Farewell, My Brother

by Dyce

The end.

Will I never be free of you?

Even here, at the end of all things, you will not leave me be.

Farewell, my hated brother.

Though my world ends, yours does too.

You have always overshadowed me, brother.

You were always the best.

The brightest.

The strong one.

The brave one.

You are not so strong now, are you?

At least I see the end coming standing upon my feet.

You lie there, helpless, waiting for it.

Such a shame.

I'm not going to feel sorry for you, so don't look at me like that.

It's not my fault being the big leader didn't work out for you.

You look cold.

Why should I care?

You smothered me all my life.

You can freeze.

Here.

I don't need a jacket anyway.

It's coming.

Before we die...

Why did you always have to help me?

Would it have killed you to let me do something, anything, by myself?

For myself?

I hated you for that.

I never knew if I could do anything - because I knew that you would do it for me.

That's not love.

You needed someone to need you.

Look at you.

You've hopped from woman to woman for years.

It didn't matter who they were - as long as you had one.

Unless it was her.

The perfect one.

Your true love.

The one you broke your vows for.

I can't believe I ever looked up to you.

I was there, you know.

When you left.

I picked up the pieces for you.

Again.

You know what your trouble is?

You're selfish.

I'm serious, you are.

Everything you do is about you.

The hero.

The good son.

The worthy heir.

The noble lover.

That's what you want to be.

But you never managed it.

And you knew it.

Do you want to know why?

I've known for years.

Go on, guess.

Oh, you can't?

Well, I'll tell you why you always failed.

Because deep down inside?

You were doing it for yourself.

To make you feel good about yourself.

Me me me.

The whole point of heroing is to do it for other people.

Even when it makes you feel bad about yourself.

There's a difference sometimes, you see.

Between what's good, and what's right.

Sometimes you have to do what's bad and right.

Instead of making feel-good mistakes like you used to.

You know, I think I could see better from up on the ridge.

Since you can't walk, I guess this is it.

Goodbye, my brother.

......

Here.

Lean on my shoulder.

Come on, I won't bite.

What?

You can be the shoulder, but leaning on someone else's is too much for you?

Much better.

Come on.

You were always so afraid.

Of failing.

Of not being good enough.

Me?

I never tried to be perfect.

Perfect was you.

How could I top that?

Your shadow was a lousy place to spend my life.

One foot in front of the other.

Still...

I wouldn't have wanted to be the guy casting the shadow.

At least, now that I think about it.

Now that I think about it...

I guess living up to someone else's shadow is easier than trying to live up to your own.

You were so busy being the good soldier, the hero, the perfect...

That you were never yourself.

I can see that now.

Funny how approaching death clears the vision.

There.

See?

I was right.

We can see much better from up here.

Are you afraid to die?

I'm not.

I always thought I would be.

But now that it's here, I just...wait.

I suppose I'm resigned to it.

Certain death has reared its ugly head in front of me so often.

Although actually, this one's quite pretty.

That's nice.

Just a few minutes more of my company, then you'll be back with your friends.

How did a stiff like you get so many?

Hmmm...

Do you know any good poetry?

Or a rousing speech would do.

You were always good at those.

On second thought, forget it.

I like the quiet.

Let the poor world end in peace.

Without some idiot spouting melodramatic claptrap at her.

More respectful.

It's funny.

I don't resent you any more.

We're going to die together.

Fitting.

Together, we cheated death, all those years ago.

Now, we face it together again.

But this time, I'm the one holding you up.

Oh, I don't mind.

You aren't heavy.

Not really.

You know, I'm glad of one thing.

I face death a free man.

No mind control.

No mystical influence.

No pressure to be something I'm not.

Just me.

Myself.

And you.

Are you tired?

Only a moment more.

Rest your head on my shoulder.

That's better.

See, we're alike after all.

You and I.

Hate you?

No, I never hated you.

Not really.

We're brothers, after all.

Mind you, I didn't always like you much...

But that's all in the past.

There is no future.

Here it comes.

Are you ready?

Lean on me.

Together, one last time.

I'll hold you steady.

Farewell, my brother.

Goodbye, Scott.

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