"Alex!" Boris cried tears of fear and joy as he pulled his brother into his arms, "are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"No.." Alex weakly replied his voice barely above a whisper, "Boris... Mommy and pappy…" Tears ran down Alex's dirty face as he pointed to a bed on the other side of the room completely in flames, with a large piece of the ceiling fallen on top of it.

Boris stared at the bed in silence noticing the hand that had fed him, cloth him, sang him lullabies, kissed his forehead, loved him with every muscle and blood cell in her body, fallen off the side of the mattress, lying lifeless in a pool of red.

"Mom…" Boris sobbed turning away from the body in pain. The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes in each other's embrace, mourning their parent's death. Boris released Alex and looked into his eyes, "Lexy, we need to get out of here now."

"What about mommy and pappy?" Alex asked though fits of tears.

"We- they- they aren't coming back, they are gone." Boris sighed.

"Gone? Why? Dad said he was taking me fishing tomorrow, mommy sang me to sleep today, they can't leave!" Alex cried, "THEY PROMISED TO STAY WITH ME FOREVER."

Boris held back another fit of tears and lifted Alex up and started running out of the room.

"No! LET ME GO BACK!!!! WE HAVE TO SAVE MOMMY AND PAPPY!"Alex screamed in Boris' arms, "PLEASE please, let me save them, we need to save mo-" Alex's words slowed to a stop as he passed out in Boris' arms.

"I'm so sorry," Boris cried, "please forgive me, Alex, please forgive me mommy, pappy, please forgive me."

Boris ran down the stairs through the flames with his brother in his arms.

***

Boris stared at his house, burned to ashes, rooms of memories he held close in his heart reduced to flecks of dust. He looked at Alex in his arms, safe and calm in his arms, and imagined what a big toll it would take on his mind and heart when he woke up again. Death, something he hadn't thought about seemed like reality to him now, a nightmare he will wake up to every day.

"Boris," Felix called out from behind Boris.

Boris refused to turn to him, his heart already scarred enough from the fire he had caused.

"Boris please listen," Felix begged, grabbing Boris' arm.

Boris looked down at his arm where Felix touched, "let go of me."

"Please listen, I didn't mean to.. I-"

"Shut up, and get your filthy hands off me now,"

"Please forgive me, I didn't mean to all I wanted wa-"

"So? Are you satisfied now? You earned yourself power by killing and maintained it by blaming it. Are you satisfied now? You achieved what you want, at the expense of others of course, at the expense of taking my family, my only light in my days, the people who promised to live with me, to grow with me, to walk with me forever. You took my life, my body, and my legs and only left a head that will struggle against the waves of misery.... But it's ok, right? you still won," Boris laughed, his heart aching with every sound, he turned and locked eyes with Felix his eyes glowing with spite, "right?"