Brightest sapphire, gleaming from beneath your brows,
they glanced so carelessly upon me.
And still, I remember that look on your face,
when you would laugh; you would smile and did not care.
Youth doesn't fear what it doesn't know;
it doesn't fear what it faces off in the end.
☼
But innocence does not last, as we would wish,
and you were put through horrors I've never known.
Then you cried, because you were alone, and you were scared.
Sometimes things aren't just, and you took the blow.
Maybe you were hurt then, the pain clear in your eyes, but you won't talk.

I'll never know how much you bled. Share with me your scars, little cousin.

☼
Tears in your eyes, imprisoned there,
your pride wouldn't let you heal, bleeding too fast,
too many people watching, staring, sneering.

The acid there would blind you; maybe even kill you.

Because of that, now you gaze so sharp, like silver,
steely-grey and knife-like. Dyed with tears, tainted with sorrow.
☼

You've always been strong, stronger than I'd've hoped.
Maybe this is your self-healing, taking comfort in the rough.
Though some might disbelieve your legacy, wishing to protect you,
I gave it to you, placing you among the myths.
You took to it faster than I expected.
You took this hope and made it your own.

☼

Always have our people been a bloody sort,

Quick to battle and vengeance.

Death is something you have to cope with,

You have known it; you have seen its face.

But murder is unlike honor, dishonest.

This hurt is greater, little cousin.

☼

Blood on your hands, blood in your heart,

But still you don't flinch, standing tall

You are stronger than you know.

When others are face down in the dirt, you're still on your knees.

But you bow to no man. Don't give up until it's too late to surrender.

Your soul is armored in red. Dyed with blood, tainted hatred.

☼

Does Fate toy with you? Lady Fortune spin her wheel,

And leave all of our lives at the mercy of a whim?

I can't remember what fair means, little cousin.

But you take the heaviest load, your shoulders bowed, and only the empty night will listen to you cry.

You leave no advantage; you yield no weapon against you.

With your silence, you protect us all from what we don't comprehend.

☼

Shadows hold secrets, and whisper lies.

And there are many kinds of poison.

What are you afraid of, little cousin? Do you not even know yourself?

And when lots are cast, luck of the draw, cursed by what you cannot change,

It's hard to know that you'll be left behind, always.

What is fair, and what is right? Why should you wait, bearing a Second's anxiety?

☼

And now, you've had no choice, but to hide.

Choke back your tears and veil your fear, check your rising wroth

For fear that anyone should see you're human like the rest of us.

And there are unknowable reasons that began this,

You can't let down your guard, can't be taken unawares, always being taxed,

And terrible consequences follow, should ever you falter in your step.

You learned not to feel; you had to be strong enough for all of us.

☼

You saw right through any defenses, you knew just what went wrong.

And you became a danger; knowing, you could not be fooled.

Tread careful, little cousin. I wish not to find you dead.

And still you argue, you can take care of yourself,

And no one should that know better than I.

But we both know that we live now in but the breath before the roar.

☼

A bloody grin tells me that nothing would give you more pleasure

Than to spill his blood, watch it pool at your feet.

All our pain stems from a nameless nothing.

All this I know, I see it every day, but what would you do?

To fly would be folly, they watch our every move, waiting.

We would gain nothing from ill-considered actions, only death; he wants us to strike too soon.

☼

He knows that you know that he's watching you…

He watches you bleed, while he hacks away at what we have left. I fear what his eyes behold in you.

You scream, helpless, you need to do something.

But you can scream until your throat bleeds, and still he will stand here.

And if you go through with it, you will be dead before the morn.

Please, little cousin, don't do anything foolish. We have your brother for that.