acotar one shots

someone to fight for

What I imagine Cassian would have said to Rhysand after solstice night.

I don't have a song for this one but if you have a suggestion lmk!

***

Cassian woke up angry. Furious. He tossed the covers away and sat up, dragging his hands down his face. His head was pounding.

He had hoped that anger would fade by the morning, but it did not. It pounded in his skull as insistently as the headache. He did not want to start the day this way.

Memories filled his mind of the night before, coaxing Azriel to drink with him in the hopes of getting him to open up. Something had happened. Something that had a darkness returning to the shadowsinger's eyes, a thing Cassian hadn't witnessed in a long time.

Azriel was not eating much. He pushed himself too hard in his own training. And every time he interacted with Rhys, he looked like a defiant animal trying to puff himself up and look scarier than he was. But Cassian could tell that on the inside, Azriel felt so small that he was fighting not to disappear.

Of course, Azriel would never tell anyone what bothered him. Not usually. Sometimes Cassian could get it out of him, but this time it took extra effort. Countless glasses of wine and rounds of shots.

Cassian yanked on his clothes with no awareness. Flew to the River House without remembering the trip. Stalked through the house in that silent fury, thanking the Mother he encountered no one. He entered Rhys's study without knocking, and found the High Lord behind his desk, studying a stack of papers before him.

Rhys looked up in surprise and scanned Cassian from head to toe.

"Is everything alright?" He asked, setting his pen down on the desk.

"I want you to show me your conversation with Azriel on solstice night." Cassian closed the door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. "Because if it went anything how Azriel relayed it to me last night, I am going to be beyond furious with you."

Rhys paused, his eyes narrowing as he digested Cassian's words.

"I'm not sure you have the right to ask for access to my memories." His voice was cool, almost irritated.

"I'm asking as your brother." Cassian did not budge.

Rhys studied Cassian's face. Assessing something in it. But he relented. He crossed the room to stand closer before playing the solstice conversation in Cassian's mind.

"You made a stupid decision," Cassian growled once out of Rhys's mind.

"You're questioning my decision?" Rhys slid his hands in his pockets. "The blood duel-"

"No," Cassian cut him off, rolling his eyes. "I understand what you told him. I don't think you were wrong. But you made a very poor word choice and I'm very disappointed that you don't see it."

Rhys was quiet, jaw clenched as he waited. He had not figured it out yet, and that made Cassian's blood boil.

"You questioned his worth, Rhysand. You implied he did not deserve Elain."

"That is not what I meant," Rhys snapped, his eyes flashing.

"I know," Cassian barked, "I know what you meant."

"He is acting like he's entitled to her," Rhys's anger smoldered across his features. "Like he is owed her. His loneliness is severely clouding his judgement and I suspect he may not be thinking with his head at all."

"Then that's what you should have told him."

Rhys gritted his teeth. When he didn't respond, Cassian continued,

"He has the wrong reasons for pursuing her. I don't think you're wrong to be angry. But I think you should have been clearer."

"I was furious when I spoke to him," Rhys reasoned, "And frankly a bit panicked. If he had been caught....There is no desirable outcome in that scenario."

"Rhys you also need to remember that he has been protecting and caring for Feyre's sisters since long before Lucien even met them. He is not entitled to Elain just because he spent that time with her, but he had been building a foundation with her for a long while and he very well may feel like that possibility was stolen from him. I'd imagine you to have a little more compassion for that."

Rhys was quiet, glowering. The muscles in his jaw twitched as he ground his teeth. Cassian knew he was right. Rhys knew it too, but he still had more to say.

"What about Mor?" Rhys asked. His voice flat.

"I think he just wants someone to fight for. And someone to fight for him." Cassian said quietly, his eyes softening. His gaze drifted to the floor.

"Is that why you're here?"

Cassian's eyes narrowed and snapped back up to Rhys's. He couldn't read the emotion in the High Lord's stare. Something burned there that looked suspiciously close to envy.

"You think I coddle him?" Cassian demanded, brows knitting together.

"I think you came here to argue with me about semantics." Rhys responded carefully.

"It is not just semantics. I don't believe in tough love."

"You don't believe in tough love for Azriel," Rhysand corrected.

That fury was bubbling up again. Cassian tugged his hand through his hair. Hands settling on his hips, his wings flared out in spite of himself. Rhysand, of course, clocked every movement. Cassian resisted the urge to squirm under his all-seeing watch.

"I think what you say to Azriel matters. You pulled rank on him and he took it as you putting him in his place. Below you. Like he doesn't deserve the love that you've been blessed with. He already believes that about himself."

"I know," Rhys's shoulders dropped. The words that finally broke through his ego. "I know he does."

"I just think you made a stupid word choice, Rhys. I needed you to know what it did to him."

It was a long while before the High Lord said anything. His face moved through a myriad of expressions. Cassian was wondering if he would say anything else at all when Rhys whispered,

"I know. You're right. Never stop standing up for him. Even to me."

Then he met Cassian's eyes again, and Cassian could see the grief that he held there. The memories of their friend's dark abuse and everything he had been taught to believe about himself. Cassian knew that he and Rhys both felt the hurt of Azriel's past deeper than their own.

Their quiet brother, so much softer on the inside than anyone would have guessed. They loved him so much they would give up every chance for their own revenge to give it to Azriel. To give him one good thing in his life. He did deserve Elain's gentle care. And they both hoped that there was someone else out there who could give that to him.

He's not out of the dark yet. Cassian spoke into Rhys's mind, his throat too choked with grief to speak. Even after all this time.

We will not let him move backwards. Rhys answered. I will find a way to tell him what he means to me.