Alexzander Bryant Vincent
××× June 01, X 876 ×××
Alexzander breathed in and then slowly breathed out. His breaths made a whistling sound.
'Fuck. It hurts.'
He stared at his stab wounds.
He could barely move his head. The bleeding had slowed considerably.
'This is it, isn't it?'
He didn't have the energy to shiver from the cold. He stared at the ceiling of his stone cell.
The opponent for today's fight had been a viscous cheating bastard who got off on others' pain.
The bastard had the gall to have someone shoot him up with a laced dart. He'd stood over him, stabbed him at random and then cut out his tongue.
Alexzander had burnt the wound shut mid-fight while the asshole had been busy seeking attention from the spectators.
His blood loss had been too heavy.
But hey, the bastard was dead.
The guards had dragged both of their bodies out of the arena.
Alexzander would've laughed at the state of the bastard if it didn't hurt this much.
His blood loss was too heavy.
It turned his victory hallow.
Alexzander knew he was dying.
He couldn't help but smile at the thought.
It was a strange to wonder about his own mortality, knowing that he wouldn't survive.
For once in his miserable life, he wanted to die.
He wanted this fucking nightmare to end.
There was nothing left to live for.
There was… there was no one coming to save him.
'Fuck. They… they're… they're really dead.'
Alexzander closed his eyes as he tried to picture their faces.
He tried to remember how they looked like when they smiled. Yet, all he could remember was the anguish on their faces the last time he had seen them.
The last time anyone had helped him was six months ago.
Right before he had been sold to this illegal underground arena.
Back in the cellar.
Her name was Serena.
Alexzander still remembered the way her ocean blue eyes had widened in shock and pain when the spear had pierced her heart.
The way blood had trickled out of her mouth and dripped to the ground. Her matted, brittle blonde hair curtaining her pale face as her body fell off that cliff during their escape from the cellar.
She hadn't deserved it.
He should've never gotten her involved.
Alexzander swallowed thickly.
If only his stupidity ended there.
He remembered the last time he had seen his immediate older sister, Hadriana, a year ago.
He could still see the grief in her silver eyes during their escape from that last safe-house.
It had been before the cellar.
He remembered the tears that had streamed down her face when he let go of her hand. They had been separated.
He had been afraid of her dying with him.
Her dark brown hair had whipped in the wind as the rider who was supposed to save them both could barely save her.
Perhaps, something had told her that day would be the last time that they'd see each other.
They had been the last of the Vincent bloodline.
He hadn't heard word of her since.
Perhaps, that in itself was a good thing.
No news was good news. Maybe she would be the sibling who survived.
Alexzander blinked at the ceiling.
His vision was getting blurry.
He tried to remember his older brother, Samuel.
His brother was the second eldest of the five of them.
Alexzander remembered the grim expression on Samuel's face when he had told Alexzander to take Hadriana and run.
That he wouldbhold back those who had wanted to kill the rest of the Vincent bloodline for as long as he could.
The resolution in Samuel's steel eyes still haunted him.
For once in his foolish existence, Alexzander had listened.
He had obeyed.
If only he had done so much earlier.
Samuel's dark brown hair had been flat on his head that rainy day. He stood there alone, a sword in hand.
Alexzander had watched his brother's back get smaller the further he and Hadriana had
ridden into the night.
He only found out about his death from a newspaper obituary back when he and Hadriana were in hiding.
Sometimes, he wondered if it would've been better for him to have died by Samuel's side that day.
Perhaps, Sam would've made it out alive.
Alexzander in breathed deeply.
'Fuck. It really hurts.'
Was dying meant to be painful?
Samuel died two years ago.
Had his brother gone through the same pain?
Everything hurt.
Alexzander's vision got foggier by the minute.
It was frustrating.
There was so much he needed to know.
So much that he never found out about.
He still remembered the day his second older sister, Adriana, had died.
Her face was fuzzy but he couldn't forget how it had twisted in agony.
Her pale skin had grown paler, sweat caused her dark brown hair to stick to her face as
crimson tears dribbled out of her bloodshot silver eyes.
More blood had leaked out from her ears and mouth until she died.
It had been three years ago.
It had happened on the day of her wedding.
Her groom-to-be was the prime suspect.
Alexzander doubted that Marquis Jensen had anything to do with it.
He had been too shocked at the gore of it.
The horror on Matthew Jensen's face had been too real.
It hadn't taken very long for him to lose his empathy for the rest of the world.
Alexzander blinked slowly.
He tried to block out the images of his eldest sibling, his sister, Hazellina.
Her long dark brown hair that had been cut short.
Her intelligent silver eyes that had lost coherence.
Her once sharp mind that could no longer comprehend the world around her.
Or recognize people around her.
Of all of his siblings, Alexzander had loved her the most.
She had practically raised him and protected him since he was ten.
But sometimes… the bitterness and the embers of hate clouded his memories of her.
He didn't blame her for what she had done.
Whatever horror she went through had turned her into an unresponsive shell of a human being.
She may have been the reason why their family's downfall had started but it was him
who had truly sent them down the path to ruin.
Alexander couldn't blame her.
She had gone missing eight years ago, then found three years later.
By then, she was no longer in her right mind.
Physicians had said that the extreme torture she had undergone had driven her mad.
It was a testament to Lucian Aldridge's commitment to her that he had still married her without caring or trying for successors.
Had it worked out, it would've been the best way to truly protect and help her.
Maybe even heal her.
They couldn't afford her treatment.
Lucian could.
Though with the heavy scarring, the lost, limp limbs and the inability to communicate with others had made Alexzander wonder if it would've been possible.
After all, her previous fiancé had visited her once and had immediately broken off the engagement at her reaction to him.
Alexzander tried to take a deep breath.
A numb trickle of pain ebbed from chest at the attempt.
When they had been young… when she had been sane, Hazellina and Lucian had a friendly rivalry.
They used to challenge one another in random things. From academics to swordsmanship.
They had genuinely enjoyed each other's company.
It was a testament to her insanity, that she had killed Lucian in a fit of madness.
Alexzander remembered the newspapers that day.
He couldn't bring himself to believe it.
Lucian's cousin, Colin, the new Arch Duke, had decided to take the matter to court.
The courts had labeled her a danger to society.
Too insane to live a normal life with normal people.
She had been sentenced to death by hanging. It had been changed to a quick beheading
on Colin's request.
Out of respect for Lucian.
Even though Samuel had warned him against it at the time, Alexzander had protested against the court's decision on an official scale.
It was that foolish decision that became the final push that lead to the fall of the Vincent Family.
For Colin Aldridge ended the Aldridge-Vincent Border Alliance in retaliation.
If only he never took the tile no matter how much Samuel insisted on it.
He acknowledged it now, when it was too late to fix anything.
Samuel had been the better option.
Alexzander closed his eyes.
It was too burdensome to keep them open.
It was then that he heard the echoes of faint footfalls nearing him.
Did someone from the arena come to see if he died yet?
He felt some asshole's foot put pressure on his torso.
He felt a flare of irritation.
Couldn't these bastards leave him alone to die in peace? Did they have to bother him in his final moments?
The asshole increased the pressure on his torso.
He barely felt it.
It might've even hurt had he not been numb to the pain.
"Are you still alive in there, Marquis Vincent?"
The mockery didn't escape his notice.
Alexzander didn't acknowledge it.
He was dying.
What did it matter if some asshole wanted to make fun of a dying man?
What did one's own ex-status matter to begin with?
He felt a sharp pain blossom on the right side of his torso.
Ah... This person was a real piece of shit.
Fucked in the head.
"Answer me when I talk to you, urchin," said the demented asswipe. "My… position is
much higher than yours, maggot."
If Alexzander could, he would've laughed at the absurdity of it.
What meaning did titles hold to a dead man?
Why the fuck would a dying man care about someone else's social standing if his own didn't matter to him either?
There was something familiar about the voice.
Alexzander knew who it was.
The name escaped him.
"Your sister would have had your head for it," the asshole's voice suddenly took a nostalgic tune as he continued.
His… sister?
Was he talking about Hadriana?
"Lovely, lovely 'Lina. Always so strict about rules, justice, decorum…"
A cold pit formed in his stomach.
One that had nothing to do with his blood loss.
"She was so… interesting to be around."
Time froze.
…What?
Embers of a long forgotten rage returned into him at full force.
'Whatdid this bastard just say?'
The deranged man chuckled mirthfully before continuing, "I tried to correct her but…"
The bastard sighed in irritation.
"She refused to be perfect. She became boring. Those three years had been bliss… But then she became so predictable. Alas… I had no choice but to let her go."
Alexzander felt his heart pound in his ears.
It… it had been him this whole time?
He had driven her to madness?
Lucian had been… right?
"Ah, well, time is of the essence," said the psycho.
"I figured that I ought let you know who had your family killed considering… you can't tell anyone much of anything, now can you?"
A sharp pointed end dug into Alexzander's abdomen.
"Hmm…You're almost dead. How boring. 'Lina was more of a conversationalist than you've turned out to be. Even without her tongue."
Alexzander wished his wounds would disappear just so he could smite the 'boredom' out of this sick fuck.
The bastard sighed and said, "Well, I best be going. I can't be seen with a cadaver, now can I?"
The bastard laughed.
"…Marquis."
Alexzander closed his eyes.
The footsteps ebbed away.
He couldn't help the tears that escaped his eyes.
'Fuck this bullshit.'
He wished that he had more time.
A do over in life.
If only he could end that piece of shit.
Alexzanderwished that he had never ended up here. That he never made all of those stupid decisions that lead to his family's downfall.
He wished he had never been Marquis Vincent.
That he had pledged loyalty to his older brother and backed out of the headship that came with the Marquis title.
Alexzander huffed out his final breaths.
'If… only… I…'
His vision darkened.
Alexzander breathed his last.
×××
'Oh… What's this? Unexpected from you I suppose. Hmm…I'll give you a chance… stir something… interesting for me, will you?'
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