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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    i know the reason you're always afraid, malone/any
    #1
    Oooh, this is going to hurt like a bitch.

    The nearly instantaneous healing that is sure to take place doesn’t mean that there won’t be any pain – he's sure that it’s going to hurt like hell, but he wants the stupid, broken eyeball to leave his face. Sitting back on his haunches, he angles his beautiful new rose-gold talons towards his face, gulping as he contemplates the best course of action. He really shouldn’t think about it – he should just do it. Thinking about isn’t going to lessen the pain any, and maybe if he just...

    He cries out as he digs a talon into his own eye socket, feeling the curve of the blind eye beneath his foot. The sharp nail bites easily through the broken optic nerves and other gunk holding it in place, and with a snarl he rips his talon free, the milky-white eye (stained pink with blood, but no less blind) falling to the ground at his feet.

    With heaving breaths he stumbles a few paces away, falling to his knees as the pain obliterates everything he knows – but for some stupid reason, he doesn’t let his powers take over and heal the tear in his face. Blood streams from the empty socket, staining the gold-and-white boy with crimson as he cries, wanting the pain to go away but simply forgetting how to fix it.

    He isn’t sure how long he lays there, working eye screwed shut with misery, but by the time he can control his sobbing night has fallen over Loess, and the pain seems to have lessened a bit. Blinking open his eye, he realizes that he’s blinking with two eyes, though he hadn’t tried to repair the tissue he had destroyed so foolishly. What? Not knowing what his brother has done for him, he climbs slowly to his hooves, looking around with fear. Is this another one of the genie’s tricks?

    @[Malone]
    #2
    His father hugged him too tight this morning. That was his first clue that all was not right within their world, but he tried to swallow it all. When Ophanim whispered shivering promises, Malone clenched his jaw and commanded himself not to cry. Finally, as his father spread his wings and took flight, he grit his teeth and didn’t breathe a word to anyone about it. His heart shattered into ugly fragments but he didn’t allow himself the luxury of tears as he watched the silhouette disappear into the sky. The era of his perfect childhood had come to a close and he knew it, knew that succumbing to these emotions would do him no good.

    When he spots his brother with spatters of blood across his face and talons, there is a glimmering second of joy to see his new eye in its socket. The moment is eclipsed as he recalls their new circumstances, however, and he stumbles closer to the elder boy. He buries his gold and star dusted face against Meraxes’s strong shoulder as he begins to feel numb against the storm brewing within him.

    Promise you won’t leave me. Swear it,” he says in a voice that quakes and yet demands obedience. The pitch of his voice has become that of a man leaving behind the golden days of his youth, of a boy who knows the road that lies ahead of him. He takes mild comfort in knowing that Meraxes will walk this awful path alongside him, whole once more after the beautiful genie rescinded her curse. Malone suddenly finds himself grateful that he surrendered his fragile porcelain heart in exchange for his brother’s eye.

    I bought you your eye back from that woman. I thought she had cursed me instead but I think I’ve won, in the end.

    He laughs but the sound is painful as it slips from his lungs. Finally, Malone lifts his head and his black and blue eyes lock with his brother’s. How could he begin to tell him that their parents had each left them behind? Tar black rage takes root within him and he relishes in the way it chews through to the core of him so easily. It devours him whole and he surrenders all his softness to it like an offering, like a banquet for it to consume. He keeps only a sliver of his kindness for his brothers and sisters, some sacred jewel for the rose gold woman to pluck from him someday when she’s ready.

    Mother left for Sylva. I don’t know where Father went.

    His wings press tight to his sides, shimmering in the afternoon sun with all its gold and stars.
    malone
    @[meraxes]
    #3
    If Meraxes knew of his father’s plan to leave, he would somehow sprout wings to follow his dad wherever he plans on going. Ophanim is a gentle soul, much gentler than the children he is leaving behind, and who knows how well he will cope all alone? Mer has never pretended to have a perfect childhood – he barely knows his mother’s name and his constant pranks on Starsin have ensured her hatred of him – but his father has always been good to him and having Malone constantly at his side has definitely helped. Half-siblings they may be, but Mer has never been closer with anyone else.

    Speaking of Malone – he barely thinks of his brother and there he is, burying his head into his big brother’s shoulder with an urgency that takes away all of Mer’s pain in an instant. He commands Mer to swear to never leave, and the elder brother gulps, suddenly frightened by what this means. “I won’t, I swear it,” he promises, and then is thunderstruck by what his brother says next. “What do you mean?” he asks as Malone pulls back, locking eyes with the younger boy. “She’s a trickster, Malone. What did she do?”

    But his brother is continuing, and while Mer knew that Starsin was away in Sylva, the news of their father hits him like a ton of stone. “What do you mean?” he repeats, quieter this time. “Starsin... she’ll be back, she’s not going to stay in Sylva forever and we can go visit, it’s not far...” His voice trails off as he tries to process what Malone said, but it just doesn’t make any sense. Where did Father go? Reaching out, he brushes his nose against Malone’s shoulder, trying to contain the flurry of emotions rushing through him.

    “Trust me, I will never leave you. I swear it.”

    @[Malone]
    #4
    In all his life, the only certain things that have kept him grounded were his parents and his eldest brother. After all, hadn’t they come running to him when the labyrinth rose up in Loess and stayed at his side until he recovered? Not even war could tear his father from them and now they are scattering like ashes on the breeze. What if they don’t return? What if they forget about someone as small and weak as Malone? Fresh tears swell up within his eyes and he finds himself shaking with each sob against Meraxes while the other boy tries to comfort him.

    I gave her my heart. I gave it to her in exchange for your eye,” he says as he sniffles, doe eyes wide as he stares up into his brother’s face. “Then I came back and Mother was leaving for Sylva.

    In his mind, he is still trying to make sense of Ophanim taking off into the skies but his heart breaks every time he remembers it all. He swore he loved the boys but how could he when he was so willing to leave them behind? Malone wanted to scream at him and command him to stay but his tongue felt paralyzed in his mouth and the words just wouldn’t come out.

    But maybe Meraxes is right, maybe Starsin doesn’t intend to leave as their father did. He tries to cling to that fact but it all hurts and he’s never been more uncertain. The foundation of his life has been torn apart and left in heaps of rubble to remind him how perfect it all had been before.

    The smaller boy presses once more to his brother as he begins to steady despite the ache remaining fierce within his heart. “I don’t know where he went. He just told me he loved us and he would make things work, and he would come back when he could.” None of it made sense even as he heard his own voice repeating the promises he’d been given. Make what work? Wasn’t their family just fine? They all loved each other and somehow that wasn’t enough for him. His anger chews gleefully on his heart strings as he tries to fit all these pieces together so the world makes sense again.

    Should.. should we tell Mother?” he asks, lifting his head and sniffling weakly as he watches Meraxes, praying he knows what to do.
    malone
    @[meraxes]




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