Morgianna's eyelids felt like they were being held down by 100lb weights. She could hear people around her but all their voices meshed together to form a cacophony of static. Rough, calloused hands brushed her hair from her face while a smaller softer handheld on of hers. Even without her eyes she knew her friends were with her.
As much as she wanted to check them all for wounds, in her state she was of no good to any of them so she did the only thing she could to let them know she was okay. She squeezed the hand she knew to be Myra's and let herself fall back into a deep slumber.
Myra felt her squeeze her hand and breathed a sigh of relief. This time Morgianna had only been asleep for the night and into the next day. Once again she was beating herself up for not being there to protect her. "When she wakes up I am gonna kick her ass." Though the words she said were mean everyone saw the slight smile that crossed the green-haired woman's face. They had all been worried about her when Fafnir had brought her back. Myra who had fought off most of the attackers by herself had been injured but still refused to leave Morgianna's side until she knew the small girl would be alright.
Whatever magic had brought the dead back to life had dispersed when Sora had been killed, the bodies that had been fighting fell once more lifelessly to the ground.
"You should get some rest, I will stay with her. You too Fafnir..." Alnwick had been standing beside the bed, his back pressed up against the wall. Truthfully he should be angrier that his life could easily be extinguished if Morgianna were to die, but his life belonged to her. If she were to go he would happily follow her.
Fafnir looked like he wanted to argue, but closed his mouth when Finian came running into the room his face a mixture of many emotions: shock, fear, worry, and hope. They had only recently started bringing people back to the kingdom. There was a lot of damage done to the castle but the town surrounding it looked just as everyone had left it. Currently Morgianna was in the sickbay with the other wounded but Fafnir did not want to leave her in such an open place.
"Fafnir...its Faust, he is still alive. She kept him in the dungeons and he wishes to speak to you." Finian was out of breath, having clearly run the whole way there.
All the blood had drained from Fafnir's face. Faust had been the one to betray them, yet he was still his little brother. He did not think he could kill him, but he could not so easily forgive him either.
Taking one more look at Morgianna and Myra Fafnir stood with reluctance, normally one of them would be by his side in these times, but he was a grown man and this was his problem. He let his eyes trail down to Myra and Morgianna's linked hands and turned away. "Myra, I do not know how long I will be gone, but you should get some rest. Let Alnwick stay here."
Myra watched his retreating back and wanted to rush after him. She saw the sadness in his eyes but did not want to go against his wishes. He wanted to do this alone so all she could do was be there for him when he was ready.
...
As Fafnir walked down the hall with Finian he told a guard to escort Myra to his old room. There were plenty of guest rooms, but when he was finished speaking to Faust he would need her close.
The walk to the dungeons was long, the damp air clung to Fafnir making him feel heavier. He drug his feet as he descended the stairs wanting to prolong the inevitable meeting. He did not know what he would even say when he saw his brother. Would there be remorse shinning in Faust's eyes or would there be nothing of the boy he had grown up with? He knew Faust was a man but for all the years that separated them he still saw him as the little boy who followed him around and wanted to be just like him when he grew up.
Death scented the air as he walked past row after row of empty cells. The creatures they had fought against were clearly held down here, some of the rooms no longer had beds, just deeply slashed walls and bent bars. There was black sludge on the floor in many of the rooms and it made Fafnir nauseous to think of what the people she had experimented on had suffered.
Up ahead he saw several guards standing outside of a cell. Their faces blank masks as they looked at the being within as if it were of no importance. As he neared they turned and bowed, walking several cells away to give some form of privacy without leaving completely.
The man in the cell was dirty and malnourished, a shell of his former self. His hair was long and tangled reaching well past his shoulders, his nails chipped and broken, some of them missing completely. Fafnir felt his heart lurch as the man smiled, it was not a toothy smile that his brother once would have given him but that of a broken man. "I am glad you are safe. I do not expect forgiveness, but I hope you will at least let me explain myself."
Fafnir could not force the words out of his mouth so he only nodded, keeping his face blank of all the emotions he was feeling. "Sora, that witch used some time of spell to make me fall in love with her. One day I caught her talking about hurting you and had planned to speak to you about it but as I turned around I was hit over the head. When I woke up I was tied to a chair, stripped down to nothing but my undershirt and pants. There was a throbbing in my head and I could not make my eyes focus on anything."
Faust's eyes glazed over as if he was being pulled back into the past. "There was a woman humming behind me but I could not turn my head. When she noticed that I was awake Sora came to stand before me, naked. She tilted my head back and poured something down my throat, that later I would know to be an aphrodisiac mixed with a love potion. Normally we would have a strong resistance to love potions but being mixed with the aphrodisiac and being held for days she wore me down until thoughts of her were all I had. I could not even remember why I had wanted to see you. When I brought it up to her, she told me I would never want to see you because I hated you."
Fafnir felt his heart stir at his brother's words, but he knew the story had hardly just begun. "For weeks she would have me meet her every day and filled my heart and head with lies. I became someone I did not even recognize. Then she struck using my own hand she had me betray all those that I loved. There was a part of me deep down that knew that what I was doing was wrong, that I should stop, but I couldn't she told me she would leave me if I did not do as I was told."
Later, after she had put that cursed object on you, she had me help her transport you away, she wanted to wait one century and then return to finish you off, but I told her it would be better to leave you there to suffer her longer, hoping that she would forget about you and that one day you would escape. Then things became darker... When she started her experiments was after she had sent me to find the remains of her deceased lover. She became obsessed until one day she stumbled across a cave in her travels. She would not tell me where it was and started to withdraw, forgetting to give me the potions she so meticulously fed me to keep me in "love" with her."
Faust paused his face turning green and then a sickly white. Sweat beads formed on his forehead as if the words he needed to say caused him a great deal of pain. "I started to wake up and remember... to feel the weight of all that I had done. I tried sneaking off one time while she was away, but she must have already started her experiments by then. Two creatures detained me and held me in the dungeon until her return, and when she did the smiles I had thought were sweet and kind... I finally saw them for what they were. Condescending and cruel, she had used me like the puppet I was. When I confronted her she told me it was because I was the weakest. That any of you older brothers would have been able to break free of her grasp on your own power. Apparently the day I caught her talking I had just handed her the tool she needed. I was the tool she used to bring destruction to my home."
Fafnir moved forward, pushing one hand between the bars until it was right in front of Faust's face. "In this we were all victims, as your older brother I should have noticed something was wrong with you but I was so ready to do my duty as a prince and marry the person that had been chosen for me that I did not try to see anything else. I failed you and every person in our kingdom the day that I did not see her for the vile person she was."
Fafnir saw tears roll down his younger brothers' dirty cheeks, leaving trails behind as they splashed onto the floor. With a sob that caused his whole body to convulse Faust grabbed Fafnirs hand and squeezed tight. "I am so sorry!" Faust's wails were heard all throughout the castle, some would even believe that he was being tortured.
Fafnir sat with him until Faust exhausted himself and fell asleep. If what Faust had said was the truth, which he believed it was then Faust was just as much of a victim as everyone else... he just feared that not everyone would believe his story.