dying, and all the reminiscence that comes with

07.02.20 275 words

Summary

The old Hershel had died years ago. And Desmond himself was essentially dead too. There was only Descole now, Descole who was fueled solely on anger and revenge, a need to stop the organization that had taken so much from him.

Desmond reflects on his life, his decisions, and his brother.

Notes

03.23.26: for context: this fic, alongside the rest of the fics in the 'on the bostonius' series, were written and released over the course of a week in 2020 when i was super hyperfixated on the professor layton and the azran legacy. in some notes, i may refer to a few writing challenges that were happening in the fandom at the time. for background context (cw for mentions of pedophilia & 'proship vs anti' discourse) these writing challenges (namely 'drownout' and 'wholesomelayton') popped up in response to a strange wave of fics romanticizing pedophilia. if i remember correctly, a bunch of people wanted to 'drown out' these with fics that Didn't do that. i don't know why we did this. 2020 was a weird time. most of them are quite short but they're a fun artifact of summer 2020 i think.

Theodore didn’t remember.

Of course he didn’t, Desmond didn’t expect for him to. He had been so young when he was adopted, when they were separated. Yet Desmond couldn’t help but feel... disappointed. He never would’ve though he’d ever see his brother again, and now he had and it felt... strange. For the past two years he’s been doing so much harm to his brother, the person he gave his name, a chance at a happy life, up to.

The old Hershel had died years ago. And Desmond himself was essentially dead too. There was only Descole now, Descole who was fueled solely on anger and revenge, a need to stop the organization that had taken so much from him.

Nothing would ever match the violent rage Targent made him feel. All they did was take, take and break apart. In a way, they had killed him, and all that was left was the broken pieces of an angry man.

Theodore was simply just a playing piece in his plan. All of them were, really.

But he hated thinking about him like that. This was his brother he was talking about, and the memories they had made traveling on the Bostonius were probably the first happy memories Desmond had experienced in years. He knew it was pointless to get attached to it, his feelings were simply an interference in his plans. But... there was something that drew him to that sense of being apart of something. It was a nuisance, but Desmond cared about every single one of their little team.

So Theodore didn’t remember. But Desmond had made new memories with one Hershel Layton.