"Leader"

Older brother and younger sister are part of a rebel/mercenary group. The brother is the charismatic leader and the sister is the cute "mascot" that everyone in the group considers to be a younger sister and is a bit of a crybaby. The brother is killed in battle, the sister cries and cries and tries to go to him. Her brother's second-in-command, a masked man, holds her back. The group manages to win the battle, but their leader is dead. They return to their base, completely exhausted, their morale crushed. The sister has gone into a despondent state of shock, they bring her to rest in the infirmary ward. 

The group builds a pyre to burn their leader. The whole group is at the funeral. The sister stands watching emotionlessly as the fire starts to build. The wind blows her long hair, she reaches to pull it back into place. She is overcome with emotion as she remembers how fond her brother was of her long hair, often telling her how beautiful she looked with long hair. She reaches for a dagger and cuts her long hair, allowing the wind to carry it into the fire.

In the weeks that follow there is confusion as to what the group should do next and who should take command.
"The obvious choice is (the second-in-command masked man)!" One argued.
"(Second-in-command masked man) is gone. We haven't seen him since the battle. He's abandoned us."
"Maybe it's time to to end it... (Leader) was the only thing that could keep us together."
A loyal friend of (the sister) enters. He and the sister have been friends since they were children. He has cared for (the sister) during her grief. "Look at you all. You're pathetic. (The sister) is our leader now."
"(The sister)?! Sure, she's a decent enough warrior... And of course she's the Leader's younger sister. But she's a crybaby, she doesn't have what it takes." The others murmur in agreement.
"She hasn't cried once since her brother's death. She's stronger than you know." (The loyal friend) argued.
Just when protests were about to start again, the sister appears in the doorway the entire room goes silent.
"We're moving out." She says coldly. Her friend immediately goes to her side.
The others look at each other, a few stand, others hesitate.
"Was I unclear? Move out!" She yells. Everyone scrambles to their duties, all hesitation gone.

The group struggles moving forward, (the sister) is still inexperienced in being a leader and the challenging battles they face. (The sister) keeps her emotions bottled up, refusing to smile, laugh, or cry. (The loyal friend) tries to get her to regain her emotions, she refuses to open up. He slaps her, she is shocked, temporarily regaining an emotion.
"Your brother loved you. He wouldn't want this for you. He wouldn't want you to become... this!" (Blah blah blah add some more dramatic speech here)
She tears up. The tears start to fall, slowly at first, and then she fully releases her emotions. Her friend holds her and lets her cry and cry and cry.
Afterwards she regains a sense of her old self, but still remains quite serious, the responsibilities of being a leader are now a part of her as well. The group becomes more successful, the ones who had started to doubt her fully accept her as "Leader".

Later:
They are all fighting and the leader is going past her limits, she begins to faint. (The loyal friend) reaches to grab her arm before she falls, their fingertips brushing each other. A masked figure grabs her before she hits the ground, she lays unconscious in his arms.
"Give her back." (The loyal friend) growls ferociously.
"I'll be borrowing her for a bit." The masked man smirks and holds her tightly but tenderly in his arms as he jumps off.
(The loyal friend) screams after them and yells to the rest of the group what is happening. They are unable to break away from their pressing battle. (The loyal friend) manages to slip away from the fighting and goes off to give chase.

Deep in the woods the masked man gently places the leader on the ground. Soon after she regains consciousness, seeing the sea of trees around her she questions in a daze, "Where am I?"
"You fainted. You really should be more aware of your physical limits." The masked man says.
The leader tenses and reaches for her weapon which is no longer by her side. The masked man raises his hands in a 'I mean no harm' manner, "Calm down, I'm not a threat, (nickname)."
The leader is startled, no one called her by that nickname anymore. She studied him, the mask was different, but the voice. The voice was the same. "W-Who are you?"
"I think you've already guessed."
"Why? After all this time... Where were you?!"
"I couldn't stay. I had no right to face you after that day."
She thought of the battle. Replaying it in her mind. (The second-in-command) wasn't by her brother's side... He was always by his side in battle. Where was he? She tried to remember the chaos unfolding around her but she could only focus on her brother and suddenly he was struck. She screamed, tried to run to him, strong arms wrapped around her preventing her from moving... It was (the second-in-command). She screamed and kicked but his hold remained. Why? Why was he there? He should have been by her brother's side. So why was he the one holding her now?
She came back to the present, the masked man silently waiting for her to speak.
"It's your fault. It's your fault my brother is dead!" She screamed.
The masked man remained silent, the pain her words had on him evident even behind his mask.
"Why didn't you protect him?! Why weren't you by his side?! Tell me why!!" She screamed, begging for answers.
"That day. I had special orders."
"You knew what this battle was going to be like. Why would you leave him alone?!"
"Your brother already knew the outcome of the battle. So my orders... Were to be by your side."
She gasped. No. It couldn't be possible. She had always blamed herself for not being able to help her brother, but to discover that it truly was her fault. Tears began to fall.

(The masked man's flashback):
The brother was standing on a cliff, looking into the horizon, he could see the banner of the enemy slowly approaching. The battle would begin tomorrow. The masked man was standing next to him.
"My friend, I will die in tomorrow's battle."
"Then I shall be by your side."
"No. You have a new duty. Protect my sister. Protect her with your life, protect her as I will no longer be able to do. Protect her smile, her happiness. Love her."
"S-Sir!"
"You're my closest friend, you've been with us for a lifetime. You think I didn't notice?"
"I'm sorry, sir."
"Choosing between love and loyalty. It's never easy. I had always planned on stepping aside and letting you two be together. I told myself she wasn't ready, there would be plenty of time... Truthfully I was jealous of losing you both. I know that would never happen, but now it's too late. Please be there for her."

The tears continues to fall. The masked man hesitantly reached towards her and then in an instant wrapped his arms tightly around her. She struggled, unwilling to accept him, to forgive him. He held firm. Finally he released her, taking several steps back. He could see the anger and confusion mixed with the sorrow on her face.
"If those were my brother's orders... Then why did you leave? And why have you come back now?"
Just as the masked man was going to speak (the loyal friend's voice could be heard coming in their direction, "Leader! LEADER!?"
"Another time, (nickname)." He placed her weapon down and quickly fled the area.
"W-Wait!!" But he was already gone. Several seconds later (the loyal friend) runs enters the area.
"Leader!!" Relief flooding his voice, he rushes over to her, crouching down and placing both hands on her shoulders, "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." She unsteadly rises to her feet, the friend helping her up.
"Who was that?"
She doesn't reply. She goes over to retreive her weapon from where the masked man had left it.
The friend tries to ask again, but she doesn't say, not until she gets some answers.

The masked man occassionally shows up during the storyline. Often to help in a pinch or comfort the leader.

Eventually a hard truth is learned...
A) The brother and sister are "royalty?" their mother or father left the royal family their grandfather is "king" but elderly. His brother or nephew or close advisor or someone is the only one that knows there are legitimate heirs and that is why the brother is killed? Plans to either kill the sister too or marry her?
B) Not royalty but they had been fighting/rebeling against their father or mother? idk?
C) Get wrapped up with a client with political/royal ties that cause lots of fighting for the group. (PoR like?)
D) JUST SOMETHING DRAMATIC. I dunno. This was a long time ago and I can't really remember the direction the story was heading in.

After learning a hard truth the leader runs off alone. She cries out and hits the items around her in rage and frusteration. She can sense the masked man watching her. "Come out! I know you're here!" Silence. "COME OUT YOU COWARD!" He appears. She tries to punch and fight him, he dodges each blow. "You knew! You knew this entire time and didn't tell me!" More punches. "I hate you!!" He grabs her into a hug and she quietly hits him over and over, "I hate you. I hate you."
"I love you, (nickname)."
She quietly cries while he holds her. She knows she does not really hate him. She loves him too.

Trivia/Notes:
• Was created November 1 2009.
• Added onto Toyhou.se, retyped and edits made October 2017.