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+--- Thread: Blackfeather Woods or forever. (/showthread.php?tid=23192)
or forever. - Cicero - September 19, 2017
“Brother?”
The words echoed through the dark forest, but there was no response. Nothing but a curt and strangled whimper in the distance. Perhaps he was mistaken to have heard anything at all.
Paws carried him forward with thud-thud-thud as he followed the maze. Many memories were forged here when they were younger, the two of them, but with time the memories had become warped and life had become complicated.
The spiders wove their webs and he stopped to admire them briefly before he pressed on, reminding himself of his goal here. He was not so sure he wanted to know, wanted to go there, wanted to see what the Beast within him had done to his beloved.
But he had to.
Had to see it, had to know.
His fear of himself had never quite quenched his thirst for knowledge.
“Brother,” he murmured as he searched, following a path twisted by webs, thoughts lingering upon his siblings.
His brother, whom he had pushed away. Whom he had driven insane to be kept within this maze, clawing at the walls, shitting himself, who knew what else? His brother, whom he loved more than anything in the world. More than life itself.
His sister, whom he had forced children upon. Who had seen him for the monster he was when she had heard what he had done to Alexander. Who would never love him again, he was certain.
And the third sibling. The brother. The beast. The part of himself that felt as much as a fourth of the litter as any of the other three children. It wasn’t real. He knew that. It was just him. All him. He was the beast. He was the monster. He was Sheogorath.
He didn’t want to be; but there was no denying it was his paws, his teeth, his mind. It was all of him that did these things, even if he did not want to.
“Brother,” he heard echoed through the maze. Raged ears perked forward, heart beat quickened and his paws carried him forward because finding his brother was all that felt like his salvation. Nothing else could salvage him now, but finding his brother might make it okay.
Just curling up beside his brother, furs mingled. Peace, calmth. Everything he longed for.
It wasn’t to be, of course. He didn’t know what had driven his brother here, but he feared that it was some part of him that had. Seeing him again might only make matters worse.
No warm family nest. No curling up together.
No nothing.
His brother’s voice was strange, broken, not as strong as it was usually. His brother laughed, cackled, a maniacal sound that reminded him of something far-away and something distant. He could not place it, not now, but it sent shivers down his spine and put a grimace upon his previously neutral face.
As he rounded the corner he saw his brother, whose skittish eyes turned towards him as though he were the devil himself coming for him.
“Oh, brother, what has happened,” he murmured sorrowfully, sad eyes resting on his brother’s maniacal face.
The cackle chilled him to the bone when it came again.
“You can’t trick me, brother,” his brother spoke to him as he walked, skittishly sticking to a wall as he did. “You’ll never trick me again, brother. Your presence means nothing - nothing! Ha! It’s like you’re not even there at all!”
He stood and stared, watched as his brother started gnawing at his own paws, plucks of fur flying everywhere. His presence clearly was not good for his brother’s health, yet he stayed because he could do nothing else but watch. Could not look away. Could not leave.
His lips trembled and he closed his mismatched eyes briefly.
“I love you, brother.”
Words spoken before, but never with such intensity. No matter what his brother would do, it would never change, this. He knew that now. Knew because even in his current state all he wanted to do was nurture his brother, make sure he kept healthy, clean his fur, stop him from biting it all off.
If the rest of his life he would spend tending to his broken brother, he would do it. Not because he enjoyed doing it, for it hurt him greatly to see his beloved brother so, but because this love was not something he could ignore.
“I will always love you.”
His heart thrummed in his chest as he approached his brother, who started to screech and spit insults at him, but it didn’t deter him.
He would take care of his brother. He would stay here, in the tunnels, as much as he could, as long as he could.
Until his brother was well again.
Or forever.