Summer Snow {Flash Fiction}

[Light]

“You don't exist.” His brother had told him one day. They had been reading a book together, the older teaching the younger what the larger ones meant when prompted. “Father said that I didn't need you. But we're brothers, so I think I do.” Natsuyuki had frowned and looked up at his brothers orange eyes, his own ambrosia orbs filled with confusion. Why wouldn't I exist?

“You won't ever leave.” his brother had told him another day. They were older; the blonde sixteen and the brunette ten. “You won't ever leave, because you're mine.” Natsuyuki had stood up in defiance, but had been pushed back down and fixed with a glare. “You won't ever, ever leave.” You don't own me.

Natsuyuki glanced back over his shoulder, a few years later and fixed his goggles over his eyes. “I left. You don't own me, because I do exist.” The small boy left the castle behind him and ran.

He ran, and ran, and ran.

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Word Count: 165

[Light]

Natsuyuki had been five when he first found it. Like he had lost a tooth and placed it under his pillow, he had written in his diary a wish and woke up to find a magic stone. He held it in his small fingers and looked at it in the light, a warm feeling washing away all of what had been choking him--dragging him down. He hadn't told his brother, and would always hide it in his pillows when the elder came to visit him.

Because he would smash it

To Natsuyuki, the small stone was his best friend. It wasn't long until he was so in sync with it that he used his fist spell one day. It had been a flutter of light in the air; a glow--but Natsuyuki had never felt so proud.

He had done something on his own

The small prince had kept his friend close to his heart, and prayed. To tell his brother how he felt. To leave and learn magic, so that he could be like his mother. A strong adventurer; an explorer that braved the caves and fought the pale creatures. 

To be something more than the bastard prince

Orange eyes glowed underneath their curtain of brown. He would runaway, and get stronger. Stronger so that he could stand up for himself. Stronger so that he can make friends, discover things unknown, and be himself.

But fireflies, for all their dazzling glow, flicker out once dawn blankets them.

[Light]

Tokiyomi, for the life of him, couldn't understand his younger brother. He could never connect with him on anything other than their lessons, and that was if he was reading him a book about history. His brother wanted to know what had happened--why. His brother acted like it mattered, what their ancestors had done.

Tokiyomi, for the life of him, didn't understand why his brother was intrigued by failures. Because Tokiyomi was anything but that, in the eyes of everyone around him. He was the golden boy on a high, high pedestal. Tokiyomi didn't care for anything in the past, because he would make the future.

Tokiyomi wouldn't fail;

Because Tokiyomi didn't want to get rid of the guilds--he wanted to eradicate magic. He wanted to take away his brothers light; smother it in his hands--all so that he wouldn't leave. Because Tokiyomi was perfect, and he had to make sure that nothing threatened that world he had built in that glass castle.

Tokiyomi would lock his brothers bedroom door everyday with the key around his neck and leave him.

Tokiyomi would tear apart the room screaming in anger when he had been told his brother had left.

Tokiyomi would pick up his sword and leave his castle to bring back his brother himself when his guardians failed him.

Tokiyomi would do anything to make sure his perfect world stayed just that. 

Because the dawn was just as terrifying as it was beautiful