Azin Everwoods, Ethan's 11 years older half-brother, and the rightful heir to the Demon Clan's throne. Their mother, Aradia Everwoods, gave birth to him during her first mariage with Agares, her biological cousin as it was tradition to keep the royal blood pure. However, soon after Azin's birth, Aradia divorced her husband and sought to remarry Ethan's father, an angel working as a servant at the Angel's castle.
Due to the Law, the request qualified as nothing else than a crime. Strangely though, Elyon granted His permission for the remariage to happen. It still created a long political battle between the Angel and Demon Clan that lasted for ten years. One year later, Aradia got pregnant, giving birth to her second son.
Ethan was lucky, or unlucky, enough to be born with the red eyes characteristic of the Demon Clan and as such was named the official second prince of the Clan, destined to stay on the sideline as his dear older brother ruled over him, always having to be ready to obey his every whims.
But life had another plan.
"I..."
His older brother's voice snapped Ethan out of his reminiscence. Azin shifted awkwardly on his feet, trying desperately to find something to say but nothing seemed satisfactory. The brothers stood in silence under the watchful eyes of the Moon. Ethan took this opportunity to look carefully at Azin, engraving his apparence in his memory.
'He got taller, but a little thinner.'
The last time he saw him was merely a blurry memory tainted by the stench of blood, but he could still remember how before that he looked up to him for being this handsome and cool older brother.
Now, Azin looked exhausted, his eyes weary and sunken, the dark circles under them proving his lack of proper sleep, as well as his pale skin. His one neat blonde hairs turned dirty and quite messy, contrasting with the clean and elegant outfit he was currently wearing.
Conflicting emotions swirled inside Ethan. On one hand, the child in him rejoiced at reuniting with Azin, at the same time seeing his brother in such a state worried him, but only if he listened to his heart. His head was ultimately filled with confusion and apprehension.
"Are you..."
Ethan narrowed his eyes, following Azin's gaze on the dagger. At that moment he could only think that it not only belonged to Azin in the first place, but that it was also the weapon that took his parent' lives. If Ethan ended up using it to kill his own older brother, wouldn't it be some kind of poetic justice ?
"Can you wait a little ?"
Azin stepped closer, Ethan stepped back. Seeing that, Azin decided the wiser decision was to keep his distance for now.
"There's so much I want to say."
Azin was not stupid, in this situation Ethan surely wouldn't be open to listen to him. He hadn't planned for things to go this way, now it became more complicated than necessary. But he had to try, to explain himself.
"Back then, that night..." He started carefully.
His gaze flickered on his younger brother's face, hoping to decipher even just a hint of any emotions. But Ethan was doing his very best to not show anything, sporting a mask of indifference.
"I didn't do it."
The mask fissured right away, letting slip a look of surprise mixed with confusion.
"What ?"
"Mom and Zabkiel. I didn't kill them. I promise."
"What are you-"
"I hated them. Or at the very least I didn't like them. But I wasn't stupid enough to kill them. I-I don't think so at least..."
"..."
Ethan didn't reply, thinking that it was a load of nonsense. That night, after a maid told him a surprise for his birthday was waiting for him in the throne room, he rushed there as fast as his little legs could.
And he did get a surprise alright.
His older brother, his hands covered in blood, holding the bloodied dagger, leaning over the dead bodies of his parents. The shock paralyzed him, making it impossible to run or scream, even when Azin loomed over him.
If Izok, their uncle, hadn't arrived to save him, Ethan would have probably been dead.
"I had no reason to kill them..."
Ethan closed his eyes before shaking his head. Why bother listen to him when he actually attempted to kill him just a few minutes ago ? Ethan concluded that his brother wanted to lower his guard by spewing lies.
'More importantly, what does this mean for me ?'
Unaware of his little brother's internal turmoil, Azin hesitantly walked closer, causing Ethan to grip the dagger tighter and him to pause again in return.
"Stay back."
"Ethan, I promise I don't want to hurt you."
Azin sheepishly looked at him, the sadness in his eyes destabilizing his interlocutor as he desperately aimed to explain.
"It wasn't me. When I arrived they were already-"
"Shut up." Ethan interrupted him with a cold voice.
Azin winced but persevered.
"I don't want to hurt you, I swear."
"You're lying."
"I promise ! I-"
Azin's lips moved as he continued the rest of his sentence, yet his words became muffled, inaudible. It was as if something filtered what his words and put a barrier preventing them from being heard, instead turning them into statics sounds. Additionally, the gravity suddenly shifted, turning heavier around them, almost bringing them to their knees.
A second later everything was back to normal.
Ethan's mind became fuzzy and he struggled to grasp the situation. Somehow, the events of a few second earlier were already blurry and he had a hard time remembering correctly what even was the subject of conversation. Was there even a subject of conversation to begin with ? Even after mentally retracing everything he barely remembered being thrown out the window.
Azin on the other hand didn't seemed that disturbed. Cursing, he seemed to be glaring at something in front of him.
"Damn, stupid-" the same phenomenon repeated itself. "-always getting on my nerves."
Ethan groaned and rubbed his wrist. Thinking carefully, he decided that this situation was utter nonsense and that, despise the setting being different from usual, he definitely must be in a dream. Either that or everyone in the manor fell victim to some deep-sleep spell.
In that case, doesn't it mean he could kill Azin without any repercussion ?
"Do you truly believe this is a dream ?"
Ethan shook his head at the voice invading his mental space.
"Would you really kill your own brother ?"
He shook his head once more, looking up. The moon danced between light gray and purple. He felt like he was really going insane.
"Listen, Ethan, I wish I could explain everything but I can't right now. Just, give me time, please ?"
When Ethan looked away from the sky, Azin had already closed the distance between them, his tired red eyes locked on the blade.
"Give me the knife, please."
He reached a hand, waiting for Ethan to listen to his demand. But Ethan didn't move, just staring at him without saying anything. Right now, neither of them knew what the other was thinking about.
"Please, little brother, give it to me."
Ethan still refused to move. The softness on Azin's face slowly morphed to coldness, his voice taking a rough edge.
"Ethan, give me that knife."
Ethan did his best to settle his gaze into Azin's. The dagger was burning his fingers and he sensed that the longer he was holding into it, the more he had difficulty thinking. But he couldn't let go of it.
"No."
Azin bristled, the warmth on his face completely gone.
"Blasted misery, little brothers are truly a curse."
Azin's gloved hand shone a bright golden, gold threads coming out of his palm, wrapping themselves around Ethan who desperately swung the dagger to defend himself. However, the blade did no damage to the threads, and ultimately Ethan ended up tied up like a sausage, hovering a few centimeters above the ground.
"Come on, little prince, burn me." Azin taunted. "Show me what a Fateless is made of."
The threads tightened around Ethan's body, slowly draining all his life energy. Ethan gasped for air, his vision blurring, his mind going blank.
"Ethan."
"You are quite pathetic."
Deep inside, Ethan recognized the aggravating feeling of wanting to cry. He closed his eyes, forcing his mind to ignore this feeling, repeating his uncle's teaching in his head like a mantra : "You are a man and a prince, you can't cry."
"Not even attempting to save yourself ? Perfect, it is easier for me like this."
As he finished speaking, Azin's eyes turned golden as an energy nearby caught his attention. He frowned, his irises shifting to the forest and staring at it. The purple light that flickering in the darkness between the trees immediately froze. Azin focused on it for a few seconds while Ethan inched closer to the grip of Death as his slowing breathing indicated.
"Ah..." Azin sighed and turned back to the tangled young boy. "How bothersome."
The threads distanced themselves from Ethan, letting the young man drop heavily on the ground like a disposed living puppet, and retrieved in Azin's palm.
"I must go."
Ethan panted, fighting to keep himself awake, his eyelids begging to send him to the world of sleep. He glanced at Azin who was enveloped by a bright golden light.
"Consider what occurred tonight a warning, Fateless."
With a sardonic smile, he eyed Ethan, his irises glowing with mocking amusement, his final words turning into a whisper as he vanished in the light, leaving Ethan to faint on the grassy ground :
"Well then, until we meet again, my little prince."