This started out as a drabble and ended up into something sad... I hope you enjoy! :)
Please review! Becuase reviews are brillant.
Xerxes is a mystery to her.
The way he smiles and smirks at her as he takes one finger and presses it up against his lips, just a hint of michievous glint in his lone red eye.
It's frightening and fun.
Sharon wonders if he took one step further into a thought of mischief, that it suddenly wouldn't be fun, it would be frightening.
There is something very dangerous about the way he thinks.
One day when they are walking around the mansion, he tells her that he is a knight.
She laughs and asks him, "Can you be my knight?"
He grins at her and bows, "Every young beautiful lady must have a knight, Milady."
That makes her blush a deep dark red, she promptly teases him and calls him a fool while he continues to grin like a clown.
o0o
Sometimes he stares at her blankly as if she is a complete stranger and maybe there is another little girl who is supposed to tug at his hand and put flower crowns on him while giggling. If she questions him, that sudden distant look disappears, he smirks at her and starts to tease and joke with her about how the flowers would look so much more beautiful on her head than his.
Sharon giggles and tells him that he is silly, deciding to herself that it is probably best to let the subject drop for now.
But, she doesn't miss how the older man relaxes after she moves on to a new topic of discussion.
She never mentions it again, because she doesn't like to see her precious brother looking lost in the memories of his past. To find him broken all those years ago was bad enough, but now she never wants to see him bleeding again.
o0o
He helps her out of her carriage with his hand holding hers while smiling, amused at Alice and Gilbert bickering about who should help Oz out of the carriage, ignoring the young boy who was insisting that he could get out himself.
Sharon wanted to freeze that moment, because it wasn't a fake smile, it wasn't some half-hearted grin, it was a true smile.
And at that moment, she wished that her friend would always have that expression.
With a shy smile, she subtly gripped his hand more tightly and Xerxes glanced at her questionly.
"Is something wrong?"
She shook her head, "No. Nothing is wrong."
He nodded, wry amusement lurking in his eye and tightened his grip on her hand.
She never wants him to break into someone distant and cold like he was before.
o0o
"I'm blind, Sharon."
His tone is guilty and frightened.
Sharon doesn't know if he is frightened because he can't see anymore, or he is frightened of her. There is some part of her that worries about that, but it pushes away to the back of her mind as what he really said finally registers in her mind.
He is hurt.
He can't see.
This is wrong.
Suddenly she wants to cry, just like she did as a small child. Xerxes is hurt, he is bleeding again. And it was too late for her to do anything to help it. She never wanted him to be hurt and now, he was.
It takes only a couple seconds for her to understand why he is looking at her like she might break at any minute.
He doesn't want her to cry. He doesn't want to hurt her.
Xerxes is injured and he is still concerned about her.
She might be in a body of a child, but her mind is of a full grown lady and ladies don't cry.
Which is why she holds out her hand, forces back her tears, and manages a faint smile.
o0o
"Sharon, Reim...I don't want to die."
There is a half of her that wants to yell at him, call him a stupid idiot and slap him. The other half just wants to cry, scream, and push away what she has left of her knight, because this is idiotic and can't be true.
Sharon does neither, she holds him close and whispers softly in his ear, even though she knows he can't hear her nor will he ever hear her again, "Please...I don't want you to die."
He doesn't reply.