Flowers For The Living

by Minty0h

Summary:

Davesprite regrets many things from his own timeline, mostly things he never really told his brother. And it feels weird to let the Bro from Dave's timeline know about those.

Even if he does treat him like Dave.

Notes:

Buh, this is a continuous three part fic. I had to break this down in three parts so it wouldn't get absurdly long (the idea I had in mind was so much shorter than this, I'm so sorry...). Also, he, look, my headcanons for Davesprite are showing...

And my weakness for bathtub scenes is showing as well. I need to stop.

Chapter 1: Just to Trace That Face This One Last Time

When he looks at you dead in the eyes and tells you that you need a bath because you look terrible, you just stare back, the poker face you perfected through all these years not showing the real turmoil going on inside your head as you look at him, smiling confidently as he's covered in tar-coloured blood. You swear there's a strange gleam of sadness in his eyes, that you can see even from behind his shades, but you dismiss that thought. That's clearly your imagination trying to play tricks on you. There's no way Bro would let something like that slip.

You two have been fighting ogres and other nasty creatures for a while now, and getting a brief time out sounded like a plan. So the both of you head back to your apartment - or at least what's left of it - and agree on taking a good bath before proceeding.

The only thing is, he wants to be in the bath with you.

You accept that request though. So much happened in such a short amount of time, bathing with him doesn't really sound so strange. It almost feels comforting.

As the bathtub fills up with water, there's an uncomfortable silence between the both of you while you sit on the edge of the tub, trying not to stare too hard at him as he takes off his stained and dirty clothes. You have nothing to take off, except for your shades that are already sitting neatly on the edge of the sink.

When he's out of his clothes, there's already enough water in the bathtub for the both of you, so you reach out to cut the water as you hear Bro get inside, back against the wall as pretty much only his legs and hips are underwater. You follow accordingly, sitting in front of him and with your back turned to him.

You are a bit far away from him, but he quickly 'fixes' that by putting both his arms around your chest and pulling you against his own, his chin resting on your head. You try to pretend that didn't make your heart skip a beat for a moment there.

Suddenly, the inner turmoil going on inside your head comes back at full force, as things you thought that were buried in the back of your mind resurface.

Your timeline, the one you erased for the sake of going back and trying to get John to see how wrong he was, that was your world. The one with your actual friends... and your actual brother. None of the things in this timeline you're living in belong to you. It pains your heart when you think about it, but it's the truth.

Mindlessly, you start thinking about how things went down on your timeline, until you decided to call it quits and go back, because there was no use living a doomed existence. It took some time for you to make this decision though. More exactly, it took you four entire months.

After John's death, Jade's followed shortly thereafter, since no one was there to bring her into the game and save her from the incoming apocalypse. In an attempt to fill the void in your heart, you joined your brother and you both killed countless monsters.

That is, until he died.

You were caught in a sort of ambush, monsters swarming around you from all sides. They kept coming non-stop, clearly decided to end the both of you once and for all. Bro didn't let that happen to you though. He grabbed you by the wrist and threw you into the nearest teleporting portal he could find, paying no mind to your protests.

When you finally got around returning to the spot where you were fending off those blasted creatures, there was nothing there except for his body, covered in black and red.

And that was the last straw. Before Rose ended up dying on you as well, you decided it would be better to erase that timeline completely, with you as the only proof that it ever happened.

Suddenly, Bro's voice reaches your ears and you snap out of your thoughts. You actually have no idea what he just said to you. And apparently he notices that because he soon speaks again, a bit louder.

He asks you why you are so quiet and if there's something bothering you. Indeed there are countless things bothering you. For starters, the fact that this really isn't your Bro. He's the brother of the Dave in this timeline, but you think this isn't the time to discuss this issue.

Especially because he treats you as if you were his Dave, and that's reassuring. When Dave told you that you were free to do as you pleased and that you didn't need to be around him anymore, you wandered around the medium for a while until you crossed paths with his brother and, without even taking a second look at you, he let you stick with him so then you could fight side by side.

Just like in the timeline you erased.

More than that, he just calls you Dave. He never calls you Davesprite, like everyone else does. He never even asked you what you were called to begin with. And the first time he called you Dave, you admit that your eyes went wide in surprise. He really sees no difference between you two.

Even with all that going on inside your head, you just shake your head and tell him nothing's wrong, that you are just a little tired. He laughs at that and says that you are too young to get tired so fast.

You finally move from your spot, reaching for the soap to start your bath properly, Bro's arms still around your chest. He has no idea what that's doing to you.

It's strange bathing with your 'new' body, since your skin is completely covered by a thin layer of feathers, sans for your hands and face. Maybe you should just sit on a puddle and flap your wings like crazy as birds do. You still didn't get used to this whole bird anatomy deal.

Out of the blue, Bro moves his arms away from you and snatches the soap from your hand, one of his hands going for your back to wash it.

The self-control you are exerting right now as to not shudder under his touch is actually admirable. You always had lots of feelings towards your brother, and they just intensified when you started fighting together.

Of course that, you were an idiot and never told him anything. And he died without knowing how much you were helplessly in love with him.

For a moment you wonder if the Dave in this timeline ever brought that up, but you quickly conclude he didn't. You are him after all and you know how his mind works. If you didn't say a thing, he wouldn't either. Not to mention that he definitely doesn't have time to deal with that right now.

There's a sudden kiss on the back of your head, what catches you off guard and makes you flinch a little, and you know Bro noticed that but you hope he didn't.

One of his hands slide to your chest and he pulls you closer again, his other hand moving to pet one of your wings. And this time you can't fight back the shuddering taking over your body.

In the back of your mind you keep telling yourself this isn't your brother and that you shouldn't be getting excited about this. You try to put in your head that this is Dave's Bro, not yours.

Yes, you are aware that your dead and now non-existent Bro is the same as the one sitting behind you and caressing your wings, but it still feels like something's off. Almost as if you are 'stealing' him from Dave.

Trying to focus on something else, you decide to ask him what they are going to do once they are back into fighting. And he tells you he's going after Noir, and that he's doing it alone.

With your breathing stopping for the longest time, you just stare at the water. Is he crazy? Is he really going against the strongest guy around without any back up? No... This is sounding too much like your timeline. You aren't going to let him do such a thing all by himself, and get killed. Again. You can't lose him yet another time.

You move in the bathtub to face him, and you don't care if your eyes are filled with sadness and anger as you tell him you aren't going to let him do that. Not by himself at least. You are going to be there by his side. And without thinking it through all that much, you cup his face on your hands and leans forward, planting a kiss on his lips, eyes closed as you feel a tear or two stream down your face.

In the end, you weren't lying. You are tired. Tired of keeping your feelings all bottled up inside, tired of seeing people you love die around you, tired of keeping a stern face when you just want to break down and cry...

He places a hand behind your head, caressing your hair, and another on your back. And before you stop to think about whatever the hell you are doing, you kiss him even more intently, pressing your chest against his, not caring nor noticing if he's kissing you back. He means so much to you and you'll never forgive yourself for not letting your Bro know that. All because you have to play the 'cool kid' role all the damn time.

Suddenly, you move away from him, hands moving from his face to his shoulders, your eyes now open and staring deep into his, orange-tinted tears running down your cheeks as you silently cry. You don't even care if that makes you look uncool.

The way he smiles at you in response to your tearing up is almost heart-wrenching. He smiles as if telling you everything's going to be OK. The both of you know this is bullshit though. Then it hits you why you felt as if there was a gleam of sadness in his eyes earlier on. He knows, just like you, that shit is about to get serious, and there's no way he's going through that untouched.

For some reason you suddenly want to punch him for trying to give you such a fake sense of security. And at the same time you just want to lean forward and kiss him again, for trying to protect you so blindly like that. You are just an alternate version of his Dave. You wonder why he cares so much.

You bury your face on his neck, an arm around his waist. The water is still warm and you feel just so comfortable there, laying with him, your tears progressively drying up as you try to put your feelings in check again.

"Dave, what really is going on?"

You tense as he calls you by that name yet again, more so due to the tone of worry in his voice.

"What's been bothering you?"

With your fingers tensing into fists, you find it really hard to keep your emotions to yourself, and you start crying profusely against his neck, telling him all about your timeline. How everything went wrong and how bad you feel by not being able to help anyone back then, especially him. You tell him all about your Bro and how he died protecting you and just how frustrated you are about that, and that you don't want him doing the same.

He pats your head while you talk, in a clear attempt to comfort you, and it's such a soft gesture it almost feels strange coming from him. Not that he never treated you with affection, but his way of showing it has always been a bit unusual, and certainly lacking on the 'delicate' department.

When you are done talking, almost two minutes pass before you start regaining your composure, your crying subduing and your breathing going back to normal. More under control, you back away a little, looking at his face again. He's still smiling at you in a reassuring way before ruffling your hair, now straight out telling you 'everything will be OK' and that you 'shouldn't worry so much'. You nod just for the hell of it, because you don't believe that at all, but you appreciate that he's trying to put your mind at ease.

Moving on the tub again, the water now barely lukewarm, you go back to sitting the way you were before: with your back against Bro's body. He's back to caressing your wings with one hand, as the other massages your chest. Your breathing is almost hesitant as he does those things, your own hands resting under your tail. Then, the hand he has on your chest move up to your neck, brushing off the plumage around it before brushing his lips against your skin. Your tail swishes almost instantly in response to that and your body heat raises.

You can't help but think how ridiculous it is for you to get so excited by so little. But then again, no one can blame you for that. You had it with hiding feelings, especially the ones concerning your brother.

Chapter 2: Over All Too Soon

Notes:

Bluh, here's the smut part of the fic that took FOREVER. I'm sorry.

Also, should I warn you about the fact that Davesprite has 'bird bits' in this fic? Because, yeah, that's how things go down in this fic. I apologize in advance. This will probably turn down a lot of you folks...

By the way, the tone of this chapter is a lot 'lighter' than the previous one, emotionally wise.

The next one will fix that though.

If you weren't used to Bro's ridiculous speed, you would probably be lost right now. One moment you were both sitting on the bathtub almost too quiet for your own good, and in the blink of an eye you are both standing, with you pinned against the cold bathroom tiles, facing him, as he nibs and sucks on your neck, with you groaning in response to each tiny action of his.

You aren't really 'standing' per se. It's been a while that this term has completely disappeared from your vocabulary. You are more like floating with your back against the wall and his fingers intertwined with yours.

He murmurs something against your neck that you barely pay attention to. It's hard to do that when he has his body grinding against yours and his tongue is tracing your jaw before kissing you.

When the pleasure starts to build up in your body, you are suddenly reminded of how the whole 'turning into a bird hybrid' thing affected you, physically. But you don’t have a lot of time to think about that, because one of his hands trail down your body, feeling around and searching eagerly… You can’t even say anything either because your mouth is too busy kissing him.

He finds his way around just fine without your help though, and when he does find what he’s looking for, he moves back, breaking the kiss, looking down and cracking a smile, followed by a chuckle.

“So, how did you lose your junk?”

Yes. That’s exactly the kind of stupid, uncalled for comment you expected him to do at such a time. It’s not like this is an emotional situation for you. Not at all. It’s the perfect time for him to crack jokes.

The bastard.

You just angrily tell him to shut up, that you didn’t ‘lose’ anything and that it’s just a ‘bird thing’. You don’t feel like giving him the whole rundown about it though. Talk about awkward, you sitting there explaining to your brother just how a bird’s anatomy works. That’s definitely the most mood-killing scenario you can imagine – not that your present setting is incredibly enticing, but it’s better than discussing animal genitalia.

Giving you the fakest apology ever, he’s back at teasing your neck with his mouth and his fingers are now circling and pressing around your ‘new’ entrance, the subtle frown you had in your face finally dissolving into a softer expression, a moan leaving your lips as your free hand grabs a fistful of his hair.

At this moment you are giving absolutely no fucks about the fact that this isn’t your brother. He’s treating you like Dave; you are going to treat him as if he was your brother. You just waited so much for this and had to go through so much hell to get to this point. You aren’t going to let guilt eat you away now.

Your hips jerk forward, against his fingers, as you start to grow impatient. You know this isn’t exactly the moment to indulge in pleasure, and time is of the essence – and if there’s something you know about that has to be time. And you want to make it clear for him that the both of you have to make that quick, even if you don’t actually want this to go fast. In fact you want the completely opposite. You want to drag this on forever. But you can’t give yourself this luxury just yet.

Although, he doesn’t seem to agree with you on that, as he moves his fingers away from your crotch – wait… do you even have a crotch, without any legs? – and rests his hand on your chest. In a fluid and almost thoughtless motion, you wrap your tail around his waist, pulling him as close as possible. You can feel his still partially limp erection rub against your skin, just under where you want it to be.

Without hesitation you lower yourself a little, your back sliding against the now warm tiles behind you. And then both your entrance and his cock are more properly aligned, and you pull him even closer with your tail, trying to make him get your ‘hint’ this time around. And trying to get that cocky smile from his face.

Still, he doesn't seem to be willing to go fast. He tells you to 'slow down' and traces your chest with kisses, as he seems to pay no mind to how tinted your cheeks are, or how willing your entrance is, or how hard your nipples are.

You got turned on so quickly it’s ridiculous. There is obviously a whole bunch of factors to blame for that though. Mostly the fact that all this is completely new to you, especially with your new bits. You don't even know if that's going to work, because birds aren't made for traditional fucking, obviously. Well, if that only gives you pain you are sure to claw at his back to let him know.

Finally, he pays attention to your arousal and nibbles on your nipple, his fingers creeping down again, back to teasing your entrance. As he rubs and circles around it, you feel it get wet, and it's almost embarrassing how you pretty much have a pussy now. Thank God Bro isn't getting in your case about this, or you would never hear the end of it. He would make all the jokes known to men about that, and never get tired of them.

You are glad he's distracted enough not to go that way.

In fact, how easily he accepted your new wacky anatomy caught you by surprise. You were honestly thinking that he would back away from you slowly upon finding out you are almost 100% bird.

Suddenly, a thought crosses your mind: aren't you brushing dangerously close to bestiality with this? Not that you not being a bird-freak would make this scenario a lot more adequate to begin with, but still...

Your thoughts on that vanish completely when a finger slides into you, and you choke back a groan, that foreign feeling taking over your body.

"Does it hurt?"

It's the first thing to leave his lips when you clutch to his shoulder in response to that action. No way. That's the complete opposite of hurtful. So you just limit yourself to shake your head and allow him to continue.

He wriggles his finger inside you and you throw your head back, your whole body trembling as you grip his hair even stronger, and you gasp for air when he starts to delicately move his finger back and forth, never really going all the way out. In response to that, you whisper swear words against the curve of his neck, before burying your face against it.

With your whole body trembling you thank God that you aren’t standing, or else you would be on the floor by now by how weak all your muscles suddenly feel. It’s so good to forget about all the things that are bothering you and indulge in something pleasuring even if only for a few minutes.

The end of your tail slithers over his skin and reaches for his erection, wrapping around it and stroking him in the same rhythm that he moves his finger. The way he groans and breathes against your chest in return just gets you even more hot and bothered. You really wish he would stop delaying things and just got on with that already. You both have monsters to kill and a crazy guy to hunt. Foreplay and the like can wait for after that.

At last, he seems to notice that you can’t stay there forever. He moves his finger out and brushes your tail away, moving his lips from your chest to your lips to kiss you, as the tip of his cock brushes against your moist and hot entrance. Once again you thrust your hips forward, trying to convince him to get a move on.

When he finally starts to push forward, you let out a grunt against his mouth, a weird uncomfortable feeling taking over you as he keeps going. You really hope that it goes away soon, because you just want to feel the same thing you had going on when his finger was inside of you. Maybe you should have listened to him after all and taken things slow.

The deeper he gets inside of you though, the better you start to feel. You suddenly pull away from his kiss; gasping for air and moaning between murmured swear words, your lips go for his neck, causing even more sounds to leave his mouth as you suck and bite on his skin, leaving crimson markings all over it.

His hips start moving back and forth in a slow, regular pace, and your whole body starts to feel even limper and your mind starts to fog up. You start panting, eyes shutting tight as your mouth remains half open to give way for the groans leaving your throat. He still has one of his hands holding firmly to yours and his free one grips your waist, his speed and rhythm building up and his groaning growing coarser and his breathing getting irregular.

Your hand moves from his hair to his back, scratching at it as you bring him as close as it is humanly possible. His whole body is rubbing against yours as you are pressed firmly against the wall, a thin stream of droll coming out of the corner of your mouth as you just get helplessly lost in that feeling that you’ve been waiting for so eagerly.

Before you know it, his lips are near your ear, and he bites and pulls on your earlobe in a way that makes you coo in utmost pleasure and gets you to open your eyes, as your mind starts to go even blanker, but you seem to come back to your senses when you hear his voice deep in your eardrums.

He starts talking about how all that feels great, and how much he wants you. He also tells you that when you are done with all this SBURB bullshit, that the both of you are doing that again, and he starts describing in between gasps and moans just what he’s going to do with you, and your mind is suddenly racing at a hundred miles per hours, imagining everything he’s describing to you, as his hips roll harder and faster against you.

All you can do to answer to his words is to nod almost frantically and murmur ‘yes’ after ‘yes’. You agree with everything he’s saying. Every single word that’s leaving his lips is more than OK.

White light flashes in the back of your mind as you feel your muscles tighten around him, and it takes just a couple more thrusts for you to scream and throw your head back as you climax, your body quickly becoming tense for a minute just to get limp again, your head resting on his shoulder as your body is still trembling.

You moan quietly when you hear him grunt and his hands shake, and you feel him come, deep inside of you, and it feels almost unbearably hot. But you are so dizzy and wholly satisfied it doesn’t even matter.

Without missing a beat, he touches your chin and guides your face, and you are kissing again, and it feels downright amazing. You close your eyes again, caressing the back of his head as your tail tightens around his waist and grip the hand he has on yours strongly. You don’t want to move away from that spot, and you don’t want him moving either.

He does move though. He backs away and breaks the kiss and you can’t help but stare at him right into his eyes, and you almost feel like slapping him when you notice the smile he has on his lips. For some odd reason, you know exactly what he’s telling you with that stupid smirk and you are suddenly infuriated again, even if you are still into that feeling of afterglow.

Don’t do that… You think to yourself as you keep staring in his eyes, your fingers gripping on his shoulder. You know he can understand what you mean just by looking at your face.

As you expected though, he disregards that, pulling away from you and stepping out of the bathtub, reaching for his clothes and getting dressed. Yours fists clench as you don’t know how what to do. Aren’t you supposed to stop him? Why are you just standing and looking at him dumbfound like that?

When he throws his sword over his shoulder puts on his shades and glances back at you, you feel your body flinch, before you say the first thing that comes to your head.

“If you want to go get killed, fine! Go do that!”

He chuckles and shakes his head before walking out of the bathroom and leaving to God knows where. You feel your shoulders drop as you stare at the open door, angry at yourself.

That was such a terrible move on your part.

You have to go after him. There’s no way you are letting him do that by himself. Even if you die trying to protect him, you aren’t going to ‘hide’ while he fights a battle that should be fought by the both of you.

Chapter 3: Like A Game That No One Ever Wins

Notes:

So, here's the long waited ending of this fic. Let it be know I suck at both sad scenes and action scenes, and this chapter has BOTH, so, yeah, it'll be an experience for everyone *lol*

With that said, let's get down to business...

Your search for your brother is almost frantic. You are happy no one you know is around to see your facial expression taken over by panic and uncertainty. What if you don’t find him on time? What if, when you arrive, he’s already dead? Yet again.

Trying to brush off those thoughts you jump from portal to portal, going to all the lands as fast as you can. You have to find him or else you’ll never forgive yourself. You can’t fail twice. Not to mention there’s this terrible feeling at the bottom of your stomach and you just can’t seem to make it go away. You hope that goes away when you finally find him.

When you reach the LOWAS, you fly around at max speed, your eyes scanning every nook and cranny, desperation getting the best of you. Just where the fuck is he anyway?

Then, the sound of metal hitting metal reaches your ears. That’s an all too familiar sound to you. The sound of swords hitting against each other is something that you’ll never really forget. And when you get closer to the source of the noise, you see Bro fighting Noir on some plateau, amidst flames.

You descend in a rush, pulling out your own sword, decided to help your brother kick that guy’s ass once and for all. He has caused enough trouble and you are pretty sure that if the both of you attack him at the same time, he won’t stand a chance. You trained almost non-stop for four months. It’s only fair that your fighting skills are enough to compliment your brother’s and that you can make Noir eat dust.

At least that’s what you are hoping for.

When you finally get into their line of sight, Noir is far from pleased about seeing you there. You glance at your brother quickly and he looks back at you, almost glaring, giving you a ‘what the hell are you doing here?’ kind of look. You completely disregard that and just get ready to fight. You are going to help him, like it or not.

The both of you start to attack Noir from all sides, scratching him here, bruising him there, but never really making any significant damage. Why did Bro even consider it being a good idea going against this guy all by himself, when the two of you going at him isn’t being all that effective? Sometimes, your brother’s way of thinking simply baffles you.

Long, tiring minutes pass as you fight, you slashing around with your sword and your brother doing the same, with the additional ‘help’ from Cal. After turning that doll into a sprite in your timeline, you grew a little bit resentful towards it, but in the end, you can’t really stay mad it. It is only a doll, right? And besides, just what were you expecting by prototyping a marionette into a sprite? You should have known that wasn’t the smartest choice.

After a while though, it seems like the both of you are finally tiring him, as he doesn’t seem to deflect your attacks as easily and his defenses start to lower. There’s this small hint of contentedness deep in your heart as you start realizing that your hits are actually causing damage, and that you and your Bro got this. You fucking got this and you are going to win. You are going to send this guy to hell and everything will be fine.

Only thing is, none of you were counting on something going terribly wrong.

One minute, you are fighting an above average guy, strength and speed wise, but nothing really impossible. The next minute though, he begins transforming and flashing bright green, the flames around you changing from red to almost lime green. You are quite sure this shouldn’t be happening, and that whatever is going on is bound to fuck up both you and your brother.

When Noir is done shape-shifting, you are pretty sure that you recognize that dog face he now has. But you don’t really have time to worry about that. You are far more concerned about the fact that all of his wounds were healed and just by looking at the guy you can tell he’s overflowing with power. This is so not good.

He suddenly lounges at you, or more exactly, he teleports right next to you. You can’t really do anything but stare in wide eyed surprise as he raises his sword, neither you nor your Bro being fast enough to do anything as he cuts of one your wings.

You let out a shriek and your floating is completely disrupted by the pain, causing you to fall back on the hard ground as clear-orange blood starts flowing from your injury. Clutching at the wound you watch as your brother jumps at Noir, anger quite visible on the way he advances forward, swinging his sword almost a little bit too strongly. It’s quite different from the always fluid and calculated movements he always seems to execute.

Doing your very best to disregard the pain that’s rippling all over your body, you get up and try to fly as fast as you can to try and land a hit on Noir, but he deflects it as if it’s nothing.

Taking turns trying to almost desperately hurt him – and yes, you are desperate, even though you know neither you nor your brother would ever admit that you are, in fact, starting to panic – turns out to be a failed plan, as he seems to read each and every one of your attacks, finding openings on your defenses far too often and slashing you both with his sword, but nothing as bad as what he did to your wing.

That is, until he starts to tire the both of you.

Your stamina can only go so far, and you’ve been running, fighting and blocking attacks for almost an hour now, and that whole ordeal is far more intense than any kind of strife you were ever involved in, even the ones between the both of you, where you usually go all out and beat the crap out of each other for the longest time. Well, where Bro beats the crap out of you, but that’s another story altogether.

He’s getting the both of you tired and that’s a fact that can’t be changed. And without one of your wings your movements are far from being perfect, and there’s a nagging voice in the back of your head that won’t shut up about you being useless and that you are there just to get in the way. And those thoughts make you lose your concentration considerably.

Your brief lack of focus gets your guard down for a second, but that’s more than enough for Noir to inflict a serious cut across your stomach. Letting out another shriek, you double over and stare at the ground, blood gushing from the fresh wound.

From a short distance you hear Bro call your name and you look up to see him plunging down at Noir with his sword, barely bruising, but getting him away from you.

“Get the fuck out of here!”

He shouts at you as he keeps fending off Noir and for a second you just stare, not sure what to do. You straighten up your posture, despite the pain, and you shout ‘no’ back at him, clutching to your sword firmly with both hands, trying to ignore the pain even if that really isn’t working.

“Just fuck off!”

“NO!”

You scream as you leap forward, your attacks towards Noir irregular and out of pace, until he deflects one of them in such a way that it sends you rolling on the ground, so strongly that your shades fall from your face and lands a few meters from you.

Gasping for air you try to get up again, turning your head to see just what’s happening between Bro and your foe. And you are pretty sure you decided to look at the most unfortunate time ever.

Everything seems to go in slow motion as you watch Bro fall back to the ground just as easily as you, his sword falling from his hand, and before you know it, Noir picks it up and sinks it into your brother’s chest, until it comes out through his back and digs through the hard ground, with blood flowing everywhere. The choked back scream that comes from Bro twists your heart in such a way that you can’t even move. All you can do is stare is disbelief.

As you hear your brother cough and wheeze, you watch Noir lean forward and snatch his shades, and in an act of impulse you get up in one go, lunging at him with your sword just to be sapped to the ground again. You quickly look up and he looks at you through your brother’s shades before flying away, just like that, not even bothering finishing you off. Almost as if you didn’t even pose a threat.

At the same time a side of you wants to chase after him, you know it’s a stupid move. You are just too injured to do anything. And when you hear Bro gasp you instantly forget about Noir and focus on him, moving to sit by his side, panic taking over your brain.

Impulsively, you grab his hand in yours and look down at his face. He looks so strained it almost feels unnatural. He’s still panting for air but he looks at you and even manages an awkward smile.

“Wow… that fucking sucked.”

The hold you have on his hand tightens as he gives you the biggest understatement of the century. You quickly loosen your grip though, your shoulder slumping forward. You are sore all over and you are still slowly bleeding for the cut in your stomach. It didn’t reach any vital organs, luckily, but it still hurts like a bitch.

"Bro... I'm sorry..." You bite your lower lip, trying to hold back any tears that might come up. You already cried enough today.

"For what?" His voice is weak as he moves his hand away from yours and touches your face with the tip of his fingers. "For that freak... going demi-God mode? It's... not your fault."

"If I was stronger we could have finished him off before he transformed into... into that thing." You stutter between your words, fists clenching. You feel absolutely useless and weak.

"You... you are really strong. I guess that guy... was just too much for u-" He heavily coughs again, gasping for air, but his fingertips never leave your face.

Clutching to his hand, you rub your cheek against it, looking away and trying really hard not to cry. When his breathing stabilizes again, he moves your head until you are looking at his face again.

"Heh... you looked really cute back there... in the bathtub." His tone of voice is between pained and joking, and you feel as your chest is being punctured by a lance or something equally big and painful. "I'm only sorry... that I won't be able... able to do the things I told I would."

"T-that's OK..." You try to smile at what he says, but it's such a sad smile that you feel that's even worse if you didn't do anything at all.

"I... I know I don't say this enough... but I love you Dave... and... I'm really proud of you... no matter..." You can see that his eyelids are getting heavy and his life is fading away ever so slowly, and the combination of that and what he just told you just makes it harder not to break down in tears.

"I... I love you too... I just... I wish I could have helped you..." Turning your face you brush your lips against the palm of his hand. You've never felt so terrible.

"Just... remember to tell the other Dave I said that... This goes... for the both of you..." He moves his fingers to scratch your cheek and you look at his face again, sadness eating you away.

"I'll let him know..." You once again try to smile. His speech is so weak and you just want him to stay so badly. You know there really isn't anything you can do for this to happen though.

Closing your eyes you just silently keep holding his hand, listening to his ragged breath, and you wonder just how much that hurts. You could ask him about it, but knowing him he's just going to say that's nothing.

You are so lost in sadness and disappointment you barely realize it when his breathing gets softer. And even if you did, you refuse to say 'good bye' to him, and you are pretty sure he feels the same.

And then... his breathing comes to a total stop.

It takes a long, almost painful minute for that to down on you, but when it does, you let go of his still warm hand and rest your face against on his bloodied chest, and you allow your tears to finally flow. Everything you didn't cry in your timeline, you are crying now. You refuse to hold back your emotions this time around.

Your crying goes on for God knows how long, but it finally comes to a point where you have no tears left to shed. With that, you simply move away from him, trying not to stare at his body too much, as you go retrieve your shades.

Putting them on again, you begin to slowly and weakly fly away. You are finally paying proper attention to your wounds and it hurts so much. Not as much as your chest though. Your chest is on fire and if you could you would rip off your heart in one go.

Still, you have to be strong. Your brother was proud of you, and you are sure to live up to that, even without him around. After all, he would never forgive you if you just gave up. And that would be worst than watching him die a thousand deaths.