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Zenon was dangerous. Yuno had to make sure that this shot would kill Zenon. Whatever it took. Even if that meant Langris got caught in the crossfire. Time seemed to slow down as Yuno drew back the bowstring. He inhaled slowly, taking aim. As he exhaled, he released the string. His breath was visible in the cold air for a brief moment, wafting before his eyes before immediately dispersing. The moment Yuno's fingers let go, everything was over in an instant. Zenon was shot through the heart and Langris collapsed on the ground.
"It seems… we are more similar than I thought," Zenon said, a ghost of a smile on his face as he fell to the ground. Yuno resisted the urge to shiver. He did what he had to. He couldn't take any chance of Zenon getting back up. He shifted focus to look at Langris instead, only to be overcome by nausea. Blood was spilling from his head, so much blood. And Langris wasn't moving. He'd… dead… shot in the head… Langris was… he'd killed… dead.
In the background, he heard someone scream, but it barely registered to him. He took a step back, only to stumble. He felt light-headed and his heart was beating wildly, the blood pounding in his ears. His hands shook and it felt like he couldn’t breathe. He clutched his chest, his panic starting to rise. Shit. Not now. This couldn't happen right now. He started gasping, breaking out into a cold sweat. His chest was tightening and he felt saliva pooling in his mouth. He bent over, throwing up. Just when he thought that his nausea had passed, he threw up again. He threw up until there was nothing left in his stomach and he was just dry heaving.
When he was finally done, his legs crumble beneath him, too weak to support him. He was still shaking and shivering as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to focus. He had to calm down. There was still more fighting to do. Rationalize - he needed to rationalize his actions. It had to be done. He had to shoot Zenon through the heart to make sure he stayed down. Langris understood. They had to do whatever it took to save Captain Vangaence. He took long, slow breaths as he repeated that to himself. It had to be done. He had to shoot Zenon through the heart to make sure he stayed down. Langris understood. They had to do whatever it took to save Captain Vangaence.
Finral portaled himself down the hall, separating from the other Black Bulls. The throne room was just ahead. If Yuno and his brother were in as much trouble as Nacht said, he needed to get there as soon as possible. Finally, he saw a wide archway just ahead of him. This must be the throne room. Just as he portaled in front of it, he saw something green whizz past his eyes. In the blink of an eye, it was gone. For a moment, Finral thought he had imagined it. But then, he saw Zenon floating there, a hole straight through his heart. He wore what could almost be considered a smile on his face. Fear shot down his spine, but then Zenon collapsed to the ground. Right, Yuno had just shot him. That's what the green blur must have been. But, where was he? Or his brother? Then, his eyes widened.
"Langris!" Within an instant, Finral was at his brother's side. He inspected Langris's head wound. Blood. There was blood everywhere. Finral took off his robe. His hands were trembling as he wrapped it around his brother's head, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Brother? You're… here?" Langris seemed to be looking at him in disbelief. His eyes were half-lidded and his gaze was becoming distant. Finral grabbed his brother’s hands in his.
"Yeah, it's me, your big brother. I'm right here," Finral said, giving his brother's hands a squeeze.
"You shouldn't be here." Langris attempted to look annoyed, but he could barely muster up a half-hearted scowl. Finral fought back his tears.
"I know," Finral said, his voice breaking, "You just can't seem to get rid of me."
Tears started to well up in Langris's eyes before rolling down the sides of his face.
"You shouldn't be here," he repeated. He was only taking short, shallow breaths now. "I - I'm sorry. I've made so many mistakes. Done so many horrible things. I hurt so many people. I hurt you."
"Now's not the time for that. We can talk later. When you're healed."
"I don't think I have a later," Langris managed to say as his shoulders started to shake in an attempt to quell his crying.
Finral shook his head, attempting to smile. "I'm not going to let that happen. I'll go find Mimosa. She'll be able to heal you. I'm going to be right back, okay."
"No!" Langris said with sudden vigor. His eyes were wide with fear as he gripped Finral's hand with surprising strength. Then, his voice was quiet again.
"Please…," Langris said, his voice so thick he could barely speak. "Don't leave me. I don't want to die alone."
Finral felt his throat constrict. It took everything in his willpower to not break down. He had to stay strong. He was the big brother after all. Now more than ever, he had to be the protector. A source of safety. He pulled Langris into a tight embrace.
"No. You're not going to die." It was weak, but Finral could feel Langris reach up and wrap his arms around Finral too. "We'll just find Mimosa together. Everything's going to be fine!"
For a moment, Finral really believed it. And then, he felt Langris's arms drop. "Langris?"
There was no answer.
"Langris?" Still no answer.
"Langris!" He couldn't be dead. Not Langris. He was a prodigy. He was practically invincible with his spatial magic. Finral pulled away from his brother just enough to inspect him. Langris was still and his eyes were open and glassy. Finral laid his brother down, before pressing his ear to Langris's chest. Nothing.
"No," Finral said, his voice so quiet he wasn't even sure if he had actually spoken or if it had just been a thought. He scrambled to feel Langris's wrist for his pulse. Nothing.
"No no no no no. I'm… I'm too late," Finral choked out. He gripped his brother's hand as he started sobbing. Warm. Langris was still so warm. A constant reminder of how alive he had been alive mere seconds ago. Finral became dizzy, as if his whole world had been thrown off balance. There was entirely too much air and not enough as Finral took large, gasping breaths, his vision blurring so badly he could barely see.
Finral felt lost, and empty, and disbelieving, and so alone. The person he'd spent his childhood with, the only one who knew what it was like growing up with their particular parents in their particular house. This shouldn't be happening. Langris was supposed to outlive Finral. He could still remember when Langris was a baby. So fussy and unmanageable, but still so adorable. He used to grip Finral's hand so tightly with his chubby little fingers as he followed him wherever he was going. Even now, Langris's hands were still smaller than his.
Finral had never felt so utterly helpless in his life.
"I'm sorry," a voice behind him said, bringing Finral out of his stupor. He turned around to see Yuno standing a few feet away, his face as white as a sheet. Finral took in large gulps of air as he tried to get his breathing under control. He wiped his eyes. A useless endeavor as his tears didn't stop.
"It's - It's not your fault. It wasn't on purpose. Your aim was just off."
"It was on purpose." Finral sniffled. He attempted to meet Yuno's eyes, but they were rooted on the ground beneath them.
"You're just embarrassed, right?" Finral asked, trembling. His voice was desperate, almost pleading. "You don't want to admit that you missed."
"I didn't miss," Yuno said, finally tearing his eyes away from the ground to look at Finral. "I hope you can understand. It had to be done."
And for a moment, Finral's rage consumed his grief. He let go of his brother's hand and stood up, approaching Yuno.
" Understand? How can I possibly understand?!" Finral asked, his voice raising. "You sacrificed Langris!"
"I had to shoot Zenon through the heart to make sure he stayed down."
"My little brother is dead because of you!" Finral practically shouted, his eyes wide. His breath hitched as he started crying again, a new wave of grief crashing over him. His voice was much softer this time. "My little brother is dead."
"Langris understood. We agreed that we would do whatever it took to save Captain Vangaence." Finral narrowed his eyes, grabbing the front of Yuno's shirt.
"There must have been another way," Finral demanded, practically shouting in Yuno's face. "You're Asta's brother, aren't you? He would never sacrifice one of us! He'd find another way! There's always another way!"
Yuno looked away.
"I have no doubt Asta would have found another way to win," he said, his voice shaking, "but I'm not Asta. I… I could see no other way to defeat Zenon. I wasn't strong enough." His voice was so broken, so weak that Finral let go of his shirt in surprise. He looked at Yuno, really looked at him. He was so frail - frail enough for Finral to be able to manhandle him at least. He was trembling, his hands clenched in fists so tight his knuckles were white. He looked exhausted, his eyes sunken with dark circles underneath them. He was nowhere near the bright-eyed young mage who was competing with Asta to become the Wizard King. Before Finral wasn't the magic knight who had killed his brother, but a scared kid who had just made a traumatic decision. And just like that, Finral's grief was back in full force. Tears streamed down his face.
"I didn't want it to come to this," Yuno said quietly. "I know what I did was awful and-" Yuno stopped mid-sentence, frozen in shock as Finral wrapped his arms around him. Yuno stood still for a moment before he hugged Finral back, gripping him tightly. Finrals sobs were loud enough to echo through the room as hugged Yuno, his body shaking so much that if Yuno wasn't hugging him, he would collapse to the ground. Yuno was silent, aside from his chest heaving and Finral's shoulder becoming increasingly wet. They stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity, but the clock said less than 4 minutes had passed when the ground started shaking below them. They separated, turning to see devils breaking out of the ground. Finals eyes widened. The second gate of Qliphoth must have opened. Captain Yami! Finral couldn't let anyone else he cared about die. He wiped his eyes, holding back another sob. He would have to come back later to retrieve Langris's body.
"I should go find Captain Vangaence," Yuno said to Finral. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen, although Finral doubted he looked much better. In fact, he probably looked much worse.
"And I need to get to the Black Bulls," he responded.
“Thank you,” Yuno said. Finral nodded before turning to Langris's body. He closed his eyes with his hand before placing a kiss on his forehead.
"I'll be back, okay." With that, he opened a portal to the Black Bulls and stepped through. Then, Yuno was left alone with Langris's body.
"I'm sorry," he whispered before flying off toward the battle.
"So, you're joining the Spade Kingdom Raid," Yuno said as he and Langris left the meeting.
"I am," Langris responded.
"Your magic will be a good counter to Zenon's magic. You should be a good addition."
"Do you actually mean that or are you just trying to convince yourself that me joining the raid is a good idea?"
"Does it matter?"
"No, it doesn't." Langris let out a sigh. "I suppose we'll have to work together a bit longer."
"I'd assume much longer now that you're back."
Langris grimaced. "We'll see. I haven't decided if I want to rejoin the Golden Dawn yet. I'm just here to help get Captain Vangaence back."
Yuno eyed Langris, skeptically. "That sure sounds like something a member of the Golden Dawn would say."
Langris bristled. "Don't get sarcastic with me. If anything, you should be glad I'm not sure I want to stay."
"I hate to admit it, but you're an important part of the Golden Dawn. Even after the Spade Kingdom raid ends, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. We could use your help."
Langris crossed his arms, looking at Yuno warily. "I see you really embraced the vice-captain role after I left.
"I did learn a lot from you about what not to do."
"You always were a fast learner."
"Not fast enough," Yuno said, bitterly.
Langris snapped his fingers in Yuno's face, causing him to flinch in surprise. "Stop it. We have bigger things to deal with than your pity party. If we don't get Captain Vangaence back, the whole world could end. No matter what, we have to win. Whatever it takes."
Yuno nodded. He didn't like Langris, but he could still admit when he had a point. "Whatever it takes."