Brother

It happened just before I'd pit Adam against Chela.

My head was a mess. Pent up feelings of aggression over mom's death made me irrational.

If I'd went back in time, I would've stopped myself.

I lost someone close me.

The smiles of that person were never the same. It ripped my heart apart seeing their skin being worn.

There was a seed of calamity in our midst.

I was sure that it inhabited the body of my dear little brother. There was no other explanation.

After all, before that prominent battle…

…I killed my brother.

…..

….

…

..

.

"Adam, you-" (Caden)

"I'm going to rest." (Adam)

"…Is there something wrong?" (Caden)

"Nothing, nothing… Well, I'll see you later." The boy smiled in an eerie manner Caden had never seen.

It was obvious at that point that this wasn't the brother he knew. No miracle had resurrected him.

If so…

Caden turned and headed towards the final resting place of his family. An untimely demise he caused.

For as long as he could remember, the older brother had hated his sibling simply for existing.

If it wasn't for him, his mother would be alive.

He heard tales of her from the rest of the Clan, and remembered the woman who loved him deeply.

Even his father always lamented about her parting.

While Caden was growing up, he could only feel regret that he couldn't have done anything to save her. The thoughts of a boy yearning his dream mother's affection and having a 'complete' family.

A single younger brother meant nothing to him.

Fenrir may have blamed the humans for weakening her to such an extent, but his first son never forgot.

The reason his mother died was his brother's birth.

An important piece of his family was missing because of this thing. An extra in a real family.

A real family with a child and two living parents.

If Adam hadn't came into his world, then maybe their mother would have lived for many more years.

She wasn't a weak person.

No one had ever spoken of her as weak.

Only that she was more than anyone could describe her to be. Deeper than anything felt.

In the boy's mind, there was no way mere humans could've weakened her enough to be killed by a baby. One that was so weak and fragile that even a touch from his claws could break its pale skin.

This thought had confused him for a long time.

Whether the baby he was raising with his father was the cause of her death, or was it just fate.

Destiny taking its course.

The baby might have only been a year younger than him, but there was a clear difference he felt.

While he had mastered combat, the baby still played with flowers. Acting nothing like a warrior.

While Caden had built his forces and created a reputation, that baby was merely enjoying its life.

Caring naught about the pride of their father.

The Alpha of the Clan…

The answer he came to after seeing the weak mindset of that child… was that he failed her.

His mother wouldn't have wanted that failure.

Adam didn't deserve the Ocelot name whatsoever.

He stayed weak and sensitive. Nothing like a man of their Clan should be like. Nothing like his mother.

She was strong and beautiful. A dream brought to reality and radiant like the full moon of dark nights.

How could this weakling possibly be her blood?

While he toiled and resolved himself to bring honour to her name, the baby was living well.

He couldn't accept it.

This thought slowly poisoned his heart with an corruptive malice. Growing with his each smile.

That foolishness… That ignorance…

Finally, he took him to the cliff besides a certain flower bed. Apparently, his mother loved this place.

"Brother…?" The young boy innocently looked at the pillar that had always kept their family secure.

The older brother's face was hard to read…

"…Why aren't you a fighter?" Caden asked him this.

His heart breaking apart the more his little brother strayed from the path he'd imagined them to take.

"Sorry?" Adam looked at him with perplexed eyes.

Unable to make out what he meant by that.

"You're not like the rest. You're small and weak and stupid. Why are you like this?" Caden's ever-so-important mask of perfection started to break. His weakness, which he'd hid well, was pathetically shown on display. A mockery that earn chastising.

But Adam didn't care whatsoever.

"Brother, are you hurt anywhere? How do I make you feel better?" The boy clung to his 'Big Bro'.

Caden, who had never experienced this kind of affection before even from his father, was unable to react appropriately. His mind, heart, and body felt out of balance. Chaos in his mind turning to fury.

Rejection of whatever confused him.

"Let go…!" Caden pushed his bother away: "You're just a failure. You shame our mother's name!"

"…" Adam didn't speak back. Tolerating the anger and behaving himself unlike how a child should.

"Speak! Why can't you put in some effort?! Do you think this is a game? How are YOU my brother? We are nothing alike! NOTHING." Caden continued to push him every time he accused his young brother.

Fury blinded the older brother of his surroundings.

"W-wait…!" Adam started to panic after seeing that he had been driven to the cliff edge at some point.

But Caden didn't listen.

"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!" A roar followed the final push that caused Caden's biggest regret.

He remembered realising what he had done and trying to grab his brother's hand. The fear in both their eyes while trying to fix a mistake made out of anger… only to be thwarted by the hands of fate.

It was too little too late that point.

Was this a terrible tragedy, or a predetermined murder? The older brother's eyes may have shown regret, but it wasn't as if he was unaware this could happen. It was the reason he brought Adam here.

Caden enhanced his eyes and looked down.

Because Estelle wasn't here, the young boy had no means of breaking his fall in such a sudden event.

Adam's head crashed onto a rock down below.

He lay there unmoving…

From what Caden knew, Estelle should be dead along with her master. Vanishing without a sound.

The same way he planned to cover up this murder.

Fenrir didn't come here much anymore, and he didn't allow others to come by this place as well.

When it came time to search for his brother before his match, they would think that he ran off himself.

No fingers would point to him whatsoever.

Even so, he needed to bury the body to be sure.

Caden dug a hole, threw the corpse in, and continued along with the plan he'd envisioned…

…but had never expected to actually carry out.

He expected no one to come when Chela announced herself, but there he came limping.

His head injury nowhere to be seen.

It made Caden question if he was sane.

Were those memories of burying his brother a lie?

Did he hallucinate it all?

Adam's attitude acted as if he didn't remember the whole ordeal. It was hard to tell if he was injured.

Regeneration was what made things difficult.

If what happened before was part of reality, then there was no way Adam could regenerate brain matter. Then again, there was an easier way to test if this person was really the same brother he knew.

He nodded at Chela…

…and she administered a familiar deadly stroke.

This would be the point where the brother he knew would've started crying in pain, but that didn't happen. Instead, a series of events far beyond his understanding of Adam made him more certain.

For a brief moment, Caden wanted to believe the stress was what caused his brother to change.

He had been acting no different until that stroke.

Maybe his sanity had finally broken and he'd only imagined killing his brother. That must be it.

There was no way Adam could've died so easily.

'But then… why did he avoid me?' They were close brothers before he'd thrown the boy off the cliff.

If he remembered nothing, then why hide away?

Doubt started to gnaw at his psyche until he couldn't stand it anymore. Rushing to that place.

The cliff near his mother's flower bed…

And returning to the scene of the crime was only to prove his assumption correct. That it must be right.

There was no way his little brother had survived.

Caden dug the mound of dirt under the cliff his little brother was thrown off. It was there he laid.

Adam's dead body was still lying there.

His face still had the same look of despair and hope that his brother would come to his rescue.

His little brother was in that grave he'd dug.

Then…

…who was the boy who fought Chela?

Why was this grave undisturbed?

From a far away tree, a dark silhouette was watching this scene with a darkness in his eyes.

"The false seed of calamity has been sown. This time, things won't go the way you intend." The figure looked at something inside his hand, then poetically mused while they disintegrated to ash.

He sung a quiet melody: "Ever since the Greatest Darkness was born, nine calamities heralded his descent. After the Greatest Light had rebelled to save humanity, five fortunes were bestowed."

"She died for our sins. Gave us boons in hopes of our future… but such love will create a false hero."

"Oh false fortune and calamity. You two shall meet one day, I swear. That will be the day of reckoning."

"Be it sinner or saint. Make your choice well."

The silhouette bowed towards the direction where Caden had come from and vanished into thin air.

Leaving the wolf boy who started to lose his mind.