Marcassin loved his brother. There were many reasons why. Swaine (formally known as Gascon) was the best brother anyone could ask for. These are the reasons that Marcassin loves his brother, and these are the reasons that made it so hard for him when his brother left.

Asked for by: WUBBALUBBUDUBDUB (it might not be exactly what you were expecting, but this was one of the best ideas I had for Marcassin)

Marcassin loved his brother. Everyone who knew him knew he loved him. Nobody else could understand why. Yes, they liked the older prince, but they didn't adore him, like Marcassin obviously did.

There were loads of different reasons that Marcassin loved his brother.

For starters, his brother was always there for him.

Marcassin was by himself one day, he wanted to have an adventure by himself for once, without his parents. He snuck out of the castle, only to be attacked by many familiars. He couldn't stop the assailants, no matter what he did. He decided to just run away, but his young legs weren't used to the pressure. Just when he thought that he wouldn't be able to live through this, when he thought that the familiars were going to get him, a strong voice shouted, "Oi! That's my little brother your hurting there! Stop it!"

The familiars immediately stopped their assault and Marcassin leaned forwards, crying into Gascon's [1] chest. Though, who could blame him? Gascon just patted his little brother's back, inwardly cursing the familiars that made his brother scared. From that day on, Gascon swore to keep his younger brother safe.

Perhaps that was the best thing about his brother. He was always there, no matter what.

Also, his brother always listened to him.

The day that he had been attacked by familiars was a scarring one for the young prince. He couldn't keep the images out of his head, being attacked, running away, all of it. Somehow, whenever these images became nightmares, they never included the part about Gascon. Instead, it was him running away, but failing to get away. Then - well, you'll probably know the next part.

He usually woke up before the next part happened, just like you or I wake up before we die in a nightmare.

Unfortunately, nightmares very subtly change sometimes and it's shocking to see how much it can effect one person so much.

Instead of Marcassin getting attacked, he watched Gascon be attacked. Instead of Marcassin running, it was Gascon running. Instead of Marcassin almost getting killed, Gascon was almost killed. And, unfortunately, there was no brave saviour to stop the familiar from getting Gascon.

Marcassin woke up that night, crying into his pillow, knowing that he didn't want to risk waking anyone up and telling them what had happened, in case they would be mad. His mother and father probably would. They enjoyed having their sleep and were always extra cranky when someone woke them up in the middle of the night. Gascon usually didn't mind, but Marcassin had seen that his brother hadn't slept well recently.

But nobody, not even Marcassin, would be able to withhold his emotions. He knew he had to tell someone and if not his mother and father, then Gascon would be the next best option. Heck, he'd be the first option! He was always more caring than his mother and father, at any rate.

Marcassin jumped on his brother's bed, waking him up slowly. Gascon woke up and made to growl angrily at whoever ruined his perfect dream, but saw Marcassin's tear stained cheeks. Instead of grumbling at Marcassin, Gascon invited him to sit on his bed.

"Now, what was it, Marcassin? A bad dream, perhaps, or something else?" Gascon asked in a soft tone, making Marcassin smile weakly at him and tell the whole story.

Gascon never interrupted. Gascon never spoke. He just listened to Marcassin ramble on and on about his dream, about how he couldn't stop them and about how he was so, so sorry. Gascon patted his little brother's back and said that a few familiars weren't going to get to him and how he shouldn't be sorry, as he didn't do anything in the first place and how it was just a dream, nothing to be scared of.

That was probably the best thing about his brother. His willingness to just sit there and listen.

His brother was also the best at getting his self esteem up.

Marcassin felt, if he was honest, like a weakling. He was holding the staff the wrong way around (according to his father, anyway), he couldn't do any magic spells anyway and his brother wasn't there to cheer him on.

Perhaps that was the thing that hurt Marcassin most of all that day. Gascon had promised to stay with him during his lesson, promised that he would help him, yet he hadn't. Of course, Marcassin knew that Gascon couldn't stay with him the whole time, but it still hurt.

And it didn't help his self esteem at any rate.

Later on, during dinner, Gascon came crashing through the doors, then, walking straight up to Marcassin, starting saying sorry, about he hadn't known that there was a lesson today and if he had there was no we he'd have missed it. Marcassin's heart warmed at the apologies and he accepted them eagerly. He knew that his brother wouldn't hurt him intentionally.

Still, he didn't exactly feel the strongest person alive. He still felt a weakling. He knew that it was wrong, he shouldn't be thinking about himself like this, but all the lessons had shown that it was true. He was a weakling and there was nothing he could do about it.

Gascon had come into his room, looking stern for once and Marcassin immediately questioned what was wrong.

"Oh, nothing," his brother had said. "Apart from the fact that you don't trust your abilities. And that you don't trust me enough to tell me about this today. Why, Marcassin? What went wrong today?"

And Marcassin had let everything loose, about how he had started his lesson, how he'd felt so strong at the start, how he felt like such a weakling now and anything else in between.

Gascon looked at him sternly. "Marcassin," he had said. "Trust yourself. If you just believe in yourself, you'll be able to do it right. Believe that you're strong and you will be. Believe that you're weak, however, and you will be. It depends on what you believe, all right? Now, tomorrow, go out there to your lesson and show Dad what you're made of!"

After that truly inspiring speech, Marcassin asked his brother whether he believed that he was a good person and always willing to help other people. The response that Marcassin had got, however, always confused him whoever he thought about it. Gascon merely laughed and ruffled his hair.

That must be the best thing about his brother. His caring personality.

Another thing about his brother was that he never broke a promise.

Marcassin woke up one night, crying, as he had had a bad dream. About his brother. His dear old brother, dying. It hurt to think about.

He didn't want his brother to die. He knew that his brother wouldn't die. He knew, but he couldn't convince himself at that moment. He had to see his brother, check that he was still alive, check that he wouldn't be going anytime soon.

So, Marcassin did the usual thing. He went into Gascon's room and jumped on the bed, waiting for Gascon to do his usual thing. Glare at nothing, look up, start saying something and then realise that it was Marcassin. Then they'd do the usual thing of Gascon asking what was wrong and Marcassin spilling everything.

And that happened. And Gascon made a promise. A promise that he knew he'd have to keep, because he never broke his promises. "I promise that I won't die. I promise, Marcassin. You know I don't break my promises."

It was true. He didn't.

Perhaps that was the best thing. How truthful and promising his brother was.

But then Gascon left. Not to be seen again for years.

He stopped being there for Marcassin. He wasn't there when his father died and Marcassin had to deal with himself when he woke up in the nights relieving his father's death.

He wasn't able to listen to Marcassin. There was no way anyone else would be able to listen to him as Gascon had done, so Marcassin gave up on telling anyone anything anymore.

He couldn't put Marcassin's self esteem up. In fact, it had gone down without Gascon there, pushing him to the very limit. It was really hard, trying to boost his self esteem up without the help is his brother. Extremely hard.

His brother had broken two promises. The first one being that he'll always be there for him. The second being that he won't die. For all he knew, Gascon could be dead right now.

When Gascon came back as Swaine, Marcassin knew one thing. His brother was definitely not the same anymore.

[1] - I'm calling him Gascon because that's how Marcassin knew him best, right?

So, how's that! I really enjoyed writing this, actually. It was supposed to be a Henry Danger one, but I remembered a comment saying if I would do a Marcassin one shot for Ni No Kuni, so I thought I would, for the fun of it! It wasn't supposed to end like that, but I enjoyed it. Anyway, bye!

- RomioneAndHinny

OUT!!