Icarus rose: after the end.

Niall took the cards and with a little aggressiveness, broke the ribbon that held them together and looked at them carefully.

They were all yellowed and quite old-looking, some older than others, except for one, of which the envelope was impeccably white, with the well-known Icarus Rose stamp sealing it perfectly, making it clear that no one had opened that letter. He saved that white envelope for last and began to arrange the letters in chronological order, from the year he was born to the year Kasper died. And he began to read carefully.

With each sentence, word and letter his heart squeezed more and more, his eyes filled with more tears and he felt a pressure in his throat that he couldn't shake even if he swallowed with all his might. His hands trembled violently, with the cards between his fingers that felt like fire, burning to the touch.

When he finished the last one, he couldn't take it anymore, his sobs could surely be heard throughout the house, but he couldn't care less. He covered his face with the palms of his hands and wept, unloading everything that he had stored away for so many years, all the pain and suffering that he had in his soul, that he had been so ashamed to show. And he hurt like hell, he felt like a million swords were going through him at the same time. But still, he had a sense of relief, knowing that his father had always loved him, even before he met him, and that not everything he had been told was a lie.

Kasper Malik loved all three of his children, regardless of caste or blood, and he would honour him until the day he died.

Finally, he looked around him, coming across the missing card, the one he feared the most, what could it contain?

He carefully opened the envelope and took out the letter, not expecting what would be found there.

20/September/2021

Dear brother:

If you are reading this, it is because you already know the whole truth hidden in these letters. I feel like shit for keeping this from you, for not running to your room right now to bring you all this stuff, your stuff, which I shouldn't have read without your knowledge. But I hope that if you already know it is because you have found them.

Are you mad at me? Is this going to change our relationship as brothers? I hope the answer is no, because there are only three things that would hurt my soul if they happened:

1.- Losing my omega and my daughter.

2.- Losing you, Zayn or Liam.

3.- Not being able to protect our father's legacy, our family.

And I think that if you're angry with me, the last two would be coming true, because what else would I want to be able to protect you at all costs, that everything you read here wouldn't hurt like the worst betrayal. But I promise you, brother, if you don't find this in a year, I'll give it to you myself, because it's your right to know the truth about your origins.

You're not alone, Ni, you've never been, and it hurts me to know that sometimes you feel that way, because you have me, Zayn. We are a family and I will do my best to keep that, as we promised when we were children.

With love, your brother, Louis.

And when he finished reading those words from his brother, the guilt of all those horrible things had dissipated, making him cry even harder. And what if he didn't see his brothers alive again? What would become of him, knowing that Louis left thinking that he had not forgiven him? He felt terrible.

Something else came out of his envelope, a rectangle barely the size of his palm. He took it between his fingers and analysed the photograph, he recognized that it had been taken by Kasper, he deduced that it had been at an important party due to their formal clothes, he saw himself on Louis's back, with a smile that was capable of to illuminate everything in his path, and Louis's was no less, since despite carrying all the weight of Niall on his back, he didn't look upset or anything like that. On the back of the photo he could read the date and a small inscription written by Kasper.

24/12/2007. Niall and Louis having fun at Christmas dinner. The light of my eyes.

He gathered everything together and tried to tie it back up with what was left of the rope that held all the letters together, scrambling up from the bed and inching toward the exit door. There was only one place that he thought of going to close once and for all those wounds that accumulated in his soul over the years.

"Marie," he called the guard at the door, who immediately became attentive to what her boss could tell her.

"Sir, you should be resting in bed, do you need anything brought to you?" She asked, trying to help Niall back into the room.

"No, Marie. I need to go to the house's cemetery," he informed her with a firm voice, the alpha was surprised.

It was well known that Mr. Horan never went to that place, they had told him so at the academy.

"Do you need me to accompany you?" The guard asked a little softer, the boss shook his head.

"No, I need to do this alone," he started to walk, as he could, towards the lit. "If my omega arrives, let him know where he can find me."

And without waiting for a reply, he got on the elevator, which filled more and more with his smell of despair, of sadness. And if he paid a little more attention, he could observe his scent, and in it he could see every word that made up his thoughts, all slowly flooding the small space of the elevator.

He reached the ground floor and carefully began to make his way to the back door, then through the field of roses to a field separated by huge gold railings, with the word Malik on it and what were supposed to be upright bars, they were curves with thorns and a rose in the middle of each door. And in the background, right in the centre, two tombstones joined as one, imposing. The graves of Kasper and Katherine Malik.

Memories of the last time he was here flooded into the young alpha's mind like moths following the light.

"...And we will remember him as the powerful alpha that he was in life. Beloved father, husband and boss, he gave his life for the business he knew full well his children would one day inherit. Fly high, Kasper Malik, may your children honour your memory until the day they leave." The priest said loud and clear, and next to him, Zayn wept uncontrollably in Liam's arms.

Louis, silent tears cascading down his cheeks, stared at Kasper's coffin, whispering words and promises that no one but him understood, his shoulders shaking violently as his fingers traced his late father's features across the glass, and from time to time he glanced at his mother.

"Mom, dad, what am I supposed to do without you?" Zayn sobbed loudly, and only then did Louis deign to look anywhere but at the coffin, just to hug the omega.

But meanwhile, Niall was looking at everything in the distance, sobbing quietly, trembling and feeling something inside himself break more and more as the minutes passed. The familiar scent of an omega drifted past him, hugging his shoulders and pulling him close to her. Barbara also smelled sad, and her eyes were red from crying, but there were no fresh tears on her cheeks.

"Love, why are you so far away?" she asked sweetly, the Russian accent slipping over her tongue.

Niall just shrugged, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Does anyone want to see Mr. and Mrs. Malik one last time? Before we bury them." The priest asked, and immediately Niall spotted his siblings getting closer to his parents' coffins.

Immediately the sobs started, Zayn didn't even know which coffin to look at, so he just tightened his grip on Liam's black jacket, Louis sobbing loudly, kneeling in front of his father's coffin, holding onto it tightly.

"Niall, honey, don't you want to go say goodbye to your...?"

"I can't." He interrupted the omega, sobs coming out fervently from her lips. He dropped the white rose he was holding in his hand and held his arms around the omega's waist, resting his head on her chest and sobbing loudly. "I can't, I can't, I can't."

And he repeated the same thing over and over again, while Barbara comforted him and stroked his hair. Holding strong for her little Niall, making a silent promise to see to the well-being of his three offspring.

And there he was, years later, stepping foot in the family cemetery for the first time. He walked slowly and came to the grave of his parents, his father. He was able to read their names on each side of the headstone, and a little message for each one. He flopped onto his right side, tossing his crutches aside and settling down with a small groan of pain, dropping all the cards onto Kasper's grave.

"Hello dad," he greeted him softly, stroking the engraving of his name, "I know I never come, and I'm sorry for that, but you more than anyone should understand that I wasn't ready, I doubt I'm now, but if I don't do this now, I will never be able to do it." He sighed and looked up at the cloudy sky, trying not to let the tears fall from his eyes. "I read your letters, dad, now I know the whole truth."

"And I don't hate you, dad. I could never hate you after everything you gave for me, for us," his voice trailed off a bit, but he cleared his throat and continued. "In fact, I was afraid that the one who didn't love me was you, stupid, right? But now everything is clear, and I want to tell you, dad, that I love you, and I'm going to make you proud wherever you are. I'm going to try to be the great father that you were to my brothers and me, because now I have a baby, you know? A baby I haven't met, but surely he's as beautiful as my omega, and..."

He sighed and looked around at the enormous arrangements on the tomb, reading the plaques on each of the vases.

From your son Zayn and your son-in-law Liam, he read her in a huge arrangement of roses of all colours; of your grandchildren Blair and Blake, in a similar but smaller arrangement; from your son Louis, your son-in-law Harry, and your granddaughter River, in an arrangement of lovely pink tulips; From your son-in-law Harry, in a beautiful basket with roses, sunflowers and clouds, including a gold rose from River.

But that wasn't what caught his attention.

Two small glass vases with a single red rose each; your son-in-law Shawn and your son Niall.

"Dad" he sobbed loudly, taking those vases in her hands. "I see you already know my omega".

And that made him feel a little worse, how come Shawn had been coming and he didn't even know it? For how long? He put the vases aside and wept into his hands.

But a strange noise took him out of his thoughts. He looked to the left side of him, carefully analysing the origin of the noise, footsteps on the grass of the place, and immediately took out his pistol.

Without thinking twice, he fired in the direction of a tree, and behind it, Richards fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

"My, you don't lose your aim, Horan." He exclaimed with a disgusting smile that Niall wanted to beat and shoot out.

"What are you doing in my house, Richards?" He spat out the question, venom trickling down his tongue and hatred shooting from his cold blue eyes.

"Edmund and Charles are idiots, did you really think that I was going to stay at their house and wait for them? Of course not, kid. I came to kill you." He said slowly approaching, still holding his shoulder in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"And so far, the only one hurt has been you," he spoke arrogantly, Richards laughed without grace.

"Do you know what your problem is, kid? Your sense of humour is so...simple," he barked, sitting down just a few feet from the grave. "Your father would have been so disappointed."

Anger washed over Niall's features as he listened more to the older alpha. He squeezed the hilt of his weapon between his fingers, feeling the adrenaline rush through his muscles and his alpha imploring her to get rid of him before his omega and cub arrived.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, kid," he laughed sarcastically. "To suffering of his little son, Edmund wanted the illusion of his happy and perfect family back, but not me, I plan to kill you and then have the satisfaction of watching this empire fall, watching your little brothers sink into their misery and neglect their little mob, die of sadness"

The wind was blowing softly and the grey clouds in the sky indicated that it was about to rain, two alphas sitting in the middle of a graveyard and engaging in a never-ending staring match, both analysing each small movement of the opponent waiting for a signal to attack the other. Niall gave a wry laugh.

"Do you really think that killing me is going to bring all this down?" He pointed around and shook his head with a smirk on his face. "Look, we lost our father and instead of sinking in our pain, we grew our empire, we increased the trafficking of alpha essence, drugs, weapons."

"I'm not in charge of the numbers, that's Louis, but I'm one hundred percent sure we now make ten times what my father ever imagined we would. They tried to destroy us by killing the boss, but instead of falling down, we picked all this up and upgraded it. Now tell me, how much do you think my brothers would cry if you kill me here and now? One, two weeks?" He brushed back his hair and looked up at the sky, gaining more confidence in himself as the words left his lips. "You can kill me, torture me for hours, cut me into little pieces and even leave me all over the house, but you can be sure of one thing, Richards, my brothers are going to do this a thousand times better, so much so that your poor omega-smuggling business will look like a vile cockroach under my shoes."

"You're insolent," growled the older man and Niall smiled even more.

"See you in hell, Richards." He raised his pistol and fired, right between the eyebrows.

Richards fell to the wet grass, blood dripping onto the ground and painting everything in its path red. And Niall could finally breathe, feeling that along with that bullet, all the tension had left his body, everything he carried behind his back, the weight of his emotions.

"Alpha!" He heard a voice in the distance. The voice of his omega.

And sooner rather than later, the Canadian was already by his side, taking care to cover the small bundle he was carrying in his arms from the cold very well. He brought his free hand to the alpha's face and began to examine it well, very carefully, his lips moving frantically but Niall had no eyes for anything other than the little bulge sheltering in his omega's chest.

"Alpha, I was so scared, I thought I had lost you, and when I got there you weren't in bed. Suddenly everyone started to move and when I saw that man I..." Shawn cried with happiness, to finally be able to see his alpha well, breathing and healing from his injuries.

Niall extended his right hand towards the little newborn, his eyes reflecting the adoration that he already felt towards that little being and filling his lungs with the aroma of his puppy and his omega combined, feeling that tranquillity that he had needed those days. Shawn noticed the action and smiled softly.

"Is...?"

"Yes, alpha, he is our cub." The omega murmured devotedly, the eyes of the linked couple filling with tears of happiness.

Carefully, Shawn handed Niall the puppy, taking care that he didn't uncover him a bit so he wouldn't get sick, he had just eaten so he was still calm and sleeping.

And as soon as the alpha looked at his baby, his world lit up completely, he knew love for the second time. Because he was so little, with his little upturned nose and long lashes gently caressing his plump, rosy cheeks, Niall wondered what would become of him when he grew up, if he would be more like him or Shawn, what his tastes would be, and even what would his caste be? But if he was sure of anything, it was that he would never lack love, he would love that little being with all his heart and soul.

Sensing another scent, the little boy slowly opened his eyes with a little pout on his lips, staring at the person who carried him with so much love. And Niall swore he might faint as soon as those blue eyes landed on him.

"Hello my love, I'm your dad," he whispered with a broken voice, and apparently the little boy recognized that this was the voice of the one who spoke to him every day when he was in the womb of his omega father, because he remained calm and even snuggled up a little more at the touch of his father.

Niall pulled him to his chest and tucked the blankets over the little body, taking care not to make any sudden movements. His alpha jumped with happiness when he recognized him as his cub and insistently told him that he had to protect him.

"It's our baby, omega. We're parents," he murmured with happy tears flooding his cheeks and emotion bathing his voice. Shawn nodded frantically.

"Yes, alpha, we are parents," finally they kissed, a soft touch and full of love that showed how much they had missed all this time, in addition to all the love they had for each other.

They separated little by little, the omega leaning towards the alpha and hiding his face in his neck. Niall marked his family with his scent and looked up at his father's headstone with a wide, sincere smile of happiness.

"I think you know my omega, dad," he said loudly and proudly, Shawn was looking in the same direction, still resting his head on his alpha's shoulder, "I don't know since when you know him, but I want you to know that I... I love you and mom as much as you ever loved us, and look."

He looked down at his sleeping pup and smiled, feeling a slight breeze ruffle his hair. He knew that his father was there with him.

"He's your grandson, Avery Malik," he introduced proudly, grinning widely. "I'm going to make you proud, Dad, wherever you are, I'm going to be a good father and a good alpha."

He carefully got up and helped his omega to his feet as well, barely noticing that Marie was already there along with two other guards who were lifting his body to get rid of it. He smiled at the alpha and then looked at his omega, and looking at him more closely, he noticed the dark circles under his beautiful eyes, he looked very tired.

"Omega, what are you doing here? You should be resting, you recently gave birth," he told him worriedly, starting to walk with his family towards the house.

"Says the one who has several broken ribs and is very far from our bed, why did you come alone, sweetheart? You should have asked Marie to accompany you," the omega answered, worried, Niall sighed.

"I needed to do this alone, I have a lot to tell you, but first... when did you come to visit my father?" He asked helplessly, the three of them walking through the field of roses with Marie following a metre behind them.

"Well, a few days before the wedding my father and I asked Zayn for permission to come, I felt like I had to talk to Kasper before we got together, and honestly after that I kept coming back, I didn't tell you because I thought you'd be mad, but ...

Niall's lips against his interrupted his explanation, the alpha's free hand went to his waist and held him as tight as he could against himself, always taking care of Avery.

"You are the love of my life, omega. I really can't believe that I have you in my life, you are the best thing I could have asked for myself," he left more short kisses on her lips and smiled, his eyes reflecting all the love he felt for him. "Now let's go inside, we need to rest and this little pup can't be outside that long or he might get sick."

☺☻☺☻

The house felt empty and cold, what had once been the warm home of a large family, with a responsible alpha and a loving mother, was now reduced to bloodstains and torn pictures.

There was no sound to tell them someone was inside, just their silent footsteps and the rattle of their belted weapons against their thighs. Louis looked at everything around him with cold eyes, despising every memory that came to his mind of that place, since he was born until that precise moment, where he sought to root out the bitter details of his past.

"We should go check upstairs," Zayn suggested, scanning every nook and cranny for danger.

"Go check it out, my father's office is still missing down here," Louis told them and Zayn nodded next to Liam, the omega giving his brother a quick hug.

"Be very careful, Lou. We have too many children at home to take care of to allow ourselves the luxury of dying here," the older one whispered with tears in his eyes, hoping that nothing bad would happen in there, because he knew in his heart that Charles would not be nowhere else but there, ending it all where it began. Louis nodded with a lump in his throat.

"Take care of yourselves too." The alpha murmured and finally let them go, hoping that everything would pass quickly.

He walked with light steps to that office that gave him so much fear in the first years of his life, that room where they had to force him into to have one of his talks with his father. The simple memory of all those times when he sat in front of Charles's desk just to listen to how he spouted comments like "I strive for perfection, Louis", "no son of mine is going to be a failure, you understand?" It caused a shiver to run down his spine. The memories of his father staring at him while he did his homework sitting in one of the corners of the office waiting for Louis to make any mistake so he could subject him to punishment made him feel small, and there was no Louis Malik in front of that door, the boss of Icarus Rose, but a little Louis with sweaty hands about to be scolded by his father.

But there he was once again, Charles sitting quietly in his usual chair in front of the beautiful dark wooden door with stained glass figures of different colours and sizes that let a faint orange and red lighting into the room, giving it a different atmosphere at the moment. . The alpha was just there, as if a few moments ago there hadn't been a shooting outside his house.

"I must say, son, I'm amazed at how quickly you got rid of my men," Charles said quietly, staring at Louis with his face resting on his knuckles. "And you still had the nerve to take my omega and my daughters."

"My mother and sisters," Louis snarled angrily, anger emanating through his pheromones.

"You've always been an insolent bastard," the older alpha spat, getting up from his chair and sitting at the desk, without taking his eyes off his son. Just look at yourself, with that demeanour, feeling so powerful in front of me, with your loaded pistol without a silencer, killing as many people as you can get to your goal, you're exactly like me, like father, like son.

"I'm not like you!" Louis growled desperately, Charles just let out a wry laugh.

"Of course you're like me," he answered with a smirk, feeling the satisfaction of seeing his son's face turn into anger with every word that left his lips. "You could have been a perfect heir, you had so much potential, Louis , just imagine what people would have said; the perfect Tomlinson successor, a powerful alpha, who always gets what he sets his mind to, with as many omegas as you could handle by your side, the attention of all the ladies out there, willing to lick the sole of your shoe as long as you gave them a puppy that would also be the perfect successor. But you preferred to leave on your stupid whim to have that despicable omega! YOU COULD HAVE IT ALL!... But you spoiled it for A childish whim. You are exactly the same as me, Louis, because you carry my blood in your veins and my last name, the only difference is that your illusions and stupid whims did blind you, they ruined the perfection in which I worked so hard."

Their gazes remained fixed, watching each other, Louis feeling how he unconsciously wanted to bow down to his father and agree with him as he did for years before leaving home, he felt every word of Charles as truths that could have happened, truths that they would have changed all the suffering for which he went through so many years. What would have happened if he had listened to his father? What would have happened if Louis had grown up repressing his emotions in order to live the life Charles talked so much about? Marrying a well-placed omega, inheriting his father's business, having puppies and turning them into the perfect children just like Charles did with him, making million-dollar deals and attending parties with other alphas as powerful as him... But Louis had all of that, he was an alpha linked to his destined omega, a father and a businessman full of wealth that went beyond money. He was not going to bow his head this time, he was not going to give in to Charles Tomlinson's words ever again, because he had nothing to prove to him, since Charles had stopped being his father since the day he kicked him out of his house.

"Why do you hate me, father?" He asked instead, walking towards the alpha with a cold look, playing with the weapon in his hands. "Why are you so angry with life? Just because your perfect heir got away from your mould?"

"Because you're imperfect!" Charles spat, "Do you think your grandfather would have accepted something like what you did? Mark and have offspring with a male omega? Believe me, Louis, I couldn't even think twice because it took a beating. The Tomlinson alphas, we have to be perfect, what's the point of having an alpha if he's going to end up mating with a man?"

"You can't fight fate, father," the younger alpha answered, "make use of reason!"

"Fate doesn't know what it's doing!" Bellowed the eldest, losing his composure, his face red with fury and his hands trembling with sheer impotence. "I'm going to tell you a little story, a mistake from my youth that made me learn that fate does nothing but ruin your life."

Charles sat back in his chair, looking towards a fixed point in the room, his eyes youthful a couple of years as memories flooded his mind with times that seemed to belong to a completely different life.

"You see, when I was fifteen years old, I met a little omega. He was perfect for me, submissive, shy, with an exquisite aroma and the perfect body to give me many puppies, with curly hair and bright green eyes, but do you know what his only flaw was, Louis?" He looked back at his son, a few treacherous tears at the corner of his eyes. "He was a man."

"Dad..."

"Shut up!" He growled and looked down, memories of that omega flooding his thoughts. "My alpha immediately recognized him as my soulmate, and you know what? I really thought it might be possible, that we'd get married and have ten pups, but endings are never happy."

Louis felt increasingly uncomfortable with that situation, a part of him wanted to justify his father, he wanted to understand him and empathise with him, he wanted to see himself reflected in his past because the same thing had happened to him with Harry, he saw the alpha's eyes. The older man burst into tears and his jaw tightened more and more as he tried to contain his emotions, because that's what a good alpha did. Instead, the other simply loathed him more; he hated him because he understood him and yet he insisted on making his life hell. He hated it because after all his suffering Charles had lived that life torturing himself and his alpha, he had worked so hard to make his own son suffer the same way he had, and that only proved him Louis once again that Charles only envied him, he envied his riches and his happiness, he envied that he had indeed fought for that happy ending that everyone talks about, and he was sitting there in his office completely alone.

"Your grandfather got rid of Oliver as soon as he found out about his existence," he wiped away his tears abruptly and looked back at his son, that grim look back. "He killed my soulmate and arranged my marriage with his partners' daughter, your mother. I did you a favour by not killing that kid and just getting you out of my house."

Silence settled between them, an endless staring duel, waiting for the other to say something else, add something to that confession. But Louis felt the rage grow inside him, the desire to kill his father increased with the passing of the seconds.

"You understand me, you understood me all this time," Louis muttered hatefully.

"Sorry?"

"YOU HAVE UNDERSTANDED ME ALL THESE YEARS! WHEN YOU RUN ME OUT OF THE HOUSE ON MY BIRTHDAY! WHEN I FOUND MY DESTINED OMEGA! AND YOU STILL DARE CALL ME IMPERFECT?!" The alpha yelled through tears of frustration as they fell down his cheeks. Tears filled with pure fury that burned his cheeks and screamed in waves to burn him alive.

"DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!"

"I'M GOING TO RAISE MY VOICE AT YOU AS MANY TIMES AS I WANT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He snapped the safety off the pistol and pointed it straight at his father's head. "I'm not that scared kid I was the last time you scolded me in this office anymore. Now I have power, I can kill you right now if I want, I'm going to kill you Charles Tomlinson and I'm going to do it with the pleasure of knowing that the last thing you'll see is going to be the blue of my eyes on yours."

"Do it then," Charles challenged with a smirk, Louis's posture weakened, but the gun was still pointed at his father's head. Charles laughed. "You can't kill me, Louis, even if you wanted to, no matter how much your heart and mind yearn for it, because deep down, you know you're still a brat scared of your father, and you'll never be more than just that."

And in that moment Louis's heart dropped, his jaw clenched, and he never took his gaze from his father's. His hand was gripping the pistol grip so tightly that his knuckles had turned white and the tips of his fingers red; He felt like each of the words that Charles had said to him throughout his life burned his chest slowly, but worst of all, he was right.

Charles Tomlinson was a manipulative bastard, but Louis would always be his son, always that scared eleven-year-old walking the streets of Doncaster on Christmas Eve, always that boy who was born to have it all but ended up the disappointment of the whole family. Tomlinson offspring. And in front of Charles, Louis would always try to be the perfect son, he would listen to his father's words as if they were absolute truths and not just the babble of a mindless alpha, he would stand up straight and hold his head high as an alpha should. always.

"Look at you...so weak," the older alpha said, then let out a bitter laugh. "The great Louis Tomlinson, boss of Icarus Rose, supposed adopted son of Kasper Malik...can't even shoot his father," the alpha began to clap slowly . Louis's blue eyes began to crystallise little by little and his hands began to shake. "GO COWARD! PULL THE TRIGGER AND DON'T CRY LIKE AN OMEGA!" Charles pulled his gun from the back of his pants and pointed it directly at Louis's forehead. "I'm going to show you how a real alpha ends problems."

And then the sound of the gun going off echoed through the house.