Fantasizing a war - A Sanders Sides Trilogy

Oh, Fletcher...

He was holding it in his shaking hands. The blood-soaked sword, as he stood over the Light Realm guard's' body. His breath was shivering in his body, and he wanted to vomit at the blood pooling around his feet and tarnishing his black shoes. Not to mention the red liquid was sticky and warm as it ran down the swords' handle onto his fingertips, staining them.

He had known the guard. Lizzie Grant. She had a boyfriend who had been wanting to propose to her. She had doting parents, an adoring sibling, a promotion coming around the corner, a life full of dreams ahead of her and Fletcher Hart-Croft had ended it all.

Fletcher Hart-Croft had killed her.

Because of Skol.

"You know what you've done now," Skol said, far too calm for what Fletcher had just done. "You can't go back to them now. Amia will tell Patton, Patton shall tell King Roman, you'll be in jail and your father will never love you again."

"I can't tell them," Whispered Fletcher, still holding the sword before him, staring in terror at the glittering blood lacing the blade. "I can't tell them..."

Skol put a hand on he shoulder. "And we won't. Unless..."

Fletcher's' eyes finally let out the stream of tears and he dropped the sword as if it had just caught fire, jumping back away from it. He raised his blood-streaked hands to wipe his face but only began to panic as it just ran down quickly to his sleeve cuffs. "U-Unless?!" He squeaked, voice cracking.

"You don't want anyone to know about this, and they won't, if you make sure you do what I say."

"...Wh-What? B-But, y-you made me k-kill her-!"

Skol turned violent. He never had, until now. He jumped forwards, grabbing Fletcher's' jaw and squeezing it tightly, lifting the poor boy up slightly. "Y'know, I'd like you much better if you'd shut up, every once in a while. So whiny," He growled lowly, his eyes deadly and threatening as they bored into Fletcher's' tear-filled ones. A twisted smirk appeared. "I made you kill her, now, did I? Who was holding the sword, Fletcher? Who jumped forwards and who cut her stomach open? That young woman's' life is over because you killed her. You did it."

"N-No, I-!"

"I could tell King Roman, myself, Fletcher."

The boy shut up.

The Dark Realm citizen grinned and dropped Fletcher on the ground, only to pick up the sword and put it in Fletcher's' lap. "You're a danger to everyone, Fletch. Why, your father wouldn't just be disappointed..." His voice was now a taunting whisper. "You'd have broken his heart. You'd leave the famous Logan Hart-Croft as an empty shell of a man. You'd ruin him if he knew. Is that what you want?"

"No," Fletcher murmured back.

Skol smiled in that knowing way of his. "Then I won't tell him. Only if you agree to stay silent. I'm going to show you something very special. Well..." A smirk appeared on his face. "Someone very special..."

.:*:.

Fletcher was back earlier than anyone would've thought. He walked into the house, not even responding when Patton said, "Hello, Fletcher. Your dinner's on the table." All he did was walk around, like he had seen a ghost, skin pale and eyes wide.

Amai brushed past him while he walked up the stairs and he had jumped away.

"O-kay?" She said slowly. "You're acting funny today."

Something seemed to click in his head. "Shut up!" He shouted. "Shut up, shut up! You're fucking stupid, know that?! Leave me alone!"

Amai's' eyes welled with stunned and hurt tears. "I-! But I didn't say anything-!"

"Fletch, where did you learn that language?" Patton gasped, rushing over to his children.

But Fletcher was already running upstairs, and he slammed his bedroom door shut. Hours passed and hours passed again. He had sat there, back to his door, looking at the ground with tired eyes but was too scared to shut them. That's when he heard Patton greeting his father on the landing.

"Love, you look tired," Patton commented. "And you're soaked to the skin! Gosh, it must've been raining hard."

"Something came up as I was leaving," Logan's' voice was gravelly and dark.

There was a ruffle of clothing and Fletcher creaked open his door silently, to watch Patton gently taking off his father's' rain-drenched jacket. "What happened, sweetheart?"

"Lietenant Elizabeth Grant was found dead behind a hill near the back of the castle," Logan said and Patton gasped instantly. Apparently, Logan wasn't done. "It was no accident, Pat. Her stomach had been cut open, by a sword, I'd assume, and she had been crying before her death."

Fletcher could confirm that. Poor Lizzie had tears in her eyes when Fletcher lunged. Not that he meant to. Skol had put his hands on his shoulders and, next thing the boy knew, the woman's' blood was gushing into the air from a fatal tear by her stomach.

Patton's' hand was raised to his mouth in terrified shock. "Who- Who did it?"

"We don't know," Admitted Logan. "Her family was in outrage and we have sent squadrons to roam the land to find her attacker."

"What's going to happen when you find them? I-Is it decided? The p-punishment, I mean?"

Logan's' eyes darkened. "The punishment has been decided. King Roman promised Miss Grant's' family that, when the culprit is found..."

Fletcher held his breath as he waited for his beloved father to reveal his fate.

"They'll be put to death."

And he had to cover his mouth to mute a whimper of terror.