Alexander sighed softly as he entered the camp with his army (that he hadn't yet led into battle, like his brother had with the legions of Scientia Mos), glad that he would soon be seeing his dad and Caiellis, and a hand clapped him on the shoulder.

"I'll take it from here, lad," Guardian Xathan nodded towards him, and Alex smiled back at the boisterous man who was the father of the young champion of his younger brother; Alex briefly pondered what Cai would think of Mysos, concluding that he probably wouldn't like the fifteen year old that much because of his inflexible nature and the fact that he was around his brother's own age, which usually meant that Cai would dislike the person in question.

His four bodyguards stood behind him, a couple of them making even him feel slightly small (which made Alex feel deeply sorry for little Caiellis, who was dwarfed by everyone around him), and it hadn't escaped his notice that his dad had kept the female members of the Lucerna Guard to himself and his uninterested little brother, who was in that asexual phase of his life where they were all the same to him and he really couldn't care less (which Alexander himself had very quickly progressed out of). He liked all of them, though hadn't yet had a chance to watch them properly fight apart from the training sessions he had rigorously thrown himself into in an attempt to heal his body and get back in to the swing of things faster (even defeating one of them with Aurelia to prove to Marik that he was suitable to be joining in in this war).

Alex didn't really like the fact that he felt slightly babied by the amount of those protecting him, but knew that he shouldn't be complaining because it was better to be well protected than left undefended and vulnerable (though the middle Lucerna was sure he could take care of himself), and his father would want him well guarded due to the debacle with Aksua, whilst the rest of the Lucaelian force would be more inspired seeing one of their beloved Lucerna princes surrounded by glittering praetorians.

He was pumped for this war and the final battle, despite feeling like he had arrived fashionably late to the party and that the other members of his family had done most of the work – though he quickly told himself that the siege of Usnaan would be one of the most brutal affairs in the aftermath of the civil war, and that he shouldn't be looking forward to the monumental loss of life it would almost certainly entail. Alex knew he was going to try and protect as many Lucaelian troops as possible, because of his duty as a Lucerna, and his own protective instinct that normally applied mostly to fragile Caiellis.

"Thanks, Xathan," he grinned to the older man when he playfully punched the middle Lucerna on the shoulder and went to talk to the quartermasters of the conjoined legions of Lucael to better accommodate the force of Cassida Principia fortified with some cohorts from Civitas Sol and Capitalia Lux. The camp around him was a bustling hive of activity, with orderlies carrying late breakfast meals for the soldiers, some divisions of soldiers marching towards the training zones to keep themselves in better shape before the final battle (which would most likely take place tomorrow), though one group from Civitas Sol with their banner and breastplate cloths emblazoned with a sun and swords crossed over it (that Geek Boy would almost definitely know the name of), stopped and bowed reverently before the eldest prince.

Alex waved magnanimously and smiled, bowing respectfully back which took the soldiers by surprise. He enjoyed the look of amazement that creased their features despite the fact that he had only returned their courtesy, but didn't want to waste any more of the captain's time by giving a speech of any sort. Whilst he didn't necessarily enjoy his role as a prince, there were some parts of it that he liked, such as giving inspiring speeches and feeling relied upon – which meant that he always put all of his effort into completing the tasks, as if he failed in his duty then he would have let down all those who needed him.

Alexander had an elegant but still large greatsword strapped to his waist, though he didn't necessarily always utilise a sword to fight – he much preferred to switch between magical weapons in the middle of the battle – but the weapon had been a gift from dad; the man had told him that it was the blade he had used before the ancient relic broadsword he now wielded, and despite the fact that it wasn't an immensely powerful artefact armament like Cai's Sword of Glass the blade was good and it fit Alex perfectly. He hadn't yet been able to test its edge against someone of a similar power level to him, but the seventeen year old was aware that it would soon be bathed in the blood of the Welkalites.

Alex didn't find pleasure in killing, per se, however he liked to eliminate those that oppressed and abused others for their own sadistic senses of enjoyments – it made his blood boil to see people being exploited because they were weaker than those enslaving or ill-treating them, and he liked to help others overcome their oppressors and free people from the dominating will of tyrants. That was why he liked being a Lucerna – he was fond of making other people safe (though sometimes at the expense of himself), and was in essence an extremely selfless person (though Alex himself didn't really think that way, the boy just thought that because he was strong he should put that strength to good use).

However, there was something deeply wrong about the camp, and not just the tensing of the atmosphere in the calm before the storm, something that was itching at the back of his mind, a vaguely crimson glow that he couldn't quite identify and as such made him immensely more determined to do just that, though none of the soldiers seemed bothered.

That suggested that whatever this thing was, it was either something internally wrong with him (and while Aksua persisted in his occasional nightmares that had lowered in frequency, she never resurfaced whilst he was conscious), which Alex found unlikely but it was still a possibility, or it was linked with mana, and as he was a Lucerna with a titanic mana pool (though not as receptive as his brother) he was able to detect it whereas those without a First Sisterhood angel, or bereft of powerful sensory mental detection, wouldn't. He was going to ask the squirt about this, as if Alex had perceived it then Cai surely had also.

"Alex!" a voice shouted, and he turned from where he had been aimlessly wandering a second (his praetorians not overtly trailing him, but still doing it – Alexander had noticed it ever since Xathan left, as he had been accustomed to recognising the signs of someone – or something – following him, as if the same person did in one of the cities during the civil war they were more than likely shape-changing assassins sent to kill him and his kid brother) as a familiar person strode towards him. He noted that when the man arrived, his bodyguards scattered to complete their own errands, which made him feel slightly relieved because he hated the sensation of being silently watched and judged (though obviously it was different with either his teachers, those he wanted to impress or those who looked up to him (Caiellis mostly), as they were observing him to see if he had learnt or to emulate him).

"Tristram, good to see you!" he replied, grinning at the taller Guardian but then narrowing his eyes at the look of resentment and barely repressed anger in the thirty year old's own eyes, sensing immediately that something was deeply wrong and so the atmosphere between them instantly changed, "What's wrong?" he asked, the frown creasing his teacher's face making him feel quite concerned.

"Sorry, Alex, it's good to see you too," Tristram pulled him into a quick hug (not a girly one like those he indulged his nerdy little brother with who liked the reassurance of Alex being there), clapping him on the back before quickly releasing him, "But thank the angels you are here. Your brother and Marik have been at each other's throats all yesterday and this morning." If only Alexander had a clue as to how literal that statement was, I'm not sure he would have been able to stop himself from marching up to Marik and attacking him.

"Oh," Alex replied, before shaking his head sadly. This is what he had feared was going to happen, that despite Cai's words about not arguing with their father the two personalities would clash again in spite of the war – or perhaps even more because of it, as the blonde was aware of how dad's aggressive tactics and Caiellis's tendency for patient and safe strategies were at odds with each other, and both would stubbornly argue until blue in the face in advocation of their own plan. Personally, he was more inclined to Marik's stratagems, as both he and his dad were initiative-taking warriors that weren't afraid of hurting themselves in winning faster (though Alex had realised that he was even more dynamic than his father due to his First Sisterhood angel and the emotional Red mana present inside of him), but he had always seen the merit in Cai's plans – he just didn't like that sort of methodical approach to combat.

"Did you know that your brother was hurt in the battle of Fort Egetau?" Tristram inquired, and Alex froze, his mind filled with brotherly concern and the feeling that he should have been there to protect his fragile sibling from danger, "No. I didn't know that."

"Don't worry, he's fine now. He was knocked unconscious by an explosion, and suffered some painful burn wounds, but was healed overnight by the Choirmaster Esmelde of Civitas Sol that saved your life and his wounds have pretty much disappeared, though they probably still hurt," Tristram explained, and then leaned in closer to elaborate, as if wary of anyone else listening in,

"Marik and your brother argued about the tactics in the attack on the fortress, and apparently Cai disobeyed one of his orders to go and help the soldiers in a certain division – instead of fighting with them against the Welkalites, he wanted to hold off the enemies alone until a tactical retreat could be facilitated, closing the wall behind them. However, he only did that because of the fact that he had little to no mana left after the liberation of Jeksaan, and knowing him he probably would have wanted to conserve lives while knowing that he couldn't lead them to victory in the state he was in. Then an airship bombed him whilst he was fighting, and when he was knocked unconscious, the soldiers, instead of retreating like they were supposed to, went to his aid and as such were slaughtered until Akroma arrived. That was the subject of their latest argument, as although Marik simply wanted to discipline your brother it escalated."

"Oh. Poor guy," Alex replied absently, already feeling like he had failed but at least knowing more of the rationale behind the most recent dispute – though he couldn't fault his little brother for doing what he thought was right, disobedience was quite rightly not tolerated in the middle of a battle, and Alex knew that if it have been him or one of the boy's "Uncles" that had given the orders then Cai would have explained his doubts, but if push came to shove then he would have obeyed. It just went to show how little the squirt thought of their father, though Alexander knew that the man was really trying hard to embrace his paternal instincts after nine years of locking them away.

Rebuilding their relationship would require effort from both sides, and Cai's expectation of an instantly perfect dad (that Alex had in part caused and was to blame for, but when he had realised after several years in the civil war that Marik would not be flawless after many years not having to do it - or, more precisely, not being able to do it - he hadn't had the heart to dispel his younger brother's dreams, as surviving to see their dad had been one of the few things (including Alex himself) that had kept the boy going) had been entirely unrealistic, however Marik treating his brother unfairly due to the difficulty of his Summoning trial (Alex was still shocked that it had required Caiellis to kill himself to pass, though supposed Orzhova did not want a repeat of the Xarius incident) was also uncalled for.

The thought of his little brother in pain had always brought a sick feeling worming in the pit of his stomach, both because of how young he was but also because how fragile his body was – when he had been four, Alex had not really understood why he wasn't allowed to touch his baby brother, but when their mother had explained it when he was a few years older he realised that if anyone had touched him after his premature birth then Caiellis's tenuous hold on life would have been broken.

"I apologise," Tristram offered, after a brief pause where Alex contemplated the words, "I shouldn't have thrown you in the middle of your family's argument the second you arrived, and I'm not expecting you to act as a go between or anything."

"No, it's fine. Thank you for telling me," Alex responded, worry for his little brother and father evident in his statement – as their bickering brought out the worst in both of them, his little brother starting to point out every single one of his father's faults whereas Marik seemed to do the same to Caiellis whilst also becoming more and more angry the longer they argued – and they both got louder and louder until one of them exploded and something awful happened. Judging by how thunderously angry Tristram was under his veneer of concern, something awful had happened indeed.

None of them needed this – they were in the middle of a war, and both the eldest and youngest living of the Lucerna line needed to be focussed if the forces of Lucael were going to achieve victory – but hopefully Alex would be able to stand in between his wrathful father and defiant sibling and put a stop to the constant squabbling now that he was up and active.

However, the thing that concerned him the most was the fact that the arguing had started against despite Caiellis's promise to stop it, as his little brother had never broken a promise to him before (following in his older brother's footsteps, who hadn't yet broken a promise to his younger sibling either), which meant that somehow dad had inadvertently started it by fuelling Cai's especially obstinate fire when directed at Marik, which might mean that his brother held the moral high ground.

At least now that I'm no longer bed ridden, I can play an active part in making them apologise to each other now that we are at war, Alex thought, though he knew he had an almost impossible task ahead of him in bringing his brother and father back together again. Neither of them knew each other well, but Alexander was certain that because he knew his little brother more than anyone else in the world he could get the squirt to stop (or bring him back in line, if necessary), and make his dad empathise more with his little brother's position due to knowing the man quite well as well – relatively speaking. It just hurt him to see his father that he idolised and the little brother he needed to protect fighting, when their anger would be better off combined and directed against the Welkalites.

Evidently he had simply been stood still, consumed by his thoughts in a way that didn't often happen but helped him to empathise with Caiellis, who it happened to more, as Tristram lightly shook his shoulder to get him to respond. "Huh? Were you saying something, Tristram?"

The man grinned despite himself at Alex's sudden absent mindedness, although he had a rough idea of what had suffused his eldest's student's thoughts, "I was asking you how you felt, kid. It has still only been less than a week since you almost died to that damn vampire whore, so I wanted to know whether you were up to war or not – or for that matter, going between an arguing father and little brother." Tristram hated pretending that Marik and Caiellis were on equal grounds with what they had done to the other, though for the sake of all three Lucernas he would be damned if he let slip what had occurred between father and youngest son.

"I'm fine," Alex answered automatically, before his mind had chance to fully process all of what the Guardian had just said – the point still stood though, and he was becoming sick and tired of people asking him if he felt like he was "up to something" - would he really be here if he didn't feel up to it? Actually, I probably would be anyway, but that is besides the point. Then again, I would never tell anyone if I was truly not fine unless it was completely obvious, but I don't need people babying me. I prefer to just get through things on my own, or with limited support that reminds me why I have to get through it.

"Are you sure? I mean, I know you are a strong lad, but you've always been one for hiding your own pain, Alexander. And if you aren't alright and we throw you into the siege of Usnaan, you might end up dying," Tristram added, concern for the older prince evident in his features. Instead of becoming annoyed, Alex made sure to smile back, as the fact that the Capitalia Lux Guardian was pestering him that much was a testament to how much he cared about his two young charges, and that showed how much of a nice person Tristram was. "Trust me, old man, I'm fine. I don't have old age to contend with."

"Watch it, boy!" the man yelped in feigned indignation, "Just because you've got a little more meat on those sticks of yours doesn't mean that you can start insulting me! I swear you must be a negative influence on your little brother, what with the thing he came out with yesterday. You kids have no respect for your elders..."

"What, did Cai say something like that?" Alex asked, amused despite himself at the thought of his normally innocent and clueless (with socialising, at any rate) little brother making jokes with people other than himself, and Tristram smirked, "Yeah. He was so innocent before you got to him..."

"He learnt from the best," Alex replied, vaguely distractedly – he enjoyed the bantering, but sensed that he had thrown himself into it so that he could delay from having to deal with a squabbling father and little brother. His piercing but warm blue eyes meandered over the camp as they walked through it, and he figured that he may as well get down to business, "Where is the little man then? I know there is a strategy council in roughly forty minutes, so he should be there then, but I want to speak to him beforehand. I've missed the kid."

Tristram's expression became sour, and Alex sensed that the older male was going to be making pains to hide something significant from him in his next statement – most likely what had taken place in the most recent argument between king and prince, and judging by his expression it was certainly something that would change Alex's perception on the matter if he heard it. Not many gave the eldest prince credit for his abilities in reading people, preferring to focus much more on his physical and martial prowess, but Alexander had perfected (well, almost perfected – if it was flawless then I would have discovered Cai's self-harming earlier than a month into him doing it) the skill against his little brother so that he could better help reinforce the kid's emotional state.

Tristram turned around, staring off into the distance for a moment, before his arm and hand followed the direction of his face and pointed towards a barely-visible rocky outcropping in the distance, only a couple of hundred metres from the camp and most likely already guarded by archers and scouts in case of attack, "He wanted to be alone where no one could find him, and only I know where he is right now, but obviously you have the right to be informed of where your little brother is located. I think he will be pleased to see you after the six days of not, I know how close you two are."

Alex nodded, as what Caiellis had done was a typical stunt that the little dude would pull; his geeky little brother liked to be alone after arguing with people so that he didn't have to deal with anyone else, though often when he did so he became even more sad and depressed because he had no one to talk to, and Cai's thoughts were wont to turn to self-loathing and guilt if he didn't have anyone to assuage him. "Thanks, Tristram. I owe you one."

"Don't sweat it. That's what I'm here for," the Guardian ruffled his short blonde hair fondly for a second before Alex pulled him off, although (something that he didn't really like to admit, but then again he still hadn't finished growing and wasn't yet an adult) the man was stronger than him and could have forced him to have his hair ruffled (which would have been extremely embarrassing, as being treated the same way he treated Caiellis was downright patronising because of his status as ten months away from adulthood, whereas his little brother was still only thirteen and so could be treated in that manner – plus, his job description as a big brother included annoying the crap out of his younger siblings whenever he chose to). "Anyway, how did you know that Cai had gone there? Did you watch him?"

"No, Alex. I made him tell me where he was going to go after," Tristram drifted off for a second, as if trying to find the words for something that he didn't want to talk about with the middle Lucerna, "Another argument between Marik and him." the man settled on.

"I'm glad you did that," Alex responded, his eyes fixed upon the position he assumed his little brother to be at (though he was using the concealment spells that prevented Alex from sensing the kid unless he was in close proximity (because of their relation as brothers and the fact that he had become very accustomed to Caiellis's mana pattern), and the seventeen year old wouldn't put it past Cai to have told Tristram he was going somewhere and then instead gone in the complete opposite direction), and the Guardian patted him on the shoulder. "You're a good kid, Alex. I'm glad you're back with us."

I don't know what any of us would have done without you, was the unspoken continuation of the king's champion's words, and so to diffuse the tension building up around them Alex joked, "Thanks for that uber-girly moment, Tristram. See you around!"

Tristram watching him go sadly, figuring that he should go to the strategium in preparation for the war council in forty minutes' time, and glad that the eldest prince had arrived, because if anyone could prevent Marik and Caiellis from screaming at each other, it would be him.

It was one of the greatest shames in the world that Caiellis never got to see the nice side of his father, as Tristram knew that whenever Marik wanted to discipline his son he went in with the intention of doing that and then being nice afterwards, but that mission quickly dissolved when the two inevitably started shouting and accusing until one of them did something they would regret. Cai only saw his daddy when the man was disappointed or angry with him, never loving or caring (apart from the brief moment during Alexander's surgery where Marik had hugged his youngest son that had made Tristram sadly smile despite the severity of the situation). That only seemed to happen when the thirteen year old was asleep, and his dad could control his anger – although Tristram knew from personal experience that little Cai was monumentally easier to get along with when he wasn't alert and picking fights with the adults he disliked, and peacefully (that part was debatable) slumbering instead.

He had never known that Marik had affectionately tucked him into his bed and ruffled his hair after the boy's most recent (and worst) migraine, abandoning one of his kingly duties to do so (though this was after him and Tristram had argued about sending Cai to Scientia Mos). He hadn't realised that Marik had gone instantly to his son's placement in the Ordo Medella temporary hospital to check on him after the battle for Fort Egetau, leaving the rest of the commanders to organise the movement to where they were now located, and held his slender hand through one of his frequent nightmares that seemed to be exacerbated by the pain he had been in during the healing.

Cai would never know that when they had moved and set up the new camp, Marik had carried the boy to his personal tent, when Caiellis's head had lolled perfectly into the crook of the man's arm where he had snuggled comfortably, unaware of his actions, and wasn't aware of the fact that Marik had sat all night at the foot of his bed, telling his sleeping son how damn proud he was of him and his achievements, and how grown up he had become at the age of just thirteen.

If only Marik could do the same when his son was awake, maybe then Caiellis would appreciate how hard he found it become a parent again. But first Marik needed to be more confident in doing so, and make the effort to comfort his son despite the boy's insubordination.

Despite his jovial manner, Alex was deeply concerned for both other members of his small but infinitely precious (to both him and the kingdom) family, as any division between them was something that affected him massively. All he wanted was for them to get along, but wasn't naïve enough to not realise that such an outcome would require tremendous amounts of effort from both sides, and that a single mistake could destabilise the whole thing.

He walked at a reasonably quick pace through the camp, knowing that if an argument was bad enough to make his little brother go into the mindset where he wanted to be alone then Caiellis would most likely start to hate himself and begin to become even more depressed and sad. Hopefully the surprise visit of his big brother would help to cheer him up, though Alex thought that maybe he should see his father first. No, the man would be informed of his arrival anyway (if he hadn't yet noticed), and the king was much better at controlling his emotions (in Alex's opinion, at any rate) than his younger brother.

Many soldiers bowed respectfully towards the eldest and most favoured prince, some murmuring, "Thank the angels for your recovery, Prince Alexander," as although the exact details of his wounding were not disclosed, the fact that he had been severely hurt was revealed so that the legionaries (and non-combatants that helped them by supplying food, armour, medical help and equipment) would be driven into a more fervent and zealous rage against the Welkalites who would dare to hurt the beloved Lucerna family (despite the fact that the one who had done wasn't part of the New Empire of Passion at all).

The older boy found it slightly odd that he was more admired than Cai in spite of his total of zero military victories (whereas his sibling had led two and been a part of the third, though had been wounded in the attack on Fort Egetau according to Tristram), though that was probably due to their angelic Summonings and the fact that he was more confident, and despite his bad state had still been able to give out an inspiring speech (although in Alexander's opinion it wasn't nearly as good as Caiellis's, but he could have done one to match or even outshine it had he been in perfect condition). Furthermore, his little brother was more of an atypical Lucaelian than him, because although Cai was young he would probably always be thin and slender unless he gorged himself on food, whilst Alex was muscular and tall (though knew he hadn't finished growing yet).

The middle Lucerna walked to the edge of the camp, the guards stationed there saluting him and smiling – they had probably seen his little brother walk out there and know that Alex was going to see him. The ever-present dust outside of the Welkalite cities swirled around the seventeen year old as he began the short climb up the incline in front of him, smiling because this would definitely be the most expected place for Caiellis to go – somewhere lonely, isolated and tranquil, though normally the kid preferred secluded locations to somewhere open like this. However, it would offer a commanding view of the steppes of Welkas, and one might be able to barely see Usnaan through the swirling sand as the City of Pleasure was only a short few miles away.

It was hot, though more of a dry heat despite the sun being obscured by gathering grey clouds, but Alex didn't break into a sweat as he ascended the rocky outcropping, which meant that he was recovering quite well. He felt like it might rain, one of the common weather patterns in Lucael unless it was winter and snowing, though assumed the rain in Welkas would be more violent and spontaneous downpours of water but stopping almost as soon as it started rather than the torrential and constant rain in Lucael that made everything in the eternal midnight even more depressing and lasted for hours.

He wondered if Cai had ever studied the weather patterns of the other parts of the world, as although there probably wasn't much Lucaelian literature on the subject the alliance that was formed with the Yentarian Republic in the brothers' grandfather's reign and reinforced during their dad's meant that the Yentarian documents were available to the Kingdom of Light and transferred into paper form for the libraries, overall massively increasing Lucael's knowledge on the rest of the world. Alex personally had never found it interesting, and would rather actually visit the places detailed instead of just reading about them, but of course Boy Genius had relentlessly devoured any reading material he could get his little hands on to expand his own understanding, which meant that when he was younger and more talkative (though only in the presence of people he knew, and even then he was quiet relative to the amount other people spoke) he would come out with all sorts of random facts and figures, and almost incessantly ask questions.

Now he was even more reticent to speak, and sometimes Alex didn't know what was going on behind those mysterious green eyes, which meant that everyone else would have not a clue – though at least his little brother was young enough that he could still tell what he was thinking most of the time. When it came for Cai to grow up even more, Alex would of course support him every bit of the way, and liked to think the kid would preserve his love of his big brother, but the middle Lucerna sometimes wasn't so sure. Nonetheless, the objective of his current journey was to help soothe his younger brother as well as help repair the fissure between their father and him, and Caiellis going through his teenage years could be relegated until Cai actually started going through them. Right now he had a thirteen year old brother to help, so it would be a thirteen year old brother that would receive his help.

Alex reached the top of the rocky spire without any trouble (though it wasn't exactly a difficult climb in any way), which meant that his body had healed well after the wounds Aksua had heaped upon it in her mad lust for Lucerna blood, and boded well for his capabilities in the upcoming fight. The place that Caiellis had chosen to be alone on had a relatively large plateau on top, at least as wide as the palace courtyard, and had an overlooking view of the nearby wasteland that was darkened by the lack of early morning sunlight. He soon spotted the small boy huddled over at the other side of the plateau, dangerously close to the edge, staring over in the direction of the Welkalite capital; Cai evidently had not yet noticed Alexander getting to the top of the rocky spire.

He could faintly see the blaring lights of the City of Pleasure from their vantage point, though would be able to perceive it clearer at Cai's position. Normally the boy would notice people sneaking up on him, but for as long as he could remember Alex had always been able to surprise the younger boy by suddenly appearing next to him, which was what he was now intending to do. He quickly but silently made his way to the other side of the mesa, his strides long but his footsteps silent and taking every advantage that his height and agility gifted to him, until he was right behind his little brother with no visible signs that the younger boy had yet realised Alex's entrance.

Before he interrupted the kid's very clear introspection of staring intently at Usnaan, the older Lucerna took a moment to gaze at what his little brother was looking at; the City of Pleasure had many gathering storm clouds above it, dark and angry Cumulonimbus forming above the city and crackling with an ominous red lightning that was of no way natural origin. Alex sensed that this was the cause of the earlier itch at the back of his mind, and if he had felt it then obviously his more sensitive little brother who was more in tune with his magical senses would have done so with much greater intensity, though there was not a massive difference in their sensory skills and Alex was far more perceptive of his physical surroundings.

The younger boy was wearing a scarf, which was odd and entirely unbefitting of the hot climate of Welkas, and indicated to Alex that he had something around the throat region that he intended to hide from others, or perhaps he didn't want the dust to get into his mouth when the wind blew. Despite his proximity to Caiellis, and the fact that if Alex listened intently then he could hear the smaller male's breathing, the little guy had not yet registered the closeness of his sibling, a fact that Alex was going to quickly change.

He brought both hands so that they were hovering above Cai's shoulders, and leaned in close so that his mouth was next to the kid's ear, and at the same time he tapped his younger brother on his painfully thin shoulders and (not too loudly) half-shouted, "Boo!" The youngest Lucerna spun around in alarm, his youthful face creasing with surprise and shock and almost falling back over the edge of the outcropping, yelping and extremely startled at being suddenly broken from his thoughts. Alex shot out his arms and wrapped them against the slender form of his brother, halting the beginning of a tumbling descent and turning around, carrying the insubstantial weight of his small little brother back onto the plateau. Alexander deposited his little brother back on the ground, finding the whole situation hilarious which would only served to incense Cai further, who detested being snuck up on and spooked, especially by his older brother who always managedto pull it off.

"Alex!" the boy exclaimed in annoyance, glaring at the older boy who grinned even wider and roughly ruffled the mop of brown hair sat atop his brother's head. Cai held the glare for maybe a second longer before he broke out in a smile of his own, joy at seeing the older boy again eclipsing his brooding and melancholy thoughts and thrusting itself to the forefront of his mind, as when Alexander was around he felt safer despite the direness of events in the past (and present). Alex snorted and laughed at the younger boy's goofy grin, asking in spite of the fact that he already knew the answer: "How you doing, little bud?"

The older boy was thoroughly unprepared for his smaller sibling to practically launch himself at the larger boy and wrap his thin arms around his waist, though Alex noted that Cai didn't jump at him like he would have done in the past (as the younger boy knew his brother could handle his light weight from all the messing around/play-fighting/wrestling they had done), which meant that Caiellis was still concerned about his condition – as Alex would have been in the reverse situation, and was for his little brother now. He easily lifted the younger boy off the ground again, smiling patently as his little brother peacefully rested his head against Alex's solid chest for a moment, murmuring, "I've missed you, big brother."

"I've missed you too, short stuff," Alex replied, before as if their minds were linked both left the hug at the same time, though he sensed that the inane grin Caiellis currently wore was not representative of his inner emotions, although the thirteen year old was clearly happy to see the only family member he trusted return to his side, in spite of the reality that Cai had to know that Alex would be trying to prevent the arguments instead of coming to his aid in them. The smaller prince had also sidestepped the earlier question, which suggested that he would rather bask for a little while in the happiness of his brother's recovery before talking about his own internal emotions.

However, the time apart had been good for both of them, as Cai had become more independent and confident in his own abilities (despite Alex always encouraging him that he could do things if he just tried), and Alexander had been able to concentrate on his recovery instead of worrying about the older and younger members of his small family arguing. Plus, it made the novelty of being in each other's company much more genuine, and because the last time they had seen each other was after Alex's post-traumatic emotional breakdown which Caiellis had helped him through (in spite of the fact that he never wanted his brother to see him weak, Alex wasn't stupid enough not to realise that Cai's words and comfort had aided him far more than being on his own and with misery as his only company would have) Alexander wanted to reaffirm that he was the older of the two in the relationship. Now, as was correct in Alex's mind because of their age differences, it was once again his turn to help his younger brother out.

As if anticipating that Alex was just about to speak, Cai turned around to look at the brewing storm of darkness once again, sitting down and crossing his legs to look at it without having to stand up. He shot a glance back at his older brother, both to ensure that Alex wouldn't play any more tricks on him and to indicate that he wanted the older teenager to sit down next to him, though didn't pat the ground in that entirely demeaning and patronising manner Alexander did it when he wanted his brother to settle down near to him.

Alex complied silently, willing to focus on the much greater (though inexplicably linked to the family problems, as said family problems concerned the ruler of the nation, the supreme commander of the army, and his son, the prince and possible heir to the exalted Lucerna throne) issue of the coming siege of the debased Welkalite capital, slinging a muscular arm around his brother's thin shoulders and gently resting it there.

"That is no natural storm," Cai commented idly, his eyes flicking to every individual flash of crimson lightning and tracing its blood red pattern to the city floor, though he couldn't make out any buildings at this distance (although he did know the rough approximation of important locations in the sprawling city (that was larger than all of the Lucaelian metropolises but not as tall, and Capitalia Lux had the same population as it), such as the Palace of Desire) and so couldn't see if it had any effects or if it was simply a display of light, and despite the large expanse in between him and Usnaan the coruscation left brief after-images on his retina that he blinked a few times to clear.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" Alex joked back, lightly pushing his brother forward to add emphasis to the words, though he wasn't smiling as he also stared at the tempest that would very clearly be a great threat to the Lucaelian force when they assaulted the city, although none yet knew what manner that threat would present itself in. The younger boy scowled and snorted, "Don't be mean, Alex. You know what I meant. The Welkalites are definitely using very powerful demon magic to do this."

"And you're sure about that?" Alex asked, not that he doubted his little brother in any way, he just wanted to be certain that the foes they would be going up against were using demon magic and not some offshoot brand of magic the Welkalites themselves had developed that had nothing to do with Sancturia demons. Cai nodded, "Uh huh. I can sense their taint staining the landscape from here. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the demons have caused this, and most likely that bastard Tradax is behind these storms."

"Language, little dude," Alex chided, repressing a smirk at his little brother raising an amused and incredulous eyebrow as if to say, Are you seriously telling me to watch my usage of profanities? Really, Alex? You're certainly one to talk. Alex stretched out his legs so that they were dangling over the side of the sharp descent that his little brother had almost fallen off of, squeezing the smaller male's shoulder reassuringly in silent conformation that he didn't care that demons were against them, he would continue to make sure that Caiellis was safe and sound. Well, there's no point putting this off any longer. I'd best get down to business if I want to start helping. Alex broke the companionable tranquillity that had descended with a brief cough that instantly got his sibling's attention, and nonchalantly interjected into the void of silence, "I hear that you and dad have been arguing recently."

Cai's body posture immediately slumped and the defeated expression that passed over his gaunt and youthful face made Alex's big brother alarm that was inside of his head start to ring. Cai looked into his eyes for a brief second before breaking off and glancing dejectedly back at distant Usnaan, his slender index finger tracing a meandering whirl in the dust of the mesa before it was blown away and erased. He responded with, "I'm sorry, big brother."

Those four words made Alex's heart ache for his younger brother and father, the utter sadness and despondency present in them emphasising how none of them wanted these arguments or the anguish that they caused afterwards. But now was not the time for comforting, now was the time for action and hopefully relatively harsh words from the brother that he looked up to would jolt Cai's mind. Alex made sure to keep his voice stern as he uttered, "Well I'm sorry as well, but we both know that just apologising doesn't solve everything. I know that you promised that you would stop arguing, but you clearly haven't otherwise you wouldn't be up here, all on your own. Saying sorry to me isn't going to fix your relationship with dad, and whilst this may seem harsh the fact that you are still squabbling with him means that I count your promise to me as broken."

Cai swallowed sadly and nodded, knowing that by releasing his anger at his father it had caused his brother to worry instead, and that by indulging the man in arguing and defying him at every chance he got he was just making his brother get worse. He should have realised that earlier, but it was far too late now, and he knew that should Marik want to argue with him now then he would still be more than happy to oblige, in spite of his big brother's thoughtful and helpful words.

I mean, what is he going to do now? What could dad possibly ever do that would eclipse what he has just done? Kill me? That's not a possibility, as I am a Lucerna prince and my death would demoralise the nation? Beat me to within an inch of my life? That wouldn't do anything. He's already thrown everything he has at me, and if he thinks that wrapping his hands around my neck is going to make a difference then he is sorely mistaken. However, I agree with Alex. The arguing needs to stop, for his sake if not for my own – and definitely not for dad's. Alex doesn't deserve this. Alex deserves the perfect family, and the amount of effort he has put into me shouldn't go to waste. And if that perfect family consists of me never speaking to dad then so be it.

"However, you can still repair the promise, and I'll consider it unbroken. Make an effort not to argue with dad, and don't just blindly question whatever he says. Realise that people make mistakes. I know that you thought he was going to be flawless after this war, and it's my fault for that – I shouldn't have cultivated that image because there was no way dad could have lived up to it, what with mum's death and his brother's betrayal and nine years of brutal war - of course he was going to find it hard," Alex continued, and Cai nodded again. "And don't think that I'm going to speak to only you just because you are my little brother and I can boss you around. I'm going to talk with dad as well, as him being our father and king doesn't exactly excuse his actions either."

"That's good," Cai replied distractedly, prompting his brother to smile and gently shove the smaller boy, "Are you even listening to me, short stack? Nothing I said just now warranted "That's good" as the primary answer choice."

"Uh … yes it did. You said that you were going to talk to dad as well as me. That is a good thing," the Summoner of Orzhova responded in confusion, his eyes widening in bewilderment, making Alex grin even more, "I was just testing you."

"Jerk," Cai pouted, "You made me think I hadn't been listening then. You may spout some ridiculous things that aren't worth hearing sometimes, but trust me when I say that I analyse everything you say for its worth before deciding whether to discard it or not."

"That's awful nice of you, bitch," Alex teased, silently wondering how fit for purpose Caiellis had deemed his most recent words, but the younger boy took most of his advice to heart anyway so there was only a slight chance of him not paying and heed to it. Then again, this was something significantly more personal and emotional than girls (for Cai at his age and mindset anyway) or technique in certain things, this was their father they were talking about. Alex had already screwed up in making his brother's anticipation ludicrously high, and he wouldn't fail the younger boy again. All he wanted was for the kingdom (and to a somewhat lesser extent those in other nations) to be safe so that his little brother could be safe as well, and wanted his family to be happy after all the strife and sadness it had gone through – the state of the Lucerna family also directly correlated to his first objective. "I hope you find my advice worthy of your esteemed judgement."

Trust me, big brother, I did. But there's something you don't yet understand about how our relationship has deteriorated, and something that I can't hide from you any longer. It would be unfair to do so, but I'm glad Tristram has left it up to me to tell you. It's strange; a part of me wants Alex to be furious so that he goes and confronts dad about it and puts him in his place, but another wants none of that and would prefer it if Alex didn't let it affect him or persuade him to do something stupid and reckless, especially in the child-abusive state Marik seems to be in at the moment. I hate him for it, obviously, and I'm being foolish insisting that I don't want dad's love, because of course I do, but I don't want Alex to be negatively affected because of it.

"I do … It's just..." Cai drifted off, though his brother patted him encouragingly on his shoulder, "You know you can share your worries with me, little guy. I won't judge."

Cai looked him straight in the eyes, staring deep into them and taking Alex aback with the intensity of his emerald gaze, and the older boy registered that what Cai was doing was seeing whether or not he was deserving of what he was about to impart to him. No, not "deserving". Cai knows that I'm worthy of hearing all of his worries, and though he doesn't always show it because we are teenagers and bickering brothers he does respect me, same as I respect him. I think it's more "ready".

He wants to know if I'm ready for what he's about to say – if I've recovered enough from what Aksua did to me. He probably still blames himself for that anyway – while I'd like to believe that in his position I'd have been strong enough to break out of the vampire's dream realm and come to the aid of my brother, I know how much he wanted to help me and how strong he is (mentally, at any rate, as he is weaker than me in a lot of ways because of his age and fragility), and anything that could have ensnared him for so long might have trapped me as well.

But I have recovered, I can't be coddled forever, and I'm ready to help him. I just hope that he sees that, Alex thought, gazing back at his brother and letting adamant determination seep into his blue eyes. Cai broke off first, lowering his gaze timidly, coming to the awareness that now he had done that he had to follow through with this course of action, as Alex looked about ready to shake the information out of him – though of course not with the intention to hurt, Alex never did anything with the intention to truly hurt his little brother (as in almost kill him, as they had wrestled and the older boy had beaten him up quite a bit when they had seriously argued in the past), unlike another member of their three-person family.

He slowly moved his hands towards the scarf around his neck that he had put on to prevent the soldiers from seeing the angry red mark marring the pale flesh of his throat, as although Marik had gone nowhere near full strength (otherwise Caiellis would have been rendered unconscious within seconds) the mere force of his implacable grip would have left a mark anywhere on his body. The junior adolescent wasn't yet sure if his father had simply lost control and been ready to squeeze the life from his petulant son there and then, or if he had truly done it in a completely excessive yet ultimately vain attempt to punish him for his insolence. His current interpretation of Marik made him more inclined to think the latter, but one part of his mind was mortified that any father would want to willingly do that to their own child.

Alex watched expectantly as Cai slowly undid the scarf, dreading what would be underneath but realising that he had to know and see the whole picture before saying anything else about the topic. Plus, Caiellis was evidently placing a lot of trust in him by permitting him to see this, as the first time their dad (ok, don't jump to conclusions. I know that is the most likely outcome of this, but give the man some love, will you?) had hurt Caiellis (admittedly accidentally, not realising how much he was hurting his youngest with the force of the grip) the younger boy had been incredibly reluctant to reveal it and only had done because of Alex's outburst and the pain he had inadvertently caused the kiddo.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Cai immediately stated when his brother stared at his neck for a long, drawn out second, the boy's mouth twisting into a furious frown. He tried again, adding a placating and pleading note that made his already not-yet-deep voice even more young sounding, "Please don't do anything stupid because of it, Alex. I deserved it, which doesn't mean a father should do something like that, but I we were both shouting and because he'd almost won the argument I brought up mum. It's … I … I was scared though."

Cai's voice became shaky and Alex pushed past how paralysed he had become at the wounds to tenderly pull his brother towards him, letting his head lean on Alex's chest in a parallel of the actions Tristram had undergone only a few minutes earlier just after the incident, the older boy slowly patting him reassuringly and soothing, "It's alright. You had every right to be scared, kid, if what I think happened did happen."

"I ... I couldn't move … he was holding me down and emitting some sort of mana that prevented me from casting spells," Cai started off stammering but resolved to get through it, and by the angels he would not cry in front of his older brother now, "I don't know if he did it to discipline me, or because he lost control because I said "Is that what mum would have wanted?". But I know that he didn't do it with the intent to kill, not at first I don't think because he started squeezing harder for a second before Tristram came in."

"I'm sorry," Alex murmured, luckily too quiet for his sibling to hear over the sound of the wind on their elevated vantage point, so made his voice louder for the second lot of words, "While I agree that you shouldn't have said that, in no way was that sort of reaction justifiable, especially not with you because you aren't as strong as me, so any force damages you more than it would me. But as I said, I'm going to speak with him. Don't worry, I'm not going to attack him over it, and though I'm holding it in for your sake I am fucking angry. Well, on the bright side at least it can only get better from here, right?"

I wish, Cai thought bitterly, turning away from his brother and refastening his scarf around his neck, the mere fact that his father had done that to him filling him with sadness and fear that was only just starting to fuel the fires of further anger, something that could have been accentuated by the storm in the distance. Ok, be real, that storm is in no way affecting my mental state. I'm just trying to make excuses now, and by that standard dad wasn't affected either. I can only barely sense the amount of Red and Black mana it is emitting, and I would know if it was doing something to me or him, and it isn't.

After a gigantically depressing silence had descended where Cai looked as if he was about to burst into tears at any moment, Alex realised that he should try and cheer up his little brother so poked him playfully on the nose, sniggering at the look of utter bemusement the younger boy shot in his direction, asking, "What was that all about?"

Alex just grinned back and pulled the smaller boy closer when he was about to retreat away, though he obviously didn't do it as forcefully as he could have as he never went full strength against his little brother when they were play-fighting, and he pretty much never had to when they were wrestling or sparring. Kicking Caiellis's ass was a brotherly gesture, and it wasn't supposed to carry any long term side repercussions; Alex always felt awful whenever he landed the fragile little Lucerna with a good move that he failed to anticipate or dodge and left him with an ugly mark. Even bruises were outside of Alex's comfort zone more often than not when inflicted on his little brother, though the kid had often suffered them at his hand because he had to train as well. Such things went against his most basic desire: to keep Cai safe. However, tormenting the younger boy luckily came above that.

"Alex, stop it," Caiellis whined as his older brother yanked him closer, not in the mood for any form of teasing though not really in a position to argue with his much stronger brother. Anyway, if he really wanted Alexander off him then he would have to try a lot harder than that, and knew that if he inflected his voice with just the right amount of sadness and despair then the older boy would let go of him. "Aww, but Cai, you're really depressed. I hate seeing you sad, so I'm gonna cheer you up, ok?"

"No thank you," the younger boy answered, immediately knowing what his older brother was going to do but not wanting to be a part of it – sure, it did make him happier at the time, and he could pretend that he wasn't a prince and didn't have the fate of the kingdom resting on his thin shoulders, but he knew it was only a temporary respite and wanted to stay focussed for the upcoming strategy session. He didn't see the benefit of playing when they were in a war, so shot a puppy-eyed glance up at his big brother, wanting his "adorable" gaze to dissuade Alex from continuing, but the older boy just laughed, "Loosen up, Cai. When have you ever complained about a little rough-housing before?"

"Only every single time you do it. Leave me alone if you are going to annoy me," Cai snapped, turning around a glowering up at his brother, who sniffled and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, "I'm hurt. And here I was thinking that you had been looking forward to seeing me all this time."

Cai sighed exasperatedly, "You know I was. But neither of us have got any time for silly games, and you know full well that I'm not in the mood. I am glad to see you again, but if you are just going to deliberately piss me off then I want you to leave me alone."

Alex snorted at how grown up the younger boy was trying to sound, though he always pulled the trick of trying to be the "mature one" when he didn't want to be bothered. However, he could tell that Cai would profit from lightening up, if only for a brief moment where he could forget about his troubles and simply enjoy himself with his brother. Additionally, he did sometimes enjoy making his sibling irritated and he because they were brothers he was allowed to, just as the younger boy occasionally tried to do the same for him. If Cai started crying or getting really angry then of course he would stop, but right now it wasn't doing any harm to annoy him. Besides, the strategy council was still in roughly forty minutes' time, and this wouldn't take long at all. "Watch your words, little dude. I don't appreciate your constant swearing. Don't make me beat you up for it. And trust me, I have more than enough time to do so."

Cai cocked an eyebrow at him again, though he was right to do so as he barely ever swore whereas his brother did it far more often, although he supposed Alexander's blatant hypocrisy was just meant to irritate him further or spark indignant annoyance. "Please, Alex, don't be a jerk. I'm really not up for it right now, and you know it."

Alex ignored him and wrapped him in a vaguely rough (though not painful) and utterly restraining headlock with one arm and began to tickle him with the other. Though his eyes still highlighted his annoyance, Cai couldn't prevent himself from starting to giggle, though he noticed that his brother wasn't as rough as he usually would have been – either because he knew about the fact that he was still recovering from bruises or burn wounds, or that the older boy hadn't yet healed fully in his own case.

However, Alex was still as big and muscular as he usually had been after thinning out when he couldn't eat much and his starved body had to focus on repairing itself, so Cai assumed he had resumed his monstrous diet (though not literally, and it was mostly healthy stuff like protein (though Caiellis was sure that his brother would eat anything) that would make his brother fitter and develop more muscle to the point where he got to their father's stature, although Cai was aware that Alex didn't want to be colossal or grotesquely muscled like Arendus Draal and other members of the Order of Violence). The older boy was still significantly stronger than him, but Cai couldn't tell whether his full strength had recovered or not because there was no need for him to be using it on his small brother.

Pulling at the arm around his neck was futile, and he tried to tell Alex to stop before his words were overwhelmed in a tsunami of hysterical laughter that barely ever came out of him unless he was being tickled, though still made him feel happier. Nevertheless, happy was precisely what he didn't want to feel, not in their current situation – he wanted to be focussed, sombre and sober, not gleeful or cheerful in the few hours of the last day before the final deciding battle of this war.

He was grateful that Alex wasn't putting any pressure at all on his neck with the arm around it, just holding him in place with a headlock, as he didn't need any more pain on the bruise on his throat and really didn't want to repeat the experience of being strangled, not after what had just occurred and their fateful abduction that had led to this violent war in the first place, his weakness that had been punished by the Master of Violence's brutal capture of him that had in essence caused all this death and destruction. He hadn't thought of it like that before, and it simply served to make him feel even worse, though he didn't have enough time to ruminate on these melancholic thoughts before his brother began a full-scale assault on the sweet spot in his ribs that made him titter uncontrollably, utterly out of place with what he was thinking. Besides, Alex never really put any pressure on his headlocks when they were just playing.

"Enjoying yourself there, kiddo?" the blonde asked, ceasing his relentless tickling for a short moment so that his brother could regain his breath and stop laughing, though his body still shook with barely repressed giggles. He smiled fondly down at the squirt, who had let a small grin play onto his youthful face despite the severity of the events of earlier today, liking the moment in spite the fact that he was at his brother's mercy and hated being tormented. Cai took a deep breath and answered, "No, not in the slightest. Tickling typically engenders that sort of laughing response from a person in spite of what they might be feeling inside, so I'd appreciate it if you let go and put me down instead of treating me like a child."

"I would do, Boy Genius, if you weren't still a child. But, unfortunately for you, you are still a kid and only thirteen years of age, so that makes your point invalid," Alex replied, smirking at the expression of pure annoyance on his brother's face and beginning the tickling again. Right, I warned him. Well, no I didn't, but whatever, he should anticipate this type of response from the little brother he is tormenting. I don't actually expect that this futile gesture of resistance will achieve anything, but oh well. We are in good spirits, and if I'm going to be more serious about wanting freedom, I'll have to start now. In between another burst of hysterical laughter that made Alex laugh as well at how joyful it sounded, Cai suddenly jabbed his elbow into Alex's ribs, at almost full force because he knew that he had no chance of hurting the older boy.

Or apparently not, as it seemed. Alex had to suppress a yelp of pain but still hissed through his teeth, instantly letting go of his brother, and Cai dropped to the ground and spun around in alarm, shock and concern for the older boy etching itself onto his face, "Oh shit Alex! I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt you!"

"You didn't hurt me, Cai," the middle Lucerna instantaneously assured the smaller boy, whose eyes were widening in surprise and guilt and looked as if he was about to start the self-loathing process all over again, going back to his emotions of failing his brother in the "Aksua incident" that Alex knew he would take a long time to get out of. The younger boy looked guiltily back up at him, muttering, "Don't lie to me, Alex. Something like me elbowing you has never made you hiss in pain before, or let go of me when you are in the middle of tormenting me."

"Maybe you are just getting stronger," Alex replied, though knew the words weren't true – well, they were ever so slightly correct, but Cai's physical strength wasn't improving in any noticeable way and the progress that teenagers usually made was much slower and smaller with his younger brother. Cai then asked, "Are you sure you are alright? It hasn't been very long since Aksua almost killed you, and I should have thought about that before elbowing you. I'm so sorry for being so stupid and selfish and forgetting that you would have only got out of bed less than four days ago. Well, four days ago if you count the breakdown you had."

"I don't need reminding," Alex stated, a warning note entering his voice. Well, maybe he had recovered less than he thought, and it was a problem if he couldn't take a little resistance from Mr Weakling over there, but Cai had jabbed his still-healing ribs. And anyway, his brother needed to worry about repairing the father/son bond that had been broken, not still fretting over his older brother who was still too pathetic to have fully recovered. It had just been an unlucky coincidence that Cai had chosen to attack the only area of his body not fully restored as of yet. "And you don't need to apologise. You just touched a healing rib, that's all, something that will recover soon and the last thing to do so. You've got to remember that I don't blame you for anything, short stuff."

"Perhaps you aren't ready for war yet," Cai mumbled sadly, dejectedly turning his gaze back towards the ground and not willing to meet his brother's piercing and stony stare, unready to deal with the intensity of it and feeling even worse knowing that he had hurt Alex now as well, just to top off his day. He resolved to suck it up and take responsibility as a brother to tell Alex exactly what he didn't want to here, "In fact, I don't think you should be here at all. I think it was stupid for dad to authorise your release, and I think you should still be resting. I know that you want glory, but there will be plenty of that when Johnias raises his head again with the remaining traitors."

"If anyone shouldn't be here, then it is you, little brother," Alex growled back, annoyed that his weakness had led to his brother doubting his fitness for combat once again, "You are four years younger than me, and not emotionally ready for this amount of violence."

"I am ready. I was forced to be ready at four years of age, and you know that I'm ready," Cai replied resolutely, though couldn't help but thinking about how he was reduced to such a pitiable state after the Merciless Eviction of the Welkalite army he had faced at Jeksaan, and the fact that he wasn't strong enough to prevent the soldiers in Fort Egetau from dying by trying to protect him, "You, on the other hand, almost died less than a week ago. Don't think that I'm saying you are weak or anything; you are the strongest person that I know and I believe in you, but that's precisely why I know that you aren't ready yet. There is no point in throwing yourself into a war when you know that you haven't recovered-"

"I have recovered, Caiellis, and I wish you would get that in your damn head," cut in Alex, raising his voice ever so slightly and hoping that he could infuse it was some of the commanding influence he knew he had over the smaller male, but as usual that never worked during the arguments they sometimes had. "I know that if the positions were switched I would be saying the same, but the fact remains that you are substantially frailer than I am, and because I am a Lucerna with a strong body I recover fast. I need you to focus on this war and on your relationship with dad; you – and him – will never be able to concentrate if you constantly think that I need coddling or protecting."

"You manage it perfectly well with me," Cai muttered bitterly, before making his voice loud enough to be heard properly by his brother, who had folded his arms as if that would make all of the youngest son of Marik's points invalid. "And I need you to stop thinking you are indestructible because you are a big brother. I need you to stay alive and at my side when you have fully recovered, not lying dead on the battlefield because you blatantly ignored the fact that you weren't ready for combat yet!" Cai's voice became a shout infused with emotion directed at the most precious person in his short life.

Alex stayed silent for a few seconds, his eyes exhibiting the inscrutable qualities that their father had perfected and stopping Cai from seeing what he was thinking, though the younger boy had never been as good as inferring Alexander's interior emotions from only that as the eldest prince was in the opposite situation. They both stared each other down, but this time Cai refused to just let the issue slide because if Alex got hurt then he would never be able to forgive himself for not pressing harder. He said, quietly, tears beginning to brim at the corners of his expressive eyes, "I can't … I can't deal with you dead, Alex … I wouldn't be able to cope..."

The older boy had wrapped him into a comforting hug that lifted him off his feet before he knew what was going on, resting his recently shaven chin on Cai's head before putting him down and putting a large hand on his shoulder, "It's clear that neither of us are willing to back down in this argument, and while I think you are being unnecessarily stubborn I think the it's good that you have the confidence to be that way (though I guess most times we have really argued in the past neither of us would consider giving up until after) and stand up to your brother."

"You make it seem like you are a horrible person and would normally hurt me if I did," Cai smiled sadly, though his emerald eyes still blazed with the defiant determination that made Alex feel sorry for their dad, who would be subjected to a gaze of much greater intensity – though all of the Lucerna line had reputedly had transfixing and powerful glares, so the most recent generation were no different. Alex snorted, "Sometimes I do get the temptation to slam your face into the floor, but you aren't the only one I occasionally feel that way with." Though it is more frequent with you because you are my little brother. He then added quickly, noticing Cai's look of shock, "I'm joking, of course. I'd never think of ever doing that to my cute little buddy."

Cai made a face at him, and Alexander continued on with his earlier statement, "There is only one way we are going to solve this."

Caiellis's mind instantly lit up with the many possibilities that his brother could be talking about, and then casually dismissed most of them, knowing that Alex would only be describing one thing. "Which is?" he asked expectantly when the silence began to draw out and Alex's eyes lost a bit of their focus.

"We have to fight each other with our First Sisterhood angels," Alex replied dramatically, letting go of Cai's shoulder and pacing backwards, tensing, stretching and relaxing his muscles as if that course of action was already decided upon. Cai did see how it could be beneficial for him to fight against Aurelia with Orzhova, though wasn't exactly sure how the two angels would take it. Besides, it would be wasteful of their mana should the Welkalites unexpectedly attack the camp, though Akroma would be available and Alex could Summon Aurelia twice in a day – Cai was pretty sure he could do the same with Orzhova unless he used spells with a monumental mana cost. "I'm not so sure that will work..."

"Of course it will. I can prove to you by beating you that I'm capable of fighting in this war, as you are and if I defeat you then by extension I also have to be," Alex added, to which Cai replied, "Most of my spells require draining life, and I don't want to have to subject you to that. I mentally wouldn't be able to go all out on you."

"And I don't expect you to, and of course I won't use full power on you either. Anyway, you can give the life that you steal back after the battle. We don't want to kill each other," Alex agreed, instinctively brushing the Swords of Flame stamped on his right bicep with the fingers of his left hand, "Come on, Cai, it will be good for both of us. I've only fought once against a First Sisterhood angel, and that was with dad so obviously his power level was massively higher than mine, so this gives me an opportunity to battle against something more equal – and you haven't ever fought one. Trust me, it changes your perception on things when you do," he coaxed.

Caiellis still looked unconvinced and hesitant; he hadn't yet moved from the spot he had been in for the past few moments, so Alex added, "Tell you what, little dude, I'll make you a deal. If you win then I won't fight in the siege of Usnaan. I will stay back with the non-combatants and wait until you and dad have finished with it. I promise. However, if I win then I want you to stop doubting my condition. And to stop blaming yourself for the wounds I suffered."

He was taking a large gamble by doing this, as he didn't intend to ever renege on his promises to his little brother, but then again if he did lose to his four year younger sibling then Cai would have been correct to doubt his state. He knew the godlike power the smaller boy generated when he Summoned, which had probably increased since the last time he had witnessed it – the amount of mana the kid had was shocking sometimes, but also something Alex was wickedly proud of and felt he deserved – that physical frame of his wasn't doing him any favours, that was for sure.

He had never fought against White and Black combined either, and also knew that Caiellis would already be thinking of strategies despite his reluctance to fight, but he had fought the younger boy more than anyone else so knew how he acted, knew how he was far more careful than he let on and planned out every movement before enacting it.

Moreover, he had Summoned Aurelia over a thousand times in the seven years of having access to her (though for very short periods at first as his younger self had not been able to sustain the Warleader for long), whilst his sibling's successful Summonings could be counted on two hands, and the squirt had only passed her almost impossible trial a week and a day ago. Finally, he had asked Aurelia about Orzhova in the past, concerned for his little brother after the boy had wanted to kill himself after finally discovering who the Angel of the Black Sun truly was, and the Warleader had told him all he now knew about her sister and how although she hadn't been the closest out of the First Sisterhood to her (that had apparently been Serenity) she had always wished that she would come back and repent (not that the other angels would have ever forgiven her), even while she was decapitating her with her fiery twin blades.

"And you're serious when you say that you aren't going to fight if I win?" Cai inquired dubiously, taking a step back to increase the space between him and his brother. Another flaw to this plan was that the fact that the brothers had Summoned would be detected by everyone in the camp, revealing their position (though he had long since deactivated the concealment enchantments, having done so when his brother arrived) and so some might come to watch – there was one person in particular he wanted to avoid, and if Alex hadn't gone to see them before rushing to his younger brother (unlikely) then they would almost certainly arrive.

"Uh huh. I always keep my promises," Alex replied, nodding his head, and though there was no unlike you implied at the end of the sentence Cai heard it anyway, although from himself and not from his brother. Alex's blue eyes showed no hint of a lie, but the older boy had often been able to pull of things like this in the past. "Come on, Cai. It will be a learning experience for both of us."

Alexander was clearly excited to be testing his skill against someone else, so Caiellis sighed sadly and murmured, "It certainly will be. Let's get this over and done with then."

The older boy nodded again, and Cai immediately began to pull up the substantial amount of information he knew about the middle Lucerna's fighting style due to watching him so often when he had been too young to do the same, and when trying to emulate him. Because of Alex's aggressive and quick nature, he would almost surely be on the back foot in the early stages of the fight as his brother attacked in order to press his advantages. Both physical and magical defences were the key, but although it wasn't uncommon for Alex to launch a fireball of Red mana or a helix of lightning that healed the caster as well the former was far more important against his in-your-face brother.

All three Lucernas' techniques were exemplified by how they used their angels: Alex used his to start fights off with a huge advantage and try to finish them quickly; their father used his to press an already existing lead whereas lastly Cai used his to finish the fight after accruing a very large edge, his coup de grâce so to speak. Well, that was the theory anyway, as all three would Summon when in danger or up against a particular foe.

"Yep. Good luck, kiddo, and may the best warrior win," Alex grinned confidently at him, about to start his Summoning, before Cai frowned and asked, "Wait, what is the criteria for victory?"

"First one to win where there would be no chance of comeback. Or first blood, but I don't want to make you bleed and I hope you think the same about me," Alex replied coolly, "Is that ok? Or would you prefer a fight to the death?"

The older boy's joking just emphasised how much more he preferred fighting to his brother, who rolled his eyes at the last words and stated, "Yes, that is fine. First one to be about to deliver a decisive blow."

Caiellis could feel the air around him crackling with the energy of two Lucerna princes about to Summon, though he would conjure Orzhova in the generic way as to not waste mana - not that he could use Black mana as the primary medium, as he didn't feel any hatred towards his big brother. Golden light spilled around his left side as his right eye opened, suffused in the same glow, and circles of alternating Red and White energy began to pulse out from the older boy, increasing in intensity every second as he focussed his mana.

He could see the amount Alex was generating in the golden-white Lens of Innocence, but ignored the older boy and instead focussed on collecting his Black mana, thinking of the thoughts of his mother's death that never got any less painful despite the amount that he delved into them (though the willingness to do so was what conjured his Black mana as well as the emotions themselves, as when he was dragged unwillingly into them in his nightmares it wasn't quite the same), darkness beginning to pulse out of his Black Sun birthmark and mix with his light, becoming a maelstrom of tenebrosity and luminescence that matched the radiance and holy fire Alexander's circles were now shining with.

Predictably, he couldn't see his older brother nor what he was casting when he shut his golden right eye and opened his left, the once-emerald orb filling with onyx black and turning his vision into the Lens of Guilt, the storm behind Alex flashing with a pulsing red energy in this sight that revealed malicious intent, making the unnatural tempest appear even more ominous. Cai dismissed the thoughts from his mind, knowing that he would have to be completely focussed on the battle at hand if he was to stand any chance of winning against his faster, stronger and formidable brother.

He relaxed his breathing as golden tears spilled out of his closed right eye, blending with the crackling purple and black lightning coruscating around the Black Sun on his pale cheek, and as he moved his hand round to it as a sphere of compressed darkness and light formed in tandem with the slow opening of the golden orb above it and the combining of the two Lenses. Now that he could see Alex again, he could observe the effects of the mana his brother was emitting instead of just feeling it at the back of his mind, the circles expanding across the ground at an extremely fast rate as their scarlet and white light began to be directed upwards. Alexander had almost finished with his Summoning ritual, which was a bit embarrassing but also highlighted his relative inexperience with dealing with his own Sancturia angel.

Anyway, it wasn't as if Alex would attack him whilst he was still in the middle of the spell, and he tossed the orb upwards just as two sets of hymnals sprung into life – one a haunting and melancholy song of devotion and pledging everything to the cause of sanctity, whereas the other was a heart-stirring and zealous war anthem that would inspire the troops to victory underneath the Warleader, currently louder and drowning out Orzhova's emotive melody as Aurelia was closer to entering reality.

"Aurelia!" Alex cried, and Cai forced the fluttering in his stomach at having to fight the fiery seraph to stop and concentrated instead on his own Summoning, drawing Orzhova's scythe with his shadowy mana whilst infusing the sun of darklight with magic from his left palm. The circles on the ground flashed upwards, and Caiellis saw an extremely powerful but familiar presence in the united sight of his Lenses, though this time the Warleader would not be helping him – she would be against him. He could hear the beating of angelic wings, and coated the Angel of the Black Sun's weapon as the Black Sun itself expanded to a huge size, pulsating with malignant shadow energy mixed with beams of judging radiance.

A pale hand wearing fingerless gloves of black leather reached out of the blinding sun as the hymnals reached a crescendo of overpowering noise now that Aurelia's glorious chorus had ceased with the entrance of the Warleader, and Caiellis felt his power levels rising at a massive rate as his own angel began to be formed in the collapse of the star of malevolent and abyssal unlight. He hoped Alexander was impressed and awed, just like he was with Aurelia as his opponent, though there was no doubt in his mind that the angelic sisters would go for each other just as the Lucerna brothers did the same.

He drew the Sword of Glass, the crystalline weapon charged with the alternate energies of light and darkness, noting that Alex had his own personal blade as well that was of an elegant design – though nothing he recognised from the Lucerna vaults or having belonged to any Lucerna monarch or prominent figure in the past. That didn't mean that it didn't, as Caiellis knew he wasn't aware of the entirety of the vast array of hidden weapons in the Lucerna sanctum back at the palace (only the ruler at the time was), but he doubted for some reason that Marik would give Alex a semi-forbidden weapon. At any rate, the sword was of master craftsmanship and interacted with the seventeen year old's Red and White mana, which meant that Cai's relic blade wouldn't simply slice through it.

"Aurelia. I am honoured to be your opponent," a sarcastic but still awe inspiring voice mocked the second Caiellis was about to open his mouth and say those exact words, Orzhova smiling derisively at her sister, before adding, "Oh, sorry about that. I suppose it's Cai's job to say that, not mine. I guess I couldn't hold in my utter excitement at having to fight you again."

The fiery angel simply glared back and shook her head sadly, as Cai cut in and said, "Though she was being sarcastic, I have to agree with Orzhova's words. It will be an honour to battle against you, Aurelia," the boy intoned, bowing his head respectfully as his angel snickered contemptuously, lazily spinning her golden scythe in a wide arc as orbiting contrails of shadow and luminosity were imprinted onto the air.

"Thank you, young Caiellis," the Warleader replied, utterly ignoring Orzhova's mocking words as the dark seraph pouted at her and Cai thought, knowing that she could hear him, I need you to be focussed in this battle, please. Don't let your dislike of your sister spoil your, and my concentration, and stop embarrassing me in front of my brother. He has much more familiarity with Aurelia than I do with you, and she counters our long term fighting strategy with their relentless aggression and speed. Alex then said, "And it is a privilege to fight you as well, Orzhova."

The angel smiled and winked back at him; she liked Alexander and thought he was perfect for Caiellis (though the older Lucerna did annoy her Summoner sometimes, and inadvertently make him feel inferior, although the other member of his small family was much more disliked by Orzhova) and was willing to ignore the fact that he Summoned the fanatical and passionate (bordering on explosive) Aurelia, who wasn't her most disliked sister but was still up there on her list of scorn. Imitating Aurelia's voice with a ridiculing resonance that seemed utterly out of place on the terrifying and awesome dark angel, "Thank you, young Alexander."

Orzhova... Cai thought, a warning note creeping into his mind voice as the Warleader bristled at the mockery and insulting, I'm not sure it is a good idea to make her even angrier with you and thus more inclined to defeat you, especially since we'll be hard pressed enough as it is dealing with another First Sisterhood angel and my brother.

The angel shot a serious glance at him out of the corner of her midnight eyes, and her honeyed and silken voice spoke (though not obtrusively like Cai had always imagined mental communication being – although telepathic words from others could well be like that) into his mind in a reply: Calm down, Caiellis. I'm just taunting her – plus, if I can make her angrier that means she has a greater chance of over-extension or making a mistake in her haste to defeat me. I already am well aware that she represents the antithesis of our combat pattern, but I'm confident we can win this if we outlast the storm of fire and steel. That doesn't mean to say we should ever get complacent, as this will be one of the hardest enemies we – well, youhave ever faced, though I assume neither of us will be utilising our most powerful spells.

In that case it's alright then. But I think you misunderstand me: I don't want to win, because that would mean that I was right and that Alex hasn't yet recovered, not that I had rightfully beaten him, but I'm willing to test him to make sure he is safe. Orzhova then turned to him, her eyes twinkling with a mixture of amusement, mischief and serious at seeing her sister again, Are you completely sure about that, Caiellis? Are you sure that you don't want to win, to prove that you can overcome the older brother you have always idolised and looked up to that has always been better than you – in your eyes anyway? Are you sure that this battle isn't as much as testing Alex's suitability for dangerous combat, but to see if you can surpass the big brother who you have forever looked admired?

"When you're ready," Alex vaguely impatiently cut into his wordless conversation with Orzhova, gazing into his brother, his blue eyes retaining their colour but looking remarkably different with Aurelia's ardent fire in them, especially with that fire directed towards Cai, prompting the younger boy to briefly ponder if his big brother had also been having a private talk with his own First Sisterhood angel. Cai took a deep breath to try and relax the adrenaline that was already coursing through his veins – he would need as much energy as possible when the fight started. All four combatants' anticipation levels were reaching breaking point, and Caiellis looked his brother straight in the eyes as time seemed to slow to a crawl.

He only gave a tiny nod of acquiescence, but it was all that he needed for the plateau to explode into violence, his brother crossing the short space between them with his already exceptional speed augmented to inhuman levels by the gleaming White and Red enchantments Aurelia cast upon him. The sword lashed out, shining with a blinding intensity, and Cai was hard pressed to block it on his own, the force and speed behind the blow tremendous. Another attack, this time from Alex's booted foot covered in orange fire, almost slammed into him before it was slowed by a shield of glass that Orzhova created, her scythe arcing down into where Alex was before a bolt of fire knocked its trajectory off.

Cai leapt back from his brother, wishing that the top of the rocky outcropping was less like an arena so that he could get more space to manoeuvre as Alexander instantly followed him, his bolt of unlight intercepted by a helix of silver lightning the older boy shot at him. He needed to delay so that he could bring his magical potency to bare, but couldn't start channelling his mana in nearly enough quantity with Alex's proximity and persistent assaults.

Orzhova snarled at her sister and launched herself at her, knowing that she needed to distract Aurelia so that Cai could deal with his brother. Her scythe blow was blocked on the straight sword in the angel's left hand whilst the more decorated and curved blade was deflected by the abyssal haft of her weapon as she pulled it up. She slammed it into the ground, conjuring up tendrils of shadow and light that she flung at the Warleader, directing some of them to aid her young Summoner who was at the moment outmatched by his bigger and stronger brother.

Aurelia crossed her swords, a defensive sphere of White mana surrounding her and burning the questing spears of darkness coloured with golden light, but Alex seemed to be unprepared for the attack and had to spin around to cut them apart. Cai saw an opportunity and took it, diving backwards instead of at his distracted brother and seeing Alex's feint for what it was, a fiery explosion obliterating the ground behind his brother that would have caught him out if he hadn't been more used to the seventeen year old's tricks. The older boy grinned at him, his eyes shining with his very clear enjoyment in this fight, and Caiellis narrowed his own.

Sure, he enjoyed a challenge (though preferred mental ones to physical), but couldn't ever see the point in fighting with other people. Then again, this was no time to think about that, as Alex was already upon him. He had to jolt sideways as a spear of flame jetted out of his brother's free hand, incinerating the edge of his scarf that he still wore and inducing him to quickly take it off before it ignited and burnt his throat.

Aurelia began to swing sword strike after sword strike at her darker counterpart, the blades ignited with a passionate and fiery energy in bringing justice and judgement on the darkness and possibly again trying to teach her sister the error of her ways. Orzhova spun her scythe in a circle, deflecting a couple of the strikes and blasting a selection of blinding White bolts at the other angel. Both her and Caiellis needed time to start some sort of powerful spell, and the fact that they were being put on the back foot by their Red and White opponents was detrimental to their chance of success.

Cai enhanced himself with the Gift of Orzhova, beating his stained glass wings and flying into the air, higher than the two angels who were still close to the ground, barely dodging a storm of incandescent fiery missiles that scorched the air with their holy energy. He was better at long distance combat than his brother, who much preferred to be up close and personal whilst using weapons (or his fists), though apparently Alex had other ideas as Cai heard and felt his wings shattering into particles of glass at the disruptive Red mana his brother launched at the aura, smashing apart the magical substance and sending his sibling falling back to the earth.

Instead of returning to his brother, Cai swiftly completed a short talk with Orzhova and landed on a cushion of a soft but glass-like White and Black material and fulminating a streak of purple energy at the Warleader, the draining energies of the discharge healing Cai ever so slightly though he didn't inflict much damage, the First Sisterhood angel much more resistant to spells than other beings (although at least not immune like some Sancturia creatures).

The dark seraph bombarded Alexander with shards of stained glass that sliced through the air, shining with a malevolent purple glow and breaking themselves apart on his flaming shield, though the sheer amount of them was starting to tell, as well as the numbing and debilitating mana they released when shattering upon impact. She hoped her Summoner could stand up to powerful Aurelia long enough for her to achieve victory against his older brother here, as now that she had enough distance between her and her enemies she could bring her full power to bear. Orzhova raised the golden medallion in her left hand, striking it with her scythe as a pulsation of gold swept across the battlefield.

When it touched Caiellis, it infused the boy with strengthening mana, but when it passed through him and hit Aurelia – doing the same in the other direction when it reached Alexander – it blackened and became shining with darkness instead, sapping the life and strength of her temporary opponents on the mesa, at first with quite a low intensity but increasing in strength every second the fight continued – until it would reach such a rate that, unless Alex or Aurelia did something, they would be overwhelmed and Caiellis and his angel would have enough life energy to become effectively immune to any sort of assault.

Aurelia quickly launched herself at Cai, shooting through the air at a speed that should not be possible for a being her size, though one that he was entirely prepared for, bring her swords round to strike and taking full advantage of the fact that she was a much stronger creature than the small and physically weak youngest prince. He dodged one blow that smashed apart the ground beneath him, and blocked the second just as it was about to hit, diverting the energy behind the blade away from him instead of outright taking it straight on his sword as he would have been sent flying.

Another strike from the ignited Swords of Flame forced him to jump back, though then several bolts of lightning cracked towards him, and he was too slow to dodge but not too slow to raise a shield of scintillating White and murky Black. He cried out in pain as the electricity ran through his nervous system, and though the wounding that it caused was quickly healed by his shield and the spells that Orzhova had cast upon the ground, it still hurt and left him wide open for the descending angel, her blades raised high to strike him down – while Cai assumed that the flaming swords would be extinguished and stop an inch above slicing into him, he still didn't want to lose, not right now.

The battle had only been going on for less than a minute of absolute exertion, and he was confident that he could stabilise the situation and gain the upper hand the longer they fought because of the grinding nature of White and Black combined, whereas White with the most aggressive colour of mana was more about spontaneous and relentless offence. Whilst he had said that he didn't want to win because it would prove that the wounds Aksua had inflicted were still healing and the fact he had failed his big brother meant that Alex was still unable to fight and felt inadequate because of that, he would be lying if he said that achieving victory wouldn't come with a burst of satisfaction, despite knowing that it would be due to his older brother's condition not being perfect and not because he was stronger than Alexander.

The middle Lucerna ran at Orzhova, swinging his dad's former sword at the Angel of the Black Sun and also conjuring up a roughly circular shield of incandescent golden-white that attached itself to his left arm. The angel blocked his sword strike effortlessly, twisting round and ramming the haft of the scythe towards him. Alex managed to bring his new aegis in front of him, though it fractured underneath the force of the blow, and when it did Orzhova blasted out a shaft of pure light at him that sent him tumbling despite the fact that he sensed Aurelia adding power to his defensive enchantments.

The older male quickly got to his feet, and in spite of the brief flare of pain in his chest that he knew was only fleeting – the fact that he was a Lucerna making him more resistant to the spells of enemies – he grinned at the angel that he was fighting against. Orzhova smiled back at him indulgently, thinking about how whilst she and Alex were thoroughly enjoying this short combat, her Summoner and Aurelia were utterly serious and completely focussed – though she supposed that the Warleader wasn't exhibiting as much of her natural fervour because she was fighting against an innocent and small child that she knew wasn't deserving of her fury.

Caiellis rammed the Sword of Glass into the ground, etching smoking and celestial sigils into the air around him the Aurelia couldn't see due to the fact that the twofold shield that had protected him from the lightning helix was now merging together its individual components of light and darkness to become an opaque barrier of imperious gold that only had enough space for him inside. Had he been claustrophobic (like his brother mildly was, though always pushed away his fears and faced them instead of hiding from them), the sensation would have been entirely unpleasant, but right now he couldn't care less and it made him feel slightly safer for the moment – Cai could still see the world around him through the fusion of the vision gifted to him by the Lenses of Guilt and Innocence.

The littlest Lucerna (although he wouldn't ever admit to Marik) tried to replicate the technique dad had shown in the attack on Fort Egetau, but instead creating his own unique take on the move since he had never been taught the spell, collecting his magics of light and darkness into the rough semblances of orbs, holding one infused with more White mana and pulsing with golden flecks in his left whilst his right carried a black sphere reminiscent of the Black Sun but more unstable.

His shield cracked and splintered into many different pieces, but instead of waiting for it to fully break apart he shot out of it, releasing the two rough spheres of unstable energy and slamming them together through the force of his mind. When they collided, they annihilated in front of the apparently surprised Warleader, emitting huge quantities of blinding energy that healed Caiellis and forced the angel to raised her wings to shield her eyes from the glow, though the bombardment of alternate energies turned some of the white feathers to ash. Cai pushed aside the feeling that he had just desecrated something of the highest holiness by daring to touch a First Sisterhood angel's wing with his Black magic, running at the angel to press his advantage though he knew Aurelia would be ready to attack him when she glared at him through her fiery red eyes.

Orzhova laughed at her Summoner's reversal of the situation, letting go of her scythe (where it stayed hovering in the air due to the magic surrounding it) and clasping her own hands together, a bolt of unlight flying out towards Alexander. Instead of dodging, the older boy raised his palms (one still holding his father's sword), a shimmering field of Red and White mana appearing around them. Too late, Orzhova realised it for what it was, and called out a frantic warning to her Summoner as the bolt was deflected off its path towards Alex and refracted straight towards Caiellis, who broke off his attack and glanced round in confusion.

The bolt hit him in the chest, sending him flying, but halfway through its collision Orzhova desperately managed to convert the magic of darkness into that of a healing lance of radiance. Aurelia launched herself at her distracted Summoner, and Orzhova, feeling that it was her fault for her boy Summoner's current pain, grabbed her scythe, the golden edge suffused with void darkness. She cut through the barriers between the worlds themselves, walking into the Sancturia abyss and leaving material existence for a short moment, before another blade of darkness hacked apart reality and she pulled herself through to intercept the blow.

Aurelia immediately turned towards attacking her, and Cai pondered if Alexander and the Warleader had also initiated a mental shift when Alex charged at him. His muscles were on fire, but his mana pool still had a substantial amount yet unused (though not quite enough to cast a spell of cataclysmic magnitude). He needed to delay further, and the longer it took for him to be defeated the greater chance of winning he had. Alex had seemed to realise this as well, his blade splitting the air and glowing with a golden light as it was blocked on the Sword of Glass, White on both sides pressing against each other, each bolstered by a different one of its enemy colours.

Alex grinned enthusiastically at him, swiping out a foot to see if he could trip up his little brother as the two angels fired spell after spell at each other, but Cai had been expecting such a move and had already jumped up, dragging his lighter blade away in a spray of sparks and slicing an overhead blow towards his sibling. The elder Lucerna blocked it on his own sword, which was exactly what Caiellis had wanted, and his mind lit up with the possibility of finally beating his brother as he executed a perfect disarm, the older boy's blade dragged out of his grip and clattering to the ground a few feet away.

Alexander's eyes widened in shock as Cai pressed another strike, ready to pull back his blade at the last second as to not hurt his brother, before the exultation of his mind quickly turned to horror when he came to the awareness that Alex had wanted to be disarmed. The older boy's hand quickly and fully encircled his thin wrist, crushing it with squeezing force and forcing him to drop his own sword as his hand went dead, and he was yanked round before he could bring any mana to bear and greeted by Alex's closed and free fist millimetres from crashing into his face.

Shock was the first thing that flooded into his paralysed mind, and he was powerless to move himself as the moment of his defeat seemed to stretch out into an eternity of failure, before Alex's comforting voice broke into it, "Sorry, but you aren't winning this time, squirt." He cheerfully smiled at his kid brother, who's bright green eyes were still widened in an adorable surprise, as he heard and felt the two angels stopping their own personal battle. He loosened his crushing grip on his brother's skinny wrist, knowing that the force of the grasp would leave a bruise but hoping that Caiellis would forgive him for it.

"I … I lost..." was all Cai could say, breathing out at an extremely fast rate to the point where he had begun to hyperventilate, his vision returning to normal and blurring, though not because of any extreme exertion – yes, he was tired, but not exhausted, and still had most of his mana left. Enough for another Summoning at any rate. It had been ended too quickly; the entire battle had lasted less than two minutes, which meant that Cai obviously wasn't as strong as he thought he was before this. He was glad that his brother was back to normal again, but the speed of the defeat came with a sting of personal disappointment at being bested by Alexander again. He knew it was selfish of him, and that he should be lauding his big brother on his victory, but couldn't get any thoughts out. At least it hadn't been effortless for his sibling to swat him aside, but as a Lucerna prince he should have done better than that.

"Yeah, you did. But don't beat yourself up about it," Alex told him, fully releasing his brother and going to fetch their swords, though it took a few seconds for Cai to register that his relic armament was being handed to him. They were both sweating in the heat of the morning despite the fact that it would get hotter as the day went on, and there was no scorching sun to glare down at them, but being used to the freezing Lucaelian cold made a person like this. The older boy knew that had he not overcome his little brother quickly, then he would have almost certainly had a significantly harder time winning as Cai's power got higher and higher whilst his own waned – in that instance, he would have been force to playing the delaying game until Caiellis could no longer sustain Orzhova. "But … It barely took you anything at all..."

Wow, he really doesn't like this very much does he? Then again, he always thinks that he is inferior to me, and because of the kingdom's (and our father's) blatant favouritism towards me he may have developed a bit of an inferiority complex. Being a Lucerna can do that to people, as you are constantly told that you have to be extremely powerful so that you can save the people from the darkness, even from an early age. Alex thought, nodding his thanks to Aurelia and swiftly Unsummoning her, and patting Cai on the shoulder. "It was either I defeated you quickly or I lost, as you definitely have the long game in your hands because of your magic. Hey, don't look so down, I've Summoned Aurelia way more than you have Orzhova, and I'm four years older than you so of course I should have won."

Cai still seemed shocked, however Alex had been the same when he had abruptly lost to their dad when he forcefully Unsummoned the Warleader so couldn't blame the kid. His little brother then smiled at him, though it was quite obviously forced.

Sorry, Orzhova. I let you down. He thought, glancing over at the brooding angel, who returned his look but smiled at him, her midnight eyes losing the sadness and disappointment that they had been filled with when meeting the despondent gaze of her Summoner. You did well, Caiellis. There is nothing to be sorry about. If you keep training at the rate you are now, both in and out of combat, and wait until you are a bit older, I'm sure we can best Alexander and Aurelia one of these days. You are still only thirteen, Cai. When you are both adults your power levels will be equal, but until that time you should expect a power discrepancy. She returned to the Mind Realm in a spiralling flash of purple energy, and Caiellis felt a wave of exhaustion as she left, though not as pronounced as it would have been if he had been able to actually use some of the mana remaining in his stores.

"Sorry, Alex. I'm sorry for being so petty. You fought really well, and deserved to win," Cai said, smiling up at his older brother who returned the grin and ruffled his hair, eliciting an unamused growl at the seventeen year old dispelling the image of a gracious and mature loser he had created, "Thanks, kiddo. You did the same. I don't think you are being petty, it's normal for you to be shocked and disappointed at a sudden loss, particularly when you think you are close to winning against someone who is stronger than you. And I expect that you will stop questioning my recovery now."

"Yes," Cai nodded. He fully believed that the fact that he had elbowed a healing rib was the only reason for his brother's pained reaction, and that the older boy had definitely healed because of his fortitude and Lucerna heritage. He was immensely glad that Alex was getting back to normal, especially since it was his failures that had led to his older brother almost losing his life in the first place. What would I ever have done without Alex? Me and dad would never have spoken (which could be preferable to almost being at the point before we are actively trying to kill each other (well, when he's actively trying to kill me at any rate)), and I would have locked myself away even more than I do now. I would have certainly wanted vengeance against the Welkalites who caused the death of my brother, if I could have ever got over the loathing of myself for letting him die. "You've proved that you can fight. I'm glad I didn't win, because it means that you are getting better."

"Sure you are," Alex replied, grinning at the younger boy and wrapping him into a headlock, noogying a little too roughly, but before Caiellis could yelp in outrage or question his brother on what he meant (though already had a vague idea that Alex was referencing the fact that he had wanted to win), he felt another presence on the plateau – one that had been there a long time, but with the intensity of the sparring duel he hadn't been able to notice it. His mood instantly soured, and Alexander let go of him as he heard an, "Excellent moves, Alexander. I'm happy you have recovered well from your near-death experience, and it is so nice to see you again, my son."

How long of you been here? And I'm glad that it's nice to see him again, though not your youngest son. Although to be fair as a father I would prefer Alex to me. That of course doesn't excuse anything.

Cai pulled himself away from his brother, not even looking over at his father and preparing to descend back to the camp, before he let out the emotions brewing within him that his sibling had managed to momentarily distract but were returning with even greater potency this time – now that he was no longer shocked at his father choking him, the sadness and disbelief was turning into fury and resentment, though for some strange reason he couldn't quite manage hatred. If he hadn't been so intimately familiar with hatred as he was even at his young age, Cai could easily have passed off his current emotions as that, but right now he knew it wasn't.

"Nice to see you too, dad," Alex replied politely, nodding his head in a brief gesture of respect to the king that he still thought he should do despite the fact that the monarch was his father, and smiled at the pride in his father's eyes, something that he enjoyed receiving but just wished that Cai could be favoured with the same. He liked making Marik, the person he had looked up to in spite of not seeing him for over nine years (though then the person that he had admired had become better and better in his mind due to not seeing him for so long, forcing Alex to improve if he wanted to continue to emulate his mental representation of dad). However, his words were coloured with an inflection of seriousness and anger, which he couldn't tell if his dad had picked up on due to his piercing blue eyes still being filled with love and parental pride.

He quickly noticed that Caiellis had immediately begun to leave, so before he went Alex spun him around, lifted him off his feet and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug that had him coughing for breath by the end.

"Sorry, kid," Alex quickly apologised, forgetting for a moment how much weaker his brother was than him. He put the boy down, but didn't quite want him to leave (which he didn't blame the younger boy for) so knelt down to his height and resumed the hug at a much diminished intensity (though still strong enough to make it uncomfortable for the younger boy – it would be far too wimpy for him to ever give his brother a hug without making it firm).

"It's good to see you again, little bro," he said, resting his chin on Cai's bony shoulder for a second and squeezing the other one with his hand. Cai pushed his brother's shoulder away from digging into his neck, and before he replied looked upwards to where the king was watching them. It made his blood boil how Marik's eyes were meandering guiltily and aimlessly across the patterns the blowing dust was making on the stone mesa, but when he noticed his youngest son looking at him he hardened them and returned the gaze.

Cai felt his body begin to begin trembling with equal amounts rage and fear as he locked his orbs with those of his father, the seconds-long moment stretching out across the aeons of time. He felt tears beginning to gather at the corners of those angels-damned wide and childlike eyes of his that made him look years younger than he was, so violently shook them away as moving his arms would alert Alex that something was wrong, though it was unlikely that the older boy hadn't noticed his furious and frightened shaking. Marik simply stared back, the words he had been planning to say to congratulate his youngest on his impressive fighting despite his quick loss falling from his mind, although he managed to keep his eyes cold and his features austere as he mentally quaked under the accusing glare, though it wasn't the anger that hurt the most – it was the fear.

He had always been scared of his own father, but also awed as well at the aloof and cold man, and whilst Johnias may not have been as terrified of his wrath as he hadn't been beaten as much as Marik, the current king's twin had a special type of fear reserved solely for the unstoppable and scary Garius who would not hesitate at all to beat his children into submission. But he had never wanted it to be like that with his own sons; he and Emili were supposed to give their children the perfect life, all the support in the world so that they could embrace their destiny whilst feeling loved.

This fear wasn't right, it never should have happened, but the truth of the matter was that Emili was dead because of his own stubbornness and ignorance in believing that Johnias would be above such tactics like targeting his family and bargaining with demons. The civil war had taught him what a monster his twin brother had become, eaten up by jealousy in his belief that he should have been king instead of Marik, and if Marik was honest he wished that he had never been chosen by their father's death vision in the first place. Then his sons wouldn't have the weight of the world on their young shoulders (unless Johnias didn't have children of his own), wouldn't have been targets in a war that never happened, and Emili, his perfect wife, would still be alive. However, he couldn't be certain that Johnias had fallen when he was handed the crown instead of his four minute older identical twin, or if he had always been tainted by the promise of the darkness.

Much like his youngest, actually. He needed to be taking more of a role in making sure that Caiellis wouldn't fall prey to the shadows that were an integral part of him, though because Caiellis had never chosen to have some of the abyss in his gentle but defiant heart from birth whereas those that had turned to it for power were driven by ambition and greed meant that his youngest son would be less inclined to abuse that power because he knew exactly what it could do. It was a terrible burden, but Caiellis seemed to be taking it fine so far, though (in part) it could be attributed to his perpetual fault-finding and blind questioning. Nonetheless, he needed the boy in line, not just because he was a Lucerna with a destiny to help the kingdom but because of his Black mana that could easily turn him into another Xarius.

Alex could feel his father and brother staring at each other in spite of the fact that neither were emitting any mana, so to spare Caiellis the torment of staying with the man who had choked him and who was supposed to be someone who loved and supported him – though he had no doubts in his mind that Marik did love Cai, and that the younger boy could also improve in the way he handled the father/son relationship – he let him go. Cai murmured, "It is good to see you as well, Alex. I'll see you back at the camp."

"Stay safe," the older boy cautioned, and his brother finally broke off from staring at Marik – although Cai ensured that the way he did so was not in any way acceding to his father's apparent dominance – and raised his eyebrows at Alexander, scolding, "I'm not five, Alex. I can take care of myself."

"That's all well and good," the middle Lucerna smiled, "But I'd hate to find out myself that you'd fallen on the way down and broken your skull on a rock."

"How pleasant, jerk. If anyone falls on a rock here," Cai resisted the urge to direct the barb at his father instead of his brother, which would have made the words far more than a harmless jest. Excluding dad from the conversation was perfectly reasonable in his opinion, "It will be you. And I will be the one who had pushed you."

"Like you could ever do that with those pathetic sticks of yours," Alex scoffed, "lightly" punching his brother on the arm, who yelped in pain but quickly repressed it, hoping that his father hadn't heard and wouldn't get any ideas, "Get going, bitch, before I give into the urge to push you myself."

Cai gave him a little wave, actively stopping himself from directing another glare at his father; he failed to do so so instead made it as intense as he could muster – If I'm going to have to glower at him, I may as well make it worth the while – and left, feeling the man's gaze boring into his back.

Alex slowly stood back up, watching his little brother hurry off before eventually figuring that he had to approach the metaphorical elephant in the room despite wanting to put it off forever – he quickly reminded himself that he needed to do this, for his kid brother's sake as well as his father's, though he didn't want to let his anger at his sibling's mistreatment out at the man in the same way he had done the first time. He was angry, furious in fact, that his dad would ever let himself put his hands round Cai's fragile throat, but could put aside his personal anger in the cause of improving his little brother's and father's kinship.

"Dad. We need to talk. Now," he stated, eschewing any pleasantries that could wait until after this pressing discussion, and accidentally utilising the precise words he had spoken when confronting the man over Caiellis's self-harming – however Alex did not want a repeat of that occasion, despite its success.

Marik exhaled loudly, though he had been expecting this – if Caiellis was going to tell anyone about the occurrence, it would be his older brother and his confidante. He had been anticipating such a progression of events, but it still hurt – while Caiellis may blindly demand at every opportunity, even though he should know better, know to respect his father and king, Alexander supported him and backed him up – he could count on his eldest to get the brothers out of sticky situations. When Alexander questioned him, he knew it had to be really bad, and the only two times (counting this one) he had done it then it was.

And he understood Alexander's point, knew why he was glaring at his father with the blue eyes he had inherited from him. Because Caiellis had been hurt by their dad, physically this time as well as emotionally. Caiellis's pain drove the older boy into a protective anger, made him as reckless and obstinate and disobedient and difficult and ultimately dangerous as Caiellis himself. Alexander would give up his own well-being in a heartbeat; he wouldn't give up his little brother's for anything. It was his eldest son's greatest asset, one of the things he loved the most about him, but it was also his greatest weakness.

"You probably know this is coming," Alex said, "But we need to talk about the fact that you strangled Caiellis. I don't care what he was saying, I don't care what he was doing, but if you ever, ever do that again to him, they you have me to answer to. That may not scare you in any way, and I'm not threatening you, but if you want any chance of becoming a father again you will not hurt my little brother any more." His voice got louder and more angrier the longer he was talking, but he ensured to keep it suitably respectful.

Two paths were open to Marik now: one was the one he had taken with Tristram and Caiellis (and all others who might find out, though he doubted his son would want the information spread because although Caiellis may defy him he had never done anything intentionally to his father's direct detriment), the one of cold authority, smoothing the incident over with the need to discipline and austere lies. Or he could tell the truth, tell his loving eldest who clearly wanted to repair the rift between Marik and Caiellis that he had lost control, hadn't been able to stop himself from shoving his son down on his bed and wrapping his hands round his neck – in fact he hadn't even been aware of it. Both had their own merits and downfalls, but as Marik gaze intently into his eldest's honest blue eyes the truth won out.

He sighed again, wearily sitting down in the same position his youngest son had been in when Alex found him here, motioning next to him for his eldest to sit down whilst gazing watchfully at the storm over Usnaan that made his head hurt – though he soon blocked out the pain. A headache was the least of Marik's current concerns. The seventeen year old dubiously glanced at him yet still dutifully sat down next to his father, who turned to him, his eyes still strong but no longer cold, filled with something that scared Alex despite it being preferable to the alternative of cold anger – fear.

Well, not quite fear, but hesitancy and uncertainty that aptly emphasised how inexperienced Marik was with being a father again. Alex's mind instantly leapt to thinking about how he could help his dad at the moment, though he came to the conclusion that he should just listen, and offer questions, criticisms (just not insulting ones), advice and support where pertinent and necessary.

"Alexander. I want to begin by saying how proud I am of you and your brother for how heroic you were in the civil war, and the escape from Welkas," Marik began, and Alex searched his eyes to see if he was throwing out praise to try and get his son on his side, but he couldn't find anything in his impenetrable blue orbs – it also prompted Alex to remind himself that he was on neither side, as when he was with Caiellis then he would be on his father's side but when he was talking to dad – like now – then he would argue the squirt's position. When they were together he would take neither, unless one of them was doing something far worse than the other. Such as enacting physical violence.

"Thanks," he responded simply after a moment of silence, his dad smiling warmly at him (though it didn't diffuse the tension after his outburst earlier, having expected the forty year old to carry on speaking). The man draped a large arm over his son's shoulders, but Alex didn't relax his body because of it, though the gesture of intimacy was appreciated despite its lack of reciprocation. "And that's why I am going to tell you the truth, my boy."

Alex nodded, though he didn't yet know which of the two possibilities in his mind – that Marik had done the actions as some sort of extreme punishment, or let go of himself and lashed out, hurting his youngest in the process – was the truth and which was false. At any rate, the defeat present in his father's posture made him heavily suspect the latter, and made him want to profess that Caiellis had been out of order and instinctively defend his idolised and perfect father that he adored in spite of becoming more and familiar with his numerous flaws exhibited against Cai. "Truthfully, I wasn't entirely aware of what happened. The last thing I heard before I came to my senses with my hands gripping your brother's throat was Caiellis trying to turn my weakness for your mother against me by bringing up what poor Emili would have wanted..."

Marik drifted off, beginning to think of what the flawless and indescribably beautiful woman would have wanted, before knocking himself out of it. He had a rightly angry eldest son to reassure, and a petulant youngest to deal with afterwards, as well as an army to lead. Thoughts of his wife could wait. "I made it out to Guardian Tristram that I planned out the actions, that I was doing it in some sort of absurd punishment for Caiellis's rudeness – though mark my words, Alexander, your brother did deserve one. I know you have a fondness for him, but if you had been there you would agree with me."

"Cai does sometimes step out of line, and needs bringing back with a reprimand," Alex agreed, though there was no doubt in his mind that whilst his little brother would act upon his or his Uncles' criticism instantaneously, becoming sullen and contrite, he would argue and fight against his father's words with every breath he had. Marik nodded and smiled at how thoughtful his older son was, and continued, "Anyway, that went about as well as expected, and I don't think Tristram will ever stop hating me for it. I lied about it not because I have a problem with admitting that I lost control – though it is incredibly inappropriate for a king – but because Caiellis would never be able to feel like he could stay in a room with me. Whether it was him bringing up your poor mother, or his constant defiance that set me off, I don't know, but I can't have him knowing that I did it unintentionally. It would break him even more than I already have done. Do you understand me, Alex? I need you to never reveal the truth to your brother."

"Yes," the middle Lucerna nodded. He understood and agreed with his father's reasoning completely, despite how tragic it was. "I don't care if your brother hates me forever, so long as he is obedient and can think he is safe. If he thinks that I can't control myself around him, then he will be even more scared than he already is. I don't want to happen to him, and I know you don't either. Alexander, I know that you want our relationship to be perfect – and maybe after this war I will be able to devote more time and effort to it – but I would rather that Caiellis hated but obeyed and felt secure around me rather than being terrified and unable to think."

Alexander could feel his father's sadness emanating out from him, and he knew the man was basically giving up on the chance to ever have his youngest's love that he once had, long ago, again, so that Cai could live his life without being in constant fear from the man who was supposed to love and protect him. However, that didn't make him above censure, and Alex accidentally let a bit of anger into his voice when he asked, "And why did you lose control? I've never heard of you having anger issues before, but this is twice in one week, dad, and I can't just ignore it this time, or put it off to being a rare occurrence. If you hurting him is going to become a common trend, then I'm going to start having to protect you from him, and we both know that I don't want that."

Marik flinched as if Alex had just hit him, then hung his head in his hands for a second. The man then told himself that he shouldn't be acting so pathetic in front of his eldest, and that the boy wanted a legitimate reason for allowing him to continue to see his youngest, as he knew that Alexander fancied himself as the boy's protector. Marik just found it incredibly easy to open up to his warm and welcoming eldest son, who had that part of his late mother in him in making Marik want to talk to them, and the fact that he was so thoughtful was also a bonus – however he shouldn't be doing this to Alexander, not as a king nor as a father.

"I'm sorry, Alexander. But I promise to you that I will try to control myself in the future. I can't make any guarantees, judging by what happened earlier, but if I start to get angry I will simply leave, and issue a punishment from afar," Marik stated, embarrassed by the lapse in his kingly visage and the fact that he had inadvertently dropped his mask in front of his eldest son, who should not have to worry about his father and should instead be concentrating on serving, learning, recovering and surviving. "I seem to forget that I am the adult in the equation, and that my word in Caiellis's life is law. Though I won't punish him for the past argument, as I think my loss of control was more than enough, I simply will not tolerate any more dissent from him. Thank you for reminding me of that, Alexander."

Alex couldn't help but feel that he had landed Cai in even more trouble, but instead of communicating that to his father he just nodded, hoping that in spite of their traumatic experiences and arguments that his little brother and dad could solve their differences soon. He didn't fail to notice that his father had deliberately ignored his question, but was willing to let that slide for now because Marik was using his authoritarian and kingly voice, meaning that he would brook no more dissidence in the matter.

"We should go to the war council now. There is no harm in starting before the others arrive at the official time," Marik broke the silence, gripping his son's shoulder for a second before standing back up, though he didn't move his eyes from the distant storm which continued to crackle with crimson lightning. They would have to fight into that tempest of emotion soon, and with all the Welkalites could bring to bear arrayed against them. Marik knew that successful planning was paramount to the success of this crusade, and wanted both his sons to be there at his side when he led the siege of the City of Pleasure. He was already aware that the plan he had in mind would not appeal to Caiellis, but whether the boy would defy him and argue or simply accept that that was the strategy they were enacting was beyond him.

In any case, Caiellis's fear often provided sustenance for his aversion, which meant that Marik probably hadn't done any good at all with his uncontrollable actions, though personally he would be more than reluctant to argue with someone who had pinned him on his bed and choked him. However, now that Alexander had arrived, recovered and well, he wouldn't put it past his youngest to either ignore him completely and hide behind his brother or adversely continue the arguments and use Alexander as a shield from his father's wrath. In any case, Marik could see clearly that his eldest was not taking any sides in the matter, and that all he wanted was for them to stop bickering and be happy with each other, but it wasn't as simple as that. Marik had to balance ruling the entire kingdom and developing a relationship with his sons, and though a few (read: nine) years ago he would have abhorred the thought, Lucael came before petulant teenagers, no matter that Caiellis was his petulant teenager.

Fighting with Caiellis wore him out and frustrated him. It had become the bane of his existence, the thing that scared him the most – not just because of his clear tendency to become violent in his presence, but because his youngest thought he was so prepared, thought that he knew better than everyone else (well, not really. Just me). It made him so vulnerable, and Caiellis was so young, and the world was so dangerous though his little boy knew that – he just could never see that or empathise with his father's point of view. He had often contemplated smacking some sense into the boy, but that would be too far considering he had almost throttled him this morning already.

.*.*.*.

The strategy session was in full swing again, this time with even more members around the large table due to the fact that Alexander's army had arrived – even Leodred had turned up at his own father's insistence, and Elizabex looked as happy to be planning as ever – and Caiellis wondered if this one would be different to the first two because of the presence of his brother. His throat still hurt, and after leaving the elder Lucernas back on the outcropping he had avoided sight and gone into his room, changing out of his vaguely battered garments and into something more royal, though not over the top or unnecessarily ostentatious.

The golden collar of one of the many outfits he had never touched before itched, but the boy just assumed that was due to the fact that he wasn't used to and the bruise on his neck hurt. Alex had directed him an amused eyebrow at the change of clothing, having not bothered to edit his own, though hadn't jabbed at him for it because Cai knew it suited him, in spite of his dislike of the imperial clothes.

Nonetheless, he had gone the full way with looking impressive, as there was no point in doing anything half-heartedly, so was currently wearing the pure gold prince circlet that framed his green eyes. When he had looked in the mirror, his reflection had reminded him strongly of the portrait of Xarius in the Sola Atria, despite the fact that his eyes were nowhere near as arrogant, nor did an amused and conceited smile adorn his youthful face.

So long as he could change the clothes afterwards, as he had never been comfortable in embracing his prestigious heritage (maybe because he felt too inadequate to be doing so, or because he had never really done it in the past so it was something new), he was fine with appearing like the son of a king for the duration of the war council, though he knew that some might interpret his sudden effort to seem magisterial as an attempt to not be outshone by his brother, who had been greeted proudly by most of the generals.

"This will be the final war council before the siege of Usnaan," his father began; Marik hadn't taken much of an interest in his son's spontaneous decision to be the first to wear the new prince garments he had had made for both of them, nor had he objected to the fact that his youngest made sure that Guardian Tristram was in between him and the boy. The man stood up from his ornate chair at the front of the table, beginning to pace round it as he began his speech, "I cannot impress it upon you enough how important that you understand your and your forces' roles in the coming battle. We will be discussing the plan, so now will be the final time for any of you," he resisted to glower at Caiellis, making sure that he didn't spend any additional time stood behind his son's chair as he completed his circuit of the table, the map on this one focussed on what they knew of Usnaan from old records and what his sons had managed to find out, "To voice your objections, although bear in mind that a complete overhaul of the strategy is not feasible."

I wonder who that was directed at, Cai thought, sarcastically, honestly relatively abashed (though he hadn't been at the time and the emotional strain afterwards) that he had acted spoilt or petty in front of all the generals when arguing with his father, although what he thought he had said wasn't too embarrassing. Predictably, the plan consisted at an ordered rush into the city after a swift bombardment from the artillery divisions that would herald the attack, targeting wall sections weakened through years of disrepair to provide breaches for the force. He would have preferred constant strikes if not for the fact that the innocent civilians would still be inside the city (as Tradax definitely wouldn't be thinking about them), but even without that plan available there were plenty of improvements to this one that could be implemented.

Marik almost regretted asking it, but it was age old tradition that the voices of those with grievances with a war plan should be heard (it was said that Matalis had always asked every single one of his admittedly few generals what their thoughts were, and while that wasn't entirely feasible Marik still wanted the strategium to be a place where any could speak their mind – whereas some rulers had objected to others being allowed to talk), and heard a weary resignation in his voice that would be imperceptible to others when he inquired, "Does anyone have anything to say about this plan?"

Glad you asked, Cai thought, but this time he was intending to wait to see if anyone else would share any doubts before he did his own. Marik could see straight from his son's face that he wasn't happy with the plan, but the way he was going about communicating it by waiting was certainly an improvement from before – and he knew that he would be hearing of Caiellis's doubts soon, as no one else seemed to be wanting to say anything.

"May I speak, sir?" the boy asked, and Marik smiled at him, allowing himself to think that perhaps his awful actions (or his words, but they seemed to have little effect on his youngest) had caused an improvement, but then again after almost crushing his arm the same thing had happened – he had been respectful at first, perhaps out of sheer fear for his safety, but that that soon dissolved. "Of course, Caiellis. I'm assuming you dislike the speed of the plan?"

Oops. I shouldn't have put it like that, Marik thought when his son glowered at him for a moment, probably brewing and subsequently dismissing a sarcastic retaliation in his mind. It had still only been about half an hour since they had stared at each other on the plateau of Caiellis's "hiding place", and Marik knew he was going to be lucky if he avoided the full extent of that gaze debating the strategy now, though he believed Caiellis would be disinclined to do that in front of all the generals.

"Yes, sir," he replied simply, leaning intently over the table and feeling everyone's eyes on him – but more strongly his brother's, who was watching him to see if he would be able to resist the temptation to shout (or even scream, as the only reason he was remaining in his father's presence was under the assumption that he would be able to restrain himself in the company of all these people), whereas his father was judging him to see if his strangling had any effect on him. Other than making him scared and frightened, now that he had got over the initial and sheer shock over it he was even more angry, but with Alex here he didn't want to make the older boy feel like he had to get in between his dad and little brother.

"I believe that we should take more time to study the storm over the city before attacking into it."

I thought you might. There was a general murmur of confusion around the table, and Marik briefly registered that the others probably wouldn't have been able to detect it, nor would they have seen it, as the scouts sent to observe the city hadn't yet returned having only been sent out an hour ago. Before Marik or Caiellis could answer the concerns of the others in the room and manipulate the news (whether they were doing it intentionally or not) to their own ends, Alexander cut in, "What my little brother is talking about is an unnatural tempest over the city of Usnaan, most likely fuelled by demon magic. No one knows what it is doing to the city, but one thing is certain: that it has to be stopped. Soon."

Marik smiled proudly at his eldest's calm and collected words, as well as the way he remained neutral yet still inspired the other generals around the table, who nodded their assent, so the man added, "And that is why we must attack as soon as possible, Caiellis."

The boy repressed a frustrated and exasperated breath, knowing that while his brother was attempting to provide an unbiased point of view, he was inadvertently favouring their father much more and slighting his little sibling's reasoning. "And that is also exactly why we need to take the time to research this threat as much as possible before blindly attacking it. Throwing our soldiers at this storm without knowing what it does is a sure fire way to end this war in disaster and death, sir."

Marik glowered back at him for a second, before registering that at least Caiellis had made the effort to be respectful, despite the fact that what he was saying was still smacking of his incessant need to delay and take a ridiculously long time to achieve victory, so replied with a stern but otherwise not angry, "So what would you suggest, my son? We can't be delaying more than attacking tomorrow, and I'm not entirely sure that is enough time to be researching the nature of this storm. For all we know, the tempest has never been used before, and that there are no records of it. I'm not willing to let Tradax and the Orders of Passion have any more time than necessary to inflict any more corruption upon the city and its inhabitants."

His youngest son looked at him as if he had jumped up on the table and begun dancing wildly and screaming, making Marik wonder how bad it had gone if Caiellis thought that him being reasonable was a massive shock. That was completely unexpected, the boy thought, though his father hadn't exactly approved of his suggestions the man had actually been willing to take them for once – no doubt he wouldn't listen to them, and Cai would have to argue until he was blue in the face to make his dad do so.

"Firstly, I would contact the Resistance inside Usnaan to see if they could give us a clue of what is going on within the capital," Cai began coolly, watching his father's face intently to see if his words were having any effect – although as usual, unless the man was showing an excess of one emotion he couldn't discern anything of his inner thought processes, and though his throat hurt while speaking he continued to do so, cursing his father inside for hurting him, "Then I would ask any of the angels – especially ours of the First Sisterhood – to see if they have any information. If we haven't found anything then, we should get the logistical advisers and non-combatants to go to the cities we … liberated (as Jeksaan was the only one that survived in any reasonable state, the others cracked apart by the hammer that was the Lucaelian legions) in order to look at their libraries and mythology. Finally, if that doesn't work then we should ask those still in the cities of Lucael to pore over materials in their libraries, as there definitely should be something on this demon magic considering the amount of years that we have fought them."

Marik snorted, eliciting an irritated glower from his youngest son, though his green eyes were still filled with a fear that only the few in the room that knew the boy well (including him, though he really didn't) would be able to perceive it, and replied, "What you are saying, apart from the first two options, would take far too long if we are going to attack tomorrow. I'm sorry, but-"

"Then postpone the attack!" Cai had raised his voice and yelled back before he even realised it, his father freezing mid-sentence and directing a furious glower at him, but right now he couldn't care less what his dad thought of him – if he thought that it was acceptable to choke his youngest son, then his opinion in the man's eyes would never improve, and neither would Marik's in his. However, they had company, so he didn't give into the temptation to shout again when he said, "Sorry, sir. But apart from the fact that the longer we wait, the more time the Welkalites have to do … whatever they are doing to Usnaan, and that Johnias may attack whilst we are gone, I can't see any negatives to what I am suggesting, though I'm sure you will soon enlighten me with them. If we don't take the time to know our foes, then they will certainly overcome us, and if that happens then we will never be able to save the civilians of Welkas, leaving the Orders and their demonic patrons to forever prey on them as well as giving the Arch-Heretic free reign to take the throne. One of the main factors for the defeat of the Lucaelian forces in the early parts of the civil war was that we didn't know what we going against, or how far the traitors had fallen in plain sight. If we had-"

"Excuse me?!" Marik exploded, slamming his fist on the table in rage, "How dare you blame the defeats of the civil war on me not knowing my enemies! How dare you! The Lucaelian people suffered because we never suspected a betrayal from within, not because we did not know the extent of the forces arrayed against us! Simply not being aware of our enemy's-"

"That's exactly why so many died! Because we didn't know their capabilities, their numbers, or most importantly their willingness to kill in the name of their dark patrons! We never knew how long they had been plotting, which Demonic Brotherhoods they had on their side, or how many had defected to their side in secret!" Cai shouted back, annoyed at his father's apparent inability to suppress his rage when the topic of Johnias's betrayal came up, further proving that he was incapable of admitting what he did wrong or when he made mistakes.

Unbeknownst to Caiellis, his father reacted so vehemently because he blamed himself for each and every one of the millions of deaths during that fateful war, and while Alex didn't know this either he still buried his head in his hands, shaking it despairingly before removing them so that he could see the expressions on the room's occupants' faces. Marik was shuddering with anger, and it took every ounce of his self-control to not smash Caiellis off his chair, though he knew he had already strangled the boy today and that had already been massively out of order – he reminded himself how surprised he had been that Caiellis showed up to the strategy session, expecting his frightened little boy to have put as much distance in between himself and his now apparently violent dad, or at least not contribute at all to the war council.

"When me, Alex and the current Light-bearers of Capitalia Lux moved between the cities, we had to be wary of every single one before we could ascertain whether or not it was loyal," he made sure not to yell this time, though he could see out of the corner of his vision fixed on Marik that some of the Light-bearers were shaking their heads in disgust at the notion that they would have betrayed the Lucerna throne, with his Uncles nodding in agreement, remembering the fear of entering each city (that had thankfully turned out to be loyal), "Even then, there were assassins out for our blood hidden in every shadow, generals and bodyguards posing as demons – even the former Hierarch of Civitas Sol, Hierarch Aretis's father, was killed and supplanted by a shape-changing demon much like the ones that murdered our mother. The thing almost murdered me and Alex before Tristram killed it, but it just goes to show that knowing your foes is essential for success in war."

"Show some damn respect, Caiellis!" the king bellowed at his youngest son, who growled in annoyance at his refusal to take the perfectly reasonable points that were being raised. He knew that he had once again taken a gamble at bringing up his dead mum, but he had hoped that the knowledge of his failures and how they could have been prevented would have penetrated Marik's shell of stubbornness, and appeal to his side of never wanting tragedies like that to happen again – evidently it had not worked in any sense of the word, and the fuming man turned up the intensity of his glare, "You know as well as I do that I do not wish the events of the civil war to be repeated, which is precisely why we must end this war as soon as possible. I will not debate with you further on the subject – if you have an issue with the way I do things, then you can take it up with me after the official council session. But I will not allow you to devolve this one into your constant arguing again, and I will hear no more of your objections."

"Then don't listen. It's not like you were in the first place," Caiellis spat, caustically.

When did it become like this? Alex thought, observing the argument between his father and little brother without intervening, as these sarcastic retorts from Cai seemed to faze his father not one bit, whereas if it had been the first time there would have been severe reprimanding and surprise from their dad. Marik warning him about his disrespectful tone seemed to Alexander like the man had done it a million times already and was bored of it, whereas the fact that Caiellis was confident enough to say such things spoke volumes as to his current dislike of the man – though Alex couldn't really blame him. He didn't like being forced to watch the escalating tension between his father, the immovable object, and the growing force of nature that was Caiellis Noctis Lucerna.

They were like two puppies nipping at each other, waiting for the perfect moment when the council session ended to full throw themselves into the vicious biting, though for the moment their words weren't exactly shallow barks and cuts – he knew both of them were more than willing (despite what they may have said) to rip the other's head off. Marik was just catching himself from exploding in front of the other generals, as if he suddenly recalled that he was the adult in the conversation and the first supposed to be calm, whilst Cai was hesitating, looking like a young fledging bird caught mid-air that now remembered it was still learning how to fly.

The worst part was that he could still tell that Caiellis was still an earnest kid that wanted to help, even underneath the sometimes nasty sullenness and angst he had acquired after the first meeting with the monarch after nine years, increasingly more willing to give into his anger and kick back at his father instead of simply taking the criticism, whilst Marik by comparison was still a loving parent underneath his veneer of an angry king, though there was no way Cai could ever see that with that rage aimed squarely at him.

"Can you not see that the fact the Welkalites have made absolutely no effort to stop our advance means that this storm is their secret weapon, their ultimate trump card that they will hope overwhelms us in its thunder – and your plan of marching ignorantly into it is playing exactly into Tradax's hands!" Cai yelled, simply not understanding why his father couldn't see his point of view, "They are inviting us in, and if we follow the current strategy we are taking their bait! They have put all of their eggs in one basket, which means that any intelligent commander would simply ignore Usnaan and take over the rest of Welkas! Answer me this – what would they do without the supplies front the rest of the Empire? I'll answer it for you – nothing. They wouldn't be able to do anything. We wouldn't have to risk the survival of our kingdom on one battle where we don't even know what the enemies can do, nor what this storm heralds! Are you blinded by your dislike of me, or just an idiot?!"

"Be quiet! I've already said that we can discuss this in private! I will not have you dissenting and distracting my generals further!" Marik shouted, and while Alex wished he could currently muzzle his little brother the boy did have a point, though he went about (probably deliberately) conveying it in the most insulting way to their father as possible. Instead of replying and embarrassing both of them further in front of the generals, who needed to be at the optimum mental state for the war in spite of what plan they were following, Cai shot a glance at the other "members" of the discussion, as none were willing to interrupt the argument between Lucernas. "And can none of you see this? That Usnaan is clearly a trap?" no one responded, and all of them (even Tristram, Tybalt and Leodred) apart from his brother averted their gazes when he glared in their direction, "Ok then. It seems that my father's inability to see the plainly obvious is contagious. Whatever. You can carry on now, sir."

"Thank you, Caiellis," Marik hissed, hoping that his youngest son was preparing himself for several extremely harsh punishments after this disgrace, "Now go, my generals. Inform your captains of the plan. Ave Lux, and may the angels guide us to victory against the dastardly Welkalites!"

"Ave Lux!" cried the others, though with much less fervour than the first time, and Cai felt many pairs of eyes stabbing into him at his outburst, though they stopped whenever he replied with his own stormy green gaze. The generals filing out seemed to take an eternity to Alex, who wished for it to take even longer so that the inexorably approaching argument that was making the tension in the pavilion thick enough to taste would take longer to arrive, and he mused that if he had been in between his brother and father's stare-off he would have been incinerated by the force of the glares. When the last person left, a concerned-looking Tristram that shot him a glance asking whether or not he should stay and Alex had replied with a shake of his head – though he ideally wanted to avoid this fight, the longer it would be left to fester the worse it would be – and Alexander wanted to get the first word in, but was soon drowned out by his father.

"What the hell was that, Caiellis?! Where did you get that disrespect from?! Why did you feel that it was necessary to shame yourself and me in front of the others?!" Marik demanded, the volume and anger of his voice rising progressively with every word, "Well?! Answer me, you brat!"

"Maybe you should work on accepting your mistakes and listening to me!" Cai screamed back, his voice piercing into Alex's heart and dripping with sadness converted into anger, "I know that you want to shut me up, judging by your actions earlier, but I won't! Not when there are lives at stake! This is more then our stupid argument, dad, that you ended when you strangled me! If you wanted to avoid this, then you should have gone the whole way when you did!"

"I was trying to discipline you!" Marik roared back, his voice like a thousand angry volcanoes erupting in synchronisation, and Alex winced when he heard the lie, Cai shouting back in outrage: "Oh yeah?! Did you really think that mindless violence would work?! I bet that you were going to choke me to death, but Uncle Tristram arrived before you could!" Tears were streaming down the boy's face now, highlighting how sad he was and how badly his emotions had been hurt, but both of them had stood up, and Alex could clearly see the desire to do violence breaking out of his father's eyes, so before that could happen he placed himself in between the two.

"Get out of the way, Alexander! Your brother needs to be taught some respect, and I will not let you take the punishment for him!" Marik shouted, though he didn't make any moves as of yet to throw his eldest out of the way and continue on his fuming charge to Caiellis, who had been about to scamper as far back as possible but with Alex obstructing his father's wrath stood behind the older boy, retorting, "When will you realise that hurting me isn't going to achieve anything?! You've already tried throttling me, so what next?! Cutting off my arm?! Killing me?!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Caiellis, I would never want to kill you," Marik snorted contemptuously back at his defiant youngest, wishing that Alex wasn't in the path to Caiellis so that he could beat this defiance out of him, and it was his youngest's turn to snort, "Really?! Because I remember you telling me quite well that you and mum had never wanted me, and killing me off now would be the easiest way to make sure that I never ascend to the throne!"

Alex saw his father take in a deep breath, the fact that he was doing that not boding well for the volume of the next point the man would shout, so before he could Alex cut in, knowing that he needed to step in now before this got any worse than it already was, "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOU ARE JUST BEING PATHETIC! YOU ARE BOTH BETTER THAN THIS! AND DAD, WHAT YOU DID WAS WRONG, NO MATTER IF YOU DID IT TO DISCIPLINE OR NOT, AND YOU WILL NOT LAY A HAND ON CAIELLIS NOW!"

Marik deflated instantly, releasing the breath he had been mustering in a surprised and despondent exhalation, realising that he had let another argument get control and that he, as the adult, should have stopped it before it started. He couldn't really have expected anything less from his hormonal son, who was only now going through the tumultuous time known as puberty that had heralded his own rebellion. Cai smirked at how swiftly his father had been silenced, looking past his brother who stood protectively in front of him at the defeated man, victoriously muttering, "Well, it seems that you are all bark-"

"BE QUIET, CAI!" his brother shouted, making him flinch back away from the furious older boy, who spun around, his eyes full of anger at his family for falling to bickering, and lifted him off the feet by his collar, though not as far as he could have done. Even so, Alex's clenched fists still dug into his neck, and he squirmed fearfully in his brother's iron grip, though he knew that there was no way he could get away from the older boy who was at least three times stronger than him, Alex shouting, "WHAT I SAID APPLIES TO YOU AS WELL! YOU WERE BEING RIDICULOUS! YOU KNOW THAT DAD WOULD NEVER WANT YOU DEAD, AND THAT MUM AND HIM WANTED YOU! STOP BEING SO SELF-PITYING AND SEE THE DAMN TRUTH!"

All of Cai's sarcastic responses that he would have systematically launched had the identity of the one shouting at him been his father dissolved in his mind, but as it stood he couldn't even meet his brother gaze, or reply as the hands were restricting his breathing – the second time that had happened today, though he could forgive Alex because he clearly didn't mean to and his big brother had been right – he had been ridiculous, and they both knew how much Emili had loved them.

He started to whimper, quietly, frightened by his brother's wrath and by the fact that the bruising on his neck was flaring into life again, and while he had appeared fine with the events of a couple of hours ago, for all that he had professed that his dad should have gone the whole way and asphyxiated his youngest son, he was still terrified of being put in a similar position again – especially after gaining a fear of it in the civil war when Alex had choked him unconscious with his bare hands, and had that fear reaffirmed in their abduction when the same had almost happened when he had been helpless in the constricting arms of Arendus Draal. That his father would do that to him just reinforced his hatred of the man, but right now he didn't care about that. He just wanted Alex to put him down.

Alexander's eyes softened when he realised the pain, both emotional and physical that he was putting his brother in, so quickly let go of the terrified kid, horrified that he had made Cai that scared but still glad he had put down the argument, his voice becoming quieter and begging, "Please, guys … I can't live with this any more than you two can. It hurts me to see you arguing, and while I wish that we could go back to before the civil war as well we can't. Mum is dead, and the hole in our family has to be filled with effort from us all, so please, dad, Cai, stop this. Stop this arguing, please. None of us need it, and it is good for nothing."

Alex hated that he had made his father defeated and despairing and his little brother scared of him, but if that was what was necessary to stop this he would definitely do it again, and would continue to do so until these perpetual arguments stopped. Of course, he didn't mind occasional disputes, and had argued with both his brother and father, but these constant fights ever since he had been wounded were killing all of them. It just made him more ashamed that it had been his weakness that had been the catalyst for this. No one said anything for a few seconds, before he gently took Cai's slender forearm, noting and hating how the boy at first flinched away, his eyes full of utter terror – obviously having just undergone a flashback of the terrible events earlier today – and walked with him out of the pavilion, urging, "Come on, Cai. We'll see you soon, dad."

When they reached the outside of the camp, Alex pulled his little brother into his chest, hugging him close and saying, "I'm sorry for that, kiddo, but sometimes you are like a raging fire and something needs to douse you before you burn everything down. You don't hate me, do you? I could tell you were scared, and I'm sorry for hurting your throat, but I'm not sorry for shouting."

"It's ok, Alex," Cai murmured quietly, all of his defiance gone, wiping his tearful eyes with his hands, "But you can be really scary when you are angry. You and dad both, though I know that you'll never hurt me like he did. I could never hate you, Alex, you are my big brother. In fact, I'm sorry for letting that get out of control again." Cai pushed away and turned around, and the middle Lucerna, fearing that he was going back in to the pavilion in order to carry on with the argument, placed a restraining hand on his bony shoulder, "Where are you off to?"

"I'm going to apologise to dad for starting another argument," the boy shot back, his voice full of remorse, and Alex smiled proudly at how grown up his brother had become, "Ok, squirt. Good idea. You want me to come in, or are you fine doing this on your own?"

"The latter," Cai replied maturely, smiling up at the older boy with his adorable dimples that made Alex want to baby him forever, though he let go of Caiellis and let him re-enter the strategium. The youngest Lucerna paused and swallowed nervously before quietly walking back through the door and into the pavilion, though his father's combat-attuned senses meant that the man must surely have noticed him. Marik was sat with his head in his hands and his burly elbows rested on the table, the weakest his youngest son had ever seen him, though that strangely made him warm to Marik, and jumped in surprise when Caiellis said, "Dad?"

"What do you want?" he snapped back in sudden irritation, annoyed that his youngest son had snuck up on him in his moment of weakness, although he didn't move his hands, fully anticipating that now his older son had gone that Caiellis would restart the squabbling - though it would be uncharacteristic of Alexander to let his little brother back in if that had been Caiellis's intention. However, he didn't know how long he had been here, nursing his pounding headache that he wouldn't reveal to anyone (as the king's weakness was one he almost always kept to himself), and it was fully possible that Caiellis had waited until his eldest son was busy before coming to see him. What the boy said next surprised him, as Cai replied with, "I just wanted to talk, dad."

"What about?" he demanded, the pain in his head strangely exacerbated by his son's presence, though it seemed to whisper thoughts of doing violence into his mind, and he rubbed his pounding temples, although the fact that his youngest was being quiet and respectful (though he had apparently stopped saying "sir", which Marik had never liked in the first place and had always thought was a mockery of his authority) made him inclined to listen. Cai smiled sadly, murmuring, "About us. While I still support what I said, I don't want to argue any more, for Alex's sake as well as our own. Dad, I'm sorry for shouting, and I'm sorry for disrespecting you all the time, and, well, I'm sorry for being a spoiled and petulant brat. I know you don't deserve it."

Marik raised his eyebrows, though that brought on more pain so he quickly stopped the action. Who is this thoughtful and considerate boy that has walked into the room? At first, he had never imagined Caiellis to be quite as angry as he had been the night of Alexander's near death, expecting the lad to take the punishments as quietly and sadly as he had prior to that outburst, but his youngest son still had surprises in store for him, it seemed. At any rate, he knew this apologising Caiellis had appeared because of Alexander's shouting, and he even though he wanted to he couldn't enjoy the novelty of his remorseful son because of the agony in his head, nor could he reply past growling a few words through his lips, "No, I don't."

"And while I still hate you for choking me," Cai continued, staying at the back of the tent because of that, not confident to approach his dad in case the man lashed out, and as such not noticing the torment he was in, "If we both put effort into improving our relationship, then I'm sure that with time I can forgive you, ok?"

"Just leave, Caiellis" Marik snarled through clenched teeth. He felt awful, knowing that his little boy was extending a peace offering to him, building a bridge by which they could repair their shattered kinship, and that he was killing the diplomats and burning the bridge, but he couldn't concentrate with the vindictive reverberations in his skull. He wanted Caiellis gone for two reasons – firstly, he didn't want either of his sons to see him in this state, especially not his impressionable and less experienced youngest, and secondly he could feel that the headache was a harbinger for another violent rage, and he did not want Caiellis to be hurt again.

Cai narrowed his eyes, though he had been naïve to expect that his father would embrace him with open arms, so pressed on, "Dad, I know it was wrong of me to expect you to be perfect, and I should never argue with you because you have the weight of the entire kingdom on your shoulders. That is obviously more important than being a father."

"Leave, Caiellis!" the man growled again, the voices in his head whispering malicious thoughts about the murder of his youngest to him, telling him that he should have finished the whining brat off when he had pinned him down on the bed, presenting him with an image of Caiellis's neck in his hands, his youngest desperately trying to pull his hands off as he squeezed even harder. With a brutal crack, there no more resistance in between his thumbs, and he realised with horror that he had snapped the boy's neck when his baby's head lolled, the cheeks deathly pale, strangled purple and choked blue. He shook his head to clear the images, as Cai shook his own head in disappointment at his attempt to apologise being met with failure.

"Dad … I still love you," he offered, speaking from the place deep within his heart, underneath all of the fear, pain, defiance, hatred and anguish, the precious and small place where that statement still rang true, throwing out a life-line to his father, willing him to take it so that they could build up their love for each other again. There was no response from his father, and he snarled in disgust, his remorseful mood souring. He thought that Marik had pretended not to notice, too annoyed at his son and too stubborn to take his chance to say sorry as well and repair their relationship, but in actual fact he couldn't hear the boy's words over the screaming in his own skull as the unreal him howled in anguish over his youngest's corpse.

"Sorry to have bothered you," he muttered sarcastically, each syllable infused with scorn and hatred, turning around and stalking out of the room – and if there was one thing a parent did not do it was to not reply when their child said that they loved them and opened up to them.

.*.*.*.

Alexander sat, brooding, in Hierarch Tybalt's medium-sized tent, as the old man had made him promise that he would get himself checked out to make sure that his body was recovering properly from the vampire's curse, as well as ensuring that his body was repairing itself from the physical abuse inflicted upon it, as he felt more comfortable and more inclined to be truthful with a person that had known him all his life doing it instead of some random but well-intentioned doctor.

However, his thoughts were not on himself, but on the war between his father and brother – the look of pure and cold anger in Cai's eyes when he had left the tent was still with him, and when he had asked his little brother how it had gone the little man had simply replied with a shake of his head, a simple gesture but one that conveyed how disappointed he was. He could see from Caiellis's eyes that any attempt to try and figure out what had occurred when his dad was presented with an apology would have ended in failure, and the kid had left, telling him that he was going to research this storm in the brief time that they had left, saying that the safety of the people was more important than his relationship with his father when Alex had pressed him for information.

Tybalt finished running healing mana down his bare chest, the fact that he had had to take it off embarrassing him because of the wounds that still looked quite bad underneath, not really because of the fact that nothing was covering it because the venerable Light-bearer had seen him naked before when he had been born. Even so, it was still a bit awkward, and he stayed silent until the older man told him that he could put it back on.

"Do you think that they will ever make it up to each other?" he asked, and although he didn't use names Tybalt knew exactly who he was talking about. He was glad that Alexander felt at ease enough in his presence that he could ask questions like this, though he knew that the seventeen year old only really felt at ease opening up to the people that he had spent nine years of short life with in the civil war (although he never wanted to worry Caiellis so used to hide some of the more pressing emotional issues from him, and preferred to have the Light-bearers focussed more upon the younger boy so sometimes concealed his pain, whether it was physical or mental). Tybalt sighed softly, running his wrinkled hand over his equally creased brow, replying with, though he wasn't entirely sure himself, "I think they should, Alexander. I can tell that neither of them want it, and after this war when there is nothing distracting either of them they will probably reach a peace when there is nothing to argue about."

"It's … just..." Alex murmured, his voice soft and drifting off, "I'm not so sure about that, as much as I'd like to believe it. It feels like they are drifting away from each other, like the gap in between them is widening with every insult, every harsh word or negative action, and I won't be able to pull them back together again. When they get so far away that I will have to choose a side or stay with neither, I hate to say it but I would have to choose dad. But if I do that, then Cai will definitely drift away. No offence, but if the kid doesn't have me to talk to, he will feel like he can't talk to anyone, and even you and Tristram won't be able to get to him. If I have to choose the side of dad – which I have to do, as he is my king and father – then Caiellis will be lost … And I don't want that to happen, but if feels like it is going to happen soon if nothing changes."

Tybalt nodded slowly, proud of the fact that the boy was opening up to him because he knew how hard Alex found it to speak his inner emotions to people, putting on a brave face so that his little brother, who constantly observed him for clues on how to act like the brother he so looked up to, wouldn't become scared or worried as well, but that often meant that Alexander felt like he had no one to talk to about things like that. The four of them had shared a tremendous amount of pain, both physical and mental, during the nine years of their life spent in danger, and Alex had grown up with the two Light-bearers as the main adults and influences in his life, and while Tybalt knew that the middle Lucerna preferred the strong and determined Tristram to him, the boy still looked up to him, in spite of the fact that he found things like maths and reading immensely boring.

"It reminds me of when your father and King Garius II argued when Marik was a similar, but older age to your brother," Tybalt mused, and Alex's eyebrows raised in surprise. He, nor his little brother, had ever been told before that their dad had argued with his own, and that made him instantly think worse of his own father – if he had fought in a similar way, then technically he should have been better prepared to deal with his own son having been in a similar position to the kiddo in the past. However, before he could voice his concerns, Tybalt elaborated, "Although this time the fights are far more emotionally fuelled rather than just a teenage rebellion and disagreements. I don't think you know, but your traitorous uncle, Johnias, was the favourite of the kingdom and your grandfather, who constantly put Marik down as he couldn't achieve as much as his slightly older twin brother. That was the cause of their arguments, though Garius was not above beating your father to silence him, whereas now Caiellis believes that your father has no authority over him because of the little impact he has had in the boy's life, whilst Marik is more angry because he still loves you both and he finds that he cannot show that love."

"It probably doesn't help that dad seems to prefer me to the little dude, as well as the fact that the kingdom definitely does because of Orzhova's return," Alex added, and Tybalt nodded for a brief moment before countering, "Though you have to remember that Marik loves you both equally, and that is why the arguments are more heart-felt."

"But if dad loves Cai, and was in the same situation in the past, then surely he should be better equipped to make it up to him and repair their relationship, like I assume he did with our grandfather?" Alex inquired, and Tybalt's face fell for a brief moment before he returned to his normal expression, but Alexander, who was an expert in picking out micro-expressions so that he could better help his little brother when the runt was unwilling to talk, saw it clearly for what it was. "Oh … dad and his father never did make it up to each other, did they?"

Tybalt shook his head, replying sadly, "Even on your grandfather's deathbed, the two still disliked each other, and I heard the disappointment clearly in his voice when his Death Vision appointed Marik as the king, though obviously your father is a much better ruler than your vain uncle ever would be."

Alex mulled over the words in his head, feeling sorry for his father now if he had never been able to make Garius love him, and tried to imagine himself in the same situation, how heart-broken he would have been without his father's pride in him inheriting the throne, and thus relating it to Cai's position in the present, "So doesn't that mean that dad would want to repair his and Cai's relationship even more, so that his youngest son will never have to go through that, or to prevent Cai dying hating him or him dying with his son angry at him?"

"That would be a logical explanation, yes," the Hierarch agreed, "But I fear that your father will need reminding of what happened between him and your grandfather, so that he can get his priorities in order."

In fact, Tybalt didn't really know what to say to Marik's eldest, and he was quite perturbed that Marik hadn't yet seen the correlation between his actions now and his father's in the past, or if he had hadn't acted upon it. However, Tybalt's oldest living student (he didn't count Johnias any more) seemed to act completely differently in the presence of his youngest son, forgetting all of his intelligence when interacting with the boy, and was inadvertently making similar mistakes to his own male parent in the past. He felt awful for Alex, who was trying to be the glue holding his family together, and just hoped that if the two kept pulling it wouldn't be Alexander that was torn apart.

.*.*.*.

The sun still hadn't come out despite it being much later in the day, and while Caiellis didn't really mind because the Welkalite sun was a baleful red orb that made everything ten times hotter, it spoke volumes of the power of this storm that it was blocking out the sun despite them not being under it – though the clouds that were currently covering the camp were rushing towards the tempest over Usnaan. He flicked through the pages of the book he was skimming through, as his bodyguards had brought some with them under his orders so that he could continue reading in between battles and keep up his education – as well as reaffirming his knowledge of the successful tactics in the past, maybe proving to be inspiration in the middle of a battle.

This was the third he had been flicking through, and despite it being one specifically about known demons (though the passages were biased against them and the words coloured with the instinctive Lucaelian hatred of them – Cai would have preferred a neutral account that simply listed each of the demon's abilities and actions in the past), Helico's Account of Vile Demons, he hadn't yet found anything about this storm. He still had a pile of books as yet unread that Jenna had loaned to him from his personal Scientia Mos strategium that was set up next to his private residence, but was beginning to get a bit frustrated. He had expected at least one mention of the storm, even in passing, but there was absolutely nothing on it. Nonetheless, he wasn't giving up yet, and for the moment stood up off his bed to stretch, brushing his slender fingers over the bruise on his throat, checking his watch on the cabinet.

He had hidden himself away in the room for three hours, apparently, though it didn't feel like that, and he hadn't had any lunch despite thinking that he should have to keep up his energy – though then again he had always fought perfectly well without sustenance, and could eat tea instead later. He told himself that there was still a lot of research to be done, and that if he gave up now then he would never be able to forgive himself if one of the books had information on the storm (although he had ordered it so that he looked through the most likely candidates first).

Plus, delving into the books and the arcane knowledge they held was distracting him from thinking about his pathetic excuse for a father, and while he would have contacted Orzhova he knew from experience that speaking to her in the Mind Realm took up a lot of time in the real world – and he could do it when he went to sleep tonight. He knew he had been extremely lucky that no one had bothered him while he was trying to do this, but when he heard footsteps coming towards the tent, and could sense the presence of a specific visitor with his sixth sense, he knew it was a lost cause and that his time was up.

"Cai? You're in there, right?" Alex asked, though the question in itself was redundant because both them knew that he could detect Caiellis's mana resonance, and the older boy entered the tent to see his brother with his head in a book and frantically flicking the pages, his eyes analysing everything within and not looking up to his brother's entrance, but Alex knew that Cai would know that he was in there despite how distracted his sibling could get when reading. "Hi, Alex. I was just researching to see if I could find anything about this storm." Since dad stupidly doesn't want to let us do it properly.

"Uh huh," the older boy replied, still stood in the doorway, his voice light and airy which did not bode well for Cai's current situation of reading. He had often heard a similar tone from his brother in the past, though it had been a month or so since he had, and rolled his eyes as Alex said, "Dad wants us to continue our training that we did with Tristram in the war. He said that he wants us to spar so that you can improve your physical hand-to-hand combat."

Fantastic. Just fantastic. I bet he thinks this is a good idea because of what led to our kidnapping, and while I will admit that I was caught off guard and outmatched nothing I could have done at my current size would have helped against that brute Arendus Draal. What would have helped, however, would be him listening to me for a change, and trusting my instincts when it comes to the forces of darkness.

Of all the physical (and non-magical) training that they had done in the civil war when not fleeing from the demons on their heels, sparring was the lowest on Cai's list – he could get into endurance training, though running laps in the cold and the rain under the watchful eye of Tristram as he was lapped again by his much taller and therefore faster brother wasn't exactly pleasant, but he liked setting his own targets and beating them, and while Tristram did add a bit of pressure, as well as his brother being massively better than him at it, it was just him against the clock. Then weapon training wasn't that bad, though he still hated it, as at least he had something that would help to counteract his physical weakness. Though it had ceased to interest the younger him when he realised just what those weapons could do to a person, although even then he knew it was an unfortunate necessity to learn how to properly wield a sword.

But sparring – sparring was just a cruel exercise in futility. He was significantly smaller and weaker than his brother, and while he was agile and good at getting out of tight situations his blows lacked any real power behind them without anything to bridge the gap between them (like magic). Because in sparring there were winners and losers – and Caiellis inevitably was always the loser, which was one thing his fledging ego had never needed. Even worse that this time they would be doing it in front of their father, which was one more reason for the man to be disappointed in him, one more reason for him to be compared unfavourably to Alex.

Apparently his disappointment and annoyance was visible.

"Aww come on, Cai," Alexander chided, moving further into the room, "It's not that bad."

"For you, maybe," the younger boy muttered, letting the book in his hands fall, and turned around to see Alex grinning at him, far too cocky, though his confidence was not misplaced, "Maybe if you would get your head out of book more often-"

"I'm pretty sure that's not the problem," Cai shot back, swinging himself round and getting off the bed with a sigh of irritation, "Researching this storm is far more important than losing against you."

"Hey, maybe you will win this time," Alex encouraged, and his brother arched an eyebrow at him in dubiety, rolling his eyes again at his sibling's like of pointless physical combat – while he didn't like fighting with Alexander, it wasn't all bad since at least the older boy wasn't trying to hurt him, but with his father watching it definitely would be. Complaining, he moaned, "Surely it is more important to be discovering more about enemy than having a fight with you."

"Dad wants you to be able to hold your own if you don't have access to magic," Alex told him sternly, "And I'm inclined to agree. While your magic is powerful, you rely on it too much."

"There isn't much else to rely upon," Cai grumbled, following his brother as the older boy walked out of the tent, hoping that his father would at least have the intellect to choose somewhere private for the sparring so that he wasn't shamed by his lack of strength in front of any soldiers, "It's not fair. You know that you are going to win already; I've never won in a sparring match with you before, not even when we were younger, and I'm not going to start now."

"Perhaps if you devoted more time to physical training," Alex suggested mildly, "You could one day be as strong as I am."

Cai snorted, but otherwise didn't say anything as he trotted beside his brother was they walked through the camp, several soldiers bowing respectfully as they passed, and Cai knew already that they would be going to the extremely oversized tent that served as their father's accommodation – which at least meant that they would be private, and that no one else could see him get his ass kicked by his brother. This just seemed incredibly spontaneous, as he doubted that there would be any situations in the upcoming conflict when he would lose his sword and have no mana, having to fight without weaponry, and if it did happen then he would probably die anyway, no matter that he spent time losing against his brother today.

They walked past the two pretty female bodyguards that Marik seemed to have guarding most of his things, the two twins with the crossing halberds that served as an imposing warning to any that might try to infiltrate the king's sanctum, and he noticed that Alex looked at them intently out of the corner of his eyes, an expression he had seen from his brother many times in the past, when he was "checking out" the females without wanting them to notice him – though this was a lot rarer than Alexander's usually confident and almost cocky approach to flirting. Cai prodded the older boy on the cheek to get his attention, and Alex turned to him with an amused scowl on his apparently-handsome-to-girls features.

Their father was waiting on the interior of the tent, and Cai could see a room further down the tent (that was bigger than some people's houses – the Lucaelians did like to spoil their royalty) that was clear apart from a few training dummies that had been moved out of the way, and Caiellis assumed that that was his father's personal training room – and what would serve as the location where he would exhibit his sons' (well, Alex's at any rates) talents against each other, which automatically made him hate the place. At least there was a mat so that when he inevitably got knocked over, he wouldn't scrape himself on the ground – though he was glad that he had had the foresight to get changed out of his Lucerna outfit when he got back to his own tent.

"My sons," Marik said, by way of greeting, his eyes giving as little away as usual, and Alex replied with, "Hi dad."

There was a pregnant pause in which both of the older Lucernas looked at the youngest member of their prestigious family, who simply stared coldly back at his father, until the man turned around with a frown on his features when no greeting was given by Caiellis. He hadn't heard most of what his youngest son had said to him whilst he had been in the throes of the headache, but now that Caiellis's green eyes were filled with something akin to betrayal and anger he assumed that he had missed his son opening up to him, telling the boy to go away and ignoring him when he was trying to heal the rift between them. He dearly wished that the pain in his head (that Caiellis had caused with his arguing in the first place) hadn't sprung up so that he could acknowledge Caiellis's effort, but he was also surprised and irked that the usually attentive and perceptive boy hadn't noticed that he had evidently been in pain. At any rate, Caiellis was being petty now, though for what reason he couldn't work out, and Marik ignored his younger boy and led them into the training section he had prepared for them.

"You will spar here so that I can asses both of your capabilities for physical combat. Begin when you are both ready" he ordered, and Alexander instantly moved onto the other side, beginning to go trough the motions of stretching (though if he was being honest he probably didn't need to considering his opponent, but normally when they were sparring he tried to set a good example of what one should do so that his ever-watchful brother would follow it), whereas Caiellis glared at him with undisguised resentment before slowly and painfully in Marik's eyes obeying the order, as if it was the hardest thing in the world to do – though he remembered doing the same to his father, following commands in the most awkward way possible to vex the man without showing the outright disobedience which would have earned him a beating.

"You'd better stretch well, little man," Alex advised from the other side of the spacious compartment, "I'm feeling good today."

Simply fantastic, Cai thought bitterly – this was just what he needed. Not only was his brother stronger, faster, taller, more resilient and more experienced, he was feeling good. Alex had probably jumped at the idea of starting their wrestling again so that he could impress their father, and though his brother knew he didn't like it he also knew that Alex wanted him to improve his strength (though the older boy would never admit it, maintaining that he enjoyed his little brother being a weakling).

Alex wasn't exaggerating either. His older brother was practically bouncing with energy, rolling his head on his neck and shrugging his shoulders as he bounded up and down in anticipation, like he expected some form of challenge. Like Cai needed any more reasons to want to disappear into the mat. He was aware that Alexander thought them sparring was a way in which their brotherly bond was reinforced, but in no way did Cai agree with that. Not like their bond needed reinforcing anyway.

He shot a glance/glare at their dad, who returned it stonily, and Caiellis thought that this was probably his father's perverse way of trying to bond with his sons, having possession of a similar mindset to his eldest son in that respect. If only he was like my brother in actually showing love, a voice in Caiellis's mind whispered, and he meagrely stretched, resigning himself to the inevitable, muttering, "Let's get this over and done with them."

"Aww come on, Cai," Alex cajoled, cocking his head to one side as he finished his stretches, "You don't sound very excited."

"Excited? To spar? Give me one reason," Cai questioned incredulously, every so often looking over at his dad to see what he was doing, his mind still subconsciously processing the information he had read and going over it again to see if there were any subtextual or subtly concealed references to the unholy tempest buried in the archaic texts (having already memorised exactly what he had read), pacing back away from his brother before they began circling around each other, his eyes firmly fixed on his sibling but periodically flicking to his intently observing father. Alex offered, "A chance to prove yourself?"

He rushed the younger boy, lashing out experimentally with a kick that Cai easily dodged, knowing that his brother was just testing his defences, and replied, "More like a chance to get told about all the things I do wrong."

His father visibly straightened for a second with that, Marik mentally cursing himself at his foolish desire to want to two to spar so that the three of them could bond, and his youngest's physical ability would be improved. Of course Caiellis would hate sparring, and it wasn't as if he would never have done it in the past, and while he had clearly stated that he was doing this because he didn't want a repeat of the Scholaria Magnus incident Caiellis evidently thought it was to humiliate his little boy further. He brushed off his mind's concerns – his father had often made him and Johnias spar (which the older boy won more often than not, though it was still almost equal), and Caiellis was lacking heavily in this department – if the boy thought he was going to tolerate that then he was very wrong.

Reaching out with a kick of his own, Cai's foot only met air and he scowled as Alex spun away, grinning, "You're no fun sometimes."

"I've got better things to do than this," Cai snapped, dodging a punch that would have landed him on the mat (though Alex usually pulled it at the last second to minimise damage, after he had hit his brother) had it made contact and responding with his own. Alex suddenly grabbed onto his arm and flung him down where he landed spread-eagle, the older boy perched lightly on top of him, suggesting heavily, "Maybe you should concentrate instead of complaining. This isn't a game."

"Neither is warfare, which is why I should be researching now instead of wasting my time doing this," Cai pouted, huffing out a slightly strained breath and still pinned flat on his back, but that was the last time he was going to complain, following Alexander's advice to the letter. Marik rolled his eyes, so that was what he had been doing in the hours he was gone? When is he going to get it out of his head that he needs to be researching, and into it that he needs to improve physically? He interjected, his gruff voice full of parental pride,"Nice move, Alexander."

"Thanks, dad. And Cai, just shut up and spar," the larger teenager admonished, releasing his brother, who sighed dramatically but still made his way to the other side and took his stance again, nodding when his brother asked him if he was ready again. He took the offensive this time, charging his brother with a steady rhythm of measured attacks, not over-committing on any of them, but his brother danced with all of them. Though he tried, he could find no openings, Alexander's tough arms blocking his blows and his footwork anticipating his little brother's without fail. Perturbed, Cai flung his arm out – it was supposed to be a feint, but the older boy read him the entire way, catching his thin wrist and yanking him the whole way before he had any time to rectify the situation.

"You aren't concentrating, Caiellis," his father reprimanded, and, his anger at the man backed up by his anger at losing to his brother again, the boy snapped, "Really? You are a damn genius, dad! I'm not concentrating! That must be it! I can't concentrate on this because I am going to go into the most brutal battle I have ever been in tomorrow, with no knowledge of what is facing us!"

"Cai, chill out," his brother told him as their dad's stony visage creased into a scowl, although he stayed silent instead of responding, letting go of the younger boy again as they prepared to go in for a third run, as they would spar until either their father told them they were finished or if Alex though they had done enough for the day – because if he let Caiellis decide, then they would be done now. Cai scowled back at his dad, and then turned to his brother, sweat collecting on his brow due to the heat of the day despite the lack of sun and his physical exertion. Alexander was still grinning, his eyes sparkling with enjoyment, and Cai noticed with another surge of frustration that his brother hadn't even worked up a sweat, though it would be child's play for Alexander to subdue him and probably kill him if the older boy wanted to, a thought that wasn't entirely reassuring but he knew that Alex would never even think of such a thing.

He remembered his brother making each one of Tristram's exercises and regimes into a game to try and make the younger him more enthusiastic about them, and while that had worked for some of them Alex had never been able to convince him about sparring, even when he had been four (though he vaguely recalled his mother once saying that his brother fell for something that he couldn't remember at his age that he had instantly refuted). He knew that Alexander found kicking his ass a brotherly gesture, and he hadn't yet been hurt apart from a few small bruises where his sibling had grabbed him that would quickly fade. Cai had never understood that, and probably never would.

They attacked each other again, and while Caiellis had skill he didn't have the strength to back it up with, whilst his brother had far more of both. It was clear to everyone that Alexander was holding back his full power so that his brother could actually practise his technique without being grabbed and flung across the room within seconds, though Alex wasn't going easy on him – just not hard enough to really hurt.

His brother lanced out a fist when he was busy thinking of some obscure passages in the Codex of Foul Demonic Practices (Only for the use of the blessed Lucerna family and their loyal Light-bearers), so instead of dodging the attack that was meant to be a distraction for the main blow it hit him on the shoulder, spinning him around and making him fall over. Alex's hand shot out to grab him, but before he did so his father's authoritarian voice cut in, the words making him instantly obey, "Let him fall, Alexander. He needs to be focussed, and deal with the consequences if he isn't. You need to stop coddling him, making it seem like his inadequacy is tolerated. If he was fighting a proper opponent then they wouldn't help him up."

Cai quickly sprung back to his feet, determined not to be seen as weak or pathetic in front of his elder family members, annoyed that his father was talking about him as if he wasn't there, and while Alex looked at him in concern it quickly faded when he saw that Caiellis was alright. They tangled for the fourth time, with Cai being knocked back by a kick and then grabbed and dragged into a painful arm-lock, although to his credit Caiellis quickly wriggled out before his brother could restrain him properly – used to the move – to be sent flying for his effort by his stronger sibling.

"Focus, Caiellis. You should have seen that coming," their father admonished harshly as his son tumbled to the ground, Alex darting forward to catch his brother but pulling back at the last second, his father's words still burnt into his mind – sparring with his brother was of course nothing new, but letting him painfully smack into the mat was a definite shift in the modus operandi of Alex's mind – though what his dad said had been true.

Cai stood up again, swaying slightly as his body recovered from the rush of adrenaline that had just coursed through it, and if he was honest with himself he was so used to fighting with the self-healing power of Orzhova at his side that having nothing immediately beginning to soothe the pain was unusual to him. He was glad that he was having to deal with his failures himself, but just wished Alex wasn't looking at him like he was a fragile doll that had to be handled with care if the owner didn't want to shatter it (in spite of his actions), the enjoyment in fighting that the seventeen year old had felt dwindling. His older brother's hair was still unruffled; Alex still looked untouched despite Caiellis landing several decent blows, whereas now his body was beginning to pick up bruises that would have been much worse if they weren't fighting on a mat.

His dad's constant reminders that he was too weak were grating on his urge not to scream at the man, but he didn't want to start another argument for fear of how Alexander would react. He looked, half-pleadingly, at his father, who tilted his head in the direction of Alex, as he wanted conformation that they could start again.

They did so, Cai attacking with a mixture of leaping kicks and punches that he hoped could catch his brother off guard, but on one the older boy grabbed him and spun him around. He was frustrated now, and broke out of the hold, lunging forwards reckless and strong. At the very least, he'd have the element of surprise, as his brother knew he preferred and as such expected the careful, reserved and calculated tactics he customarily employed, usually because they ended up with his butt on the mat with a far smaller frequency than blind offensives. He connected with a reasonable kick to his brother's midsection, but missed the follow up to his face, the forward momentum pushing him off balance and making him fly toward the tent wall. The fabric cushioned the impact, but he still hit with a thump that shook the entire compartment.

Blushing vigorously, Cai pushed away and turned back to his brother, his father's scowl burning into him, though for now he stayed silent. Alexander dodged another blow and Cai feinted, the older boy misreading him for once and tried a kick for the smaller Lucerna's stomach. With Alex's balance precarious, he pulled away to dodge a defensive lancing fist, and his brother used that to right himself.

"Come on!" Marik snapped, his voice full of frustration in his youngest not taking the rare opportunity to achieve one victory, too scared of his brother's retaliation, "You have to follow things like that up. Your brother is bigger and better than you. If you don't have the willingness to follow through with your few attacks that deal any damage, then you will never win!"

The terseness and tenacity in his king's voice shredded the last vestiges of Caiellis's concentration, and the younger boy launched himself at his brother, his limbs whirling in a flailing attack of sloppy movements and angry attacks. The older adolescent simply sidestepped, and Cai hurtled past him until he felt Alex's arm snaking around his chest, and then going upwards.

Alexander's right arm wrapped around his neck whilst the other placed itself behind his head, his brother's hand pushing down as he executed a half-hearted counter, knowing that there was no way he could escape despite the best way of doing so was when the person had just initiated the choke-hold. His big brother applied pressure instantly, and Caiellis coughed as his breathing stopped and his neck began to hurt, panicking and forgetting what he had been taught about getting out of such a hold – not that it would work on his brother anyway – and tapping frantically on the older boy's constricting arm as his vision began to blur and grey out.

He staggered when his brother let go, and despite having had the move performed on him several times (though he had never successfully broken out of it, nor had he out of any of his brother's more playful and less deadly headlocks) the feeling never got any less surprising as there was a rush of oxygen to his brain. Truth be told, he had been scared that Alex wasn't going to let go, in spite of his brother only holding on for a couple of seconds, though he supposed that it was the fact that his father had choked him today to apparently discipline him. His head pounded as the blood rushed to it, and he fell to his knees to regain his breaths. It took all of Alexander's willpower not to go and help his little brother then – he hated using that move on him, but it had been the perfect moment to subdue him in that manner so he had taken it.

"That was the most appalling execution of a counter move I've seen from you so far, and that is saying something," Marik barked – every blow to his youngest that he should have seen coming felt like a blow to himself – though his son (who was panting and red in the face from the blood choke) didn't seem to be listening, "Get up and fight some more, Caiellis. Don't let your brother beat you again."

Caiellis didn't move, and Alex gave into his urge to move round to him, staring into his brother's bloodshot and pleading orbs and realising that he had put far too much force into the choke, more than necessary. Alexander's fists clenched and unclenched at his side as his father added, "Get up and fight. Stop being pathetic, your brother barely held onto the choke-hold before you tapped out."

"Dad," Alex replied for his brother, who had stood up himself before Alexander got the chance to help him, his expression blank as if he had locked himself away in a place that was free of pain and failure, "I think that is enough for one day."

He could sense that his father had been about to angrily retort before he checked himself, realising the identity of the one who had spoken, and sighed sadly, "Yes, I suppose your brother has endured enough. Come on then, Caiellis, you need to be speaking to your commanders anyway."

The younger boy slunk away quickly, his face a mask of dejected sadness, and Alexander followed him out of the tent after a brief glance at his father to ensure that he was permitted. A hand on his shoulder made him jump back in surprise, but when he saw his father's face he relaxed. "Alex, you go back to your forces and prepare them. I will go and see if your brother is alright. I should."

"I don't think that is the best idea," Alex replied, though not overtly defying his father's wishes, "Are you forgetting that it was only today that you strangled him, and that you have been arguing non-stop every single time you have seen each other? I'm not trying to say that you shouldn't – well, I am, and I think I should go to him. He's my little brother, and I hurt him, and at the moment he's more comfortable in my presence than yours. You know what is going to happen when you go see him."

Marik stared at him for a second, dumb-founded that he was actually suggesting that he go and see his son to comfort him considering his atrocious success rate with such an action, and Alex smiled at him, injecting humour into the situation. "The kid has never liked sparring. I think getting his ass kicked by his big brother puts him in a bad mood."

"In that case," Marik said, "I don't think that you should go and see him either. We all need to be focussing on our individual divisions, and there isn't enough time to be spent comforting him. He'll get over it; he may not look it but your brother is definitely a strong lad."

"But..." Alex protested, before he found that despite it going against every instinct he had for protecting his little brother, he knew his father was right. Being seen by the person that had basically just beaten him up may not be the best thing for the kid, in spite of doing it many times in the past. He could see Caiellis a bit later, and he also needed to speak to his generals and inspire them, "Ok, dad. I'll go and talk to the generals under my command."

.*.*.*.

It was dark by the time Alexander reached Caiellis's tent, though he had seen his brother earlier in the day after the sparring – just not with the younger boy as his only company. Him and dad had argued, again, no better than when they did it in the strategium, and this was over his little brother wanting to dismiss his champion Mysos, not wanting the fifteen year old to fight in the battle for Usnaan. The boy had apparently accepted it graciously, but sadly, but when he had told his father the man instantly went to the king, who had subsequently gone to discuss it with his youngest son.

That had ended about as well as expected, with Caiellis storming off in a sullen rage, ignoring his brother who had tried to go and talk to him – as Alex didn't want to force himself into Cai's personal space, he had dropped it then, and now that the long list of his own duties had finished at around half ten he could finally go and see his brother.

He hoped the smaller boy was still awake, and knew that this day had been immensely draining for him, so instead of calling outside his tent and waiting for a response (as that would definitely wake up his brother) he silently slipped into the tent, looking down at the bed on the other side of the spacious room to try and ascertain his brother's level of consciousness.

He could see a bit of purple light reflected from the pillow that his brother's face must have been pressed into, indicating that the younger boy had been crying as the Black Sun only lit up with that shade of melancholic purple when he did so, a suspicion that was confirmed when he heard the younger boy gather his breath in the dark, though he didn't break into sobbing. Instead he murmured, the words lacking any conviction, "Go away, Alex."

"That's not gonna happen. I want to make sure that everything is square between us before the battle tomorrow. Do you remember what I used to say to you after we had arguments in the past?" he asked, hoping that his reference to that awful time would make Caiellis more willing to indulge his big brother's presence. The younger boy turned around in the bed, illuminating the interior of the tent in the purple glow that was far too weak to be used as a light, and replied, "Yeah. You told me that we should always make it up to each other before the end of each day, because tomorrow might be our last. It wasn't the most reassuring thing to say to a four year old that just had his mother and perfect life ripped away from them."

Alex smirked, knowing from his brother's tone that he wasn't accusing him, and responded, "Maybe not. But it worked, didn't it?" he made to move over to the mana-fuelled lamp on the bedside cabinet in order to light up the room, but stopped when his brother murmured, "Alex, please keep the lights off," he changed trajectory and knelt next to his brother's head instead, frowning when the younger boy turned away from him.

"Come on, Cai, talk to me," he urged, and the younger boy said quietly, "If you think that I'm angry with you over our sparring session then you are wrong. You were just doing what it took to win."

"Then are you angry at dad?" the older boy inquired, though he already knew the answer. Caiellis snorted derisively, "Of course. Anyway, I need to go to sleep, so go away, big brother."

"Dad has reasons for the things he does, you know," Alex coaxed, and his brother turned towards him this time, the purple light of his ominous birthmark reflected in his puffy green eyes, and he replied, "So do I! And what possible reason could there be for strangling your son and constantly making him feel like a failure?"

"Stop getting mad at me by substitute," Alex growled back at his brother's raised tone. But he had to agree that their father was bad with this new novelty of having his authority challenged. Alexander knew that something had definitely broken whilst he had been too wounded to watch, when he had been too sick to intervene.

"I can't!" the younger boy snapped back, "You've always taken over what he is supposed to do anyway, and you're facing what he is supposed to confront, so what is one more thing, right? I'm pissed off at him, and since you insist on covering for his failures, I can be pissed off at you as well."

"Caiellis, geez, calm down. What's happened to you, little buddy?" he soothed, and his brother retorted in annoyance, "I grew up, and stopped believing in fantasy notions of a perfect father that will protect us from everything. I can't honestly believe that either of us are descended from him. Maybe I was adopted like you keep on saying. I don't fit in this family."

"I was only ever teasing you, I never meant that. Of course you fit in this family, Caiellis," Alex reassured him, wondering where he came to that conclusion from, and the younger boy laughed sadly, "No I don't. I've only ever done that because during the civil war there was no family, and because you always made a space for me. But I'm nothing like you two. I'm weak while you are strong, I'm emotional while you two are good at controlling your feelings – well, dad is when he isn't shouting at me anyway. It's fitting, really. The pariah of the Sisterhoods for the reject of the Lucernas."

"You aren't weak," Alex chastised the younger boy, moving round to the other side and sitting on it, "You may be physically fragile because of your premature birth, but you are not weak, little bro. You are one of the strongest people I know, and I'm not just saying that to comfort you. I don't know where you have got this idea that you don't belong in our family from, but you do. I bet I couldn't even count the number of times you've helped me in the past-"

"That's because I haven't," the youngest Lucerna cut in, "I have never helped you. Face it, Alex, you have always covered for me, and dragged me behind you instead of letting me fall. I rely on you too much."

"No, you don't," Alex told him, squeezing his brother's shoulder firmly, "You did perfectly fine without me and lead the armies of Scientia Mos to glorious victory on your own. And it's natural for someone to rely on their older brother for things, especially in the life we have had where you were only four but expected to fight for your life against the forces of darkness."

"That's exactly it," Cai sat up in the bed, "The only reason I've survived this long is because I have other people looking after me. I know you only think it is natural to want to protect your little brother, Alex, and I appreciate it, but you have to admit that I am pathetic without you."

"Stop being stupid!" Alex shouted, right into his face, sick of this self-depreciation coming from his brother and knowing from the past that it took a little tough love and firmness to snap the boy out of it, and shook his younger brother, "You're fine without me. If you were listening, I just said that. I find it really irritating sometimes when you go into this mode of self-hatred, because of the fact that I am not you and I can see that what you are saying doesn't make sense." Cai recoiled from his sudden fury, but Alexander's iron grip kept him in place.

A silence descended, punctured only by the occasional sniffle from the younger boy who had completely avoided his brother's fiery gaze, and eventually he said, "I just wish that you could have had a childhood. It's because you are expected to be an adult when you aren't that you think you are inadequate (dad's constant reprimands aren't helping either)."

"I wanted a childhood as well. For both of us, not just myself. But we can't. We are Lucernas. Protecting the people comes above all else," Caiellis sounded like he really didn't mean the words, like he was reciting them out of a "Beginner's Guide to Being a Lucerna" (if only there was one), and Alex nodded sadly, "It's strange – had I not been a Lucerna, I would have definitely wanted fame and recognition. I would have used the intelligence people keep bragging about to change the world in a good way. But instead I had my fame handed to me on a golden platter, and I've never had to work for it. However, that's only as a Lucerna. I wish that I could have made a difference as Caiellis Noctis, not as a prince, not as someone who is expected to. I wish that I could be recognised as a person instead of a title, have hopes and dreams and ambitions that amount to more than being terrified by failing, to be able to plan my life instead of being forced into one path from birth. I wish that I was protected because I am a person, not because I might one day inherit the throne. I don't know if I'm up for this life, Alex, and I'm scared of failing."

"I protect you," Alexander said tightly, and Caiellis murmured, "But what about everything else? What about the hopes, the dreams, the future? You're not … you're not going to be enough, Alex. I want you to be, but you're not, and if I ever do inherit the throne, then I'll be alone."

Alex didn't reply, and after a while Cai snorted again, "I'm sorry, big brother. That was a little emotional. I shouldn't be moaning, I have a life that many would give up everything for, and a duty to the people to keep them safe no matter what I think. I don't want to be a Lucerna, but that's how life is, and I should stop complaining about it."

Caiellis was thoroughly unprepared for his brother to pull up the cover and get into the bed beside him, throwing his arm around his sibling protectively, and Cai asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep beside you," Alex replied, and Cai rolled his eyes, "I can see that. But why? I always thought you hated it. Not that I didn't, either, I mean it was very awkward," he added quickly, but couldn't help but remember how he had enjoyed the extra sense of security from being next to the older boy where Alex could protect him from his nightmares.

"Because tomorrow is a very important day," Alexander responded, "And I want to spend as much time as possible with my baby brother before the attack."

"I'm not a baby," Cai protested, and at that his brother smirked, "Quit acting like it then."

Cai's face fell. If his brother thought that what he had just said was worthy of an infant, then it had been truly pathetic. Apparently the older boy could tell that his words had hurt him, because Alex slugged him hard on the arm and uttered, "Hey, that was only a joke. We all have doubts, sometimes, and I know that this life is not perfect, but if it's any consolation I'll help you get through it as much as I can."

It hurt Caiellis to admit it, but he thought that Alex really didn't understand what he had been saying earlier. Even so, his brother's words touched him, and he snuggled up to the reassuring form of his sibling. In fact, Alexander had understood it perfectly well, having had similar thoughts in the past, but because he had someone that needed protecting – his tender and innocent little brother – he had pushed aside his own concerns. At any rate, he had stopped the younger boy from crying, and as he entered the realm of sleep Alex couldn't help but think that something drastic would happen tomorrow – more drastic than just the attack on a capital city.