A Brother, Once

by amariahcondon

Wyl had a brother, once.

He was larger than life, brighter than the sun. Wyl’s fiercest protector, closest friend. He searched for fairies in the gardens with Wyl, built snowpeople, baked cookies.

(Wyl wonders how any relationship can ever grow strong, if his with his brother snapped so easily, fractured down the middle. Blood runs thinner than water, it seems.)

Wyl had a brother, once.

He held Wyl close when the skies growled and flickered, tucked safely in his arms. He picked Wyl up when he fell, bandaged the scrapes on his knees.

(Wyl deludes himself, sometimes, into thinking that the empathy is still there, somewhere, buried deep beneath the surface. But he knows better.)

Wyl had a brother, once.

All he has left of him now are simple memories, so bright and happy and unmarred by life that it almost hurts to remember them.

Wyl had a brother, once.

But he is a part of Wyl’s past, and Wyl tries to forget that all and focus instead on the future.

Except once, eons ago, lifetimes ago, when Wyl was not the Wyl he is now, and Draegnerys was not the Draegnerys he is now,

Wyl had a brother.