48 - Bye

Ivan looked at her with an expression that seemed to ask her to help his brother, to save him. But Helena was not able to lie to her and she shook her head.

At that moment Ivan knew it was his last chance to tell his brother how much he loved him before he left.

"Nick..." he whispered to call the young man.

Nick's pale face turned toward his brother, smiling weakly.

"You know how much I love you, don't you?" Ivan said with a broken voice.

Nick smiled widely, as much as the pain would allow him, and he put his hand on his brother's. He could feel his body getting cold, but he still smiled at her.

-I know, thank you for taking care of me, for being like a father to me-

"I would do it again thousands of times," Ivan cried, clinging to his brother's grip.

Almost lifeless black eyes moved towards the one who had been his lifelong friend. With his free hand he wiped away a treacherous tear that fell from the young man's face.

-I'm sorry Erik, I'm sorry for everything.

Erik shook his head vigorously, causing his tears to fly into the air.

"No... you have nothing to apologize for, you had no choice, I'm not mad at you," he sobbed.

-Even so...- he coughed hard- T-thank you for being my friend even though we are enemies.

"We're not, we're not," he exclaimed desperately, clinging to his grip. "We never were, I love you Nick."

"Me too," he smiled weakly.

Nick's teary eyes moved to Helena, who was a nervous, crying wreck, feeling like shit for leading the young man directly to her death.

-I'm sorry Nick! This is all my fault! "I shouldn't have let you come," he cried.

"Shhh," Nick whispered, "I wanted to come, it's not your fault." He smiled weakly and looked at his brother. "Take care of her, okay?" To both of them, don't be an idiot with my nephew, huh? -He joked.

"I-I promise Nick," Ivan sobbed.

Nick looked back at Helena.

"Take care of my brother, you know... it seems hard, but he's dying to be loved," he joked.

Helena timidly looked at Ivan and had the courage to intertwine her trembling hand with the shy one of the love of her life. She raised her bright honey eyes and looked into Ivan's black ones.

"I promise," she exclaimed without stopping to look at him.

"I'm glad my death is of some use," the young man joked.

"Don't say that," Helena protested, sobbing harder.

The three remained silent, holding each other's hands, even Erik and Ivan had held hands, because at that moment the differences did not matter, but that Nick left full of love and knowing that from now on That moment everything would be better. That his death was not in vain.

Little by little the young man's black eyes closed and Ivan had to bite his lower lip to keep from screaming and lunging at the inert body of his brother, begging her not to leave. He didn't want the last thing she saw to be his terror, he wanted him to leave peacefully.

Finally Nick took his last breath and the room seemed to grow quiet and cold. They had failed, after all, they had failed to protect the youngest of them, who could have had a good future, one away from all that.

They maintained a minute of silence, until Ivan broke it by standing up abruptly and walking with heavy steps towards his father, who had been breathing heavily against the library, still in shock at what he had done.

-Damned…. "This is all your fault!" He shouted, grabbing the man's shirt tightly.

Mr. White did nothing, he was speechless, he knew it was his fault. He began to sweat heavily, watching his only living son look down on him with his gaze. His heart ached and he winced in pain.

But Ivan did not flinch or feel sorry for him, gripping the fabric of his shirt harder and closing his fist in the air about to hit it against the face of the monster that had murdered his only family.

-Wait Ivan! "Don't do it!" Helena begged, holding her fist.

Ivan stopped suddenly and watched as his father's body contracted and became smaller. He released the shirt suddenly and the man's body slid to the floor while he tightened the garment at the level of his heart.

"Help..." he could barely say.

Ivan looked at him from above, as he looked so weak, he was no longer that intimidating man who had made his life hell.

"It's over... you lost," he said with contempt.

Those were the last words Mr. White heard from his own son, before his heart stopped forever.

Nobody said goodbye to him, nobody gave him kind words. Before he died he made it clear to him that no one would remember him and that his name would be forgotten.

49 - Nick
Ivan was standing in the same place for unknown hours, but he didn't want to move even though his limbs had gone numb. He feared that if he walked away from the box where his brother rested, he would be gone forever. He was afraid of losing him, forgetting his face, his laugh, everything….

She hadn't cried, not since she watched him die in front of him.

The entire room was decorated with hundreds of beautiful flowers of all colors that resembled the backyard of the house where they had grown up and where Nick most liked to spend his afternoons. It was the least I could do for him, make his journey to the other plane as pleasant as possible.

Suddenly a hand gently rested on his shoulder, but he wasn't able to take his eyes off of his brother.

"Ivan..." said the masculine and unmistakable voice of Erik, his brother-in-law. "She's here."

The raven young man did not respond, nor did he move a single muscle. He knew who he was referring to, Helena, his beloved. Whom he hadn't seen since that horrible day at the Sol group's house.

He heard Erik sigh exhausted. Ivan had to admit that after all Erik was a good man, he had been accompanying him all this time, buzzing around him, watching his movements, if he needed anything, if he had eaten.

"Ivan..." he insisted, this time with a firmer voice, "go with her, I'm staying with Nick, I promise you that I'm not going to move from here until you get back, he's not going to get angry if you go away with him for a while." Clear. Do you remember that he asked you to take care of them?

Ivan swallowed heavily and blinked several times as if he came out of a trance. He moved his tired face with very dark circles under his eyes towards Erik, meeting him with a worried expression he never thought would be for him.

"She's fine," he responded in a low voice, feeling his throat dry and pasty from not speaking for so long.

Erik smiled slightly satisfied and patted his brother-in-law's back, pushing him away.

"A little fresh air will be good for you," he exclaimed more enthusiastically.

Before leaving the room he turned one last time towards the body of his brother.

“Rest in peace” He said within himself.

"Come on," Erik whispered.

Ivan nodded his head and before heading to the garden of the funeral home, he hugged his brother-in-law without warning, who at first remained frozen in place with his hands stiff at the sides of his body, but little by little he encouraged himself to surround with his arms the body of the one who had been his enemy. But that hatred was long gone.

"Thank you..." he whispered almost inaudibly. "Thank you for taking care of Helena when I couldn't," he said guiltily.