Wing of a Butterfly

Legacy

***Author's Note: I'll add some smaller stories under the same title and keep the fic in "ongoing" status until I'm done but the main story is finished. ***

Korn didn't have any regrets. Having regrets would have meant that he doubted the choices he made in his life and doubt was a weakness. Weakness led to failure and failure was unacceptable. It was one of the earliest lessons his father taught him. The man made sure to repeat that lesson with harsh words, with cruel hands again and again until Korn finally learnt it.

So he didn't let himself have any regrets. But sometimes... in the solace of his own room, in the silence of the darkest of nights... he couldn't help but think if there were things he could have done differently, choices that would have led him down a different path.

When he was young, his little brother was his everything. His best friend, his secret keeper, his only true equal. They shared their hopes and dreams with each other, neither of them caring about their father's blunt manipulation as the man tried to pit them against each other. They knew that one day they would need to make a choice. They would need to lead their own families but Korn always envisioned that it would be a separation in name only, and not in goals or ideals.

But then they grew older and things changed. Kan changed. For a girl, for a woman who was their sister in everything but blood. She should have stayed that way for both of them. Korn watched it happen, unable to do anything as his little brother's attention strayed from their dreams and Kan weaved new ones with Honey, getting further and further away from Korn.

Korn couldn't let that stand. It was the first time he used all he'd learnt, all the knowledge he acquired while shadowing their father's steps. It was surprisingly easy to sprinkle some hints, to whisper some ideas into their father's ears, the man seemingly none the wiser of Korn's manipulation. Korn made sure to act sad and surprised as Honey was sent away, consoling his little brother in his grief. It was one of his choices he often wondered about, curious if things would have turned out differently if he had been less soft-hearted back then and dealt with Honey permanently, before she could forever widen the rift between him and Kan.

But Korn was young back then, not experienced or sure in his ways. He let his emotions get the better of him sometimes. He recalled Honey's laughter, her perfect smile, the way her eyes became little crescents in happiness and chose to spare her life.

After she left, things became a little hectic for a while. Korn needed to do damage control, he had to pull his little brother back to their family, back to his side where he belonged. He had to make sure that he forgot his plans with Honey and concentrated on his own life. So Korn searched for a woman, one with the right connections and pedigree that would bear his heirs, one that would stay at his side, the perfect part of the picture he wanted to show the world.

On some days he could even say that he loved her. How could he not, when she shared his bed and gave him his sons? But on other days, he hated that she dared to think that the little lives they formed together, the perfect, blank canvases were hers in any way. He still let her play her part, allowing her to fill their children with warmth and gentleness, somewhat remembering his own mother's soft touches as she hid Korn from his father's wrath.

He watched curiously as Kan tried to ignore their father's orders to form his own family, almost proud of his little brother that he held out so long before bringing his heir to the world. Korn didn't know if he should laugh or rage when he first held his nephew and heard the boy's name, a memento to their sister. Something that should have been forgotten already. Maybe that was another point where he should have acted, where he should have made sure that Kan's obsession would have stayed what it was at that point. Wishful thinking and nothing else. But Korn had grown lenient those years, enjoying the days he spent with his sons, watching as they grew older and smarter, as they followed his teachings gladly, without him even needing to raise his voice at them. Maybe it was arrogance, defiance that made him turn away from his father's way, making sure to never hurt his sons, to make them love him, instead of fear him. He thought himself smart, binding the next generation to himself with love, seeing how it changed even the strongest of men, how it altered their plans, making them act without reason.