Holding On To You || Alfonse x Reader

.:✧Chapter Six✧:.

Alfonse

I stood over Bruno as he knelt defeated in front of me. The man who had declared that he had killed Zacharias would be brought to justice. He had to be.

Anger coursed through me as I took a step closer, my fingers tightly gripping the handle of my trusted Fólkvangr.

"Do it. Kill me now!" He pleaded, his hands digging into the dirt. "I told you before...you'll regret it if you don't."

"One last time, Bruno," I said through clenched teeth. "Did you really kill Zacharias?"

He let out a short maniacal laugh. I was now able to see that the mask he always wore over his eyes had begun to crack.

"This again? Yes! I killed him! And I'll make sure you and your sister suffer the same fate." He said, chuckling like a maniac.

At his words, Sharena glanced over at me, lance in hand. With sad eyes, she awaited my decision. Anna stood to my right and Kiran behind me. I felt myself tense up as I stared at Bruno.

Here he was—the murderer—vulnerable.

"Very well," I said. "The time to avenge my friend has come."

I lifted a sword in the air, ready to bring it down on Bruno's head. Before I made the deadly movement, a calming touch landed on my shoulder.

"Wait," Kiran said, desperate to halt my action.

I turned my head to look at her. I was able to see her breathing was slightly frantic.

"Yes, Kiran? What is it?" I asked, disgusted at the hint of annoyance in my voice. Though I was busy carrying out revenge, Kiran's interference halted my driving act of vengeance. There was something about her that would make me stop anything.

Her eyes were shrouded in shadow as she stepped closer to stand by my side. "Alfonse, I believe that this here is Zacharias." She mumbled, grief in her voice.

I stared back at her in disbelief, while another part of me believed her words to be true. I lowered my sword, "What?" I asked, shocked. I averted my eyes as I shook my head, "No, that can't be true." I looked back at Prince Bruno who was once pleading us for an end but was now panicked. "How could it be?"

"Alfonse..." She said, strain auditable in her speech. "Think about it. You have to believe me."

"If it is, then that'd mean..." I trailed off as I stared at the man who I could have once called a friend.

"What is it, Brother?" Sharena asked, concerned about the halt of action. Her eyes were still locked onto Bruno.

I cast my eyes downward as I began to explain the possibility, "We completed the rite with the sending stone, yet we didn't hear Zacharias' voice. If he was alive, we would have. We assumed that he was dead. But there is another possibility..." I looked up and around the Order of Heroes as I allowed the words to fall from my mouth. "We did speak to Zacharias during the rite."

"What?" Sharena gasped, turning her attention away from Bruno. "That means..."

I placed the tip of my sword down on the ground, my course of action completely changing. I narrowed my eyes, "Prince Bruno, of the Emblian Empire, I ask you now, are you Zacharias?"

Bruno clenched his teeth and shot up from the spot he had fallen, despite his wounds. In an instant, he lifted his hand and shot a quick spell of purple fire towards Kiran's general direction. I quickly thrust my shield out in front of Kiran, blocking the sudden attack on her. Her hand landed on my shoulder as she hid behind my shield.