Title: Hero
Series/Sequel: Follows "A Wish Before Dying"
Disclaimers: I have borrowed them without permission for my own nefarious plans. I promise to return them, in more or less the same condition.
Warnings: MAJOR SPOILERS for the end of the game.
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It was the heaviest burden he'd ever had to bear.
Joachim stepped back into the port town of Le Havre, the strong smell of the ocean reaching him. If he listened carefully, he could hear children shrieking with laughter and a deep voice quiet underneath them.
He walked through the town, oddly pleased to pass them without a single person noticing. He couldn't face them today, couldn't take the weight of them expecting him to be a hero.
He didn't feel like a hero. Not since...
He stopped at the stone steps leading down into the courtyard the Seagull was nestled in. Just watched for a moment as the children ran around the blind folded man who laughed and grabbed them with uncanny speed and accuracy.
He felt the moment Keith's attention turned on him. The younger man stood up, reaching to slide the cloth off of his eyes, shaking out his hair as his gaze narrowed to where Joachim waited.
"I can't play anymore for now. Head inside, I'll meet you in there."
"But, Keith-"
"No arguing. Go help Granny Lot."
They trudged back inside, complaining yet compliant. Keith waited until they were gone before walking forwards. "Joachim?
He nodded. Knew Keith – clever, beautiful Keith – would pick it up.
"It's done, then?"
Again, he nodded.
Keith's face visibly lit, half turning he looked around. "Where is everyone?"
"Elsewhere. Living."
The light slowly started to fade from his little brother's face as he turned back and Joachim never felt less like a hero as he crushed that soft hope from his own kin. "Yuri?"
"With Alice."
"No... not Yuri..." A small hand curled in the leather of his vest. "Don't tell me Yuri is gone already."
"I'm sorry."
"No!"
"I'm sorry," as he curled his owns hands around Keith's arms as his brother started shaking.
"Not Yuri!"
Wrapped his arms around the thin frame and held him close, whispering his apology over and over again.
Keith shook against him, screaming his grief into the leather of Joachim's armour, and Joachim wondered if all heroes felt this bad when they returned.