regret of Sam and an apology for Alan, was the one thing he's wanted to say most to Seraphina since they were teenagers. Yet before he could say it to himself, there she was in his time of need like always- saving him from doom. How foolish to think she wouldn't be.

He thought maybe she was doing this as a job for Alan until he'd seen the gleam in her eyes and the genuine concern for Al after they killed DJ X. He watched her grab Alan's hand to comfort him and felt her respect, her worry for both the brothers when she tried to discreetly pull Edgar aside to warn him. When he tried to protect her and say goodbye, he could see the loyalty that Peter had pointed out.

"Edgar, you should go home and shower. You-" Zoe's soft and polite notation pulls Edgar from his thoughts yet still falls on deaf ears. His attire he's worn for a couple of days are clean, but he'd been in them for nearly 5 days. Being shoved into the metal rack by Peter had reopened his shoulder wound causing the nurses to fret upon his arrival with Seraphina. They forced him into his own room for healing and a watchful eye.

"Do you think she even knows we're here?" His whisper surprises Zoe as she'd only seen 3 emotions from him; standoffish, annoyed (due to Frank), or indifferent and he always had the same monotone volume. They were all forms of grumbling, but nothing as gentle as this.

Alan places a hand on his shoulder, patting it twice before joking, "Ed, she can certainly smell you." When neither him nor Zoe can read Edgar, Alan releases a heavy sigh," Of course she knows you are here. She knows we are all here. We'll always be. Always have been when it matters most."

Edgar wants to believe the soft voice whispering in his ear, but truth is, he wasn't. His hands run down his face in frustration at his self. "I wasn't, Al. I- When she'd found the honest truth about Sam that could help her cope, I literally forced her out of my life. I told her it was wrong and she needed to give up on it because I didn't want to face the truth." Sensing the deep rooted distraught flowing from his brother, Alan takes the seat on the opposite side of Seraphina's bed to be able to look Edgar in the eyes.

The raven haired woman awkwardly points to the door with a soft clearing of her throat. She didn't want to disrupt the moment arising between the two brothers, but she could definitely feel that she did not belong in the room while they dove into the conversation. "I'm going to go to the cafeteria. Do either of you want anything?"

Both lowly answer with "water" and an equally quiet "Thank you" before listening to the door click behind her exit. Edgar didn't necessarily want to discuss the meaning behind what he said out of hatred for his actions, but he knows having Alan work through it with him would ease the weight on his shoulders. Alan could see it physically weigh down Edgar, in the way he sat with his shoulders forward, elbows to knees, head down. He'd noticed it the day after Seraphina had been cast away, but he never mentioned it to Edgar. "Just to get this out into the open, she told me she was the one who actually killed Sam."

"Yea, but she wasn't the one who scarred him." At this revelation, Alan raises his eyebrows in confusion. The brunette nods firmly to explain he'd seen the emotion and understood its existence. "Did Seraphina tell you that Sam knew? That he'd heard rumors nearly a week before we left for Washington D.C. and he didn't say shit?"

Alan nods before making the revelation, "So did Sam." Edgar's face goes blank at this, but his eyes bore into Alan's trying to make sense of what he'd just said. "A couple of weeks before Seraphina had told me Sam was killed by her, he dropped by with a guilty conscience. He apologized and laid all his cards out on the table for me to see. Everything he wanted to say to Seraphina and to you, but never did. I punched him for nearly getting us killed. But could see the sincerity in his eyes- the genuine apology. I heard him out all the way and he-"

"I scarred him because of it. And after you went missing, I swore he knew where you went or where you were. So I caught him and gave him a couple of reminders as to what he'd done. Thinking he had any information on your whereabouts. I never told Seraphina because I was- am embarrassed. I know that I didn't just do it for you or for the pain he caused Seraphina, but for myself because when he disappeared, it was terrifying losing someone that close to us- to me. It was like losing mom and dad all over again. And the rage- the red that I saw-" Edgar glances away as his voice trails off, fearful of having to read the disgust or disappointment or any other millions of possibilities of emotions due to his actions.

Alan inhales deeply, unaware that what he had seen a peek of when Sam had fallen to the ground was due to Edgar. Perhaps somewhere in him he knew that, especially in the somber way Sam had addressed the falling apart of his and Edgar's relationship. "Sam didn't hate you for it, you know. In fact he admired that you cared so much- he knew you cared about him so much that it hurt. He told me. And Seraphina was right about him wanting to just step away. He was in so much emotional and mental agony. That's why I didn't bother continuing to fight him. And he is actually who stopped me from falling for the stupid romanticized freedom they tried feeding to me." Edgar's head lifts slightly in surprise at the admission. Never for a second had he thought Alan could fall game to the wild lifestyle of a true bloodsucker. "Somewhere in the back of my mind, though I grew bitter over the years about not diving into the wild lifestyle, I knew you and Ser would find a way to save me from it. To give me back a life that I wouldn't regret living."

Edgar shifts in his seat as his eyes move to rest upon their lifeline. Evenly spaced beeps sound from the machine up in the corner by the window, the lines rising and falling as they should causing a small smile to lift the corners of his lips. Watching Edgar smile contagiously affects Alan's lips to do the same. For the first time in a while, he was content with his life. "I tried to call Michael a bunch of times. He didn't answer. I don't have Star's number anymore after she changed it last time. And Lucy's went to voicemail. Maybe you can try?" Edgar suggests quietly as the door opens again to reveal the raven-haired girl.

"Sorry to interrupt. I just got the waters. And some snacks for now. I know we may not be particularly hungry, but we have to eat something. And Klaus called to say he got home safely." Zoe ambles around the room, closing the door behind her when she sense the contentment in the air of the space. Her hands slowly extend toward Edgar with the bottle between her hands, which he takes with a thanks on his tongue, before turning and walking to Alan, doing the same but with a shy bow of her head when her and Alan lock eyes.

Edgar's eyebrow raises at this interaction, furrowing together afterward when he notices Alan biting on his lower lip in a poor attempt to hide the growing smile he's enduring. Not to mention the way Alan's eyes follow Zoe as she pulls the chair against the wall to rest near the foot of Seraphina's bed. Realizing he's probably been staring for too long, Alan clears his throat and addresses his brother's earlier request. "Yea. I'll give Star a ring."