My Only Regret [Johann, Nero]

He had been so afraid of this moment. Despite all the planning, all the thinking, all the regret, he had been so reluctant to actually say it. He had always hoped that Nero would find it in his heart to start on the path to forgiveness, that there was a chance to make right what had been wrong. The possibility of rejection had always been there, but, Johann held faith in the boy's character, to the son that Ida had raised, that he would give him a chance.

To finally feel his boy in his arms, to hear that he forgave him, was something that any father would feel nothing but joy for. Yet, Nero had to utter the words that he never believed he would hear, certainly not from him. As Nero's head rested against his shoulder, upon hearing those four words, Johann's head lowered, gently resting against the top of Nero's. He kissed the top of the boy's head as he quietly sobbed.

"I love you too, Nero. My boy...oh, my dear boy..."

He couldn't find anything else to say. All they were had been laid bare, two men of a fading, forgotten lineage, holding and cradling one another as the bridge thought to be forever burned and scarred had finally been mended, and a love that now blazed brighter than any flame in all the worlds.