His cape is even more beautiful with all that red.

"No... No... NOOOOOOOOO! NICK!! NICK, ANSWER ME!!"

The king had thrown himself off his horse and was kneeling at Nicholas' side as he lay on the ground, taking his head between his hands, connecting their foreheads, screaming at Nicholas to stay with him, forbidding him to die, then desperately pressing down on the wound from my sword with his gloved palm. I had never seen such a deep despair on the face of a anyone before. Tobirama was suffering, and suffering deeply.

I had fallen to the ground from my horse after throwing myself at Nicholas and was still laying there, my sword still in hand. I looked at it. It was covered in Nicholas' blood. I looked back at the two.

Nicholas lay surprisingly calm, his breath coming out gurgling and awful, and he coughed blood from time to time, pearls of red running down his chin. He looked up at the king as if he thought he was the most precious thing in the world. He tried to lift his hand, but struggled. The king saw it, took it gently to help him, put Nicholas' fingertips on his own cheek. Upon the touch, Nicholas entire demeanour relaxed, as if he could breathe again after having been starving for God only knew how long. There seemed to be great love between them.

Tobirama has a nickname for him...

Around us, the whole scene was protected by the king's twenty guards, fending off the humans who tried to take advantage of this vulnerable situation. I hardly noticed. I was confused. So.Confused.

"Nicholas, please! Please!! You shouldn't have gone out to war! You shouldn't have gone out to war to begin with!!"

Nicholas smiled. It was a tired smiled, but it was clear he was happy.

"You know you need me", he said. The king smiled, but his eyes crumbled in tears, creating a contrast between his eyes and his mouth. "I was always the better warrior."

"I needed you for other things", the king whispered.

"I never stopped loving you, you know."

Oh...

Tobirama's whole face got distorted, and he desperately grabbed the younger elf's face. "Don't you dare!" he screamed, his voice cracking of exertion. "Don't you even dare die now! Nick!! NICHOLAS!!"

The king bent forwards, put his lips on the flamboyant warrior's, kept them there. Nicholas' hand, still on the king's cheek, found some strength, moved to his neck, pressed him closer. After what felt like an eternity, their lips parted.

"I never stopped loving you", Nicholas repeated.

Tears filled my eyes; of jealousy or sadness over my friend or of pity for the king, I couldn't tell. My vision became blurred, and I turned when-

A hand on my shoulder.

"Come."

I jerked.

A woman. Clad in a beautiful red cape and bronze chainmail, her head wrapped in black cloth so only her eyes were visible, done in a fierce cat-eye makeup, a long ponytail trailing behind her.

"Erika."

She had jumped off her horse, leaving the captains fighting the humans trying to get hold of the king to fight without her. I squinted my eyes as if I'd just woken up, which was just the way I felt. I had been in a bubble, a bubble where there was only Tobirama and Nicholas, and even I was not invited; I was but an intruder. But outside of that bubble was a war still raging.

"You're not fit to keep fighting right now. Come."

She jumped up on my big red horse, seeing hers was too small to carry us both, then helped me up behind her and cantered away. I leaned on her back, exhausted as I was, trying to comprehend what I had just seen.

Tobirama and Nicholas...

The confusion intermingled with the guilt of having killed him, a person who clearly did not want to die, and the guilt of the pain I'd caused Tobirama. What was I supposed to do! Nicholas was a killing machine and my sword didn't burn, so I couldn't cut his limbs off! I felt terrible. So, so terrible. I closed my eyes as Erika took me to the outskirts of the war, to a pond in the middle of the forest, then sat off the horse. I sat off, too, falling as I landed out of exhaustion. Erika was standing regal, removing the bandages from her face. She sighed with relief when her face was released and she could breathe properly again. I, however, felt as though I was suffocating. I came up to my hands and knees and vomited.

"I should go back", I said weakly, despite myself. "I should go back to the battle."

Erika took no notice of me.

"Tobirama and Nicholas used to be lovers", she said, washing her bloody hands in the fresh pond. "They were lovers a few years ago, when Nicholas was part of the army." I stood up, leaned against a tree for support. My big red horse had started grazing happily a bit away, seemingly undisturbed by the horrors of the war. "Nicholas was only seventeen. Tobirama twenty-four."

"I didn't know Nicholas was a warrior", I said. This made me feel betrayed for some reason, but knew it was unreasonable and if I hadn't been jealous of him, it wouldn't have been a problem.

"He was the best in the army. He's better than Tobirama by lightyears. I believe you're the only one in the world better than him." Under different circumstances, I might have been touched by the compliment. "But Nicholas didn't have it in him to keep killing. It made him so depressed that he couldn't get out of bed for weeks." I struggled to see this in front of me. Nicholas, who was so vibrant! But I knew it was only my prejudices. Of course he could be depressed, no matter his appearance. "So he chose to do something else he was good at, which was sewing. He wanted to stay in court to be close to Tobirama."

"But they couldn't continue because they were of the same sex?" I asked carefully.

Erika turned to me and smiled. "No." I felt relieved for some reason. "That would never stop my brother."

I frowned. "Tobirama is your brother?"

"Yes, unfortunately", she said, but there was great warmth in her voice. "No, their genders weren't the problem. Tobirama just... He loved Nicholas fiercely, but not in the way Nicholas needed to be loved. They were both heartbroken. Couldn't be in each other's presence after that. You haven't seen them together, have you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

She was right. Wherever Tobirama was, Nicholas wasn't. Wherever Nicholas was, Tobirama wasn't. I remembered how I had taken note of Nicholas talking as if the king didn't give him orders directly. But I still didn't understand.

"But Nicholas was so sweet to me! He even sewed a gown for me to help me seduce the stupid king!" Tears of frustration and shame were streaming down my face, and my voice trembled as I tried to hold them back. "Why would he do that?!"

"Nicholas found the love between you and my brother incredibly difficult. He came to me several times about it. We were close like siblings, Nicholas and I. But there were many reasons as though why he helped you. First of all, Tobirama. Nicholas still loves him. Or loved him", she corrected herself when she remembered he was dead. She had to gather her usual stoic self before continuing. "And he knew instantly that Tobirama would grow to love you in a way he never loved Nicholas. He wanted Tobirama to be happy. Also, there's you." I was silent. "More than fretting for Tobirama falling for someone new, Nicholas has always fretted that Tobirama would fall for someone who didn't love him enough, that only wanted the throne, even more. I believe he actually expected that to be the case. In you, he saw someone who was good. Also." Erika looked at me with a stern expression then. "Nicholas really liked you. Loved you, even. He had a little crush on you in that way you have on the object of your jealousy that you just can't bring yourself to hate." I knew exactly what she meant, because I felt the exact same way regarding Nicholas. I found I wanted to both scream at him, and fuck him out of his mind until he came to his Goddamn senses. "Nicholas helped you because he loved you both and wanted to see you both happy. No matter how much it hurt him."

I closed my eyes. This was so much to take in. So, so much to take in.

"What will you do now?" Erika asked. There was no judgement in her voice.

"You have given me more than the humans ever have", I said, knowing she knew I referred to all elves. "But the humans need me on their side. We're going to win due to our numbers, but we'll lose many, many men. I'll do anything I can to prevent that. And try to diminish the number of dead elves by amputating them instead." I looked at my sword then, wondered if it would heat up again. "I am sorry."

"Have you ever considered the fact that some elves would rather die than become amputated?" I was taken aback. I had, in fact, not. I tried to figure out what I would have chosen, and found it surprisingly hard. Erica sighed. "War isn't fair", she continued as she began to bandage her face again, hiding everything but her fierce, almond-shapes eyes. "I don't blame you. I've made the calculations and I understand why you've made the choice you've made. I am grateful for you."

I hesitated a little. Then, I spoke.

"Even if I decide to pull out of the war, there is still something I need to do. Regarding Tobirama." I was thinking of the prophecy. "Thank you. For everything."

She hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then, she took two steps towards me and put her arms around me, enveloping me into a warm embrace, making certain not to touch my skin out of courtesy.

"The amethyst is angry", she whispered into my ear before she let go.