twelve
"get away from me!"

Lusine no longer wanted to hear her father talking about the battle she'd have to endure. Instead she wanted to stem her rage into something else. Preferably, someone else.

So, when her sights lock onto Pelia and Lycus down the corridor her menacing grin flies onto her rosy red lips live a diving crow, scavenger of the lost. With her mind set on destruction and her heart betting on chaos, she was a combination for disaster and everyone knew it but her.

Striding along the hall, her hair bouncing behind her, she shoves past her brother, but he grabs her arm. With a smile she whirls around, the cat that got the cream. It's not her potential that terrifies Lycus, it's her grin.

Pelia stands to the side with her hands resting upon her flat stomach and an irritating smile. The smile of a woman who thinks she's won before the final bell has rung.

"Lusine," she begins and for once Lusine allows her to speak, "We were looking for you to deliver some brilliant news!" She glances at Lycus and even Lusine could see that there was no love in that exchange. Not from her side. There hadn't been for a long time. "I'm pregnant."

And with those two simple words Lusine rips her arm away from Lycus' warm grip. There wasn't a single part of her that believes the pilot in her claim. This was too convenient to be true.

"What?" She balls her hands into fists, seeing the familiar deviance in Pelia's glistening eyes taunting her like a red cloak to an enraged bull.

"Pelia, go into our room. I'll come to you after I have spoken with my sister." His voice compels Pelia to leave. Arguing with him would only reveal her true colours.

She gives him a kiss on the cheek, her eyes never leaving Lusine before turning and strutting into her room. In that moment, Lusine felt even more intoxicated with the urge to kill her.

"Lusine," He breathes as he turns back to her.

"Lycus," She responds shortly. After hearing the words from Pelia her whole intent on coming over here had been shattered and replaced with pain.

"I apologise for cutting you out of my life. Now I know how you feel, I am deeply sorry. But now you know why I had to do it. I couldn't be pulled down by the darkness when I am going to have a child. New life is delicate, Lusine." He folds his fingers together in front of himself as he looks at her, ever the patroniser.

Her eyes narrow. "You're having a child?" She asks, her suspicions getting the better of her judgement. Her doubt should be concealed until the striking moment. Used as a calling card before murder. Before she could return her life to the way it once was.

"You're going to be an aunt," He confirms, a content smile at his lips.

The pure and honest happiness in him left Lusine unable to deny her own solemn smile. Nothing about it was devious or snarling. It was sweet and jubilant as if she was truly happy about the fact she was going to have a niece or nephew, as if she was truly happy for her brother.

But she knew it was all a lie.

A lie that, at some point, would come crumbling down around her brother, crushing him in the rubble and leaving him gasping for air, no longer a father-to-be.

The darkness sneaks back into Lusine, filling her with visions of chaos and terror. The image of her hand driving a dagger through Pelia's heart made her happiness fade to black.

Lycus frowns. "What is it, Lusine? What's wrong?" He reaches out towards her to place a hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her.

He didn't like seeing this much worry within her. The turmoil he hadn't anticipated such wonderful news could cause her. He'd thought that maybe, just maybe, this could be just the thing to turn her away from all that chaos. To bring back the playful sister he'd once known. He'd welcome that ghost with open arms.

"Nothing, brother," She says, stepping back from him and raking a hand through her dark hair. "Nothing is wrong."

But the shake of her head tells Lycus otherwise. He knows his sister and he knows her well. Lying to him was not an easy task, even for her with her years of experience.

"If you're going to withdraw from me like this how are we ever supposed to repair the damage you have caused between us," He says lowly, accusing her once again. Shifting the blame over with both hands, scared to stain his white shirt.

Lusine can't believe her ears. Her own brother blaming her for the friction between them, putting all the blame on her. Betrayed, she the anger and the frustration rise within her while she sinks into her bones, the puppet of chaos.

"You are placing the blame on me. That is unfair, and you know it, Lycus." Her anger is getting the better of her slowly but surely. She can hear it singing that melody, that war song. It lurches as she remembers her traumatic past. Sick to her stomach, she continues, "The pain I went through when my withdrawal from you began is unimaginable unless you've been through it like me. I lost the one person in the world who made me feel worthy of breathing and living in this cruel universe."

How could someone so broken get anymore broken? Lusine had managed it, she'd not only lost Regina but she'd lost Lycus too. Lost everything she'd ever known. Even her reputation had changed. No longer was the beloved princess who could do no wrong. That girl died the night her mother abandoned her in favour of the brother.

From the ashes emerged a warrior, or, as most would come to call her, a monster. A monster dressed in the skin of the princess they'd lost.

"You had me the entire time. You had our parents and our other relatives who all care deeply for you!" He loses it, blood boiling beneath his skin. "You're ungrateful, Lusine! You're the most ungrateful woman I've ever come across in my entire life."

"None of them liked Regina. They thought she was bad for me. Their care was all false and merely a tradition which they had to uphold otherwise they would have been frowned upon," Lusine says, fists clenching and unclenching.

"Regina was a good woman." Lycus' eyes dart away from his trembling sister.

"Lying about the dead is sinful, brother, especially someone I loved with all my heart." Her eyes flicker with her agitation and anger prevailing, despite her calm tone.

"I loved seeing how happy Regina made you," Lycus' tone is much more sombre at this point. He knows how much Lusine loved Regina and how she wasn't ready to let go. Even now, despite her new-found companion.

"Mother nor father cared that Regina had been ripped from my grasp. They didn't care one bit that their own daughter had to slit the throat of the one she loved and watch the crimson red blood ooze from her neck as her eyes stared at her lifelessly, not lovingly as they once had. It broke me, and they didn't care one bit. They didn't care one bit that she had an illness that couldn't be cured so I had to be the one to end it all. I cried over her body, coated in her blood and my tears until they pried the body from my grip."

Lycus takes in the information and sighs heavily knowing that if he was to repair anything between them he was required to tell her the truth.

"Regina wasn't ill," He admits, his shoulders already relaxing at the lifted weight. This was a secret he'd kept under lock and key for years. Too many years. She deserves to know.

"Yes, she was, don't make me out to be a murderer, Lycus!" She shouts, the angry tears brimming in her eyes; threatening to over flow.

Lycus is now the calm one. He does not shout, he's calm and collected as he relays the truth. "It wasn't a sickness. It was poison. A poison from another far away realm brought to Remulan to kill Regina."

Lusine lurches forward, her hands curling tightly around the collar of Lycus' shirt as she pushes him forcefully back into the wall. Her face twists in anger as she spits her questions at him. "How do you know? Who did it?" Her lungs were on fire, crackling inside.

Lycus looks down away from her, biting his lip. "Mother ordered the poison to be brought to us and to be given to Regina as soon as possible because he disliked the affect Regina had on you." He winces as he feels Lusine's hands curl tighter around his clothing.

But she drops him, she steps back and whispers, "But I was happy. Do they not want me to be happy?" Her eyes narrow. "How do I know you're not lying to me? How do you even know mother did this to her?"

"I heard her conversation with the doctor," He admits, "She was making sure that Regina was going to die. I don't believe that mother apprehended that you were going to end the suffering and take on such a large burden of guilt. No one did."

"It doesn't matter what was predicted because she still played a part in Regina's death and ruined my happiness," An insane grin spreads across her lips, her eyes growing wide with intent. She jumps forward, scaring Lycus, and presses a kiss against his cheek in a rush. "Thank you, brother. Now I know what I must do. I must go and speak with mother and father immediately."

Her intentions strike fear within Lycus. "No, don't do anything stupid."

"You mean killing her?" She asks with such a light tone that it seemed murdering her mother meant nothing to her. Like Selene was merely another body in her way to happiness. Another body for her to destroy.

Lycus nods slightly, his fear showing through despite his warrior status. Lusine laughs in his face as the tears begin to roll down her cheeks in rivers of betrayal. Her bottom lip trembles as she takes in every inch of his fearful expression.

"Lusine, please don't do this. Mother was only doing what she thought was best for you." He begs, knowing what he did in telling her was right, but regretting it all the same.

She wipes away her tears with the back of her hands. "I'm sorry brother, I do hope you'll forgive me for the deed I intend to commit. Don't ask me to do anything for you ever again when you couldn't do one thing for me and save her."

Those heart-shattering words ring in Lycus' ears as she teleports away in the blink of an eye.

The panic that strikes him is not bravery. His sudden rush to get to his parents to save them from the wrath of his insane sister is not brave. Lycus Volkov is not brave. Never brave, just lucky. Always the lucky one with his loyal companions always there to take the blow in his moments of horror.

But he is driven. He runs to his parents' room, his legs burning as he pushes himself to run faster and faster and his lungs feeling as if they're going to explode if he carries on in such a way, but when he swings the door open he is flooded with relief, sighing as it rushes over him.

Bulan and Selene sit in the room conversing over a glass of wine. Lusine is nowhere to be seen. He bustles into the room and shuts the door firmly behind him as if Lusine is about to appear in the doorway, spear in hand.

"Lycus?" Selene asks, setting her glass down on the table and looking at her beloved son with worry. Bulan looks at him coolly, but expectantly.

Lycus crumbles under the staring eyes of his parents. "Lusine knows what you did, mother, and she's coming for revenge," He explains, his hands shaking.

Selene's face shows no emotion as she looks to Bulan and says, "Well, we're just going to have to strike first." What good was a mother prepared to kill her own? Perhaps there was a spot reserved just for her in Hell for all the ruin she'd brought upon the world.

Bulan does not speak as he looks over at Lycus. He gives his son a nod to signal that it was his right to choose. This was a crime to be committed at his hand, no one else's. If he did it, his hands would forever be stained with the blood of his twin. Crimson ichor staring back at him with that smile he knew too well.

Lycus looks away from them, bowing his head as he knows now that there was nothing he could do to save his sister now. Lusine was lost to them for good.

-

1710 words
feb 2016

This is the point where everything seems to go down hill for everyone, especially Lusine. She's just found out about her family betraying her and there's nothing they can do now to get her trust back. She trusts Bulan but not her mother or Lycus.

This chapter is going to be one of the longest chapters for a while now. The following chapter will be short and kinda Lokine based (lusine and loki based).

love your buddy lau <3

edited: 11.8.18
new word count: 2199

11.8.18: book reached 180k