See You Yesterday

Chapter 65: Derythian

Bracing myself, I sit down on my treehouse chair and open the envelope, pulling out the piece of paper inside.

Derythian,

I'm sorry that you're even reading this because if you are, it means that I've failed you, and it means that I'm dead and you've no family left.

Although that may be true, you are NOT alone; and you never will be. You are a strong individual and I wish I'd had the time to make you see that, because while I was an arse, I did still really love you. I DO still really love you.

I hear you say it, D, I really do: 'But how? You're not here.' You see that's where you're wrong. I'm right next to you and I promise you I always will be.

We had a complicated relationship, D, but even after everything I said in the past, I wouldn't change you for the world. So please don't ever change yourself.

I knew that one day someone would kill me or that I would die protecting my people and my home, so I gave this letter to Elvin, trusting him to give it to you when the time came.

Derythian. I just want to tell you how incredibly proud I am of you. I know you're going to do great things- greater than what you've already done- and I encourage you to make your own way in life and pave your own path. Keep your chin up, little brother. I'll tell mum and dad that you say hi.

Alex.

So that's it. This is what is the final straw and what makes me snap. I'm officially a train wreck, but I had no station to go to in the first place.

Sobbing. Screaming. Kicking. Punching.

I can't take this anymore. After the funerals of all the dead tomorrow, I'm getting out of this place.
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"Our condolences, Mr. Kingsley," a supernatural couple I recognise say to me before walking away to take their seats.

"She was the smartest and greatest girl I knew," one faerie says to Elvin who is standing beside me.

Plenty of condolence and sympathy comments are dished out to us and the parents of the children Elvin found dead.

Finally, everyone has taken their seats and the service begins. First we remember and honour the dead children, and then Zanna, which means Elvin has to take the stand.

He stands on the small stage which has no microphone.

I look at him and he nods at me, completely unfazed and completely confident in his long green robe and the Xenian necklace he wears proudly as he looks out onto the crowd.

"I knew Zanna Holiman for a long time," he begins. "We were kids together and we learnt what we could do with magic together. We grew up together. I want you all to know how she died. She died saving my life. There was an arrow heading towards my heart and she jumped in front of me and took the arrow. She died in my arms and... I got the kiss I had always wanted. I'm not embarassed to admit it because Zanna was the most beautiful, amazing, strong and intelligent girl I knew, and if anyone should've died, it should have been me. It's funny, isn't it? How people only get the respect they deserve when they're dead? I'm not going to cry today. I'm going to look up and thank Zanna Holiman for thinking that my life was worth saving."

Elvin steps down and comes to sit back next to me, and I touch his shoulder supportively.

The moment I have been dreading is finally here and it's now my turn, so I imitate Elvin- much less confident and my eyes dead ahead on the path before me.

"Ummm... Hi," I say. "Most of you probably know me, but who am I kidding? I don't care if you don't, because I'm not the kind of person who deserves recognition. But I'm the little brother of someone who does. My brother was an absolute idiot," I say, and I earn a few snorts of laughter from the crowd, and I get an encouraging smile from Quinn who is sitting in the middle of the crowd. "He was bossy and boring and judgemental, and some days, I'd tell myself that I hated him. But I've never hated Alex. Never. He was the strongest leader I can think of and one of the greatest people I have ever known. He deserves to be with the greats," I cry, thinking of my parents, "Up where we can't see them. But they'll always be with us. And everyday I'll look in the mirror and instead of seeing only myself looking back, I'll see the likes of my parents and Alex standing beside me with encouraging smiles on their faces. He... I know now that he was proud of me and that he loved me. He loved you all, too. Everything he did was for us; his people. Every path he went down, he went down for our sake. And we all have a path to go down, and Alex told me to go down my own and make my own way in life. That is why I've decided that I will be leaving Xenia to live in London."

A few gasps are let out and I see Elvin nod at me, understanding me.

"I'll miss you all dearly," I say, "But now is the time to turn a new page, and I like the way my story is looking from somewhere else. Thank you all for coming."

I step down and join Elvin in walking to the end of the last row of chairs to see people off.

"Derythian," he says to me. "You did good, and I think you're doing a great thing with restarting."

"You do?"

"Yes," Elvin says, "Trust me."

"I do."