#hmmmm yeah this is sufficiently angsty

[eunchancorner]

Little Brothers Burn Bridges (TTT)

I felt something deep within my soul telling me to write this

-

“Sven! Welcome back! I’ve missed you! What took you so long to come back?”

“It was nothing, Earrings. How are Pa and Dad?”

“Oh, they’re… fine. They’re still upset about being demoted, but it’s okay! Do you… Do you know why they were demoted, Sven? You know them better than I do…”

“It’s… It’s not important. Is my room prepared?”

“Wait, Sven, if you know, tell me, please. It’s been bugging me so much!”

“I said it’s not important.”

“And I’m telling you it is!”

“Just drop it!”

“Sven, as your big sister, I’m telling you to tell me what you know!”

“And as a grown man, I’m telling you it’s none of your business!”

“Sven! If you know why our dads were demoted, then I have just as much of a right to know, too!”

“It’s none of your business, Earrings! God, if Pa was smart enough to throw him farther we wouldn’t even have this discussion!”

“... Throw who farther?”

“... I’ve said too much already.”

“Sven, throw who farther?! What did Pa try to do?!”

“That’s between me, Pa and Dad!”

“Sven, I am part of this family, too! Now tell me! I have just as much a right to know as you do!”

“We… Pa… When they were rescuing Henry from the Wall, it was Pa’s job to catch him if he couldn’t reach the balcony. But… Pa, Dad and I had a plan. If Henry failed to make it on his own, he was to die. Pa would drop him and say he had slipped. Then, he’d take back his place as leader.”

“... what?”

“You see the logic, right?! Pa is a far better leader than Henry is! Henry came in and took over-”

“Pa gave Henry control by admitting defeat. The fact that Henry took over is no one’s fault but his own! He should be happy he’s alive and free! But no, of course not! All you three ever think about is power, power, power! Not once do you stop to consider loyalty to someone higher than you! Henry is a wonderful leader who actually cares about us, who doesn’t see us as pawns in some little game but as actual people. If you plot to overthrow someone who’s actually taking care of people simply because you’re angry that he took over, peacefully, I might add, then how much of a Toppat are you?!”

“Pa wouldn’t do something so terrible as taking over the whole clan!”

“PA KILLED THE LAST LEADER, SVEN!”

“Terrence needed to die!”

“And Henry does, too?! Does Henry need to die for fairly beating Pa and then sparing his life when he could have easily killed him?! Does he need to die for pushing you away from your third-in-line spot?! Or are you, Pa and Dad just traitors to the Toppat name, brewing senseless hatred to justify your own desires?!”

“Earrings, you can’t really think-”

“I don’t want to hear it, Sven! If this is how you really think, can I even call you a fellow Toppat? … Can I even call you a brother?”