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“Hi, Ortho.”
There is no answer, as expected. A breeze passes as Idia kneels down, uncaring of the dirt staining his pants or the snow on the ground.
It’s only been a year, and yet it feels like Idia has lived a lifetime without his little brother.
“It’s good to see you again,” Idia continues, his eyes rereading the same words on the headstone over and over.
Ortho Shroud. Brother, Son, Hero. May the Underworld protect his soul from harm.
Idia looks up. The statue atop his brother’s grave, built to resemble one of the God King’s many daemons, stares right down at Idia, as if mocking him. It makes his skin crawl, and he looks back down at the dirt underneath him.
“Things are going good at Styx,” Idia murmurs. “Mom and Dad have made so many upgrades to the system. If it was hard to leave before, it’s impossible now; the whole place is like a high-security prison. Not to mention all the guards…” He catches himself mid-ramble and swallows down the words he was going to say, forcing his thoughts to be quiet for a moment. Ortho liked the quiet, after all…
Or did he? Idia bites his lips as he tries to remember. Ortho, sweet Ortho, who was seemingly impervious to the Shroud family curse…he was always a bundle of energy, bounding around the place here and there. He was never still; even if all he was doing was tapping his foot or fiddling with something in his hands, it ensured that he was always moving.
His voice, bright and childlike and so full of joy, was not quiet–but not loud, either. His voice was soft yet demanded all the attention as he regaled stories of heroes that went on to become legends.
Idia’s eyes roam over the headstone again.
Brother, Son, Hero.
Hero.
That’s all that Ortho had wanted to be. He and Idia were supposed to be Heroes together, and they’d go on and save the world.
Ortho is a Hero now, but not in the way he wanted. Not in the way that either of them wanted.
And if Ortho is the Hero, then surely that means that Idia is the Villain in this story. After all, Idia is the one who…
Who…
Idia’s fist clenches in his lap hard enough for his nails to leave crescent-shaped marks in his palm. Stop being negative. Ortho doesn’t deserve that.
“Everyone says that I’m a genius!” Idia says, trying - and daily - to muster up an enthusiastic tone. “I mean, they’re right–but they’re late to the party, I-M-O. After all, you were the first one to…to notice…” His mouth goes dry.
That’s right; before the Styx employees, and even before his parents, it was Ortho who believed in Idia. It was Ortho who marveled at Idia’s inventions and whispered excitedly, “You’re so cool, nii-chan! You’re like a genius!”
The sweet memory that had once filled Idia with pride only sends a wave of despair through his soul, and just like that, he can’t keep pretending anymore. His limbs give out, and his upper body loses its balance. He falls to the ground, barely stopping himself from splaying over his brother’s grave by catching himself with his forearms.
Idia sobs, his eyes squeezing shut as he makes no effort to try and stop the tears from falling on the dirt parallel to his face. His hands clench the dirt beneath him, and in his mind, he can almost imagine that he’s holding Ortho in his arms. Maybe, when he opens his eyes, it will all turn out to be a bad dream and Ortho will be safe at home.
But when Idia does open his eyes, nothing changes. He’s still at the grave, it’s still snowing around him, and his brother is still dead.
“I’m s-sorry,” he cries, uncaring of how loud he is. The force of his sobs wrecks his chest and causes his speech to staccato. “I m-miss you, Ortho. Nii-chan m-misses you.”
And then, he can’t force himself to say anything. His vision is completely blurry, and every time he goes to wipe the tears away, more just sprout. It gets to the point where he gives up, deciding to just allow the tears to fall.
I’m sorry! Idia wants to scream into the soil, hopefully loud enough to reach the Underworld. I’ll do anything! Just please…give my little brother back.
Idia knows how hopeless of a request that is. Ortho’s soul is in the safe haven of Elysium - Elysium, not the Asphodel Meadows, because Ortho was a Hero - and the Underworld is fiercely protective over its inhabitants.
But maybe, if Idia is loud enough, Ortho can hear him. Maybe, if Idia keeps apologizing, Ortho will take pity on his older brother and come back.
Idia can almost imagine it. He imagines Ortho, in a white and blue chiton, appearing before him with that same radiant smile that he always had. Idia wouldn’t hesitate; he’d cross the distance between them, engulfing his younger brother in a tight embrace. Tight enough to ensure that Ortho is safe and sound.
Idia imagines himself begging Ortho for forgiveness. He’d apologize for being such an awful older brother, and that he wouldn’t care if Ortho hated him because he deserved all the vitriol in the universe for letting his little brother die–
But in every scenario, Ortho would forgive Idia, because that’s just how good of a person he was.
Even now, if Idia were to somehow infiltrate Elysium - and he’d have to infiltrate it, because he’ll never see beyond those gates; he knows that he’s fated to Tartarus, the hellish pit that Styx’s Tartarus was named after - Ortho would not be mad at Idia, not one bit. He’d simply give Idia a bright smile and forgive him, just like that.
And that makes it all the worse. Because Idia doesn’t deserve that forgiveness; he deserves to be scorned, and to be yelled at, and to be hurt. His soul deserves its spot in Tartarus, because he’s a Villain.
After an amount of time - Idia doesn’t know if it’s been minutes or hours or days or years; all he knows is that it feels like an eternity - his tear ducts finally dry and his sobs run out. Idia is left staring down at the dirt that hides his little brother, and he resists the urge to start tearing into the ground with his bare hands, because all that would accomplish is the defilement of Ortho’s grave, and Idia would rather die than cause any more harm to Ortho.
He sits up numbly, his posture adjusting as he finds himself back in the kneel he had started off in. He reads the headstone for the nth time.
Brother, Son, Hero.
Ortho was a Hero.
And Idia, the Villain, is bound for Tartarus, because he took Ortho away from the world that doesn’t deserve him.
Maybe that will be Idia’s punishment. He will never see Ortho ever again.
That’s fine. It’s what he deserves.