A/N: This is NOT a pairing story. This is a BROTHER story. I see Elliot and Leo as the kind of best friends that 'stick closer than brothers', the best kind of friends, the truest kind of friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you.
Theme: Health and Healing
Elliot Nightray looked terrible.
Never before had Leo seen his master look so… feeble, weak, helpless. Even from his place standing just inside the bedroom door, he could see plainly the sweat that coated Elliot's face, the sickly palid hue of his already pale face, greyer and clammy with the fever that ravaged his body. The scion had his eyes closed, his face turned up toward the ceiling. Blankets hid every inch of him up to his neck, so that only his head was visible. Dark circles shadowed under his eyes; the maids whispered that he hadn't had a full night's sleep in days. Poor fellow. Even now, he could hear the rasp of every breath the Nightray heir took.
Shaking his head to himself, Leo reached back to close the door. He winced when it creaked, and Elliot stirred. Cobalt eyes blinked open, and his brow furrowed weakly, his expression lacking its usual ferocity.
"You shouldn't be in here." Gosh, even Elliot's voice sounded so much weaker than he'd ever heard it! The words wisped out of the young noble's throat like ghosts of what they once were. As if hearing Leo's thoughts, Elliot grimaced as he attempted to clear his throat, only succeeding in sending himself into a coughing fit. After a moment or two, the coughing died away into pathetic sniffling, and then to silence.
Leo nodded, but approached the bed anyway, readjusting his grip on the book he held under his arm. "But I am."
Elliot's face twisted in what might've resembled his usual look of indignance, but to Leo, it looked more like a grimace of pain. He looked on the Nightray with pity.
"What do you think a quarantine is, stupid?" Elliot spoke even quieter than he had before, probably to avoid another coughing fit. "It means no one is supposed to come in."
"Except servants." Leo paused by his master's writing desk, and pulled out the chair. He turned it around, and sunk down into it.
"Just a single maid, and she wears a mask. Do you want to get sick?" Another cough wracked Elliot's frame, making him look feeble and pathetic, all bundled up like a caterpillar. Leo tried not to snicker; it was comical, how high and mighty his master was trying to act, even on a sickbed.
"You do look quite comfortable; I'm sure it's nice not to have to get up, do your studies, or anything like that."
"Oh, shut UP." Coughs ripped from Elliot's throat from the effort to put stress on the last word, and Leo almost felt guilty for making him talk at all.
"Do I look like… I'm having fun?" Elliot took several wheezing breaths, as deep as was possible, to regain the oxygen he'd lost.
Leo shook his head, setting the book on his lap. "No, not really."
"No, duh, Captain Obvious."
"You can stop talking, now; I know it hurts."
Elliot scowled at the ceiling, probably mentally cursing his sickness to Armageddon and back again. But he shut up; that meant Leo was right. No doubt, all the coughing had run the boy's throat raw.
Leo tapped a finger on the book cover, the hollow thunk breaking the silence. "Just got Volume 13 in the mail. Thought you might like to hear some to pass the time."
Elliot glanced over in his direction, brow still furrowed, this time with indecisiveness. Leo could guess with what. Should he accept the offer, and be read to 'like a child', as he would most likely claim? Or refuse, and have to wait to find out what happens to Edwin and Zekred?
Finally, he nodded wordlessly, and with a wry grin, Leo opened the front cover, past the title page, to the first page of text. Diverting all his attention to the beginnings of the story, he took a breath, and began reading.
"Sir Zekred had never been an honest man. Quite the contrary – he was an outright scoundrel who never minded twisting the truth to suit his own purposes. But until Edwin began his quest for fame, the lord had been for the most part quite peaceable. In fact, one might say they had a mutual respect for one another. Zekred admired Edwin for his bravery in defying the rules of their society to search for rank, and Edwin admired Zekred's shining skill with a blade, as the lord had once beaten Edwin solidly, fairly, in a friendly duel.
Edwin had thought it would remain that way. He had trusted the lord, as far as one could trust a shady man like Zekred. He had even rejected his best friend and loyal servant's word for it! But as the knife dug deeper against his throat, he knew he had been wrong. Edgar had been right all along. My dear friend, I'm sorry! he cried out within the confines of his mind, but dared not give Zekred the satisfaction of showing his remorse.
"With every step you take to further your foolish quest," hissed Zekred, voice quiet and soft as a snake's in his ear, "you steal more and more of my lord's authority – his lands, his fortune, his people. He grows weary of your meddling, you know. He's promised a pretty price for the person who can bring him your head."
Edwin pulled against the man's grip, but it was to no avail. The knife, cold and lifeless and hateful as Zekred's stony eyes, dug deeper into his skin, drawing a thin line of blood that oozed crimson down his neck. He gritted his teeth, and again relinquished himself to the traitorous hold.
"But," oozed Zekred, "I don't like to soil my hands, no, no. Instead… I know – if you continue this foolish quest… Every time you meddle, your precious valet will pay for it. And if you cross my master one more time… I will force you to kill him."
Leo paused. The room was silent; had been silent for a long while, actually. He glanced up to find Elliot had gone still, eyes closed and chest rising and falling evenly, breaths quiet and easy for the first time since Leo'd come in.
With a sigh, Leo stood, being sure to keep the book open, and went over to the nightstand. He pulled open the drawer in which he knew Elliot kept that Holy Knight bookmark. Snatching it up without a sound, he tucked it between the pages, shut the volume, and set it on the nightstand's surface.
Pah, he thought as he headed back for the door. Quarantine! He'd be just fine; Elliot would soon be on the mend, and in the meantime, Leo was determined to try and make things just a bit easier on his friend.
~*PH*~
"You're an idiot, Leo."
"Yeah, you said that…" A cough made Leo's throat burn, and he clenched his jaw, burying deeper under the blankets, as if he could hide from his master's accusing glare. "Yet… here you are, doing the same thing I did."
Elliot scoffed, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. "I just got over it. I'm not going to catch it again so quickly."
He held up a familiar volume, giving Leo a wry look at the same time. "Ready to be babied now?"
Leo snickered, only to fall prey to his coughing once more. He finally shook his head, shivering even though he could feel the heat radiating from his feverish skin. "Just hurry up and start reading so you can stop making me do anything that has to do with making noise, laughing or otherwise…"
Looking mighty proud of himself, Elliot sunk down to sit cross-legged on the floor, a good distance from the bed – something maybe Leo should have thought of a week ago. The scion cleared his throat haughtily, and opened the book to where the bookmark kept their place. Reading less fluently than Leo had, but with more emotional investment, Elliot resumed the tale.
"I will not betray him, swear he to himself. I will never betray him as Zekred did me! Should I do such a vile thing, and I would kill myself for guilt. For I could not live with the weight of such a low sin as this. Therefore, I would give up my dream of remembrance for the very life of my dear friend. For all the name and number in this world is not worth the cost of an innocent life, particularly of one who is like a brother to me.
And so Edwin swore, that he would seek out Zekred, he who dared threaten the life of his friend. For anyone who would use innocent life so cavalierly as a bargaining tool did not deserve to keep their own tainted, vile existence. Edgar was Edwin's good friend, and Edwin would protect his friends to his very last breath."
"Bet that irks you," Leo croaked.
Elliot paused, glancing up from the book pages with a frown. "What do you mean?"
"Edwin basically just said he'd sacrifice his life for Edgar."
Elliot vehemently shook his head. "No, he didn't! He pledged his life to his friends. There's a big difference."
Frowning, Leo tried not to pay attention to the congestion in his forehead. "How so?"
"When you die for someone you love, it leaves them heartbroken and you might as well have killed them, too. But when you live for someone, you devote your time to them, every moment. Edwin's promised himself that he will protect Edgar while he lives and breathes; and that is a truly noble gesture. That is what it means to be a hero. That's real sacrifice; the good kind if there ever was one."
