Breaking out

III. Chapter 1

SIX YEARS AGO, A MONTH AFTER PRINCE NUWEE'S BIRTH,

...

Ruth would never forget the day he had found his brother, three months ago, in this very room. It was dark, with no candles lit. Ruth had woken up suddenly and Aki hadn't been in his bed, he rose to go look for him, and find he did, curled up on the floor, clothes stained and hands covered in blood.

Aki had looked pale, paler than he usually is, even his lips gone an eerie white.

"Aki?" he had called, to which he flinched.

"No, don't, don't come close, Ruth, go away," as if he could ever do that, he had been scared out of his mind that Aki was injured.

"Brother," he didn't even remember walking, or running, across the room, but did remembered the sting of his knees hitting the floor.

"Aki, are you hurt, where is the blood coming from?" His brother flinched, again, pressing harder against the wall.

"Ruth, don't, you shouldn't..." he recoiled from his reaching hands.

"Aki!" Ruth had caught him by the biceps, forcing him to look at him.

Aki's eyes had been wet, glazed, pupils blown wide, and he was shaking.

"Not...not...my..blood.." Aki muttered.

His hands tightened on his brother, he knew, for Aki winced, slightly, but Ruth felt it.

It was that night he found out, found how Yor had trained an assassin, it was Aki's first kill. He had been gathering information, before, but from now, his hands would permanently be stained of blood.

Ruth drew him closer, wrapping him tightly in his embrace, that was the first time he had seen him cry, hiccuping sobs that wracked his frame. The crying stopped, after a while, but he kept shivering, till he either fell asleep, or passed out of grief or exhaustion.

Ruth had pulled off Aki's soaked outer layers, leaving him only in soft inner shirt and pants and gently wiped off the stains off his skin. Aki not even stirring for a moment.

He had carried him to bed, tucked the sheets around him, and walked out. Alone in the garden he had let his own tears fall, silent, but filled with pain nonetheless. It is then that he vowed, vowed that Yor will pay. Before, it had been for Justice, now, now he had a vendetta, and by heavens' witness will he make that monster pay with every single drop of blood in his body.

...

Today, Aki was dressed in soft blues, all lighter shades, smiling down at the giggling baby in his arms. He was seated on a couch, under a sunlit window in the seating area of his room.

Ruth wanted to smack himself to be the reason to make that smile disappear, but he didn't had much of a choice.

"We don't have time brother," Ruth poked a finger on a chubby cheek, taking a seat beside his brothers, trying to distract himself from the rising guilt.

"Ruth!" His brother protested, scowling at the offending hand, though the bundle in his arms only cooed in glee and reached for the finger.

The same amethyst eyes him and his twin shared were huge on the tiny face, filled with naive innocence that Ruth had sworn to protect the moment his gaze fell upon the sweet baby, in the same way his brother must have, for him.

He stared, waving the finger back and forth, absent-mindedly playing with the baby.

"I know," his brother sighed.