Prompt: Loyalty

This is an official sequel to BaSIaAB (Paracosmos) so you certainly have to read that part to understand the ending but,,,, go wild?

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This is a story of loyalty, betrayal and the journey back to faithfulness.

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 No one knows exactly when it happened, not even those who are immediately connected to the event, but it’s a simple fundamental truth that anyone who has met either Jyu Viole Grace or Khun Aguero Agnis knows; the son of Khun is loyal to him and him alone.

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It starts like every story does; with parallels and love. It starts with a boy who didn’t belong where he was placed. A boy living in a dark world waiting for a light. It continues with a girl, in the form of a star, coming to save him from the shadows. A tale of loyalty and love. And it ends the same way, but in a different time, with a boy falling into a dark abyss while the girl sees stars.

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Khun knew what loyalty meant. What it costed. His mother warned him not to trust anyone and Aguero, a naïve child, had done exactly that. He had shown too much blind faith in both Maria and himself. When his sister killed herself in shame, resulting in him getting kicked out of the family, Khun had decided to not show devotion like that again.

(And then Bam came and Khun was a child again.)

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Bam sacrifices himself for Rachel, knows exactly who she is by now, and Khun is more certain of the outcome than of anything else in his life. Rachel will try to reach the stars and Bam will follow her. No matter what he tells him, no matter what Rak says as well, the result can not be changed.

Still, Khun lets Bam come inside to talk to them. He starts with Rachel’s injury, because at the end of the day it’s always about Rachel—and not him, not what he wants—and Khun wants to scream and beg Bam not to follow the girl. It’s a selfish desire, he knows. But Khun had acted perfectly, had placed Bam as highly as he could in every test, and things still didn’t work out. People, Rachel, still took him away.

Then Bam asks for their, for his, help and Khun has agreed before the voice in his head repeats the words of his mother. He remembers Maria and thinks that this is not going to be like that time. This time, they climb together.

(Bam dies soon after.)

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Khun is a cruel person and so takes the cruellest of tasks. He makes a web of secrets and lies, he plans revenge and dreams of golden eyes and chestnut hair. He is his usual self, no one can deny that, because his pain is personal and not for anyone to see. Despite that, on cold nights with the darkness filling up everything, Khun griefs and Ran stands by his side.

(Viole stares at the same sky.)

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The Twenty-Fifth Bam is reborn and Khun still chases. Still devotes himself entirely to him. Bam still chooses Rachel and Khun stills begs him not to. It’s an endless circle, and despite what Bam’s logical part says, it’s bound to be like that for a long time.

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“At least tell us where you’re going,” Khun says playfully and Bam can feel himself getting more at ease with every second passing “so I can chase after you any time.”

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They both fall because the story always has a fall. Khun falls headfirst into the unknown with great force, great loyalty, without having any more rope left. It’s a painful dive in every way. Khun feels alive, feels the love and the air being stolen from his lungs while also feeling the burning ache in his chest every time Rachel comes first. Khun can scream with his dying breath for Bam not to follow her and he is certain his prayers would go unheard.

(Bam falls peacefully until he hits the ground violently—his body unscathed.)

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Khun Aguero Agnis is dead, or to be more precise, close to death because of Bam. It’s a fundamental truth that can not be changed no matter what Rak or Endorsi says. It’s a truth which engraves itself daily on Bam’s heart until either Khun wakes up or Bam bleeds to death. It’s the least he deserves.

It’s a bad time to realize how much he cares for Khun. How absolutely vital is for him not to lose the other. How, in the end, he shouldn’t have chased who wouldn’t chase back.

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Khun comes back and Bam starts to heal.

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Then one day Bam wakes up and feels something wrong. He can hear noise from outside, can make out Anaak’s and Endorsi’s bickering, which means that they aren’t under attack. Still, something is out of place and so Bam goes to the next room, Khun’s room, barefooted, heart slightly heavy.

Khun isn’t there. And, out of pure luck, as if the stars aligned, Bam sees a small piece of paper resting on his bed. Bam knows not to pry, but curiosity gets the best of him. He grabs the paper and unfolds it. ‘I’m sorry. Don’t look for me.’ is written in what is unmistakably Khun’s handwriting.

Bam can feel his heart-shattering.

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Bam doesn’t chase. Not because he doesn’t want to, no one can comprehend how much he wants—needs—to chase after Khun but because he respects his choice. However, even with letting him go like Shibisu tells him, Bam can’t help breaking.

Had love always been so violent?

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When he meets Khun Hachuling again, a part of him wants to ask if he knows of his brother’s whereabouts. However, before he gets the chance to contemplate asking or not, the older Khun wrecks the little sanity Bam had left.

“Why is he with Maria?” he asks him and Bam can only feel the weight in his heart getting heavier and heavier, breaking his bones, breaking him—“I had offered to take him a few years ago but he wanted to stay with you. What changed?”

“He’s with Maria?”

“And Maschenny.” Hachuling tells him “She takes quite a pride in it.”

Bam continues breaking to a point he isn’t sure there are things left to shatter.

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Bam wonders if this is how it was for Khun when he was chasing Rachel. Was this the same pain? Was his worse? No one could measure pain but Bam always thought that losing something that was so devotedly and undeniably yours must have been one of the worst pains. If only the Tower hadn’t hated him, perhaps Bam could have begged Khun not to leave.

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Shibisu had known. Hwa Ryun too. They try to explain something to him, probably why Khun left, but Bam doesn’t want to hear.

There is an important fact known amongst those who had met either Bam or Khun and that was that they were always loyal to one another.

(Bam doesn’t know when that changed.)

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Shibisu had kept contact with Khun so they could exchange information about FUG’s and Jahad’s plans. Khun had been a spy for them—this is what Shibisu had claimed—and the reason why the others didn’t know was that Bam wouldn’t have let him. Truly, Bam wouldn’t have let him, but at least, he wouldn’t have lost him again.

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He calls him the same night. They fight. Bam’s heart can no longer break.

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It’s Ran who comes to him eventually, he attacks him on sight and Bam is left with more injuries, this time physical ones. “Why are you still here?”

“Where else would I be?”

“Bringing my brother back, you idiot!” Ran yells at him “Who knows when Maschenny will snap and kill him?”

“Why would she snap? She doesn’t know he lied.”

“Well, she knew yesterday.” A feeling of protectiveness washes over Bam, the alarm on his head buzzing. “I don’t know why she hasn’t done anything yet but—”

“Why hasn’t he left?”

“Because you fought,” Ran says and Bam curses himself, curses yesterday and curses Khun for not telling him about his plan.

“We did but I,”—he groans—“that didn’t mean I didn’t want him to return. The reason we fought was that he left, why would he even—we need to go get him. Do you know where we’re going?”

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Bam had prepared himself for many things, most of them involving attacks. However, seeing Khun at the other side of the road, not having noticed him wasn’t one of them. Perhaps this was why he left Ran’s side and ran, faster than his feet could carry, to Aguero’s side, grabbing him by the waist and lifting him. Khun, as soon as his feet were above the ground and his eyes on Bam took many short breaths and began whispering as many apologies as he could. Bam didn’t say anything, just held on tighter.

(Ran grinned and waited for them to be done.)

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This is a story like every other. Starts with loneliness and ends with devotion.