End of an Era [Nako >>]

[carcinoGeneticist]

Though each impact sent a violent force through Vikenti's arms, he barely felt it. There was only a need he had never before known, a need that his Ashta could never fulfill. He was dying, day by day, and it was killing his pride. That was all he had as an old man, and he couldn't bear to lose it. He needed to know - needed, as badly as he'd ever needed a Doe - that his legacy would not die with him. He needed to know that he went down as he had lived: as a warrior, proud and strong.

That need gave him strength until the very end. His mind registered Aleah's forward charge too slowly, his body reacting several seconds behind what was actually happening. He threw a punch, but found that it hit the other Jack weakly.

Slowly, his body recognized the intrusion. Each breath was harder to take than the one before it, but he felt no pain, no fear. The wound was fatal, that much was obvious - his body was shutting down in a slow but irreversible way, a cascade of events that would lead to the Czar's reward.

His rest.

Eyelids heavy, he slumped against Aleah, sucking in a deep breath. His eyes were glazing over slowly, but he managed to find the energy to reach up, holding the boy as tightly as he could. "T-thank you, Aleah,[/b]" the Czar wheezed as another cough gripped him, blood spraying from his mouth. The world was shrinking, and all the Jack was aware of was his son, holding him.

His son...

A smile, genuine and satisfied, spread across his face. "Aleah, I...[/b]" He blinked hard a few times, the eyes behind the lids glazing over, but the smile never once faded. "I am proud of you, son... Tell your... tell your sisters... that I love you all..." He drew in a last breath, entire body shuddering with the effort it took. Slowly, his hand found Aleah's cheek, and he forced his eyes to focus - long enough to meet the Jack's gaze, long enough to give him another reassuring smile. His mouth worked, but no words came out - only a sound like a sigh as the air left him.

Czar Vikenti, ruler of his little piece of the Highlands for over fifty years, was dead.

[Nako]

The two Jacks slowly slid toward the ground at Aleah's own strength began to wane and the Czar's own legs gave out on him. Slumped over on their knees the two men held one another in a way that could only be explained as normal by the persistent yet gentle Hisstor influence in their Warren. All of the ire had seemed to leave his father's body as he gripped him with all the strength that he had left in him, and that strength was waning with every passing second. Aleah shook gently as his fingers registered the protesting heartbeat against his imbedded claws, but the Czar was thankfully becoming too far gone to notice his weakness. Here his father was.. thanking him. Whether it was because of his words or his service to the Jack he wasn't sure, but the words caused a wetness to leak down his face and blur his vision. Tears….

Tears for a tyrannical father who cared little for any Jack in this world, but had shown his leveret son a cruel kindness in letting him live. Bless the damned bastard.

When The Czar began to speak again, Aleah met his eyes. A smile. For him.

And he was proud of him. Aleah choked on a sob. His sisters. Sisters… A part of him thought that perhaps the man was too far gone to remember what his other sister had become… but his heart. His heart told him otherwise.

His whole body shook with his grief, holding the dead man to his chest until the very last beat of his heart thrummed against the fatally invasive blades on his hand. Grief, and undying pride. He pulled his hand loose from the proud Highland corpse, wiping his face feebly and doing little more than to aggravate his rapidly closing blacked eye and smear blood upon his face.

A horrified leveret stared, still standing by the handkerchief that had been thrown to the ground to signal the start of their battle.

"Help me with his body. He is to be taken to the garden."