Cyrus is dead.”
The words passed through Seibrum and hit him like a rock at the same time. Cyrus is dead. Cyrus is dead. Cyrus is dead.
“N-no...”
Seibrum looked down at the limp body in his arms. There was blood everywhere. Everywhere . He felt sick to his stomach, able to see Cyrus’s muscle and bones under the thick blood, the skin torn away in so many places. The cuts so deep. But...dead?
“Cyrus is dead.”
“Get away from that boy!”
Bringing his blood covered hands up, he covered his ears, beginning to shake violently, “No...no...Cyrus is not dead... Cyrus is alive...not dead...”
His voice sounded crazy and hysterical to him, but he didn’t care. He felt crazy right now. Staggering away from the corpse of his brother, his own clothes so soaked with blood they stuck to his slender figure, he pulled his knees up to his chest, his bloody hands still over his ears, “He is not dead...Cyrus isn’t dead...not dead...he’s not dead...”
“Boy! Stop babbling and look at him! Your brother is dead!”
Seibrum, being told to look at Cyrus, quickly shut his emerald eyes, to tightly it hurt, his voice rising in panic, “No...no!”
“Look at him!”
“No!”
“Look at him!”
“NO!!” he screamed, the tears now coming and pouring down his cheeks, “no, you can’t make me!!”
A hand grabbed his shoulder to yank him up, and he quickly opened his eyes, wildly jerking around. Like a wild animal, he jerked furiously away with a loud scream, “DON’T TOUCH ME!!!”
But in opening his eyes, they fell upon Cyrus. He lie there, blood-covered and frail, his eyes closed peacefully. He looked...dead. And it began to set in. Sobbing so hard his cheeks were completely wet, Seibrum weakly pulled himself over to the body.
“You’re...dead, Cyrus...” he choked out through sobs in a glass-like voice. Gently, he touched the soft cheek with two fingers. Cold. Already. Unable to sob enough, he collapsed next to the body of his brother, “Cyrus...Cyrus...take me with you...can you? I...bet you can...So, take me with you... All right?”
“You did it, didn’t you, boy?”
Seibrum slowly lifted his head to gaze at the villagers, “Wha...?”
They gazed at him fearfully, hatefully, nervously. “You did this, didn’t you?”
He stared at them through huge, tear-filled eyes, “N-no...I... I didn’t mean to...”
“Why, boy?! Why did you kill your brother?”

*

“You...you killed him?”
“No!”
“Why did you kill your brother?”
“No!”
Seibrum’s whole body shook, the hot, searing tears streaming down his cheeks. He could barely see or feel or hear anything but the sobs of his mother, and their accusations.
His mother’s cries incessantly beat into his skull, never letting up, her voice weak and filled with pained despair, “Oh gods...there’s so much blood...” and she sobbed more.
“Seibrum...why...?”
Shaking so violently it almost felt like a seizure, his voice so pitiful, “No...it...it wasn’t my fault!”
His mother snapped her head around to glare hatefully at her older son, “Oh please!” she spat, the tears staining her beautiful, still youthful face, “you did this! You did this to my son, and you know it!!”
Seibrum shook harder. “No...” he almost whispered, flashes of holding his brother’s weak, bloody body in his arms appearing in his head, “no...I didn’t meant to...”
Incoherently, his father murmured, “Why did you kill your brother?”
“I didn’t!”
“Why did you kill him?”
“NO!!!”
He could feel the hatred, the anger, the fury from his parents. He could hear their thoughts, the names they called him their heads.
“I never want to see you again...” came the rasped statement from his mother.
“But...mother....”
“No!!” she shouted, “never touch me again!!”
“I think it’s best...” his father murmured, “if you go to live with your grandparents...”
Seibrum began to sob more, “You don’t want me....”
“Of course we don’t!! You killed my son---”
“I think,” his father interrupted his mother, “it’s best if...you go to live with your grandparents.”
“I...it wasn’t my fault!!” the boy exclaimed painfully.
“Why...why...” his mother wailed, rocking the gore-covered boy like he was a doll. A lifeless doll. Perhaps that’s all Cyrus was now.

*

Seibrum stared at the house in front of him. Would he be loved here? Or hated, like at home?
Kareku. He’d heard of it before, but this was his first time ever seeing the place. This was where his grandparents lived. It was the capital of Kareku. Many miles from the this house was the wonderfully huge palace of the Emperor, Kesu.
Suddenly, a boy ran up to him. It was a human boy, who looked slightly younger than Seibrum, with thick brown hair and large blue eyes. He seemed so full of life and excitement, and for a brief moment, Seibrum envied him.
“Hey,” the boy said, clearly out of breath from running, “are you...an elf? You are, aren’t you?”
Seibrum blinked, gazing at the boy. The village he came from was almost half-elf populated, so it was never something anyone asked. “Hai, I am...” he answered warily.
The boy’s eyes glittered, “Wow...that’s so cool!! I’ve never met an elf before!”
And still, all Seibrum could do was stare. This human boy had never met an elf before? Were there none but his grandparents in this village?
“I’m Kaju,” the boy smiled warmly, holding out his hand, “who are you?”
Seibrum watched Kaju warily. Was it...a joke? A trick? But there was so much sincerity in the human’s eyes. Maybe...Seibrum thought slowly, I can start over here. Maybe I can have friends again, people who don’t know what I’ve done.
Seibrum smiled then, a merry, cheerful smile that he would later adopt to use constantly the rest of his life. “I’m Seibrum,” he told Kaju, shaking his hand with a grin, “it’s nice to meet you.”

*

Fue-chan’s gaze lifted from her book as Seibrum entered the room. She knew what he’d just gotten back from. What he’d planned to do. Watching him worriedly for a minute as he began to cross the room, she called out in a soft voice, “So...how’d it go?”
The elf froze, his back half to her. His expression was unreadable, but clearly not the cheerful smile he usually had. Slowly, he spoke, “She told me to go with Ketsu.”
Fue-chan swallowed lightly, her brow furrowed concernedly. She had half expected that. “So...are you going to?”
Seibrum was quiet for a long time. Softly, he said, “I’m not sure. I’m...hurting so many people. She...cried.”
“Daruma-san did?”
“Yes. Because of me...”
Fue-chan looked down a little, saying in a sympathetic voice, “No...just...”
“No, Fue-chan, because of me.”
She swallowed again before saying even quieter, “But...you love Ketsu-san, don’t you?”
Slowly, the elf began to turn around, his gaze on the floor, a solemn expression on his face. He nodded fully, and suddenly, began to chuckle. Fue-chan furrowed her brow more, watching him.
He chuckled more, “You told me not to pursue him. It’d hurt too many people,” his laugh took on a hysterical, crazy edge, “you were right....you’re always right.”
Wincing a little, she bit her lip, “But Seibrum...you fell in love...”
Very suddenly, he swung out his fist to the wall next to him, denting it slightly. Fue-chan jumped quickly, her eyes widening, “Seibrum...!”
“And for what?!” he exclaimed painfully, “fell in love for what?! To hurt people?!”
She got to her feet quickly, crossing over to him worriedly, “Seibrum, it wasn’t your fault! You can’t choose who you love!”
“And if I’d never even pursued him. If I’d never even kissed him that day in the basement. That makes it my fault!!” he was nearly shouting now, “I took it into my own hands!!” Painful tears began to form in his eyes, slowly slipping down his cheeks.
Watching him, it broke her heart to see him like this. Fue-chan slowly came closer and reached up her arms to hug him, “Seibrum, come here...”
“No..” he tried to stumble back, choking a little, “please, don’t...”
“Seibrum, I want to be here for you....” she tried again, trying to wrap him in her arms, “please, let me hold you--”
“No...”
“Seibrum...”
“Don’t....” one last time, she gently touched his cheek with her thin hand, he jerked away, shutting his eyes tightly, “DON’T TOUCH ME!!!”
Jerking back immediately at his shout, Fue-chan’s eyes were huge as she stared at him. “Sei...brum...” she murmured in a choked voice.
Flinching and stumbling away, he tried to get to his room, murmuring, “Don’t touch me...no one touch me...”
“Seibrum!” Fue-chan called out, alarmed, trying to go after him.
“No!!” he shouted, glancing at her with painful, tear filled eyes, making it to his room and collapsing on the floor, ranting quietly, “it’s my fault...I’ve hurt people...I’ve done it again....”
Tears filling her own eyes, Fue-chan stared at him. How in the world could she comfort him? Breaking into a sob, she murmured, “Seibrum...doushite...?”
Not hearing her, Seibrum continued to rant in his room, pulling his knees up to his chest, his hand going to cover his ears, the sobs continuing.
Again...she thought back to it. His brother. He...something happened with his brother. Vaguely, she remembered doodling, and coming up with a sketch of a young elf boy, looking very similar to Seibrum, trickles of blood covering his face, his eyes tightly shut in pain. And she remembered Seibrum’s words to her, “That’s my brother. He died in my arms.”