Post by ѕρσттεdѕнιммεя on Jun 2, 2017 22:55:54 GMT -5
a lesson learned -- a small one-shot
Based on a role-play of mine, I have a character named Ryuu whom has been a test subject for ten years. Once more open and bright, now scarred, battle-worn and cold. I decided to finally write out the battle between him and his brother so... here you go. If you're even interested in reading it. I did try to keep it PG13 as best as I could, following the way some of the Warriors books had deaths and battles, I kept it limited to just that, though I would've gone more gory if I was allowed.
Enjoy!
Sokudo closed his eyes, preparing himself for another battle. This would be the... tenth one, right? Had it really almost been a year since he had been here? Wherever "here" even was. His tail swept around the ground as he moved out into the forest, the collar pinching his skin slightly. He opened his wings and flew up, his blue reptilian eyes searching for his opponent.
There seemed to be no movement below him. Being the more experienced of the subjects, he should have been put in the environment last, right? The fastest of them all, though his brother could stay up to speed. They always battled on who was faster, and they flew and flew until they couldn't fly anymore, neither of the two winning. But that wasn't important right now. Right now, he had to focus on staying alive.
Wait.
A blur of black below him. Best to get this horrid nightmare over with... Sokudo took a deep breath and dove down, his pupils changing to slits as he provided chase to.... wait... where'd that figure go? He slowed down and stopped on a trial, turning around him, his wings still outstretched slightly to let him take off in a second's notice.
There!
Sokudo took off again, his ear plates falling back on his head, his tail fins fanning out to let him curve between the trees with ease, unsheathing his sharp teeth as he readied for the attack... only for the figure to disappear again.
What the...?
Suddenly the white-scaled test subject was pinned to the ground his wings pushed flat on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. His claws reached up to slash his attacker and a familiar yelp made him completely stop. His attacker didn't seem to be hurting him either.
"Sokudo?"
"Ryuu?"
This wasn't right.
This couldn't be it.
There must be some mistake.
Sokudo sheathed his teeth and his ear plates rose a little, his pupils once again becoming large and making him looking more... friendly and less hostile. His heart was barely beating, agony twisting over him as he realized that the most impossible thing had happened. They were the favorites! They always won, they got done the fastest, memorized the patterns... They.... They couldn't...
An electrical burn coursed through the white-scaled subject's body, making his wings and tail spasm, and claws going up to the collar. He cried out a bit as it didn't stop, his brother, a black scaled version of himself, almost, falling over and doing the same.
"Fight!" a robotic voice commanded, loud over the forest.
Sokudo panted as he sat up, his eyes locking with Ryuu's, his look of disbelief being mirrored in his older brother's eyes. He couldn't harm his big brother. He refused to. It was an impossible thought.
He was not going to kill Ryuu.
Shifting back into his mostly human form, his tail still being unable to be "retracted", curling around his body, the twenty-five year old looking at the twenty-eight year old with a small smile. A bitter laugh escaped from his lips.
"Never thought this day would come. We lasted so long..." he stated, looking down at his tail, moving the white tail fins to open and close, swishing it slightly like a cat might with its own tail.
"This cannot be," Ryuu stated, shifting back into his human form as well. He moved so that he was sitting on his knees, his black-scaled tail curling around his body. He looked up at the sky, or whatever it really was. "I refuse to kill my own brother."
Silence answered them.
No pain. No shocking.
Silence.
"What's... gonna happen now, nii-san?" Sokudo asked, swallowing hard. He already knew what was coming. He could feel it.
"... faulty test subjects never come back," Ryuu responded.
"We... had a good run, didn't we, brother?" he laughed softly, looking down at his tail. "I was just beginning to like the tail and wings. Kinda... growing on me."
"Even in the face of death, you bore me with your puns," his older brother scoffed, though the look given was a thankful one.
How long they sat like that, Sokudo didn't know. He listened to the repeating melody of the forest, sitting in silence with his brother. He eventually reached over and grabbed Ryuu's hand, squeezing it slightly. It was a childish act, but he was frightened, he was nervous, he was unsure of what would happen now. They had been to hell and back, their memories being wiped, being forced to kill other test subjects, being forced to kill humans and go through a horrific maze of death. They had been tested on in every way possible from how long they could run to if they were fire-proof or not.
Eventually, something changed.
The world began to become disorienting, the forest spinning around him. His hearing was failing him, he was beginning to feel.... sick.
"Nii...san... I-I... I don't..." he mumbled, his words melting together and echoing in his head. The world became a black and white blur, he could barely breathe, he could barely see, barely hear. There was this... horrible humming... Sotoku squeezed Ryuu's hand tighter.
He looked over and... barely saw a figure in his haze of vision.
Where was his... brother...?
"Ryuu? Brother? Nii-san?" he called out, beginning to panic a little. He squeezed the hand a little tighter, his own hand being squeezed back. "Where did you go? I-i can't see-"
He couldn't hear.
He couldn't see.
Everything was melting together and making him feel sick, disoriented, scared. His breathing began to pick up rapidly and the feeling of his brother's hand disappeared, making him nearly lose it.
"Ryuu!" he called out in a panic.
There was no answer.
Only the awful humming noise.
And a thought.
That the figure near him...
That figure made him angry, for some reason.
He inhaled deeply and... wait a second. Wasn't his brother just next to him? He breathed in, taking in the scent. Ryuu. Was this another one of those tricks?
It wasn't real. This wasn't real.
Breathe.
Don't let it control you.
"Sokudo...!" a echoy voice reached him. Ryuu's voice.
The figure next to him began to have a shape again as he focused. That voice... it was... that was his brother's. The anger began to disappear, the thought telling him to attack the figure beginning to be louder.
That figure... that was Ryuu.
"I'm not fighting my brother," Sokudo growled through clenched teeth, trying to shift back into his human-like form. He wasn't going to hurt him. He was not going to kill his brother. As he heard his brother's wails, the world began to take color and form again. Focusing on his brother's voice.
Focusing.
Concentrating.
He was not going to bring his brother harm.
Ryuu... wasn't doing well. He was holding his head, his tail and wings lashing out. Growling and mumbling Sokudo's name. The younger brother stayed sitting, reaching over hesitantly.
"Ryuu...?" he asked cautiously.
His brother stopped moving around and growling, his body relaxing. Slowly standing up, the elder brother turned to face the younger one, his pupils thin black lines, his ear plates standing up slightly, trembling as if listening to something.
"Ryuu... Nii-san...?" Sokudo asked, standing up as his brother began to approach. The humming was gone from his mind, completely ignoring it. He refused to listen to it.
"Brother...? What are you...?" he began to ask hesitantly, beginning to back up as Ryuu strode forward towards him, all emotion wiped from his face, his teeth bared. He was silent.
"Nii-san! Can you hear me? Nii-san!" he raised his voice, but nothing changed in Ryuu.
Brown eyes met green reptilian ones, and he stumbled backwards, nearly falling. And then the black-scaled figure leapt forward, biting into the twenty-five year old's shoulder
Sokudo cried out and pushed him away, kicking his stomach and backed up, wincing. "Brother! Ryuu! Knock it off! Snap out of it! It's not real!"
But Ryuu could not hear him.
He could not see him.
They kept up a long game of cat and mouse, Sokudo running from his elder brother, whom wasn't in control of his actions. Running, hiding and trying to avoid being killed. He had gotten slashed, bitten, hit, kicked...
Finally, after another slash of claws across his face, Sokudo couldn't run anymore. Bruised and bleeding, he couldn't do it anymore. He fell to his knees, wheezing, a small stream of red coming form his nose and the corner of his mouth. He couldn't see out of his left eye and he was pretty sure his right arm was broken.
"Ryuu..." he panted often, looking up at the dark figure advancing slowly towards him. Out of breath, the younger brother took the few moments to control his wheezed breathing. His arm wasn't the only thing broken. Sure, it was healing, but it was at a slow rate due to the multiple other injuries.
This was it. Sokudo refused to fight back.
One of them had to come out alive, at least.
He gave a big grin, holding his arm as Ryuu stepped on his tail, ignoring the pain of his claws digging past the protective scales that were stained brown and red. There was only one real way for him to die and he couldn't run to avoid it anymore.
"Ryuu..." he closed his eyes, still smiling. "I forgive you. You never would hurt me, not like this... Please don't forget me..."
He felt his throat be locked up, and the pain from his chest began to blossom even more. Sokudo still did not raise a hand to fight back against his own brother.
"Sayonara, Nii-san... Daisuki."
