Title: For You
Fandom: FFXII
Summary: Drace. Larsa. Zargabaath. For you.
The afternoon sun drifted into the room, softly filtering through the windows to reverently strike the figure lying prone on the table, covered in a body-encompassing cloth. The cloth was richly decorated in pale golds and bronzes, as was the custom for funerary cloths. Her face was uncovered, solemn in death as in life. But she had smiled at him in life, and often.
The boy reached out and hesitantly laid a gloved hand on her forehead, as if reaffirming to himself that she was really gone, would never smile at him again, a maternal smile that at wild, depressing moments made him grieve for his mother.
His vision was starting to blur, and he hated that. She had told him many times that he was not to grieve at her death, that she was a Judge Magister, sworn to uphold the law…and to protect the Royal Line.
Him.
"Drace…."
The dam within him suddenly broke, and he laid his head on her arm and wept.
Judge Magister Zargabaath sometimes marveled at the differences between Lord Vayne and Lord Larsa. Lord Vayne was a fireball coming into the room, impossible not to notice and capturing your attention at once. Larsa was like a patient, undisturbed lake, more apt to stand in the doorway and let you notice him.
Like he was doing now.
Zargabaath turned and Larsa was there.
"Lord Larsa."
"Zargabaath," Larsa acknowledged, and the Judge instantly knew that Larsa had been crying. His eyes were still a little red ad his voice still a little shaky. Zargabaath wondered how long it had taken Larsa to regain his composure. And not for the first time, Zargabaath wondered how many times Larsa had cried and had concealed it so no one would notice.
Larsa stepped into the room. "What happened to Drace?"
Ah. So it was useless to tell his little lord that Drace was dead, as Larsa already knew. But as to how….
"Executed."
Zargabaath winced and wished it hadn't come out that way. There had to have been a better way to say that.
Larsa was still, looking stunned, even though he had to have suspected.
But even as they stood without speaking, Zargabaath could see something had changed with Larsa. Perhaps the deaths of his father and then Drace had made him realize certain things. Perhaps he was starting to get disillusioned about Lord Vayne.
Or perhaps, Zargabaath thought, Larsa had known all along but had refused to see it. Until now.
"But why?!"
The vehemence in Larsa's voice did not startle the Judge. But Zargabaath suddenly hoped Larsa wouldn't cry again. He'd never known what to do when Larsa cried. Or rather, when Larsa would attempt not to. That had more been Drace's forte. Drace was the only one of them who knew how to let the little boy know it was okay, that grieving for the brothers he'd never known properly was normal and not something to be ashamed of.
Zargabaath wondered if it was something he could learn to do for Larsa, now that Drace could not.
"For treason."
Zargabaath stepped forward.
"For you, Larsa."