The clamour of colliding swords and battle swarmed them, echoes in their ears telling of death. The aurora rippled above in the ever-night skies like a dance beckoning the end—of the beginning.
On the ground splattered with blood, a man's chest bloomed red.
Kaden gasped, shaking furiously as his hand gripped the hilt of the dagger. The sharp tip pierced Reed's chest flawlessly—years of training and ability taught him how to kill.
Never had he dreamed on the day he first took up the blade that it would one day pierce the person he most wanted to impress.
His heart screamed, pounding against his chest. His mind echoed, pain flaring and scraping against the walls of his flesh.
Everything was screaming, wailing.
Reed gazed at him through a dulling gaze, feeling the air warp around him and cling to his body. Kaden's dagger had not been straight, missing the killing strike and lodging shallowly. Enough to leave an eternal scar, but not enough.
Not enough as it had to be.
Reed's clothes were ruined, sticking to his chest and slicked with crimson.
Kaden's blessing quivered in the air, a low hum of chaos that continued to build into a torrential wave. It spilled into the air and seized the calmness of the reverie, drawing dust and fog into the space.
Reed saw the madness but he did not flinch. In this world, no matter how terrible he became or how frightening his blessing became, Reed could not hate that child.
Kaden Chauvet.
The child that Reed had thoughtlessly picked up from the streets. A child ragged and filthy with a pair of startling, vicious emerald eyes hidden behind a layer of grime.
His eyelids shuttered, half-closed as he grappled with his awakeness, the image of Kaden above him flickering with that awkward, adoring child that had looked at him with such admiration and love.
He looked at Reed as if he was more than a mere commodity destined to be an accessory to the throne and a mascot to the people.
The little child's gaze transformed Reed Chauvet from the King's perfect doll into a human.
The King had realized the importance of Kaden's existence and tried to eradicate him—and Reed threatened the King's most prized possession: himself. How would the arrogant ruler have expected that his carefully manufactured heir was flawed?
Flawed with the ability to love.
Reed had been so careful and that very caution was his undoing. The King's schemes manifested in abuse to the child Reed carefully trained, and he drew more and more distant to pretend Kaden didn't matter.
But when he discovered the treatment of the servants to the innocent and helpless child, he acted first and punished them all.
The years of pretending to be indifferent shattered and the King once more attempted to control and threaten Kaden in order to control Reed.
Reed's behaviour had become colder, crueler. Anything to mask his adoration, anything to protect that child.
Because his affection would've been the cruelest punishment.
If it meant he could never see those vibrant green eyes that loyally gazed at him, then so be it.
He realized then, far too late into their play, that his first mistake was made when bringing Kaden into the palace. Into their royal schemes, into his miserable reality.
He'd considered it. He could find a way to toss Kaden out and if that meant he would be trapped within the castle, then so be it.
That wasn't much. It was only his life he would give up.
He'd locked Kaden in the Room despite knowing how the boy feared it, tormented by servants and then tormented by loneliness. But it was also the place he could protect Kaden, without interference.
The maids, replaced, would not reveal their twisted natures so quickly.
If things had gone as planned, Kaden would've been silently dismissed from the palace with a new identity and resources.
Then, as Reed clutched his aching head in the confines of his room, the door burst in with his grinning father and a man cloaked in a colour he couldn't even remember—
—from there, all he remembered was the madness and the pain.
Black lines scraped into his skin as if peeling him to pieces, stabbing millions of little wounds in his body.
Later, when he woke, he came to learn that it was the forceful awakening of his Blessing. For those who were not Blessed, it was a process that could lead to death.
For Reed, it led to instability.
He avoided Kaden for weeks until the boy appeared at his door, pleading to speak to him, tears and snot mixing in his face. Reed had gritted his teeth and opened the door—
—really. He only intended to send Kaden away, to frighten him so much he would never see him again.
Then, he saw the little boy covered in blood and tears, his fragile and tender skin scarred and bruised.
"I-I killed—hic! I killed her, big brother...I listened to your orders in the end, please—hic! Don't abandon me too..."
The small and quivering back that curled at his door, the carpet stained in filth, and the pleading, faint green eyes that stared at him. Reed, a teenager at the time, had stared in horror.
What had he done? What had been done to that poor, trembling child? He imagined threats, dark whispers from the King, and cruel promises to that boy.
It was his mistake.
He turned a blind eye to Kaden to distract the King's attention—and the King had secretly sunk his toxic claws into the child, using him for his schemes in Reed's name.
But Kaden wasn't a killer.
Kaden wasn't, no that child—his hands should've remained pure and bright—and this wasn't how anything was meant to become. Because once it began, it couldn't stop; not easily. The King wouldn't let go of useful tools.
Kaden had finally proved his use; and indeed, he could remain by Reed's side without the King's attempt at eliminating him.
The colour leeched from Reed's face, dyed in the cruel understanding of his inability.
Then, his heart throbbed. The throbbing increased, becoming louder and louder in his head until his body jerked. An ugly cry wrestled out of his throat and he fell to his knees.
The black lines crawled through his body again, piercing and penetrating. Stretching their branches further and further until they crept onto the shaking child.
No, Reed had gasped in horror, grasping futility at the lines that continued to ink onto Kaden's skin. Not him. Not this.
But his own ability, this so-called blessing, did not obey him.
Kaden started to tremble in pain, choking and coughing as he stared at Reed in shock, betrayal, and fear. The boy's mouth quivered and opened, but no words came out, swallowed by his deep agony.
From that day, their relationship had fallen further and further.
When Reed learned that Kaden's lifespan was short, the mixture of the original fascination and love intertwined with a desperation to keep the boy alive, fueled by guilt and fear.
He would make sure Kaden lived, at whatever cost.
At whatever expense.
Before he knew it, a pile of corpses begun to trail behind his every step, towering higher and higher. All fingers pointed at him. Jeered at him. Blamed him.
His mind, on the verge of collapsing, placed another curse.
"Reed Chauvet," He said slowly, kneeling before a cracked mirror in the darkness of his room, draped in luxurious clothes that mocked and jeered at him.
"I curse you. Never hesitate in what must be done, no matter what boundaries must be crossed. Every time you resist or hesitate, sacrifice what is most precious to you."
"I curse you, my foolish self, to lose pieces of who you are until you achieve your goal. And should Kaden die,"
The black lines wrapped around his throat like a pair of invisible hands.
"Forfeit all you are."
"All you are and will be."
In the Academy, many years later, he discovered the journal entries of a mad scientist who was a student in the Academy. With a dying wife, plagued by a Reversal, he studied how others could be used to save her.
By treating the lives of others as a commodity, he came closer to his goal. It was his misfortune that she killed herself before he discovered the truth. Helplessly, she had abandoned life.
Reed had shaken with excitement. If it was him, he could complete the research. It would take years, decades even, but he could do it.
Would Kaden last that long?
At this point, Reed Chauvet had already long lost his mind to obsession and madness, paranoid and ruled by fear.
In fact, the truth was that if Reed had truly continued researching, he would've eventually discovered a cure. But how many more lives would be sacrificed?
He chose the promised way of saving Kaden—his curse rejected him every time he resisted the idea. The curse he placed on himself did not consider the lives of others.
But Reed resisted—he wanted to save Kaden, but how could he bear the cost without blinking?
And yet, every time he resisted, he lost more and more parts of himself.
But that was no excuse.
He could not abandon agency and responsibility and blame it on his self-inflicted curse. There were many causes and reasons to shape his choices and person, but it was a fact that Reed committed the sins that he did.
Now, they stood at this crossroads of life and death on a bloody battlefield.
Kaden gasped again, clutching his chest as if the sword were embedded in him. "Why, Reed? I swore my loyalty and self for you all these years—if I'd been ruled by fear, I would've killed himself. But for you, I was willing to endure anything."
He both loved and hated this man. In its simplest truth, there was no other answer.
Reed stared at him through dull eyes and the corner of his blood-streaked lips raised. "I knew that. I knew that and used that. That's all it was. I used you to achieve my goals."
"Goals? What goals? Even now—" Kaden choked, swallowing. "Am I to remain in the dark?"
"I think now, Kaden, you're able to understand it without me saying it."
"Say it. I want you to say it."
Reed gazed at him calmly, feeling the rocks roll against his back and the discomfort of the sword in his chest.
'Would it surprise you, Kaden?'
'If all this time you thought you were chasing me when really, I was chasing you.'
'I did not care what I would become if it meant keeping you alive.'
The answer was cruel. All those years ago, he'd stepped on a sinning path and he would not stray. Reed shook his head and Kaden's grasp tightened. He gritted his teeth bitterly.
"You chose the most foolish and terrible method, Reed. For the..." He hesitated, biting his tongue. "For the sake of saving me, you sacrificed hundreds including myself."
'Would killing me free you, Kaden?'
Reed smiled, and there was endless gentleness in his gaze.
'If it would, it would be a small thing to give you.'
For the first time, he could display his affection and not fear the consequences. This one time couldn't he express—
'Dear little brother, won't you live on?'
"I won't forgive you, Reed Chauvet, nor will I judge you. If you're determined to walk on that path under the pretense of salvation, then,"
Kaden drew the dagger slicked with blood and raised it high into the air again, his eyes red and wavering. This time, he would not miss.
"Burn on it too."
Reed's mouth moved, forming a silent farewell.
'Goodbye, little star.'
In all their years of misunderstandings, conflict, love, and hatred, it would finally come to an end. Their distorted relationship could finally be severed.
Kaden recognized the words and his eyes changed, a madness pounding in his ears. An ugly noise wrestled out of his throat, but he did not stop his plunging blade.
He'd been saved twice. The man who took him away from the hopelessness of the slums, and the mysterious figure that accompanied the lonely him every year.
In a moment, he lost them both. Or perhaps he never had them to begin with.
The dagger slid through as if it was always meant to be there. Like a key slotted into a perfect lock.
Stars flickered across Kaden and he felt a scorching agony in his chest. He coughed, clutching the fabrics in immense pain before he doubled over.
In his fading consciousness, he heard a pair of footsteps stop beside him. The dagger was gently pried from his fingers and crudely torn out of Reed's chest.
Then a red glow of light slowly spilled onto the ground, creeping into Reed's body.
Slowly, the sleeping Crown Prince cracked his eyes open. He blinked, gazing dazedly at the skies. He lowered his eyes to the unconscious body on top of him, carefully lifting his body up.
His fingers lightly ghosted by Kaden's closed eyes. "Why are you crying, fool?" He muttered quietly. "I've never been meant to outlive you."
"You'll repent for your sins, oh fallen prince," sneered Lux coldly, his face pale. "I would've been pleased to see you bleed out."
"But you cannot, knowing he'll die too."
"Did you curse him for reassurance that he wouldn't kill you? That I would save you?"
For once, the prince didn't speak in mysteries and lies. His entire body was relaxed, lost in thought and unlike the arrogant and proud man Lux often saw.
He lowered his gaze, tugging lightly at a pendant that was carefully tucked underneath his clothes. It delicately hung around his neck, pressed between his fingers.
He pressed a small knob on the side, clicking open the pendant to reveal two pictures. On one side, the weathered portrait of a smiling child with a curved and mischievous gaze appeared.
On the other was the hazy figure of a woman, a long skirt billowing as her face was blurred, yet the elegance of her figure could not be hidden. She stood there like a faded memory, a yearning dream.
Reed clicked the locket closed again and tucked it away safely.
Lux gazed at the two pictures and sighed.
"The first time had been a mistake. The second, yes, I intended to bind our lives together. But never to ensure my survival."
"Then why?"
He stared at Kaden quietly. Carefully, he ripped the length of his shirt and moved to bandage Kaden's wounds.
Lux was likely overexerting himself by standing there—the cost of resurrecting a dying heart was not simple.
The prince's voice was quiet, and Lux despised the weakness in it. As if all the years of arrogance and steadiness were stripped away to reveal raw flesh underneath. "If I ever doubted saving Kaden." He fastened a knot, his hands lingering. "Then I would die along with the star I failed to save."
Lux gritted his teeth and grabbed Reed's injured arm, eliciting a hiss from the other. He ignored it, dragging the Crown Prince up.
"You're messed up. He doesn't need saving–nor your pathetic clinging."
"Oh, so you've finally realized it? You're not a complete fool, after all."
Lux sneered, shaking his head. But his throat was dry and his insides felt like liquid, sloshing in his body. They couldn't stay here for long.
He cast a single look at the unconscious man and turned away.
Reed followed without resistance like a doll obediently being toyed with. The feeling of discomfort crowded Lux's chest as his grip tightened.
"You're seriously messed up," muttered Lux. "Crazy bastard."
Reed stared blankly. "Where are we going?"
Lux stopped in his path, turning his red eyes to face the other. Above, the aurora continued to ripple as the ground trembled, threatening to crumble under their feet.
In mere moments, the stubborn and desperate goals that had driven the both of them now crumbled, left in another's hand.
They were no longer needed; they never were.
But what could be left to scrape up from a life that had been pointless?
He sighed.
"...somewhere we will not be returning."
At those words, a smile finally bled onto the prince's lips.
———xxx———
Lukiyo says,
Hello, I am very thankful to not have lost my laptop T^T and grateful for your patience as well, all the love and adoration to you.
I want to clarify, Reed has no redemption. His crimes and his reasons; that is left to the subjective judgement of the reader, but I will neither claim him good or bad. He did terrible, irredeemable things. He caused Kaden endless misery and loneliness. There is no defense.
Although eventually, his mind deteriorated, he stepped onto that path.
I hope you were all satisfied with his character (it was a bit of a harder one, more conflicting to consider) this is the end of Reed and Kaden. If you wonder whether they'll meet in the future, I'm not sure, but I think for their sakes, it will be better if they never meet again.
Sometimes, what we miss is not the person but the memory of them.
See you soon!