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Nacht has the same nightmare just about every night, and it's been this way since he was nineteen.
As if accidental fratricide hadn't been a traumatic nightmare enough in his real life, the memory of it haunts his every dream. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish what actually happened and what is just part of the reoccurring nightmare.
In his nightmares, Morgen always dies, just like he had in real life. He dies in Nacht's arms and he tells his brother he had always dreamed of them being Magic Knights together. In reality, this had been the end of the story. His younger twin brother's body, laying lifeless in his arms and growing colder by the second. In reality, he does not get back up.
In his nightmares, Lucifugus is not done. Nacht watches as his brother's eyes open once again, and no matter how many times he has the dream, a spark of hope flashes through his heart. There is a moment where Nacht thinks to himself maybe Morgen is okay, and in the very next moment, that hope disappears.
Morgen's eyes look wrong. A little too wide, a little too dark. His smile is wrong, too. Dark and twisted instead of kind and warm. His brother is no longer the sunrise after a long, dark night; in Nacht's nightmares, he becomes the twisted facade of an eclipse breaking its way through the sunlight.
He watches his brother's body rise from where it had been laying lifeless in his arms seconds before—watches it morph and change and twist and turn in unnatural ways, listens to his brother gag on blood stuck in his throat, and Nacht… Nacht can do nothing.
The sight always continues on, and every time Nacht is stuck there watching. He cannot move, he cannot turn his eyes away, he cannot even scream.
Then, Morgen turns to him.
But it's not Morgen standing there anymore.
It's Lucifugus.
Then, Nacht wakes up.
Somehow, waking up is worse than the actual dream itself. He knows it's not real, that his nightmares aren't what actually happened. Morgen died in his arms and he stayed that way.
Lifeless. Unmoving. Not a devil. He looked up at his brother and said he'd always hoped they could be Magic Knights together and then he died. That is reality.
Knowing that does nothing to help Nacht's heartrate slow or make him want to forgive himself. Knowing that doesn't bring Morgen back.
When Judgment Day happens, it feels like Nacht's nightmares have come to life. In a way, they have. He wants to scream. Morgen is right there but he's not, it's him but it's not him it's Lucifugus and he would not want this he wouldn't want this because Nacht's brother was a good man, he was the best and no one could ever compare to his righteousness and—
Morgen had been the morning sunlight. When Nacht looks up into the bright daylit skies, it always reminds him of his brother. It reminds him exactly why he can never forgive himself. Morgen would not have wanted his body being used to create so much pain and destruction. Morgen would not let Nacht sit here and blame himself in circles instead of doing something to fix this.
This 'paladin' , it is not Morgen Faust. It calls him brother and it has Morgen's voice as it says Nacht looks like he's hurting and it just makes him angry.
The anger, for once, is not directed at himself. It's directed at the bastard who decided to fuck with the dead, and desecrate peoples' loved ones. For once, Nacht doesn't blame himself for the twisted up version of his brother he sees. For once, it is not his fault.
He will do whatever it takes to fix this.
---
When everything is said and done, Nacht visits his brother's grave.
"Morgen," he says, staring at the headstone. "I never thought I'd see your face again. I know we're identical, but it was weird seeing both of us have the same hair color." A lifeless laugh pulls itself from Nacht's throat, and he smiles.
"Do you remember helping me bleach my hair? It was fried to hell and back, and you felt so guilty about it. Every time I struggled to pull a brush through all the knots you'd apologize for how damaged it was."
Nacht sits himself down gently next to his brother's grave. "I loved my hair like that. I know you did, too. You thought it suited me. Maybe that's why I grew it out after you died. I let it get natural and healthy again, and now I look like you."
He takes a deep breath. "Yami retired. I'm captain of the Black Bulls, now. Those miscreants will cause me nothing but trouble, I'm sure of it. I hate them. They're the exact opposite of you, little brother. But… I think you would have liked the mess Yami has made. You always thought he'd make a good leader, no?"
The night sky breaks as the sun rises over the horizon, bathing the world in a warm glow. Nacht smiles. "Ah, there you are. I knew you were listening, Morgen."