2721 Past Grudges (Part 1)
"Don't worry, Frey, this is the first time for you, but I've taken care of Leria since I was born. I'll teach you everything you need." Aran said.
"Excuse you?" Leria managed to glare and snarl while keeping her voice low and melodious so as to not scare Elysia. "Since when have you taken care of me?"
Lith chuckled, patting them all on the head and ending the quarrel.
"Actually, the only uncle here is Aran. Yet it's better to avoid more childish competition than force the kids to remember their respective degrees of kinship. Aunt and uncle make it all much simpler.' He thought.
People from the Brood, the Nest, the Fastarrows, and the Ernas had come to the Mansion to celebrate. They all ate, drank, and were marry. Even the Demons and their respective families had been invited to join the party.
"Have you heard about it, my Liege? They want to rename the west side of Lutia 'the Verhens!" Velagros said.
After Kamila had reconnected the former colonel of the army with his family, the Royals had to build him a proper house near Lith's. Between the presence of the Demons' families and Raaz's retainers, only friends of the family lived in the area.
"I know:" Lith sighed, hoping to not end up like the Hamptons. "Why the long face?"
Trion was the only one who looked out of place. As if he was there because someone had dragged him there after losing a bet.
... it's nothing." He replied.
"He's the only member of the family who has yet to hold Elysia." Kamila stepped forward slowly with wavering steps. Solus was helping her to walk by offering Kamila her shoulder. Ragnar??k also let her use it as a walking aid, but it wasn't enough.
"So what?" Lith snorted.
"Lith Tiamat Verhen, how can you speak like that to your brother?" Elina inwardly called herself a fool for failing to notice her oldest son's distress. "What's the matter, dear? It's not like you haven't held your baby siblings in the past before."
"That's the problem." Trion had a hologram right above his skin that gave him human appearance and warmth. "I don't think I deserve it. Not after what I've done to Lith and Tista."
"Nonsense." Kamila shook her head. "You may not be my favorite member of the family nor even my favourite Demon. That's Locrias, by the way."
"Thanks!" The former captain of the Queen's Corps gave her a bow and his family him an applause.
"But you are still a Verhen. Elina and Raaz love you. You've been a poor brother to your younger siblings but that doesn't mean you can't be a great uncle. The only way you can ruin this is by running away from your responsibilities again."
Kamila took the bundle of cloth and love that was Elysia and handed it to Trion.
He hesitated, looking at his hands and knowing that under the light-made illusion lay clawed instruments of death. Yet more than his Abomination touch and his nature as a Demon, he was scared of tainting her with his presence.
"You can do it, son." Raaz patted Trion's back. "Turning a new leaf is hard, but not impossible."
The Demon took the baby from Kamila's hands and Elysia suddenly opened her eyes.
In that moment, Trion remembered when he had held the same way Tista and Lith, swearing upon the gods that he would always be there for them. That he would protect and love them no matter what.
The guilt from what he had actually done shattered his heart and with it the hologram. He went back to looking like he felt: a dead man wearing a husk of darkness as black as his soul.
The Demon had six white eyes, wings on his back, and claws on his hands yet Elysia looked at him and smiled. She shapeshifted into her Abomination form, cooing at her uncle.
As Trion looked at the baby in amazement, feeling the coldness of his touch match hers and seeing his figure reflecting into her pristine eyes, reality struck him with all of its weight.
I'm dead. I'm really dead.' He fell to his knees while holding Elysia tight to his chest. 'All this time, I've tried to convince myself that as long as I stuck with Lith I would still have a life but it was a lie.
'This is what I could have had if I were a better person. I would still have a whole life in front of me if I hadn't let Orpal drive me away from my family. Night might have murdered me but I'm the only one responsible for my death.
It all started back when Lith was a newborn and it has never stopped. Even now, I keep running away from the consequences of my actions.'
Trion shed tears that manifested as small bursts of smoke and darkness, his body devoid of fluids. He curled his fangs in a smile and rocked the baby to not scare her, but he kept crying.
Tve ruined my past and destroyed my future. I'm just a shadow. A means to an end. Yet it's still more than I deserve.'
"It's everything alright, dear?" Elina would have loved to kneel down, but Surin was just a few days away.
"Yes." He nodded. "Please, Mom, take Elysia. There's something I need to say."
The moment the baby was off his arms, Trion put his hands and forehead on the ground.
"I'm sorry." He said to Lith and Tista without ever raising his head. "I'm truly sorry for everything I did and said to you back when we were children, I'm sorry for not taking care of you just because it was more convenient for me."
"What are you doing?" Tista felt greatly embarrassed whereas Lith barely frowned. "You have already apologized to us. This is completely unnecessary."
"No, I didn't." Trion replied. "I've apologized to Mom and Dad. I've also apologized to Rena but not to the two of you. What I gave you after I became a Demon were the apologies of Trion Proudstar, former sergeant of the army.
"I apologized to Lith solely as a Demon when I've sworn my allegiance to him, but that's merely acknowledging that I owe him everything I've left."
"I've never apologized as your older brother for what I did when I was just Trion and we didn't have a family name. I failed you, I betrayed you, and then I abandoned you. Please, forgive me."
Tista didn't know what to do, looking at her parents' expectant eyes and then at Lith's unfazed expression as he kept sipping tea. He was still upholding his promise to not drink alcohol until Kamila could.
"Stand up, Trion," Lith replied. "If it's of any consolation, I forgave you years ago, back when you left our home to never return. That was the greatest gift you could give me."
There was no trace of warmth or compassion in his voice.
"I'm thankful for your help saving Mom and helping me uncover Meln's plans, but that's it. I've never forgiven what you did."
"Lith!" Raaz said, his voice half shocked and half scolding him. "If not for Trion, your mother might have been hurt that day"
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